Pictures From Our Week

I mentioned before that Big Daddy and I were changing cell phone providers and getting new phones. I finally have a smart phone and I'm enjoying it so far. Big Daddy has had lots of different phones through work, so it was easy for him to pick one that he thought would work well for us. We haven't had a land line phone since we moved nearly two years ago, so we use our cell phones quite a bit. Big Daddy loves for me to send him quick texts and random pictures during the day. He has been out of town all of this week, so these are a few pictures that I've sent him.

On Monday, we slept late and had an "at home" morning. After Ellie's nap we went to the library and ran in the grocery store for fresh fruit. We don't buy any canned fruit, so I find myself shopping for fresh fruit at least twice a week. Ellie wanted to wear her favorite shirt that just happens to be long sleeved. We had to run by the bank too, so they both had suckers. The race car shopping cart is my nemesis right now.
After our errands and cooking and eating dinner, we went to my mom and dad's even though my mom and Callie had visited during the day (and played with the kids on the swings and in the pool while I mowed the back yard). I don't mind being home in the evenings without Big Daddy, but Maggie was missing him lots.

I decided to have and "at home" day on Tuesday. I wanted to do the housework and just be at home. I saw an idea on a homeschool blog and decided that it would save us time and money and allow Maggie to work more at her own (very fast) pace if I implemented the idea immediately. We found ourselves at the not so supercenter to buy school supplies. The idea worked exactly like I'd hoped it would and has already made a big difference in our "schedule".

We found ourselves at my parents again that evening after dinner. My mom had something for me (more on that in a minute) and Maggie "needed" to play with Callie. Of course, Ellie really wanted to see her "Papa" too. We hadn't been at their house for long when the skies grew dark, the wind began to blow and the thunder and lightning started. Maggie didn't want to leave, so my mom asked if she'd like to spend the day with her on Wednesday. My mom made plans to pick her up at 9:00 the next morning and Maggie was happy. We came home, had baths and put our jammies on. Both girls are a little scared of thunder (thanks to Cousin Callie) so I built a little fort in the living room and they read library books for 45 minutes before bed.

Thankfully, we had an inch (to add to the half an inch from the night before) of rain in the rain gauge on Wednesday morning. Truly an answered prayer. It has been SO dry here.

My mom and Callie came to pick Maggie up and Ellie wanted her shoes because she wanted to go too. My mom told me to get the car seat and she would take Ellie too.
I found myself childless! I washed my cabinets, swept and mopped the hardwood floors and mowed the front yard. I went to my mom's, had lunch and then brought Ellie home for her nap. When she woke up, we picked Maggie up and fixed that special thing that my mom had for me for our dinner!

Ellie doesn't usually eat corn, but she really enjoyed it this time!

I've had lots of stuff on my mind this week and had planned to write several times, but it hasn't happened. Doing school work with Maggie has been wonderful (more on that later), but it takes up all of my "free" time during Ellie's nap.

Olivia

I mentioned last week that we were getting a family pet and here she is!

This is Olivia Ian Rosie McMillan, but we call her Olivia. She is a hamster (NOT a gerbil) and she is SO loved!

I casually suggested the name Olivia and Maggie loved it. of course, Olivia is after Olivia the pig after our new favorite book character. Olivia the pig has a little brother named Ian, so that's where Ian came from. Rosie is after Cousin Callie's pet fiddler crab that passed away on Father's Day.

We picked her up on Thursday and Maggie and Ellie both cried at bedtime that night because they wanted to sleep with her. We have already enjoyed her so much and she is a wonderful addition to our family.

Today is the eleventh anniversary of the day that Big Daddy and I said "I do".

The first thing that comes to mind when I say that, is why in the world did my parents let me get married when I was so young!?! Now, when I think of someone getting married at the age of 22, I just think they are babies. Babies. Of course, my parents had no issues with me getting married, but my goodness that sounds SO young now that I'm eleven years older. It took quite a while of living an hour away and being married before I stopped wondering (in the back of my mind) why they didn't call to see where I was. It was because I was a married adult. Silly me.

I have no pictures to share of the big day because I'm not going upstairs to turn on the desk top and find the file where I scanned a few pictures in. I don't even have a single wedding picture displayed in the house.

One of the things that I found out recently is that you think a certain day is so special until the next special day comes along. I wasn't sad at all to say goodbye to Maggie's preschool days because something bigger and better always seems to be around the corner. I feel the same way about wedding days.

When I think back on the past eleven years, our wedding day was just the beginning and doesn't seem that important at all. All of the decisions and fights and trips and fun times and babies that we've had since then seem so much more important. (Although I do think that eleven years of being married is a pretty big deal!)

My sister asked to keep the kids so that Big Daddy and I could do something fun together. So far, we'll be eating dinner (I have no idea what) and cleaning out the garage while they are having a sleepover. It doesn't sound like fun, but it will be nice to do it without children helping. On Saturday morning we may take his new kayak (Father's Day & anniversary gift) out to the lake, but we haven't decided yet. We are with the children nearly all of the time, so doing even the most mundane thing without them can seem pretty neat!

Oh The Things You Say!

We were driving down the road and Maggie saw a two-story house that was getting a new roof. She said- "Oh, they're really high up. I wouldn't want to do that job. I don't think I want to do anything when I grow up. I'll just stay with you and be a pretend nun".

If you ask Ellie, "how are you" or something that sounds like that question she either says "good" or "two".

BIG Stuff!!

We have had so much going on the past few weekends, but we decided to take a "family time out" on Saturday morning and go to the zoo...again. We visited the same section that I took Maggie, Ellie and Cousin Callie to on Wednesday. We were there early and everyone else seems to start at the other end of the zoo, so it was very nice. The pictures are somewhere on my camera, but Ellie was able to ride the gorilla on the Carousel and we witnessed the big gorilla "going pee pee". Truly one of the highlights for Ellie! Maggie's favorite part was going to eat lunch and being able to play on a new playground. The best part is that we were home in plenty of time for Ellie's nap!

On Saturday evening, we went to a 50th Wedding Anniversary dinner for some of my cousins. We had a great time and Maggie caught her first really little frog/toad. I know the difference between a frog and a toad when they're big, but this one was really small and I couldn't tell which it was. Of course, I broke her heart by not letting her bring it home. She was devastated and tired and that's just not a good combination.

So, big news: we're getting a family pet. We know what we're getting and what we'll be naming it and I'll share as soon as we are able to pick it up. I like it's name because I just told Big Daddy that I was so in love with a particular children's book series that I wanted to name something after the characters in the book. I casually mentioned a few of the names to Maggie and she thought naming our pet after this main character was a wonderful idea!

The other really big news is that I have a new phone. Big Daddy picked out my last phone when Ellie was a week or so old. I told him to get the most basic one and he did and I hated it. (Mostly because it was hard to open.) It was time for Big Daddy to upgrade and we also decided that I "needed" a smart phone. We switched carriers, have new phones and can instant message each other all day. I have the "no texting" plan because he said there was nobody for me to text or receive text from...and he's pretty much right.

One, Two, Three!!

The first part of this week we had great weather! Sunny, breezy and the high temperatures were in the 80's with little humidity.
On Wednesday morning, Maggie asked me to take her to the zoo. One of the benefits of being a Stay At Home Mom and having a zoo membership is going to the zoo with the intention of only seeing part of it. We called Nana, packed a lunch, picked up Callie and were on our way!

Ellie wanted to ride the gorilla on The Carousel! It was the first time that she was able to ride on an animal that goes up and down without crying, screaming and trying to jump off!

Of course, I was right beside of her the entire time that the ride was moving.

My three girls watching the gorilla.

Posing in an egg.

Playing on dung beetles.

Flying a helicopter.

And playing with the lions.

We'll be going to the other half of the zoo maybe next week.

Less Words Wednesday

Ellie has discovered the magic of a pretty tutu. The only one that she has (until I make her another one) is the one I made her when she was a few months old. This video was taken right after we came home from the beach (hence all of the stuff on the counters and stove) and of course, they thought I was just messing with the camera. My favorite part is when Ellie says "excuse me" at the 23 second mark.

This Week

I feel like the past few weeks have been so busy with homeschool and our beach trip during the weeks and then birthday parties and such on the weekends.

This past Saturday we celebrated Ellie's birthday with my family (pictures tomorrow) . She managed to stretch her birthday out so that she could really enjoy it! Having her "party" (I use the word loosely) reminds me that I'm not a party person. I'd love to plan out little parties months ahead and come up with a really personal theme, but I just order napkins, plates and cups of something and go with it. For Ellie's party we had pizza, salad and cupcakes. Maggie & I chose "Pinkalicious" for Ellie's party because we all three love the Pinkalicious books. Of course, we fell in love with "Olivia" (the pig) right before the party and I totally wanted to have everything Olivia. Maybe for my birthday in August!!

On Sunday we went to a baby sprinkle for my friend T. We think we've known each other since we were toddlers...we think. We grew up together in church, but sort of lost touch over the years. Ahhh, the beauty of social networking. If not for facebook and blogging what would we do? I was also able to see my cousin, T's best friend from childhood, and also one of my best playmates when I was growing up. Again, social networking brought them back together. T will be welcoming her second child, a girl this time. Ellie has started rubbing her belly and saying "baby" since she rubbed T's pregnant belly. Ha!!

After the baby sprinkle we had a double birthday party to go to. One of Maggie's preschool friends and her sister celebrated their birthdays with a bounce party. It's nice to go to a party that is for 5 and 2 year old girls. Maggie and Ellie had lots of fun and were SO tired when we left.

On Monday, I pulled out our real homeschool books and we started kindergarten work. The past few weeks I had been using different things just to satisfy Maggie's need to do something school-related. I worked on a lesson plan last week and we will be doing writing/spelling, reading, math, literature, geography, history and science. Of course, we will still read and have art opportunities throughout the day and have themed art activities too.

I was pretty excited about the upcoming weekend because I didn't think we had any plans . Big Daddy is buying himself a kayak (finally, after years of talking about it) on Friday (with my nephew's work discount). I thought that we might go to a local lake and watch him try it out on Saturday evening. Then, I realized that we have a 50th wedding anniversary celebration to go to. Sunday is Father's Day so we'll be eating with my family after church and then going to Big Daddy's parents house after that.

Another busy weekend.

After looking at the calendar, I'm not sure when we'll have a free weekend. Our anniversary is coming up and my sister is having Maggie and Ellie for an overnight visit. Maggie decided that the sleepover sounded like more fun than the birthday party that she has been invited to for that weekend. I was willing to skip our anniversary celebration so that I could take her to the party, but I was SO happy that she'd rather stay with my sister. Big Daddy and I are unsure of our plans, but I'm hoping for something fun. Maybe hiking or a kayak excursion, but we're not sure yet.

Finally...

I don't like family pictures where the family is at the beach wearing khakis, white shirts and sitting near sand dunes. I like coordinating outfits just fine, but the match-y stuff gets me.
I LOVE pictures of kids in matching outfits! Finally getting a picture of Maggie & Ellie in their matching dresses (even if it wasn't the matching dresses I wanted) made me happy!!

These girls LOVE each other, but they aren't allowed to touch for pictures. It causes Maggie to scrunch down and Ellie to push her away and say, "no,no".

Ellie's official two year old picture.
Of course, Maggie had to wear her favorite American flag flip flops on the beach, but she'd had her nice sandals on all evening.


We have found that we take less pictures since we have two kids, so I think I only have a little over a hundred pictures of our four day trip. This was another one of those times where Big Daddy and I were amazed at how much our lives have changed since becoming parents. Watching Maggie and Ellie play in the sand and waves for a few minutes beats relaxing on the beach for hours without a care in the world any day.
Well, almost. It's a different kind of relaxing.

Turning 2 At The Beach

We are back from the beach and I think we are all pretty happy to be home! I love to travel, but I LOVE to get home too. It seems that Maggie and Ellie are the same!

Ellie had a delightful 2nd birthday on Monday! We were up very bright and early and made it out on the beach to enjoy a perfect day! We happened to be right beside of Life Guard #2.

If you said "Happy Birthday" to Ellie, she would say, "ME!!!! Two!" and hold up two fingers.

We spent the morning on the beach and in the lazy river at our hotel, had nap time and then Maggie & Daddy went for a helicopter ride. They both loved it and we all may go next year.

After that excitement, we decided to ride a few (hundred) rides to celebrate Ellie a little bit more!

We went out to dinner and Ellie was so tired, but...

still managed to smile for the camera!

After dinner at Hard Rock, we had more fun on more rides and then we were SO ready for bed!!

Should have a few more pictures tomorrow!

Two

It's so hard to believe that we welcomed Ellie two years ago. I think back to her birth just as much as I do Maggie's and that is such a blessing.

We have been so blessed to have Ellie and she has brought so much joy to her Mommy, Daddy and "Sissy".
The only thing better than having one, really is having two!

These days...

Ellie loves "Goodnight Moon" and "The ABC Library" book. She also loves "Once Upon A Potty" and "The Potty Train", but they are both library books.

Her vocabulary is finally growing...by leaps and bounds. There are still some thing that only I understand, but I sort of like that.

Ellie's favorite phrase is "Hollllme" a.k.a hold me. She says it All. The. Time. And I hold her a whole lot.

Ellie LOVES Barney. I'm not even sure how it happened, but she loves him. She asks to watch him at least ten times everyday. I usually let the girls watch a Barney DVD while I cook dinner. Ellie always cries when it goes off.

She loves anything that belongs to "Sissy".

Ellie always calls Maggie "Sissy". I love to hear it, but I also like to hear her say Maggie.
She's dramatic. If she gets mad, she runs to her room and then closes the door and gets in her bed. If I don't check on her soon, she'll come back into the room and act like it never happened.

Ellie loves her "Papa' and she's the only grandchild that doesn't call him "Pawpaw". It's always about Papa, all the time. She likes Nana, Braxton, Auntie Charles and Uncle Duh Duh too.

Ellie adores church and loves to pray which currently consists of folding her hands and saying "God" over and over and then "Amen".

She sings and hums while she's playing. (My mom and I hum all the time.)

Ellie's favorite songs are "You Are My Sunshine" and "Jesus Loves Me'. She also LOVES Kindermusik CD's.

Ellie loves real babies and baby dolls.

She currently sleeps in her daybed (converted from her crib) with her head on her Boppy pillow. She has been sleeping with a baby that my friend Ms. A gave her for Christmas for months and this past week has started sleeping with "Llammy"- the Llama from "Llama, Llama Red Pajama" which she'll be getting for her birthday.

It's funny how you feel complete until you welcome someone new into your life and you just know that they were meant for you and are the perfect match for your daughter and Maggie's sister.
That's our Ellie.

I'll have a full post up sometime tomorrow (maybe) of how we spent Ellie's birthday.

Laundry. It's what I do.

I'm in full we're-going-to the-beach-and-I-have-to-get-everything-packed mode today. I folded two loads of laundry, packed Maggie and Ellie's bags, took the sheets off of all the beds, washed two loads of laundry, went to two grocery stores and now I need to fold two more loads of laundry.

I'm also starting to get a headache.

Ellie will be turning two on Monday and Big Daddy and I aren't sure how that happened. We find ourselves thrilled to be at a stage where we can go on outings or to a restaurant with ease, having a 5 (!!!) year old and an almost two year old.

We don't like to think of her as our last baby even though she very well could be. It's just too hard to think of it that way. Big Daddy and I prefer to whisper back and forth when we're having a good day in parenting about the possibility of having another baby. Of course, I occasionally spend time (while folding laundry or cleaning) listing the baby names that I like, but only in my head. We liked the names Maggie and Ellie and didn't plan for them to both end in "i-e", but I feel like if we ever had another girl it would be sad if her name didn't end in "i-e" too. Silly? Yes. No announcements are coming up, but it's fun not to completely close that door when it seems that everyone you know is having their third child.

Anyway...

I painted Ellie's room yesterday while my mom kept the girls. I was able to complete it start to finish in three hours. I rock. Ellie loves it and Maggie thinks it's the prettiest room in the house! Maybe I'll post pictures soon, but here's the inspiration for the color. It sort of coordinates with her bedding, but we'll try to really decorate once we decide to move her from toddler bed to big girl bed.

I haven't washed my hair in two weeks. I've been using baking soda and water to "wash" it and apple cider vinegar and water to "condition" it. I LOVE the results. I have also been using apple cider vinegar on my face after I shower and alternating between coconut oil and my normal Aveeno moisturizer. (You can read a little more about it here.) I mentioned a few weeks ago that my skin was breaking out and that problem cleared up a couple of days after I started this.

And that's all for now!!

Happy Friday!!

Mid-Week Randoms

This week has really been something else!!

Big Daddy was off work on Monday for Memorial Day and I decided to take advantage of having him home by painting Ellie's room. Of course, it was just my luck that I had a killer headache on Sunday. It started at church and continued for the rest of the day. I took a muscle relaxer (that the doctor gave me last week which I haven't even shared about) and went to bed hoping that the headache would be history on Monday morning. The headache was there when I woke up and didn't leave until late that afternoon when it was too late to start painting. My mom offered to keep Maggie & Ellie so that I could spend tomorrow painting and I'm hopeful that will happen as planned.

Maggie was anxious to start homeschooling as soon as preschool was over. I had hoped to start in August when schools around here start, but she is adamant about learning and we really want to foster that. I talked her into waiting until yesterday. She loves worksheets and writing exercises, so she went through all of the work that I had planned for the rest of this week. Needless to say, I have had to change the different exercises that we'll be doing. We won't start using the curriculum that I ordered until June 13 which will be our official start of Kindergarten.

Tonight we are having our Awana Family Fun Night at a local fun place with arcade games, go carts, bumper boats and mini golf. Maggie has wanted to go for SO long, but I convinced her that you could only go if you were having a party...which isn't exactly true. She is very excited! We have had temperatures in the upper 90's all week, so I'm hoping for a cool breeze or something to keep us from melting.

Hopefully, I'll be sharing some pictures of Ellie's painted room in the near future. She'll get new bedding once we move her into a big girl bed.