Singin' and Rhymin'

We're always making music in our house. There is no shortage of these moments to capture on video. Singing, Hungarian Rhyming, Miss Mary Macking...we've got it all covered.

Ella sharing her PASSIONATE rendition of "Let It Go".

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERdhb-auat8

 

 

Hungarian fun with Nagymama. 

 



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs7sPny7lMQ

 







I shared this video of Ella doing Miss Mary Mack last week...

 





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_xahOc741g

 

...this week was Oliver's turn.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSXtgcChwOw

 

 



Life Lately

When Miss Margaret (Abby's dance teacher and our girls' favorite babysitter) was with the girls the other day, she sent me these two pictures of our beautiful, little dancers.

What's better than an afternoon nap? An afternoon nap with Daddy (and Buffy)! 

A couple of weeks ago, the girls celebrated the 3rd birthday of their special friend, Isabel. Her birthday party was at the yummy frozen yogurt shop, SweetFrog. The girls had a lot of fun. They weren't so sure about the cute frog with gigantic eyes that came out, but loved every minute of the party. Especially the fact that they played with all of their friends AND went home with a belly full of ice cream. Sweet! :) Happy Birthday Isa! We love you.

Abby continues to love her ballet class. It is probably the fastest 45 minutes of her week. She looks forward to it until it arrives and talks about it the whole drive home. Actually, Ella loves ballet class too. Not only does she get to play in the waiting area with a bunch of little siblings her age, but she watches the class and dances along.

 

Sometimes getting four new teeth at one time means you get to sleep with mommy and daddy for the rest of the night.

 

March 18th was a special day in our house. We had our copy of Frozen pre-ordered. I was so excited to see the look on the girls' faces when they opened their surprise package to find this: 

Just because you should know Mommy's falling in love with this little peanut too.

Oliver wanted to hear whether or not Wilbur lived and what happened to Charlotte's babies...

While I was working on some emails, Ella climbed up next to me with her computer and started doing to same thing. Ooooh I could seriously kiss those cheeks all day!

 

What? Doesn't everyone's Monday morning library pile look like this? Probably not, but this is our norm and we love every reading through every single page together. Sweet trips to the library at the beginning of the week = happy bookworms (all three of us!)

 

Teacher Abby left the room for a bathroom break. When I asked where Ella was, Abby said she was waiting for the teacher to return and sitting in her seat just like all the other students. I walked in to find her chatting away with Amelia, Annie, Ava and Hazel. Little sister knows how to play school! 

 

Abby: Class, raise your hand if you know the answer to my question...

.

 

One of the best moments of my week was taking Abby to the library for a non rushed evening play time. She asked if I could take her back after dinner for some computer time and to play board games with me (since it is a little hard to do for long when Ella is running around the library in the morning and pulling books off of every shelf). It was a perfect way for us to spend some sweet quality time together. We both came home extra refreshed.

She didn't know I was recording this one. We've got so much Frozen happening in our home at all times and we are loving it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avBF1e1iFDk

Just Mommy and Ella at the grocery store. I realized recently that this doesn't happen very often.  When I have the option to run errands with one child, I tend to bring Abby because for a while taking a baby along was more work and Abby loves going with me. Well, the truth is Ella is big girl now and LOVES (even begs us) to take her "BYE"(even if she just got home from somewhere...she wants "More bye!"). It is quite dramatic, so we have to make sure every one gets equal time. We had a lot of fun together! As we walked down the aisles, she kept saying, "Dat Mama! Dat Peeeeesssssse!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVBNOxTe1fk

Ella is becoming quite the little trainer. Oliver is a true puppy and wants to jump on everyone and nibble toes with his sharp teeth. Ella has found her voice and let's him know she is not having it. (We didn't Molly was Oliver yet, when this video was taken!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_JZMuydoPw

Our girls love making up role playing games. Store, doctor, library, wedding and work are some of their current favorites. In this video, Ella is at Abby's store. Ella is talking a lot more now, but her current phrase that cracks us up is "Ummmmmm....i dunno!" Check out her hands and how she tilts her head to the side. It gets us every time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YEIgVW2UNM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rASARMsuclk

Grandma, your hard work has paid off. Ella is really working on perfecting her Miss Mary Mack skills for the next time she sees you. I'm impressed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_xahOc741g

Abby loves having a little buddy chasing her around everywhere. She keeps thanking us for letting her have her very own puppy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efZ7EsCxYUo

A New Best Friend

Meet the newest member of our family...our tiny toy poodle puppy, Oliver. Right now, his name is Oliver, but this afternoon HER name was Molly. We've had our sweet little pup for two days now and we were told when we got him that he was a girl. So, we named him and have thought of him as a girl until we took him to the vet this afternoon and learned that we were wrong all along. I got a message from Joe while he was at the vet that said, "You better start thinking of boy dog names..."  Surprise! Wish I would have known that before I came home from Petsmart with all this pink. Sorry Oliver. I'll go back and get you that cute boy collar with a bow tie, but you are stuck with the pink doggy bed.

We weren't planning on getting a puppy yet. I love dogs, but I liked the idea of waiting until we were done having babies before getting a dog.  Joe was really ready. It didn't seem like the right time to me, but after having Buffy around for a month, my heart softened a bit. I went from saying, "No way! No dogs right now" to "The only way I will get a dog is if it is small (meaning it wouldn't take up a lot of space/knock the kids down) and doesn't shed (already enough to clean up, don't need to add drool and dog hair)."  

Fast forward five days. Joe comes home from a meeting where he met with a couple who unexpectedly breeds toy poodles. They just so happened to have a puppy that needed a home. They were so adamant about finding a good home for the puppy that they wanted us to adopt him for free. After Joe came home and we discussed it, we couldn't say no to this sweet face! Did I mention he is small, doesn't shed and even resembles Buffy a bit? God is so kind to give us the desires of our hearts even in the smallest details. This opportunity fell into our laps and blessed us, so despite the extra hustle that comes with little kids and a potty training puppy, we became a pet owning family overnight!  

The girls are totally in love. Ella keeps calling him, "Buff". Abby stays in the kitchen with him when he isn't sleeping because she is very sensitive to the fact that he misses his mommy. She doesn't want him to be alone. They both love sitting down and having him crawl into their laps. But, when Ollie (how do you like that smooth transition from Molly to Ollie) starts playing the girls freak out because he wants to pounce on their feet and nibble their socks. It is so sweet to watch him pad around the room and attempt to successfully escape the kitchen.

He loves curling up with Joe as he works downstairs.

  

bonding

Welcome to our family, Oliver! Joe needed another guy around here. We love you already. Now, let's work on going potty outside, ok boy?  

When Winter Won't Go Away...

...pretend it's summer. 

That's where we've been for the last two days....pretending it's summer at the Six Flags Great Escape Lodge and Indoor Water Park. As I was brainstorming something fun and special to do for Joe's birthday this year,  I decided to do a overnight mini family vacation. After the winter we've had, the trip was timely and refreshing. It's almost spring, but still feels like the middle of winter here. It may have been "pretend" warm weather, but two days spent in bathing suits and playing in water was just what we needed to hold us over until spring breaks through in a few weeks.

Our girls were squealing with excitement as we packed up our car and got ready to go.

After an afternoon of swimming, they took a quick rest before we headed to dinner. 

To top it all off, without any coordinating, we ended up taking our trip at the same time as some of our good friends. It was an added joy to be able to hang out with them and celebrate their daughter's 8th birthday with them at a beach themed cupcake party!

Matthew, Mason, Maddy, Ella and Abby

The Uhl Family

Ella rocking the shades 

my loves.

Ella and Mason 

The trip wouldn't be complete without a handheld family photo shoot.

funny faces

Hard to believe we've already been together for more than seven years (celebrating seven years married in May)

smoosh

  

The party animal ready to call it a night...

Day 2: Ready for round 2 waiting for the park to open. Ella loved the slides and wanted to do them over and over again. Abby loved the big raft slide through a dark tunnel and took turns riding it with Mommy and Daddy. Both girls LOVED the lazy river. At one point, I think we went around five times before taking a break. If only I could have taken a picture of Ella's face while she was floating along on her back in the river. Her face was priceless. Her joyful smile and squealing were contagious.

hanging out with Miss Angela

Yay for a fun family vacation! Now, these water bugs are ready for warm weather and summer swimming! 

An Afternoon at the Ballet

After a great morning at church on Sunday, we all settled in for afternoon naps. Are these two the perfect pair or what? 

After we all rested up, Nagymama, Abby and I got ready for an afternoon at the ballet. We went to see the Cinderella ballet downtown at The Egg . It was exciting for Abby, not only because she loves dance and knows the story of Cinderella, but because this spring she will dance in her very first ballet recital at The Egg. 

Ella didn't come with us, but she couldn't resist a photo op. 

scarf twins

Abby enjoyed the show, but wished there was dialogue. It was cute to watch her absorb and process the abstract parts of the story portrayed through dance. She just couldn't understand why the clock had legs! There is also a big difference between the Cinderella fairy tale and the Disney version, so I was glad to expose Abby to another version in real life. When the prince appeared, I pointed him out to her.
M: There's the prince.
A: Mommy, that's not the prince. That's the CHARMING prince!

And just in case you were wondering what this little lady did while we were away....

an afternoon date with Daddy complete with a cookie and hot chocolate.  Total happiness!