Acceptance letter

I have a feeling that this is going to be a long one since I have a lot to talk about...

First off and probably the most exciting, is that Ella got accepted to the preschool that I liked the best! We got the acceptance letter in the mail on Saturday. I guess I should rewind a little bit. We know that Ella needs a little bit more interaction around kids her own age and decided to put Ella in preschool starting next fall. So, we started to look at some preschools that were close to us and we just stumbled upon the fact that it was open enrollment for next fall. Good thing we started looking when we did because I had no idea how competitive and difficult it can be to just get into preschool! So, she got accepted and I am so excited! It seems like such a great place and I know she is really going to love it there.

So, we've all been sick here for the past couple of days. It's really just been Maddie and me. Nothing major just stuffy noses and stuff. Ella has been very observant as we have had to use the snot sucker (I am sure there is another word for it but that's what Chris and I call it) to clear about Maddie's nose. Ella always has to chime in with, "Baby has boogers." The other day I captured these moments...

Apparently the baby dolls are also sick. I am always curious as to what Chris does with the girls when I go out for a little bit. I know he's great with them but I just like knowing what they do while I am away. The other day, Chris informed me while I was gone that he turned on some dance/techno music and him and the girls danced around the living room. I wish I could have been there to see that but I will settle for this attempt at a reenactment.

And this one just because it's so sweet.

Finally, we went out to dinner last Friday at Chick-fil-A. Okay, there weren't many places open at a quarter till five so this was the best choice. They really do have the best kids meal out there. Your child can get chicken nuggets, a cup of fresh fruit, and lemonade or apple juice. Believe me - it's the best. We were pretty happy that Ella ate three of her six chicken nuggets. She's not a big meat person, unless it's a hot dog and I don't really consider that meat. She loves her fruit and veggies. After, inhaling her fruit, we decided we would all share a milkshake. Ella would let us each of us know when it was our turn to take a sip by announcing "Ella's turn!", "Daddy's turn!", "Mommy's turn!" After Ella took the last sip she said, "Big milk."

She likes to move it, move it!

Ella's new favorite phrase is "move it." I am pretty sure that she picked this up from me. As we were heading out one day and walking down the stairs, I said, "Come on Ella, let's move it." It's amazing that she only had to hear this one time and now it's a phrase we hear way too often. Usually the phrase is aimed at Cooper. We'll occasionally hear a "Move it, Daddy" or "Move it, Mommy" but Cooper definitely gets the majority of the "Move its."

I feel like I've been talking a lot about Ella and little Maddie hasn't had much love on here. I can't believe that she is almost 8 months old. She has turned into a great sleeper! I didn't think that would ever happen after having such a rocky start. But now she is a sleeping pro. She's usually in bed between 6:30 pm and 7:00 pm and sleeps until 7:30 am or sometimes even 8:00 am! Plus she gets about 3 hours of sleep between her two naps. It's awesome! She is such an eater too. Ella was picky sometimes but Maddie loves her food. I know she would eat more if I had more to give her.

I think she's really close to crawling. Right now she pretty much just rolling where she needs to go. That girl can roll! Like this -

And she's using her feet to push off the ground and inch along the floor. Like this -

Today I saw her pull her knees in under her for the first time too. So, it's not going to be long now before she mobile and all over the place. I can't wait to see Ella's reaction when Maddie starts to crawl.

Finally, this is what Chris and I call "The turtle."

The wonder pets

I have a big problem with animals that talk. I cannot stand movies or commercials where there is some sort of real animal (not a cartoon) that is talking. Like the movie Babe, where the pig talks or the TV commercial for the toliet paper where that cute little puppy is talking. I don't know what it is about them but it just creeps me out and I don't like it. So, of course Ella has come to love this children's show called The Wonder Pets where the animals do indeed talk.

I'm sure you already know who The Wonder Pets are but just in case....


The guinea pig is Linny, the turtle is Tuck and Ming-Ming is the duck. This crazy trio of animals travels around in their flying boat to save animals in distress. When I first saw this show, I thought it was completely ridiculous and thought no way is Ella ever going to watch this. So, I'm not quite sure how she has come to love this show so much. We are pretty good about allowing her to watch only an hour of TV a day. Thirty minutes of that is always Dora and the other thirty minutes is either Diego, Yo Gabba Gabba or now her new favorite, The Wonder Pets.

Earlier this week we were at Target and Ella was being a little fussy. I spotted a Wonder Pets book that had been misplaced and gave it to her in the hopes that it would capture her attention and I could finish up my shopping. It did the trick and ended up coming home with us. It is now a favorite - we read it before nap time and before bed time. She insists that she sleep with it and when she shows up in our room at the crack of down, she has it clutched in her hand along with bunny and giraffey.

Even though the show is kind of growing on me, I still have not changed my opinion about talking animals. But we do think it's pretty cute when Ella goes running around the house saying "Wonder Pets save the day!"

Little miss manners

Ella has turned into such a little talker these days. Chris and I noticed this weekend that she is now putting sentences together. My baby girl is speaking in sentences! Yesterday, as we were sitting down for dinner she asked, "Daddy, I need a fork please." Adorable. Later on that evening she said, "Daddy come sit down. Play blocks, please." We are loving her manners as well. There is always, a please and a thank you and a welcome, Mommy or welcome, Daddy. We are pretty certain that the manner stage is going to be short lived so we are enjoying it as much as we can. It's nice to know that our constant reinforcement of saying thank you and you're welcome actually worked!

Some other cute things that she has said lately;

- Chris was humming a song and Ella said "Daddy, no songing."
- When Cooper is stalking her in the hopes that she will drop a teddy graham or a raisin she
says "Cooper...no, no, no, swiping."
- She calls strawberries "strawbabies."
- Ella has just about mastered the alphabet song, she just has trouble with one letter
"...H...I...Jelly...K."
- The other morning Chris went to get the remote to turn on the TV and Ella said "No Daddy. That's Mommy's."

But by far the best thing that she is saying these days is "I love you Daddy." and "I love you Mommy." especially when she is getting cozy in her bed at night and blowing kisses as we leave her room. We're so lucky to have such a sweet girl.

Introducing - Dora, Monkey, Baby doll, Baby doll, and Baby doll
(maybe we need to start naming these baby dolls)

Hugs & kisses

Happy Valentine's Day.

Just a couple of moments from Maddie's first Valentine's Day...

Da sliiide

I guess one of the perks of living in Georgia is the wonderful weather we experience during the winter. For the past week the weather has been amazing. It seriously feels like April right now instead of the middle of February. We are trying to take advantage of it because we know another cold snap is most likely just around the corner. So, last weekend we took the girls to the park. They had a wonderful time. Then again what kid doesn't love the playground. Ella was obsessed with going down the slide. She would go down one of the slides and then run across the playground to the other one. She repeated this over and over and over again. There were a lot of other children there as well. Ella had to point each one out, referring to them as "kid".

Ella is also sporting a new do - pigtails. We think she looks adorable with them. Surprisingly, they actually stay in her hair unlike all the other bows and hair accesories we have. Putting them in hasn't been the easiest of things but I have found that if I put on an episode of Dora that it results in a lot less crying and squirming. What would we do without Dora!

The start of something new

When I quit my job a couple of months ago to stay at home with our girls, I quickly realized just how fortunate I was to be able to stay at home with them and be apart of their entire day. I love being home with them. Don't get me wrong - there are definitely days when I wish I could be back behind a desk but those moments come and go and are followed by some priceless moment created by the girls. And so I guess it was these moments that led to the creation of Opidee's Garden. There are so many memories that I feel are slipping away and I wanted a way to capture them. I like to think that I can do a lot but there is no way I get get every cute thing written down or recorded on the video camera. So, I thought that this would be a good solution. Now the normal day to day activities are archived somewhere and not forgotten. Hopefully, you'll get some enjoyment reading it as well.