The Joys of Potty Training

Ella is almost 29 months old and I HATE the fact that she isn't potty trained yet. She is such a smart kid, talks a blue streak, understands and remembers everything, but she just will not take the time out of her day to stop and use the potty. She just won't. When she was about 16 months old she would ask to sit on the potty and she did great. Now I can't even bribe her to sit there. We have special treats and potty prizes if she even tries the potty, and she knows about them and talks about them all the time, but still won't try. She'll tell me that she's too big and too old for diapers and that she should wear big girl panties, but she won't. It's very strange. I thought for sure that I could have her trained before Lily was born, but she just proved me wrong again. So we are going to be starting hard core potty training VERY soon. I cannot stand it that she is still in diapers and we need to do something about it. So, very fittingly, today's photo is of Ella, actually sitting on the potty for once, reading her books.

Another Beautiful Day

I missed the last two days of posts because I was away in Fredericton for Shawn's CMA graduation. Believe it or not, I didn't even take my camera with me, so I have no photos from the weekend. Luckily, today was another one of those beautiful, warm, sunny days where I just couldn't sit in the house all day, so the girls and I went out to play in the yard. It was a lot of fun and Ella surprised me, yet again, and actually stood still long enough for me to take some photos of her. I need to remember to enjoy these days while Lily can't go anywhere and Ella is being cooperative!
Here she is in all of her two-year-old glory.I caught her chewing on a "flower" and did I tell her to stop? No! I stopped to take a photo of it. Yes, that's right, this mom certainly has her priorities in order. I love how smug she looks in this one.

And here's my other little beauty, who LOVES to get out in the fresh air.

Snow? Really?

The girls and I had quite an uneventful day today, other than the tiny bit of wet snow that was flying through the air. Ella thought that it was quite exciting. She spent a lot of the day running from window to window, peeking out at the snow, and talking about how she was going to go out and play in it when daddy got home. When I tried to explain to her that it wasn't even sticking to the ground and she wouldn't be able to build a snowman today, she thought I was just being mean and got mad at me. She then laid on the floor and showed me how she was going to make a snowman, which looked suspiciously like a snow angel :) So we didn't get to play in the snow today, and I hope we won't get to for quite some time now, but I did manage to snap a quick shot of Ella watching the snow fall. I also grabbed a couple quick shots of the girls relaxing. I love how interested Lily is getting in everything and how she grins at the toys that hang on her chair.
I'm also pretty sure that I found a way to get Ella to let me take her photo. All I have to do is take a photo of Lily and Ella starts begging to have her photo taken too. Jealousy? Yes. But do I care? No! I'm just glad to have some photos of my girls. Ella insisted on having Care Bears in her photos again today, so here they are.

Care Bear Girlies

Ella has had a huge obsession with Care Bears lately. She loves the show, she loves the stuffies, she loves the books. If it has anything to do with Care Bears, she loves it. Today I dressed Lily in a little Care Bear outfit that actually used to be Ella's, so Ella thought that was pretty cool. She went to her bedroom to get her bears, so I thought it would be a good time to dig out the camera. Although Ella wasn't thrilled to let Lily have her photo taken with her Care Bear, she actually volunteered to have her photo taken with Lily. Usually I have to beg and plead with her to sit with Lily and she still won't, so that was a treat for me. Lily ended up looking terrified in the photos, but I am still happy just to have the two of them in the same shot.

And after I took a few photos of the two of them, Ella finally gave in and let Lily hold her Care Bear for a minute. Doesn't she look thrilled?

Lazy Rainy Day Today

Today the girls and I had a pretty lazy day. It was raining and cold outside, so Ella decided that it would be a good day to lay on the couch and read books. She could sit with her "I Spy" book all day, I think. After both the girls had a nap (at the same time!), I even let Ella watch "Woody and Buzz", which was a treat because she doesn't get to watch movies very often. Since our day was pretty low key, today's photos are just a couple of shots of my girlies lazing around.

My First Real Shoot

Lately I have had some people ask me if I would take some photos for them. At first I was extremely hesitant, but I know that I need the practice and I do want to start trying to build a portfolio, so I have accepted a few of those requests. Yesterday I had my first non-family shoot. It was an engagement session and I was extremely nervous, although I don't know if I was as nervous as my subjects, Melissa and Todd. I think we all worked through it together and I am hoping that they will be happy with the shots that we got. I only have a few edited right now, but have many more to come.

My Halloween Monsters

About a month ago I asked Ella what she wanted to be for Halloween this year. I thought that she would ask to be Elmo or Tigger or some other character that she knows, but to my surprise she askedd to be a scarecrow and she never once changed her mind. I thought her idea was great, so I went out to a second-hand store and bought some overalls and a couple of plaid shirts, picked up some yarn and put together her costume. I was pretty happy with how it came out and I think she thought it was okay too. She was pretty impressed with herself when we got her all dressed up and put her in front of the mirror. We took her over to her Grammy and Grampy's house to get a treat and play in the leaves. She happily showed them (and everyone else last night) her scarecrow stance. Lily got a pretty simple costume this year - a black cat. I thought she was pretty cute, but she didn't love it.