Another Uncle Matt

Ella has a real uncle Matthew and a friend named Matt that we sometimes call "Uncle Matt" and now she's met a third! Last weekend my good friend from college came to visit while he was in the area. We've been friends since our freshman year of college (so 12 years!!!) and he knows Chris pretty well too since we've been together for 10 years. Also, Chris used to stay at Matt's apartment when he'd come visit me at school when we were dating. Anyway, we love Matt and were glad he was passing through! Ella hasn't seen him in a year and a half so she was shy at first but surprised us by how much she LOVED him by the time he left!

Ella's first feelings about Matt. Just kidding-just a crazy face she made while we waited for our food. We were excited to introduce Matt to our favorite local Kabob place. SOOOO tasty.

Post Kabobs it was all about the play doh. Matt got very into the Veggie Tales Barber play doh set while Chris made an impressive mug out of play doh and I made spaghetti and meat balls. Ella flitted between us all and squished things :-)

By the time Matt left, he and Ella were running around the house laughing hysterically. She even insisted on hugging and kissing him before he left (I can't even always get a hug!) and stood by the door waving until he drove away!

It was great to see Matt and hopefully it won't be too long 'til we do again. We love you "uncle" Matt!

Happy Birthday Hope!

I feel like Hope is my god-child but since we're not Catholic we'll just say she's one of my favorite kids :-) I've been able to watch her grow since the day her mom and dad knocked on our door with a pregnancy test in hand to tell us she was coming! We're pretty tight-I taught her to call people "kooks" (you're welcome Holly) and she likes to put on pretend nose rings with stickers on the side of her nose to be like "Aunt" Corinne. I hope to continue to be in her life for many years to come. Love you Hope-y and Happy 2nd hirthday!

Hope had a pony at her party!! How cool is that? She LOVED it and rode it at least 5 times.


Ella took her first ride on a horse too! I was so excited for her to be brave enough so we talked it up all week and she did it! Yay El!

Ella and her cousin Hannah in their new dresses from Nana!

The girls table-so cute!!

Birthday girl and her cupcakes! Yay Hope!

Vegetable Garden Part II

They're growing!!

after about 3 days


1 week

Ella wanted to show us how big they were one morning and scooped up a plant with a big spoon! Chris was NOT pleased but the plant survived :-)

8 days!

ELLA. CRACKS. ME. UP.

*warning-this might be too much information for private, easily embarrassed people, sorry but it's too funny not to share*

So here's the scene. Ella and I are getting home kind of late and I'm bringing things in from the car. I tell her to go get her pajamas on and I'll get mine on and meet her in the kitchen. She's ready before me and comes into the bedroom.

E: Hi Mom! I'm all ready!
Me: Ok, I'm almost ready, I just need to change into pajama pants.
E:Yeah, cause you already have your pajama shirt and you already took off your nickel-belt.
Me: My what?
E: Your Nickel. Belt. Nickel-belt!
Me: (starting to understand but wanting to confirm) what is that?
E: (walks over to my dresser and pulls out a bra) This! Your nickel-belt!
Me: (hilarious dissolving into laughter) Who told you that??
E: I just made it up! See, a nickel (motioning to her chest)-belt!
Me: (laughing so hard I can't speak)
E: (dancing down the hall singing) nickel-belt! nickel-belt! nickel-nickel-nickel belt!

In case you aren't around us enough to know, Ella calls "nipples" "nickels" and we don't correct her anymore. Partially because it's funny and partially because if she's going to talk about such things in public I'd much rather people have no idea what she's talking about than realize she's talking about their nipples. Along the same lines, we've never taught her the word "bra" because it's never really been necessary and I'd rather her not yell it across Target at an inopportune moment. Thus, she decided that a long peice of fabric that hooks together and goes around your "nickels" must be a "nickel-belt." Hilarious! I LOVE THAT GIRL!!!

Helping Daddy

Ella has been helping Daddy a lot with outdoor tasks since it's gotten warmer and they have a lot of fun together (mostly while mommy is writing papers--booo).


My two favorite gardeners!

Washing Daddy's car (yes, in an Easter dress)

I need to go to the Petting Zoo!

Often paired with Ella's recent wailing about wanting to wear a "dress with no sleeves" was a request that she "just wants to go to the petting zoo!" We finally did go there last week and that obsession has subsided some. Sadly the petting zoo we discovered near our house isn't open in the spring so we're pretty bummed about that. Oh well, this one was a good time with our favorite red-heads :-)

Ella was cautious but brave enough to feed a couple animals this year-this is progress! She used to be way to scared.

Hope, on the other hand, had no fear of the animals. I think this goat sensed that and decided to get a little daring and sniff her hair!

Our little Cinderella and Prince :-)

Ella in the "mushroom forest"

Ella took this one of me as Jonah :-) Good times!

Vegetable Garden Part I

Chris has gotten really excited about planting a vegetable garden for the first time. I am not much of an outdoorsy, gardening person but I'm thrilled about fresh produce and a fun project for Ella to get involved with. So far it's going great!

Watering the little pods so they're ready to accept seeds.

I asked Ella to pose with her seeds and this is what she did :-) All together they planted 144 little pods!

I was able to get in on the fun by making some little flags to label the pods. We have broccoli, brussel sprouts, breen beans, tomoatos, basil, jalapenos, watermelon and zucchini to name about half. Stay tuned for the next installments! Our little sprouts are doing well!

Choosing Battles

We have entered uncharted territory. We've been blessed so far that though Ella hasn't had the best behavior, she has not been one to have tantrums. Maybe 5 minutes at a time and very rarely. Well, that is OVER. It all started about 6 weeks ago when Ella very cutely decided she didn't want to wear zip up pajamas anymore but wanted pants and a shirt. When we asked her why she said "to be just like Mommy." How can you resist that request? Besides, it was almost warm enough to transition out of foot-ey pajamas anyway. Well, as soon as Ella had a few new pairs of 2 piece pajamas, chaos ensued. She started having tantrums because she didn't want to get dressed in the morning and take the beloved pajamas off. A couple times this meant she wailed and flailed from the moment she woke up until she arrived at school. INSANITY.
Soon, the pajama obsession shifted to dresses. Almost overnight Ella went from almost never wearing dresses to full tantrums DAILY about getting dressed. Mostly because she's been wanting to wear "a dress with no sleeves" every day for about a month (and it's been in the 40's and raining for a good chunk of that time).
I heard a recent radio show with Dr.Dobson on "preschool power struggles", read a number of articles, plus my own common sense that tell me clothes wars are just not worth it. Especially if any part of it is to protect my own pride about having a child who looks normal. So, I'm trying to choose my battles so right now since this willingness to "freak out" is pervasive. I DO fight about wearing hearing aids, and telling the truth, and being nice to people. I try NOT to fight about clothes, or hair, or even food. Ella has made it clear that she does not like jeans (they're too scratchy) and really likes dresses and "soft pants" (leggings, knit pants). So, I've bought her some more clothes that fit her preferences (and that I like) so both of us can be happy more often. Also, it's somehow become summer overnight so sleeveless dresses are finally not a hazard to her health.
I've prayed hard about how best to love Ella and remain calm during this tough phase. God has spoken clearly-I need to keep my perspective on the big picture of what I'm doing. I'm training a child to know God and love people. What she wears to school on picture day seems far less important in light of that truth. Ephesians 6:4 says "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." So, if you see us and Ella's wearing striped leggings, a polka dot dress, and scruffy looking shoes on the wrong feet (no joke-that's what she wore twice last week) just give me a nod of encouragement knowing that I hopefully, chose the right battle that day :-)

Sick and School

I haven't blogged for a while for 2 reasons.

1)I was VERY sick last week. I had parotitis. Basically bacterial, unilateral, mumps. You can google it. It's gross. One side of my face was CRAZY swollen and hard as a rock and I had a fever, sore throat etc. The doctor said they only see this in the elderly and HIV patients and he has no idea why I would have gotten it. His best guess is that I was dehydrated. Weird. Anyway, antibiotics and some gross (squeezing the pus out) treatments later, I'm all better! Yay!

2)I had about 35 pages worth of papers due last week. About 12 pages of that was a word-for-word (cough-for-cough, sigh-for-sigh) verbatim of 20 minutes of one of my counseling sessions. I have been hearing since I started this program how hard verbatims are and how they take FOR.EVER. Chris has also been hearing this from me and decided there had to be ways to make it easier. So, being the fabulous husband that he is, he came up with all kinds of things that were a HUGE help. It was SO sweet that he cared enough about a project I had to do to put time and thought into making it easier. Thank you SOOO much! Practically, the process was much easier but it is slightly painful to watch yourself do therapy on video and have to record every "umm" and "like" (I discovered I say "kinda" A LOT). I did get a better understanding of what I need to work on from analyzing my every word so I guess it was a worthwhile exercise :-)

Speaking of work-it's going well. Slightly crazy that I'm "allowed" to be a therapist for unsuspecting clients but God is blessing the process. All of my clients are women or kids affected by domestic violence/abuse. I'm liking this population much more than I expected and also liking the people I work with quite a bit. I think it helps that almost of my clients are out of the abusive relationships and we're working on rebuilding their lives. Good stuff! I look forward to three more months there :-)

So, that's why I haven't blogged but get ready cause I have a bunch of posts in mind!

Easter with my Fam (Egg Hunt #3)

We went to my parents church for an Easter Service on Saturday (it was a VERY intense reenactment play-I got spit on by a man playing a centurion-that's how intense). Afterwards we met up with the rest of the fam for Chinese food-SO tasty. Ella ate a shocking amount of food and actually likes wonton soup and egg rolls which is VERY out of the box for her!

My grandmother hid eggs all over her apartment and Ella had fun being the only kid so she could get all the spoils! (and did she ever-in addition to the eggs filled with candy, my grandmother ALWAYS has ice cream and Hershey kisses on hand any day of the week to dole out to everyone)

The Easter baskets I made for Ella and Chris (Chris specifically requested one last year and this year when I asked if he really wanted one again he said "of course!")

Egg Dyeing! I was very impressed with the colors this year-we followed the directions for the brightest colors and it really worked. I'm not a pale pastel sort of girl so I was excited to get some vibrant colors. The trick seem to be lots of vinegar and less water :-)

Finished product :-) Nothing fancy but lots of fun.

Some new favorite pics

We took a bunch of pictures on Easter and some of them are my new favorites!

Photo Shoot with Abuela

As we're getting in the car to go to my parents house after hours of Ella driving me crazy:
Me: (imagine smoke coming out of my ears) Ella get in your seat now. I am so frustrated with you right now.
Ella: (pouting and stomping) Ahhhhhh! I am SO FWUSTWATED with you too. (pause) Mom? We're fwustwated with each other! Ahhhhh!

So here's what happened. My mom wanted to get some pictures taken for her business' website and wanted Ella in them (Ella's name is part of her business' name) so we went over there last week for a photo shoot with the photographer my mom hired. Ella was having a WRETCHED day (which means I was having an even more WRETCHED day) and she was HORRENDOUS during most of the photo shoot (are you sensing an attitude theme here?). The photo shoot was complete with a full on tantrum about changing her clothes and refusing to smile or stay still or sit or stand or whatever she was asked to do. Ella stayed and had dinner with my parents afterwards (I left to regain my sanity for about an hour-thanks Erin!). During dinner Ella apparently told my parents about the conversation she and I had earlier that day after hours of fighting/crying/timeouts etc. about staying in rest time/not changing her clothes/wearing a sleeveless dress in 40 degrees etc. They were so amused that she knows the word "frustrated." Meanwhile, I can't imagine her not knowing it because it's come up so often lately. Ella's behavior seems to go in spurts-she has bad weeks every few months. And boy are we in the midst of it. Anyway, here are some pics. She's told me she really can be a nice girl when I don't "fwustwate" her :-)

Preschool Easter Party! (Egg Hunt #2)

I got to go volunteer at Ella's school last week for her Easter Party and I literally cried when I had to leave to go to work. It was the cutest thing EVER to see her and all her little friends interact and go about their normal classroom activities. She's SO grown! When we got there Ella went straight to her cubby and put her backpack and coat away and then picked the seat pad with her name on it from the stack and placed in the circle and then sat and waited for circle time to start. It was fun to see her do so many things in a row with no instruction or help!

In circle time her teacher, Ms. Tiffany, tells everyone to "Sit criss-cross applesauce" (indian style back in my day-guess that's not PC anymore), then "Put your spoons in a bowl" (put their hands in their lap), then "Put a bubble in your mouth" (fill your cheeks with air and no talking). It was adorable to watch them all (it was harder for some than others).

Here's a video of the pledge of allegiance :-)

Here's a longer video if you're really interested in my kid :-) She was the calendar helper for the day-oh the CUTENESS!!!

Later we went outside to the playground for an Easter Egg Hunt. The kids knew a little song about lining up and to hold the rope with their "LEFT HAND" and when they got to the street they went through this little routine which cracked me up. Imagine a friendly drill sergeant :-)

Ms.Tiffany: We're at the street. What do we do?
Kids (yelling): STOP!
Ms.T: Are there cars on the right?
Kids (looking in various directions): NO!
Ms.T: Are there cars on the left?
Kids (looking): NO!
Ms.T: Are you with an adult?
Kids: YES!
Ms.T: Are you holding the rope?
Kids: Yes!
Ms.T and Kids: LET'S GO!


The kids were told to find 6 eggs but they had to be all 6 different colors. I thought this sounded a little complicated for 2 and 3 year olds but they did great! I was impressed a lot that day with things the school does that are more advanced than I would have expected! (Aren't their little tissue box duck baskets cute? They made them the day before to use in the hunt!)

Ella's buddy Savannah giggling after they found all of their eggs.

During art/craft time they had 4 tables set up with different activities-seemed rather ambitious to me considering they were all messy crafts but it worked out fine :-) I was in charge of the dot painting/coloring table. Ella just used the dot markers to color but it turned out nice.

Ms.Debbie (an assistant) helped the kids one at a time ice cupcakes, put jelly beans on top and then put a twizzler over the top like a handle so it looked like an Easter basket with eggs inside-super cute!


Another table dyed eggs and the last one made these cards for the kids to bring home!

I LOVED getting to see Ella in this setting and hope to be able to do it more and more.

Rylan Rocks

A few weeks ago Ella's friend Rylan had a birthday party and gave bubble bath and glowsticks as the party favor (AWESOME idea Michelle!). We had tried this before when my SIL suggested it but this time Ella is OBSESSED with glow stick baths! I've tried to take pictures but they're either completely bright or too dark. Here's a taste of both :-) I highly recommend this fun activity! Ella begs for glow-baths all the time now! (thank goodness I found somewhere to buy glowsticks for a dollar!)

Easter Egg Hunt Take One

Ella's friend from preschool invited us over for an Easter Egg Hunt and Party last weekend and we took our nephew Christopher along-good times for everyone :-)


Two very pensive lollipop eaters

Ella was surprisingly driven once the kids were let loose to hunt for eggs. I didn't know if she'd really be into it but she definitely ran and dove for every egg she saw (and got a lot of them because I guided her to the areas where none of the other kids had been yet-hahaha!! Come on, she's only 3 and there were big kids-I had to help her out!)

Ella and her friend Reagan from school cheesin' it up

Christopher had some impressive moves on the moonbounce slide

Ella was more traditional but FAST!

It was fun to see Ella interact with a rough and tumble boy-she's more resilient than I expected and really enjoys her cousin. She and Christopher are really becoming friends and it's so sweet to watch them grow up together. We'll definitely be inviting Christopher on more outings in the future :-) Good times.