Brower Power Y'all

We just got back from our two week vacation to visit Jeremy's parents in North Dakota.
If you remember we went last year too but we traveled a ton of places in between...this year there and back.
Much easier to handle.
I have a ton of pics but here's part one, entitled: 4th of July on the 3rd of July...titillating, I know.

Elle's new thing is posing for pictures. You'll see lots of posed pics by Elle throughout the photo sharing extravaganza.

Jeremy got these AWESOME army man parachute "fireworks" you lit it and it shot up really high, like seriously, really high in the air (I think you could only do this type of firework in a place like ND) and then he parachuted down and the girls ran like crazy to go and catch it. It was really, really fun.

I love this picture of Jeremy and his dad running away from some sort of contraption of fireworks they rigged together.

Elle was dancing around with her little sparkler like a ballerina. Unfortunately for her she didn't understand that it was hot and touched it and got a pretty big blister/burn. Sweet baby, I guess she knows not to touch it now.

What summer night isn't complete without a messy ice cream sandwich?

My baby girl is three. She turned three on Thursday last week and I still can't believe she's three!!

When we brought her home from the hospital I remember praying so hard that I would close my eyes and wake up and she'd be three years old, wiping her own bum and relatively independent. Obviously I was delusional and perhaps a little overwhelmed (note to self, you're not proving anything to anyone staying for only one night at the hospital). It's been a journey with Elle and I really have enjoyed it, Elle has taught me more about being a mother and a parent, being patient and learning about nature versus nurture. I always thought kids were a product of what you were teaching them and how you parented them...and they are to a certain degree, but they also have their own Spirit and come fully equipped with their very own personalities and there is nothing you can do about that!

We thought for sure Elle was a boy. Everything about my pregnancy was different from Eva, we were all almost positive she was a he. I remember when she came out and seeing her little baby vagina and thinking...that's not a penis. IT'S A GIRL?! I was so happy ( a little relieved...a girl? I totally know how to do that) and it took me about three days to process that this baby has a gender and it's a girl...a girl.
I loved Ellie right away but it took me a while to like her. I think there's some moms out there that know exactly what I mean.
Elle has been a challenge for me and it has been really good for me as a person to learn from her.

She's become a little shadow of Eva, if Eva's doing it Elle is doing it...talking, actions you name it, if Eva is doing something, Elle is doing it too. Everyday people mention that she looks "more and more like Eva" I don't know if she really does look like her or if she's just an amazing mirror of every expression that Eva has. Elle cracks us up all the time, she's funny, and she's very defiant, she's in her own world mostly and she has a great imagination. When she was born it was in the back of my mind that she would feel inferior to Eva's obvious beauty (does that sound self righteous? I know she's gorgeous...there's no denying it), I worried that there's no way she'd be as cute as Eva and boy was I WRONG! She doesn't look like Eva but she is just as beautiful...I always (ALWAYS) wanted a blue eyed baby and I never thought I'd get one, Elle has the most beautiful blue eyes, they are a soft blue, pure, round and big. She has this crazy thin wild blond hair, she looks like a crazy kid that just got out of bed...all the time.
She's all girl too. She loves being a princess and dressing up, she prefers a skirt or dress...right now she prefers just underwear...just like Eva did at this age. She's a mama's girl she's willing to try anything, she's really good at singing and she never listens to anything I say!
To explain the difference between my two girls I tell people this:
When they are teenagers and Eva gets upset with me she will be angry, cry, scream, threaten but she'll go to her room slam the door and read and listen to music. If Elle get's upset with me? She'll keep herself mostly composed, throw a fit, threaten that she'll leave and go shave her head and pierce her nipples...and then she'll come home with a shaved head and pierced nipples. That's Elle. Eva will get upset but she will be obedient and I can count on that, Elle on the other hand will smile and tell me what I want to hear and then do the exact opposite.
I've never known any child to make such a HUGE mess in mere seconds. She ate one of her cupcakes the other day and within a minute the crumbs were so fine that it looked like chocolate sand...all over the table and floor. In two minutes! 90% of the time if Elle is quiet she's doing something pretty naughty. Our entire upstairs third bedroom is covered in marker murals by Elle...they are really good too, she's an excellent artist! Oh boy. She's impossible to get and stay angry at. She's got her daddy wrapped around her finger too!
Here are some pictures of her actual birthday.

It's almost like the grandma's coordinated their gifts without knowing.

My mom made Elle this adorable bag with this great vintage fabric.

Filled with alphabet cards and swim suits!

I plan on having Elle live in a swimsuit this summer.

Then from Grandma Brower, a beautiful homemade doll. I sent her that link (I posted a while back) to those cute dolls and she created this doll OUT OF A SOCK!

It is the cutest thing I have EVER seen!!

Loves it!

And finger puppets, that will fit perfectly in her new bag from grandma (my mom)!

This year was harder for Eva seeing Elle get a lot of attention for her birthday

I think the hardest part was knowing she'd get new toys and to have

a party that was everything the Elle wanted.

She learned her lesson (over and over) that she

needs to be kind and show respect for others (mainly her sister)

even if they like things she doesn't like.

Lucky Eva has two grandma's that thought she might feel a little down so my mom made her a special bag too and Jeremy's mom made her this little alien toy (right up Eva's alley) and she

loves them both!