Ballet Photo Extravaganza!

Boy are you all in luck! David was working from home yesterday and agreed to watch Ethan while I took Grace to ballet class and stayed for Observation Day. And yes I brought my camera and got a zillion photos, some actually pretty decent, due to the fact that I wasn't trying to keep Ethan from running out to join the fun or grinding animal crackers into the carpet. Don't expect anymore ballet class photos for the rest of the year since I think I fulfilled my obligation to document this milestone event! Enjoy :)

Walking to ballet class

Circle time!

Listening to Miss Stephanie and sitting on their blue dots

Little ballerina on her blue dot

I just love little ballerina feet!

Pointing their toes

Hugging her friend during class

Three guesses as to who's the class clown and where she learned this stunt.

Today was Ribbon Stick day and guess who got lucky with a purple ribbon stick?!?

It came!

I spent a good chunk of time on Dec. 27th attempting to order some things from the Matilda Jane clothing website for Grace. They were having a 60% off sale which is just about the only time I can afford their beautiful clothes and everyone and their dog was on their website which was slower then slow. I finally gave up trying to see what was even available and just ordered this Fern in Pink knot dress and the Dusty tights. They eventually closed their website for several days to upgrade their server and on January 2nd I was finally able to get in and shop! So don't tell David but there's a second box on the way too. Just received shipping confirmation this afternoon in fact!

Grace was over the moon excited when the UPS guy came this afternoon and I told her that the package was for her. We ripped into it together and she squealed with joy to see another "apron dress". She wasted no time in tearing her clothes off and trying on the new ones and immediately tested out their twirlability.

In case you were wondering, the dress twirls very nicely. The dress and tights fit perfectly and I'm thrilled the blue button tee shirt we already had matches very nicely. Grace told me her dress made her feel like a princess and hasn't taken it off yet. She did agree to put her brown shoes on (she lobbied for her pink converse pretty hard) for a few quick pictures in the backyard so I could share them. Those familiar with Grace will recognize her level of excitement by the fact that she's walking on her tip toes. That means she's VERY happy!

We love Matilda Jane!

Pajama Party

Last night the kids and I had a pajamas party in Mommy and Daddy's bed which is always a fun treat. Grace helped me pop the popcorn in our airpopper and we made some hot chocolate for an extra special treat. Grace picked Mamma Mia! for our movie selection. I got Mamma Mia! for Christmas and we've watched it several times already since Grace really likes it and I love the music!

We all changed into our jammies and piled on the bed with our goodies and watched the movie. Ethan did a good job paying attention until the popcorn was done, at which time he lost interest and had more fun climbing all over the bed and pillows to laugh at his reflection in the window. I put him down to bed at 7:30 and Grace and I snuggled under a blanket for the last 30 minutes of the movie which was nice. I love snuggling with my goofy girl!

For those wondering where David was you'll be glad to know that he joined the party for the popcorn fun before heading back to the living room to play his new hockey game. Apparently Mamma Mia! doesn't hold the same appeal for him as it does for Grace and me.

Indoor Park Fun

Yesterday we attended the belated Indoor Park Christmas Party and the kids had a grand time as usual. Our party was originally scheduled for the Friday before Christmas but the snow and ice canceled our fun and Santa was accommodating enough to come to our rescheduled party.

I brought my camera in the hopes of getting some good party photos but there were so many people there (as usual on party days!) that it was too hard to get very many good shots. I did get some good ones of Ethan before the crowd got too thick and will have to get some of Grace next week on a quieter day.

I particularly like this one of him leading the Baby Band!

And here he is showing off his newly acquired climbing skills. He just started climbing on top of the play structure a month ago and thinks he's hot stuff.

Gazing into the growing crowd and wondering what Santa might be bringing him. Or possibly wondering where Mommy went and where her diaper bag is so he can dig out some snacks. He has no qualms about rummaging around my bag and finding his sippy cup and snack container.

He's figured out how to slide down the slide all by himself which makes him immensely happy. He's just figuring out Slide Rules and learning to go around and climb up again and not to attempt climbing up the slide.

Ethan loves to sit in the cars, though he hasn't figured out how to make them go. He watches all the bigger kids drive around in the other cars and contents himself by getting in and out of his car all by himself. The driving will come later I'm sure. For now he's all about the horn. Beep Beep!

Ethan won the Battle of the Spoon

I've known it was coming for awhile now. The inevitable Battle of the Spoon that all independent thinking toddlers are determined to win at some point. Up until about a week ago Ethan was happy to let me shovel food into his eager little mouth and I was happy to do it. After all, I have a lot better aim and can shovel it in a lot faster.

But Ethan wants to do everything he sees big people do and that happens to include feeding themselves. If he sees the rest of us eating with a spoon by golly we had better hand him one too or we won't hear the end of it.

And so I have relinquished control and have handed the spoon to the little man. He revels in his newfound power and does a fairly decent job of getting food into his mouth and a more then decent job making a mess.

Kellie's watched too much HGTV

Over the last two weeks I've been able to watch an abundance of HGTV which is one of my favorite channels. I love to watch the remodeling shows and think about what I'd love to do in our home. I've had a few ideas percolating for awhile now and I'm feeling pretty good about them and want to get them started this spring. Most of my ideas are fairly inexpensive and will make our home a nicer place to be.

Idea #1 is to work on the main bathroom. I'd like to remove the big mirror and replace it with a smaller framed one. I also have a lovely watercolor done by Grace that I want to have framed to go on the wall in there. I would LOVE to take down the ugly white over the toilet storage thingy we've had since we lived in Idaho. It's truly ugly and while David thinks it's necessary I know it's really not. And I'd like to paint. That's the part that David is having a hard time dealing with, but he'll come around eventually.

Current view of the main bathroom from the hallway:


Idea #2 is to install shelving in the nook next to the closet in Grace and Ethan's room. Right now it houses a falling apart dresser which we've been meaning to replace. Shelves would make even more sense as they would give us more storage space for things other then clothes. I could just get baskets to fold up their underwear, pajamas, and socks in. I think David is capable of doing the handiwork to install shelves here, though we talked about putting cabinet doors on the bottoms which I think is beyond our skill level.

Here's a picture of the nook, isn't the dresser lovely?


Idea #3 is to replace the current console table behind the couch with a shelving unit for toy storage. We have toys coming out our ears around here and the small basket in the living room isn't cutting it anymore. The piles are mounting and David's inner clean freak is screaming. I'm not particularly attached to the current console table anyways. We got it from our friend Jon who moved out of student housing the same time we did. That was just after we got a "new" chair from the dumpster next to our apartment complex which shows you how discriminating we were at the time.

Here's the current console table:


And the cubby unit we're envisioning:


All I need to do now is get David fully on board and sweet talk my excellent father in law (Are you reading this? I sure hope so!) into helping us out a little bit. If you remember our fruitless search for The Perfect TV Stand you'll know that he's very capable of building beautiful furniture. We have several Dennis Parry originals which I'm proud to own. Mostly I just need to get myself in gear and find all the supplies and keep the kids out of David's way to let him swear at the wall while he makes his wife the happiest woman ever.

Happy New Year!

We rang in the New Year with David's grandparents (well, the kids only lasted until 8:30pm!) and celebrated New Years Day by watching football. I'm not exactly a football fan so I finished reading Marley and Me which is an excellent book. New Years always inspires a consideration of New Years Resolutions, or at least a quick look at my goals and whether or not I am meeting them. This year I think I would like to make reading books a higher priority. I've been reading quite a bit this fall/winter and would like to continue that streak. I really love reading and need to make more time for enjoying a good book. My goal is to read one new book a month.

We've recently started looking closer at our budget and I would like to stick with that endeavor, making and keeping our bi-monthly budget. Not a fun goal but one I think is practical nonetheless!

The last goal I have for this year is to spend more quality time with David. That's more of a joint goal, but one that is ultimately very important. With two small children our time together is limited to after their bedtime which is when we're both tired and not at our best. I'd love to figure out ways to get out just the two of us more often or to do more activities together that don't involve a television screen.

So there's my goals. What are yours?