Stalling.....

Elaina is mastering the art of bedtime stalling. Tonight she came up with nearly every tactic there is...

First, she wanted someone to sing her a song.

Then she remembered we forgot to say prayers - ok, she got us on that one, so she won that time.

Then she said we forgot to brush her teeth (she was wrong, but it was still a good excuse to get out of bed....).

Then she needed a drink of water.

Then she needed me to cover her with a blanket.

Then she remembered that she didn't finish the apple crisp she had for dessert....3 hours ago...and she needed to finish it. Um, it's long gone.

Then she wanted the door open so that the monsters can't get her, but when I couldn't open the door at the right angle, she had to get out of bed to show me how far open the door needs to be.

Then she needed me to help cover her with the blanket (again).

Then she actually got out of bed (opening the door, and taking off the blanket which had both been so perfectly positioned...) to ask what we are going to do tomorrow.

And then finally, she got out of bed one last time (and this is my favorite!) to tell me that there is something sticky (a piece of scotch tape!) on the outside of her bedroom door that she couldn't clean off the door, and could I get it off for her. Apparently she can't sleep very well when a piece of tape is on the outside of her bedroom door?!?

This is incredible.

Something Kind of Cool About Me & My Family...

Here's something interesting about my family that you probably don't know..... Up in northwestern Ontario (Canada) we have a small town named after our family. The town is called Amesdale and it was named after my great-Grandfather, Samuel George Ames (for those of you who don't know, my maiden name is Ames). He and his wife settled there with their 10 children in the 1920s when it was a small community along the railway. When they wanted to start up a post office, they needed a name for the town, so that's when they came up with the name Amesdale - because my ancestors were a large group of the community. My Grandpa (who I never knew) owned the town's general store and he and my Grandma ran the store and lived upstairs.



My Dad was born during the time that they lived there. A few years later (late 50s I believe?) the store caught fire and my Dad's family sought work elsewhere, moving away from Amesdale. After this time other people gradually started leaving Amesdale - I assume because the need for railway towns during the 50s & 60s wasn't as important as it was earlier and the fire in the store probably hurt the town as well. I might be wrong about that, maybe my Dad can clarify?

There's even a cemetery there, where lots of my family are buried. My Dad's brother & sister (who both died days after their birth) are buried here as well as my Grandparents, Great-Grandparents and many other relatives. My parents plan to be buried there someday as well.

I've been to Amesdale twice - once when I was about 10 for a family camping trip, and the second time when I was in Ontario for my Grandma's funeral - both were incredible experiences to visit and see where my family came from because Amesdale was important part of so many people's lives. This is a picture of my family when we were there after Grandma's funeral in 2001:

My Dad started a blog dedicated to Amesdale where he is gathering information and stories about the history of the town from friends & relatives that lived there. The link is: http://amesdale.blogspot.com/. I'm proud of him for working so hard on this to keep that history preserved.

Anyways, that's just a little bit about my personal family history, whether you wanted it or not :)

Our Fifth Anniversary

Mike and I got to celebrate our 5 year anniversary with an overnight trip to Dallas! I told him months ago that I wanted to go away for our anniversary - I didn't care where, I just wanted to go somewhere! So when we found out that his favorite band, Steely Dan, was playing in Dallas the day after our anniversary, we decided to celebrate our anniversary in Dallas with tickets to see them in concert. It worked out perfectly and we had a great time!

Our friend Erin offered to stay overnight with the girls when she found out that we were going away. We really appreciate her and her two little kiddos, Graham and Annie, being so willing to spend the night at our house with the kids. I know our girls had a blast! Elaina is still talking about it and all the fun things they did. And our little Erin (who is very attached to Mommy right now) got attached to my friend Erin as well! For both of their sakes, I'm glad! The next morning my friend Robyn also helped us out by watching them all morning at her house. I don't think the girls even missed us, they had so much fun while we were gone! It makes the trip that much better to know that the kids had a great time too. So a million thanks to Robyn and Erin for helping us make this happen!

The concert was great! I really like Steely Dan, but I usually only listen to them when Mike has it on, but I actually knew most of the songs too...he does listen to them a lot! :) It's amazing how talented these musicians are, especially at improv, which they did a lot of that night. I have a new appreciation for this band after attending the concert. Mostly though, it was great to be there with Mike. This last year has been pretty busy and stressful that it was nice to have a worry free weekend before it started all over again. Elaina was so excited for us too when I told her that Mommy and Daddy where going on a date (she knows what a date is because Princess Giselle talks about it in Enchanted).

This song is called Kid Charlemagne, and it was the last song they played during the encore, and also one of our favorites of the night. The camera really distorts the sound pretty badly.

Happy Anniversary Mike, I love you! :)

I'm Done with Three!

Elaina and I had a funny conversation on Monday, just a couple days after her birthday party:

Mom: Elaina, did you have a fun birthday party?
Elaina: Ya, I did! I want to have another birthday party! I want to have a Dumbo party!
Mom: Well, we have to wait till next year when you turn four.
Elaina: I want to be four. I'm done with three.
Mom: Well, you won't be four for a while.
Elaina: I want to be one then. I'm done with three.
Mom: You don't want to be one again! You've already been one. Besides, if you're one, you won't be able to talk. Erin's one.
Elaina: Erin can talk! She can say "da-da-da"!!!!

Since then we've heard many many times that she is done with three. I can't believe it! She was so excited to be three and has been talking about it for months. Now as soon as she's three, she's ready to be done with it?!?!?!?!

Happy Birthday Elaina!

Elaina turned three this month!!! It was a special birthday because it was 08-08-o8 this year! So When Elaina was born she was 8lb 8 oz as well, so 8 has got to be her lucky number! So I'm pretty sure that this means it's going to be a lucky year, right?!?

Elaina is our little social butterfly and I always write about how talkative she is because some of the funniest things come out of this little girl's mouth. However, one other wonderful quality about Elaina is that she is so thoughtful of others. This is especially true of her relationship with Erin - she always makes sure that Erin has a toy or a cup or food, or whatever she feels that Erin needs at the time. It's so wonderful to see her be the big sister taking such good care of her little sister. The other day we were driving to Houston to a bbq with one of Mike's classmates and Erin was getting fussy. Elaina reached over to Erin and held her hand, whispering "it's ok sweetie....we're almost there...you'll be ok." It calmed Erin down and Elaina held her hand for several minutes. And each time Erin would start crying again, Elaina would reach over and do it again. She's the same with me and Mike, always asking, "what can I do for you?" or making sure that our owwies get lots of kisses. Her relationships with people are very important to her, and she considers everyone a friend. She remembers specific details about people and what she learns about them. It amazes me what she observes and remembers about her friends and family that she interacts with. We're also so glad to have Elaina part of our family and we love this little girl so much! Happy Birthday Elaina!

The cake I made for our little family party turned out to be a disaster! I'm such an amateur at this, but the cake was lopsided, the frosting was melting by the time we were able to eat it, I ran out of frosting to edge it. Ah, it was a mess! And right before we were about to sing one of the corners completely fell off, so we had to squish it back into place for the sake of a good picture. Thank goodness little Elaina loved it and can't tell yet that it was a disaster. In her eyes it was a masterpiece and that's all the matters! And thank goodness for that! :)

Opening gifts with family


These pictures are from Elaina's birthday party with friends. It was a great day and I think everyone had a lot of fun! We decorated party hats, played relay games, pin-the-tail, and each guest got to pick a present from the "close line" as their party favor:

Pin-the-Tail on the camel
*courtesy of Nana & Grandpa in Saudi Arabia!

Blowing out candles...thank goodness she chose a simple cake the second time around!

Opening Presents

Memories

I love reminiscing and saw this on a couple of my friends' blogs. So do it, it'll be fun!!! :)

1. As a comment on this post, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Happy Birthday Little Erin-girl!

Our little Erin turned one a week and a half ago (July 20)! I can't believe it's already been a year, but at the same time, it's hard to imagine that there was a time when she wasn't a part of our family either. We love this girl so much! The perfect word to describe Erin is "sweetheart" because she is absolutely such a sweetheart. I love that even newborns have their own, distinct personality. Erin is so easy to please and easy to take care of. It seems the only thing she wants is to be loved, which is very easy for us to do. :) She genuinely loves and cares for people, and has the sweetest, warmest smile to show it. She loves to be cuddled and she loves to play and be apart of whatever we are doing. The excitement in her eyes when her big sister enters the room is priceless.

We are so blessed to have Erin part of our family. We love watching her grow and do new things, and we're excited for all the exciting things she will do and learn next year. Happy Birthday Erin. We love you!

Birthday Fun!

We had a joint birthday party on Saturday with Erin's friend, Julia, who was born the day after Erin. We did it at the splash pad at a nearby park. Here are the two cute birthday girls!

Our friend Stephanie made the cutest cake for the birthday girls - she is an incredible cake decorator! I wish I could capture all the detail on the cake, but a picture just doesn't do it justice. Thanks Steph for a fabulous birthday cake (and yummy too!)!!

I made a cake on Sunday because it was a tradition growing up that my Mom always made our birthday cakes - and even if we had a "friend" party, we had a cake for a "family" party as well. I would like to try and be as good as my Mom was and make a cake for each of my children's birthdays. I am not a pro at this, so my cake is nowhere near as good as Steph's! My Mom discovered that her first birthday cake was a bunny cake, and my first birthday cake was a bunny cake, so since she recently discovered this, I thought it would be cool to do a bunny for Erin as well.

Here's a slide show of other pictures of her birthday festivities:

Funny Moments

I have to write about some of the funny things that have been said in the Trousdale household lately.

For anyone who wondered, Elaina is not the least bit shy (I doubt anyone even wonders...). Flying home from Las Vegas this spring, as soon as we boarded the plane, she turned to the guy sitting next to her and cheerfully asked:

"What's your name?"
"Pedro" he said...
Elaina: "Oh....that's a pretty name!"

I'm sure he was very flattered!

She also asked the too-cool cashier guy at the grocery store: "Um, excuse me, do you know where Princess Giselle is?" He turned to her and said "I don't know how to talk to kids." Poor Elaina, I had to break the sad news that he didn't know where Princess Giselle is, and he probably doesn't care that we are looking for her! (For those of you who are wondering, Princess Giselle is the princess in the movie "Enchanted" and she is Elaina's hero lately....Elaina will eat her cauliflower if she knows that Princess Giselle loves cauliflower...and Elaina will let me do her hair in braids if "it's like Princess Giselle hair"...and Elaina will clean up her toys when she remembers that Princess Giselle cleans too! For these reasons, Princess Giselle is my new hero too!)

When she sees a picture of herself as a baby she says "look Mom! I was a sister!" I guess when Erin was born we did a poor job of explaining to her the difference between a "sister" and a "baby."


We've been talking a lot about boys and girls lately:
Mommy is a girl...Daddy is a boy....Elaina is a girl...Erin is a girl...Matthew is a boy...Anabelle is a girl...
But now she points to everything - carrots at the dinner table, crayons, toys - and asks whether they are boys or girls. At least in Spanish objects are either masculine or feminine, but not in English. I just can't get Elaina to understand that carrots are neither boys nor girls. These are the kind of arguments I just never thought I'd ever have to have...

The other great words being said around here are:

"Mama"
"Dada"
"Na-Na" = "Elaina"
and, as of two days ago: "Baby"

I love these girls!

Eat Mor Chiken

Mike was chatting with one of his econ buddies today and found out about this cool promotion that Chick Fil A was doing. In observance of cow appreciation day, if you dress up like a cow, you get a free combo meal. Mike of course, being the economist that he is, couldn't believe it, thinking "what's the catch? There's no such thing as a free lunch!" So he looked it up online, and sure enough, it was true....but only for today.

So our family got decked out in our makeshift cow costumes (which consisted of white shirts, white pants, and black construction paper taped to our clothes). When we showed up, Mike goes "here we are....dressed like cows....what do we get?" The girl behind the counter said "well, all your food is free!"

We definitely looked ridiculous, but we got four free meals out of it :)

A Pirate's Life for Me!

This was a few weeks ago, but I meant to post it and forgot. Elaina went to her friend Madison's pirate birthday party, and she's been talking pirates ever since! She loves her little pirate costume that she got at the party. They got to go on a treasure hunt which included musical chairs, "sword fighting" with pool noodles, pin the patch on the pirate, and digging for treasure in the sand box.

Our friend was subbing in nursery that following Sunday and said that Elaina kept singing "yo-ho-ho, a pirate's life for me....yo-ho-ho, a pirates life for me!"

I hate it when I do this, but I did the video sideways. I thought it was too cute though and I had to post it anyway, so you'll just have to turn your head to the side to see it :) Elaina is our "nice pirate."

Happy 4th of July!

I wish I had pictures of our 4th of July holiday, but I forgot to take any! I feel like I need to do a "happy 4th" post though since I did one for Canada Day and since 3/4 of us are American! :)

We had a really fun day starting off with a breakfast with our church at a park. The big kids always want to play with our kids so as soon as breakfast was over, the older primary kids came and took the girls to the playground. It makes ward activities really easy for us :) and of course the girls have fun! Elaina loves to be with the "big girls!" Elaina was part of a parade around the park. We forgot to decorate a bike for her, but she still had fun carrying some streamers and marching around with all the other kids.

Last night some friends invited us to a barbecue at their house. At the end we set off small fireworks and poppers and sparklers. The kids loved pointing out the colors of the smoke bombs. They always got the color right, but poor Daddy needs to figure out his colors because the 2 year olds had to correct him almost every time (he's colorblind)! Then I came home to put Erin to bed and Elaina and Mike went to go watch the big fireworks that the university put on. They had a great view and some fun Daddy-daughter time.

Happy 4th of July! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and a wonderful Canada Day for my Canadian friends/family.

A friend read my post and emailed pictures to me that she had on her camera from the day. She's the primary president, so of course she was taking pictures of all the kids. I'm glad someone else is on top of things when I'm not :)

Here is Elaina in the parade with one of my Beehives, Caitlyn. Elaina adores her!

Nursery kids, lined up for the race

Even Erin ran in the race, thanks to Daddy's help!

Happy Canada Day!