Happy 3rd Birthday, Elenora Mae!

we started out our special day with lots of presents for a happy little 3-year-old girl.  ella got a hula hoop, a jump rope, some calico critters, dollhouse furniture, a new puzzle (because she's really good at the ones we have already and needed a challenge), a pink sparkly belt, some clothes, alphabet wall cards, and lots of legos.

next we went to the pancake house where j. takes ella about once a week.  the staff there just loves elenora and they were all ready with a present and then brought out a special whipped cream cupcake and sang happy birthday.

elenora wanted french toast and sausage.

after breakfast we went to russell orchard to do some apple picking.

as i become the mother of a 3-year-old

well, she's just not a baby anymore.

tonight at dinner i told elenora that this is her last night being 2. it seemed to really strike her.

and me.

she'll just never be 2 again.

this past year has definitely been interesting. so much change with our move to a bigger place and ella starting school. potty training and getting rid of the crib.

i just love and enjoy my little girl more than words can say. she brightens my life with her humor and wit. she's my adventure buddy. i'm excited to see how she grows this next year--the friendships she will make at school and the experiences she will have.

a weekend without j.

what a busy weekend. j. went to NE for a family wedding, so here is everything elenora and i packed in:

1) i stayed home from work friday morning and went to the pancake house with j. and ella before he took off for the airport.

2) e. arrived with penelope and eli to watch visit for a half hour before i went to work for 2 hours. yes, this was my vacation day.

3) fed ella lunch and then put her down for a nap and started boiling spare ribs.

4) s. and aurora arrived and i ran and got the CSA "cropit share" before ella woke up.

5) we made barbecued spare ribs and brussels sprouts with herby mashed potatoes for dinner. the girls loved the meal, which was honestly one of the best i've ever made.

6) we all watched snow white and the seven dwarfs--elenora's first full-length animated film--and ate popcorn.

and that's just friday.

saturday we went to ballet and then rushed home to pack a picnic lunch before going to manchester-by-the-sea to take aurora to the park while s. worked. it was definitely a challenge to watch 2 girls out in public. at first it was tough if one girl ran off in one direction while the other one was busy doing something, but i got the hang of it and we had a good time.

after the park, ella wanted to go to rockport, and it was early enough in the day that i did take her there. we strollered about and looked at the ocean and had good mommy-and-me time together. ended up in j.'s cafe where we got quiche and salad for dinner.

by the time we got home she was exhausted, so she was in bed and fast asleep before 6 pm.

today we had a leisurely breakfast and then ran a few errands before my cousin e. and robyn arrived to spend the afternoon with us. the girls were so sweet, and e. kindly gave both ella and me haircuts. it'd been awhile.

ella conked out by 3 pm, so we'll have a couple hours when she wakes up before putting her to bed.

j. comes home late tonight. i missed him. life is easier with 3.

first day of preschool

today was ella's first morning at cuvilly school. i got her dressed and went to work, j. dropped her off, and i picked her up. j. says she could tell he was getting ready to leave her there and got a little clingy ("10 more hugs, daddy") and she cried for a few minutes when he left, but then she was fine. when i arrived the principal said "you didn't tell me what a little helper she is!" i guess that after snack k. started putting the chairs away and ella went over and started handing the chairs to her. when i went back to her classroom to get her, the teacher said she had a good day. she was very happy. i also heard that elenora informed the teacher that she'd "had a good day, but i'm ready to go home now" out on the playground just before i got there.

here she is before leaving for school. i realize it's not the cutest outfit, but they told us to dress the kids in play clothing because the children will be spending a lot of time doing hands-on activities including things such as sand, water, food coloring, paint, glue, etc. anyhow, she's still, of course, the cutest kid i ever saw in my life.

notice ella's lunch box. i didn't realize until after i'd bought it that the illustration is done by a famous tattoo artist. oh well. it's better than dora or disney princesses.

she was kind of low-key and tired when i got her home, so i took her on a little walk around the neighborhood before lunch. then she said she'd like to go grocery shopping with me, but on our way to the grocers we decided to go to newburyport and wander around. it was a lovely, cool day and we went in and out of shops together, including a used book store and a candy shop where i let her pick out one piece of candy for a treat (she chose a chocolate covered pretzel with tiny m&ms stuck to it). then we walked down by the water and ate the treat. it was so relaxing. she's been so good lately--none of that terrible twos stuff we dealt with in July. then we went grocery shopping and she was such a helper.

tonight at dinner she was telling us she wouldn't eat her shrimp because she didn't like shrimp, so i told her about the fishermen in gloucester who catch the shrimp and how happy they would be to know that a little girl and her mommy and daddy enjoyed the shrimp that they'd caught, and i reminded her about the times she looked out at the boats in the ocean in gloucester.

she ate up all her shrimp happily after that.

i did a lot of canning the last 2 weekends. took all my tomatoes and some peppers and onions over to momby's and spent 8 hours over the past 2 weekends canning salsa and stewed tomatoes and salsa verde. last night i made chili with the stewed tomatoes. yum.

the other day elenora was using her imagination and she said something to me that sounded like "we have to get warry" and i said "we have to get 'warry'?" and she said "no, we have to get warry" and i said "'warry'?" and she said "mommy," (picture her disdain at her mother) "it starts with an 'L'."

oh. right. "Larry." from veggie tales. got it.

thursdays with aurora

s. has asked me to watch aurora on thursdays from noon until about 5 pm. while i was a little bit nervous to see how such a long day with 2 kids would turn out, we ended up having a really great time.

first we had lunch together. i made grilled cheese and lentil soup, and the girls did pretty good at encouraging each other to eat more. then we all snuggled down into my bed with a pile of books and read for about 45 minutes of quiet time. when i could tell they were getting antsy, i took the girls outside for a walk and we roamed about my neighborhood and had a little adventure. afterwards, we played in the front yard. mother may i and simon says both came into play. it's much more fun to play those games with 2 little girls than with just me and ella, so that worked out great. then we opened the garage and the girls found boxes and balls and the sled to play with. we went in for a snack around 3:30 pm and they watched me dissect a pineapple before we had a picnic on the floor. then we colored with markers until it was time for a bath. both girls got tubbies and had their hair washed, and were pajamaed and diapered before s. arrived to take aurora home.

it worked out better than anyone could have hoped.

guitar with j.

elenora likes to "tune" j.'s guitar while he's playing. it ends up sounding pretty bad.

see the devilish grin (as j. goes to retune)?

she doesn't make it easy, but she's so snuggly.