Busy Weekend

Wow! We have had quite a weekend. And actually the whole last week was pretty busy. The beginning of the week was spent buying and planning for Ellie's birthday party. We had it a week early because company was a'comin'.

AM helping with the laundry.

Thursday was my very first "Muffins for Moms" and it was so sweet. The kiddos at E's school sang songs and we had muffins and fruit (and chocolate fountains!). Ellie is not very outgoing at these events, but I know she knows all the songs. In the last few months she has gotten really good at remembering lyrics and singing along with songs. Most of the time she does get a few words wrong, but that's what makes it cute. One of the songs they sang on Thursday was one that my great-grandmother used to sing to me. I never knew all the words, and I didn't know that E was learning it, so I almost cried while they were singing. I probably would've broken down if I hadn't been preoccupied with wrestling AM away from the camera strap. Here's the best I could do with squirmy wormy in my lap.....

Then after school, I took E for a much needed haircut and then we went to a pot-luck supper at my friend Amy's house. It was a night time playgroup which Ellie thought was "cuh-razy!".

Friday the girls and I went to the gym, picked up a few last minute things at Winn-Dixie and then went home to finish the cake, clean up some more and NOT take a nap. That afternoon was the rehearsal for her recital and then my mom and granny got here about midnight.

Saturday we were up at out early for her dance recital. It was very cute and she did a great job. I will post video of it soon. We hurried home at intermission to finish up the food and decorating for her party.
At 2, her friends came over and we had a great Tea Party. The girls really seemed to enjoy it. We decorated fancy tea party hats,

played games, and had yummy treats. Everyone was super sweet and Ellie was so pleased with the whole day. Especially because she got to pour everyone's tea.

Getting ready to blow out the candles.

Thanks for the awesome stuff everyone!

This morning she even told me (totally out of the blue) "Mommy, that was the BEST. PARTY. EVER!" I teared up again. What a softie. Oh, yeah I forgot to mention...check out this awesome teapot cake. Who could've made such a masterpiece? Oh yeah, it was me!!!




I really can't believe she is going to be 4 in a week. It makes me sad. Enough of that. Here are some pics of her having more fun with AM this weekend. Thanks GranJan for the awesome dresses.

AM's favorite part of the whole weekend was all the crinkly wrapping

Playing "beauty shop" with Gran Jan

Eat your veggies

Setting: House of Payne Kitchen

Ellie: (examining the baby food selection- she likes to look at the pictures on the jars and choose what AM eats) "Broccoli and chicken??!! Mom, you KNOW kids don't like broccoli."

Me: "Some kids do."

Ellie: "I don't fink so."

Afternoon at the Lake

Ellie has been bugging Brandon to go fishing for a while so we finally took her on Sunday. I use the term "we" very loosely as I had zero involvement in the fishing endeavors. I was there as strictly a snack manager and cheif baby wrangler. Also- photographer and sunscreen applier. I did NOT handle any crickets or worms. And had any fish actually been caught, I would've had no part in their capture or release. Anyway, we did not go out in the boat. It needs to be serviced and we really didn't have all day since AM chose that day to actually nap. We did go to the lake on post and found a cool spot. There was lots of shade and you can drive right up to the water. Here is some of the fun we had.

Finding a good spot to fish

Getting her rod ready to cast.

Reeling it in

Cheif cracker-eater and slobber monster

Digging in the sand and burying her lures

Sunbathing with Mommy

Our spot

Playing super hero (obviously her interest in fishing did not last for the whole trip)

She's is SO over being a baby

AM is really learning lots of new things every day. She is sitting up all by herself and eating just about anything you put in front of her. She's a huge fan of crackers and fruit. Also peas. I really haven't found anything that she won't eat if she's in the mood. Her legs are very strong and she will stand up holding on to your hands. Her knees don't even buckle at all any more. She will reach for toys from a sitting position and push herself back up to sitting. Sometimes she does fall all the way forward and can push up with straight elbows. She hasn't figured out how to get up on her knees yet, but she's close. The only direction she's managed to move in is backwards. Here is a video of her watching Ellie play with a balloon. Obviously she thought it was quite amusing.







and then here is one of her reaching for her toy

Playing Catch-Up

Here are some slide shows of what we've been up to lately.


Some random shots of the girls...especially of AM eating real food. It's her new hobby, along with sitting up.

Strawberry Patch Field Trip

Hiccups and Hilarity

Ellie has been on a roll this week...


Exhibit A

Ellie: "Mommy, I have the hiccups. Try to scare them away."

Me: "Ok."

Ellie: "I'm waiting."

Me: "Well, I can't do it when you're expecting it. I'll do it in a minute."

(approximately 1.5 seconds later)

Ellie: "ok.....I'm not expecting it."

(hilarious laughter from me, causes baby to crack up which make me laugh harder which make E laugh harder, thus making the hiccups worse.)


Exhibit B

I tossed her a washcloth in the tub after becoming slightly irritated with her and she told me, "Mommy, that is not Messesary!"

Exhibit C

I explained to her that the Pinocchio movie from NetFlix was a Blu-Ray disc and would not work in her little DVD player. She didn't seem to mind and chose another one. Later she wanted to watch Elmo and asked me if it was a boo-ray movie too.

one more...
One day this week she was so excited for Brandon to get home so she could tell him something funny or exciting (I can't even remember what the news was) but she just knew he was going to pee in his pants when he heard it.

and side note to Mom and Grandma- I do have some pictures to put up and I am going to work on them next :)

Easter

Better late than never, right?

We started the Easter festivities a couple weeks ago at the playgroup egg hunt. Thanks Wades!


Ellie really got into finding the eggs this year. In fact, we had to have many, many practice hunts at our house before and after Easter Sunday.

These next two are ones Alex took. Hers are always so awesome. Thanks Alex!

Then on Saturday we went to the hunt across the HWY at the park. Ellie got a lot of eggs, but she was mad because they were all just thrown on the ground. None were actually hidden in her age division. I should've taken her down to the 4-5 year old section, but I was afraid she'd be more disappointed if she didn't get a lot of eggs. She still had fun. She was also mad because half of her eggs had starlight mints in them. She hates those. And who gives those out for an egg hunt? I mean, really?

E's basket and goodies

AM and her lootThis bunny poops jellybeans! heehee
What, that's it?

She looks a little skeptical about this egg.

Pink Ladies ready for church