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!

Baby Olivia Again!

Hi all, Carter here again. I just had to tell everyone that my favorite baby came to visit again! It was so much fun to see her and now that she is almost 8 months old, we could do so much more with her.

Ava actually liked getting to hold her this time. All Ava wanted to do was hold the baby and if anyone said no, well, Ava let them know she wasn't pleased until she finally got to hold her. Thankfully Olivia doesn't seem to mind the chokehold since that's how Ava usually held her!

Me, I just liked to touch her hair, grind my teeth (not only do I seem to have that particular Wendorff trait, I suffer from it greatly), and say "hi baby" over and over to Olivia. Mommy and Aunt Holly thought it was funny because after so many head touches, I would have to run around and jump like a wild man due to my pent-up testosterone!

Poor Ellie just wanted a chance to see her and took advantage of any moment we weren't around the baby, which were few! At least she got to help out by passing out all the presents at Amanda's shower and Olivia's baptism party.

Olivia's baptism. Look at that dress! The only word to describe it is ostenetatious!

We had such a great time with Olivia and can't wait to see her in June for Aunt Amanda's wedding! We just love that little baby so very much!

Love, Carter

"Springtime Fun" by Ellie M. Wendorff

A story with illustrations all done by the budding author Ellie M. Wendorff

Springtime Fun - In this story, you will hear all about spring

My birthday is in spring on May 30th Sunday 2010 - In spring you can ride your bike like me

Get some ice cream - And go to a pool

Picking flowers is the best - I go to bed then when the day is done

Ellie's World

I feel I haven't posted much about Ellie lately. The pics I snap of the twins tend to be while Ellie is still in school and when she does get home, we don't see much of her. Apparently we don't have the same draw the neighborhood kids do.

Anyway, here's what has happened with Ellie:

*Lost her third tooth, another bottom one. Poor kid has too small a mouth for adult teeth so this tooth fell out only because her other front permanent tooth needed room. Braces are looking inevitable...

*Had her first grade musical concert on March 23rd. It was a great way to celebrate my birthday and the twins and I went to two of the three performances. (she's the peanut in the black & white dress)

*Learned to ride a two-wheeler!! This is the greatest accomplishment and I wish I could take the credit but it goes to Ellie's determination and the helpful nature of the neighborhood kids.

The story of the training wheels:

Ellie didn't touch her bike all last summer, opting instead to scooter her way around. A week ago, she decided she was ready to ride but wanted to skip training wheels. I overrode that opinion and put the training wheels on the bike. Last Thursday, she asked for them off, saying she was "so embarrassed" to still have the wheels. I refused to take them off and went in the house. Fifteen minutes later I went back out to see that the wheels had been kicked back so they weren't touching the ground. I decided to humor her and take one off. Since she was leaning to the right, I took that wheel off. Another girl walked next to her until she figured out how to balance. Since the other wheel was still kicked back and was not touching the ground at all, I opted to take that one off as well. So, in about an hour's time, Ellie learned to ride her bike and it required very little work from me! Just the way I like it!

Next on the docket for Ellie: learning to swim!