I'm an expert!

So, this may be a little personal, but it is so dang funny, I can't help but blog about it. A few days ago I was in the bathroom while Peter was finishing a job of wiping himself. So, as he's in the process of doing so, he says, "I think I'm just going to leave it in there for a while."
My reply, "That's kind of weird Peter. We don't do that, take it out."
"Oh....So, we only do it to our noses." He responds
I explain, "Well, only when our noses are bleeding, Peter."
Another lightbulb goes on for him and he says, "Oh... so only when our bums are bleeding!"
I'm trying to keep a straight face at this point, and I explain that we never leave toilet paper in our bottoms, ever.
One more lightbulb goes off for my cute 4-year-old as he says, "Oh... so you're an expert, huh Mom!"
Well, as a mother, I guess I'm an expert of quite a lot of things, actually. I don't think they would be resume worthy, however.

Laundry Tuesdays

Oh, if only it weren't for Tuesdays. I could skip climbing my Mt. Everest every Tuesday. Laundry is a battle that will never be won. If only it were more socially acceptable to stink a little bit or something. Sigh.

A first time for something

At the beginning of December Mike and I bit the bullet and bought ourselves our first piece of furniture that came from a real store! It was so fun to pick out and everything instead of taking whatever has been available at D.I. or Craig's list. I'm not complaining though, we've gotten some great buys for sure, but it is fun to get something NEW every once in a while. Due to a mix-up, the couch didn't arrive until last week. So, here it is!

Elsie's Birthday!

Elsie turned 2 on the 21st! We decided to celebrate it that Saturday (a couple days late) for a number of reasons, but she really enjoyed herself! She loved opening all the presents - it was a girly birthday for sure. Here is a little highlight on Elsie with some of her favorites as of late:
Book - a homemade padded nursery rhyme book
Movie - Winnie the Pooh
Color - Pink (of course)
Toy - Whatever Peter has at the time
Song - tie between "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam" and "I'm so Glad When Daddy Comes Home"
Hobby - coloring (she's game any time!)

In the morning I baked her cake, so she had batter for her first course of breakfast. Ummmm. She naturally really enjoyed it.

The results....a pink butterfly cake! She really liked the looks of it, but when it all boiled down, her serving remained untouched and she went for seconds on the ice cream instead.


Present time! She loved this part! I was so proud of Peter, he was so excited for her and didn't get jealous one bit.

However, he is asking for a RED tutu for his birthday in July. Hmmm. We'll see.


Elsie caught on really fast as to what a girl's supposed to do with a tutu.


My mom had a beautiful cupcake quilt made and Elsie loves it (almost as much as me)! It is the cutest blanket I have ever seen and the perfect fit for our spunky Elsie!

Exhaustion

My little Elsie runs hard whatever she is doing. But when she crashes, it could be anywhere. Hmmm, I guess I kind of relate to that.

My little problem solver

I try very hard to be aware of Elsie's hunger pains. When she gets hungry, she either yells in my face, "FOOD!" followed by a tantrum, or she takes matters into her own hands, as the pictures below show.

my first thought, what is she doing?

Oh yes, the 4 hour old cold cereal that has been sitting in the sink!

Notice how she is turned away from me while she puts the spoon in her mouth. I think she must have known she was being disgusting.

Oh well, isn't she cute?

Christmas

Note to self: Next year, Rachel, don't worry so much! OF COURSE your children will be excited about their presents you painstakingly picked out for them. Next year, enjoy the season a little more and stress a little less.
There, it is written down now, and hopefully next year will run a little smoother, if I can only remember my own advice. We had a great Christmas this year. It was so fun to watch the kids open their stockings and presents. The biggest hit for Elsie was the candy (never mind all the new toys). She caught on real fast - she put all her candy away and then kept sneaking into everyone else's candy piles and shoveled things in as fast as she could. I have no idea how many pieces of chocolate she ate that morning. Peter loved opening everything and finally finding out what the much anticipated presents were. Santa gave him a couple "plug 'n play" games and he told Mike, "See Dad....I had to ask Santa to give these to me because you would never put on any computer games for me." Hmmm, outdone by Santa, huh?
Anyhow it was a great time and a great season.