Facebook Repeat

E just said "Mama, I need to put on my stinky booger shoes." At first I could not figure out what she was talking about but then it hit me, KC and the Sunshine Band, " I wanna put on my my my my my boogie shoes."

Tea Party

Yesterday, we spent Easter with our dear friends the Tudtud family. We have spent the past 4 Easters with them and it has become such a fun tradition. Late in the afternoon Seth and Eleanor decided to have a tea party. Seth was trying to pour the tea and Eleanor objected by saying, "No Seth no, the lady pours the tea!" I so wish we would have captured that on video camera. The thing that made it even a little funnier was that both Seth and Eleanor had their shirts off. I tried to tell E that it was not ladylike to go around topless and she just laughed.

Polar Bear, Polar Bear

Riding the Rails

We made a trip into the city today to visit all the "aminals" at the Lincoln Park Zoo and to eat lunch at Chick-Fil-A. One of the best parts of the trip for E is taking public transportation. We ride the train into the city and then we either ride the bus or take a taxi to get from one end of the city to the other. Today I took some photos to help pass the time on the train. Here is E riding the rails!
As you can tell E was in a pretty funny mood this morning and was hamming it up for the camera. Love this girl to pieces!

Little Gymnast

Eleanor continues to amaze me with her athleticism. We are in our third session of gymnastics and the girl LOVES it. Her favorite apparatus is the bars. She has amazing upper body strength and can hang and swing forever. Yesterday I snuck in to her lesson to snap a couple of photos.


And my favorite picture of the day....check out that air between my girls feet and the beam:

"Air Eleanor"

Special Occasion

I made E some puppy dog pancakes for Valentine's Day. They had m&m's and chocolate chips on them. She asked for them this morning and I told her they were only for special occasions. Her response, "I am a special occasion." Yes my little one, you are a special occasion.

Another Funny

Today in the car E asked me a question. I nonchalantly responded, " I don't know babe." E gasped and said, "Mama, why did you call me babe? I'm not daddy!" She then asked me the same question and prompted me to reply, "I don't know baby girl."

Funny

Tonight E was on skype with her Na Na. When it was time to say goodnight this is the conversation that ensued:

E: I want to stay with Na Na. I don't want to hang up.
Me: Ok, do you want me to put you on a plane to go to FL?
E: Will you go with me on the plane?
Me: No, I think I will stay here.
E: Who will go with me?
Me: No one. I'll send your lovey with you.
E: My lovey? He can't sit on the plane with me, he doesn't have any legs and HE CAN"T OPEN MY SNACKS.

Oh precious E! You are serious about your snacks!

Coming Soon to a Mailbox Near You

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Interview With a 3 Year Old

I had seen this interview on a number of blogs and decided to ask E these questions tonight. I typed what she said verbatim.

1. What is something Mommy always says to you?
I love you

2. What makes Mommy happy?
I make good choices

3. What makes Mommy sad?
When I don’t make good choices

4. How does Mommy make you laugh?
When you say silly things

5. What was Mommy like as a child?
Me is a special gift (not sure what this means)

6. How old is Mommy?
5

7. How tall is Mommy?
big

8. What is Mommy's favorite thing to do?
Play

9. What does Mommy do when you're not around?
Do her own business

10. If Mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?
It will be for a baby

11. What is Mommy really good at?
working really hard

12. What is Mommy not very good at?
just finding groceries (maybe she is referring to my inability to go to Target and buy only groceries)

13. What does Mommy do for her job?
she orders tote bags (for those who do not know I am an Independent Consultant for Thirty-One)

14. What is Mommy's favorite food?
Broccoli and rolls

15. What makes you proud of Mommy?
for doing her own business

16. If Mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be?
A cheerleader (for those of you who know me really well you will get a good laugh out of this one)

17. What do you and Mommy do together?
we go shopping

18. How are you and Mommy the same?
I’m gray and you are gray, our body (I think we need some sun)

19. How are you and Mommy different?
You have a shirt on and I do not have a shirt on

20. How do you know Mommy loves you?
because I am a perfect gift for you and I love you so much

21. Where is Mommy's favorite place to go?
the grocery store and the bathtub

Christmas Gifts E Style

E decided yesterday that she really needed to buy Daddy a Christmas gift. We were headed to Sam.s as a family and I told her that maybe she and I could find something for him while we were there. She was SO excited! Daniel needs a drill and as soon as we walked in there was a really nice one on display. I called E over and suggested that as a gift for her daddy. Her response, "I'm not buying daddy THAT for Christmas! I want to buy him a kid's book." So, while daddy was taking care of something else we walked over to look at the books. With a little help from mom, E picked out the classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. We quickly found daddy and hid the book in the cart. A few minutes later E asked daddy, "Do you want to share your Christmas present with me?" Aha...the real reason behind E's gift of choice. Of course Daniel agreed to share his present. E then proceeded to show him what she picked and asked if we could read it at bedtime. A little while later as we were finishing up our shopping trip E spotted a beautiful, large bouquet of flowers and exclaimed, "Daddy, we need to buy mommy some fresh flowers for Christmas!" Thanks to my sweet girl I have a gorgeous table display of flowers. Merry Christmas, sweet E!

What's In Your Fridge?

Yesterday at nap-time we could not find E's lovey. I searched our house high and low. I looked in all of the usual places to no avail. E really needed a nap and mommy really needed her to take a nap but no lovey = no nap. I finally was able to convince her to lie down and I continued the hunt for the missing lovey. I checked the freezer and then decided to check the refrigerator. Something caught my attention in the vegetable crisper drawer and upon opening it this is what I found....

A Lesson in Sharing

This morning E and I were working on our new memory verse, "Do not fear for I am with you" (Isaiah 41:10). As we were driving to school we were talking about what this means. Here is the conversation which followed.

Me: We do not need to be afraid because God is with us all the time.
E: Yes, God is with me and I am not afraid. But what about the other people's god.
Me: We all share the same God. There is only one God.
E: I don't want to share my God.

I think Daniel and I have some teaching to do. HA!

Be Kind

Scripture Memory

I saw a great idea for scripture memorization with little ones on this blog. I have not had a chance to make the cards yet but decided E and I could get started on the first Bible verse. This morning we talked about Joshua 24:15. E had previously made a picture of a house using different shapes while at a friend's house and was wanting to repeat that activity this morning so I decided it was a perfect opportunity to introduce this verse. This activity allowed us to work on shape and color recognition and then we worked on our Bible verse. I am looking forward to teaching E about the Bible and hope that by this time next year she and I will have memorized 26 Bible verses.

I Want to Remember

My MIL gave me a book a while back where I could record all of the funny or cute things E has said but I want to be able to put them in the book in chronological order so until I can find the time to go through all my old blog posts and FB statuses I need to record things here.

While we were in FL this past week visiting family E said one of the funniest things she has said in a while. We were visiting "the cousins" at their house and the kids asked to go play in the front yard. I had just told K that E could go outside with them but that an adult would need to go outside with them. In the kitchen E was talking to Aunt Kate and Aunt Kate said the same thing. E responded, "that's ok, I can be the adult." She is growing up way too fast.

The next morning as we were packing up to head to the airport E was talking about her time with the cousins. She said, "H is the sweetest boy. I just wanted to hug him so much!" She does love her cousins and could not give H enough hugs. So sweet!

When I Grow Up....

This was the conversation E and I had in the car one morning this week while I was driving her to school.

E: Mommy, when I grow up I want to be a doctor, a fireman and a cowgirl. Do you want to be a cowgirl?
Me: I would love to be a cowgirl.
E: OK, we need to get hats and ponies.

This conversation actually made me a little sad. My baby girl is growing up. This is the first time she has ever used the phrase, "When I grow up..." It caught me a little off guard. This conversation also made me smile just a bit because she wanted me to be a cowgirl with her. I guess Daniel and I need to start saving for a horse!

Meet the Teacher / First Day of School

I am quite delinquent in posting on this blog. There are a number of things that happened over the summer that will never make it on here but I need to live in the now so this will be my last "past" post.

E started pre-school last week. She is a Green Cheetah this year and will frequently say she is a "mean, green cheetah!" Funny thing is there is not a mean bone in this little girl. Although E can be a little overly aggressive she is very compassionate and quick to apologize when she has hurt someone.

The week before school started we attended Meet the Teacher night. We were happy to find that one of E's teacher's from My Morning Out had moved up and is an assistant teacher in her new Pre-K classroom. Several of E's friends from last year are in her new class as well. We have been blessed with a wonderful school and caring and compassionate teachers.

Ms. Toni
Ms. Carolyn, E's teacher from last year
First Day of Pre-K 3

I was looking back at last year's first day of school pictures and our girl has grown so much. I cannot wait to take a picture on our last day of Pre-K 3 and see how much she has changed. Before we know it our precious little one will be headed to Kindergarten. Somebody please slow down the time!

School At Home

I have no desire to homeschool Eleanor. I do not think she needs to know how to read before entering Kindergarten and I am not worried about whether or not she can correctly identify a parallelogram before her fourth birthday. Eleanor on the other hand is very interested in learning and frequently asks me to be her teacher. So....we have recently started having "school" a few mornings a week. We work on a letter of the alphabet and then play a game or work on a craft. Eleanor received a "Big Box of Fun" from some dear friends for her birthday. It is literally a big bin full of all sorts of fun school/craft/learning activities. This box has made "school" so much more exciting. A couple of weeks ago we were reviewing the letter B and here are a few of the activities we did.

B is for beads, bugs and butterflies

sorting beads by color
bug patterns
Handprint butterfly

Just a Few Pictures

Good morning, birthday girl!

Nana and Eleanor

Eleanor with GiGi and Pops

My precious family