Thankful

A happy happy thanksgiving!
we went to my sister in law Shannon's today and it was so so lovely. I made more Thanksgiving food than I ever have before and I kinda loved it. wait... I loved eating it.

i made a ham and it was an intense piece of meat- but i liked it more than i thought i would! i went sweet and citrusy with it in the crock pot.

Also, I was SO PLEASED at my apple crisp. I used the caramel apple pie filling recipe from yourcupofcake.com and the crumble recipe from kitchn.com (using melted butter in the crumble instead of cold butter made a world of difference. gave it more of a granola like crumble instead of a cobbler cake-y crumble- i guess no baking powder probably helped with that too- which is what i used with my last apple crisp crumble.)

Ella last night said she couldn't sleep because she was thinking of what outfit to wear for thanksgiving! ha a fashionista. She also specifically requested pig tails that stick out the sides (they looked so darling!!) and chose cut off shirts with a floral shirt that she stole from lucy's drawer so its juuuuust a hair too small. OF course, she rocked it. Not too appropriate for the weather, but thats neither here nor there.

Lucy ate the mashed potatoes and some corn on the cob and then she wanted to leave the table to play. oh wait she also had a roll- but only 2 bites of about three separate rolls...
Lucy can kind of say "turkey" and will say it when she sees one! I also get her to say "gobble gobble" which comes out in the cutest baby-est way.Lucy is getting better with talking but slowly. She says quite a few words, but in such a non-distinct sweet baby babble way still.

love to all. i'm staying up too late (its 1am) looking at black friday sales. I also requested brent take tomorrow off so i can go black friday shopping for christmas. He did. He is a generous guy

I"m also so excited for our New York trip over new years- i'm obsessing over what dress to buy like a looney bin. i need to tell myself IT DOESNT EVEN MATTER..

im so thankful for all i have- especially me and my girls and brent's health. and the stuffing and green bean casserole we ate today. i am so lucky and blessed.

Ella's Soccer team and tidbits

 We are ending soccer season. It is crazy how kids minds change. Ella was ALL ABOUT SOCCER this summer. Then, as time went on, she:
-didn't like me to cheer for her at games
-didn't like cheering for the team herself
-took a while to enjoy practice, but when she warmed up, she loved it
-wasn't too intent on getting any goals
-but was then quite disappointed when she couldn't play one game because we forgot her shin guards.

Basically, she has a love/hate relationship with soccer. It was sure fun for me to watch her play though. Also, Lucy badly wanted to join in- so we'll see if she has the same sort of mind games that Ella has.

I struggle knowing how to be compassionate to Eleanor when she cries and whines for little things (if I get mad/annoyed, of course she cries harder!) while still teaching her its not ok to cry and whine for little things. How do I teach this?! I'm hoping and guessing it's just a phase and she'll mature out of it.

There is this wild field behind Ella and Kaden's preschool that is perfect for exploring. I'm so pleased how much she likes Kiddie Korner preschool. She is very excited for her Halloween party next week. They are having a little parade the parents can come to, where the kids show off their costumes. I'm excited to see it too! Her teachers are simply the sweetest- and it is obvious both Ella and Kaden and all the other kids I see at pick up love the teachers so much. I love hearing Ella say, "Bye Teacher!" at the end of school instead of using her name, Ms Karma. ha. I also heard Kaden say, "See ya later Alligator" to Ms Janet, and she responded, "I'll see you in an hour, sunflower!"
Heart eyes all around.

 I struggle with just sitting and doing nothing while my kids play. If I'm on my phone, Lucy always sees it and wants it, and I feel so dumb if people see me on my phone while watching the kids (is this crazy that I feel so self conscious? probably) Should I get a paper book? Perhaps a self help book about building confidence.

Lucy's Conversations at 2

Lucy just turned two, and she still seems like such a little baby to me still. I cant decide/remember if Lucy is talking as much as Ella was at this age. I wanna say that Lucy still baby talks way more... ah I'm not sure. I'm going to make a list of what Lucy says:

Thank you, Mommy
I wanna wear a dress (slurred all together)
fish
I want to eat.
I want to watch... Ella. (I think she means Elsa but she can't pronounce the "s")
Apple
Here you go.
What? (she'll say this a lot. I'll tell her something. she'll say "What?" and I repeat. and then again, "what?)
Where did it go?
Here it is.
I love you. (very slurred. but i promise i hear it.)

She'll also sing sometimes- usually I can make out Twinkle Twinkle little star. And sometimes its obvious when she sees a star she'll start singing it.

Also, her hair is always in her face. I'm over it.

Summer time

Summer in grantsville has been good to me. I feel like i'm in a good community- also we are now happy Grantsville land owners. For better or worse, we have committed to this lil town.

lil Lucy and Grantsville tidbits

I hardly take pictures of Lucy it seems... whenever I get out my phone to take a picture, she wants to grab it and run away with it and watch tv on it. then its a battle to take it away. I guess I have only myself to blame for it- letting her watch downloaded movies on my phone in the grocery cart while I shop- she is a right terror running away from me and around the store if she has a lick of freedom. I don't seem to remember Eleanor being this way.

Teaching one year olds to entertain themselves right when you want them to is a tricky business. Parenting is a tricky business.

Today was a real slow day.. stayed at home played outside and inside and then outside and then inside.. walked across the street to get snow cones (coconut and cream for me and red raspberry and cream and sprinkles for Ella) while Lucy took a rare and late nap. I both love and hate slow days. I love that I don't have anything to do and then I feel lazy and that feeling is annoying. I AM NOT LAZY i tell myself as I'm sitting outside doing nothing. our yard in Grantsville is simply amazing. The trampoline is fabulous, the big tree that provides lots of shade on the side of the house is fabulous, all the pots of dirt the girls play in, the bag of grass clippings Lucy plays in is fabulous, it is wonderful and easy to be outside.

Here in little Grantsville, I am more online shopping happy than ever. Since Wal-mart is 20 min away and there's no target to be found, Costco is 40 min away, online shopping is my go to. and it seems Brent is the same. In the last 10 days or so, lets see if I can remember everything I've ordered:

1. the game Cover Your Assets, amazon.com

2. all red wool sneakers that I've loved for ages and finally bought, allbirds.com

3. jeans and pants for ELLA!! she requested jeans the other day (she has never in her non diapered life worn jeans! she of course has always been in dresses, and if not a dress, i have forced her into stretchy leggings, but all of a sudden, she found some 3T leggings i had tucked away in a drawer for Lucy to wear this fall and Ella has taken to them!) and a jumpsuit for me, target.com

4. golf balls and tees and a fancy set of golf clubs for Brent- who all of sudden is wanting to do weekly golf outings with some of his brothers and now he is ALL IN TO EVERYTHING GOLF. I am in full support, amazon.com

5. vanilla and chocolate protein powder from cleansimpleeats.com because one of these days I will lose weight, damn it

and there we have it.

Tonight, Ella and I went to Little Miss Grantsville, which is basically a beauty pageant for girls 9-12, and it was both darling and scary. There a lot of diva attitudes and hip bopping. They did a little interview with each girl. One was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, and she went silent for a solid minute. the interviewer looked around wondering what to say to prompt her. the girl looked frozen. then some dink in the audience laughed. Anyhow, she finally said, "singer." But then, she was asked, "whats your most embarrassing moment?" and i thought to myself- yikes, way to call her out.

The theme of the pageant was The Greatest Showman and as part of their introduction, each girl said what part they would play in the circus. One said she wanted to be a clown, because then she could be both funny and scary.
!?!?!?

A good 4-5 girls in a row said the ringmaster followed by some version of "because I like to run the show and be in the spotlight"

It was an eye opening experience.

Moving and trampolines and preschool and new things

We have now moved to little old Grantsville, UT and it has been great and a bit different and an adjustment yet good. There is a snow cone hut across the street from our house- which us girls especially love. 

The girls have done so well with the move. Not as any meltdowns as there couldve been. Though today, Ella did start saying she doesn't like Grantsville anymore... so we'll see what happens there. Maybe its hard not to be so close to my parents? maybe thats what it is? Im not sure.

my parents put up this amazing swing in their house and of course she is all over it

ella working it in our new backyard. we also have a trampoline and it is endless entertainment. no injuries yet-though im sure we'll have some. i need to look into one of those net things.

I think this small town has been nice so far. Hopefully I'll keep feeling this way

Our first baby has completed her first year of preschool! Sometimes she talks about things at her "old school" and it makes me sad inside and nostalgic that we aren't there anymore. but there, we are moving on.

Haircut and Thoughts

My hair has been chopped and I feel like a new lady. its taken a while for me to get used to it, but now I like it quite a bit!

My thoughts lately:
- I'm annoyed that I feel like I'm tiptoeing around Ella's feelings. Everything I say it seems she cries and its so sad. I started feeling this way after a week or two ago when she had a nervous breakdown (or so it seemed? I'm not quite sure how to classify it and how far within or without the "normal toddler emotional range" it was...) about another girl at the park having a Belle dress that she wanted. It escalated (perhaps because we were with a group of friends at the park? the pressure?) when I told her she had to walk to the car herself- as I had some stuff in my hands. She was crying and couldn't breathe well and starting pulling her hair... and then yelled that she wanted another mom. I mean. It was just terrible. It leaves me questioning every aspect of my parenting!

-The weather is fantastic the last few days. we've been doing bike rides and playing outside with our neighbor kids which is therapeutic when the breeze is nice and the air smells spring-ish

-I'm eating ALL THE THINGS. yikes.

- Ella has swiped this fluffy vest from Lucy's closet and is pairing it with everything. kid's style choices are so heartwarming

To Granny Phoebe

All growing up, we would have family dinners at my grandparents house. Granny Phoebe was an excellent cook. She made the best homemade biscuits, spaghetti sauce that always had a secret ingredient that didn't stay secret for long (she would say, now this sauce has a special ingredient. can any of you guess what it is? ( it was grated apple!), peanut butter fudge- this was AMAZING. unfortunately she stopped making it quickly after I found out I had diabetes... she knew I would eat a lot of it... a real tragedy! also- Granny always had a garden. When I was a kid she always grew green beans and would bottle them up. I LOVED her green beans. She would usually cook them with a piece of bacon or ham. They were amazing. Though- it was a pity when I first tasted canned green beans from the store- because frankly they tasted almost as good. I guess I really like green beans... 

Granny was always the one I could go to for the scoop on family members. She know a decent amount of dirt on people and was not afraid to share- to my pleasure! Also, she was so chatty in the best way. Her dinner prayers were so endearing because she would go on forever praying for this person and that person. When I was a kid I remember watching her put in her contacts and sort out her pills. It was nostalgic when she came to Utah I saw Ella watching her sort out her pills, rather interested.

It is so weird when someone you are close to passes away. Is it weird to post this stuff on a public blog about my grandma? too private? Maybe. She was and is a lovely lady.

preschool

 i want to talk about eleanor's preschool and how awesome it is that ella is getting big enough to go to school. but i'm just too lazy at the moment. i will just say that the above and below photos the teachers husband took (they asked to take some photos of the kids for the school website) and they are delightful.

lucy and i biked over to a park one day while ella was at school. it was cold. maybe about 50% of the time i enjoy going to the park with my children, and this was one of those times.

Hawaii

I've just put Lucy to "sleep" but I hear her wide awake in her crib. Anyhow,

I have some photos n thoughts from our recent Hawaii vacation if you'd like to see...