Marissa stories

The other night, Marissa had another accident in her pull-up... she has long mastered the "#1" part of potty training but is holding out - so to speak - on #2.  So, I told her to march upstairs and clean up and get a new pull-up.  I also told her she wasn't to say a word so that mommy could have a moment to cool off.

She stopped me at the end of the hall and said, "Mommy, I just really need to tell you something.  Something important and something you need to hear."

 I said, "Okay, but just one thing."

She said, "I'm just... well, I'm just a really big jerk".


(for the record, I told her she wasn't and turned away so I could laugh.)


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Marissa uses air quotes.  No lie.  For example, the other night, she told me that Daddy was taking his "cup" (with air quotes) into the "living room".

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Marissa & I went to the store and she wanted to walk along side the cart.  I agreed as long as she stayed where I could see her.  Of course, it was just minutes before I couldn't see her.  Sensing that she was behind me, I said "Marissa, are you back there?"  She replied, "I'm on your tail."

Christmas Decorations

I LOVE Christmas decorations... the lights, the red and green, the shiny ornaments, the memories.  We've accumulated quite a few boxes of Christmas decorations.  Each year, Scott dutifully goes to the attic... and sometimes he has help.

He gets the boxes out... 

And then it's time to decorate.  This year, I put in my FAVORITE Christmas movie of all time, White Christmas, and proceeded to put the tree together.  Then, my little helpers joined in with the ornaments.  Grandma Kenworthy gets them an ornament each year, so they had a good time getting each year's ornament out and I had a good time remembering when they received each one.

I had purchased a couple of items on clearance last year... items I had really liked, but couldn't bring myself to pay full price for.  Sure enough, I held out until the clearance prices came out and got both of these lovely items for less than $15 in all!

the oh-so-beautiful poinsettia wreath

glass advent calendar

If I had to pick my favorite decorations, it would be the mantle.  Oh, I love it.  I love remembering the days of two stockings.... then three... then four.  I love the simple lights and just how warm it makes the living room look.  

I have decorations scattered around a couple of other places too... 

Paper plate snowmen from a couple of Christmases ago

I just love it.  There's so much hope tied up in everything about this holiday... hoping for presents... stockings hung in anticipation of goodies from Santa... but most importantly, the hope that came to Earth in the form of a little baby boy named Jesus.

Marissa cracks me up for the 7,352nd time...

Marissa just asked me to watch her baby for her while she "runs errands"... she left me with the baby and the baby's "favorite novel" (seriously).  I asked what the novel was called and she said, "Breathless Eternity of the Day".   I have no idea where she gets this stuff... well, I may have some idea (right Grandma Kenworthy?)

She has also been heard having telephone conversations with bosses ("You can't fire me!  I quit!"); with her friends ("If I don't do the shopping, my husband is going to kill me!"); and with the doctor ("the baby's toes are turning green and I want to know if that's bad").

And I seriously hope this is funny someday, but she has been SO upset with all of us because we all are supporting Romney in the election and she is the only one for "Aracka Bama".  I even listened to the radio a bit this afternoon and when she heard talk of the election, she got very upset and demanded to know why no one else would vote for "Aracka Bama" and why we were being so mean. For the record, when we asked her why she was supporting Obama, she said "because he's the president".

So much for my blogging resolution

So much for my blogging resolution.  I was determined to add more pictures and to write funny anecdotes.  Oh well...

The next few posts will be out of order, I suppose.  But this will be "stream of consciousness" blogging instead of timeline.

On Halloween, we trick-or-treated with our dear friends, the Parks family, in their neighborhood.  It was very cold - everyone had extra layers on and we probably cut things a little shorter since we couldn't feel our fingers!  Luke was Captain America and Marissa was Sleeping Beauty.  It was a fun evening!

And then, I told them to pose like their characters... apparently, this is the "street" version of Sleeping Beauty...

Here is one of the "Princesses"...

And here are the super heroes (with Snow White)...

The last time...

The last time I posted, I had a three year old son.  Now I have a three year old daughter.

IT'S BEEN TOO LONG.

This was supposed to be my vehicle for remembering all the cute and funny things my kids did.  It was going to be my way of remember what we did, who we saw, what was said.  

I failed.  

But here's to fresh beginnings.  

And for my brother who has the first few lines of my last post memorized because it was there so long ... enjoy the new posts!

Miscellaneous...

I wish I was a great writer like a couple of my friends... every blog post they write seems so eloquent and so well thought out.

Alas, I'm a numbers gal.

So, I'm just adding a post with my random notes about what my kids have been doing lately to crack me up...

LUKE:

• The other night, we were talking about getting a pizza for dinner. I said, "Pizza Hut or Papa John's?" and he replied by saying "papa's in the house". I think he's seen a few of the commercials.
• There's a pesky fly in our house right now. It was on my chair tonight and he said we should try to kill it with the "shoo-fly bugger".
• At the grocery store the other night, Luke's eyes got big and he excitedly asked for some cookies that he saw... I asked what kind... he said, "the chocolate on top and chocolate on bottom with vanilla in the middle cookies". Thankfully, Nabisco figured out a shorter name - Oreos. I told Luke what they were really called, and each time he asked for one after that, he asked for "Wareos."
• When he was younger, he used to call the movie theater the "R" movies. (Not because of the movies we took him too, but because our theater is called "Rave" and has a giant "R" on the side of the building. ) He doesn't call it the "R" movies anymore, but says we should go to the "Movie ahveater".
  

MARISSA:

• Everyone's name is eye-yah. At first, we heard it mostly when she was talking to Luke and we thought it was her way to say "brother". But now, we notice that anyone is "eye-yah" except for Mommy, Daddy, Grandma & Papa.
  
• Her word for blanket is "ah-bet". No matter who you are or how often you're around her, you'll hear this word for sure.
• I may have mentioned this before - but just in case - Marissa won't say the word please. She says the p sound instead... this started because her babysitter was trying to get her to switch from signing please to saying it and was emphasizing the p sound.
• This girl knows no strangers. The other night, I took the kids down to Scott's work to meet him for dinner. She waved at everyone she met and gave a hearty "Bye" as we left... she even blew kisses at one of the workers!
• She still prefers sucking on her bottom lip to a pacifier. That girl has not used a pacifier for a day in her life!

Of course, there are a thousand other things I should be writing down, but that's all I can think of for now... since this blog takes the place of a baby book (I know - it's terrible!), I want to be sure and put as much as I can on here!

Changing Cups

It's silly when you think about it... a trip to the bank usually involves us driving by 15 other banks on the way there. In fact, when we go the "back way" to our bank, there's an intersection where there is literally a bank on each corner.

Luke knew we were going to the bank, and as we sat at that corner, he asked "Mommy, is that the bank where you will change cups?"

Change cups? I admit I was slow on the uptake, but he quickly explained how you pull up to the cup and put your money in and then push the button to change cups.

I love the way he sees the world.

Yard Work

More of my husband's handiwork... We had a pretty steep area by the side of the house that would not grow grass. Scott decided to build a 2 level flower bed... The top level has shrubs and the bottom layer has flowers. It's a nice little touch to the backyard. And we don't have to look at the bare dirt anymore!


I am certainly not the gardeners that my mom & my aunts are... unfortunately, that gene did not get passed on! But I do manage to get my lillies to come back each year. These lillies were first started at my duplex (2 houses ago). When I moved to my first house, I took 3 bulbs and planted them at the side of the garage. They multiplied enough that I split them a couple of times and moved them to various spots. When we moved to this house, of course I had to bring a few. I think I brought 3 (maybe 4) to this house. This is our 3rd summer here and you can see how they've multiplied! I LOVE these flowers - they're so pretty!

Career Day

In 10+ years of life in the accounting world, one thing I've decided is that my kids will grow up to do something they love. I don't LOVE accounting. I'm good at it, but I certainly don't love it. I want my kids to grow up to do what they LOVE.

I thought these conversations were way off in the future... but lo and behold, the other night, Luke announced that he knew what he wanted to be when he grew up.

Me: What's that Luke? What do you want to be when you grow up?

Luke: A chicken clown.

Me: [nothing at first! What would you have said?] Really? What does a chicken clown do?

Luke: [in a very matter-of-fact tone] They juggle chickens on plates.

Me: Oh, I see. Where did you see this? On one of your cartoons? On a movie?

Luke: No, Mommy. It's just what I want to do.


Let's just hope there are more career conversations to come...

Love these people!

Mother's Day

I had another great mother's day... my kids made special flowers out of tissue paper complete with a card (thanks, Jen!) and my husband gave me an iTunes card so I can download my Glee music.

We were at my mom & dad's for the weekend. My brother was also in town. The weather was crazy windy and a little cold on Saturday, but that didn't stop the kids from getting out on their tractor. Sunday was nicer, so of course that meant more time out on the tractor!

Luke loves his Uncle Wade!

thanks to Scott for taking the picture!

sweetest kids in the world!

Extracising

Luke loves to "extracise". That's how he says it. He not only loves to play with the treadmill (see Invention post), but he loves to run and walk on it. He knows how it works and he knows how fast he can go.

I had to post some video of him extracising... and please forgive my laughter in the background. It still cracks me up.

Inventions

Luke has a new favorite thing to do in the playroom...

He will say "Come see my new invention".

This is code for turn on the treadmill and make a giant mess.

I do love the creativity of it... it started with the play food bucket. He would take out the play food (say, an apple) and put it near the top of the treadmill belt. Then, he'd turn on the treadmill and the apple would make its way down the "assembly" belt. Soon, the food bucket was empty, thanks to the help of his assistant, Marissa, who would hand him something each time an item fell off the belt.

Every toy in that playroom has been on the assembly line... big toys, little toys, you name it.

Swingset

Luke & Marissa now have something to do outside in this wonderful April weather! Thanks, Grandma K!


Much unlike Rome, this swingset WAS built in a day! Thanks to some Saturday help from our good friend, Brian, it was assembled and ready to play on by Sunday afternoon! It has a rock wall for climbing, a ladder, and a slide. You can also see the glider swing (which is VERY high and looks like an accident waiting to happen if you ask me!) and 2 swings. Believe it or not, we tried to be proactive by purchasing the toddler swing, but lo and behold, Marissa would rather swing on the regular swing! Of course she would!

Luke has developed quite the imagination, so this set includes some pretty fancy extras, like an "attic" where he stores his "engine", a food shop where you can order anything from a hot dog to crunchy bugs, a lair for Batman and his entire entourage, and various other things.

We've already logged quite a few hours on the swingset, so we're looking forward to a fun summer outside!!

No, I didn't quit!

No, I didn't quit the blog! I've been busy... LOL.

I haven't posted since Christmas which means there's no way to catch up on everything... in summary, we had a nice holiday with Scott's sisters and brother and their families; we played in the snow several times since we had so much this winter, and the winter highlight was probably our trip to Disney World with Grandma & Grandpa Ellis!

The other thing I realize is that it means I haven't posted for almost 4 months of Luke & Marissa's little lives! They have changed so much in the past few WEEKS, let alone months! I'm so grateful that my friend / babysitter Jennifer writes down the things they do each week! She's kept a better record of my kids than I have! Thanks, Jen!

About Luke...

• rides his bike (with training wheels) any time he has a chance
• knows alot of shapes, including parallelograms (which I love to hear him say that word!)
• can almost write his name! The "L" and the "U" are good... "K" needs some help, and the "E" looks like a comb because he puts so many lines on it.
  
• enjoys hitting golf balls off the tee in the back yard
• plays "Lego Batman" on the x-box and knows all the little tricks
  
• buckles himself in the carseat
• gets dressed by himself in the morning
• potty-trained! (still use a pull-up at night)

About Marissa...

• has lots of words, including mommy, daddy, bye, puppy, mine, baby, up, brother, all done, and various other words that only WE know.
  
• she eats like every meal is her last! vegetables, fruit, meat, junk - you name it, she'll eat it!
• she's tough! scrapes and bruises all over the place
• personality plus! And she certainly makes it known when she doesn't get her way.
  
• she has lots of teeth - 10 I think - and she has been an easy teether just like her brother. So glad these kids know how to sleep!

Scott is back to working 2nd shift, so it's just me & the kids in the evenings. As tax season wraps up, I know that I have been short on patience and haven't enjoyed my time with them like I should. Tonight, as I tried to get supper on the table, Marissa had a death grip on my leg and Luke was trying to tell me something in the midst of it all. I found myself about ready to lose my patience! Something inside me whispered "they won't be little for very long" and I literally stopped. I stopped in the middle of the kitchen and just tried to soak it all in. I've been thinking alot about how fast the kids are growing up since I talked with a few parents in the parking lot at church yesterday - they all have older kids and were teasing me about how soon they'd be asking to drive and other things that I must confess make my knees buckle. What a couple of precious gifts I've been given!

I managed to get a couple of really cute shots of Luke & Marissa all decked out for Easter. I love to see them dressed up...








I hope to be more regular with my posts after this week... It will be nice to have some "free time" after the kids go to bed instead of heading back downstairs to my office to work!

Our Christmas pic

Santa!

fa la la la la. Right?

So, as you can tell, Marissa wasn't crazy about Santa.... Luke looks a bit dazed, but actually, he's just excited about the candy cane in his hand.

We really planned this trip out.... wait to go on one of Scott's days off so I didn't have to go by myself.... pick a weekday afternoon before school kids are on break so that maybe we can just walk in and go right to Santa without having to wait in line.... our plan worked perfectly! And still these little stinkers didn't want anything to do with Santa! Oh well!

I do have to say that this Santa is (a) the best looking Santa I've ever seen, and (b) so sweet and patient. He even *sounds* like what I think Santa should sound like.

Quote of the day as we left from Luke: "Mommy, Santa just told me he'd be at my house in a few days. I think that's weird."

Another cute outfit

One of the girls I work with sent this outfit for Marissa.... so sweet.

BIRTHDAY GIRL!!!!!

Our beautiful little girl is ONE! She is a FAST crawler and is interested in everything Luke is doing. She began crawling up the stairs.... I didn't know she knew how until I happened to see her halfway up the stairs one day! You can kind of see it in her birthday picture (below), but she fell off the 3rd stair just a couple hours after her professional birthday pictures were taken - instand black eye and huge bump on her forehead! She has taken steps between people, as long as someone is standing waiting to catch her. She says Mama and Dada.... but "Dada" is also the word for several other things, including doggie, baby, and Luke. Each one of those "dada"s has a different sound to it - she definitely thinks she's saying different words. She is cracking everyone up with her personality and she's even starting to show a little temper when things don't go quite her way. In fact, two days before her 1st birthday, she threw her first major tantrum while I was *trying* to visit some friends.... she SCREAMED (no, really, I mean SCREAMED) for well over an hour. In that time, I loaded the kids up, drove back to our house, called my doctor because I thought something was wrong..... and after an hour and 15 minutes or so, she just decided she was done. I couldn't believe it. Oh, sweet Marissa.

Here's Marissa in her birthday shirt:



We made cupcakes for the actual birthday


She wasn't too shy about getting into it.


This is another of Marissa's quirks: she likes to rub whatever she might be eating into her hair.... so, clearly the icing made an interesting look.

Other things I keep forgetting....

And before I forget YET AGAIN.... I have to jot down a few of the funny things these kids do....

• Marissa loves to "sing" while she eats. It all started when I fed her for the very first time in the hospital and the lady who came to help me start nursing said "oh, she's going to sing for her supper". Marissa has always made some kind of noise while eating, but now that she sits in her high chair and eats table food, she constantly makes some kind of noise while eating. I can be in another room and I know if someone has given her something to eat because of all the noise.

• I asked Luke if he would please let Ashley (our dog) inside..... he said "Well, I most certainly can, Mommy". How very helpful.

• Luke also likes to add "actually" to just about every sentence these days. I asked him if he wanted cereal and toast for breakfast and he said "Actually, Mommy, I'd just like Apple Jacks actually." All in a very matter-of-fact tone. Crack me up - how old is he anyway?

• Marissa has been giving guppy kisses for awhile, but now she's picking up on what we do when we try to get kisses..... you know how you make the "mmmmm" noise while you lean in for a kiss? Well, Marissa has started pursing her lips together tightly and making that "mmmmm" noise while she leans toward you and pushes her nose on your cheek. Once is just not enough, either..... which is fine by us!

• Luke calls Scott's whiskers "crumbs", as in "Daddy has crumbs on his face" or "Daddy is washing his crumbs". The last time Luke got his haircut, he announced that he had crumbs on the back of his head (where the hair was the shortest). This is especially funny when he tells OTHER people about the crumbs. For instance, his Sunday School teacher has a mustache - he told Mr. Doug that his daddy didn't have one of those yet, he only had crumbs. Funny, funny stuff.

• And just in case I haven't posted this somewhere else (because this is my favorite Luke-ism) - when eating something particularly tasty, Luke makes either Scott or me say "This is delicious" so that he can say "You can say that again". I love it.

• Marissa likes to twirl MY hair as she winds down.... I think simply because she doesn't have enough hair of her OWN to twirl. haha. It's pretty sweet though.....