Just a bunch of pictures

It has been a long, busy week.  Hopefully I will be back with something interesting to write about in...November.  Ha!

Ellie got this tent for Christmas and we finally set it up.  I think it's safe to say she LOVES it!

Safari Park!

For a more in-depth story...click here!  Tori did a great job telling about our Safari Park adventures.  I don't have that much energy to re-live it all...but we did have a great time!  We looked like the paparazzi with our big cameras...I am sure we were a sight:)

Knox, or ("Knot" as Ellie calls him) and Ellie are at such a fun age and I am so glad we were able to spend the day with the Liggett's last weekend! We met them in Alamo at the Safari Park and spent a few hours feeding and looking at all of the animals.

The looks on their faces were priceless.  Ellie kept saying "I see, I see" as she hung her head out the car window.

Knox would crack me up as he said "howdy partner" (in his best southern accent) to every animal that passed by.

I think their favorite parts were feeding the animals.  I think it was our least favorite part when the bull and buffalo tried to attack our car!

Just when I think she's starting to look like me...I look at her next to her Daddy!

Ellie looked like this before we got back to the highway.  She had a BIG day with her buddy Knot!

19 months!

Ellie, you are 19 months old!  I feel like I JUST wrote your 18 month post.  Where did this month go?

• You have now been paci free for TWO weeks!  That was the easiest transition ever and I am so proud of you!
• You are eating really well these days.  Your "fruit of the week"  is strawberries.  You go back and forth between, grapes, mandarin oranges and strawberries right now.  You still love that mac-n-cheese most of all!  Chicken, yogurt, and spaghetti top the list as well.
• Potty training is off and on.  I think it was a fluke that you actually went in the potty, but I am not complaining!  We are still sitting on the potty every night at bath time.
• You play SO well, all the time.  You are constantly busy playing with books, puzzles, blocks and babies.
• Barney is still King!  You take him everywhere with you and are always asking to watch Barney in the car and at home.  Thank goodness for DVR!

• You are a happy, happy girl!  You rarely cry or fuss...only when you are tired or really want something.  You wake up happy every morning and are just a content sweet thing.
• You LOVE animals.  We went to the safari park this weekend and had a blast!
• You have had a great year at MDO this year.  You walk right in and don't look back every morning.  I love how happy you are to be there!

• You still love to give hugs and kisses and you wave, clap and blow kisses constantly.
• Your talking has really taken off since you have become paci free.  You pick up new words everyday.
• You are so good at pointing out animals, objects and pictures in your books.  You remember things so fast!
• You have had a pretty bad rash on your face and Dr. Amy said it was dermatitis.  Thankfully it is much better thanks to a prescription cream and new sippy cups.  I am afraid they were the culprit!
• You have also had a sinus infection this week.  You almost had no voice yesterday and a pretty bad bloody nose.  I felt so bad for you!  You don't act like it bothers you a bit:)

You are just too sweet for words and we love you more each day!  I cannot believe you are 19 months old!

** All photos courtesy of Amber Fortner Photography**

Ellie's special day

Little Miss E has had a BIG week of milestones.  As you know, I randomly decided to take her "pap pap" away on Monday morning--cold turkey.  This was WAY too easy.  I was expecting sleepless nights and constant fussing and begging, but this has not been the case at all!  I am still shocked at how easy it was.  She has been paci free for 5 days!

Last week, her MDO teachers asked me to pack her nap mat for this Thursday so they could start the transition of her sleeping on one.  Thankfully, she did great on her first day and slept an hour and 15 minutes!  Once again, shocked.

Thursday night before bath time as I was running the water, I told her to sit on the potty like I always do. Most of the time she just sits there and makes funny faces, but much to my surprise she was actually going this time!  I could not believe it!  I wasn't fast enough to catch an actual picture but you get the idea.  This was just another "practice session" from the other day.

As exciting as all of these things are, it has been hard for me to digest all of these accomplishments in one short week.  Don and I decided that all of this big girl behavior called for a special "treat day", so that is exactly what we did!

Our first stop was Chick-fila-A.  She loved to dip or "dit" her nuggets in Polynesian sauce.  

Our next stop was at Toys R Us to pick up a little happy.  Since her obsession is Barney or "Bonnies" right now, I am not surprised that is what we ended up with.  She is IN LOVE and napping with him right now:)

Our last stop was for ice cream!  There is no way we could have left our new Bonnies in the car, so he just came along!

I am so proud of our big girl and loved sharing this special day with our little family!

(Oh, and cup is "cut", milk is "milt" and Elmo is "eyes".  These are fairly new words that I want to make sure I remember). 

It's so hard to say goodbye

Or at least I thought it would be!

I got a wild hair this morning to send all of Ellie's paci's off to the "paci fairy", (aka garbage man).  I told myself from day one that 18 months would be our limit on the pacifier.  Well, she's almost 19 months and I was starting to wonder if that thing would ever go anywhere. So I gathered them up, put them in a bag, tied it up and told Ellie to say goodbye to the "pap pap".

This part wasn't so easy.  She is pretty attached to these things and never really had a preference on what type she would take.  Any old paci would do!  

There were some tears and a little anger for MAYBE five minutes.  But she hasn't asked for one since!  She took a great 2 hour nap this afternoon with only a slight whimper and went straight to bed tonight without a single fuss.  Such a big girl!  I think that's the sign that she didn't need that thing anymore, anyway!

Outta sight, outta mind!

Friday Night Lights

I am going to be honest, I haven't looked forward to a weekend in a really long time.

Well, I take that back.  I look forward to weekends when we have fun things planned or things to do or when Don is off of work.  In the past, our fall  (I know, it's August...but our "fall" is here) our weekends didn't really exist.  Football is king in our house during these months and that means that we are usually preparing for, watching, and resting up from games for the entire weekend.  Don't get me wrong.  I love cheering on Don's teams and I get WAY more into football than I ever thought I would.  It's fun to watch!   I just never had a clue how time consuming being a coach was (or a coach's wife, for that matter. There are support groups on Facebook!) until I married one.

NOT anymore!  Football is king on Friday nights and then it's over for 2 days!  I cannot tell you what a difference this has already made for us.  We can actually make plans, Don can attend things that he has always missed out on before, and we can have family days on Saturday or Sunday that we have NEVER had the chance to have before.  Can you tell how happy this makes me?

Tonight is the Jamboree for our local teams.  We won't be attending because JCM doesn't play until 4th quarter at 8:45 (and it's 40 minutes away), but we will be cheering Daddy on from home!  We don't have much else on the agenda except for visiting both sides of our families this weekend.  We are headed north tomorrow to have Ellie's pictures made in the sunflowers and Sunday we are going to Memphis for a wedding tea and a little zoo trip!

I loved looking back at these football pictures from last year.  Ellie was so little!  I am now on the hunt for some green and gold for her to sport at the next game, although the thought of taking her to a night game exhausts me already!

TGIF and GO Cougars!!!

First Day of School!

Ellie started Mother's Day Out today!  She walked right in, started coloring, and never looked back.  I am so glad she is happy to be there and I know she will have a great day!  Here are a few pictures of the big girl before school this morning.  She wasn't in the "cheesin" mood, but some are still pretty cute anyway.

 She was determined she was going to carry both bags all by herself.  Miss independent.

 She even has her toenails painted!  BIG girl!

Mission: Organization

With school starting back and my busy work season approaching, I decided it was time for this family to get organized!  Here are a few things I am making an effort to improve on in our house:

• Make our bed...every day!  (I am sadly not a bed maker.  That is changing!)
• Plan meals for dinner and do pantry inventory
• Cook dinner at least 4 nights a week (with football and busy weekends, I started small)
• Stay on top of laundry before it gets out of control
• Keep cabinets and closets organized and clutter free
• Create a grocery budget and stick to it!
• Keep playroom and toys under control.  This is a job by itself!  I think it's time to go through toys again and put some up for a while.  She can only play with so many.
• Same goes with her books!  She has a small library in her room and I try and rotate them out every month or so.  I took them all off of the shelves and dusted and re-organized.  Here's hoping they stay that way!
• Keep my work materials organized.  Right now, they are piled in boxes in our carport.  That is the goal this week.  FINISH up organization of carport and trunk.  BIG task!

So far, we are on week 2 of this and it is going great!  Now for most of you, this is already a part of your daily routine.  It is ours somewhat, but I am not very strict about many of them.  I have cleaned out all of my kitchen cabinets, fridge and pantry.  I have planned dinners for the last 2 weeks and it has been so much easier with the planning ahead and shopping for just the few ingredients I need to complete those meals.  Don is now taking his lunch to school every day so that means I have to have lunch stuff/leftovers packed and ready for him every morning.  With Ellie going to MDO, I also have to pack her a lunch twice a week so I will need easy to pack things that I know she will eat at school.  Don also has to have work clothes and practice clothes packed for each day which is why laundry is so important.  

I told him last night I feel like we "have our groove back".  It is nice to have a normal, steady, predictable routine.  We had a nice relaxing weekend without much football, film or practice or many outside plans.  So far, all of the change is working out well!

Here is our meal plan for the week, in case anyone is curious.  (I won't do this every week, promise!)

Sunday:  Grilled chicken, roasted potatoes, broccoli, and herbed monkey bread

Monday:  Chicken, green bean, and wild rice casserole

Tuesday:  Spaghetti with meat sauce

Wednesday:  Chicken pot pie

Thursday:  Jambalaya with turkey smoked sausage

Friday:  Football jamboree!

Yes, we eat a lot of chicken and I am by no means a gourmet cook.  I need easy, affordable meals that I know Ellie will eat too.  The goal is for me to not have to make her something separate to eat each night.  Wish us luck!