Ev's Basket

Yesterday I decided to organize toys. I dumped all the toys in the living room and sorted them, saving one basket for Evelynn-friendly toys. That girl loves her basket.

And Mads loves it too.

Message!

See the tabs above? Click accordingly. Simply put, I just had too much shit on my blog. All those gadgets and widgets and pictures that didn't fit in the sidebar (that's what really killed me). So now everything is nice and neat in it's own little tab, and all is right with the world again.

Don't love it? Complaint Department.

The Princess

Mads is really into dress-up right now, and can be found in a tutu with a crown nearly all hours of the day.

Ev doesn't mind participating either. She likes a little glam, too.

She wore one of these outfits to Chick-fil-A the other day (over jeans and a jacket) and was by far the cutest princess there.

The Elf on Our Shelf

Our version of Elf on a Shelf:

Every year after Thanksgiving, Santa sends an elf to watch over the children. This elf (Christopher) returns to the North Pole every night to report our good deeds to Santa. He comes back while we're sleeping, and we have to find him in the morning. Sometimes he brings small gifts or a note from Santa, sometimes he's hiding and more often than not, he gets into a little mischief! On Christmas Eve, he will make his final return to the North Pole, and then he won't be back until next year.

Christopher the elf showed up this morning!

We read his book (three times) and then he went up on the shelf to watch for the day.

I don't know if it was Christopher's eyes burning into the back of Madelynn's head or if she was just in a really good mood, but she played awesome with Evelynn all morning.

Maybe Christopher will stay on the shelf until Mads goes to bed, or maybe he'll move when she isn't looking...

Mads is pretty clueless so far. She knows there's an elf, she knows it's sitting on the shelf and she knows tomorrow is significant for some reason. I'm hoping that after a few days of finding him every morning, she'll come to look forward to it and be excited to hunt for him. Even if she doesn't, I have TONS of ideas for hiding Christopher, so I'm going to have a blast regardless!

Thanksgiving 2010

This year, Jeffrey and I enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving at home with our girls. With the help of Google and many, many phone calls to Jeffrey's father, we successfully cooked our very first turkey. Well, technically Jeffrey cooked a turkey. I watched while he took it out of the bag, and then I had to leave the room. Raw beast is just too much for me to handle. I did baste it once though!

I made Mads a plate and told her what each thing was. She grabbed her roll (before it could touch anything else) and said, "I don't eat that." I tried to shovel a little of everything into her mouth, but she wouldn't even try it. I grabbed a hunk of turkey and said, "Do you want some chicken instead?" Mads ate at least a pound of turkey all by herself. "Good chicken, Mommy. Good chicken."

After cleaning up, everyone pretty much turned into a slug. Mads watched Scooby Doo while Jeff passed out under her.

And Ev fell asleep in her usual position.

All in all, we had good food, we didn't mess anything up too badly and no one had any meltdowns. Best Thanksgiving ever!

Happy Turkey Day.

Ev!

I couldn't figure out how to incorporate this picture in my Thanksgiving post, but I had to show it! Love her.

That Time of Year Again

If You Were Me

This is what ten minutes of your day would look like. You begin by taking pictures with Mads in the living room, while Evelynn sleeps in the nursery. Obviously you can't take a picture with one girl and not the other, I mean, that just wouldn't be fair. The girls will see your blog one day, and they'll be counting. You leave Mads with a sheet of stickers (which in itself is a horrible idea, what the hell are you thinking?) and go to take pictures with Ev (never mind that she's sleeping, it's easier that way anyways).

As you can tell from the background, Mads is never too far behind you. Even though you remind her 5,000+ times a day that she must be quiet when the baby is sleeping, she screams, "What you dooooin' Mommy??" This of course startles Evelynn and wakes her up.

Since Ev is already awake, Mads decides to take this opportunity to poke her in the cheek. She knows this practice will produce screams every.single.time, yet she continues to poke that cheek.

This doesn't go over well with Ev. She has just been startled from a deep slumber to find an evil toddler poking her and an evil mommy waving a massive Nikon in her face. I would be pissed too. (Shame on you, mommy.)

Your toddler really is a little beast, just look at her face. It's pretty obvious that Ev won't be going back to sleep after this intrusion, so you might as well change the hundredth diaper of the day, since you're already in here and all.

"Stop moving, baby!!" Why does she always have to yell? Does she get that from you?

A clean butt puts Ev in a better mood. I wouldn't exactly call her happy, but at least she's not screaming anymore. You hear the dog downstairs barking for the first time today. The dog never stops, but neither do your kids so usually you can't hear him. Stupid dog, but silence from your baby.

Until Mads pokes her in the cheek again.

Make it stop.

You tell Madelynn that she needs to apologize and give the baby a hug. "No." Do it. "No, no, no." Do it. "I so sorry baby, don't cry anymore." Unfortunately for all of you, Ev is screaming so loudly that she can't even hear this apology. You suggest to Mads that perhaps it would be better to show Evelynn that she's sorry, since everyone is pretty much deaf at this point and she owes her one hug anyways. "I don't want to." Do it anyways. "No." We have to apologize when we hurt someone. "No." Please? "No." It's the right thing to do, Madelynn! "NO!!" Do it or you'll sit in the chair!! 1...2...

The kisses and hugs seem to do the trick, but Madelynn isn't convinced that this is the end. She gives Evelynn a good talking to. "Shush, baby! No more crying, baby! SHUUUUSH!" She's screaming at her. She probably gets that from you... ahem. You feel the guilt and mentally remind yourself "hugs, not drugs."

Evelynn cracks a small smile. Madelynn has made Ev happy, and this makes mommy happy, which means mommy doesn't have to "roar" anymore (something you're accused of doing every time your voice goes higher than a whisper. "Mommy ROARRRSS!!").

Yay! You clap. Mads claps. Evelynn grins.

Since Evelynn has been tear-free for thirty seconds, Mads tries her best to torment the sweet girl further by shoving a piece of her princess headband in her ear.

You just sit there with your camera thinking, "What a little snot that child is."

When this doesn't work, she tries something else.

Evelynn takes the crown bashing with nothing more than a look of confusion. Since no one is crying, you let the rough play go. You've already reached your "NO" and "STOP THAT" limit for the day and it's only noon. Mads knows when she's beat, so she leaves. Everything is rosy until you set Ev down on the living room floor.

Poke to the cheek. Rinse, lather, repeat.

And that's ten minutes of your, errr... my day. The other 1,130 are just as fun.

:)

Nails

He probably shouldn't quit his day job, but he gets five gold stars for being such a fabulous Daddy.

<3

Ev Gets Licked

Right in the face.

She looks disgusted, right?