Elly Quotes - Santa and Fire

At the dinner table tonight...

Elly (looking at our fireplace):  How will Santa come out of our fireplace?  It has a cover on it.

Lacy:  He's magic.  He can just come through.

Elly:  Oh.  The cover is there so the fire doesn't come in our house and ruin everything right?

Brandon:  That's right.  Fire is very dangerous.  But it's also very useful.  Do you know what useful means?

Elly:  It means something you can use.

Brandon (super proud):  That's right!  That's exactly right!  We can use fire for lots of things.  Can you think of some uses for fire?

Elly:  Candles on birthday cakes.

Brandon:  Yup.  That's one.  What else?

Elly:  Uhhhh...I don't know.

Brandon:  What do we do with fire in the backyard.

Elly:  Oh!  Roast marshmallows!

(We discussed some of the more practical uses of fire as well, but none seemed as interesting or important as those relating to sweets and treats.)

"Sisters"

This is what life would have been like if Elly had a little sister instead of a Brothee.  This is Elly's doing, and Miles just plays along.

Garden

Elly just turned 5, and she also recently started reading and writing really well.  She loves sounding out words on her own, both to read them and to write them.  The other day she drew this garden.

The garden signs read (from top to bottom):
Squash
Carrots
Apples
Strawberries

Then she lists the family members, of course, with "Noo Baby" at the bottom.  Her initials - ECA - are apparently how she signed this particular piece of art.  She also threw in a little portrait of her and me.

Elly Quotes

Lest any of our readers think that Elly is a perfect angel child all the time, here is today's Elly Quote:

Elly: "Mom, I want to play with new toys this morning."

Me: "Great, where are they?" (Meaning the thousands of new toys she got for her birthday two weeks ago.)

Elly, with a confused look on her face: "What do you mean?"

Me: "Where are all the new toys you got for your birthday?"

Elly: "No. I mean NEW toys. New toys that I don't have yet."

Ugh. Do you think we spoiled her a bit?

Elly's Art - Surprise Birthday for Brothee

Elly just turned 5.  She's always loved making art, and now she also loves reading and writing.  She made this "card" for Miles completely by herself - no help at all!

"Surprise"

"Dear Miles, Happy Birthday. To Miles. From Elly."

Isn't this amazing?

Our Sunset The Other Night

Baking

Elly Quotes - Persuasion

We had just finished building a fort for Elly and Miles...

Elly: Dad, you can't fit in here. You're too big.

Brandon: Yeah. That's OK.

Elly: Well, you need to build your own fort.

Brandon: No thanks. I'm good.

Elly: Then you'll have to sleep outside.

Brandon: That's fine.

Elly: Well... It's gonna be raining. Do you want to sleep in the rain?

Fall

Elly's 5th Birthday- Princess Party!

Elly turned 5 last week. I can't believe it. We had so much fun planning birthday fun for her!

On her actual birthday, she got to take cupcakes to share with her school friends. I brought them to her class when they were already seated. Miles didn't skip a beat; he just found an empty chair (nowhere near Elly), sat himself down, and waited for his cupcake like the other kids. He's ready for preschool!

After school, K-ma and Lily came from Salt Lake and the four of us (Thank you, Karen for taking the Boy home for a nap) went to Color Me Mine. It was so much fun! Then, we went to the Pizza Factory for some birthday dinner. They made a personal pizza for Elly in the shape of the number 5! She opened presents from
K-ma & Doc and Keri & Lily.  We went home and opened one million teeny tiny pieces from her Littlest Pet Shop, Strawberry Shortcake, and Arial sets.  It looks like a lot of presents, but I think they are just big packages.

The Birthday Loot from Mommy and Daddy, K-ma and Doc, and Keri and Lily

On Saturday, we invited her friends to dress like princesses and come to a Princess Party! It was so fun to see all the girls in their princess attire. But, the best part of the party (according to Elly, herself) was that the REAL Cinderella came to her party!!! She made a grand entrance and all the girls were completely shocked! They just stared at her in amazement. It was adorable. She read them a story and taught them how to be princesses, including how to be kind to everyone, walk like a princess, and dance like a princess. Then, we took a photo of each girl with Cinderella and she had to get back to the castle. They were all thrilled that she came in person!

Guess who would NOT let Cinderella leave without getting his picture with her, too?

A friend of mine has a small cake business out of her home and she is AMAZING! She made this awesome Castle Cake for Elly and I was floored with the amount of detail work. She is awesome. Thanks, Caytee!

We sure love that 5 year old!

Just like Daddy.

Happy You You!

Elly's birthday is on Wednesday, and we've all been pretty excited.  Miles has been learning "Happy Birthday", which comes out as "Happy You You".  It's pretty funny.



http://youtu.be/U47TovgXMBw

Happy Halloween!

From: Snow White, The Magic Mirror, Dopey, and the Poison Apple

Swimming at Mima and Papa's

We went out to CA earlier this summer to visit my (Brandon's) family.  My parents have this awesome pool with slide and waterfall.  When we first got there Elly wouldn't dare to go down the slide.  So I went with her a few times.  Then I convinced her to go by herself from about a foot up the slide, then two, then three etc.  After about 10 minutes she was doing this:



If you want to remember one of her first times swimming, click here:
http://brandonandlacy.blogspot.com/2007/06/swimming-with-teeth.html

The Show

The kids love putting on shows. This impromptu little number happened on the front porch the other day. Miles appreciates our laughter and praise at about 0:58 when he says, "Thank you".

Autumn Leaves

Here's Elly playing in the leaves with some friends of ours and their kids.  Warning: Lots of high-pitched squeals of joy ahead.  (Sorry for the video choppiness; it was getting pretty dark outside.)

Thanks, LeCheminants, for the good times!

Ridin'

Our neighbors across the street have these fun little "motorcycles" the kids love to ride.

Thanks, Carliles, for the good times and the pictures!

Chase, and Putting the Roomba to Sleep

Here's a fun little video of the kids chasing each other.  Also, of Miles putting the Roomba down for a nap.  Yeah, the Roomba.  And yeah, to sleep...with blankets.

So we got this Roomba last week, and since then the kids have been mesmerized (and a little frightened in Miles' case) by it.  But they love putting it "to sleep", which means they push the button to send it to its dock for charging and then they put blankets on it.  Miles calls it "robot".  So he says, "Night-night, Robot."  It's like part of the family now.

On Campus

This is the new path on BYU campus.  It's beautiful. We took the kids there recently.  They loved it!

Uh Oh

Sometimes Brothee likes dressing up in Elly's clothes and shoes and playing with her dolls.

Chillin' at the Mall

We went to lunch at the mall the other day and ate outside since the weather was so nice.  I love that the kids can have fun anywhere doing anything.  That day, they just played on the rocks while we finished eating.  I don't know if they were sunbathing or just climbing or what.  But it was pretty funny to see.

Elly Quotes

Today at 8:30am, Elly woke up and came downstairs.  15 minutes later she was crying because I suggested she eat breakfast before she begin painting (watercolors on paper).  I was stumped.  I asked her what was really wrong and she said:

"Mommy, I'm just still so tired!"

So, I said "Why don't you go back upstairs and go back to sleep, then?"

She didn't even say a word, turned and walked up the stairs. She's been asleep for the last 45 minutes.

Elly on Picture Day

I snapped a few pictures of Elly on her picture day before school. (Although, I still paid the $1,000 it costs to buy the cheapest package!)

My Preschool Girl:

Gateway Fountain

just LOVE that smile!

Brothee did NOT like the surprise of the water coming up at him.

sweet, sweet, girl...and look at that toe pointing!

Brandon was such a good sport.  It isn't every dad who willingly gets soaked to the bone for the sake of the fun of his daughter!

I LOVE my Bosch!

I recently made these...from scratch:



If you know me at all, you'll know that this was a pretty amazing break through in my attempts to be domestic and stuff.  Let's take a little trip down memory lane...

When we were first married, Brandon did all the cooking.  We had a consistent diet of hamburger helper and canned chili.  It was fine with me, of course.  I would've been happy eating dirt, as long as I was next to him.  Ah, the newlywed phase.  But, I have a feeling that Bran didn't feel the same way.  He dreamed of the day that his loving wife could whip up a Sunday Roast complete with mashed potatoes and delicious dinner rolls.

Brandon was so patient, people.  He stuck by my through all the failed dinners (of which we still have many, to be honest).  But, I am happy to say that day has finally come.  I can now make a kick butt Sunday Roast with "the best mashed potatoes [he's] ever tasted" and homemade dinner rolls from scratch.  And I even love doing it.  I love making meals that my family thinks are delicious.  I love being "homemakey".

A lot of this is due to 9 long years of practice, but I owe my recent success in the kitchen to my new love: The BOSCH.  It is the most awesome piece of kitchen machinery ever.  I now make all our family's whole wheat bread.  I make awesome rolls, cookies, and smoothies (with the blender attachment).  Thank goodness for my Bosch is all I can say and thank goodness my husband waited so patiently for me to be competent in the kitchen.  It's been a long road and it's still bumpy sometimes!

Scenes from Home

I've said this before and I'll say it again: I have the best job in the world.

"Dress ups"

Brothee, Elly's pet dog

Elly loves to paint

Elly Riding Her Bike

Elly recently learned how to ride a "big girl" bike, meaning with pedals and no training wheels:



The part about having pedals is key because we started her on a balance bike (aka running bike) a few months ago.  These little bikes are awesome.  They have no pedals and the child can easily touch their feet to the ground while sitting on the seat.  The idea is that it's harder to learn balance than to learn pedals.  So these bikes allow the child to comfortably and safely learn balance as they "run" the bike.  Soon, they're gliding with their feet up.  Then it's a relatively easy transition to a pedal bike with no training wheels.  That's another key.  Elly never rode a bike with training wheels, so she never learned to rely on them.

Here's a little video of some of our first sessions learning the balance on the balance bike.  Check out this site for the brand we got - Strider.  We highly recommend it.

New Haircut