Family Weekend

This weekend we traveled to Tennessee to visit our family. We always hate that our time is so short with everyone, but we make the most of every minute while we are there. Ella Ann talked about everyone while we were in the car and was so excited that she barely took a nap! Next time we are not telling her where we are going! We arrived on Friday afternoon and Ella Ann and Carter picked up where they left off....running around the house screaming, giggling, and playing! Since Seth is crawling all over the place now, he tries his best to keep up with Carter and Ella Ann, but they end up just running over him or have left the room by the time he gets there! Poor thing!

We just hung out all day Saturday, which was what we all want to do anyway, so that was fun! My friend, Emily, and her husband, Paul, live in Nashville so they came over Saturday afternoon to visit us. I hadn't seen Emily in a year and three months, so we were long over due for a visit! Plus she hadn't seen Ella Ann since she was 9 months old! It was so great to see them, but unfortunately Ella Ann was in a terrible mood because she was so sleepy that she wasn't her jolly old self around them. She did warm up to Emily (no surprise at all there!!), and gave her a big hug before she left! I totally forgot to take a picture of them with us while they were visiting, so I snapped a picture of Ella Ann and Seth looking out the window as Emily and Paul pulled away! I'll have to get one next time!

We ordered in P.F. Chang's for dinner (a crowd favorite!) and some friends of ours came over to watch UK lose to Florida. It was a busy weekend and we are excited that we will get to see everyone again in 2 weeks when we are headed back for Seth's first birthday!

Thanks again, Mandy and Zach, for your hospitality!

I took this picture about 10 minutes after we arrived on Friday! They were in Carter's bed playing already! Look how happy Ella Ann is to be there!

Ella Ann loved being pulled around the house by Carter on the Gator! She has always loved the John Deer Gator!

Helping Nana feed Seth a bottle.

Reading with Papa.

She thought it would be nice to get down and crawl around with Seth and see the world from his angle! :)

Two peas in a pod!

Bye-Bye Baby

So sad! Yesterday we decided to convert Ella Ann's crib into a toddler bed. I thought I would cry when I saw her in her new bed, but I realized that she is growing fast and I have to prepare myself for all the changes that will always be occurring. I asked her on Friday if she wanted to sleep in a big girl bed after I showed her a picture of Mara Kate sleeping in her twin bed on Jana's blog and she wouldn't stop talking about it after that! When I was singing to her before her nap yesterday, she stopped me in the middle of it and said, "Get in da big girl bed!" She was lovin' the new bed! We told her she would be punished if she got out of it without us coming to get her and so far she has obeyed and not tried to escape! I can just picture her standing over me in the middle of the night!

We also reached another big milestone this past week when we weened Ella Ann off of her bobbie-horsey. It had become such a crutch, in that she was constantly holding it (which meant she was constantly sucking her thumb) and stopped playing with her toys because she'd rather roll around on the floor with her bobbie-horsey. It started getting bad before the holidays, but after we got home and she refused to play with any of her new toys, we cut her off! At first she whined for it constantly, but after a few days she would put it back in her bed herself (she still sleeps with it) and would say "nite-nite" to it. I had told her that it needed to stay in her bed so it could nap all day...the bobbie-horsey was tired of being carried around! She amazed Spencer and I both by how well she adjusted to being without it.....even in the car! The downside is that now that her thumb is not plugged in she talks nonstop all the time!! Ella Ann has always been chatty, but now it's to the point of insanity on my behalf! hahahahaa!

One more big thing that Ella Ann accomplished this week was pooping on the potty! Yes, I'm blogging about poop! Today she told me her belly button was hurting so I told her she needed to go sit on the potty. Well, you know the rest! Hopefully it wasn't a one-time thing!

Here are some more pictures from our week!!

Mara Kate and Jana came over last week and Mara Kate laid claim to her chair at Ella Ann's table! Since she can't have the bobbie-horsey outside of being in her bed, Ella Ann finds solace now in Sam's whiskers!!

My friend, Sara, gave Ella Ann these adorable monkey pjs for her birthday. She loves wearing them and looks all grown up!

She decided early in the week that she wanted to be Minnie Mouse after seeing her Halloween costume hanging in the closet. She wore it several days this week, luckily though, she agreed to take it off when it was time to leave the house! (Note the sweatband around her neck!!!)

We made key lime pie cupcakes (Dad you would love them) on Saturday for a lunch at our church on Sunday. Because we turned the sound off on our microwave, I didn't pay attention to the fact that they had been done for over five minutes. I ended up having to go back to the grocery and buy the ingredients again because all 24 cupcakes were charred! Ella Ann didn't mind...she was ready for round 2! Spencer gave her the lime I used in the recipe for her to try and she actually liked it.....though her face doesn't show it!

New Stuff

Since we arrived home last weekend from our Christmas trip, Ella Ann has been enjoying several of her new toys, clothes, shoes, etc. Our usual weekly activities/commitments haven't resumed yet so we have just been hanging out around the house and braving the Arctic temperatures we had last week! Thankfully the weather will be extremely nice this week so we are going to go to the park a few times since we didn't get to go much last week. We did manage to walk down to Centennial Park on Saturday so that Ella Ann could play and see the Christmas decorations one more time before they are put up. A makeshift ice skating rink now sits in the Park and it's always full of people skating to the blaring music. Ella Ann LOVES going to watch the skaters and shake her hips to the music! When we get home she always runs to Spencer and says, "I went ice skating!!"

I hope everyone is sitting down as they read this because Ella Ann has done something extraordinary..... she ate chicken!!! hahahahahahahaaaa! She is obsessed with watching the "Veggie Tales" DVD that her Aunt Kasey and Uncle Craig gave her for Christmas, so when she was helping me prepare chicken earlier this week and asked to watch it, Spencer told her she could watch "Veggie Tales" if she took a bite of chicken. Well lo and behold the child shoved a piece of chicken down her throat and swallowed! She has eaten it once more since then so everyone keep their fingers crossed that it continues! :)

I also attempted to potty train her on Thursday because she showed a few signs of being ready so I thought I would see what happens. Well, we went to the store and she picked out her own underwear which she had out of the package trying to put on while in her car seat on the way home! I just let her go with underwear on Thursday afternoon, all day Friday, and Saturday morning. By nap time on Saturday she was back in a diaper! She kept wanting to sit on the potty but would never make it to the potty before going all over the floor. I just don't think she is physically ready, so we'll try again later. It was a messy weekend, to say the least! But I did get some cute pictures out of it!

Sporting her Dora backpack that Carter gave her. He has the Diego one!

Snug as a bug in a rug in her towel from Nana and Papa!

Before church last Sunday in her new outfit from Grandpa and Mimi. The pockets were very entertaining!

She loves to touch the lights on the gigantic tree at Centennial Park. Ella Ann would find the one light that didn't work and would say, "It doesn't work!! Mommy, you fix it!"

Dreaming of being on the ice with those kids!

Here she is in her underwear...along with the boots and mittens! Don't ask! She wants to wear the boots her Nana and Papa gave her 24/7! She had them on with her pjs this morning before breakfast!

This is the best picture ever! We will be sure to have it on display at her wedding reception! :) She somehow managed to put my boots on by herself and stand up! She fell over backwards trying to get them off!

A Week of Christmas

We started out our traveling holiday expedition on Saturday afternoon (December 22nd) and Ella Ann and I ended it on Friday (December 28th)! We went just about everywhere and had a blast at each stop! We went to Mandy and Zach's house in Tennessee on the 22nd, on the 23rd we all traveled to Kentucky for Christmas with Spencer's extended family at Aunt Connie and Uncle Wayne's house, we had Christmas with Spencer's immediate family back at Mandy and Zach's house on Christmas Eve, then we traveled to my parent's house that evening and spent Christmas Day with them. Whew! We had so much fun with our entire family and can't believe how fast it passed! Ella Ann was showered with gifts and attention (way too much!) and we all enjoyed every minute we were together. We got to spend some time with Spencer's grandmother's while at Connie's house, so that was nice. We also stuffed ourselves silly with tons of good food! Ella Ann got some quality time in with Carter and Seth too! On Christmas Eve morning, Carter and Ella Ann got to make some cookies for Santa Clause under the supervision of Mandy and Zach! Boy was that fun to watch! Both kids were in their element in the kitchen!

At my parent's house on Christmas Day, we opened gifts, watched Ella Ann dance with my Dad, watch movies, and eat and eat and eat!! Unfortunately, Spencer had to drive back home on Wednesday morning so Ella Ann and I stayed in Kentucky and my Mom and Dad drove us back on Friday. Ella Ann got so many nice things, but I know her favorite was a over sized snow globe with Mickey and Minnie inside that played an array of Christmas music! All she did at my parent's house was push the button that played the tunes and off she went going nuts in the living room dancing and running in circles! I was so happy to leave that gift at my parent's!

Since we took so many pictures, I again posted to my Facebook page. Click HERE to view them!

A Relaxing Weekend....Finally!

This weekend was the first time in over two months that we were at home together as a family! We just sat around (sort of) and played, listened to Christmas music, Spencer watched ballgames, all three of us baked Christmas cookies and Ella Ann and I made Oreo cookie bark, got coffee at Starbucks after church on Sunday, and that's about it! Ella Ann and I delivered some Christmas goodies we made to our neighbors in our building and took some to church for a few of our friends. Ella Ann always wants to help me cook and gets excited when I tell her it's time to cook! She loves smelling all the herbs and spices I use and will name them but will refuse to try anything we make unless it's a vegetable! ha! Yesterday was the exception because Spencer handed her a candy cane (wrapped) and Ella Ann figured out how to tear it open and went right to town sucking on it! You would have thought we'd given her gold! I thought she would devour the entire thing but she only kept it in her mouth for a couple of minutes and then she was done. Believe me, though, 2 minutes of a candy cane with a toddler was enough because she had stained her clothes, face, and hands pink!

On Friday I kept Mara Kate and we had so much fun with her! She is such a good little girl and it was wonderful for Ella Ann to have a playmate all day.....and for me because I was able to get some things done around the house! The girls have always played well together and now they have started to converse with one another. It is so cute! Since Spencer was on call that day/evening, I went to our church's family Christmas party at a family's house near our church. Since it was an adults only party, they provided childcare for us at the church. I knew I was risking it by taking Ella Ann to our church's nursery (which she hates) to stay by herself past her bedtime but I did it anyway. The party was so nice and I was Kane and Jana's third wheel, but they didn't mind! I went to pick Ella Ann up at 8:30 (I was the first to leave) and the poor girl was asleep on a nursery worker's lap in a dark room by themselves!!! The last time Ella Ann slept in anyone's arms was when she was a newborn! I'm not kidding either! They said she didn't do well at all so I felt so bad! I guess I won't be doing anything like that anytime soon!

Our church is having their annual Christmas music service tonight so we are going to try and keep Ella Ann with us because it's the story of Christ's birth through music and we think she will enjoy it.

This week we will just be getting ready to leave for our usual tour of Kentucky and Tennessee visiting all of our family in a matter of 4 days because that's all Spencer has off of work. We are really looking forward to seeing everyone and sharing the holiday with them and eating lots of good food! In case I don't post again this week have a Merry Christmas!!!!

Ella Ann insisted that Mara Kate hold her hand for the picture! They are both saying "CHEEEEEESE!"

Taking a quick dance break!

They really do hug and kiss on each other every time they are together! Jana and I love that they have been best friends since they were born! We pray that they will always remain close!

"Ohhh Mommy, why have you been keeping such an amazing food away from my lips?????"

"No pictures please, I'm trying to concentrate!!!"

Stirring the cookie batter with Daddy.

Watching Mommy roll the dough. She kept saying "Brownies Mommy!!"

A Very Fun Weekend

On Friday afternoon one of my best friends from Kentucky drove all the way down here to spend the weekend with us! Andrea and I hadn't seen one another since our other friend got married last October, so we were definitely over due for a visit! She also hadn't seen Ella Ann since she was 9 months old, so to have a walking and talking toddler now was quite a shock to her! Ella Ann can be very shy with new people she meets and even with family members that she knows and loves so I was expecting her to take a little while to warm up to Andrea but seriously as soon as we walked outside to meet her in our parking lot she was already saying "Austria" (Yes she sounded like she nicknamed her after a country all weekend!)! Poor Andrea didn't have a minute to even put down her purse before Ella Ann was bringing her books to read and making her sing songs with her! To say that she loved Andrea is an understatement...she was her new best friend!

We just hung out and had dinner at our house on Friday night and Andrea entertained Ella Ann until bedtime. We had lunch at our house and as soon as Ella Ann hit the hay, Andrea and I hopped in the car to do some Christmas (and personal) shopping! We took a little detour through some old neighborhoods along the way so that I could show her all the mansions. Andrea loves houses and is into decorating so she was really loving all the spectacular homes! She wore me out shopping, but I had a blast following her around as she accumulated more and more bags! :) We went to a yummy Mexican restaurant for dinner and stayed in for the rest of the evening.

The three of us really enjoyed having such good company all weekend. Ella Ann will surely miss her playmate and I will miss having a shopping buddy! Unfortunately I forgot to take a lot of pictures of our weekend, here are just a couple.

Ella Ann would climb into Andrea's lap or sit beside her every single time she took a seat!

When we got home from the mall Spencer and Ella Ann were on their way to the mailbox but Ella Ann took a detour right into Andrea's arms! It was SO cute!

It's Christmas Time!

Since Christmas is in full swing now the city is full of lights, decorations, and Santa, of course! Ella Ann has really gotten into the spirit and talks about Santa Clause every single day. We listen to Christmas music every time we are in the car...her favorites are "Santa Clause is Coming to Town" and "Jingle Bells." It is literally music to our ears to hear her sing along!

After dinner last night we took her to an outdoor shopping mall that is always festive with holidays and is really just fun to go to year around because they have concerts, open air markets, wine tastings, and they host The Taste of Atlanta. Ella Ann loved all the pretty lights and the giant Christmas tree in the courtyard. We also took her to see Santa Clause, but the pictures below are all that we will have because she was not too fond of Mr. Clause at all! She was very scared of him, but would let me go with her to shake his hand and say hi. After that meeting she talked about him nonstop! We hung around until 7:30 p.m. (grandparents aren't you so proud of me that I actually kept my child up past her bedtime for something fun??!!) because the fake snow fell at that hour around the tree. Ella Ann wasn't too sure of the snow either but had a good time playing in it if Daddy was holding her! She really had a great time, as did Spencer and I!

The pictures below aren't the best, but it's hard to take good ones in the dark!

The little blur is Ella Ann.

"Do you want to sit in Santa's lap?" I asked. "NO!" replied Ella Ann.

Santa did try to bribe her onto his lap with some little toys, but that wouldn't persuade her one tiny bit!

Ella Ann's favorite mode of transportation! She scratches Spencer's beard the entire time she's up on his shoulders! This also kept her from running around and breaking things in the stores!

"Snowfwakes Mommy!" is what she kept saying.

She did like the snow, but you can't tell in this picture!

The Music Class

I took Ella Ann this morning to our first day of a 10-week session at The Music Class. Spencer and I decided to give her this for Christmas instead of another toy. It is in a neighborhood close to our home and will be every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. and lasting 45 minutes. Well, Ella Ann was loving every minute of it, which we knew she would since she loves music and dance!!! She was kind of shy at first and wouldn't sing along to the songs she knows or even crack a smile, but once she picked up on what all was going on and how fun it was she started shaking her hips, jumping around, clapping, playing instruments, etc.!! We also got to take home a book and CD of all the songs and dances we do so we can play at home! Here are some pictures from the big event!!

See Graga (Grandpa) Mimi!!

This is what Ella Ann kept saying to me all day Friday as we patiently awaited my parents to get here! Unfortunately they didn't make it down in time to see Ella Ann before she was fast asleep, but we got up and out of the house early Saturday morning and met them for breakfast at their hotel. Even though Spencer and I just saw them a few days ago they still needed to make it down here for an Ella Ann fix to at least hold them over until Christmas! We hung out at our house while they played with Ella Ann after getting home from breakfast then we headed to my favorite restaurant, Nuevo Laredo Cantina, for lunch! My Dad hadn't been there before but my Mom had so she was also very anxious to get her favorite... lobster tacos!! Once Ella Ann went down for her nap, my parents and I hit the mall to finish up our Christmas shopping. We pretty much got everything all while getting some pretty good deals!

We went to a restaurant that none of us had been to before for dinner Saturday night called Pie Bar. It is a really, really neat pizza joint that is in an old bank building from the 1960s, which means it's very retro and sits "in the sky" right along I75. We each got our own customized pizza that was wonderfully delicious! Ella Ann had a grand time too watching them make pizzas and watching all the cars zoom by on the Interstate!

Ella Ann had such a good time, as did Spencer and I, with my parents and she was so upset to see them leave before we went to church this morning. Good thing it will only be a few more weeks before we see them again! Thanks again for the fun time!

Ella Ann showing Mimi the Christmas tree at their hotel Saturday morning.

Reading one of Ella Ann's favorite books, an ABC scrapbook full of pictures of family, friends, and stickers that her Aunt Mandy made her for her birthday.

She loves to be glamorous in Mimi's sunglasses......

and wear my high heels around the house!

Grandpa trying to persuade Ella Ann to give him a big kiss, which she did twice but I couldn't capture it!

Awwwwww!

She loves to drink out of her own cup and straw now. This will keep her entertained at a restaurant for quite some time! It was a genius idea!

We put up our Christmas tree on Wednesday night so here are some pictures from the festivities! All Ella Ann kept saying to Spencer was, "No, I do it!" or "Here, here, I heppp you Daddy!!!!", while he was trying so very hard to get our tree fixed just perfectly. She loves to help us do anything! I wish I could have gotten a picture of her sitting on his back while he was laying down on the floor getting the tree trunk properly in the stand, but I was holding the tree.

We decorated our tree after we put her to bed so when Ella Ann woke up the next morning she got to see it all lit up and decorated. She LOVES it and looks at all the ornaments and tells us what they are about 10 times a day!

I put her in her Christmas dress on Friday to hopefully get a good enough picture to use on our Christmas card. This isn't it, but it was so cute I had to post it!