there was this one time...

Elsie

woke up minutes ago. I was on the couch with coffee and my book and saw her head pop up thru her doorway. she said, it's so nice not to wake up early. I couldn't agree more. then she comes to the couch to cuddle me and after a few minutes says, I cannot sit next to you when you drink coffee. peeyou. and walks away. there goes that moment.
lol

came across this

the other night when chris and i had gone out, left the oldest sis in charge of the little kids:
i love this age of artistry! and free babysitting, haha! :)

 

elsie today

my schedule got kinda mixed up this week, i was going to post something else but had to bump it. so here's my stand in till then. funny story to go with her cute picture :) 
today she had a playdate with a new friend. when new friend said that she lived in a tall apartment building with lots of floors and doors, elsie squealed, like at the PLAZA HOTEL, like Eloise?! :) Wooooow! :) it's not the plaza hotel, or nearly close, but our little girl is one who sees the glass half full quite often. i absolutely cherish that little bit about her! i'm not saying she's like that all the time, she tells it like it is too. when told she needs to wait, she says, i hate waiting.

she's almost 5. and is "so nervous" for kindergarten. when taken to Stats recently for the first time, she said, this is better than disneyland!!! and has asked to go visit more than once. she is the queen of winter wonderland and is quite disappointed we haven't put our lights up yet. :) she is into this little thing where she says, "i love you more than_____" recently it was cupcakes and candy and puppies. i'm flattered :)

those yellow trees behind her are now bare... all year we can't wait for the leaves to change and when they finally do their presence is fleeting. kinda reminds me of parenting. :(

and for a moment

i gasped. i was looking for a photo and came across this from our trip to australia in 2009. since then, she's decided to grow her hair out. everyone who knows her comments that it makes her look older. while i want to support her decision to grow it out, i loved her little bob hair cut and miss it lots! :(

since these pics too, she's given up hair clips and jeans. she's also given up her sippy cups which means she won't drink plain milk anymore because 'it tastes funny' and only drinks chocolate milk. all 4 of my kids did that. now cam's the only one who drinks plain milk. she also gave up bananas. and something else i can't remember. little lola has definitely been an influence :)

that's it. random post i wasn't planning on posting until i saw those pics and they took my breath away.

silly bands and pedicures

her new current obsessions!

she actually doesn't get the full pedicure, she just gets a buff and paint :) the first time she went with daddy, she was so impressed, she came home and said she wanted to be a nail designer when she grows up! ha! cameron came home and brought her a silly band, and now she's collecting them. instead of wearing them on her wrists, she prefers them on her ankles. and she hasn't taken them off in days. :) i love this picture. i know she will outgrow this and be a teen and i'll say to chris, 'what happened to our girl? she used to wear those silly bands and wanted to be a nail designer?!'

spoken from experience. they grow up so fast. :(

he said she said

i've already twittered and facebooked this but i need to record it here on the ol' blog for posterity :)
she's nearly 4 and has been attached to her fingers since about 3 months old. (oh my gosh, looking back at the blog to find that- i can't believe so many pics i haven't scrapped! i love my blog for taking me down memory lane for a bit tonight!) we've had plenty of family members tell her she should stop sucking her fingers. most of the time, she takes them out for a second, then sticks them back in ever so defiantly. :) today while at trader joe's, a man was walking past us, stopped, looked at her and said, 'you shouldn't suck your fingers, stop that.' he then turned and knocked over a stand of oranges. i didn't say anything, i think out of pure shock. that was the first time a stranger commented on it, to her, ever! i walked away with elsie, looking at her, trying to read her thoughts. i could tell she was hurt and sad and maybe embarrassed. 
later when we were home, i asked her how that incident made her feel, and she replied, "sad...... and i wanted to punch him."

:) :) :) that's a girl with 2 older brothers. :)

ps thanks for the kind words on the brothers post. nice to know that the evolving sibling bond is similar all over the world. 

----- and we would really like her to stop with the fingers. we know eventually she will stop. she doesn't do it at school.. the first few days of school, she came home, shocked that no one else did it. i think as she gets older, she'll phase it out herself. she's the only one of our 4 who does this! those pictures capture her 2 soothies. her fingers and her blue blankie. heaven to her!

her first day

the night before the first day of school, she said to me, "i changed my mind, let's just cancel it, i don't want to go." (i'm laughing that she used the word cancel- she's 3!) there were lots of tears as she cried herself to sleep. she's attached to me, just as all of my children were- but she is very social so i knew she'd be just fine! this morning, the first thing she said to me when she woke up was, "stttaaaaaaay home." :( heartbreak! :) now if she was child 1 or 2 i might have fallen for it but by child 4, i knoooooow better and off we went as i knew there were many adventures in store for our little social butterfly! 

love that she was able to step right inside and do her favorite thing, the thing that i have little patience for: paint! :) that's what i pay them for! ha! 

pick up. :) the teacher made a chatty hand symbol to me, and i knew elsie had a great day. i asked her if she talked to her teachers and she said, "oh yeah, LOTS!" heehee, those teachers don't know what they are in for! :) this face cracks me up, it's a bit of...."alright, you were right, it was fun." :) 

this was the light at the end of the tunnel for her. i reminded her that the new barbie movie came out today and jamba was around the corner from the movie store. :) 

i brought my barbie loving, sword fighting girl home- i'm super proud! 

kinda funny

i made caleb's teacher a valentine card.

no i was not jazzed that he wrote on the front of the card! hello! :) oh well. here's the inside:

lol lol "i hope the school year can continue like this" lol- he's sooo funny! 

elsie and i volunteered at his valentine party today. i love how all the girls in his class are such mother hens- running up to E and loving on her. she loves it too :) outside the school: 

and her funnies from the last couple of months----

me: elsie i am going to get your dinner ready. 

elsie: is it going to be disgusting?

me: elsie, time for a nap.

elsie: princesses don't do that. 

after me spewing out numerous directions to my numerous children, elsie: mom, stop whining. 

and ever so dramatically- out of nowhere she will say in her princess voice, i never dreamed! 

on our way to have a picnic yesterday, i realized it was too cold outside (55degrees), so we sat in the car with our lunch. elsie pleads with me to go outside. i open the door and let her out. (she's like my little puppy- lol) and she's running on the grass (right outside my car door, as i sit in the seat and watch her from the warm car) barefoot- come and join me, it will be fun! (i do not, i stay inside) then 2 minutes later, it sure is cold, im coming back in! 

while chris is giving her a huge dose of squeezes and kisses and she cannot get away, she says- my brothers will destroy you. (that is said in a star wars voice- not to be taken seriously people)

she's pretty funny. to us at least :)

bath then bed

every night we snuggle in bed and she asks for me to yell for dad downstairs so that he can come snuggle her too. last night she knew he was gone. but she asked, where's daddy? i said, in the airplane. she said, ever so sweetly... but i want him.

here we go!

these are from the other day. E has decided she likes ribbons. in her hair, around her waist, whatever. good thing because i have every ribbon imaginable :)

and sunglasses.

right after i saw these pics- i made chris cut her bangs. she's gonna be dora for halloween, so her hair is perfect for that- but the bangs were killing me.