a little bit about Elsie this month

She is obsessed with the Disney princesses! I love it. I fully encourage it. She got some princess dresses for Christmas and has been wearing them ever since. Her and I try to convince Aaron every day to take us back to Disneyland.

This girl can talk your ear off. She is non-stop! And every other word is "Why?"

The other day when I was telling her to hurry and flush the toilet, she said to me "Be patient, little one." What?! I hadn't laughed so hard in a long time.

Another little funny phrase: We were looking for her shoes the other day and she said "Oh crocs, where are you?" I wish I could describe the face she was making, too. Oh, she's so funny.

We took Elsie and her friend Olivia to see "Princess and the Frog" a couple weeks ago. They were dancing to the music and totally enthralled. The princess is named Tiana, but Elsie calls her T-pana (because she calls Qiana, her cousin, "Pana"). I think it sounds like a rapper name.

Her friend had a birthday earlier this month, so Elsie is obsessed about her "happy birthday". She knows it is next month and that she will be three. She can finally maneuver her fingers to do two, three, four, etc. She's such a big girl. She always thinks she's going to get her ears pierced like her friend did. That's going to have to wait!

Aaron teases me for saying "actually" all the time. It is a little out of control, I'll admit. Well, guess who else says it all the time?! Haha. Two of me...have fun with that, Aaron!

I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!

Cookies

Aaron wanted to make sugar cookies because a) he thought it would be fun for Elsie and b) he wanted to eat them. We knew we didn't need to have a bunch of cookies sitting around, so we decided to actually deliver some to our friends and neighbors. I've never been really good about doing neighbor gifts. We made lots of cookies, Elsie had a blast cutting out dough and decorating cookies, and Aaron and I managed to stop arguing and enjoy ourselves. Haha. No really, he was driving me crazy. It was his idea and I did all the work. Then he was sitting down in his little brown chair in the corner of the living room (you guys know what I'm talking about) while I was trying to help Elsie and do everything else. I had to give him a little reminder (I said it in a really nice voice...kind of) that he was the one that wanted to do it and he needed to come help. Oh, can't you feel the Christmas spirit?! No worries. Like I said, it turned out to be fun and we saved some yummy cookies for us as well!!

I want candy!

For many Christmases, my family would get together with the Woodruff's to decorate gingerbread (well, graham cracker) houses. We always looked forward to it and had such a fun time visiting, decorating, and making ourselves sick on candy and frosting.

I decided to give it a try again this year with some of our family friends. I emailed Janice to get instructions on how to make the houses and frosting, and she totally pulled through. Everything turned out just great.

Elsie sat by me on the counter while I made the frosting, and she was helping herself to some as well. Just like her mom!!

We had our friends the Collins' and the Eames' over. All the kids really enjoyed it. It made me so happy because it brought back good memories.

Not a big surprise...Elsie was very meticulous about where she put each piece of candy and didn't want ANY help.

The finished product. It took about 10 tries to get a picture where most of them are smiling and looking at the camera.

So Pam, Diana, and I decorated some houses when the kids finished theirs. The kids ran wild upstairs and down (the Dads were supposed to be watching them) while we attempted to be creative. We took a picture of the three of us, too, but I couldn't get myself to post it. Yeah, I'm not looking to great in it...no make-up, hair that needs a trim BADLY, and a few holiday pounds.

All the regular days in between

So what's been going on in our normal, everyday life?

Elsie is fully potty-trained...and has been since day two of our potty-training experience. I don't know how to explain it except she AWESOME! No, really. She just totally got it. She was obviously ready. I guess that's what happens when you wait until your child is almost 3. Whatever the case, I'm so relieved and she's been loving it. She gets sticker everytime she goes, and used to get a gummy worm. Now she doesn't really care about the gummy worm. What a strange child! She definitely does not have a sweet tooth like her mom.

Aaron and I are enjoying being parents to Elsie so much right now. Not that we haven't always loved her, but she is SO MUCH FUN right now. I hope there is more of this to come because I don't want this to go away. We want her to stay this age forever! She says and does so many funny things...I wish I wrote them down more often. She loves to give hugs and kisses. She always is telling me "I love you, Mommy" or "I love you so much" (and when she says "so" it kinda sounds like "show"...ha ha.) She's the perfect little girl for our family.

I've been busy with Young Women's. I try to be a good, fun mom for Elsie. We play games and watch shows at night. We're reorganizing and rearranging our upstairs to create a little playroom for Elsie and her toys. I still go to the gym a lot, but it's not doing a whole lot of good right now. Darn holidays! Darn treats! Plus, does anyone else feel so lazy in the winter?! Aaron goes to work, but gets home as soon as possible. We love it when he gets home. I've been working on a few craft projects with some friends. I love crafting. I don't even care if it's helping them on their projects. It's so relaxing to me...therapeutic, I guess.

I feel like over the past few weeks I've had a lot on my mind, and I'm finally working through it all. I'm loving the Christmas season. I needed it!

December is here already?!

I LOVE DECORATING FOR CHRISTMAS!!! It brings back so many wonderful, special memories of my childhood with my family. I love listening to Christmas music, reminiscing while I open up all of my ornaments, seeing the house full of knick-knacks (normally it drives me crazy!), and being with my little family. I was hoping Elsie would be into it this year, and she did not let me down. She loved decorating the tree. She would put two or three ornaments on the same branch, and I had to remind myself not to care. Don't you love the tongue?

November in a nutshell

It's been so long since I've done a real blog post that I can't even remember how to put pictures in the right order. So the end of the month comes first!

We spent Thanksgiving in Utah with Aaron's family. It was a nice mini-vacation for all of us. Elsie had attention all hours of the day, Aaron and I got some time just the two of us, and we got to be with family and friends.

All of Aaron's immediate family came over Thanksgiving afternoon. Aaron played football with his Utah buddies that morning. We ate lots of good food, visited, played a game, laughed and laughed, and had fun watching the kids play.

Elsie was really excited to see Harper (and the rest of her cousins). She loves babies!

One morning I came upstairs and Elsie and Grandma were playing on the kitchen floor. Elsie was pretending to make cookies in the oven and loving it. I love how fun Grandma and Grandpa Wise are!

Saturday evening was the big BYU v. Utah game. Aaron and Gary were glued to the couch...but still had time to smile for the camera.

My sweet Elsie!

While the boys watched the game, Grandma and I were entertained by Elsie. She loves to run up and down the hallway. It's just the perfect length for those little legs of hers.

Elsie doing ballet.

Elsie loved singing and dancing on the fireplace. She was SO hilarious! (I posted video of one of her performances and one of her dances...but it showed up at the end of the post.)

Listening to a little Christmas music to top off the evening.

Mid-Month:

Aaron had Veteran's Day off from work. It was on a Wednesday, so we couldn't really get away. Instead we went to a really great park with some friends, the Eames, and went out to lunch.

Elise being a "pirate."

Hailey, Elsie, and Ellie

The beginning of the month:

Angie already posted about her weekend getaway down to visit us, so I stole most of these pictures off of her blog. We were so excited to have Gigi (well, Elsie is actually saying "Angie" now) and Qiana come for weekend. Elsie and Q couldn't get enough of each other, Angie and I had some great sister time and craft time, we played games, ate good food. I really love having them around. It's just so fun, relaxing, and easy.

These videos go with the Thanksgiving post:

Elsie performing her made-up song.

Elsie dancing to Kanye with Grandma. So I'm not going to deny that Sylvia and I might sound a little dorky, but just pay attention to Elsie. She was loving it!