and to all a good night.

Happy Halloween!
Hope you all had a splendid time!


P.S. Meredith, thank you for the cute card - Ellie loved it!

it's that time again

music. get your music here.
time to mail them out!

open letter to Ellie at 15 months and 2 days

Ellie,

I am 2 days late in posting this due to the fact that we were at the beach. You got your first taste of being in the ocean. Really, your first taste. The water got on your face and you were licking your lips for quite a while. I'm assuming it was all the salt. Yum!

You would go around the hotel and say mama, daddy, gampa, yaya. Over and over. Too bad gampa and yaya weren't actually there. I asked you if you wanted to go home and you again said gampa and yaya. Is this a sign that you spend too much time over at your grandparents house? Or is it just that you like them more?
You can now say your name, something like this - ey ye.
You still LOVE Sesame Street. In addition to saying all of our names, you sometimes like to add in Ernie, Elmo and Cookie as if they are in the room.
You now know what the tiger, lion and bear say - pretty much the same thing - roar.
You put your hand up to your mouth and make noises when we ask you what Cookie monster does.
You now give real kisses. No more of the open mouth thing. Now we get the real thing with the smacking noise. You also give good hugs and you blow kisses as well.
You went on your first carousel ride and you kept saying moo for the animals - again, we need to work on that one.

You will take a bath and once all the water is gone, you look at yourself in the faucet, stand up, wave goodbye and walk the length of the bathtub and turn around and do it all over again. By the time you finally get out of the bathtub, you don't need a towel anymore - you are completely dry.
You sing along to the abc's in your own language but you know the tune. You also sing the part of "now I know". You also count somewhat. I say one and you say two. And then I say the rest up to seven and you finish with eight. Today though, you did chime in and gave me a six after five. Smart kid!
I can tell you to get in bed and you will walk over and climb right into your bed. The problem is getting you to stay there! We love it when you walk into our room in the morning and announce "hi". Although we do like it better at 7 then say 2 a.m.
It seems your mongolian spots are getting worse. Still only on your back but it freaks me out to put you in a swimming suit. I'm afraid I'm going to have CPS knocking on my door from some concerned parent. Hopefully those will disappear before preschool!
You are a joy to have around and you make us laugh everyday. Even on the bad days when you don't enough sleep. Sleep my dear, sleep. One day you will want all the sleep you can get!

Love you pretty girl,
Mama

going back to cali, stylin, profilin, growlin, and smilin, while in the sun

Thank you LL Cool J for such great lyrics (and yes, I had to look those up, I did not know them by heart)
We are heading to Newport for the long weekend (it's Nevada day around here). We booked our trip a couple weeks ago, had no idea the whole state would be on fire at that point.

Hopefully we will have a good time and not die of smoke inhalition. Oh yeah, here's hoping we actually make it there and back also.
Ya'll have a wonderful last weekend of October!

2 episodes?

Seriously.
CBS is singing the blues over "Viva Laughlin," which has been officially canceled after just two episodes.
Why couldn't it get axed after 1 episode?
I was lucky enough not to watch it but knew it wouldn't last.
2 episodes - what a shame!

I've had a huge grin on my face ever since I found out!

CONGRATULATIONS EMILEE!
You did it!
Way to go on the new digs! I am SO excited for you, now we have to work on me!

today.

Today was the Summerlin Pumpkin Patch. Ellie's first experience at a pumpkin patch. There was of course a pumpkin patch, and a little petting "zoo" and by zoo, I mean about 8 animals. A hay maze and of course Summerlin Sam made an appearance. Ellie kept going around to all the animals saying "moo" until I told her what they were. I guess if it was bigger than a dog, that is what she associated it with.

love this picture of her pigtails!


It was a good time.
Now, we are tending Ian, Liz's nephew and watching Fracture. Weird having 2 little ones in the house. Not that he isn't one cute little bugger but I just hope he stays asleep until Jonny & Jenny get back. This is alot of pressure!
One more thing, forgot to mention that my knee popped out yesterday. And in all the screams of pain and the stream of swear words that came out of my mouth, Ellie just sat there and laughed at me. Reminded me of when the same thing happened at Paul's and was captured on film!

PEZ christmas

I saw this on another blog (again, bored) and I got to thinking there has got to be a way for me to do this...

A PEZ Christmas tree. Not the main one, but maybe one for Ellie. I'm just wondering how I could put the PEZ on the tree? And then moo.com came to mind and maybe I could just take individual pictures and hang them? Somehow that doesn't seem very fun though. Any one have any ideas?

And since we were talking about moo.com, what do you all think of flashcards? Like the colors and numbers? Maybe things that start with the letters of the alphabet? Could be alot of work to take pictures of so many things. I might be over my head on this one.

random blah blah blahs...

I've started Christmas shopping. It freaks me out a little. It really is right around the corner you know. Just one more cd exchange and bam - it will be here!

I cleaned out the downstairs closet yesterday. It is a closet that goes under the stairs, perfect for a little hiding place/playroom. So, once Christmas is over, Ellie can go nuts in there. I also hung up all my pictures - my wall of glory pictures if you will. They are now in the closet but they look fabulous. I will someday have to take a picture. I also found a box of missing PEZ dispensers and some Christmas presents for the office. Now I don't have to worry about that this year!

I went to Starbucks today for lunch for a little pick me up. I might have to go there everyday for lunch. They were so nice, and a little coffee every day at noon doesn't hurt. Anyway, they gave me a few of the song of the day for itunes - it is CEU. I have never heard of her but if you want a free download, let me know and I will email you the code. I also have one more Mavis Staples from yesterday if you want the code for that one as well...

First off, Happy Birthday Dad!
We are all joining up to go to Hachi for dinner. Good sushi! From the last few posts, it seems like I have been going here a lot lately, but it is worth it! If anyone EVER comes to visit, you will have to check it out. And, they have cooked stuff also for all those wussies!

Second,
We headed to the Aladdin/Planet Hollywood to go to Desert Passage/Miracle Mile Shops - everything has changed around here. H&M was packed. Packed. Couldn't even get in. Didn't want to get in. It was tiny compared to other ones I have been to. I'm sure I'll go back at some point and check it out, but for now, I will just go to the one in NYC. (Did I mention I was going in a little over a month)? Never fear though, I did get some good shopping in at other stores. Bought Ellie an outfit, and one of her first Christmas presents - a Big Bird from Build a Bear. My mom also got her some beer bottle rings. There were about 15 and they came in all sorts of colors. Basically it is so you know which beer is yours when there are alot of people around. She will of course use them for bracelets, unless we break her in early with the Bud. She is going to be one stylin' chick on Christmas morning. I however, I got myself a couple sweaters too. It is supposed to be like 68 degrees tomorrow, I can't wait to rip out the sweaters and uggs!

Third,
This damn thing no longer emails me when someone has posted a comment. So, I just have to periodically check. Therefore, I can't really email you back so I may just have to put my own comment answering your questions. But, for now I will answer them here.
Lindsi - I told you I stalk blogs. Especially when I'm bored. That is how I found out about moo.com.
Liz - Speaking of moo.com, you have some good ideas. I wonder what I will do...(if anything). Also, you may have been facetious, but I am going to try the V8 idea. I figure if she doesn't like it, at least I can drink it. Warm though. Only warm.

Toodles...

freaking cool stuff.

Have you guys seen or heard of this?
My mind is going crazy wanting to know what I could use any of this stuff for.
Any ideas?

we interrupt this...

I totally forgot to post pictures of what happened the other day next door to my house. It seems about every six months or so, something out of the ordinary is happening at my front door. This time was no exception...

This is the hot air balloon that landed on my neighbors roof one morning. I saw it as I was leaving my house to go to work.

This is Ellie at our bedroom window looking out once they got it off the roof and in the empty lot directly behind us.

Exciting stuff I tell ya!

Also, I have to fill in for Jen on Friday so I am taking Thursday off this week. Having to figure out what to do with Ellie is really the hardest part. Wouldn't it be so much easier if I just didn't work or worked out of the house? Any ideas? (no really, any ideas)? Anyway, the reason I am putting this out there is because now I can go to the opening of H&M. It is what I call the equivalent of IKEA only it is clothes. Should be a good time.