A friend was doing fairy themed mini photo sessions and I thought to myself "Do I really need fairy themed photos of my three year old?" Obviously the answer was YES. So much fun. Eleanor had a blast.
Here's a look at what the pictures looked like before the fairy elements were added in.
Eleanor was a VERY willing participant in this endeavor. Dressed up in fun clothes, handed fun props, and given all the attention? Yes, please!
I love three year old Eleanor so much but sometimes it's not difficult to guess what phase she's in. Is this a sneak peak of teenage Eleanor?
She also tries to skip naps whenever possible but sometimes things are too tough even for a sweetheart.
She is going through this thing where she claims to have an upset tummy every time she remembers it might be nice to have a drink of ginger ale. We really don't give our kids soda so it is a rare treat and a girl has to do what a girl has to do.
Some people claim that Patrick is difficult to watch shows with, and that is simply not true.
The big kids are watching shows as I'm writing this and I just heard Nathan calmly ask Patrick to let go of Eleanor's eye. Followed up by asking him to let go of Bradley's head.
It's tough to love so hard.
A fun parenting strategy Nathan and I use when we're out shopping with the kids is letting them look at all sorts of fun toys and then getting nothing for them. In order to leave the store without children melting down we either tell them to put it on a birthday or Christmas list or to ask a grandparent for it. The latter is my personal favorite. I tell them to take a picture loving the toy and then I sometimes do indeed send the picture to a grandparent. Dear Grandparents: please feel zero obligation to purchase said item for the child. They have plenty of stuff and they would happily beg for a store's worth of cool toys given the opportunity.
Cool treasure chests
Someone loved this Rapunzel dress a LOT
The other half of my parenting is getting the kids out of the house.
There still is nothing better than playing in the sprinkler.
And grocery trips with these three is pretty darn fun. It helps that our grocery store is so cool.
Fun games next to sample chips
Fun car kart
Fun purse that a little girl insists on bringing along with us whenever we're shopping. The reactions I get to Eleanor while we're in the grocery store are fairly priceless.
We've been having to get a bit creative with the hot weather so we took the kids to the mall last weekend so they could ride on the two story tall merry go round. They liked it!
We also heard about a Dock Dogs event at Scheels so we went to check it out not really knowing what it was. The kids cared about the cute dogs jumping in the water for about five minutes and then just wanted to do the bouncy house and fish.
But I got to ride on the giant ferris wheel with them, a fun treat! Bradley literally talked for the entire ride about what we would do if a bear got loose in the store and we imagined who the bear would eat first, the reaction of the crowd, and talked at length about how Daddy would fight the bear. I have no idea what planted the seed for this idea but wow did Bradley take it and run with it.
Sweet Bradley is also ridiculously excited for our upcoming trip to Washington, and I would say at least half of his excitement is based on getting to share a big bed with Eleanor while we visit.
He likes cuddling
Patrick likes following his siblings around and doing whatever they do and he has fully embraced the joys of rough housing.
Patrick is into all the things these days.
Pre church donuts
Did you know that three children can cram themselves under the desk space in the kitchen if they try hard enough?
And I finally have a child who colors! Okay, who tries to eat crayons and sometimes colors.
Nathan had a work trip last week and we missed him very much. So we made him welcome home cupcakes. Here's Patrick's before and after with a cupcake.
So much joy
No more???
Don't worry, he later got a frosted cupcake and all was put to right.
He is such an adorable little guy. We've been going to the gym pretty regularly and there are a number of workers there who are big Patrick fans. It's actually getting a little awkward when people tell me how cute he is. I always say that I'm biased but I agree with them but then they go on a bit and I'm not longer sure what to say. One of the girls at the gym told me she liked to rub his perfect little fuzzy head and said she and the other girls there discussed it and he was perfection. I walked in the other day and he was busy hugging another little girl in the toddler area and when we had to leave he gave her a tender smooch on the cheek while looking around at the admiring group of the workers there who had gathered to give Patrick the proper amount of admiration. I heard things like "I'm melting" and "I'm dying inside, how cute!"
But then I take him home and get this ...
What a little stinker. Can't wait to take all these sweet kids to see friends and family this next week!
We had a fun 4th of July with some friends and their cute kids! We even did some kiddie fireworks which was a big hit.
Patrick has started to get annoyed with sharing Mommy lap space with
Eleanor. The other day he was trying to shove her head away while
getting a choice spot on Mommy lap and I told him that wasn't very nice,
he should hug his sister. So he gave her a big hug and then instantly
started shoving her head away again.
How Patrick thinks things should be
He
also likes to roll all over her in as a sign of affection, which not
always as appreciated as it could be. She's only got two or three pounds
on him which doesn't help.
Standard morning
And
we know that he can understand a great deal of what we say even though
he's not particularly verbal yet. Whenever I say something about going
to get Eleanor from her room in the morning or after naptime he'll run
over to me and beg for cuddles.
Bradley and Eleanor had
dentist appointments the other week and I got to take all three kids. It
was Bradley's second appointment ever and Eleanor's first. They both
did great, although I credit Eleanor's success to Patrick's steadfast
support and devotion.
So much devotion. Lucky Eleanor.
Such a little champ.
When
Patrick wasn't "assisting" Eleanor he was running around like a maniac
and cackling with glee while I hunted him down. His favorite places were
behind the receptionist desk and down the roped off stairway. Filling
out paperwork was an adventure while all this was going on. We're really
lucky it's such a nice dentist office, they seemed to rather enjoy the
manic toddler antics.
Outside is best for running around and general mayhem.
I can't believe how big Patrick is getting. He's such a person!
Here the kids are racing to the next driveway. Patrick is racing a chair that he likes to push around.
And here's the crew throwing hedge apples up a slide at the park. I love how much of a crew they are these days.
The
other day I had a friend over who has a little girl who is Eleanor's
age and a boy who is Patrick's age and Patrick always drives his little
friend nuts by insisting on cuddling with his mommy while she's here. I
asked Patrick if he wanted to cuddle with me and held my arms out and
the little stinker shook his head, looked back behind him, and backed up
onto the lap of my friend. All while looking very pleased with himself.
And all while his little friend howled with sorrow. Fortunately Patrick
is used to having to look out for his own interests and wasn't unduly
concerned by his friend's rather dramatic feelings about the matter.
He
helps us read books to him now. He got a bit distracted by Nathan's
phone but here they are reading Blue Hat, Green Hat together. Oops!!
Patrick
also dances a lot now. The older two have a new favorite show that
Patrick will sort of sit and watch with them for a few minutes at a
time. And then he does some dancing that looks like it belongs in an
action movie. Heavy on the stunts!
I got to go to Santa Cruz to visit my Aunt Diana, Uncle Bill, and Granddad and I had a pretty amazing time!
Ice cream time in matching hats!
It's
amazing how easy and relaxing it is to go places without children. And
yet I spent most of the time I was at these fun places talking about how
much the children would have liked it.
So much fun playing cards with my wonderful Granddad!
I even got to live my out my stand up paddleboarding dream! Lots of fun. I like anything with a paddle.
I
might be a bit beach obsessed. I'm still very happy with Kansas City
but we're going to have to do a lot of beach vacations so I can get my
fix.
I'm just very happy that I have family who choose to live in fun and cool locations and don't mind me coming out to visit!
Nathan and his mom watched the kids while I was gone and things went
very smoothly, although I've been home for a week and a half now and
Eleanor still mentions upon occasion that she's so happy I'm home and
checks that I'm not going anywhere when I say goodnight to her.
They got to do a number of fun things to keep them busy while I was away. Pool time and swim lessons!
And a trip to Urban Air Trampoline. They keep begging to go back.
Apparently
my children liked the dodgeball area. Nobody threw any balls at Patrick
who thought it was cool to hang out in the middle. Eleanor left as soon
as she was hit by a ball and Bradley just yelled at people when they
threw balls at him.
Patrick was pretty sure he was going to starve while I was gone, luckily there was ham. This kid eats so much!
And this was my welcome home. So much welcome.
Bradley
had a tough time the other night at bedtime. He was exhausted because
he had skipped his nap and he was very sad because we only read one of
his giant library books to him at bedtime and were insisting on stopping
at chapter 5 of the other one that was 200 pages long. The kid likes
books. So I took Bradley into his room while Nathan read to Eleanor, and
I read a little more to him and then sat on the floor and held his hand
as he was falling asleep. Nathan left Eleanor in her room and about
five minutes later I heard someone fumbling at the door knob to
Bradley's room before letting herself in - it was Eleanor! She had come
to deliver Bradley's other library book to him. She pranced over to the
bed, said "here's your library book, Badley!" and then pranced back out
while Bradley hugged his library book to his chest with a huge smile
across his face.
I
decided to revisit the library the other day to see if Patrick would
behave better now that it's been a couple months. We started out
promising.
Patrick even looked at some of the toys that were available to him.
But
running away from Mommy through the stacks eventually won out. He's far
away in the middle of this picture. We played a fair bit of chase,
Patrick loved it a lot more than Mommy did.
No more library for another couple months. Oh well.
We let Bradley and Eleanor share Bradley's bunk bed last weekend which was beyond adorable. They love each other SO much.
However,
it also took them a lot longer to fall asleep and Eleanor was a wreck
the next morning. Sharing a room may be an occasional treat for the
immediate future.
Eleanor has many adorable quirks, one of
which is that she demands a frozen muffin every morning for breakfast.
I'm not kidding. I make big batches of muffins and then freeze whatever
we're not going to eat within the next couple days. One morning I pulled
out a few frozen muffins to nuke for breakfast and Eleanor begged for
hers to remain frozen. And that is how she has eaten them every since.
It's been at least four months of this.
And her quirk of
calling me Mamu has extended to a wide variety of words now. Dadu, Badu,
Patricku, Baintu or Bahnku (blanket), Agoo (nonsense word used whenever
it seems useful), and then we oo up whatever else seems handy when the
mood strikes us. "Ca moo mamoo!" Means catch me, Mommy. This girl is
going to be amazing at Pig Latin. This is basically the three year old
version.
I took a video of us playing Candyland together. She landed on the sticky spot and tried to talk her way out of it.
It's
scary how much these kids pay attention and remember things. The other
night at dinner we were talking about the best part and toughest part of
our days and Eleanor asked Nathan what the best part of his day was.
Before he could answer she said "Coming home to your cute kiddos?" which
is indeed his usual answer. She then told him her toughest part of her
day was when he left for work and the best part of her day was when he
came home. Daddy may be putty in Eleanor's hands these days.
Couch cuddles are alive and well
Patrick
cuddles even when Nathan is trying to get some work done from home.
Fortunately for all involved, Nathan has yet to willingly turn down a
baby cuddle.
We're
so close to so many pics of the kids snuggling together on the couch
during shows. Patrick wants to be where the big kids are but he lasts
for about five minutes before he starts trying to grab their stuff so
someone will play with him instead of watching a silly show.
Costco trip. They had to borrow my sweater for the cold room.
And here is Patrick with his future prom date, my friend Julie's little girl Mabel. They're pretty adorable together.
The kids have been doing more arts and crafts together, which sounds pretty sweet and cute, right?
Patrick's face ...
Patrick not eating crayons. No sir.
It's
mostly sweet, until Bradley and I work on his cute fingerprint art book
and he makes a couple odd looking fingerprints on the kitty page. He
does the fingerprints and I do the drawing so I asked him what he wanted
his kitties to look like. He said that he wanted the prints to be
rocket launchers aimed at the kities ... he had quite the involved plans
for rocket launchers all over the page but solo time ended and he had
to go to bed. I swear I have never even mentioned a rocket launcher to
the boy.
Popsickles on the front step!
Naked for popsicles is best!
We
had a naked butterfly running around the house the other day, and then
when she decided she was going to use the potty (hurray for the girl
potty training herself!) another little butterfly appeared ...
It was kind of a chunky butterfly but he seemed beyond delighted to be wearing his sister's special butterfly wings.
There's been a fair bit of baby skin and running around the house in diapers lately. I love summer! And I love these cute kids!
And
they mostly love each other. Unless they discover the baby bathtub and
everyone is desperate to sit in it at the same time. You should have
seen them with the baby bumbo chair.
