All about Ellie

Party Party Party

2012-02-06T22:22:00.001-06:00

We've had lots of celebrations going on this week!

Between Ellie's birthday, our anniversary, my birthday, and a cousins birthday and gender reveal party, it has been a non-stop party in our house...and it's not over yet!

Don took me to Flight for my birthday dinner Friday night. It was so good and nice to enjoy and meal in peace:) We even saw a late movie after. We had a free babysitters (Peeps and DeDe) and were still home and in bed by 9. We are old!

Ellie is acquiring quite the social life! Our refrigerator constantly looks like this...and I love it! I love celebrating with all of our little friends and family. It makes for full weekends, but that is our life these days. Ellie is becoming a pro at singing the "Happy Birthday" song.

My mom has made me a homemade strawberry cake for my birthday for as long as I can remember. So sweet:) We had this for breakfast on my birthday!

I had a great birthday! Don even surprised me with a new bracelet that was a HUGE surprise. I guess 29 isn't so bad after all:)

Glad the parties in our house are finally over though, all these cakes need to GO!

As random as it gets

2012-02-01T08:05:00.000-06:00

I still have a lot of catching up to do, but for now I thought I would give a little update via my iPhone.

Princess Ellie wants to play dress up 24/7. It's the first thing she asks for every morning as soon as she wakes up. It is SO much fun and just cracks me up. She even got one more dress with a birthday gift card and b-day money after her 2 year check up. Don is such a good sport about it too. Tinkerbell and Barney may always be on at our house but he never complains! At least in one picture she has a ball in her hands:) Let me just say, the girl can walk in some heels!

It has been so nice outside that we've been out to play every afternoon! I am loving this weather! She is getting so good at her tricycle.

Ellie had her 2 year check up the other day. She is just perfect! Aside from some ongoing tummy issues, it was a fairly uneventful visit. I just LOVE Dr. Amy. I know I always say that but she is so great and she just loves Ellie. Two year stats: 31.1 pounds 90%, 37" tall >97% (off the charts!). She is a tall girl!

Yesterday Don and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary! He was so sweet to order flowers and have them delivered. Leave it to me to ruin the surprise and call him freaking out about some "sketchy" people banging on our door. His response "well were they delivering anything?" I still didn't catch on. DUH! Anyway, it ended up not being the florist and my flowers showed up a couple hours later. :) I am still wondering who that weird guy was that was banging on the door...

We grilled a yummy dinner and ate late after E went to bed. It was SO good! I saw this recipe on Pinterest for the Pioneer Woman's crash hot potatoes. Don had a fit over them. They really were so good and easy!

That's all I've got for now!

Barney Birthday Bash

2012-01-29T14:10:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was Ellie's big party! First of all, I just have to say how much it meant to us to have so many people come from all over to attend her party. We had people from Memphis, Brownsville, Dyer, Henderson, Selmer and Greenfield all under one roof. We really appreciate people making the effort to drive all this way to celebrate with us!!

Here is the big TWO year old!! Thank you to DeDe for the pants and Mrs. Marilyn for our Barney shirt!

When I discovered Fliparoo Gym, I was sold immediately! It is kind of like Jackson's version of The Little Gym. I really didn't want to have 40 people crammed into my house, and I wanted the kids to be able to run wild, eat lots of sugar, and pass out on their way home. I think we can call that part of the party a huge success:)

Since Ellie is still obsessed with Barney, we went with a purple and green Barney party. My child would LOVE something that is hard to find. Thank goodness for Amazon, Ebay and Etsy, otherwise we would have been in trouble. We had the party at lunch time (in hopes of good naps after!) so we served Chick-fil-a nuggets, fruit, PB&J's, and crackers/chips. I did the whole fancy cake thing last year so this year we just had cupcakes. I loved not having to worry about cutting a cake. I was told they tasted pretty good, too! Tammy, the owner of Fliparoo entertained the kids and let them have full reign over the gym. There was a trampoline, balance beam, bars, and mats to jump on. I think they all had a great time! The parachute was also a big hit.

We had a balloon artist come and make balloon sculptures and paint faces. I thought this was a fun touch and something everyone enjoyed. These people also do magic shows and dress as clowns. We will definitely be calling them again in the future!

Now on to the pictures!

DeDe and I spent last Saturday making these Barney suckers. We had fun doing it!

DeDe also made the cute party hats!

Here is the balloon lady. Her clown name is "Nurse Periwinkle" because she is a retired nurse.

The birthday girl got her own personal BARNEY balloon. She was thrilled!

Having fun, and running wild!

What time is it? It's time for lunch and cake! Ellie got a little bashful when everyone started singing. She may be our shy little one!

I think the party was a hit! I cannot believe my baby is TWO!

Ellie's Birthday

2012-01-29T13:06:00.000-06:00

Ellie's real birthday was a day full of celebrations! Since her birthday fell on a school day, we took cupcakes for her class to enjoy. Her sweet teachers even let me come and take pictures. I just loved getting a peek into what a day at MDO is like. The kids were so sweet and well behaved. They even sang a little blessing before diving into their cupcakes.

After school, we let Ellie open her gifts from us and then we met Will and his parents at Chuck E Cheese for dinner! This was a fun last minute treat. Ellie and Will had a great time...and so did their Daddy's!

Turning 2 sounds pretty fun, doesn't it? Just wait...party details are next!

Happy Birthday Ellie!

2012-01-25T10:51:00.003-06:00

Ellie,

Tomorrow you will be TWO years old. How in the world did that happen? I thought the first year of your life flew by, but I really think this last year went even faster!

You are so sweet, funny, polite, smart, and loving. You are everything I dreamed and imagined my little girl would be. I still have those days where I look at you and cannot believe that you are mine! You have such sweet manners and you thank me all day long for anything and everything. Every time you say "thank you Mommy, thank you" I feel like I should be saying "THANK YOU" for being YOU and for letting me be YOUR mommy!

Even though your actual birthday didn't play out how I had hoped, I am thankful those days are long gone. You'd never know that you got off to a pretty rough start! You have grown, blossomed and matured into such a sweet little 2 year old and I am so proud of you! I cannot wait to see how you grow in this next year. You are just such a joy!

3 months...

You can be shy at times, and you can be bossy at times. You can also be a tad dramatic when you want to be:) You tend to be a mommy's girl but boy when Daddy is around he rules the world!

6 months...

Luckily, you have been rather healthy! You have had an ear infection and a case of croup this year, but so far that's it! I am so thankful for a healthy, happy girl.

9 months...

You are so easy going and content 90% of the time. You love to play babies, tea party, kitchen, doll house, and you still LOVE Barney. You have also been eating more recently and branching out to a few new foods!

You are just a little parrot and you talk constantly. You even have a southern "twang" and it is hilarious! You say right "thayer", my chAir, red is RAYed, bed is BAYed...SO funny! You sleep from 8 pm-7 am and you take a great afternoon nap after lunch...usually 2.5- 3 hours.

18 months...

You can count to 12, you know your ABC's and you know all of your primary colors and shapes! You are just a little sponge soaking in new information daily.

You LOVE school and ask for a hug and a kiss each morning at drop off. You seem so big when you wave bye to me and don't ever look back. I am so glad you enjoy school because I know how good it is for you.

Happy Birthday sweet girl! We love you more than you will ever know!

What a difference a year makes...

2012-01-19T11:08:00.000-06:00

I cannot believe my baby will be TWO in one week!

Ellie's first movie

2012-01-15T12:35:00.000-06:00

Ellie has been really into "princess" and the movie Tangled since Christmas. I wasn't intentionally trying to push the princess stage, but I secretly wanted to see Tangled myself so the movie just so happened to end up at our house on Christmas morning! It really is a cute movie and I notice some fun new things about it every time I watch.

When I heard Beauty and the Beast (one of my all time favs) was coming back out in theaters with a Tangled Ever After preview, I knew we had to go! I was a little nervous about taking our LOUD and busy girl, but overall she did very well and really enjoyed the movie!

And before anyone asks and thinks I have completely lost my mind, NO I did not run out and buy a smocked Rapunzel dress just for "Ellie's first movie". I am not that crazy! It was a Facebook steal that has been sitting in her closet for months. It's still big but she just HAD to wear it, it was just too perfect!

Fun weekend

2012-01-10T10:21:00.000-06:00

We were excited to finally have a weekend at home after the craziness of the holidays. Even though we were in town, we weren't really home much! We had lots of fun things going on.

Ellie was up EARLY Friday. When I say early, I mean 5 am which is very unusual for her. This turned Friday into "stay in your PJ's all day, day." It was so nice and warm outside that Don took her out for a while after he got home from work. You could tell by the smile on her face how happy she was to be out of the house!

Before anybody says anything, yes my child has a bow in her hair while wearing pajamas. Her bangs have gotten so long that they are constantly getting in her eyes. The big bows finally have a purpose!

Friday afternoon, Will came to play! He didn't stay long, but they had a great time and played so well together. Having two kids was actually easier because they could entertain themselves!

Saturday, we ate breakfast and did a little shopping. Ellie ate scrambled eggs for the first time in months! We really were so excited. She has refused eggs for a long time so we were thrilled to get a new, different food in her!

Saturday afternoon, we headed to Fun Zone for our friend Josie's 3rd birthday! Ellie wasn't too fond of the bouncy inflatables and pretty much clung to me the whole time. She did however, love the cake and goldfish!

Saturday night, we joined Rusty and Alyse for dinner and let Ellie play at Fliparoo! After dinner, we went to Yolo for yogurt. Ellie has a new name for Rusty...FROSTY! It was the funniest thing. She really took to him and he made her laugh and laugh. I had to share this quick video. Please ignore my obnoxious voice:)

Sunday we went to church, kept 14 WILD two year olds in the nursery, folded 800 loads of clothes and had dinner for BB's birthday! Fun, busy weekend!

2012

2012-01-03T11:02:00.000-06:00

Last year I did a whole 2010 in a nutshell post...but I hate to say I don't think that's happening this year.

I do think I wrote something about hoping 2011 would be uneventful...HA! All I can do is laugh about that:)

2011 was FAR from uneventful, but we made it through with smiles on our faces. It has been a fun, busy, stressful at times, and interesting year. Ellie has grown, learned, and blossomed into such a sweet and funny little girl that keeps us on our toes at all times. Don is continuing to teach and coach at the high school level, and I am still plugging away at my current work-at-home position.
All in all, we don't have much to complain about and LOTS to be thankful for.

We rang in the new year in Memphis this year. If I learned one thing this weekend...it is that I am OLD! You can tell we are in bed by 10 at our house every night:) I was ready for bed as soon as the guitar dropped!

We started off our New Years festivities by taking Ellie to the Children's Museum of Memphis. She had a blast! We were pretty bummed because they closed at noon due to the Liberty Bowl but we squeezed in as much as we could in our short time there.

We fished, grocery shopped (cleaning out the produce aisle!), built with blocks and so much more!

After the CMOM, we left Don at the Liberty Bowl (it's kind of his NYE tradition now) and DeDe, Ellie and I headed to Chick-fil-a and do to some shopping for a big 2nd birthday party that's coming up!

Ellie also got to spend some time with Granny and Grandonna and had a big time! They bought some play food and a shopping basket for her and she was in heaven. Play food is a big favorite of hers right now.

Later that night, we headed downtown for the Tiger basketball game. I was so glad Ellie was able to wear her "Little Memphis Princess" dress one more time!

She begged to see Pouncer, but wasn't so sure by the time we made it down there!

We ended our NYE with dinner at the Majestic Grille and a carriage ride downtown. Matt and Rachel let us crash at their house and Rachel made breakfast enchiladas covered in Pancho's cheese dip Sunday morning. Don was in heaven!

Here's to a new year, full of fun and adventure!

I'm not even going to hope for uneventful...that's just not how we roll!

23 months

2012-01-02T09:06:00.003-06:00

I am a week late, but Ellie you are 23 months old!

Are we really about to have a TWO year old? That can't be. Party planning is well underway and I am getting pretty excited about it! The theme this year is...EASY! (And you might spot a big purple dinosaur or two thrown in for good measure).

Unofficial weight: 31 pounds
Clothing size: 24 month, 2T and some 3T t-shirts
Shoe size: 6! 2T socks
Diaper size: 5
Favorite toy: TEA PARTIES, dishes, play food, animals, puzzles, babies, Barney, books, Elmo, coloring books and crayons
Favorite foods: Chicken nuggets, grapes, blueberries, yogurt, apple sauce, gold fish, mandarin oranges, mac-n-cheese, cereal, grape tomatoes, SALAD? with ranch dressing and spaghetti.

You are still a great sleeper and have been eating really well the last couple of weeks. You got TONS of new toys for Christmas and could play from sun up to sun down. You play so well. You also got a few of the "Disney Classics" movies and you are really into Alice in Wonderland and Tangled. You are like a little parrot and repeat everything we say. You still talk constantly. You start back to school this week and begin your new class! I am a little nervous to see how you will do. I'm sure it will be a great move!

You are SO funny and you crack us up constantly. You have LOVED having Daddy home over Christmas! It's going to be tough getting back into our regular routine after having him home.

We love you soooo much, sweet girl! You are the light of our lives!

Christmas Day...continued

2011-12-29T14:32:00.002-06:00

If you are still reading these Christmas posts, bless you! This is the only way I know how to document everything without it getting too overwhelming and too lengthy.

After Santa came and DeDe, Peeps, BB and Eck left, we loaded up the care one more time and headed to Greenfield!

We ate too much...again. It was all delicious!!

And Ellie opened MORE gifts! Craziness!

Sweet cousins

Ellie and her MawMaw

More presents!

The kids drew names and received gifts from MawMaw and PawPaw and the adults played Dirty Santa. Dirty Santa is always exciting at Blackman family Christmases!

Our last stop was at Maw Maw's house. I think think this is stop number...7? Whew!

We had lost our pants by this time...darn antibiotics!

All in all, it was a very busy, very delicious, VERY blessed Christmas for our family. Our home is full of new "stuff" but I my main goal for next year is for Ellie to understand the real meaning behind why we celebrate. Hope you all had a great Holiday as well!

Christmas Day!

2011-12-28T15:45:00.004-06:00

Don and I have said since last year that from now on we were going to wake up at our house on Christmas morning. Living an hour away from both sides of family is never easy, but that's the way it is for now and we try to make the best of it. So after a wild night with the Young side of the family, we loaded up the car and headed back to Jackson.

We thought surely Ellie would pass out in the car on the drive home. We were WRONG! She was smiling, laughing, watching movies and talking non-stop. She just could not wind down from all of the fun she'd had all weekend!

I made reindeer food for us to sprinkle out in the yard and we read The Night Before Christmas. Santa almost didn't get any cookies and he had to settle for Oreos this year. Santa told me later on that Oreos were fine by him, he didn't mid a bit. By this time it was 11:30 and it was off to bed for Ellie so Santa could come!

Here is Ellie's stash from Santa!

Her 3 bigger gifts: American Girl "Bitty Baby" with potty chair, Cozy Coupe Trailer, and My First Doll House. She also got a few Melissa and Doug toys, a Fisher Price snap on Shih-Tzu, 4 new Disney Movies, and stocking goodies.

She wasn't sure what to think at first...

But it didn't take long for her to warm up!

Yes, this is me in no makeup and my glasses.

Crazy enough, she showed the most excitement out of her stocking stuffers! Thomas the Train blocks and Thomas toothpaste. She LOVES Thomas movies. Who knew...

I hope everyone else's house looked like this on Christmas morning:)

Earlier in the week before we left for Memphis, I made and froze a hashbrown casserole and a pan of sausage squares. DeDe brought strawberry bread and sausage cheese muffins and we had some yummy scones and muffins courtesy of Aunt Susan for breakfast.

It was so much fun to have DeDe and Peeps come to our house on Christmas morning! I am hoping this is a new tradition we have started.

Later on, BB, Eck, and Mammie showed up to see Ellie! They came bearing loads of gifts for all of us. We all racked up on some great gifts.

Ellie got a tricycle! She calls it "pedals". She has been practicing and I don't think it will be long before she gets the hang of it.

It was a great morning spent in our home and it turned out to be a good decision on our part. We still have 1 more stop...in Greenfield! That post is next!

Christmas in Memphis...Part 2

2011-12-27T23:45:00.003-06:00

Saturday morning, Christmas Eve we all slept in a little bit. Ellie had gone to bed at 11 the night before so she slept until 9:30! We all quickly got dressed and ready and headed to Granny's for celebration #2!

Ellie got this adorable table and chairs set. I just love it! It is perfect for meal time, coloring, and feeding her babies.

There was SO much food. Like 200 Chick-fil-a nuggets, Lennys, and 10 casseroles! Granny said it just "grew". It was delicious but way more than 8 people could ever eat!

Ellie also had a few more fun toys to open. She has loved everything she received this year and I am just so thankful for the many people that love and spoil our girl!

After a fun time at Granny's, we headed home to put Ellie down and get ready for Christmas Eve service and the Young family Christmas.

We were either brave or crazy, but we decided to take Ellie into church with us. She lasted a good 30 minutes before the talking and squirming began. Don took her out twice and joined the rest of the Dad's roaming the halls. She will definitely be in the nursery next year!

We took lots of family pictures this year and I am so glad we did. We got some with all of my siblings and my dad, which I love! I cannot remember the last time we all 4 were in a picture with him. Poor Peeps, he looks squished!

Dad with his boys...

My sis Kelly, niece Reagan, Ellie and me.

ALL of the girls

Dad with all 4 of us!

Ellie had a BLAST with her cousins. She still can't stop talking about them. It was a "monkey see monkey do" with everything Maddie did.

Matching PJ's...so fun, and not even planned. Great minds:) Maybe we could do this every year. What do you think Missy?!?!

Opening MORE gifts!

Loud and crazy, but lots of fun!

After a fun filled day, we headed home to get ready for Santa! It was our first year to be at home on Christmas morning, and it was a great decision. More to come soon...

Christmas in Memphis...Part 1

2011-12-27T09:47:00.002-06:00

We rolled into Memphis around 5:30 Friday afternoon. The traffic was insane! You can tell we don't live in a big city...we are amazed at the traffic every time we come to town. DeDe was really excited to have us spend the night and kept calling it a "house party". Uncle Matt and Aunt Rachel spent the night too, so it was lots of fun to have us all together.

We stuffed ourselves on beef tenderloin and baked potatoes, then let Ellie get busy on opening all of her gifts!

A personalized shopping cart from Matt and Rach!

Baby doll high chair, a new baby, and DISHES for tea parties! This girl was in heaven!

Santa didn't forget the "big kids" or the grandparents this year either. In fact, I think he went a little overboard! We all received lots of fun gifts. I can't wait to break out my new 50mm lens for my camera!

DeDe FINALLY got a new phone...an iPhone 4S! She's been using her old Nokia flip phone for forever! It was time. She got a super cute (monogrammed, of course!) phone case from us!

Here's to clean showers, boys!

It was a great night spent with our family! Part 2...Christmas Eve is next!

Supper with Santa/Eating with the Elves/Dinner with friends

2011-12-18T23:18:00.000-06:00

I love a catchy title. And I love to have people over! Last year, we had a big "Breakfast with Santa" party that was TONS of fun and TONS of work. With Ellie's birthday just a month after Christmas...it about did me in. This year, my goal is low key and NO stress for the next month if I can help it. HA, we'll see how that goes.

Anyway, I couldn't let the season go by and not do anything so I decided last minute to have a couple of friends over for dinner. Or "Supper with Santa". Or "Eating with the Elves." Whatever you want to call it.

Santa is not Ellie's favorite this year so we decided to forego him making an appearance. I tried to get Aunt Jenny to dress up as an elf for the kiddos but I don't think she was too into it:) We still kind of went with an Elf on the Shelf theme and it was lots of fun! Ginger, Elfis, and Walter even showed up and delivered gifts. They were so excited to see a hand-written note from their elves!

And yes, we touch Ginger. She's still magical in our house:)

On the menu: Holiday pork tenderloin, green bean bundles, roasted potatoes and sister schubert rolls. I was sweating in the kitchen from a 400 degree oven being on all night so sadly there are no pictures of the food. I went easy on dessert...

They played, and played and played...till 9:30! They were all wound up and were hard to put to bed. I am just glad everyone stayed late and had a good time!

The party got kind of wild later on...Ellie ended up with 2 boys in her bed. She couldn't believe it!

It was a great night spent with even greater friends!

Christmas Tour

2011-12-16T12:43:00.001-06:00

It seems like everyone is having their "Tour of Homes" link up today, so I thought I would share a few of our holiday decorations. You have already seen our trees but I thought I would post the rest just for fun!

We are having Elam, Will, and their parents over for "Supper with Santa" tonight so my table is set and ready to go. Sorry boys, TV trays it is. I cannot wait to have a real dining room one day!

My mom has a HUGE collection of Spode Christmas tree china. She started me my own collection this year! I am SO excited to have real Christmas china. I love this pattern because I don't think it will ever go out of style.

Our Christmas cards are hanging in the hallway...

The mantle. Our stockings are Pottery Barn kids.

The library table with a few little decorations...

China cabinet

A wreath I made for the back door. (there is one identical on our front door)

Ellie's playroom with her Little People nativity and mini white tree

The best decoration in the whole house! (Can you even tell she has an ear infection? Poor thing.)

Ellie's small pink tree in her room

Our main tree in the living room

Sunday at the Spa

2011-12-15T21:48:00.000-06:00

I am finally getting around to our last day in Hot Springs!

We had another great breakfast at our B&B that morning and headed off for Manicures and Pedicures at the Arlington hotel. We had the "party room" and literally laid in bed while we got our nails done. I've never done anything like that before!

After we finished, we walked around the hotel. It was so pretty all decorated for Christmas!

We headed back to our hotel and packed up. That was no small task, but we eventually got it done!

One last pic on the porch.

We grabbed a quick lunch, ran in a few more shops and hit the road!

It was a great weekend with the girls, but I could not wait to get home to my 2 favorite people! I don't want to leave them again for a long long time.

Catch up

2011-12-13T11:00:00.002-06:00

In case you didn't already think Ellie's holiday wardrobe was ridiculous, I am catching up with pictures of her over the last few days. It's almost embarrassing when people talk about her clothes, but I can't apologize anymore. Clothing her is my hobby. I don't get out much besides that!

Moving on...here are a few more of Ellie's OOTD (outfit of the day). HA!

And our 2011 Santa picture! Isn't this lovely? Poor girl. I know one day I will be glad I have this. Don's only comment: "did we pay for that"? Yes, yes we did. Memories!

And now that our cards have been mailed...Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Thanks Tiny Prints!

Spa weekend...Day 2

2011-12-12T17:44:00.000-06:00

Saturday morning we got up bright and early and headed to the main house of our B&B for breakfast. Everything was so delicious! Stuffed french toast, bacon, fruit parfait and a poppyseed muffin. I left my camera in the room this day because we were going to be in and out of so many places that it was just too much trouble to carry around.

The good thing about "bathing" all day was that we could just throw on a pair of yoga pants and a sweat shirt.

Our first stop was Buckstaff Baths. I was a tad bit nervous about this if I am being completely honest. Thankfully we all eventually got over our fears and really enjoyed ourselves! The 20 minute massage we had at the end of our stay was one of the best I have ever had.

After the bath house, we went a few doors down to Quapaw Baths and Spa. We spent a good amount of time in the mineral pools, enjoyed lunch at the Spa and then had a 2 hour session complete with Swedish massage, facials, hot stone alignment and a foot rub. I felt like a wet noodle after it was over. Very nice and much needed!

After our treatments we headed to the square for a little shopping. Hot Springs has some really cute shops and we enjoyed walking around and looking in the ones that were still open.

After a long but fabulous day, it was time for dinner and birthday girl surprises!

Monogrammed robe from all of us!

Birthday cookies!

Monogram necklace from Leigh and I

She loved it! (and this girl is HARD to shop for!)

Dinner at Central Park Fusion. Leigh got a stomach bug and missed everything:(

After dinner, we headed back to our room for dessert. Jenny's favorite cake is strawberry from Dumplins so we hauled that thing in a cooler all the way to Arkansas. NOT easy! But it was SO good!

We all went to bed after cake. Relaxing in baths and spas all day is really tiring!

Jenny turns 30!

2011-12-12T14:09:00.001-06:00

My BFF, (AKA "Aunt Jenny") is 30 today!

Jenny is a dear, dear friend to me. She was my Big Sis in college, she is my neighbor, Ellie's aunt, and just an overall wonderful person. She goes out of her way to be generous and thoughtful to all of her friends. She threw our over the top Engagement party, a baby shower for Ellie and still contributes to a large portion of her wardrobe. She always offers the best advice, is super dependable and is just lots of fun to be around.

I have said for 3 years now that when Jenny turned 30 I was going to throw her the ultimate birthday party. Leave it up to her to plan her own weekend getaway and treat US to a trip! If you know her, you get it. That's just the way she is. We did manage to throw in a few surprises of our own, but nothing could have compared to what she planned for us!

We left Friday afternoon for a weekend in Hot Springs, Arkansas packed full of pampering and relaxation. I had been in Knoxville for work since Wednesday, which meant I had to leave Ellie for FIVE days. I was a wreck. Packing, planning, and leaving for that long was not easy and I felt like an unorganized mess. Thankfully, we have some wonderful family that can just go with the flow and help whenever we need it! THANK YOU ALL!

Let's just say--6 girls, TOO MUCH luggage, and one car = jam packed! (this isn't all of it!)

Friday night after we checked into our super cute B&B 1890 Williams House, we were welcomed with gift baskets full of Hot Springs spa themed goodies!

Attached to our baskets was the itinerary for the weekend.

After we got settled, we headed off to Garvan Gardens to look at Christmas lights. Every local recommended this, and we all really enjoyed it. Added bonus...the complimentary hot chocolate!

We grabbed a late dinner and crashed around 11. We needed to rest up for our day of relaxation!

I will try to recap our Saturday activities soon!

Oh Christmas Tree...

2011-12-08T16:03:00.000-06:00

I finally have a little free time this week so I thought I would share a few pictures of our Christmas trees.

First up, Ellie's pink tree in her room! Last year, I had it in the floor next to her PB chair. This year, I put it on her dresser. I finally quit using her dresser as a changing table and I really like it up here! This tree has all of her special ornaments and a few sparkly silver, green and pink ornaments. I like how it turned out this year!

Next is the playroom tree. I LOVE this tree, it is fun, wild and girly! There is a mix of candy, snowmen, and sparkle. No real theme, just fun!

Last is our main tree in the living room. I used the same mesh from last year but changed up how I wrapped it around the tree. This tree is mainly a mixture of ornaments that have been given to me over the years and new ornaments Don and I haven been gifted or collected since we got married. I tried to stick with mainly green and red filler ornaments. I really love our family tree!

The best part about all of these trees and our decor...I haven't bought anything but a tree skirt this year! I kind of went crazy buying decorations last year, so we haven't needed much. Ellie has been gifted a few super cute ornaments that just made her trees this year and we are so thankful:)

Where's Ginger?

2011-12-04T20:51:00.001-06:00

We are taking a more laid back approach to our Elf on the Shelf this year. Ellie is still too young to grasp the concept so we use it more like a "find Ginger" game each day. To her, it's the greatest thing ever! She woke up the other morning to find Ginger and a few of her babies still sleeping.

She was in shock that they slept in so late!

We are still reading our books each day as well. Thankfully Ellie received 10 during the Holidays last year and a couple this year from sweet aunts and uncles. Wal- Mart and Target dollar bins have provided the rest! DeDe has a few nice books she is passing down that we will be getting soon. This girl seriously won't put the books down. I love it!

Cathy's baby shower

2011-12-04T13:57:00.002-06:00

My dear friend from college, Cathy is having a baby boy in just 5 short weeks! We threw her a "gingerbread boy" baby shower yesterday and I think it turned out SO cute! The best part...we held it at a local restaurant so they did all of the cooking, cleaning, and baking. This made it easy and fairly stress free. We were able to focus on the little details and decorations which is my favorite part anyway.

Jenny's mom collects these gorgeous gingerbread houses so we used them for centerpieces on all the tables. This huge one was on the cake table.

How cute is this cake? The gingerbread men have Ryan, Cathy, and baby Henry's names on them!

Here's the whole room all set up!

We put diaper cakes wrapped in Christmas ribbon on some of the tables.

When I found this invitation I knew doing a gingerbread theme would be SO cute...and it was!

We had gingerbread cookies made with Henry's initials on them to give as favors. I made the sticker labels and Leigh used her new Silhouette to cut out tags and the gingerbread on the menus.

Menus

Here is the mommy to be with some of her family

She got some really nice gifts... I of course had to get something with his name on it!

I love all these girls so much! Hard to believe we've been friends for 10 years!

Cathy is one of funniest people I know and she is going to be such a great mother. We can't wait to meet baby Henry VERY soon!

Introducing...Ginger!

2011-12-01T11:32:00.001-06:00

We hopped on the Elf on the Shelf bandwagon this year and it has already created lots of holiday fun and excitement in our house. We decided to name our Elf "Ginger", short for Gingerbread. Ellie is completely obsessed! Now, I realize the original story says the Elf cannot be touched or he will lose his magic, but there is NO WAY that would fly with Ellie. We are bending the rules a tad this year but when she gets older we will definitely play along!

We introduced Ellie to Ginger on Tuesday, but today starts the real fun! This morning when Ellie woke up, Ginger was hanging out in her stocking with cereal in his hands. He and Ellie enjoyed their Cheerios together!

Christmas through a child's eyes is just so much fun. I will try to highlight Ginger's antics as often as I can!

Traditions

2011-11-30T21:04:00.004-06:00

We are starting a few new traditions during the holidays this year. Once again, we can thank Pinterest for this cute idea.

Source: katherinemariephotography.com/blog/archives/3773 via Emily on Pinterest

Since Ellie's favorite things in the whole world are books, I knew this would be the perfect tradition to start out with. The idea is to collect 25 books for each day in December leading up to Christmas and to read one a day. The original pin says to wrap and date each individual book, but I don't have all 25 just yet (we are now up to 19!) so we are just going to grab one out of a bag or box each night to read. The thought of wrapping all of those books tonight made me tired:)

And yes, we have an Elf on the Shelf! He does have a name, you will meet him and hear all about our adventures (hopefully) tomorrow!

Let it Snow!

2011-11-30T15:08:00.000-06:00

We had a day full of wild weather this week...it snowed over 3 inches! The biggest kid in our house (AKA my husband) danced all night hoping to get out of school--but it didn't work. He did however get out and build Ellie her first snowman of the year. We didn't stay out long...I was not prepared for snow! Poor girl didn't even have a pair of gloves that fit, or any warm shoes. (She is so deprived, I know).

But you can guarantee she had a "snow day" outfit just waiting for her in the closet. Priorities:) I was glad she was able to wear it so early in the season. I am pretty sure it is my new all time favorite!

It is slowly melting and was fun to look at but it can stay away for a while. I've got too much to do to be home bound because of silly weather!

22 Months

2011-11-28T13:53:00.003-06:00

Ellie, you are 22 months old! This time last year I had your first birthday party planned and was so on top of things. This year, not so much! I just can't get it together! I cannot believe you will be TWO in TWO months.

Unofficial weight: 30 lbs. 5 oz.
Clothing size: 24 month, 2T and some 3T t-shirts
Shoe size: 6! 2T socks
Diaper size: 4 (finishing up the last box! It is time for 5's!)
Favorite toy: Puzzles, babies, Barney, books, Elmo, coloring books and crayons
Favorite foods: Chicken nuggets, grapes, blueberries, yogurt, apple sauce, string cheese, gold fish, mandarin oranges, mac-n-cheese, cereal, grape tomatoes, SALAD? with ranch dressing and spaghetti.

Your vocabulary has really taken off, you talk ALL DAY LONG. You say: be careful, come on, toys, I'm sorry, kiss it, i'm hungry, i'm scared, let's color, let's read, let's rock, I watch it, I love you, I dropped it, there it is, and my favorite..."PEEPS, WHERE ARE YOU?" So funny!

I thought Christmas was fun with you last year, but wow I can already tell how special it will be this year! You love your trees and say "Christmas" and want to watch the Elf on the Shelf movie ALL DAY LONG.

You are a wild, silly, cute little mess. You are doing great at MDO, so much so that they are moving you up a class in January! You can count to 10 and sing your "AB's" (abc's) all the time. We like to think you are pretty smart, but I know that you are right on track for your age and I am so proud. I just hope you stay that way!

We love you sweet girl!

Christmas cards from Tiny Prints!

2011-11-25T22:42:00.003-06:00

I absolutely love Christmas cards. I love having our pictures made, finding the perfect card, and mailing them to all of our family and friends. Most of all, I love receiving Christmas cards. The highlight of my day during the holidays is running to the mailbox to see whose card has arrived!

This year, Tiny Prints has a great selection of beautiful cards to choose from. They are making it VERY hard for me to decide! I am thinking of making a scrapbook of all of the cards we send throughout the years and even a book filled with the ones we receive. I just went through our collection from last year and it was so much fun to see how our friends and family have grown and changed! Just go here to view the Tiny Prints holiday collection for this year.

Here are a few that I really like.

I like this one because it's just a little different...

I am really loving a more simple look this year.

What a way to showcase the photo!

I better get busy with my decision...they will be filling up my mailbox soon!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T13:58:00.001-06:00

We spent Thanksgiving in Greenfield with Don's side of the family this year. I think there were over 20 adults and 7 kids! It took Ellie a little while to warm up to everyone, but as soon as she did we didn't hear a peep unless we went to check on her. There was SO much food and lots of fun. I managed to snap a few pictures before my battery died.

I couldn't bring myself to shop on Black Friday so instead we are in full Christmas decor mode! Don has already hung lights on the house and is on his second trip to the hardware store for more strands and clips. He secretly enjoys this, but he'll never admit it;) Ellie has been an absolute angel all day. She has been the biggest helper and has played and been so sweet among the chaos.

My 2 least favorite things about decorating...the mess and the tree "fluffing"!

Gobble gobble

2011-11-22T11:16:00.000-06:00

If you think this little turkey is cute, you should hear her gobble!

She is ALWAYS reading. Books are her favorite! Makes me so proud:)

I had to literally tear one out of her hands at school this morning. She was NOT happy!

Turkey Spaghetti

2011-11-17T09:47:00.000-06:00

Here is Ellie in last year's Turkey dress! I love getting 2 years of wear out of her clothes. We did this with a few of her pumpkin dresses from last year as well.

I had my camera on the closeup setting so this is a little blurry but I could not resist posting it anyway!

Who is this bald little cutie? What a difference a year makes!

We had spaghetti for dinner last night. Somebody LOVED it!

I am happy to report that I think the dreaded "molar monster" has finally left our house. Ellie's appetite is something I have never seen from her and her rash is SO much better!

Fall family pictures

2011-11-15T08:04:00.002-06:00

Here is a sneak peek at our Fall session with Kristina Only. Once again, she did a great job and did not disappoint! We still need to work on Ellie's smile in our family shots, but over all I am very pleased! Here are a few that she posted to Facebook.

I have already picked out the picture we will use on our Christmas card from her website. You will just have to stay tuned to see which one we chose!

Busy, fun and productive

2011-11-13T22:18:00.002-06:00

I am sure most of you could care less about our boring little weekend but since I am in the mood, I thought I'd do a little recap for the blog book that I still haven't ordered:)

Friday I worked my tail off getting ready for a last minute yard sale. I wasn't trying to make a ton of money, I've just felt so overwhelmed and tired of "stuff" being in every corner of this house that I had to do something about it. I remembered about mid-morning that our office was closed for Veterans Day so it worked out quite well.

Friday night we went to dinner with Mammie, BB and "Eck". We enjoyed our time with them and Ellie did very well. I honestly cannot remember the last time we took her out to dinner after 7 pm. Most of the time it's just not worth it. She really surprised us! We also had lots of help which made a big difference:)

Saturday morning we were up bright and early for the big sale! Ellie of course slept later than she had all week while we were up and going way earlier than we wanted to be. Isn't that the way it always goes?
She was the perfect little assistant and just played away and charmed all of our "customers".

We ended up getting rid of my old laptop, Don's old Playstation, our Rock Band game, tons of PS2 games, DVDS, a few small baby items, a couple of toys and some home decor items that I've had since college. It feels good to purge although I don't feel like our house looks much different!

After the sale and a Goodwill drop off, I went to get a pedi while Don and Ellie napped. It was long overdue and felt so nice to get out and just SIT for a few minutes.

After naps, we went to see SANTA! Yes, I am eating my words from my last post:) I realize it isn't even Thanksgiving and I was talking about all of you people jumping the gun on the holidays, but our photographer was doing portraits this weekend only so we just had to be there! Once again, thank you yard sale!

As far as the pictures go, let me just say this much...Ellie was hugging, kissing and talking to Santa as long as one of us were holding her. The minute we let go of her to sit on his lap, she LOST IT. I felt a little guilty putting her through such torture but it's all about the memories, right? I can't wait to pick up the pictures next week. Should be interesting!

We joined Leigh, Cole, Bubba and Aunt Jenny for some yummy ribs and chicken Saturday night and kept the wild 2 year olds in the nursery this morning. We ended our Sunday with an afternoon drive and a Kroger run. Exciting times, I know!

I honestly love weekends like this. I enjoy staying busy, feeling productive, and being with my two favorite people on the planet. Ready to tackle another week!

Jammies

2011-11-05T21:48:00.001-05:00

In my opinion, there is nothing in the world sweeter than a clean, freshly bathed baby (or toddler). Ellie is almost 2 and I still use baby wash and baby lotion on her every night. I just love that smell!

Can somebody PLEASE tell me when she was ever that little? Makes me cry!

Before bath time tonight, I quickly changed into a t-shirt and pajama pants (or "soft clothes" as Peeps and DeDe call them) and the minute Ellie saw I had changed, she pointed to my pants and said "jammies". I thought it was too cute to hear her say it after countless nights of me wrestling with her trying to get her "jammies" on. It amazes me how quickly they pick up on things.

Ellie didn't nap today and I found myself getting kind of frustrated. But tonight at bedtime when she was smelling sweet and having a tea party in the floor, that all went away.

Last night we had a family movie night and watched Rio. She is LOVING how much Daddy is home and only wants him when he is around:)

She's been waking up extra early the past few weeks so to give myself a little time to wake up, she and Elmo have a little fun on the iPad.

There really isn't a story behind this picture...just looking extra cute in those "jammies"!

Ellie has a new bedtime routine. She has to have a book, Barney and a blankie. We've even pulled out the crib soother again so I turn that on for her. Tonight after we did our little ritual, she asked for a kiss and said "I wuv u Mommy". And my heart melted.

Ellie's first love

2011-11-02T16:08:00.001-05:00

If you have ever read this blog or know Ellie at all...you know that Barney is the LOVE OF HER LIFE. She doesn't watch any other show besides Barney and the occasional Elmo. We've tried Bubble Guppies a few times but NOTHING comes close to that big purple dinosaur!

If I could have picked any show on earth for her to love--Barney would have never been my first choice. Poor Barney gets a bad rap for being cheesy and slightly annoying, but he has really grown on me in the past few months. I am also fairly certain that Barney is to thank for the shapes, colors, numbers and ABC's that Ellie has learned so far. That means Barney gets a big A+ in my book!

So it was pretty much a given the minute we found out that Barney Live was coming to our town...we knew we had to be there! Crazy enough, Uncle Matt had the inside scoop and told us as soon as tickets went on sale. We were able to snatch up 7th row seats and began to count down the days to the big show!

I hate the show fell on a MDO day. Ellie naps well there, but she's still more tired than usual. I tried my best to get her to rest until it was time to leave, but you know what a challenge that can be with a busy toddler!

Overall, she really enjoyed it as tired as she was. Seeing the smile on her face and watching her clap and dance was all I needed to justify the over priced tickets and silly $8 light up toy I was suckered into buying. You live and you learn!

Another huge bonus was that we got to see sweet Josie and her mom Lauren! Lauren and I were college sorority sisters and have really chatted a lot since we had girls around the same age. Josie is such a cutie! Lauren and I could really do some damage if we were ever allowed to shop for the girls together! We have talked about getting together soon...we really need to do it!

Trick or Treat!

2011-11-01T09:59:00.001-05:00

We had a great time last night! Our good friends Leigh and Cole had us over for some Halloween fun and Trick or Treating. Ellie totally "got it" by the end of the night and was practically trying to jump out of the hayride to go to the next house. That girl was on a mission!

Before we left, we finally got around to carving our pumpkin. When I say we, I really mean Don. Ellie wanted nothing to do with it and I was busy getting ready and finishing my witch hat cookies.

Leigh had tons of great food for us but I can't ever show up anywhere empty handed:)

The mommas

Silly boys

Ellie and Bubba had a blast together and were hugging by the time we left. I bet they don't even speak at school today!

I can't believe it's already November!

More 30th Birthday celebrations!

2011-10-31T10:20:00.002-05:00

It seems like everyone around me is turning the big 3-0! My college BFF's/sorority sisters/roommates (who just happen to be twins) turned 30 this past Friday and had a weekend full of celebrating!

We missed the Saturday night celebrations because we had a wedding to attend. The wedding was beautiful and I got to chat it up with some old friends. It was lots of fun!

Sunday morning bright and early, Don and I hit the road to Nashville to attend a Titans tailgate/game party for Jess and Jenn. Their Dad had been planning this for months and bought 20 tickets for all of their friends to attend the game. How nice is that? We were on the 8th row in the end zone. GREAT seats! Oh, and it was all a surprise! They had no idea we were coming so that made it extra fun!

Our signature pose!

Most of the girls...

Don was of course loving every minute:)

Their parents even had a Birthday message posted on the Jumbo-tron! So sweet!

While we were enjoying the game, Peeps, DeDe, Uncle Matt and Aunt Rach took Ellie to the Fall Festival at church. I know she had a great time! Thank you to everyone who took care of our girl while we were gone!

We've got a fun night of hayrides and trick-or-treating planned with our good buddy Will and his parents. You know there will be a full recap later this week. Happy Halloween!

Scarecrow crunch

2011-10-27T12:46:00.001-05:00

All thanks to Pinterest, I decided last minute to whip up a little treat bag for Ellie's MDO teachers and office ladies.

Source: noragfiffin.typepad.com via Emily on Pinterest

I got to work late last night on some personalized Halloween tags and I thought they turned out pretty cute. They weren't perfect and I would have preferred ones not so "Halloweeny" but they will do.

This is an easy, yummy treat to hand out today. It also made a TON! I filled 8 treat bags generously with the mix.

In case you can't read the recipe on the picture, here it is again:

Small pretzel twists
Reeses Pieces candies
Autumn Honey candy mix (pumpkins & candy corn)
Wheat cereal (I used Kroger brand "Life")
Chocolate grahams (I used Kroger brand but will use Goldfish next time because they are much smaller!)
Caramel popcorn with nuts (I used Crunch' n Munch)

I just dumped it all into a bowl and mixed around with a large spoon. I filled the bags and tied them with some black tulle and polka dotted ribbon. That easy!

I hope they enjoy!

This little "punkin"...

2011-10-26T20:29:00.003-05:00

...is 21 months old today!

I can hardly believe it!

Unofficial weight: 30 lbs. 5 oz.
Clothing size: 24 month, 2T and some 3T t-shirts
Shoe size: 6! 2T socks
Diaper size: 4
Favorite toy: Puzzles, babies, Barney, books, Elmo, coloring books and crayons
Favorite foods: Chicken nuggets, yogurt, apple sauce, string cheese, gold fish, mandarin oranges, occasional mac-n-cheese, newest food to try: pizza!

Taking your picture is actually a pleasant experience right now. You say "cheese" and smile a lot more than you used to. This makes me happy!

You are talking up a storm! You can now say "I love you", hungry, lunch (every meal is lunch!), "hold you" (means "pick me up!"), heavy (everything is heavy) and sooooo many more that I can't think of right now.

You LOVE to color and draw and write.
You have started to hum and sing. You even know a few words to Old McDonald and The Wheels on the Bus!

You are an absolute joy and we couldn't love you more!

Pumpkins and parties

2011-10-23T15:44:00.002-05:00

I am sure my Facebook friends are ready to "hide" or "unsubscribe" from me by now. I am a picture crazy mom these days. Oh well...they don't have to look!

Anyway, we had a fun little weekend!

Yesterday we attended our friend Elam's 2nd Annual Halloween party! As usual, everything was super cute and tons of fun. The kiddos had a blast (and so did the parents!) and we all enjoyed hanging out and catching up. There was a hayride, story time, a little craft project and yummy food.

Reading a story...

She stole Elvis' glasses!

Kim made these super cute pumpkin-cats and we put stickers on their name tags!

Ready for the hayride!

Today after lunch we finally made it to the pumpkin patch! We went before nap time so we were unsure how it would go. Thankfully, Ellie had a great time and wanted every "punkin" in that patch to be in our wagon.

Fun times...we are now mourning the thought of Fall break being over:(

Girls night in

2011-10-19T13:38:00.000-05:00

Don headed to Jonesboro, Arkansas last night to see some former colleagues and watch the Arkansas State/Florida International game. He had sideline passes and was even spotted on ESPN!

Since he was gone all night, I decided Ellie and I needed to have a little fun too! We did what any normal girls would do on a girls night...eat! All kidding aside, we ate tomato basil pizza and baked Halloween cookies. Ellie loved being my little assistant in the kitchen!

DeDe brought over a few Halloween goodies and included some Halloween cookie cutters. It's pretty hard to tell what our cookies are supposed to be, but oh well. I even let Ellie be in charge of BLACK sprinkles. They were everywhere after we finished!

We had bats, pumpkins, ghosts, and tombstones. Can't you tell?!? Ellie got a little "sprinkle happy" on a few of the cookies!

Enjoying the fruits of her labor:)

It was a fun girls night with the sweetest little girl I know! It was nice to just relax and play with her after being gone all weekend and working like crazy the past few days.

Too much football? No such thing!

2011-10-18T13:02:00.007-05:00

Ohhhh, the things we do for our husbands!

I am a Memphis girl taught to "dislike" the color orange and bleed Tiger blue.
As a kid, Don had an orange bedroom with UT wallpaper and orange curtains. Does that tell you anything?

I experienced Neyland Stadium a couple of times but only as a Tiger fan. Unfortunately, that never ended well. Ha!
Don grew up going to Knoxville and has shared countless memories of going to games with his Dad. Can't help but love that:)

About six years ago when we were just dating, I attended my first UT game as a Vol fan. Gasp!

This past weekend we went back and I have to admit, I was pretty excited myself. We went with our friends Leigh and Cole and had a blast!

Don was SO excited all week leading up to the game. Let's just say he was in his element and took full advantage of all of the fun to be had:)

These two together are TROUBLE!

Vol fan or not, a game in Neyland Stadium is an experience. Can't wait to go back next year!

In case you were wondering if we don't get to watch enough football, PLEASE don't worry. We still have a Titans game and an Arkansas State game in our future.

Thankfully, there is a light at the end of our never ending football tunnel. Two more weeks of JCM ball is all that is left:)

Good morning!

2011-10-13T09:55:00.002-05:00

Ellie just wanted to drop in and say "good morning!" to you!

This was taken this morning before school. I have a feeling she is not going to be a morning person. Drama!

Do you Pin?

2011-10-10T13:49:00.003-05:00

A couple of months ago, I finally gave in and joined Pinterest! Pinterest is basically a site full of ideas and inspiration from home decor and party planning, to recipes and clothing. You create boards for different categories. For example: I have a "photography tips" board, a "my wish list" board, an "I like to eat" board, and so on. In essence, it's a place for you to keep all of your online ideas and websites all in one place. It really is genius!

I don't have much spare time to spend on there, but when I do log on...there are "pins" galore! I have tried out a couple of ideas and so far, so good!

First off: chicken bacon pasta. So bad, but so good! I even lightened it up with turkey bacon, neufchatel cheese, and milk instead of the alternatives. It was a hit with everyone in our house!

Board: I like to eat. www.plainchicken.com

Next up...2 ingredient muffins!

Board: I like to eat. www.bigredkitchen.com

These have gotten rave reviews! I just finished baking my own batch and cannot wait to try them. I "spiced" mine up a little bit with some mini chocolate chips and pumpkin pie spice. Yummo!

This recipe is SO easy, and I had all of the ingredients in my pantry! That's my kind of baking:) All you do is mix the cake mix with the can of pumpkin until combined. I then added my chocolate chips and a few sprinkles of pumpkin pie spice. Spoon into your muffin tin and bake! It's that easy.

Lastly, I went with this easy hurricane candle idea. I just took my Southern Living at Home hurricane, filled it with candy corn, and inserted a scented white candle in the center. Voila!

Board: Holiday. www.womansday.com

I have big plans for wreath making, teacher gifts, holiday baking, and Ellie's 2nd birthday all in one place. What have you pinned?

Pumpkins!

2011-10-09T21:33:00.003-05:00

We had a nice weekend without too much on the agenda. Don worked a lot, but we still managed to squeeze in a bit of family time today. After church and naps, we headed out to the UT Extension Center for a pumpkin photo shoot.

Trying to capture anything decent from this busy little bee is next to impossible. She was all over the place and we were sweating after it was all said and done!

I am sure we will still make a trip to the Pumpkin Patch but I decided last minute to check out the pumpkin displays that the UT Ag Center does every year. Apparently there is a "pumpkin shortage" so the display was smaller than usual, but it was still very impressive!

There are "DO NOT TOUCH" signs everywhere. We broke the rules. Uh oh!

While we were out that way, Don decided to keep driving and we ended up at Cypress Grove Park. I had no idea this place even existed! I was pretty hesitant to go hiking in jeans and ballet flats, but we decided what the heck and went anyway. I am SO glad we did! Who knew there were bald eagles, owls, trails, and a lake back there?!

Ellie loved it and we were all worn out by the time we got home. In my opinion, that means it was a good day!

I don't care if it's 82 degrees...

2011-10-05T16:43:00.001-05:00

IT"S OCTOBER!

We are having Chili for supper and wearing our Fall outfits!

Happy Birthday Don!

2011-10-02T14:51:00.000-05:00

Even though his birthday is still 4 days away...we celebrated Don turning the big 3-0 this weekend!

I don't think it is any secret that I enjoy throwing get-togethers, big or small. I also think that turning 30 is a pretty big deal!

The "theme" for this little party was EASY and I am so glad I went that route. Ellie has been SO sick and I ended up taking off of work and just holding and snuggling with her pretty much all week long. This party would not have happened if I had done it at our house because it was a wreck by Friday!

(Don couldn't believe I mailed out invitations...of course I did!)

Isn't the "30 Sucks" gift so cute? Thanks John and Tori!

The original restaurant I booked CLOSED, so I panicked and had to have it somewhere else last minute. It wasn't my first choice, but we still had our own private room and that was all I was wanting anyway! We kept it small, just a few close friends. There wasn't much room for a big crowd anyway. Thank you to everyone that came and helped!

People even brought a few gifts which was SO nice. Thanks yall! Rusty and Alyse gave him a cane and some Bengay for his old man aches and pains. No joke, he uses that stuff all the time. I even put it in his stocking last year!

Oh yeah, and it was a surprise party! This was actually not hard to keep, either. He was totally surprised and said he hasn't even thought about his birthday coming up this week. Success!

I ordered a cake, balloons, and some appetizers and that was it! Easy, easy.

Happy, Happy Birthday Donald! We love you sooo much and hope you had a great time with your friends.

Another Busy weekend

2011-09-26T12:51:00.002-05:00

We got home late last night after another busy, busy weekend!

Friday night, Don's team played in Memphis. Since we were coming to town for my reunion anyway, Ellie and I came after work Friday so we could go to the game! Here she is in her game day outfit before we left. Doesn't she look so big in those jeans?

She was really cheesin' it up for the camera, too. I don't know what it is with her eyes these days, but she can't say "cheese" without squinting! Silly girl.

I let Ellie sleep in until almost 9 Saturday morning, then we headed off to tailgate at the Tiger game with Peeps, DeDe and friends! Let me just say, they know how to tailgate! They've got it all. I joked and told them all they lack is a chandelier for the tent.

It was soooo windy. That's why my hair looks so beautiful!

After the game, it was time to get ready for my TEN YEAR class reunion. Am I really that old? Just for fun, I found a couple of old pictures that I thought I would share.

Freshmen cheerleaders in Orlando for nationals

Snowflake committee our Senior year

My BFF Autumn and me at Ole Miss cheer camp.

Some really good guy friends at my parents house before Snowflake our Junior year. SO sad none of them were at the reunion!

Skycoaster rides in Orlando!

And here we are...ten years later!

We met a group for dinner at Bahama Breeze and showed up fashionably late to the reunion. It was a lot of fun, and I am so glad I went. I was pretty tired all day yesterday. This old momma can't stay up that late anymore! Fun, fun weekend!

20 Months old

2011-09-22T09:56:00.001-05:00

I am 3 days early on this! Can't believe it. Above is a video Grandonna filmed while Ellie was visiting last week. You can hear a few of her new words!

Ellie, you are 20 months old. Is your 2nd birthday really in 4 months? Okay time. You can really slow down now.

Unofficial weight: approximately 30 pounds
Clothing size: 24 month, 2T and some 3T t-shirts
Shoe size: 6! 2T socks
Diaper size: 4
Favorite toy: Puzzles, babies, Barney, books
Favorite foods: Chicken nuggets, grapes, strawberries, yogurt, apple sauce, string cheese, gold fish, mandarin oranges, occasional mac-n-cheese.

Least favorite foods: Veggies:( She eats tons of fruit, so I guess that's better than nothing!
Words: You are a little parrot! You pretty much repeat everything we say. Newest words: doctor, purple, Knox, Ellie (and you point to yourself!), Granny, BB (for Aunt B).
Teeth: 11 total. One new bottom molar.
Daily Routine: One good 2 hour afternoon nap a day. You sleep from 8:00 pm until 7:30-8 am.

We went to the dermatologist and FINALLY figured out what the mystery rash is. Yeast! It probably started from your paci months ago and is just having a hard time leaving. So we have a different prescription cream that should clear it up for good. YAY! Let's just say that trip was an experience. Two dirty diapers, spilled goldfish, and hands in the Bio Hazard trash can. I was exhausted by the time we left:)

Another iPhone picture post

2011-09-20T17:28:00.003-05:00

I am lacking in blog content and time these days! I was scanning through my phone pictures earlier and thought "well, I could write about this, and when we did that, and how Ellie did this..." so here it goes!

This weekend we went to the fair on Saturday night and attended Travis Cottrell's Album Release concert at church on Sunday. The fair, well I wasn't impressed. Let's just say we could have gone out to a nice dinner for the price we paid on admission and a corn dog. Ellie didn't even ride any rides. I was kind of bummed, but at least we can say we went. The concert however, was awesome! It was long and made for 3 hours of playtime in the nursery for E, but Don and I got a mini (free) date night! We both loved it. I know I always say this but Englewood is SO lucky to have Travis all to ourselves every Sunday! Sadly I didn't take any pictures of either event.

Aunt Jenny always brings home fun treats for Ellie from her travels. She brought her back this chef set as a thank you for feeding the cats while she was gone. I thought it was too cute!

Don worked until after 8 last night so I took this pic of us and sent it to him so Ellie could tell him good night. I look like poo, she looks sweet:)

Last Thursday Ellie's MDO held a Grandparents tea! De De was coming to get her and take her for the night anyway, so she just came a few hours early so she could attend the tea. Ellie was so happy to see her! We missed Maw Maw, but she had already made 2 trips to town that week to babysit so we completely understood.

Don's team won BIG this past Friday! We didn't go...I just didn't have it in me to fight the crowds and a rowdy toddler, but we did cheer him on from home! I had this little shirt made and thought it turned out pretty cute.

And lastly, we have a crib jumper! I really thought we had avoided this whole situation because Ellie has done so well in her crib for such a long time. Two Sundays ago, she was in NO mood for a nap, so she decided she would just climb right out of her bed! When Don and I heard the big "thud" come from her room, we both went running and found her in the floor next to her basket of stuffed animals. It about gave me a heart attack! Needless to say, the remaining bumpers immediately came right out! We were overdue on this anyway, but I just love her bedding and was trying to keep them in as long as possible. It is certainly never a dull moment with this girl!

I guess that's about it for now. We have a dermatologist appointment (finally) to get to the bottom of this mystery rash that keeps re-appearing on Ellie's face. I'll be back with details from that soon!

Blogging

2011-09-15T09:40:00.000-05:00

I have had quite a few people ask me how I find the time to blog and commented on how I have kept up with the blog so well. First of all, I don't really advertise to many people that I blog. They all just somehow found it and every time I hear another person reads, I blush a little bit! Sometimes I write on here like no one reads so when I find out they do, it's a little embarrassing:)

To be honest, I don't really know how to answer those questions. I guess my subject is just so cute and sweet and funny that I don't look at it like a chore, but more like a hobby that I really enjoy! I never thought I would have done so well when I started this blog right after we got married. When Ellie was born, it was a fun way to document every little thing she was doing and now I am hooked!

I gave in to Twitter toward the end of February and I think that has really fueled the "blogging bug". I have been able to chat with other mommy bloggers and get ideas and inspiration and encouragement from all of them. They made me feel like I am not he only crazy mother on this planet and helped me realize that we are all in this together.

I just wanted to share a link to one of my favorite bloggers, Erin from Blue Eyed Bride. She has a writing style that I love and puts my exact feelings in to words that I only wish I could express. She has two adorable little boys that dress just the way our little Pierce will one day (ha ha ha) and I just loved reading her posts every morning.

She has written quite a few posts recently that could seriously have come out of my own mouth. It's like she reads my mind. Here is a link to a few of those posts in case you are interested.

http://blueeyedbride.com/2011/09/15/the-evolution-of-a-mom/
http://blueeyedbride.com/2011/08/29/super-mom-whos-that/
http://blueeyedbride.com/2011/08/23/i-dont-know-how-she-does-it/

Also, have any of you seen the trailer for the new Sarah Jessica Parker movie that comes out tomorrow, I don't know how she does it? Don is TOTALLY taking me to see it, he just doesn't know it yet!

Super random

2011-09-14T13:26:00.001-05:00

Hello there! Just thought I would pop in for a quick update. Work has been crazy lately so there has been no computer time for me (which is probably a good thing).

Last weekend Don's team was off...and what do you know? He was in a wedding! So after the rehearsal Friday night we just had to stop by and scout out a local team that we will be playing in a few weeks. Ellie ran around like a wild girl and had a ball. Yes, I realize her bow is ridiculously huge but I am slowly upgrading to a medium sized bows and some are just bigger than others. I really just need to learn to sew ruffled pants (since it seems she will be wearing a lot of them this fall) and make bows and she'd have the perfect size and color for every outfit. Maybe one day.

Speaking of fall, is it here yet? I am so ready for a closet/wardrobe change around here. This in-between weather makes me crazy. I have been scrambling for work clothes for me and school clothes for E...and her foot grew 2 sizes over the summer! She jumped from a 4 to a 6 in two months. Talk about throwing me for a loop!

My 10 year class reunion is next weekend. I wasn't too excited up until recently. Let's be honest...with social media we already know EVERYTHING about EVERYBODY! There are no surprises anymore but it will still be nice to see people face to face. Some I haven't seen since graduation day! Should be interesting:)

Sorry for the lack of pictures. My camera battery is dead right now and it would take all afternoon to charge so this will just have to do. Happy Wednesday!

A Typical Day

2011-09-09T14:20:00.003-05:00

If there is anything I have learned in the past 19 months, it is that parenting is a constant juggling act. From meal times, to nap schedules, to personal commitments and work schedules, the juggling never ends.

Yes, my job is flexible...to a point. Yes, working from home is FANTASTIC. Yes, I spend more time with Ellie than the typical working mom does (and I am so thankful for that). However, there are times when my job is not so flexible and I have to travel 2 hours away for one appointment. Other times counselors may call last minute and ask me to speak at their evening parent program. This is where it gets tricky!

A "typical" day in our house is far from the normal 9-5 work day that most experience. Each day is busy and hectic and no two days are ever the same. After the past few weeks we have had, I decided I needed to document the craziness so that one day I could look back, be very proud of myself, and ask "how in the world did we do that"?

I chose to go with yesterday because it was one of our busier days.

5:15 am: Don's alarm goes off for the FIRST of at least 3-4 times. That boy likes to sleep:)
6:10 am: Don leaves for work
7:00 am: Ellie is up, so I am up! (Yes, she's still my alarm on mornings when I work later. I just can't get up before her unless I absolutely have to).
7:15: I change her diaper, fix her morning milk, turn on Barney, and get her breakfast together. This morning she had a cereal bar, yogurt and some strawberries.
7:30: While Ellie eats, I get ready. On mornings when I am working from home, you can pretty much guarantee that I am in jeans and a t-shirt. On work days, I get ready before school.
8:00: I check email, check my calendar and work phone, and gather up my work materials for my work day.
8:30: I get Ellie dressed for MDO. Today I squeezed her into a size 12 month romper she wore last winter. I am just dying to get one last wear out of all of these clothes! The pants were a little short but she still looked cute in my opinion:)

8:45: We leave for MDO. I pack her bag and lunch the night before so we just grab those on our way out the door and head to school.
9:10: I get home and get back to my computer. I correspond with a teacher and a counselor about a meeting next week and a problem they were having on our website. I also chat with Aunt Jenny over the phone while I email:)
9:50: I get dressed for work,
10:15: I heat up leftovers for Don's lunch. I am working at his school today so I told him I'd drop off his lunch on my way to the counselors office:)
10:30-12:30: I work in the computer lab with 3 school counselors.
12:40: As I am getting ready to leave the school, the counselor mentions parent/teacher conferences that night (which I already knew about, Don had to be there!) and asks if I could set up a table to speak with parents from 3-6:30 or however long I could be there. Of course I said sure, but in my head I am thinking about the logistics of picking Ellie up from MDO and finding someone to watch her while I am back at work.
12:45: I get on the phone. First, I call DeDe. She is my voice of reason and logistics guru:) She can't meet me because she volunteers in the church office which is TOTALLY fine. I don't expect her to always be available. She suggests I call Brittney, our babysitter that watches Ellie in the mornings when I work early. She sits with Ellie, feeds and dresses her, and drops her off at school a few times a month. She has been a huge help!
1:00: I call Brittney. She is available! She will meet us at home at 2:50.
in between this time, I eat lunch and breathe for a couple minutes before I leave to pick E up.
2:20: I leave to pick Ellie up from school. She had a great day! Took a 2 hour nap and ate all of her lunch. After chatting with the teachers and office ladies, we don't get home until 2:40ish
2:40: We get home and Brittney is there waiting! Lifesaver. We chat about getting Ellie a snack and I go through my calendar with her about a couple days next week I will need her help.
2:55 I leave to head back to work.
5:00 I am home! Brittney has night class so I left work in time for her to get to school.
5-7:30: I fix Ellie's dinner (mac-n-cheese, applesauce and grapes), our dinner (Italian Casserole) and then we play, take a bath and read books.
7:30: Don is home after parent/teacher conferences. He eats dinner and plays with Ellie.
8:30: Ellie is in BED and we are not far behind her! I do try to catch up on the DVR and watch Big Brother and Project Runway and Don watches a little bit of football.

Whew, I am tired again just reading through that. I am sure most of you have days like that every day or some that are even busier. I just found this day to be the best example of the juggling act I find myself constantly doing.
The cheesy term "it takes a village" is SO true when it comes to raising children. We get a lot of help from family (that don't even live in the same town) and we couldn't do it without them! Needless to say, we are ready for the weekend!

Labor Day weekend

2011-09-06T11:02:00.000-05:00

We had a fabulous weekend! I feel like we spent a lot of time in the car, but that's what happens when you live an hour from each set of family. We try our best to be at every holiday/event/party that we can, so if that means driving a lot...that's what we'll do!

Friday started off with football. Even though the final score wasn't what we had hoped, Ellie was very well behaved and had lots of fun with her buddies Will and Elam.

Saturday we ran a few errands and just stayed around the house. It was nice! Sunday, we headed to Memphis for a cook-out at Uncle Matt and Aunt Rachel's house.
To occupy Ellie in the car, Don let her play with one of his (ridiculously priced) duck calls to keep her happy. We had to wake her up from her nap so she was a tad bit grumpy:)

Matt and Rach were great hosts and we had lots of fun visiting. Excuse the picture overload!

Four generations!

Granny and her girl. They read books all night. Ellie loves her Granny and can even say her name now!

Since we were in town, we decided to make the most of our Zoo membership and go for a quick visit. Each time we go back Ellie loves it more and more. She had so much fun! Peeps and DeDe even joined us this time. They had not been to the zoo in years and were really impressed at how nice it is. Memphis is so lucky to have such a great Zoo. It was crowded, but the weather was nice so it was a perfect day to go.

After the zoo, we hit the road to head home. Mammie, Aunt B, and Uncle E met us soon after and even surprised us with some fall treats for Ellie! Thank you so much again. It was like Christmas at our house last night!

After Don stopped by work (he just can't stay away!) we hopped back in the car and headed to Greenfield for a shrimp boil. Ellie was pretty tired but was still really good. There are always plenty of cousins to play with when we go to Greenfield.

So yes, our weekend was jam packed...but packed full of family and fun. I bet Ellie will take a looooong nap at school today:)

It's Friday! It's Friday!

2011-09-02T14:18:00.000-05:00

Who is ready for the long weekend? I think I can name a few that are thinking "TGIF"!

First off, tonight is another edition of Friday night football! We play in a nearby town so Ellie and I will attempt the first half of the game again tonight. Some sweet friends have invited us over for dinner before the game and I can't wait for Ellie and Elam to play and cheer on our team!

We have been invited to a few Labor Day parties/cookouts this weekend and may even make a quick trip to the zoo while we are in Memphis on Monday morning. I also encouraged Don to go have some fun with the guys or "play" on his own tomorrow...I am wondering what he will come up with? Golf, fishing, or his favorite past time...sleep! I wouldn't be surprised if that is the one he picked!

I thought this was too cute the other morning. I put Ellie in bed with him while I got ready for church. She laid her head on my pillow and covered herself up and watched cartoons. Of course, Barney was right there the whole time:)

Once again...I am loving this new "gig". Don has ALWAYS labored on Labor Day. Always. Not this year! Whoohoo!

Just a bunch of pictures

2011-08-31T20:38:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-08-31T14:55:00.001-05:00

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!

2011-08-29T11:20:00.000-05:00

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

2011-08-20T14:18:00.002-05:00

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

2011-08-15T21:23:00.000-05:00

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

2011-08-12T15:34:00.002-05:00

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!

2011-08-09T10:20:00.001-05:00

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

2011-08-08T10:09:00.001-05:00

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!

Ellie is 18 months old!

2011-08-07T13:07:00.002-05:00

I am finally back with a post All About Ellie! I feel like it's been a while.

So what has Ellie been up to?

I guess the biggest news we have is that we are the proud new owners of a potty! Ellie has been telling me for the last 2 weeks that she had to "shoo shoo" (our word for #2...ha!) and I was getting very excited about the thought of an easy trainer. She has been telling us forever that she was dirty and would run back to her room for me to change her. Unfortunately, a little bit of teething and some ugly molars showed up and ruined those plans, but she is taking more and more interest in the potty every day. I am not going to push this. I have always heard that they will do it in their own time, so I am going to try and be patient.

These pictures crack me up. She insisted on wearing her new hat from DeDe while we practiced sitting on the potty. The little turkey stood up and went to the bathroom all over the carpet right after I took these!

Other than the potty, here are some more Ellie fun facts:

Right now, you are eating pretty well, but that is SO unpredictable. I never know from one meal to the next what you will eat and what you won't. Totally normal according to Dr. Amy!
You weigh 29 pounds, so you are not starving! You have become quite the load to carry!
Size 5 shoe
Size 4 diaper (after this box, we will go up to a 5!)
Size 18 month clothes. I plan on going 24 month to a 2T for fall and winter
Down to one solid nap a day...right after lunch time. It is almost always exactly 2 hours long.
Barney rules your world. You are definitely obsessed and go into a trance the minute he comes on. I am just praying I don't have to have a Barney 2nd birthday party! (I'm kidding...kinda).
You are a whiz at your Melissa and Doug puzzles. Good thing you have about 10 because you have already mastered 3 and are getting bored with them. Puzzles are definitely your favorite toy right now.

You are still talking non-stop and catching on to a few new words every day
You LOVE bath time and rubbing in your lotion while we get dressed
I moved bedtime up from 8:30 to 8 and ever since, you have been sleeping GREAT! You had one rough night last week, but we had to wake you up for church this morning. I am loving it!!!
You moved up to the big toddler class in church this morning and start MDO this week! I am excited for the both of us to get back in to our routine.
You are funnier, sweeter, and wilder than last month. I can't believe what a big girl you are!

What we've learned

2011-08-04T15:18:00.000-05:00

First off, thank you to all of your sweet comments, emails, texts, calls, Facebook messages, and tweets! It is so nice to be able to share our good news and talk about it with everyone.

If there is one thing we can take away from this experience, I would say first of all we need to realize that this can happen to ANYBODY. In fact, it is happening to a lot of people right now. We are not invincible. I used to have that naive attitude that nothing like that could or would happen to me. Well, let's just say I have been given a HUGE wake up call! Whether it is a job, or our health, or a relationship, or whatever. None of us are safe. Just watch the news!

Secondly, we always need to be prepared for any type of emergency. I have been told this countless times by family, and once again...I never thought I would be in this type of situation. But now I know! I will never turn my head to that type of advice again. LISTEN to your parents and grandparents people! They know what they are talking about!

I think most of all, I have learned to appreciate what I have more than ever before. Yes, we live in a small older home. But it is ours, and Ellie has her own room and a playroom full of toys and clothes and she knows no different. We may be bursting at the seams and we would LOVE to move eventually, but for right now we have cool air, cable TV and plenty of food in the fridge.

I have also learned to appreciate Don through this soooo much more. He probably struggled through this more than I realized, but he stayed strong for us and came through when we had almost given up. Our marriage is 100 times stronger than it was six months ago. I love that!

I promise this is my last sappy, emotional post. I just had to get that out! I promise to get back to taking silly pictures of our wild girl and get her 18 months post up!

In case you were wondering...

2011-08-01T12:33:00.002-05:00

Those of you close to us know what kind of summer we have had. It has been a summer full of ups and downs, twists and turns, highs and lows. Our patience and our faith have been tested time and time again. Thank goodness things are finally looking up!

These last two years have been a whirlwind. The only upside to the closing of LU and Don's job ending was the opportunity for him to go back to school and become a certified teacher. We were excited and grateful that he was able to complete the necessary coursework in such a short time, but finding a teaching job was becoming harder and more frustrating by the minute. We had prepared ourselves for the possibility of having to move. We had already started looking at smaller, more fuel efficient cars in case he had to make a long commute to work. He filled out countless applications, emailed his resume to everyone on the planet, and interviewed for several different jobs (all while going to school and working part-time). We would find ourselves staring at the phone waiting for good news only to find out by mutual friends or the news that someone else had been hired. Talk about rough.

Weeks flew by and June 30th came. Lambuth officially closed and our time was running out. We knew that the prime hiring time for new teachers would probably be mid to late July. The weeks of missed paychecks (once again) and the emotional toll it was all taking became almost too much at times.

Then one day about three weeks ago, Don got a phone call. A local high school right down the street from our house just happened to have a PE and football position open. He met with the head coach on that Wednesday, interviewed with the Principals on Friday and started football practice that next Monday. Meanwhile, we had already started packing and planning for our MUCH anticipated beach trip that next week and were very disappointed when it looked like we were no longer going to be able to go. After stewing all weekend long, Don insisted Ellie and I still go, but I was torn. I hated to go without him but I hated to back out on our friends, too! Obviously, a new job was more important than going to the beach. In the end, we did end up going and Don stayed home to work. (He obviously earned BIG brownie points for that one!)

We have been very cautious and hesitant to share this news or get too excited before everything was finalized. We were scarred from previous opportunities and decided to try and keep it to ourselves as long as we could. We still don't feel like it's real. I asked Don if he felt relieved yet, and sadly neither of us do. It's hard to get excited when you have been told and promised so many things for so long...to later learn that they would not pan out. As of 12:12 today, we got the official thumbs up from the principal that everything is 100% official! I think I might either cry or pass out. I really cannot believe it.

So in a nutshell....

We don't have to move.
There will be no commute...at all!
He will teaching PE AND coaching football!

How could this be so perfect? All I can say is God is SO good! Lots of prayer and lots of support from family is what got us through this. Somehow everything always just seems to work out. We may never understand it, and we will certainly never deserve it, but we are blessed beyond measure that is for sure.

We are overwhelmed and grateful for all of the thoughts and prayers from so many that are always checking in and asking about us. We are ready to finally move on with our lives and talk about something else. HALLELUJAH!!!!!

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts as we adjust to our new life. Thankfully, high school football is NOTHING compared to college. I am looking forward to having semi-free weekends with my family this fall. Yippee!!

I think these smiles say it all!!!

Even when we are too weak to have any faith left, He remains faithful to us and will help us, for he cannot disown us who are part of Himself, and He will always carry out His promises to us.
II Timothy 2:13

Cleaning off the iPhone

2011-07-28T13:30:00.000-05:00

I haven't touched my camera since we returned home from the beach. I needed a break and so did Ellie. That doesn't mean I haven't used my phone to catch a few funnies here and there. I just had to share a few!

First off...I will never try to be cheap again and buy Kroger diapers. They equal the ultimate diaper wedgie. My poor child.

Don found an almost new swing at a yard sale a few weeks ago and hung it up last week. Ellie LOVES it. We did lots of swingin' this morning before it got too hot. She looks so relaxed!

We had a nice visit with Dr. Amy yesterday for Ellie's 18 month check up. She is perfect! She is in the 90-95th percentile in every category and weighs 29 pounds! Here she is checking out the fish tank at the doc's office.

I'll try and do the big 18 month post when I get a chance. Can't believe she is half-way to TWO!

We're Baaaaack

2011-07-24T13:46:00.001-05:00

We just got home from a wonderful week in Perdido Key! It was so nice to get away and spend time with great friends. We of course missed Don like crazy but he said was so busy that the time just flew by.

Ellie was almost perfect on the drive down. A new Barney DVD and plenty of snacks were our saving grace! She did however have a little trouble adjusting to our new surroundings and the pack-n-play, but overall I cannot complain one bit!

Aunt Jenny was a HUGE help. She jumped right in and carried bags, babies, pacis and sippie cups like a champ. I could not have done it without her. We also took a babysitter, Miss Kaitlyn. She was a lifesaver! She allowed us to go back out to the beach after baths and lunch and sat with E and Will while they napped. Genius! We also went to dinner one night and enjoyed a meal without scarfing it down and wrestling tired kiddos. We will definitely be doing that from now on:)

Ellie LOVED everything about the beach. The sand, the water, the waves, the sun...everything. She is definitely my little water baby!

We went on a dolphin cruise one night with Jenny and had a great time! Ellie loved looking and pointing to the dolphins. She was not a fan of the life jacket, however.

We gave Will a a john john for his birthday that matched a dress Ellie had so we could take their picture on the beach. That was easier said than done. I am hoping Leigh got a few better shots than I did.

The original plan was to take family pictures in something else other than the traditional white/khaki. We went ahead and took a few even though it makes me very sad Don isn't in any of them. I still think we got a few pretty cute shots!

We had a great time but it is nice to be home in our own beds. Back to life, back to reality!

**If any of you are wondering...every outfit Ellie is wearing in this post came from Facebook. I'm telling yall...it's the place to shop!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2011-07-13T09:07:00.001-05:00

This is my first time to participate in WILW...but I thought today was the perfect day to start!

First of all...I'm loving my Diet Dr. P. Can't live without it!

I am also loving my job. I am so thankful I get the best of both worlds. I get to be at home with E and work/travel a few days a week. Perfect fit for me! I also received some pretty great news last week that was just icing on the cake;)

Of course, I am really loving these two and our wonderful families!

Last but not least...I am loving that my hubby insisted that E and I go to the beach even though he is now unable to go with us. (Long story...promise an update soon!) I had a hard time deciding whether or not that was the right thing to do, but I will be taking E's Aunt Jenny along and she promised to be my "assistant husband" for the week. I am excited about a vacation, but it won't be the same without Don there. I am grateful we will get a little vacay after all!

Nice weekend...

2011-07-09T22:15:00.000-05:00

And it's not over yet!

We are actually in town this weekend and it has been SO nice. We haven't had anything on the agenda except Will"s (or Bubba, as Ellie calls him) first birthday party! Leigh did such a good job on all the details and we all had tons of fun!

Ellie crashed in the car on the way home from the party and Don soon followed her on the couch! Mammie came this afternoon to visit and took us to Cracker Barrel. Ellie was really "hamming" it up for the camera before we left. She now says "CHEESE" real big and loud...if you can't tell!

And please beware...if you enter our house with any sort of cup that has a straw...somebody will snatch it out of your hands FAST! Sorry Mammie, Ellie drank all of your juice:)

After dinner, Aunt B and Uncle E joined Mammie to babysit so Don and I could go to a movie. We love watching movies and have longed to go to the theater for a while now. We enjoyed our couple of hours together so much. Thank ya'll for driving all that way for us!

Tomorrow is our turn to keep the wild 2 year old's in the nursery and we plan to get a few things done outside. Just the kind of weekend I like!

Independence Day

2011-07-05T15:21:00.000-05:00

As soon as we arrived back in Memphis from the whirlwind wedding weekend, our first stop was to pick up our sweet girl from my grandparents house. We both missed her SO much but I am not sure she felt the same. She seemed very excited to see us when we walked in but it did take her a minute to warm up to us. I will admit, it hurt my feelings for a minute. But then I realized what a blessing it is for her to have great-grandparents that are willing AND able to care for her for an entire weekend. Thank you so much Granny and Grandonna!

When we got home, Ellie was OUT. She napped until 7 that night! I was prepared for a little "detox" so I let her sleep. I didn't imagine bedtime being very easy so she napped and I unpacked and started laundry. As soon as she woke up, we changed clothes and headed out for a little 4th of July family celebration.

First stop...YoLo! Our town has opened up 2 new yogurt shops and it is a new favorite. After yogurt, we ventured out to Pringles Park to watch the fireworks show!

Before the show started, we passed the time by throwing around the football. Nothing more American than tossing the football in your flag dress. Don was SO proud:)

Monday morning on the "real" July 4th, we headed up to the Kentucky Lake for Ellie's first lake trip and boat ride. I was a little nervous about her being on the boat, but she LOVED it!

After we got home later that night, we had our own little fireworks show. Don is like a big kid when it comes to fireworks so he was all about it. Ellie didn't seem to mind them at all!

We had a great weekend but I am TIRED! It may take me all week to recover!

We made it...

2011-07-05T14:56:00.000-05:00

Through another marathon summer full of weddings! Don was in two and I was in one...and last summer (3 months post-baby) I was in THREE weddings. Surely every body is married by now???? HA!

We had a FUN FUN FUN weekend in Franklin, Tennessee. I cannot believe my little baby Blair is married! She was a beautiful bride and all of the festivities leading up to the wedding were so nice and tons of fun.

Congrats Blair and Larry! Have a fabulous time on your cruise!

Happy 4th!

2011-07-04T22:56:00.000-05:00

We've had a busy few days, so I'll just leave you with a few pics. More to come!

Ellie's hearing test

2011-06-30T12:23:00.000-05:00

Ellie had her bi-annual hearing screening today. The week leading up to this test I started to worry a little and made sure to quiz her on words, sounds, and commands. I pretty much worried for nothing because she passed!

We missed the test in January due to a conflict and they are booked solid for a year, so we have not been since this time last year. A lot can happen in a year, but deep down I always knew she could hear just fine (click here to read about her test last year).

The audiologist did say her hearing COULD be better, but to come back in 6 months and check again. This was the only comment that kind of concerned me. They did a few different tests this time, one of which we sat in a sound proof booth and they played different sounds at all different decibels. They had Sponge Bob and Minnie Mouse in boxes that light up to help attract them to that sound. A few times it took her a couple of tries to recognize the sounds, but overall she did well.

They also gave us handouts on developmental milestones in speech, language and words. She is pretty much on track with these and I know it will continue to improve as she gets older. Ellie talks ALL THE TIME but it is still hard to understand what she is saying. She definitely has her own little language!

Going in for this test brought back memories of those days in the hospital right after she was born. I try not to be angry or sad, but sometimes that is hard.
I guess what is important now is that she is a healthy, energetic little toddler that has come a LONG way since her first few days of life, and for that I am SO thankful!

17 Months!

2011-06-26T21:21:00.000-05:00

Ellie, you are 17 months old today!

What are you up to? Well, everything! You are still a busy, busy bee and play so well at home with your toys. You love your babies and your new kitchen the most!

You are saying more words every day! You talk all the time and the words you say are loud and clear. You have learned to give the BEST hugs and kisses and you give them out all the time. I absolutely love it when you squeeze my neck tight and pucker up those cute little lips!

You have 8 teeth, one molar coming through and 1 incisor cutting through as well. These teeth have been rough! Your bedtime used to be between 8-8:30 but the past few days have been brutal! I couldn't even get you to cry it out to sleep. I am determined this week to get you back on track. We may not leave the house but I need you to rest! You are so much happier when you sleep.

We have spent a lot of time outside this summer and you love to swim! You are pretty fearless in the water and have a big time splashing around. You also love to take a bath each night. You are my little fish! I can't wait to see how you do at the beach in a few weeks.

Your hair has really grown and it is curly! I am so excited. I love your curls. It was on my wishlist before you were born...ha!

You eat most meals pretty well. You LOVE blueberries and strawberries, peanut butter crackers, pancakes, spaghetti, ravioli, applesauce, apple juice (you say joooose peeeeese) and of course, mac-n-cheese. I know it's bad but it's my go to food if you won't eat anything else. Chick-fila nuggets are the only meat you really eat and that is not very often. When we do eat there it is a treat and you gobble them up. You still get plenty of fruit and yogurt, I promise!

You are the light of our lives and I honestly do not know what I would do without you. You are loved by so many and I hope one day you realize how lucky you are to have so people that just adore you. It is kind of overwhelming for me at times! I am so thankful that you are a sweet, happy baby, although you really aren't much of a baby anymore. I cannot believe you are such a big girl!

At 5:50 the other morning when you woke me up pretty unhappy, I got you out of bed and went to rock you back to sleep. This was such a sweet time because I never get to do this anymore. I loved every minute!

Picture overload

2011-06-24T16:08:00.001-05:00

I just realized my entire last post didn't include a single picture of Ellie. I am so sorry grandmothers and great-grandmothers! To make up for it, I have a TON of just random photos that I took over the past week or so. Enjoy!!