More Weekend Travels

We don't really spend much time at home on the weekends. This weekend we went to Unionville on Saturday to help with some projects around the Doolin homestead. Janice is having her ceilings painted, logs cleaned and sealed (it's a log cabin), some walls painted, some walls wallpapered and that all means that we had to move things around in order to make room for the painter. We had a good time even though it meant work! Luckily it was a nice day outdoors, so the kids could go outside and not be under foot during most of it. I guess I was too distracted with the tasks at hand to take many pictures, but I did get a funny one of Ella. Janice was holding her and Ella had fallen asleep with her face covered by her hands. It looked like she had to cover her face to block out the noise or something. It was pretty precious.

Top 5 List

Top 5 things Gracie said this week that cracked me up:

5) No, Mommy. Don't call me Gracie. You need to call me Princess Snow White.

4) Dear God, Thank you for our feet, socks, shoes, legs, carpet, tables and all the people. Amen.(prayer said at supper)

3) I need a consultation. I mean, a constellation.

2) Mommy can I hold Ella? Yea! (holding Ella) Take her quick, Mommy. She stinks. I think she's poopy. Mommy? Mommy? Hurry! Are you coming? She really stinks.

1) (Praying again) Dear God, thank you for Ella, thank you for Lane and Emma (our neighbors) and help them to be good and truthful and thank you for chips and cheese. (Chips and cheese are her name for Taco Bell nachos...but we weren't eating at Taco Bell when she prayed this.)

Ella's Big Accomplishments This Week

5) She can hold herself up in her Bumbo seat for a very long period of time.

4) She is so attentive and alert. She's always bobbing her head around trying to take everything in.

3) Ella is cooing and making the sweetest little baby sounds. She loves it if you mimic her.

2) She didn't cry during her baths. She cries after her baths, but not during. That's progress!

1) Ella's poo is starting to stink! :-) (Gracie thought that was worth mentioning.)

Happy 2nd Month, Ella

Ella's 2nd Month Birthday Picture

She's already strong enough for the Bumbo Seat!

Ella is really interested in her big sister!

Wide-eyed Ella with her toys.

What a sweet little baby!

Gracie's Big Bathtime Production

A silly smile from our tech savvy 4-year old...Gracie!
Ella is pooped from her diaper change!

The following was overheard while I was on the computer and Gracie was bathing!

In the following production Gracie will be playing the part of the duck, the mermaid mother, the mermaid daughter, and the mermaid son. I will be playing the part of the real Mommy.

Duck: Can I play with you?
Mermaid Daughter: No. We don't like you. We don't want you to swim in our ocean. We only want mermaids and princes to swim in our ocean.

Duck: I'm so sad.

Mermaid Daughter: Mommy? Where is my mommy? I miss her so much.

(At this point I enter the bathroom thinking she is missing me, but no, it's part of the play.)

Mermaid Daughter: Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? (Oh, wait. She does want me now!)

Mommy reenters the room.

Gracie: Where is my blue Mermaid Mommy?

Mommy: I don't know what you are talking about. What Mermaid Mommy?

Gracie: You know the one that is blue in my dollhouse. (spoken with much exasperation)

(Mommy retrieves the now named blue Mermaid Mommy and gives it to Gracie.)

Mermaid Mother: Hello. I have missed you so much. Where is my son? Oh there you are. Are you going to marry my daughter? Son, I want you to marry my daughter so that she can be a princess. (Someone new enters the bathtub.) Keep your eyes off my son! He doesn't want to marry you. He wants to marry my daughter. Swim away son!!!

Mermaid Son: I can't. I don't have legs and my tail won't work fast enough. Aaahhh!

This is the liturgy you get to hear almost every night when Gracie takes her bath. The bath in progress is turning into the makings of a major Broadway production. It's probably not funny to anyone but me, but I'm cracking up as I hear her imagination at work. Someday we will have a discussion about boys not marrying their sisters and such, but not today. Not when Brent isn't here to join in the discussion! :-)

Meanwhile, as all of this is going on, Ella is tuckered out and has fallen asleep on her changing table after a rough diaper change. She's the best baby! Even if she does like to eat 3-5 times a night!

Weekend Fun

What a fun weekend. We had a big surprise for my parents on Friday. My brother, who doesn't get home much due to his busy schedule, called me a while back and said he would like to come and visit over his spring break. Friday was the day! Brent and I had asked my parents to come and babysit so that we could go out. That should have been their first clue that something was up! We never go out alone. Anyway... they had already made a commitment to help at a Relay for Life event in Moberly, so Dad decided he would do the Relay event and Mom could come babysit. When my mom arrived I told her Gracie was in her room and I handed her Ella. Gracie asked Nana to sit on her bed because she wanted to show her something in her closet. She made Mom close her eyes and she opened the closet door. My brother popped out of the closet and the picture says the rest. She's was completely shocked. We had a good laugh over the surprise then went out to supper. Later that night Dana, Mom and Gracie went to Moberly to surprise Dad. I guess it didn't go as well thanks to Gracie's over excitement. She might have spilled the beans early, but Dad said he was still surprised. Saturday Ella and I went to Moberly to join in the fun and we spent some more time with Uncle Dana before he had to get back to the big city. We went over to visit Nana Kaser and got to have a 3rd surprise since she didn't know Dana was in town either.

Now today, Sunday, we are back to reality. Brent had to leave before church to go to the Lake of the Ozarks for some meetings for work. He will get back Tuesday night. So far so good, but I know Gracie will start missing him pretty quickly. Tonight we will go back to church and that will help distract her for today anyway. Tomorrow is another story.

Smile...It's Friday

Sleeping through the night!

We had a miraculous thing happen in our house last night. Gracie slept through the night! YEAH! That may sound funny to most of you, but it is nothing short of miraculous. She realized that she had done something wonderful because she said, "I woke up and thought...it's morning already!" Maybe we are about to start a new trend...or maybe I've jinxed it by sharing it with the world on our blog. Either way, we were exceptionally proud of our big 4-year old! We won't talk about Ella's night, OK? It's a work in progress.

Gracie is getting very good at talking to Ella and trying to comfort her when she's crying. She's really quite good at it. Her favorite thing is to go get a toy that plays music and lay it by Ella so that she will stop crying. Well, today I was putting up Gracie's laundry so I laid Ella on Gracie's bed and she started crying, so Gracie curled up next to her and talked to her and stroked her head until she quit crying. It was very sweet.