Easter Weekend & Ellie's Dancing Skills

There's no doubt Annie is my child. I mean, even toss aside the fact she's a carbon copy of me . . . but the child woke up at 3AM loudly exclaiming, "It's Easter! It's Easter! Let's go downstairs, the Easter Bunny came!" This is NOT something she gets from her father, who would happily sleep in any day, especially major holidays. I, on the otherhand, was known to wake up at 4AM (alongside my sisters) for Christmas morning well into my late teens.

We did get Annie back to sleep, but both girls slept awful, waking up often, and both getting up before 7AM this morning for good. But I didn't mind the early morning once we headed downstairs to see what a certain oversized rabbit had left for the girls. I don't know how 'unconventional' Easter baskets on Saturday is . . . it's always just been my norm, and I know it's a bit of a "Utah" thing, but my family always did our Easter baskets on Saturday morning. And it was always a big deal. The Easter bunny hid our baskets in increasingly more difficult locale throughout the house (and yard) as we got older. Making it even more difficult was the fact that my Mom hated the idea of regular straw baskets, so our Easter baskets were usually more along the lines of Rubbermaid totes, laundry baskets or storage bins . . . something that would be 'useful' to us longer than that day. Cool, because they held so much more Easter loot . . . difficult because they camoflauged easily into places like the attic. Anyway, Greg and I decided to take the 'Saturday' tradition over into our own family once we got married. It works for me . . . it leaves Sunday mornings less hurried and crazy, and more about focusign on the spiritual and religious reasons for Easter. I can't imagine having dragged Annie away from her loot this morning and going to 9AM Church! We would have had one angry, hopped up toddler on our hands in Sacrament meeting!

This year Annie got a new tricycle, and a bunch of random 'princess gear', and Ellie got a little swimming pool and a stuffed T-Rex for our little 'growler'. There were also a dozen eggs hidden around the frontroom, which Annie had fun hiding.

Here's a bunch of pictures, and at the bottom some video, of this morning's festivities. Including a clip of Ellie's amazing dancing skills.

Annie in her new tiara . . . Mommy yawning after the crappiest night sleep, but it kinda looks like I'm dry heaving . . . and the back of Ellie's not-completely-bald head.
He he he . . . Ellie's REALLY excited about the necklace she's holding. The T-Rex is pretty happy about it too. Later in the afternoon, the girls spent a great deal of time just hanging out in our new front room pool.
The bottom tooth has cut through, but the drooling hasn't even let up a little . . . especially with the cold.
Ridin' around the front room . . . Easter basket flung over her arm . . . (note the cute Easter basket . . . a tin Princesses pail that can now be used in bedroom/playroom decorating.)
Ellie is cracking herself up over this whole 'keep crawling around after my sister on her new toy, then touching sister/toy and annoying sister' thing.
I love her in her blue-cell-phone-covered pajamas.
Dad and Ellie, just chillin' (or half dead due to tiredness, one or the other.)
Go Speed Racer!
Me . . . lookin' pretty good at 7AM on not the best night sleep, if I do say so myself. I have to make sure there was at least one picture of me at major events/holidays/parties . . . just so I can prove I was there.
Ellie has a new found fascination/obsession with the stairs . . . a picture taken several hours later in the day of this same area would show a newly installed gate at the bottom of these stairs.
After finding all of the eggs hidden on her level, Annie got a boost from Dad to find the ones hidden up on shevles, and in the case of the one she's pointing at, in the drapes.
Annie with the T-Rex.

Some translations for Annie:

Some people are little, and they can't get things that are up high!

I went backwards!!

No, this is my bicycle . . . You can ride it when you are two, Ellie.

I trying to push the pedals, but I'm getting better to push the pedals.

Did you see that?!

A bicycle! This is not a little bicycle . . . little kids, littler kids ride littler bicycles.

Grunting and Growling

Ellie is a verbal little baby. She chats, sings, babbles, mimics, grunts and growls. Especially grunts and growls. Constantly grunting and growling at us. Deep, guttural sounds. It's hilarious coming from such a dainty little girl. The other day I took something away from her and she just looked up at me, glared for a second, then growled. Like some kind of predator who I'd tried to snatch food from or approached their young. It was kinda funny.

I think people think I'm exaggerating how prominent the growling is in Ellie's verbal repertoire.

Annie and her Uncle David were playing when Annie came across a small plastic toy.
"What's that?" asked David.
"A dinosaur," replied Annie.
"Do you know what kind of dinosaur that is?"
"No."
"It's a T-Rex," David explained. "Do you know what sound a T-Rex makes?"
"No," answered Annie.
"Roarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" David roared loudly.
"Oh," Annie replied simply, "that's the sound Ellie makes."

I'm not the only one who hears it all day!

Equal Opportunity?

I'm a 'different but equal' kinda person when it comes to the debate of feminism and all that. Basically, I strongly believe in equal rights and opportunities, but I also believe men and women to be very different creatures. I wouldn't expect us to act or react the same way in a number of situations.

I have an awesome husband, who on top of working all day, being helpful around the house, an amazing cook and an incredibly hands on father (who changes almost all the diapers when he's home), is always supportive of me in whatever I want to do. Sure, he goes to work and I stay home with the kids, but with him cooking a lot of our dinners and giving the kids baths, and me supplementing our income with my freelance graphic design, it's not one hundred percent the picture of 1950's gender roles/stereotypes of yesteryear either. Greg and I contribute equally to run our home, in some similar and in some very different ways. But even in the things we share, like taking care of the kids, I'm often struck by how 'different' we handle things. (Like, I react as if every nerve has been put on high alert when the baby starts to scream at a slightly different pitch than normal, diving across the room to correct whatever the problem is, and Greg can be holding said child and not even notice she has gotten her wedged painfully between two parts of a toy. I react immediately and precisely to all things with our kids. (Uptight? Yeah, probably. It's a little too 'Kate Gosselin' for my tastes at times, I just can't help it.) He's much more chill, and handles things completely differently than I do . . . which, although at times for me is frustrating, it isn't in any way the 'wrong' way to handle things.)

But you know when I feel the most 'different'? It's when I'm sick. I currently feel like crap. My throat hurts, my body aches, I'm tired and winded (my asthma kicks in when I have a bug). To top it off, my girls are running around with runny noses and cranky attitudes. What does this mean in my life? Well, if I'm lucky, I can talk Annie into staying in bed with me and watch an episode or two of "Imagination Movers", while bribing Ellie with Cheerios to stay mellow for awhile. But for me there'll be no naps, no real rest, and someone still has to make us all breakfast and lunch and should probably get the dishwasher unloaded before our kitchen is completely taken over by dirty dishes. Laundry needs to get changed, or the batch in the washer is gonna start to smell. And after breakfast, the kitchen and front room floors need to be thoroughly vacuumed before Ellie finds and eats any breakfast strays that found their way to the floor. When Greg is sick, he can reasonably expect about 20 hours of sleep in a given day, even with the kids running around. Even if I'm equally sick (or worse off) at the same time. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that Greg seems to get over a bug within a day, at the most two, whereas my illnesses are more likely to linger for the better half of a week before I feel fully human again.

Ah, what I wouldn't give to just nap tomorrow. For hours. That's the kinda equal opportunity I'm talkin' about.


Unrelated, but Ellie took four steps today! My little girl is amazing!
And, Annie wore panties all day today without an accident . . . she got up this morning, went in and changed into panties this morning by herself, and just decided it was a 'non-diaper' kinda day and went with it . . . we'll see what she decides tomorrow. Heaven knows I can't show any kind of opinion on the topic though, or she'll pee in retaliation, probably on bedding of some kind.

Walkin' Tall

Ellie was so excited to 'walk' around at Gardner Village. It was so cute. You'll have to click on a few of the pictures to see her different expressions, since her teeny tiny mini-self doesn't really show up well in a picture with multiple adults in it.





(I love this one, her looking up at me


And then she was done . . .

Our Life Motto

According to Annie:
"Mommy rules, Daddy drools, Annie jumps in a pool, Ellie's super cool!"

The other night we were driving home from the grocery store. I had jumped into the front seat to drive home while Greg was getting Annie into her carseat. I triumphantly exclaimed from my illbegotten drivers seat, "Ha! Mommy rules and Daddy drools!" Annie found this hilarious. But also pointed out that really, Ellie's the drooler in our family. (Speaking of which, after about two and a half weeks of sheer agony (for all of us!), Ellie's bottom tooth has actually poked through. Just barely.) Anyway, from there Greg and I, maturily, bantered back and forth about who in fact ruled. And who drooled. We also started rhyming as many other things as we could think of, pool, mule, fool, cool, ghoul, jewel, stool, tool, wool . . .

Then there was a discussion of who was 'in charge' (stemming from the "Does Mom or Dad 'rule' or 'drool' ongoing debate.) Annie informed me that Greg was in charge. He laughed again. I replied, "He's more of a figurehead really." Greg laughed. Annie just looked confused.

Maybe it was the thought of heads that led to the next part of our conversation. About this time is when Annie informed me that, "Mommy has a bigger head than Daddy." Greg laughed again. (A little too long.) I explained that it was just that Mom had more hair, was sitting up taller and just had better posture than Dad who was more slouched over in the passenger side seat so that less of his (giant) head was showing. Annie didn't seem to buy that. (For the record, Greg and I both have large heads, physically . . . probably has something to do with our infant daughters having 85-90th percentile sized heads, despite being 2% on the charts in weight. I have the 'bigger head' if you're talkin' attitude, not proportions.)

Annie ended all debate with the phrase that I now want to get done in vinyl letters and mounted above mine and Greg's bed, "Mommy rules, Daddy drools, Annie jumps in a pool, Ellie's super cool!" Smart kid!

I Believe I Can Fly

Friends

I've been feelin' awfully nostalgic lately.

And not just 'cause I've been watching far too much of VH1's "I Love the Millenium" and "'80's One-Hit Wonders". Facebook is partly at fault, since it has wonderfully brought me back into contact with friends from years ago. Blogs and the internet spur on this desire in me to reach back and remember the people who've come and gone in my life.

Right now though, my nostalgia is mainly because I had the best time the other night hanging out with one of my best friends, Jessi. You know those friendships that just seem to continue on, span a decade or more, without a ton of effort on either of your parts. You know what I mean, the friendships where you wish you saw each other more, or talked more often, but it's solid despite the gaps. One of those pick-up-the-phone-and-easily-catch-up-and-enjoy-every-second-of-the-conversation kinda things. Jessi and I don't see each other nearly as often as we did in High School, where we nerdily spent many hours at the school (until janitors tried to kick us out) working on the High School newspaper in the journalism room, while eating Kraft Cheese and Crackers. Yet, she's one of the first people I think of when I have "I'm pregnant," "I'm hurting," "I'm celebrating," "I'm pissed," or "I'm happy," kinda news.

Jess and I got together a few nights ago, sitting in Village Inn for four hours, eating pie until well after 11:30PM. I think the waitresses hated us. My husband was starting to wonder if I'd been in an accident or had fled the state, leaving him with our two young children. Jessi and I could have talked all night, had it not been a school night for Jessi, an elementary school teacher, and I hadn't had a nursing baby at home. We caught up, we talked about the future, and we reminised. Oh, how I love to reminise. We were laughing and reminding and reliving so many experiences, relationships, jokes and stories that have come and gone, ebbed and flowed, made up the backbone of what is our friendship. It made me fondly look back at the things and people that have influenced me since high school, and even before that.

It made me want to throw a big reunion party, for all the people who were ever my friends. They wouldn't all know each other. We may not really even know each other anymore, but I'd like to say thanks to people who made a difference in my life. Were there for me. I could even say made me a better person, or influenced me for the better. Heck, I wouldn't have the deep love and appreciation for hockey, Jimmy Eat World, Wasatch Broiler, drive by stalking, purple eyeliner or Dylan McKay if it weren't for some of the best friends I could've had. Especially at those points in my life. The guest of honor would have to be Greg though, the best friend I could have ever hoped for. I might be a little embarassed though, when all my other 'best friends' throughout the years started to share their stories . . . . I don't think Greg's heard 'em all. Probably best if it stays that way. :-) You do and say some of the stupidest stuff around the people you love and trust the most. I mean really, one of the reasons to stay close to friends from days gone by is that anyone who's heard your unending and passionate list of reasons you and Kirk Cameron should be married, should be closely monitored. Some things shared between friends should be taken to the grave.

Duck FYI

The ducks at Gardner Village, where our pictures were taken, are just super chill. Almost too much so . . . the overfed fowls completely ignore poor Annie when we come with bread, it's only the little sparrows up in the tree who react to bread being tossed out. The ducks just stare at you like, "yeah, been there, done that," and don't move. They're fat, lazy, domesticated birds and apparently they let toddlers just walk right up to them without so much as a look up. So yep, real ducks in Annie's pictures.

Family Portaits

So, trying to choose my favorites among so many amazing photos was tough. So I just decided to go the easy route and post like forty of them. If you have slow internet, my apologies. It couldn't be helped. :-)







































Thanks again to Gianne, who was freakishly amazing! I can't even begin to describe how much I love all these (and the hundreds of other) pictures!
http://giannesnowphotography.blogspot.com/