The Amazing Adventures of Rand and Ella!

First Book Report

2012-02-01T12:24:00.000-08:00

This is a few months old but I kept forgetting to post it. This is Rand's first book report, on "Stuart Little." I honestly can't read most of it but it is about a "muse" in a family and it is "fonny when suart shos the cat in the left ear."

They also read "Charlotte's Web" and "The Family Under the Bridge." At home we just finished reading "My Father's Dragon" and Rand really loved it. We are currently rotating between "Little House on the Prairie," "James and the Giant Peach," and "The Voyage of the Dawn Treador," depending on our mood that evening. I love that he is big enough for chapter books that I also enjoy reading!

Cousin Visit!

2012-01-19T12:26:00.001-08:00

We had a really fun visit with Katie and Dustin and their kids before Thanksgiving. Ella and Rand were SO EXCITED about to see their cousins! They were adorable reading stories and playing together. Ella and Elijah were great at pretending all sorts of games. Rand and Ella both loved to hold Josiah, who Ella declared "the cute little baby!"

The train park was fabulous. They anxiously waited for the train....

...and snagged the blue car!

Elijah really liked the model trains.

We really, really tried to get a good picture of the four kids. It didn't really happen.

"Catch Uncle Dustin and Josiah" is a great game!

This was Ella's favorite thing to do all weekend.

Thanksgiving....2 months late

2012-01-17T08:43:00.000-08:00

We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving here at home. Well, as quiet as it could be with a bunch of dogs. Doug came out to spend the week and it was so nice seeing him. We went to Texas Roadhouse, which Rand declared his new favorite restaurant, watched a few movies, and Doug got to help Werner work on his play and go to Rand and Ella's Thanksgiving celebration at their school.

I had a really frustrating dog over Thanksgiving who WOULD NOT BE CAUGHT and was driving me crazy. I finally came storming in and half-jokingly told Rand that I would give him $10 if he could catch the dog for me. He was on his way outside to get a book he left in the car, and a few minutes later he came back inside crying. He told me that he tried to catch the dog, and was holding onto his collar, but the dog jumped around and stepped on his bare foot. I felt terrible, and apologized, and helped him get shoes and a leash. He went out and then actually got the leash on the dog and brought him inside. Then I was a lousy mom because I didn't have $10 in cash, so I compromised by giving him some candy with a promise to give him the money in a few days. Serves me right for making a statement like that!

2012-01-16T08:08:00.000-08:00

Ohhhh, how Rand and Ella love the beach. They have so much fun playing there. I think it is their favorite thing about California.

Everybody loved being buried by Grandpa!

Rand had an epic frisbee tournament with Grandma, then we went rock climbing!

The kids all found "buried pirate treasure"....lots of tiny rocks mixed with pieces of broken glass. Awesome.

We found a bunch of tiny tidepools with little crabs -- Rand liked holding the crabs and letting them walk on his hand, while Ella and Elijah were content to watch them walk around on the rocks til they fell back into the water. Rand and I also found lots of sea anemones and I showed him how if you touch them gently they shrink up. He thought that was awesome and did that to as many as he could until the tide started getting too high.

Christmas in California Pictures

2012-01-13T10:44:00.000-08:00

Ella and Grannie!

Ella adores Josiah.

Wrestling Grandpa in the park!

McDonald's for breakfast....mmmm!

Building a playhouse

2012-01-12T09:51:00.000-08:00

My Dad is building a fabulous playhouse outside, and it was fun watching it go up while we were there. Ella loved "helping" Grandpa, climbing the ladder, and playing in the slide as it was being assembled. The box that the slide came in was great fun to draw in, and of course Rand and John had to dig for a while in the dirt pile.

Merry Christmas, Part 1

2012-01-11T11:40:00.001-08:00

We had a really fun Christmas in Phoenix. We started off by going to our church's Christmas Eve service...they had all of the kids come up from and sing "Jingle Bells," which was adorable. We followed that up with our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of French Dip. Rand was so excited he didn't fall asleep until 10:30pm.....

....and then he was up at 5am the next morning! Fortunately I was able to shoo him away for a bit to read in his room. After Ella woke up, we immediately opened stockings and then started making cinnamon rolls. After they were in the oven, we headed down for the Christmas tree! Werner lit a fire and we turned on Christmas music.

Rand and Ella had so much fun opening their presents. Because they didn't get gobs of presents we just took our time and let them play with things as they went along.

Then we went upstairs and had a deliciously unhealthy breakfast of eggs, sausage, and homemade cinnamon rolls with loads of frosting. We hosted an open house the rest of the afternoon and evening, and it was so fun having various friends stop by to chat, play games, and eat. It made for a really nice Christmas even without our family around!

Turtlerock!

2012-01-10T10:01:00.000-08:00

We took a lovely hike up Turtlerock when we visited California last month. None of us had ever been up there, and it was so much fun! There were beautiful views, lots of rocks to climb, and all kinds of treasures to find (snail shells, abandoned soccer balls, and so on).

Climbing trees is fun!

2012-01-09T13:40:00.000-08:00

Sweetness.

2011-12-16T08:50:00.000-08:00

Every night she picks a different stuffed animal to take to bed with her. Right now it alternates between a tiny little reindeer, her puppy, and her "soft baby." It's dark in the mornings when it's time to wake up so I hear her quietly walk into our room and ask, "Mama, is it up time now?"

He's growing up....

2011-12-07T18:27:00.000-08:00

I dropped Rand and Ella off at Awanas and watched them walk in by themselves. I stepped back behind the entrance doors to make sure they got to the correct groups, and was just about to leave when the leader said it was time to close in prayer. Rand piped up, "May I please close in prayer?" And then he went up on the stage in front of so many children, and prayed a very sweet prayer. He addressed his prayer to "Dear Jesus Christ," thanked God that they could meet at this wonderful church, and thanked God for Awanas, and thanked God that they could have a good night.

It was so sweet, and I was so pleased and proud to see how he acts even when he thinks I'm not watching.

The Fair!

2011-11-17T10:51:00.000-08:00

Going to the State Fair has become a really fun tradition for us. We always buy a set number of tickets and the kids can choose which rides they want to go on. They went on this one several times -- they had to climb huge ladders, go through ball pits, slide down a giant slide, and go through several other obstacles. Rand was so sweet and helped Ella out whenever she got stuck. She got scared in the ball pit (she'd never been in one before) and Rand held her hand and walked with her through the whole thing.

We got cotton candy and funnel cakes....mmmmm.

We watched a high school rodeo -- the goat tying and calf roping were especially exciting.

They had a kids play area where they could play in big sandboxes and ride around on these little bikes.

The petting zoo was a huge hit! Rand liked the teeny little potbellied pigs best. I tried to get a picture of Ella petting the big llama but she was too fast. She had no fear at all of that thing!

Phoenix Art Museum

2011-11-11T10:31:00.000-08:00

The kids had a great time at the Phoenix Art Museum a couple of weeks ago. They are starting to get old enough to really enjoy and appreciate the various kinds of artwork. Ella was only slightly traumatized by all of the pictures of Jesus dying on the cross (go Renaissance art!). Rand's favorite painting was one of a little girl named Clara playing with her tea set and dolls. It was painted in the mid-1800's and it was fun to see him thinking about how kids are kids even 150 years apart.

Rand and Ella thought this sculpture was hilarious.

Rand loved the flower garden. He took about 25 pictures of all different kinds of flowers.

International Day

2011-11-09T10:49:00.000-08:00

Rand and Ella's school has an International Day celebration every year, where children dress as their cultural heritage and we have a big potluck with all kinds of fun and interesting dishes. Rand and Ella loved their kilts and we brought scones with cream and jam -- they were a hit!

Rand is all the way on the right by his teacher Ms. Eva.

Ella is all the way on the left by her teacher Ms. Marty.

Rand and his friend Brady welcomed everyone to International Day and told us what song they would be singing first. They did a great job!

Pumpkin Carving

2011-11-08T10:24:00.000-08:00

We had a fun time carving pumpkins. Rand wanted a "scary pumpkin" and so Ella wanted the same thing. Rand made me pull out all of the seeds out of his pumpkin, but Ella was game and didn't mind sticking her hand inside (although I love the mildly disgusted look on her face). They were so excited watching their pumpkins glow in the dark and sat and watched them until it was time to go to bed.

Desert Botanical Gardens and Butterflies

2011-11-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

The Botanical Gardens got a really fun special exhibit where they have 9 huge wooden sculptures of various kinds of bugs. We had a great time walking through the gardens and finding all of them. They also had the Monarch butterflies exhibit so Rand and Ella spent a long time there admiring all of them.

Horse Show!

2011-11-03T10:09:00.000-07:00

We had a fantastic horse show on Sunday. Ella did her leadline class and was just adorable. She answered all of the judge's questions and she would ride all on her own if I would let her.

Rand rode all on his own for the first time, and he did great! He didn't want to show at first because he was afraid he wouldn't win. We had a couple of nice chats about winning and loosing and he decided that he did want to ride after all. He got a 4th place (out of 4 riders) in pleasure -- not his fault, Bourbon is NOT a good pleasure horse -- and he did a great job controlling Bourbon and doing what he was supposed to do.

He got a 3rd place in trail, and again, he did exactly what he was supposed to! He remembered his entire pattern and did a very nice job controlling Bourbon and being in charge.

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-02T18:51:00.000-07:00

Rand and Ella are just the right age for Halloween! We had so much fun this year. We went to Garden Lakes Baptist Church (where we go to Awanas) for their harvest festival. Rand and Ella had so much fun playing all of the little games, eating cotton candy, bouncing in the bounce house, and riding the little barrel train.

After the harvest festival we went to the Wotherspoons neighborhood and went trick-or-treating. Rand first went to the Wotherspoons house, gleefully shouted, "TRICK OR TREAT!!!!" and then was surprised when I said we could keep going. He said, "You mean we can go to peoples' houses that we don't know?!" Ella and Abi held hands and skipped along, and Rand and Isaac karate-kicked their way through the neighborhood. There were a couple of super spooky houses and Rand thought they were so fun and not scary at all (Ella clung to me like a drowning cat so we hung back).

They had a great time sorting their candy afterwards and were just thrilled with their loot.

Rand update

2011-09-02T10:44:00.001-07:00

Rand has been an absolute delight for the last couple of weeks.

A couple of days ago I asked him what he wanted for dinner, and he said that he would like to go to Chick-Fil-A. We rarely go out to eat, but Werner wasn't home and it was 110 degrees outside so I agreed. He was so sweet and thanked me several times for getting us milkshakes and letting them play at the playplace.

On Thursday he got up extra early and wanted to make pancakes for breakfast. He did pretty much everything -- measured, mixed, even poured the batter into the pan and flipped them all on his own.

Yesterday he got his first loose tooth! He was excited, started crying for a moment when it hurt to eat his corn on the cob, and then was back to excited. He told me that it had already been a really great day and after he found out about his loose tooth, it was even better.

His handwriting is starting to look really nice, and he likes staying for the whole school day. They are reading "Stuart Little" at school and he thinks it is so funny. He loves dictation and enjoys the "specials" that they do at school (art, music, yoga, and spanish, one each day).

We took a break from reading The Chronicles of Narnia and are now reading Little House in the Big Woods. He loves it! After we read about churning butter he wanted to try it, so we got some cream and shook it and shook it and shook it and made our own butter. Then we added honey and both of the kids thought that was delicious. I told Ella to stop eating the honey butter so we would have some left for dinner and she told me, "I'm not eating it, I'm just licking it with my tongue."

They are studying the planets at school and now he is full of ideas for building a rover that will be able to go on Jupiter.

We sponsor a little boy through Compassion International and Rand spontaneously wanted to send him a letter, so he wrote Enoc a letter all on his own. He's also been reminding me to pray for him every night, which is really cool.

He finished up his first ballet/jazz class and loved it, so we'll be continuing that in the next couple of weeks. (He liked watching himself in the mirror a little too much.)

Last week was Rand's snack-and-share day at school, and since we had made homemade chocolates a few days prior, he wanted to bring those to school. I said sure, but we didn't have any candy left so he would have to get up early to make enough for his classmates before school. Normally he is not such an easy person to get out of bed, but when I woke him up he jumped out of bed and got ready in a flash. He was so careful stirring and painting in all the crevices with chocolate and tapping them gently. He was definitely the happenin' man at school that day and the other kids loved his demonstration!

He likes to take books and copy out their words on a sheet of paper. He figured out yesterday that Mo Willems (he pronounced it "moo") wrote several of his favorite books. Last night he was playing Angry Birds with his friends by shooting themselves off the couch onto heaps of cushions. He can read my friends' facebook statuses over my shoulder and loves our weekly trips to the library.

Children's Museum

2011-08-24T13:05:00.000-07:00

For Ella's birthday we got passes to the Children's Museum in Phoenix. We've been three times in the last month! The kids just love it there. On Saturday, Werner was able to come along so we split up which made it so much easier. Ella and I had a great time hanging out together.

She painted with water:

More water painting with the noodle forest in the background -- so much fun to play hide-and-seek in!

A "flower garden" where you can plant and arrange flowers....

Painting a castle! I still haven't gotten all of the paint off of her shoes.

We met up in the art room and came home with a dozen different crafts.

Most of the time they like each other....

2011-08-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

Most of the time, Rand and Ella are very sweet to one another. Yesterday I told Ella that I needed to brush her hair, and she said that she wanted Rand to do it. He was happy to, and was so gentle with his little sister.

Sunflowers

2011-08-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

We got a very late start planting our sunflowers, but they bloomed in spite of the heat and our tardyness! Rand did such a good job watering them and looking out for them. He always informed us whenever he saw a bee or a ladybug on them because those are reportedly very good for sunflowers. They have been blooming one by one for the past week now and the kids are always so excited when they see another one has blossomed!

Tuesday Ramblings (from last Tuesday because I forgot to hit the publish button)

2011-08-09T19:16:00.001-07:00

Ella came padding into our room at 3:30 this morning. She was holding 2 pink binkies, a flashlight, a Lego C-3PO, her teddy bear, and an empty bowl.

Rand's fish, Bluey Swimmy Arthur Girard, died a couple of days ago. Thankfully I suspected this was coming and was able to give him a head's up, so he wasn't too sad. Today we went and got two little goldfish. They would've been a bargain at 29 cents each, but I had to buy new water conditioner and food, so that nixed that.

Ella has had two great days of school in a row, so I think she is getting the hang of it. Yay!

We are getting into a nice routine. I am a much nicer, more patient parent when I have had several hours on my own to get all of my daily to-do's done. I'm making it my goal to have all of my errands and chores done before I pick up the kids from school, which makes it so much easier to have the afternoons/evenings be relaxing, fun, spend-with-the-kids time. We go swimming, or play a game, or go out for a little errand, we have dinner, and read stories, make a craft. I am trying to be very purposeful about spending quality time with them and not wasting the hours that we spend together.

Swimming!

2011-08-08T10:22:00.001-07:00

I am so glad that we have a swimming pool -- Rand and Ella have been swimming nearly every day this summer. Ella can now dog paddle around by herself when she is wearing her lifejacket. Rand just started swimming without floaties last week. He even jumps off of the side of the pool into the water and comes up beaming.

We have a little rocket that Rand loves to pick up off of the bottom of the pool. A couple of days ago I threw some pennies into the shallow end. He was so persistent and kept trying and trying until he picked them all up, and then he tossed them in to do it again!

It is very cool to see him so proud of himself.

Science Camp!

2011-08-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

Rand went to a week of science camp at the Challenger Space Center last month. He had so much fun. Every day they focused on a different subject (gravity, magnets, air) and he came home with an interesting craft and all kinds of facts to share with us. One class was on the day that Atlantis came home so they watched it landing and the teacher answered all of their questions. They got to go up on the roof of the space center when they learned about solar panels and got to drop their handmade helicopters off of the 3rd floor balcony and watch them float down to the bottom floor. His teacher was a super nice, real-life rocket scientist so Rand was very impressed.

First day of school!

2011-08-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

Rand and Ella both started school on Monday. Rand is in kindergarten, and Ella is loving going to preschool....most of the time. On her first morning she walked right up to the door, asked "Can I go in now?" and when I said yes, walked right in without a backwards glance.

She did get in trouble on her 2nd day of school for kicking Rand under the table at lunch, kicking her teacher when she was told that she couldn't do that, and then for screaming when she got in trouble for kicking the teacher. Yes, she is a bit stubborn, but I have no idea where she gets it from.

Rand is thrilled that he can stay all day and doesn't have to leave right after lunch. He always wanted to do stay for the afternoon's dictation lesson last year, so he is excited that he is finally is a part of it! His prayer last night was that he would do well in school and learn how to write better so he could get his work done faster.

Greer Photos

2011-08-03T10:18:00.000-07:00

Some photos from our Greer trip....

Rand and Ella loved this huge comfy chair

There was a cat that hung outside the house during our stay. As soon as we walked outside the cat would run up to the kids. They thought that this was fantastic!

We spent a lot of time exploring and playing in the creek.

The swing set was pretty fantastic, too. It overlooked a beautiful meadow.

Fishing!

Ella loved finding bugs!

She was very tired.

2011-08-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

Cooper

2011-07-23T14:49:00.000-07:00

This happened several weeks ago, but it was so sweet that I didn't want to forget it. My parents' dog, Cooper, died a couple of months ago. Rand found out when he went to California with just Werner; I hadn't even thought to tell him. When he came home, he said, "Mom, I have something really sad to tell you. It's so sad that I don't even want to tell you. Cooper died."

We'll miss you, Cooper.

Greer!

2011-06-30T15:50:00.000-07:00

The kids and I spent a few days last week at X Diamond Ranch, outside of Greer. It was just beautiful and we had a wonderful time. Some friends graciously lent us their "cabin" (ha! actually a huge gorgeous house) and we had a wonderful trip.

The drive took about 5 hours and we went across the Apache Reservation. We went through the Salt River Canyon, which had incredible views. Rand and Ella were impressed and kept saying, "Wow! Whoa! Look!" the whole way down and all the way back up. We found the ranch and I promptly ran over a rock and got our poor Scion good and stuck. In all fairness, I couldn't see the rock at all from my low vantage point....I understand why everyone drives a truck around here. Geico came to the rescue and we finished off the night with exploring the house, hot cocoa, popcorn, and a little TV (a huge novelty....I had to explain what commercials were. At one point Rand came running down the stairs: "Mom! Did you know there's a new kind of mouthwash?!?!").

On Monday, we took a walk around the ranch, accompanied by a friendly ranch dog. The ranch has its very own indian ruins, from approximately 800 A.D. I was trying to put into context just how old they were and Rand did ask if that was older than Grandpa (sorry, Dad). There were 3 people working on digging out little pieces of pottery and they invited us in and gave us a little tour around. It was very interesting to hear about all of the different legends and stories behind the ruins. After that, we walked down to the river and played in the water until lunchtime. The kids had so much fun wading and throwing rocks.

After lunch, Rand and Ella BOTH slept 3 hours. I don't even remember the last time they both napped, but it was wonderful. After naptime, we went back to the creek until dark. The ranch is a working cattle ranch and while the kids were playing the cows moved down to where we are, so we pretended to sneak and hopscotch our way through the mud to avoid the cows. They did stare at us but that was it. A fancy dinner of macaroni and cheese followed by a makeshift game of mousetrap (a lot of pieces were missing, so we used grapes instead of balls), a couple chapters of Chronicles of Narnia, and then off to bed.

On Tuesday, we had grand plans to go fishing at Sunrise Lake, on the Apache Reservation. I figured out the directions, dug up fishing poles, and we headed off.....only to arrive and find the General Store (where we had to buy permits and bait!) was closed. I didn't have a Plan B so we drove back to the ranch to find out about fishing at the ranch's river. We were told that another party was fishing right then, but we could come back at 4pm and take a turn. Rand and Ella watched the other people fish for a while, and had fun digging up worms and sowbugs next to the creek. We came back to the house and played with Tinkertoys and Lincoln Logs, two items that'll go on their birthday lists.

When 4pm finally arrived, we drove back to the ranch's headquarters and Wink, the very nice owner of the ranch, gave Rand a black fly and Ella a purple one. She told us where a little pond was and we walked back to check it out. We didn't have any luck with fish, but there were crawdads galore and Rand and Ella had SO MUCH FUN catching crawdads with the flies. They would get the crawdads to grab the fly, and then see how high they could pull them out of the water. They laughed and laughed when the crawdads splashed down again. We were there almost 3 hours before they got hungry enough to want to head back to the cabin.

We had to leave the next day, and both Rand and Ella were very sad to leave. Rand wanted to know when we could move up there and he was very interested in the idea of coming up and working there for a summer when he got bigger. We made a quick trip back to the creek, and back to the crawdad pond, and then headed home. The kids did so well in the car. It was a 5 hour drive and we talked and sang songs and stopped for Blizzards at DQ and had a really good time.

Awanas!

2011-06-03T16:05:00.000-07:00

I was so glad that Rand and Ella had the chance to participate in Awanas this year. They both had so much fun going to their classes. Ella would proudly tell people, "I'm a puggle!" and Rand loved earning badges. They were both so cute at their little graduation ceremony; their teachers both said very nice things about them and both of them were beaming when we left.

Summer Reading Program

2011-06-02T08:54:00.000-07:00

We read lots and lots and lots of books at our house. Yesterday I signed the kids up for our library's Summer Reading program. When I explained to Rand what he had to do, he said, "You mean I get prizes for doing nothing?!"

Yep, pretty much.

Knock knock jokes

2011-05-15T12:22:00.000-07:00

Rand loves knock-knock jokes right now. His favorite one is the knock-knock-banana-knock-knock-banana-knock-knock-orange-you-glad-I-didn't-say-banana one. That one at least makes a little bit of sense. He was telling jokes in the car this morning that all went like this:

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Pan!
Pan who?
Pancakes!

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Cat!
Cat who?
Caterpillar!

And so on.

Then Ella tried:

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Banana!
Banana who?
BANANA ORANGE!!!!!

Rand: "Ella, that doesn't even make sense."

A List

2011-04-29T14:08:00.000-07:00

Rand wrote out a list of everything that plants need:

WODR (water)
SED (seed)
SUN
FENS (fence)

He is also the proud owner of a blue Betta fish named (appropriately) Bluey. He has been so careful to feed him just a pinch three times a day, and this morning I heard him singing an "I love you" song to Bluey. Dear fish, please don't die.

Just ignore me

2011-04-06T06:51:00.001-07:00

Last week Rand was just being GRUMPY on the car ride home from school. Everything I said, he said something negative in response. As I opened my mouth to rebuke him for about the 4th time, he sighed and said, "Mom, can you please just ignore me until we get home?"

Rand phrases

2011-03-05T10:01:00.000-08:00

Rand: "My friend A__ made a so fabulous picture of pirates today."

Rand is praying like a preacher man at mealtime. It's a hodgepodge of the Lord's Prayer, stock saying ("Lord of Lords" or "our wonderful heavenly father"), lots of things to be thankful for, and finishing up with "Amen! Come, Lord Jesus." It goes on for about 3 minutes and is sweetly hilarious.

Rand is getting better at horseback riding. He is figuring out that horses take muuuch longer to turn than any electronic gadget and is doing a good job learning how to tell a horse what he wants. He wore spurs for the first time yesterday and declared them "so fancy" and wanted to wear them all evening, until they hindered his haybale climbing.

We had a fun visit with Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Fisher for a couple of days. We went out to Yogurtland, had blueberry pancakes, and visited Rand's school. Grandpa, Ella, and I had breakfast at McDonalds, and Grandpa came with us to riding lessons one day. We drank lots of coffee and had such a nice time visiting with them. It is sweet to watch Grandpa play with Rand and Ella and tell them tall tales and jokes that they don't quite understand, but laugh at anyways.

Yep, that's my son.

2011-02-27T19:35:00.001-08:00

Rand informed his Sunday school teachers this morning that the snack of pretzel sticks was "just not enjoyable."

Valentine's Day

2011-02-27T19:20:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day started off with a funtastic amount of sugar! Daddy brought home heart-shaped donuts from Dunkin Donuts, and Grandpa sent his always delicious boxes of See's Candy. We shared Valentine's card and had heart-shaped pancakes, then Rand had a Valentine's party at school. It was a very sweet day.

They are always so funny to watch with their boxes of candy. Ella's box has a kitty cat on the front, and she requests to take her "cat box" everywhere: "Mama, can I take my cat box to bed?" "Can I take my cat box to Puggles?" Rand always agonizes for minutes trying to choose which chocolate to eat next and usually switches them out 2 or 3 times before he makes his final choice.

Happiness

2011-02-26T19:03:00.001-08:00

Rand has started drawing in the last two weeks. His silly, happy people always make me smile.

Irvine Park Day

2011-02-21T10:18:00.000-08:00

On our trip to California in December, we had a fun day trip to the Irvine Regional Park. We started out with a giant leaf-throwing fight!

Ella just wanted to watch and smile at first, but after a while she couldn't resist throwing some leaves at Grandpa.

We raced to the zoo, followed by some tree climbing, a picnic, and a train ride!

Ella and Ginger

2011-02-20T06:51:00.000-08:00

Why I should never point out things while I'm driving

2011-01-21T13:28:00.000-08:00

Me: "Whoa, that was a big box in the road!"
E: "A rock?"
R: "Where's a rock? I didn't see a rock!"
Me: "No, a box. We already passed it."
E: "Where the box?"
R: "What kind of box?"
Me: "A big box. It's behind us now."
E: "I WANNA SEE THE BOX!!"
R: "Did you hit it? Was anything in it?"
Me: "I didn't hit it. It was empty. It's behind us. I should never have mentioned it."
E: "I WANNA SEE THE BOX!!"
R: "Ella, we passed it!"
E: "NOOOOOO!"
R: "YES!"
E: "NO!"
R: "YES!"

Me, vainly: "Look, an airplane!"

A small update

2011-01-19T14:04:00.001-08:00

While eating our Yogurtland yogurt outside....

Rand: "Eww! A leaf fell in my yogurt." He licks it off, then throws it on the grass.

Ella's answer to anything that she doesn't know the answer to: "Just for fun." Why don't you have pants on? how come you hit Rand? why are you still awake?

Rand: "Mom, I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I do believe in Spiderman."

Ella: "Look, I can reach the book! I'm just a little bit tall enough!"

Rand: "Mom, do you know what the moon is? A big shining rock. Do you know how I figured that out? JUST BY LOOKING AT IT!!!!!"

Ella loves "patella" (nutella), gymnastics, riding horses, and Dr Seuss's "The Foot Book." Rand has been doing embroidery stitching at school (snowflakes and snowmen -- so cute) and his writing is getting better and better. He loves being a Jedi and riding his bike.

Fair Time

2010-12-16T19:08:00.001-08:00

Still super behind -- but we went to the Arizona State Fair back in November and had SUCH a good time. We went on a "free with donation" day so we only stayed for a couple hours but it was free! so that was fine.

Poor Ella was not tall enough for any of the rides, and I knew that there was no way she would want to be held through the glass mazes and things like that. I offered Rand the chance to go do the rides by himself, and I would watch and wait for him, and to my surprise he accepted!

He was so careful and did such a great job of waiting his turn, saying "thank you" to the ticket attendants unprompted, and going down a slide way higher than he had ever gone down. I was probably prouder of him than I should be, but my too-cautious boy is getting pleasantly bolder!

It was a great math lesson for Rand -- I bought 10 tickets, and he chose for himself which things he wanted to go on. It was interesting watching him decide if he wanted to do the really cool 5-ticket ride, or the tamer 2-ticket ride. Everybody decided on a huge ice cream cone for our treat, we watched the extreme rides for a ridiculously long time, and had a very fun outing.

Content

2010-12-12T19:00:00.000-08:00

A fire + hot cocoa + popcorn + blankets + How The Grinch Stole Christmas = content kids.

Life at our house

2010-12-08T08:48:00.000-08:00

I am so very, very behind in posting. Rand's birthday....trips to the fair and pumpkin patch....Thanksgiving....someday!

Rand's favorite Christmas song is "Little Baby Santa," or, as it is actually called, "Santa Baby." This is fine with me as long as nobody really tells him what the song is about.

Ella has a cold. Whenever she needs to blow her nose, she tells us, "I SMELL LIKE SNOT!!!!"

Rand asked yesterday if Jesus was really good at arm-fighting.

Ella has a bad habit of sneaking Daddy's iPhone and then disappearing to watch Netflix movies. Whenever we see her going for the phone, we promptly tell her that she needs to put it back. Yesterday she found the phone, looked at me, clutched it to her chest, and told me, "I need some alone time."

We have been doing the Jesse Tree devotional every night and are loving it. Rand has some really insightful answers that make me feel like I'm doing some things right! It is really interesting reading all of the stories that his kids' Bibles have skipped over -- Abraham sacrificing Isaac, about the Ark of the Covenant, Ruth -- and seeing him listen all wide-eyed.

Funny phrases

2010-11-12T19:45:00.001-08:00

We have had the Goodyear blimp flying around our house the last two days. As soon as she hears the motor, Ella yells, "Blister!"

Ella seems to have entered a whole new stage of language development. She's always been good at sentences, but now they are getting very complex and you can actually have a conversation with her. She knows all of the horses at the stable by name and can even tell apart the ones that look a lot alike. Yesterday she said, "That's my friend Bourbon!"

Rand has discovered ravioli and thinks it's the most delicious food ever.

The two favorite albums to listen to are "Les Miserables" and the soundtrack to "O Brother Where Art Thou." It is pretty adorable to hear them sing together.

They both love wearing their cowboy boots. Ella's are hot pink and I'm almost-ashamed-but-too-cheap-to-really-be-ashamed that Rand's are brown girl boots. After searching and searching for decent priced boy boots, I finally hit up Walmart. If I had known that he would love them this much, I would've paid for real cowboy boots. Ah well!

First Horse Show

2010-11-09T13:32:00.000-08:00

Rand and Ella were in their very first horse show last week. All of my other students were participating, so Rand decided that he wanted to ride, and then of course Ella wanted to as well!

We had to leave the house really, really early so by the time 10am rolled around, they were both pretty tired. I had to briefly be the mean beauty pageant mom but once they were on the horses and in the arena they both had a lot of fun. The judge talked to each participant and everyone got a GIANT ribbon and a bag of candy. Ella got lots of compliments because she was just so dang tiny but super confident.

If you ask Ella about her horse show she will proudly tell you that "I ride Bourbon in the horse show!" Since poor Rand is the teacher's kid he got the tallest horse (and one he had never ridden before) but he did a great job at being flexible and still having fun.

I Spy

2010-11-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Halloween with our Jedi and Monkey. We started the festivities with a party at Rand's school, with crafts, food, and hanging out with Rand's friends.

After that, we went to a Harvest Festival at the church where the kids go to Awanas. Very fun -- petting zoo, bounce house, all of the fun carnival games, train rides, and cotton candy! It was just the right amount of fun for Halloween.

Today's Highlights

2010-11-03T13:53:00.000-07:00

Ella, after eating her breakfast this morning: "MAMA, I SPILLED EVERYWHERE! OATMEAL ON THE CHAIR! OATMEAL ON MY TINKERBELL JAMMIES! OATMEAL ON MY PANTS! (surprised voice) Look! My belly button is clean!"

Rand: "Mom, I need to ask you a sweet question. I love you, mom."

Red-Handed

2010-11-02T15:39:00.001-07:00

I came downstairs to find Ella on the counter, sucker in hand, after she had been told to leave the Halloween candy alone. Her response? "I'm not eating candy, mama, nope!" "Then why do you have a sucker in your hand?" "I'm just holding it."

Yep

2010-10-26T20:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday while driving we passed a crane that was towering over a half-finished building.

Rand's eyes lit up. "MOM! That crane is going to pick up THAT ENTIRE BUILDING!!!!"

Ella has started saying "I love you, too" -- even when nobody has said "I love you" first. She also has added appropriate use of "okay" and "oh" to her vocabulary. Super cute. She has started wearing long sleeved shirts for the first time in months and tells us, "It's my jacket and a shirt!"

She loves to talk on the phone, and while she is a very good listener (she stands still and just smiles) she doesn't really talk back.

My Little Monkeys

2010-10-22T09:41:00.000-07:00

Spiffy

2010-10-20T19:37:00.001-07:00

Rand: "Mom, it's raining so I need a jacket!"

"What jacket do you want?" Spiderman, blue fleece, red....

"The one with the badge on it."

Oh yes. My son is stylin'.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

2010-10-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

Feeding Time

2010-10-13T11:04:00.001-07:00

Sweet Tomatoes

2010-10-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

On Sunday night we went out to dinner as a foursome for the first time....ever, really, in as long as I can remember. We went to Sweet Tomatoes (Soup Plantation) because ever since Rand heard about a magical place where you can eat as many different kinds of food as you want, he's requested to go there.

It was so fun! The kids were incredibly well-behaved and ate three bowls of macaroni and cheese apiece. They loved trying all of the different foods and we had a really nice evening out.

This was the first time in a long, long while that dining out has actually been enjoyable and not something to be survived.

Bathing suits, rain boots, dump trucks, and irrigation.

2010-10-09T12:43:00.000-07:00

Fully Accessorized

2010-10-08T09:51:00.000-07:00

We love our goats.

2010-10-07T07:08:00.000-07:00

Mollie and Teacup are well-loved members of our household! They are almost 4 months old now and follow us around like puppies. Rand and Ella are very good about helping me feed them and clean their stall. They like to put the grain and hay in their dump trucks and drive it out to the pasture. We have a big log in the pasture and I told Rand to show the goats how to walk on it -- so he did, and they quickly figured it out! It was very cute to watch the four of them balancing together.

We took the goats to school for Rand's "Share Day" last week. They were a huge hit. Rand and Ella like to play with them, so when we're in the front yard I let them out of the pasture so they can wander around and be with us. When we have to put them back inside they let out pathetic "meeeehs!" until we're out of sight.

Yes, she still uses a binkie.

2010-10-06T13:43:00.000-07:00

But only in her crib, and she is very, very good about that.

This morning Ella found a binkie outside of her crib. She asked, "Mama, can I hold my pink binkie?" Yes, sweetie.

Pause.

"Mama, can I put my pink binkie in my mouth?"

Yesterday.....

2010-10-05T17:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday.....

We flew a kite.
We made sugar cookies with red and blue icing and massive amounts of sprinkles.
We saw a double rainbow.
Ella loves to sit on Fred the Pony while he eats. She did that for a long time.
Ella said, "My toe wants daddy."

Today....

Ella had her 2nd gymnastics class. Ridiculously cute.
It rained. A lot. Ella loves her "burr-ella" and is getting very good at stomping and splashing in puddles. Rand prefers to drive his truck in the mud and then drive through the grass to clean it off.
We saw more rainbows.
We found a teeny tiny frog in the pool (alive! finally!) and helped it find a safe new home.

Lowell Observatory

2010-09-18T08:17:00.001-07:00

Last month we took a fun day trip to Flagstaff to visit the Lowell Observatory. The kids were great on the drive -- it is so nice to have good travelers. We stopped at Sunset Point on the way up, which I think has some of the prettiest views in Arizona.

The observatory was great. The weather was beautiful, and we had a good time exploring the little museum. We looked through a telescope and saw the sun. Rand especially loved the walk that demonstrated how far apart the planets were from each other. We peeked in old buildings and were fascinated by the mausoleum. Rand loved the informational video, which just had subtitles, and watched it three times. I think he would enjoy the guided tours, but Ella was much more interested in exploring then listening, so it was a no go this time.

Bowling!

2010-09-08T14:25:00.001-07:00

We went to a bowling birthday party a couple of weeks ago. It was Rand's first time bowling (other than on the wii) and he had so much fun! He jumped up and down and bit his nails as the ball sllloooooowly rolled towards the pins. Plus, he looked pretty spiffy in his bowling shoes.

Technology

2010-09-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

Rand: "Mom, can you please skip this song?"
Me: "It's on the radio; I can't skip it."
Rand: "But you can skip songs on the computer's radio."
True.

Ella can turn on her Dora videos on the wii all by herself. She keeps pressing "a" until it starts up.

She also loves Werner's iphone (she calls it "my phone") and is ridiculously proficient at finding games and playing them. I was watching her yesterday play a game and when it ended, she knew exactly what to press to make it start a new game.

They are completely unimpressed by video chats. It seems totally normal to them.

California Trip

2010-09-06T20:52:00.001-07:00

Some long overdue photos of our California trip!

Drove out Sunday.
Monday: beach time!, an afternoon/evening at Zov's with the fabulous foursome
Tuesday: kids' photos, meeting cousin JP
Wednesday: visited the most fabulous Miss Jane who filled my kids up with dark chocolate and Cheetos. Drove to Ventura for some fun with Grannie at Harbortown! Went out to dinner where they both got macaroni and cheese and ice cream, then watched "Cinderella."
Thursday: Trip to Grannie's house, where they got to play with the toys that I played with as a kid. Katie and Elijah came up and we went to the beach and Andre's for dinner. Ella liked giving her dinosaur chicken nuggets a ride on the skateboard that came in her meal.Watched "101 Dalmations" -- so fun!
Friday: Took the kids to beach in the fog. It was cold but nobody else was there so they had a wonderful time throwing sand. Headed back to OC with a stop for lunch at Red Robin (more ice cream!) and then celebrated John's birthday!
Saturday: Head home. Fast trip, but it's always a little sad to leave.

Ponies, School, Binkies, and Legos

2010-08-31T16:34:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Rand's first full week of school with a trip to Yogurtland. He doesn't have much to say about it -- we usually ask what his favorite part of the day was ("playing on the playground!") but don't drill him too much. He is enjoying it and hasn't wanted to leave the last couple of days. I think it is hard for him to articulate what he does there since the Montessori method doesn't tell him, "Now we're going to learn math!" -- they just work on it gradually.

Ella did not like leaving Rand the first few days, but she seems to be understanding the routine as well. She has switched from calling me "Mommy" to "Mama," which is sweet. Her most common phrase is, "Mama, I'm stuck!" She is constantly crawling over and under things and getting (slightly) stuck.

She likes to go to bed with two pink binkies and has started telling us when she is ready to go to bed (yippee!). They both love to read and Rand has discovered Legos. Ella will do almost anything Rand says....the other day we were eating corn-on-the-cob for dinner and Rand told Ella to hold up the corn to her ear like a phone. So she did. And then he told her to say hello. So she did.

Special Olympics has started up again, so I brought them with me to riding lessons last week. Rand asked if he could ride one of the ponies, and so we got out Ginger. They both had SO MUCH FUN riding her -- Ella was so cute and serious about keeping her helmet on (I told her no helmet meant she had to get off) and they both took turns and would've ridden all night if I had let them. I am keeping my eye out for a pony that would like a nice retirement home in our backyard.

First Day of School

2010-08-23T11:14:00.001-07:00

We have been counting down for weeks....and the day has finally arrived! Rand was so excited about starting at Palm Valley Montessori. We went inside and the teacher showed him where his cubby was. He went to put his lunchbox in the fridge, waved at me, and that was it! We are very proud of our big boy.

Holding the gate open -- all ready to go!

Pwetty Dwesses

2010-08-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

Grandpa and Grandma sent Ella two dresses and a couple of other outfits for her birthday -- she was so excited when she opened the bag and saw "pwetty dwesses!!"

More kites!

2010-08-07T08:40:00.001-07:00

Warning: it is hard to fly a kite and hold a camera at the same time.

Rain!

2010-08-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

We had a huge rainstorm on Saturday -- I think it rained over an inch in a hour in a lot of places. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the rain, and there were huge puddles everywhere. We found a couple of frogs, and enjoyed a break from the heat!

Monsoons = Perfect Kite-Flying Weather

2010-08-03T16:37:00.000-07:00

Monsoons bring lots of wind, and Rand had the great idea of going outside and flying his kite. We had so much fun -- the kids loved it when I flew it low and they would try to catch the ribbons as it swooped by.

The Joys of Having an Older Brother

2010-08-02T13:21:00.001-07:00

Some phrases that I never expected to hear from my two-year-old daughter:

"Where's Darth Vader?"
"Watch out, there's bad guys!"
"Me first!"
"Oh no, it's Darth Maul!"
"Aaaaaaah! A bomb!"

Bonus: she can shoot a pop gun and make light saber sound effects, too!

Birthday photos!

2010-07-22T19:17:00.000-07:00

We started off Ella's birthday by making chocolate chip waffles, which were declared "YUMMY!" We didn't really have a party for her, but we did invite some friends over to celebrate. We had some of Ella's favorite foods for dinner (spaghetti, peas, and bread) and then had cake and "issss ceam" (ice cream). Ella wasn't quite sure what to do with the candles, but Rand was happy to help her blow them out.

Ella was completely spoiled by our friends. They got her a huge stuffed dog, a baby stroller, and some blinged-out shoes and jewelry. She loved them!

I painted her little toes for the first time. She chose purple, which ended up matching her new shoes beautifully.

We also kept up the tradition of decorating the birthday child's door. Rand picked out tootsie rolls, which were a little tricky to stick to the door -- hence the painter's tape. There were also a lot more candies on there until five little children each grabbed one!

Now you are two

2010-07-19T14:24:00.000-07:00

Oh, Miss Ella, how did you get to be two so fast?

Your favorite phrases are:
"Let me do it."

"My turn!"

"Let me show you."

"I'm coming!"

"Look at me!"

You are almost potty-trained. You are very good about limiting your binkie to naptime and bedtime. You love books. You know the names of all the dogs that stay here. You love to play hide-and-seek. You want to do everything that Rand does.

You enunciate every single syllable: "croc-o-die-llllll." I love how you speak in complete sentences. Whenever you say "yes" or "no" you nod or shake your head accordingly. You know exactly what you want when you want it. You love to give hugs and cuddle. You search for the moon every night, saying, "Where's the moon?" and "There it is!" when you find it.

Your favorite foods are ice cream and spaghetti. You love swimming and jumping and running. You have opinions about what clothes you want to wear. You love shoes and accessories. Yesterday you insisted on going out and picking grapes wearing a baseball cap, sweater, and mittens (they stayed on about 30 seconds).

Happy birthday, sweetheart!

Comfy.

2010-07-18T10:39:00.000-07:00

July 4th Photos

2010-07-06T20:41:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-05T07:03:00.001-07:00

We had a house full of dogs and Werner was out of town, so I wanted to stay close to home. We had a quiet day of church, and naps, and playing Chutes and Ladders, and then headed to the Tolleson celebration.

It was in a much more Hispanic part of town, so there was no ice cream for sale (but there was fry bread! and burritos!) so we got shaved ice that turned the kids' mouths a charming shade of blue. They were giving away watermelon and Rand proudly grabbed the biggest piece he could see. Ella declined hers in favor of more shaved ice.

We met up with some friends, and the kids played on the playground. Ella was given a glowstick, which she thought was unbelievably fantastic. The weather was great -- for Phoenix in July -- only 100 degrees! They both loved the fireworks. Rand asked a million questions (would a firework pop a balloon? are the firework guys only awake at night? what is all that smoke? what is faster, a firework or a racecar?).

Ella clung to me at first, but then she relaxed and just wanted me to hold her. When they were over, she was positively pouty and kept saying, "Fireworks! Back on!" We walked back to our car and patiently made it through the traffic back home. Ella fell asleep in the car, but when I picked up her to move her to her bed, she sat up and said, "Fireworks....." and then put her head back on my shoulder.

To Summarize....

2010-06-25T14:58:00.001-07:00

We had a great time in Indiana. I need to go through my photos so everyone can admire my darling children.

We are on Day 3 of No Binkies For Ella Unless She Is In Her Crib. We are also on Day 2 of Seriously I Need To Just Stop Being Lazy And Potty Train This Child. Both are going very well; alas, their success really depends on me doing my part and Ella goes along quite willingly.

Ella's new favorite word is "crocodile." She pronounces every syllable very precisely. She can also jump and skip, so she rarely walks anymore. When she is done eating, she says, "All done. Here, here!" and then proceeds to hand you every single thing in front of her, right down to her cup and placemat.

Rand had a wonderful week at VBS and is getting very excited for school to start in a couple more months. He has started getting an allowance and splits it into tithe, spending money, and savings. He is turning into an excellent helper -- he has cleaned his room several times without being prompted, pours milk for Ella, helps unload the dishwasher, and clears that table at meals.

Both of them love going swimming ("HIMMING!!!!!!" as Ella says) and would spend most of their day in the pool if I would let them. We have been playing a lot of games, like Candyland, Twister, Yahtzee, and Chutes and Ladders, which has been fun -- I need to get Uno, because Rand learned to play that in Indiana.

Summer has been very pleasant so far. Well, minus the tempture of 112 degrees.

Why I Still Don't Get Any Sleep At Night

2010-06-23T20:55:00.001-07:00

Cabinets!

2010-05-31T20:17:00.000-07:00

One of the things I love about our house is that at last, we have room to get some fun pieces of furniture. While I adore Ikea, I've had a great time scouring craigslist looking for interesting, unique pieces. This cabinet is about 80 years old and made by an Amishman in Pennsylvania. The brass pitcher and silver vase are from my Grandma.

We decorated these shelves in Ella's room with adorable little dog bookends that were my Grandma's when she was a young girl. The teacups belonged to my Grandma, as did the vase on the left. My mom cross-stitched the picture on the bottom right.

This hutch in the kids bathroom is also an antique -- it was pretty battered, but a coat of mint paint made it pretty cute.

Last but not least, we got this cabinet for our bathroom (the downside to pedestal sinks!). My favorite part about it is the solid glass knobs.

So we need to work on geography....

2010-05-25T16:18:00.000-07:00

Rand: "Mom, I love you all the way to outer space and back. No, wait, I love you all the way to heaven and back! No, I love you all the way to New York and back!!!"

Dirt Pile!

2010-05-17T21:20:00.000-07:00

Easter Videos

2010-05-13T20:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, they're a month late....and the photos will be even later! Note: these videos unedited and probably of no interest to anybody except very, very immediate family.

Today...

I woke up to find that Ella had smeared red lipstick all over our bedspread and sheets, plus the carpet, bathroom rug, and her toybox, not to mention herself. WD40 removes red lipstick from said items.

We went to storytime at the library, which featured a real police officer. Rand raised his hand, was called on twice, and, in his excitement to ask the question, promptly forgot his question both times. His 3rd question was, "What should you do if a car crashes into your house?" followed by "What should you do if a car crashes into your gate?" I wonder what kind of parents that police officer thinks we are.

We made chocolate chip cookies.

Rand loves Peter Spier books right now, and I got "Noah's Ark" at the library. He examined every page in minute detail.

Ella can take off her own diaper and pants. This has results in some not-very-good things.

Day Two of our new Dirt Pile was fantastic. There was a scorpion in the middle of our bedroom floor (I think it may have fallen from the ceiling vent). We found a little red snake under a piece of wood and had fun watching it slither around. I think our bird in the carport has laid more eggs, as she is back to sitting on her nest again and dive-bombing our heads when we get too close.

Summer is coming.....

2010-05-09T21:53:00.000-07:00

Summer is coming to Arizona. It's not too bad yet, but yesterday it was hot enough that we all went swimming and enjoyed our beautiful new pool. Rand has braved it before, but yesterday Ella and I joined him. Rand has remembered how to swim (well, dog paddle) and I need to go and get Ella a little life jacket this week so she can do more than sit in my arms.

There's also the "have-a-bucket-of-water-and-a-popsicle" for the less classy among us.

And as long as they're outside in their bathing suits, why not finger paint?

Butterflies!

2010-05-08T20:31:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to see the butterflies at the Botanical Gardens. The kids had so much fun! They were given miniature magnifying glasses and loved peering at the butterflies through them. Rand had a million questions for the people working at the exhibit and learned that if a butterfly was on the ground, he should put his shadow on top of the butterfly so it would fly away. For the rest of the visit, he paid very close attention and made sure that no butterfly stayed on the ground for more than a few seconds!

Ella loved the butterflies and kept saying, "Fly! Fly! Pretty!" She would look and point and start giggling.

Mud, Mud, and More Mud

2010-05-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

I shot the video from inside our living room. The abrupt ending is due to Rand not sharing, but on a happier note, he was quickly reasoned with after the video camera was shut off and the paint brush was returned to Ella.

Normally I am very casual about letting the kids make a mess, but this was ridiculously time-consuming to clean up. There was mud on the front of the house, the doors, the windows, all of the dogs, all over the front patio....there is still dried mud on the sidewalk that I need to go chisel off. But they had fun!

Giggles

2010-05-05T20:52:00.000-07:00

Living in the (almost) country

2010-05-04T20:33:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons why we love our new house so much is that it's a little teeny bit like living in the country. Except with a Costco three minutes away.

One challenge: weeds! We had a glorious rainy season and waited way too long to buy a lawn mower, which left me with weeds taller than Ella:

Our poor mower made it through the bulk of the weeds before dying a tragic death. We now need a new mower quickly before the weeds regroup.

In happy news, our grapevines survived! There are loads of tiny little green grapes -- we'll see how they taste.

Guess where I stopped mowing? Thankfully, this tree was already dead before the weeds surrounded it and took over. If anyone feels like having a wood-chopping party, just let me know.

I felt almost bad mowing down all of the beautiful flowers.

Werner got stung by a scorpion a couple of weeks ago, and we promptly called our scorpion-killing friend who came and sprayed the house for us. No more sightings, thank goodness, and Werner said that the after-effects were some of the strangest feelings ever.

We also had baby birds in our carport! Mama bird laid her eggs and was very protective whenever any person or dog tried to walk underneath her nest. All four of the eggs hatched, and it was fun to stand underneath the nest and hear them peeping. The last of the four flew off today, but maybe they'll come back next year.

Suffice to say, we enjoy our house!

Peek-a-Boo!

2010-05-03T13:34:00.000-07:00

I bought an antique cabinet -- it didn't take long for Rand and Ella to find out that it was just the right size for them to hide inside.

Attack of the Ella Monster!

2010-04-30T20:22:00.000-07:00

Pretty Girl (and patient dog)

2010-04-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

Grandma's Dress

2010-04-25T22:08:00.000-07:00

Our not-so-baby Ella, in the dress that belonged to her Grandma Eleanor:

Another California trip!

2010-04-12T21:28:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely visit to California a couple of weeks ago. We drove out on Sunday, and even though we left in the afternoon, still had a pleasant drive.

On Monday we went to Tewinkle Park with some friends for lunch, and drove up to my sister's house in the evening. We had lots of fun seeing Katie and Elijah -- Rand LOVES babies and thought he was just great. He tried to give Elijah lots of hugs and kisses.

We went to the Discovery Science Museum with Grandpa on Tuesday. The kids had so much fun playing and exploring everything. On Wednesday we went to the beach. We saw a dolpin and a pelican and the weather was just perfect. Rand had so much fun playing in the waves. Ella was content to sit in the sand.

We headed up to Ventura on Thursday to visit Grandma McVittie. After a grueling 4-hour drive, we made it in time for lunch at the harbor. Ella was enamored by all of the seagulls, and Grannie bought her her very own stuffed animal seagull at the nature center. They both loved looking at the fish and lobsters in the tank, and Rand got his first Magic School Bus book. We also played at the beach for a while; Rand found a ladybug and was very gentle about letting it crawl on his arm.

Snow Day

2010-04-11T07:02:00.001-07:00

Rand had been asking to go play in the snow for weeks, so last month I decided to JUST DO IT and took the kids up to Flagstaff for a day.

It was a great day. They were so good on the drive (about 3 hours) and we had a blast. We played with a gigantic sundial at one of the prettiest rest stops ever:

The pay phones were also incredibly exciting and unusual.

At last, we made it to the snow. Rand was so good about being patient, even though he could see the piles of snow out of the car window. I decided that if we were going to play in the snow, we were going to a place where there was a) food and b) bathrooms. We went to a specific Snow Play location, which was perfect because there were tons of families and kids all having fun.

Rand LOVED it. He was laughing out loud as he ran through the snow. He fell down on purpose a lot, made snow angels, and wanted to make a snowman but I didn't bring my gloves so it was a little chilly for me. We compromised and had a snowball fight instead.

We had corndogs and a candy bar for lunch.

It was such a nice sunny day -- we didn't need jackets or hats (Rand just liked his hat)

Finally, we bought a sled.

Rand had so much fun sledding down the hills. The three of us all would climb on and he was laughing and shouting the whole way down. I wish I would've been able to record it, but trying to juggle steering, two kids, and a video camera would've been dangerous.

He even wanted to go down the big hill. We did a couple of times, but Ella was absolutely terrified, poor thing, so we stuck mostly to the smaller hill. Hopefully next year she will have more fun -- she liked watching the kids play, but she did not want to be set down for more than 2 seconds. My arms were very tired by the end of the day.

We didn't even make it back to the main road before this happened:

Oh, Happy Day!

2010-04-11T06:59:00.000-07:00

Both of my kids slept all night for the first time.

Which is pathetic, I know, but really, Ella's waking up isn't that bad. She wakes up a couple of times a night and just needs a little love and then she goes right back to sleep. The problem is that I don't always go right back to sleep.

I went to bed at 10:30, woke up at 6:30, and checked -- both kids were sleeping quietly in their own beds. Hopefully this becomes such a regular occurrance that I don't feel the need to blog about it.

A Great Idea

2010-04-03T15:14:00.001-07:00

I snuck away downstairs for a few minutes to check my email. Ella was playing outside, and Rand was downstairs with me.

I came back upstairs to find that Ella had poured dirt inside my tennis shoes and dumped several scoops of dirt on the hallway floor.

Rand surveyed the mess and helpfully suggested, "Mom, you should put up a sign that says "NONE [sic] DIRT ON THE FLOOR."

4 1/2

2010-04-01T20:39:00.000-07:00

Rand turned 4 1/2 today, so we celebrated with a trip to Yogurtland. Chocolate, vanilla, and sprinkles!

Top Remarks Today:

"What would happen if God touched the sun?"

After singing "He's got the whole world in his hands" -- "What would happen if a person walked off the world onto God's arm?"

Pigtails!

2010-03-28T10:24:00.000-07:00