Princess Bug

Bug got a TRUNK FULL of dress up clothes for Christmas. Here she is as Cinderella.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

This is a very happy little boy with a gingerbread house he made during his last week of school. We finished eating it yesterday. I have to say that the frosting was pretty good even after being dried out.

Christmas with a 2 and a 4 year old is wonderful. Everything is exciting. Favorite gifts? Elliot got a Nerf dart gun from Elsie. Today it topped the charts. Right up until Michael nailed me in the face as I came in from feeding Stripes. Tomorrow we're going to return a gift and get more guns. It's ON.

Video

Click here to watch Elliot, Elsie and grandma feed the seagulls.

Feeding the birds

So we thought it would be the opposite. We thought Elliot would freak out from the closeness of the birds. But it was Elsie that cowered near me. Elliot loved it.

We just returned from a few days with grandma and grandpa on the beach in St. Pete. I have to say it was lovely. Grandparents are a wonderful thing. And we got two good sets.

Poor Stripes

You may not be able to see her in the first picture, but there is actually a cat under the pink Barbie blanket. Stripes endures all kinds of torture from our children. This is why she is only inside about 20 minutes per day. The kids love her. Whenever she scoots inside they both yell, 'Stripes is in the HOUSE!'

Emily

This is Emily Polgardi, Elliot's favorite student. I'm not sure how she became the favorite, other than the fact that she shares a name with one of Elliot's favorite trains. She brings him little train presents and he returns the love with lots of hugs.

Too fast for mama

So we've started a couple of traditions for when the students are here. One is that on Wednesdays we meet papa for pizza at a greasy pizza place to have dinner. He goes back to working on his sermon for large group that night and we go to the park. Elliot rides his bike around the perimeter of the park while I push Elsie in the stroller.

The first time we did this Elsie was out of town. I had to help Elliot get started several times, and he almost didn't make it around the whole park (About 1 mile total). Well, he's improved. Tonight, (after a soda and two pieces of extremely greasy pepperoni pizza) we again went to the park. The kid is a rocket. His tires MIGHT be 10 inches in diameter. But by the 3/4 mile mark, I was yelling, about 20 yards behind him, as I ran as FAST as I could while pushing Elsie, STOP! STOP!

He was in no danger of getting hit or lost. I just seriously could not keep up with him. I was feeling pain and an inability to BREATHE. Thankfully, I bought a bike today. And we bought a bike trailer last weekend. Gotta love Craigslist. I need the bike to keep up with Elliot.

Helper

Two is a great age for helping. She'll do most anything I ask her to do.

Big boy

These are Elliot's 'big boy' underwear. He loves them. I think he'd wear them everyday if I let him. I love the boxer brief look - even in Thomas.

Happy Halloween from Shrek and Spiderman!

Getting ready for Halloween

HAPPY HAPPY BUG!!!!

Yay! Buggie's eating and drinking again! She first had some of my Diet Coke, then Sprite, apple juice and grape juice. This was quickly followed by an entire bag of popcorn, fruit loops, Cheerios, pops and a couple of old french fries.

THIS is the Bug we know and love. Thanks to all who were praying for her. We've definitely turned a corner here.

Still drooling.

She drools a lot.

3:30 pm. She's held chocolate ice cream, a popsicle, yogurt and a brownie. I got 2 bites of popsicle in her. Then she stopped.

Tonsils - check, adenoids - check

We were at the hospital this morning at 6:15 to meet Yolanda and many other staff members who took care of us. They were great. Dr. Poole told us that Elsie had some rather large tonsils for such a little girl. She was not happy coming out of anesthesia, but calmed down after about 10 minutes and fell asleep in my lap. She's been in and out of sleep since about 9:15. She was falling asleep watching Tom and Jerry on the couch when we got home, so I put her in her bed despite pathetic protests, and she was out in about 2 minutes.

Here she is a couple of days ago having a tea party with her babies. More updates to follow.

Monkey Joes

So there's a new place in town called Monkey Joe's where you can jump and go down huge inflatable slides for hours. Elliot thinks it's the new earth. We got a free pass from his school, so we went. Notice Bug's headband and guess who dressed her...

My three favoritest people ever

Today was pajama day for Elliot at school. Big day. He was so excited he was trying to get me to put his shoes on to leave the house at 7:15am. Bug continues to love her teachers, Sharon and Amy. She talks about them all weekend until she gets to play with them again on Monday mornings.

Monday Elliot goes on his first field trip, on his first yellow school bus, to the Raptor Center. We're all excited.

Revenge

After dinner tonight, Elliot was explaining to us his plans for a mean boy in his class.

Elliot: One mean boy, Campton, calls me stinky pants.

Me: Is this a boy at school in your class?

Elliot: Yeah.

Me: Does he call everybody that?

Elliot: Yeah. So we're going to set him on fire and eat him.

Silence.

Raucous laughter.

Michael convinced small Elliot that maybe forgiveness was a better choice.

Kiddos

My mom took these pictures while they were here for a few days. Dad fixed everything on my list and mom did all kinds of things. We already miss grandma and grandpa!

Do you think we could get away with it?

Doesn't it look like that's what she's saying?

LIttle house?

Hi everybody. Sorry it's been awhile. The students are back so life has gotten EXPONENTIALLY busier. Yaya and Big Papa were here last weekend and brought this very sweet, very prarie looking dress, complete with bonnet. Of course she, being the accessory queen, wore the hat the entire morning, even in the nursery.

More Elliot quotes

This past weekend:

Michael: Elliot, your vocabulary is expanding rapidly.
Elliot: Yeah, I'm a fast learner. (?!)

Elliot and I taking a walk the other day:

Elliot: Mama, can you tell me about the end?
Me: The end of school? The end of the day?
Elliot: No. The end of the world.
Elliot's first lesson in eschatology followed, given by a shocked and inept mama.

It's still pretty hot here...

If I remember correctly from last year, it cools off around February.

First day of school

Day #1 of Pre-K was great! Ms. Brooke personally brought Elliot to my car in the carpool line. She said, 'Oh, he was precious. He was perfect!' Seems he's better at school than at home. Better that way, I guess. He had a great time.

Then he made the day a RED LETTER DAY by pooping on the potty for the first time!

It's been a great day, to say the least!

The water war

Hi. If you want to see some of the water war that went down in our back yard this morning, click here.

Happy Birthday Elliot!

Elliot's 4th birthday was lots of fun, especially if you were a little person who liked to get wet. Elliot got a new airplane from papa, a birthday crown from school, and water balloons with his best friends. Here's Anna Kate enjoying her 2nd piece of cake. Papa got a little wet in the water war, and was the hidden object in a strategic game of hide and seek.

We like 4. 4 is better than 3, so far.

Baby corn

Elliot and I this morning were discussing the planting of a garden in the springtime. This was our conversation:

Elliot: And we can plant some baby corn?

Mama: Sure, buddy. If you want corn, we can plant corn together.

E: And then we can plant some bigger corn?

M: Sure, why?

E: Because if we have baby corn, then we need some mama corn to take care of the baby!

New bowlers

So the cutest thing about bowling was Elliot's shoes. And the fact that I think Bug won the first game. Go Bug! They were both most excited about the machine that would spit the ball back onto the rack.

Big brothers

So on the way home from a faculty dinner tonight (Michael is now teaching logic at the school where I do the bookkeeping - weird) we were singing 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes'. Elliot thought it would be a funny variation to sing, 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Penis' which of course Bug picked up as 'Peanut'. She then sang all the way home, 'peanut peanut peanut peanut' pointing to, of course, her crotch. Nice.

Future scooter driver?

Sweet little boy

So this is how Elliot falls asleep nearly every night. Beneath a pile of books.

Happy Birthday Bug!

Buggie's 2!!!! She absolutely destroyed a cupcake, with great joy. She had a donut for breakfast, also with candles. What's better than a 2 year old birthday?

You can take the girl out of the midwest,

but you can't take the midwest out of the girl. She seemed to really enjoy helping me shuck the corn.

Ready for church

Elliot quotes

As he grunted this morning:

'My bootie keeps getting big because I'm growing.'

Midwest Tour '09, part II

So Elliot continued to enjoy himself, as did Elsie, in our tour of the Midwest. You see us here in downtown St. Louis, Dr. Cool with his shades on as he licks a 29 cent ice cream cone. We played at a downtown water park. Here Michael and Elsie coast through the basin at Forest Park near the fountains. Those paddle boats are harder work than you would think. And Elliot enjoys a special treat from the ice cream man. Who doesn't love the ice cream man?
All in all it was a great trip. We always want more time to see our friends, but it was great that we got what we got. We miss you all in STL!

The best vacation of Elliot's life

When does an almost 4 year old go to both grandparents' houses, the City Museum, the zoo, on a boat, to a water park and a bunch of other fun places in about 2 weeks? On the Midwest Tour '09. Elliot is having a ball. He's earned the name "Hollywood" because he won't go anywhere without his shades. Bug went down 3 story slides and climbed up taller parts of the playground than she should ever be allowed. We've had lots of fun with grandmas and grandpas and in St. Louis. More to come.