Monday, January 30, 2017

Ellie is SEVEN!

Well, long time no see!  Not sure if this will be a more regular occurrence-but I decided to dust off the blog and give a quick update.  

We have had a wonderful year!  Miller is growing like a weed, talking huge words, carrying on excellent conversations, and just plugging right along.  He is so sweet and loving and pleasant 90% of the time.  He melts me on a daily basis.  

Ellie is so grown up!  She has really blossomed this year and seems to have learned SO much in first grade.  Her reading has really improved but she seems to love math the most.  She is still taking dance on Tuesdays, voice on Thursdays, and enters pageants every now and then as well.  She keeps us busy!  We also participate in Kirk Kids at church on Wednesday nights and Awana on Sundays.  She rarely complains about her busy schedule and loves school almost every day.  

With the kids getting older, I finally feel like it is getting easier to do every day things.  No more diaper bags or cribs in this house!  While I am sad that we are no longer in the baby phase, I am really enjoying this "bigger" kid stage even more.  They still have their moments, no doubt.  But life is good!  


Last week, Ellie turned SEVEN!  That just sounds so old! To celebrate, she had a 3 friends over to play after school on her actual birthday.  We ordered pizza and had cake and ice cream.  If I am being honest, I think we are finished with BIG parties for her.  She and I both enjoy a more low key celebration and this was just perfect!

BB, Eric, and Mammie had flowers and balloons delivered to her after school.  It was SUCH a fun surprise!


The Saturday after her birthday we headed to Memphis.  We picked up our sweet friend Ali and headed downtown to have afternoon tea at the Peabody.  It was the perfect way to celebrate our 7 year old!  The girls were so cute and funny.


They had "duckie tea" caramel apple flavored.  We had 3 courses of delicious treats.  All kinds of yummy sandwiches, scones, and desserts.  It was fabulous!

Taking selfies and making Instagram story videos.  Silly girls!

It was a wonderful day and one I know we will never forget.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

A CRAZY Fall

Three months later...I am going to try and catch up again!

This fall season has been one for the books.  Between football season, work, kindergarten and all of our "others"  we have gone non-stop.  We had two dear friends get married, took a trip to Washington DC, watched the Rebels lose to Memphis (still not over that one) and celebrated Halloween.  We also celebrated all of the October birthdays and went to Nashville over Fall break!  I am tired just typing it all!

I am totally not surprised at all, but Ellie has totally ROCKED Kindergarten!  She gets up in the mornings fairly well and does her work each and every day like a champ.  She truly enjoys her days, her work, her friends, and her teacher.  She comes home full of stuff to tell us each day and continues to blow us away with all she observes and remembers.  She is mine, but she is amazing.  I just love this girl.  She has exceeded my expectations in every aspect of her little life.  Proud mom?  Yeah, maybe. :)

One of of the many perks of our sweet little school...she and buddy Baker were picked to say the pledge one morning!  I love how sweet these little friends are.  I also love how my friends and husband are there to peek in on the fun moments throughout the day.


Football season has come to an end once again...and we survived!  We missed 3 games this year which is more than I would have liked-- but due to strep, weather, and Aunt Jenny's wedding, it just happened.  Miller was overall EXCELLENT at the games this year.  He is pretty much a momma's boy all the way and never ventured too far from me.  Ellie ran wild with her friends and had a blast each week.  Overall, this was the easiest football season I have had yet.  Still not easy, but  EASI-ER.
  
 Our homecoming this year was awesome!  We came away with a big WIN and had a huge tailgate party with tons of tents, tables, food and fun.  Don was pumped to see the support and said all of the tents reminded him of the Grove in Oxford.  It was a great night!


One of my most favorite family pictures to date.  I love my family and our hard working Daddy/coach!
He stays so busy during the season but never misses a beat the minute he walks in the door.  He handles all of the pressures and commitments like a champ and still manages to be a huge help to me with my schedule.  Somehow we manage to make it all work!

I can't believe Ellie is in her 3rd year of "Little Spirits" cheer.  They have cheered twice so far and she has done great.  Cheer, dance, pageants are definitely her "forte".  A girly girl for sure!  She is even starting voice lessons this week.  Another thing to add to our weekly schedule!

Peeps and DeDe gifted the kids tickets to Frozen on Ice for their birthdays.  We had to wait until September to go but it was a great gift and something we really looked forward to.  We all LOVED it.  Also so glad we were able to visit with Granny and Grandon while we were in town!






 Daddy turned 34! We cooked him his favorite meal, enjoyed a yummy DQ ice cream cake and he even was spoiled with a new pistol he was been wanting FOREVER.  I think he had a pretty great birthday this year.
 The annual Greenfield Fire Prevention Festival was another fun week.  Ellie was able to take her first field trip uptown to the Fire House on a fire truck, tour the house and learn a lesson on fire safety.  After their tour, they were given the rest of the day to play at the carnival, ride rides, and eat yummy treats.  A big day for a little kindergartener!  So glad I was able to be there with her.

And we can't leave little brother out...the fire trucks also visited Miss Penny's and they were able to ride as well. He came home with a bag full of treats and a fire hat.  He had the BEST day.  I know it seems I talk a lot about Ellie, but Miller is never far behind.  In fact, he has made us just as proud with his new routine.  He absolutely loves Miss Penny's house.  He walks right in every morning, loves his friends, circle time and show and tell Fridays.  I cannot express what a blessing Miss Penny has been to our family this year.  I really struggled with mom guilt and him going full time, but it has been an easy transition for all of us.  He still has "mommy days" at home with me every once in a while and loves to sit in my lap each afternoon.  This angel boy melts my heart on a daily basis.  He is pure joy!
Last Christmas, our Aunt Jenny got engaged!  I thought surely she'd have an island destination wedding, but instead she went for a big bash in Jackson on October 10.  The only issue with being the last of the friends to wed, is that all of your other friends have had multiple children, which turns into a MASSIVE wedding party.  Jenny decided to have 5 flower girls and 5 ring hearers!  Crazy.  I of course think these two were the cutest and sweetest.  They looked absolutely precious and did perfectly!  It was a little tricky when I was in the wedding as well and Don had a game, but once again DeDe came to the rescue and helped out tremendously!  The wedding was beautiful and these kiddos made us so proud.


Lucky for us, the week after the wedding was Fall break.  I ended up having to work in Nashville so we decided to make a little trip out of it.  We ate at some yummy places, visited the AG store for an ear piercing and hair do on Caroline, and visited the Adventure Science Museum.  A fun little family getaway!



The following weekend was a very anticipated game...Memphis vs. Ole Miss!  This was the kiddos first big college game.  We tailgated with tons of friends and had great seats in the Ole Miss coach's family section.  It was a terrible game for the Rebels but our multitudes of Memphis friends sure were happy!  The kids had fun but we were all EXHAUSTED by the time we made it home that night.




The next day was one of my favorite church events of the year...our annual Fall Fest/ Hayride.  We have the best food, a great hayride and tons of fall games and fun with our church family.  

Halloween was great this year too!  Miller has had an ongoing obsession with Peter Pan recently so it was a no-brainer for him to be Peter and E to be Tink.  They were a hit everywhere they went!  I was also able to help with Ellie's class party and attend her costume parade at school.  We trick or treated at the bank, library, Trunk or Treat at church and went around town to see family and friends.  Miller really got it this year which made it even more fun.  


I ended up being able to attend the College Board conference in Washington DC this first of this month.  So glad football was over in time for Don to go with me!  It was so nice to getaway together and eat a few nice meals and see the sights.  We loved our time together!


Lastly, Ellie was chosen at the Citizen of the 6 weeks for her class.  I've already gushed over her enough...but just one more reason she makes up so proud!


 Whew, I think that about covers most of it...now we are gearing up for our busy holiday season.  It just never ends around here, but I guess we wouldn't have it any other way.  I hope to update again soon!



Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Summer

We had a super fun summer.  There were of course days when I couldn't pick up another toy, or break up another fight or clean up after another meal...but I do think we managed to have quite a bit of fun throughout the usual chaos.  I also feel like this is the first summer where I could take the kids to the pool or the movies without being a total stress ball then entire time.  Miller is getting old enough to do more which allowed us to get out and about more than ever!  Since it was Ellie's last summer before school, we made a summer bucket list and managed to check off ALL of our items off of our list and more!

--Visit DeDe and Peeps...Check!  We did a zoo trip, Redbirds game, visited the new Bass Pro
and Ellie went for a week by herself to attend BUMC VBS.  BOTH kids went back at the end of July for 5 days as well.  They stayed busy with carousel rides. Chick-fila lunches, a trip to the Orpheum for a showing of Hook, and a trip or two to the new Bartlett Splash pad.









--Go to the movies...check!  check!  I would like to point out that I took both kids to the movies twice by myself and they were perfect angels.  We saw the Minion movie and Inside Out.  Both were very cute!






Have a friend over to play...check!  Ellie Douglas came over to play one day and Ellie went to play at her house as well.  No pics but it did happen!

Family Fun Day...check!  We had several days/nights spent as a family.  We blew up baby pools and sprinklers, took trips to Jackson to eat, and even went to the lake for a sunset boat ride.  Lots of fun!




The weekend before school started we went to eat at Asahi Hibachi and did a little schools shopping.  I love quality time with these goofballs!

Go get a snowcone...check!  We drove all the way to Union City one night for a snow cone and it was worth the drive!

Girls day...check!  Ellie's love language is definitely quality time and a "girls day" definitely tops the list.  Before school started we had several lunch dates and she even had her nails/toes done to get her kindergarten ready. #spoiled.




Plant a garden...check!  Ellie has asked for a garden for a couple of years now so Don finally gave in. It was a lot of work but we all enjoyed it so much!  We were swimming in cucumbers and zucchini for a few weeks!  We made loads of zucchini bread and pickles and enjoyed lot of fresh veggies all summer.  Don plans to go even bigger next year!


VBS...check!  I spent several days/hours preparing for our VBS this year.  It was a huge success and so much fun.  Miller even loved and can't wait to fully participate next year.




Ellie's dance recital...check!  She learned SO much this year at her new studio and did great at her recital.  She had an entire row of fans and we were so proud of her!



Tee-ball...check!  This year was a little more "emotional" than last, bless her hear so I am not sure she will be playing next year...but we survived, she finished and our sweet little team even had an ice cream party after the awards ceremony.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, but I think I highlighted the big parts.  I am so grateful for these precious little people and all of the fun and memories we managed to make.  Now it's back to the grind and a busy fall season.