Terrible Twos

I have been neglecting my blog lately. Life is crazy at the moment with work, the kids, various illnesses, appointments, school, soccer, photo shoots, the list goes on and on.

Ella and I have been enjoying our time home together on Tuesdays and Thursdays while Noah is at school. The days go by so fast, though! I have been going to the gym in the mornings and she likes to play at the little daycare they have there. Then we go home, shower, have lunch, she takes a nap, and it's already time to go get Noah at 3:05. We have been sneaking in a couple photo shoots in the backyard. This photo was from the one today. I LOVE this picture! I have always been in love with Ella's beautiful blue eyes.

It's a good thing she's so cute, too, because she is definitely in the throes of the terrible twos! Every other word is NO, and she mumbles under breath at least 50 times a day "Ella no like Mommy a lot". Perhaps we need to start working on some correct grammatical structures? Anyway, she definitely has a mind of her own! She screams bloody murder if someone tells her "no", which my mom thinks is utterly hysterical since I did the same thing when I was little. Like mother like daughter, I guess-- but I was not nearly so cute!!

Noah the Musician

So Far So Good!!!!

I was dreading the worst this week-end when we took Ella's pacifier away, and it went great! Not at all what I expected. She's asked for it a handful of times, but I just say the Paci Fairy took it to give to a baby and she's accepted that answer. The first night without it (Saturday) she slept all night long- from 8:00-8:00! She has not slept all night without waking up at least once for weeks! I feel a little guilty that I didn't take it away sooner, but I had no idea that she would do so well.

I also didn't know that once I took away her pacifier, she would grow up so fast (maybe I subconsiously did, and that's why I let her have it so long). Without that thing hanging out of her mouth (she was only supposed to have it at bedtime, but would sneak it throughout the day here and there) she is able to talk more and we understand her a lot better.

When I picked her up from Theresa's the other day, Theresa said that they worked on saying and spelling their names. Sure enough, Ella piped up "Ella...E-L-L-A....Ella" Today when I picked her up she had a paper that had some "A's" she had written herself and Theresa said she stayed dry all day even though I haven't really started potty training- she's been ready for awhile, but I've been too lazy. I guess that's what we'll have to do next. No more baby Ella at the Christensen house. :(

It is Time.....

We have decided that it is time for Ella to be a big girl and give up her pacifier. If it were up to her, I think she would most likely take it to Kindergarten with her when the time comes. This week-end the "Paci Fairy" is coming to our house to take the paci away and bring Ella a big girl toy. She is excited about this prospect in theory, but I think she's going to have a hard time giving up that paci. I think I'm going to have a hard time with it, too- I hope she stays a good sleeper!- but it is definitely time since the pacifier is starting to affect her teeth. I will have to post an update about how it goes. I'm hoping that she surprises me and has no problem with it. We shall see!

Catching up

I originally started this blog as a way to record events, funny stories, etc. that occurred in our family. There are so many times the kids say or do something that I think "I need to remember that", and then I never do. So, this blog was supposed to be a way to remember. When I started using Facebook, I started putting some of those things on there instead of on my blog. So, I'm going to copy and paste a few so that I have them in the right place:

7/20 Noah got mad at me because I said he could not watch t.v. tonight so he "grounded me from facebook". How's that working out, buddy?

8/2 had a fun and exhausting day at the parish festival today. I ended up staying over 5 hours to help my parents- so I win the good daughter award- and I let Noah stay with me and play all day instead of going home to take a nap- so I win the good mommy award, too! All in all a good day.

8/5 Nine years ago today it was 102 degrees and we were sweating to death in our wedding finery. Hard to believe it's been that long. Happy Anniversary to us!

8/11 is back from San Diego- we had a SUPER fun time! None of us wanted to come home. Ella kept saying "no airplane! Stay in San Diego". But we had to come back because my baby starts kindergarten tomorrow. Yikes!

8/11 Seth just went out and bought some milk cartons so Noah could practice opening them for his first day of school tomorrow, I gave him a lecture about making sure to wipe his face after lunch b/c mommy won't be there to do it for him, and, on his ...way to bed, Noah gave me a big hug and said he's going to miss me so much tomorrow. Oh dear, bring on the tissues! (for me, not him, he will forget all about me by 9:00)

8/13 the only good thing about having this yucky cold is hearing Ella say "bwess you Mommy!" every time I sneeze

8/16 Noah just came in to tell me that "Ella's doing a brilliant job staying in her bed". Thank you Mr. British- maybe you should follow her lead and GET BACK IN BED!

8/17 the bad thing about all day kindergarten is that Noah comes home exhausted, CRABBY, and naughty. The good thing about all day kindergarten is that Noah falls asleep in 10 seconds flat.

8/18 Had fun reading to Noah's class- it was fun to meet all the kids. Next time I'm bringing us a lunch rather than eathing school lunch, though!!

8/23 last night we were driving past Zorinsky and saw 7 hot air balloons. The first words out of Noah's mouth were "oh man, I wish I had my camera". I am such a proud mommy!

8/26 tonight Noah was playing outside and he came in to tell me "bye Mom! I'm leaving!" "Where are you going?" "About 300 million years back in time" "um, okay- don't forget to go potty!"

8/29 Noah is supposed to be in his room resting, but instead has taken all of the money out of his piggy bank and is sorting it into piles. He is his father's child.

9/2 Noah was watching some show on Animal Planet & all of a sudden every other word was bleeped out and some words were said that we do not allow in our house. I quickly changed the channel and said they were saying naughty words so we had to turn it... off. Noah looked at me with big eyes and said "what were they saying? Did they say (whispering) "butt"?" Oh, the innocence!!

9/4 Ella just ratted herself out about hitting a little girl at daycare. I asked what her babysitter said and she said "no no! Time out!" I asked if she was going to hit again and she replied "mmmmm, yeah." Well okay then, at least we have that settled.

9/6 Ella was jabbering about something in the car and I couldn't understand what she was saying. Noah said "let me talk to her Mom, I speak Ella"

9/7 bad news: our dishwasher broke yesterday :( good news: we got a new one today! bad news: we have to pay for it :(

9/7 Noah just brought the hermit crab that he is supposed to be taking to school tomorrow for a "class pet". He and "Hermie" have already bonded- it will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow when he has to leave him at school.

9/11 wow- by friday evening i'm pretty much done dealing. the kids have the tv on all night?- whatever. they're running around the house screaming?-sure, why not? they want oreos and ham for dinner?-sounds good to me.... is it bedtime yet?

Dinosaur Quest

We went with my parents and the kiddos to Fontenelle Forest yesterday to see the Dinosaur Quest exhibit. It was a beautiful day and it was so fun to walk around in the shady woods. The kids had fun seeing the dinosaurs, but the most fun was hiking on the trails and looking for deer. The last time we went there a deer ran out of the brush and scared me half to death and I screamed, and now Noah teases me about it.

The other day when I went to pick Noah up from school it had rained all day and as I was walking along carrying Ella and turning to talk to Noah I stepped wrong and went sliding down a mudslide (well, my foot did for a second, anyway). I screamed a little and Noah said "what's wrong mom? Did you see a deer?" in a sarcastic little voice. Aren't five year olds too young for sarcasm? Apparently not.

Anyway, we didn't see any deer yesterday, but we did see a parasauralophus and a rhamporhinorincus. (And I didn't even scream)

Kindergarten is NOT optional

I went up to Noah's school yesterday to have lunch with him. When he saw me, he said "well this is an unexpected surprise!" His teacher laughed and said she's glad he's in her class because it's like having a grown up to talk to during the day.

As we were stuffed into the table eating (I ended up being seated by a very touchy-feely little kindergartener with Cheetoh fingers, oreos all over his face, and a runny nose who didn't yet understand the concept of personal space) Noah asked me if Kindergarten was optional. NO I replied. The goobery mess practically sitting on my lap asked "what's optiono?". Later Noah took a seed out of his orange and asked me if it was edible. Mr. Cheetoh asked "what's ebible?" I think I figured out the reason Noah prefers to hang out with 5th grade girls is because the kids in his class don't understand a word he's saying.

Later that night Seth and I went to Curriculum Night to find out what the kids actually do during the day. I was glad to find this out, because after talking to Noah it seemed as though the only things he did during the day were eat lunch, get a drink and "have fun". The teacher had some items that she was asking for parents to volunteer to bring. Seth decided that it would be fun for Noah to bring a hermit crab to school. I was leaning more toward paper plates, but I let him talk me into it. I draw the line with taking the thing home over Christmas break, however.