Summer Time

 

I'm seeing the girls personalities more and more. Lucy had her dance performance about a month ago and she was just the sweetest- eager to to perform. Showing all sorts of spunk. And almost more endearingly, she was so supportive of the other dances. After her dance, she was sitting with me watching the others and she would hoot and holler for them! and then with private oo's and ahh's to me saying how beautiful they were. It makes me tear up just thinking about her confidence she must have in herself to be so in other's corners without being jealous.

Ella is so creative and cool. And practically seems a teenager to me, what with her choker necklaces and stylish outfits she picks herself and a bit of a too cool for school attitude at times. Plus she's both annoyingly independent - not trusting my friend advice or practically any of my advice - and a bit attached to me- not hardly wanting to spend a second apart from me at the pool for instance. Both sweet and tender and again- a hair annoying at times. Though i really shouldn't be annoyed at all- I should treasure it.

She also lost her tooth!! It was hanging on for dear life for a while- she could even turn it so the back of the tooth was facing forward while still stuck in!

At nights, after the sun goes down just a bit, we sit outside. look at this sunset! Its a tricky time though because its at about 8pm that the sun goes down enough for it not to be too hot in the front yard- and by that time I want the girls in bed, not outside playing, even though it seems a shame for them not to be because its so lovely in the summer night time. I should probably tell bed time to be damned because I won't get their childhood back. is that what I should say?

I showed the girls the movie Freaky Friday with Lindsay Lohan in it- the day or two after, I regretted showing them that because Ella would argue with me like a Lindsay Lohan teenager and it was a bit roll your eyes frustrating. But, it has also brought about this rock n roll phase. Lucy is using our rock band pretend guitar to do many a full out rock concert and she constantly throws up the rock n roll hand sign! haha its pretty fun. thankfully Lucy doesn't copy the 'arguing-with-your-mom' stuff the movie showed :)

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.

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.

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.