I Wanna Get in There!

Today as I was standing in my closet evaluating what to put on my underwear-clad self, Elly came into our room and got right in front of me. I hardly noticed her as she began patting my stomach (a mom's body is not her own, you know), until finally she said to me, "Can I get in there?" I said, "Where? My tummy?" "Yeah. Like a baby. I wanna get in there!" She tried to position herself under my belly looking for some kind of trap door. I said, "You're too big to get in there now! You were in there when you were a very tiny baby." I told her how she kicked me and stretched out but that it didn't hurt me and I like it. Then she kicked me, basically to see what I would do, I think. She's working very hard at pushing buttons lately :) I cradled her like a baby and told her she was a big girl now and she couldn't get in my tummy now that she's big. She seemed disappointed but then asked, "Can I drink milk from your arm pits?"

Photo Phriday

I decided to jump on the bandwagon and do a photo post every Friday. Here is a cute one:

Eden, Nia, and Elly watching "The Lion King" the other day! Elly's cheesy smile--Nia mesmerized by TV--Eden's nuh-nuh face! Priceless.

Tag- You're It

In the adoption blog community, there is a string of taggings going on amongst the children...so I thought I would start the trend here. Five Things about Eden, Five Things about Elly, and TAG! You're it: Lily, Noah, Jackson Mc., Micah B., Ellie K., Taylor, Autumn, and Emery N., and Josiah and Abigail K.!!

Eden's Tag
1. Sometimes I am a pistol and I really like to be right!
2. I LOVE playing outside. Today I pulled Sister's little slide up against my big slide so that I could slide down one and run up the other continuously.
3. I like to make contraptions out of anything I find laying around the house- mom and dad's stuff, the recyclables, toys, hangers, you name it.
4. I get really wild and hyperactive at about 5pm.
5. I get a little nervous when Dad leaves for work each day and I have to hug and kiss him about a million times then run to the window to watch him drive away.

Elly's Tag
1. I am starting to think that monsters are real and that makes me not want to fall asleep at night. It's too bad too, because I used to be so good at it. Mom sprinkles some nice white powder called "Monster Off" all around my bed to protect me.
2. I like to give people the thumbs up sign.
3. My sister is both my hero and the bane of my existence.
4. I pretend like I am a cat 80% of the time, including while I was being prepped for surgery.
5. I still LOVE oatmeal! Sometimes I eat two bowls in the morning! Yum!

Lovey Doveys

Marquistador!

C'mon! Who is cuter than this boy?????

Easter!

We spent a fun Easter weekend at my parents' house. The kids had three Easter egg hunts- one at the town square on Saturday, one at Mom and Dad's Sunday morning, and one at the community center with the Stanton's Sunday afternoon. We have a pile of candy that now just stares at me all day :(

The kids did fantastic decorating their eggs. Not a drop of dye was spilled, which was a good thing, since a chunk of time Saturday was spent cleaning up the dressing (oil and vinegar) that was inadvertently thrown across the kitchen while my sister made the Asian salad. :) All in all, we had a great Easter with family. We went to my parent's church and reflected on the joy of the resurrection while trying to tame four pint-sized hooligans in the pew. The whole congregation was amused by the kids as they are an aging church with few kids these days. Thanks for the grace!

One of the funniest things that has ever been said in my marriage (and there have been many):

"Someone bejeweled the toilet seat."

--Dan

Are You There, Caller?

Twice now, I have picked up the phone only to hear the voice of my five year old say, "Mom, can you adjust the antenna? The TV is all gray and messed up."

Apparently Eden has learned how to dial our number to ring the phone upstairs so she can have me tweak the antenna which is connected to the TV downstairs. She is her father's daughter.

Quite Ellyquent, Part 8

Elly: Mom! The rone is finging!
(instead of "the phone is ringing")

Elly: Momma, I want my nukie.
Mom: I don't have one.
Elly: You don't have a nukie?
Mom: No.
Elly: But I want one!
Mom: I know you want it, but I don't have one to give you.
Elly: You don't have one?
Mom: No. They are at home.
Elly: But I WEELY want one! I WEELY WEELY DO!

[in the night last night, when she was not feeling well, she climbed into our bed between Dan and me]
Elly: Mom!
Mom: What do you need, Elly?
Elly: I need eeewwwwwe. (you, only said like "ewe")
Elly: NO! Don't turn over! I can't see ya eyes! I can't see ya eyes! Don't shut ya eyes! I can't see 'em!
Mom: Elly, go to sleep, it's nigh night time.
Elly: I can't sleep.
Mom: What's the matter?
Elly: I NEED EWWWE!!
Mom: I'm right here.
Elly: I need ewe.

Wow, that's odd...the Grimes Kids are sick?

That's right. After the long run of icky colds and never-ending ear infections, now it seems the stomach bug has settled in at the Grimes House. First Elly had it Sunday night, then Eden Monday night, then today Elly is at it again. It's lovely. So far casualties have been as follows: our bed, the floor around our bed, the hallway, the entry way, and one of my shoes. It was a cute one too. (Kinsey, The Shoeru, it was one of those cute little black flats with the tiny bow on the toe- because I know you were wondering.) Needless to say, it is in the trash.

Ah, kids.

What We've Been Up To:

You can understand why seeing Eden's coloring page colored this was warmed my heart...

Elly's Potty Success!

Eden does really well with her chores!

Eden's "bat phase." She was trying to perfect a "scary" bat!

Medical Mystery?

After Elly's surgery, we gave her a bath and as we dried her off we noticed this peculiar marking on her back. She didn't complain about it, but it was bright red and large enough that it made me wonder...to me it looked like a bandage reaction (which I get so I am familiar with them) but to my knowledge there was no reason for her to have bandages or tape on her back during an adenoidectomy! So I called the on-call nurse hotline, and investigated! :) At first the lady thought I was crazy, but as I explained it more, she decided maybe she should talk to a surgical nurse. After a brief hold, she was able to confirm that Elly had had a "grounding pad" taped to her back during surgery because they used a cauterization tool and it had to be grounded. Interesting! A week later, it is still there. I thought it would make a most excellent tatoo.

Fun on a Stick

The girls loved eating popsicles every day, all day as Elly's throat healed. Eden ate some sympathysicles in a show of solidarity. Pay no attention to Elly's goofy face in that last one...Eden looked cute so I posted it! Elly's throat is better now, I think, she is eating most everything except sharp things like chips. She is a little grouchy still, but that could be a little pain in her ears. Who knows? She never tells us that she is in pain.

Baby E's Room

Today I stumbled upon (almost literally-I've been dizzy lately :) some really great finds for Baby E's room! One poor Target.com shopper's losses became my gain! I found two nursery valances for $3.26 each and a crib dust ruffle for $2.14...and the piece de resistance....a HotSling for $8.98! That's right, it retails for $39.99. It is cute too- brown with off white polka dots, so it's perfect for boy or girl. I am not sure if I am sold on the HotSling brand but for that price, I had to have it. I saved over $75.00 on these things simply because whoever purchased them did so on the internet and them returned them to a store that did not carry the items. Lucky me! The dust ruffle is green with a leaf pattern, and the valances have the same pattern but also have animals in little quilt blocks. Again, I wasn't sure I wanted to decorate in animals, but I did like the leaf pattern and the colors were really nicely suited for the room. So now maybe I will enlist the help of Dorothy the Great for the panel curtains and a comforter. It's not like babies use comforters, but you know. I will post pics when the nursery becomes a project...so far Elly is still sleeping in there and we haven't really talked about moving her yet.

Elly's Baby Obadiah

Elly has a baby doll named Obadiah. He is her cute little African American baby boy doll that she loves and adores. He sleeps in her bed and is often taken with us to the mall or to church, etc. She named him Obadiah because she heard me say it one day as I was doing my bible study, I was sifting through the pages and saying, "Where is Obadiah? I just had it! I lost Obadiah." And she was playing with him and said, "Here he is, Obadiah." She loves saying the name Obadiah.

Today we were getting in the van and Elly started crying almost histerically. Dan said, "What do you need?" and she cried more, "MY BABY!" Dan, knowing we have lots of "my babies" said, "Don't cry, just tell me what it looks like." Elly said, "It has a head and yegs." Dan [laughing] said, "Ok, what color hair?" "Black. And it has widdle hands and widdle feet."

Then later, she was make-believing Obadiah was sleeping, and she told us all, "Be kie-et. Ehvee-buddy be kie-et." When Dan and I kept talking, she scolded us. So I said, "Elly Momma and Daddy are talking, just pretend we are being quiet." Then I hear her immediately use one of my parenting techniques (that must be totally obvious): "Eden, THANK YOU for being so kie-et!"

2Cute

Elly has been a little more grumpy lately, leading me to believe she may be in some pain, but she will not say it! She's been a little irritable to all of us, but today as she was trying to get something and it wasn't working, she began to grumble. Eden said, "Elly, I know it's frustrating, isn't it?" It was too cute.

She's Good!

Elly did great in her short little surgery today. She was out by 8:05am- they got her in a little early. She was a little loopy but oh so sweet. The whole staff loved her!

My Little Sweetie

Elly has her surgery tomorrow morning at 8am. I am getting a little anxious, although it helps to have gone through this before. Poor baby. I am hoping since they are leaving her tonsils that the recovery is not as rough as Eden's. The doc thinks she will be back to normal in a couple of days. She is the youngest scheduled tomorrow so she gets to go first...but that still means no food or drink in the morning. She'll hate that! She likes to get right up and wolf down a banana while she waits for her cereal!

The Girls Were in Heaven...

...seeing the bride! Can you tell how excited they were to see their babysitter dressed up like a Princess? Congratulations, Eli and Katie!

Elly and Eden did great as flower girls. They were as proper as can be on the way down ther aisle, and even standing up on stage while the pastor gave the welcome. Then they came and sat down with us. When Elly sat down she said loudly, "Momma, do you have any Goldfish?" Then when the pastor started the vows, he said, "Repeat after me, Eli, say: I, Eli," and Elly yelled, "I E-yi!" Then during the recessional, Elly started up the aisle with her Nukie (we'd given it to her to keep her quiet and we'd forgotten to grab it before she went back up!). She got halfway up the aisle and then realized she had it, got embarrassed and quickly handed it up behind her to the pastor who was exiting as well (he has five kids, so he took it in stride! Thanks Scott!). It was precious!

Swimtastic

The girls had a great time at the hotel this weekend, here they are posing for the camera. Don't they look scary? Especially with their little outies :)