Happy Birthday Ella Ann!!!

Three years ago today our sweet baby girl was born. As Spencer and I were looking back at pictures this week, some of the night I delivered her, I couldn't believe how young we looked. I realize this was ONLY 3 years ago and I was 25, but I still remember coming home and thinking, "What in the world have we done? I have NO CLUE what to do with this kid! I am SO tired and I'm going to flip out any second!" I managed to keep the crazy inside and we have raised Ella Ann these last few years through trial and error and lots of prayer. So far I think she's going to be okay, considering she is still breathing and we are going to have another one in January! Now I couldn't imagine life without her, mainly because of the joy she brings us and how much more fun our lives are with her in them.

I know I always say how I cannot believe she's already 2 and now already 3, but I really mean it! She is growing up right underneath our noses and I need to slow down and take notice of her major milestones every once in a while and savor every day instead of rushing through it. She is such a sweet, funny, loving, compassionate, kind, and adorable (we're a little partial) girl and now that she is getting older these traits are becoming more prominent. She says the funniest things and is SUCH a little mommy already. She wants to do everything I do and mimics me all the time...that can be both good and bad! Often when she says something I think to myself how much it sounded like something I would say. Her teacher told me the other day at school when I picked her up that if they let Ella Ann have control of the class she would happily take it. At first I was a little freaked out that I have such a control freak on my hands (wonder where she got that??? hmmmmm), but then I realized that it can one day be a good thing and she is going to grow up and do fantastic things in this world in a leadership role. She is a blessing in our lives and the lives of our family and I am thankful I get to spend my days with her while she is young. I don't miss a thing....even the bad days!

Every day this week she has asked me, "Is today my birthday party? Can I wear my cupcake shirt?" So on Saturday when she woke up I could finally say, "Yes! Today IS your birthday party and you can wear your cupcake shirt!" I know a few days seems like an eternity to her!

Our family came down this weekend from Kentucky and Tennessee to celebrate with us on Saturday. Ella Ann was SO excited to have her loved ones here, as were Spencer and I! The grandparents arrived first and Zach, Mandy, Craig, Carter and Seth arrived early Saturday afternoon. Once they got here the party started. We had lots of good food and yummy strawberry cake with pink and blue icing (at Ella Ann's request). It was a perfect ewwy gooy pink cake fit for a sweet little girl.

Ella Ann received many wonderful gifts that I know she will enjoy for a long time! The best part for her was, I'm sure, running like mad around the house all day with Carter and Seth! They were fit to be tied to see one another! Carter was super excited to come to Ella Ann's birthday party!

Spencer and I were thrilled to have all of our family here at our house and look forward to hosting Christmas this year! Yeay! Thanks again to our families who did so much to make Ella Ann's birthday special and for traveling through maddening traffic jams to get here. THANK YOU from Ella Ann!

Reading with Grandpa....

and Mimi.

Watching the slideshow Spencer and I put together of Ella Ann these last 3 years.

Seth loved her bouncing zebra!

Opening gifts.

Playing in her new dollhouse with Carter and Daddy.

These were my party favors....jelly bean cupcakes!

Boy was she ready to eat that cake, or icing I should say!

The three kids needed a little help to keep them from being covered in blue and pink icing!

The party goers!

Eating some jelly beans.

Dad trying his hand at Wii golf. He and Ella Ann were playing each other...it was hard to tell who was worse! :)

Spencer and Craig really got into the boxing, along with the kids!

Party Time

I had to mentally and physically (no joke) prepare myself all last week for what I had planned for Friday and Saturday. What does 9 two-and-a-half to three-year-olds plus 6 babies equal? Fifteen of Ella Ann's closest friends! That's how many kids, I can't forget about the 8 moms not including myself, we had at our house Friday morning to celebrate Ella Ann's 3rd birthday...a little early I might add. I decided to do a cooking theme because I thought the kids would be entertained for a little while with organized activities and really have fun...which they did! I sent out the invitations on recipe cards and had a few decorations to go along with the theme around the house. I served coffee and water, along with a couple of dips for the moms and fruit and crackers for the kids. I had an apron for each child, which we all gathered around the table for them to decorate with fabric markers once they all arrived and we got settled. The kids then put their aprons on and they decorated a bear sugar cookie with icing and all kinds of toppings, which was their take-home gift. After that I brought out the pink and blue strawberry cupcakes (Ella Ann has requested a pink and blue cake now for 2 full months) that we made the night before and the kids again decorated their cupcakes with an array of toppings. Ohhh you should have seen them covered in sprinkles, chocolate chips, icing, gummie bears and marshmallows...and I'm not talking about the cupcakes, I'm referring to the kids! It was a glorious mess...but SO fun and SO worth it! Every child ate their cupcake in about 2.2 seconds, except for Ella Ann and Mara Kate who took time to enjoy them. They loved the treats! Oh and if you were wondering where all the babies were during all of this, they were, for the most part, rolling around on the floor or playing in the room next to us...being so good!

After I de-iced every single mouth, hand, arm, pant leg, etc. (yes I make sure each child was free of any remnant of food since it was in my furniture's best interest to keep them clean!!) we played pin-the-hat-on-the chef. Once all organized activities were over, the kids took over the house and my friends and I just sat down, ate, and caught up!

We had a blast! My friend, Janelle, had made a birthday shirt for Ella Ann, which she will wear often all month and to her family party next week, and she was SO excited to put it on when she woke up! Of course she was even more excited when all of her little friends started arriving. I felt sorry for all my friends because I pumped their children FULL of sugar (not like me at all you know) and sent them on their merry way! Oh well, that's what birthdays are for, right? Ella Ann was so wound up after the party that she did not take a nap, which I figured would happen. She couldn't stop talking about how much fun she had and all the fun things she did at the party. It was so cute and it made me so glad that I had done all that work because it was well worth it to see a grin from ear-to-ear permanently planted on Ella Ann's face for hours on end. :) I have to admit, though, my house looked like a kid tornado blew through it a few times and then left! ha! It wasn't THAT bad...no icing where it shouldn't be, no broken toys or anything else, etc. It was organized chaos for sure! I know it sounds crazy, but there were no fights, tantrums, screaming of "MINE!" by anyone, or tears! Ella Ann has such well-behaved friends! :)

On Saturday my sweet friends, Megan, Jana, and Ruth, threw a baby shower for me at Ruth's house. We had High Tea at 3:00 and several of my friend came, which was so nice! The food was so good and looked so pretty I hated to mess it up! We had finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and lemon curd, cupcakes, shortbread cookies, brownies, and two different kinds of teas. It was a beautiful spread and I ate a ton! My present from Ruth, along with the lovely shower, was an amazing foot bath/massage that I got to enjoy during the shower. I received very nice gifts but most of all I got to enjoy company with good friends that were there to celebrate with me in this baby's birth. God has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams with such amazing people in my life here in Atlanta. I am thankful everyday for each one of them and all they have done for me and my family. Thanks to all of you sweet girls who threw the shower and to those of you that attended! I am SO appreciative!

I took over 50 pictures, so click HERE to view them.

Potty Humor

Depending on Ella Ann's mood at the moment, she will or will not use the potty by herself. This afternoon she was feeling independent so as I was standing in the bathroom with her she says to me, "I can pull down my panties. Panties with a "t", not a "d." PanTies."'

A Classy Cheerleader

So Ella Ann was a cheerleader this Halloween because 1) she loves playing dress up with it, and 2) it was free! She kept telling people she was going to be Cinderella for Halloween so we'd have to remind her nicely that she was going to be a red cheerleader! :) When I say she was a classy cheerleader, I am referring to the fact that she wore her pretend pearls with her costume! She was actually a big hit with most of the houses, despite the fact she was wearing red and black and not supporting the Georgia Bulldogs! At one of the houses a man asked, "Is that a little Georgia cheerleader I see?" I responded, "No, Louisville...sorry!" His response, "Ohhh well, she was going to get this entire bowl (referring to hundreds of dum-dums which happen to be her favorite) but now she only gets one." On the other hand, we met some Kentucky fans and/or natives at several houses so that was neat.

She was beyond exited to hit the streets at 6:00 sharp for some heavy duty trick-or-treating. The neighborhood we live in is the one I would drive to for previous Halloweens to trick-or-treat because of the crazy amount of trick-or-treaters and decorated houses. It was so nice to just walk out our front door this year and go! Spencer was home as well, so that made it even more special. We made our way to the back of the Virginia-Highlands neighborhood to hit what is called "Halloween Row", which is a street of houses decorated to the nines for the holiday. My pictures don't even do these houses justice and neither do my descriptions. First of all, there were at least 100 trick-or-treaters along with their parents, grandparents, friends, etc. congregated on this street just to SEE the homes! There was scary music blaring, monsters dancing, huge inflatable pumpkins and ghosts, spiders crawling, an inflatable haunted house, skeletons, and other scary goblins all over the place! Parents were dragging behind them big wagons, not for their children to hop on and ride when they got tired, but for the cases of beer and coolers they were packing around! I tell you it was a gigantic party and Spencer and I were so happy to be in the middle of it! We also witnessed about 700 people, most were in costumes too, biking down the street in our neighborhood! That was really a sight!After 2 hours of trick-or-treating Ella Ann was dead tired, but Spencer and I kept asking her if she was sure she wanted to go home because we wanted to stay out! It really was that fun! We got her home and gave her a sucker, unfortunately most of the candy she got she is unable to eat because it is too hard or she's allergic. I swear I don't think she moved an inch after we laid her down in her bed. She was pooped!

And we're off!

Making our way up to a house.

After each house she would inspect her loot to see what she got!

One of the crazy houses.....

with an inflatable haunted house in the front yard!

This house had Frankenstein (Franklinstein to Ella Ann) singing and dancing at the entrance to their house. They also had gigantic skeletons hanging from their trees and bushes.

Some of the creatures you see are people dressed up and every once in a while they would break their silence and scare a bunch of kids! Thankfully Ella Ann wasn't one of them or else we'd be headed home! :)

A big graveyard in front of one of the houses. The husband and wife passing out the candy acted like they belonged in the Haunted Mansion at Disney. They just starred the kids down as they handed them candy. It was great! If you can see the little red table in the background of the house next door, a man was sitting at the table slicing fresh mozzarella and tomatoes to pass out to the adults! How nice!

This was the only "good" picture we were able to get of the bikers. I don't know if you can even tell, but the lady biking is dressed up.

In other news, we recently purchased a Nintendo Wii, which Spencer and I have been enjoying thoroughly when Ella Ann goes to bed. We will play it, too, before she goes down so she can join in on the fun and Ella Ann loves it! She plays golf pretty well, mainly just by swinging the handheld device 20 times and managing to hit the ball once in the right direction! Here are some pictures of her in action.

In this picture she's testing her luck with bowling.

Happy Halloweeeeeeen!

This week we have tried to do fun Halloweenish activities, from coloring to candy and we will of course go trick-or-treating tonight so I will post pictures of that very soon. As I mentioned in my previous post, Ella Ann REALLY likes pumpkins and spotting them while driving in the car creates a reaction as if she has struck gold! The other day on the way to church, we passed a grocery store that had a massive display of orange and white pumpkins. Ella Ann screamed, "MOMMY!! LOOK AT ALL THOSE PUMPKINS AND ONIONS!!!" I thought I was going to have to pull over because I was laughing so hard!! She is one funny kid!

We carved our three pumpkins on Wednesday afternoon and put candles in them once it got dark. Ella Ann thought that was just too cool. She was Daddy's little helper while he carved them on the deck, but of course she stayed super clean....that's my girl! We have enjoyed some Halloween treats too, courtesy of Ella Ann's Halloween party at school on Wednesday. When I picked her up she was wearing a gigantic spider on her head! We were in charge of bringing the paper goods to the party and I let Ella Ann pick them out and she chose black ones with neon spiders all over it, so at least we kept with the theme!

Today she woke up and wanted to put on her costume, so it has been on since 8 a.m. and will remain on until bedtime I'm sure. Spencer has the morning off so we headed to the coffee shop and Ella Ann got to show off her costume. She asked at 7:30 this morning if we could go trick-or-treating now since it was dark outside....she has a long time to wait for her treats!

Yesterday I kept Mara Kate for a few hours which was fantastic for both Ella Ann and myself! The girls were SO cute together, as usual! :) We made puppets after they had lunch and they played with baby dolls for quite a long time so the girls were ready for their naps kind of early...fine by me! Mara Kate was so cute when she hopped on Ella Ann's cot that I had set up in the nursery and went right to sleep. I took some pictures of them as well.

Eating lunch in her spider hat when she got home from school!

As you can tell she was very excited about that hat!

Helping Daddy scoop out the seeds.

She requested one to be angry and two to be happy so she is supervising to make sure Daddy does exactly what she wants! By the way, Mandy, we have gotten some serious use out of the Halloween outfit! Thank you!!!!

The finished products!

They look even better lit up!

Ella Ann and Mara Kate eating their lunch together.

Feeding their babies.

The puppets they made. They named them both after themselves!

This is one of my favorite pictures of them now. How sweet are they? When we were sitting on the couch together Mara Kate looked at Ella Ann and said, "Ella Ann, you're the best friend I ever had." Awwwww! I hope they still think that about one another when they are 80.

Jam Packed Trip to Kentucky

After picking up Ella Ann at preschool on Wednesday, we drove to my parent's house in Kentucky to spend the rest of the week. It was my last trip with just Ella Ann in the car for forever! It was kinda sentimental. We have our routine down pat as far as traveling goes and it is SO easy to travel with her; always has been. It will be strange to have another little one in the back seat...I know that certainly means more pit stops await me in my future, which I hate! :) Anyway, my main reason for visiting was that Mom and I were hosting a shower for one of my oldest friends, Sara, who is having a baby girl in December. The rest of our week was filled with several shopping trips to buy stuff for the baby, Ella Ann, myself, etc. for Christmas and birthdays. My parents are coming down for both holidays since I can't travel and Spencer will be working anyway, so we tried to squeeze in as much as we could while we were there.

Ella Ann had a little friend, Briley, come over to visit Friday morning. Their parents and grandparents are good friends with our family and we try to get the girls together to play when we are in town. They really enjoyed playing together and chasing each other around the living room!

We went to Evansville to shop on Friday afternoon and got to have dinner with my Great Aunt Sue and Cousin Cindy and her husband, Ed. Ella Ann and I had not seen them since she was 6 months old. It was wonderful to get to spend some time with them catching up and Ella Ann really enjoyed the extra attention she got from Cindy! She was quite the chatterbox at dinner! She used to be so shy when meeting new people or even seeing people she knows very well but now that she's almost 3, her personality is really taking shape and she is becoming a social butterfly. She will wave to everyone on our way into stores now! Okay, sorry for the sidetrack, back to Kentucky.

On Saturday morning we went to the bed and breakfast where we were having Sara's shower to get everything ready. We had brunch while there and some yummy cake. It was great to see Sara and her mom and spend what little time we had together. She has many guests and many gifts! We played a couple of games and I think everyone had a pretty good time....I hope! Ella Ann enjoyed herself, especially when she finally tried cake for the first time and realized what she's been missing all of these years! She couldn't shove it in her mouth fast enough! At least now I know she will eat her birthday cake! My Dad picked her up early from the shower and took her to DQ to get some ice cream...sugar overload anyone? It didn't seem to bother her one bit because my Dad managed to put her down perfectly for a nap and we had to wake her up so we could go to the pumpkin patch that afternoon. Ella Ann is so obsessed with pumpkins and it is a game every time we get in the car to spot pumpkins and Halloween decorations in the neighborhoods. So needless to say, the pumpkin patch was overwhelming to her with all those pumpkins! When we pulled up we could smell the food being cooked on the fire and people were everywhere, but it wasn't bothersome crowded at all. It was the absolute perfect day to visit the patch....clear blue skies, bright sunshine, beautiful foliage, bond fires burning, and cooler temps! The had so many neat pumpkins that we had never seen before. One variety looked like it had peanut shells growing all over it! Ella Ann LOVED being at the patch! Mom and I took her through a corn maze while Dad hung back with some friends. Then we all took a hayride through the farm and at the end got out and picked our own pumpkins in the patch! So fun! Ella Ann managed to pick out the ugliest one, which were her favorite variety. After spending nearly 2 hours there, we drove home and ate a nice hot meal. It was a wonderful day, to say the least!

Ella Ann and I got up bright and early and drove home this morning to see Spencer. We had missed him terribly and he was so sweet to put my new double stroller together while I was gone (it arrived while I was gone and is a birthday/Christmas present from my in-laws...thanks again Gary and Gayla, it's awesome!). You will have to read the captions on my pictures to get more info on the stroller and how much Ella Ann loves it as well!

Thanks Mom and Dad for a very, very fun visit! We had such a good time and were sad to leave, especially since it was the last one for quite some time. I took so many pictures once again that I couldn't post them all to the blog so click HERE to view them.

Atlanta Fun

We have had lots of fun times this week by taking advantage of a stack of coupons we got in the mail a couple of months ago as a "Welcome to the Neighborhood" gift. We forgot about them in the last few weeks and realized they are going to expire next month so we tried to do a few things this week while Spencer is on an easier rotation at work. We got a booklet of coupons for restaurants that included buy one entree get one free or $10-$15 gift certificates. One evening this week Spencer met us at a hole-in-the-wall barbecue joint that we'd never been to but is close to our house. It was delish and we only spent $9 on 3 meals! Spencer had Wednesday afternoon off so we headed to the zoo with our 1 free adult pass. Even though it was pretty hot, we enjoyed exploring the zoo again since we hadn't been there as a family since Ella Ann's birthday last year. There wasn't anyone there so we got to walk around and see every single animal on display. Ella Ann loved it, to say the least! Spencer also had Friday morning off so we ventured out in the pouring down rain and went to Fernbank Science Museum. We have been wanting to go to Fernbank but it's pretty pricey, even though Ella Ann is free at the moment, so we were happy to get in on one adult admission. Even though it was a quiet museum with a ton of artifacts to read about, Ella Ann had a really good time and did not want to go home. They do have a little children's area for play and exploration that she really enjoyed. Spencer and I would've liked to have ditched Ella Ann and actually taken time to read about everything because it was all so interesting but we did what we could with an energetic 3 year old in tow! We have definitely had a fun-filled busy week and we are going to try and squeeze some more activities in, like the Children's Museum and more restaurants (my favorite), before the coupons expire.

Along with hosting a playgroup on Tuesday morning my friend, Sarah, and her two little girls, Audrey and Kaitlyn, came over to visit on Thursday morning. Audrey and Ella Ann are close in age and had so much fun singing on the keyboard's microphone and running around the house doing make believe things. Kaitlyn also managed to hang with the older girls a few times and I know Ella Ann loved having her in her bedroom to play with!

Here are some pictures from our week...

Ella Ann and Audrey singing away!

Too cool for the zoo!

Getting a lift from Daddy to check out the elephants.

We also let Ella Ann play on the zoo's playground since we were in no hurry and could just sit and watch her play.

Well, we didn't just watch her play, we played too! This teeter totter was so fun! My have things changed since we were kids!

Even Spencer joined us! That was very funny to see him all crumpled up on the seat! Ella Ann has been a tad bit obsessed with her Daddy over the past few weeks and only wants him to do things for her, including sitting by her on the teeter totter! I don't mind, in fact, I enjoy seeing them together and her requesting him to do everything! I get a break!

A not-so-good picture at Fernbank. We are standing in front of a HUGE dinosaur in the main rotunda.

Same goes for this picture but I'm posting it anyway because we didn't take many.

The dinosaur foot was bigger than her whole body!

Playing with a giant map and seeing how far we are from Antarctica (we were in the polar bear and penguin exhibit).

A real polar bear...stuffed, that is! I didn't realize how big they are!

I think this was her favorite part....the gift shop at the end! She was beyond excited by all the stuffed animals! Hog heaven for my child!

Playdate and Belly Update

Yesterday I had the girls over and their kids so Ella Ann could have some fun, as well as myself! Unfortunately Andria and her two kids, Diego and Alexia, were not able to make it. Alexia is almost 1 and Ella Ann loves to play with her so she was disappointed she wasn't going to be there. However, there were 2 other babies for her to fawn over, Henry and Keona. Ella Ann had a blast playing with Anjuli and Mara Kate (Luke was at preschool so Megan just came with Henry) but she REALLY liked to bother Keona! The sweet baby was a good sport, though, and let Ella Ann shove her paci in her mouth about every 10 seconds for an hour but after a while she'd had enough! The three girls entertained themselves for over 2 hours and it was cute to peek in on them in Ella Ann's room and see what they were up to. At one point Ella Ann and Mara Kate were singing on the keyboard's microphone whatever song Anjuli was telling them to sing...I guess she was the director! They would run like crazy through the house with the shopping cart in tow and pretend they were going to different houses and the grocery. It's so fun to watch Ella Ann interact with her friends now because she is able to get into pretend play with them and make up all sorts of things. The three of them were very sweet together.

I also got to spend some quality time with Ruth, Megan, and Jana. We see each other often but rarely do we get to sit down together with just the 4 of us and really catch up. It was some much-needed friend time and I was so thankful for the fellowship with them!

Here are some pictures from the morning and 2 of me and my growing belly!

Mara Kate, Anjuli, and Ella Ann.

Megan with Henry and Keona is on the floor.

Mara Kate and Ella Ann singing their hearts out....

while Anjuli tells them what they are going to be singing next (the ABC's)!

Only 2 more months (or less) to go from today!

A Little Bit of This & That

This week/weekend we have just been getting back to our normal activities and errands. Spencer was in Toccoa working all weekend so Ella Ann and I went to our church's Fall Festival/Rummage Sale on Saturday morning. I wasn't necessarily interested in the rummaging, but I did want to go because I knew a lot of our friends would be there and they were going to have a moon bounce. We were there for a couple of hours and the moon bounce entertained Ella Ann the entire time. When it was time for us to go home and eat some lunch I was trying to figure out a way to get her out of it without a major meltdown when I heard her crying over a busted lip. Well it obviously didn't take much effort to get her to want to go home! She had such a good time with some of her friends and in addition to the moon bounce, she got her hand painted and played with sidewalk chalk. While she was entertained I got to hang with my girlfriends.

Bouncing up a storm in the moon bounce with her buddies Gerrick and Diego.

She was so hot, sweaty, and tired that I knew a glorious nap awaited me that afternoon!

Being creative with Diego. He was very intensive with the chalk! :)

Katie painted her pink fish that she requested.

She did everything she could to prevent the fish from smearing all morning!

In other news, Spencer and I have recently started to put together 1000-piece puzzles. Both of us enjoy doing them and they remind me of my Granny who used to have a puzzle in progress every time I would go to her house when I was younger. It has been a nice time for Spencer and I to just sit and talk after Ella Ann goes to bed and work our brains! The first puzzle I bought was a picture of Cinderella's castle.....of course! Well this one was a doozy. The sky was very difficult so the puzzle took us a few weeks to complete, especially since we got sidetracked with the new fall lineup of our favorite shows! Now that we completed that puzzle we started a newer, unfortunately easier, one. Spencer hasn't shown much interest in it so I will work it while he is at the computer across from me working on a case so we still get to chat. Here are a couple of pictures of our castle. We were so proud of it that we didn't take it apart for 2 weeks!

See how hard the sky was? It was about 5 shades of blue!

I also wanted to share this picture of Ella Ann and her lunch. In my previous post I mentioned how obsessed she is with "orange cheese and brown crackers" and must eat it every single day for lunch. I failed to mention how funny it is to watch her eat it........

even though she requests 3 "brown crackers" with her one slice of cheese, she will tear the cheese into various sizes, stack them up by size all on ONE cracker and proceed to stuff it all in her mouth! She'll then finish the other two crackers with no cheese. The kid is weird!

She Makes Me Laugh

Here is the background on this statement from Ella Ann: Ever since we had the stomach virus Ella Ann had the urge to use the potty very frequently. Spencer and I are ashamed to admit that we waited nearly 2 weeks to take her to the doctor because we thought it was an attention issue. Well it was not and after a week of medication she was fine and back to normal. She had started school when she was dealing with the frequent urination and her teachers kept telling me that they were having to take her to the bathroom 6-8 times each morning. Crazy! Just to make sure she's still not asking to go all the time at school I had asked her on Monday if she went to the potty at school today. Her response: "Yeah, but not like 20 times or anything." I laughed so hard I was in tears! She sounds just like me and so grown up with that response!

I also think that being around Carter and his wild imagination all week last week has helped Ella Ann dig into her own imagination. She loves to play with her big purple ball around the house often and this morning we were bouncing it around and she said we couldn't go in the living room because there was an alligator in there. Tonight we were playing with the ball again, I should say "golf" because that's what she calls it, and we had to go in the nursery because the alligators were coming. Well evidently they are a friendly family of gators because she invited them into the room and picked up the baby to put on the rocking horse and began rocking this imaginary creature. She then picked it up and pretended to swallow it and told me it was in her belly. As she said this she arched her back as far as she could and stuck out her belly. She knew that an "alligator" in her belly would make a big bump....just like her Mommy's. Awwww! It was really cute and I wish I had a picture!

She is also OBSESSED with prepackaged sliced cheese. She has hated it ever since she was 18 months old but I guess the stomach virus changed her taste buds because since then she wants it 24/7. When I drop her off at school EVERY week she must tell me 20 times in the car and at least 1 more time in the classroom bits of her lunch menu....."Mommy, I...I... will have orange cheese, brown crackers (Ritz), and candy corn (she only gets 2 if she eats all her lunch) when I get home from schooouuul." I wish you could hear her say "school." It's so country/southern! Anyway, my response is always, "Yes Ella Ann, you will have orange cheese, brown crackers, and candy corn when you get home from school. Immediately when I pick her up the FIRST words out of her mouth are, "Mommy!!!! I want orange cheese, brown crackers, and candy corn for lunch. PLEEEEEEESE???!!!" Her teachers must think she is OCD with her lunch! We also have to go through it at least 2-3 more times on the way home. If I gave this kid a 24-pack of slice cheese I swear she would eat the entire block in one sitting!

Ahhhh...A Vacation

Last Saturday we packed it up and headed to Destin to spend the week with our family. We all arrived around the same time and the kids picked up right where they left off, screaming, squealing, laughing, chasing, crying, playing, etc. and they didn't let up one single bit for a week! It was great, though, and we all had just as much fun as them. We would wake up each morning and head to the beach to relax and play until lunchtime. We had beautiful weather every day we were there, which I think is the first time that's happened on any of our family vacations. The water was soooo pretty and Ella Ann was like a fish! Once she got in that first morning, she was in it every morning for hours! Someone would have to go to relieve Spencer from having to play with her in the water everyday! We were able to walk out very far and still touch, even Ella Ann, so she was able to navigate by herself except for when a big wave came along. We saw lots of sea life each day, too, which the kids enjoyed. Zach bought 3 nets for them to catch things in, but all Carter and Ella Ann could "catch" were broken shells! Zach took over most of the time and brought them a ton of hermit crabs to play with on the beach. Spencer and Crag also would catch some pretty interesting animals like fish, jellyfish (dead ones), and she crab. Ella Ann had no problem whatsoever sticking her hands in the bucket of hermit crabs and pulling them out to examine! She even stuck her hand in Zach's net to pick up a baby crab! She's much more brave than me!

Ella Ann really enjoyed playing with Seth, not only in the sand, but also at the house. She loved to chase him around the house and imitate his squeals! Speaking of our house, it was a great one for all of us and was very close to the beach. We had a pool too and the kids enjoyed that. Carter and Ella Ann even slept in bunk beds in the same room! This is the first time they've shared a room so I was a little apprehensive because I know my child and how crazy she can be at nighttime with crying out in her sleep, waking up before dawn to chat (which they did at 5:30 a.m. one morning), and having a hard time falling asleep. Even with all of that they did great together and there were no major issues.

Late in the week one night Ella Ann woke us up complaining of her pajamas hurting her. After bringing her to the 3rd floor to our room Spencer looked her over and she was covered in head-to-toe hives. She had scratched them so badly that her whole body was one giant whelp. She was beyond miserable and with her sensitive skin and allergies we were dressed and ready to go to the ER at 1 a.m. After giving her a big dose of Benadryl and putting her in bed with us, she fell asleep and we just waited until morning to talk to her allergist. She still had them just as bad the next day but once we started giving her some antihistamine drugs the symptoms went away but the hives themselves stayed until the next day. She seemed fine by late afternoon and we were able to get out and about. Thankgoodness!

After cleaning up in the late afternoon, we would either go out to dinner or cook at our house. We mainly wanted this vacation so badly so that we could just relax and enjoy our precious time together. It was such a fun week and we were very sad to come home, especially Ella Ann. She said, no less than 30 times on the way home, "I don't wanna go home!" She's really going to miss Carter and Seth!

I have a lot of pictures so click HERE to view them.