Day 89

After a very busy day that included two playdates and cleaning half of the house, we ended our day with a relaxing walk down Everglade. We saw our first muscrapper (muskrat) of the year, too!

Day 88

It was Claire's turn today to help me set up for a photo session since Ella was at a playdate. Claire stepped up to the challenge very well :-) I love this photo of Claire. This face is her response to being asked for her "pretty smile".

Day 87

Yesterday when Ella was helping to get Lacie to look at the camera she fell off the stool she was sitting on and the stool came down right on her eye. Poor Ella, I cannot imagine how much that hurt. She was a trooper though. A few minutes later she was back to trying to get Lacie to look and smile. She was rewarded for her helping and getting hurt in the process by going to Stevi B's (or D-ba D's as Ella says). Some pasta and arcade games made her forget all about her injury. She was pretty reluctant to let me get a picture of it today though.

Day 86

Today I took pictures for the Bradley family and I used Ella as my model to get my white balance and backdrop all set up. She is such a great little model...so cooperative and helpful. And as a bonus, I get some pretty precious pictures of my big girl.

Day 85

She puts EVERYTHING on her head.

Day 84

Don't let her fool you, as soon as I snapped the picture she burst into smile.

Day 83

I remembered today why Jeremy & I wait until we can both be in the bathroom when it's bathtime for the girls. I gave them a bath this afternoon by myself, and wow, what a crazy mess. Claire had lots of fun whipping water from the Barbie's hair all over the floor, then once I got her out of the bathtub she decided to pee on the floor. I got both wet messes cleaned up, only to turn around and find she had also pooped on the floor. Then, I managed to get her dressed and when I turned to get Ella out of the bathtub Claire managed to drench her upper half as she watched the water drain from the tub. I did get some cute bath pictures pre-mess though!

Day 82

Thanks to Francesca, Ella had her third snow day of her brief school career. She was bummed again, but we kept busy bringing the girls' spring and summer clothing out of storage and making a home for them in their dressers. We are being optimistic that it won't be TOO much longer before we can pull out those cute little flowery, bright colored dresses. The girls also helped make supper...yummy pizza. They did a great job!

Day 81

And just when we thought spring was right around the corner, winter storm Francesca appears in all her snowy glory. She held nothing back...rain, sleet, thunder, lightening and snow.

Day 80

Jeremy helped out in Ella's classroom today!

Day 79

I didn't blog about this big event before today because I didn't want to jinx the progress, but Claire is now nuk-less! Thursday evening I cut the tip off of her nuk on a complete whim to see how she'd react. Surprisingly, she didn't seem too upset and just whimpered for a while at bedtime. Nap on Friday didn't go quite as smoothly, but since then each nap/bedtime has gotten better and tonight she went to sleep without a peep! I wasn't really planning on taking it away for a month or so yet, but because she did better than I expected I figured the time was right. I am SO proud of my Claire! Ella on the otherhand, does not think we're doing Claire any favors. She told me I cannot cut anymore of the nuks, though she said she does forgive me for taking hers away (which was over 2 years ago!).

Day 78

Check out the Super Moon!

Day 77

We didn't have to rush off to anywhere this morning, so I decided to recreate the very cool rainbow pancakes I had seen online. Ella helped with the coloring of the batter, so some of the colors are a little brighter than others :) Anyways, they were pretty easy to do and the girls LOVED them! They each ate an entire rainbow stack and Ella even went back for an additional two pancakes.

After our bright, fun breakfast we picked Papa up and took him to the Building for Kids with us and then we all went to McMcDonalds for lunch. A pretty perfect morning by the girls' standards!

Day 76

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We celebrated by having the Rings over for a gold hunt, making rainbow necklaces, green food and magic leprechaun pudding.

Day 75

This afternoon Jeremy surprised us by coming home from work a couple hours early to enjoy the nice weather. We took our first walk of the year down to Everglade Road. Walking to Everglade is one of our favorite walks, especially in the spring. Everything floods and all types of winged creatures flock to the area, mostly ducks, sandhill cranes and geese but we've also seen deer and muskrats. By the time we turned back onto our street the girls were ready to get out of the wagon and walk. Claire's new favorite thing is to walk while holding Ella's hand. She refuses to hold Jeremy's or my hand, but will always hold Ella's. It is adorable to watch them walk along holding hands.

Day 74

Our first visit of the year to the Twist!

Day 73

I had a slacker day! After a weekend away and a decent amount of time with my camera, the two of us took a little breather today. I forgot that I hadn't taken my 365 photo today until just before Ella's bedtime. So, here it is. A completely uninspired photo of Ella zoning out in front of her current favorite cartoon- Rugrats (or "Tommy" as she calls it).

Side note: Jeremy seems to enjoy Ella's current viewing choice. I think it takes him back almost two decades. And maybe now is the time to admit that I introduced her to some good 'ol CareBears recently, too ;)

Day 72

We ended our girls weekend with a drive around the peninsula, lunch at Husby's and more girl talk. Thanks, girls, for a great weekend. It was so nice to get away and be out with the girls. Though it was pretty wonderful to come home to Jeremy, Ella & Claire. Ahh, bliss.

Day 71

Jenny, Heather and I left this morning for our Girl's Weekend in Door County. We had lunch at Bluefront Cafe in Sturgeon Bay, sampled some wine at Door Peninsula Winery, browsed at Natural Encounters, did lots and lots of girl talk in the hotel room, ate dinner at Mojo Rosa's, hot tubbed, and drank wine. Perfect way to spend the day.

Day 70

A beautiful day today! The girls and I spent quite a bit of time outside this afternoon. Cannot wait for spring! Tonight Heather & I had manicures and pedicures in preparation for our big weekend. We ended the pampering with some Cold Stone. Mmmm.

Day 69

Jeremy came home from work a little bit early today so we could check out Lobsterfest at Red Lobster. We had a great dinner and when we got ready to leave an older couple told us that our girls were very well behaved and that it was a pleasure dining with us. So great to hear! After Red Lobster we headed over to Kohl's to make use of my 30% off. New clothes for Ella & I, new shoes for both girls and shelves for our bathroom. Fun fun! Claire was exhausted by the time we got home and wouldn't even wake up as we were unloading everything.

Day 68

I was feeling crafty, so with the help of a trip to Hobby Lobby, I repurposed some wine glasses for our Girl's Weekend this weekend.

Day 67

Happy Mardi Gras! We celebrated with waffles topped with strawberries and whipped cream. Not related to Mardi Gras tradition in any way, shape or form, but a good excuse to pair sprinkles with our breakfast :-)

Day 66

Claire's idea of coloring:

1. Point to the top of the refrigerator where the crayons and coloring books are.

2. Sit down on the floor and choose a book, giving the impression she's serious about this coloring thing.

3. Open the crayon box and dump the entire box.

4. Walk away.

Day 65

We woke up and hit the ground running today! Ella sang at the 8am service, which meant she and I were out the door by 7:40am. For as much as she sings her songs at home, she has yet to actually SING in front of everyone. After church I dropped Ella off at Sunday School and came home for a little while. Jeremy picked Ella up from Sunday School and then the four of us headed off to Fond du lac to check out the Children's Museum there. They girls had a fabulous time! For a smaller museum it is really nice. On the way home Jeremy dropped me off at the outlet mall in Oshkosh so that Heather & I could do a little shopping. I came home to supper already on the table...I married an amazing man! The rest of the night we played and relaxed until bedtime. Time to get some sleep before a new week arrives!

Day 64

Mom, Bill & Kenzie came over today so that we could celebrate Mom's birthday (a few days early). We always love family time!

Day 63

A wonderfully, relaxing day that ended with brownie AND angel food cake in the oven. Oh yes, and fresh strawberries waiting in the strainer. Mmm.

Day 62

This morning we had a playdate with the Rings and even ventured outside for a little while. Definitely cannot wait for warmer weather when we can be outside more and revisit all the neighborhood parks!

Tonight I pulled out some old teaching files, hoping to find some March crafts to do with Ella. We made coffee filter shamrocks and she colored a little book about a leprechaun and his gold. I found quite a few ideas that I think we'll do on St. Patrick's day, too. I love that Ella is getting to the age where I can do some of the activities with her that I did with my preK and K students.

Day 61

I registered Ella for 4K today! So bittersweet! She loves school and I am so proud of her, but I cannot believe she will be ready for 4K already! Slow down, time!

Tonight after Claire went to bed we played another game of Disney SceneIt. Ella & I are still undefeated!

Day 60

Multiple times a day I walk into Ella's room to find both girls reading on Ella's bed. I love, love, love that they read together!

Day 59

We had a great time at Hillside for Ella's Family Fun Night tonight! One of the projects Ella made there...

*Note: I really try to not shoot with a flash or in auto, but I forgot my camera for the actual event and figured this less than stellar shot was better than no shot at all!