It's not fair

Eliana laid on a thick layer of guilt this morning when I said I was headed to work. She said she wanted to play with me. She said it wasn't fair that I had to go to work.

I took that as an opportunity for a teachable moment to Socratically point out that everything that she was wearing and all the toys around her were paid for with money I earned by going to work.

It worked surprisingly well. In the end she agreed that I should go to work.

Oh how it is so fun to ride in a one horse open sleigh!!

That's how Eliana sings it, anyway. She gets going with the Jingle Bells and the Hey! and she just can't seem to get that other part down! I don't know how many times on Sunday we heard (over and over and over)....

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way...
Oh how it is so fun to ride in a one horse open sleigh! Hey!
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way...
Oh how it is so fun to ride in a one horse open sleigh! Hey!
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way...
Oh how it is so fun to ride in a one horse open sleigh! Hey!

I think you get the picture... But she really does like to ride in a one horse open sleigh, er... stroller, and here are the pictures to prove it...

From Holiday Fun

"Giddyup, reindeer!" She says, pretending to be Santa.

From Holiday Fun

Yes, oh how it is so fun to ride in sleigh like that!

Our House in Winter

My parents are here visiting for the holidays. The other day my dad got a picture of our house in the snow and I think it's one of the best pictures we've gotten of our house. Since there has been such a dearth of house pictures on our blog and we've been in the house for nearly a year now, I figured it would be best if I shared...

Ice Skating

Over the weekend we saw folks out playing on the frozen pond in front of our house. Since it's Bozeman, of course one person was playing fetch with their dog. Another group was practicing hockey. One of our neighbors cleared the snow off off a wonderfully large ice rink and was out skating with his young kids. That was too good of an outdoor, close-to-home winter activity to pass up.

Ellie and I went to the used sporting goods store and picked up ice skates for the whole family. After an initially wobbly start, Ellie skated gleefully from after dinner until well after her bedtime. Her favorite technique was to build up speed on the ice that had been cleared of snow and then dive into the snow bank at the edge.



(You can see our house in the background over Eliana's shoulder.)

I look forward to spending a lot more time on the pond as a family this winter.

Own Goal

I had been planning to take Ellie out for a donut breakfast date this morning before taking her up to Hyalite to play in the snow. When she woke up and groggily came to the dining room where I was leisurely enjoying a cup of coffee, I excitedly suggested we go out for donuts. She said she was hungry. I reiterated that we should go out for donuts. Again she replied that she was hungry. Patiently I replied to the apparently very sleepy child that we should go get a breakfast of pastries. Indulgently she explained to apparently quite dimwitted father that she was hungry and that she "should have some real food first," which is precisely the phrasing her parents use when she asks for treat-like foods at meal time. I was foiled by my own attempts to inculcate good eating habits.

December 1st.... Happy Holidays!!

Today Eliana and I celebrated the start of December by decorating the gingerbread house!! My job was to put the frosting on, hers was to put the candy on. Kindergarten certainly made its mark this year... Eliana put "A-B" patterns everywhere on the house!! We even got an "A-B-C-B" pattern going once!! We had a great time together! Hopefully we will have some more fun activities all month long together!

From Deck the Halls

From Deck the Halls

From Deck the Halls

The Entertainer

The other day we had Ben and Cathy and their two daughters over for dinner. Eliana found that dropping things made baby Ruby laugh, so she spent a good part of her evening doing this.... Entertaining Ruby and entertaining us all!

From Nov 28, 2011

Deck the Halls....

Our halls have been decked. Woohoo!

From Deck the Halls

From Deck the Halls

From Deck the Halls

From Deck the Halls

Fa la la la la.... la la la la!!

Overheard

Eliana: "Ow! I bit my tongue."
Me: "You did?"
Eliana: "Yeah. I bit it while I was cackling." Exit living room left skipping merrily

First Snow!

Yesterday Bozeman received its first sticking snow of the year. Eliana was jazzed. First we put on her skis and slid down the steepest part of our yard, which is flat enough that she needs a push to get started. We had just picked up her skis and helmet the night before, so the snow was perfectly timed. Then we went to a park which has a good sized hill. We sledded for quite a while and then decided to try some more skiing.

We had the hill to ourselves, which I thought was weird, since normally a sunny weekend day with fresh snow results in hoards of families throwing themselves down the slopes. It all made more sense when I found out that yesterday was the annual ski swap which is a giant magnet for snow-crazed, child-raising Bozemanites. Imagine a Black-Friday-like event for warehouses full of used ski gear, with an emphasis on gear for kids.

When we went skiing at the same place today, the hill was a madhouse. We struggled to find a place Eliana could practice without getting run over by the teenagers on a giant innertube and without smooshing a toddler at the bottom. Eventually we found a particularly weedy spot that the sledders had scorned. From there she happily made runs down until she was worn out.

They're different

Elizabeth left dark and early this morning to drive to a Mary Kay shindig in Seattle. She left the following note on the table. Eliana read it nearly by herself while eating breakfast this morning. Her biggest struggle was recognizing the uppercase cursive letter "I". They haven't gotten to that in kindergarten yet.




After she finished reading the note and the meaning had sunk in, Eliana sniffed a little bit and said something like, "She said she loves me twice. She loves me so much. That's so sad."

I don't think I'll ever understand girls.

Eliana made the news!!

Eliana made the evening news last night!! (So did Cheryl Sheedy, my Mary Kay Director... you can see her in this clip, too.)

Trick-or-Treat!

From Instant Upload

There are plenty of times when "angel" is not the term I would use to describe Eliana. But today was not one of those days. A package arrived on our doorstep on Saturday; in it was Eliana's Halloween costume, compliments of Uncle Robert. Today it made its debut.

Today, Eliana was an angel.

After she got her hair done, curled, and glittered, got her face made up all sparkly, donned her angel dress, halo, and wings, I took some pictures. I'm her mom. It's my job. (Her dad's job, by the way, is to take her door-to-door on this particular night every year.) So here are some pictures...

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(Check out the wing span! She took out more than a few kids with those babies today.)

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(Check out the detail in those wings!! - and ignore the ugly box in the background...)

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From Instant Upload

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Yep, she's an angel.

The festivities started in Downtown Bozeman, where we went trick-or-treating before passing out some candy of our own with some other Mary Kay consultants. Downtown is a madhouse on Halloween, but if you start trick-or-treating at 3, when it officially starts, it's much easier to navigate without the crowds!

From Instant Upload

Eliana wanted to talk to everyone, and she got complimented on her angel wings everywhere we turned. She had random people on the street taking pictures of her. She even got interviewed for the evening news.

Here's what she came home with...

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After spending some time downtown, we came home, had some dinner, handed out some candy to the neighborhood kids, and then Leif and Eliana headed out to make the circuit around the neighborhood. After a while, they came home with this...

From Instant Upload

... A pile of candy and a one tired girl. 

We separated out the milk-candy from the candy Eliana can eat, then she picked one candy to eat before bed. Oddly enough, she chose the one package of fruit snacks she got as her candy for tonight. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

She got to drive the tractor!!

 Do you see who's driving the tractor for our hayride at Rocky Creek?? It's Eliana!! She was thrilled to get to drive for part of the time! And... when her turn was over, she put in a good word for her friend Jaedyn, who got to go next thanks to Eliana's input!
(That's the guy saying... "Which one is your friend who wants to go next?")

Rocky Creek Farm

Yesterday Eliana and I went with our friends Kristiina and Jaedyn to Rocky Creek Farm for the afternoon! As I'm going through the pictures I'm realizing that there will have to be a few posts since we have so many pictures from the day, but here are some of my favorite shots!! We love going to Rocky Creek!! More posts to come, including... the pig pen, the tire swings, the pumpkin patch, and maybe even more!

Happy Fall

We stopped to snap a picture while walking home from school today. After a quick lunch we are headed to Rocky Creek Farm for the afternoon. Happy Fall!!

From Instant Upload

Dentist Day!

Today was dentist day for our family. Some families don't like dentist day, but in our family WE LOVE IT! In fact, Eliana begs to go to the dentist sometimes. She loves it! Today was an extra special visit for her, because she got to have her first ever dental x-rays!

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Wearing the "apron"...

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"Bite down on this..."

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Now for the fun part...!

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Agh!! What happened?? (hee hee hee)

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Let's see how well she brushes...

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Not too bad!

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Getting those pearly whites all, well, PEARLY!

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The best part of the whole visit was getting to see Eliana's teeth in the x-ray. In fact, when she saw the images, she asked the hygenist, "Wait... did you take pictures inside my gums??" Yes, Ellie, yes she did.

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(Top teeth... notice the top teeth forming above the visible ones, getting ready to come through in the next few years!)

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(Bottom teeth... again, with adult teeth below the surface. How cool is that to see?!) 6 months and we will get to have dentist day again. It's always a fun day for us!

House and Home Threatened

My 5 year old just ate me under the table. We split a pizza. I ate 3 pieces; she ate 5. I'm stuffed. She wants more. Implausibe but true.

Family Tree

Eliana brought home her family tree project last week, so I thought I'd share it!

From Instant Upload

This is the front of the folder. Eliana informed me that she drew herself at the base of the tree, eating an apple. =D

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When you open it up, here's what you find... The family tree, complete with family member apples, and information sheets for members of the maternal and paternal sides of the family. Here are her maternal grandparents...

From Instant Upload

From Instant Upload

And her paternal grandparents...

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From Instant Upload

Then on the back of folder is Eliana's immediate family... Including her!

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Here's how she pictures herself...

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And us!

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I thought it was a fun project! One of the things I appreciate about Mrs. Miller is that she does projects with the kids instead of sending home coloring/activity pages ad nauseum. They work on projects and then bring home a project every week or two. Much easier to keep track of and I think much more interactive for the kids!