Ellery's 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Ellery's birthday on Saturday. We were very fortunate to celebrate with family and friends. She had a wonderful time and loved her outfit. A huge thanks to Nana for making the tutu, it was a hit.

She preferred to eat crackers 's over her cake, but warmed up to the idea of eating cake after a bit. She is her daddy's daughter preferring to eat crackers over cake.

Mason takes after me and loves to eat cake. Here is his excited face when I informed him that he was going to get to eat cake.

We also learned that our family and friends don't follow rules and brought presents despite our instructions. It was fun watching Mason help Ellery open all the presents. She found a scrap of paper and held onto it while Mason continued to open all her presents. A few highlight gifts include the ball popper from Papaw and a soft cat stuffed animal named Toby from Uncle Tom and Aunt Laurie.

My pretty pretty birthday princess turned 1.

Note what is playing on the TV in the back ground.

TruTV

If I knew how to leave comments to comments on the blog I would answer them. Give me a few more days to find time to look that up and get them answered. I was surprised that people were compelled to find the blog and check us out after watching our debut. We have had multiple laughs over the episode and want to thank TruTV for the experience. They were wonderful to work with through email and made us feel very comfortable and special. It is funny to hear stories and reactions from friends and family. One of our neighbors was away on business and happened to catch the episode and shocked to see us on it. We are currently waiting to be contacted and offered a contract for out own tv show, the paparazzi to arrive, and discussing how this will change our lives once all this happens.

Our TruTV Blogging Debut

Your Speeders Stars

So our episode airs tonight on TruTV and I just got peeked at a snip of it online along with reading the blogging post. I am laughing hysterically and of course trying to call people I know to share it with and wouldn't you know, NO one is answering. For your viewing pleasure. Make sure you have an empty bladder.
http://blog.trutv.com/dumb_as_a_blog/2009/02/tonight-on-speeders-on-trutv-blogger-mandi-chaplin.html
You can also get a sneak peek on the TruTV website for the preview for the show Speeders.
http://www.trutv.com/shows/speeders/index.html

Happy Birthday Ellery

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLERY
I can't belive Ellery is turning 1. My tiny peanut is still tiny, but growing up in time so fast. I'll update more about all her wonders when I have more time.

Ear Infections

Ellery is just getting over a double ear infection I hate to put my kids on antibiotics, but this bug just wouldn't go away. Needless to say she is getting better and happier. Not that I can really complain with her being sick. She is still a happy sick baby, not that I can use baby much longer since she will be turning one, but have to use it while I can. Anyways, my worst complaint is that she wakes up in the middle of the night and plays. She doesn't cry or need any intervention from us, but it does keep me awake because you hear her talking to herself and playing with her toys. She did take shorter naps and was a bit clingy and cranky after naps but very blessed that is what I have to complain about.

Daddy to the zoo

Rob took the morning off and we took a family zoo trip. Ellery had a great time even if she didn't make any of the pictures posted. She tracks and notices lots of the animals now. Mason always enjoys himself. He wanted to take daddy across the bridge and show him the gorillas. We discover something new every time we visit the Omaha Zoo. It is a spectacular place.

Taking Turns

We had a play date the other day and Mason informed me that he was going to ring the doorbell. Just for fun I asked him what if I wanted to push the doorbell? He looked at me and informed that I would "have to wait until it was my turn." I didn't clarify when that would be.

Bubble Bath

Rob is great at helping me change things up. He had a wonderful idea to bath the kids in our bath tub and top it off with bubbles. They were thrilled and I am not sure why we don't do this more often. Ellery was splashing and making herself laugh so Mason joined in and helped her cackle more.

TruTV Debut

Our TruTV debut is this Thursday from 8-9. Now I am not sure if it central or eastern so dvr multiple times. I just received my email interview for the blog, so I will give you that link once they get it posted.
http://blog.trutv.com/dumb_as_a_blog/

Go Jayhawks

I am lucky I don't have twins because I think I would be one of those mom's guilty of dressing them alike. Anyways, GO JAYHAWKS. I absolutely love KU basketball well, basically all college hoops, but KU is my all time fav. They played Nebraska today and won. We might live in Nebraska, but I don't cheer for them. That might change if Rob remains working for the University and can get the kids tuition lower. I hear the average year of tuition it up to $45,000. I hope that I am wrong in what I heard, it might squish my dreams of even thinking about out of state tuition. Let's keep dreaming and go with scholarships! Picture smarty Mason playing hoops for the Jayhawks!

Grandma Ellen swings thru

Grandma Ellen stopped by on her way to South Dakota and didn't come empty handed. She brought the box inside and Mason's eyes lit up when he saw the picture on it. He could hardly contain himself while I blew it up. Don't worry I used a pump! I am full of a lot of hot air, but not that much! Needless to say it brings lots of joy. We are very thankful for our gift from Grandma Ellen. Jumper Mason is in heaven and we are now grooming Ellery to be a jumper as well.

That dog

Hudson being lazy. I can't believe it. Rob was downstairs relaxing in the basement when he heard rustling in the tent. He lifted the tent flap to find Hudson snuggled up inside. I am amazed he crawled in himself.

Meet Our Newest Physician

Fancy Pants Rob has made the Children's of Omaha's web page for meet the newest physician.
childrensomaha.org
more specific http://www.childrensomaha.org/body.cfm?id=1592
I can say over and over how proud we are of him and it still doesn't seem like enough. He has worked very hard to get to where he is and continues to work hard. Yeah ROB!
Rob might also be a TV star as well. Remember the posts regarding Rob's fellowship graduation party?
http://chaplinclan.blogspot.com/2008/06/congratulations-rob.html
http://chaplinclan.blogspot.com/2008/06/update-on-javier-adventure.html
Well, I just received an email from them. I guess we are going to be starring in an upcoming Speeders episode on truTV. They also asked to feature us on their blog and I quote "I wanted to know if you had any interest in doing a short email interview about the incident for our blog, and if you would have any interest in putting a link to it on your site (we would return the favor with a link). We are always trying to drum-up traffic and this seems like an easy way to do it."
How funny is that? Everyone just promise me you will still call me your friend after watching our crazy episode. Remember I am with a drunk husband at weeish hours of the morning, sleep deprived from a newborn, stressed about our house still on the market, and still dealing with all the normal daily grind.

Thumbkin

Next time I am having a bad day and need to express myself to someone, I am going to use Mason's version of middle man from the hot tune of Where is Thumbkin. I was almost tempted to use it while I was driving today.

Lounging

Not a day goes by that I don't chuckle about something my kids do. Mason is usually the culprit, Ellery is cute but Mason just says the funniest thing and watching him figure something out fascinates me. I was telling him he was my sweet prince the other day and he informs me "I'm not a sweet prince, I'm a boy."
The last two mornings Mason has decided to come downstairs rather than taking a pit stop in our room first. He helps himself to some toast and milk and then comes upstairs and lounges in bed with us. I came downstairs and found him sitting in the corner kitchen chairs. We occasionally will have a snack in these chairs while I read a book or magazine and I guess he finds them as comfy and cozy as I do.

We have a new dog

We have a new dog and his name is Mason. We were eating lunch and everyone was quiet and happy at the table. I look over at Mason and he is liking his yogurt off the table, I of course run for the camera! Mason used to eat a banana every day for breakfast. He would have ate a banana at every meal if we would have let him. About 2 months ago he started refusing to eat them and informed he didn't like them anymore. Interesting. He must have finally gotten tired of them, he ate one every day for about 2 years straight!

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day!

Mason was thrilled with his cards and presents. He especially liked the chocolate frog and singing card. We made our first Valentines day cards and sent them out. We were attempting to make hearts with hand prints and foot prints. Some turned out better than others. Mason enjoyed making them while Ellery screamed the whole time. Our Valentine read "Roses are Red, My Favorite Color is Blue, I think sugar is super sweet, and so are you." We also made candy airplanes out of life savers, smarties, and a pack of gum. I remember my mom making them for us when we were little.
I am blessed with 3 valentines, I think Rob would say he has 4, he still includes the dog.

Pajama Time

Check out our teeth. Ellery is getting a mouth full of them and the front right is coming in faster than the front left. We missed our opportunity to sing All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth. It would have been an appropratie time for her to get them and sing away. We will have to wait for Mason to lose his before we can sing the song again. I wonder what the tooth fairy pays these days. Rob's tooth fairy paid him a quarter and I think mine paid me a $1 in quarters.

Jump

Mason is a jumping fool.  He likes to jump over anything in his path.  His sister, a leg, a toy, or just for fun.  Camera man Rob caught this fantastic shot for me.  Mason requests you watch how high he can jump and he actually gets some air! 

I am standing

I put Ellery down a few days ago on her feet and let go and she stayed up for 30 seconds on her own. She didn't want to sit down or crawl but didn't try to take a step.  I didn't have the camera on me so we tried to get her to stand tonight and she wasn't all that interested, but we did get a small snapshot of it.

Baby Swing

Our new favoirte toy is playing with the baby swing. Mason doesn't fit in it like he used to and only wants to play with it when Ellery finds it and comes running at it saying "my turn". She enjoys pushing the buttons, dancing to the music, and sitting in the swing and swinging herself in it. 

E is for Ellery

I am obsessed with bows, so much that Rob sometimes asks what bow do you want Ellery to wear. What a dad! I am collecting so many that I had to find a way to organize them and searched online and came up with the idea to paint a letter myself and hang ribbon from it. For less than $3 I was able to create my master piece, I could have bought one online any where from $15-$30. Big pat on my back for my thriftiness and use of materials I already had. I asked my mom to bring up her paints so I could paint the letter E and flowers myself, I had to show some patience for her to come visit I was tempted to go out and get some paint myself. I found the fancy cloth pink flower and bling placed in her paint supplies by accident and what a great accident.

I'm Flying

Nana made Mason a cape. He was very impressed by the tutu she made Ellery and she thought he might enjoy something special. It appears her thoughts are correct. He is such a smart flier, he requests to remove his socks or footie pajamas to run and fly as he states "don't want to slip".

What size penguin are you?

Ellery is bigger than I give her credit. I thought she was going to be a Macaroni penguin but she is a Gento. Mason is some where in between a King and Emperor. I want to say the first time we came to the zoo 6 months ago he was barely a King, he is growing up so fast.

Nana Visits Omaha Zoo

We had a beautiful day today and took Nana to the Omaha Zoo. We were able to make it through a lot of the exhibits. Mason informed us that his favorite animals are monkeys and elephants. The orangutans, rhinos and elephants weren't out yet and the bears were hibernating but we did go through gorilla valley, the aviary, watch the seals swim in circles, feed the fish from the bridge, butterfly emporium, aquarium, and the jungle. We skipped the farm area, cats exhibit, and a few other areas. The train wasn't running yet, but Mason is looking forward to getting to ride on it. We wore everyone out, but really did enjoy ourselves and the nice weather.

Birthday Preview

Nana made Ellery a tutu that she can wear on her birthday. She only used 3 yards. A bit extreme, but not surprising. The good news is that she made it so she can grow into it. I am very grateful and I am sure it will bring years of pleasure to Ellery.

Last Day of School

Mason's last day of school was today. I don't think he has comprehended what we have been telling him, but he has never warmed up to his school here in Omaha like he did in Wawatosa. They did a great job with him and he enjoyed everything about it but I think he had attachments to the place that had him since birth. I would recommend a Primrose school to anyone looking for full day child care. We left him in because I really thought I would start job searching after the first of the year for something part-time but I am not as eager as I anticipated on getting back to work. Like everyone says, they are only young once, grow too fast, and I can never get this quality time back. Also, when have you ever heard a stay at home mom say she regretted her choice?
We did however get him signed up for preschool next year. I am lucky I called on a whim, who would have known you have to enroll your kids for preschool now for next August? We also have to give Rob a huge round of applause for going and standing in line for 2 hours to get him the spot. Crazy and this is only preschool!

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Mason loves to sing songs. I have caught him singing to himself in his bedroom, but for the most part he lets me sing the song to him and he joins in at his convenience. We were playing with the dinosaurs and the tarantula spider lives with the dinosaurs in their container. Usually when we play with the dinosaurs we line them up and then we have to give kisses to every body part because they bite us. Today however Mason picked up the spider and started singing the itsy bitsy spider song. Thank goodness the itsy bitsy tarantula spider doesn't bite.

Super Bowl Sunday

We took the kids to a super bowl party in the neighborhood last weekend. Mason crawled into his wagon willingly rather than insiting on walking himself. He really likes the wagon. I am thinking about taking the wagon to our next trip to the zoo instead of our stroller. Mason was trying to teach Ellery touch down prior to the party. She found it more amusing to watch him rather than try herself. I am not sure if Mason associates his jersey with football. It never makes it to the closet, Mason likes to help with laundry and the minute he sees it come out of the dryer he request to put it on. So we decided he should wear his jersey to the football party along with Ellery's cheerleader outfit. I didn't care who won the super bowl until I made a bet with my dad, so I saw no problem dressing them in Jayhawk attire.

Radio Flyer

Wagons have come a long ways since I was a child. Grandma Ellen was gracious enough to give the kids a wagon for Christmas. She sent it up early and we hid it in the garage, we hid it so well we forgot to put it together and put it by the tree at Christmas time. It warmed up to 50 degrees and we remembered we had the wagon. Good ol Rob put it together for us and both of the kids were thrilled. Mason kept informing us "That's my spot" as Rob was putting it together and the spots he assigned are now permanent. Ellery gets to ride backwards while Mason gets to see where we are going. A big thanks to Grandma Ellen.