What They Are Doin'

I thought it would be nice to do a post of what the best kids in the world are doing with their lives these days! They are both SO funny....Ella Ann with what comes out of her mouth and Rane with what crazy thing he does on a daily basis. It is so fun to be in this house all day with them. Even though it can be rough at times they are the best kids and I cannot ever get enough of them. Rane is learning so rapidly now. He 15 months and full of personality. He is such a cute, affectionate, social and sweet boy. He said "Daddy" (not Dada) for the first time yesterday and that was very exciting for Spencer to hear! His vocabulary is really starting to get going now and we can understand a lot of what he says, even though most people wouldn't get it. He says "Hieeeeeeee!" to anyone that passes and waves, "Byeeeeeeee!" to anyone that passes as well. He can say a few animal noises and knows a few body parts. He can say "thank you" but it sounds like, "Taaa doo!" He can also say "cheese," "cracker" but it sounds like "cra cra," "nana" for banana, "caaaa" for car, "baaaa" for ball and "abeeee" for baby. He has started grabbing his diaper and saying, "inkeeeeeee" when he has pooped. Do you know how thrilling this is for me? This hopefully will mean he will be a breeze to potty train! He has also started learning the workings of our house hold, i.e., where shoes go, where dirty clothes go, putting his milk on the table at meals and in the fridge afterwards, how to unlock doors (great), when we say it's "nite nite" time he will grab his blanket, say "nite nite" over and over and walk to his room and he will also start heading to his room when we tell him "Go get a diaper Rane."

Ella Ann is loving to learn these days. Spencer is going to teach her how to tie her shoes in the next couple of days since I, the lefty, cannot even attempt to teach my right-handed girl. She loves watching Samantha Brown on the travel channel with me during the week while I eat my lunch and Rane naps. I've always watched "Passport to Europe" or "Passport to Great Weekends" and now Ella Ann has picked up watching it with me. She loves Samantha Brown...she loves her hair, what she wears, her bathing suits, her laugh....you name it. She wants to BE Samantha Brown! We have fun watching it together....all the neat cities and countries she goes to, hotels she stays in, amazing restaurants she goes to and what she does for fun while she is visiting. Samantha always stays in the nicest hotels and will often take advantage of the spas there. When she is getting a massage on the television Ella Ann will say, "Ooooooo Mom, that feels SO good! I want to do that!" Is she my clone, or what? She has actually learned quite a lot from watching the show each day and she has been bitten by the travel bug. She wants to see the world and do all kinds of fun things....just like Samantha, of course! Spencer's office was in the process of moving and they were going to toss a big map of the world so he brought it home and we will look at it after we watch the show and I will show her where Samantha Brown was today. Usually every evening Ella Ann and Spencer will lay out the big map in the living room and have a geography lesson. She knows all the continents, lots and lots of countries and places within the U.S. She LOVES it!

I have also started to ween her off of her music in the car. A girl can listen to Veggie Tales only so many times before wanting to run the van off into a ditch! Since I now have a working CD player I have been "making" Ella Ann listen to my GOOD music and she has really enjoyed all of it. Her favorite, hands down, is "The Jersey Boys" soundtrack. She sings "Sherry Baby" and "Big Girls Don't Cry" all day. She also enjoys Motown music and Sugarland. Ella Ann always asks me, "Mommy, what are they singing about?" Well how do I explain love, heartbreak, cheating, etc. to a 4 year old? Today we were listening to a Motown CD and the song on was "Lets Get It On." Ella Ann asks, "What are they singing about?" Ummmm....skip to next song immediately!

The following story will sum up Ella Ann in a nutshell (how girly she truly is in case you had any doubts). She uses a Disney princess place mat on the table that has all the "important" princesses on it. She will cover up Jasmine every single day with her napkin because she doesn't want to look at her at all. Why you ask? Because Jasmine wears pants. "Mommy, I do not like Jasmine. She wears pants. When we go to Disney World I do NOT want to see Jasmine. I will not talk to her. Princesses DON'T wear pants. She is NOT a princess." So Ella Ann is prejudice against girls that wear pants, fyi.

Rane loves my Tupperware drawer but today he decided to actually get in it! He threw every piece out of it after getting in. He thought it was SO fun!