Santa's Suprise

I think Ellie was very surprised to see all the gifts under the tree this year.  Santa was very good to her, not only bringing her the Barbie doll he talked to her about but also her own make-up kit!

Gift for Santa

Every Christmas eve we leave a cookie and milk for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph.   This year Ellie wanted to do something extra special for Santa.   She made him a present and even spelled his name phonetically.

Merry Cristmas

Merry Christmas from all of us.  We hope all of your Christmas wishes come true.

Visiting Santa

Once again, we made our annual trek into town, “Daddy’s City” (as Ellie calls it), to see Santa.  Each year there is a different theme and Ellie (actually all of us) loves going to see the window displays and the Christmas forest before entering Santa special room.  This year Santa talked with Ellie about wanting a Barbie.  Ellie’s eyes lit up and she talked about Santa bringing a Barbie.  I think one of Santa’s helpers had to go out and find a Barbie after the Santa visit.

"E"

“E” has continued to surprise Ellie throughout December.   First thing in the morning Ellie would look for “E” and then report to Victoria and I his location.  There were only a few times that she couldn’t find him.  This was the first year he spent the day in Ellie’s room.

Christmas Parade

This year Ellie participated in the local Christmas parade.  She and other children from her school were able to ride on a float (trailer being towed behind a parent’s car) to represent her school.  Once they finished the block long circle the children were able to walk back around the corner to see Santa riding on the fire truck.  Then after buying a very large bag of popcorn, Ellie went to see Santa. (This is only the first of three Santa’s she has seen so far this December.)

Panda the Climber

Ellie choose panda to ride in the doll seat on her bike during the last bike ride.  As always, the bike riding only last 5 to 10 minutes and then the girls find something more interesting to do.  On this day the school had put in this new, very large jungle gym.  Panda had his share of time climbing around with Ellie.

“E” Returned

Our Christmas elf “E” returned on the first of December along with a small present for Ellie, a pink Christmas tree.  Ellie has said that Cooper can call “E”, “C” (the phonic sound for C).  This year “E” has been a bit naughty; playing with Ellie’s toys and eating M&Ms and marshmallows.

Christmas Tree

Ellie was excited to go pick out the Christmas tree this year and show Cooper all the trees.  Ellie kept picking out the trees without any low branches.  We didn’t understand why until she mentioned that without the lower branches there would be much more room for the presents! Ellie once again painted the trunk of our tree with a big E and for Cooper she painted lots of dots for him on the opposite side.

Ellie Updates

Ellie had an amazing time at her dance performance.  She danced very well.  At intermission, we were able to congratulate her and she sat in the audience with me for the second half of the show (Victoria took Cooper home for a well-deserved sleep).  Ellie was excited to see her instructor dance on stage and yelled out to me that 2 of the older girls helping out in her class were on stage dancing.

Ellie swam in a friend’s pool for 2 hours this weekend.  She didn’t need any help from me and even dove to the bottom of the pool, shallow and deep end, to retrieve sinking disks, tubs, and a few rocks by herself. 

Party Dress

Look at Ellie's new party dress.  Thanks, Grandma Gwynn and Grandpa Bobby!  Ellie has been wearing it around the house, shown it off to friends and even brought it along for a outdoor tent sleepover.

Posing with Earrings

Ellie’s friend came over to our house to play and brought some clip-on earrings.  As the girls were playing they asked if I could take their pictures so they could see what they looked like wearing the earrings.   Normally when I take pictures of Ellie I try not to tell her what to do or to pose her.  This time it was a little different as they wanted to be able to see the earrings, so I had them look off to the side.  Her friend went first and when it was Ellie’s turn, she posed herself.  I didn’t say anything.

Ballet

Ellie’s year end ballet recital is Saturday.  She loves to dance and very excited to dance on the stage.  This dance school is different than the last one, as we haven’t been able to watch her practice or see her dance in costume. She said she gets to be a marsh mellow!  Victoria, Cooper and I are all going to watch her perform on Saturday! 

Morning Vitamin

Ellie normally has a vitamin everyday with breakfast. A few weeks ago, I thought I would do something special so I hid her vitamin under a strawberry top.  Not because she doesn’t like the vitamin just something funny.  Now, every morning as breakfast is being prepared she asks to have her vitamin hidden.  Sometimes I create whole scenes around the vitamin and then there are days like yesterday when I am tired and just put it between two apple slices.  After I did that, Ellie stared at the plate and said “Daddy, I can’t figure out the scene”.

Ellie's Yogurt

“I think the cherries are the best because they make pink.”  Ellie said this about two months ago before strawberries were in season.  Now, for breakfast every morning Ellie has fresh strawberries and Daddy’s yogurt.

Boys

Ellie, like her friends, doesn’t like boys.  They are loud and rough.  She doesn’t really play with them and on her cardboard playhouse she has a sign that reads “No Boys Aloud”.  There are a few exceptions to this rule, Cooper and sometime one or two other boys from Coffee group.  

After a weekend barbeque with a group of friends the kids were worn out after a lot of playing and running around outside.  After dinner we turned on a video for them to wind down as the adults ate their dinners.  When we went in to check on them, this is how we found Ellie!

Swimming

Last week at swim lessons, Ellie swam freestyle across the whole length of the pool, 12 meters (39 feet) by herself without stopping.

Chalkboard

In the past I have traced Ellie on the chalkboard.  This enabled her to see how tall she was and then she could color it in.   One this day we were all playing and I thought Ellie could trace Cooper on the chalkboard. I had Ellie pick out the color of the chalk to use for each of them.  I held Cooper up but Ellie was having a hard time as Cooper kept moving his arms and trying to pull her hair.  I then tried to hold him and trace around him while he awkwardly stood there.  Ellie was next to be traced and then she created the hair and faces.  Then in case you didn’t know who was who, she put the letters on them.

Take a Picture

“Take a Picture, Daddy.”  This is what Ellie said to me when Cooper was laying on Ellie’s bed.  Ellie described how she wanted the picture; sitting up, next to each other holding Moxy and Ox.

Writing

Ellie is working hard at her spelling and writing of words.  She is now sounding out words and writing them phonetically.  She is able to get anything she wants from the grocery store as long as she writes what she wants on a piece of paper without any help.  In this picture, Victoria used a highlighter to write the words and Ellie traced over them with the red pen.

Halloween

Ellie was very excited to have a very large Halloween party with all her friends.  Everyone dressed up, had lots of candy and stayed late for dinner.  This year Ellie was a Wolf and made wolf sounds all day long.  This was the first year that all the kids played with each other and we didn’t really see Ellie all day long as she was busy with all her friends.

Venus Fly Trap

Ellie was lucky to come home from the plant store with a Venus Fly Trap of her very own.  We heard from the store not to put your fingers in the plant and we have been waiting for a fly to land on it.  Granddad reduced the waiting time by catching a fly and putting it on the plant leaf.  We all sat around watching what would happen.

Ellie said “I love my Venus fly trap; I think it is very cool and I want you to see what it looks like.  Ellie”

Snails

While Ellie doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty working outside, she still has to where a spinny dress and a tiara. 

We were clearing out a weed filled planter and Ellie wanted to join in the work.  She noticed all the snails and wanted to keep them safe.  At first, she moved them over to the other side of the driveway but they started to move away from her.  Then she decided to put them in a bowl, which they started to climb out of.  Ellie spent a long time trying to figure out what to do with them.  She ended up putting them in the wheelbarrow with some grass and leaves for the night.   In the morning she went out to look at them and to her disappointment they escaped!

Summer is coming

Finally the weather is getting better and the days are getting longer, summer is almost here!  Ellie now gets to enjoy running and swinging outside up to bed time.  It is amazing how much energy she has even after a long day.

Water Everywhere

A few nights ago, Ellie was in the bath preparing for a Daddy and Cooper invasion.  She put the water guns in the bath for some playtime with me since we still haven’t tried them outside yet.  While the rest of us were getting ready for the bath, Ellie was having lots fun.  I came back into the bathroom and Ellie started with “Sorry Daddy” at this point I knew we were going to have a problem.  She continued with “there is water on the ceiling and the walls”.  She had figured out how to fill the water guns and then got them to squirt the water much further than she ever had before.   This was one of those tough times for me, on one side, I was very proud of her that she figured how to put that much water into the water guns and that she  was able to squirt the water to the ceiling, then the responsible side, once wasn’t enough to show off your new found skill.

Pirate's Day

The local maritime museum was having a special Pirate Day.  Victoria booked Ellie and I in for a sailing on a pirate boat.  We were excited about our adventure.  We took the bus into town and Ellie picked the very back seat.  She enjoyed seeing over all the cars and once in town we had a short walk to the museum.  Ellie colored and cut out a pirate hat (not the one she is wearing in the photos) and received a balloon sword from a very energetic pirate.  We waited in line for the boat ride while watching kids have sword fights.  Once one the boat, Ellie was a little unsure of sitting on the beach at the side of the boat but she enjoyed the ride.  She was very excited when she realized the boat was going under the harbor bridge and she could see all the bridge parts from the water.   As the boat docked it started to rain and we were lucky to get off before we were too wet.  It was a great day for the two of us.  Thanks Victoria for all the planning!

Birthday Pictures

Ellie drew these pictures for Victoria’s Birthday.  The colorful one was from Ellie.  She asked me how to write the words and I wrote them on another piece of paper and then she copied them.  The other picture was from Cooper that Ellie created.  She was excited that she was able to recreate Cooper’s big hair!

Ellie’s new sayings

“No way Jose” and “Holy Moly Guacamole”

Reading “Elf on the Shelf”

Ellie asked to read “E”, “Elf on the Shelf” for the first time in a while.  After I read the book to her, we talked about Santa and how it makes or buys all the presents.  Then I asked her what she wanted for Christmas.  Her reply was “Cooper needs a baby swing for Christmas.”  She didn’t have one thing she wanted but knew what Cooper needed.  When I asked again what she needed she told me to think of some ideas tonight and tell her them in the morning.

Sonnie the Rabbit

Our rabbits have a new rabbit friend.  Ellie has named the wild rabbit Sonnie and he/she comes around every evening and most morning.  The rabbit’s appearance coincided with Ellie asking why we didn’t have any rabbit babies.  I hope there won’t be any bunny surprises.

Jan's Bun

Yum!  My mom has been making this breakfast bun as long as I can remember.  The recipe came from a very good family friend, Jan.  Ellie and I will make it about once a month.  We usually have a small slice and eggs or something else healthy to go with it.  On this morning, Ellie wanted to cut her piece herself. She cut a huge piece and was so happy!  

The piece that is missing out of the picture is what she cut.

Hide’n Go Seek

Ellie is becoming a great hider and now has patients to wait until we find her.  Most of the time she will hide in the same places, her hiding spot down stairs is in the corner behind the curtain.  The funny thing is depending on which curtain she hides behind we can see her through the window as we are walking into the playroom!

Animal Hospital

A few of Ellie’s stuffed animals have small holes and Flower; the duck lost its bow.  Ellie and I set up an animal hospital.  I first patient was Flower.  Ellie went through Victoria’s ribbons to find the perfect one.  While she was doing this I carefully cut away the old shredded ribbon.  Ellie picked the new ribbon and cut it to length.  I then attached it to Flower, while Ellie kept telling me Mummy was much better at bows.  While I was finding a needle to fix the other two animals, Ellie informed me she had already fixed their holes.  I came back in the room and she had put tape over the holes.  I am sure there will be another animal hospital soon.

What is Ellie up to?

Ellie is still very tall, taller than most her friends.  If you pick her up and hold her like a baby she will say she is not a baby, she is a big sister.

She has been working on writing the alphabet and slowly starting to recognize words.  Ellie’s drawings have really improved over the last few months.  She now can draw some objects other than rainbows, even though they are still her favorite.  She will draw people, love hearts, and airplanes.

If she knows she did something wrong, she will say “ I am really sorry”  and then tell me what happen or what she did.  The last one was a few morning ago, she was playing with the toilet paper and somehow a whole new roll ended up in the toilet.  She had the good state of mind to get it and throw it out in the rubbish bin, but didn’t use the one in the bathroom, she used the kitchen rubbish.  When I can down she said she was really sorry and then proceeded to show me the half water soaked roll of toilet paper in the rubbish.

If Ellie is telling the truth or at least the truth as she knows it, she will say “for true life”

Kiwi Stamps

Do you know that Kiwi kids never get cold?  This is what Ellie tells us when she is wearing something not right for the weather; usually it is either pink or a dress that spins out.   

Holding Hands

Now that Cooper is a little bigger, Ellie has started to play with him.  She will roll the ball to him or hand it to him if he is lying down, show him how to grab his hanging toys, tap on his belly to make him laugh.  This weekend she is going to show him how to crawl!

Photographing Ellie

Ellie loves looking at photographs of her friends and herself.  She will sit on the couch and spend 10 minutes or more flipping through all the old blog pictures and telling us stories about the photos and those moments.

While I try to capture natural pictures of her and now Cooper, she makes it a challenge.  She is either hiding, making funny faces or moving too fast and wanting me to run after her.  Then there are moments I get lucky.  This is one of those photos.  I was taking a few pictures of Cooper with Ellie in the room but not paying attention to me.   I asked her to turn around and I quickly took the picture before she knew what was happening!

Normally, I ask her if I can take pictures of her.

Sleep Over Mess

One of Ellie’s best friends came over for a sleep over.  They were both very good at bed time.  They were talking but no load noises to wake up Cooper.  They both awoke early but stayed in Ellie’s room until 7.  When I went to see what they wanted for breakfast, I saw the both of them dressed in the dress up cloths and the baby dolls were all in bed sleeping.  For the rest of the room, I wasn’t sure where the floor went.