Ellie is so ready for Kate to be big enough to play with. She loves to dance and all day yesterday just wanted her little sister to do it to. I would hold Kate standing up and Ellie would take her hands and swing them from side to side. And kept trying to pull her away from me to dance with just her.

Ellenor is definitely my child and that scares me. A lot. I struggle so much with her because our personalities are so similar, especially when it comes to discipline. I am sure part of it is just the age but she is so sassy and opinionated. She has to do everything herself and if she doesn't want something, you can't force it on her (unless its her coat and then we do).

Ellie wont take a nap or go to bed without Katelyn. If I suggest that we do anything, from a bath to making cookies to getting dressed, the first thing out of her mouth is Kate to. After Kate takes a nap Ellie runs into their room screaming "KATES AWAKE!" She climbs up on the railing and says "HI KATE!" all while Kate is giving her the biggest smile. I love the bond that these two already have and I cant wait to watch it grow more!

This past week we took a mini vacation to Boise. I know it doesn't sound very exciting but it was absolutely perfect. 

We drove up Tuesday after Cody got off work, grabbed a quick dinner and then headed back to the hotel to snuggle and watch a movie. We woke up the next morning and had an amazing breakfast. The continental breakfast included a chef making fresh eggs however you wanted and they tasted perfect everytime. I want to hire a chef to make me an omlet every morning, that would be so nice! 

The hotel had a pool and a separate one foot kiddie pool. We hung out in the pool for a bit, did some shopping, grabbed lunch and then came back to take naps. Instead of paying to go see animals at the zoo or aquarium we hit up cabelas! And pet smart to look at dogs because we really like dogs, just not at our house. Yet... 

We planned our mini vacation around nap times and food. One night we ate at red lobster, lets just say that Ellie wasn't on her best of quietest behavior. There was a couple sitting next to us in a suit and his wife was all dolled up in a nice dress and her we are with two noisy kids and Ellie crawling all around under that table. As we were leaving Ellie refuse to put her coat on so I carried her outside without it on. There were quite a few people waiting to be seated and Cody caught a few of the comments I got as I walked out. One lady called Ellie spoiled because she didn't want to put on her coat. Another mentioned that she needed a coat because she was going to freeze. It's funny how no matter what you do or how hard you try people are going to judg how you parent and criticize what your doing. 

We played with Cody's sister and her family and even went swimming with them. Ellie absolutely loves her cousin Chloe and copied everything she did. If Chloe would laugh, Ellie would choke out the most fake laugh and smile right at her. 

I love that Cody knows me so well. He knows just what I need and I love it. On Thursday when he picked up the pizza he also grabbed something else for after te kids went to bed, Ben and Jerry's ice cream! It was a great way to end the week. 

It was the perfect, most relaxing vacation. We spent a lot of time playing, laying with our feet in front of the fire place and just taking time to be with each other. With Cody being gone for almost the next month it was just what we needed. 

These girls leave me absolutely speechless. They play so well together at times and be so darn cute together and then they can be fighting. Yes fighting already. At 2 years and 6 months. I am doomed! 

Ellie acts as if she likes katelyn so I think it's safe to say she likes having a sister. Everytime it's time to take a nap or go to bed she asks "Kate to?!" Anytime she does something she wants Kate to come help and be involved as well. It's time to do Ellie's hair, Kate's hair too. Time for a bath? "Kate to!" I hope that never ever changes. I hope Ellie always remembers her sister and wants to involve her and gets excited to do so. 

Kate is at a fun age. She is rolling and playing on her stomach quite a bit and reachig for toys. Ellie loves to bring her toys to play with and is mastering the idea if trading when I give Kate a toy Ellie has to have right then. Maybe it's mean but I'm excited for Kate to hold her own when it comes to toys she wants and Ellie's shananagins.  

"If you don't understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you we probably an only child." 

Christmas this year was great! Christmas Eve the girls opened matching pjs and visited Cody's parents. 

We opened presents on Christmas morning and then headed down to my grandparents house in Utah that afternoon. It was great being able to spend so much time with family and have all of my siblings in one place. That rarely happens and I have no idea when it will happen again but it was amazing. 

These three cousins were all born within a few months of each other and had a blast playing together. It was so nice to not have to worry about Ellie because I knew she was content playing with everyone. They kept rocking on this chair and then started jumping from the foot rest onto it while the other two were laughing and rocking. 

 

On Thursday we headed to the dinosaur museum at thanksgiving point in Lehi. Thank heavens we have to babies because we didn't have to pay for them to get in! They had a discovery room that we could have spent hours in! They had tubes that had a fan at the bottom and you could create things to put in it to wath them float to the top. Ellie would have stayed at this station the entire day if we would have let her. 

 

We were actually very impressed with the entire place. It was very kid friendly and had all sorts of fun activities to keep them entertained.

We knew the boys wouldn't last too long hanging out with us constantly so we sent them to do manly things on friday, like shoot guns! All except poor josh, he was sick the entire time and I'm sure not being able to sleep because of the kids didn't help at all. 

My sisters and I took the girls to get a buld a bear, the three older girls (maybe later Kate!) all got gift cards for the holidays. Ellie chose a horse and refused to let me put clothes on it but the leash she chose was acceptable. 

That night we had a girls night, the sisters and grandma, and left the kiddos with the boys. The rest of the weekend was spent just hanging out and enjoying time with everyone and playing games. We get very competitive and it gets intense. I have learned that I have no patience when it comes to games and pick up sticks is not the game for me. 

Monday morning was bitter sweet. Spending time with my family was amazing and we loved every minute of it. But driving away and taking josh to the airport made me extremely sad because I am not sure when the next time we will see him or my sisters family is because of the distance. I guess it's time to start designing our neighborhood just for our family to live so we can always be close! 

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?!