All Dressed Up

Ella and I shared such a special day together. I surprised her with tickets to the Nutcracker ballet. AND a fancy dress. I always dreamed about doing special things like this with a daughter.

 
I don't really wear makeup so Ella thinks it's a REALLY big deal when she gets to play with it.

 

 

Cookies at intermission.

Perfect little girl shoes.

 

 

Waiting for the show to resume. She packed her purse with treasures.

 

A special day that I'll always remember. 

A Narration Of Photos

We made a pit stop before running to Costco earlier this week. I let Maxwell and Ella play for a few short minutes and then sly suggested I wanted to take a QUICK picture. Right on cue, Maxwell was ready to smile. Fake smile, but still a happy face.

 I started with the fail proof, "make a funny face!"

Which Ella took as 'give your Mama attitude.'Ha ha, very funny Ella.

He is slightly amused but more intrigued with the ice cream in the barn behind him.

Oh Ella, don't be so cranky.

Now really, such a fuss about nothing.

I must have made some lame attempt to get them excited here because sweet boy is all, "Sure Mom! But we do get ice cream after, right?" Meanwhile, Ella is practicing a sassy teenager face. But you can tell she kind of wants to smile.

 But the whole time Maxwell keeps saying "Mama, I'll smile!" And my heart melts because he's being so carefree and fun.

She still won't look at me but she's clearly daydreaming about something good. Like setting dogs free from the pound.

 Then I oblige Maxwell and buy them ice cream because he's being adorable and kind. But I only take pictures of Ella because I'm determined to get her to look happy. 

And after ice cream I stop trying and let them play. Which makes my boy smile for REAL. 

And distracts her from trying to look miserable. She finds a box of free tree trimmings and asks to bring some home. I obviously agree and she thinks I'm amazing for the first time today. 

She's very meticulous and calculated while choosing her treasures. 

This entertains her for 20 minutes while I alternate my time between watching her sweet face and catching glimpses of batman sprint between rows of Christmas trees. 

Then days later I upload these images on my computer and remember each one. And decide that while Ella's shots end up the prettiest, this very last one of Maxwell is my favorite. Even though it's blurry. Even though he looks goofy. Because this shot is what I remember about this day. My boy who can usually be very particular and sometimes difficult loved every suggestion I had. He loved the outing. He tolerated my camera. He smiled on command. And then he played. And asked me to play too. So I put my camera down and chased him. And those sweet pictures are the ones I have in my heart.

 

 

And then it was December

Our Thanksgiving was amazing. Family, friends, yummy food-all the good cliches. And then we woke up and it was December. And because we have kids there was this urgency to pull down the Christmas boxes and get our tree ASAP. Now our house is full of twinkle lights and it smells like pine. We got our tree earlier this week and honestly, it was 74 degrees that day. It's since dropped and finally feels a little more wintery. I wish I pulled my camera out more often. How did these kids of mine get so big?

 

 

 

 

 

 

This moment went from smile to frown real fast. 

And then there's Scout. Whose eyes are not different colors, just funky lighting. Our big, slobbery dog.

 

A Post Where I Sound Like Eeyore.

I have about five minutes of quiet and lots swirling around in my head. I woke up grouchy and sensitive. Not sure why. Thinking about these things:
- I can't stand when my kids argue. I haven't found a good reward or punishment for this one. They are the best of buds but they also drive each other  me crazy with taunting and pestering each other. The whining is beyond irritating.
- It seems like every one's pregnant. And I'm OK with not having more kids. But I feel a little pang of...I don't know what when I see baby bumps. Jealousy I guess. Which is ugly.
- On the topic of babies, all of the sudden my children loathe them. Which is equally embarrassing and devastating to me. My neighbor with a one year old came over for the first time the other day and the kids raced out of their rooms and proudly yelled, 'EWWW! A baby! We don't like babies, they're soooo gross.' Cue me melting into a humiliated puddle on the floor. This isn't just Maxwell, it's Ella too. What? How? And to make it worse, Ella no longer plays with her baby dolls and while searching for Christmas treasures in the Target catalog she CROSSED OUT the pictures of dolls. To make the whole thing even more disgusting, she prefers dogs. Little, long haired lap dogs. Excuse me while I throw up. She has channeled every maternal instinct into her obsession of tiny dogs. Any encounter with them triggers sugary baby talk in which she crouches down and puckers her lips while she says she 'woves the yiddle cootie wootie.' It's sickening.
-Every day is a battle to brush her hair. It's tangled into a knot 75% of the time. I take back every silent judgement I passed on little girls with messy hair. I always assumed this was a reflection of bad hygiene. In our case, Ella can be clean as a whistle but her hair is just a bitch to brush. Then she yells at me. And I use my fake nice voice but I'm pretty much yelling back at her. It's SUPER fun. So in an hour we are going to get it cut.
- Maxwell is really smart and I feel like I should be challenging him more. He loves math and I should be intentional about coming up with number games and challenges for him. I'm not.
- I'm hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year and all I really want to do is order pizza.
- I'm hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year and it will actually be fine.

 I woke up on the wrong side of the bed ;) If I think about it, I'll take pictures of Ella's first hair cut to blog. Otherwise, it's sure to make it's way on instagram. Follow along there if you'd like (I'm meghanelainebeck) where I'm usually a half glass full type of girl.

Mario And Princess Peach

When it came to choosing costumes this year, Maxwell chose Mario. Obviously. Because he thinks he IS Mario. Which is kind of weird, no? What is the infatuation with a 30 year old plumber? Sure he shoots fireballs, but really I just don't think he's that cool. Which matters zero. So Mario was the clear choice for Maxwell and Ella went along with Princess Peach because any princess is magical to her. For the third year in a row, Grandma Judie made them amazing costumes. Check out years past she made of Buzz and Tink, and Woody and Jesse.

They were SO proud to wear their costumes to a Trunk or Treat last night. I intended to draw a mustache on Mario but then realized A. I don't wear makeup and didn't know what to use. B. Didn't feel like buying any. I'll find some for Halloween. Thank you Grandma J for their outfits!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkins

We took our annual pumpkin photos with our twin friends. Don't blink, these kids are practically off to high school. Sniff, sniff.



We missed pictures last year but here are the Octobers before...It's not that I want to stunt who they are now, it's just that I want to visit who they were. I want to hear their voices and squeeze their little bodies.

Ahhh, sweet girl's mullet.

I could stare at this one all day. It's all I can do not to climb through the screen and gobble up that chubby boy of mine.

 

The kids stayed still just long enough for me to snap a few pictures. I'm not above bribing with lollipops. Our days feel full, we like October.