Ellie

Playoffs?

By now, I'm sure you've seen, as I have, the new Coors Light commercials featuring Jim Mora's famous press conference. Ellie is firmly in what I call a "parrot" phase: she repeats everything she hears (thankfully we have cut back on the cursing). Hilariously enough, after the 5th time that commercial came on, she was over playing with her dolls and deadpanned: "Playoffs?!?! Don't talk about playoffs!" She even nailed the high-pitched Mora voice perfectly. I'm hoping to get it on tape and send it in to Coors.

Dreidel

Ellie has been doing quite the medley of holiday music lately. Today at school, she learned about Hanukkah, including the song "I Have a Little Dreidel." Here's her version:

"Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of:
wood;
pink;
Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer;
roof;
house;
Baba;
Evan;
Max;
soap;
babies."

More Christmas Ordering Fun

Ellie has enough winter coats to clothe the Russian army right now, but she doesn't have any neck protection. We've been looking around for a kid's "gaiter," which is like a scarf with the ends sewn together, and we came across Cozee Critters. Seriously, how cute are those things? We also found them locally at LL Bean, but they only had the moose one, and Ellie wanted the purple bunny. So we went ahead and ordered the three-piece purple bunny set on Tuesday. They charged us $6 shipping, but after mailing all my packages at the post office, I realized how expensive shipping is, and wondered how Amazon and the like get away with free shipping on everything.
This morning, I decided to check on the order and got an error. I sent off an email to them, and 15 minutes later, I got a response. Our order had been sent out via Fedex yesterday and will be here tomorrow! Wow. Now that's what I call customer service. So here's my recommendation to you people with kids living in cold areas: buy your kids a Cozee Critter for Christmas. This didn't apply to us, but I think shipping is free if you order over $40 worth or something like that. Obviously, you can still order today, and it will be at your house in plenty of time for Christmas. They are very cute, and will help keep your kids warm through the winter weather.

Future Plans

Yesterday, while I was home for a couple of hours before having to head back to work to interview a bunch of people for a job fair, Ellie and her friend Daniel were in our basement jumping on the trampoline. I flipped on the Korbel Elite Curling Challenge, which I had Tivo-ed over the weekend. After I was watching for about 5 minutes, Ellie heard the rocks roaring, and saw the rings on the TV, and stopped jumping on the trampoline and came over to watch curling with me.
I love my little girl!

Tired

Ellie is still trying to catch up on her sleep after begin awake at 4am for the birth, and not falling asleep again after that. Need proof? Here you go:

Asleep at the dinner table.

Asleep on the couch with Max. In fairness, she was feeling a bit under the weather today.

No Time For Love, Dr. Jones!

We were all dead tired last night, so I didn't have the chance to upload any Halloween photos. But Lisa put them up on the Kodak site, so you can see small versions of all of them there. The pumpkin carving and dalmatian costume are near the end.

Too Smart For Her Own Good

Ellie is one smart kid.
She has a stepstool that she uses to reach the sink and wash her hands after she goes to the bathroom. It didn't take her long to figure out that she can use the stepstool to reach a whole lot of other things. First, it was getting to the clothes in her closet. Obviously, we didn't mind that, as getting her dressed at all is an accomplishment most days, let alone her actually dressing herself. Yesterday though, she figured out that she can use it to pull the suncatcher stickers on and off of her window. Two of them have already had to go in the trash because of ripping or losing their stickiness.
Who knows what's next? A whole new world is open to her with the extra 12 inches of artificial height.

First Day of School Pictures

The last of the pictures I had previously tried to post but got wiped out. I'll do my best to recreate my witty repartee.

You wouldn't think it would start so young, but so it was, the first day of school, and I swear I heard her say "5 more minutes, Daaaad!"

Ellie perked up once we said she could have Berry Lucky Charms for breakfast.

It took a while, but she was finally dressed and ready to go with her raincoat, rain boots, and doggy backpack.

She had a bit of trouble managing the fancy umbrella along with the clunky boots, and I had to carry her most of the way to school. We got smarter and brought the stroller for the second day.

Ellie has her own hook for her backpack and jacket. One of these days, she'll actually remember which one is hers.

One last look at Ellie playing with her buddy Stella. Ellie was real good the first day, but cried a little bit on the second day, until they started their activities. Then she was even the Napkin Helper for snack time! We'll see how day #3 goes, she keeps insisting that she doesn't want to go back, but she definitely has fun once she is there.

Third Birthday Pictures

Finally, pictures from Ellie's third birthday party!

I had to include this picture of Henry. Henry is the younger brother of Ellie's buddy Stella. They live around the corner from us, and Ellie now goes to school with Stella. Henry is neighborhood-renowned for his exclamatory nature. Whenever he sees Ellie, he points and yells "Eh-EEE!" When he colors, he tends to vocalize: "Ahhhhhhahhhhh!" And on their trip to the zoo, they saw the elephants getting a bath, and he started trembling all over, as he pointed and yelled, "Doggie!"

Another fine Lisa creation: the fishbowl cake.

Our little princess. Chowing down on the octopus hot dog.

Somebody tell those kids to slow down, the camera can't keep up! That was our gift to Ellie, an effort to save our bed from destruction: a trampoline. I am personally thankful for the air compressor that the website recommended we buy with the trampoline.

Not actually from the birthday party, but from her actual birthday, when we went to the Silver Diner for chicken pot pie and chocolate cake. Mr. Don the musician even sang her "Happy Birthday."

Space Camp

Just one quick picture to tide you over till I get the birthday and school pictures ready. Our darned camera battery was running low, so we only got one real good one at Space Camp anyway:

First Day of School

Today was Ellie's first day of school. Of course, it's been raining all morning, adn it's just a generally crummy day, so she didn't want to wake up this morning at all. But eventually we wrangled her into some clothes, and she had Lucky Charms and part of a bagel for breakfast. We started walking to school in the rain, but with her in her heavy rain boots and carrying her umbrella, I had to pick her up and carry her most of the way there.
We got to school with a bunch of other kids walking into class around the same time. Her buddy Stella was already there and playing with Play-Doh. She changed into her shoes and took off her jacket, and another boy started crying since his dad was leaving. She was a little befuddled and stared at him for a while, but luckily, one of the teachers took him out of the room to calm him down, or we might have had a chain-reaction meltdown. Ellie quickly found a toy to grab and play with for a while, and was watching Stella with the Play-Doh when we left.
I got lots of pictures, of school, and our trip to Grandma Ratkowski at Space Camp, but didn't have the time to post them before I had to get to work, so expect those sometime this week.
Update: Ellie's back home from her first day. When Lisa picked her up she had a big smile on her face. Ellie did some coloring, and was pleasantly surprised when they gave her a snack at 11am. She just said "No, I not want any lunch." But then when they told her it was a snack, she thought that was great. Oh, and one of the other girls had an accident, but she didn't. Hooray for that! Our little girl is so grown up now, it's amazing.

Ellie is Three!

Our little lady is growing up so fast! Today, she turns three years old! And next Tuesday, she's off to school for the first time. Amazing.
Apparently, when you're little, you get a day's worth of presents for each year you've been alive. Ellie started opening presents on Sunday, and she's still got some left over to open today. She was a little under the weather yesterday, but (knock on wood), she seems to have kicked the fever today. She's been having a lot of fun playing with her new trampoline and her new dress up shoes. Plus, she hasn't even opened a bunch of presents, including the scooter from her cousin Colin.
It's hard to believe it's been three years already. It seems like just yesterday that she was eating (and spitting up) rice for the first time, rolling over, toddling around, and kicking the pacifier habit. We know she's going to be a great big sister and we couldn't be happier to have her as a daughter.
We love you Ellie! Happy Birthday!

Wiggles!

Wiggles!
Originally uploaded by Big DC.

Yes, yesterday was the big Wiggles concert. Ellie was so excited that she didn't take a nap, and when we got downtown so early that we had to wait to get into the ~~MCI~~ Verizon Center, she was so confused.
But once inside, her excitement continued for the whole show. Unfortunately, the main guy (who wears yellow), Greg, had a couple of fainting spells and had to be taken to the hospital. They said he's flying back to Australia and will miss the rest of the tour. Some guy named Sam took his place, and while he was adequate, it just wasn't quite the same.
Still, Ellie had a blast dancing (in our laps, since she didn't want to stand; I don't think she could see very well unless she was on our laps), and even gave a rose to one of the guys for Dorothy the Dinosaur. She had a great time, and it was actually totally worth the money. Lisa and I even enjoyed ourselves. And, Ellie got the awesome Dorothy-spotted hat pictured above, which should fit her for years to come.

Superman X: The Quest for Ice Cream

Ellie's big 3rd birthday party is coming up this weekend, so last week we asked her what kind of ice cream she wanted. Her mind quickly ran through her options. She had just been up in Michigan and tried some new ice cream varieties including Blue Moon. It's no shock that she loved Blue Moon, because she picks out her ice cream based solely on color. That was real fun while Baskin Robbins had purple and pink "Cotton Candy" flavor ice cream. But then she remembered that she also had Superman ice cream and loved it. And so the quest to find Superman ice cream began.
I quickly discovered that Hershey's Ice Cream, a Pennsylvania-based creamery, made Superman. They say it's a blend of strawberry, banana and Blue Moon (of course, they don't sell Blue Moon separately). But when I tried to figure out how to buy some, I was baffled. I found a couple of places where I could order over the Internet, but didn't want to take the chance with melting. Plus, most of them required a 3-gallon order. A bit much for 8 or 9 kids at a birthday party (or is it???). Hershey's own web page only had information on distributors, no retail store information.
Finally, I got closer when I discovered that there was a store in Ashburn, Virginia. OK, I figured, worst case scenario is we have to drive 45 minutes out there to get the ice cream. Then I did a Google Maps search and discovered a Hershey's in Chantilly. Not a lot closer, but only a 30 minute drive or so.
Lisa made a quick call and confirmed that they did indeed carry Superman ice cream, and we could get it hand-packed into quart containers. We also discovered that the Entertainment Coupon Book had coupons for that exact place. Duh! I smacked myself in the forehead and we were off.
We arrived at the store to find a brand new tub of Superman awaiting our arrival. The lady behind the counter asked if we were the ones who had called a little while ago. What, you were expecting someone else to show up asking for two quarts of Superman? Ellie ended up getting Orange Sherbet, while Mom and Dad indulged in Chocolate Moose Tracks. And we returned home successful in our quest, with two quarts of the coveted Superman ice cream.

Meeting Baby Sam

Ellie went off to Ann Arbor to meet the new Ratkowski baby, Samuel. Here's a few pictures.

Let's not forget cousin Colin in all this. They were tie-dye twins at the Art Fair.

Ellie and Colin on their favorite mode of transportation.

Baby Sam getting a bath, continuing the grand tradition of the first photo on the web being naked.

Ellie was a good helper, both with the bath, and in the general concern for Sam's well-being. She's gonna make a great big sister!