These dress up clothes have been worn.. and worn..and worn again. All the friends that visit know we have them and the tote gets emptied on a regular basis searching for a certain item. I had the girls play fashion show and have a photo shoot for me yesterday.
I just feel like life has been going by too quickly lately and I haven't been capturing the "little things" that I love to record.
I wanted to do a quick update.
Miss Ella is growing leaps and bounds and becoming more and more like a little lady than a little girl. It's hard for me to swallow. She wears a dress or skirt every single day to school and absolutely LOVES to look beautiful. She wants her hair curled, make up on and to wear heels whenever I will let her. I have to always remind her that it is not the clothes we wear that make us beautiful but the things we say and do like the Strawberry Shortcake song teaches us. She says, "I know." :)
She is taking piano lessons and is doing fantastic! She practices on her own almost every day and is really catching on easily and that makes me happy. I hope she continues to be that excited because I'm pretty sure I'm not letting her quit anytime soon.
She has so many friends! It is not uncommon to have 2-3 friends stop by after school to see if they can play at our house. I love that the kids like to play here and love that Ella likes them to play here. It has been tricky trying to fit in reading, piano and homework and leaving time to play before dinner. The kids just really love her.
We have been trying to do individual dates with her the past few months and I think they are way worth it. An hour or two a month with mom or dad for some serious 1 on 1 outside of the house. Makes her know she is special and gives us a chance to talk about things going on.
Alissa is the one I feel like is growing faster than I can keep up with. Not physically because she is still tiny as ever but she is learning new things and starting to like new things such as coloring and painting which I have joy school to thank for. Her coloring is usually 1 color on the whole picture, but it's more than what she was doing before. She has learned days of the week and most of the months of the year. She is really good at remembering most of the sounds that belong to each letter. However, when it comes to worksheets and writing, she just scribbles on it. She doesn't like to sit still that long.
She loves to have me read to her now too and that's a good time for us to sit down together. Only problem is Molly fights her for my lap.
She is so stubborn! She is the hardest of all of the kids to get to say sorry or give a hug. She refuses to say the prayer. She just is so stubborn. However, she is the best one of all of them to not repeat what she got in trouble for. Discipline works well on her. It's pretty interesting. She is a good little girl and tries to be good. She doesn't like being in trouble or feeling like mom or dad are displeased with her.
She is so good at going to her room about 8:00 and getting into bed and going to sleep. She doesn't like to be snuggled or held too much. Just comforted and make sure her pink blankie is layed out on her pillow nicely and she is asleep. She is also the first to wake up. She usually comes and tells me it's light outside and gets my (beloved) Ipod and takes it to her bed or my bed and plays it until it's time for the rest of us to get up. Bless that child. She is so sweet!
Alissa loves to play with friends. She gets to play quite often now with little cousins or friends or with joy school going on so it makes things fun for her. She has quite an imagination! I'm impressed with some of the things she comes up with when playing Barbies and things like that. She likes to play dress up a lot and one day we had a boy over and she excitedly told him, "Now we can have a Price and Princesses Parade!" It made me laugh when he said, "I'll watch."
One of my favorite things to hear her say is, "yes a rootie positootie" or "holy moly rocka moley". It's so funny.
Molls - Monster is your typical 2 year old who is into everything! Her favorite place to be is the pantry where she grazes all day long. We had to get a pantry lock because she will live in there eating marshmallows and fruit snacks, jerky and whatever else she can reach. She will climb into the garbage can to reach the "magic box" full of treats. Makes me CRAZY!
I think it's hilarious that Molly sticks her bum out as her pose. She does it every time and also does this when she knows she is in trouble. Almost like she wants to shake it at me. She copies everything her sisters do and has really learned to dish out some attitude! However, she is so easy going that you can give her something she isn't asking for and she is ok with it.. usually.
She is possessive over mommy. If Alissa asks to be held, she quickly runs over and snuggles up before Alissa gets to me. She gets upset anytime I am holding either of the other girls and wants right in the middle. Life might get complicated one day when we decide to have baby #4.
Even though she loves mommy she is also a daddy's girl more than the other two. She is first to give him loves every day when he gets home. It's sweet.
A funny story about her - She likes to play Barbies and is like the other girls and imitates what she wants them to say. I heard her in the play room the other day all by herself saying, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair.. RIGHT NOW!" followed by, "Ok, mom!" Oh gees - makes me laugh just to think about it. Did she learn that from me?
She is happy 99% of the time. If she is tired or the pantry is locked that is pretty much the only time she is upset. She is the most friendly and the most happy kid I've had.
