it’s that time

Tuesday is a big day for Mister W!

more pics to come ……

Ella Wei {current favorites and happenings}

 

Favorite Books:  Corduroy; Cinderella; Brown Bear, Brown Bear

She loves Corduroy so much that Will, who is not a fan, has it memorized. 

Ella went to her very first wedding in May.  She was thrilled to have Daddy as her date.

Ella’s hair is growing fast these days.  And she finally tolerates almost any type of hair decoration (except head bands).  She even sleeps with her hair up.  This is her post-nap ‘do. 

Silly face, swatting at gnats.

Food: Broccoli (cooked, not raw), Oranges, Ham/Cheese, pickles, yogurt covered raisins, chips/salsa, tacos.

TV Shows:  Bubble Guppies, Team Umizoomi, Little Einsteins, Super Why, Curious George
We’re about to cut the cable so she better start loving George and Why!

Ella can almost say all of her ABC’s.  She just gets hung up every 4th letter or so.  And she can count to 12!

Ella’s favorite songs: Twinkle, Twinkle.  Old MacDonald.  It’s Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini**

**That song! If only I had known I was going to start something….Her sheets are polka dotted, her quilt has dots, her curtains have dots (all unintentionally….they are not a set).  And one night she had on polka dot PJs.   I couldn’t help myself but to sing the song.  And she thought it was the greatest thing EVER.  So did the boys.  I had to sing it a dozen times that night while they all danced.  It is now on my ipod and we listen to it every time we get in the car.  I even catch Will singing it when he thinks no one is around.  No one has asked what a bikini is yet.  Though they do ask why “she wanted to stay in the water”. 

park fun

Just a random picture post for the grandparents/aunts :) 
I’m finally going thru the pictures from Mother’s Day.  These are a few funnies from our outing.

The Three Musketeers taking their loyalty seriously.  Poor Jack didn’t have a chance with these 3.  I’m hoping it was a friendly tackle.

Despite Chris’s smiling face, Wyatt was pitching a big ole fit.  He was NOT DONE at the playground!  It makes me laugh.  This is so Wyatt at this age. 

Fit quickly ended.  And he’s all smiles now.

Meryl has been perfecting her spinning skills.  And Ella was happy to be her #1 subject.

I remember spinning my cousins, Nicole and Renee, often when we were little. 

Cousin bonding at it’s best!

She gave Wyatt a spin too.  He’s quite a bit heavier, so he didn’t come off the ground quite as easy.  She didn’t give up though.

summer summer summer-time

It’s finally warm!  The kids are asking to go outside from the moment they wake up until they go to bed at night.
Well, they don’t go to bed outside.  But we pretended to camp for awhile.

Ella has really taken a liking to being outside.  Specifically, with worms.

She spends hours every single day digging.  Sometimes completely by herself.  Which, for her, is unheard of. This is HUGE!  Since she rarely does anything without “my brothers”.

The boys enjoy digging too.  And are often along side Ella.  They just get bored a lot quicker.
When we first moved here I wondered what in the world we would do with a three-tiered flower bed.  It was daunting to think of planting and keeping up this many flower beds (in addition to the others around the house).  So it has remained mostly bare.

Right now, this is perfect for my digging crew. 

Especially, the top level.  Which is over run with mint.  I’m happy to let the kids dig that up!

Here’s too a long, muddy and wormy summer!

Four (surprisingly quiet) minutes from April...

say what {Wilson}

Will was talking about how he liked to feel the soft grass under his feet.  Then he said soft grass reminds him how soft Willie was. Then cried and said he missed him. And then said we needed a pic of Willie in our room. The more you miss someone the higher up you put the pic.
 

M-day

This is my fifth year being celebrated on Mother’s Day.  Five years ago Will was only a month old, and the parental rights had just been terminated.  Such an emotional weekend.

This Sunday working with the 2 year olds in church.  A very chaotic morning :)  But I enjoyed it.

The kids bought me my most favorite flower, hydrangeas.  They had a hard time keeping it a secret though.

When I got Wyatt up from his nap Saturday, the first thing he asked was “daddy give you your flower yet?”. 

 

I woke up Sunday morning and Ella was hanging out on the couch with Chris.  She said “Happy Mother’s Day” and mumbled something about a flower.  Chris was disappointed that the surprise was out, I had to tell him I already knew.

We spent the rest of the day celebrating.  Having lunch with Mimi.  And later, a picnic dinner with Nana.

It was a wonderful, beautiful day.

Notice my 3 are the ones not cooperating.  Figures.

 

say what {trio}

Wyatt walked in the kitchen and sneezed. I asked if he was okay. He said the sun scared him. I had to agree it was a shock to see it after days of rain.
The next day we were talking about the clouds and that it might rain.  He said he was sad, and that he wanted it to be warm again.  And sunny.  Made me laugh, I didn’t realize Wyatt was so attuned to weather.
 
At the hardware store and the cashier asked Ella her name.  She immediately responded “Baby cakes”.  I called her that once and from that point on she decided it was the perfect name.  And she often corrects me if I call her anything else.  Today she said I could only call her Ella Wei or Baby cakes.
Will dressed Ella this day.  She was thrilled with her outfit, and that it fit perfectly.


Will:  When am I going to lose a baby tooth?  I really want to get that quarter!  The tooth fairy will be relieved to know he’s only expecting a quarter!

an interview with Wilson, age 5

Same questions as last year.  Some new answers though (and a few the same….).

What is your favorite color? Green
What is your favorite toy? Batman
What is your favorite fruit? Apple
What is your favorite tv show? Tom & Jerry
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? hot dog bun sandwich
What is your favorite snack? Cheeze Its
What is your favorite animal? Dinosaurs and T-Rexs
What is your favorite song? “I don’t have one”
What is your favorite book? Star Wars pop up book
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play.  Play outside.
What is your favorite drink? Combo (OJ+ red juice….thanks Mimi)
What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Princess Frogs
What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Toast
What do you want to be when you grow up? “A fire fighter.  Oh, I forgot, a zookeeper.”
What are you really good at? playing, stomping
What makes you happy? cousins and friends
What makes you sad? time out
What do you and Daddy do together for fun? playing dinosaurs
What do you and Mommy do together for fun? play doh
What does Daddy say all the time? funny faces
What does Mommy say all the time? sit down Well, someone has a problem not standing on every single piece of furniture we own.

how can it be?!

 

Monday brought Kindergarten registration for Mister Wilson.  How can he be old enough for this already? I’m equal parts excited and sad about this.  Mostly excited.  But I will miss having so much free time with my Buddy.  And then there are all the worries most parents have about sending them off to school.  Just praying for guidance as we navigate these new waters.

So Monday was nothing big other than filling out a form with his basic info on it.  And signing him up for a testing date.  And getting a mile long supply list (insane!).  The mom beside me thought it was $300 worth.  Which I totally get but was amused by how specific the items were on the list. 

 

Any morning we need to leave early I lay out the kids clothes….and as usual, Will ditched my choices for his own. I’m giving in to character clothing. For the record, I am NOT a fan but if it makes him happy……

August 9th will be here very very soon!

 

 

phone dump

Last week’s phone photos:

We took a trip to the Atlanta Zoo.  Wyatt NEVER falls asleep in the car.  He held on as long as possible before giving in.  It was a super short nap but I’m proud of him for falling asleep.

Wyatt eats surrounded by trains or car at every meal.  Annoying, but slightly cute.

Will saved up enough of his piggy bank money to buy an umbrella.  He wanted a spiderman one but I convinced him to go to Target and they had a even cooler Batman one.  He rode around like this all night.

Lucky for him it rained the next day.  He and Ella strolled around outside in the rain.

Wyatt wanted to wear glasses like me one day.  If I ever take my glasses off Wyatt will say “you not Mommy.  Put those back on.  Now you Mommy.”

Tire swing fun.

Daddy having fun dressing Wyatt.  Poor guy.

Super hero twins.  Fighting crime, fighting each other.

parade time

Friday we had a cousin outing to view the Armed Forces Day parade.  Chris joined us too since it was right next to work. 

In high school I marched with the band in this parade but I really had no idea what all was included other than a few bands.  Turns out it’s quite a long parade. There were dozens of JROTC groups marching.  Along with some military vehicles and lots of motorcycles.

Thanks Renee for letting me steal these pics.
 

Will’s favorite was the motorcycles and the “REAL” Army men.  He said he should have worn his army man shirt.  He loved seeing all of them.

Wyatt’s favorite part was the abundance of motorcycles.  Along with all the cars and trucks.

Ella’s favorite also included motorcycles and one extremely “lively” band.  Poor girl about came out of her seat with excitement with this particular band.  That said, I felt like I should cover the kids eyes at some of the dancing we saw from them.

 

It was a fun kickoff to the summer, and all the upcoming patriotic holidays.

only one thing….

Can get this response from Wyatt.  (Well, that’s not true.  Motorcycles and Hot Rods get a similar reaction.)

We visited some more trains this week.

Mister Bill lives in our neighborhood, and Poppy is friends with him so we got an invitation to come over and play with see his train set.

I’m not talking about a single train set.  More like hundreds.  Three rooms filled with wall-to-wall trains.  Hundreds of OLD ones.  As in, DO NOT TOUCH kids. 

The trio was warned we were looking, not touching.  And having a ratio of one adult to one kid helped too.  They were on their best behavior.

Even Mister Wilson, who admittedly is not a train lover, was fascinated by the train set up. The bridges and tunnels and buildings sucked him in.

Will’s words were “I don’t like plastic trains, but I like these”.   Ella was also intrigued.  And we even saw a few pink ones.

But Mister Wyatt was the #1 fan.  He had a better reaction to these trains than he did to Thomas last weekend, which is saying alot.  And because he was so fascinated by them he only attempted to touch them once or twice.

Our three had a great afternoon.  I just hope they don’t get any ideas about turning our basement into a train station.

my gift to me

I asked for family pictures for Mother’s Day.  And a photographer I liked, Holly Kittle, happened to have a day of spring mini-sessions so I jumped on it. 

Finally, we would have a family picture of all FIVE of us!

Ella has pointed to our last family pic, hanging on the wall, and mentions that she is NOT in it.  Glad to finally solve that problem for her, and us.

I’ll be honest, I did not have high hopes for my crew.  The boys can turn on you in a second, and I knew that Ella would probably not give a real smile.  But just having all of our faces even pointing towards the same direction was all I wanted.  And we succeeded.  I am thrilled with the pictures!!!

 

And the one going on our wall: