Household binder

Paper clutter drives me crazy. It sits in piles around our house. I've been taking a few steps to try controlling it. There a alot of good ideas out there. Here is one taken from iheartorganizing. We created a household binder using many of her templates. I meant to blog about this sooner because they are all free as of today. So if you're interested, hop on over to her blog and grab some.

It's just one step in managing all this crazy clutter. We decided which things would want easily accessable and which ones we'd rather have filed away. Already we've found it very useful.

Elli quotes

I've shared a lot of Saydee conversations because she says the greatest things. So does Elliana. They are at awesome ages for some prime entertainment. I hope I never forget these wonderful memories, but just in case here are some Elliana quotes and quirks.

Saydee took this little pic. pretty good.

Quite a few weeks ago, late at night we thought the girls were sleeping. We hear little Elli talking and playing. We've had to limit them to one book and one stuffed animal or toy at bedtime, other wise they load up and make sleeping virtually impossible. So, we go in to check on the girl and find her in bed buried in books and toys. Heath asks her "Elli, did you get all this stuff out?"

E: "No I didn't."

Heath: "Well, then who did?"

E: "Santa did it. I tell him I can't have lots on my bed. He gives me more and more stuff. And I tell him 2 times. He gives me too much."

Heidi: "Elli, Santa comes at Christmas. Are you sure you didn't get these toys out?"

E: "No, Momma I tell you 2 times. Santa did it. He's in trouble."

Her new thing. Lately, she'll decline something or a request and then say "but I still like you." During her gymnastics class her teacher asked her to do a pike on the bar, she said "No thanks, but I still like you." The girl just laughed and hugged her. How could you not. Everything she says is with sweet sincerity.

A few days ago, I asked if she'd like to help me unload some groceries. She said "No I can't, I'm just 2. But I still love you." We were close enough for her to hold my face. She gets real close and says "I always will." And I of coarse kissed her chubby cheeks all over.

Potato art

About 2 weeks ago, the big snow day actually, we tried our hand at potato stamping. Little tip: we found it works much better using a paint brush to apply the paint to potato. The images are crisper and allow more color options. The girls loved this activity.

Saydee's creation... I was pretty impressed with those blue birds.

Elli's was a little more abstract.

Saturday

Saydee's first soccer game was cancelled due to this... And despite my pessimistic attitude toward this very thing, the girls' enthusiasm was contagious. It was the perfect packing snow for snowball fights and snowmen.

Elli's Yearly Eval

I mentioned before how Elli is part of a study group for craniosynostosis. This year we took along Saydee in hopes the girls would entertain eachother during the down time. Lucky for us there wasn't much of that this year. We were in and out in 3 1/2 hrs.
Much to the girls delight the study group hired clown doctors to entertain all the children in our waiting room.

Elli was tested for hearing, speech, psych and seen by the craniofacial doc and a nurse. The dentist and eye dr weren't in which was too bad. We saw our wonderful Pediatrician yesterday who was concerned about Elli's left eye. So we're hoping to see a specialist in the next week or two.

Apparently there are correlations with craniosynostosis, even after correction, and possible learning disabilities, speech, hearing and/or some behavioral problems. However their findings are a little inaccurate due to so many uncontrolled variables. Thus, this new study going on nationwide. So if we move we'll join another group.

So far Elli hasn't suffered delays in any of these areas. Her hearing test came back borderline normal because of her chronic ear infections. In fact she just had one last week but its the first in 5 months. So we might consider tubes if she gets any more. And her left eye may be lazy, also consistent with craniosynostosis patients. Last year a specialist told us she had a pseudo-lazy eye, meaning it just appears lazy because of her eye shape. Our pediatrician is very skeptical, so we'll go in for a second opinion.

Other than that Elli is doing great. In fact her speech doctors said she is really advanced for her age. And the cranial doctor said her head looks great. And as for behavioral problems, well she's a normal sweet two yr old, with the usual 2 yr old symptoms ;) But even for 2 she is very even tempered.

So not too many worries then with little Elliana. And some of specialists tested Saydee right along with Elli to make her feel equally special. So for 31/2 hrs in a hospital, both girls were great, much credit due to those doctor clowns. Yep, we're blessed with three happy healthy little kids.

Another consuming post on weather...

Today was gorgeous and we enjoyed every moment basking in its warmth. However I'm losing my optimism. The cold always seems more bitter after a few days of teasing perfection. I'm slowly learning to roll with these climatic punches.

No... that's a lie. If it freezes again I'll cry.

But here's for today. Beautiful St. Patrick's Day (that I completely forgot about). Bummer. But we did enjoy every bit of you, even without a stitch of green, or yummy green pancakes cut into clovers....

To be a kid...

Is this not the most adorable outdoor playhouse ever? Love this fantasy picture from Cookiehouse. If their fantasy ever met my reality: the rabbits living under our shed would definitely upgrade. How Do they keep little critters out? Still, so lovely.

Anyhow, nothing new over here. The usual. The girls have been a little crankier with colds the last few days. But still they can make me laugh and smile faster than anything.

Yesterday Saydee and Elli came out of their room dressed to the nines and with quite a bit of sass, said, "Momma, I'm a RockStar!" and Elli says "Yeah, we're a RockStar!"

Heath and I chuckled (always inward) and complimented their beauty and style.
Then I asked "What is a RockStar?"

Her answer: "Well they wear a lots of jewels and necklaces. And they wear a tutu and have some rocks."

We, of coarse did not correct her, and basked in this moment that our little girls are still little girls.