Day 31

Today is Monday, which means bi-weekly mall walks for Claire & I. She is such a good little walking companion, so I always make sure when I am done walking she gets a little time to play in the play area before we leave.


Oh, and being near Target twice a week allows me to find some good deals. Today's deal was the nightlight I've had my eye on for Ella's new princess bedroom at 30% off and two plain pillows for $2.48 each that we'll cover with princess-y fabric. Yay!

Day 30

Today was a great family day! This morning Ella sang in church (and she actually sang part of the time this time!) and this evening we checked out Stevi B's for the first time. Yum! Jeremy & I agreed that the Loaded Baked Potato pizza was the best. Ella's favorite was the noodles with alfredo sauce and Claire pretty much ate whatever you gave her. After we ate, we of course had to check out the games. Ella's first pick was the candy crane where for $0.50 she got 3 tiny pieces of candy. It made her happy, anyways! Then, Jeremy played the balloon pop and hit the jackpot of 400+ tickets. Pretty impressive to see all those tickets spilling out of the machine and Ella had a blast choosing her prizes...a mood necklace, a bean bag ball for Claire (who upon realizing it was NOT food, threw it) and 5 tootsie rolls. All that food and fun for less than $14...not bad!

Tonight Ella & I made round one of her Valentine Cookie Pops. I was pretty impressed at how well she did with helping and she had a blast. Round two to come later this week!

Day 29

Happy 4th Birthday Mason!!!

Mason's birthday party was today, though his actual birthday is the 25th. It's been so fun watching him grow up. Such an amazing little guy!

Day 28

Haircut #5 for Ella today, complete with green glitter for Ella and orange glitter for Claire.

Ps. This is the face she now makes when asked to smile...kinda looks more like a grimace ;)

Day 27

Exhausted after a playdate with "her girls".

Day 26

One of my earlier childhood memories is "baking" in my play kitchen. Mom and I made
banana bread together one day and she put some of the batter in one of my mini bread tins. I got to put the unbaked bread in my own oven and when I woke up the bread had been baked in my oven! I remember thinking how magical my play kitchen was and I wanted to share the same moment with Ella.

Today Ella chose the recipe (Blueberry Banana Bread) and she did 99% of the prep/mixing on her own. She proudly "preheated" her oven, placed the bread in the over and happily went off to take a nap, with the promise of yummy bread when she woke up. She was not disappointed...as soon as she came downstairs she checked her oven, where her oven and the bread were still warm. Seriously, I've never seen her more proud! She set the table with her tea set so that when Claire woke up from her nap we could all have a tea party with her specially made bread. I am hoping this day makes it into Ella's memory bank...

Day 25

Monkey baby! Seriously, Claire climbs everything...takes after her Uncle Wes as a kid.

Day 24

Ella is feeling better, so she made it to school today. In an effort to regain a little motivation, Claire and I walked the mall while Ella was at school. We may have done a little browsing, too...

Anyways, after preschool we ALL napped and relaxed until Jeremy got home. Chili was on the dinner menu tonight, so needless to say, a bath followed dinner.

Day 23

It seems as if the bug that made us feel chills, nauseous and achy has been replaced by the bug that likes to make us stuffy, make us cough and give us sore throats. All in about a weeks time. Wonderful. Because of this bug that is very into sharing, we had a quiet day. We went to church this morning, then played, napped and watched the Packers v. Bears game. Congrats on your trip to the Super Bowl, GB! We celebrated the victory with stromboli, which both girls helped to make. Yum!

Day 22

We took advantage of no kids at home today to get some house projects done. Jeremy painted the stairway and upstairs hallway while I painted our master bathroom. Both look SO much better now with some color!

Day 21

The girls are spending the night at Grandma's, so tonight we got to have a date night at the Melting Pot with Heather & Phil (thanks for the gift card, Wes & Heather!). It was absolutely amazing as usual!

Day 20

The bug that hit the girls and Jeremy a few days ago hit me today. All I wanted to do was hibernate under the covers, and thankfully, the girls played pretty well together and let me take it easy. We did manage a special picnic lunch under a makeshift tent though. They thought it was the best lunch ever and we pretended that we were in an old ship under the sea. Flounder, Sebastian, Ariel and Melody joined us to hide from Morgana (Ella's favorite movie of the moment is the Little Mermaid 2) and Ella bravely left safety to get Morgana with her trident. Claire was just happy to have an entire plate of food in front of her and really enjoyed taking a bite out of each piece of food and moving onto the next. Her way of claiming the food so no one else could eat it?

Day 19

Even though it has been a few months since we've last had Dierdre at our house, Ella still talks about her often. Today Dave & Dierdre met us at the Building for Kids so that the girls could all play together. Apparently Dierdre missed Ella, too, because as soon as she walked in and saw Ella she shrieked "Ella!" and ran over to give her a hug. Precious! All three girls had a great time and were sad to leave each other.

On another note, Blue 2 joined our family today. The fish that Ella picked out for her second birthday, a betta that she named Blue, went to fishy heaven last Friday. Even though the empty bowl is sitting on the bathroom counter, Ella has not yet realized that Blue is gone. Jeremy opted to just replace Blue instead of explaining to Ella what happened to him. So, tonight Jeremy went to two different stores to find another Beta that looked like Blue. Let's see if Ella can tell the difference!

Day 18

A good morning for Ella and a not so great morning for Claire today. Ella had her weekly play date with Maddy and Lucia at the Abuhl's house today, which she always gets so excited about. Claire got to visit Dr. Ridlehoover for her 15 month appointment. We love Dr. Ridlehoover and Claire is growing great, but it's a bummer that it included 3 pokes today. It is torture as a parent to have to hold your child down for something you know is going to hurt them :( Claire definitely cried during the shots, but calmed down relatively fast. It helped that we made sure to take her "bits" and her nuk. Claire is now 24 lbs 4 oz and 31 inches tall (putting her at 1 lb 10 oz lighter and .75 inches shorter than her big sister was at 15 months).

After we got home this afternoon Ella wanted to see Claire's band aids and then snuggled her to make her feel better. It is precious when they snuggle together!

Day 17

Jeremy stayed home sick today (he seems to catch EVERYTHING), so I took Ella to preschool and then Claire and I walked the mall so Jeremy could have some peace and quiet. Claire is such a good little walking companion! After preschool we had lunch, naps and then just played. We built a fort with all of the couch cushions and they love that! I tried to get a good shot of them playing in their fort, but this is all I got...

*Note that there are two rooms in the fort. Of course they each have to have their own room!

Day 16

Ella has a fantastic imagination and can pretty much make anything into "characters" to play with. She turned her mac n cheese and apple lunch into mountains that the spiral people were climbing over. It's amusing to watch and really does give meaning to playing with her food :)

ETA: I pulled out a bunch of picture books from my teaching box today and one of them, Brave Irene, was a childhood favorite of mine. I was explaining to Ella that Granny's name is also Irene. After I told her that, she excitedly ran in to tell Jeremy that Granny's name is Tangerine!

Day 15

Auntie Heather visited today! Ella was completely attached to her and hardly left her side the entire time she was here. Claire had fun showing off and making us all laugh. Some day we'll have to get her on video when she is watching the Diego theme song...hilarious!

Day 14

Ella's friends, Maddy & Lucia, came over to play this morning. It's so fun watching how Ella interacts with her friends. For quite a while they just sat on the couch and read to each other. The favorite story of the day seemed to be the Little Mermaid. It's so nice having neighbors with kids the same age as ours!

Day 13

We had a fun day at the mall today. We got some great deals on toys at Target (love 75% off!), got Easter dresses for this year and Christmas dresses for next year along with a few other items for the girls for $43.50 from Crazy 8 AND had a playdate at the mall with Sarah, Callie & Wesley. All 4 kids were so good and let the mommies get some grown up talk and exercise in.

Tonight after bath time Claire decided to brush her teeth while sitting on the potty chair. We just put the potty out last week so Claire could get used to seeing it and she is interested in sitting on it (fully clothed), but INSISTS that the insert be taken out. I hope she gets over that before she actually starts using the potty!

Day 12

Today while Ella was in school Claire and I did some power walking in the mall. It must have tired her out, because when I went to check on her 2 minutes after laying her down for nap, she looked like this...

Day 11

They really do love each other!

Today after the girls & I shoved the driveway we came in to relax and warm up. Claire insisted on sitting on Ella's lap to read books and for a whole 20-25 minutes they sat together and read. Ella kept saying "I love my sissy" and "I'm so glad I have a sister". It's to make sure I record moments like this that I decided to take part in Project 365. Love my girls!

Day 10

Ella LOVES to help in the kitchen, so today we made banana crumb muffins. Ella did almost all of the baking herself with just a little assistance from me and was pretty proud when we all commented on how yummy they were.

And, an Ella story:

As I was getting lunch ready today I could hear Ella from the bathroom asking for help. I asked her what she needed, and she replied, "I'm not talking to you. I'm asking God for help." Apparently she was asking Him to turn the water on for her :)

Day 9

Church with Ella...trip to the grocery store...2 hour nap...vegetable lasagna for supper...playing with the girls. A perfect Sunday!

Claire thought the Packer win also made it a good Sunday :)

Day 8

My future dentist....

(Children's Museum in Stevens Point)

Day 7

The girls and I had a great Girls' Morning Out. We did a little shopping, played at the Building for Kids for 2 hours and then had lunch at Tropical Smoothie Cafe. Yum!

After naps Ella went over to her friend, Maddy's, house to play. Maddy's house is right behind ours and we can see their backdoor from ours, so Ella walked to Maddy's all by herself for the first time. You could tell she was pretty proud of herself, but it made me happy that she kept glancing back at me. She's growing up so much!

Ps. Happy Birthday, Larry!

Day 6

A glass of Light Sweet Muscat from Simon Creek Winery to celebrate a new Grey's after a month of reruns. Perfection!

Oh, and a cute Ella story.

Ella: Dad, I really want a dog.

Jeremy: Are you going to pay for it with your own money?

Ella: *pauses, then looks at me* Mom, can I use your money?

Day 5

Claire and I wandered around Target today while Ella was in preschool and here's a photo of my purchases.

Total cost= $3.73. Total savings= $32.40.

And to make it even better, when I got home I realized there was a coupon in the stocking for 20 free prints. I *heart* Target sales.

Day 4

I bought the girls these shirts a while ago and have been meaning to get a picture of them together in them. After many attempts today, I now remember why I did not succeed in past attempts. Getting these two girls to sit together with smiles AND looking at the camera is next to impossible. Here's my best attempt today...

Day 3

Today is Jeremy's last day of holiday vacation. He took Ella to preschool today and Claire helped me clean her room. After preschool was done we picked Ella up and decided to do a surprise lunch at Culvers with her. I know, not exactly the most exciting of all places, but it's right up there on Ella's top 3 favorite places to eat. McMcDonalds is her number one choice, but we let our Culver's gift card dictate where we ate. I think the Really Reeses custard made up for any disappointment that we didn't eat at McMcDonalds.

Day 2

So I have already failed a little on this project today. No photo today, but it's because I didn't really decide to do this until day 3 of the new year. I think Ella may have a picture on her camera that was taken yesterday, so I will have to see if I can find a USB cord to get it onto the computer.

This morning Ella had Sunday school and then we went to the 10:30 am service. It was a workout to keep both kids somewhat quiet and still...whew! After church we ate lunch and then the girls napped, I cleaned and Jeremy went to look for deer sheds. The rest of the day was pretty laid back, with Jeremy playing with the girls and me trying to get our houseback in shape after the holidays. Oh the glamour!

Day 1- Happy New Year!

I've decided to attempt Project 365...taking one photo a day to document our daily lives. I am hoping to use this blog to capture the little moments and memories that might otherwise get lost in the big things of life. Here we go!

The New Year began as it does most Saturdays- with a trip to the grocery store and a little shopping. This evening our wonderful friends, the Brandts, came over so we could do our little Christmas exchange, let the kiddos play and the grown ups socialize. I can't think of many ways to better start the new year than yummy food (including chocolate fondue), tropical slush, happy kids and great friends! Ella & Claire say thank you Heather, Phil, Mason & Mckenna for the gifts. The magnifying glass has hardly left Ella's hand!