5 Months Old!

Ellena is 5 months old! She is growing so fast! The other day I looked at her feet and did a double take. It seemed like they grew overnight! She seems to be outgrowing her 3-6 month clothes as she starts to fill out a little, as well as grow longer. Her jeans seem a little tight. :)

Her neck has gotten really strong and she likes to be on her tummy. And just the other day, she figured out how to roll from her tummy to her back. She has quite the technique. She lays down her head, tucks her arm under herself and then scooches her booty. With some momentum, she gets herself around and has such a big smile when she does it!

Lately, she has started to be a little distracted during her "meals." Any little thing will make her head turn - tv, her brother running around, Momma walking by, even her hands! The other day, she was holding the bottle with her hands and then she got so interested in the way her fingers moved. She was just staring at them and making them wiggle. It was kinda funny. But her bottles take FOREVER!

Pals-ies

Evan and Poki
Sitting in a tree
K - I - S - S - I - N - G!

Ok, totally immature, Momma. But I couldn't resist. Today, Evan and Poki decided to be pals-ies and it was the cutest thing. Poki was hanging around as we were getting ready for nap time. At first, Evan asked that I take her outside, after giving her a kiss good night. But she kept coming back, so he asked if Poki could stay with him. I got her up on his bed and she snuggled up to his legs. And Evan fell asleep very quickly! I was hesitant to take a picture for fear of waking either of them. But oh well. I did it anyway.

When Evan woke up, he watched a little bit of tv in my room. He asked if I could get Poki to snuggle with us. She stayed for a little while, but then decided it was bath time. Then, we moved the tv party downstairs and Poki went to snuggle with Evan on her own. Too cute!

Merry Christmas!

Ethnicity

Tonight we had an interesting conversation about race/ethnicity with Evan. From Pops, the kids are Hawaiian and Chinese. From me, they are Japanese. So here goes...

Pops: Are you Hawaiian?

Evan: Probably not. Probably Chinese.

Pops: Yes, you're Chinese. But you're Hawaiian, too. What else are you?

Evan: Probably Mexican.

Ha ha!

Last night, Evan got a hair cut. We kept commenting on how rascal he looked after getting the hair cut. Rascal and handsome, of course. Well, he checked himself out in the mirror and exclaimed, "Wow, I look like an Asian boy!" Uh, that's probably cause you are an Asian boy.

The Latest - Dec 23

Here's the latest...

We got some snow and should be getting more tonight/tomorrow. I have not driven anywhere for the last week and have been stuck at home. Not going crazy yet, but soon though... We've started having playdates with our across the street neighbor, Nate. Thank goodness! Helps keep Evan sane to have someone to play with!

Evan loves sledding. We went to a park and he loves going down the hill. He's gotten so brave in the last few months! Must be a 3 year old thing.

All of us at the park to go sledding. Poor Ellena was so cold.

My attempt at getting a shot at Ellena's first teeth. No joke, her entire bottom gums look all ridgy like she's going to have a tooth explosion in the next few months. But her top gums are flat. Pops said she's going to be like the arowana fish. Attractive!

The Evan-tude

The attitude coming out of Evan is definitely up a notch. A lot of it he's picked up from me (oops!) but its so funny to hear it come out of his mouth. Some gems:

* If I can't hear/understand what Evan said, I ask him to repeat it. Sometimes, he gets frustrated and repeats his answer, but tacks on "I SAID!" So it comes out, "I don't want anything more to eat, I SAID!"

* Same situation as above... Now, he tacks on, "How many times do I have to say it?!"

* Yesterday, Evan was cutting paper over the trash can. I was playing with Ellena and every so often I would look over and remind him, "Evan, focus on your cutting! Don't cut your fingers! Be careful!" I guess I said it a little too much. He finally burst out, "Stop saying that over and over!"

* Last night, Poppa was fooling around and threw Ellena's sock at Evan instead of the laundry basket. Evan replied, "I guess Santa's not bringing you any presents!!!"

* When Evan does something naughty, I sometimes get exasperated and just give him a look. Now, he's learned this look and throws it back at me, to the 100th degree. And usually throws in a growl for good measure.

Weird

A couple days ago I discovered something weird. There are pictures missing from my blog. It's from multiple posts where some pictures have just been completely removed. Pops found some other blogs that were experiencing the same thing. I can understand if I took images off other people's websites and put it here, but these are clearly my own pics. So weird.

Snow Day

Yesterday Evan had fake snow day. School was cancelled due to the impending snow storm that arrived a day later. Today was for-real snow day. He absolutely loves playing in the snow! Now that we have all the nice warm gear for him (in previous snow playing, he was in sweats, hoodie and Momma's enormous gloves) he doesn't mind being outside in the cold. His favorite thing is making snowballs and throwing them at the mailbox. He's also enjoying sledding and making snow angels.

I bundled up Ellena in a few layers and took her out for a bit. Poor girl does not have the right gear. She got to experience her first time in snow and did pretty well until she got cold.

Pops is probably stuck working from home for the next few days (maybe even a week) with all the snow/ice on the roads and freezing temperatures. After walking up the big hill a couple years back, he is in no rush to do it again. We'll probably have our first white Christmas, though!

Let's Take a Picture

Evan has really gotten into "big brother mode" these last couple days. Preschool was cancelled yesterday and today due to the weather, so he got to hang with us all day. He loves to sit in front of Ellena and wait for her to give him her toy. They go back and forth and it's so cute. He will also try to entertain her with books and other toys.

He has also started snuggling up to her and telling me, "Let's take a picture." Like he's just going in for the photo op. What a ham.

Dec 16 Pics

The latest:

Evan had a blast making the gingerbread house with Pops. Costco gingerbread houses come with too much candy. Even after they ate a bunch, there were still a ton to put on the house.

Evan and Uncle Stu horsing around.

Ellena wearing her first hat (thanks, Charkie!). With all her hair, I haven't been pushing the hat. But with these frigid temperatures (teens!), it came in handy! Update on Ellena - she has been doing much better at naptime. Some days she will be zonked out for over 3 hours and I have to wake her. Other days, she starts crying an hour in and I settle her down and she goes back to sleep. Her first two teeth are about to break through any day now! No more gummy smiles! She has mastered rolling over and is now attempting to scooch. I'm not quite ready for this... She has got the motions down for her legs, feet and booty. But she has not figured out her arms and chest, so she looks like an inch worm wiggling around. Oh, and she is anxious to start eating real food. She wants to sit at the dinner table with us and tracks the food as it goes in my mouth. I'm probably going to wait another month, when she'll be a little closer to 6 months old. Hopefully she will be a good eater like Evan!

Truly Blessed

When I look at my family, I am reminded once again of how truly blessed I am. It really makes me pause and realize how some things that drive our day (errands, holiday stuff, nap time, etc.) are so frivolous. And that we are so lucky to have our health, our happiness and each other's company. I love you, Pops. I love you, Evan. And I love you, Ellena.

(And how's that little pose from Ellena?!)

Potato Salad and Kitty Friends

Today I had the bright idea to have Evan help me make potato salad. I don't know why I've never thought of this before. He loves to cut things and he would have so much fun going at it. So that was our little project after he ate his lunch. A few lessons he learned today: You have to wash your hands with soap before touching the food. You can't sample the food until everything is cut. You can't lick the knife - because it's dangerous and dirty!

Regarding his kitty friends... Last night, Evan got some sweet Piko snuggles after bath time. He was really tickled by the affection Piko was showing him (Piko tends to be pretty standoff-ish with the kids) and wanted to have Piko come in his room to say goodnight. Today Poki climbed into his lap and gave him lots of snuggles. But when she gets happy, she drools... So he had to wash his hands (with soap!) and change his jeans.

Silly Momma

Yesterday we were leaving Kids Quest after meeting up with our buddies. It was raining, I was getting soaked, and I was trying to get everyone and everything loaded into the car as fast as possible.

Step 1: Unlock car and have Evan climb up into his car seat.

Step 2: Unbuckle Ellena from the stroller and plop her into the car.

Step 3: Break down stroller and load into trunk.

Step 4: Jump into car, buckle up and start car.

Step 5: Start up iPod and put car in reverse. Look back to make sure the coast is clear. That's when Evan stops me and says, "Momma, you didn't buckle ME in!!!"

OOPS!

Step 6: Put the car back in park, jump out and buckle Evan in.

Step 7: Jump back into car and leave the parking lot.

Here's the kicker - the convo Evan and I have after this incident.

Evan: Silly Momma! How come you forgot to buckle me in?

Momma: Oops, I forgot. Momma is SO silly!

Evan: Momma, you're an idiot. (He seriously called me an idiot.)

Momma: No, Momma's not an idiot. I just forgot. That's not a nice word.

Ok, so I need to watch what I say when I drive... Obviously, someone is picking up naughty words from me - I can recall a few times using that word when people did dumb things on the road. Oops...

Dec 9 Ellenantics

Baby girl is growing up so quickly! Pops was washing dishes and she decided that it was naptime instead. She rolled over and sucked her thumb.

* After just a few days of needing a little nudge to roll all the way on to her belly, Ellena can now do it on her own. And it seems like she can't stop doing it. Especially when she starts getting worked up, she'll roll and then do a face plant. Then her arms are wiggling as she struggles to lift her head.

* Yesterday Ellena rolled over during her nap and I guess she was quite comfy cause she slept in her crib for about 3 1/2 hours! OMG! World record! I had to go in and wake her so she could have her dinner bottle! We'll see if she keeps it up. Just in time too, cause I hate to say it, but she's starting to outgrow the sling! Oh no! I won't miss lugging her around in the sling, but I will miss the closeness and of course, her slingy smiles.

* The other day Pops was feeding her and I was in the room with them. When it was time to burp, Ellena sat on Pops' lap and was facing him. He asked, "Where's Momma?" With intelligence and understanding in her eyes (of course a mom would say that, right?!), she turned her head to look for me. It was amazing! This girl is definitely absorbing everything around her and I can't wait til she starts communicating with us! Evan was also a very observant baby... And look at him now...

* At bedtime, Ellena spit up on her pj's. Every other night, Ellena's bedtime routine is entirely handled by Pops while I get Evan tucked in. But that night, I dressed her in clean pj's while Pops washed his hands. I was thinking to myself, "She seems REALLY happy that I'm here. Hmmm..." She was smiling, cooing, giggling - the works! I finished up and gave her back to Pops. Well, she threw a fit and was not a happy camper during Goodnight Moon. Which she never does... So moral of the story - Momma's not allowed to snuggle with Ellena at bedtime, except for her goodnight kiss, which she always gets.

Christmas Card Pictures

Here are some pictures of the kids that didn't make it on the Christmas card this year.

Dec 8 Evanisms

I don't know what's in the water today, but Evan had endless zingers...

* We received some Christmas presents in the mail today. We unpacked the presents and placed them under the tree. I read the gift tags to Evan: To Evan, Love Aunty and Uncle. To Ellena, Love Aunty and Uncle. Evan then took the presents and pretended to read the labels. He said, "Actually, Momma, it says, 'Merry Christmas. I love you. Open now.'" Ha ha! This kid!

* Evan was doing his business on the potty and said he was done. I went to check on him and he said, "Actually, I have another little turdlet." This kid doesn't just call his poop "poop", not even a "turd". He has to call it a turdlet like piglet.

* Tonight at bedtime we were saying our goodnights. Pops asked for a big hug. Evan said, "Only if you say 'Please.'"

* Evan has Santa-fever. He is obsessed with anything to do with Santa. He wants to hear music about Santa, he wants to see pictures of Santa, and tonight, he pretended that he was Santa. He insisted that he had a Santa outfit (and I supposedly made this for him... huh?) He ended up wearing his 2007 Halloween monkey costume (which he actually wore on Christmas morning last year for some reason) along with a Santa hat. He then got a backpack and filled it with toys for everyone in the family and delivered it to each of us. So cute!

Update - Dec 4

How did it get to be December??? I blanked and only today got out my first of the month checks - mortgages, etc. Slacker lady is back.

So an update...

Sunday was the day from hell. I took the two kids to go grocery shopping and it was the first time that I've had to ask the store to find my son. That was the absolute worst feeling. Evan kept wandering off and I was looking for presents for a family we "adopted". When I told him it was time to go, he walked off and I was trying to maneuver the shopping cart (and Ellena) through the aisles. After a minute of frantic searching and calling his name (which he doesn't usually ignore), I had to ask an employee for help. They quickly alerted all the staff and he was returned to me in a minute - he had wandered off to the seafood section. But, the thoughts that were going through my head in those five minutes were the worst!

That evening I did a dumb thing and micro-ed water in a non-micro safe cup. I ended up burning my thumb and middle finger (2nd degree burns) and went to Urgent Care to get treated. Also needed to get a long-overdue tetanus shot, just in case - lovely! Thank goodness for 24-hr Walgreens pharmacy to fill my prescriptions! So luckily, I'm healing relatively quickly and the pain went away after the first night - seriously, the pain from the shot lasted longer than the burn pain. But I still have my fingers bandaged up, to protect it and Pops stayed home Monday and Tuesday, cause I can barely change a diaper and hold a bottle. I feel so useless!

But, besides that, we are all doing well and can't believe how quickly Christmas is approaching... Ahh!

A Momentous 24 Hours

These last 24 hours were pretty big for Ellena. Momentous, you could say...

Last night, as her pediatrician predicted, Ellena woke up crying - not because she was hungry, but because she's starting to remember which led to her screaming for me. Some sort of object permanence thing. Lovely! So I spent 5 minutes with her trying to calm her down and when I left, she squirmed for less than a minute and was zonked out for the night. We shall see if this continues or not...

Today, Ellena rolled over! Every time we placed her on her back, she would swing her leg across her body and get in this odd twisted position. She needs a little nudge to get over her shoulder, but once she's on her belly, she's enjoying the new view. In just a couple days, her neck has gotten sooo much stronger - really cool to see her development! But now, there's also that chance that she'll be "practicing" in her sleep, which is yet another reason she will wake up crying. I'm just way too spoiled with my full nights of sleep.

Happy Thanksgiving!

With so much to be thankful for, we hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

We hosted an early dinner, so I did an art project with Evan in the morning. I hope we can make it into an annual Thanksgiving tradition. Using his paintings, we made hand turkeys. And then we wrote a little letter to each of our guests. Some were very cute - Grandpa, I'm thankful that you take me to school. Some were sweet - Uncle Moon, I love you and hope you get better soon. And then there were the ones he made for me and Pops. Momma, I am thankful that you give me chocolates. I looked at him and said, "Seriously? All that Momma does for you and THAT'S what you are thankful for?" Poppa got a similar note about oatmeal. What a guy.

And Evan was dead set on eating the turkey drumstick, so here he is in all his glory.

And here's Ellena slinged up while I wolfed down my food before giving her her bottle.

Stranger Danger

Today I took Ellena to her 4-month wellness check-up. I was very surprised when my sweet angel (who never hesitates to throw around her smiles and charm everyone around her) had a huge crying fit with the nurse. And then with the doctor. And then with the nurse again when she came back to give the shots. The hardest that Ellena has ever cried before today... Imagine that times 10. Seriously, she's never cried so hard before. Nothing could calm her down, she was screaming, tears were flowing, she was turning red and sweaty - oh my!

And I'm sure our doctor gets this a lot, but I had nothing else to say but, "She's never done this before!"

So our doctor was saying it's stranger anxiety, but it's just setting in a couple months earlier than usual. And she was convinced that shows how smart Ellena is. So we'll take it. But I'm a little nervous about Ellena having a meltdown when strangers stop us on our errands to smile at her. They may not be expecting her reaction!

Slacker

So I started the Nov 20 Evanisms post a week ago and only got around to finishing it today. Slacker! I could blame it on the craziness of the Thanksgiving holiday, but that would be a lie. Pops takes care of the turkey and my mother-in-law has all the sides. So I have some easy appetizers that I will whip out tomorrow. So the truth behind my slacker-ness is those stinkin Twilight Saga books. I got the first one from the library and couldn't put it down. After passing it on to my father-in-law and getting him hooked, we agreed to go halfsies on the set from Costco since I was #200, #600 and #400 on the waiting lists for the next three books at the library! I finished the last one last night and made sure Grandpa Joe took them out of the house today so I wouldn't re-read them anytime soon. :)

So what the blog missed during our one-week hiatus:

Happy Belated Birthday, Grandma Sue!

Very few pictures, since our camera has gone kaput.

Evan and Ellena growing up too fast.

Pops playing Call of Duty and I was reading so our DVR is getting full of shows to watch.

I'll be starting physical therapy in a couple weeks for pain in my tailbone area, probably related to childbirth - lovely!

Nov 26

Ellena is 4 months old today! She continues to be such a sweetheart. What she's up to lately:

While lying on her back, she can lift her legs in the air and roll to her right side. She doesn't usually go much further, because she hates being on her stomach! So lazy!

She continues to delight us with her sweet coos, giggles, and blowing bubbles with her mouth.

She sleeps from 8 - 8; about once a month, she seems to wake up for a 3 AM bottle and I get so disoriented (spoiled!). Uhh, what am I supposed to do with you now?

If the tv is on, she wants to watch. She's become a football junkie.

She gave Poki her first smile the other day. Maybe they are over their girl rivalry thing.

She's really enjoying watching Evan. He will walk around and around her and she tracks him the whole time.

She takes a morning nap and afternoon nap. She's mostly forced to nap on the road in the morning while I do errands. I put her in her crib in the afternoon and like clockwork, she cries for 8 minutes and then sleeps for about 45 minutes. Then she's up and wants me to sling her. The above picture is her "slingy smile". When she sees the sling, she breaks into the hugest smile.

Nov 20 Evanisms

* Evan has a new saying that I get such a kick out of. When I read to him a fun fact from his book or magazine, he remarks in the most amused voice, "That was interesting!"

* At dinner, we were discussing the slowing economy and how Hawai'i is getting hit pretty hard, trickle-down economy, etc. Evan wants to be a part of the conversation and he whispered in a silly voice, "And that's why everyone is coming to Issaquah!"

* Evan has been coming home from school and telling me about "Sammy". Today Sammy pushed Brian. Today Sammy touched my body. Today Sammy said naughty words and she had to sit on the porch. I met a cute little girl named Sammy in his class, so I didn't think anything. But then I got a flash of brilliance. "Evan, are YOU Sammy?" I thought maybe he was disguising his misdeeds by saying it was Sammy. But no, Evan said that Sammy is doing all those naughty things and not him. He's pretty good about telling me about when he does something naughty at school, so I hope he continues to be honest with me! How funny would that be, if he started blaming things on Sammy!

* Some of the new phrases that Evan uses besides, "That's interesting!"

"I'm adorable!"
"That's terrible!"
"That's horrible!"

Getting Older and Regressing At The Same Time

So I have to admit, the years are flying by and I'm not really "feeling" it. I still feel pretty young (young at heart, I guess?) but my age, as a number, sounds much older than I feel. I guess that's a good thing. I remember when I just finished high school, I was teaching sewing to 5th grade girls. One of them was talking about her mom and she said in the most horror-filled voice, "My mom still shops in the 'Generation' section (think Forever 21 of our island's department store) and wears Bongo jeans!" I cracked up. But now that I have little Ellena, I'm wondering, am I going to be THAT mom? :) And then, with horror, I realize that those little 5th graders that I taught are now finishing up college and then I realize how the time has flown by. Yikes!

And not to overcompensate on youth, but there are definitely some "teeny bopper" stuff that I'm into... My guilty pleasure is Gossip Girl and I've just become obsessed with the Twilight series books (Thanks, Charkie!). Pops mentioned that he heard that age-wise, 39 is the new 29. So I looked at him and said, "Oh good. So does that then make me 19? And now, I'm just 2 years outside the range of the Twilight target audience, instead of twelve??"

Nov 17

Here's Evan tickling Ellena to get her to smile. They crack me up!

An update: Ellena continues to be such a sweetie. She is so pleasant to be around! Sometimes, she gets cranky and I take a look in her mouth - so much easier to do when she's crying, unfortunately. And no kidding, it looks like her bottom 2 teeth are just under her gums. I think Evan's first teeth popped out around 5 months. Ellena is almost 4 months old. It may take another month to finally make an appearance, but I'm pretty sure I'm seeing teeth on the girl. Oh my!

Today I put her in her crib for her afternoon nap. After 5-10 minutes, I hear her crying. I go in to check on her and she's wide awake and her poor leg is "stuck" between the crib slats. It wasn't stuck-stuck, but I'm sure if she tried to wiggle it, it would seem stuck to her.

Must be a girl thing: We've noticed that Poki and Ellena have a little rivalry going on. Not sure what it can be attributed to, except that they are being catty... ha ha, get it?! Poki has always been pretty patient with Evan and will let him snuggle up to her (if she's in the mood, of course.) But with Ellena, Poki gets a little combatant and strikes back rather quickly. We have no fear for Ellena's safety, but it's just such a different response that Poki is showing to the two kids.

We keep asking Evan if he's ready to sleep over at Grandma's house. I think it's safe to say that no, he is not ready... yet. His response is always, "Maybe tomorrow..."

A special treat for Evan - our neighbors are having their roof done so Evan gets to watch the roofer man in action!

Nov 13 Pic

Ellena got into a comfy position, propped up on Pops. As soon as I got the camera out, Evan (the ham) jumped into the picture with his cheesy fake smile.

Boppy Time

I think I mentioned that Ellena is not a big fan of tummy time. I know, these pictures seem to tell another story... But really, the only way I can get her to do some tummy time is when the following stars align:

* She's on the boppy

* After she eats, but before she gets too tired and cranky

* After she gets her burps out, so as to not spit up all over the boppy

* I'm folding laundry in front of her to keep her amused

* Tummy time lasts no more than 5 minutes :)

Beef... It's What's For Dinner

Yesterday Evan and I had quite the conversation. He started out by saying:

Evan: Momma, butter comes from cows.

Momma: Yup, what else comes from cows?

Evan: Milk!

Momma: What else?

Evan: Umm... Kalbi ribs!

Momma: Uh, yeah. It does come from cows! Good job Evan. What else comes from cows?

Evan: Roast beef sandwiches from Arbys!

Fall Leaves!

Fall is here! We had some nice weather so I packed up the kids and took them on a walk this afternoon. We passed by a bunch of leaves and I promised Evan he could choose one leaf on our way back from the park. I loved watching the pure joy on his face when he jumped off the stroller to sift through all of the leaves to find the perfect one. It's great to be 3! I guess it's also great to be 3 months old - you get cozied up under a warm blanket and pushed around in a stroller!

Nov 10 pics

Here's my attempt at taking a picture of myself and Ellena.

On Saturday morning, Evan ran upstairs to get something from his room. He got distracted and picked out his snorkel, mask and swim shorts.

Grandpa Joe, Ellena and Evan
(Ellena is watching some football on tv and can't be bothered with looking at the camera.)

Not Quite Two Peas in a Pod

Ellena is 3 months old and we're getting in our Ellena groove. I am already recognizing some interesting things about her that is so different from Evan. Here's what I've noticed so far:

* El is a happy, content little girl. She cries when she's hungry or overtired. Ev was not very happy to be introduced to this world. It took him about 4 months to mellow out. Until then, he was very serious... almost grouchy with us... and he would cry/scream non-stop from 4-7 PM every night. Lovely!

* El loves the bouncy chair. There's just something about a vibe-booty that pleases her. Ev hated the bouncy chair. He was more of a swing boy. El's not so into the swing.

* Physical appearance: El looks like me! Ev looks like Pops! Ev came out with curly red hair and lost most of it. El came out with straight black hair and it is growing in thick!

* Ev was a great sleeper during the day. I "trained" him to take his naps in his crib. El is a little more strong willed. She wants to be sling-ed for her naps. But she does fine at night in her crib. Hmmm... Something to work on with her.

* El sleeps for 12 hours at night. Love it! Ev didn't do this until after he was 1 year old. No complaints here.

My two kids - I wouldn't trade them for anything. Each are so unique and special!

Milk

Today our neighbors had some milk delivered from a local dairy. Evan saw their cool cow-spotted truck and started asking about it.

Evan: What's that truck for?

Momma: It is delivering milk to our neighbors. The man is bringing it fresh from the dairy.

Evan: Where does the milk come from?

Momma: The cows make the milk. Then they need to clean it. Then they deliver it to their homes.

Evan: How do they clean it?

Momma: They... uhhh... Maybe the... uhhh... You know what? I don't know how they clean it.

Evan: Maybe they give the cow a sponge and he uses that to clean it.

Momma: The cow? He gets the sponge?

Evan: Yup. And then after it's all cleaned up, the man delivers the milk!

Decision '08

Election Day

Get out and Vote! I guess next year we can say, "Mail in your vote!"

Go, Diego Go! And Baby Jaguar, too!

Last night was a whirlwind trick-or-treating experience! After no nap - "I'm too excited!" - I got Evan dressed in his Diego costume and put gel in his hair. Uncle Stu came over and we took a few quick pictures. And then off we went to Poppa's work place. Evan trick or treated and even made a caramel apple! Then we went to Bellevue Square and Evan went around and got candy from some stores. But the entire time he asked for a balloon from the balloon maker - the lines were so long! In the end, Poppa and Evan stood in line for the balloon while Ellena got a bottle and played with the grandparents. I took over on balloon duty while everyone else went to get a table at Red Robin. I think we waited for an hour for that stinking balloon. After a yummy dinner, we came home and did a quick walk around our neighborhood. I hope the kids sleep in this morning, but El has been squirming a lot in her sleep. And that is why I am up at 6:30 and trying to get her to stretch it out to 8. :)

Evan's costume: I made his cargo shorts and vest. He had a blue tshirt that he's wearing backwards. We got him a rescue pack, Grandpa got him a watch and we found the Animal Rescuer patch on Ebay.

Ellena's costume: Poppa found a kitty costume on Ebay ($4.99! The Diego patch was more expensive!!) I bought some animal print material, cut the spots out and glued it on. It didn't look like much on the hanger, but that girl can make anything look cute. :) It also looked HUGE on the hanger, but she filled it out quite nicely.

Evan & Ellena - Diego and Baby Jaguar

Funny thing about our backdrop - Evan received a Diego blanket for his birthday. One side has a rainforest design, so we hung it behind us. Ha!



Uncle Stu and the kids

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone has a safe and festive Halloween! Dress-up pictures to come!

Oct 30

We had the pumpkin carving extravaganza last night. Here are the finished products.

I got to go to school today with Evan. His teacher asked that I help with their Harvest project - making applesauce! I got to meet some of his classmates and it was fun to see how every child is so different. There was a girl who was very personable. There was one who just wanted to talk and talk and took forever to cut her apples up. There was a boy who was all business and very meticulous about cutting. There was one who liked getting help from me and one who pushed my hand away and said, "I can do it myself!" Such great kids!

Oct 28

Evanisms:

* I have to admit, the control freak in me had a hard time adjusting to Evan going off to school and me not knowing exactly what he did there. I had all summer to get used to this and I ask him the same questions every day. So now I have a pretty good feel for what he does all morning. Sometimes he volunteers the information without my asking. Today he told me about an incident at recess. He said, "I boomed a girl down. I was playing too rough and she got sad. The teacher made me sit on the porch." So we had to have a little talk about that!

* I love seeing how my boy's brain works. He thinks about words and puts things together on his own. A blender blends. A diver dives. A teacher teaches. One day I was cleaning out the humidifier and he asked me what the filter was. I told him it's a filter. He said, "How does it filts?" Another example. We were reading about road machines and there was an asphalt mixer. He asked, "How does it asses?"

Ellenantics:

* Baby girl is doing well. She is such a happy, mellow girl and so pleasant to be around. She has the sweetest smiles and has started chatting up a storm! We can have conversations and she gets such a kick out of it.

* Today Ellena was fussing in her chair. I stepped out to take out the garbage and I overheard Evan say to her, "It's ok, Ellena. Momma will be right back. I'll take care of you."

Happy birthday, Grandpa Joe!

Oct 27 pic

Ellena is 3 months old! And I thought she couldn't get any cuter - until I put on a headband!

Busy Week

Besides the usual busy-ness (getting Evan off to school, laundry every other day, dinner prep, errands, etc.) this week has been exceptionally busy.

Ellena and I went to Uwajimaya and did a huge shopping run - stocking up on all the yummy-goodness since everything in the store was 10% off. It was also Evan's birthday so we tried to make his day as special as possible. I also took El and Ev to take pictures at JC Penneys for El's first photo shoot. We got some great ones of the two together - can't wait to get the pictures in! Yesterday was Evan's "medical maintenance day" - 6-month dental check up and 3-year wellness appointment. Very brave stuff for the big boy and no pokes!

What's coming up for the rest of the week: Evan will be having his "birthday circle" at school today and I get to join in the fun! We also have soccer class and we'll be taking Evan to the theatre for the first time - Backyardigans are in town!

I don't want to jinx it, but...

...This is the fourth straight night that Ellena has slept 12 hours! OMG! We give her a bedtime bottle around 8 and put her down at 8:30ish. She has consistently slept all the way through the night and waking around... now! Sometimes I even have to go in and wake her at 8 cause we need to get ourselves going and get out the door.

When she turned 2 months old, she was giving us an 8-9 hour stretch. After 2 glorious weeks, she started waking again every 3-4 hours... So I'm going to just enjoy my sleep for now and see how it goes... But it does make me think of something I've heard before: "One time is a fluke, two times a coincidence, three times a trend..." What's four again? Oh well... Four is a well rested Momma!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Evan!

This past Saturday we had Evan's birthday party at the Aquarium. It was so great to see our friends and family and celebrate together. The Aquarium did a great job hosting the party by providing a private room, tasty food, and two cool activities for the kids - a private touch tank experience and a visit from their mascot, Sammy the Sea Otter. Our guests could then tour the Aquarium the rest of the day and experience Evan's favorite place!

Monday was Evan's birthday and he had a hard time understanding that it was his birth-day. He kept asking if we were going to go back to the Aquarium... because it was his birthday. Sorry kiddo. Your party was on Saturday and now it's over! He did have more presents to open, so we got to do that, but it was overall a letdown after the big shindig on Saturday. Plus, Grandma and Pops came down with strep throat, so we were on our own. But Evan rolled with the punches and I think it was a good birthday overall. :)