Ellie

Ellie was upset over the dinner choices given to her by Lisa last night (this happens quite frequently these days: if it's not pizza, she's ticked). So what's her form of protest? "When I get big, I'm moving to Canada!"

Get a new phone for your house that has ringtones, then set it to play "Jingle Bells" when someone calls.

Ellie had her first sleepover last night, and she did great!
For the past few years, we've been doing Thanksgiving with our surrogate DC area family, the crazy Cajuns. Yesterday, we had dinner over there as usual, and somewhere along the line Ellie and her buddy Claire got it into their heads that they were having a sleepover. We did bring Ellie's jammies with us, mainly because dinner tends to go late and we knew she'd probably fall asleep in the car on the way home anyway. All through dinner and afterward, they were tag teaming us on the sleepover issue. First Ellie, "Can I have a sleepover?" Two minutes later, Claire, "Can Ellie have a sleepover?" Finally we talked it over amongst ourselves and with Ellie and Claire, and we decided that Claire (and her parents Matt and Mary Beth) was probably as good a friend as any with whom to have a sleepover. So we got Ellie into her jammies and switched car seats around, said good night, and off we went.
And apparently, unless our friends are just too nice, they did great! Ellie slept the whole night and had no complaints. She even wants to tag along with them while they go watch the LSU football game this afternoon. And here we were worried that we were going to get a call at midnight saying Ellie wanted to come home. Not our big girl. "Bye Mom, bye Dad, see ya later!"
As a bonus, Ellie not sleeping in her room meant that we could try harder to get Evan to sleep in his crib, which is located in Ellie's room, though I guess it's now the kids' room. He did pretty well, and slept for a couple of hours before waking up and being very confused about where he was.
I tell ya, these kids grow up so fast!

Ellie had her first sleepover last night, and she did great!
For the past few years, we've been doing Thanksgiving with our surrogate DC area family, the crazy Cajuns. Yesterday, we had dinner over there as usual, and somewhere along the line Ellie and her buddy Claire got it into their heads that they were having a sleepover. We did bring Ellie's jammies with us, mainly because dinner tends to go late and we knew she'd probably fall asleep in the car on the way home anyway. All through dinner and afterward, they were tag teaming us on the sleepover issue. First Ellie, "Can I have a sleepover?" Two minutes later, Claire, "Can Ellie have a sleepover?" Finally we talked it over amongst ourselves and with Ellie and Claire, and we decided that Claire (and her parents Matt and Mary Beth) was probably as good a friend as any with whom to have a sleepover. So we got Ellie into her jammies and switched car seats around, said good night, and off we went.
And apparently, unless our friends are just too nice, they did great! Ellie slept the whole night and had no complaints. She even wants to tag along with them while they go watch the LSU football game this afternoon. And here we were worried that we were going to get a call at midnight saying Ellie wanted to come home. Not our big girl. "Bye Mom, bye Dad, see ya later!"
As a bonus, Ellie not sleeping in her room meant that we could try harder to get Evan to sleep in his crib, which is located in Ellie's room, though I guess it's now the kids' room. He did pretty well, and slept for a couple of hours before waking up and being very confused about where he was.
I tell ya, these kids grow up so fast!

I mentioned last week that Ellie had her first haircut at Cartoon Cuts recently. I finally got around to getting the pictures uploaded, so here they are, for your viewing pleasure.

First up was washing her hair with the elephant. She thought that was pretty hilarious.

Then it was on to the cutting. Her hair was pretty long, as you can tell.

The cartoon of the day was Diego. She never watches it, but I'm pretty sure she could sing the theme song, and she was obviously zoned into it during the cut.

A little blowdrying. She wasn't so sure about that part, because it was noisy, but she stuck it out.

Can't forget the curling. I think her hair looks a little retro, like Farrah Fawcett on Charlie's Angels or something.

Ta da! All done, and looking sharp. The curls were pretty much gone by the time I got to see her, but that's what happens when you're four and running around all day. Ellie was very good about the whole thing, and I'm fairly sure she won't be so intimidated the next time we go.

Ellie got her first haircut ever yesterday. She went to Cartoon Cuts with her buddy Stella, and was pretty good throughout the whole thing. The stylist (can you really call a Cartoon Cuts employee a stylist? I guess I just did) was real nice about the whole thing, and let Ellie have the whole shebang: hair washed with the elephant hose, haircut while watching Diego cartoon, blow dried hair, and even a little curling iron, all topped off with a little barrette. Pictures forthcoming.

In case you don't check out my Flickr page, I took some cell camera pictures of Ellie riding her bike at Clemyjontri Park.

Ellie's new bike.

Action shot. I told you I took it with my cell phone, so you shouldn't be surprised at the quality...

Please join me in wishing Ellie a happy birthday! My little princess turns 4 years old today.

For those who will be joining us for Ellie's birthday bash(es, yes there will be more than one), and for those who can't make it, here's a taste of what's in store. For the Saturday party (Ellie's friends, the kid party), there will be assorted space games and activities, including space snow globes and paper rockets. For the Sunday party (family and close friends, more adult party), there will be rum-marinated chicken mango pineapple kabobs, with some sort of appetizer, possibly crab dip. There will also be plenty of adult beverages, including beer chosen by yours truly, and there's been an unconfirmed rumor of a guest offering to make mojitos. Could be interesting.
Oh yeah, and here's the cake:

We all think Lisa should start charging for these things...

Last night after getting all of our window stuff settled, it was time for some important business. A special concert was going on pre-sale exclusively to fan club members. The concert isn't until May 18, 2008, over 9 months away, but it was sure to be a hot ticket.
Yes, we bought tickets to the Dan Zanes concert at Strathmore. We are officially hipster parents to the extreme. It is going to be awesome.