Wednesday, March 26

& some quotes.



and now
(drumroll please)
for the quotes.
with random pictures, as usual.
i know it's the only reason y'all still read this, to hear the crazy things my kids say. 




poppy is starting to assert her independence, and she likes to pick her clothes and dress herself. if i try to help she says "i need a turn! give me a turn! i do it!" most of the time, if i ask her if she needs help she'll say "i'm fine, mom! i'm fine!" like some kind of fifteen-year-old kid.




ellie gave her first talk in primary. it was about Jesus. we were asking her what she knows about Jesus (a lot) and she told us this fact: "he helps santa claus deliver all the presents on christmas eve!"


we rode in an elevator at the mall, and poppy fell asleep in the car right after we left. when she woke up at home, she must have been having a nightmare about the elevator because she started yelling: "the bumping! the bumping! no no!" and reaching out to hold on to me. poor thing.


ellie: "i don't like t-rexes. they freak me out! they aren't meant to be liked, just like great white sharks aren't meant to be liked."




poppy's latest catchphrase is "whabout me?" (what about me?). she hates being left out. the other day i tried to leave her in the car with daddy while i got a couple of things in the store and she was wailing "whabout me?! whabout me?!" enough to break my heart. when i mentioned that daddy was there with her, she said, "not daddy!" (poor daddy.)



ellie misses her utah family a lot lately (so do the rest of us). some of the things she's said:
"i think we should go spend some time with your family. you know, in utah."
"can we go pick daddy up from work and get on a plane and go to utah?"
"what if we just drive to the airport and get on a plane to utah right now?"





poppy keeps telling everyone she is older than she is. "i'm poppy. i'm six!" and she likes to tell people "my birthday is PINK!" (because she had a pink birthday cake)



after the time change, ellie said: "it's not hard for me to wake up early. i do it every day! i always wake up early!"
she does. ugh. and she wakes poppy up, too. the other morning she told me "i have to go wake poppy up and make our plans for today." poppy wasn't ready to make plans, though, and i found her clutching her blanket and moaning "no, no!" while ellie tried to drag her out of bed.




poppy is very self-aware. we love to tease her. if you say "you're silly!" she always responds with, "i'm not silly! i'm poppy!" and if you try to say that you are poppy... "no! you not poppy, i'm poppy! i'm poppy!" it never gets old.



ellie couldn't sleep the other night, and daddy and i were up watching a movie. she came out of her room and declared "you guys are ruining my dreams!"



ellie: "this is what t-devils do to bones and carcasses. carcasses have bones inside of them."
(she was eating french fries)


we said goodbye to the mullet this month. happy & sad about that.


along with singing frozen songs at the top of their lungs (both of them, and they know most of the words), they often make up their own original songs. some of my favorite lyrics:
"happy birthday to you, our princess! we love you and we care about you!" - ellie
"golden saaaaaandals!" - poppy
a whole song about peanut butter & honey by ellie

oh, and ellie's re-imagined version of "do you want to build a snowman?"
 do you want to build a snowman?
"i do!"
come on let's go and play!
"here i come!"
i never see you anymore, come out the door, it's like you've gone away.
"i'm right here!"
 (kinda changes the entire movie, huh?)

yes, together ellie and poppy act out whole scenes from frozen and i love it so much.
and i guess if you haven't seen frozen, maybe you should. or come on over, we're probably watching it sometime today.




Tuesday, March 25

adventure girls.




we haven't been around the internet much because, as luck would have it, every single saturday of march (so far) has been absolutely perfect. a lot of the days between have been perfect, too. spring is springing here in the south. don't get jealous just yet, though. march here is so unpredictable. the morning is a lion, the afternoon is a lamb, and then all night it is pouring rain. i got my box of warm weather clothes out of the attic, but i can't yet put away the winter clothes. some days are sweatshirts with jackets and wool socks. other days are sandals and t-shirts and pants rolled up. most days you start bundled up and end up sunbathing by dinnertime. it's been that way for weeks.


i'm not complaining. i know we only have a short amount of time before it gets sweaty, sweaty hot. for now, we wait for the weather to be just right and then we get out and enjoy every minute. 



recently daddy and i were talking about our girls, and how they need adventure. lately i just can't get the quote out of my head that "all good things are wild and free." if there is anything that describes my girls, that would be it. wild and free. we came up with the "adventure girls" and since then we've been spending time trying to get out and let our adventure girls be as wild and as free as they please.

and, thanks to this weather, every saturday has been a new adventure. 
when we're not having big adventures, we are out finding worms and picking every dandelion in the backyard. 
life is pretty good.


i'll post some adventure pictures and some really great kid quotes later this week. 

Wednesday, February 26

party all night.



we had a few hours after the kids left, then some family and friends came for dinner and cake and more partying. the weather stayed beautiful all day long, so we built a little fire in the backyard and played outside more.

i took even less pictures of this event, believe it or not, but i do have a few to steal from grammie. 


our evening was a lot more laid-back, and was full of roasting marshmallows, eating birthday cake, and opening more presents. she even got to open packages from far away family that came just in time. it lasted long into the night and i'm not at all sure how both girls made it without a nap. i thought poppy was going to fall asleep on her feet. they just played and played and played.




(she got a ton of puzzles for her birthday, which is perfect, because she loves puzzles.
she's done that one with the states at least seven times since sunday morning and even did it once with absolutely no help.)


after everyone left both girls snuggled up on either side of me and fell asleep. it was the perfect ending to a perfect day. 

i can't say enough how much i appreciate everyone who helped make her birthday so special and memorable. she had the best day of her life and she spent it with so many wonderful people.

Tuesday, February 25

p-a-r-t-why? 'cause we got to.


i haven't been able to keep up with the craziness of my little girl turning four years old on saturday. 

we spent last week busy gearing up for her elaborate, fun, and unforgettable day. 

if you know ellie, you know that she makes plans. and when she makes plans, she makes big plans, and she expects everyone to help her make her dreams come true. even before poppy's birthday in november (yes, we've been planning since then) ellie has been talking about her rainbow birthday cake. over the months it evolved into a rainbow cake with a rainbow pony made of cookie on top and a rainbow unicorn pinata and basically inviting every person she knew to come celebrate. i'm not kidding when i say she would rattle off names of friends she wanted to invite, including most of the church nursery, her friends from primary, random kids from the park, adults that she likes, etc. in fact, we started back at dance class last week and on the way home she told me: "mom! there were so many new friends in there! you are going to have to call my teacher and find out all of their names." if she had her way, we would have invited to whole world to come. 
(she's a friendly little thing, and i don't know where she gets it. she has forced her poor socially awkward mother to come out of her shell.)

unfortunately we don't have the space or means to accommodate such a party, though if we did, i would have gladly invited her entire universe of people. i took control of the runaway train and invited a few friends for a party in the morning (which still turned out to be 10 three/four-year-olds, all but one could come) and we made plans for an evening with some family and friends. we did a little decorating and baking and preparing each day of the week to get ready and keep her excitement from spilling over.

it
was 
insane

and so, so much fun. 


ellie woke up laughing on her birthday and we heard her giggling all the way into our room. she burst through the door and said "it's my birthday!" and we grabbed her to kiss her and checked to see if she'd grown overnight.
so began her epic day.

the kid party in the morning was amazing. ellie's aunt and uncle were so great to come and help and between the adults we were able to keep all the kids happy and out of trouble (for the most part). the weather was perfect and we were able to play outside and inside and, surprisingly, the house didn't even get trashed the way i thought it would. the kids played with sidewalk chalk and balloons and i didn't even have to plan anything as far as games. 
we had a lunch of rainbow fruits and vegetables with "cloud popcorn" and and the kids ate in shifts, whenever they felt like it, picking at the food from the table. i was surprised again at how much healthy food was eaten just by having it in reach and available for snacking. i'm pretty sure every one of those picky kids ate something healthy before we went crazy with sugar.
i convinced ellie that the kids would do better with cupcakes instead of the giant layer cake she was going to have later, so rainbow cupcakes it was. they were delicious.
a note: if we ever do such a big party again, i think we'll have to make a no presents rule. firstly, she got so many great presents that i kinda felt guilty! spoiled rotten by her sweet friends. but secondly, opening presents was the only time when things got out of control. it was a madhouse and i was literally terrified for a moment. the kids were all so excited and yelling and couldn't wait and wrapping paper was flying and it was overwhelming, to say the least.
we saved the pinata for last, and it worked perfectly, so that we were all outside again and ready to go as the parents came back. ellie had her heart set on a pinata, even though i wasn't so keen on the idea. we didn't find the rainbow unicorn, but a friend of ours spotted the rainbow one and it was super cheap, so i caved. ellie was so happy with it. as you probably know, it's almost impossible for a bunch of kids her age to break a pinata. they still loved it, even though uncle miles eventually had to break it after daddy's sabotage didn't work. and it was very entertaining watching the kids take their turns.

i am so grateful that ellie has such a wonderful community of kids her age. i love them all. they're adorable and smart and funny. although it might not always seem like it, i'm so glad that ellie has dragged me into having a social life. everywhere so goes she makes a friend. just the other day, we stopped at mcdonalds for a second to get a gift card and she made a new friend while standing in line. after we left she was upset because she had forgotten to ask her new friend's name, and wanted to go back the next day to find her and introduce herself.


we had a great time and i'd do it all again in a heartbeat! it probably helps that i've been with the kids at church for so many years now, it's normal for me to be in the middle of a bunch of crazy kids. in fact, if i can recover from this weekend i was thinking about having a st. patrick's day party - but with some help from other moms, of course.



i'll post tomorrow about the perfect evening of our all-day party. see you then!





Tuesday, February 18

snowcation.


 


well, it snowed again. these girls and their wishes!

i keep thinking that the first go 'round was a warning, because the second storm (well, technically two storms in two days) was much worse. but last week everyone was still scared to death from january's experience and most people just stocked up on groceries and stayed home, watching the snow and ice pile up. the kids were out of school almost the whole week, and home depot even closed for the first time since we've lived here.

we were worried about losing power in our poorly insulated house, so tuesday afternoon between storms we parked the van in the garage to protect it from falling trees and headed up to spend some time with grammie and pop-pop.



and what a time we had! everyone enjoyed it, especially judge.


it looks beautiful, but don't be deceived. the second night it switched from snow to ice pellets, then back and forth from snow to ice. when the ice would come down it looked like the tiny beads of silica that come with new shoes. you could hear it against the windows, it crackled like someone opening a bag of chips or someone throwing tiny rocks at the window. the wind was blowing. it looked nice, but i'll bet it was miserable out there.

on thursday morning we ventured out. the snow was so crunchy, and when i cleaned off the car a little there were definite layers of ice, snow, ice, snow.



we found out laundry baskets don't make for good sledding, because they dump you out at the bottom of the hill. we lasted mere minutes before we had to come back inside for some hot chocolate and cookies.






we made it home safely thursday afternoon when the sun came out, and before the roads turned back to ice. things were fine in athens, no lost power or even lost trees (maybe a branch or two).

we're glad we had our little snowcation, though. it was probably too much fun. it has been hard getting back into real life after having our daddy to play with us and nothing on the agenda for days.



(we almost skipped valentines day because of the strange week, but i'll do a little post on our simple day later.)



goodbye, snow! maybe you don't have to come back next year after all.

Friday, February 7

some more quotes: poppy.


now for poppy, who is talking so much lately! so so much!


as some of you know, when ellie first started talking she named her special baby doll without any prompting or help. the name was "anoggaday" and that baby has always been anoggaday ever since. we got poppy the exact same kind of baby doll for her own (because you can't have just one of anything with two girls), and a few months back poppy finally named her baby, too. the name she has chosen: " teenahnah." and it's the same as it was with anoggaday, she has been called teenahnah ever since. she also picked a name for her new christmas doll: "belinda" (her pronunciation "baywinda").

she makes a lot of her own theme music and plays out very dramatic scenes. "nuhnuhNUHHHH!"
she says things like
"no, don't do dis!"
"who are you?!"
"no, not my baby!"
"mudder, no!"
"i'm da queen!"
she loves to do the scene where mufasa falls into the gorge during the stampede, and it's hilarious. "'car (scar), don't do dis!" "nooooooooo!" "help! somebody! anybody!"

she can be super girly and she loves makeup. the other day i took her on an errand to a big beauty supply store (without even thinking about how much she would like it). we walked in and she yelled "make up! make up!" and ran straight to that section. she even tried on a little eyeshadow (all over her face). the girls at the counter complimented her and she just batted her eyelashes and looked smug like, "yeah, i know."



she loves to brush my hair (and she really wishes she had longer hair). the other day i cut some bangs and when she saw it, she said, "hair diffwent!" and i asked if she liked it, to which she responded, "no. don't wike it. don't wike it." it's probably because her favorite thing used to be brushing my hair down over my eyes and fluffing it.

she still uses her very quiet voice a lot of the time, especially when she's just talking normally. the other day she came in and kept trying to tell me something. i couldn't hear her and kept asking her to repeat it until finally i had to put my ear in her face. she said softly: "avocados are good."

she's right smack in the middle of the "no" phase, except she takes it to the extreme. 
"NO, NEVER! NEVER!"

me: "poppy, get down from there!"
poppy: "no, i won't! never!"

me: "poppy, you need to sit down and eat your lunch."
poppy: "NEVER!"

and so on.

we are phasing out naptime, but sometimes she just drops wherever she is.

so, in general, she's very dramatic. it's not always bad.
before i leave the house without her, she gets right in my face and says sadly, "mom. wait. don't go. don't leave. mom. don't leave." it's heartbreaking.
but when i get home or pick her up from somewhere, she acts like we haven't seen each other in years and it's the best. "moooooooom! it's you! you're here! you came back!" complete with tight hugs and a million kisses all over. 

the other day i went to get her from nursery at church. she was busy reading a book, but when she saw me come in her face lit up, she said, "MOM!" and tossed the book behind her. it made me feel like a million bucks. 



she's really, really good at making people feel special. 
love her. 








Thursday, February 6

some more quotes: ellie.


i have a lot of quotes to catch up on. we'll start with ellie. 
some of these are months old, but i want to remember them, and i hope you enjoy them, too. 


ellie is finally old enough for primary at church! she's a sunbeam, and, yes, those pictures above are the best pictures i could get on her first day. she was too excited to hold still. or be serious. she loves it, and because i've been helping out in primary for years, i love it. she finally gets to have all the fun with us. she has learned so much already and loves to talk about the things she learns.

however, i'm not always sure what she learned or made up. for instance...
on the way home from church last week, she said:
"Jesus threw a big fireball at the earth and that's how all the dinosaurs died."

well, it could be true?

moving on to more random quotes.

ellie: "mommy, can you get out?"
me: "why?"
ellie: "because you're wrecking our playtime."

 "writing emails"

"i'm not dumb! i'm funny and silly!" (the girl knows how to deal with teasing, that's for sure.)

ellie went to the park with her school friends and rode in another mom's van. when she got in, she sniffed around and said "well, my van smells like fresh bacon!"

we were having a long conversation about life and death, what happens to your body when you die, etc. (i know, she's only almost-four but seriously. she wants to talk about this stuff.) so then she started talking about God and Jesus and then we talked about how Jesus died. then how Jesus came back to life. and, as ellie says, "yeah, 'cause that's how Jesus does." 

i made quinoa the other day and she actually tried it and actually liked it. 
"mommy, what IS this yummy stuff you made?"
"can i have more of this vegetable oatmeal?"


 she made a beach on a cold, cold day.

daddy was teasing her.
her response: "stop saying mean things to kids who are just walking around!"

there is a song on the movie "pocohontas" that goes "savages! savages!"
instead, ellie was singing "sandwiches! sandwiches!"

talking to a pretend boy: "hi, it's me, ellie. i'm all grown up now (hee hee hee)."

daddy was talking about "dealing with adults" at work all day, then ellie piped up:
"i'm just dealing with an adult who is being pretty mean right now." (him)



that's all for today, but i'm sure i'll be back with more. i can't even keep up with the stuff this girl says.