Trick or Treat?

Ok, so I’ve let some time go by and now my age is showing. Yes, I cannot remember what has been going on so in order to refresh my memory I have to look through pictures since my last post. Yes, I know sad, but a sign of my time. To add insult to injury, I am now suffering from a miserable fall cold/ sinus thing. No fun at all right now for this mommy.
Elyssa is doing great as well. She is in that stage where everything is very “literal”. The other day I was getting her in the car and said “Elyssa we are off like a herd of turtles” and she said “mommy, we can’t be off like turtles, turtles don’t drive, they swim!” and then just yesterday I was telling her my nose was running so much it was going to run away to which she answered “ mommy, your funny, your nose can’t run away it does not have legs” and of course there is always the “good night Elyssa , don’t let the bed bugs bite” and she replies “Mommy, they can’t , the windows are not open!”…aww, the wisdom of a 3 year old! Her reasoning skills have just taken off! I swear she has the reasoning skills of a 12 year old. I cannot make an excuse for anything without her challenging me on it. She corrects me if I say “Dang it” and tells me I’m only allowed to say “Gummit” (this is her version of another colorful metaphor that we allow her to say when she is mad!) She is getting very excited about Christmas and there is no doubt in my mind that this year she knows exactly who Santa Claus is and that he is going to bring her toys if she is good. She has such a compassionate soul. She is always asking me if I am ok if she sees me get hurt, she says she is sorry when she has done something wrong without even being prompted. She will tell me she has made a mess and say she is sorry and helps clean it up. It amazes me how she is blossoming into a beautiful young girl. I just hope that age 13 I am still singing her praises and not trying to sell her to the highest bidder!!
Halloween was a ton of fun for us this year. Because our budget is so tight these days, we found lots and lots of free things and festivals to do. On one evening Elyssa and I went to a festival at a local church. They had 10 different bounce house and games galore for the kids to play. Everything the kids did they got candy for doing. Funny thing is Elyssa was more excited about bouncing and playing games that she almost ignored all the candy. We also went to another pumpkin patch with a friend of ours were she got to pet all kinds of arm animals and jump in the hay. The city we live in also had a community even for Halloween on the Thursday before Halloween called Boo On Ballard. It was quite an event with bounce houses, hay mazes, and candy galore of course. We spent some time there but it was very, very crowed! Trick or treating was quite an even this year. We started out at Aunt Tonia’s house for about an hour of trick or treating and then headed over to our house to hit a few of the neighbors houses. When we got back to our house, Aunt Lisa joined us for from trick or treating as well and Daddy and Keith stayed home to give out candy at our house. Elyssa did not have a long endurance for the house to house thing so we did not go very far or for very long. I think she enjoyed handing out candy at the house just as much as going house to house to get candy. She got so excited when the door bell rang!
Not much is going on here except the excitement of Thanksgiving in the air. I am going to be doing some Thanksgiving crafts with Elyssa, just not sure how creative I can get. We are spending a quiet Thanksgiving at home this year. I think Eddie has to work the day after Thanksgiving (he has not yet found out), and if he doesn’t we are going to probably run out and get in the middle of all the Black Friday madness. We used to do it all the time before Elyssa was born and we actually took her the first year she was born but since then have not. So this year should be an adventure for us all….but that is another story yet to come!

Croquet Anyone...?

Elyssa got a new obsession this week. I say obsession because it seems like when she gets anything new it becomes the one thing we have to do all day long. So now we have jumping on the trampoline and her new croquet set from Aunt Red and her mom. We had a GNO at Aunt Red’s apartment on Monday. She is moving again this weekend and Aunt Lisa, Aunt Tonia and Elyssa and I, all went to help her pack up some of her apartment. While we were there Red pulled out a bag she said her mom got for Elyssa. Well, it was her new Croquet set and let’s just say Elyssa loved it! We played Croquet and jumped all day Tuesday to the point where mommy just had to say no! I love my little girl to death but being Elyssa’s favorite playmate 24/7 is a bit trying some days. On Wednesday we had to take the croquet set with us to Aunt Lisa’s house to play with, so Aunt Lisa got to play croquet as well. I can only imagine just how comical it looked to see Lisa and I playing a child size croquet set in her front yard. Like I said I love my little girl to death and will do anything for her even if it means embarrassing myself and my friends to get it done!

Well Eddie did have Thursday off and Elyssa chose to go to the pumpkin patch. We had so much fun we ended up spending almost 4 hours there enjoying it all. The weather was just perfect, a sunny beautiful day and the temperature was about 74 degrees. We could not have asked for better weather for our day. On the flip side of the beautiful sunny weather, I was not thinking about sunburn! Who worries about sunburn in October?? Well I ended up beet red all over my arms and my neck. Thank goodness Elyssa has Eddies skin and she did not get sunburned at all. I am so glad she was blessed with Eddies skin, I would hate for her to have to deal with pale, fair skinned crap! None the less we had lots of fun. Elyssa ran all through the pumpkins picking out a ton that she wanted. They had about 5 bounce houses, a merry go round and of course a hayride. Believe it or not, the whole event was free! I could not believe how much fun she had on the merry go round. It was quite cute all the little boys were pushing it round and round while the while the little girls enjoyed the ride. They would stop to let the little kids on and off, I was actually surprised how well they all behaved on the darn thing. While we were there we enjoyed a funnel cake and lemonade at one of the many picnic tables they had all set up. Of course Elyssa picked one of the small kid sized tables for us to sit at so we all huddled around it as a family. It was nice getting to spend some time as a family. Eddie has been working a lot and has not been home much these days. He informed me on the drive to the pumpkin patch that he has to work this Sunday 7am-7pm. This would all be great if he were hourly and not salary, but since he is salary it just means less time together.

Today we had a fun play date with our friends Ashley, Jack and Luke. We all took a walk to the park by their house and the kids had fun climbing on rocks and playing on the swings. It is amazing just how much the kids are growing up. It seems like yesterday when Elyssa and Jack were learning how to walk and now they are running, jumping, and riding scooters and bikes. It sure does not take long for them to grow up.

Well we are sitting here watching the Rangers play the Yankees on TV while Elyssa is in her playroom watching “How to Train your Dragon”. Honestly I’ve spent more time watching her movie than the baseball game. Watching Baseball to me is like watching the grass grow, yeah, just about that exciting. Eddie is enraged about it because apparently Texas is not doing as well as he expects them to. It is almost like he feels he could do a better job! O’well, at least he is passionate about something right?

Another year older...

…For daddy that is! Yes, we celebrated Eddie’s birthday this past weekend. His birthday was actually on Friday so while he was at work, Elyssa and I proceeded to make and decorate cupcakes for him. They were red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing. Elyssa had a blast making them; she is quite the little cook. She knows how to crack the eggs (I put them in the mix though), she is great at pouring in all the ingredients and she knows how to use my mixer to mix it all together. I love letting her do it, she gets so excited and of course loves to lick the bowls and the spatula when it all done. I took her shirt off for her to lick the bowl this time, last time I had red velvet batter all over her clothes, this time I got just a bit smarter. While the cupcakes were cooling in the freezer we went to Wal-Mart to get some icing and sprinkles to decorate the cupcakes with. If any of you know Elyssa well, you already know that her favorite part of decorating is the sprinkles and true to form the 4 cupcakes she concentrated on were covered with sprinkles! There wasn’t a bare patch of icing anywhere on her creation. In fact we had sprinkles everywhere including the table, her chair, and all over the floor. It was ok though, the cleanup crew (our dogs Nana and Nicole) were there to take care of everything that fell from the table. I even found sprinkles in Nicole’s fur! Elyssa surprised daddy when he got home from work and insisted on putting candles on the cupcakes and making him blow out the candles as soon as he walked through the door. He of course obliged her and she helped him blow them out. That evening Aunt Tonia came over and we all went out to eat at Souper Salad for dinner. Poor daddy was so tired from working so much last week that I’m not so sure he even enjoyed dinner. Eddie has been working a lot lately. In fact last week Elyssa and I barely even saw him. He was leaving for work at 7am and not getting home till almost 9 every night. In fact Thursday night he did not come home at all. He came home at about 3 am Friday morning and went back to work at 8am Friday morning. It was a really long week last week!

Saturday Eddie and I actually got to have a free evening. Aunt Tonia took Elyssa to see “Alpha and Omega” at the movie. Elyssa loved the movie and did wonderfully again in the theater. For our date night Eddie and I went to the Mattel Store and did almost all of Elyssa’s Christmas Shopping. We then went to Home Depot to pick up some salt for the pool, dropped everything off at home and went to dinner. Elyssa and Aunt Tonia were not even done with dinner when Eddie and I were on our way home so we met them at McDonalds. Yeah, I know a “fun and exciting” date night huh? We were home by 9pm!! I guess that all that matters is that we had fun and enjoyed each other’s company. I have to say it was nice to be able to eat a meal and not worry about what someone else was eating and doing!

Because Eddie worked so much last week, he is getting a day off this week. We have decided for him to take Thursday off. He wants to for us to go to the Zoo or go to a Pumpkin patch. We have not decided yet, but the weather is supposed to be just incredible for whatever we decide. I think that Elyssa is pushing for the Zoo, of course with her that could change today. Such is life with a 3 year old…the adventure continues…

On the Road Again...

I guess you just can’t keep us down now can you? On Saturday we took a road trip to Lufkin, TX to not only visit with Nana and Pop, we were also picking up a new old desk that Eddie’s dad wanted him to have. It was nice getting to see them but boy was it a long trip for poor Elyssa. We left at 7am on Saturday morning, picked a trailer from U-Haul and we were on the road. It took almost 4 hours to get there towing an empty trailer and Elyssa slept about an hour of the drive and was up the rest of the time asking over and over and over again if we were “there yet”. Yes, we have entered the endearing stage of “mommy, mommy, mommy, are we there yet???” How is it possible for one child to repeat these words over and over again without tiring? Ignoring her does not help the situation, she just get louder and louder and starts a repetitive “mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy” over and over again until I answer. I sometimes wonder if I’m being punished or paid back for something I did in a previous life!!
Anyway we did finally arrive at “Nana and Pops” and after a wonderful lunch went back to the house and loaded up the desk and we were back on the road again. The trip back actually took a bit longer, probably a bit more than 4 hours because of the load we were not able to drive as fast. Luckily Elyssa actually took about a 2 hour nap on the ride back so I only had to put up with 2 or so hours of the “are we home yet” song and dance. Once we were home Tonia and JT came over and helped us unload the trailer and got everything in house and everything seemed to go without a hitch. Sunday Tonia, JT and Keith came over and helped get the desk up the stairs which was the biggest obstacle of the entire trip. It is a really big, old, heavy desk so we needed additional man power to get it up the stairs.
Monday Elyssa, Lisa and I went to the Dallas Zoo. The weather here has been simply wonderful and it was a beautiful day at the zoo. The temps have been in the low 80’s and we have been enjoying every single second of it. No air conditioning and the windows are open allowing fresh air to come on in! Anyway, the zoo was wonderful. Of course Elyssa loved the kid’s area the best. She got to run through the water and play in the play area. We even went into the bird feeding area and she got to hold several birds. In fact one of the nice birds decided to nest on mommy’s head. I of course thought for sure it had just stopped to poop, but it did not, just hung out and nested! Afterwards we went the McDonalds outside the zoo and had lunch and of course ice cream cones for dessert. I have to say, the Zoo membership I bought was so worth it. We can go whenever we want and I can get up to 4 kids in free and one guest. It is really nice because we can take people with us for free!
I did forget to update that last week I did take Elyssa to the movie. We went to see Cats and Dogs: the tale of Kitty Galore or something like that and she did wonderfully!! I was so excited and relieved that it went well. So this weekend her Aunt Tonia is taking her to see Alpha and Omega while mommy and daddy go out and celebrate Daddy’s Birthday on Saturday. Whoo Hooo….date night for mommy and daddy!! I think this is our second date night in almost 3 years, tell me what do people do on dates these days??? I’m not sure we remember… anyway….Wish us luck!

Jump, Jump, Jumping Bean...

So where did the week go? Ohhh yeah, we’ve been jumping and jumping and well, jumping some more. In fact Elyssa insists on jumping in the morning as soon as she gets out of bed and before breakfast. I swear the kid could probably jump 24/7! She is certainly enjoying her new trampoline from Cousin Lisa. I think Eddie and I are enjoying it as well. Now if I could figure out how to bounce off a few extra pounds, it would be totally worth it!

We had Elyssa’s friends Jack and Luke over to play on Monday and on Tuesday we had her friends Gavin and Isabelle over as well. Everyone enjoyed playing on the trampoline and on all of the outside play stuff we have. I look around my back yard and all I see are kids play structures and a swimming pool. Pretty soon the dogs will have to move out because there will be no more room for them to run in the back yard. Elyssa certainly does not want for much when it comes to playing outside, or inside for that matter. I do know she loves all of it!

Last weekend we had 2 birthday parties to go to. Elyssa’s friend Jamie had his 4th birthday party on Saturday afternoon and we went to her cousin Ethan’s birthday party that evening. She had so much fun but was certainly tired out from all the excitement.

Tomorrow I am going to attempt to take Elyssa to her first movie in a theater. She has never been and we have been a bit scared to take her because of her sensitivity issue but I’m going to see how it goes. We are going to see Cats and Dogs: The revenge of kitty galore. It is at the dollar cinema so if she hates it, I am not out a ton of money. We’ve talked about it and she watched the trailer to the movie over and over again and laughs at it every time. She says she cannot wait to see it, but time will tell. I’ll keep my fingers crossed! We tried to take her to see Toy Store 3, but when we were going to go to the theater she threw a fit and cried that she did not want to go. I figure there is no use forcing her to do something she does not want to do. Seeing a movie is certainly not a life or death situation, if she does not want to go…so be it!

Well she is standing in front of me begging to go out and jump, alas the simple pleasures to a 3 year old!

Sept 23, 2010- Elyssa's new Trampoline

Elyssa has been blessed with a brand new 12 ft trampoline with enclosure from her cousin Lisa. Unfortunately it arrived while we were on vacation and it has taken forever for daddy to find the time to put it up. He started on Sunday and last night had it to this point (see pic). The safety enclosure will hopefully be put on tonight so she can enjoy it to it's fullest but we let her jump for a bit last night while we closely supervised her. She had soo much fun and this morning after putting our pumpkin cakes she insisted on making in the oven we quickly went back out side to jump on her new "jumping bean" trampoline. I swear this kid could jump forever! A big thank you to cousin Lisa for this super duper present for our little princess. She will certainly get hours of fun from this one. I also posted a video of her jumping in the video section as well!

Time flies when your're having fun...

Time flies when you’re having fun…

…..I guess that means we have been having lots and lots of fun! I know it has been a long time since I’ve last wrote anything in this blog and for that I apologize. Mostly to Elyssa because this is supposed to be a living diary of her wonderful life and mommy is failing miserably. I am going to make an honest effort to keep up with this blog on a daily (ok maybe weekly) basis from now on!
Sooo you ask what have we been up to??? Well the biggest thing we have done is a beautiful vacation to Honolulu Hawaii over Easter!! Daddy had a business trip scheduled for some work in Honolulu and well we decided it was a chance in a lifetime for us all to go to Hawaii. So we tallied up our frequent flyer miles and we were off! It was a 10 hour flight from Dallas and I was scared to death that it was going to be a nightmare with a newly potty trained little girl but she did great. In fact she did better than both Eddie and I did. I was ready to jump off after about 7 hours, which is a long time to be trapped in the air. The most miserable part was watching the monitors on the plane as they showed just how fast we were flying, where we were over the ocean and how much longer we had till we arrive at our destination. Once we were there we forgot all about the plane ride and enjoyed the beauty of the area. Daddy worked all day everyday and had the car so Elyssa and I spent every day at Waikiki Beach. Words cannot express just how beautiful the area is. We saw so many things and on Saturday Daddy spent the morning scuba diving while Elyssa and I went to the Honolulu Zoo. That afternoon we went to Pearl Harbor and did some other sightseeing. It was an incredible experience for all of us and Elyssa asks almost every day if she can go back to Waikiki beach.
It was not long after that trip that Eddie lost his job. Although he was able to find another job rather quickly even in this depressed economy is was quite a step backwards. Lots changed in our lives, but we are blessed that he is still working. It has taken a lot of getting used to for me having him home every night and not gone every week. Elyssa loves having daddy home every night and still runs to him when he gets home from work yelling “daddy, daddy, daddy!!” It really does make you see all that he has missed in her life in the last 3 years while he was traveling. Since losing his job he has started his MBA and is working on a few other certifications as well.
We have season passes to Six Flags this year and a membership to the Dallas Zoo so we have been to both parks a few times this year. Elyssa loves Six Flags! In fact for my birthday in May we spent the day at Six Flags. It amazes me that she has no fear of anything. She gets on the rides holds on and when they are over asks to do it again! I tell her she would not be her mother’s daughter if she did not like the fast rides because mommy has a need for speed when it comes to the amusement rides! The Dallas Zoo has been lots of fun as well. They opened a new area called the Giants of the Savannah and it is just incredible. On one visit to the zoo with Aunt Tonia we got to feed the Giraffes’ !
We have spent most of the summer visiting with friends and family and of course swimming. The pool has had a real work out this summer. Elyssa loves to swim and with her arm floaties on she is quite the little fish. We tried swim lessons this year and it was a miserable mistake. One think I’ve learned about my little girl , is that we will never ever, ever make her do what she does not want to do. She has a mind of her own and will express her opinion at will. We have decided we will pick our own battles cautiously.
We just got back from Pennsylvania visiting some family this past week. We had some frequent flyer free tickets that were going to expire, some free hotel stays and free car rental that were all going to expire so we decided to just jump and go. We got to stay with my cousin Lisa for a couple days in State College and then went to see Grandma and Pappy and some of my friends for the rest of the week. We had a great time and it was good seeing everyone again since we are not sure when or if we will get the chance anytime soon to do it again.
Elyssa is changing so much and growing up before my eyes. She is now 39 inches tall , 31 lb s, and wears a size 9 shoe! She is talking in 6-8 words complete sentences, says 3 syllable words (pretty good at pronunciation) tells me stories and makes up her own songs! Her ability to negotiate and rationalize amazes me! The other day she told me when I corrected her for doing something wrong, “Mommy, you are not being my friend!” She starts sentences now with “ Mommy, when I was a baby last year,….” And of course follows it up with “I’m a big kid now…” Since we had to cut out all things that are not necessities, she is not going to pre-school this year. She asks me all the time when she gets to go back to school and I just tell her we are on vacation from school. I figure I can teach her everything they teach her in preschool right here at home! With Elyssa everyday is an adventure!
Well I think that brings us up to date! More to come (I Promise) later….