Our Little Mermaid

Ellie has been DYING for one of these Mermaid towels for months now. She keeps seeing them in the Chasing Fireflies catalog . It had gotten to the point of me hiding the catalog when it arrived, just to spare everyone the inevitable begging and pleading.



But I think I have finally figured out how to make one myself. And Ellie couldn't be more thrilled. Here she is modeling her mermaid tail. The pose is all her idea. "This is what the girls in the magazine do Mom" she tells me. If you say so Elle!

I added in the mermaid bikini part, just so she could truly feel like Ariel.

Not to be left out, here is Nick. He wanted to be included in the pictures, but didn't want to pose.

It is a beautiful, sunny, 80 degree day today and we decided to spend the afternoon outside at the lake. The kids did great on the 1.5 mile walk. We were keeping our eyes open for ducklings, and did see a few from afar. The snow capped mountains are semi-visible in the background through the haze.


It was William's naptime and he wasn't terribly alert for the first half of our walk. If the kids hadn't stopped every 10 feet he might have fallen asleep in the stroller.



See, he did perk up at the very end!Unfortunately the weather is going to drop over 40 degrees tonight. The high for tomorrow will be 42 with mixed rain/snow showers. Fun! Great way to celebrate the 1st of May! Hopefully it will be gone by the weekend...

Look! Nick's on TV!

Nick was super excited this week to be doing the announcements for the entire school. We had to be there early today, and for once he was up and moving quickly in the morning! I think the kids did wonderfully considering they are only in Kindergarten, and they were reading some tough cue cards. Rather impressed he got the words "Pledge of Allegiance" right! They were on for about 3 minutes, this is the end section. (Didn't want to bore everyone with the entire thing, and Blogger only lets me load so much video) He is on announcements all this week. We are going to work on smiling for the camera, and holding the mic farther away from his mouth for tomorrow!

I am told that one day I will look back on this day and laugh. Today is not that day.


Here is our daughter in all her glory on Tuesday. Hair long and beautiful, if a bit "windswept".




Here is poor Ellie now. After her almost six year old brother decided it would be a wonderful idea to cut huge hunks of her hair off with a pair of baby nail scissors. I would have expected my three year old to cut her own hair, but Nick?!?! I had been warned by several people, including my Mom, that little girl's love to cut their own hair and that it was just a matter of time. No one told me that big brothers do it too! Poor girl, she misses her "princess hair". I tried to even it out as best as I could, but it is still shocks me every time I look at her.

Ellie to a "T"!

This was such a wonderful opportunity to capture our daughter's personality that I couldn't resist. Here she is running amuck outside; the little ragamuffin in her pink shorts and pink tank top, hair ragged, and carrying every pink doll and stuffed animal possible.






And wearing what every good Princess should: Sparkly party shoes.

On the wrong feet of course.

It's Not Over Until the Fat Lady Sings!

Or the Birthday Boy Cries. Whichever the case may be!

Off to the bath and straight to bed. Happy First Birthday William!

And for the Grand Finale...

I am having severe maternal guilt over the fact that I did not make him his first birthday cake. My good friends with three kids have told me to "get over it", so I'm working on it! (Thanks Holly and Liz!) Anyway, how can you go wrong with a Costco chocolate cake?! Even though they are so huge that we gave away most of it to the neighborhood kids. (It'll look better on them than on me!)




Our Birthday Boy! Yet another hat. Poor William, he hates hats....




He's not too sure what to make of this cake thing.



He got over his reticence rather quickly and enjoyed the chocolately experience. Look Aunty Mimi; another one converted to the "Dark Side"! You would be proud!

Enough of this Toddler Stuff!

William went straight for The Chopper to celebrate his coming of age. He's ready to get out there with the neighborhood kids and cruise the cul-de-sac!

(This is why I have such a hard time with the first birthday: they go overnight from my Baby to "just one of the kids"!)

Hooray! It's William's Birthday!!

The big kids found the gifts first. About ten minutes after they opened their eyes. It was very challenging to convince them to wait until Daddy was awake and we had fed everyone breakfast before opening anything!



William, like most one year olds, could care less about the gifts. He was just so excited that Ellie was letting him play in her pink kitchen without drama that he couldn't tear himself away!


The John Deere goodies from Nonie and Grande were a hit! Thank you! He loves his new key chain and the cell phone. "Electronic gadgets" are the perfect gift! Just like his Dad!



The big kiddos like them too. How long before the fighting starts....

April 20, 2007





April 20, 2008

Happy Birthday!!

The Last Photo...

of our William as a baby. When we see him again in the morning he will be a toddler! *Sniff, Sniff*. Such a fast year this has been. And as always bittersweet. It's very exciting to see him grow and change and develop into a little person. But there is so much that I will miss: that sweet baby smell, the characteristic baby cry, the way they snuggle into you, and when he was just a little bundle in my arms, the sweet little coos and the first babble, dimpled fingers and elbows, when Mom was the center of his entire universe....

Our Daddy Went to DisneyLand...

And now we are the Three Mouseketeers!!



Nick also received a "Han Solo" blaster, which he thinks is super cool! (I am a little confused as to why Star Wars toys are sold at DisneyLand? I guess I could see the Ewoks fitting in at Disney, but Darth Vader?!)



Ellie loves her new Disney Princess bracelet. So beautiful! Cinderella, Belle, AND Sleeping Beauty. Oh My!

William is not a fan of hats. Can you tell?! But he makes a cute Mouse!

Thank you Daddy for all of the goodies! We missed you lots and lots!

Think Spring!

We are ready for it to be warm, and STAY warm! Bring on the flowers, leaves, grass, sunshine, and 70 degree days!

THIS is Colorado Weather

Tuesday was 83 degrees and sunny. We had the pool out and the kids ran around in bathing suits and flip flops. Wednesday it snowed all day. Today is bright and sunny again. And by the weekend it will be back up to the 70's. I just can't keep up!

Sibling Love (Or Something Close To It!)

Our Big Kids Ham It Up

Everyone was terribly cooperative for photographs. As usual. I was hoping to catch one of the three of them together, but no such luck.

The Countdown to One....

It was a beautiful, sunny day today. Perfect lighting for photographs. Actually it was almost too sunny. Probably should have waited one more hour, but with kids you take pictures when you can get them! Anyway, here is William as his first birthday approaches. One week until the big day! He has a cold this weekend and wasn't feeling very photogenic, so do excuse his lack of enthusiasm.

Gymnastics Class

Halfway through the session and I finally remember to bring my camera. Here is Ellie in her class, the first "big girl" session without Mommy! She enjoys it very much, I think because it is a high energy activity. Just perfect for her! I can definitely tell the difference in her post-ear tubes. She actually follows the directions now. It helps if you can actually hear what the teacher is saying!




The boys had to tag along today as Daddy wasn't available to watch them. Nick brought a massive backpack full of things to do for both of them. But William thought it was much more fun to push the chairs around the waiting area. I'm sure the other parents weren't terribly impressed when he crashed into their legs, but they were very polite about it!

Update to the Update....

Well, things are looking up around here!

Nick survived his first week back at school after Spring Break. And he did manage to grudgingly admit that he was glad to see his friends again. See, school is good for something!

William did indeed have Roseola. He has "polka dots" from head to toe! But at least he is feeling better and the fever is gone. Yeah!

Ellie had her surgery yesterday, at last! Everything went really well. We can already see a difference; her volume is WAY down, she has been eating non-stop, and she had the first good night's sleep in a very long time. Today she has been covering her ears a lot and complaining that many normal household noises are "too loud". The baby crying, water running, telephone ringing, a door slamming shut... So I would say that the ear tubes are working! She has lost 3 pounds over the last month, so the next goal is to fatten this girl up!

I will post some sort of photos this weekend. They may be of our spotted baby, an eating three year old, and the back of Nick's head as he rides his bike. But there will be pictures!