ocean in march

this has been the mildest winter. no snow and all 40s and 50s. so off to the beach!

Happy St. Patty's Day Elenora!

it's become tradition for me to host traditional st. patrick's day corned beef and cabbage dinner.  this year i got an amazing corned beef from a local farm and baked some irish soda bread and invited the whole clan over.  

after dinner we all headed outside to play baseball.

the meaning of Elenora's name

Elenora as a girl's name is a variant of Eleanor (Greek) and Helen (Greek), and the meaning of Elenora is "sun ray, shining light".

book list

i've started a list of books that elenora has read to me with little help.

1. The Giving Tree
2. Hop on Pop
3. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?

any other easy/beginner book recommendations are welcome.

last night we began reading Anne of Green Gables.  i told elenora that it's about a girl with red hair and freckles who is a little bit mischievious and who gets into a lot of trouble and she just got this glint in her eye.

have i said that ella is a jokester?

j. asked her what her favorite foods are the other night, and she said "corn on the cob, with butter, broccoli, with butter, and artichoke, with butter." 

she also loves sweets--and especially chocolate.

we've been on some incredible hikes lately at appleton farm where she has walked miles and miles without complaint of being tired.  it's so nice to have such a big girl.

she brushes her teeth and gives herself a tub.

she plays, recognizably, at least half of both "twinkle twinkle little star" and "mary had a little lamb" on her violin.

last sunday we strollered her to the high school track and all ran around it as a family.  that's maybe one of my favorite things to do because it's active, outdoors, and all-together.  you should see elenora run!  she also likes practicing the long jump.  she goes about a foot and a half.

the difficult things we are dealing with include a bit too much whining and an almost constant demand that somebody pay attention to her and/or do what she says.  i think it's a 4-year-old phase.  we're working on it.  she's much better about not doing these things if she just gets some good quality time with someone.  and she's pretty good about doing her own thing if i'm doing something i need to do--like cook or clean or take care of gracie.  but i never get a few moments to myself to just sit and relax during the day.  of course, i work half of the day and then she's in bed by 6:30, so i don't feel badly about devoting the middle hours to her.  it would be nice to know i could just sit and take a little "self-time" if i needed it, though, without hearing "mommy!"

the day will come when she doesn't need me anymore at all, so i'll just enjoy it while she still wants me around.

my little girl

ella now gives herself her tubby at night.  which is a big help since that's when i'm usually getting in from a play date and need to start on dinner.

but part of me feels a bit sad at the thought of her growing up into this new phase of taking care of herself.  i know it's good...

but

The giving tree

Today Elenora read half of "the giving tree" to me almost all by herself!

vermont trip 2012

elenora and i traveled up to vt to spend some time with a. and family before the twins arrive. the 2 girls were off and running as soon as we got there.  amazing how they can go 8 months without seeing each other and then pick right up as the best of friends.  my coworker said that they are "soul mates passed from generation to generation."  i couldn't have put it into words any better than that.

two little monkeys jumping on the bed...

we tried to let the girls sleep in the same room in naomi's big bed (ella's first sleepover with a friend), but after 40 minutes of shenanigans i was That Mom and separated them.  guess who was up by 5:04 am?  oh, yes, that would be my early bird.

i really got to know little Faith this trip, which was wonderful.

the girls switched dresses for the baby shower, which was their idea, and then they both had pig-tails and matching barrettes and pink sweaters.  

these kids have quite the personalities!

twins?!?  where???!  here is a. at 32 weeks pregnant with identical baby boys!

at the shower i said "ella, would you like to try some punch?" and she said "what is punch?" and i said, "just you wait!" and dished her up a small cup.  she carefully took a sip and then she made the most hilarious face, which i wished i'd caught on camera.  kind of puckered up her mouth and looked shocked and said "woah! that's tart!"  she liked my reaction so much that she tried to replicate it for me:

while a. was opening her gifts, naomi was up helping her mommy, so ella was up helping naomi.  at one point i looked and this is what i saw behind the table:

a. has 2 dogs (and 7 chickens, and almost 6 kids), and these 2 dogs are the sweetest we have met.  elenora just fell in love with little mae.

we couldn't make the trip without going to sugar and spice for a delicious breakfast complete with pumpkin pancakes and maple syrup.  we met up with c. and r. and got to spend time with little Kristin, who is adorable.

on our way home we stopped at the cabot cheese tasting site to sample the goods.  

today as elenora and i were driving home from school, she must have been reflecting on her visit. she told me that she and naomi and noah and luke were "quite a commotion."