Let's hear it for the BOY!!!

Did you know that that is possibly my favorite song ever to be born out of the 80s? Also, did you know that I choreographed a dance to that song and then performed it with the choir I junior conducted in high school?

Photographic evidence:

Also, did you know that Ellie is telepathic? Because she is. She totally predicted this:

We're having a boy in May!!!

 

Over the moon excited.

There's a slight glitch, however. My loving, devoted, wonderful, handsome, slightly short-sighted husband feels that our my name choice for our son is slightly embarrassing. He said that we just can't name our child after a Harry Potter character. He did, however, say that naming our son after a former US president or a certain libertarian Indianian (yes, I just googled what people from Indiana are called) would be acceptable.

So I am officially letting everyone know that our son will be named after Ronald Reagan and Ron Swanson. NOT the most heroic/hilarious character in the most epic book series of our generation. Be sure to let Scott know you understand this every time you see him from now until May. Then we can probably tell him the truth (he won't want to go to all of the hustle of changing Ron's name after the paperwork has been done...).

In the meantime I will be making about a million of these. Because they are literally the cutest thing I have ever seen.

Conversations

Ellie to dad in the car: "You're so stinky. You poop all the time!"

Ellie on Sunday: "Bridger has to marry me because he loves me."

Ellie tonight: "Ross is going to marry me because he twirls me when he's a bad guy." (I ask her about her previous engagment to Bridger) "No, Bridger is sick. He has boogies in his nose."

Evelyn Valli

 

 

 

My favorite things about my 1-year-old:

She is SNUGGLY!

She is so sweet and calm

She is always happy. Always.

For some reason she can't get enough of Ellie, even though Ellie spends most of their time together bossing her around/trying to tackle her.

She is the chubbiest little butter I have ever met.

She is my love and I am so grateful for my little Thanksgiving baby.

Fogotten Files and a Poll

First off, many of these deserve their own post, but we all know that's not going to happen...

The squirrels have been ravaging local pumpkins. My friend Lindsay took matters into her own hands and actually attempted to disarm one of these sneaky vermin by launching a punkin chunkin attack- unfortunately the squirrel community at large remains committed to gutting all pumpkins in the greater Dearborn community.

Please disregard the trash cans in the background and enjoy the lovely girls frolicking in fall foliage.

Every mom in Michigan knows what this is: the penny pony ride conveniently located past the cash registers, right outside the reeking can recycling center in Meijer. Ellie was thrilled with her "horsey ride" meanwhile I was trying real  hard to not lose my lunch from the fumes...

Ellie's preschool Halloween party. We made mud cake and monsters for the kids to take home. Ellie is the purple princess on the end (obviously... she was a different kind of princess for every Halloween event we attended). Ev is wearing Ellie's costume from 2 years ago.

I took a sick day a couple of weeks ago and we watched Harry Potter (per Ellie's request. No seriously). I just had to document this moment: that is a pure Ellie outfit. She would dress that way everyday if the weather was nice enough/Pigs flew and I allowed it.

This day Ellie was a vampire princess for Halloween.

The actual day! Trick or treating in the frigid weather. The other people are our dear friends the Pences. We saw the most amazing house- the picture doesn't capture its awesomeness. The people who live there spend two weeks shooting cobwebs all over the place with hot glue gun attached to an air compressor.

My wreath. I love it. Also, I made some silhouettes for the front window.

Ev enjoying her first birthday present from Auntie Shell.

The Thankful Tree from Ellie's preschool. Ellie said she is thankful for her family and dolls.

 

Secondly, we find out whether we're adding a Ron or Evangeline to our family the week after Thanksgiving. Care to put in your guess?

We're so glad when daddy comes home

 

Glad as we can be

Clap our hands and shout for joy,
Then climb upon his knee,

 



 Put our arms around his neck,
Hug him tight like this,
Pat his cheeks, then give him what?

A great big kiss.

We sure love our daddy around here.

Third Time's a Charm

You guessed it- we're totally out of our minds. Seriously. Complete and utter chaos coming our way in May.

 

(ps, I'm the one having a baby- not Scott or Ellie. Just wanted to make sure there is no confusion)

Academia

Ellie has enetered the world of acedemia, via Cherry Hill Co-Op Preschool. And so far she is doing great.

 

Bracing her mind and body for a day of learning:

 

Some tactile learning at the sand table:

 

A lesson in home ec:

 

Learning about abstract art:

 

Conferring with her teacher on the proper use of a bingo marker:

 

First dress up of the day (I think she was channeling Tina Turner a little bit)

 

She decided to change to the classic mermaid look next (I love that she is checking herself out in the mirror)

 

On dish duty (if only this didn't only happen while playing..)

 

Ellie also got some ironing done:

Meanwhile Ev has been turning into the chubbiest little cutie in the world. Serioulsy, I could just eat her.

 

Fish cake, swimming and princess dresses

 

 

Ellie has many people who love her, so this lucky girl got about 10 princess dresses and accessories, along with a new princess doll and a princess tent, not to mention a new princess movie, fruit snacks, and just about anything else you can associate with princesses. She was in heaven. And we had a rare stroke of brilliance and decided to spreadout her gifts over several days, so the birthday princess magic lasted for about a week. Then she had a swimming party with some of her good friends- it was a blast! Seriously, Ellie could not stop talking about her party for about a month before it happened and in the week since we had it she has told just about everyone she meets that she had a birthday party with fish cake, party hats and her friends. I'm thinking that next year we're just going to have to go all out and have a full on princess party (Sorry Bridger and Ross...). And just for the record, that fish cake was the bane of my existence for about 24 hours. Never again, friends. Never again.