Rapunzel, Rapunzel

Spotted: Rapunzel at the park

Emerson is full swing back into the Rapunzel phase. Not that she was ever completely out of it, but since netflix had pulled the movie she had lost some interest. I borrowed the movie to see if she still liked it before finally buying it. Seriously, she has also told every stranger we have met that her Rapunzel movie doesn't work anymore. Well, turns out she still loves Rapunzel. A lot. I can't even count the times we have watched it in the last couple weeks and she is now wearing her Rapunzel hair everywhere, and quoting the movie all day. So I think Rapunzel is here to stay for awhile longer.

Side note: I've also been moonlighting as a disney princess artist. 

Ball Boy

Ezra has started his own exercise routine 

Push-ups to tone the arms

Ending with some balancing and stretching. 

Wordless Wednesday: My Girl

It is finished...finally!

Once we got Emerson's big girl bed then came the fun of picking out bedding. I was motivated to make her room fun, pretty, and bright. I had fallen in love with this bedding from Land of The Nod.

It's even prettier in person. I ordered a sample, (which is free by the way) only to confirm what I had thought. The fabric was gorgeous, and brighter than it appears here. A combo of pink, orange, red, and turquoise. LOVE. But, with a $79 price tag I hesitated. I explored the idea of purhaps making my own duvet. After all I had sewn my way through college, it would be simple, right? After discovering I could not buy that specific fabric since it was designed for Land of the Nod I began to search. I knew I really wanted pink with red. It was so fun, vibrant, and not the typical little girl color scheme. Luckily Emerson and I have similar taste as far as color. While searching on etsy I came across fabric by Dena Fishbein. I loved it. After looking up all of her fabric I discovered I recognized several of her designs. 

I was drawn to this moroccan pattern. Since the tutorial had a combo of three panels I could use a contrasting pattern. I was having trouble picking something out. I kept going back to a turquoise color.  But, nothing felt right. Emerson picked out this stripe. It worked. It was a small enough scale compared the large pattern to balance it out, yet was vibrant and continued the rainbow of colors. 

 So after I got the fabric, you think it would be a couple days then it would be ready to go. Wrong. It took me two months from arrival to completion. Thankfully it is summer and Emerson doesn't mind sleeping with just a sheet. Although it was "just straight lines," the duvet took a lot of time from cutting to sewing, to enclosing it. Plus, I did french seams for fun. I had a slight hiccup in the end so it has a messed up spot in the corner where the fabric gathered. But, I think the overall look is adorable. Plus I plan to draw the turquoise and red out to add a boy side of the room since they share. 

Now, she must use it for the next 5 years. :)

Fabric by Dena Fishbein here and here

Tutorial by Design Sponge here

Our froggy friend

This little guy decided to pay us a visit. Our water table must have been super inviting on a summer day. He was a little smaller than my thumb. When I spotted him, I immediately ran inside for my camera.

Seriously, he was poising for me.  Although he did jump 3 feet in the air afterwards and gave me a heart attack. Yes, I was scared of this tiny frog. 

This girl was seriously excited. I had to deter her from picking him up. I told her he would turn into a prince if she did. Which oddly enough worked. Ezra was napping and missed the fun. But, luckily our frog decided to stick around for a day so could catch a glimpse. Just until he realized it might not be the safest patio with two crazy kiddos and a dog. 

Fun with friends

What are the odds of getting a picture of four kids under 5 to all look at the camera?

 At least Ezra got a back rub...

Hey, two out of four kids will work. 

First Day of Dance

Last week Emerson had her first day of dance for the year. She started a tap/ballet combo class. Since every parent on facebook documented the first day of school, I figured we document our first day of dance. Bright leotard and all. 

Don't you love the glamorous backdrop of trashcans? It didn't bother Emerson. 

Here is Emerson literally with her dancing shoes on. She's the bright gal on the left. She had a good time with her tap shoes. Since she has the same teacher as last year she fell right back into it. 

The girls switched over to ballet for the second half of the class. Ezra had a good time watching Emerson dance. Since she is in a bigger class, there are plenty of siblings in the lobby. Ezra has plenty of playmates to occupy him. 

Post-Class with a sticker on hand. Here is to a another great year of dance!

Out of Order

I'm trying to figure out this whole schedule your post thing. Apparently you have to hit publish. So dont miss this post on Emerson which is now out of order.

http://markandamylandis.blogspot.com/2012/09/emerson-age-35.html

Ezra 16 months

I realized that Ezra will be 17 months in a week. So I'll update you on his 16 month stats. To say that he is active would be an understatement. He is constantly moving around and always doing what big sister does. Which leads him to believe he is bigger than he is. His vocabulary is growing daily. Off the top of my head, baby, uh oh, and night night are a new ones but I'm sure there are a lot more. He now says more, while signing more to get his point across. He loves to stack blocks and has excellent motor skills. He also enjoys drawing a whole lot thanks to Emerson. He has a tender heart and is loving and affectionate. He has started to become more and more adventurous with food. Recently he has tried broccoli, beets, eggplant, and oranges. I'm so thankful he is willing to try things on occasion. Although his favorites are still hummus, watermelon, and popcorn. I have been making him whole wheat healthy breads and he could inhale 3 banana muffins in about 10 seconds. He tries to store his food in his cheeks and beg for more. He is probably about 22 lbs if I had to guess. He still has the rolls in his thighs but is slowly sliming down his belly.  Ezra loves to dance and sign. He honestly repeats a melody very well. I would love it if he ends up being musical. His hair is growing so fast. I thought I would have cut it a long time ago but it has a cute wavy texture and I just can't bare to cut it.  I think in some ways because it represents him growing up and little boys with clean cuts looks so much older to me. Ezra has 7 teeth in and is cutting 3 molars making for fun nights. He is down to one nap a day kind of to make it easier. He would probably take two if I let him. But, it's easier to get out and do things if it's in one chunk of time. So he goes down at 11 and gets up around 2. In firsts he finally played in the church nursery instead of crying! I'm so glad they finally get to see his true personality and he gets to enjoy the playtime.

Since I have been unsuccessful in capturing Ezra on my camera here are some iphone pictures. I even tried to take some official pictures at the beach, gorgeous sunrise and all. But, within 30 seconds my lens was fogged and Ezra was crying. All you can do is try, right?

Sitting in a baby doll stroller

Insisting on wearing a long sleeve shirt in 85 degree weather. 

Passed out! See his numerous boo boos from our accident prone week. 

Emerson Age 3.5

 Age: 3.5

Favorite Color: green

What do you want to be when you grow up? A present

Favorite Movie: Move it, Move it. ( Honestly could be because she saw the Madagascar soundtrack come across Pandora)

Favorite Book: Strawberry (aka Strawberry Shortcake)

What makes you happy? Daddy!

What makes you sad? Ezra (hmmm... sibling rivalry)

Favorite food: Marshmallows

Favorite song: Move it

Best Friend: Khushi

This bubbly girl is growing up fast. She is chatty and inquisitive so there is never a dull moment. A social butterfly she always wants to know someone's name and is constantly making little friends everywhere she goes. She plays with her brother nonstop and tries to mother him. A little forcefully at times though. Emerson loves to draw right now. She colors so intensely and fills the page with burst of color. Literally she could color for an hour no problem. She'll do zig zag lines across the page as her "writing" and tell me she is writing our names. Everything is spelled E..R..N. She is convinced that she is going to school on a bus any day now. 

Recently she has had a growth spurt and now appears to be a string bean, with her foot growing a size and a half this summer. I finally started to pack up the 18 month clothes. We definitely got out use out of them! She is probably 25 lbs soaking wet so, still our petite little girl. Emerson still loves dressing up and fashion. She loves to pair unexpected combinations of shirts, skirts, and dresses together. She really has an eye for color. She picked out her coordinating bedding fabric. Seriously! I can only imagine how fun she will dress when she is older. She loves to add accessories such as a fun headband, and necklace. In the picture here an athletic headband as a necklace. She is fully immersed in the princess phase. Emerson likes to pretend that she is a beautiful princess (Jasmine, Cinderella, etc.), Ezra is  a prince, and I'm the queen. The queen is never nice folks. Sigh. I guess I should be honored to be included. 

She is a spirited girl and there is never a dull moment.  She has a big imagination and tells some crazy stories. I can only imagine what she will be saying when she is four. My favorite recently is..

"I'm not feeling well, I"m growing smaller."

That is a problem, isn't it?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

The accident

16 months started out with a bang. As I was packing up from a weekend away I hard a loud thump and a terrible cry. The kind of cry a momma never wants to hear. As I rushed into the room I found a hysterical little boy with blood gushing out, and a suspicious sister. This was my first encounter with a bloody accident and I was not too calm. It looked like a chunk had been taken out of his head. After about 10 minutes when he calmed down I thought maybe I was overreacting. But, after a conversation with his pediatrician we figured it was best to have him checked out for a head injury. As we went to the urgent care Ezra understandably fell asleep after the ordeal. I didn't think about the ramifications of carrying in a passed out child with a gash in his head. 

"He should probably have a CT Scan done at the hospital"

But,  soon after the prodding he woke up and we sorted out the details that he fell asleep and wasn't knocked unconscious. Oops, my bad. None the less he would need to fix up the wound in his head. 

Meanwhile we waited to be seen by a Doctor. Ezra perked up and had a good time playing in the waiting room. Yes, he carries a pink purse sometimes. After a short wait it was showtime. The Dr. determined that he would indeed need a stitch, since it was too wide for glue. You got it, one stitch.  Ezra did amazing for the numbing injection. But, was not thrilled with the actual stitch itself.  In the process of trying to close it up the wound reopened and blood went everywhere. The smell made me seriously nauseous. Not, to mention that needle was not tiny. After knocking the first attempt of a stitch out, we finally closed it up. Afterward the Dr. and nurse commented how strong he is. Ezra was seriously mad at the staff sticking his lip out at them and crying. They tried to appease him with a sucker and he calmed down in a few minutes. 

Here is his after shot. The next week he seriously fell on his head no less than 5 times including a dive down a slide, and a jump off the stairs. Four days later, on my birthday, we had it removed at the pediatrician. The life of a mommy of a boy. Please pray for this momma and her crazy boy.

Summer at Pullen

We headed to Pullen with some friends at the beginning of the summer. They have some mist spraying out on the playground.  So it's great to cool down on a hot day and boy, was it hot.

We just went ahead and wore our bathing suit there so we wouldn't have to worry about wet clothes. We had a great time sweating it out on the train.

My precious boy. He has grown up so much since this picture was taken. (Sniff, sniff)

Cheese! Love it!

Somehow I managed to have both kids on the carousel at the same time. Kinda difficult and I wouldn't recommend it next time. :) Looking forward to some cool days at Pullen this fall.