New Haircut for Elsie

This picture is for Great Grandma Hunt, Elsie was taking care of her bear the other day. She was putting him under the covers with her and cuddling with him. So much fun to watch :)

I cut about a half inch off of Elsie's bangs, they were driving me crazy! Now I can see her beautiful eyes! Super cute!

Heaven

As we were driving to a friend's house yesterday, Ruby was looking out the window at the horses in the pasture. She asked if farmers went to heaven and then how God could get horses up to heaven when they are so big. I told her that our spirit only goes up to heaven and not our body, that our body is what holds our spirit or who we are. That our spirit is inside of us. Our body stays here on earth, but our spirit lives on in heaven. She thought about it for a bit and then said, "So our spirit is inside our heart?" I told her that, yes, that is exactly where it is. Love the way she thinks about things and questions so much right now.

She has been thinking a lot about heaven, espcially since we lost our kitty Morris a month ago. She occasionally will start getting a sad look and try to hold back the tears and then let it all out. It happens mostly when we are in the car it seems. She gets sad when she remembers petting Morris and the moments she snuggled with him. It is hard for her to understand how he could be as happy in heaven without her. Such a sweetie!

New words

I heard Elsie say so many new things today. She is quite the communicator these days.

• She said, "Excuse me!" to Ruby as she was riding her little toy around the dining room.
• She is so ticklish, and I love to tickle her! I noticed her say, "Stop it" in a silly way while I tickled her today.
• I gave Elsie some snacks to take to Ruby. She was thrilled and headed toward her bedroom, but didn't see Ruby anywhere. She turned back toward me and said, "Where's Ruby?" in a puzzled tone. So funny.
• I heard her say, "Where are ya!" to Ruby several times as they were looking for eachother. She has heard this while playing hide and seek.

Busy Day

We do learning playdates every Tuesday and Thursday, and today it was going to be at our house. I planned for it to be a library theme, with all sorts of books that center around the library. I decided to ask the other moms if they wanted to meet up at the library and we could hold it there. They said yes. It turned out to be a lot of fun!

After the learning playdate, we drove up to a closeby park to have lunch and play. It was really chilly, but no snow yet. The kiddos enjoyed their lunch of peanut butter and honey sandwiches and then ran around with eachother for a long time. It was so good to get out and enjoy the fresh air.

Elsie wouldn't eat peanut butter sandwiches until yesterday. When she woke from her nap she tried mine and kept going because she loved it so much. At our picnic today, she picked hers up and almost the entire half sandwich. Yay!

Tanya asked if she could take the girls right after this, she was already watching them for me later and it would be easier for her to take them home. So we switched carseats and off the girls went with Tanya and Jacquelyn. This is the first time Elsie has ever been away from me that long. They stayed with Tanya from 1:30 to 7:30 pm. Elsie was sad half of the time and Tanya said her little bottom lip would quiver every so often. She would point of the window and say "Mommy out!" I had to go to work at Sylvan for my last session of SAT, so thankful she watched them. Also, she wouldn't eat for Tanya so she asked Ruby to try to feed her. Elsie ate it right up and continued to eat. So neat. Ruby was pretty proud of herself.

Elsie was hungry when we got home and said, "I want gurt!" She calls yogurt this now. That girl is a bottomless pit right alongside her big sister. They both amaze me.

Singing

In the car today, Mike turned up a song that he said Ruby loved. She sings it with her own twist. So funny! The song goes like this "I hope it gives you HELL!" and she says "I hope it gets you WELL!" Love how sweet and innocent their little minds are at this age.

We went to see Megamind today at the Garland, the girls both did wonderfully and had no problem sitting calmly during the whole movie. Elsie just kicked back and put her feet up on the seat in front of us and ate her popcorn. She loves movies. At one point she called out "What happened?" clear as day, she gets so enthralled in the whole story line.

We also met up with Mike's parents for a very late Christmas get together. We ate at a buffet and then the girls openned presents in the back of the Durango. They loved the nice gifts, Ruby got a Zhu Zhu pet and Elsie got a Dora bike. When we got home, Mike was so frustrated because Elsie wouldn't stay off of it while he put it together for her. The same thing with Ruby. They were trying to ride it around before there were even wheels on it. Silly girls!

Sweetie

Elsie gives me the sweetest hugs around my neck these days (when I am holding her in my arms), she softly pats my head and leans into me, gives me kisses too. Melts my heart, she is such a soft and sweet little girl. Love her.

We went to shopping at Huckleberries today, while Ruby went to Mike's pep game. I bought some dried mango and blueberries. Elsie has always loved blueberries, but not mango. She gobbled it down tonight. She asked for more mango when she finished, and actually said mango clear as can be.

When we were waiting at the window for Mike to come home, she said, "Where is Daddy?", and then, "I want Dad!". I would tell her that he is out in his car and on his way home from school. She would then ask the same questions all over again. She is becoming quite the Daddy's girl these days, she loves to sit in his lap and just be with him anytime he is home.

I am surprised by her interest in movies and tv, Ruby never really got into it much. Elsie loves to watch movies and comment on them all the way through. I think she see Ruby's excitement with it all and catches on to it. She LOVES Max and Ruby and will run to the couch to sit next to Ruby whenever it is on.

The girls are playing together all the time now and most of the time they get along and enjoy eachothers company. It is really cute to watch.

Ruby is really into her appearance right now. She has been changing outfits constantly and actually wants to wear dresses and tights right now. Tonight as we were driving home, she said, "No one saw my beautiful dress and hairclip". So funny!

Snowman and sledding during Elsie's nap

I sent Ruby out to the backyard to make a snowman and play in the new fallen snow today. She made a tiny snowman, but the dogs kept eatting the eyes and carrot nose. She was so frustrated. I decided I would go out to the front yard and build one with her, she loved it. We had a great time together. After the snowman was complete, we took the sleds over to the end of our cul-de-sac to sled down the tiny mound of snow from the snow plow. She loved it! I sent her down about 4 times and then went down once with her. Hope to get out a bit more tomorrow if there is any new snow to play in.

We also had fun putting together a gift bag for Ruby's friend Jacquelyn, her 4th birthday is tomorrow! Ruby said she was so excited to see her open it, right before she fell asleep tonight.