She is going to kill me for this later...

Eva has had a difficult day today. Lack of sleep does not mesh well with her personality. In addition there have been injuries. She suffered a paper cut (her first) and fell out of a chair on to her face (thankfully no damage or blood). We are now home after picking up El and relaxed on the sofa watching "The Wizard of Oz". She suddenly starts to cry. When I ask what the problem is she refers to her paper cut (she has taken the band-aid off) and says, "There is blood on my finger, and I can't put it in my nose, and I need to!"

The First Day of School... The Last First Day in Elementary School

Today is El's first day of 5th grade. She was so excited she was up well past midnight! Unfortunately that means I was up as well. She finally fell asleep in Eva's bed with Eva and me. Meanwhile, I was putting Eva to bed and I explained we would have to get up in the morning to take Issy to school. She was crying and said, "I don't want Issy to go to school. I want to keep her and now school wants to take her and that is not fair!!!" From sometime after midnight until about 2am we all slept peacefully. After two in the morning Eva woke twice to use the potty and three times to have a drink. Finally fell fast asleep around 5am. I had to wake her at 7:15 to take El to school... she was less than thrilled. Long story, short... Mama is tired! I think we will all sleep more easily tonight.

Art-a-licious

I just photographed some of the girls artwork. Some of the pieces may not make it through the next move so I thought I would make a photographic journal of the pieces. The trees were done by El in 4th grade art class. I love it (it will make it through the move). The heart and paint was done by Eva just before her 3rd birthday at Gymboree art class (this one will also make it).

The Bookstore Rip Off

Gramma Pat has suggested that I blog about something that is not so sweet. These moments are few. But here is a video from the other day. The girls had set up a bookstore and were taking turns being the shopkeeper. This is Eva as the shopkeeper, she has some interesting pricing, and El as the customer. I believe my girls my grow up to be swindlers!

Sweet Stuff

Eva fell asleep in her car seat. She looked so cute that El could not resist touching her hand. When she did, Eva tightened her hand around El's finger. El melted. So did I at this adorable sight.

Play, play, play - play all day

This is El with her "American Girl doll, Felicity". Eva decided to be El's doll after watching El do her American Girls hair. So El dressed "Felicity" up and did her hair just as she does for the dolls. (This included covering the face to protect it from water.) I love the moments when I can sneak up and watch them play together... so sweet! When it is quiet I know all is well with these two. I asked El what it is like to have a real, live doll and she replied with a big smile, "It's pretty darn great!".

I'm just saying...

Just a little Mommy brag time.

Isn't she lovely?

Where is my little girl?

I have been going through and organizing some pictures and memorabilia from El's early years. Where has the time gone. I blinked and she grew up. If the next ten years go as fast as the last ten...

Oh, I don't even want to think about it!

When we first moved to our little corner of the Hill country there were only about two restaurants. This was quite an adjustment from Houston! I am happy to report that many new establishments have opened in the past two years. This video is from last weekend. We visited the latest new opening... Pei Wei. Eva has found her own way to handle the chopsticks.

Twilight

This is what I found after El was playing on Eva's whiteboard. We are both a little Twilight obsessed.

Vintage

Eva (who at the time of the picture on the right was named Blue) is wearing some of her wonderful "vintage" dresses. Our wonderful neighbors from Stanmore Drive , Leila and Henri, gave Eva these and many other adorable dresses. She catches so many eyes and comments in these beautiful frocks.

Harry Potter

Yesterday as the girls were playing I heard them discussing Harry Potter. Later, Eva comes over all dressed up with a cape and a wand. She tells me that HP wants to marry her in her best english accent! It was sooo cute. I am going to try to get her to say some things on video. If I am successful, I will post it with this blog entry.

It was so nice of the big girls to include her in their play date so well. After all El and Catie are only 10 and Elena (Ginny while playing HP) is 18! I still enjoy the faces of all the moms and gramdmas who interact with her and ask her how old she is. The last age they expect to hear is 18:)

Cute things they say...

Just wanted to chronicle some of the cute things they say:

Eva will often capted us. (capture or captured)

El used to scream tannenbaum (sp?) before jumping into the water. (cannon ball)

Right now Eva is working the ice cream parlor. This is a wall cutout between two rooms. She is serving up ice cream to El and her friend Catie. It is entirely make believe except for the window where you place the order. There is no toy food or cups or anything! However, El just ordered pistachio and was told "No, we do not have that flavor." She was then told she could order chocolate, vanilla, strawberry or grass flavored ice cream:)

Spa Day

El and Eva decided to have a spa day (actually, a spa evening). I found some masks at the grocery store and picked them up for the girls. I was not able to help at the time so El took charge and the two had a great time. When done Eva asked, "So, are we beautifuller?"

Painting Pottery

We have a new pottery painting place in Bee Cave! The girls and I went and met some friends for an afternoon of fun. These pictures are of their finished products. The right is Eva's vase. The left is El's Tuscan vessel. What you don't see is that the back side of Eva's had another piece of pottery attached to it. The other piece fell onto it during firing. They detached it and sanded it down so that she could still have the vase. She will be able to go back and paint again at no cost. As the lady was explaining this to us, Eva was adamantly insisting that she did NOT want to paint again. I think she thought if she painted again she would not be able to take her vase home.

Puppy Love

Eva is giving Lelly some lovin'. Sometimes she nearly loves Lelly "to death". We are off to the pool today with some friends. We never left the house yesterday... a nice lazy day for the 102+ weather. Summer is flying by too quickly. I seem to want to put off El being a 5th grader as long as possible! How can my baby be in 5th grade? Oy!

Now I know what was different about the sleepover...

Todd, Eva, and I went out to dinner last night. When we came home it was time for bed. So Eva and I got on our jammies, brushed our teeth, read stories, tickled each other, listened to music, and went to sleep. Then at about 3:15 am she wakes and says she is hungry and that her belly is rumbling. Usually I give her a drink and back to sleep. However, her belly really was rumbling, loudly! So we went down stairs and grabbed some crackers and milk. By the time we were back up we were pretty awake. So I grabbed her DVD player and she watched "Ice Princess" while munching her crackers. So then I decided to get El's DVD player (with headphones) and watch Twilight again. There we were, middle of the night, snacking and watching movies. This really was a sleepover! With full belly and entertained mind she drifted off to sleep, as did I.

She really missed El and asked several times when she would be back and exactly why did she go.

Sleepover

El has left the building. She has gone to a Christmas in July event at Cafe' Monet (pottery painting) with her friend Catie and then they are sleeping over and going to church in the morning. Eva and I are having a sleepover tonight. Eva (aka Marissa) is very excited about this. I am not sure how this is different than any other night... oh well, whatever keeps her happy. Not much to report today. Ciao.

Choo-Choo

Eva and I set up the train track today. She has really enjoyed setting up the towns and trees around the track. She spends most of her time rearranging the set up than sending the train around the track.

The house

Here are some of the latest advances. The floor is being sealed today. The interior doors are still not here and are holding up the process! The stone walls are in the foyer. This view is from the living room. The garage doors are up but have not been stained yet. Spending lots of time on details!!!

Too Too Sweet Elyse

We just came home about a half an hour ago. El and Eva are playing school, Eva is the teacher right now. Pretty cute! El's assignment is to write a poem. She wrote it to me. Here it is.

Makes kindness and love engulf the air

Only she can comfort me in my greatest despair

Makes ominous thoughts be repelled in her presence

Mine she will always be, even in different places and meeting different faces

Young or old, in life or death, her love is eternal even in the deepest depth

I am blessed.