Eliana's 4th birthday party

This year was the first year we had a drop-off party.  Eliana and 8 of her friends took over the house on Saturday afternoon from 3:30 - 5:30.  The kids did great!  Only half of them played pin the tail on the donkey, and I think our first couple blindfolds were not that blinding, as Eliana got a tail right on the money, but oh well.  After pin the tail, the kids had ice cream cake.  Judy Maleng, a dear friend of mine, was here to help and she did an amazing job keeping the kids entertained while we dished cake.  After cake, it was time for the piñata.  The kids loved it!  They got through 3 rounds of trying (1 hit each) and then we went for the safety cord.  Well, that broke, so Nate took a nice whack and it was raining Starburst, Hershey kisses and boxed raisins.  The kids did such a good job waiting their turns and listening to directions.  And, then they got crazy and screamed in Eliana's room for about 20 minutes after (thanks to the sugar!), turning the lights on and off.  We had a great time.  All the kids were tired by the end, but that didn't stop the party from continuing as the Newmans and Schlameus' came over for pizza and beer:)

Happy almost 4th birthday, Elle Belle! We love you so much.

  This was actually her birthday party at school..

 Ethan loved her party at school too, and sat down like he knew how to follow directions:)

 "I want ice cream cake with pink M&M's on top"

 The birthday crew plus Judy

 Waiting their turns patiently: from left to right; Mercer, Eliana, Katherine, Emery, Judy, Will, Keane, McKenzie, Lillian

 Ethan was so cute….he kept swinging back and forth, hardly making contact but loving being part of the action.  And, the kids were so patient with him; like he was the little mascot…

 Pin the tail on the donkey

 The day after, still wearing Christmas night gown:)

 The mayhem after candy burst out of the piñata

 Naked ballooning the day after the party

 Judy, what a huge helper

Ethan goes potty on the potty! (for the first time)

The last two nights after dinner, Ethan has been sitting in his booster chair and says, "poop." So both times I took him to the potty and took his diaper off, but nothing happened.  Then, this morning he said it again and I took him to the little Boon potty and took his diaper off.  He peed in the potty!  Then, this afternoon after picking up Eliana from pre-school, he said, "poop" again and went potty on the big potty chair (that just sits on top of the big toilet).  I am not holding my breath, because I remember these random, but lucky first time potties with Eliana.  However, it must be recorded:)  More pictures to come, but first I need to get back to prepping for Eliana's birthday party tomorrow...

Moments

I was just talking with my dear friend, Anna, the other day about parenting.  She's a new mom (8-week old daughter now) and was commenting how parenting is all about moments.  What a wonderful way to describe it.  There are indeed good moments, bad moments, momentous moments, moments you wish away and moments in between.  There is nothing quite like being a parent until it happens.  You never know if you're doing the right thing, there are no guidelines, there is just the evidence in front of you; aka your children.

In the last few weeks, we have had lots of moments as you would assume.  With an almost 4-year old, I swear most of the moments are focussed around discipline and trying to re-direct, trying to teach them about the world without saying, "no" too much.  I feel like compared to the 19-month old, the moments are less wonderful and more challenging.  But, there are still some golden ones.  I hardly get around to writing, but felt I needed to record these or they will be lost forever in the other millions of parenting moments:)

The other day I got to sit down and watch Eliana at soccer practice.  She was truly in her own world, just staring into space while her coach tried to get all the other 3-year olds to play red light green light.  What a moment for me to watch her focus (or not focus in this case) on whatever she wanted to think about at the time.  Another Eliana highlight has been watching her enjoy riding a scooter. She is truly a little book worm and watching her take interest in this activity has been really fun for Nate and I.  However, I caution other parents…when purchasing an all-plastic scooter from Goodwill and trying to put adult weight on the scooter while riding it over a bumpy asphalt road, the scooter may break (or for sure break, as was in our case).  Daddy and Wal Mart to the rescue!  We are now back on riding a newer scooter, or "goo goo" as Ethan puts it.

As Eliana learns to ride, Ethan is exploding in his verbal development.  He amazes me every day by what he says, including family member names, neighbor names, construction trucks, etc.  My favorite moment over the last two days has been Ethan repeatedly saying, "moon." Because of his very coveted stuffed animal bunny, "Bunny" from the "Goodnight Moon" book, he's been reading the word "moon" over and over for a while.  Well, the last 3 nights when we've gotten home at dusk he just starts saying, "moon" over and over, all through dinner, all through playing. We actually saw it tonight in real life and then a few minutes later it was shrouded by clouds.  So, we got to teach him, "cloudy." He's a sponge right now and it's so amazing.

Another Ethan moment that I keep going back to is him climbing in his laundry basket (well, for us it's more of a mesh tunnel).  Either way, I found him one morning in it all cuddled up with Bunny and his snow leopard stuffed animal.  I thought that after I had spent 20 minutes upstairs trying to get Eliana ready for school he would have crawled out of it, but I surprisingly came downstairs and there he was, still hanging out, on his back, holding his animals….in the mesh tunnel.  Perfect size for a little 19-month old.

Thank you, Eliana and Ethan.  These moments are precious.