Happy Birthday Ellie!!

Today my little baby girl turns seven years old! Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday she was a little 5 lb 7 oz and 18.5 inch bundle of trouble. Now she is a 45 lb and about 2/3 the height of me bundle of trouble. How the time flies......

For her birthday, we took the plunge and got her an American Girl doll. Ellie and I went to the store together at the Mall of America and she got to pick out the doll she wanted. We had already agreed ahead of time that Kit was the doll she wanted and she stuck to that even after seeing all the dolls in the store.

Ellie likes Kit because she looks like her. After Amanda's wedding, I will let Ellie cut her hair so that Ellie and the doll can look even more alike. I also went to JoAnn Fabric's the other day and am planning to attempt to make some clothes for Kit. This could get interesting, but as it is a doll and she can't voice her opinion of my sewing skills, it should be alright!

So Happy Birthday to my little Ellie Mae! You are getting so old! You are such a beautiful girl, so full of life and spunk. You always make me laugh with your witty view of everything.

I love you so very much!

Intentional?

I'll be the first to admit that my housekeeping skills have been rather lax lately. It's hard to find motivation when first it rained for a week straight and the next week was beautiful weather in the 70s which had us outside every day. My excuse this week is that it is too hot in the upper 80s and even into the 90s to clean. All my energy must be conserved to keep myself cool!

Anyway, on Sunday Jake was finally overwhelmed by all the stuff piled up everywhere waiting for me to find motivation to put it away. He started listing all the things that needed to get done around the house. Not one to expend more energy than necessary, I convinced him to help me when he got home from the gym. Surprisingly, he agreed.

Jake called me as he was leaving the gym later that morning.

This is what he did to his ankle while playing basketball:


Some might feel sympathy for him but I knew that he agreed too easily to help me straighten up the house. Rolling your ankle for the hundredth time is a little intense but I guess it does work if you are trying to get out of something. So intentional or accident????? You decide........

Carter Catch Phrases

Ah, my sweet baby boy. Bless his wonderful little heart.

Carter has been driving us nuts for the last week or two. He doesn't mean to, but does all the same.

He has always been a simple little boy. Provided all his needs are met, he is content. Unfortunately, we have not been able to meet all these needs this week, so we hear about it.

Carter has developed a solid three catch phrases, with a couple others thrown in there.

If we were to make an action figure that could speak, it would not be hard to think of his phrases.

"I have a runny nose."
"I'm soggy."
"I need chocolate milk."

The other random ones include "Where's my blankie?" and "I want to watch Dora." However, the frequency is not nearly as high as the other three.

Bless his little heart, he isn't a very demanding child, but when all you've heard the past week are those phrases, it's hard to not want to tape his mouth shut! Here's hoping we can start finding some new things to talk about.

San Diego Trip

Better late than never! We had a great time on our family vacation to San Diego. The weather was upper 60s to low 70s and the sun was warm. Our days were primarily spent by going on an excursion each morning (a beach, Seaport Village), lunch, pool, naps, play on the beach in the bay area by our hotel, walk, baths, and bed. It was fun to get away and be in a new place and new environment with the kids. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Beyond relieved to finally be there

Packing light is all in your perception!

(2 suitcases, 2 car seats, a small duffle, backpack, E's tote, my purse, double stroller)

Pacific Beach

Ava liked the sand

Jake & the kids at Seaport Village

I get that they are twins but to see them each do this exact same tackle roll on Jake was a little weird, especially when Ava wasn't watching Carter do it

The sand queens

The only pic of me with the kids and you can't even see my face.

Story of my life!