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!