Again with the birthdays - they just keep coming!


Ellen had a great day - Chipotle lunch at school with Dad, her name on the school announcements, after school adventure with Grammy that ended with a bulldog (Briarwood!) that sings One Direction AND wears a Missouri Tigers shirt ("to freak out my Dad"), her most coveted gift of a Mummy Kit, a surprise visit from Mere, her favorite dinner (pesto tortellini), and a cookie with a candle in it. AND - the celebration continues this Sunday with our Ellen-Only Birthday Date to the lego store and a fancy dinner on the Plaza. It's good to be Ellen. It's good to be six.

Oh, and she has another seriously loose tooth - will likely be gone by the end of the week! It's true what that song writer said: All She Wants For Christmas is her Two Front Teeth ...

And despite my egregious lack of blogging (does anyone even read this but me?!), I have been saving some Ellen-isms and this seems as good a time as any to document them:

(Ellen dancing)
Me: Ells - where did you learn those moves?
E: Well, I was in discovery class and did this (breaks it down some more) and then I did some break moves of my own! It took a lot of math, science and industry.

We found a walking stick this summer in the Royals parking lot:
E: I hope it doesn't get run over! They are endangered!
Me: Well, Ellen, I don't think they are and a parking lot is a bad place to choose to hang out. Survival of the fittest.
E: Who said that?
Me: A famous scientist - Darwin.
E: Really?!? Or did you just make it up?

Ellen: I'm a really good loser, but not really a good finder.

Ellen: Mom - you should put a shirt in my backpack.
Me: Why?
Ellen: For when I puke.
Me: Why will you puke?!
Ellen: I don't know. I'm sure I will some day. I will be in school till 6th grade, you know.

We play the animal guessing game in the car quite a bit - give 3 clues and go!
Ellen: It squawks, it's yippy and it lives in brides.
Me: Brides??
Ellen: Yeah, a colony. You know - a bride of lions!

We were also practicing subtraction in the car:
Me: Are you using your fingers to help you figure it out?
Ellen: Yep.
Ellen (later): Ok, Mom. I'm using my brain now, not my fingers.

Watching her first KU basketball game:
Is there glitter for every player? (confetti)

I took Ellen with me to vote and we waited quite a while. We talked about how lucky we were to have the opportunity.
Ellen (thoughtful): Is Santa a kind of government?

Last night:
Santa doesn't have a naughty list, just a nice list.
Me: Oh yeah?
Ellen: Yeah. Know why? A naughty list is just rude.

And, more from me in my traditional sentimental mom post HERE if you're so inclined ....

We haven't fallen off the face of the earth and there is a lot to share, but most importantly, Georgia is TWO!

The Birthday Hat returns! She was not super happy about it ....
but with some tomfoolery from Erik, we got it done.
We had a great day - breakfast out (a treat, as we don't take our children anywhere to eat if we can help it), playing at home (too cold to be OW-SIDE!!), and then we explored Science City for the first time. It was really fun and I'm not sure why we waited so long?

I hope / plan / hope to have time to catch up on all other things Georgia (and Ellen, for that matter) but just know that she is happy and healthy and funny and ornery and TWO.

As usual, sentimental Mom post HERE.

The first day started off relatively well ... good breakfast, not up crazy early (6:15am is good in Ellen's book), and a good breakfast. She was thrilled to be wearing the ostrich dress she begged for and compromised on the new pink shoes ("mom, you know I don't like pink"). She was happy to take first day pictures and her backpack and lunch were ready to go!


She had expressed some nervousness and worry the night before at bedtime, but nothing specific and we did our best to talk through the unknowns of the day.

You can see her slow walk to school here ... stalling, stalling:
Classroom door - nervous:
Reluctant (fuzzy) selfie.
Aimless artwork (usually her favorite):
Not gonna lie ... it was a caught-off-guard, sob-and-cling-to-your-leg kind of morning. I understood the nerves, but was so surprised by the ONSLAUGHT of tears. And, though this gal is dramatic, I really don't think it was for show. She was sad, sad and asked for us to stay all day and asked to wave goodbye, all things that just weren't possible. I have enough experience to know that she would, in fact, rally after we left and be just fine, but man it is really hard to leave a sobbing, red-faced child in a room full of people you don't know.

I gathered myself and we joined the parent Boo Hoo Coffee and had the chance to chat with some friends and meet new people and generally feel better about the whole thing. Tricky - Ellen's classroom actually had windows on to the courtyard where our coffee was, so she did finally see us out there and we waved and I could see that she was fine.

Our house was strangely quiet and Georgia kept asking for "A-yen? A-yen? A-yen?". I told her, over and over, that she was at school. "Oh".

Erik had a chance to pop by home at school pick-up time, so we loaded G in the stroller and made the 4 minute walk and found all the Kindergarteners waiting for their parents and it was Just. Fine. Ellen was happy to see us, but not unusually so. She was smiley and chatty on the way home, and made a celebratory fist pump in the air when she told us she made her first pal!!

Who is it??

"The boy at my table who was also crying."

As of this evening, she has agreed to return tomorrow.

(Also, see my sentimental post from the night before HERE at the blog that has been forgotten ...)

I'm pre-writing this because, let's be real, I can't blog in a timely manner. BUT - today is actually Ellen's first day of Kindergarten! It's only fitting, then, to highlight some of her accomplishments this summer. She is funny and challenging, and seems grown-up and still surprisingly baby-like at times, and we love her so much. She is unique and I'm so happy we can join her as she navigates this world of Elementary School, leading us all the way, I'm sure.

First time in Lake Michigan!
First Subway Ride!

She can tie her shoes!
World's Longest Pasta Necklace!
She can Swim!

She can read! (sort of ... working on it, but lots of progress!)
First time shopping for school supplies!


She has a loose tooth and couldn't be happier about it!

And, what is a post about Ellen without a few Ellen-isms:

We had quite a few talks prior to Chicago about minding our own business, being in charge of ourselves, and not staring at people. At the beach, we were both looking for sea glass.
Ellen: You really have to stare at the ground. AND, it's OK because the ground doesn't even have a face!

We saw a stuffed animal on TV: "Lauren got that animal when she got her nostrils out!" (tonsils"

Just Ellen and I went to watch fireworks this year and we had a primo parking spot, perfect for a fast escape. We walked back to our car and I said, "Look at our spot! We are smart, Ellen. Smart girls."
And she chimes in (singing like a show tune) "Smarter than 1000 men!"

"Mom - you are older than Dad."
No, I'm not.
"Yeah you are. Your toenails are bigger."

My parents celebrated their 41st Anniversary and we joined them for dinner at Rye. We didn't need another reason to celebrate, but Monday nights is their steak dinner deal and it is amazing, in a gut-bomb sort of way. Get yourself there.

We rarely eat out, mostly because Georgia isn't a very good dining companion, but we sat on the patio on ANOTHER gorgeous evening (this summer has ruined me for all summers to come unless we move to California) and she could wander the shops a bit. Not by herself, of course, but maybe we should try that sometime.


And my mom took a picture of Ellen at the table because it was probably the last family gathering before she starts Kindergarten, and then I had to take one, too, because WAAHHHHH.

And then I had some coconut cream pie, chased by some banana cream pie, and all was right with the world.

What a fun event!
This year is the 25th Anniversary of the sculpture park at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. They have had special events all year, including this Big Picnic on the lawn a few Sundays ago. Again, the weather was just perfect, and Betsy agreed to join us!

It was also National Ice Cream Day, so we had free ice cream BEFORE dinner from Blue Bell. Lucky!

And we ate and explored and relaxed and listened to music. Hope they do it again next year!

Well, not really TCU, but quite a few of my most favorite people from there. I was long over-due for a trip to visit and there were TWO new(ish) babies to meet. It would have been great if Erik and the girls could have joined - they love the DFW crew as much as I do - but it was also a nice relaxing getaway, which wouldn't have been the case with Molly +3.

First off, newest girl to join the group - Miss Julia. Not pictured, her two older and funny brothers. I had a great time watching their shenanigans. Kids are so much fun when they aren't your responsibility!
Lots of good eats in Dallas and Fort Worth these days and, fortunately, all of us like to eat and drink. I knew we were friends for a reason.

Then Friday we gathered at the Belmont Hotel for a night. Kind of kitschy, hipster-y, and perfect for our group.

And then some good ol' family time! I got to see all the husbands and all the kids and all the new houses and/or land for new houses. Productive!

Round #27 of Animal Guessing game with Lauren.

New baby #2, now a year old. Oops.

The best of 16 pictures.

So, so lucky to have these great friends and, just like all great friends, it's like no time passes. In fact, I don't think we've even aged since 2000? #wishfulthinking
Can't wait for the next visit!

Time for an update on this sweet gal - 21 months now!

She is really turning into a sassy little girl, in funny and kind of different ways than Ellen, but sassy nonetheless. I keep forcing stickers and small objects on her - Ellen spent hours that way at this age - but she isn't nearly as entertained. She did have fun with these stickers and I left them on her leg all day, then Could. Not. Get. Them. Off. She is probably scarred for life.

She is talking much, much  more - using lots of phrases now. She is still pretty hard to understand, even for me, but I can see the intention and the lightbulbs going off - love that.

She can jump with 2 feet off the ground, climbs on anything and everything and loves to run and chase - much more motor inclined than Ellen ever was.

She knows her body parts and can say most of them. Belly button is her favorite and she will lift up your shirt to see yours. She says "rawr!" for "What does a lion say?" and also for every other animal, mostly because she thinks it is funny.

She is kind of a jokester - asks if all food is hot ("ha?") over and over, even if she knows it isn't, just to get a rise out of me. She will do a fake little "all done"  sign when she is eating and if I ask her if she's done, then she smiles really big and says NOOO!

She finally says Ellen - "ay-yen"- and asks for her constantly if she doesn't know where she is. The other day when I picked Ellen up early from school, Erik got Georgia ... she came barreling in the back door hollering, "AY-YEN! AY-YEN!" and stormed right past me to get to her.

She wants all of her snacks in a bowl - "a bow" - especially goldfish ("fiss"), her favorite. She also always gets Ellen a bowl for a snack, or if I give Georgia a cracker she always asks for one for Ellen. So sweet.

They do play together nicely quite a bit, but also there is more tantrum-ing from both of them. Georgia messes up Ellen's stuff, and Georgia can't be trusted with coloring or small objects.

When we went to Chicago, Betsy taught Georgia to answer the question: "Where is Mama?" and she said "Ago!" I thought she was so smart, then I got home and realized that she thought that meant "All Gone!"

Georgia can come backwards down the stairs - such a big milestone - and now loves to try to walk up the stairs holding the railing, but really is just a smidge too short to reach.

She got bit at school by a classmate and on the way home from school I asked her, "Did you get a bite?" and clear as day she responded, "Don't Bite!" Now I ask her all the time, because it's so cute to hear her say it, "Do we bite?" NO BITE! "Do we hit?" (she proceeds to hit me)

She loves to scoot her high chair up to the bar and eat dinner with us - beams from ear to ear. She is starting into a little picky phase of eating. I really can't complain because my kids are both great eaters, but irritating nonetheless.

She also has a new habit of screaming - MOOOOOMM! - whenever she needs me, even if I'm right next to her or driving the car right in front of her. Charming.

She is sometimes a good helper - will occasionally play along if I try to get her to help me. The other day I was pulling weeds and she was playing in the driveway. I heard her rustling around in the garage, then she comes striding out with a big ol' leather work glove on, ready to join me.

At other times, however, she is as obstinate as can be. Lots of hitting and pushing things away, quite determined that things go her way. She also has this funny thing about throwing a fit while running toward me, arms flailing in the air, so I will pick her up. Even if I'm the one who made her mad! I think it's because every time she cries I ask her if she needs a hug ... I guess she does. :)

A few other events during the month ...

Nice event at the Overland Park Farmer's Market one evening - music, drinks, vendors there selling fruits and veggies. Lots of opportunities for these two to play chase and fall and skin their knees. 
And the mattress saga continued - Erik and I found ourselves at Nebraska Furniture Mart over the Fourth weekend purchasing a mattress. The memory foam one we got in the spring was terrible, so we braved the crowds after lots of research. The biggest racket ever. Just talking about it makes my blood boil. (fingers crossed, though)
And, Erik turned ... older? 37 - eeps. Blueberry peach cobbler this year and a standard / only-average dinner at home, but later dinner at Q39 (delicious) and a day at the Ozarks with friends (too old for that).
And I got Ellen out of school early on her last day in the Pre-K classroom and we went to buy a new lunch box and got ice cream, just because. Going to miss this solo time with her!