Uno, dos, tres...

Ella and I have an agreement regarding clothing; she is allowed to pick her own outfits on preschool days and I get to pick her outfits every other day. You see Ella has very...um...eclectic taste in clothing. It is either lots of layers and textures, hats, accessories, and MANY patterns, or princess garb. Her only restriction is that she can't wear church dresses to school. This way she gets to express her self three days a week and I get to take her in public the other days of the week. I have to give her credit because her fashion sense has really improved over the last year.

This is her the fall of 2008. I love that she paired the plaid dress with the pink pants and threw on the knit hat side ways for a bit of whimsy.
This is the Spring of 2009. You are not going to loose this child in a crowd with that green screaming at you. Oh, and of course this was the perfect choice of shoes for a day when the wind was howling and mom told you we were going to the waterfront after school warning that if you left the rain boots at home your feet were going to get wet and cold. Her response, "yeah, but the rain boots are BLUE mom, and I'm not wearing any blue". My bad.
This is December 0f 2009. She is loving these head bands because they are stretchy and drive me nuts. Her hair is always sticking up every which way when she wears them because she takes them off and puts them on again over and over through out the day. But who cares what your hair looks like when you are wearing your favorite Cinderella dress, am I right?
This is Feb 2010 and this is the face of a child trying to convince her mom that she will be warm enough because, although the thermostat reads 42 degrees, the sun is out.
And this my friends is Ella this morning.

I told her that her shirt was too small and she said that it was perfect. I said, "perfect for what?" and she said, "perfect

to look like Dora".

Thanks a lot Dora. After all the progress we've made in the last year she now thinks that shirts that are obviously too small, paired with shapeless shorts and bright yellow socks passes for style. Please stick to teaching her Spanish and leave the fashion tips to me. Thanks.

PS-Dora, you are obviously drawn by a man because no women would put you in white shoes

year round.

4 going on 14....

An Ella moment:

I opened the freezer to get out some ice and while the door was open Ella noticed a bag of frozen peas, "Mom, can I have some of those?". To which I responded, "Sure love" (anything that keeps her from asking for soda or candy-she has a bit of a sweets addition, I could insert something here about apples and trees, but I will refrain). I answer the front door and when I come back she is snacking on a hand full of frozen peas with the freezer door standing wide open. She looks at the door then looks at me and says, "mom, you should really close that door". I look at her and say, "um, you were the last one to get something out of the freezer so you should close the door". She contemplated it for a second then said, "hmmm, mom I'm thinking that you were the one who opened it so I think that you should close it". All I could do was laugh at the thoughtful look on her little face. She had it all figured out. So I closed the door, in acknowledgment of her infalible logic (hey she isn't even 4 yet so you have to ignore the holes in her reasoning) and said, "you are such a smart girl". I have such a lawyer in the making!

I'm BORED....

Caden, "Mom, I'm Bored".

Mom, "hi, Bored, nice to meet you. My name is mom".

Caden, "no Mom, I'm REALLY bored".

Mom, "whoa, Bored, I believed you the first time, no need

to get upset".

Caden, "Mom! Stop being a teaser, I'm bored".

Mom, "Look Bored, is there something I can do for you or are you just introducing yourself? "

Caden, "NEVERMIND, I'm just going to go play".

Painting rocks with the Andersons. My aunt came out and brought a bunch of rocks and patterns one Saturday and taught us how to paint fun little animals, houses, and even food. We loved it so much that I went out and bought my own supplies and for a week the all the kids painted every rock that could pass for a mouse, dinosaur, or flower. So if you see a hamburger sitting in my flower garden, don't eat it, it is just a painted rock.
The zoo. Caden got chosen to go up and be the trainers "special helper". He felt like an expert after that and insisted on holding the map of the zoo and directing us all to each of the exhibits.
This is his Valentine's Day cup cake. We made these heart shaped mini cakes and let the kids decorate them. This is what Caden came up with. He was very proud of his ability to use the most amount of sprinkles of anyone.
I love listening to the boys reading together at night. Caden read the first book and was delighted that he put Nali to sleep.
My little soccer champ...ish. He was more interested in just running around with all the boys then really paying attention to the game. When he did focus in on the whole team sport going on around him he was quite the little kicker! His soccer playing daddy is so proud and talks of big plans for our boy's future in sports.
Yeah, how do you survive such a BORING life???