Christmas Tour 2006

We hit the road early Friday afternoon last week and made our first stop in Tennessee at Spencer's sister's house to have Christmas with his immediate family. Gifts, gifts, galore is all I can say! Carter and Ella Ann raked it in and got some really cute things from everyone. They really enjoyed sitting in their new, monogrammed chairs from their Nana and Papa and playing with their light up ducks that are for the bath!
We left for Kentucky on Saturday and stayed with Spencer's grandmother and had Christmas with her. We have not seen Spencer's two grandmother's for quite a long time, so they were beyond happy to see Ella Ann; I'm sure they were happy to see us too! ha! Sunday morning we went to his other grandmother's house and spent the day with the rest of his extended family. There were 24 people at his Nanny's house, which is definitily a record! Everyone is adding to their family these days, so we loved getting to see everyone and spend time catching up and eating, and eating, and eating......etc.! It was great!
We left for my parent's home on Sunday night and had our Christmas with them on Monday. Again, we opened many gifts and ate some more great food! I'm still stuffed and we are all still eating leftovers! We cannot complain, though, we only get such yummy food around Christmastime, so we must enjoy every last bite that we can! Ella Ann received some really fun toys from my parents and loved playing with some of them over the course of this week. Unfortunately, Spencer had to work on Wednesday, so he left Ella Ann and I and we stayed with my parents until Friday. My poor Dad drove us home to Georgia and then turned around and drove back to Kentucky the same day! I guess it was worth it to have his favorite women with him all week! Sorry Mom, he loves you too I'm sure! hehehehee!

Ella Ann did great traveling and was quite a trooper with all the car rides, missed naps, new faces, etc. She was the life of the party, along with her cousins, Carter and Thatcher. We all loved sitting around in a circle and watching the kids play together. What a blessing they are to all of us! The three of us are sad to be home in a way because we already miss everyone so much and our time together was so short AND it passed so fast, as usual! We will be back in the car doing it all over again, though, before we know it!

Happy New Year to everyone! Love, Spencer, Katie, & Ella Ann

Ella Ann & Carter sat still for one second so we could snap some pictures of them in their new seats!

You can almost hear all of us saying "NO!" through this picture, can't you?!?! Ahhhhhh the temptation of the tree and ornaments!

How cute is Carter at his Granny's house??? Do you think he is photographed often?

While Carter and Thatcher napped, Ella Ann entertained the crowd at Nanny's house on a stuffed horse!

The three little angles playing with Thatcher's new toy.

Playing on her new rockin' zebra in her Cindarella hat at my parent's house. Ella Ann woke up and hopped on her new ride!

Round 4 of Christmas at Grandpa and Mimi's house!

Ella Ann just loves Dottie. The poor cat couldn't get a break from Ella Ann, she chased Dottie around everywhere clapping and yelling! This is a rare moment of petting!

We were listening to Christmas music as we opened presents in the living room. Ella Ann ran to the room where the music was playing and when I walked in, she was swaying to the music by herself! My Dad then picked her up and danced with her! Nobody puts Ella Ann in the corner, nobody!

She would not part with this toy, even for breakfast!

I could bore you with 50 more pictures of Ella Ann, but I think you all have seen enough for now! :)

It's Almost Christmas!

Yeay, it's almost Christmas! The three of us are getting really excited about seeing our families soon! Ella Ann needs some entertainment because I haven't been doing too good of a job lately! She's getting pumped about seeing her cousins, Thatcher and Carter!

We took the below pictures this past week/weekend. They are pretty random, but funny! The first picture Spencer took last week of Ella Ann pushing Elmo around on her car. She put him up there all by herself and began giving him a tour of the living room!

Since the weather has been beautiful here recently, we were all able to go to the park on Saturday, where once again, I was forced into tossing a football with Spencer! I do, though, have to admit I'm getting much better, either that or Spencer is just saying that so I'll keep playing with him! ha! Ella Ann wants to be a part of it now and enjoys carrying the football around with her in the house. I believe Spencer is very proud! I took the pictures of her in her pjs this weekend. Spencer dressed her, which is why her pants are hiked up all the way to her neck! Of course I would never do that! :)

Last night, our church had their Christmas service. It was called "Breath of Heaven" and included the story of Jesus' birth. They had an orchestra and many, many people in the choir singing. It was beautiful and Spencer and I really enjoyed it! We dressed Ella Ann in her Christmas dress that her Nana gave her and she looked so pretty! We tried to keep her with us for at least some of the time in the sanctuary because it was a family-oriented event and we knew she would love hearing the music. Unfortunately, that didn't quite happen. Ella Ann was all over the place! Not even her precious blanket or veggie puffs could keep her contained! She didn't even make it through the first overature of "Silent Night" before she was in the nursery! We have realized we have a very antsy child because there were several young children close to her age in the service that sat peacefully in their parent's laps most of the time. Ohhh well, maybe next year!

Merry Christmas to you all!!!! Love, Spencer, Katie & Ella Ann

Ella Ann giving Elmo a ride on her car!

Ella Ann is ready for some football!!!!!!

Ella Ann in front of our tree after our Christmas service last night. She's pointing at her favorite gift to torture, her Nana's! The bow may be half eaten by the time Nana does get it!

I took this picture as Ella Ann was walking toward me trying to give me a hug, or grab the camera!

Decking the Condo!

We have FINALLY put up our Christmas tree! Yeay! Because Ella Ann and I were out of town last weekend, we waited to get our tree until this past Saturday. We tried to get it on Thursday, but the place was closed both times we went (no we're not stupid, we were there at the right time the second time around, but no one showed!), so we finally picked one out on Saturday! The tree we picked out is beautiful, but we again had to wait over 24 hours for the branches to fall so we could decorate it! Unfortunately, Ella Ann was unable to help us decorate last night because she had a temperature and was beyond fussy, so she went to bed early. No worries grandparents, she is MUCH better today! Spencer and I think it was just teething because she has been fussy for several days.

Anyway, as you can see from the pictures below, our tree is fabulous, and the lean gives it flare! ha! When Ella Ann woke up this morning, I went ahead and lit the tree so it would be ready for her. I sat her down in front of it and she was mesmorized. She loves touching the branches and the nonbreakable ornaments within reach. Now she attempts to say tree, but it comes out "breeeeeeeeee!" There is a small ornament of Santa's face that she can touch and each time she points at it I say, "Santa" and she repeats back to me, "Daaada", but it sounds somewhat like "Santa"! :) The "breeeeeeeeee" will be her entertainment for the next two weeks!

Our stockings.

Ou beautiful leaning tree!

I wanted all to see our Disney tree skirt, since it will be covered with presents from here on out!

Ella Ann admiring the tree this morning.

Ella Ann with her pointer ready! (The "Daada" ornament is behind her.)

Visiting Grandparents

Ella Ann and I took a trip up to Kentucky to visit both sets of grandparents for a long weekend. We stayed with my parents, but Ella Ann went to see her Nana on Sunday, while my parents and I went to Evansville to do some Christmas shopping. It was nice to be with just my Mom and Dad without having to shop and eat around naps, meals and bedtime! We actually enjoyed our long lunch and day of shopping! We even went to the movies that night and saw "Casino Royale"!! Wow! It was like before I had Ella Ann!! By the way, I highly recommend that movie. It was very, very good and I normally do not like action movies. Don't get me wrong, the three of us really missed her, but it was great to relax and have fun and Ella Ann got some much-needed time with her Nana!

On Friday, we went to a great Italian restaurant and had dinner. Since Ella Ann is walking, she doesn't really enjoy sitting at the dinner table at restaurants because she wants to walk around and explore. Our service was kind of slow, so when my parents and I got our food, we swallowed it whole in order to hurry up and leave! I think my tuna was stuck in my esophagus until Saturday morning!

We put up their Christmas tree on Saturday, which I haven't done with them since before I was married. It was just like old times! My parents broke down this year and bought a fake tree...such sell outs! However, after the massive, 9-footer was standing and decorated, I had to admit it was a beautiful fake tree! Ella Ann didn't know what to think of it. She was a little scared at first, but then started touching the ornaments and picking at the bows on the presents. Of course, she pointed to it no less than 500 times and each time we had to say, "tree", "yes, tree", over and over and over. It will be quite fun when we have our tree up in the living room this week! Ella Ann will have a field day with that!

It was a great trip to see our family, but I know Spencer is glad to have us home!

Ella Ann and I in the kitchen waiting to go to dinner on Friday.

Ella Ann and Mimi.

Ella Ann pointing at the tree that is ten times bigger than her!

Ella Ann and Dottie, my parent's cat, checking each other out. Ella Ann LOVES cats so she got to pet Dottie, who is very good with her.

Ella Ann playing with Grandpa by the Christmas tree.

Why is it sooooo cold in Kentucky??? Ella Ann learned how to say "burrrrrr" this weekend after I said it every time we left the house!

A Belated Thanksgiving

Ever since Spencer and I have been married, we've always spent Thanksgiving with my parents. The first two years we were married we went to Disney World, last year Ella Ann was born a week before and this year Spencer had to work so we couldn't go anywhere. Therefore, my parents drove down here again and I cooked our Thanksgiving feast. My Mom was unable to take off work on Friday, so we just skipped Thanksgiving Day and treated it as any other day. Spencer had both Thursday and Friday off, so we went to the park to enjoy some amazing spring-like weather. Spencer made me toss a football with him both days at the park and Ella Ann would sit in between us in the grass with one of her three singing Christmas ornaments. Yes, she has carried around one of three bug Christmas ornaments that "grunt" Christmas tunes that I found when I was unpacking some of our Christmas decorations this past week! It's hilarious because she will dance each time she pushes their bellies and they starting grunting "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". So if you will picture in your mind me trying to toss a football (for those of you who know me all too well you know how much I hate sports) so you can imagine how terrible I am and then there was Ella Ann walking back and forth between us pushing her singing ornament and dancing! I'm sure we were a sight for sore eyes!

Okay, so back on Thanksgiving, my parents came down Friday night and we ordered some fantastic pizza. Spencer had to work on Saturday, so my parents, Ella Ann and I went out to brunch and did some Christmas shopping. That afternoon, we had some appeptizers and Mom and I cooked until Spencer got home later that evening. Then we got to chow down on our belated Thanksgiving dinner! Finally! Next year, hopefully, we'll be back at Disney for the holiday!!!!

We had a really good time together this weekend and it was an easy goodbye for my parents today because Ella Ann and I will be seeing them again in a few days!

Ella Ann playing with her Mimi.

What a happy kid!

Ella Ann giving Grandpa a big kiss!

Ella Ann with her Grandpa and singing ornament!

Our Thanksgiving spread!

Ella Ann had already eaten dinner before we sat down for ours. She sat with us, though, and ate some puffs because she wouldn't touch the turkey!

Ella Ann and her Cheerios

Now that Ella Ann doesn't drink bottles four times a day, I give her two snacks a day along with her meals. One is usually fruit and the other is many, many Cheerios. She doesn't like bread and is picky with meat, so Cheerios and oatmeal, which she eats for breakfast, are my best bet! For her snack this morning, I put a bowl of Cheerios on the floor with her water and she just dove in them and shoved as many in her mouth as humanly possible and then proceeded to keep shoveling handfuls in her mouth, even if her mouth had met it's maximum Cheerio capacity! I had to take a picture because Spencer and I were laughing at her, which made her laugh, so they just keep falling out of her mouth. It was great! Most of you all know what a big eater we have on our hands (she eats adult-size portions for her 3 meals) so I'm sure if I gave her an entire box of Cheerios she would eat the whole thing! I think she has a wooden leg! Ohhh and I'd like to mention that not only is she a big eater, she's an expensive one! I tried giving her generic brand cereal and she wouldn't have it. It was Cheerios or nothing at all! Hmmmm...I wonder where she gets that from??

She points out her next move.....

then she shovels them in her mouth with one hand while the other hand grabs the next bite....

then Ella Ann decides that dumping them all on the floor would be much easier, which is when Daddy interceds and begins rationing them out to her!

Birthday Girl

Today is Ella Ann's first birthday! Yeay! Spencer took the day off today, so we are just going to relax and play. I thought I would post a few pictures I took this morning of her playing with her barn that Grandpa and Mimi gave her for her birthday. She's carrying around the sheep in the last picture...she loves it's fuzzy head!

If you'll look closely, she has a cut on her head. It's her very first walking injury! I was sitting at the kitchen table last night and she was carrying a book to me and tripped over our rug and hit her head on my birthday present, i.e., my new bench for my table. Yes, she screamed her head off! :)

We have playgroup today, so Ella Ann will get to see some of her friends on her birthday!

Let's P-A-R-T-Y!!!!

We celebrated Ella Ann's 1st birthday this past Saturday!! Wow, it's hard to believe she's 1!!! This year has gone by so fast, and I cannot believe our little baby is no longer a baby. She is up on two feet now and walking everywhere and cannot be considered a baby anymore. It is bittersweet because I miss her being so small and sitting in my lap forever and ever, but it is really fun now to watch her explore all things new, understand what we are saying most of the time, drink real milk, and dance her little tail off! She loves to dance and showed off her skills at the drop of a hat, or should I say a commerical with music, to her adoring fans this weekend!

All of our family came in town for the big celebration. We really enjoyed having everyone here and were sad to see them leave. Ella Ann racked it in as far as gifts goes and received enough new toys to last her at least until Christmas! ha! :) We ate a lot of food and had "Pretty In Pink" cupcakes, i.e., strawberry cupcakes, for dessert; however, Ella Ann had her own special cake that we had gotten her. If you will notice in the last few pictures she absolutely hated her cake and wouldn't have anything to do with it! We thought as much as she loves food she would literally dive into a cake but that certainly did not happen! She sucked on her fingers that had a little bit of icing on them, but that was it!

Ella Ann has been busy today playing with all her new toys! Her Uncle Craig and Aunt Kasey got her a magnetic barn with animals that sticks to our fridge and that has been her favorite so far. She pulls it off the fridge and takes it, as it plays "Old McDonald", over to Spencer in the living room and then will go back and get the animals. It's so funny! At least I can get some cooking done now without Ella Ann attached to my leg!

Thank you to all of you that came and to those that sent gifts and sweet cards. Spencer and I appreciated all of your help with what you brought and for helping out in the kitchen! It was so much fun and I can't wait to do it again next year! Maybe I should start trading Ella Ann's brussel sprouts and beans for cake so she'll learn to eat it by then! :)

Ella Ann with her Nana

Ella Ann is trying to figure out why Minnie Mouse looks so familiar!

Taking a break from opening all her gifts!

The bows were a big hit too!

Ohhh YEAY it's the magnetic barn!!!

Ella Ann helping Mommy open some gifts.

Ohhh nooooo I don't know about this sticky icing thing! Yuck!

"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want to!"

Ella Ann dancing in her "My Daddy Loves Me" t-shirt!

Striking a pose this afternoon in her new bunny slippers! She also enjoys chewing on them too!

Halloween with Minnie Mouse

Tonight was Ella Ann's first Halloween and she went dressed as Minnie Mouse! She looked hilarious in her costume and every time we put it on her we would die laughing! The costume had a hood on it, so I was proud of Ella Ann that she kept it up the entire time!

On Sunday, Spencer and I took her to Goblins in the Garden at the Botanical Gardens. It was kind of like a fall festival and to our disappointment, was lacking in the candy department! We didn't want to pet earthworms, we wanted some treats!!! It was a blast, though, and it was a perfect day to get out and enjoy one of our city's hot spots. We had never been to the Botanical Garden's and we really, really liked it. They had two other exhibits going on, which were different kinds of sculptures, as you can see below, and another was a display of scarecrows that poked fun of celebrities or were characters from movies, i.e., the dead version of Marie Antoinette. It was great!

Tonight we went to a neighborhood that is close to where we live and went trick-or-treating. Every single house we went to sat on a hill and had a zillion steps leading up to the front door so I would have to get Ella Ann out of her stroller and drag her up the steps to each house! It was quite a marathon and I think I wore the poor girl out! By about the twentith house she started moaning when I pulled her out as if to say, "not again"! She was quite a trooper, though, and kept her game face on. She was a very stoic Minnie Mouse; she wouldn't smile or toss up a wave for anyone!

At one point we went to a "haunted" house and the witch that answered the door told us to come in and when Ella Ann saw the skeleton laying in a coffin in the living room she completely flipped and started screaming and crawling up my neck! Needless to say, we left immediatly! Poor kid!

Unfortunately, Ella Ann was super tired both Sunday and tonight so I couldn't get her to smile for the camera, but I think she had a good time because she was lavished with so much attention! :)

Our very tired goblin!

Ella Ann and I in front of one of the sculptures in the festival area.

Ella Ann atop one of the sculptures in the orchid garden. She was staring at the people saying hi and waving to her, but they couldn't illicit a response!

I just wanted to include this picture because it was so beautiful. The Botanical Gardens are definitily an oasis in the city.

I couldn't resist having our picture taken with the Pirates of the Carribean scarecrow! It was only fitting since it's Disney!

Ella Ann's trick-or-treating face on Halloween night!

Trick-or-Treat!