Zoo Party Preparations

Elise's birthday is tomorrow, and the only thing she kept saying she wanted was a monkey birthday cake. I am not super creative and had no idea how to do that, so I found these cute zoo animal cake toppers with a monkey, and I thought I would just make a cake and put those on top. Then last minute, I found this really cute picture of monkey cupcakes on the internet, and I decided that was something I could do as well. So, I made the monkey cupcakes tonight, which I thought turned out super cute. Since I already had the cake toppers, I decided to do a cake as well. Besides, you always have to have an actual cake with candles for a birthday. My original plan was to put the cupcakes around the perimeter of the cake on the same plate, but when I went to put them on they just didn't quite fit. So, I ended up doing the two separate plates pictured and putting the monkey cake topper in the center of the cupcake plate instead of on the cake. Not quite what I planned for, but it works. I looked everywhere for zoo themed wrapping paper and couldn't find it, but I found these really cute little monkeys and elephants in the toy section that have velcro closing arms, so I put those on top of the packages to make them a little bit zoo-ish along with some fun stickers. I thought they turned out kind of fun as well, so I put a picture of them in. We are actually going to the zoo for her birthday tomorrow, so that should be fun with all of her zoo themed party stuff. I'll have to post how it all goes later.

Early Birthday Girl

Elise got a birthday package in the mail from her Nana and Papa today, and she was soooo excited that she decided she just couldn't wait until her birthday to open her present. I had set it on top of the fireplace mantle for safe keeping, and when I turned around she was actually trying to climb the fireplace to get to it. So, I gave in and told her she could open it if she called Nana and got permission to open it early, and of course her Nana, being her Nana, told her that was fine. She had been running around in a pull up and was way too excited to even let me put clothes on her before she opened her gift. I got out the camera to capture the moment, and her dad's comment was, "Great, take a picture of her when she looks like a naked hobo orphan." Oh well, what do you do? She got a Prance and Fly Pegasus and Dora, which actually walks and talks, and has hidden wings that pop in and out. It is pretty cool, and she was VERY excited to play with this fun toy. Thanks Nana and Papa!

A Monkey for my little monkey girl

It has been soooo hot and humid lately, so the kids and I have spent a lot of time in the house, and I could tell Elise was going a little bit stir crazy. I had promised her that we would go to the park today, but by the time we were ready to head out the door it was almost noon and already getting very hot. So, I came up with a compromise. We went to Ontario Mills Mall and walked around, got a cookie and juice, and visited Build A Bear. It was kind of fun. Elise is very obsessed with monkeys right now. (In fact, she has asked for a monkey birthday cake for her birthday next week. Hmmm... not sure how I'm going to do that one. Any suggestions?) Anyway, they had a monkey build a bear which she was thrilled about. And of course my little munchkin had to pick out everything pink for the monkeys attire. A pink sweat suit, shoes and purse did the job (I had to talk her out of a few other accessories so as not to go overboard.) All in all, it was fun. She got to put the heart inside the monkeys belly, and fill it with stuffing. Although, she was a little scared by the sound the machine made, so I mostly did that part. Then she got to give her monkey a bath, pick an outfit, name her and make a birth certificate. When we got home all she wanted to do was a twirly dance with her monkey for the longest time. It was kind of cute. We are going to the zoo for her birthday, and she has already told me that she is going to take her monkey to see the monkeys at the zoo, so that should be fun.

At dinner tonight Elise insisted that "Oooh oooh aaah aaah" (that is what she has named the monkey) eat with us. We ordered pizza, and I tried setting Oooh oooh aaah aaah in the chair in front of the pizza box and telling her that the monkey could just eat out of the box, but that was just not going to do. The monkey had to have its own plate with its own piece of pizza. The things we do for our children! In case you are wondering about the name, that was 100% Elise's idea. I tried to sway her from her choice by offering several other fantastic name options such as Lola or Mona, but to no avail, so "Oooh oooh aaah aaah" it is.

Little Miss Muffin

Elise loves muffins! We even call her the muffin monster. Today after church we decided to make some muffins. Elise was the official "mixer." It was a lot of fun, and the muffins turned out yummy.

Mr. Mischief

Steven is into trying new tricks all the time now. He learned a new one today. He ket crawling under the table, grabbing on to the ledge underneath it, and pulling himself up to standing underneath the table. He has become very determined and is getting into all sorts of mischief.

Steven on the Move!

Today after church I decided to take my kids out on our front porch to try to snap a few quick pictures of them while they were still dressed up. It did not quite go as planned. Now that Steven is crawling, it is almost impossible to get him to sit still and pose for a picture. I would set him down next to Elise and grab my camera to try and snap a quick one, but every time he was already trying to crawl away before I could snap the picture. Oh well. Here are the pictures I was able to get.

Sleeping Kids and Standing Boy!

It is 6:20 pm, and both of my kids are in bed. It was a no nap day for Elise, and a short nap day for Steven. While I am very ready for the break of them going to bed, I am dreading the 4am hour, because I have a feeling I might have a couple of kids keeping me company. I guess I had better get to bed early myself!Earlier today I turned my back on Steven for about one minute, and when I turned back around he had pulled himself up on the edge of a chair and was standing next to it holding on. I can't believe how big he is getting! He was even trying to walk along the edge of the chair while holding on, but didn't get very far. I'm not sure I'm ready for this boy to start walking any time soon.
"Look Mom, I can even do it one handed!" What a little daredevil.

"Growing up Steven"

Elise and Steven were in the bath last night, and Elise was playing with the little teapot from her tea set. She kept filling it up and dumping it on Steven's head and saying, "Look Mom, I'm watering Steven. I'm growing him up." I'm sure she got this idea because we have been watering a few of our very sad potted plants by hand the last week. We've talked about how we put water on flowers to help them grow big. What a funny girl! Surprisingly, Steven didn't seem to mind the water being dumped on his head, so I just let her have her fun with him.

A Little Home for Steven

One of the doors on our entertainment center broke and so the insert in the door is missing. We were watching TV yesterday and I looked over and Steven had crawled right inside the cabinet through the opening. He was just hanging out and playing with a toy in there for almost 45 minutes. When he was through he just pushed the door open and crawled out. It reminds me of how Elise used to crawl inside our coffee table and just hang out when she was smaller. I'll have to attach a photo of that. What funny kids.

Chuck E. Cheese

I took Elise and Steven to Chuck E Cheese today because I had made a little deal with Elise. She was terrified of going potty on the toilet, and would only go on a little potty. I find little potties disgusting, so I made a deal with her a while back that if she would go on the toilet I would take her to Chuck E. Cheese. She did it this morning (Hooray!) so we took a little trip to Chuck E. Cheese. They had this fun little picture game where it takes your picture and then on a computer screen a fake pencil makes a sketch from the photo. You get to watch every line drawn in. Obviously it is computer generated which is not as cool as a real sketch, but it was only one token so you can't really go wrong. It was kind of fun, and even Elise liked to watch it. The only catch is getting a baby to look at the screen when the photo is snapped. Fun, though. Also, you can sign up for the Chuck E. Cheese email newsletter, and they send you a coupon for 100 tokens for $10. We didn't even use half of them, so I guess we have another trip to Chuck E. Cheese coming some time. Elise loved playing all of the games, and they even had a little Teletubby ride that Steven had fun on over and over again. It was cracking him up. It was kind of a fun and cheap afternoon outing.

Sibling Rivalry...

Ever since Steven has started crawling, Elise has become a little bit jealous and much more possessive of her things. When he just laid there he was no threat, but now that he is moving she doesn't even want him to look at her toys. One minute she will tell me, "Mom, Steven is my best friend." In the very next minute she could be hitting or pushing him, and there has even been one incident of biting. Needless to say, this little girl has spent a lot of time on her bed in time out lately. Not too long ago, she was sitting there when I called Steven honey, and she looked at me very seriously and said, "Mom, he is not Honey. He is Steven. I am Honey."
I'm sure glad we cleared that one up so I am no longer confused who is who :-).

Mommy is NOT jealous!!!

I made cinnamon roles today, and we will just say that Chris may have had more than his fair share. So, I was kind of poking fun at him for eating too many and he said, "Oh stop, you are just jealous that you didn't get that many!" Elise responded very quickly and with a lot of emotion, "Mommy is NOT jealous!!! She is my best friend!" The funny thing to me about that is that I am pretty sure that she does not even know what the word jealous means, but it is nice to know that you've always got someone there to stick up for you, even if they aren't really sure if Dad was talking nice or not.

Beach pics

If you enjoy the pictures of our family at the beach that I've posted on this site, they were taken by some friends of ours, the Weldons. They are professional photographers, and the link to their website is http://www.weldonsphotography.com/ They photograph all over Southern California.

Catching some zzzzz's

Elise has always been a good sleeper, but she has a tendency to just go and go until she can't take anymore, and then crash wherever she is and in the middle of whatever she is doing. I caught this picture of her today that I thought was pretty classic. She asked me for a snack so I got her some juice and chips. About twenty minutes later I noticed that it had gotten really quiet in the house, so I went to look for her and found her crashed on the stairs with her chips and juice right by her. I think Steven is going to take after her a little bit. Yesterday I left him in front of Baby Mozart for about two minutes, and when I came back I found him asleep in front of the TV. Some days I feel like laying down in the middle of whatever I am doing and catching a little nap too. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all do that?

"Is that your new baby, Mom?"

Elise and I have been talking a lot about new babies lately, as she has two new cousins on the way. So, she keeps asking me when we get to have a new baby, and I have explained that she just got a new baby. She likes him alright, but she has told me numerous times that Steven is her baby brother, and what she really needs now is a baby sister. Actually, to be technically correct, she usually says she needs four baby sisters, and then counts to four on her fingers for me. (Good luck with that one, Missy).

On Sunday one of my friends was teaching Young Womens, and she had her 15 month old daughter with her. Since Chris took Steven to Elders Qourum and I was free, Melissa had asked me if I would take her daughter Evelyn out if she was distracting the Young Women too much. So, about half way through the lesson I decided it was time to go for a walk. Evelyn and I took a little field trip to the nursery, which is where Elise happened to be. I walked through the nursery doors with Evelyn in my arms, and Elise looked up at me with a big grin on her face and said, "Mom, is that your new baby? Is she my new baby sister?" I just had to crack up. Melissa and I were laughing after church, and we both agreed that I could be quite happy that I did not just birth a 15 month old size baby. Ouch! Sometimes Elise is just too funny!