Elle turns THREE!

Our little Elle Evergreen is THREE! Here are a few photos from her special day back in February. It was her request to have a unicorn balloon and pink cupcakes with sprinkles. We started the day with birthday cinnamon roles and a few presents. Then she went to school (and got to wear her "wild and three" shirt with her pink sparkly crown bow). Then after school, we had a fun dinner, cupcakes + candles and opened the rest of her presents. Her favorite presents were her Ariel and Rapunzel bath toys (of course!) and the giant cardboard castle from Didi and Pops. (She's into princesses, can you tell?)

In the second to last photo, you can see her showing us "three" on her fingers - that's how she would do it to get all three fingers up. :)

We love her so much and love watching her grow! Happy Birthday, Elle!

Elle Evergreen: 3 Years Old

Elle turns three in two weeks! She's a sassy, sweet, snuggly, feisty little bunny. She simultaneously drives us crazy and cracks us up. We love watching her grow! Here's a little update on what she's loving, what she's doing and all of that...

FAVORITE THINGS

Her "mimi" - Her mimi is still a very important part of her life. She sleeps with it, holds it in her carseat and sucks on it when she's upset. Her daycare teachers want to phase out her mimi - we just say goooood luck! ;)

Arguing - Elle LOVES to argue right now. Everything is an argument and it's really frustrating. We tell her to stop throwing the toy, she says "I not throwing it." And she'll go back and forth until we say, "Stop arguing!" Oh, those #threenagers.

The Color Pink - If you ask her what her favorite color is, she'll say pink. She always chooses the pink option if there is one, and she always wants to wear a pink bow in her hair everyday.

Music - Elle loves listening to good music in the car and she dances and sings really cute. She knows a lot of lyrics, and even if she doesn't know them, she kind of moans/hums to the songs anyway. Her favorite song is Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling," but she calls it "Sunshine in my Pocket."

Food - She still loves her food and will eat anytime anyone else is eating. Sometimes she eats breakfast at home and then gets to school and eats breakfast again. Every morning, she asks for cereal. She still loves apple sauce and yogurt pouches. She loves grapes, apples, bananas. She still loves scrambled eggs or boiled eggs. She doesn't eat her veggies as easily as Wren does, but she will eat them for a dessert after dinner, even if the dessert is something healthy like fruit. If you ask her where she wants to eat, she'll usually say Five Guys or Chipotle.

Her Elsa Dress - Both of the girls love dressing up, and they are in princess dresses 90% of the time that we are at home. Elle got an Elsa dress for Christmas this year, and it's her favorite. It's pretty much the only thing she dresses up in now. It had a long cape on the back of it, but it ripped off after a few days from her stepping on it. The dress has holes and gems that have fallen off, but it's still her fave! She loves to throw the sides out while she spins around and tell everyone to watch her.

Airplanes - When we first moved to El Paso, we stayed in a hotel right by the airport so we saw so many planes taking off and landing. Elle loves spotting them in the sky! If they are far away, she says it's a small one. If it's landing or taking off and still close to the ground, she says it's a BIG one. So cute!

Pooping In The Potty - We started real potty training with Elle just one week ago. She's been using the potty off and on for about a year, but we hadn't gotten serious about it. Now that her teachers want to move her up a class, they've gotten serious, so she wears undies at school all day and she's getting the hang of it slowly. She has got pooping down (crazy that she got that down before peeing), but now she loves pooping so much that every single time she sees a toilet, she wants to poop in it. Haha!! It drives me crazy! Needless to say, I'm spending a lot of time in bathroom stalls with her these days.

Snuggling - Elle is very snuggly and still loves to be held. She follows us around and says "Pick me uppppp!" She crawls in our bed every morning, climbs over me so that she's between us and snuggles in. We think her love language may be physical touch, because she loves to be held, hold hands, have her hair played with and more. She's a sweety!

Being Funny - Elle is definitely the class clown of our family, and she knows it! She loves being silly, making funny voices and doing anything that makes us laugh. She also has a great laugh and loves laughing at herself. I can't wait to see her sense of humor develop! I know she's going to be a ton of fun!

SLEEP

Elle used to be a very good sleeper, but she's gone through a bit of a sleep regression since we moved to El Paso. When we first moved into our new house, she was waking up 3 to 4 times a night, which was terrible, for both of us! Now she usually wakes up at least once, usually close to the morning, but still not time to get up. I take her back to bed, tuck her in, and she'll usually sleep a few more hours. We bought her an alarm clock that turns green when it's time for her to get out of bed, but she doesn't even pay attention to it - ha!

In addition to the alarm clock, we also got a humidifier for her room and an essential oil diffuser. We are pulling out all the stops for some good solid sleep! She does still take a nap everyday, and she still loves her naps. She has to have one if she's going to be happy come 5pm.

WORDS


Elle is talking so much these days and knows so many words! Her voice is the cutest and I love to hear her sentences. She calls Wren "when" and she calls me and Jon "mom" and "dad" a lot, which is hilarious. If you say anything about poop or butts or even the word "body," she says "Ewww, gross! That disgusting!" Instead of peek-a-boo, she says "peep-a-boo." She sings eeny-meeny-miny-mo and says "catch you by a tiger toe." It is all the cutest!!

PERSONALITY

Elle's personality is a very fierce one. She is so silly and funny and sweet and snuggly. She is also cranky and sassy and rude and mean. She never ever listens to direction. She does what she wants when she wants to do it and how she wants to do it. She laughs easily and often. She is fearless and will try anything. Even though she doesn't always play nicely with Wren, she doesn't like time alone - she always likes to be around us. I took her on a date night with just me and her, and she kept saying how much she missed Wren and Daddy. She would sleep fantastic every night if Jon and I let her sleep in our bed, snuggled tight between us. She is determined and likes doing things by herself - she does not like asking for help! She's really fun to be around and already such a cool chick - I'm sure she'll grow up to be the life of every party. :)

I am so curious to see how her personality changes as she grows. Fingers crossed she starts listening at least a little better as she gets older. ;)

Wren Winter: 4 Years Old

Wren is 4 years old now, and she is just the coolest, sweetest, kindest, funniest little girl in the world! She is literally so cute that I want to eat her! :)

Her favorite things right now are:

All things Frozen + Princesses - She loves the movie Frozen and knows all the words to the songs. She loves dressing up like a princess in her many play dresses and princess shoes. One of her dresses plays a song, and she plays it over and over and over again.

Playing Babies + Family - She dresses up her baby dolls and takes them to school and to dance class. She pushes them in the stroller and gets them comfy on the couch to take naps. She comes up with really crazy names for her babies, like "Ananina" or "Dametaticus" - crazy! When I tell her they are crazy names, she asks what should their name be, and I'll suggest something like "Scarlett" or "Elizabeth" and she says "Oh, that's a nice name."

Art + Coloring + Crafts - She loves any kind of project and starts most days off sitting at her little table coloring in her frozen coloring book. Sometimes me and her color together at night before bed, which I really love.

Dancing to Music - She likes to dance to music and have us watch her "tricks," which usually consist of jumps, leg raises or twirls. She started dance class this year - ballet and tap - and she loves going. We got to watch her dance last week, and she is one of the best in the class! She totally knows the moves and can follow the teacher - I was so proud of her!

School - She still continues to enjoy school and is learning so much! She can now spell AND write her first name. She can count to 20. She can recognize most letters in the alphabet, and she can memorize song lyrics like it's her job.

Bossing her Sister Around - Wren and Elle pretty much fight constantly. They have some moments of getting along and playing nicely everyday, but those moments are far outnumbered by the moments when they are fighting, screaming and playing tug of war over a toy. Jon and I are constantly the referees. We have to remind Wren all the time not to tell Elle no or correct her because she's not her mom. I do hope that as they grow, they start to get along better.

Helping Mom and Dad - Wren is such a great helper. She likes to help in the kitchen, getting dinner ready, washing grapes or baking desserts. She likes to help with any kind of project we have, from cleaning the garage to framing pictures. She likes to help me fold clothes - I give her all the hand towels and wash cloths. She really likes to mop the floor with our Swiffer, but last time I caught her spraying the water all over the rug. ;) As a side note to this one, Wren has incredibly good manners. She always says "please" and "thank you" and asks others to do the same. She corrects people when they are chewing with their mouth open. She asks that you not "snatch" things out of her hands. She is just very well mannered. We really have to credit her school and amazing teachers with instilling these manners, because most of the time, she is correct Jon and I for not doing the polite thing - HA! Her dance teacher told me the other night that she is just so polite and has the best manners. We are so proud of her!

Doing Big Girl Things - She loves brushing her teeth all by herself with her singing electric toothbrush. She likes peeling her own oranges, cutting up her fruit and picking out her PJs every night. She also knows how to strap her self into her car seat, which is a huge help to Mom and Dad.

Being "Out and About" - Wren loves to be out of the house, whether it's going out to eat or walking around the outdoor mall. She always says she wants to be out and about. She would eat dinner out every night if we said ok. (And speaking of food, she is still an amazing eater and eats just about anything. She will always pick cupcakes over broccoli, but she will eat her broccoli and anything else if you ask her to.) She likes to be busy and prefers to run errands all day to staying home and playing. She loves playing at the outdoor mall and riding the train.

Singing - She likes to make up songs and sing them really loud around the house. She also likes to sing her songs over the radio songs if we're driving in the car. She has a horrible singing voice, and Jon always says we should put her in singing lessons - ha!

Her Blanket - Even though she is now in the stage where she fights every nap and bedtime, Wren is still a great sleeper and she sleeps between 10 and 12 hours a night + naps for 2 hours every day. She still sleeps with the yellow blanket that she's had since she was a baby. She falls asleep "chewing" on it - which is more like pressing it against her lips, right under her nose and making a sucking movement with her lips. Both of our girls do this to fall asleep, and we did not train them to! Such a funny thing that they both have in common.

Watching Movies/TV - We still don't let the girls watch TV or movies on a regular basis, but we have started letting them have a movie night every once in a while. Wren LOVES this. She loves movies and TV (maybe because she doesn't get them very often? or maybe all kids just do). It's a fun treat for her.

Asking Why - She asks "why?" A LOT! Sometimes I have to tell her to just stop asking why because it will go on for hours - or sometimes because I have no answer - or sometimes because the answer is "because I said so!" :)

Giving Love - Wren is a serious love bug, and she is always giving and asking for hugs and kisses and telling us she loves us. Randomly throughout each day, she says she loves us and she'll go through the list of her whole family and say she loves them. At night, she asks for multiple big hugs and kisses before bed. Although she gets in yelling matches with her sister, she would never purposely hurt Elle, even when Elle hurts her. She is very kind and sweet.

Her Family - She loves hanging out with her family and visiting family far away. She loves her Gigi and Didi and Pops and Rowan and every time they visit, she says she wants them to stay forever.

Following the Rules - Wren is a rule-follower, for sure.  She listens so well, takes direction, rarely ever has to get corrected twice and really makes life so easy on Jon and I. She is considerate and kind and cautious. I think her desire to do the right thing makes her nervous in new situations, which I think is totally ok. Her teachers are always telling us that she is so good and they never have to correct her. We are so proud of what an attentive, obedient little girl she is!

She really is a joy to be around every day, and I'm so lucky to be her momma!

Wren Turns THREE!

Wren's third birthday was a great day! Both Jon and I were able to be off for the day, and we kicked things off with balloons + presents + donuts first thing in the morning. She got a scooter, a doctor kit, and a wooden school bus toy with little people to ride in the bus.

After breakfast, we headed to the zoo to feed the giraffes and the birds and tell all the animals it was Wren's birthday!

She had a blast all day, and we had a blast celebrating her and making her feel special. She is such an amazing little girls, and we are so lucky to watch her grow!