Lots to report.....

Marea has been on a very interesting kick lately. She wants to cook, have a lemonade stand, or a garage sale, or build a house, for REAL. Every day, she comes home and wants to do one of these things. The cooking thing started when one day, while I was cooking, I gave her scraps to play with and she created her own 'soup'...lemon juice, celery leaves and ends, spices, and water. She squeezed, mixed and chopped for an hour. Then it had to be refrigerated so we could all eat it for dinner!! And she was quite serious. For days after that, that was all she wanted to do...make a soup. I let her do it another day, and on the third day I tried to show her how to really cook a soup over the stove. But she still had her own ideas and it wasn't quite edible, although Gary and I tasted it. She's still asking to make soups but I need to figure out a way for her to do this so that we're not wasting food. Since I don't really have all that many scraps every day, it can be challenging. I think next week i'll prep all the ingredients for a REAL soup while she's at school, and when she comes home it can be our project. I've also let her juice lemons before and then she got the crazy idea of having a lemonade stand...on a tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m. in the neighborhood. I tried to explain that I just didn't think it was a good time, plus we live in a cul-de-sac....in fact, we haven't done this one yet because the time just isn't right, but i've promised her one over the summer. Then, one weekend the neighbors were cleaning out their garage, and she got the idea in her head that they were having a garage sale, even though I told her otherwise. So then, she started dragging out her stuff, pulled herself up a chair and had her own 'sale'. And this past weekend, her and Gary started dragging out a bunch of wood and playing with tools. They ended up building a balance beam. But then the other day, Marea tells me that she wants to build a small house. So I had to explain to her the idea of planning such projects, and that we can't just come home from school and whip up a little house. Her ideas are hilarious, I just hope we don't break her spirit because they are a bit difficult to pull off the minute she suggests them, or because she's only 4 1/2 and needs a little more training!

What she is good at planning, though, is a party. She gets so excited about parties. First it was the tea party that she decorated for, weeks in advance. Then it was valentine's day, with the chocolate covered pretzels and strawberries. Then it was Gary's birthday, and we made a cake and decorated. And she's always planning more stuff....especially the next tea party and her birthday (she wants fireworks). She digs that kind of stuff. She gets so excited.

Evie is absolutely amazing me with her vocabulary. Full, complicated sentences and big words for a 2 1/2 year old! But one of my favorite phrases right now is one she pulls out in social situations, or when we're dropping Marea at school (often when she's on the swings) and it's "This is everybody?" It's very funny, and cute. Evie will be so excited to go to Hilltop next fall. She's all registered and ready! She never wants to leave that place, in fact, the other day, as I drug her kicking and screaming out of there, she bit me! She is so different from Marea in her approach to social situations and learning, I am excited for her to have the preschool experience and I can't wait to watch her take it on. She dives right in to everything she does, fully.

She's really turning into a big girl. She drew a real face today ('Sophie', from the angry book). Her hair is growing, she even needs a hair clip now. She's wearing 3t clothes....a full 6 months before Marea did. Now we just need to get her on board with the potty training, sleeping in and sleeping in a big girl bed. But she just seems like such a baby to me still!! Guess it will always be that way.

Updates

Evie is on a 'Mama' spree. The child must say some form it it thousands of times a day. Sometimes it's cute, sometimes its funny (when she sings it!), and sometimes it drives me crazy. I think she must just like the way it rolls off her tongue. Wait, nope, that's not it. She's just a huge mama's girl. I guess I can't complain.

She's also very LOUD. One of her favorite things to do right now is 'whistle'. She makes this high pitched, short screaming sound. ALL THE TIME. From the minute she wakes up, to the time she goes to bed, and often in bed. It's usually paired with running or jumping. She's happy! But hopefully the screaming will continue to be replaced by her absolutely amazing vocabulary. She can say anything these days. But she has yet to call Marea 'Marea', even when I ask. I wonder how long 'yea-ya' will last. I would be happy if it stuck around for a long time, it's a pretty cute nickname.

Marea is blossoming into quite the little girl. She's starting to understand empathy, and helping out, and that is really nice. She will occasionally walk up to me when I'm busy and start giving me a back rub. It's like she knows that I need it. She also had a pretty awesome experience at preschool the other day, involving two of her friends who didn't want to include another little girl (Bella) in their play. Marea stuck by Bella and decided that she wanted to play with her, even when her friends said they wouldn't play with her if she played with a 'baby'. Marea said that she knew it wasn't nice and that it made Bella feel bad. So she played with Bella for a few minutes and then preschoolers being who they are, well they all moved on within 5 minutes and everything was okay. But I was so happy that she was able to stand up for what she thought was right, and what she wanted, and didn't give into the peer pressure (which sounds so ridiculous when talking about 4 year olds). I hope she stays that way. And I was so happy with the way the teachers handled it. They talked with Marea about how it made her feel, instead of correcting the girls who were being 'mean'. The made the learning experience for Marea, who was open to it, instead of the other girls. Awesome.

Marea's obsession with 'Mama Mia' continues. While her class was sitting around talking about which songs they wanted to sing for music class the next day, Marea often mentions Mama Mia songs. So funny. Hey I don't blame her. 'Take me out to the ball game' (for the 20th time), is lame!!!

Marea also hosted a very fancy tea party at our house last week. She was SET on inviting Grethe (and boys) over for this tea party and bugged me every day for a week to call her and set it up. She spent about a week and a half prepping. We had real tea cups (purchased from an estate sale we went to), fancy serving dishes, and we made cupcakes and cookies and drank apple cinnamon tea. Then we both had to put on super fancy dresses (at noon on a friday) and make-up and heels. It was so cute I videotaped it.

Now she's getting ready for her first weekend away. She'll be heading up to Santa Maria with jackie and em to visit their grandpa, and spend time on their ranch riding the horses, the tractor, playing in the dirt and having fun. She is so excited she can't stop talking about it or packing. We got out the calendar today so I could show her she would be away for two nights, and she's all good to go....her eyes got so big with excitement. She's got her own suitcase now, and we had to pack two days early because she just could not wait. It's only two nights, but I will miss her SO much!!!!

A Visit with Santa

A tale to remember.....

On the morning I was taking the girls to see Santa, Marea and I started asking Evie "What are you going to ask Santa for for Christmas?" and Evie's response was, over and over again in her sassy big voice "A BIG ONE!" Of course Marea and I laughed and laughed.

And then we get there...and wait in line for almost an hour....and when we get up there, Evie was 'a little bit scared' (as she will now say when we talk about it). She barely grinned for the camera, gave me her 'help me mommy' face, and feverishly picked her nails until the photo shoot was over (which lasted about 10 seconds, I wouldn't torture them that long!) And then, Santa turned to Evie and asked her..."What would you like for Christmas?" And Evie, in a very quiet, small voice said, "a little one".

Marea asked for an 'art spin'. I hope she's been good!

Holiday Time!

A list of all the things we're doing to celebrate the season....some will hopefully become family traditions:

-Decorated a gingerbread house. Evie just wanted to eat the candy. Marea was pretty excited to make it 'exactly right'. (We did our best, it turned out good!)

-Setting up the santa's village. Marea really enjoys playing with all the little figurines around the village.

-Christmas shows. Marea's favorite one this year is 'Silly Elf' (which is just elf). Thank goodness, cuz Gary and I really like this one too! But other favorites are the Grinch and Charlie Brown Christmas. They both think snoopy is really funny.

-Decorating the tree. Marea loves all the special ornaments (not the balls, although she likes the sparkly balls) and Evie loves to break the balls. And Ick loves climbing the tree and batting at the balls to knock them off.

-Cookie baking and decorating. This isn't going so well this year. Evie just likes to eat the toppings as she makes a huge mess, and Marea has now become an expert at over-topping the cookies. This will be more fun when they get a little bigger.

-Boat Parade. We are heading down tomorrow to watch the boat parade. I remember how much I loved doing this as a kid, and now I hope we will be doing it with our kids for many years to come.

Utah-Fall edition

Monsters Vs. Aliens and the new Tinkerbell movie; water balloon fights; marea's solo dance performance followed by one with grandpa; our night hike, the froggie pool and big slide with auntie sam (and a doodie!); carving a pumpkin with grandpa and using veggies to garnish it; making caramel apple chunks. And making memories without a camera ever coming out.

Boogers and such

Marea: Eew, i'm not eating this booger, it's bloody.

Me: Marea, do you normally eat your boogers?

Marea: Yes

Me: That's gross.

Marea: But they're so slobbery and sweet!

Me, to Evie: Come on Honey!

Evie: I not honey, I wee-wee!

Ha!!!

Evie is also going through a "my tooth is loose" thing. She loves the little bear episode where he loses a tooth, and now tells us every day, that her tooth is loose.

Happy Birthday Miss E!

Today we celebrate you, Little Miss E, on your second birthday!

My heart still melts each day when I see you and we cuddle for some nail picking closeness. You still smell so sweet and baby-like to me. All your little parts, curled up on me-you still fit perfectly. Except now, you can get away-and run, and JUMP (a new favorite), and talk ('daddy smells!!" Ha!) . You can play with your sister, too. You will sit and play so nicely by yourself, always exploring a toy to the fullest. You know your colors already, you can count, and you LOVE to sing (CAW!). You make the coolest artwork, using the whole paper and all the colors. And you are still free of the complications that come with older toddlers who need more independence and power struggles. For now :)

You are perfect.

XOXO,

Mommy