CookieFest Cuteness

Gloria! Gloria!

Here is Ella dressed as an angel for her Christmas program at school. A devil costume would have been more appropriate on this night.

Sweet...Sort Of

Ella talking to Caroline before bed:

"Caroline, I'm going to teach you how to go to sleep. You just lay down, close your eyes and you're asleep!! It's easy. Then you dream of all the happy things that you wish for. Like more pacies and BEING ME."

Yes Ella, I'm sure Caroline wishes that she was you all the time. Maybe in your dreams.

Cup of Yuck

I should have known better, but I couldn't resist. I came across a recipe for chocolate cake in a mug, made in just five minutes. Ella and I had high hopes for our cake in a mug and, as promised in the recipe, our little creation did come together in under five minutes. It looked good, it smelled good, and then we tasted it. Imagine biting into a warm, chocolate kitchen sponge and you have an idea of what our mug cake was like. It wasn't so much the taste as it was the texture, amazingly rubberlike. Ella immediately spit hers our and said, "this cake is AWFUL!!". The above picture was taken before we actually tasted what Ella is now calling "the cup of yuck".

Christmas Photo Rejects

My favorite is the one where Ella looks like a crazed lunatic. This is better than Christmas pictures in the past, where she usually looked drunk.

Talking Trash

I love McDonald's. I can't help it, the stuff is delicious. So we occasionally get Happy Meals. As, I'm sure you know, in addition to 4 delightful little chicken nuggets, apples and milk, you also get a toy with your Happy Meal. At our house the toys generally go to the the trash within 2 hours of having eaten the meal. These latest toys were no different, except that they talked. At the slightest little nudge the ugly little hippo shouted, "I don't think so!!" and the horrible penguin yelled, "progress report!" The girls didn't seem too interested in them when we got them, so when I cleaned up from lunch I threw the toys in the trash with the rest of it. All was well until I went to take the trash from the kitchen to the big trash can outside later in the day. As I lifted the bag from the can, the trash began to talk. With every move, the toys were screaming, "I don't think so!" and "progress report" over and over. At first I didn't think the girls noticed, but then Caroline started pointing at the trash and laughing. This immediately gets Ella's attention and suddenly she's whining, "Why did you throw away our toys!?!" So what do I do? Dig those stupid things out of the trash and throw them away later that night when the girls are asleep.

In Case You Forgot What We Look Like....

Everything Old is New Again

During a massive toy clean out I uncovered a few things that we hadn't seen in a while. You'd swear Christmas had come early. The girls played all afternoon with an art set and some squishy animals that they had completely forgotten about. To them these things really seemed brand new and it was a nice break from the Flying Pants Game.

Flying Pants - The Funnest Game in the World

This is Ella playing her new favorite game. It's called Flying Pants. Mommy puts a pair of Caroline's pants on the fan blade, Ella turns on the fan and then waits until they fall down. If the pants land on her (or even better, Caroline) that is a bonus. The process is repeated ad nauseum and general hysteria follows every time the pants fall down.

Bedtime

Ella has added prayer time to an already impressive (i.e. extraordinarily long) bedtime routine. The following is her favorite prayer from A Child's Book of Celtic Prayers.

A Mother's Bed Blessing

Christ's Arm enfold you through the night; To hold you safe, hold you tight.

Christ's Shield before your covers lay; To keep the evil powers at bay.

Christ's Hand upon your sleeping head; To gently comfort you in bed.

Christ's Watch within your dreams tonight; To soothe your mind, to quell your fright.

Christ's Peace be flooding all your room; To light the dark, to chase the gloom.

Christ's Love to fill your tender heart; To hold you fast while were apart.

More Deep Thoughts

As she walks around with her arms stiffened, "What if we didn't have elbows?" Hmmmmmm. Now that is something to think about.

Turkey Cookie

This is Ella's beautiful turkey cookie. We traced her hand onto sugar cookie dough, baked it and then decorated it to look like a turkey (or a really funky chicken). I imagine that this is the only kind of turkey I won't have to beg her to eat.

I Always Did Love That Doughboy

Maybe it's me, but I think if this ad doesn't make you want to bawl your eyes out, then you just might be a soulless lump of ice.

http://www.pilsbury.com/HomeIsCalling/Default.aspx?WT.ac=HP_Left_Feature_Picture

It Makes Sense to Her

Ella loves Christmas songs all year and has been warming up for the holiday season. Recently, she was overheard singing, "Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing air-o-planes. AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHAHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHAHHHAHHH GLORIA!!!" The chorus is, of course, sung as loud as humanly possible. The best part is how she takes it all SO SERIOUSLY and how Caroline tries to chime in. Christmas this year is going to be very entertaining, to say the least.

Just for Grandma

The Aftermath

We have a new sign posted on our refrigerator door. As you can see, it reads, "No Candy Until Christmas". This sign became necessary after Ella ate an entire Hershey's bar and wiped her dirty hands on the couch!!

Beggar's Night

In our town they do their trick-or-treating on October 30th and they call it "Beggar's Night". Dorothy and Baby Glinda had a great time getting candy from all of the neighbors. The weather was fantastic which made it even more fun.

Home At Last

After an extended visit to Omaha and our first real family vacation to Colorado, we are finally home!! Ella and Caroline had a great time visiting Uncle Ciaran, Auntie Ellie and Baby Madalyn (or Mads, as Ella calls her) in Fort Collins. We all got our teeth cleaned and had a great time at a cabin in Estes Park. Our only mishap was when Ella fell into a partially frozen lake in the Rocky Mountain National Park!!

Fall Fun

Hayrack Ride!!

Tonight we went to a hayrack ride and cookout for Daddy's work. The weather was just gorgeous. Ella got to bounce on a giant hay bale and make s'mores. Caroline was just happy to run around in a big, open field.

Equal Representation

We have this little girl named Caroline too. This is what she looks like.

Before and After

When Ella Picks Out Her Own Clothes

Decisions, decisions.........

Ella simply cannot decide what she wants to be for Halloween. The whole concept of Halloween, getting huge amounts of candy because you dress up in a cute costume and say three little words, is almost too much for her to handle. When you throw in the option of choosing the costume, well that's just too much. Absolutely just too good to be true. So everyday Ella presents new ideas about what she would like to be for Halloween. Today she has decided she will be a flower. Yesterday it was a crayon and then a black cat. She has also suggested Dorothy (from the Wizard of Oz), a witch, a munchkin, Snow White and, my personal favorite, Mary. As in the mother of God. She thought Mary would be good because, "her outfit looks warm, it has a hood." Wednesday is the deadline for making up her mind though, we are off to the fabric store then to choose patterns and fabric.

A Caroline to English Dictionary

Caroline talks. And I'm sure it makes total sense to her, but here's a little help for the rest of us.

Mahney (mah-nee): diaper
Pacie (pa-cee): pacifier
Baba (bah-bah): baby
See-saw (see-sah): swing
choc-choc (chawk-chawk): chocolate
choo-choo (choo-choo): train
mow (mo): toy lawn mower
Rahey (rah-hee): Robbie (Grandma's dog)
Fafa (fah-fah): dog
Sissy wahoooo: Sissy, where are you?
wawa (wah-wah): water
drydrytowo (dri-dri-tau-o): dry dry towel
Daddyahwok: Daddy at work
iyeem (i-eem): ice cream

Dictionary will be expanded as necessary!!

Deep Thoughts

Ella: What if we had carpet outside and grass inside?
Mommy: That would be different.
Ella: Yeah, then Daddy would have to vacuum and you would have to mow.

Day Out With Thomas

Today was the day of the much anticipated ride on Thomas the Tank Engine. Ella and Daddy drove about 45 minutes north to a town called Boone for the ride. Ella said it was great, but she was a little disappointed that Thomas didn't talk. In addition to the train ride, Ella got to jump in a bounce house and eat a hot dog and an ice cream sandwich. Now that's livin'!!