Quiet Time

I still send Ellie up for a nap even though she fights sleeping tooth and nail. I've taken to calling it quiet time because I got tired of hearing, "but I'm not sleepy." I know she doesn't really sleep in there. How do I know this? Well, her coming to the top of the steps every 6 minutes to ask, "Mommy can I come down yet?" kind of gives her away.

But yesterday, I had to laugh. Once I released her from her dreaded quiet time, she excitedly came down stairs wearing some swimming gear with floation devices in it. She has never worn this item before. In fact, she had to of opened her closet, pulled over a chair and reached up to the top of her shelving to get it. So I ask the obvious question, "Hey honey, what's that you're wearing?" She replied, "Oh, I was cold."

Honestly though the best part of this whole thing was that after a couple minutes, she got bored with it all, unzipped the swimgear and pulled it down. What she revealed was the dress she was wearing underneath. How very James Bond of her! After swimming through shark infested waters, she makes it to land, simply shrugs off her swimming gear and emerges in a pristine cocktail dress looking completely ready for the roulette table. Dum-de-dum-dum-dum...Dum-de-dum-dum-dum...

Happy Birthday Grandpa

We love you Peapaw!

Hives

So apparently my kids are crazy little hive balls. Ellie's trigger is strawberries—at least that's what we suspect. But I have no clue as to what causes little J-man's and this drives me crazy.

Let me give you an example. Today we went to the playground to hang out with a gaggle of Ellie's classmates from last year. Jonah was such a doll and sat contentedly in the stroller for much of the time, happily munching away on a box of raisins. Actually, to be fair it was the raisins and the box. As we packed up and got ready to leave, I noticed some little welts sprouting up on Jonah's face. Upon closer inspection, I noticed they were on his arms and thighs too.

So in a fit of panic, I dialed the pediatrician's office. Of course the office was out to lunch. I continued to hit redial until one of those lunch-hour lazy bastards picked up the phone. Didn’t they realize it was 1:03 and their lunch ended THREE minutes ago. Where the hell were they? Finally someone picked up and simply told me to give him some Benadryl. My baby boy is having some type of hivey-allergic reaction to God-only-knows-what and they don't even want to see him. Just throw a little Benadryl down his throat and everything with be a-oh-kay?

Okay, so the Benadryl totally worked and his doctor called a little later to check in. And in reality the little bugger even laughed through it welty-faced and all.

So now I think maybe he was doing it to mess with me. Maybe he has some secret ability to produce welts just to drive me nuts. Maybe, he just wants to add more gray hairs to my head. Because it definitley could not be that I may overreact from time to time. Everyone knows I am simply the most calm, cool and collected mother out there. Uh-oh I think I heard him cough. Good thing I have his doctor on speed dial!

Don't Ever Invite Me Over for a Play Date

Yesterday, we were invited to a friend's house for a play date. We were really looking forward to it because it was with three other kids that Ellie has known for years. Plus, they are all going to be in the same class this year at preschool and it's a new preschool for all of us.

The kids had a wonderful time. The host mom made us all home made pizzas with an incredible wheat crust she made from scratch. She made one for the moms (with feta, tomatoes and olives) and one for the kids (simply sauce and cheese). We also dined on fresh fruit salad and a scrumptious Parisian green salad. The host mom even made the kids snow cones for dessert.

After some playing and dining, the kids went down to the swing set for a little fun. As me and two other moms were sitting there reflecting on what lovely afternoon we were all having, we realized we had left the host mom to push all five kids (this included one sibling) on the swing set. As we watched this heroic lady keeping these five kids entertained one mom said, "Oh, we're never being invited back now are we?" The other mom replied, "No, but at least we had this one afternoon."

She was right it was worth it—what a blissfully lovely afternoon!

Math Lessons With Ellie

The following exchange took place in the car today

Me: Hey Ellie, how old are you?
Ellie: I don't know. Eight?
Me: You're not eight, you're three.
Ellie (indignant): Well, I'm trying.

Cheeks

Another Busy Weekend

Wow! We had a great (albeit a little bit crazy) weekend. On Saturday we went to a wonderful Olivia-themed third birthday party in northern Baltimore. The birthday girl looked adorable in her red Olivia party dress her mother made her. Unfortunatley we had to jet early so I could be in DC for a bachelorette party by 7:00. Of course, I was late. We had dinner at the Hotel Washington Skyroom overlooking the Whitehouse and views of the monuments. After that I spent the night with the bride and other bridesmaids at the Omni Shoreham. The next day it was off to the bridesmaid luncheon at Mrs. K's Tollhouse in Silver Spring. I highly, highly recommend it if you're ever in the area.

After brunch, I rushed back up to Baltimore for a quick change then it was off to the ball field to meet Dave and the kids for their first game. They were simply adorable! Ellie's favorite part was yelling charge. She also enjoyed the slide outside of the park. And being the growing boy he is, Jonah's favorite part was heartily gnawing on his pretzel.

After that we had dinner at Austin Grill (a fave of ours and definitely a spot to hit if you ever happen to be in the Canton area of B'more). Then it was sleepy time. Whew! It was quite an eventful weekend.

The Bride (center), Maid of Honor (left) and Bridesmaids in the gardens at Mrs. K's.










Ellie enjoying the game. Tee-shirt courtesy of Goop Tees.















Jonah in his Orioles orange chomping on a pretzel.















Dave catching Ellie on the slide.

Ellie's Vocab Lesson for the Day

This morning as I was getting out of bed to get Jonah out of his crib (Ellie was laying on the bed with us)...

Ellie: Mommy I still have my cold. I feel exhausted. Do you know what exhausted means?
Me: What does it mean?
Ellie: It means tired.

That concludes our vocabulary lesson for today. Stay tuned for more Lessons with Ellie.

Pillow Talk

Last night as I tucked Ellie in...
Ellie: Mommy what does mad feel like?
Me: Like when someone grabs a toy away from you.
Ellie: Oh. What does sad feel like?
Me: Like when you really want daddy to come home from work.
Ellie: Yeah. Mommy, what does happy feel like?
Me: Like when we surprise you by taking you to get a donut or ice cream.
Ellie: Smiling. Mommy what does love feel like?
Me: What does love feel like to you?
Ellie: Like giving you a hug.

I like how love feels.

Our Site Photographer

Many of you have been asking about the pictures on the site. Well, if you're talking about the professional ones, you're talking about Dave's work (the snapshots like this one on the right are all mine baby). He's got a great eye and we're thrilled to have him working for the team! And yes, he is adding photog-ing (on a small scale) to his list of services. So far he's shot a wedding and is going to shoot some family/kids portraits next month. Keep an eye out for this guy! He's going to do great things—not that I'm biased or anything!

Tutu A Go-Go

I just picked up our first large-ish order of tutus from our seamstress. They look beautiful and I'm so excited to start stocking up our inventory for when we launch the website. As the song goes, I feel electricity in the air. Thank you B-52's, I couldn't have said it any better myself.

Su-per Jonah

This morning our little guy grabbed a cape from this weekend's EBK photo shoot and gave it to me to put it on him. Of course I had to snap a couple shots.*

So after I absorbed the cuteness, I realized J man had me thinking—I had never thought about marketing these capes to toddlers before. Maybe our little guy is onto something here? Oh, he's turning out to be quite the little business man himself isn't he? Although, I know he's just trying to impress me so I'll add him to the payroll. But he would make a pretty cute VP of product development, don't you think?




*My apologies to our site photographer for the poor image quality. I'm just no Daddy when it comes to photography.

Wagon Riding

Tax Free Heaven

Woo hoo! Maryland tax free shopping hoilday starts tomorrow. So all you MD'ers out there, start your shopping engines and I'll see you at the mall!

Serenity Now!

After working like a dog all morning tidying up from the weekend, conversing with seamstresses and tracking shipments, I'm ready for a little pm break. I'm sure you all could use a little break too. After all, you work hard too!

Okay everyone, on the count of three: one, two, three

Breath in
Breath out—ahhhh

One more time...

Breath in
Breath out—ahhhh

Thanks for helping me find my center everyone. I'm going to go sip my Rooibos tea and think about the little things in life. Enjoy your Monday!

It's Almost Here

Can you feel the excitement in the air? The Ellie Bellie Kids website is almost here!

Fishy, Fishy In the Brook

In order to get our money's worth out of our National Aquarium in Baltimore membership pass, I've tried to sneak in some extra trips here and there. So the other day after lunch when I was feeling a little bored, I decided to pack up the kiddies and saunter over to the Harbor for a little fish watching.

What a fab time we had! Ellie planned our itinerary: first we had to see the sloth (in the rainforest for those of you who haven't been there), then sharks and finally the dolphin show. Jonah was content to just hang out on my shoulders in the Aquarium approved backpack. Unfortunately, it's a stroller free zone.

Up we trekked to the rainforest. I did however force her stop and look at some of the fish along the way. She did watch a gigantic sea turtle swim around in the enormous open ray/skate tank for a couple minutes before she tugged on me to keep going. Once we made it to the rainforest, we bee-lined for the tree the sloth is always in. Bonus today—the sloth was low enough to see and its face was turned toward us! I don't think I've ever seen anything but its furry little back before. By the way, in case your interested, Ellie is now obsessed with sloths thanks to catching an eppy of It's A Big Big World. Oh, that kid!

After the sloth, it was down to the shark tank. We breezed through that (I think Ellie was a little scared) and ran over to the other pavilion just in time for the dolphin show. Personally, there was too much talking during the dolphin show for J man and me. He was squirming so I gave him Ellie's sunglasses to chew on to make it through the show. Ellie, of course was mesmerized.

I did sneak in a trip to the Australia exhibit before we left. It was better then I had remembered. Of course this time we saw the grey-headed flying fox. I don't know how we missed them before. Guess we never looked up because there they were just hanging out on the ceiling above our heads (well, way up there since the ceiling is so high). We watched them spread their wings and shimmy around. It was pretty cool!

Then off to home we went. Of course, both kids fell asleep in the car within minutes. Ah, the golden sound of snoozing children.

Hey, if you're planning your own trip make sure you check out the new frog exhibit. It was (as Ellie would say) a-MAY-zing!

To Cut or Not to Cut? That Is the Question

Our boy has got some crazy curly hair. We're still not completely sure where it came from. Legend has it Dave had some wave/curls when he was a little guy, but nothing to the extent of Jonah Boy's. Coming from a family of pin straight hair, we are sometimes at a loss what as to what to do with it. Do we style it? If we did, where would we start? Do I brush it? Do I spritz it? What do people with curly hair do?







All that aside, I do actually adore the comments. They make me smile every time I hear them. "You're little girls are so precious" or "Look at all her curly hair." Once people realize that her is a him, I always try to assuage their embarrassment. "He's just so pretty after all," I tell them, "it's an easy mistake."

But recently Dave and I have been thinking, is it time we cut the locks? On humid days it curls tightly, but on dry days it just kind of flops there. When is a good time for a first real hair cut? How long can we let it go? One thing is for certain though; I will shed a tear on that fateful day, whenever it may be. Does Cartoon Cuts have boxes of Kleenex located next to the TVs to catch a mama's tears?

Ice Cream Man Cometh

Few things are as irresistible to a child as the lull of the ice cream truck. We all wonder as adults why our mouths start to salivate every time we hear Camp Town Ladies. Well, it's a finely honed response to that wonderful delight—the vision of an ice cream truck.

The ice cream man comes to our neighborhood every evening. You can hear his melodious tunes signaling children throughout the neighborhood to whine in unison, "Mommy, Daddy the ice cream man is here!" Our ice cream guy only charges $1.50 for a cone. Sometimes we splurge and add sprinkles for an extra 10 cents. Oh ice cream man, we love thee!

Weekend Getaway

Over the weekend we took a little road trip to visit some friends in Virginia. While we were there we scouted out Charlottesville as a relocation possibility.

I have to say Charlottesville was definitely our speed. The downtown mall was amazing—filled with boutiques, outdoor cafes and theaters. Basically, the town had sectioned off their main street, paved it with a beautiful walkway and made it a strolling pedestrian haven.

The whole town had a very artsy and boutiquey feel, which is great for our businesses (Dave the artsy and moi the boutiquey). The kids had a terrific time too. Ellie was delighted with the manual carousel and Jonah was content toddling along and people watching while cruising in his stroller.

Probably the best part was enjoying the hospitality of our friends. Ellie loved playing with their daughter (who is almost exactly one year older) and Jonah had fun toddling after their son (who is almost exactly one month older). They treated us to a gourmet dinner and hearty breakfast, which we all enthusiastically devoured. Plus my friend mixed up some cosmos for a very yummy nightcap treat.

Ah yes, it was a wonderful trip! Charlottesville is looking like a definite possibility for us to raise our little family.

*Ellie's tee shirt is courtesy of Little Lubbaloo

Cooking with Ellie: Maple Icees

Hello and welcome to Cooking with Ellie. Today we are making some very yummy Maple Icees. Born out of a need to represent Canada at our preschool Family Fun Night (the theme was Around the World) we developed this very simple but fun and tasty little treat.













You'll need an ice crushing or shaving machine. Most places sell them including many super stores.
1. Shave about a cup of ice into a bowl.
2. Pour 2 to 3 tablespoons 100% real maple syrup over the ice. I made sure to use Canadian syrup when we made them at the preschool, but feel free to use whatever one you like best.











3. Enjoy!
This concludes this segment of Cooking with Ellie. See you next time!

Best Buds

One Man's Trash...

Have you ever heard that old saying, the best kids' toy is an empty box? When I saw a delivery truck in my neighborhood and noticed the drivers taking out a refrigerator in a large box, I was weirdly excited. Forget the visions of buying new appliances. It was the box the appliances came in that had sparked my attention. I had visions of a grand puppet theather, a castle, a boat. I knew that my kids would enjoy countless hours with this blank canvas of sorts.

So of course I asked them if they had any boxes to spare and they very kindly gave me a left over box from a washer they delivered earlier. We brought it in and I set to work cutting a door and some windows in the sides. Ellie was in charge of decorating. She created her very own story box (just like Pinky Dinky Doo). Jonah loved opening and closing the door and crawling in and out of the box. It was one of the best playhouses ever!

More TV Please

There are tons of studies out there that indicate too much television is a bad thing for kids. It's blamed for everything from the rise in obesity to ADHD. While I try to put a cap on how much tv Ellie watches a day, she has been bitten by the smitten bug. She simply loves her telly. To illustrate her obsession I thought I'd share an excerpt from a recent script she engineered...

Ellie: Mommy, I will be the mommy and you be the honey
Me: Okay
Ellie: I will say "What's wrong Honey?" and you say "Daddy said I couldn't watch anymore tv"
Ellie (again): What's wrong Honey?
Me: Daddy said I couldn't watch anymore tv
Ellie: I'm sorry honey. Here, let me give you a kiss.
--End scene--

If I were a betting girl, I'd say she's destined for a career in producing or directing. Here's another excerpt—this one taken from this morning...

Ellie: Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Daddy: I don't know. What are you thinking?
Ellie: Let's go downstairs and watch tv!

Oh boy! She's so much like her father it's scary. Meanwhile little J-man has zero interest whatsoever in watching what's on the tube. He's completely content to play in the kitchen cabinets all day throwing whatever he finds into the trashcan. I think I'm going to have to start training him to watch tv. Now that's good proactive parenting right there!

Shaking Up Some Ice Cream

Ellie's two-year old teacher first introduced us to making ice cream in a bag. When we did the project in her class I wasn't sure how it would turn out. But, I was shocked—shocked I say—at how yummy it was. I also couldn't believe that we could actually produce ice cream (in a manner of minutes) from shaking a few ingredients thrown in a Ziplock bag—who would have thought? So in commemoration of these dog days of summer and trying to curtail boredom during the last stretch before school starts, I'm passing along this deliciously cold culinary project for you and your little one to enjoy together.

But if you'd rather forgo the Ziplock bags and take the more traditional route, try out this yummy recipe from sunny Florida. It requires an ice cream maker, but it sounds divine.

Okay one last thing before we get started: I should take a minute to thank the writers over at Kids A Cookin' who have supplied this recipe. Alright, enough with all that. Let the ice cream making and eating begin....

What you'll need:
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup rock salt or some water softener pellets
ice cubes
pint sized Ziplock bag
gallon sized Ziplock bag

1. Open a pint zip-type bag, add sugar and vanilla.. Seal bag tightly and mix well by squeezing with fingers.
2. Open bag and add milk. Squeeze out extra air, zip tightly and mix well.
3. Open a gallon zip-type bag, add rock salt and fill halfway with ice cubes.
4. Put pint bag inside gallon bag, seal well and shake bag for 5 to 10 minutes or until liquid has changed to ice cream.

Tips:
Wear gloves
Take turns shaking
Add fruit or cocoa powder for a flavor twist
Above all else—make sure you grab two spoons for sharing!

The Man

I've realized that a very special person hasn't been included in our little blog as much as he should. After all, without him there wouldn't be any Ellie Bellie or Jonah Boy adventures. So I thought we'd take a little break this morning to saltue the man who helped make all this possible—good ol' daddy! [insert standing ovation here] We luvs ya big guy!

Busy Weekend

Whew! It's been a busy, busy weekend at our house. Friday night I threw a Just A Little Bling party. For those of you that don't know, my Aunts have started their own business selling jewelry and accessories. They have always had a great eye for fashion and a passion for shopping. So being the smart women they are, they decided to put those two skills to good use and now offer an AMAZING variety of gorgeous jewelry and accessories. Every item is hand picked by these two style-mavens and in a very short amount of time they have developed quite a remarkable reputation in their area for offering excellent items for very reasonable prices. I walked away with an adorable scarf watch, an earring and necklace set to match a couple dresses and another jewel-colored beaded necklace that I'm just dying to wear. My friends and I had a terrific time and look forward to their next trip to our area in November.

Then Saturday, it was off to my friend's wedding shower. I'm a bridesmaid in her wedding and am very excited about the upcoming nuptials. We had a terrific time and walked away with some very funny memories. I have to say the toilet-paper wedding dress design competition was one of the highlights for me. And while my team didn't win, I have to say I believe our toilet paper rosebuds on the bustle were grossly overlooked and should have at least made an honorable mention. I wound those little rosebuds tight y'all!

So here we are finally settling in for a relaxing Sunday evening just in time for the workweek to begin.

Knock, Knock

We love a good laugh in our house. And frankly, there's no better reason for a kid to laugh than over a good old fashion knock-knock joke.

Now over the past year, Ellie has discovered the art of the knock-knock joke. She's quite creative with them and frankly even though I don't get the joke all the time, I find myself snickering. And while it's sometimes difficult to endure "Banana who?" ten times in a row (and that's no exaggeration because I've actually counted it) I find it amusing how taken she is with herself after she delivers the punch line.

So as children all over share their favorite knock-knock jokes, here's a sampling from our household. Feel free to add to our list-we'd love a couple fresh ones!

Knock. Knock.
Who's there?
Olive.
Olive who?
Olive you.

Okay so this one's not the most sophisticated in the lot but I tell you, it knocks 'em dead everytime
Knock. Knock.
Who's there?
P.
P who?
P U, your toes are stinky!

Ummm, this one I like to tell
Knock. Knock
Who's there?
Ivanna.
Ivanna who?
Ivanna you to take a nap. Now go to bed.

This one Ellie made up on the fly
Knock. Knock
Who's there?
Strawberries.
Strawberries who?
I'm allergic to strawberries.

Ellie Bellie Kids

Okay, okay. So everyone has been asking me when the website will be up. Honestly, I'm not sure. I've been working with a couple seamstresses to get an inventory up and ready for when we launch. And believe me, we've worked through many MANY kinks along the way (everything from manufacturing hiccups to fabrics being discontinued). There's still so much to learn and do. Plus, as a full-time mom first and this being my hobby I don't work on it as much as I probably could.

Anyway, we've made some nice sales just through word of mouth so that's pretty exciting for us. Plus, we've received some nice complements on our designs. So here's a preview of a couple of our reversible tutus, kids messenger bags and boy capes (feel free to add in your own drum roll)...

Parties, Parties, Parties

It's two months away but I've already started thinking about Ellie's birthday party. I honestly don't know why I like throwing them so much. Maybe it's just a nice creative outlet for me. Maybe (as I mentioned before) it's a good excuse for me to whine. Or maybe, it's just that I like parties. Whatever the reason, I thought it would be fun to take a look at last year's in preparation for this year's.

Last year, Ellie was extremely into Dora. For a couple weeks straight, I could only refer to her as Dora and she insisted on referring to me as Boots and Dave as Diego. Boots, is my cousin Diego at work? Diego, you and Boots need to read me a bedtime story. No Boots, I'm Dora, not Ellie. So of course, we indulged her and to be honest, I'm a little sad that the phase is over.

And what does a Dora obsessed little girl need? Why a Dora birthday party of course. Here's some pictures...

When the kids arrived, I gave them each a backpack. Then they set off on an adventure to get to the birthday party, which was in the backyard.

The first stop was Isa's Garden where everyone picked a lolli from one of Isa's flowers













Then they went through the spooky forest...really it was just down the sidewalk. Our neighbor was nice enough to let me put streamers up along the side of the street. When they got to Swiper (it was constructed the same way Isa was-you can check Isa out in the first and second picture-basically just a folded over piece of bulletin board paper, painted, stapled, stuffed and mounted on a dowel rod) the kids all said, "Swiper, no swiping." Then it was off to the party.

We ordered pizza and had ice-cream cone cupcakes for the kids. We even had a piñata which took forever. Party tip #15: Don't have a piñata you have to hit to open with a gaggle of 3 year olds. That is unless you'd like to frustrate the dickens out of children and parents alike. I mean, hey, it's your party.

Now, did I go a little overboard? Perhaps. But, those backpack favors were a tremendous hit and one day maybe my kids will look back and say, "Hey Mom, thanks for the kickin' parties. I know it was a lot of work and I appreciate it." Well, a girl can dream can't she?

Cooling Down the Heat Wave

With the temperature set to hit 104 degrees and a heat index of 110ish, I thought I'd pop in a few refreshing pictures of beautifully cold, cold ice. These were taken this spring during Ellie's ice skating lessons. Jonah Boy was very content to watch from the sidelines.

So crank up that AC, ice that morning latte and think cold thoughts!