She's so much like her dad

Does it get any better than this?

I am Mommy to the most amazing little girls who steal my heart a million times a day. I love being Mommy to my two precious little ones. Watching Sadie learn and grow and absolutely adore her big sister gives me so much joy. Watching Ella figure out just who, exactly, she is and wants to be is such a privilege. She told me today that when she grows up, she wants to be a Mommy to a little baby girl and a baby boy and she wants to stay home with them while I go to work. And if you know me, then you know that's not something she heard me say. I love working part time and I love being a part-time stay at home mom. But my favorite part about her future is that she thinks we'll still be living together when she has two kids. :) She's so innocent, beautiful, perfect, and she amazes me every day. And when I get to rock Sadie to sleep every so often, when she falls asleep in my arms it's the perfect end to my day. She is so innocent, beautiful, perfect, and amazing. I love watching her peacefully drift to sleep. Her face is so angelic and soft and completly contented. She makes me feel special. So, I'll ask again...does it get any better than this?

Daycation

Josh has been working out of town a lot lately. He got home at about 3AM on Saturday morning and was supposed to be leaving again on Wednesday. So he took Tuesday off and we had a daycation. I was thinking back and we have never done that. We've never taken vacation days to just go and do something fun with the kids. We've gone out of town, but we've never just decided "hey, let's go to the ___ tomorrow". So we went to Kemah and had a great time with the girls. We ate lunch at the Aquarium and then Ella and Josh rode the carousel and we finished it off with a ride on the train. She and Sadie had a great time. After Kemah, we went down to Galveston beach and that was quite a trip. The last (and only time) she went to the beach was July 4th, 2009. Living so close to the beach, you'd think we would go more often. Nope. I've never really been a beach person. I don't mind going to the beach, but it's all of the clean up when you get back that I hate. There's sand everywhere. But we ended up going today and had a really good time. Sadie pretty much ate her weight in sand. It was pretty disgusting. And it took Ella a while to warm up to the sand and the water. She wasn't a fan of all of the jellyfish that washed up on the beach, either. (I should mention that we live on some pretty less-than-favorable beaches, by the way. Could be the reason that I've never loved the beach.)But after about half an hour, she loved it. She loved digging through the sand looking for shells. She gathered up a pretty good collection and then buried it for someone else to find next time.

Here are some pictures from the day. And since i absolutely hate the way blogger uploads pictures, they are in very random order....

Grandparents are wonderful :)

I love watching Ella and Sadie with their grandparents. Every Sunday after church, we go over to my parents' house for lunch and we usually end up staying until dark. Since we live in a townhouse, we don't have a yard for the girls to play in so they get in a full week's worth of outside play on Sundays. We had such a wonderful time yesterday. And the weather has been perfect! Tomorrow, we are headed to Kemah for a fun day with the girls. I am so excited. Pictures to come later!

Here are a couple of pictures of the girls with Mimi and Grandad. Ella did not want her picture taken, but by the time they made it back from riding around the block, she was pretty darn excited about Grandad's motorcycle.

I don't like these shoes.

Wal-Mart can really wear a girl out!

Ella, Sadie, and I always do our grocery shopping for the week on Tuesdays. But it's been getting a little bit harder lately because Sadie sleeps from 10AM - 12PM, Ella sleeps from 12PM-2 or 3PM, and then Sadie sleeps again from 3PM - 5PM. So, if I'm not up and ready to go with the girls by 8AM, then we have a hard time fitting it in because with two kids, bathroom breaks, Ella picking out cereal, it takes us every bit of two hours before we're out of there.

Sadie's been in a growth spurt the past week or so because she's been eating like crazy and sleeping like crazy. So yesterday we went around lunchtime and she just couldn't make it through the shopping trip. She looked so sweet sleeping in the basket for about 45 minutes :)

9 Months & 3 Years Old

My kids are awesome.

Ella, you are the silliest, funniest, and most beautiful girl I have ever known. It is not hard for you to put a smile on my face. You're 3. Here are somethings about you that I don't want to forget and that you might like to know about yourself one day:



*You call your forehead your headboard and I absolutely cannot correct you :)

*You are right in the middle of a growth spurt. You're like a bottomless pit!

*One of your favorite things to do is go to the movies. We went and saw Gnomeo and Juliet for valentine's day this year. You loved the movie. I didn't like it much, but there's no one else who I'd rather sit through a boring movie with than you. (you did great with the 3d glasses too!)

*You've been potty trained for almost a year. Awesome!

*Your favorite musicians: Taylor Swift, Zac Brown, Owl City, Skillet, Shinedown, and Baby Einstein

*We dance. A lot.

*You LOVE to make up songs. The other day you were making up a song in the kitchen while I was cooking and it went a little something like this "I love my little sis so much and I love my mom too" in the cutest little sing, song voice.

*You LOVE your little sister.

*Sometimes you look at me and tell me just how much you love me and it isn't something that you think about ahead of time to say, it's like it just spills out. Those moments are incredible to me.

*You also think Dad is terrible at combing hair and only mom does it without hurting you. (I still accidentally pull your hair sometimes and Dad's actually not that bad) And you finally will let me put ponies in your hair! Although some mornings you still tell me that you want crazy hair. :)

Sadie,

You are changing so fast! It wasn't that long ago that you were sleeping the days away in your swing. I am so blessed to be your mom and watch you learn and grow more every single day. Here's what you're up to now:

*Helloooooo separation anxiety!!

*Anything you can spot that looks sturdy, you make a bee-line for to pull up on it

*You can say dada, mama, baba, hi, ella (eh-da), and all sorts of other noises

*You will eat anything. Tomatoes, lettuce, squash, guacamole, cake, chicken, i could go on and on

*Mommy is your favorite person and you make me feel so special.

*We're working on the sippy cup, but you refuse to hold it yourself.

*You finally started sleeping all night, but you're an early riser. You go to bed at 7PM sharp and you're usually up between 5 and 6, ready for the day. You also take two naps a day and they're around 2 hours a piece.

*You put on make-up with me every morning when we get ready for work. You love chewing on my mascara and concealer tubes. Sometimes you get a hold of the eyeliner and by the time I notice that you have it, you've got it all over your face :)

*You love to have shouting matches with my hairdryer.

*It is impossible to change your diaper. Sometimes it feels like I'm putting wrestling moves on you.

*You love to shake your head "no" at me and it's so cute. I think you learned the words Ella and no first because that's probably what you hear the most. :)

*You just got your 3rd and 4th tooth yesterday!

*You got the flu and after that you got your first stomach virus a few weeks ago. It broke my heart.


*You also just got to try out the baby swing at Mimi and Grandad's house for the first time. You loved it.