The Tea Party

For Isabella's 4th birthday we decided to have a little tea party with her playgroup friends. I stayed up late the night before and rolled out of bed in the am only to have much difficulty convincing my girls that they needed to dress up. Izzy wanted to wear her rattiest looking dress and even then only with much encouragement. I even offered her my pearls which she put on reluctantly. Ellie would have none of it and I finally just put her in a t-shirt and shorts. Oh well. Ava showed up looking beautiful in her Sleeping Beauty dress at which point Izzy wanted her Cinderella dress on. Why is it that kids already think their friends are smarter than their parents at age 4? The rest of the crew arrived. Miles looked handsome in his dress shirt and even brought flowers. Millie had a skirt on, although her scene stealing moment was actually at the end of the party when she looked like an old lady getting ready for a cruise. Lindsay must have been in a similar mood to Isabella as she took her dress off as soon as she arrived. Audrey and Reed hung out while Ellie tried to play with the big kids. Everyone had a good time although nobody wanted tea (yuck!). The cupcake frosting was definitly the best part of the whole spread. Isabella was wound for hours afterward, but was very helpful with the cleanup. She even asked to use the handheld vac. I can't believe she is almost 4. There are times when I wish she would grow up, but for the most part I wish I could freeze her where she is. She has so much personality. I love watching her dance and sing and just talk. I hate that she visits me every night in my bed, but I also know that there will come those days when she won't want to sleep with me, or shop with me, or snuggle with me, or even look at me.

The Horror of Turning 4

Today during dinner Izzy suddenly became tearful at my mention of her turning 4 soon. I thought this might be in response to her previous (2 months ago) statement that when she turns 4 she will sleep in her bed all night every night (this was in response to our exasperated "this has to stop!" after several return trips to her bed that night). But no. First she said, "but I want to see Grandma while I'm still 3!". I tried to reassure her that she will see Grandma within a month and to boot there will be cake, candles, and presents. "But will I still have this face? Will I look like Isabella?" Mercy child. She must have seen how much I have aged this year and become frightened. If she only knew that if she did not wake up every night and come find us she might look weeks, maybe months younger. Mommy and Daddy would be less irritable and healthy, and yes, maybe look 29 or so.

Shark face and a big girl

A strange title I know. Isabella is really into practicing different emotions, or different faces anyway. This isn't a surprise to us since one of her earliest favorite passtimes was to watch herself cry in the mirror. She could whip up a batch of tears for no reason. Now, besides sad face, she also does happy face, surprised face, disgusted face, and shark face. I know that shark is not an emotion, but it does scare me, so I suppose we could also call it mean or scary face. What do you think? Notice Ellie trying to imitate. I can't believe that I'm going to have a 4 year old in a couple weeks. She does not let much get by her. I really need to watch what I do and say. In other news Ellie went pee on the potty for the first time yesterday before bathtime. I think it was intentional but I'm not sure. She thinks she is a big kid already and has been interested in the toilet for months. Most of me does not want this to happen this early because besides the expense, diapers are actually very convenient. But I am still proud nonetheless.

The Great Escape

Well, today the event that I have been dreading happened. Ellie climbed out of her crib. Luckily I was right there and caught her on the way down, but I don't plan to sit in her room all night waiting for when she decides to go wander the house. She had bitten Isabella (another first) and I put Noelle in the crib for punishment while I consoled her sister. Apparently Noelle thinks she is too young for time out and took matters into her own hands...and legs...and biceps. So tomorrow I am off to Babies R Us for the recommended crib tent (thank you Nicole) as there is no way that she is ready for a big girl bed. Can you imagine her in a twin bed? She would get lost in there. I've been reflecting lately on how easy Isabella was as a toddler because ,besides the drama, she never tried to climb on ANYTHING. Most of the time I was trying to peel her off me. Honestly, it is really nice to have 2 such different personalities in our home. I still don't understand how 2 such mild mannered adults have produced the Drama Queen and the X Games star as offspring though. Maybe it was all that southern sweet tea I had during pregnancy.

Snow day number 2

Well, yesterday we played outside without coats and blew bubbles. Ellie ate alot of bubble soap and Isabella tried to dominate every activity. Noelle can now climb up the slides and go down by herself. She also happened to fall down our hill in the backyard, first doing a somersault and then logrolling about 5 more times before Ben rescued her. Just a few scratches on her face but now I remember why we wanted to build that railing off the patio. Today it snowed and snowed and snowed. It was probably more than we have ever had since we have lived here in Knoxville. Isabella had a wonderful time as I knew she would. She pestered me all day to go outside but I was unwilling to take both girls out by myself. So I offered to take her out when Ellie napped. Well, Ellie never napped, so Izzy was downright furious by the time Ben got home. We listened to Ellie cry on the monitor and Izzy said, "I think she's asleep mommy". Nice try dear one. Eventually Daddy came to her (and my) rescue. I shoved them both out the door at him and said "see y'all in an hour!". Noelle was not sure of the snow at first. She was skeptical of her outfit which greatly impeded her mobility. She licked the snow and made a "brrr"face. Ben took her sledding down the hill. She cried but when he brought her back to me she cried to go back out. Maybe she was just a little wary of that hill from the day before. Maybe Izzy has the right idea. Here is a picture of her taking her baby swimming today. They both had to put on bathing suits. Then she loaded her baby in the car and was off to the makeshift swimming pool - our bathtub. It made me shiver to look at her but I had to choose my battles today. By the way, I have the best husband in the world. He is mopping our floor right now on his own accord. I am such a great housewife. My hubby works all day, takes the children when he gets home, did the dishes and now is cleaning our disgusting house. What have I done to deserve this?

Izzy's Dance Recital

The reason this entry is so delayed is because I have been trying to upload video of the main event onto this blog without success. I suggest visiting Paula's blog if you are a friend, or you can go to youtube and look at my videos. They are listed under cindymariematheson. The show was great and I have to say it sure beat the 3 hour long recitals that I used to be a part of (just ask my poor husband that in his undying love for me sat through 2 of the same show my senior year - gotta love that man!). Izzy was very "participatory" and seemed to eat up the fact that she was on display. I am glad she had Millie next to her to help her remember the steps! At the end all the students received a special medal and got to stand on the podium. Isabella again took the time to pose like a supermodel to get her picture taken. I am glad that her first ballet experience has been fun, without pressure, but now that she is almost 4 it is time to put the pressure on (just kidding, but....). I think that is she still loves it after this smemester we will try out a dance school, just have to wait to see where we will be in June!!

Christmas and happy new year!

I know, I know. Everyone has already moved on into the new year, but this is my first chance to post. We started out Christmas Eve with a dr. visit for Isabella. She seemed to be coming down with her 10th cold since October and I just wanted some validation in my thoughts that she might have allergies. Well, we don't know the answer to that yet, but we did find out she had double ear infections. Ellie had double ear infections as well, so needless to say we had not been sleeping much. We skipped church that evening in an effort to stay sane. Isabella perked up a bit and we set out cookies and milk for Santa. She was excited for him to come but did not want to see him because she is afraid of his beard. Both girls went to sleep easily, antibiotics on board. It was a true Christmas Miracle as Noelle slept through the night that night. Both girls were excited to open presents - they got a playhouse like Lindsay's to share, Isabella got a doll with a potty and sink, and Ellie got some little people playsets from Santa. Mommy and Daddy got them some clothes and puzzles. Ellie really got into the paper ripping but truly enjoyed climbing on top of all the presents rather than playing with them. We made it to church that day and enjoyed a calm, uncrowded, beautiful mass. After that it was time to get to work since we were leaving for Ohio the next day. We stayed in Ohio for 1 week and enjoyed seeing all of our family. The girls received way too many gifts from everyone and we could barely fit everything in to make it home. Isabella had a great time with her Grandmas and Grandpas and Ellie began to warm to everyone too. I think she is beginning to remember people from visit to visit now. She definitly prefers the men over the ladies though. She knows how much those Grandmas and Aunts want her approval - she prefers the more low key approach of the 'pas. We celebrated New Years with a sleepover at Uncle Davy's house. I made it to 11:20. Just couldn't do those 40 extra minutes. I climbed into the bed next to Isabella and was glad to just sleep next to my sweet girl to bring in the new year. We have much to do and look forward to this year. My personal resolutions are to find more patience with my children, lose 50 pounds (would it be asking too much to accomplish this by April 1st for my bridesmaid dress?) and to be more productive with my time. Happy 2009!!!