Ellie's first haircut!

This is really not a great picture, but you can see that I was able to get EK's hair back into a ponytail this weekend. Won't be doing that again anytime soon! She had her first haircut tonight - she did a great job!

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

The long baby layer is gone!

Random photos, updates, Ellie Kate the daredevil

Be forewarned, this post has no common theme - just notes of recent occurrences that had us laughing or shaking our heads.

First - I just love this picture of W & J. They were just horsing around, but it turned out to be a cute pic.

Eleanor is quite the fashionista. Very particular about her accessories especially. All winter long she insisted on wearing her raincoat instead of her heavy winter coat. Now, it is a very cute J&J raincoat, but really? And, she always has an opinion on what shoes to wear. Usually she chooses her boots. Very fashionable...except with spring skirt outfits. I took her to run errands with me last weekend and we found this adorable sun hat and matching sandals. And, since we were at Babies R Us, we picked up a couple new sippy cups. I'll have you know she had this cup out of the packaging before we got to the next aisle. See how she's clutching it here? Did that ALL morning. And also refused to take off the hat or shoes.

Will has always been a fairly timid kid, especially with physical adventures. Socially, the kid has no fear - talks to anyone. Ellie Kate is much less timid. In fact, she seems to LOVE speed, feeling out of control, climbing to great heights and other danger-filled adventures. I was reminded of this as we were playing outside the other evening. Will was still on his little Diego bike (too afraid to ride his real bike with training wheels because he says he doesn't know how to do it). Ellie Kate was in the big red & yellow car you pedal Flintstone-style. Will wouldn't go more than a couple pedals without putting his feet down to stop. EK put her feet up at the top of the driveway and enjoyed the ride all the way to the bottom where I stopped her from going into the street. At one point she ran her car into Will's bike on her way down the driveway. This frustrated her to no end because he was not gong fast enough for her or kept stopping. She finally succeeded in pushing him of the way. In other adventures, she's enjoyed climbing up the stairs outside the railing (thankfully we only have 5-6 stairs like that!), trying to climb into her high chair (photo below), getting up onto the chair in the living room and leaping over onto the sofa (photo below), and insisting that she now walk up and down stairs -- no sitting or scooting. It doesn't matter that she can't reach the railing. She'll hold your hand or just venture it alone. I'm guessing this is what happened the other night while I was doing dishes and heard her crash down from the top to the landing. Oops. Thankfully, it just scared her - no injuries.

Finally, I'll end with a story about Will. I told him recently that he & I would be going to see Toy Story on Ice with Go-Go & his cousins. We've known about this for quite a while, but I've waited to tell him so that we aren't talking about it incessantly! Well, the show is next Friday so we'll see how the next week or so of anticipation goes! Here are his reactions when I first told him:
W: "Is Aunt Casie going to be there?" (very excitedly)
M: "No, I don't think Aunt Casie will be there, but all your cousins will be!"
W: "I think Aunt Casie should be there."

W: "Mom, are they going to be real people?"
K: "Yes, Will. They'll be real people in costumes and they'll be ice skating."
W: "Will there be snow? I bet there will be a Christmas tree!"
K: "Well, I'm not so sure about that. It's not really a Christmas show."
W: "Mom, do you think we can meet Buzz & Woody? I would be so happy to talk to Woody! I think Buzz might be a little too excited to talk to me though."

Yep, I bet he'll be too excited to talk to you, Buddy!

Sibling love

I've been able to get a couple pictures of the kids together recently. This is a rarity indeed. They play together great, but you get a camera out and it is nearly impossible to get a good picture. They are both doing great right now -- happy, healthy, enjoying life and each other. They are blessings indeed!
Ellie Kate is talking more and more. "Frog" and "Fork" sound mysteriously like another F-word. My 32-year-old child giggles every time she says it. Will is working on reading and spelling simple words. And we're reading another chapter book at bedtime. We're tackling "A Wrinkle in Time" this time. I'm confident he doesn't get it, but he does enjoy us reading it to him, so we'll keep going with it.

Just in time for March Madness, I had to get the KU gear out.

"Will, say cheese like Mommy said!"

That's more like it!

I love the sheer joy in both their faces!

 
This is them doing a yoga video together. Will does a good job with it and Elle does her best to keep up! She's definitely bendy enough!

Oh, and by the way, she insisted on wearing the fleece jacket the whole afternoon. She's quite particular about what she'd like to wear for not even being 2 years old yet!

The Cool School

First things first - Eleanor's tubes went in today so we're hoping this is the end of her ear woes. She did great. It's a very quick procedure. We were there a total of less than 2 hours. We were worried going in because she's developed a cold, had a fever and threw up last Friday, fever Saturday, and a 100-degree temp last night. By the grace of God, when the nurse took her temp at the hospital today it was normal so we went ahead with the procedure. Honestly, I think the nurse was even surprised she had no fever. Poor Elle looked just miserable. Hopefully she'll be feeling better soon.

Now, on to "the Cool School". Will is in a really great environment. He is learning so many things and getting to see and do more than I could even imagine. Among other creative and fun things, they do lots of field trips. Today, they had an amazing face painter come, so this is how Will looked when I picked him up. I have no idea how/if we're going to get it all off, but it looks really cool!

Growing up

There have been several little moments lately where I've realized these two little ones are growing up. I won't lie - sometimes it's a relief. Sometimes it makes me sad, though.
Will is becoming more of a little guy every day. He's reading words, doing simple math problems, growing taller, and giving a little attitude (as you can see in the photo at the top. I asked them both to smile...that's what I got from Will.)
Is there anything cuter than a little boy with a new haircut?

Eleanor has decided she's had enough of the highchair and wants to sit at the table with us. She is conversing more. The other day she said several times in a very whispery voice "whass da sow?" [what's that sound?] any time a new sound occurred around the house. Her other multi-word phrase that has become a favorite: "I throwed it." She's loving books and tries to sing her ABC's. We only get "A, B, C, D, E, eh, G" then she just sorta makes sounds to the tune of the song. Will thinks this is hilarious and laughs every time she does it, which, of course, makes her laugh - and do it even more! They are generally getting along really well and learning to play together more. It's fun to watch them entertain each other.

Tubes, tubes, here we come!

After a visit to the ENT yesterday, Elle is now scheduled for tubes in a couple weeks. We're hopeful this will provide all of us some much needed relief!

Her ears actually looked good at yesterday's appointment and she did great with the hearing test, so that is nice. Of course, her nose was runny after we got home and that continued through the night. I'm so hoping this doesn't turn into an actual cold and the inevitable ear infection to follow!

Snow Days & busy January

All of a sudden, winter has hit here! We didn't have any snow before Christmas, but we've had 3 good rounds of it lately. KU even closed for 2 days!!!! Unbelievable! We're all still trying to get over colds, ear infections, etc. but we enjoyed the snow days nonetheless. It was fun for all 4 of us to be home together.

These pictures are from the snow a few weeks ago. If you look really closely you can see Will using the saucer he got for Christmas to slide down the very small hill in our front yard. He loved it! Poor Elle is still battling ear infections, so I haven't let her go outside and play yet. I have no doubt she would enjoy the saucer rides!

And these aren't really snow days, just cute pictures of Eleanor :) Though in the first one she does look like she's all bundled to take on some outdoor adventure!

January was very busy for us. Along with the start of a new semester and Justin's birthday, we've had several other events. We had 4 babysitters lined up for different occasions in a 2 week span! I think the kids are glad we're done with all that! Last weekend, we got all dressed up to go to our Chamber of Commerce's annual dinner and auction. Justin is now on the board of directors, so it was important for us to go. Thanks so much to Casie & my mom for watching the kids, and especially to my mom for staying overnight! Elle has not slept all night in weeks (thanks to ear infections) and the thought of an uninterrupted night of sleep in a hotel was more than we could turn down!

And finally, here is our most recent snow storm -- a blizzard really. In our 2 snow days at home we: watched "Mickey's Magical Christmas" because Will insisted it was "the best snow movie!", baked cookies (as E shows evidence of below), did yoga (you gotta see Elle try to do it - she's awesome!), played lots of games, built a fort (inside), painted, did art projects, made snow ice cream, and so much more. We are now ready to go back to work and school :)