April 2011 - Page 2 of 2 - The Sunny Side Up Blog

Ellie and Addison

04.08.11

Answers and a photo book

Thought I’d answer a couple of questions from the comments (which were all so sweet by the way – thank you!). —

What do I usually do with my girls’ hand me downs? Well, Ellie’s obviously go straight to Addison, and then when Addison grows out of things, I send the clothes on to my 3 year old niece, Claire.

Although I don’t know that my niece really NEEDS all of my girls’ clothes since her daddy works at Nordstroms. Between her daddy’s discount, her mommy’s obsession with fashion, and her cousins hand me downs, my niece is the best dressed 3 year old you’ve ever seen! So… since so many of you were interested, maybe I’ll have to do a little blog giveaway with my next batch of hand me downs! :)

Next question: Where did you buy Addison’s ruffled shirt? —

It’s her new favorite outfit and she loves wearing it around the house with her new favorite pair of boots. I swear she has gotten so much more use out of those gray boots than I have! Anyway, the outfit she has on is from none other than – da da da da! Target! So cute, right!? They have had really cute stuff for girls this spring. The second I saw it I knew it had to come home with me.

Also thanks for the sweet comments on El’s new do! We’re really liking the change. :)

Thought I’d share a simple photo book I made for my girls for Valentines Day this year. I had some credit at the Kodak Gallery so I put this together for a quick gift. It was so easy to make because I just took most of the pictures and journaling from a post I wrote titled “sister love.”

You two girls of mine have been best friends from the start.

Sometimes you fight, but you are always quick to make up and carry on like nothing happened at all.

You do everything together. And watch out for each other.

And you are extremely affectionate with each other.

When you first started having individual playdates with friends, I would always remind you…

“make sure you play with your sister too.”

That was never a problem. Now I remind you…

“make sure you include your friend!”

You love spending time at the beach together.

And hanging out at the pool together.

You often enjoy “blanket picnics” together. And you love playing dress up together.

You love spending time in the tub together. And you’ve always loved dancing together.

You really listen to each other. And one of you is always laughing at what the other one has to say.

You especially love acting silly together. A lot of silliness goes on between you two every day.

Sometimes you two get laughing so hard over what seems to be absolutely nothing.

You have your own little language and this reminds me for all the world of me and my sister.

The other day you were coloring and Ellie said, “Ad! That coloring is so good – it looks like Kindergarten work!” Addison, your little face just lit up. You walked over to Ellie and wrapped your arms around her. Ellie kept coloring with one arm around you and I watched you both from the kitchen with a great big lump in my throat.

The two of you are sisters. And the love you share is like nothing else.

Love always, mommy

The book was a hit! They have read it so many times together. I especially like to pull it out when they’re fighting. I’ll casually set it near by and before long they are reading it together. It serves as a nice quiet reminder that they actually DO love each other and get along famously when in the mood. :)

Crazy girls. I sure love them.

xoxo, Erin

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Ellie

04.07.11

Out with the old!

So. I’ve had an excuse to do a little shopping lately (not that an excuse is ever needed). We have a vacation coming in the semi-near future which inspired a list of absolute necessities. Things I needed to buy to get ready for this trip and summer in general. Must haves. Not wants, but needs I tell you.

First thing on my “absolutely must buy immediately list” —

New luggage for the girls! Fun colors right!? I fell in love with these suitcases from Pottery Barn Kids. They just scream FUN! They scream SUMMER! They scream … ok… they probably scream WANT more than NEED, but somehow I convinced Kenny that they were a must have for this trip. “Babe – love of my life – they are the perfect carry on size and I know how you hate it when I over pack…..”

Ellie was as excited as I was about her new suitcase and started packing for our trip right away. She was NOT excited, however, when I told her that unfortunately the princesses will not be joining us on our journey.

Second thing on my “absolutely must buy immediately list” —

New beach/pool wear for the girls! Ok. I know they probably didn’t NEED quite so much swim wear, but honestly last summer I didn’t buy them a thing. I had just had Kole and was recovering from my little scare and was so overwhelmed. We didn’t spend as much time at the pool and beach as we usually do and the girls just got by with stuff they already had. They’ve grown out of everything I had for them so it was time for a whole new beach wardrobe!

Third thing on my “absolutely must buy immediately list” — a suit for me.

Stop right there. Party’s over! That’s where the fun ends. I keep putting that depressing shopping trip off. WAY more fun to shop for my girls.

I went to put away the new swim wear for the girls and realized how over crowded their drawers were getting. Remember when I moved a lot of their toys into their dresser?

A few dresser drawers are still used for the girls’ clothes, but most of their clothes are in their closet.

In the middle of their closet are a few drawers where I keep some of their clothes.

These drawers were so crowded that I decided I needed to have a little “out with the old, in with the new” organizing party!

I love throwing myself an organizing party. It always starts out with a great big mess! I emptied all of the drawers out on the floor and started sorting through things.

So much precious space was being taken up with things we just don’t need. Like all of these size 2/3 T panties for little dresses and these adorable size 2/3 T tights with hearts and animals on the bottoms. Cute? Yes. Current wardrobe? No. Sadly, we have moved out of this stage and it’s time to move on. Out with the old!

I also had to part with stuff like these fun boot house shoes and summer hats. This stuff I purchased is a good lesson for me. It’s stuff I bought that wasn’t practical and ended up being a waste of money and space. It’s only cold enough for house shoes for a few short months here so the girls hardly wore the boots. And the hats, while darling, were also uncomfortable and itchy so they didn’t get much use either. From now on my motto is: practical! Two things I’ve got to ask myself — “will my girls really wear/use this?” and “do I have space to store this?”

So here are the closet drawers cleaned out with just what the girls are really using/wearing right now.

Ballet clothes, shoes and tights.

Gymnastic clothes. I love that I have so much room left in this drawer! I’m sure I’ll find something to fill it, but for right now I’m loving that the drawer isn’t crammed full. Less is more!

New swim wear! (decided to part with the uncomfortable hats after the picture was taken) :)

Pajama’s (I’m too emmbarrased to show you the pile of p.j’s I’m taking to Goodwill. An insane amount. Pajama’s are a total weakness of mine and I have got to stop buying them!)

Nightgowns.

Clean drawers full of what the girls actually wear. Feels so good!

And since we’re on an “out with the old” kick — see if you notice a change in the next two photos???

Ahhhh! We decided to chop Ellie’s hair! I was going to chop Addison’s too and then chickened out. Guess I wasn’t ready to say good-bye to those long curls just yet. But Ellie was ready for a short summer do and we are loving the new look!

Her new hair cut accentuates her new smile – one front tooth down, one to go!

Out with the old! Time to enjoy our new.

xoxo, Erin

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Ramblings

04.05.11

Tangled/Project Life

Hi friends! So does anyone out there have kiddos as obsessed with Tangled as my two girls are?

We had the movie shipped to us from Amazon the day it came out (as we do with all new barbie/princess movies because as sad as this is to admit, Kenny and I love them even more than the girls do) and we can’t stop watching it! Such a darling movie. My favorite part is right after Rapunzel leaves the tower for the first time and goes back and forth between complete joy and excitement about finally being free, and then complete guilt and shame over disobeying her mother. Totally reminds me of how I feel each time after I’ve gone shopping and spent too much money.

“YES! This is the best day of my life!”
“Crap. Kenny is going to kill me.”
“Wheee! I can’t wait to wear these clothes!”
“Sob. I’m a terrible wife.”
“YEA! This stuff is going to be so stinkin’ cute in my house! Best shopping day EVER!”
“Racked with guilt. I am SO going to get “the lecture” tonight…..”

Love Rapunzel. I totally get her. :)

Sharing a few pics of Addison’s book today. These pages are similar to the ones I posted last time of Ellie’s book because they are all from the same time frame. Exactly one year ago – around the time Kole was born. I just need to wrap up last summer in both albums and then I am starting Fall of 2010 in their new Project Life albums. Can’t wait to start using my new books!

Left off last in March..

I added a blog post from that month – “a bit of mom randomness.”

It was a few pages long so I just punched three holes in it instead of using a page protector. I wrote about things I love about being a mom along with concerns I had about becoming a mother of three. Something I think Addison will enjoy reading when she’s older. I would love to have something like that from my mom – her thoughts on motherhood while she was raising me.

Random March pics – bike riding with daddy, playing with Ellie, getting Kole’s nursery ready, and grandma coming to help out while mom and dad head to the hospital!

Welcome Kole!

Meeting her new baby brother.

Addison drew this Easter egg for baby Kole in pre-school while we were in the hospital.

Pics with Ellie in their new Easter dresses. I found this little green note that Ellie had written to Addison telling her how much she loves her. So sweet.

The month of April was a bit tricky. The girls were completely oblivious to most of what happened to me soon after I had Kole. They thought I just went back to the hospital for more baby stuff. They think childbirth requires months of hospitals and healing! ;) I wasn’t sure what to journal about in their books so I just printed the Update from Kenny and then my first post after surgery – Update from Erin. I know I’ll have to explain everything to them when they are old enough to understand, but for now I’m so happy that they have no idea they almost lost their mom.

Lots of time with grandma and daddy while mom recovered. Aunt Carly also came to visit! And then I added a college of pics I created for Mother’s Day of me and my girls.

Grandma’s surpirse 60th birthday party! LOVE these pictures of my mom. And then Addison’s 4th birthday we also celebrated in Utah with family.

More pictures of hanging out with family in Utah. These pictures make me so excited and ready for summer! Sorry – I know a lot of you are still waiting for Spring. It’s hard not to jump ahead in my neck of the woods. :)

Happy Tuesday everyone!!!

xoxo, Erin

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Kole

04.01.11

Hello from Kole

Dear adults,

It’s Kole. I snuck out of my crib and hijacked my mom’s computer because I wanted to tell you all thanks for wishing me a happy birthday. Your comments made my mom really happy so I also wanted to thank you for cheering her up. She can be such a sap!

And since I’m in no hurry to go back to bed, here are a few things about me at age one:

I am multi-talented.

I am tough. If I can handle the abuse my sisters dish out on a regular basis, I can handle anything.

I love to play in the pantry. It’s one of my favorite spots in the house. Mom keeps it way too organized and I am always anxious to get in there and mess things up.

I also love bath time. I get so excited for my bath every night that when my mom starts running the water I can hardly contain myself. I am always so happy after I’ve splashed around in the tub.

I can’t crawl or walk yet and a lot of people seem surprised by this. When someone says to my mom “really – he isn’t walking!?” my mom always answers… “Not yet! Isn’t it great!” It doesn’t seem to bother her much. But don’t be fooled — I can scoot with the best of them and I am FAST.