The Big Kids

It's pretty amazing that since Julia has been born Joseph and Ella just seem so much older and are definitely the big kids now.  

We are constantly saying how grown up Joseph seems to us.    He is SO helpful and just seems SO old.  He is such a great big brother to both of his sisters-he is so loving with Julia and he and Ella are definitely developing a friendship and it is neat watching them play together.  Normally they play really well together but when he gets frustrated he will definitely take it out on Ella but we are working on this and for the majority he is really great with her.  He is loving school and continuing to do really well.  His teachers often tell us what a good listener he is and how thankful they are to have him in the class.  He is still really into pretending to be Jake (although he hasn't watched it in a long time) and continues to engage in a lot of imaginative play.  It seems as if he prefers imaginative play over playing with actual toys. 

 A few funny tidbits from him recently:

-One day he, Daddy and Ella were in the garage and Joseph picked up the 5 lb weight and lifted it a few times.  A few minutes later Rich went to move a box and Joseph said to him "I'm so strong Daddy, watch this, I can help you lift it.  I lifted weights.  Here, Ella, I can help you, I lifted weights, I'm strong."   

-One day we were on a walk and there was a very smashed/flat dead turtle on the sidewalk and he said, "I thought it was a gold doubloon from Neverland but it was a dead turtle."  

-Randomly one day while driving he tells me, "Mom, heaven is a lovely place."  

And, Ella who has been baby Ella for the past almost 2 years is now quite the toddler!  She just loves her older brother and younger sister.  She follows Joseph around all of the time and although she still isn't talking a ton (but definitely improving) she can totally communicate with him and can hang with him.  She has always loved hanging with the older kids and continues to do so.  It is also so sweet watching her with Julia.  We haven't had to worry at all with either of them being too rough or hurting her (well except when they are all on our bed which Joseph and Ella love to jump on-there might have been a few close calls with Julia lying there-eek!) but other than that all has been safe!  Ella is definitely in the "almost 2 stage" where sharing is a challenge and personality changes can go from super happy to extremely upset in a matter of seconds but overall she is SO much fun and keeps us laughing constantly.  She runs everywhere-always in a rush and just so excited about life.  She won't let me put her hair up so her hair is always flying behind her or in her eyes.  She is totally into dressing herself these days and normally chooses pajamas to wear during the day (mismatched of course) or her other favorite is a purple skirt with a onesie but she likes the onesie unsnapped hanging outside of the skirt.  And crocs...only crocs.  

It has worked out well with Joseph being in school MWF as it is nice to have some one on one time with Ella on the other two days (when Julia is napping) and then having two full days with all three of them.  Joseph and Ella are definitely excited to see one another when he comes home from school but I also think they both like the break from one another as well.  

Here are just some random pictures from our big kids from the past month or so:

Enjoying a picnic lunch outside on one of the first few "fall" days!

 We have done a little bit of rearranging in our home to make room for Julia.  Our playroom is now downstairs, Daddy's office moved to the playroom and Julia's room is his old office, which means that we no longer have a formal dining room but since it was only used about 5 times a year we figured this made the most sense.  The kids had fun playing in the buffet before it went into storage in our closet (if anyone knows of anyone who wants to purchase a dining rooms set send them our way!)

 This was Ella's outfit for church one Sunday!

 Good buddies at the park!  (Ella in pajamas and crocs :)

 I've been doing a lot of organizing through baby clothes, etc so Joseph came across his first Halloween costume and had to try it on before we passed it on to baby Ben!

 Looking through magazines one morning.

 Modeling Ella's Halloween shirt for her

 Playing at the park together

Love, love, love this picture of sweet Ella Bean!

Ella is showing a little bit of interest in potty training.  She is really good about taking her diaper off and then folding it up like I do and throwing it in the trash which always makes me laugh because she does it exactly like how I do it.  She sits on the big potty every once in awhile and of course is always in the bathroom when I go!  She also really likes to be without a diaper on and one day as I was feeding Julia before bathtime Ella was without a diaper and all of a sudden got this look on her face that poop was coming!  I  told her to run into the bathroom and sit on the little potty so sure enough she ran into the bathroom and I was super excited that she was going to go on the potty.  I told Joseph to run in and check on her.  Well, about two seconds after he disappeared into my bathroom I hear her crying and him yelling, "Mom, gross!"  I put Julia down and walk in to find Ella crying next to the potty and a trail of poop from my bedroom to the potty and then to make it worse poop all over Joseph's feet.  As Joseph ran into to check on Ella he stepped on her poop, smashing it into the carpet (perfect!) and getting it all in between his toes.  Poor sweet Ella was so upset that she didn't make it and Joseph was so grossed out that he had Ella's poop all over his feet.  All I could do was laugh!!  (Did I mention that Daddy was gone for the night?!?)  The kids went into the bath and I went to scrubbing the carpet and all was good.  A few days later we were getting ready for the bath again and Ella got the same look on her face but thankfully this time I wasn't feeding Julia so I helped her get tot he potty and she made it on the potty!  I laughed pretty hard when I saw what came out though, and had to take a picture, of course!!

 

Ella, Julia and I went for a walk one day to look at the ducks while Joseph was in school.  She was showing me the stick that she found while saying "Pow Pow"  She definitely has a little bit of tomboy in her, mostly from growing up with an older brother!  She gets a kick out of saying "pow pow" though because we always then tell her, "Ella, no weapons" and she normally gives us a mischievous smile and then say it again.  She's a stinker!!

 "Just the boys" is their saying when they are going out together or just hanging out.  Daddy and Joseph are definitely best buds.  Joseph requests a Jake story from Daddy every night instead of books and even when Rich was travelling last week he told him one while facetiming.  It was the cutest thing ever-Joseph took my phone, went into his room by himself, turned off the lights, got under the covers and listened to Rich tell him the story and then I went in to get the phone.  We definitely don't like it when Daddy is gone but technology is pretty amazing!
Joseph and Daddy have also been spending quality time together during Joseph's Sunday school at church.  The original teacher of Joseph's class had something come up so could no longer teach so the class was going to be cancelled so Rich volunteered to help out for at least the month of October to give them some time to hopefully find another permanent teacher.  So far it has been great and Joseph likes having Daddy in his class and Rich has said that it has gone pretty well.  After the second week he did come home saying he isn't sure how my mom teaches 1st graders for a living and that he has a whole new respect for teachers!

 For a few days after reading a new Frozen book, Joseph pretended that he was Kristoff from the book/movie.  Olivia came over one day to play and she brought her Elsa dress and they played Elsa and Kristoff for awhile...and we totally forgot to take a picture!!  But, here he is in his Kristoff outfit:

 And just some fun ones from the Kristoff photo shoot:

 Note Ella in the favorite onesie (unbuttoned, hanging outside of the shorts) but this time she is wearing Joseph's shorts and then of course with a towel on her head!

LOVE these big kids!!