Ella's first hair cut

We finally did it. I've been saying that we need to get Ella's haircut for the past few months and I finally took her to the kid hair cut place this morning. Recently all she wants to do is wear her hair down (like the princesses do) and it's constantly in her face. She got just over an inch trimmed off the back and her bangs cut. It's going to take a little getting used to, but I'm happy with the cut overall. She really enjoyed watching Dora during the haircut also, she didn't want to get out of the little car when it was all done!

More sister playtime

Ever since we brought out the Fisher price chair...Taylor can't get enough of it. Ella loves to show her how to press the lamp, and the crayons to play music. Whenever Ella shows her, Taylor always gives her a big laugh. I love watching them play together...can't get enough :)

Ella update

It seems like it has been a while since I posted what's new with Ella lately. As she approaches the 3 1/2 mark, our little girl has learned so much. She is fascinated with word, numbers, letters and spelling. She recently learned to write her name and she is learning how to write all of the letters of the alphabet. Ella can also recognize any letters of the alphabet in any order and she does a great job telling me what letter words start with. When we are in the car, we like to play the game "What word starts with the letter...".

We are so shocked by her memory sometimes. She will remind me about a time 3 months ago when I brought a cupcake home from work for her, but she had to eat her carrots at dinner in order to have dessert!

Potty training is officially done, and we couldn't be more relieved. It took a solid eight months, and one day it just clicked. We no longer have pull ups in the house either, she can nap and sleep at night time in her big girl panties. There have been two potty accidents in the middle of the night in about six weeks, but we are overall very successful and so proud of her.

Ella got her monthly progress report from the preschool room. She has mastered many of the skills from the preschool I room and they will begin working on the skills typically taught in the preschool II room over the summer. She tends to have a hard time sitting still at circle time on occasion and is still working on listening, but they love having her in their class.

Ella does so well playing with Taylor and sharing with her. I look forward to their bond getting stronger and stronger over the next few years. Ella likes to ask Taylor questions and then answer for her. Typically it goes something like this "Baby Taylor, you like noodles? Yes? Baby Taylor say she likes noodles."

There are a few things that Ella does that I don't want to correct just yet because they are so darn cute. When she wants her hair in a braid, she calls it a brave. She also says cupcapes instead of cupcake. Papa likes to teach her the correct way to say it, I like how she says it :)

Sick, sick, sick

We are certainly battling illness in the Martin house lately. Last week I got sick, the very next day Taylor got sick while at school. She had the stomach flu from Wednesday all the way through Sunday. We thought she was feeling better on Saturday, so we headed out to the Valentine's Dance that the school put on. It was a lot of fun and Ella had a great time dancing with her friends Carter, Emily and Brayden. Taylor saw her teachers and reached for them instantly with open arms. Unfortunately later that day, Taylor showed signs that she was definitely still sick.

Monday was President's Day, so I got to stay home with Ella and Taylor who were both healthy and very fun to play with. Tuesday morning Papa got the girls up to go to school, and Ella had a 102.6° temperature. He dropped Taylor off at school and kept Ella home with him. Papa asked Ella what she wanted for lunch and she said "I wanna go night-night". You know Ella doesn't feel good if she asks to take a nap! Not sure what she fell ill with, but she was home Tuesday and Wednesday with a fever.

Wednesday at 4:45 pm, the school called me at work to tell me that Taylor spiked a fever of 102.5°. I went and picked her up immediately. Her fever had already dropped a bit, but it was still in the 101 range. We ate dinner and then I gave her some medicine. She ate really well (peas....her absolute favorite food) and played as if nothing was wrong. We'll see how she does tomorrow at home with Papa, but we are hoping that it was just a teething fever (since she still only has her two bottom teeth).

New post with pictures to follow...just thought I'd give you an update on the family.

Sisterly Love pictures

Today was "favorite shirt day" at school, and Ella picked her M&M shirt (of course). Since snow fall was expected to pick up early in the evening, the girl's school closed early at 4 pm. I was home sick and Papa got off work in time for us to pick them up together. We got to enjoy some extra play time with the girls before bath time and they really played together for a while. Ella climbed on the couch using Taylor's little Fisher Price seat and Taylor followed suit. They laughed and played on the couch for quite some time.

My favorite picture......

Superbowl 2010

This year we played last minute host to a superbowl party with a small group of friends. There were seven kids here total and everyone seemed to have a good time. Taylor showed off her walking skills and Ella and Jenna were inseparable. They did play-doh, ate dinner together, played dress-up and baby dolls. Taylor got in on the baby doll action too and it was cute how she would hug her baby (and then smack her in the head).

Another Taylor walking video

Taylor is a walking maniac lately. The last few weeks her walking skills have improved every day. She still is a bit hesitant to bend her knees when she walks, a little like Frankenstein :)

Bath tub video

Here is a video Papa took yesterday during bath time. Taylor was actually pretty calm in comparison to most days.