You Could Sleep Here...

... because no one else in our house is, especially Ella. I'm sure everyone is well aware of our potty training issues (if not, consider yourself lucky) so I'll skip to the most recent update. Last week Wes said to Ella (he says I was the one but I don't think so), "If you poop in the potty you can sleep in our room". And I distinctly remember looking at him with a few obscenities running though my mind (sorry Wes) but also thinking that was a pretty good idea. And I'll be damned if she didn't walk her little self into the bathroom and poop on the potty. Now, again, I can't even believe this is what I have to write about, but it is what it is- and I think what it is is desperation. So Ella has been sleeping in our room on a blow-up mattress. Yes ladies and gentleman, pass over the Mom of the Year Award because I clearly deserve it. Or maybe you could pass it my way because we have somehow gotten ourselves into a hostage situation with those little Cadbery eggs. As in Ella holds me hostage with not getting dressed, not listening, not eating, not (fill in the blank with any activity of daily life that most kids do on their own) without one of those little eggs. Ugh! I wish I could say everyone said this parenting thing would be easy but no one told me that so I'll stop the whining and share some pictures from Ella's ballet class:

República Dominicana

What a trip! I think these pictures can tell the story pretty well, so here it goes:

The night before our flight, we had dinner with Barry, Robbie, and Karen. Thank you all for Ella's sweet treats! Ella was immediately smitten with Karen and went for many walks, or should I say shopping excursions, with her while we ate.





We then headed to our hotel to get some rest before our six am flight.



This is Ella at 3:30 am waiting for us to get ourselves in gear and head to the airport. We had an easy flight (as easy as it gets with a three year old) and finally, .....

Uncle Matt!!!!!


We went to Ocean World our first day and had fun with the dolphins, sea lions, birds, lions, ....

The next few days we went to our beach, Playa Cofresi:

If we weren't at the beach, we were napping, reading in the hammock, catching the world at the local coffee house/network cafe, playing Polly Pockets, or marveling at the cuisine Paulina prepared for us. What a luxury to have all your meals planned and prepared for you.

It was so nice to see Matt and while I don't think he got much of a vacation with Ella always wanting to be with him, we had a great time. Thank you Matt for arranging this entire trip!

Because Aunt Shannon Says So...

This is a picture of Ella and Sami at Little Gym Last night. They each have their "Dance Bag" that holds their shoes for class because they enter without shoes (gymnastics part) and then put on their tap shoes first and then ballet shoes. At the end they put their shoes back in their bag. Ella chose her bag from Aunt Shannon as her dance bag- which is fitting since Ella now thinks Aunt Shannon rules the shoe world.

Background: We were reading Ella's blog together, and looking at the comments, when I read Aunt Shannon's suggestion about no shoes ("Barefoot dolls rock"). I said to Ella, "See, Aunt Shannon says it's okay for your dolls not to have shoes." When given the chance to choose a bag, she said, "Aunt Shannon's. She said I don't have to wear shoes". Okay, a bit of a stretch, but it was sweet. I thought it was so sweet until this morning when I was trying to get Ella to pick out shoes for school and she said (you could see this coming, I'm sure) "Aunt Shannon says I don't have to". I felt a bit of, I don't know, empathy (?) for Robbie because I have a feeling she had her own version of this a while back.

Snow Day

In all honesty, it was more of a "Rain Day" but the threat of icy roads was enough to close Wes' office so he picked up Ella early and came home. I'm amazed Ella doesn't get cold- but every day, at some point, she is either in a bathing suit or her ballet leotard. So here she is yet again in her bathing suit with a twist of dancing on the counters in her bathroom. I do know better than to encourage this sort of behavior- I don't know what I was (or clearly wasn't) thinking.

Skiing in Virginia

Yes, I am well aware of the fact that a good majority of you are laughing at the thought of skiing in Virginia. I can hear it now, "You call that skiing Sara?" Trust me, I had my reservations too. It was 60 degrees in Crozet, and I was beginning to wonder if we were going to see any snow this year at all. So we decided to go to Wintergreen to check out our "local" mountain. Although we didn't have a chance to really ski, I saw the slopes and they looked great! Ella played at the kids park and mostly made snowballs, went sledding without a sled, and periodically visited me in the tepee enjoying the fire (thank you Wes for taking on the cold!). The indoor section was a big draw for her also:

Aunt Polly

Well, I have a couple things to discuss here. This weekend we were talking with Steve about Isabella and Grace and especially about how wild Grace is and how much Ella is like Isabella. We were telling stories, laughing, and out of nowhere Wes says, "Well, Aunt Polly is on my s^&$ list." WHAT? How dare you Wes! Of course he was joking but I was a bit ready to reach across the table and shake him for saying such a thing! It turns out Wes has a bit of an issue with Polly Pockets.

A little background: Polly wanted to get Ella her first Polly Pockets (only fitting, right?) and Ella LOVES them. She has a cruise ship for them, a Mini ("Just like Stevie's") and some even sleep with her. She and Caroline play with them a lot. Wes' issue is with the shoes. They are hard to get on but come off easily and get lost even easier. Ella gets a little (understatement) frustrated and Wes gets a little (even bigger understatement) frustrated. So Wes is not feeling the love for Polly Pockets like the rest of the family. Me, on the other hand, I am ecstatic for something Ella plays with on her own.

Issue #2: When Gracie was little Polly would go to the Starbucks drive-through and get a mocha. As soon as Gracie could, she said, "I want a mocha!" (This means chocolate milk in a coffee cup to her). She taught Ella this fine trick. So tonight after dance class Ella was pretty upset at leaving Sami and in the car after calming down, she said, "I just want to get a mocha with Sami!". Then we passed Starbucks (no drive through here in C-Ville though) and she screams (screams!), "There, there's my mocha! I want a mocha with Sami NOW!". I completely caved and we got mochas for the ride home. And just to top off her sassy quotient for the day (and test my breaking point for the day) Ella refused to drink it until she was in the car. Wow- an entire new level of being spoiled. It just wasn't the fight I was up for for today. Probably because I knew I had the "time for bed" fight ahead of me I'd have to save myself for.

So Polly, I have to say, you come into play a lot, more than you know. For being so far away you are a huge part of our day-to-day world. Thank you (and Mark, Isabella, and Grace) for all your calls and skyping to keep in contact with Ella. She doesn't even realize you are far away.

A Princess

This morning Ella and I were looking at pictures from the Inauguration and when she saw the above picture she said, "ooooooooohhhhhhhh, a princess with Barack Obama". Then she saw a picture of soldiers marching and asked, "Where's Uncle Matt in that?" I was touched she remembered when Matt came home from Iraq and marched in formation.