Cinderella Goes to School

Annie's preschool Halloween party was today . . . complete with a costume parade. I think next week is gonna be quite the shock to her system where she doesn't get to get dressed into a gown and tiara every time we leave the house!

Here's Cinder-Annie descending the stairs to go to the ball, er, school.

Here's her class parade.

And the Halloween class photo. Complete with not one, but two, Spidermans!

Annie and her best friend Tinkerbell (Sarajayne).

Arriving home, complete with even more candy and goodies!
She's definitely a fan of Halloween parties!

Halloween's a Thriller

Last night we headed out for a Halloween Party at Greg's parents ward. There were a ton of fun activities, good food and lots of candy . . . so Annie is now even more sold on this whole 'Halloween thing'.

Although she couldn't muster much enthusiasm for the dance lessons offered by the Young Women . . . they were giving a class on how to dance to 'Thriller'. Annie was, um, less than thrilled.


Ellie, on the other hand . . . this kid may just have a future as a pop icon . . .


In the video, you may have noticed the gory disgusting mess that was Ellie's hands and face. That was all thanks to a sucker ingeniously called a "Blood Pop." It warned me right there on the label, but I didn't take it serious until my child looked like a tiny vampire with horrible table manners . . .

Ellie loved being a cat (though she looks like a suspicious cat here), and anytime anyone would mention a cat or a kitty, she'd pound her little chest and 'meow'. (Which, in Ellie-speak, is a horrible sound that is more akin to an injured wild cat, but it's almost recognizable as a cat's meow.)

Annie confused us by breaking down into near hysterics while waiting in line to 'bob for donuts'. She was terrified. We don't know if it was someone's costume or what, but it actually seemed directed at the game itself. I patiently showed her it was just a donut, and explained the idea of the game, and she was still a bit freaked out and we were ready to just move on, but then the 13 year old kid running the game told her there was a prize for playing: a ring with a bat on it. She mustered all her courage and bobbed with the other kids. She still looks a bit weary of the whole thing though.

Ellie the Alley Cat getting her picture taken by Grandpa Johnson against the cute harvest display that Grandma Ruth painted last year. Ellie (who I mentioned just yesterday has become quite the camera hog) repeatedly dragged Grandpa back to the display to take her picture again and again.

Annie happily showing off her loot from the Trunk or Treat (note that she's now wearing her flannel pajamas under the dress, since it was pretty cold outside for a princess dressed for nothing more than a party!)

All Ellie

Elvis' Long Lost Love Child:

Ellie made this face today while 'singing' to me, and it cracked me up.

Then she was trying to hit the over the counter meds pretty hard . . .But, who am I to argue with Motrin for a baby with ear infections -- look how happy it makes her!

Then we read books -- I read some to her, she read some to me -- this is one of the reasons the two of us enjoy Annie going to a friend's house for the afternoon (more sing-songy rhyming books, less Disney books that take 20 freakin' minutes to get through!)

I love when she clasps her hands in front of her mouth when she finds something especially amusing.

Ellie makes this "Oh, I'm so surprised" face approximately 800 times a day. It never gets old though.

'Tis the Season . . .

For parties and candies and black cats and costumes and everything orange.

Halloween is just fun . . . Annie and Ellie are so excited about dressing up and their various costumes (yes, they both have multiple costumes). And they think all this candy is a pretty good deal too.

Annie wore one of her new Halloween shirts to preschool on Tuesday (our compromise, since I told her she wasn't allowed to wear her costume until Thursday to class). And Ellie literally dove into frame for the pictures.
Then she got to wear her Cinderella costume today to dance class. And Ellie ran straight into the picture and started posing too. I don't think we have to worry about this one being camera shy!






I put some mascara on Annie this morning as part of her Cinderella costume. Dang that girl has long lashes . . . she'd blink and I had to keep wiping mascara out of her eyebrows! I'm hoping that she inherited her father's brains for math and science along with his ridiculously long lashes!


In other news, my sister Lacy is starting to text-harass me, being all, "What's your weight? Why haven't you weighed in yet? What was your loss this week?" for our Biggest Loser: Family Edition. She is not giving me much credit for my 'scale is broken so how can I possibly weigh in accurately' excuse. I'm working on some better excuses to get her off my back . . .

Spoiled

I just came home from my Tuesday night Relief Society Presidency meeting.

Greg was just about done putting together cinnamon rolls (from scratch) for me for tomorrow morning. I just have to throw 'em in the oven, and voila, hot, fresh gooey goodness for breakfast!

This is just one of the many reasons I love my husband. But, right at this moment, it's pretty darn near the top of my list.

Happy Birthday Uncle David!

It seems every year around Uncle David's birthday, we all head out to the zoo together! So, here's some great pictures of David with the girls the last few years . . . .

David and Ladybug Annie in 2007.

Annie and David in the Zoo playground, 2007.

Ellie and Uncle David, 2008, in front of the giraffe enclosure. (Sad, pathetic giraffe enclosure.)

David and the Happiest Pumpkin in the World! 2008

Slightly less enthusiastic looking pumpkin, Annie & Uncle David 2008

This year at the zoo with Ellie and Annie, measuring up to the gorillas.

Uncle David's best gorilla impression, 2009.

Cutest picture in recent memory of Annie and Uncle David. 2009.

Ellie and Uncle David scoping out the meerkats. 2009.

David is an awesome Uncle, and loves making time for my girls whenever possible. He's a fun brother in law, and according to Talina, the best, most amazing, loving, remarkable, blah, blah, blah, husband. But, she may be a bit biased. :-) He's a ruthless Sheriff, who'll randomly shoot whomever he pleases. He's a worthy Hand and Foot partner, even helping me bring down the evil reign of Talina, the now fallen Queen of Hand and Foot. He was the first person to ever beat me at Settlers of Catan. I don't know if this makes me admire him more, or makes me a bit bitter. Jury's still out, I guess.

David, you're a perfect addition to the family. Even if you apparently do wear BYU paraphenialia every single time we go to the zoo!

Happy Birthday!

Double (Double) Trouble

I already mentioned that we took Ellie in for a doctor's appointment, found out she has double ear infections and an eye infection, and they started her on the white evil medicine of death (Augmentin.)

Wellllll . . . . guess who got to make a late night trip to KidsCare with Annie who'd started pulling on her own ear and complaining yesterday? Yep, now we know that she also has a double ear infections. And is on Augmentin. Which means I have two grumpy, poor sick kids and two bottles of one of the world's most evil substances in my fridge. Two green snotty noses, four sore ears. Two understandably whiny kids, two overly tired parents. My house is a very fun place to be right now, trust me.

At least Ellie's eye infection is mostly cleared up, and I'm not wiping away green chunks of ooziness off her face every half hour. See, I'm a glass half full kinda person . . . .

I lead a very glamorous life.

Loser?

I know it sounds like a lame excuse, but my scale isn't working, so I have no idea how I'm stacking up in our Biggest Loser: Family Edition contest. (I mean, I have an idea how I'm doing comparatively (Seriously Lacy, you're down over 10 lbs!? That's inhuman!), but without an operating scale I can't actually measure my progress (or lack thereof) against my siblings.)

Is a broken scale grounds for no-fault forfeiting?

Stupid Medical Stuff

I spent almost two hours at the doctor's office with Ellie. And almost another hour at the pharmacy. I bought my poor child a Lunchables to eat while we were waiting for her prescription, so my one year old could finally eat lunch almost an hour and a half late. She just ate the crackers though. I felt like a good Mom, getting such a nutritious lunch for my sickly child.

She has double ear infections, and a raging (and nasty looking) eye infection. We've been told to wash our hands often and, for the love of all that's holy, don't let her touch anyone. And to start antibiotics. Specifically Augmentin. I hate this stuff. My kids seem so much sicker on it than they started out before the 'cure'.

It's gonna be a long week or so around here.

At least Annie seems to be doing well, despite a constantly running nose. And Grandma & Grandpa were both off work today, so they took her for the several hours I was gone with Ellie, which made it nice. I'm gonna try and focus on the positive here . . .

Many Faces of Annie

Mugging for the Camera

I called out a variety of random expressions/emotions, and Annie would pull that face for the camera. She's such a good little trained monkey. :-)

"Sweet"

"Happy"

"Silly"

"Nice"

"Confused"

"A Queen" (see the long regal neck, that one cracked me up.)

"A Princess"

"Surprised"

"Happy"

"Angry"

I don't remember what one this was -- kinda looks 'monkey-ish.'

Love/Hate Relationship?

Annie walked in earlier today while I was folding laundry, looked up at the show I was watching on DVR and said, "It's like High School Musical, but not . . . "

That does actually fairly accurately describe "Glee." And ever since watching it during 'laundry hour' at my house (which means the clothes should have taken me 15 minutes to fold, but I spent an entire hour slowly folding wash clothes so I could watch the whole thing) I've been walking around all day singing one single line over and over and over again, "Sweet Caroline, ba ba ba!" It's getting fairly obnoxious . . . mostly for those around me. :-)




Um, did any of the rest of you have any teachers at your high school who could dance like this? Did they hide them somewhere far away from the teenage girls? I don't remember any . . .


And any show that has a "Bust A Move" number in it, scores high on my list . . .

(Can a male teacher really dance like that with students without someone suing though?)

And these weren't even all the musical numbers in this one episode. (Sue swing dancing. So cool.) I'm am seriously falling for this show more and more every week . . .

And yet, now I have "Sweet Caroline" stuck in my head. Aw, who am I kidding?! Small price to pay for such musical excellence. "Ba ba ba."

Bad Guys

Annie and her best friend, Sarajayne, love to dress up like princesses, then point at their little sisters (who are both in the year and a half old range) screaming, "Ahhh! It's a bad guy!" Then run into some secret fort or protective castle. The younger sisters tend to look at them a little confused, and then go back to what they were doing. I'm a tad worried about the psychological effect on poor Ellie, always being labeled a 'bad guy' and being run from, but so far it doesn't seem to bug her.

Tonight though, Annie and I got into a conversation about 'bad guys.' I asked her, "What is a bad guy, Annie?"
She looked at me like I was stupid, and was all, "Someone who is not good."
"Well, yeah . . . but, like what do bad guys do?"
"Oh, you know . . . take toys and stuff from little girls. Or little boys."
"That makes sense."
"Oh, and they don't wear clothes."
"Um . . . "
"Yeah, they don't wear clothes. Oh, unless it's a ghost bad guy. Then they wear white skirts. Or capes that cover their eyes."

If Lazy Coloring Were an Olympic Sport . . .

Ellie's not feeling well, making her a little bit listless. Not enough to like sleep, but enough to color in the laziest possible way . . .

"Yeah, so I'm lounging on a pillow while coloring off to the side . . . you have something to say about it Mom?"

I found her coloring again, later on, while laying on another pillow.

She did sit up, for a minute.

Happy Birthday Cousin Connor!

Annie wanted to send her birthday wishes to her cousin Connor, who is "finally three like me."

First she sang for him . . .



Then she danced . . .



Then she just said happy birthday . . .

Happy 3rd Birthday Connor!

Notre Dame's Touchdown Jesus & Connor ("Go Irish!") picture stolen, without even asking, from his Mom's latest picture update on her blog.