Elaina + Erin = BFF

I love these girls!! You won't find them apart from each other very often.

Elaina takes such good care of little sis. When Erin takes her nap Elaina listens for the squeaking door to open and as soon as it does, she runs to greet Erin and ask her to come play with her. I've also found Elaina helping Erin brush her teeth and take her potty. We've been working on having the girls say their own personal prayers before bed. The other night we forgot this in the bedtime routine and Elaina told me the next morning that she had helped Erin say her personal prayers. She's so good at including Erin when playing with her. She speaks so kindly to Erin and it is evident how much she loves her little sister in the way that she treats her (most of the time...believe me, we have our moments -- today is just a good day :) )

I love how much Erin looks up to big sister & adores Elaina so much. She even consents to being the prince so that she can play prince and princess with Elaina (other times she consents to being Captain Hook, or even "the bad guy")! What a sweetheart. She also knows the words to all the primary songs and dance songs that Elaina learns when she's not there - she just spends her day copying what Elaina does. I do love that she mimics Elaina since she does it out of love for her big sister, but I also wonder how her own little personality will blossom when Elaina is at kindergarten next year. At the same time I know it will be a really difficult transition for her and part of me doesn't look forward to separating the two of them either.

These are some beautiful weeds they picked for me
**Does that outfit of Elaina's hurt your eyes like it hurts mine? I do know how badly it doesn't match - believe me, this outfit was her choice that day and I'm trying to bite my tongue occasionally when it doesn't really matter (or at least I'm trying to convince myself that it doesn't really matter and that it's good for her to make some of her own choices over certain things....at least that's what they tell me in the Parenting books and magazines!)

This spring's bluebonnet picture

Awww, they love their puppy too!

Elaina has these preschool computer games that she loves. She's say to Erin: "Hey Erin, do you want to watch me do my computer games?" And Erin always cheerfully agrees! :)

This is my favorite! They've always loved the time at night when they can chat and giggle until they fall asleep. They even stall together - when one gets up for a drink or an owie, the other is following right behind! A couple weeks ago they started climbing in each others' beds and sleeping together. I caught this picture one night and I think it's so darn cute. They love each other so much. I'm so happy about that.

This is my Erin-Girl

*Erin has no problem standing up for herself & her big sister. We've been training our new puppy, Millie, and sometimes Millie will nip at the kids (although not so much anymore, thank goodness!). We'd try to get the kids to stand up to Millie and tell her no. Elaina had more of a difficult time doing this - she would lie there with Millie attacking her, and then Erin would come out of nowhere and shout "NO Mi-yee. Don't bite Yay-na" (="NO Millie! Don't bite Elaina!"). And Millie obeyed her commands and stopped. It is so adorable to see little sister stand up for big sister.

*Erin is also Millie's dinner-time favorite. It's no coincidence when our family is at the table that Millie sits herself on the ground between Erin and Mike (yes, Mike is very guilty too!). Millie knows where to be if she wants something yummy!

*I had to take Elaina in to get her H1N1 shot, and she knew what was coming. As I was preparing her to go to the doctor she started crying (we hadn't even left the house yet!) because she didn't want a shot. Erin came in and reassured her: "it's ok Yay-na (=Elaina)....don't cry....I'll make it all better....it won't hurt Yay-na.....shhhh, it's okay.....I'll make it all better."

*She insists that I call her by a princess name at all times. I'll call: "Erin, come help me unload the dishwasher" and I'll hear: "no, I'm Cinderella." Until I concede and call her by her proper princess name (Ariel, Snow White, Jasmine, or Giselle....it changes constantly!) she won't come and do what she's asked.

*Oh, and she gives the best hugs. Sometimes I'll sit and have her hug me over and over again because it just feels so good. Everybody needs an "Erin-hug" as often as they can get it!

Elaina's Latest

*Something I find so adorable is Elaina always using the word "darling" to refer to someone's child. I'm actually not really sure where she got it from, but I love it! (Actually she says it more like darlin' with a Texas accent). She went up to a stranger in the store (as she always does) and asked: "do you have a darlin'?" Another time, Mike was teaching piano at our house and she asked the student's (Rachel's) Mom: "Is Rachel your darlin'?" So cute!

*One day we were driving and Elaina looked at the lady in the car next to us and goes: "eeewwwww! That lady is smoking!" The lady looked over at her just as she made a disgusted face in her direction. I guess in addition to teaching her healthy habits, we also need to teach her a little tact!

*This morning Elaina woke up and asked this question: "Mommy, what if you are a tool with no arms and you get sick? How do you sneeze if you have no arms?"
(for those of you who don't rely on Disney so you to take an occasional shower in privacy - and to keep you sane some mornings! - you might not know about Handy Manny and his arm-less tools. She hasn't even watched Handy Manny today, so this is obviously something she's been concerned about for a while now)

Easter Festivities

We were busy this Easter! We went to a Easter Egg Hunt & Carnival at the George Bush Presidential Library which was a lot of fun! Our friend Janine also planned an egg hunt and activities at her house for preschool which was a big hit! And the Easter Bunny came to our house on Easter Sunday.

Here are some pictures from the carnival at the library:

Check out the crowds behind them! The kids were lined up in a square surrounding the eggs. I was a little nervous for the mad dash, but it wasn't really that bad - only a couple black eyes and bruises...and lots of chocolate :)

We also ran into my friend Steph, who took an impromptu family picture

Erin gave the Easter bunny a kiss. Always the sweetheart!

Elaina was excited to run into her friend Addi

This fireman let us all try on his hat. He was pretty cool

Janine did a great Easter Egg hunt. She even divided up the eggs and assigned each child a color to look for. Brilliant!!

Egg Hunt at our house. The Easter Bunny was tricky this year and put lots of the eggs up high. I love these pictures of the kids trying to reach up high to get their goodies:

Preschool Carpool Ramblings #1

I usually tune out to what the kids are saying in the back seat when I'm driving the preschool carpool, but when I tune in, it's usually pretty amusing. I usually drive Elaina and her two friends, Matthew and Caleb. Today I tuned in because Elaina was distraught and on the verge of tears. I asked her what is wrong. She answered that nobody would play with her. I asked why not, and was told that she wanted to play "Mommy and Daddy" and they wanted to play "a game called shoot the bad guys." We all had a little talk about including everyone and that she might need to be willing to play what the boys are playing if she wants to be included. So, she compromised...and tried to bend the game to go how she wanted it to go. I heard a lot of "pssshh, pssshh" (gun noises) and then, in her high-pitched, girliest voice:

Elaina: "oh no! Save me! I'm the princess and I don't have a shoot gun!"

Caleb & Matthew: "pssshhh, psshhh, bam, bam"

Elaina: "oh no! My gun ran out of batteries. Can you give me some more?"

Caleb, sounding a little annoyed: "Nooo!! We're shooting the bad guys!"

....more gun noises from the boys and more high pitched, helpless cries from Elaina....

Caleb: "oh no! Let's shoot the rabbits!"

Elaina looked a little concerned at this, but still wanted desperately to be apart of the game: "ok, now we've got the rabbits. Let's take them off to jail."

Caleb: N-N-N-N-N-O! We're supposed to SHOOT the rabbits!!

After a long, silent pause in which everyone seemed bothered (each for their own reasons) about how this game was going, Elaina decided to just change the game altogether:

Elaina (on the pretend phone): "hello hello? This is Princess Aurora. Hello? Hello? Someone pick up the phone please. This is Princess Aurora."

Nobody picked up the phone and the boys went back to shooting rabbits and bad guys...and bad rabbits.

Erin Dressed Herself...

Erin spilled water on her pants the other day, and this Little Miss Independent decided to just solve the problem herself. She went to the dryer where she knew there was a load of clean jeans, found a pair, and put them on. There was just one minor problem :)

A Bouquet of Weeds

There is something about being a Mom that makes me so happy when my sweet daughter brings me this:

And now I am proudly displaying them in my windowsill:

And yes, it makes me happy :)

Snow in Texas!!!

It snowed here last week and we were so excited! We're a little limited on the winter clothing :) Erin ironically has 2 pair of winter boots; poor Elaina had to wear her regular tennis shoes, which soaked through. Erin's gloves didn't match; Elaina borrowed mine (which were huge on her!) when hers got soaked. Elaina's coat was pretty light-weight and so she had lots of layers underneath to try and keep her warm.

Getting ready to go out to play!

At first the girls were a little hesitant to go and really play in the snow; they weren't really sure about getting wet and dirty. I told Elaina to "go play" so she jumped in, and then jumped right back out. It was so funny to see them so unfamiliar with snow!

Erin's a little copy cat, so she followed Elaina jumping in....and right back out. It didn't take too long for them to get wet and dirty and have lots of fun. They got drenched! It was so great!

Erin got stuck in this position. She didn't really want to get wet yet, so she just stood there calling for me to help her. I snapped a photo :)

Love this pic!

Elaina, starting our snowman...but then the girls discovered how fun it is to throw a snowball and so we started several snowmen that afternoon

We stayed out as long as we could, but after about an hour and a half they were both pretty drenched and so we came in. I stuck Elaina's shoes, and all the gloves, hats, and sweaters in the dryer so we could go out again after dinner.

Our fabulous snowman! He's brown, and grassy, and covered in leaves, but it is the best snowman I've ever made. Check out the proud faces on those girls. It's the most adorable thing ever!

Random Recent Fun

We went to the Aquarium in Houston with some friends last month. Elaina and Erin were both brave enough to touch the stingray and starfish:

Daddy-daughter time, playing Guitar Hero

We went to a birthday part at a place called Mt. Aggie. It's February and so the fact that we're sledding doesn't seem too ridiculous, right? Right. Except notice the green grass in the background, the short sleeves/no coats. And our friend Aspen at the front of the sled in his bare feet. Yes, we are on a mountain of carpet (which is white to make us feel like we're getting the true effect, but some of us aren't fooled since we still go down barefoot), which is hosed down every couple of hours so that we can slide better. It was a blast! Elaina was a little nervous at first. I went with her several times, and then she found a new friend that she shared a sled with the rest of the time. I did send her down once by herself and it scared her to death! Mt. Aggie is a huge hit - it's on A&M campus - just this white mountain in the middle of nowhere that I had never noticed before.