bruiser strikes again

he got a new shiner today...a big one. it even bled a little he knocked it so hard on the concrete. i wish this picture was in 3-D so you could see the goose egg on this boy's forhead now! guess i better get used to it huh?

bruiser...

is my new pet name for beckett. he has at least 2 bruises on his face at any given time. btwn all the bumps, bruises, scratches, and scrapes, i am afraid i will be suspected for child abuse every time i leave the house with him. he is SO crazy. he climbs on tables, toilets, stools, pianos...you name it. and then he falls. no fear...he isn't afraid of anything. and isn't phased by falling and getting huge knots in his forhead. 9 out of 10 times he doesn't even cry anymore...he just smiles and does it again. craziness. and ellis, my assistant "bruiser" watcher, seems to think it is all hilarious...loves to see him break the rules. in the picture, you can see his dark bruise just above his right eye...a few hours before this shot was taken, he ran into a wall w/ his cheek...it is only red in the picture...but should be a bruise by tomorrow. and the yellow area in the middle of his forhead is a bruise that is finally going away :) boys!

we went and fed the ducks last week...look at beckett in the first pic below and then the second...i caught him in a fall...hilarious! his hands are still in the air. he was ok :) just got a little ahead of himself going after that duck!

the duck whisperer...

he can spend 10 minutes savoring a mcdonalds french fry...he has good taste :)

he looks like a "bruiser" here...

slumber party!

here is a quick video (2 minutes) of ellis and beckett's slumber party...she invited him to a slumber party she was having in her bed. it is pretty cute...she calls him over like a dog, talks about beckett being "bathtized", and that pinky pie has slumber parties too. at one point beckett bumps his head on the wall...we all laugh (normal reaction right?)...well, he loves getting the lol's so he purposely bonks his head about 5 more times in a row. this video was shot about 1 minute before we put him in bed for the night....he only has one speed...crazy...@ all times. enjoy!...it really is cute...promise :)

recessionista

i got ellis two new pairs of shoes recently. one pair i saw on her friend morgan...i asked rach where they were from...target! another pair, a ballet friend of hers had on one day...i asked where they were from...wal-mart! kids shoes are pretty expensive...usually around $50...and they tear them up SO fast. i ran to the store to scoop these pairs up!!!

these are the target ones...gold gladiators :) it really says that on the box! so in style...$10

and the wal-mart ones...also "gladiator-ish" style...if kate spade designed little girls shoes, i could see her making something like this...maybe :) they will look darling w/ a pair of white jeans. $7!!

**note...these shoes are much cuter in person...they look suspect in the pictures

he may look angelic...

but he is no angel! we had beckett baptized today. my kids were both baptized around their first birthday...no reason...i didn't mean for it to happen that way...i am just a procrastinator i guess?? the funny thing is that they both wore the same gown that brandon wore when he was baptized @ only 6 weeks old. so i do have a time limit...the gown has to fit! beckett looked so sweet in the gown...he was smiling at everyone...they all wanted to take him home. multiple people said "she is beautiful". not really surprising...he has blonde, lengthy curls and he was wearing a gown. oh well...it doesn't bother me...but it is happening more and more...the other day a man told me my "little princess was the happiest baby he has ever seen". i just laughed. i am thinking a haircut could be in the near future??

on sunday night ellis said, "mama...that was so much fun getting beckett's hair wet @ my church" ....i love this age...she is hilarious. all 3 year olds are though :)

one more thing- if you will notice in the pictures, beckett has one of his top two teeth in. it's not a good look for him. i am SO thrilled that it waited to pop thru until after his one year pictures were taken. i would have cancelled the photo session otherwise. no joke.

ok...so maybe he looks like a little girl here?

here is the tooth...can you see it? he needs to close his legs while wearing a dress :)

they love making eachother laugh in the car...little showoffs

after baptism...at brunch...the perfect picture...you can't see his hillbilly tooth :)

have you been to the houston children's museum lately?

A-MA-ZING. beckett and i met tiffany and kate there on thursday afternoon...the kids absolutley loved it...and so did we...2 straight hours of "independent play"...sign me up!!! we only walked through the new stuff for older kiddos...a chase bank, ice cream shop, grocery store, and so so so much more. it is unbelievable really. i am dying to get back there with ellis. she is going to LOVE it. i didn't tell her we went...she was in school...i kept that little secret to myself. anyways...we went straight to the new tot spot w/ our tots...which is upstairs now. so very cool. all i really have to say is that you need to go.

easter w/ my bunnies!

every holiday gets more fun with each year that passes...ellis can understand everything there is to understand...about everything really. she was thrilled when she woke up to find her basket filled w/ special treats...mainly from the $1 aisle @ target...we are in a recession you know :) and as usual, beckett just started throwing everything he found in his. i ALMOST screwed easter up...my eyes popped open @ 7:30 sunday morning...i remembered the easter bunny hadn't done her job the night before. you see, we had come home from another crawfish boil a tad too late...again. spring is tough w/ all these crawfish boils going on...but it all worked out :)

we headed to 10:30 brunch @ redstone golf club w/ my parents. it was SO good...they had a ridiculous amount of delicious food, bottomless mimosas, cookie decorating, cotton candy station, easter bunny pics, etc. ellis was still afraid of the easter bunny. she wanted a "pink, lady easter bunny"...good luck w/ that. they also do a really cute kids buffet...set up @ a height for the little munchkins...chicken tenders, stuffed french toast, ham sandwiches, scrambled egg bar, etc...also very delicious. since it was raining outside, they did the egg hunt in the ladies locker room...pretty funny. and not as strange as it may sound...this locker room is niiice. you could eat off the floor in there :) ellis loves going to "the club" (as she calls it). we go after church every sunday and she gets her pink lemonade...of course, they have only yellow lemonade...to which they are forced to add grenadine. and on the most important sunday of the year, we skipped out on church, but ellis sure got her lemonade! (and got to sit in a pink chair)

easter isn't easter w/ out bunny ears :) thank you pottery barn kids...

feeding bebe easter egg grass...

ellis saw a few of her bffs there...she and madison had a dance party...

how cute are these two? that's beckett's running buddy, jacob...he also happens to be madison's little brother :) i am thinking a black shirt would have worked better on beckett? he looks like such a rugrat...

this was the scene under beckett's high chair. not pretty. he is such a MESS!

by the end of the day, beckett had almost eaten his entire easter card from bebe and bo. and no, it wasn't edible.

and then i find pinkie pie sitting naked eating easter candy...i told her to go get her panties and put them back on. her response: "no thanks"

hope you had a happy easter!

5,000 was not enough!

on wednesday night, i went to help stuff 5,000 eggs for our neighborhood easter egg hunt. 5,000! i thought to myself...wow, they really like to go overboard. i was so wrong! there were SO many kids there...ellis got to see all of her little friends...say what you will about living in the "burbs", but nothing beats it when it comes to "family fun" :) people are always outside...at the park, on walks, playing in their yards, etc. it seems like there are 5 babies born every day here in fall creek. it is so fun, and i can't imagine wanting to live anywhere else at this point in my life.

anyways...back to the egg hunt. there were 3 hunts...0-2, 3-5, and 6+. ellis was the youngest in her group and totally got her ass kicked. she was happy w/ her 2 pink eggs though. the easter bunny was there of course...and everytime he even looked toward us, ellis freaked out..."i don't want him to hug me!" they also had moonwalks, bake sale, craft tables, etc. we left beckett at home to nap...but i took a bro/sis pic before we headed out...i am getting really good @ making them both smile :)

these eggs are actually from her egg hunt @ school. notice anything?...they are all pink. she won't touch an egg of ANY other color...

the scene @ the 3-5 yr old hunt...craziness! the eggs were ALL gone in 20 seconds.

the girls :)

and...do you remember what we brought home on on easter "eve" of last year???

party like a princess...

ellis told me what she wanted at her birthday party long before i was in planning mode: pink cupcakes, princesses & ponies.

no problem. i quickly got into planning mode! what could be more fun right? planning a princess party?!?! i live for this kind of thing. first i would need invitations...LOVE going to the store to pick those out. i bought the invites around christmas time...when swoozie's was having 20% off. nice. they took me hours to put together...but they were well worth it. and, they called for all the attendees to wear "princess attire".

next up...i needed to plan activities for the girls during the party. oh- did i mention ellis wanted an all girls party?? she was VERY SPECIFIC. not even her dad or brother were allowed. she clearly has issues. i decided they would decorate wands. i looked on-line for "decorate your own wands"...but they were all really crappy. i decided i would make them myself. crazy...i know. i bought 16 big stars and 16 "handles"...glued them together...and then painstakingly painted them silver...ready to have sh*t plastered all over them :) one activity down! i then decided the princesses would decorate their plain pink cupcakes. what a ROYAL mess!! but so much fun for them (and my cleaning lady just so happened to be coming the next day!) we had sprinkles of every color, chocolate, and heart shaped ones...they went to town...at one point i caught ellis shoveling heaping handfuls of the chocolate sprinkles into her mouth...like an addict...kinda hiding from me...oh well...it was her birthday. the girls also did a pinkie pie pinata.

pinkie pie is the #1 pony in ellis' heart. she is OBSESSED with pinkie pie. she wants to be called pinkie pie. she would choose pinkie pie over me any day of the week. another fun thing i did for the girls was set up an area to twirl and let their inner princess shine! the pictures will explain better than i can. i had some "girl" music playing...a CD i found @ a party store...w/ hits such as "oops i did it again", "girls just want to have fun", "genie in a bottle"...all sung "kid style"...if that makes any sense. ok...i think you have heard enough...here are the pics!

every good princess has pet swans right?

here is their twirling/singing area...i desperatley wanted to have a flag on top...like a castle would have....pink w/ an "E"...but it was too windy :(

crowns for all of the princesss of course...and any "queen" who felt like having some fun too :)

wine for the queens and pink lemonade for the princesses...in those fun sparkly cups!

the royal invite...i had to punch the shape out, add the ribbon to her waist, add the tulle overlay on her skirt, and then add the shiny circle stickers to her crown and skirt. wow.

the royal dining hall. the party was sunday...i did this room on thursday. brandon changed out the chandelier to a pink one from ellis' old nursery. when ellis woke up on friday, she said "it looks like pinkie pie's party"...which i knew meant she was thrilled. yay for me.

a better look @ the chandelier :) we had plans on friday and saturday night so i knew i had to do as much as i could before the weekend. and thank god i did. someone told me i did a keg stand on saturday night...yes...you read that right. unfortunatley, i actually remember doing it!!! thankfully, i wasn't the only one...i have fun neighbors!

aren't they gorgeous? and they are sooo good!

ready to be decorated!

this is an action in photoshop called "lovely and ethereal"

the wand decorating station...ribbons, glitter, stick-ons....mess!

time to decorate cupcakes!

here is the pinkie pie pinata...they all held a string and pulled...

princess pow-wow...or catfight...as some would call it :)

they danced...and danced...and danced

group photo of the princesses...except 2 that were late :(

the little girl below...on the right...is celia...except ellis calls her celia rose (she heard her grandmother call her that @ the park)...the tuesday after the party, we were on our way to playgroup when ellis asked if celia rose was going to be there. i said, "i don't know...why do you ask?" she says, "well, the party colors were light pink, hot pink, purple and green. celia rose wore blue. that was not a party color." she doesn't miss a beat!

and of course, queen bebe...she was determined to find a "big" princess outfit. her cleaning lady offered up her daughter's quinciera dress...she said it was poofy, pink and would totally fit. bebe said she could never...those are pretty sacred ya know...so, she had me make her a tutu!!! isn't it fun!?!? and perfect really...she can't wait to play dress up WITH ellis now that she has this :)

and i thought this was super cute...princess macy arrived by horse drawn carriage!! her mom is the super creative one who did the oscar party of course :)

ok...almost done here. after the princesses left and daddy came home from the shell open, we had ellis blow her candles out. i didn't want brandon to miss EVERYTHING!! her party was on her real birthday so he wanted to celebrate a little something with her! and guess who also turned three...the same day...pinkie pie!!! notice the 3 candles on pinkie pie's cake :) thank you princess mackenzie...that really impressed ellis!

she is still talking about her party...but already has big plans for next year's!!