Relaxing In Hilton Head

This past Saturday, Ella Ann, Spencer, and I loaded up our car to the brim and headed to the beach! This was our second trip to Hilton Head with Spencer's immediate family. We had a huge house on the beach and stayed all week with the family. We had SO much fun and were so very sad to come home this morning. The weather was pretty good, despite the raging winds each day that made for a less than desirable trip to the beach, but we all packed it up each day that we could get out and did it anyway! It rained the last couple of days, but we were still able to go to the beach one last time when it cleared off Friday afternoon. We enjoyed awesome meals in Hilton Head and only stayed in to cook one night. We all had a good time catching up and just hanging out as a family because when we usually get together it's never any longer than a couple of days.

The kids were just great together! Seth tried his best to hang in there with Ella Ann and Carter and would love to sit and watch them play all the while injecting many squeals of glee! Ella Ann and Carter were inseparable all week; in fact, we rarely had to play with them except for maybe Aunt Kasey because both kids are completely enamored with her and want her around all the time and when she's not there they ask for her until she comes back! :) I think she's their favorite playmate, besides each other! Most of the time Carter and Ella Ann would just run around in circles, literally, chasing one another while screaming and laughing! Honestly they would just make us all dizzy!

Both Carter and Ella Ann were not too fond of the ocean, but loved the sand. Ella Ann took a little while to pick up a foot and move from one spot to the other, but she eventually got used to the sand and would play in it. She wouldn't really go without shoes and hated it when her hands got sand on them, which was every 5 seconds because she kept digging in it! Spencer and I finally got her close to the water and eventually in it on our second day, but she refused with a big "NO!!" any time after that. I guess we were just lucky that day. As I mentioned earlier, it was quite windy every day, so when you see our pictures all of us have horrible hair so please don't think that I actually styled Ella Ann's hair in a greasy mohawk! :)

It was much easier to upload all of the photos to my Facebook site, so please click HERE and you will get to view all of them instead of just a few. If you click on the first one, Dad, you can make it bigger and just hit the "next" button in the top right corner for the next picture. :) However, please look below at Ella Ann one year later.....

Ella Ann in Hilton Head last year at this time. She was 10 months old.

She kept wanting to eat the sand!

Then.....

and now at 22 months. Now she wouldn't even touch the sand OR water!

Just testing it!

Bargain Buy

Friday is my usual Wal-Mart morning and I recently spied a consignment store in the shopping district near it so I stopped in before I went grocery shopping this past Friday. Their clothing was not so hot, but they did have lots of good books, nick nacks, and a few toys. We have been planning on purchasing a wooden rocking horse for Ella Ann for her birthday because she never gets off of one when she spots one at a friend's house or at a toy store so when I saw a great one at this consignment store I let Ella Ann have her way and we, I say we because she wouldn't let it go, carried it out to the car. I bought it for $10!!! I was so happy because the one at IKEA that I was going to buy was $35! I also bought a great book that Ella Ann loves at the store for 50 cents! I love it when I find good bargains, I guess because I rarely do! The horse is so cute and better than the one from IKEA. Ella Ann had a fit when I told her it couldn't go in with us to Wal-Mart! I had to make it the fastest shopping trip ever so we could hurry up and get in the car so she could at least look at it! She rocks on it quite often and really has enjoyed it this weekend, along with her new book. Unfortunately she gets in trouble a lot because she tries to rock while holding her milk, blanket, cow, and two horses! This makes for a dangerous ride!

We didn't really do too much this weekend either. Spencer was either working, sleeping, or watching football so we just stayed around the house. I took Ella Ann to the great playground again on Saturday morning. She did scream and holler when I tried to get her back in the stroller to leave, but not like she did last weekend! Whew! We also went to the pool and played and all we talked about was playing in the pool next weekend/week with Carter and Seth! We are headed to the beach next week, so I will post pictures from our travels when we get back. Here are a few pics from our weekend.

Her fabulous new horse! She calls it her "rocking horsey" and when she sits on it she'll say "rock, rock, rock, rock"!

Notice her white bear that is sitting on the school bus beside her. She has recently started propping up her animals so they can "watch her" play and eat! I guess it's because we have told her so many times that they can't rock or eat with her but they can sit and watch.

She climbed up on the couch, rolled herself up in her bobbie and laid down with Spencer while he was resting on the couch. She laid there for like 15 minutes, which is unheard of for her to either lay or sit still for that long!

Lazy Labor Day

This Labor Day was kinda boring, I have to say. Spencer worked for most of it and when he was here we just hung out and played. I got my hair chopped off on Friday and posted a couple of pictures below of my new doo so my Mom and Jana, who is in Kansas City, can see it. I do really like it, but it will take some getting used to. It's not this straight usually, but the stylist flat-ironed it and it looks much better when I wear it flipped up. Okay, enough about my hair! ha!

Much to my dismay, Spencer has taught Ella Ann what a football is and how to play with it. Spencer drug out a Nerf football this weekend and Ella Ann has yet to stop walking around with it and saying "football." She also throws it, catches it (not too often), and will "spike" it and say "touchdown!" No, I am not happy AT ALL! :)

This weekend the largest sci-fi convention was held downtown for 3 full days. Let me tell you of the sights we saw on our way to play in the park! I saw Snow White carrying around an apple, a man walking around with a huge albino boa around his neck, people spray painted head-to-toe in bronze holding shields and swords, ferries (very large ferries smoking cigarettes), men in kilts with helmets on, men wearing fur-trimmed knee-high boots, teeny tiny leather shorts and no shirt but with a cape mind you, and horns on their heads, and lots and lots of other crazies painted head-to-toe and carrying around fake (I hope) weapons! Spencer and I had to conceal our laughter many, many times as we walked to the park!!! This is one of the many reasons I love living downtown because I get to be entertained for free!! Once we got to the park, we went both Saturday and Sunday afternoon, we watched the dancing fountains at Centennial and then we walked down to the playgrounds. I haven't taken Ella Ann to a playground in a couple of months because the weather has been too unbearable. The last time we took her I had to follow her around so she wouldn't fall and hold her while she went down the slides. Well, this weekend she proved to be quite a little monkey! She did everything all by herself, including climbing the steps AND going down all the slides!! I swear, the kid would get on and get off that slide over and over and would probably stay there all day and night if we'd let her! On Saturday, I walked over with her to the new Coca-Cola and we played on their grounds (they have gigantic balls and games for the kids to play with so it's pretty fun).

I have now taken Ella Ann to a playground 4 days in a row and I think we have created a monster! Yesterday, the 3 of us went walking in a large park close to us that recently renovated their entire playground area and it opened this weekend. Once we got Ella Ann near the play area, there was no turning back! Spencer and I were completely blown away by the crazed child that appeared when we tried to take her off the bouncing firetruck so that another child could steer it!! Ella Ann has never entered into such a demon-like state before! People were starring at us as we dragged our enraged child to her stroller so we could promptly get to our car!!! Yes, we are hitting the terrible twos a little early it looks like!!!

Ella Ann's new Mommy!

Are you ready for some football?!?!????!!!!!

Spencer, the proud papa!

This is what was in front of me as I walked to the park on Saturday! In case you were wondering, it is a man!

Dancing along with the dancing fountains!

Ella Ann's ready to hit the slide as the grand finale ends.

The big girl playing with all the big kids!

"Look what I can do all by myself!"

So proud!

This is the biggest slide and Ella Ann had no fear! She still is scared to death of the swings, though! We'll just take her straight to the coasters and skip Dumbo when it's time to take her to Disney! :)

This is the grounds down at Coca-Cola. Ella Ann is SO hot, but is definitly NOT ready to go home!

A quick water break before we headed home. I had to bribe her with Goldfish to get her back in the stroller!

Sleeping Beauty....Or Not

When I went to check on Ella Ann last night before I went to bed, this is what I found.......

After laying in bed and saying her ABCs and counting to 10 (Ella Ann's own randition goes something like "1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10") over and over until she finally fell asleep 1.5 hours past her bedtime, the above picture is what she looked like. I guess she wore herself out! I couldn't help but take a picture of her because she looked so funny! Note that she surrounds herself with all her favorite animals. The bear and the duck are at the other end of the bed and yes, I have to drag at least 2 stuffed animals AND the blanket wherever we go!

Kentucky Bound

This past Tuesday, Ella Ann and I loaded up and headed north to stay the rest of the week with my parents in Kentucky. Spencer was very busy at work so I decided I needed a break and I knew my parents could give that to me! We arrived early afternoon on Tuesday and played nonstop the entire week. Ella Ann walked into the house to see a corner in the living room, her little corner, full of some new toys, books, bath toys, etc. She just didn't know where to begin! It was so funny because my parents had gotten her all this new stuff and what she immediately went for, which she carried around during our entire visit last time, are these wooden ducks that are decoration in their living room! Seriously, she carried around wooden ducks for a week! Although the duck-mania didn't last that long because she hopped on her rocking tricycle, that eventually detaches to be a riding tricycle, and went to town playing and reading! My Mom picked out a book that is all about animal tails, which for those of you that don't know Ella Ann kinda has a tail obsession. She carries all her stuffed animals around by their tails and sucks her thumb. The tail could be just a little nub and she'll still hold onto it while sucking that thumb! Anyway, she would lay down on the book and suck her thumb while holding onto a puffy tail that sticks out on the cover. The kid is weird! :)

We had a really fun time hanging out with my Mom and Dad all week. Ella Ann loved helping my Mom water all of her dying plants outside. She was soaked one morning and stripped down completely naked playing in the hose before 8 a.m.! This child was entertained every waking minute while we were there, so it will be not so fun for me adjusting her back to the real world at home! :)

My Mom and I dropped her off to stay with her Nana and Papa on Friday while we drove up to Evansville to do some shopping and mother/daughter bonding. We also made a stop in Newburgh, Indiana and walked around their quaint downtown on the Ohio River and bought some neat things for Ella Ann at some little boutiques. We had lunch at a wonderful restaurant on the river and then we went to the mall in Evansville and shopped some more, mainly for Christmas. My parents and I went to dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant that night and just hung out....fabulous for me because I was minus Ella Ann! Late that evening, I dragged my poor mother to the movies to watch the premier of "The Nanny Diaries." I read the book several years ago and I knew this would be my one and only opportunity to get to see it at the theater. It was worth the very late night because my Mom and I both really enjoyed it!

Ella Ann and I headed home on Sunday morning. I know Spencer really missed his girls and was glad we were finally back! Thanks again to my parents for the fun visit!

I took a ton of pictures, so here they are!

Ella Ann's favorite thing to do at my parent's house is pet Dottie. She asks for her 24/7 while we are there!

She also wanted to hold her and no one was allowed to touch Dottie at the same time as her. Ella Ann would push our hands away and say, "No, no, no!"

Poor Dottie finally gave in and laid down so she could pet her. Ella Ann was so cute and laid down beside her!

This is the fun new ride my parents got for her. It's a tricycle that rocks and will detach from the base to make a riding one when she is older.

As you can see she thoroughly enjoyed it!

We always visit my Dad at work during the day and he always gives balloons to her and she has always been afraid of them until this visit.....when she had to bring home 6 gigantic ones and drag them everywhere!

Too cute!

Helping Mimi water her plants on the deck in the morning.

Soaking herself while drinking from the hose!

What a nut!!!!

This picture turned out fuzzy, but it was so cute I had to post it.

This is Ella Ann with 10-month-old Briley, who is the daughter of a couple close to our family. Briley and her Gran stopped over to visit with us one afternoon.

Ella Ann really enjoyed playing with her and sticking stickers on her arms and legs. Poor Briley!

Showing Grandpa how to grill some pork tenderloin!

This is downtown Newburgh on the Ohio. It is full of fun antique shops, consignment stores, and botiques. We hit them all! :)

Mom and I at lunch at Edgewater Grill.

Getting her grove on again with Mimi and Grandpa!!

Concentrating on her moves!

Searching for Dottie who is obviously hiding from Ella Ann in the monkey grass!! Ella Ann would keep saying, "Come Dottie, come!!"

A picture with my Aunt Bee that lives across the street. Ella Ann would point to her and say "Aunt Beeeeee!!!!"

Yeay Friends!

This past weekend two of my best friends from Kentucky came down to visit me! I pledged ADPi with Katie and Erin at UK and, along with a few other girls, we became a very tight group of friends. I am so thankful that I can honestly say that I am still very close to them, even though they live 7 hours away from me! I hadn't seen Katie in almost a year and it had been well over a year since I'd seen Erin. In fact, Erin had never met Ella Ann! The tired girls arrived Friday evening and we just hung out and did a lot of catching up. Saturday they got woken up by Ella Ann peering around their sleeping heads and we hit the ground running and they, I pooped out Saturday night, kept going on into early Sunday morning! :) I took them to a really neat, quaint area of town and we did some boutique shopping and browsing. We went to an awesome Mexican restaurant for lunch and pigged out. After that we hit the mall and came home to grill out for dinner. Poor Ella Ann, we dragged her all across the city and back! I don't think she minded a bit, though, she absolutely LOVED the girls and wanted to be around them every waking second! She wanted them to read to her, sing to her, dance with her, play with her, etc. and you name it, they did it! They were such great friends and aunts! :)

Saturday night they went out with some old friends of theirs from Kentucky while I stayed at home and went to bed! I'm not used to all this entertainment and fun! I had such a good time with them and we were all very sad to see them go Sunday morning. I miss them so much, but we had a blast exchanging old funny stories and catching up on what we've all been up to. They have never seen me in action in my "mommy mode" so I'm sure it was quite entertaining for them to see me in a different light! ha!

Thanks again, Katie and Erin, for coming all the way down here to see us! I really appreciated you making the long trip!

Shopping on Saturday morning. Ella Ann just kicked back and went along for the ride!

The girls brought Ella Ann a fun new toy and she kept wanting them to play with her.

She loved scooting around in Katie's shoes!

Poor Katie, she couldn't even enjoy her cupcake without Ella Ann putting Baby Tad in her lap so she could sing and dance along with it!

Once Katie sends me her pictures I will post them too. These two pictures are from church this morning. I took them because Ella Ann looked so pretty in the dress her Nana gave her!