God Given Right to Be Loved

I promise to spend a ridiculous amount of money on crayons and goldfish.

I promise not to notice the cracker smeared on my shirt and instead notice your tiny hands.

I promise to know all about princesses and construction trucks.

I promise to read the same book over and over again until I have it memorized.

I promise to let you chew on my coasters and smile at all the teeth marks.

I promise to play dress-up and not be embarrassed when the UPS Guy sees me in a tutu and cowboy hat.

I promise to go to the game even if I don't like sports and cheer louder than anyone else.

I promise to kiss all scrapes and bumps even if they are covered in dirt.

I promise to watch Barney and laugh when I can't fall asleep because the songs are stuck in my head.

I promise to be just as excited about playing peek-a-boo as I am about going shopping.

I promise to listen to Wheels on the Bus in the car and do all the motions.

I promise to use my purse to hold sippy cups and animal crackers and of course diapers.

I promise to forget the bad and remember the good. To spend more time playing and less time disciplining. To hold you at 3am and kiss you goodnight. Mostly, I promise to give these years of my life to you, after all you are only mine for a short time.

Signed: "Just a Mom"

WillYum!

I think that this cute little boy deserves a post all to himself.

I mean look at this face...

This boy is so much fun that I feel sad when a realize how quickly he will grow up. Of course, I wish he slept as well as his sister...he seems to think that he needs to eat twice a night. Actually, he would like to eat all the time. I have started feeding him solids for this very reason and from what I can tell he will eat as much food as I will offer. He usually eats an entire banana and a bowl of rice cereal before he goes to bed. And don't worry, he still has plenty of room to nurse. I am pretty sure his sister has never finished a banana in her life!!! This might have something to do with the fact that he is the size of most 9 month olds...a fact that makes Chris smile thinking maybe his son will be tall :)

I Never Saw It Comin'

So, life really is full of surprises or maybe it's just that Ella is full of them (or it)...however you slice it...I would have never guessed that after the first week of school Ella's teacher would be waiting in the hall to talk to me...

That's right y'all, my kid is getting in trouble at school...(as a side note, for some reason having a kid that is getting in trouble at school feels a lot like YOU are getting in trouble at school).

But seriously, look at her. So cute, So happy....

So crazy...

I never saw it comin'.

I will never forget that day her teacher was waiting to tell me that Ella was having a hard time following directions. She said in particular that when it was time to go outside Ella refused saying such things as "No, I won't go!!" "You can't make me!!" and my personal favorite. "Don't tell me!!" Her teacher of course made her and she was very unhappy the rest of the day.

Well, after my little talk with the teacher I assumed things were better. Her teacher kept saying, "Today was a pretty good day" so that is what I thought until we went to the school's open house. At this event all the parents played toys and looked at the pretty pictures their kids had made. All but us that is because we were too busy being talked to by Ella's teacher, the teacher's aid, and the speech pathologist. They each took a little time to come talk to us about Ella. They shared things with us like how Ella never wants to do what they tell her to and how she is too loud during circle time for the other students to hear and often has to be taken away from the group and it went on..Chris and I just kept looking at each other thinking "We had no idea it was this bad." Her teachers kept reassuring us but we realized..we are the parents of a trouble-maker...where did we go wrong?

I can say all this now because things at school really are better. She finally likes going to school and her teachers are now saying "Today was a really good day"(fingers crossed for the next open house).

But man ohh man does this little girl keep me guessing and really, I love it because I would be a bored mommy without her.

Fall Outings

One great part about living in Rochester is the Fall. It is beautiful..and thankfully our good friends, James and Sarah, planned some fun activities that got us out to enjoy it.

James is Chris's business partner or as I like to say "work wife". Sarah is James' girlfriend and also went to school with Chris. Ella is really shy around them (I actually think she is scared of James) but she does love to tell me how pretty Sarah is and gets very excited when he are going to all hang out.

So now that they have been introduced..our first fall outing was to go apple picking. And since a picture can tell a story..I will let the pictures do just that...

Do I look like I am miserable? This kid weighs almost 16 pounds!!!

Some people are such overachievers ;)
PS...notice the red tape...

Carrying the spoils!!

Our second outing was to a corn maze. Ella complained the whole time we were walking through it about how she wanted to get out (3 year olds are always fun). She did however like the duck racing and she loved riding the cow train. Sorry there are no pictures of these things because my camera stopped working. I am praying for it :)
Here are some fun pictures though of James and Chris acting like 3 year olds...

The chase..

I see this kind of thing all the time at Whipple Park.

Corn Husk Gun...poor Will cried after every shot.

New York, New York

We finally made the big trip to NYC. It is sad that we have lived in New York for over a year and just made it to that happening place..but alas..it has been accomplished.

The trip had all the essential stops. We went to Philly...saw some old buildings where important things happened, we saw the Liberty Bell behind a glass window, and even ate a philly cheesesteak. Then onto NYC where we rode a ferry past The Statue of Liberty, saw Battery Park, saw Wall Street and took the subway to Central Park (by the way, subway travel is not great if you have a fear of being touched). We also went to The Met and of course Time Square. Ella's favorite stop was the Giant Toy "R" Us. Mine was getting cheesecake. I think Chris's was the nap we took on the floor of The Met.

We then rushed back to the ferry...missing our stop on the subway and making it on the last ride over to get the cars. We arrived back on Staten Island after the garage where our cars were parked had closed so the soccer player and marathon runner of the group ran to the garage, hoping to make it in time (I know you might all be shocked to find out that neither Chris or I were the runners)..and luckily they were able to get the cars.

So, just like this post..the trip went by in a flash. Fun? Yes. Exhausting? Yes. Wanna go again? Yes (without the kids).


And last but not least...here is my favorite story from the trip:

On the car ride there we decided to stop around noon to eat. We had all packed lunches but it was seriously cold so we decided to see if Subway would be kind enough to let us eat inside.

Chris walked up to the counter and said "Hey, I know it is kind of white trash but we are just passing threw and need a warm place to sit. Would you mind if we ate in here? We promise to clean-up before we leave." They said that would be fine and we sat down to eat. After a few minutes Chris asked me if he could have another sandwich and I told him "No, I only packed one for each day." He then asked for some water and I said "Sorry, I forgot it". Ella started begging for cheese and I told her "Sorry dear but I don't have anymore." I am sure sometime during lunch I said my usual joke about how Chris will never get a real job and we will be living in a shack. And needless to say..before we left, one of the ladies that works there walked up, grabbed my hand and gave me a twenty. I was shocked...but then I looked at Ella in her handmade sweater and thought about all the things I had said and realized that we did sound like we were that poor.

So, Chris and I are thinking we are gonna try this bit everywhere we go and see if we can start making a little cash on the side.....

Preparing for School and a Few Short Stories

We spent the weekend getting ready for Ella to start school. We started by taking her clothes shopping. Since I have spent a lot of time with Ella, I already knew I would not get any say in the clothes we would buy. I was feeling ready to let her pick out her own new clothes but I did have just one rule. It is the rule we have been working on a lot at our house. The rule is that "leggings aren't pants" or it's equivalent, "tights aren't pants".

Well, the shopping wasn't as much fun for the family as we were expecting. It never even dawned on me that it is Halloween so all the stores would be packed with costumes. Every store we went into Ella would find the costumes and beg and beg for one. We tried to explain to her that they were too much money and showed her how many other things she could get for the same price. She would just say, "I promise..I will wear it every day" (which is the problem). So in the end Ella got 2 pairs of tights, 1 pair of leggings, and 1 pair of pajama pants. It's going to be an interesting wardrobe.

So on with the story, Ella was so excited about her first day of school that she couldn't fall asleep last night. She was so cute telling us "I am just so besided (excited)." And imagine my surprise when she even wore real clothes to school (though she did accessorize with a noodle necklace).

And here is the little girl on her big day:

She had a rough start. She cried when I dropped her off telling me that, "I am just a little nervous." I thought that was a big word for such a little girl. She also cried when I picked her up, telling me that, "I don't want to go home!" She is an emotional roller-coaster.

And now in closing I just wanted to throw in some of the funny stories that happened yesterday.

First of all, Ella and I have been fighting about how you say the word "anyways". Ella loves to say, "I am going to do it evenways". I have tried to teach her that the word is anyways but she just informs me that, "I can say evenways. It's fine."

Second, Ella has been waiting and waiting to use the potty until she pees her pants. I am pretty tired of it so when I noticed she needed to go yesterday when we were playing a game...I told her I would put the game up if she peed her pants. She said, "I will go when I am ready." So, I said, "That's fine but if you pee your pants the game will go up and you won't be allowed to play games anymore." And then she said again, "I will go when I am ready." Well, I had had enough and told her, "You can go now or I will put the game up!" She then got up to go potty but I heard her say as she went up the stairs, "I will go when I am ready tomorrow!" I guess she figured I had won that one but she would get the next.

And last but not least, Ella loves to collect sticks. The bigger the stick the better the find. So yesterday we went on a walk to find sticks. Imagine her surprise when people had piled sticks at the end of their driveways just for her (or maybe for the trash man). She would run up and find the biggest stick and then look at the next driveway and say "Look Mommy there are more over there and there."

The conclusion to this long and kind of random post is that..part if me is happy that Ella is off to school. I mean I don't have to dodge long pointy sticks that can poke out my eye but then again...What am I going to laugh about during my day???

Will's Blessing

Well..after forgetting two months in a row...we finally blessed Will. Sadly, he didn't fit in the little white suit my sister had made but Will didn't care at all. I think he would have preferred to just come in his PJ's so he could have slept through the whole thing.

So here is the story:
A few nights before the blessing I had this awful feeling that Chris was going to change the baby's name. You see, the school that Chris goes to is called the William E. Simon Business School. So, I started thinking he was going to name the baby William Simon Sturgill. I told Chris about this the night before the blessing and he said, "I like that name. I think it sounds good together". Great, right? I was totally freaking out. And to make matters worse, the only white onsie I could find for him to wear under his dress shirt said "Simon School of Business, Early Leader".

When the time came for the blessing.......well, the bishopric member forgot about it. Chris was totally awkward and just started raising his hand right there in sacrament. But I am glad he did because they went ahead with the blessing.

Will did great. He apparently cooed and smiled the whole time. Chris said he was grateful because he blessed him that he would be a happy and always able to find the good in things. He was worried Will would start screaming right after he said the was supposed to be happy. He also blessed him to love the Lord and help bring people to Jesus because of that love. And most importantly he said his name would be William Clay Sturgill.

Here is the picture from after the blessing. I guess you can tell he is the second because we didn't even take him out of the car seat and thought the car would make a nice background....


That afternoon we had ice cream with a bunch of our friends to celebrate. Will made an appearance at the beginning but decided to sleep through most of it. Maybe he was just disappointed he couldn't have any ice cream.

Our place was totally packed:

We sure are lucky to have such great friends!!!