Connor Prairie

I found this post from a few weeks back but didn't publish it yet. We already miss CP. Although we are surrounded by great things to do here (Kings Island, the zoo, the museum, exploration junction, etc) we loved our membership to Conner Prairie.

Written about a month ago:

We have been spending a lot of time at Connor Prairie. I love how close it is and how it fills an hour or two of time. Thursday mornings tend to be Connor Prairie mornings. We haven't spent a ton of time outside yet as it is always raining, but here are a few pics from the park:

I am so sorry, Son!

MJ threw a fit (a full out fit) until I put him in Laney's dress. Ella's friend came to the door and she quickly shut the door saying that they can't see her brother looking like a girl :)

2 teeth lost in less than a week!

How can little Wille be 2?

Today Matthew is 2! That is even hard for me to say as I can't believe that I have been a mom of 3 for 2 years. I feel like he was just born but given his latest tricks (escaping from the house, taking his shoes off and jumping in the mud puddles and diving off the barbie jeep when the girls drive it), I KNOW I have a toddler on my hands!

Matthew had his 2 year appointment with Dr. Scott before we moved. He was usually hovering around the 25th percentile for weight and 50th for height but now he is 50th for weight and 75th for height. It cracks me up though because with Ella I would have remembered (or had the RN write down the height/weight). The third time around, I just want to make sure he is growing. Oh the beginnings of being the jilted third child :) Guess the crackers and cheese and the continual eating is beefing him up though so that does make me happy.

We were at the park the other day and an older girl asked Matthew about the holes in his belly. It reminded me to ask Dr. Scott if his scars from his surgery would go away and Dr. Scott (who is now my facebook friend...after years of begging him to be..lol) said probably not. One is very small but the other is a good cm. It will be fine once he has 6 pack but for now he has 2-3 scars :(

We continue to keep Matthew on a prescription for any areas of concern on his body. If there is any type of pimple or red mark, we put a creme on it to help fight it just in case it is an infection. He is at higher risk for getting MRSA again so we have to stay on top of those "odd" red marks. It is tough this time of year as my kids are getting eaten by bugs so it is easy to think it is something serious when in fact it is just a bug bite.

Matthew yells a lot and although can say words, prefers to scream. Oh, it is f-u-n! But I thought I would have an in depth conversation with MJ:

1) What is your favorite color? err
2) What is your favorite toy? cracker
3) What do you love about your family? socks
4) Who is your best friend? Yaney
5) Who makes you smile? My car

**This conversation took over 5 minutes as I tried to get different answers than cracker**

Favorite Sayings:

--I want more

--Cool

--Ella, yaney

--More (insert any word you want)

Matthew found his birthday gift and although was happy to push it in the kitchen, he had no idea how to open up his own gift. I am sure it has nothing to do with his older sisters opening his gifts for him??

We got him a Cars garage!
For the record, he played with it for 3 minutes and then went back to Captain Destructo mode!

I have enjoyed making a few cakes in the past and this year, I really wanted to make Matthew a cake. We have the Betty Crocker bake and fill pan which really makes round cakes easy (in theory). The first two cakes stuck and even though the directions said to NOT use cooking spray, the third try I used cooking spray and as you can see, it turned out really well :)

Laney loved helping me decorate the cake or really just licking the bowl

Since Jason was out of town until late the night of Matthew's birthday, we had a party the next day. Luckily he is two and we could pull that off :)

A football! He immediately threw it at the wall and laughed. Oh buddy!

A froggy from Aunti Cindy

We invited family, friends and neighbors to the party.
Kids kept coming in and out, grabbing drinks, cake and ice cream.
I loved all of the fun!
Here are a few of our neighbors: Donnie, Ellie, Sophie

Then it was time to play with his new bat

Grandpa Mike pitched while Nana Dean and I played outfield.

I love this picture

Ella made a few really good bat to ball connections especially for having little to no practice.

Then the big boys had to play. Jason was whacking them out while my dad using his fast pitch. Then my dad put Matthew in front of him so that Jason wouldn't nail him :)

What a sweet pic of Matthew and Laney with their pillow pets

Although Matthew has been my most challenging toddler by far, I love him to pieces. His smile melts my heart and his laughter is contagious. We love you Matthew, and we are looking forward to seeing what next year brings!

I only have 5 cents...

Last week while Jason and I were in the midst of unpacking, my parents so graciously offered to take the girls to Tennessee with them Thursday-Sunday. In case you are wondering, unpacking an entire house with 3 young kids is incredibly tough so not only were we excited for the girls we needed some time to make this house our home.
While they were there, they had a blast! The girls are at great ages for outings and my parents even said there were no fits (what is their secret?). They road horses (Ella's coach even got hers to gallop), got horseshoes, went to the library, went on walks with the neighbors, fished, did crafts, played on the playgrounds, swam at the beach, etc. Not quite sure how they packed so much into just a few days but they did and the girls had a blast.

Here are a few pics from my mom:

There are carousel animals in their library!
I had no idea and look forward to visiting this on our next trip.

Reading to Grandpa Mike

Always a good day for fishing

Arts and crafts are always a hit with the girls
Laney had asked to make an umbrella when we were there a few months ago but we decided on a ballerina plaque instead. Apparently this time she ran to the umbrella and really wanted to decorate it. Nana & Grandpa are much nicer than I so of course she got to paint it. But what I love is that the paint is not waterproof so it is more an indoor umbrella (which goes well with an almost 2 year old).

Ella painted a plaque that reads Love Spoken Here

Ella's horse galloping!
She loved it!

The highlight of the horse excursion :)

It is always funny to hear things that kids say and here are a few my parents picked up on:

1) Grandpa: Ella, is Matthew a good brother?
Ella (laughing/smirking): Nope, he pulls my hair.

2) They were talking about money and Ella said she got 4 quarters from the toothfairy. My mom asked Laney about her money and Laney said, "I don't have any. I just have one nickle that I found on the road." Insert violin music there :)

Thanks for a great time Nana and Grandpa!!

Moving, moving, moving

Friday, June 10th was the day the large 26' UHaul arrived to take our stuff to Cincinnati. After 5 1/2 long months, we got a good offer on our house. Although it is bitter sweet to leave some of our best friends back in Indy, we know we are making the right move.

The goodbye was going well until Ella's best friend, Carly, gave her a note. It read:

The tears started flowing and you know how that goes. Once one starts crying, everybody starts crying. It was an emotional goodbye to say the least.

Then after we got that note, our neighbor, Melissa Crowder, stopped by to give us this adorable gift. It is already on display in our new kitchen.

There aren't any pictures of the moving day because it was hot, we were tired, we were crabby, and well, once we got into Cincy, we never saw our kids. We live on a cauldesac where there are about 8 other young kids so the girls were out riding their bikes the minute we were off the truck.

My dad joked around that Ella's training wheels would be off in 2 weeks because none of the neighborhood kids use them, well, who needs 2 weeks? They were off in less than an hour and she was off and biking away. A-mazing! Then to try and top that, she lost her front tooth just a few hours later.

Although I will post pics of the house later this week (hopefully), I want to give Kel a little teaser. Check out our mantle:

Who is that yummy guy in the middle giving me a rose? ;)

Ella's Last Day of School

I swore I would never be one of "those moms". You know what I mean....the moms that cry when their kids "graduate" grades, who cries at performances, at games, at quiet moments with my kids. OK, I am SO one of the "those moms" and proud of it. I have cried at everything mentioned above and although I didn't cry when I took Ella to school today, I sure got sentimental.

We are moving next week and seeing her say goodbye to so many good friends was tough. Yesterday we were at the park with Kelly and her girls when a mom asked me if I was Ella's mom. I had not met this lady before but she told me that her daughter, Carly, was in speech with Ella. I have heard about Carly before as they attend speech twice a week together. Carly and Ella sound so much alike in their struggles with speech but both have progressed well. I discussed with Carly's mom my concern with another habit Ella has and she had an awesome suggestion. How do I meet even more wonderful people the week before we move?

I digress.....so today we walked Ella to school. Although I thought we would do this more often, we have only done this twice. Ella rode her bike there while I took Laney in the wagon. Then Laney rode the bike back and I took the wagon. It worked out perfectly.

Ella has grown so much this year. She is at grade level for reading, enjoys math, is a social butterfly but does have a few things to work on before first grade (writing her middle name, counting by 5s consistently, basics of money). But we can handle that, right?

First day of school:

I forgot to take the camera on our walk so I will just repost her latest school pic :)

Kindergarten has been SO much fun, and I can't wait to see what 1st grade brings!