I Couldn't Think...

of a catchy title for this post since I don't have anything spectacular to blog about. We were busy this week with our usual activities and my days flew by like they usually do. I decided that Ella Ann had no summer clothes or shoes so we went out this week and blew through some cash, which was fun!! She was the most excited about the Hello Kitty flip flops I bought her at H&M, mainly because she's about to die to go to a swimming pool and she knows she will get to wear them to one! I also realized I have no "dressy" dresses for her to wear to church or for Easter so after not finding anything at the shops I got on Etsy.com and found her an adorable dress that will work perfectly for Easter Sunday. If you've never been on Etsy then you need to take a couple of hours (it will take that long because there is so much to look at and it kinda sucks you in) and check out all things handmade. Very fun and unique website! I also found out about a children's consignment store that a friend at church told me about so Ella Ann and I ventured out in the pouring down rain Saturday morning to go bargain hunting. Unfortunately the only thing we left with was a cute little number for Rane...no dresses for Ella Ann, which was what I was hoping to find!

On Saturday afternoon we had a few of Spencer's friends over...well they are my friends too but they work with Spencer. I made a few appetizers and we all sat around the kitchen and chatted for a good 3 hours. Ella Ann LOVED having them over because they were new people to chat it up with and make them play with her! She is on an Easter kick, which is due to the fact that we are prepping her for the holiday by talking about what we are celebrating at Easter and the message that goes along with it. Ella Ann has drug out her Easter basket that is always full of empty eggs that she likes to do egg hunts with periodically throughout the entire year. I swear Spencer hid those eggs 25 times yesterday morning! So of course she had to do an egg hunt with each person that came to our house yesterday! None of them have children and that was made clear by John who hid the eggs so well in her room that Spencer and I couldn't find them...I found two of them this morning cleaning up! ha!

The ING Half Marathon and Marathon was this morning and the route was right down our street! Of course that also meant that we were not able to get out our driveway so we missed church. We had an absolute blast, though, standing outside watching the thousands of runners go by our house! We were out there, all 4 of us, in our pajamas before 8 a.m.! There were many people lining the sidewalks with bells, whistles and music cheering on the masses so it was very entertaining! I think Spencer enjoyed it the most...he was out there for a full 3 hours and even ate his breakfast outside! Ella Ann tried to ruin our parade by whining and wanting to go inside but she finally rallied once she had her tambourine in hand and was able to cheer along with everyone! Spencer and I both knew several people running in it and we got to see all of them pass us! We would cheer them on as they ran by, even Ella Ann would scream and wave!

Of course I cannot NOT mention the fact that Spencer is in heaven this weekend because his beloved Louisville Cardinals are playing for a spot in the Final Four as I type! I couldn't resist, Dad forgive me again, dressing up Rane in his little Cardinal onsie that my mother-in-law gave him! I am not one to dress my children in any type of sports paraphernalia but I did it for my husband! :)

This week we will be busy getting ready for our trip to Kentucky...all 4 of us. Spencer has a vacation week next week so we are using it go to visit family. We are looking forward to seeing everyone soon!!!

I took this picture earlier in the week. Rane is bound and determined to suck his thumb! I've resolved that it runs in our genes!!

I think he was trying to coo, "Go Cards!" :)

Please note the matching "shoe" socks that I was thrilled to put on his feet because they looked so darn cute with the onsie!

Mr. John doing a tremendous job hiding the eggs for Ella Ann!

His fiance Mandy, also participated in the egg hunt! In this picture she is telling Mandy that she didn't "hide them good enough" because she found them too easily!

Catching up in the kitchen. Ella Ann had to be in the center of it all!

Sandra cuddling with Rane.

They both just so happened to be sporting their Smurfette t-shirts!!!

A steady stream of of people were running by our house like this for a good 2 hours.

How fun is it to walk out your front door in your pj's and be in the middle of a marathon!

Looking down our street to the left. There was a watering station and a big cheering section...complete with some heavy drinkers!

Tis' The Season

Yes it's finally springtime!!! Wahooo! Ohhh and the lovely things that go with spring, such as allergies! Yeay! Of course I'm kidding! Poor little Ella Ann has suffered miserably this week with the new blooms all around us and the invitation they personally give her to pick them and smell them! Ella Ann cannot resist picking the weeds, i.e. dandelions, when we go for walks, even though I try to make her stop but how can I NOT let her enjoy all the rebirth around us that is so beautiful? It's in her nature to want to take it all in, but for that she pays a price. We have been giving her Zyrtec all week to no avail and finally called her pediatrician who called in a nasal steroid and antihistamine eye drops to give her some relief. The child literally scratched her eyes so much that they have cuts around them. She has the typical "allergy shiners" from the constant scratching of the nose and eyes. I believe she also had a cold at the same time, which she so lovingly gave to me, so it was a double whammy. She has also been up every night this week with complaints. One night she was crying because her eyes were glued shut. Now I think she is on the mend because she hasn't been so whiny and lethargic today and she's back on her nap strike so that's got to say something! :)

I was pretty sick all week and didn't feel like doing much of anything. Thankfully by Saturday I was doing better, although I had absolutely no voice, and we were able to go to the zoo since Spencer had the weekend off! It was Rane's first trip and he did great...slept through the entire experience! Ella Ann enjoyed seeing all the animals and ridding the carousel with her Daddy while I fed Rane. They have panda stamps as you leave the panda exhibit so of course she had to get one on each hand. It's the first thing she wants to do as soon as we hit the gates! I asked her what she liked better the cute little baby pandas or the stamp. Her reply was, "The STAMP!!!" I should've just taken her to Michael's (craft store) instead! :)

Rane is doing great for those of you who want an update. He's 2 1/2 months now, which is hard to believe. Ella Ann yells, "He's MINE!" if you simply lay your eyes on Rane so we are having to work through some possessive issues at the moment! He is sleeping through the night most nights now which has been wonderful this week since we've been up with our other child! He's starting to have nap patterns now and a normal bedtime at 7:30. This leaves Spencer and I to have some free time in the evenings again! Yeay!

I wanted to show you Ella Ann's poor face. This was taken yesterday morning.

See her eyes???

Being silly at the zoo!

Rane LOVED the zoo! ha!

Outside the reptile exhibit. I made her get on the iguana and she was afraid!

I think this might be the "liveliest" picture of Spencer I've ever posted! hehe! This was inside the reptile exhibit and he had picked her up to look at the Black Mamba.

This is how I spent my time at the zoo...drinking coffee and pushing Rane around! It was awesome!

The boys were worn out from our outing yesterday morning!

I had to post this picture of Ella Ann and Spencer. I saw him holding Rane the same way yesterday and remembered that he had done the same thing with Ella Ann when she was just 2 weeks old. I dug through all my files and found it! My how time flies...

We've been putting Rane in his seat lately since he has a flat head and flat side of his face. He doesn't mind sitting in it but he falls over very easily. He looks so cute in it!!!!!!

My sweet boy!

Girlfriends

My 4 best friends/ADPi sisters drove down this weekend from Kentucky and Tennessee to see me and the kids! I hadn't seen Laura, Andrea, Katie and Emily since the last time we were together this past August. We all have such busy schedules and it's hard to arrange a weekend that all of us have free so we usually only get to see each other once or twice a year...so sad! These are the girls I spent my four years of college with and then some. I love them to pieces and when we get together it's like we've never been apart....we just pick up where we left off. They arrived late Friday night and were bearing gifts and lots of treats! They had brought some amazing petifors that had little blue booties on top! Ohh they were so good! Ella Ann ate hers in 2.2 seconds flat! They visited for a little while and then headed to their hotel down the road. They came over Saturday morning and got to spend some time with the kids before we headed to one of my favorite restaurants, Nuevo Laredo Cantina. They loved it as much as me...yeay! Ella Ann also got to tag a long since Spencer had to work that morning so she was thrilled to hang out with Mommy and all her fun friends AND eat beans and rice! She loves the restaurant as much as me! After dropping Ella Ann off with Spencer we hit the mall for the afternoon. Rane was the little man with all the women at the mall so needless to say he was showered with attention! He was such a good boy and the girls got to really enjoy him. We came back to the house to Ella Ann who was very patiently waiting for her playmates to arrive. I think her and Emily are kindred spirits and if you knew Emily at all you would know why! She is great with little kids, mainly because she gets on the floor and acts just as silly as them! Ella Ann was in heaven! She put on a fashion show pretty much with all her costumes and ran around the house like a crazy person!

Spencer, thankfully, watched both kids so I could enjoy an evening out! We went to Einstein's for a nice relaxing dinner. I had so much fun! I haven't been without a kid in a restaurant in ages! After dinner I went to their hotel room to spend a little bit more time with them because Spencer had called the living room so he could watch Louisville play without a bunch of hens chatting around him!

The girls came over for breakfast Sunday morning and they left when I left to go to church. I cannot thank my sweet friends enough for driving all the way to Atlanta to see me and my family. I had SO much fun and I miss you tons! Thanks again for everything!!!!!

Andrea and Rane.

Mom-to-be, Laura, getting some practice in with Rane!

Ahhhh...the yummy petifors!

I managed to get a quick picture of her eating one before it was gone!

Ella Ann sitting with Andrea at lunch.

Emily holding Rane at the mall.

Katie and Laura.

Little Miss Belle was singing to Emily.

Rane and Katie.

The "Waller Girls" plus two. This is what we call ourselves, as did everyone else including our families. It was the name of the street we lived on senior year at UK.

We don't mess around when it comes to desserts! They love them just as much as me! I had to take a picture of the key lime cheesecake we ordered at Einstein's! Dad you would've LOVED it!

A Salad Tutorial

I preface this post by saying Jana is making me do this. :) She came over for lunch today for a salad tutorial. Megan and her two little boys were supposed to attend but Henry decided to catch Luke's conjunctivitis so they were unable to make it. So while the girls played and after they had their lunch, Jana and I got started on our salads. Her and Megan know that I eat a salad nearly every single day for lunch and they wanted to know what exactly I put in them to make me crave them and want to eat one religiously each day! I LOVE my salads! Sooo, Jana said that I needed to do a salad tutorial post, which I'm not very inclined to doing but will oblige her, because she insisted that other people may be interested in this particular salad...well at least I know the Jensen family will be because it is their favorite! I was introduced to it at their family gatherings early on and stuck my nose up at it but after one bite touched my lips I was hooked and still look forward to having it when we get together! It's so weird but soooooo yummy! Now Jana loves it as well!! So without further adue here is the Jensen's Mexican Salad!

Well first here is a picture of the silly girls eating their lunch!

First open a can of chili beans. You can warm them if you'd like but I just eat them room temp.

Next cut up one chicken breast....yes this is the chicken my sweet dad has cooked for me and frozen so that I can just take a piece out each day as needed! He's been doing this since I was in college! Thanks Dad! Okay so the Jensens don't put chicken in their salad but I do since I'm eating it as a meal itself.

.

Next cup up one plum or Roma tomato.

Pour over as much chili beans (with the juice) as you'd like. I like a lot...obviously!

Sprinkle some sharp cheddar.

Next take some corn chips (Frito's). The Jensens put them on whole but I like to crumble them and make a few chips go a long way, a.k.a., one in each biteful but without a ton of calories!

Put your lettuce on top. You are supposed to use iceberg but I used red leaf because it's all I had...still tasty though!

Pour on the Catalina dressing. I used the fat free.

Toss to coat all the yummy goodness!

Here is the finished product! Okay so Gayla told me the best thing for this salad is to let it sit for 30 minutes before indulging to let the flavors blend and she is right. You want those corn chips to be nice and soggy...don't know why but boy does it taste better!

Hope you all will take a walk on the wild side and make one of my salads for lunch/dinner one day! It's soooo good!

One last picture. Mara Kate and Ella Ann playing Elefun. Mara Kate loved it! Ella Ann looked at her and said, "I am Ela and you are Fun!" Too cute!

Another Trip

I loaded up the kids after school on Wednesday and headed to my parent's house in Kentucky. It was my first trip alone with two kids and I hadn't been to their house since October so Ella Ann and I were really looking forward to the visit! Both kids did very well in the car, minus Ella Ann's lack of a nap both to and from home. Again Rane didn't make a single sound the entire trip and was his perfect self! My Mom and Dad loved having all of us there and we had to make our usual rounds of showing off the kids around town and having visitors at our house! Everyone wanted to see our newest addition and I didn't mind showing him off! He hammed it up for each person he made contact with!

My old friend, Sara, had a little girl, Lucy, exactly 1 month before Rane and we had not seen each other since we were pregnant so the two of them came over along with Sara's mom, Sandy. We had a blast catching up and talking baby! Lucy is a doll and I told Rane before they arrived that he needed to mind his manners because he may meet his future wife! :) Ella Ann LOVED having Lucy over and wanted to hold her the entire time, of course! That same afternoon Nana and Papa drove over for a brief visit. Everyone came bearing gifts so we are going to have to majorly detox Ella Ann from all the presents and catering to!

Ella Ann enjoyed a ton of play time with the grandparents and Rane was loved and kissed so much I thought he might explode! He loved it and talked and talked to my Mom...so sweet! We went out to dinner to my favorite restaurant one night and I got to enjoy my tuna! :)

Rane also slept through the night while we were there! Yeay! I didn't think it was too big of a deal because he only gets up once at night anyway but I was happy to not get up until daylight for a change! Ella Ann was the one that kept me up all night losing her horsey in the bed, having bad dreams and waking up at 5 a.m. one morning! Fun stuff! My parents made the little hall she sleeps in (it's really a small room) into a bedroom so now she has her own special room! She loved it but that didn't mean she was going to sleep well! Our last night there was the peaceful one...figures!

We had such a wonderful time and we were sad to go home but we missed Spencer. Ella Ann walked over to Grandpa this morning and said, "Grandpa, I'm going home today," in this very somber voice. My Dad replied, "I know Ella Ann, I'm going to miss you." She responded, "I know, but my Daddy misses me too so I need to go home and see him." She's so sweet!

Again I took a lot of pictures so please click HERE to view them.

A Party and A Room

This past Saturday Ella Ann, Rane and I attended Luke's 3rd birthday party. It was a fish-themed party with lots and lots of kids everywhere! We had a really good time, except for Ella Ann's whining that there were no presents for her! Lovely. She was kinda cranky that morning, maybe it has to do with the fact that she's going on a 2.5-week nap strike. That's just lovely as well. I try hard not to loose it when she doesn't take a nap but it's very difficult! At least she goes to bed at 6:30 on the dot and Spencer and I have extra time together by ourselves at night, well Rane's in the room but doesn't make a peep! Anyway, Ella Ann chowed down on a turtle cake that Megan did a great job of making, played games and played with all her little buddies.

That's really about the most fun we had all weekend. It snowed yesterday...thundered at the same time with no rain...so that was cool. Unfortunately (for my sake) Ella Ann's school was closed today so that hindered my packing I was planning on doing for our trip to my parent's later this week. Oh well, the "Miss Patty Cake" DVD was an excellent babysitter while I packed for a bit! :)

I also took some pictures of Rane's room...finally! It's still a work-in-progress as far as pictures on the wall go but you get the idea.

I ordered these wall letters online. I emailed the link of Rane's bedding to the woman that painted them and she was able to match his room. I LOVE them!

Rane's Aunt Connie made the orange and yellow blanket with his name on it. It matches his bright room perfectly! I am still working on my picture collage on this wall. I plan on hanging many different types of photos/drawings/frames on it so it should look neat when it's completed one of these days! Ella Ann provided the painting in the green frame. She was SO proud to get it framed AND hung in Rane's room!

I made the memo board hanging over the changer out of ceiling tiles for $2.50!

Luke and his yummy cake!

Making an aquarium.

Waiting to fish!




Ella Ann asked to be hooked to the pink fish...of course! She is obsessed with pink!

Ella Ann and Mara Kate with their fish!