Week Without Daddy

Daddy came home this morning! He was out fishing on a remote island near the Canada/Alaska border for 6 days. They took a 2 hour flight out of Vancouver and hopped onto a helicopter to reach this little place called Hippa Island BC. Sounds like he had a blast and has pictures to prove it. And 90 lbs of fish! We're so happy to have him back! Elle had been pointing to planes all last week and saying "da-ee?" Now that he's had his fun, maybe he'll be ready to finish the kids bathroom. You reading this Z? :)

The kids were really good this week. Yes, we had the major meltdown on the way to the Y but that afternoon, we were lying on my bed reading piles of books and Ellery was putting the biggest smiles on my face. I caught myself thinking this is definitely my favorite age... even if I wanted to ring her neck a few hours ago.

Here's some pics of our week without daddy. The first, Elle's tantrum. I had my phone in hand and snapped a picture to document her parking lot pity party...




Cousin Jordan stayed the night and kept us company...




We made nature bracelets...







Played with Neigh, Boots and Dessie (Bullseye, Woody and Jessie) ...




Painted a bird house...




Before Zach left he took Elle to the movie theatre for her first time. They saw Cars 2 and she LOVED it! He's got the pics on his phone and I'll post at a later time. Since then she's been borderline obsessed with it. Runs around the house saying "car moo-ee car moo-ee, vroooooom, race car!" I'm a sucker and bought her Lightening McQueen at Target and he does everything with her. Sits with her at all meals, in the car, they brush their teeth together (yep, I even got her the Cars toothbrush) he sleeps with her and he came to the zoo with us. Here she is coloring Cars 2 printables...




Went to the park with the deMerliers...







Made pizza...



















Critters...




Our neighbors gave their tent and tunnel to Elle. Lucky girl. My first thought after I set it up like this was that it looked like the drug trafficking tunnels they've discovered under the Tijuana border. Just brighter and much less sophisticated...




Zooin' it...




Where did my toddler go? She looks so big here!...







Watching a video on my phone of her jumping on our neighbors trampoline AND riding a hippo. Multitasking...

E's First Full-Blown Tantrum!

It had been about 4 years since I've been in the gym (Zach and I just celebrated our 4 year anniversary... coincidence? Probably not.) but I'm back, feelin' the burn and loving it! Sort of. The workouts are great but leaving Ellery in child care while tears are streaming down her face, heartbreaking. The first day was fabulous. She saw all of the toys, turned around and said "bye mommy!" and off I went. The next day the tears started and it's gotten worse. Way worse. She'll think of any reason not to go in, from asking to see Nola, needing water, saying her clean diaper is dirty to even putting herself into a voluntary timeout. The girls that work at the YMCA are very sweet and always try to distract her with activities. There's art projects, games, puppets, a Dora house, books galore, a train table and more but each time I come back to get her she's sitting in the same corner saying "wait mommy." Really heartbreaking. I thought I had this great idea to bring cousin Jordan along to show Ellery all of the cool stuff to do but no such luck. She still cries when we pull up and still sits in the same corner saying "wait mommy." Ugh. I know it will get better and I keep telling myself it's only 1 hour and this is a good introduction to having to leave her at preschool for 4 but it doesn't make it any easier rounding that corner and hearing "Nooooo Y!!!" Beck on the other hand is too young to care. As long as his belly is full, his diaper is not and he's got a swing to sit in, he's a happy camper. He is such a good baby.

Today took the cake. I told her we were going to the Y and she turned into a little monster. She fought me while putting her shoes on (thank God for velcro!) then she said she wanted to go to sleep, then she laid on the kitchen floor and screamed. I was putting Beck in the car and she lost it because she realized that it really was happening. I peeled her off the kitchen floor, tried to avoid the flailing feet and arms and finally got her buckled. She was thinking of everything she could to stall the inevitable. Here's a few of the things she screamed on the way there... "feed Nola!"... "this way!" (pointing in the opposite direction of the Y) and when I made that dreaded left hand turn and passed the gas station... "mama gas! mama gas!"... and when we passed the BMX bike track "dirt!" She was clinging to anything that she saw out her window. Her entire face, neck and shirt were wet from tears and snot. And when I tried to get her out of the car she kicked the seat in front of her and held onto her car seat buckles. I placed her on the ground and she collapsed into dead weight refusing to walk. At the house I was thinking "oh she's going to have to get over it" to, "is it really worth it to get an hour workout in for all of this?" to, "oh no you didn't. now you've gone and really pissed me off. NOW YOU'RE DEFINITELY GOING!!" I had Beck in one arm and used my other to yank her off the pavement and when she wouldn't stop kicking I drug her by the arm (not my proudest parenting moment but I think we've all had one or two) and we went in. As soon as the doors opened, all of the heads turned to see what the commotion was. I have to say it felt really good to hand her over at that moment. As I walked away part of me was laughing because of how ridiculous the last 45 minutes had been. I climbed onto the eliptical and 15 minutes later saw the dreaded blue shirt with the words "child watch" printed on it coming my way. Well crap. Well, crap was right... Beck had a blowout and they needed me to come change him. If it aint one it's the other! I was able to change him and sneak out without Ellery catching sight of me and wouldn't you know it, when I came to pick them up she had a smile on her face and they said she did great. She even got a sticker for how well she did. So maybe we're getting somewhere.

E & B

Yes, her nails are pink. I tried to paint Elle's and after 3 1/2 toes she said "no no no. Noah (Nola) toes!"...







Do they get any cuter?...







Since she has been talking about riding the "neigh" for 2 weeks we decided to draw it (or attempt to)...







"Baby eat boobie. Nummy."...







Water Conservation Garden...

























My mom tried to get a shot of all of her grandkids. Marla and I wished her luck...

Fair & Fourth

Ellery is cracking us up. She is talking SO much and stringing four or five words together for complete sentences. Really funny sentences. Having a child who mimics everything has given us an idea of how much we must say certain words. Lately it's "cool". I put breakfast on the table, "cool mommy". I water the plants, "cool mommy". She sees SeaWorld out her window "COOL MOMMY!" You get the idea. She also loves to count to 3 and is pretty good with her shapes (thanks to Toddler Teasers: Shapes on my iphone) and knows quite a few colors. She calls everything blue but once you say nope, try again, she usually gets it right. Every time I try to sing she puts her hand up and says "no no no mommy. Ellery! laaa aaaa oooh." I know my voice is bad but geez.

Ellery is a cautious little girl who is up for trying almost anything as long as she's got a hand to hold. We spent last Friday at the fair and had a blast. We went through a fun house that started out with a glass and mirror maze. We kept running into dead ends and as I was fighting back a feeling of claustrophobia, Ellery was running into glass walls. Fun house = not so fun. Maybe that's why she looks unhappy here...










She wasn't crazy about the rides in kiddie land and preferred the animals and ice cream. Can't blame her...




Highlight of the day (or week for that matter) : Riding a neigh! (her word for horse) Waiting patiently...




Me: "Ellery did you just ride on a neigh?" Ellery: "Yeah! COOL MOMMY!"...




I was having a moment while sitting in the beer garden. The weather could not have been better with a coastal breeze cooling down the warm afternoon. My back to the sun. Nursing little Beck. Listening to live Jazz music. Drinking a beer (which probably looked bad to have a kid on the boob in one hand and a beer in the other.) And watching an extremely happy little Ellery playing in the fountain with her daddy. Yep, it was a perfect moment...













The kids and I spent 4th of July morning at the Zoo so Zach could get some work done in the kids bathroom. Beautiful day!...







Give her 10 years and she'll probably be presenting alongside her daddy for the US Green Building Council...

























Showing the peacock her "neigh"...




Feeling lazy in Jack and Deb's lazy boy...




She has been a great big sister, always concerned about her baby brother. The other day Beck was lying on the floor and started to fuss and she pulled up her potty next to him, sat down and said "no no cry baby Beck. Ellery! Happy boy!" As if to say, "I'm here! Don't cry!" Too cute...