the last few months

Everyone is busy. I know. So it seems like such a lame excuse to say we're too busy to write. And now that I've implied it, I'll leave it at that and move on. :)

I just wanted to write a few things about what the Hadley's have been up to the last few months:

Hawaii! Without the kids for 6 days in paradise. Very fun!

Ballet West Academy. The girls finished up this year and are looking forward to taking classes again next fall.

Reading. Ella started reading several months ago. The longest words she has read so far: shower, mountain, virtue...to name a few.

Running. I trained 4 months for my first marathon; then ended up in the hospital the week before and couldn't run it. Now I'm starting training all over again for a marathon in August. Jason will be running the half that day too.

7 years. Jason and I celebrated 7 years together. Cheers!

Work. I love working at Stampin' Up! and Jason has one year left of residency. Hallelujah!

Golfing. Jason bought himself some new golf clubs; then went back and bought some pink ones for the girls. The perfect daddy-daughter activity!

Dress up. Will it ever end?

Diapers. They don't exist in our home anymore! Eva, like Ella, pretty much decided when it was time and although she has the occasional accident, she is done. Hooray!

School. Ella finished her first year at the Montessori school and loved it. Next fall Eva gets to join her class. I still work with both girls on the homeschooling curriculum and we just finished that up for the summer. We'll start up again in the fall.

Camping. Our first Hadley camping trip was so much fun even though it rained pretty much the whole time. The girls can't wait to go again!

Hopefully I'll have time this summer to write, but if not, have a great summer! I know we will.... :)

Aundi's notes

Our nanny is the greatest. We love her and we’re so glad she’s in our lives! Every day she writes me a note about what she did with the girls that day, what activities they did, and, best of all, the funny things the girls said and did. As a working mother, you really cherish those little notes.

The following are excerpts from her notes in the last couple months. Most are about Ella since she talks so much now. I’m sure, as the year goes on, Eva will talk more for Aundi to write about. I know I’m looking forward to it!

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Today Ella asked if she could wash her hands, then have a piece of candy, and then wash her hands again. Then I saw a light go on in her head, and she said, “Hey, it’s a pattern. Wash, eat, wash.” Not only did she figure out that it was a pattern, she found THE pattern of life. Wash, eat, wash. This girl is going places.

Ansel [Eva and Ella’s little friend] met us at the aquarium, so they got to play a little bit. I overheard Ella say to Ansel, “Just trust me on this, okay?” I don’t know what it was about, but it sounded important!

We went to Barnes & Noble this afternoon. Ella had to go potty while we were there, and while she was going she said in a loud voice, “My poop is soft!” Too which I replied, “that’s nice, Ella.” And then she said equally loud, “It is soft because I eat my broccoli.” I’m sure that was very amusing for everyone in the bathroom!

This morning Ella said, “Big bird looks like a big ugly scrambled egg.” I almost died laughing! I never thought about it that way, but she is right!

Today at gymnastics Eva pulled down her pants in the middle of class and said, “potty.” I think she is almost ready to start potty training. [She’s totally potty trained now. And so proud of herself!]

Today Ella got a huge smile on her face and I asked her what she was smiling about. She replied, “Last night I dreamt about Omi and cupcakes!”

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This last one might be a little sketchy. I wasn’t sure if I should put it on this blog, I don’t want to offend anyone, but it was so stinking cute! And you know, having a doctor in the house we don’t use nicknames for particular body parts. So I’ll edit it a bit. Please insert the appropriate words....

(Ella and Eva are in the bathroom having the following conversation):
Ella: Eva, I have a _________, you have a _________, momma has a _________. Girls have a _________. Boys have _________. Daddy has a _________.
Eva: Oooooo!
Ella: I have a _________. Look, see. That’s my _________, Eva.
Eva: Oooooo! Cool Ella!

chocolate snot volcano

Aundi, our nanny, wrote this today about Eva:

"We went to Starbucks today and got hot chocolate. Eva had this huge mouthful of hot chocolate and she decided to sneeze... I've never seen such a magnificent chocolate / snot volcano. It was disgusting and beautiful!"

I can't stop laughing!

finally!

Okay, it has been too long! So I apologize if this ends up being really long. But hey, I have lots of photos! It’s obviously been a little crazy busy at the Hadley home. Of course, I suppose I could blame Facebook a little for distracting me. For a while, anyway. Now I’m slacking on that too. But I digress….

Both girls had their birthdays within the last few months. Eva turned two on Halloween and we had such a fun time. This was the first year she went trick-or-treating and got used to the concept pretty quickly! My favorite part was after they put treats in her pumpkin she would say “take-oo” (or, thank you). There was one woman who was so enamored with her, she kept putting treats in her bag just to hear her say it. We're still eating the candy they collected....

Ella’s birthday was a lot of fun too. She turned four and wouldn’t let anyone forget it! She requested a blue princess party and was so excited to dress-up as a princess, except most of her friends are boys. So she let them come dressed-up as spiderman, batman, whatever they wanted. It was so cute!

These girls are such goofballs! Seriously, how do they come up with the silly things they do? They crack me up, and every day I look forward to hearing the goofy things they say. Eva’s personality blossoms more and more every day. This particular day (and many others) she decided to smear peanut butter and jam all over her face. She did again that same night except with butter. She has always used her body as a canvas. Maybe she inherited some of my creative flair.

Then the holidays came. Ella’s dance class performed at the Festival of Trees and oh my goodness, what a stinking cutie! The whole experience was magical. Aside from the fact that she got to wear pink tights and a red tutu, she was mostly excited that she got to wear lipstick, mascara, and blush. She was in high heaven to wear makeup! “But mama,” she said, “I’m not 12 years old yet.” She was squealing in excitement.

I took Ella to the Nutcracker again this year. She was so excited to dress up in the beautiful silk and velvet dress her Aunt Michelle gave her. But she was really mad at me through the entire performance! All year long she has told me she wants to dance with Clara in the Nutcracker and why on earth would I not let her go on stage? Since she’s been bothering me so much about dancing with Clara, I decided to enroll her (and Eva) in the Ballet West Academy. They start next week and they are so excited!

And then Christmas. Ella asked Santa for a “bike with princesses on it”. So of course Santa brought a bike for both girls. Eva woke up Christmas morning before Ella and just giggled and giggled when she saw it. As you can tell from the photo, she couldn’t stop smiling. Unfortunately the tire was a little defective so we had to exchange it at the North Pole. But Ella was able to get out and ride hers (with training wheels, of course). She rode it by herself and was so proud!

Okay, I can move on to Jason and I. We do get out a lot more these days, capitalizing on our fabulous babysitter and our phenomenal nanny. Our girls love Aundi (our nanny) and it makes working so much easier, and comforting. So we were able to get out for New Years Eve. And really, it doesn’t matter where we went, it gave me the opportunity to dress up and get all “sparkly”. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

All right, I’ll wrap this up. But I did want to mention why I’ve been too busy to blog (sorry, I haven’t been to anyone’s blogs forever!). My days start out at 5:15 when I go running, because I’m training for a marathon in April. I go to work all day (and I love my job!), and then I come home and do home schooling with the girls. After they go to bed I work on my second job until about midnight. I’ve also started a new exercise class that is seriously the funnest thing I’ve done in a long time! I thought I’d only go once every couple weeks but it is so much fun I try and fit it in a couple times a week. Jason is just as busy these days, especially since he’s on call this month. Does life every slow down just a little?

I sure wish the girls would slow down from growing up... Here's some images just to make things fun.

a quote from ella this week:

"Big Bird looks like a big ugly scrambled egg."

gone

This is just a post to let you know we're all alive and well but crazy busy right now. I have so much to say but no time to say it, for now anyway. I'll write soon!

the queen of sass

After dinner tonight I asked Ella to put her plate in the sink. Her response was: "Alright, your majesty." Jason and I burst out laughing. Had she really said that to me? So I asked her where she had heard that before and she said, "Alice says it to the Queen."