Since we moved I have felt off trying to get back in the groove I everyday life. Between cleaning the house, laundry, meals, dishes (the day we are able to get a dishwasher and have space will be the 4th happiest day of my life (the first three being my wedding day and the day that the girls were born)), taking care of kiddos and making sure they get the attention and care they need, and trying to find time to exercise and lose this baby fat. It can be a lot. Especially with the holiday season, I feel like it's a season of busy and long to do lists. 

To avoid feeling completely overwhelmed we have been taking it easy. So far my house has only been completely clean at one time once and that was because we had a dinner guest. I haven't made any delicious holiday treats because I don't want to gain a ton of weight (I really have zero self control when it comes to any kind of sweets or pastries/ breads, or any good food really) and its a lot of extra dishes. I have such little motivation that we haven't even decorated the tree. But a large part of that is because I am enjoying no broken ornaments all over the floor and the after season clean up and also because I am enjoying the simplicity of our lot tree. It doesn't need a ll of the embellishments to be beautiful and bring Christmas cheer.

The time of year, the girls being sick, moving, and well, everything all at once has been a little overwhelming and days like today are necessary. We've been spending a lot of time on the floor playing and dancing and being silly and letting the house be messy and eating frozen chicken and fries and calling it dinner. Usually all this would drive me nuts but I am loving it. I love that katelyn and I snuggled and took a nap this afternoon on the couch instead of getting the long to do list shortened. When ellie only wants to wear the fox pajamas all day for three say in a row I don't get mad, we've just been going with it (mainly because we have two pairs of the same ones). We've been talking and facetiming family and enjoying our family. Instead of worrying about all the things we could be doing and it has been great. 

We've got the upstairs just about put together aside from hanging anything on the walls, we will do that eventually. The downstairs is a complete mess where we put everything else and said we'd put it away later and yesterday was later. Cody and Ellie were downstairs and Cody needed something so he called up to me. Ellie being funny started shouting " Jayme" in her two year old lingo. We both were just about rolling on the floor laughing. She cracks us up. It almost makes me sad that she doesn't call me mama or mommy, just a straight up mom. She's even got the teenage version down where it fluctuates and sounds like she's annoyed when she calls me. Crazy kid! 

Last week Ellie got her first ear infection. That was... Interesting. She wasn't all that bad, just a little bit more short tempered than normal and had a nasty cold. I left her with my mother in law for an afternoon so I could take Kate to get her shots and get some Christmas shopping done. That woman is heaven sent and not shopping with a two year old was great, I was in and out so fast. 

Kate had caught the nasty cold that Cody and Ellie have had and it is so sad to see such a tiny thing struggling so much. The other night I was up a lot and finally switched with Ellie and threw her in my bed. Last night I was afraid of a repeat and had a sleepover with Katelyn on the floor of her room. The worst part of being a parent is feeling helpless when your kids are sick. I prayed and prayed and eventually cried myself to sleep because every 5-10 minutes she would cough and wake up screaming. She finally fell asleep and only woke up occasionally. It was a miracle. 

Ellie is loving the house and having a lot more room to play in. We've been having fun going to play at the church gym with friends to let out energy and get moving. She is so funny sometimes. She is usually a very active kid and loves to play with others but the last two times we have gone she just wants to sit back and watch everyone else. She is very observant and really notices people's emotions, not only when they cry but also if they are just sad. It amazes me how concerned she gets for others and I hope that's a quality she keeps. 

Ellie is quite intelligent. We had gone to cal ranch on Saturday to look for snow boots for her and she found a stick horse that she rode around the entire time we were there. 

She threw a fit when it was time to put it back and leave. The girls and I went again yesterday morning to pick up a present for Cody and she remember right where those were. She walked straight to them and would not be coerced into leaving without one. We gave all the old men shopping a nice show of a screaming toddler with a mother frantically trying to quiet her child and tell her that she was done throwing fits. Someday I would like to record our store visits because I am sure after the fact they would be hilarious. Two year olds sure know how to keep their parents on their toes. But we sure do love this spunky and creative girl.

This crazy kid of ours turned two! I can't believe it! We had a little party for her before we moved. Just having her grandparents and cousins come was a treat enough for her. She is obsessed with pirates, so we had swords and hooks for all.

She loved having her cousins come play and thought her own ice cream cone was the coolest.

There are quite a few things that I could say about this girl. She has such a personality! She can be so outgoing and the next minute extremely shy. Most of the time she likes people and saying hi or smiling at strangers in the store. Yesterday she did something that surprised me, with a room full of kids she just stood back and watched them play and was perfectly content to be on the side lines. She is already an amazing big sister to Katelyn and loves having her sister do anything that she is doing. She talks a lot, especially since we got rid of her pacifier. She loves to dance around the living room while listening to music and gives a mischievous grin when she is doing something she knows she is not supposed to. She does silly things on purpose and laughs so loud as she's doing them, today it was walking around the house in my shoes.

I feel almost silly writing this, trying to explain miss Ellie because there are not even words to describe this girl. She is spunky and fun and sassy and frustrating and fearless and timid and everything else all at the same time. She is everything. She's obsessed with pirates and Christmas lights and playing hide and seek. She is stubborn as can be when it comes to food and lets you know that she knows the word NO. She likes to use her hands  to color and play with stickers and tickle her dads back and arms. If you are on the floor she thinks you are her personal horse and screams as she jumps on your back in excitement. She scowls when shes angry and asks for a tissue when she cries to wipe away her tears. She's a ball of personality that cannot be described in words. But we sure do love her. Every quality she possesses, her concern for others when they are crying and her constant need to let her dad know that she loves him when he is home. 

This two year old Ellenor... what did we get ourselves into with this one?!