Winter Feast and a weekend with Robyn

On the 10th Matt and I attended our Annual Winter Feast at the Dunn-Schwarz home. The feast was a month late this year due to Melanie and Axel being in Paris during December for Mel's final installment of courses at Le Cordon Bleu for her Patisserie Degree. Our meal was inspired by their Christmas trip through Germany down to the pretzels dipped in lye to create a perfect brown, crunchy outside! It was an awesome meal (as usual) and a wonderful evening with friends. Thanks Grandma T for babysitting the girls so we could go enjoy some adult time. Matt and I have to really start thinking about finding a babysitter in town we can use regularly. I need a friend with a teenager I trust darn it!

The table at Winter Feast

Grandma T and the never-sleeping children

For MLK weekend, Robyn flew out from Houston to stay with us. It has been over a year since I have gotten to see her and I was so excited just to see my friend face to face for a while! Robyn took Madi's room and the girls bunked in with Matt and I. This made the most sense as the girls end up with us half the night anyways (also because we couldn't remember where we put the air mattress, turns out we stuck it in the tent bag and the tent in the air mattress box . . . parenthood may be wearing on the Howe sense of organization).

Just so we all know what it looks like when Ella sleeps on mom

Robyn flew in Friday evening, just in time to pick the girls up and have dinner at home. Luckily she was still on Texas time and had no problem with all of us going to bed by nine. We spent Saturday taking Madi to dance, having lunch at the Kensington Cafe, and fulfilling Madeline's very loudly voiced desire of taking Aunt Robyn to "her" park. Saturday was finished off perfectly with a visit from the Kuhlman family for a bbq. As expected, we served sausages and hot dogs along with famed Siesel's baked beans. Amy, Dan and Everett hung out until Madeline fell asleep in her big chair in the living room. She and Everett had so much fun running around the house and yard!

Sister love at lunch

One heart one way - My mom happened to be in Sigma Kappa land while Amy, Robyn, and I were together

We all woke up Sunday exhausted from too much fun on Saturday. After a relaxing morning, I took the girls on a looooong drive while Aunt Robyn visited another friend (and enjoyed some much needed quiet) and Matt went golfing. We rounded out the day playing in the back yard where Lani ate a bee which involved her then being forced to take benadryl and be watched for hours.

"fun" hangover

Ella trying to figure out why Madi was so sleepy

Mommy win during our Sunday drive

 Monday was supposed to be my special grown up day with Robyn . . . but Madeline developed a fever overnight and had to stay home with us. So after Madi's first nap of the day, she went to Boudin with us for lunch since Robyn can't get good sourdough in Texas. We went home where Madi took a second nap and I left her with Matt while Robyn and I went for pedicures (so nice). Sadly, I had to bring Robyn to the airport and send her back to Houston. I can't wait until I can go see her house and have a nice peaceful visit without my girls!

The girls re-organizing their dishes

Madeline spent the rest of this week vacillating back and forth between running a crazy fever and feeling fine. She stayed home Tuesday with me, went to school Wednesday and on Thursday afternoon I got a call that she needed to be picked up early for a fever. Matt worked from home with Madi on today. I was so sad that Madeline was sick this week (and not just because my adult only day had a kid in it). She was supposed to go to the zoo on her first field trip with school this morning and had to miss it to her fever. Hopefully Madi will recover from whatever is going on and we will all be able to go to work and school next week.

Trying to tempt Madi to eat a whole meal on Tuesday at her 2nd favorite place (sonic)

Swinging in the back yard

Ella hanging out while Madi slept on Thursday afternoon

Eleanor is ONE!

Ella's party was wonderful. Auntie Nee took gorgeous pictures and the kids all seemed to enjoy themselves. It was nice and small since many people were still away for the holiday. Ella had no problem diving into her cake, she seemed to think the frosting was the best part. We got lucky with gorgeous weather so we could hang outside and use all of our fun backyard toys. Ella was gifted with books and it has been wonderful reading new stories at bedtime.

What about us mom?

Seriously mom, what about us?

Lizzie in the sand box and Ella practicing her strut

William . . . possibly eating sand

Paige on the run

Ella's cake!

Getting ready for cake. Getting a bib on is a two person effort!

Madi!

"Why are people singing?"

Cupcakes for Abby

Ella thinking about what side to work on next

Madi and Joss having cake and a chick chat

Big girls in the tent with the babies

Look at what I can do!

William showing us the terrible placement of our plant

Shopping

Mom time

:)

How many girls can we fit in the car?

dancing

Madi helping Ella open her gifts

Bubbles!

Seriously, the coolest picture ever!

Eleanor's favorite part of presents is eating the tissue paper

Sisters!

Ella at one year old is:
HUGE! She is currently 23.8 pounds (91st percentile), 30 3/4 inches (92nd percentile and 3/4 inches taller than Madeline at age 1), and has an 18 1/4 inch head circumference (84%, smaller than Madi at age 1).
Ella loves to growl at animals and things (especially her Lion finger puppet book and dogs walking by) and lay on pillows (and dogs) like she is going to sleep at any moment . . . but of course she never does. Ella blows kisses now and tries to talk to us (she is saying more which sounds like mas, doggy, dada, trying for agua but it sounds like ag, and signing all done and more). She walks very well, inside and outside the house . . . but she thinks she is ready for stairs and jumping even though she isn't, this is a constant source of fear for Matt and I. The likelihood is that Ella will be in a cast before age 2 since she is such a daredevil. Ella loves to climb the slide, climb the stepstool, and climb up her chair onto the couch.
She is into everything! Ella tries to put her fingers in sockets, opens drawers and cabinets (occasionally closing her fingers in them), and climb up onto whatever surface is available to her. She pulls all of the plasticware and kids dishes out of the girls' cupboard in the kitchen and walks around sucking on the empty water bottles she finds there (this has led to a reorganization of many kitchen cabinets to allow Ella to access the cabinets she likes without getting into danger). Ella also loves to empty all of the girls clothes out of the bedroom drawers and leave me giant piles of clothes in their room. I am beginning to think she will be the one Howe in our house who is not OCD about organization!
Mealtime with Eleanor is a mess! She throws handfuls of food into her mouth and eats like a football player. Her lap is always full of stuff after a meal. If Ella is not in her high chair or if you sit too close to her, she tries to feed you whatever she is eating (she also feeds Lani a ton of food, darn dog). Ella eats everything except tortillas and quesadillas. This one is so odd to me, it makes me doubt if Ella is truly mine! If you have an item on your plate that she doesn't have, Ella will yell "ma" at you until you share with her. For this reason, I am sure her diet is not nearly as healthy as Madi's was at this age since Madeline is constantly eating macaroni, hot dogs, and animal crackers (which means Ella is eating the same things). Ella also is just starting to use a snack cup correctly, woohoo, this makes car rides so much nicer. It also means we can stop keeping boxes of graham crackers in each car!
Ella is still terrible at naps and staying asleep all night (though she is going to bed at night much easier). She loves to cuddle and I think when she is big enough to share a bed with Madeline, both girls will be much happier at night.
Matt and I are so lucky to have Eleanor. We survived out first year as a family of four humans and are climbing into an easier year. I am so looking forward to watching Eleanor grow and continue to learn over the next year. It is exciting having a good idea of what to look forward to this coming year. Ella is sweet, loud, and gets along very well with her sister. As long as we can keep her from damaging herself with a kamakaze activity, we will be ok! Even a year into this madness, I am constantly amazed at how much I can get done on very little sleep, how cute my girls are, and how full my heart is with love and pride for my family!

"I'm not doing anything!"

Waiting for the doctor

"Really, I'm not doing anything"

Even when relaxing, Ella chooses to do things her own way.

Post Christmas Week

I scheduled the living daylights out of the children each day Matt was not at home with us during the break. When he was home, we tried to get some things done around the house and relax together (or i tried to relax alone while Matt and the girls relaxed together . . . this usually turned into Matt holding Ella for a nap and Madi watching a show on the iPAD while kicking in the bathroom so I could take a bath with my kindle for 24 minutes. I guess that means we almost relaxed almost together haha)

All these new toys and we just want to play with the box!

The day after Christmas was Organization Day! We had the awesome fun of sorting through what we don't use anymore in the playroom and then finding homes for all of our new toys. Madeline was actually very helpful with this since she loves to clean up, Ella however was not so helpful. We also prepared for Eleanor's birthday party. This meant Madeline and I did more baking (yay) and made lots more frosting (double yay)! We also went to Madi's favorite store for some last minute items . . . any guesses which store that is?

On Monday, I took the girls to Legoland with our new passes (Thank you Jim and Sue). I should have considered the fact that everyone one their mother (literally) would be at Legoland since most kids were on vacation. It was PACKED! We went on a few rides, saw a show while we waited in line for lunch (perfect timing), and spent at least an hour in a little park area that has slides, lego play places, and climbing things. Madeline went down a huge slide all by herself and loved the play area. Ella loved just getting to walk around with freedom and get into things. Next time, I will plan a little bit better!

Tuesday we drove up to Orange County. We had breakfast with Grandpa Dave, visited my Aunt Sue, and lunch with Grandma T and GrandKarl. It was a nice full day and led to a wonderful car nap on the way home. Ella is getting much better at being in the car (as long as she is sleeping or eating) and doing especially well going out to meals.

Bundled up to go visiting

 Wednesday was New Year's Eve. Matt worked from home in the morning and we planned to be gone so he could work. Since it was raining, we met Naomi and her boys at the Children's Museum downtown. It was filled to capacity by the time we left. Yet again, I should have considered that everyone had their kids at home this week! We had fun even though it was crowded. The kids played on a climby thing, rode the trucks around, and generally ran their hearts out. Naomi and I hauled the giant small kids around and organized snacks. Naomi got lucky and both her boys zonked out after the museum. I was not so lucky and only one of my kids chose to sleep. In the evening we went to the Gross house for a kid friendly East Coast New Year Celebration. Madi fell asleep on the couch by 8:30. She has never really stopped playing when people were around to play with, so she must have been exhausted. Greg (with Steph's direction) made white chocolate martinis that were so yummy and we missed the ball drop due to Matt changing the channel. It was a great evening and will likely be repeated in future years to come!

Ella was very unhappy when I set her down to play. Blame it on the molars.

Snack time

I managed to end up with a playdate group from Madeline's school and we met up both Thursday at the park and Friday at our house. While I love having Madeline get the time to play with her school friends (who she "super-missed" over the break), it is hard for me to hang out with the parents being that socializing with new people is scary for me. I tried on my pointers from Amelia (no weird teaching stories) and it seemed to go okay! We have even been invited to another playdate this weekend! Somehow we filled Saturday and Sunday up with errands and a dinner at the Johnson house. It was also freezing cold here in San Diego for these days, which meant hats, scarves, and generally being bundled up. What a great reminder of why I don't live in other parts of the country!

While I complain about how many days in a row I had to fill with my kids, I am very lucky to have so much time to watch them growing up. Ella's walking improved greatly over the break and now she always prefers to walk versus crawl. She is also working on climbing onto the couch, standing up on the bed, climbing off the bed, and all sorts of other dangerous activities now too! I am predicting that Ella will be in a cast of some kind by her second birthday. Ella also started blowing kisses over the break, so cute. She is trying really hard to communicate, but is frustrated that I don't always understand what she wants. Madi is such a little mom. She loves to play with her dolls, pat them to sleep, and dress them. She wanted lots of snuggle time over break with Mama and Daddy. Madeline is improving her fine motor skills and completely surprised me by starting to write the alphabet outside in chalk. She asked me daily to write letters for her to trace. Matt and I are so looking forward to see how the girls change in 2015 and how much easier our daily lives get!!