Birthday Party!

It has been a while since I have blogged simply because our old computer took forever to upload pictures and my iPhone was recently dropped in the toilet by accident by a certain 3 year old. Well, instead of playing catch up, I am just going to start up again by posting about my girls' Alice in Wonderland birthday party. Of course, Aunt Marley made the cupcakes and did a superb job (as usual). The movie was playing on a big screen as the guests arrived. We played "Pin the Grin" on the Chesier Cat and a "Painting the Roses Red" game (similar to musical chairs). We had a tea party complete with tea cups, tea sandwiches (P B & J, pimento cheese, and chicken salad), sweet tea, lemonade, fruit and fruit dip, and crackers with Popeye's Passion dip (special thanks to the chefs! Grammy, Aunt Lynn and Crechale). Aunt Marley and I constructed a "Rabbit Hole" made out of cardboard boxes. It didn't transport well, so G-Paw, Uncle Dustin, and Ben reconstructed it (Thanks!). We ate cake, blew out candles, and opened presents. Ella blew out her own candle and had her first taste of cake with icing! Everything looked, tasted, and worked out great!! Chloe is now 3 years old, and Ella is now a 1 year old. I am looking forward to the fun times ahead that we have together. Thanks everyone who made the party such a memorable one!

Disney on Ice: Let's Celebrate

Around 1:00 on Saturday, I saw a facebook post about someone going to see Disney on Ice. Not long after, I bought tickets, and at 3:45, Ben, the girls and I were headed to Memphis for the 6:00 show. Chloe and Ella slept the whole way there, and we only missed the first minute of the show because the will call booth was on the opposite end from our seats at the Fed Ex Forum. The show was fun and exciting presenting holidays like Halloween, Valentine's Day, and Christmas, but the best thing for me was watching the girls' reactions. The show was full of Disney characters, but Chloe's favorite of the night was Mickey Mouse! I don't think she took her eyes off the ice rink the whole time. She danced and clapped, and Ella was right there with her! Ella was precious watching the show and her big sister. It was a very spontaneous trip, but so, so worth it! Would do it again in a heartbeat!

Chloe and Ella Updates

Ella has changed quite a bit over the past couple of weeks. This week, teeth #7 and #8 are in. They are the teeth next to her front top teeth. Now she is even with 4 teeth on top and bottom. She is also using those teeth a lot more. She eats goldfish crackers, Lima beans, animal crackers, French fries, green beans and macaroni and cheese among other things. She is also dancing and clapping and crawling and pulling up everywhere. We went to the GI doctor this week, and she is going to be off her reflux medication in a couple of months. She is also drinking out of a sippy cup now. No more bottle! But of course she will still be on formula for a few more months. Ella has also started signing a little bit. She signs ball, dog, milk and waves and says bye bye. She can also say ball, mama, dada, and she is really trying to say milk but it just sounds like ma.
Chloe has been busy with starting her first year of AWANA. She is the youngest in her class and is keeping up pretty good. She can get clingy because Ben and I are both leaders of her class, but I think she is learning a lot from the experience of being in an organized class, not to mention the Bible verses that are being hidden in her heart! I have been teaching Chloe how to read, and it is quite amazing at what this little girl can do. We also try to do a handprint or footprint picture each time she learns a new letter. We have also had a few great play dates at Mrs. Becky's. I really think Camden and Chloe are becoming great friends. Chloe had her ear tubes checkup yesterday and both her tubes are out of her ear drums. I can actually see one tube just sitting in her ear canal, but Dr. Carter said leave it alone, and they will fall out. They did a hearing test on her and told us that she is good to go. No need for us to come back. Both of my girls are doing great! Thank you Lord for your blessings!

Ella's Movie Adventures

Today was finally Ella's day to give being in the movie "The Help" a try. After anxiously waiting a phone call to head to base camp since Thursday, we showed up ready to go at 8 am on Monday. She was in very good spirits and I wasn't too nervous. I know that this movie thing means absolutely nothing, but I just really wanted her to give it a good try. While waiting at base camp (St. John's parking lot) for a while and after changing into her boy costume, we met Bryce Dallas Howard, Ahna o'Reilly, Corey Sorenson, Viola Davis, and other important people involved in the movie making process. All of them commented on how cute and sweet Ella was. They especially loved her blue eyes. Bryce talked to Ella about the scene and for her not to worry when Aibeleen raises her voice because she'll protect her. She also mentioned she has a 3 year old son. Ahna held her a little before she had to go. We were next shuttled to the set (Linda perkin's house on Poplar). We were escorted into the house which was transformed to the 60s, and into the nursery which was filled with old toys, books, crib, changing table, among the actresses chairs. We were in this room most of the 3 hours we were on set. The actresses were in and out, including Emma Stone (who agreed with me that it is "Totally hard to keep a baby quiet") and little Emma who plays Mae Mobley, along with her twin sister Ella! Didn't meet Ella. During the time they filmed the scene with Ella, she didn't fuss, but did do a fair amount of babbling and grabbed Bryce's clip on earring out of her ear. I don't think she could have done any better. I was extremely happy at how she did, especially since they tried to swaddle her in a hot room. They shot the scene twice with her in it, then decided to use a "swaddle pack" for this particular scene since she would not have been seen in it anyways. I don't think I'll ever understand what all was going on during the filming, but it was really, really neat to watch Hilly and Aibeleen confront each other so close to the action. Elizabeth (Ahna) held Ella most of the time in the scene until close to the end where Aibeleen tries to take her, but Hilly grabs her instead. That was pretty much it for the day, and I thought for Ella filming, but I got a call about 7 this evening that they want her at 3 tomorrow! Not her best time of day, but we'll see how it goes. Fun, fun, fun! Maybe I'll get some pictures of the actresses. (Need to mention that Ella and I also met Ashley Johnson during her fitting. She was extremely nice and talked to Ella a lot.)

Beary on Vacation

Grammy, Chloe, Ella, and I took a weekend trip to Tuscaloosa to visit my cousin Crechale and her family (Kevin, Andrew, and Conner). It was a very easy going three days. On the way down we saw a rainbow that looked like it started right in front on us un the road. In the picture I took it looked like the truck was driving right through it. Kevin cooked some wonderful suppers, and Crechale (and Andrew) prepared some great breakfasts. We visited the local children's museum, which was pretty neat. We also went to their neighborhood party which had inflatables and other fun things to do. We accidentally left Beary at their house. Chloe didn't even ask about him until the second night of being home. I told her he was sleeping with Andrew and Conner, but he is coming home soon. (Crechale mailed him.) Chloe was completely fine with my answer. She has been sleeping with "Donald", a duck that was given to her by my cousin Amy when Chloe was 1. He was just recently named. =)

Chloe and the Turtle

Last week on Wednesday, Ben brought home a cute little turtle that he found at work. Chloe had no problem befriending this little guy. She picked him up with one hand and carried him around until he touched her hand with his foot. She squealed and dropped him, but picked him right up again. He was a really fast turtle, and not shy at all. He was out of his shell the whole time we played with him. We put him in a spot he might like, hoping he would stick around, but when we checked later he was gone.