Our New Home

Yeay we are in our new house! We had a great move, in fact, it was kinda fun! Maybe because I didn't have to lift anything because I'm pregnant! For those of you who don't know or haven't heard it through the grapevine, I'm almost 13 weeks and due January 7th! We are VERY excited for baby #2! This was one of the main reasons we needed to move fairly quickly into a 3 bedroom home, which is what we are now in. We had several of our ohhhh sooooo kind friends help us out on Thursday night. We ordered pizza and caught up with those we hadn't seen in a while. It all went very fast, maybe because Spencer and I, mainly Spencer, moved us in throughout the week so the guys really only had to move the furniture. We LOVE our new home, especially the location!

Thankfully my Mom came down on Thursday and kept Ella Ann in her hotel room that evening. We closed on Friday morning and then my Mom and Ella Ann came over and we got busy unpacking and getting settled. I can honestly say we have nearly everything done except for a few more pictures to hang. I didn't post a picture of Ella Ann's room or what will be the nursery because they're a work in progress. I ordered Ella Ann new bedding, a big rug, and decorations, all ballerina-themed. She is getting new bedroom furniture since the baby will take over hers.

I also am posting one last picture I have of Ella Ann with Mara Kate at VBS. She also got up in front of the congregation this morning at church and sang (or just stood there I should say) the songs she learned at VBS. If she wasn't holding Sam, she wouldn't have sucked her thumb and instead would've sang because as soon as she sat down with us she started singing all the songs! Silly girl!

She wasn't too happy to be up there! I asked if I could hold Sam and the reply was, "NO!"

Just look for Sam, then you'll see her!

Mimi gave Ella Ann her first bath in her new bathroom.

This is the little hall area we have that has a built-in bureau. It's perfect for storage!

Our living room.

Standing in our dining room right as you enter the front door.

The ceilings look like this in the living and dining room.

The kitchen is my favorite part! We have a gas stove, which I'm learning how to use but really like it! The beautiful flowers are from my sweet husband for our 5-year anniversary yesterday!

Master bedroom

The master bath has a door to the left that leads out to our deck.

We are going to get some patio furniture soon!

The fountain in our backyard will be turned on today and will have fish in it to keep the mosquitos away.

The picnic table in our backyard. I still need to clean it.

Just ignore the mountain of boxes on the front porch. Ella Ann's room is the window on the left.

This is looking down the street to the left at the end of my sidewalk. The yellow car is parked in front of the coffee shop that I will try my best not to frequent too often! :)

Vacation Bible School

Monday was our first day of VBS at our church this week. Ella Ann was so excited about going yesterday morning... in fact we got her t-shirt on Sunday during church and she asked if she could sleep with it that night! The shirt swallowed the tiny 2-year-olds, but Ella Ann sure loved wearing hers, especially since I was wearing the same shirt and when we arrived Monday morning she was very happy to see everyone else in the same outfit! I dropped her off in her room, which of course she started to whine a little, but after that she was great! She is with all of her friends: Diego, Mara Kate, Luke, and the rest of her church buddies that she knows by name.

Jana and I are teaching the 4-year-old class and they were great....just REALLY full of energy....all 11 of them! We have the biggest class by far....figures! They are a really fun group and I know we will enjoy our time with them and Jana and I are just excited we get to teach together, which means we hang out for 3 hours and chat....when we can! The theme is Olympian so all the lingo, decorations, shirts, etc. all have to do with the Olympics. We are "Coach Katie" and "Coach Jana" and the kids are referred to as athletes. Ella Ann's class is called "The Apple of His Eye" and they are SOOOO cute! It was neat to watch Ella Ann file in line with her class into the "opening ceremony" in the morning and she was on the front row singing and dancing with the music leaders! She just loved her day and was so excited to go back in the morning! She kept saying, "I want to go back to DBS!!" Her teachers told me she was very good all morning and enjoyed the activities....they do crafts, have a Bible lesson from someone dressed up in costume, recreation, and snacks just like the rest of the kids. When I saw her during the "closing ceremony" I went up to her and asked if she was having a good time and she didn't have to say a thing, the big smile on her face answered my question! Some of their music was playing in the background and she said to me, "Mommy sit down, I want to sing this song for you." And so she did! She even sang it at the dinner table last night! I was a very proud mommy! I can now safely say that Ella Ann is going to do great in preschool!

Before we left the house Monday morning.

Jana and I's "training center."

All of our crazy kids and our Assistant Coach Katie!!!

Coach Jana and Coach Katie.

Jana and I decorated our room Sunday afternoon, but since she is the creative/artistic one I mainly just handed her the tape!

A few of our athletes.

Unfortunately I had to hide from Ella Ann while I spied on her or else she would come running to me, which is why these pictures are of her backside. I had to write on a piece of tape about her nut allergy because they eat snacks and I'm not there to hover! It was weird to watch her hold hands with someone else besides a family member! My little girl is growing up!

I was spotted during the closing ceremony, so I went to visit her. She was SO excited to see me, you would have thought I had left her for days! This is the one and only time she wore her visor.

Diego and Ella Ann.

This is when she told me to sit down because she wanted to sing me a song!

Brief Update

Sorry kids, I don't have time to sit and type a "real" post with pictures today. Things have been ohhh sooooooo busy this past week! After days, and days, and days of NOT finding a place to move by this coming Thursday we FINALLY found our perfect home in the Virginia-Highlands area on Thursday morning! What a relief! We are beyond excited to move into our new home that will be ours for the next three years! It's a great house for us and the location is awesome....we are at the corner of the Highlands' main shopping/dining/playing area and there is a coffee shop right next door to our house! Spencer will have to install an electric fence around that place because I know I will frequent it often! The one and only downside to the house is it doesn't have much of a backyard, in fact it has a strawberry patch instead of a yard! The good news is we can still put a little play gym on it for Ella Ann because we are fine to walk all over it. We do have a nice size deck, a brick built-in picnic table in the backyard, and a fountain with fish....that should entertain Ella Ann! We can also easily walk to a great playground right down the street.

Anyway, once we move I will take some pictures and post them. Our church's VBS starts on Monday (9:30-12:30) and I'm teaching the 4-year-olds with Jana Monday through Wednesday and will just move on Thursday and close Friday morning. We are going to be able to start moving some stuff in this week too, so I'll be doing that when Ella Ann wakes up from her nap and Spencer will take over in the evenings...when he's not working late. Ella Ann will be participating in the 2/3-year-old class at VBS with Mara Kate and the rest of her buddies. She is VERY excited! Jana and I took the girls to the introduction to VBS this morning during the service. The kids were introduced to the Olympic theme and learned a few songs with motions. Ella Ann was all about the singing! She pushed her way to the front row so she could really dance! I think she's going to do great this week and really enjoy it! I'm very excited for her and the best part is since I'm teaching I can be a fly on the wall and watch her! I'll also be sure and take some pictures!

Well that's all for now. Sorry for the boring update!

SOLD!

Yes indeed we sold our condo....finally! It has been on the market for almost a year and we are SO thankful to have sold it. The market is awful here in Atlanta, especially if you own a condo. They are a dime a dozen and very cheap now. We got the offer on Friday, June 6th, and have to be out of our home by the closing on June 27th. I have kicked it into high gear and have been frantically searching for a place to live this entire week. When I'm not online looking for a place, I'm packing, driving around looking at areas, looking at homes, and all the while completely ignoring my poor child. She's been a trooper so far, even when I packed up most of her room. She still asks where the pictures are so I tell her they'll be going to our new house, which satisfies her. She asks every single day to "go to the NEW house"....I wish I knew where that was so I could take her! Every time we walk into a home she starts running in circles in all the rooms shouting at the top of her lungs "YEAY!!!!! A new house!" and then throws a fit when we leave. It's exhausting. Even though the timing of all of this couldn't be any worse, Spencer is also on a horrible rotation this month and our church's VBS is the week we close/move and I'm volunteering and Ella Ann is participating for the first time, we would get out of this place in 2 days if that's what the buyer wanted! We are just so happy to have sold it in a down market and we can move on!

Fortunately Gary and Gayla came down this weekend to stay with us so they could keep Ella Ann while Spencer and I went to his graduation ceremony Friday night at Maggiano's. YES! Spencer is done with residency!! He got his diploma that evening! We had a fantastic meal and enjoyed the company of all of his friends. It was a welcomed break from the chaos of this week. It was also helpful to have Gary and Gayla here so that we could drive around and look at homes without Ella Ann.

I will keep you all posted on the home search!

This is what our living room looks like at the moment!

She always wants to get in my boxes!

Every single picture I tried to take turned out badly at Spencer's graduation ceremony because the lighting was so poor. This was the best one I could find to at least post.

Mommy's little helper. Ella Ann always wants to help me, no matter what I'm doing. Lately I've started letting her help me unload the dishwasher, which she runs from the living room to help me do! I pull up her stool and let her put all the silverware up, except for the sharp knives! She usually gets it all in the right compartment too!

This is the one and only picture I managed to take while Gary and Gayla were here. We mainly just hung out at the house because we were all so tired!

One Hot Weekend

Hot doesn't really describe the heat we are experiencing down here at the moment. Despite the oppressive temperatures, we got outside and endured it for some fun....of course! Saturday Spencer had the day off so we headed to the Virginia-Highlands, a trendy neighborhood close to where to live, to go to Summerfest. It's a big art festival with lots of good food and a huge play area for kids to make crafts or play in the sand. Last year we went twice but this year we lasted about an hour. All three of us were literally dripping with sweat and it was only 11:00 in the morning! We didn't even walk around to check out all the vendors, we headed straight to the children's area, let Ella Ann make a couple of crafts and play on the awesome playground, and then we walked back to our air-conditioned car! It was honestly just miserable to be outside. There were so many people there too, I don't know what they were thinking! Although I did manage to take several pictures of Ella Ann while we were there. Spencer followed her around the playground while I sat in the shade drying my sweat!

Saturday evening we went to a pool party hosted by 3 of Spencer's friends from residency. Since he will be finished with his 3-year residency (YEAYYYYYYYY!) at the end of this month, many of his friends are having get togethers because a lot of them will be leaving. It started at 6 p.m. and we were the first to arrive! ha! Fortunately, other people with kids showed up shortly after, since we are always the first group of people to leave because of bedtimes! Well, we all had a blast! I enjoy hanging out with Spencer's friends because they are such great people, but I rarely see them so it was nice to catch up. Ella Ann was a fish in the pool the entire time and loved playing with all the kids. They had lots of good food, which Ella Ann also enjoyed. Ohh...on a side note...Spencer and I have managed to get our child to eat meat!!! She has eaten Hamburger Helper this week AND chicken!!!! Holy cow, I know! Can you believe it? I decided to quit making her separate food from us at dinnertime and told her she would now be eating what was served. Well, after a little bribing, pleading, and eventually demanding, she took her first bites of meat and loved it! Hopefully, her vegetarian status is officially over! :) So back to the pool party, we stayed for quite a long time, in fact Ella Ann didn't get to bed until 9 p.m.! Aren't you all so proud of me! I didn't even get mad! :) Well of course that didn't stop her from getting up at 7 a.m. still this morning, but that was okay because we had to get to church early so I could work in the nursery.

On a funny note, on the way to our car to leave the party, a jet flew really low over us and Ella Ann was going nuts. Once we got in the car she said to us, "I saw that plane in the sky. Man, that was amazing." Is she learning Spencer and I's language or what? :)

Here are some pictures from Saturday and this morning.

Ella Ann loves any kind of fruit, so she was thrilled to get her own slice of watermelon at Summerfest!

Trying to decide what to do first in the Kid's Zone.

She made a puppet and a sand bracelet. Look how hot she is! Despite the I-may-quickly-pass-out-at-any-moment look, she kept saying, "I don't want to go home!"

This was a neat little contraption at the playground that all the kids wanted on. I guess it was because they could catch a breeze on it!

This turned out to be a neat picture of her.

Bustin' out some singing and dancing before the pool party got underway!

She managed to persuade Spencer to get in the water by saying in front of all his friends, "I want my Daddy to get in the pool with me!!" Over and over! It was very cute!

Wherever Anjuli, the little baby in the picture, went Ella Ann was right behind her! She is obsessed with babies!

Spencer with a few of his close friends. You never get to see pictures of his friends on the blog! Too bad I only have this one.

I took this picture before we walked out the door to go to church this morning because I wanted to brag about my bargain buy. I got this cute bubble at a consignment sale this past winter for $2.50! I must brag because you know I don't do well with bargain shopping, I'd rather pay full price than rummage through truckloads of bins with crazed mom's stuffing items like mad in laundry baskets! I'm not joking, that's what they do! I do have to say that Ella Ann got her fingers stepped on at the consignment sale where I bought the above outfit! That is why the GAP is so much more appealing to me! :)

Swim Dates & Dinner Dates

Ella Ann and I love hanging out with our friends (Spencer too)!! If there is an excuse to invite them over, we will! Since we have been taking Ella Ann to our pool quite often I invited Megan and Luke to come over this past Saturday since both our husbands were working all day. The kids had a blast at the pool and Megan and I enjoyed catching up while they played.

Last night Kane, Jana, and Mara Kate came over for dinner. We had spaghetti and meatballs, a salad, bread, and an Oreo peanut butter dessert. Ella Ann was SO excited that the whole Barker family was coming over to eat with us, even though the only person she speaks to is Mara Kate! The girls played and played and played while we finished our meal and chatted at the table. If only you could of seen Ella Ann and Mara Kate running like mad around our home while they screamed at the top of their lungs! They both got so worked up that they started speaking gibberish! The only way we could stand it was if the four of us just talked louder over them! We had such a good time with them!


God has blessed us richly with such wonderful people we are able to call good friends, even family, here in Atlanta. The day we leave, or if some our friends happen to leave before us, will be a sad one. Right now, though, all we can do is enjoy what time we have together!

Fun in the sun!

Getting ready to chow down!

Checking out the height difference between Ella Ann and Mara Kate...it's not too much. People always assume that Ella Ann is 3 because of her height. When she went for her two-year check up this past November, the pediatrician estimated her height to be between 5'8" and 5'9". It's hard to believe that one day I will have to tilt my head way up to look my daughter in the eyes! I better cuddle with her a ton while she is still so tiny and will let me!