Paint a Zoo

Elise got a "Paint a Zoo" set for her birthday. This is a girl who loves to paint. So, first thing this morning she was already begging to do her paints. So, we took off her jammies, threw on a big T-shirt, and headed outside. She of course chose to paint the giraffe, since monkeys and giraffes are her favorite animals. It was cute because she was so focused on her painting. It entertained her for a long time. The set actually came with 5 cute animals to paint, so we will have to do it again soon. I thought the finished product was quite cute.

A Very Happy Zoo Birthday!

Elise opening a present:
Elise, smiling just thinking about her cake she is about to eat. Elise, blowing out her candles.
Can you tell that she enjoys her chocolate?

Elise had a very fun third birthday. We went to the zoo, and it was very hot, but fun. She loved the giraffes and the monkeys. It was fun because there was a "baby" girl gorilla who was three years old, like Elise. She was trying to play with her Dad, who was sleeping. Elise kept saying, "That girl gorilla's daddy takes naps, just like my daddy." It was cute. She insisted on wearing her "zoo" dress to the zoo. It has cute little animals on it. However, I kept thinking her sweater that goes with it was all stretched out and it looked funny. As we were leaving the zoo, her mom (who may be losing her mind) noticed that she had put Elise's sweater on upside down so the neck was around her waist and her waist was around the neck! No wonder it looked funny! See if you can notice it in the pics. Anyway, we went home and opened presents and had cake. Elise LOVES chocolate, and so to her birthdays are all about the cake. By the time we got to her cake she had already wiped about half of the frosting off of it and eaten it. Gross! Oh well. Today she told me, "Mom, it is still my birthday a little bit, because I still have cake." Funny girl!

No, you are not imagining things. Thanks to her loopy mom, this girl's sweater is actually on upside down!

Elise and Steven watching a sea lion.

Elise with the giraffes, which was definitely one of her favorite zoo attractions.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Elise!!!

Happy 3rd birthday, Elise! I can't believe my little girl is three. It seems like not very long ago that she was just a tiny brand new baby. She is definitely growing up fast.

Elise on the day she was born:

Elise on her 1st birthday:

Elise at two:Elise on her third birthday! Wow, h0w she has changed.

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.