What we've been up to

Where has the last month gone? Time is flying by! The days are getting hot already and my babies are quickly becoming toddlers. I've been wanting to update my blog with all of the activities we've been doing and I'm getting so behind so I thought I do a LONG post and catch up.


Beginning with E-L-E-A-N-O-R-E:

What can I say? Eleanore's personality is emerging in full force. She is a dramatic, funny, sweet, vivacious little girl. She has a mind of her own and isn't afraid to show it off. That mind is one that is as bright as the sun shines. Her memory amazes me and the way she puts 2 and 2 together to get 22 (haha) cracks me up every day. You just gotta' love how a 3 year old thinks. An example: she tells me she is speechless. I tell her she is anything but speechless, and explain her that speechless means she doesn't know what to say (you see, Eleanore ALWAYS has something to say). She refuses to believe this and tells me that Belle is speechless (so Belle says on Beauty and the Beast) and Belle is beautiful, so Eleanore wants to be speechless (which now means beautiful).


Eleanore loves routine. She wakes up each morning saying lets go eat breakfast. On the way to the kitchen she asks what we are going to do today. As soon as she is finished eating she runs to her room to put her "daytime" clothes on (which are ALWAYS dresses), but those only last a few minutes till they dropped nearby the dress-up box and exchanged for a costume (princess, cowgirl, butterfly, etc). And our day goes on from there...

Family means a lot to Eleanore. She loves her sisters and does a great job of entertaining them, and watching out for them. She asks about her grandparents and cousins who live near and far on a daily basis and tells me she misses them (even though some of these she has only met once or twice). She is very much looking forward to our trip to Utah this summer where she'll get to play with her Toy cousins at the lake for several days.

Eleanore and Maya (Ivy was in the swing)

El has started dance again. She loves her teacher, Miss Andrea, and looks so cute in her leotard and tights each week. I love watching her through the window.

These are the cute dresses my friend Melissa made for my girls for their birthdays...awful pic...cute dresses...cute girls.

Eleanore loves princesses and likes to pretend to be them (she loves them all Belle, Ariel, Jasmine, Snow White, Anastasia, Sleeping Beauty, Frog Princess...), dance like them, have her hair done like them and sing like them. She is also learning to sing Primary songs, and has a very sweet singing voice. She tells me when she grows up she wants to be a mermaid, a mommy, a doctor, and today, an Indian.  For now she is a really fantastic little girl (she'll often remind that "she is just a little girl") and the best big sister I know. .

Eleanore is learning to write. She can write her name (although the R could use a little work) and can write Mom and Dad. She can spell lots of words aloud including her name, Mom, Dad, Ivy, Maya, nap and bed.


She loves the rocking horse Grandpa built, which has officially been named Pegasus (she came up with this name on her own after thinking about it for a few weeks).

I have to say we are seriously so blessed to have a such a dedicated, talented Grandpa. All of my kids have a very special place in their heart for Grandpa and Nana Buckley. It was a very special time for us to have them with us this winter. It went too fast and I feel like we didn't take advantage of the moments enough, but the memories are very dear to me (and to my girls). They ask about Grandpa and Nana nearly every day (that is not an exaggeration...THEY do...Ivy and Maya can say very few words but Grandpa was one of Maya's first and Nana is one of Ivy's FEW). They look for them around the house daily still, a month after they have left. It makes me kind of sad. Eleanore talks about going to Utah to visit them..can't wait until we do! Although we miss them we are very happy for them as they are preparing to serve a mission at a girl's camp in Heber Valley this summer. It seems like just the perfect place for them to serve.

Ivy was sleeping...no offense Ivy but had to take a pic while I was actually thinking of it (I can't believe how few photos we took while they were here).

With rainy season upon us now Eleanore loves to put on her boots and jump in the puddles. 

We've been practicing hopscotch.

And finger painting (by the way I figured out homemade finger paint recipe...now I'll never buy it again...way cheaper, and kind of fun to make!).

An update on the cute girl above, M-A-Y-A. I've said since she was born, and it is still true: Maya is my piece of heaven. She is so cuddly and sweet and really pretty mild mannered. She does her thing and is entertained by her two crazy sisters. She loves her Daddy, and runs straight to the door when she hears the screen door close when he arrives home. She is starting to say lots of words. The newest vocabulary words are "hop" (from practicing hopscotch) and "lick." She also has mastered "out" (for outside) and "shoes." Maya loves to go "bye-bye" and outside. Her favorite word of all is "cracker" which means any kind of food.

Maya is adventurous; while Ivy won't leave my side Maya will go and explore -- I have to keep my eye on her to make sure she isn't getting into mischief. She is starting to get a sense of humor and knows the things she can do to make us laugh. She has really mastered walking in the last month, and is an expert climber. She loves to climb the stairs all by herself and will say a big "uh-uh" (meaning NO) if  I try to carry her up the stairs after opening the gate. She will shake her head "yes" with determination if she wants something that we offer her (drinks or snacks, going outside, etc). Everything seems to be clicking with her and she understands what is going on around here.

I-V-Y is my little bean. She loves her mama and I love being loved. She keeps her eye on me and doesn't stray far from my side, but she is always moving and busy. She gets upset if anyone else hugs or kisses me and gets terrified if the tickle torture includes me (I think she thinks Bryan is hurting me). She is feisty, but sweet. Still adores Eleanore and laughs at her every move. Ivy doesn't say a whole lot, really only Mama, Dad, Nana, bye-bye, shoe and cracker. Although she is quiet, she is listening. She follows instructions really well (she'll throw her diapers in trash --along with a lot of other things, I'm back to checking the trash can before I dump it -- go to her room and stand by the rocking chair when I tell her it is nap or bed time, etc). 

Ivy is not growing as quickly as she should. The doctor has been having me bring her in for weight checks once a month and recently, when she lost weight over a month (and now is not even on the curve anymore), they suggested that we take her to a GI specialist. Bryan and I talked about it and decided to put it off for one more month because we think she is really just a small girl and she is ALWAYS busy, thus burning calories like crazy. We're trying to help her gain weight by feeding her whatever she'll eat (ice cream every day at the suggestion of the doctor), and we'll check again next month. 

On St. Patrick's Day, the leprechauns came and left a trail of chocolate gold coins all through the house that led to a bucket of green treats and a box of Lucky Charms and green milk for breakfast. Those sneaky leprechauns also painted Eleanore's fingernails and toenails green. She was very pleasantly surprised.

We tried to go strawberry picking with our friends Melissa and Max and Cassandra and Brook, but the farm was picked out. We'd driven over an hour to get there, so we had to find something else to make the trip worth it. Luckily there was an outdoor classroom with some pretty trails and animals (bunnies, birds, fox, deer, gators, fish, racoon) that we toured to make the day exciting. 

Maya was pretty interested in the bunny. Ivy didn't even want out of the stroller with it nearby, and Eleanore was too nervous to touch it.

We went to Orlando for the weekend with some friends. Friday night I was able to go to the temple and do some work for family members on my Dad's side, including my Grandma Annette Toy, which was a special experience. Then on Saturday we spent the day at Sea World. 

El and her buddy Jarom. These two are three months apart and have been friends since birth (they were the only two little kids in our ward for a long time).

Sunglasses on...for a minute.

The Martinez's and the McKinney's waiting for the dolphin show to begin.

We've played with funny hats.

The butterfly nets from the Elefun game.

Maya loves this cowboy hat.

My kids all think undies make pretty good hats. Good thing they only play with the clean ones. ;)

Bryan and I have both been busy with work. Bryan was gone for the first two weeks of March and will be gone again next weekend. He's also busy, as always, with his school work nearly every evening, and when he isn't doing that he has his church responsibilities. We've been taking turns being sick (and the girls too) which as made everything more exhausting and more stressful. Hopefully April can be a sick-free month for our family. 

Together, we've been working on our food storage. Bryan has felt impressed, based on counsel he has been receiving in priesthood meetings, to get our year supply in order. So, for the last two or three months we've really been focusing on it and I am happy to say that by the end of this month we will hopefully have a year supply of food storage for our family.

My helpers

Next, we need to work on collecting and storing the other essentials like toiletries and cleaning products, in case there were a situation where we could not shop. I used to have a ton of this stuff on hand without even trying from couponing, but I haven't done much of that since Ivy and Maya were born, so my supply is getting low (but surprisingly I still have a lot of a few things, like soap). I guess I should start coupononing again.

So, that's what we've been up to. If you made it through this post you are impressive...it is okay if you didn't, mostly wanted to document this all for my own memory. Most importantly I want to say: I sure love this family of mine!