Innocent

 Look at this sweet little face.

 Precious. Adorable.

Angelic, really.

I mean, could you be angry with this face?

 Yeah, me neither.

Even when she gets into the packing peanuts.

I knew it was too quiet in the house...

Howdy, Cowgirl!

Have I mentioned that two year olds are fun?  The scope of Elli's imagination and depth of understanding amaze me every day!  Recently she has taken her love for Toy Story to a whole new level.  She came up with this outfit all by herself, and when she showed me said, "I Jesse, Mommy!"  Then she sauntered off to find Daddy so she could "ride B-eye." (B-eye = Bullseye, Jesse's horse.)

(And no, she's not wearing any chaps... or pants of any kind.   We're in that stage of potty training, where having her in panties reminds me to ask her if she needs to use the potty.  Mommy-training, more accurately.)

My Little Adventurer

 While unpacking all the baby gear from a closet in her room, Elli saw the top of her old exersaucer, and immediately claimed it as her airplane.  I wasn't planning on leaving it out just yet, since it will be months before the baby is ready to sit in it, but Elli was having so much fun "flying" with her buddies, I decided to let her have it for a while. 

She loves to bring out all of her buddies and organize them all around her...

and then reorganize them...

again...

and again. 

Meanwhile, she chatters on and on to them, sometimes putting them night-night, sometimes asking them if they're hungry, sometimes correcting their behavior.  Yes, she's definitely listening when she gets disciplined.  

A few days of flying, and I guess she decided it was time to try another mode of transportation, and her airplane became a boat.  So now she is exploring the open seas as well as the skies, and loving every minute!  If only she could be racking up some frequent flier miles!

Best. Dog. Ever.

Ginger does not get enough mention on this blog, which is completely my fault.  I confess, I'm not the world's biggest dog person, but I am married to one and he has generously passed on those genes to at least one of our children.  :)  I like dogs... I just would like them better if they did not shed, drool, poop, and if we had a backyard. That being said, we could not ask for a better dog.  She is so sweet, quiet, and loving with Elli.  Seriously, Elli climbs all over her, gives her enormous squeezes, and is constantly bossing her around.  Ginger takes it all.

This week, Ginger came down with a bad case of kennel cough (possibly from the dog park?).  Her cough sounds just awful, and she's been pretty lethargic.  Elli has been very concerned for her, and we've been talking a lot about how "Ginger sick," and "Ginger go dotor (doctor)."  This afternoon, while I was folding laundry, I noticed things were particularly quiet around the apartment, so I went looking for Elli.  This is how I found her:

She was lovingly playing with Ginger's paws (although, I'm not sure how much Ginger loved that), patting her back, and telling her a very sweet story.  

At first, when Elli realized she was being watched, she looked a little sheepish:

But then she hammed it up for the camera:

 Yes, this is how she hugs Ginger... poor thing.  Ginger never complains.

So Proud

Phew... that wraps up the holiday catch up.  Here are a few random pics since we've been home:

  

Elli loves her duplos, and brings her creations to us with a big smile on her face. Mostly she builds airplanes, choo choos, trees, and snowmen.  :)

We have officially entered the "Cheeeeese" stage!  Whenever I pull out the camera, Elli poses and gives me this goofy grin.  I love it!

We are also officially in the dress-up stage.  (Coincidentally, also the undressing stage.  I have had to explain many times that she can take her shirt off at home, but not in public.)  The amazing outfits you see above and below come completely from the mind of Elli.  I have to say, my favorite is the baby legs as arm warmers... so creative.

Pum-Pums!

 In celebration of finally being able to turn off the AC, Elli and I made some pumpkin ("pum-pums") and leaf cookies. This time, I decided to let her be involved in the whole process, and boy did she love it!

I mean LOVED it.  She wanted to do it all: spreading the flour on the board, helping roll out the dough, pushing the cookie cutters as hard as she could, trying to move them to the cookie sheet, and sprinkling them with sugar.

Oh yeah, and tasting the dough!

At least she didn't figure out that it was edible until the last batch.

Even though we ended up with a huge mess: 

I think our perfectly imperfect cookies were totally worth it!  Now we just have to ice them!  Don't you just love the little finger impressions?

Rainy Friday (in which Pooh Bear gets two baths)

We have definitely been feeling the effects of Hurricane Alex.  The rain has hardly let up in the past two days, and the forecast is calling for more!  As much as I LOVE rain, I am beginning to feel a little cooped up.  We are enjoying the slightly cooler temperatures, however.

 Yesterday Elli and I just went ahead and played outside anyway, albiet on our partially covered deck.  Elli was fascinated by the rain, and had a blast splashing and dunking.

At first she wanted to bring Pooh Bear out to join in the fun, but as he had just had a bath that morning (following a heavy dipping in Ginger's water bowl), I told her Pooh Bear needed to stay inside and watch.  

Of course, the minute I turned my back... well... you know what happened.  And once the damage was done, there really was no going back, so Pooh Bear received many a proper dunking.

Yup... he was one sopping wet, chubby cubby. 

And Elli was one soaked to the bone little toddler!

So, while Pooh Bear received his second bath of the day, Elli took a warm bubble bath.  All in all, it turned out to be a delightful rainy old day.

Daniel needed the camera for work yesterday, so these were all taken with my phone.

Pumpkin Carving

Elli was quite distraught over the fate of her beloved pumpkin, but I think she was not totally unhappy with the results.
"Daddy, how could you!"

Deep, deep concern... or possibly the grumpies... jury is still out on that one.

I'm fairly certain Elli is not going to be a fastidious child, because when she was presented with the pumpkin guts, she dove right in!And of course, she couldn't resist a taste!We took our design down several notches from last year, but I sort of love the simplicity of a good old-fashioned Jack-O-Lantern.Elli went to bed not long after playing with the pumpkin guts, so she had to wait until morning to see her daddy's handiwork. I think she liked it!