The novelty of rain

It is raining here. Not just raining but pouring. Like this would be a big storm in Chicago or Boston (we aren't just soft out here and freak out when there is just a tiny bit of precipitation...well some are, but this is a big storm). They are talking inch/hr rate of rainfall and up to 3' of snow in the mountains. Serious storm.

So of course Ellie was super excited. But she also has an exciting day, it's school shirt day, a petting zoo/animal/nature presentation is coming to school, and we are going to pick her up earlier than normal to head up to Santa Barbara (she packed Luke and Leia's stuff in their suitcase and backpack so they are ready to go up to SB too).


We got soaked going to school. I got more soaked than she did because I had to stand in the middle of the storm getting her buckled into her carseat...but whatever. We both got wet. Ellie thought it was fun; my shoes are still wet.

She was excited to see the bucket to put your umbrella at school. And then she and her friends just stared out the window at the rain.








Rain, a novelty. Only in SoCal!




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RAIN

It rained overnight and we are expecting a gully-washer of a storm to come in overnight tonight and last through the weekend. While most of the country has had record snow and rain amounts this winter, California has been experiencing a serious drought. So all this rain is welcome news (unless you live in the foothills and have the threat of mudslides looming over your house).

Also, it's something else to talk about besides Frozen! Ellie loves the rain. Always has. Not sure why, maybe she likes to be allowed to take an accessory (umbrella) to school or it's different or she likes how her hair curls in the humidity...I don't know. But she loves the rain.

Funny story, so my usual pregnancy insomnia hit again last night. In an effort to try and fall asleep I turned on the TV to the 4:30am news. Not that Nicks station has a boring news show in the morning (just the opposite) but it distracts me just enough that the endless loop of to dos and Frozen songs don't keep me awake. Usually I put on the sleep timer, but apparently I forgot. I fell asleep and sometime early in the morning Ellie climbed in bed and watched the news. When I woke up, she was in her room playing but immediately asked me about car accidents and mudslides and all the rain. I asked her where she got that and she said "Daddy's TV show told me". So apparently she watched some of the 6am news and was all caught up on the horrible LA traffic that happens when it rains and all the preparations for flooding and mudslides going on. And I slept through it all...





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Frozen part 2

I could do a post a day about how we talked about Frozen, she reenacted parts of Frozen, she drew a scene from Frozen, she read her Frozen book, she sang Frozen...everyday.

This is her first pop culture thing. It's not a bad thing, and something I can totally support. But for the first time I'm dreading her bringing up Frozen because there isn't much more to dissect, or something she hasn't told me yet.

And the singing. I don't want to discourage music and singing but it's constant. While she's in the bathroom, taking a shower, eating, playing with playmobil, getting dressed, walking aimlessly around the house, and mostly...when riding in the car.

Nick caved and put the soundtrack on his phone and he plays it in the car for her. I just hear her sing the songs on her own, constantly, while we drive to school or anywhere else.

If course the singing doesn't stop once the car does... Enjoy these videos of her singing (sorry for the dropped camera in the second one). Not the best, but pretty much exemplifies my typical mornings lately.

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Frozen

Frozen is a great movie. The messages are great: sibling love, adventurous girls, true love doesn't have to come from a dude... We love the movie. It's terrific.

The music is great too. Take a Grammy and Tony award winning composer, combine with Idina Mendel, some Disney musical tricks...and you have some great catchy music.

Which Ellie fell in love with and memorized quickly. And is now permanently stuck into head. I constantly have the soundtrack playing in my head. When I wake up in the middle of the night it's because Chaos kicked me or I wake up in a nightmarish loop of "Let it Go".

And the movie is all Ellie wants to talk about, draw, and play. She wants braids now because Elsa has a braid in the movie. She draws herself in capes with braids like Elsa and Anna.

So was it any surprise that our conversation in the car was about how Ellie and her little clique play Frozen at recess but they have to decide who will be Elsa, because she has the prettier dress, or Anna. We discussed that Anna is awesome because she is brave, funny, and went looking for her sister because she loved her so much.

And was it any surprise that when we got to school and Ellies clique was already there, that hey were all drawing scenes and chatting about Frozen?









But we also checked out the froglets. Some which have shrinking tails already and are quickly turning into frogs!






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A lot happened but no photos to show

This morning a lot occurred. First Ellie was up at 6:15 and asked to snuggle for a few minutes (I didn't have a choice). But she decided that was boring and went back to her room to play. But she ended up coloring in the living room and got market all over her hands and face and then she said, "see mommy, this is just one reason I don't like markers anymore".

I talked her into wearing a skirt and shirt. She wasn't happy, but she can't wear the same 5 dresses every day. Granted I rotate between the same 6 pieces of clothes that currently fit me, but I'm also 37 weeks pregnant and hardly anything actually fits.

Yesterday she got a cut on her foot so we had to put on a band aid before shoes and socks.

A car ran into a commercial building very close to our house and in the way to school. Fortunately Nick had warned me about it (apparently it was news worthy) and so I had a heads up. By the time we drove past the car was gone and the damage didn't actually look too bad, despite the loss of a plate glass window.

The butterflies were let go last week and so the aren't in the classroom anymore.

Some of the froglets are big enough that a rock was added to the tank so that they have a place to sit/stand/hop.

Vedder's home (the class gecko) was getting a cleaning when I dropped Ellie off.

So yeah, lots of stuff, but unfortunately the only photo I got was her jumping around with her buddy.






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Should I care?

Ellie got herself dressed this morning. She really wanted to wear her flower jumper which is a tank and I require her to wear a shirt with it. And in her mind its winter and maybe will be cold so she grabbed a long sleeve shirt. The shirt has flowers on it so technically it should match right?

So it's a horrible outfit. Nothing matches. She will probably be hot because its going to reach a high of 80 today. But this was what she really really wanted to wear. Since she was just going to school I didn't say anything.



Should I really care what she wears as long as its weather, school, and activity appropriate as long as she's happy?



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#parentwin

This morning Ellie woke up early (obviously she didn't have a cake hangover). But she started playing all by herself.

I rolled out if bed like 15 minutes after I heard her get up. Then I washed my face and went to check in her.

She was playing with Luke and Leia and her new accessories for them. Fully dressed.









#parentwin

This morning Ellie had her 5 year well visit. She is 30th percentile in height, 50th in weight, and passed both the vision and hearing test with flying colors. She got a flu shot and her last vaccination for a while. The doctor was happy with her development and health and the conversation quickly changed to Chaos and if we were prepared for him and when to call the pediatricians office after he is born.

I also got a handy tip from the doc about a salad dressing from a restaurant in the Valley that apparently encourages women to go into labor:

http://m.laweekly.com/los-angeles/blogs/Post?basename=maternity-greens-caioti-pizza-cafes-labor-inducing-salad&day=15&id=squidink&month=10&year=2009

Guess what restaurant we will be trying in a couple weeks?? Salad anyone?

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Happy 5th Birthday Ellie!!!

Today is Ellie's 5th birthday! Where has the time gone??

This morning I let her have some cake for breakfast (hey, I have a Twinkie for breakfast on my birthday...). She loved that I let her break the rules and felt so special. She actually barely touched the cake and then asked for a banana. So apparently Nick and I are doing something right.

























At school she asked me to take a pretty picture of her. There are some pretty purple flowers in the parking lot that she really likes and wanted her picture there.












Of course we took cookies to school. For Ellie the most exciting part of the day will be sharing cookies with her friends and they sing Happy Birthday to her.












She then sat down to draw a picture of the cake she wants tonight. Three tiers, flowers, pink frosting, a number 5, and her name. By that definition she will have a 3-tiered cake with pink frosting, some frosting flowers and her name and the number 5. But I don't think my creation will live up to the one that has been hyped in her imagination for a while now. But it'll taste good!






Our plan for tonight is to go to the "gnocchis restaurant" (her choice) for dinner. Followed by the aforementioned cake and present opening.

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Apparently Universal Studios is educational...

So Ellie and Nick had a great time at Universal Studios yesterday. And Ellie learned something after riding the Jurassic Park ride (which she is now tall enough for at 42 inches, thanks growth spurt!).

This morning in the car Ellie said, "mommy can I tell you something?" And of course I said yes and so she launched into a story:

"Mommy, a long long time ago like before Grandpa Mike was even born there were dinosaurs. But they are now extinct because there was a big explosion that blocked the sun and then the plants couldn't grow and the dinosaurs didn't have food. So they all died and now there aren't any."

So I guess she did learn something yesterday!

This morning we were excited to see that some of the butterflies had come out if their cocoons.






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Hail to the Shriek

((...this is Nick here...))

On this Presidents Day, which is also a day off from school for Ellie, she and I spent the day enjoying the scream-inducing (in Ellie, anyway.. and in a good way) thrill rides of Universal Studios. She had been before, but this trip featured a bit of a milestone. More on that in a bit.


Ellie was intent on posing with the big, spinning globe. And she had a good time being silly about it.


Inside the park we headed down to the lower lot first thing, so we could get the big escalators and staircases out of the way early. First, we went on Transformers: The Ride, which we both love. The movies may stink, but the ride based on them is great. After that we were stoked to see that Ellie has reached the 42" mark, meaning she's talk enough to ride Jurassic Park! She was a little nervous at first, but braved the ride and wound up loving it -- even though we did get a little wet.


We also enjoyed a pizza lunch, the Simpsons ride, the Shrek 4D show, and the Waterworld Stunt Spectacular -- which Ellie was insistent upon watching. She had no idea what Waterworld is (maybe for the better), but loved the stunt show. It features a lot of stunt work, pretend pirates, fake fighting, jet skis, boats, pontoon planes, and explosions. Pretty fun stuff.

On our way out we both enjoyed a treat from Yogurtland -- shocker, right? --



...and Ellie asked to strike a pose with the football player bursting from the wall at the Oakland Raiders store in CityWalk.




We both had a very fun time, and will be using our annual passes frequently to give Ann and Chaos a break at home, and some peace and quiet, throughout the spring, summer, and fall.. and winter. Because it is winter here and it was 75-degrees today. Pretty nice, right?



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Happy Valentines Day 2014!

So Ellie has been very excited about Valentines Day and celebrating at school with her friends.

So excited, she was up and dressed by 6:30am.

Today, after lunch, they are going to do a class party. Kids can bring Valentines for all their friends (we got a request for no candy in the valentines this year). And they will have some special snacks (so Ellie has a smaller than usual lunch).

She had been saving her newish pink dress with white hearts just for today. And she wanted to have "pretty hair" and requested a side braid with a big braid. And since we were up so early there was plenty of time...

Happy Valentines Day!






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Late riser?

Usually Ellie announces that she is awake around 6:45-7:00am. Usually the conversation goes like this:

Ellie: mommy, I'm awake. I'm going to play until you say not to!

Me: why don't you get dressed?

Ellie: Im going to go potty!!

Me: okay. Why don't you get dressed after that.

Ellie: can I wear my fancy dress/headband/jewelry/dirty favorite skirt in the hamper?

Me: no.

Ellie: okay. I'm going to the kitchen for breakfast!!

And so I have a morning of peace where I can get ready. She gets ready and we meet in the kitchen to make her breakfast. Then she eats in the kitchen while reading or looking at a magazine or something. It's great.

Today I didn't hear from her until about 7:20. Yeah, I was moving slow. Finally she emerged from her room naked and told me she had a cat in her room. I asked her if she had been up for a while. She said, yeah I was reading quietly for a long time. So I don't know when she woke up today. Nor do I care because she was self contained and happy.

At school she was happy to see her buddies.












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Only one week until...

..."It's my birthday mommy!!!"

Yes, Ellie will be 5 in one week. We are in preparation mode for her party in Saturday which will have an ice cream theme. And then we will celebrate her birthday next week for which she has requested a "3-layer cake". And of course she wants it tiered. Now I know I'm a pretty good baker and have experience with lots of cookies, cakes, and cupcakes...but I've never done a multi layer cake. So we shall try and see what comes.

This morning we spent some time checking out the development of the class pets. All the caterpillars are in cocoons. The praying mantis' have not hatched. Some of the tadpoles are have legs and are now froglets. And Vedder, the class gecko, was happy chilling in his warm spot.







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Memorizing

Over the weekend Ellie confessed, "mommy! I'm really good at memorizing the books at school! I don't read them, but I have them all memorized". While I'm always impressed with her memory, and this time her candidness, obviously if she has the books at school memorized, she's not really learning to read.

So I had a chat with her teacher this morning. She said, yes she has them all memorized, but that she has started covering the pictures and going to random pages (not in order) to force Ellie to read. She said she had to go back to some easier books but that it seemed to be working.

At school Ellie was excited to get to draw with one of her friends. The other blonde in school. Many times parents have mixed up the two of them or thought the other girl was my kid...nope, just two little blondes who are good friends.






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Happy Lincoln's Birthday!!

Next week is Presidents Day, but today Ellie has school off in celebration of Lincoln's birthday. She asked what made him such a special president that he gets everyone to celebrate his birthday. I tried to explain the Civil War, but war is a tough concept for Ellie. Why would people from different states want to hurt each other just because they had an argument?

But she was impressed that some heavy hitting presidents were born in February like her. She thought maybe she could be a president too and then everyone would celebrate her birthday too.

Well, I had done some planning and thought we could work on her Valentines for school. We opted to be super crafty making heart pockets that we put stickers in. Of course, plan failed and she spent the weekend making them. Well, actually it was a major success. She cut, signed, decorated and stapled all the pockets (with limited help). Then parents used the hole punch, she cut and threaded the ribbon, and parents tied the bows.


















So this morning I had to come up an activity. We opted to get a head start on birthday party and Valentines day baking. We baked about 3 dozen cookies and she decorated a few for her party (ice cream cone cookies for her ice cream themes party).












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