Spring’s ETA – 6 Days!

Today was one of those days I wish I could have stayed home with the kids! It was such a beautiful day. Spring is straight ahead and today was a small tease for us.

This morning, we got up and had some errands to do before I had to head to work. The kids saw the neighbor girls out last week on their bikes and roller skates. Neither of the kids has a bike, and they asked about them. While we were out, we picked them each up one with training wheels.

Before work, I grabbed the tools and began putting them together. Andrew got a cool Paw Patrol one that I have to add a couple pieces to.

It didn’t take him long to figure out the pedals. I think he’s going to be doing a whole lot of riding this spring and summer.

Ella got a Frozen bike. I felt bad because I got the whole thing together and there were two “left” pedals in the box instead of a left and right. So I called the store and asked about just swapping out one of the pedals, but I’ll have to return the entire bike and get an entire new one and rebuild it. Of course, she still had to see if she liked it.

I’ll head back to the store in the morning and get hers all set!

With the nice weather, Sam and I were already talking about things that need to be done in the yard. I have to re-do the stone walkway to our front door because the construction fools did a shoddy job putting them back in place. Sam wants to do something with the flower beds in the front yard, so I may have to look into some sort of barriers for that. She’s also wanting a garden – she will find out how NOT green my thumb is!

___

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know my son Andrew is all about tools. He’s always right there with something to help me and my father-in-law when we work on a project. He still carries around one of my cordless drills (with out the bit, of course).

He has a few “tool boxes” but my father-in-law has a tool bag. I guess He was trying to put the cordless drill in his boxes and it won’t fit. So he asked his Pa about a tool bag. You can only imagine his excitement when Sam’s folks dropped by the house the other night with a nice new tool bag for Andrew’s drill and other tools!

We had quite a few people at the house this week to look at his education plan. We’re hoping that he will be ready for preschool (and they are ready for him) soon. We were going over speech, occupational therapy and physical therapy goals and how to best get what is best for him.

Our Ella turned four last month and we were a week or so late in getting her four year old pictures. We once again took her to see our photographer friend, Beth, at Enjoy the View Photography. This time I did not go with them when the session happened. So they were a surprise to me when I finally got to see them.

This session truly showed her personality. There were pictures of her making silly faces, laughing out loud, and even sticking her tongue out. I joked that we paid for her to make silly faces, but I love that we have them. It is really what she is like right now – silly and sassy. At the end of her session, they had her sit on a swing. There were some fantastic photos there. This one is one of my favorites:

I am such a blessed man!

Ella Being Honest – and Funny!

I truly need to organize the funny things that Ella says (and funny stories in general) and keep them in a book. Here are just a couple examples:

Sam was getting the kids ready for bed this week. She was trying to get them in the bathroom to brush their teeth. The following conversation takes place:

Sam: Ella get in here and brush your teeth.

Ella: I don’t got no sugar bugs I don’t need to brush my teeth.

Sam: Ella everyone has sugar bugs every single day. Get in here and brush your teeth before the sugar bugs eat all your teeth and make them fall out.

Ella: Mommy, I think I want that! Then the tooth fairy comes!

____

That story ties in with another incident that happened today. Sam showed Ella a picture of herself as a baby. She had a pacifier (She called it a Nini) in her mouth. (Side note: When we took her Nini away, we told her the Nini Fairy comes to all the big kids who no longer need a Nini and takes it to give it to other babies who need them.)

Ella: Is that the baby who got my Nini?

Sam: No, that is you when you were a baby with your Nini

Ella: The Nini Fairy and the Tooth Fairy are the same! They both take your stuff!!

____

Here is a story that I am not proud of, but I know all parents can relate. I was with the kids at Menards getting supplies for painting. My best friend, Jeff, called and we were shooting the breeze and catching up. While we’re on the phone, Ella is babbling away. Jeff chuckled and said, “You wait so long for them to start talking and then they just keep on talking!!”

This led to talk about how fast kids grow up. He mentioned that his daughter would soon be heading off to college, and he’s not gonna know what to do in the “empty nest.” I don’t remember exactly what he said that made me react this way (maybe it was the cost of room and board at the college, I honestly can’t recall), but I said out loud (and oblivious that I was with my kids), “Son of a bitch!” You can only guess what happened next….

Ella thought that was pretty funny and began to repeat it. At first, I wasn’t sure that I had actually heard what I thought I heard. However, after a couple more times of her saying it, it became even more clear.

Me: Don’t say that, baby, that’s a bad word

Ella: (Says it again)

Me: Ella, don’t say that honey, that is not a word that you should say.

Ella: You said it, Daddy

Me: (Now feeling really bad) I know, but Daddy shouldn’t have said it either.

Ella: Why not?

Me: Because it is a bad word

Ella: Really?

Me: Yes

Ella: (Repeats it again as we are standing in the check out line)

Never a dull moment!!

___

Ella is playing with fake veggies. Sam and I tell her we are going to put in a garden this year. So she starts talking about the veggies we should plant:

Ella: “We can plant cucumbers, lettuce, peppers, zucchini, bananas, hot dogs, and mac and cheese…..”

Anyone know how to harvest mac and cheese??

The above was taken at the Father Daughter Dance earlier this month