MOPS and POPS date night

I know I have some catching up to do with Easter, but I had to share this little story about Ella while it was fresh in my mind.  Tonight was MOPS and POPS night for my MOPS group, which is basically date night.  Our MOPS groups sponsor an event with $5 childcare, and for $15 a couple, we enjoy fellowship with other MOPS women and their husband, Pappasitas dinner, and entertainment.  It was a blast, and the entertainment was Sportz Comedy, an improv comedy group geared towards sports.  It was hilarious. 

We were asked to wear our favorite team colors, so of course, Bart and I were decked out in LSU.  I squeezed into the largest LSU shirt I own, and since a lot of people have been asking for a photo, here it is - me, nine months pregnant. 

Anyway, after we picked up the girls from daycare, they were wired. Being that we didn't get home until 10:30, Amelia went straight down for the most part. Ella however was a challenge. We said prayers once, and then she wanted to say them again. So, we blessed every child in her class, her teachers, and she continued to bless her window, her fan and her doors. Moving it along, I said, "Amen." Then she started singing this song that I didn't quite catch the first time, so I asked her to sing it to me again.


It was to the tune of Frere Jacques....it was:
"God Our Father, God Our Father
Once again, once again,
Thank you for our blessings, thank you for our blessings,
Amen, Amen"

I just about started crying....it was so sweet!! She was so sweet when she was singing it too.
Happy mommy feeling....I love being a mom.

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

Our neighborhood had their annual easter egg hunt this Saturday, and it's always a nice event for the kids.  Our friends Greg and Rebeca and their boys IV and Max came out to meet us too, so Ella was in heaven.  She looooves IV, and as you can see, he loves her too...he held her hand while they walked to the spacewalk and events.  Soooo stinkin cute...

 Amelia enjoyed her first egg hunt....she wasn't all that into it, but she gathered up some eggs.  The prizes were pretty lacking (seriously, bubble gum for 2 yr old and under?), but all in all she had a good time.

 Ella has some learning to do too.  She was a tad confused.   When they gave her the ok to start hunting, she would pick up an egg, open it, look to see what was inside and THEN move on to the next egg.  We tried to explain to her to object of collecting as many as she could FIRST, then checking out her loot, but she has her own little way of doing things....

 There was a hula hoop contest, and Ella was hellbent on particpating (even though we don't own a hula hoop, nor has she ever seen one..)  She actually did pretty well though for a 2 yr old.

 Ella and IV catching a snack before the next contest....

 Amelia was obsessed with the Easter bunny...every time we couldn't find her, she'd be following him around.  He didn't need to talk to her....she just wanted to be next to him.  It was the funniest thing.  So much for being scared of characters in disguise....that is one thing my children are NOT! 

 It was a great day...the girls had a blast, and it was such a nice thing for our neighborhood to provide.

Toy Story on Ice

This Friday morning, we had tickets for Toy Story on Ice with Kim and Meganne.  All week I had been telling Ella we were going, and all week she said she did not want to go.  What!?  What do you know about what you want!!??  So, we went, against her wishes.  Kim made her and Meganne the cutest Toy Story pillowcase dresses and bows.  They were the cutest little girls in that arena!  As we handed out tickets to the front gate worker, I could see the growing concern in Ella's eyes.  She was beginning to realize that this plae, the Reliant Center, was the same place that the rodeo was held, and we all know the drama that took place for that event.  You know, where we missed Brad Paisley AND the championships for the rodeo because Ella freaked out during the opening ceremonies due to fireworks??  Well, I was not giving up this time.

 We walked up to our section, and when we hit the steps to go down, Ella began crying. What happened to my little daredevil girl who was not afraid of anything!?! She cried, saying, "get me out of here, I wanna go home..." I told her we would only stay for a little while, and that Mickey might be there. Fair enough we were a little late too, so it was already dark in the arena. But she sat on my lap, tears in her eyes, and watched. No smiles, no laughs...just tears. And after every performance, she would clap.....and then tear up again. I felt like I was torturing her, but somewhere in there, I knew she was enjoying it.

At intermission, I got her a light up toy....all during intermission she played with it.  I thought for sure I had solved the problem...no such luck.  At one point, she laid across me and wanted to take nap.  Really?  She perked up a little at the end when Mickey came out.  It was so unlike Ella....

The good news is when we got home, she told her daddy she had a wonderful time seeing Buzz and Woody, and she was sooo excited she had gone.  So weird.  Oh well....

Amelia Has Tubes!

After much contemplation and question (and a second opinion!), we decided to put tubes in Amelia's ears.  She can hear just fine, but her ENT, Dr Staton said that she would just get tons more ear infections.  So, we decided it would be best to go ahead and get them.  Mama was a nervous wreck!

Daddy brought Ella to school while Amelia and I drove down to the NW Surgery Center early in the morning.  I was soooo nervous because I had never been there before, and Amelia was a little whiny because she was on her second antibitotic for an ear infection that week, poor baby.  The place was really nice, and while I was filling out paperwork, the nurse gets a phone call that Amelia's aunt was there.  My WONDERFUL friend and neighbor Dixie showed up at 8am to be there with me....what a wonderful blessing and surprise.  Between the two of us, we managed to keep Amelia fairly calm considering the doctor was a tad late.  She cried when they took her back, but after 10 minutes (yes, TEN minutes) the doctor came out and said she did wonderful.  He also said it was a good decision to get tubes because her ear was full of ickiness and infection.  Made me feel better.

They called me back once she came to, and she was a little disoriented but doing fine. She was a real trooper...she was whiny the whole ride home, but she slept for three or four hours once we got home. Mommy survived too!! I don't like seeing my little baby girl like that...she didn't take long to come back around.

Little Garden Green Thumbs

Daddy planted his garden again this year, with a little help from his girls. They planted bell peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, okra, a few strawberries and corn. He also planted some cilantro and green onions for mama. :) Ella Pearl was all into helping her daddy....so sweet.

Girls woke up bright and early this morning at 7:30am.  Ella was singing MOM-MY and DAD-DY from her room.  Somehow after breakfast, the girls ended up outside in the backyard with dad at around 9:45am, and Ella walks in the back door with a half eaten chocolate covered chocolate chip cookie in her hand and THIS is her face:

How does Bart pull this off so early in the morning?!?!

Well, in his defense, this was the works of our neighbor "COY," as Ella calls her...she's worse than my grandma!  She's always equipped with a cookie or treat or snack.

This afternoon, we took the girls to the neighborhood splashpad since we flaked out on them yesterday.  Amelia has a runny nose and cough, so we really had no business bringing her, but I just couldn't let her miss out.  She'll hopefully be getting her tubes put in this Thursday.  They had a BLAST!  Amelia might hate having water poured over her head, but she surely had no problem running underneath those sprinkling fountains.  Ella hit every square inch of that pad...except for the buckets.  She kept telling me, "I no like the buckets, mom."  The buckets fill up and pour over....she's not a fan.

After that, we went eat at their favorite "farm," as they call it, Clays.  It's a restaurant with a huge deck and farm animals for the kids to play with.  Today they even had pony rides.  The girls ran and played and completely wore themselves out - and fed the ponies.  There's nothing like feeding farm animals and eating a meal all in the same hour to really make your stomach turn. 

We tried to RUN IN to Wal-Mart on the way home, as we were DESPERATE for wipes and diapers.  We tried to split up, which didn't work at all.  After a little while, Bart took Ella to get our paint (for our room) mixed while I took Amelia to get some quick groceries.  She cried for DADA and would NOT sit in her seat without going nuts, so I held her for half the way.  Did I mention I am nearly 8 months pregnant!?  After I could take her on my hip no longer, I put her on my shoulders - can you get the visual of me, hugely pregnant, walking around with a one-year-old on my shoulders maneuvering my shopping cart with one hand, actually SHOPPING?!?  Let's just say I got a few looks, but I got the job done. 

The girls were exhausted and so am I...early night for me!

Let the Nesting Begin...

I have officially begun "nesting" in my third trimester.  We were thinking of driving to Louisiana today for Bart's grandma's 90th birthday party, but the kids were in a very active mood and I was not looking forward to driving five plus hours today and five plus hours tomorrow to come right back...especially since we're going home in two weeks for Easter, so we decided to stay home.

But rather than be unproductive, we worked our tushes off!  Bart installed our new fan in our bedroom, and we both worked all day cleaning and moving things out and dusting and vacuuming.  It looks SO GOOD, and now we can start painting and hanging curtains and all the fun stuff.  All this for a new little baby??  Well, that and the fact that momma just needs a change!

This afternoon, we were all hot, so we got the girls dressed in their swimsuits and decided to take them to the community splashpad.  They were sooo cute and sooo excited to go.  We drove down to the area, and it was closed!!  :(  We called the YMCA and they closed at 6pm too, so we knew the girls would be so disappointed if we didn't do SOMETHING.  So, what did we do...Bart ran the sprinklers in the yard, and the girls went WILD!

 Even Zoe got in on all the action.  Zoe likes to stick her face in the sprinkler and try to eat it.  Hilarious....and she was soaked.  Probably the most movement that pups made in a while!

 When the sprinklers ran their course, our next door neighbor Necoy improvised some more water action.  Takes so little to impress my girls.

 After some backyard fun, we ordered takeout Chinese food, and the girls had their favorite (and messiest) RICE!  Amelia learned how to say CHEESE, so when I point the camera at her now, she smiles and says CHEESE!!  It is SOOO cute with her little lisp.

Ella is a MESS!  She won't say CHEESE....in fact, she barely looks at the camera. Such a little stinker.

We had a great day...the girls went out easy peasy, and I spent the rest of the night going through ALL the girls toys.  We just needed to throw away the happy meal toys and the destroyed stuff, put some stuff away for the baby, etc.  It took FOREVER, but totally worth it.  My den is next on the list of things to organize.  Let the spring cleaning begin!!

7 weeks till baby Farrell #3 will be here, so we gots to start working!  I can't wait to see her beautiful little face.