Watch out Carver, here she comes! :)

Ellie's last days of preschool

Monday was Ellie's early birthday at preschool, one of the costs of those nasty summer birthdays. She was so excited about her pretend birthday and most especially loved her gigantic box of Mike & Ike's. In fact, she ate 2/3 of the box before I realized what was happening! I loved her hat, but not her silliness during the photo shoot. She's such a fun girl and says the craziest, funny things. Some of her best ones:

"I'm going to be a princess AFTER I whine and cry."

"If animals are shot and they're on the dinner table and they're on your plate, then you can eat them."

"I can hardly wait til I'm a teenager because then I'm going to sea."

In church:
Me: "can I see your program?"
Ellie: "yeah, it's always the same."

"When you're tired and it's cold, and make the sound an "h" makes, your breath comes out."

"I'm not sick anymore. I just have coughs and bless-you's."

About the sign at preschool that says No Soliciting:
"I know that Ms. Camilla has a sign by her door that says, "no show and tell."

I could go on and on. She keeps us laughing. Lately, she's also acting a bit like a sassy 15 year old and we don't think that's quite so funny. Nose up and an independent streak a mile wide. Today is her last day of preschool and I was reflecting on how empty and sad I felt her first day, when she was just 3 and Lydia was in kindergarten. We met our friends at the school and Ellie walked home with John for our carpool and I went home with just Carver. It was so weird and lonely and I panicked about my girls growing up and leaving my care and feeling like the time with them was so short, had I taught them enough? Would they turn out okay? And then I took a couple deep breaths and reminded myself it was just a couple hours twice a week. :) I was so excited for her to start and to feel as grown up as Lydia with a backpack of her own and to make her own special friends. Isn't growing up always bittersweet?

So here she is, finishing preschool today, graduating officially Wednesday, starting kindergarten in the fall. Time flies, but I'll always love my Ellie bean.

Bag Tag

A couple weekends ago, I went to Issaquah to take Ellie to a birthday party. While she played, I ran errands with Grace. I was a bit puzzled why she wouldn't go to sleep on the way when it was naptime and she typically dozes off so easily in the car. Oh, well, I thought. So much for her nap. Then I got her out to feed her before heading into Ross and it all clicked. Let's just say her diaper was stinky and it leaked all over her. I soon realized I had only 5-6 wipes and an old size 1 diaper, no onesie or anything resembling clothing for any of my children. No hand sanitizer even! What good is my diaper bag without that?! I swallowed my pride and took her into the store in just a diaper and her mostly clean t-shirt, so desperate was I to browse a store without all the kiddos in tow. When I got home, I remembered Carlen's post awhile back with this tag and decided the moment had come to reveal all I had and didn't have in my mom bag of tricks.

what I had:
an empty bag of wipes
2 size 1 diapers (Carver wears 6, Grace is outgrowing 2)
3 Grace socks (one pair, one extra)
3 Grace shoes (one pair, one extra)
1 pair pretend ballet slippers
1 fleece glove of mine
1 sparkly blue headband
1 red plastic necklace
1 squishy boardbook
1 plastic baby ring
a dirty bib and spoon (only recently dirty, I promise)
my watch with dead batteries (still hoping to get that replaced)
Derek's cell phone
my flash drive
2 zig pens, 2 regular pens, one extra cap
3 kinds of lip gloss
1 pacifier + attacher
a small bottle of excedrin
5-6 old receipts
program to the April 18th Primary Talent Show
program to the April 1st Grade concert
old insurance card for Carver
business cards to Washburn Pianos, Issaquah Furniture
my library card
1 regular lotion
1 bath and body work's freesia lotion
2 immunization records (Ellie and Grace)
Marble Slab punch card
1 Franklin planner, totally outdated and used only as a wallet
stickiness and crumbs at the bottom

I took the opportunity to get a new cute wallet that day at Ross and revamped the diaper bag, as well. Added back sunglasses, hand sanitizer, diapers, wipes and snacks for the kiddos. I feel so much more prepared. Oh, I still need to add that ziplock with a nice clean onesie inside!

Feel free to take the tag if you want to clean out and fess up, too! :)

Grace is 9 months!

Here's 9 things about Grace on her 9 month day:

She has 3 teeth, she loves yogurt, she doesn't love finger food at ALL, she still wakes up 1-2 times a night to nurse, she loves to sit and play and watch her brother and sisters, she isn't mobile yet (thank goodness!), she has new fluffy brown hair growing in, her eyes are losing their "blue-ness" (but haven't really taken on a new color), and she is a terrible flirt! We love her to pieces.

Welcome to Webkinz World

For at least 2 months now, Lydia's been talking about Webkinz, the hot toy of the school year. Kid bring them to play with at recess and so Lydia's been patiently taking other stuffed animals to join in, while she saved her chore money to buy one. FINALLY the day arrived. Saturday was a big Webkinz extravaganza and they were essentially buy one, get one free. And she was only a job away! Excitement mounting, she wiped all the cabinets in the kitchen and we loaded the up the kiddos to go to the local gift shop. She chose a chihuahua she's named "Chewy" and got a free lion that probably has a name, but I can't remember it right now. It's Chewy that she really loves, the lion isn't even logged in to Webkinz world yet. It must a second class pet. :) Anyway, for the life of me I can't figure out how to acquire food for the thing and I've heard rumors of gardening online, but can't figure that out either. The whole thing has made me feel much less intelligent than I'd originally considered. It's not that user friendly, really. Or maybe that generation gap is starting to show.... AUGH! I don't like to consider that.

Lydia also requested a hair cut and it looks SO cute. A good 6 inches is gone! And here's a clip of her learning to ride her bike. We are very proud of her! Another good practice session and she'll be nearly on her way.