R.I.P. JING

I guess today we entered into the throngs of parents who have substituted a "look alike" pet for a recently deceased one. Yep, after only 10 days in our possession, JING is no longer living. Elise wanted to play with her earlier, so I took her out of the cage to put her on the floor and the carcass just kind of FELL out of the shell. I caught it before Elise noticed and shoved it back inside. I put her on the kitchen floor like nothing was wrong. We watched her for a few minutes and I said, "Well, Elise, I think Jing is really tired today." She responded, "Yep, she so tired, Mommy. Put her back in cage to go night-night." Gladly. I called Adam (on his drive home from being in Florida for a few days) and told him to stop at Petsmart on his way in. He did and the "New" Jing was in the cage when elise woke up from her nap. We explained it as "you change clothes everyday, sometimes Hermit Crabs change their shells. That's what Jing did. She just put a new shell on today." That satisfied her and kept us from going into the whole death/heaven/God discussion that really didn't seem necessary when dealing with a hermit crab we'd only known for a week. Also, my dad sent us a link to 'hermitcrabs.com' which said they're social animals, so Adam got Jing a little sister. (one for Elise and a little one for Ainsley!). Elise, totally on her own, named the new one "Doc."(?)

Another Pet in our house....

Some of you may remember Lucy (aka "Woosy") the Hermit Crab we 'pet-sat' a few weeks back. Elise loved that thing and when the friends came back from vacation, they had (Surprise!) a hermit crab for Elise to have of her own. There could be worse things, I know, so we accepted it and now have to deal with another creature in this house. In thinking of a name for this little crustacean, we kept suggesting different options to Elise, "Hermie", "Herbie", "Crabbie", "Crawley", "Pinchy", "Shell", and a few others were asked, but she said "Nope" to all of them. Keep in mind this was 2 weeks ago. We were watching the Olympics- and Elise especially loved the Platform Diving. She was stoked each time it was on and it was so cute, she would watch the dive, say "oooohhhh...Good Bob" ("Good Job"), clap enthusiastically, and then ask for "more?". That was a side note. The night before she kept repeating the name of one of the top Chinese female divers. "Gwo Gwo Jing Jing" as Elise called her. So, I offered one more name option, "Elise, how about 'Guo Jing Jing' for your Hermit Crab?". Her response, "Ok, Mommy and Daddy, we call her Jing". There you go. "Jing" is our new Hermit Crab. She smells a little but it's still cute.
The Diver, not the Crab

"Because I Said So"

Elise was in rare (but HORRIBLE) form earlier this evening. She played games, sang, laughed her way through her nap this afternoon, so she was sooo over-tired by the time dinner and bedtime came around. She was melting-down at every.little.thing. It was funny, sad, and pitiful at the same time. poor thing. But then...POOR US. She was a mess. She was throwing a fit in the playroom b/c I asked her to put some toys away. She started crying over it. I kept my calm for a minute or so, then gave her one last warning. Adam was standing on the other side of the room watching. I finally snapped an obnoxious singing "Old McDonald" toy away from her, put it in the toy box, and forcefully closed the lid, emphasizing "Mommy said No More Playing Now". As the lid closed, it hit the button and "Old McDonald had a farm..." started up. I opened the lid quickly and tried to stop it. I closed the lid again immediately and the song started again...AUGH! Totally foiled in my plan to look tough, Adam was cracking up across the room, and I had to hunch over so Elise couldn't see me laugh. That didn't work, either. With NO HELP from Adam, mind you, I couldn't stop laughing. Elise caught onto our laughter and started giggling. The moment was lost. No discipline from Mommy (or Daddy) on that one. Maybe next time. Did that stuff ever happen to our parents? It must have.

Singin' in the Rain

So, I've blogged about it at least once already, but Elise LOVES running around in the rain. If it's raining outside, she'll usually ask if we can go and dance/play/run in it. It's fun that she enjoys it so much and I love letting her be "free" in that- not to worry about being dirty, sloppy, etc...she'll have time for that the rest of her life! With Tropical Storm Fay's influence, we're getting some nice rain around here...we were playing outside this afternoon and a storm hit QUICK. Elise asked if she could stay in the rain since we were already outside, I said "Sure". She spun and spun and laughed the whole time...she used her favorite Babydoll and was practicing her "Ring Around the Rosy" that neighbor Kristina taught her. She and Babydoll had a blast and I caught a few shots , too...



Ok, is that left leg Broken!?! How is it pointing that way?
simple joy

according to Elise,

So, once again, Elise cracks me up with little things she says. These ar all just within the last 24 hours... Enjoy:

(After a pretty serious Leg workout yesterday...)
Erica: Ugh...Elise I'm sore this morning
Elise: No. You're just a mommy. You not a sore

(at 2am, Adam backing out of Elise's room after a quick cry/soothing session)
Adam:Goodnight, Elise. I love you
Elise:Night night, Daddy. Close door very quietly.

(Elise sitting in the sun yesterday)
Erica: Do you see the sun shining on your legs?
Elise: I have hair all over my legs. Just like Daddy (we're just all thankful she didn't say
" just like Mommy"!!! It probably wouldn't be a huge surprise, though!)

(After a successful potty visit yesterday)
Elise: Oohhh, mommy. THREE poopies. One big, one medium, one wittle. MY Poopies

(Working on the letter "B" together):
Erica: Blanket, Elise, B-B-B BLANKET
Elise: Yep, Mommy. B-B-B GWANKET

(just moments ago...)
Erica:Elise, are you SURE you don't have to go potty. I don't want you to have an accident in your panties
Elise:You not have accident in YOUR panties, Mommy, either.
Erica:yep, that's the goal....

Sorry, dad!

I've been telling my dad for about 2 weeks that I'd put these two pics in as a main blog entry so he can print them...but, like a lot of things these days, I keep forgetting! Here you go. Sorry again!

Nana's visit

Adam's mom ("Nana" to the girls) was here a week or so ago and we (as always) had a great time with her visiting! Nana stayed home and played with Elise so I could take a nice (and SLOW) grocery run, we had our favorite ice cream (Yeah for "Ye Olde Fashioned Ice Cream Shoppe"!!), visited the Middleton Plantation again, hit the local Farmer's Market, etc...a great three days. =) I'll stick a handful of pictures on here from her visit and add some details as captions...
A goat in the petting zoo portion of Middleton Plantation. He was cool
The gardens are breathtaking!
It's easy to see why there are 100's of weddings here every year!
Ainsley was sleeping happily, so the three of us posed together
Elise loved the animals, adjusting her sunglasses in the shade!
Nana also gave elise her first guitar!!! She LOVES it...and it's pretty loud, fyi. look at that concentration
The first daddy/daughter jam session...ok, not really. =) Elise loves listening to us play, so it's fun for her to try to play on her own, too. Thanks, NANA!