say cheese

I had to write this down before I forgot because I am amazed by it. Ella, Leia and I were in their room and I was attempting to wind them down before story time. Ella had her toy camera in hand and was taking pictures. She pointed it at Leia, pushed the button and the camera said, "say cheese!" Leia looked up and said, "jeese". Holy ash trays Batman did she say what I thought she said? I just looked at her in amazement and had Ella take a few more pictures and Leia kept on saying jeeze. Astonishing. She has said things before and I just thought it was a fluke but maybe... it isn't. Wow!

just a few things...

While at Chuck E. Cheese today Ella rode the carousel. After the ride was done it says something like, "Let's go again." Ella replied, "No thank you Chuck E. Cheese. I already went two times", and then walked away.

Later in the day Ella asked if she could play with 2 balloon stickers. She wanted to be Pinkie Pie, My Little Pony, and proceeded to put the stickers on her upper thigh. Ella loves to pretend!

Leia took 3 steps today! Lately she lets us know when she wants something. During dinner time today she let out a cry and I figured out she wanted a corn on the cob. She wanted to hold and eat it like everyone else.

history

I have been trying to keep the kids some what busy in an attempt for less TV watching to occur and more actual living life moments to happen. A few weeks ago I signed Jonathan up for an hour presentation about sea life that our public library offered free! He really enjoyed it but the girls were a bit restless. At one point I took them outside to walk around... in the heat. The activity was held at a local Lutheran church only 5 to 10 minutes away from us and on the church grounds was a cemetary. I decided to get a closer look at the tombs because they looked super old, like the ones you see in an old black and white horror movie. On examining the tombs I found them extremely hard to read. I then went to the tombs which had an American flag placed next to them to see what war the soldiers fought in... Revolutionary war.... Revolutionary war.... Revolutionary war. Then it hit me, once again, I live in the part of our nation with such rich history.

As a side note, remember the neckerchiefs I made for Boy Scouts? I found out this troop was one of the originals. Yep that's right. The troop is celebrating it's 100 year mark when Boy Scouts began. It was an honor making them for such a special group!

Our Little Padawan

Pretend Star Wars music is playing in the background...

more memories

I do have more memories being at my grandparents' house. I'm just going to ramble on about them to see if it sparks memories for anyone else.

My grandma would always make bologna and cheese sandwiches for my grandpa... sometimes a double decker. When ever I have a craving for bologna I know it is because of those sandwiches.

Remember when we would play clue and Uncle Gary would make up voices for all the characters. I never knew why he would always win even though we could see his cards because of the big mirror in the family room.

Sometimes our dads would swim with us and they would dive off the board. Numerous cannon balls were preformed in the attempt to get us wet. No names but remember one of them broke the board...

One year we had extreme fires going on in the mountains and you could see the helicopters trying to put out the fires. I think we created a video that year. Then we drove home and were super close to the fire. Scary, but when I think of summer I think of fires... at least a California summer.

You can't think of my grandpa without thinking chess sets. He had a special one where you could play against the actual board. Back then it was so cool and high tec. I must admit I was a little scared of being in his office. When I think of that room what comes to mind is chess sets and the movie Ten Commandments.

When I think of grandma I think of her in the hall waiting for us to enter so she could give us a huge hug and kiss. It seemed like she never missed an opportunity to give us a warm welcome.

Last but most importantly, at least to a small child, THE candy dish. You know the one. Sometimes it was up high, other times on the end table next to the couch. Oh how I looked forward to being able to snag a candy from that dish. Looking through it, hoping my favorite was there so I could eat it. Man I loved those candies. Maybe that is where my love for sweets began.

say ah... or is it aw?

About six months ago I had Ella come to my dentist appointment so she could get use to the dentist sounds so six months later it would hopefully not be as intimidating when she went to her first appointment. I have to laugh thinking about my appointment because they gave her a toy half way through it. She chose a toy that shot out a flying disk. While the dentist worked on my teeth a small disk was shot randomly though out the room with cartoons playing in the background. For some reason that disk never made it home. I wonder why? At any rate she tried to get a look at Ella's teeth by asking to count them but Ella was too afraid and only let her peak at them. However the visit was some what successful because Ella did manage to get a pink toothbrush out of the visit while I was left empy handed.

Anyway, on July 15th Ella had her first official visit to the dentist. A month before I pretended to be a dentist and told her to open wide and then made different noises hoping it would help. She loved playing dentist and looked forward to the visit. However, a week before the day she started to get nervous, especially on "the" day. I kept telling her to just listen to the dentist and do what she asks and it would be a great visit ending with getting a prize and a new toothbrush. As we approached the door I read the sign which said the friendliest dentists in town. I pointed it out to her and said, "See you have the best dentist! Everything will be fine." Oh, I can't forget I let her bring her safety blanket. It's always good to have back up. Anyway, they called Jonathan first and then a few minutes later it was Ella's turn. She looked hesitant but reluctantly took the ladies hand who would be cleaning her teeth and walked back without me! I played peak a boo with Leia while the other kids had their teeth cleaned side by side. A while later Ella came back with sparkly clean teeth. They said she was unsure at first but after they moved/played with the chair she was fine. Ella was actually happy when everything was over and they let her pick 2 prizes plus she received a new toothbrush and toothpaste. She also has a photo hanging next to all the other kids who also have found the freindliest dentist in town showing their beautiful, freshly cleaned, sparkly teeth. One visit down and many more to come.

summer days

My fondest summer memories as a child are the days spent swimming all day long at my grandma's house. I remember standing next to my grandpa anxiously waiting for him to finish testing the ph levels in the water and then clean the pool so we could swim. We literally swam all day with the background noise of metal clicking and the occasional oh escaped the mouths of my dad, his brothers and my grandpa. They always played horseshoes on the side of the house while we swam. We meaning my brother, sister and cousins. It was great. I would have swim races with my sister, we would try to figure out what the other person was saying under water and then we made up our own games like mermaids or torpedos. I remember one summer, when we were a bit older, a boogie boad was added into the mix and we would run and try to jump onto it. I also loved swimming to where the "waterfall" was so I could get my face/ hair wet. When night time came, my grandpa turned on the pool lights which made the pool even more awesome. The lights would change and just everything seemed magical. Those were wonderful summer memories. Years later when I found out my grandpa had sold the house, a moment of saddness occured because I realized there would be no more pool memories.

Now lets fast forward to now. Now I am a mother of three kids and I quickly found out bored kids means bickering so the teacher in me made up a schedule. The schedule consists of going to a public pool where we can swim for free in the morning. Once again the excitement of packing up the car and heading out to go swimming has begun but now I am the driver and there is a new generation of kids. Once again a child learns how to dive in the deep end. Yes, I watched Jonathan go to the diving area and have a ball jumping in the pool and then swim to the edge by himself, with a lifeguard watching of course! So exciting. No resemblance to the little boy who did not want to get his face wet. Today he is just a boy. Once again kids make up their own games and just enjoy the summer. Ella's games usually consist of filling up buckets and emptying them out. Leia is just along for the ride but for some reason loves to stick her face in the water. It makes me incredibly nervous. Once again memories are being made that will hopefully never fade. Life is good.

You can't have your banana and eat it too...

... or can you?

One Month to Go!

It's hard to believe Leia is almost one year old! The signs of her moving into being a toddler are slowly happening. The biggest change for this month is ... drum roll please... she is finally sleeping through the night. Something or some things happened during my parents' visit that helped her transition into sleeping through the night. She stayed up a little later, plus there was an extra fan on in my room. To make things even more pleasant she does not scream after waking up like she use to. I know Ella keeps her entertained in the morning until I come/ hear them. It does make it a little tricky to know when to get her during nap time. At any rate I am extremely happy, a bit giddy and looking forward to getting some sleep!

She is also transitioning from moving away from baby foods and into eating regular foods. She is happy about this and tries harder to get her sister's food now that she knows she can eat it... some of it. I am also still trying to get her use to a sippy cup so when the year mark hits and nursing stops it will not be a traumatic experience. She does try to grab Ella's sippy cup which is a good sign and Ella likes to snag Leia's sippy cup. Sippy cup envy has begun. After all, someone else's sippy cup is always better than your own.

Leia is not walking yet but took her a step towards Jonathan the other day. All of us were in the kitchen, except Ryan, and Leia was holding her stance w/o any assistance for at least 10 seconds. Jonathan started to call her and sure enough she took one step and then fell. I'm not sure if she will learn how to walk around 12 months but we will see.

As for communicating she loves to babble and will scream/ sing along with the other two kids. I have a feeling the volume during car trips will turn up a notch or two in the next few months.

Leia also loves to play with Ella's dolls. Last night Ella was playing with two dolls that had snap on clothes. She kept them out of Lia's reach but Leia saw them and kept eyeing them. When I finally let her play with one she became super excited to the point where her little hands shook as she grabbed for it. So cute! She also loves to play next to Ella creating some kind of "food" in the play kitchen.

Leia is just a wonderful baby and a joy to watch. Now she only cries when frustrated, tired and sometimes after a nap when she has been in her crib for awhile. She is a pretty mild baby that loves being around her siblings. I hope that doesn't change. I do get a little sad that family is not closer so they could see her more. Oh well, you can't have everything.

Blankies

The girls received a pleasant surprise today from their Great Grandma Southworth/ Reynolds... happy quilts! Ella was super excited and asked if she could sleep with it at night. Of course she can! She loved the fact that it was pink on the back. Leia loves hers as well and had fun touching the ties.

Thank you!!!

For remembrance so I never forget...

...The Happy Quilt
Our house has a HAPPY QUILT
I know you'd like one too.
And I'm sure you'd be astounded
At the work it finds to do.

It's not elegant or fancy,
It's just cheerful, warm and light.
When you snuggle down inside it,
Somehow all your blues turn bright.

How it battles chills and fevers!
(You feel better right away.)
It goes blithely where you take it
Any place you work or play.

Every time it cuddles round you,
Seems you get a smiling face,
Keep it busy, use it, wash it,
Keep it in a handy place.

Made one for our tiny grandma
When her work was nearly through,
Grandpa said she held it closely
As the pain and darkness grew.

Made one for brothers families
For the kids out in the park,
Kitchen floors and crawling babies,
Drive-in movies after dark.

One for Uncle's mountain cabin,
Sunrise trails to greet the dawn.
Found t great for napping, T.V.
Homework, camping, home, and gone.

We've a HAPPY QUILT at our house!
Helps with families too.
Need some warmth and comfort?
Here's a HAPPY QUILT
for- YOU!!!