Tree Cookie

Elli and I sat down to read a few books. She has been on a Cinderella kick lately (Daddy is now referred to as her prince) so we were reading about Cinderella's Christmas. In the book, Cinderella teaches us that gifts that come from the heart are the best kind of gift. Therefore, she bakes the Prince tree shaped cookies. This is the conversation that followed...

Elli: "I want to make tree cookies!"
Me: "I don't know how to make tree cookies."
Elli: "you just put the stuff in (making a stirring bowl motion) and you have cookies"
Me: "I don't know that we have the 'stuff' to make them."
Elli: Pops up and heads to the kitchen pantry and starts putting items on the counter "we need peanuts, peanut butter and rice cakes to make tree cookies."



Me: " is that all we need?"
Elli: "yes"

Here is my version of a tree cookie





Apparently I passed the test.



When her Prince got home from work, she said "yay, my prince is home." Then, she said she needed to make him a tree cookie. The prince let her do it herself this time. And for his royal highness he got a special topping of dried apples.




Moments like these is what life is made of.

A new outlook on Two

My favorite age  is  was 12-24 months. Elli has showed me that two is awesome. I love her at this age. Daily smiles and laughter, people.

Two= sweeping in high heels and a cape

 Two= sporting 'boo boo knees' with her gym leo and requested 'pigtail in the back'

 Two= kissing the daddy that just feel from the dining room chair

 Two= proclaiming you are Elsa at least once a day

 Two= getting into sister's rainboots, getting them to open the door for you and finding a puddle

 Two= pinchable cuteness

 Two= figuring out how to get dizzy

 Two= learning how awesome Daddy is and trying to do what he does

 Two= still giving snuggles to Mommy even though you figured out how awesome Daddy is!

I love TWO!

My baby is all grown up!

What happened? She isn't a baby anymore. Now the reference of her being my baby has nothing to do with age and ALL has to do with her being my youngest. How did this happen? But what a sweet thing it is to behold.

Let's explore the awesomeness of She.

 She mastered her first easter egg hunt. All I did was tell her "go clean up all those eggs"

 She wanted so badly to enjoy all those sweets she accumulated at the egg hunt. I tried to distract her with the miniature jar of bubbles she got. It worked for 5 seconds (look how sweet her blowing bubbles is) then she dumped out the jar to move onto bigger and better things...sugar.

 Apparently I haven't been giving her enough credit. While pulling the wagon with Reese and Elli, Reese shouts "look mommy!" Yep, Elli unwrapped a tootsie pop and went about her business.

 No worries though, MY baby still loves a good snuggle or piggy back ride. And I don't mind one bit.

 But, more importantly, she loves doing EVERYTHING her big sisters do. If Brady runs out in the early morning with a giant bear in tow. You bet that Elli races to find the other big bear, heft him over her arm, and proceed to the backyard too. Imagine the battles that fall into place when a almost two year old constantly tries to be a 5 or 6 year old.

 I do have to say, she is just as sweet as they come. I love her infectious joy of life.

 I also love her sense of humor. She is our resident comedian, always trying to get a laugh out of someone or laugh right along with others. She loves a good joke that is above her head but makes everyone else laugh. 

But about the sweetest thing as of late, is her new phrase "Daddy home". It can be phrased as a question or a statement. She wakes up, she immediately looks towards the master bedroom and asks "daddy home?". Daddy walks into a door after work, she goes running "Daddy home!!!!". It breaks my heart though, when Karl is out of town. She asks about 15 times a day "Daddy home?" Every time she sees a black sedan "Daddy home!" Playing in the backyard, she walks to the garage door, reaches for the knob and says "Daddy home?" She is a full blown daddy's girl and that makes me SO happy. I think she has her daddy sold on this only daughters business. 

Letter of Intent

The recruiters have made home visits.

The coaches extended their offers for scholarships.

 Official visits to the campus are completed.

Verbal commitment made.

National Letter of Intent signed.

Team Daddy's Girls officially has the #1 ranked national recruit.


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It is beyond adorable to watch this relationship blossom and GROW! If Karl puts his shoes on, Elli bolts (at lightning speed) to his side and reaches her arms up. He is NOT allowed to leave the house without her. The 3 AM wake up calls sound like this "DADA, DADA, DADA". If she is hurt, his hugs do the trick.

I will have to say, I think she made the right decision. This is by far the youngest any Orthner girls have commited to Team Daddy's Girl, but it really does seem to be a great fit.