Twinkle Toes

For months (literally) Elle has been begging me to get her some twinkle toes. I had no idea what she was talking about. I would just smile and say, "sure honey". Well she didn't give up. The darn words, "twinkle toes" kept coming up. She told me they were a really fancy pair of shoes and that she REALLY needed them. I looked them up online and then I officially started ignoring the idea. I mean really, these may be the tackiest pair of shoes I have ever seen (the hanging rose...wow). Elle was persistent and then said that ALL of the kindergarten girls had them. That didn't bother me...I still didn't purchase them for her. It wasn't until a friend of hers from school informed me that Elle kept telling all of them at recess that hers were "in the mail". OK...that hurt my heart and I am a sucker for stuff like that. I promptly went online and clicked, "add to cart". They arrived on Monday. I had them on her bed for her when she came home from school. Her smile was priceless. Elle's big toothless grin outshines all of those multi-colored sparkles (even the dangling roses) on her feet. I sure love this little kindergartner.

Happy Spring

I love springtime. Our house has lots of pink in it lately and I couldn't be happier. I switched up our front room a bit. I needed a computer/office area and just couldn't make it work anywhere else in the house. Putting the computer in the front room meant I had to go for a desk that would not only function but would also look pretty. I found this rustic, natural wood console table and have loved it from the first moment it arrived in our house. We use this room a lot more now too which has been great. It is directly next to our front door so now I can work on the computer while the kids play on the sidewalk in front of our home. Perfect. My other very favorite piece is this turquoise armoire. It was my good friend, Reny's and she decided she didn't have room for it anymore. I have admired it in her home for years and now I am the lucky one to get it in our home. It will eventually make its way to Lily's room. Right now it is still in our garage. As we were walking in from church yesterday, it looked so pretty with all of our pink, I had Jon take our picture. Happy Spring!

Little Lizzy

Meet Little Lizzy. The cutest, tiniest little lizard ever. Elle and Gwen have both loved holding her and caring for her for the past day. I am not a lizard lover but this one is pretty cute. (Almost as cute as Elle's freckles)

Daddy's Girl

Jon is preparing for big mountain bike race in the morning called Vision Quest. Not one part of it sounds fun to me but he is really excited. With work and family life being a little crazy lately, he hasn't been able to train as much as he would have liked but he's going for it. This afternoon he has been checking and re-checking all of his gear. I went out into the garage and found Gwen and her daddy working on their bikes just like this. The cutest thing is that she thought of this idea all on her own. Jon said she just pulled her bike up next to his and went to work. Gwenners has always been 100% a daddy's girl. Whenever she gets hurt it's her daddy that she wants to comfort her. I usually have to call him on his cell phone and as soon as she hears his voice she calms right down. There is nothing sweeter in my opinion than watching him with our girls.

My Lily

Lily is wearing green today but I dare you to try and not pinch those cheeks. Oh, how I love her.

Easter Trees

We love holidays around here. I try and make them special for our girls. They get so excited every time I pull out our decorations. For Easter, I love Easter Trees. I have bought a few of them over the years. I kept buying them because they were never really what I was envisioning. So this year, I decided to just make one that was exactly what I wanted. I ordered manzanita branches from the florist, sprayed them white and then arranged them in a big pink vase. Gwen helped me decorate it while Elle was at school. We were pretty proud of ourselves. It turned out just as I had hoped. Our other tree I moved up into Elle and Gwen's bedroom. And let me tell you, they LOVE having it in there. They decorate and re-decorate it daily. Having their own tree also keeps them off of our kitchen table playing with, (in elle's words) "our fancy tree". It's a win-win for sure.

Disneyland

Yesterday I loaded all 3 girls up and met Jon's parents at Disneyland. We had an amazingly fun day. The girls were in heaven. We rode every ride and for the first time, in a long time, I was able to ride with them. Grandma and Grandpa McGee took turns watching Lily. Gwen's first ride choice was Dumbo. It was VERY important to her that she rode the pink elephant. As soon as the gate opened she sprinted for it. And as you can see...mission accomplished. Elle's number one ride choice was Space Mountain. On this trip she finally got enough courage to try it out. As we were making sure she was tall enough for the ride, Gwen realized that she too was tall enough. My 3 year old is tall enough to ride Space Mountain. Wow. As soon as the ride was over Elle was half-smiling, squeezing the life out of my hand and shaking a little. Gwen on the other hand was yelling, "again, again"! On Splash Mountain as we were in the log heading up the the steep part before the big drop Gwen yelled, "hands-up"! Elle and I died laughing over that one. Tarzan's treehouse was also a favorite...especially the bridge. We all went on Pirates of the Caribbean and It's a Small World (Lily included). Lily's eyes were wide-open and she was so excited. Lots of churros, popcorn and lollipops were consumed. Pretty much a perfect day.

Tooth Fairy

Last week as I was in the kindergarten pick-up line waiting my turn for Elle to hop in the car, I saw her beaming on the sidewalk. As soon as she hopped in the car she could not contain herself. She said, "Mom, this is the best day of my whole life. I lost my tooth, we had an assembly today, it is the 100th day of school and I am the star of the week". Wow, what a day. She then showed me a little plastic treasure chest which held her tooth. For a kindergartner, losing your tooth AT SCHOOL pretty much equals celebrity status for the day. We came home and immediately the tooth fairy pillow came out of the closet. She has looked longingly at this little knit pillow for years. The day had finally come. Before bed she put her tooth in the little pocket on the pillow and carefully tucked it under her pillow. The next morning she came running into our room yelling that the tooth fairy had visited her and had left her some very fancy gold dollar coins. My Ellers is growing up and I can't believe it.