Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Meet Duke


Duke is the new member of Aaron and B's family. I promised Lyrpa pictures so she could show the girls how big he is. Keep in mind, he's 8 months old. (A boy at Dairy Queen last night asked how old he was and I don't think he believed us when we told him that).

Cade, posing for us, to give perspective of size...

Head. (Big.)



The boys playing with Duke...



Posing - "Sleeping with Duke the dog." They even make snoring noises, though the snapshot can't capture their sound effects...

(Aaron and B's kitchen is almost almost complete!)

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

christian

christian

And Stop With The Singing!

Ella is slooooowly getting used to her new schedule. Yes, the schedule that makes her wake up at 6:30 in the morning. FOR KINDERGARTEN. I know. But she gets to wear a uniform, so that kind of makes up for it. But it does not, however, make up for the 20 new gray hairs I have from dealing with The Crankiest Four Year Old EVER. (Seriously? Are you really throwing a temper tantrum in public? YOU ARE FOUR. And I am not afraid to spank you! Just ask Uncle Shea. He totally saw The Legendary Fit at The Legends Shopping Experience.)

So we've been trying to take it slow and not plan as much after-school fun. Yesterday, after a post school tantrum BEFORE WE EVEN GOT IN THE CAR, she was sentenced to 20 minutes in Time Out, no TV, and an afternoon nap (where she did not sleep, but did ask me for a snack, drink and movie about 300 times). But today she was reasonably well behaved. Meaning she slowly stopped whining after I threatened to put her in time out, take away TV, and force nap time again. She asked if we could to go Target. Because that's her favorite place in the world. (Can you blame her? It's one of my favorite places too. Mmmmmm, consumerism....) Since both the girls were behaving, and I am in desperate need of contact solution, we went. Ella got a treat. Gretchen enjoyed trying on sunglasses. I found a summer outfit on clearance for Ella for next year's clothes stash. Our tentative foray into public was a mild success. I think we may even attempt the library again one day.

The Story Of Us In The Car:
ME: (Singing loudly and badly to that stupid Kidz Bop CD that came in Ella's happy meal a few months ago.)
Ella: Can you please stop singing Mom?
Me: No. ...la la la..And I'm gunna miss you like a child misses her blankie, but I have to move on with MY live... la la la la (seriously? This song sucks.)
Ella: Mom, STOP SINGING.
Me: You're going to hurt my feelings, honey. (sings crappy song louder)
Ella: Mom, you're hurting MY feelings with your singing!
Me: Guess what, it's my car and I can sing if I want.
Ella: Fine, you can sing till this song is over, and then no more.
Me: Should I turn around and NOT go to Target?
Ella: Fine. You can keep singing.

Ha ha, I win.

BTW, you're totally invited to Ella's birthday party.



Nope, nothing creepy about this image!

christians blog

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Baby Daddy

Ok, Auntie Autumn. I waited for you to make the announcement. But you haven't yet. So I'm telling the Interweb for you. AUTUMN IS GETTING MARRIED. Look at what a good job her Love did picking out her ring..... Awwww



Now the question is, will the wedding theme be Xena....



...Star Wars...



...Or Battlestar Gallactica???



(Put your vote in the comment section. I'm sure Autumn will appreciate all the input we can give her.)

We're so happy for you. And we couldn't be happier to have Drew in our family.

Besides that great news, not much has changed since our last post. We are still:
1. In Reno
2. Living Upstairs
and
3. Letting Ella Dress Herself. (I mean really, why would we want to stop this?)



(Luckily she wears a uniform to school. See? SO CUTE!)


Ella has been planning impromptu parties almost nightly. She roped Colby into helping her make cupcakes.



And Gretchen roped Daddy into giving her some cupcake batter.



I went visiting teaching. (Nothing brings the spirit to your message like drawing some awesome tats on your baby to keep her quiet.)



And finally, Colby has been taking lots of lovely pictures with the new camera. Yay for Macro Lenses!






Hmmmm....



Lastly, Ella had two observations of note this week:

1. Fish Sticks are like "tricky fries with bumps on them"
2. When she grows up she's going to be an astronaut and fly a rocket to Saturn. Her baby will come, but babies have to stay in the rocket. (I guess this gets Grandma & Grandpa off the hook. Maybe Ella WON'T live with them forever...)

***********UPDATE!!!**********
Gretchen just saw the picture of her & Rod and she pointed to Mr. Stewart and said, "Daddy!" HA HA HA HA HA!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Additional Trip Pics

In case you were wanting more...

"Was the Gretch once this small? And not trying to be a dare devil?"



You want me to do what??
Well....Okay.

So cute!



Enjoying popsiclesExcuse me. EBella is enjoying a FUDGSICLE.


And she enjoys it glamorously:

As does her baby sister
Let's do it again soon....