The Ball Blog

Prayers and Peace

2012-02-11T07:40:00.000-06:00

I know I am behind on blogging again...but right now I ask for prayers and peace. My dearest grandmother (Nan-my mom's mother) is not doing well. She is battling several illnesses one being a rare type of Alzheimer's. This awful disease has over taken the body and mind of someone that has never missed a day being full of spirit, strength, love, energy, appreciation and faith. It takes my breath away to see her in the state she is and how quickly she has digressed.

I am so thankful that I have had the honor of spending unforgettable time and memories with her over the last 30 years. I am blessed and so incredibly appreciative that she has met 2 of her great grandchildren be brought into this precious world and start to grow into their booming personalities.

It is a matter of time, we aren't sure how much but it is getting close...very close. So right now I just ask for prayer......and peace.

Play dates, family dates, daddy & daughter dates...

2012-02-05T07:57:00.000-06:00

We are already nearing the end of another weekend! Time is just a flying us by...we had a good week at school. We had Claude (my grandfather) over for dinner one night, we played with friends at the park on Friday (this weather has been amazing for January/February), Connor and Ellison went out on a date Friday night to dinner and to Sweet CeCe's...Ellison was SO excited. Yesterday we did some house stuff, ate lunch with GJ then yesterday evening we headed to Columbia to eat dinner with Granddaddy and Jen Mama. Today we are going to church then Connor and his buddy Chris are FINISHING our bathroom!!! Tonight we have a Super Bowl Party we are going to. We have a busy week ahead with school and some evening activities. Before we know it March will be here and Ellison will be turning 4 years old! Here are a couple photos from this week...

Just playing at home...

Elic...my sweet boy! Goodness I love him but he is a HAND FULL! Nothing like his sister. He keeps me busy and moving non-stop til bedtime :)

Ellison on her date with daddy :) I LOVE that Connor has a daughter to share these special moments with.

Update...

2012-01-31T07:26:00.000-06:00

Our weeks have been jam packed! Besides typical school/work/gymnastics/playdate etc. my brother was in town last week visiting so we spent a little time with him. Last Friday Ellison had Giggle Girls and it was themed with a Pajama Party! She loved it and had so much fun. Plus it gave me 2.5 hours to run errands with just one child instead of two.

Ellison at gymnastics with her dear friend Marin!

Getting ready for Giggle Girls in her pajamas!

She insisted on doing a silly pose :)

However last Friday night Ellison came down with a horrible stomach bug. She threw up 8 times with several hours. It was awful and made for a VERY long night. I seriously think I did about 10 loads of laundry between bedding, stuff animals, burpies, towels, wash clothes, etc. Luckily she was totally fine starting early Saturday morning.

So one of Connor's friends from high school came over ALL day Saturday and ALL day Sunday to help Connor work on our master bath renovation. All I can say is these two make a fabulous team because they pretty much knocked out all of the tiling. All that is left of our huge redo is to grout and hang the shower door. It looks A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! A total turn around to what it was before. I will post pictures once we have a final product. So with all of that being said I had the kiddos to keep entertained pretty much the whole entire weekend. Of course I love and adore my babies but as many of you know it is a exhausting job! I actually had a helping hand, Chris's wife (Chris is the friend that helped Connor) hung out with me and the kiddos while the boys worked. Ellison LOVED hanging out with her. Tracy was a trooper to stick with us for about 15+ hours. W are blessed to have crossed paths with Chris and Tracy!

We had school yesterday, gymnastics last night then I got hit with the stomach bug. I had a rough night but feel better this morning. I will be hanging at home while the kids are at school. I have to admit it will be nice to catch a little "me time."

We have a really busy weekend coming up and next week is even crazier (I think we have something going on every day and night starting Saturday til the next Friday)...

A family Sunday!

2012-01-22T16:02:00.002-06:00

We have had a very low key weekend for once! On Friday the kids and I met up with some friends for a play date at Chik-Fila...we all had a blast and spent over 2 hours there. On Friday night we had some new friends come over for dinner. They don't have kids but they fit right into our chaos! We had such a fun time and definitely will be getting together again...thanks Tracy and Chris!

Yesterday we were L-A-Z-Y...meaning we seriously didn't get out of our pajamas til 4:30 in the afternoon. We spent the whole day at home and finally after naps Ellison was like "we are we going mommy?" So I got us dressed and headed to the mall to just walk around and let the kids play in their indoor play area. They had fun and got some energy out. We headed home, ate dinner then put the kiddos down for bed time.

This morning we woke up, got ready and went to church then headed straight to the zoo. It was a chilly and cloudy day but we decided to go anyway since we had done nothing all weekend. It actually was lots of fun, there was hardly anybody at the zoo which made it kind of nice. We saw the animals, rode the carousel and just took our time!

Checking out the reptiles...

Love these 2 boys :)

Daddy and the kiddos...

Elic LOVED watching the reptiles...

Fish!

Strolling around...

Mommy and Ellison at the flamingos...

Petting the goats!

Love my sweet girl...

Little stud

Can't go to the zoo without a ride on the carousel!

I can't say it enough how wonderful it is to have an annual membership at the zoo...it is totally worth it!

It's Pajama Time!

2012-01-22T15:47:00.000-06:00

We had a good week at school...it was short because of MLK holiday! Ellison had her first gymnastics class and I totally forgot to snap a picture so I will definitely do that tomorrow :) Ellison had pajama day at school on Wednesday and Thursday since her class was learning about the letter P! They also made pancakes (they brought leftovers down to the Pre-K classrooms which was a treat :) I love Ellison and all of her sweet friends that she has made at school. Some of these girls have been together for the past 2 and some even 3 years! We are so blessed with dear friends (both Ellison and I)...check out my cutie and her buddies :)

Ellison and her sweet dear friend Marin!

Lucy, Ellison, Molly and Hattie :)

This reminds me of a future college pose...Hattie, Ellison, Marin and Molly!

Slacker!

2012-01-16T14:15:00.000-06:00

Every since the rush of Christmas and holiday time has ended I have totally slacked on picture taking and blogging! Lets see here...we started back to school last week. It was busy but overall a pretty smooth transition back. I hosted a baby shower for a dear friend of mine yesterday. I also had a fun get together with my friends from work last night...I LOVE the ladies that I work with. I have formed some long lasting friendships and couldn't imagine working anywhere else!

The amazing ladies I work with! Missing a couple though :(

Ellison is doing great! She has her first gymnastics class tonight with her friend Marin at Let It Shine! She is beyond excited. She is doing so great in school. She recognizes almost every letter in the alphabet (she will be looking at a sign, building or book cover and point out each letter that she knows), she can right her name (correctly and in order!), her vocabulary is amazing, her memory and stories totally crack us up...she is just a bundle of entertainment and so smart!

Elic is doing pretty good...we have had a few issues with constipation but I think we finally have resolved the issues. It has been going on for a couple of months (ever since he started drinking whole milk). He is also teething...poor guy can't catch a break! And we took him to the eye doctor for an eye exam. At his 1 year check up the pediatrician noticed a stigmatism. So to be safe we had it checked by an eye doctor. All is well! He does have two stigmatisms however the doctor said they are within normal range and he will likely grow out of them. So we will take him back in about 18 months to have them double check. Little man isn't walking yet but really should be taking off any day now. He just knows he can fly and get to anything if he crawls. So he just prefers to do that :)

I will work on being better with my blogging and taking photos! Hope everyone is having a great start to their week!

Complete catch up!

2012-01-09T16:48:00.000-06:00

I have been slacking on the blog AND taking pictures! After Christmas I spent my last 2 weeks off from school/work doing house projects, loving on my babies, catching up with friends and having play dates! To back up a little bit, New Year's Eve was spent with some of our friends...The Terwilliger Family. Beth (the mom) has been our photographer since Ellison was a baby. They have 2 sons, one of which is Ellison's age. The kids had SO much fun and played from 6:30 til 11:30 non-stop!

Ellison and her friend Miles on New Year's Eve!

One morning Ellison had her two buddies Ava and Asher come over to play. Their mommy (one of my best friends, Nikki) is pregnant with her 3rd and had a doctor's appointment. These 3 had so much fun and loved playing together...Elic enjoyed watching them all around :)

Ava, Ellison and Asher

Painting pretty pictures!

Working hard :)

This past weekend we noticed our neighbor's horse (aka Lightening) was out and about. We hadn't seen him since the end of summer. So of course Ellison was dying to see him and feed him. Connor took the kids and fed him some carrots. I love that this is right in our back yard...

I love this picture of the 3 of them...

Feeding Lightening

Ellison and her favorite horse!

On the other hand, Elic was not such a fan...

Mommy and Elic

Love my sweet boy!

We started back to school/work today! It was nice to see all of our friends and my co-workers. As much as I wanted more time off and to spend with my kids I am ready to get back on a schedule and in a routine. It was a good day back!

Arrington Vineyards

2012-01-03T19:00:00.001-06:00

While my Uncle was in town visiting from Pasadena, some of my family took a little drive out to Arrington Vineyards for the afternoon. It was a beautiful but chilly day. The adults did the wine tasting and then we ran around outside with the kiddos. We all had a wonderful time...it wasn't crowded at all which was nice.

Ellison, GUE, GJ, Elic and Claude at Arrington Vineyards

GUE and his great niece :)

A little wine tasting with the adults! And I just noticed Ellison's little face peaking out between GUE and Claude, little stinker!

Miss Priss and her purple boots :)

Mommy and her babies

GJ and Ellison...so cute!

Ellison had a good ole time playing chase and then standing on the rocks and jumping into my arms!

Brother and Sister

Little Stud...ladies he is NOT available!

Elic loves to climb all over his big sister...it makes Ellison crack up!

We had such a fun time! Can't wait to see you soon GUE!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T22:30:00.000-06:00

I cannot believe that another year has passed and a new one has begun! I am thankful to have one more week off before returning back to our normal routine with school. I am using this week to catch up on house stuff, Thirty One and just enjoying my precious little love bugs. I am thankful that even once I return to work my babes will pretty much be only a few steps away from me for just 20 hours a week. I am blessed that I have such an ideal job that works so well with being a mom! I feel like over this break I have realized just how fast time is flying by. This time next year, Ellison will be entered her last semester at Walker Preschool in the Pre-K program and will be preparing to start kindergarten! I am so not ready for that!

Anyways...we had a very fun New Years Eve spent with friends! However for now I am leaving you with a sneak peak of Elic's 1 year photos!

Thank you Beth! I cannot wait to see the rest :)

Christmas afternoon with my family!

2012-01-01T09:41:00.000-06:00

After we had Christmas morning with the kids we loaded up and headed over to my parents house to celebrate with my whole family! It was nice because we had extra morning time for the kids to play with their new toys before we had to be anywhere. My brother had to leave at 2 o'clock Christmas afternoon to head back to San Fran for work. We had a yummy brunch then opened gifts. It was a really nice time and I am extra thankful this year to have spent quality time with my whole family for a holiday (we of course missed Uncle Mark, Matt and Grace in Pasadena!). The kids loaded up with tons of goodies and us adults did as well! We all must have been extra good this year :)

Uncle GoGo and his niece

GJ and one of her munchkins

GUE with the kiddos

The kids with GJ and Poppy!

Family picture on Christmas Day

My happy parents :)

Our routine brother/sister picture...

Bubby doing his thing

Connor and Claude

Silly bubby

The biggest hit gift Ellison got...a LeapPad (thank you guys, she loves it!)

Daddy and his fishing reel

I love their expressions...

Ellison giving Nan a hug...thank you for the super cute purple boots!

A girl can't ever have enough princesses...

Mommy got a surprise! The North Face jacket I have been eye balling! Thank you!

Ellison immediately wanted to change clothes to show off her new Matilda Jane outfit...

Passing out stockings...

Uncle GoGo and Bubs having fun!

GUE, Nan and Claude with the kiddos...

Merry...

Xmas!

Thank you all for such a wonderful Christmas!!!

A Very Merry Christmas morning (long post and lots of photos :)

2011-12-31T14:31:00.000-06:00

The kids surprisingly slept in Christmas morning til about 7:30 (they are usually up at 6:30)! We had to make Ellison wait very patiently to go downstairs so we could change Elic's diaper and give him some milk.

Ellison waiting very patiently to go downstairs!

We had to get a brother/sister photo :)

I love this picture of Ellison because it shows pure excitement!

Elic loved his blocks!

This was Ellison saying "it is exactly what I wanted!" she said this for just about everything she got :)

Bubby LOVES blocks! He got big cardboard building blocks from Santa and fun bristle blocks from his big sister :)

Elic adn Ellison exchanged their gifts for each other :) Bristle blocks for Elic and a mermaid puzzle for Ellison!

Of course Ellison got some more dress up clothes :)

Bubby with all of his goodies...

cardboard blocks

bristle blocks

PB Anywhere Chair

clothes from Mini Boden and GapKids

The Lion King

Personalized plate

Labels for his bottles and sippy cups

personalized water bottle

Ellison trying out her new sleeping bag! She cannot wait to go camping again with her daddy!

Elic with his new water bottle/thermos and labels for his stuff!

Ellison opening a gift from her daddy...new earrings!

Bubby trying out his new chair, he likes it!

Ellison with her goodies...

paint easel

sleeping bag

Candy Land

mermaid puzzle

Princess play hair set

Snow White dress

earrings

personalized water bottle

The DVD Cinderella

Art accessories

Daddy was good too! He got a Kindle Fire!

Elic playing in the tent the kids got from MeMac

Mommy trying to climb through the tunnel but got stuck :)

Mommy and her babes on Christmas morning!

Daddy and his girl...

Next post...one more Christmas celebration with my family!

Christmas Eve night....

2011-12-30T07:52:00.000-06:00

After spending the day of Christmas Eve in Columbia we left all dressed in our holiday best to attend Christmas Eve service at our church. The kids did great! Luckily Elic took a great nap at granddaddy and Jen's house so he was rested up. We only put the kiddos in childcare during the sermon then brought them back up to sit with us for singing Christmas carols and the candle lighting. Ellison even held her own candle this year, she was so proud of herself :)

Last year we started our own family tradition where after church service, we swing by a yummy asian bistro place down the street from our house and pick up take out, we drive around a local neighborhood to check our Christmas lights then head home to eat dinner, set out milk and cookies, read A Polar Express and head to bed :)

We carried on the same tradition this year except when we got home the kids discovered this...

Our Elf, Nomes, left the kiddos a present before heading back to the North Pole til next Christmas!

(We decided to start this as another Christmas tradition-this being the first year for it- Nomes will leave the kids their special pair of Christmas pajamas to wear Christmas Eve night :)

Ellison loved her pajamas and loves Nomes!

Our cuties in their Christmas pajamas from Nomes! Thanks Nomes...see you next year!

Leaving out cookies, carrots and milk with a hint of cocoa (the was Ellison's request) for Santa!

Reading The Polar Express with daddy (Elic was there but crawling around the floor :)

After the kiddos went to bed Connor and I got busy! We had 24 cardboard blocks to put together, an easel to assemble and a Pottery Barn Kids Anywhere Chair to put together!

I guess our kiddos were pretty darn good this year :) We definitely had a couple of doubting moments!

Ellison's stash of goodies...

Elic's stash of goodies...

Mommy, daddy and the doodles were pretty good too :)

Merry Christmas Eve!

2011-12-28T06:51:00.001-06:00

On Christmas Eve, our first stop we headed to Columbia to celebrate Christmas with Connor's mom and grandparents!

Ellison playing piano with her daddy...

Aunt Sarah and Ellison

Ellison and her goodies!

She loves anything purple!

Yay! A tent...Ellison has loved playing in this. Bubby won't climb inside of it just yet...

The cutest little waitress...EVER!

Cute slippers!

Mommy and the babes :)

My sweet bubby...

Ellison with her Papa

The kiddos with Meme and Papa

MeMac and her grandbabies

A family photo on Christmas Eve :)

Elic, me, Ellison, Connor, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Ben and Aunt Heather

After MeMac's house we loaded up and headed to Granddaddy and Jen's house for Christmas! We ate yummy food and opened more presents! Elic took a big nap and Ellison was still full of energy...

Ellison being silly with Aunt Heather

Uncle Ben and his niece

Ellison with Mama Doris...

One of Ellison's gifts was a "super girl" dress up outfit...I mean how cute can she be?!

Thanks everyone for a wonderful Christmas!

The last couple of days before Christmas!

2011-12-25T22:02:00.000-06:00

Technically Christmas is almost over (in about 2 hours :) It truly flew by for us....before I do a mile long Christmas Eve and Christmas Day post, I thought I would do a few fun photos and events we were busy with a few days leading up to Christmas. As you saw in the last post we took the kiddos to visit Santa, afterwards we let the kids play in the mall play area for a bit...

Bubby enjoyed the mall play area as much as Ellison did!

I helped take care of my friends 2 girls last Thursday. I decided to brave the rainy weather, borrowed my mom's van and took the 4 kiddos to Monkey's Treehouse to play all morning! It was fun but exhausting...the kids were so well behaved, the hard part was it was pretty much watching two sets of twins (one set being the age of 3 1/2 and the other set being the age of 1). Marin and Ellison were very independent however Clara and Elic were mobile but Clara just started walking and Elic doesn't walk but he loves to climb! It was a busy morning :)

Bubby playing!

Ellison and Marin kept each other entertained for 2 hours!

Elic on the slides!

Are they not adorable?!

The color/art station...

Playing "Super Girls" at Marin's house

Sweet friends!

This past Friday night (right before Christmas Eve) we had some friends over for dinner! Can I just say how blessed I am that my hubby actually enjoys cooking and totally rocks it! He made a homemade chocolate chess pie and homemade spaghetti...it was YUM-E! Thanks babe!

My chef :)

I wanted to post the picture below...I know you may be familiar with Pinterest and if not then watch out because a new addiction is headed your way! I have made like several hundred "pins" but have yet to actually recreate any of them except for this...

I LOVED this idea for displaying Christmas cards...I wrapped a ribbon around each cabinet door (secured it with tape on the inner side of the door) then used small clothes pins to pin up the cards! This will definitely be our display each Christmas!

On Christmas Eve morning, Ellison and I have a tradition of making cookies for Santa! This year we made Peppermint Melt Away Cookies...they were a huge hit and so delicious!

Ellison unwrapping the peppermints...

This year we got really into setting up our Elf (Nomes) and Ellison loved to wake up every morning in search of where Nomes would be stationed for the day! On Christmas Eve morning (the last day for Nomes to visit this year) we found him doing this...

Taking a bubble bath in marshmellows...it totally cracked Ellison up!

The yummy cookies we made for Santa!

All I want for Christmas...

2011-12-23T08:17:00.000-06:00

We took the kiddos yesterday to see Santa since it was a Monday and daddy had the day off! We thought it would work out well and not be crowded. Well it was crowded )about 12 people in line before us and we got there right when the mall opened). Here is our Santa picture for 2011...

One word to describe it...PRICELESS (and LOVE!)

Gingerbread house :)

2011-12-21T06:50:00.000-06:00

My Pre-K class at school made gingerbread houses last week as one of our Christmas activities. Well needless to say there was enough for one extra house so I decided to take it home and decorate with Ellison. She has a tradition of doing this with my parents every Christmas but she loves it so much (and it make a really cute table centerpiece so I thought lets do it again!). We put on our Christmas aprons, bought some icing, candy and had lots of fun. I think Ellison enjoyed eating the gummi bears more than anything!

We have everything ready to decorate!

Icing is done

Decorating with lots of yummy candy!

Her sweet little hand putting on some sprinkles...

The finished product...mommy/daughter F-U-N!

My little cook in her cute apron with our gingerbread house!

The finished house :)

Love making holiday memories!

Cheekwood with GJ and Poppy!

2011-12-20T07:06:00.000-06:00

This past Saturday my parents took Ellison to Cheekwood for some Santa and Christmas fun! They had SO much fun together. She decorated cookies, made an ornament and fun little festive bag. Cookies and art crafts are right up her ally. Then they walked around to look at all of the trains which was pretty cool! Thank you so much GJ and Poppy for taking Ellison and having so much fun...she loved it!

Decorating her cookie

Some of the trains...

With Poppy watching the trains...

GJ, Poppy and Ellison

Look at all the fun stuff she got to do!

I love this picture of my sweet girl...

Putting some glue on her bag...

Decorating with GJ

Eating her yummy cookie!

Having so much fun!

Program #2 and last day of school before Christmas break!

2011-12-18T11:34:00.001-06:00

As mentioned since Ellison goes to school 4 days out of the week she got to perform twice for the Christmas program! We had some family come and watch the super star :) It was a fun time and Ellison sang her little heart out once again.

Singing Joy to the World!

Jingle Bell time!

Hey!

"The Little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head!"

Family photo with the singing star!

She also had 2 Christmas parties at school...here we are loaded up with our teacher gifts and goodie bags ready for a fun day at school!

Ellison had 2 gifts to give Connor and I that she made at school. One was an ornament that had her handprint on it...each finger was turned into a snowman and it came with the sweetest poem. The other gift was a calendar she made. Each month has her handprint that has been turned into something...I LOVE having those sweet memories and keepsakes.

For her second Christmas party we signed up to bring sweet treats. We decided to keep it simple and do festive cupcakes. Ellison loves helping me bake so I wanted to do something easy so she could assist :)

This is random but I LOVE this idea I got off Pinterest for how to display Christmas cards. You wrap ribbon around your cabinet doors and use small clothes pins to hang them up!

Silly self portrait that Connor took...I think it turned out cute :)

Ellison helping sprinkle the cupcakes!

Ellison with her favorite teacher Ms. Beth! We love Ms. Beth!

Ellison and her sweet friend Marin

Lucy, Marin and Ellison

Icing her ice cream cone Christmas tree at her class party...

Love my girl...

Yay! We have officially started our 3 week Christmas break!!!

Christmas Program #1!

2011-12-12T16:00:00.001-06:00

We have started our last week of school before we are out for the holidays! I am SO excited for 3 weeks off!!! This week is crazy busy...not to mention Elic has a cold and virus :( So today Ellison had her Christmas Program (the first one...she gets to perform twice since she goes to school all 4 days since I work there 4 days). She sang her little sweet heart out with a smile on her face! Daddy came to watch then he went home with Elic. Tomorrow is performance #2 and we have family coming to watch her perform! If you missed it we have her on video that I will upload in the next couple of days...she was so precious up on that stage! I am a proud mama!

Before school in my classroom playing dress up with Hattie!

Waiting with her friends to sing!

A little shy at first...

Loving some Jingle Bells!

Hey!

Love my baby girl!

Christmas has started early!

2011-12-11T22:00:00.001-06:00

Christmas has started early this year for our kiddos! Our overall holiday plans are new for us this year so we had an early Christmas celebration with Connor's mom and siblings at our house this past Sunday. We made homemade sushi rolls (it was SO yummy) had some fun drinks (green tea martinis), played games and the kids opened a couple of gifts! Elic was a little under the weather so he went to bed early but Ellison loved spending time with everyone and being the center of attention!

Opening her first Christmas gift...

We loves dress up!

A play pizza...we have already played a ton with it!

Bubby and his super cute shirt!

Aunt Sarah and Uncle Danny

Aunt Heather

Miss Diva

Our sushi spread...thank you Connor!

Ellison of course did not eat any sushi but she really enjoyed creating her own roll!

Thank you Uncle Ben, Aunt Heather, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Danny and MeMac for coming over to celebrate!

Holiday catch up!

2011-12-10T21:00:00.001-06:00

These past few weeks since Thanksgiving have flown by! I cannot believe Christmas is less than 2 weeks away. We have been busy wrapping up things at school. This is our last week and then we are out for 3+ weeks :) We have been trying to get lots of use of our holiday attire. Ellison has a Christmas program at school plus Christmas parties! We have been wrapping presents, attending work holiday parties and we have already had a small Christmas celebration with some of Connor's family! I still have a little shopping to do and we are visiting the big man on Friday! Here are some random photos taken the past couple of weeks...

Hanging out in mommies classroom before school...don't you love her shirt!

Bubby has a matching one of course...

Ellison and all of her friends at school practicing for the Christmas program...

Jingle Bells!

So Elic is obsessed with being pushed in his firetruck...this is what he does when nobody will push him! Pitiful!

We went to Dicken's in downtown Franklin, it was COLD! We only got one picture which is totally not like me :) Oh well...it is better than none!

O' Christmas Tree!

2011-12-04T20:00:00.006-06:00

We have had a wonderful weekend! We got our Christmas tree yesterday, went to Opryland last night with friends, went to church this morning and did the lighting of the advent wreath, the kids did great! I had a 31 show this afternoon and this evening we decorated our tree! The kiddos had a fun time putting on their Christmas pajamas, listening to Christmas music and decorating the tree. I was very interested to see Elic's reaction since he is mobile, is a boy and pretty much gets into EVERYTHING he shouldn't. Overall he did well but definitely spent some time undecorating the tree while the rest of us were trying to decorate.

Elic loved the lights!

Ellison ready to decorate!

She picked our her first ornament to hang...it was one she got at school last year.

Bubby getting ready to hang his first ornament...

Elic undecorating the tree :)

Silly picture of mommy...

My sweet babies in their Christmas pajamas in front of our tree!

Love the holidays and LOVE my family!

Opryland with Friends!

2011-12-04T12:00:00.003-06:00

Trying to catch up here! We went to Opryland with some friends to see the lights and decorations! We had so much fun with The Pullen Family :) It was quite a sight loading 4 adults, 2 kids and 2 babies into their van and making the long drive out to Opryland but it was worth it! The kids had SO much fun and really enjoyed running around and seeing all of beautiful sights. It was a nice way to get into the holiday spirit...

Ellison insisted on wearing her pretty Christmas dress...

My handsome fella ready to go!

Family photo in the hotel...

Gorgeous tree

Ellison and one of her best friends, Marin...these girls were adorable!

Best buds...to me this is like a flash forward for when they are teenagers!

So of course we both had double strollers since we have 4 children with us and of course everywhere we went we had to go up and down stairs. This is what we were doing half the time and we just had to laugh about it :) Our stroller train...

Group shot! We really enjoy being with our dear friends!

Super cute picture of daddy and the kiddos

Headed outdoors to see the lights!

Mommy photo...

The girlies outside

We even got a photo together...that is RARE!

Beautiful manger scene

Daddies and the babies!

The sweetest babies...Clara and Elic

Are they not the cutest?!

Thank you Pullen Family for a fun evening out!

Thanksgiving Break!

2011-11-30T06:43:00.000-06:00

We just got through with our Thanksgiving break. The kids and I had a whole week off! Even though it was a long break, it was jammed pack and went by way too fast. I had a dentist appointment, Elic had his first year check, I had a haircut, I saw a movie with my mommy, we had Thanksgiving in Columbia with family and friends, did a little Black Friday shopping, got a mani and pedi with my best friend and mom, decorated the house for Christmas...the list goes on and on!

On Thanksgiving Day we had some dear friends whose plans fell through and they had nobody to spend the holiday with. So we invited them to join us at one of our Thanksgiving meals with Connor's family! These friends are so dear to us and we are blessed to have been able to share the holiday together :)

Ellison and Ava...having fun on Thanksgiving

The kiddos at granddaddy and Jen's house

Sarah and Danny

Me and my dear sweet friend, Nikki

Liza and Carly

Josh and Connor

After our first stop at granddaddy and Jen's house we then went to Meme and Papa's house for feast #2!

Ellison and her daddy

Aunt Sarah and niece

Bubby and daddy

Aunt Heather and Ellison

Love my girl...

Ellison busting a move

Having fun!

Trying to get a sibling photo

The 2 cutest little turkeys

The day after Thanksgiving we pulled out the Christmas decorations! This year Uncle GoGo (my brother) bought Ellison a very purplicious Christmas tree for Ellison to put in her room. It has been a HUGE hit!

Ellison and her purple tree, thanks GoGo!

Bubby and mommy while decorating!

Birthday Parties :)

2011-11-28T08:08:00.000-06:00

We have been busy celebrating birthdays with our friends! We went to a birthday party at Home Depot...it was SO cute. All the kids got to make projects that the birthday girl picked out. There was hammering, gluing and decorating with stickers. They played "place the tool in the tool box :)" We saw LOTS of dear friends and had a fun time catching up with everyone. Happy 5th Birthday to our sweet friend, Ava!

Ellison all geared up ready to start her project!

Helping daddy hammer away...

On to decorating with stickers...

So the past few weeks Ellison has started writing her name! She can do it without any help...she has a little trouble writing the letter S but we are working on it. SO proud of her :) This is a picture of her writing her name on her project :)

Playing the game "place the tool in the tool box!"

Ellison's turn...

Eating cake with our friend Marin!

Another one of Ellison's friends celebrated her 4th birthday! Lucy invited her dear friends from school over to her house to decorate cookies and play. These four girls have SO much fun together since they have all been together for the past 3 years at Walker WEE Care. They rule the school :) Happy 4th Birthday Lucy!

Decorating cookies!

Ellison decorating...

Showing off their bling

Sweet friends...

Ellison and Lucy the Birthday Girl!

Trying to catch up!

2011-11-27T18:42:00.000-06:00

So I know I am WAY behind...I am going to do a quick post with mainly photos taken these past couple of weeks since Elic's birthday weekend...we have been busy and had LOTS of fun!

My big girl...

Having fun at a family day event...

Bubby and daddy!

We did Thanksgiving with my family early this year because my Uncle and brother were both in town at the same time...

GUE with the kiddos...

Uncle GoGo and our mommy :)

The best brother and sister team!

Family Party!

2011-11-18T18:45:00.001-06:00

I am behind (surprise) so 2 Sundays ago we celebrated Elic's 1st Birthday with all of our families! It was also his actual birthday :) Once again we were blessed with a gorgeous day. Everyone came over, we had yummy food, great conversations, Elic had tons of presents (as well as his sister :)....all in all it was a great birthday weekend celebration! I still can't believe my little man is 1 whole year old! We go to the doctor on Tuesday for his well check so I will be posting about that :) Enjoy some more photos!

Elic's First Birthday (Party #1)

2011-11-14T06:15:00.000-06:00

Last weekend we celebrating my sweet boy's first birthday! As happy as I was for it I was super emotional believe it or not. I just cannot believe 1 whole year has passed. Some days it seems like he has been here as long as Ellison has and other days it seems we just brought him home. What a blessing he has been and I cannot wait for the many years of memories with our precious son to come!

On Saturday (after Ellison's last soccer game) we had five of our closest family friends come over to celebrate Elic's special day. Since we had 11 kid between us all we had to provide some entertainment :) It was a gorgeous day so we had our play set, a bounce house, bubbles, side walk chalk and just the great outdoors! The theme of Elic's first birthday was Little Monsters. I did all of the decorating myself (besides actually printing the items off the banners, etc. from the computer). I think it turned out SO cute...

These were the party favors...it was called "Adopt a Monster" :)

With little thank you notes that say "Thank you for the Wild Birthday!" ~Elic

Happy 1`st Birthday Elic!

Other decorations...

Welcome to Elic's 1st Birtthday (sign)

Cupcakes...

Food table

Birthday Boy's Chair for some smashing cake time :)

Side walk chalk

Our play set and bounce house

The adult hang out

Ellison and Ava

Ms. Nikki and Elic

The mommies...love these girls!

Birthday Boy eating some lunch

The kid table

Checkng out his balloons

Parents eating some yummy adult food that my awesome hubby made

Not sure about this cupcake deal

Kiddos loving the treats

Had to get a brother/sister photo

Connor, Hattie and Elic

Sweet friends (Ava, Ellison, Ella and Marin)

Kiddos playing with the bubbles

Somebody likes the frosting

Now he is getting into it

We had to steal one photo with the birthday boy

Messy Little Monster!

Isn't his shirt the cutest

Ella, Hattie and Ellison...love :)

How cute are they!

Opening gifts!

He got a Thomas Train which was a huge hit...I love this picture because for once he has something Ellison wants :)

Last soccer game!

2011-11-12T09:32:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday was a special day! It was Ellison's last soccer game of the season. I will be honest the girl is meant to play soccer, at least while she is young. She may grow out of it but we will definitely be signing her up again in the Spring to play. She loves it! We enjoyed meeting some sweet girls and their parents as well as a great coach. We will be requesting Coach Brad in the Spring for sure! Granddaddy, Jen Mama and my brother (Uncle GoGo) all came to watch Ellison's last game. She was thrilled because she even got her first trophy! Now we need to figure out what we will be doing on Saturday mornings!

Coach Brad giving the girls a farewell!

Thumbs up with her trophy!

Thumbs up with granddaddy and Jen Mama :)

She is a bit obsessed with thumbs up... ;)

And Uncle GoGo!

Mommy, daddy, bubby and the soccer queen!

Trick or Treating...Halloween Night!

2011-11-08T16:28:00.000-06:00

On Halloween night Connor made a yummy dinner (Potato and Corn Chowder in the crock pot) and we took it over to our friends house to eat. After dinner we got all of the kiddos ready and headed to downtown Franklin for trick or treating on Main Street. We have done this for the past 2 years and L-O-V-E it! This year it was just as fun! It will definitely be a usual trick or treating spot for many years to come :)

Jessie and Buzz on Halloween night...

Ellison and Ava so excited to go trick or treating...

Little Mermaid, Jessie and Thomas

This picture makes me smile...we took the exact same picture last Halloween and I was 9 months pregnant with Elic. In this picture my sweet friend Nikki is 5 months pregnant with her little boy :)

This one cracks me up...

Family photo! Love these dear friends...

School Fall fun...

2011-11-07T22:32:00.000-06:00

On Halloween Ellison had a Fall Party at school! I of course had to snap a picture of the three musketeers...

Molly, Ellison and Hattie (cheese face)

And a silly pose!

Ellison wearing her spider hat...

After school we ran to my mom's work for our traditional trick or treating there. All of the office hand out candy and the staff bring their kids, grandkids, etc. to trick or treat. I have taken Ellison the past 3 years so it was fun to be able to take Elic this year!

Elic LOVED picking out candy to put in his treat bag for mommy and daddy to eat :)

Looking through their treats...

Elic loving what he got!

Ellison is happy!

Thanks GJ for letting us come trick or treat!

Bubby and GJ :)

More Halloween!

2011-11-06T05:27:00.000-06:00

After Pumpkinfest I took the kids over to my grandparents house so they could see them in their costumes...

Then we stopped my GJ and Poppy's house for some early trick or treating...

And finally we carved pumpkins! Ellison loved doing this and Elic had a fun time watching...

Look a him pull up!

My sassy girl :)

Working on cleaning out the pumpkin

Look at that sweet face!

Drawing her face on her pumpkin...

A Festive Fall Weekend!

2011-11-01T20:44:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was a BUSY one! I actually think every weekend for the past couple of weeks have been pretty jammed pack. On Saturday morning we woke up, bundled up and headed to Ellison's soccer game. It was chilly outside!

Bubby all bundled up and cheering his sissy on!

Ellison scored a goal!

After the game, Meme, Papa and MeMac came over to visit for a little while and we got the kiddos dressed up for Pumpkinfest!

Jessie and Buzz with their MeMac, Meme and Papa

One of our favorite downtown Franklin events is Pumpkinfest! You dress up and take your kiddos into the heart of downtown Franklin for fun kid activities, trick or treating at the shops, yummy food, music...just lots of entertainment and F-U-N!

Jessie and daddy headed to Pumpkinfest

Ellison with her buddy Lillian :) Sweet girls!

We also ran into our friend Hadley and Marin :)

Marin and Ellison enjoying some snow cones...

The babies and the daddies (Clara, Doug, Connor and Elic)

Having fun on the bounce slide...

Painting a pumpkin!

After a fun afternoon at Pumpkinfest where we saw LOTS of friend...I took the kiddos to visit my grandparents and parents so they could all see the kids in their constumes :)

Nan and Claude with the kiddos :)

Gj and Poppy with Jessie and Buzz :)

Ghost and Ghoul at Nashville Zoo!

2011-10-30T07:03:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we took the kiddos trick or treating at the Nashville Zoo!We took Ellison for the first time last year and we all loved it. So we knew we would definitely go again this year. It was a very cold night (which made it more fun I think...gets you in the Fall spirit :). Ellison (Jessie) got lots of treats, Bubby (Buzz) loved seeing everything, all of the costumes and stayed awake the WHOLE night (never fussed or complained). We did the kid activities, games, Monster Mash Lab tour, haunted carousel ride and the haunted hay ride :)

Buzz and Jessie

Daddy and Buzz

Jessie...as Ellison would say, "Yee Haw!"

Mommy and Jessie at the flamingos

Happy Fall Ya'll!

I love this series of pictures...

This one makes me laugh out loud...

Happy kiddos :)

Could he be any cuter?!

Daddy and with Toy Story clan

Father and Son

Me and El being silly

Haunted Hayride!

Gentry's Farm (picture overload!)

2011-10-28T07:23:00.000-05:00

Two weekends ago we loaded up the kiddos and headed to Gentry's Farm for some Fall fun and pumpkin picking! We love Gentry's Farm...we always have a blast. Connor and I would go even before we had kids. This was Elic's first trip and it was a hit! It even got to play a little bit :) We rode the hayride, played in the kid area for almost 2 hours. Then picked out our pumpkins! The pickings were slim this year but we found a winner in the patch.

El, Elic and daddy on the hayride...

Traditional Gentry's Farm sign!

Up close

Family photo at the farm!

Mommy with the kiddos

Bubby loved these little tractors and thought he was such a big boy riding on one!

Ellison having fun :)

Brother/Sister fun!

Playing on the play set

One of my little pumpkins

She is getting big and growing too fast!

Playing with the corn and wheat...she could have done this for hours!

We tried for a photo and finally gave up!

Too bad Ellison wasn't smiling

My sweet girl

I love this photo!

Found a pumpkin...a green pumpkin!

Love this one...

My and my bubby!

Sibling photo in the pumpkin patch

Daddy and bubby

He LOVED sitting with the pumpkins...

Of course he tried to put it in his mouth...

Arrington Vineyards...

2011-10-23T13:59:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago we spent a beautiful Fall afternoon at Arrington Vineyards with Connor's siblings, their significant others and his mom! We had such a nice time enjoying some wine, eating cheese & crackers, the kids played, we watched a hot air balloon and had good conversation...

Aunt Sarah and me

Brother/Sister

Love my little man!

MeMac with her grandbabies

Ellison playing soccer

I love her expression :)

Mommy, daddy and El

Perfect Arrington Vineyard promotion shot :)

Watching the balloon go up!

One of my favorite family photos...

Aunt Sarah and Danny with the kiddos...

Once upon a Saturday...

2011-10-21T22:54:00.000-05:00

So this post is from 2 Saturdays ago :) We had a very busy day! We had Ellison's soccer pictures followed by a game. The little pictures turned out SO cute. I love that Ellison enjoys soccer so much. We will definitely be playing again in the Spring and might do gymnastics too!

Ellison's Team

Our sweet girl...

It was a special game because Connor got to coach for the first half because Coach Brad was late. Connor did an awesome job and there were a couple of goals scored under his leadership :)

Giving the team a pep talk!

Ellison taking it to the goal!

Ellison's team won!

After the soccer game we loaded up and went to Connor's family farm for a yummy lunch and visit with his dad's side of the family! It was a gorgeous day. We really enjoyed being with family, exploring the land/property that a lot of Connor's family grew up on. We walked around the property and saw the remains of the house that Connor's great grandfather lived.

Ellison and her cousin Lee swinging on the porch at the farm...

Photo Op on the bails of hay!

Bo, Lee, Ellison and daddy

Riding on Danny's shoulders while checking out the property

Bubby and daddy

My sweet big girl!

Family shot at the farm...

Can't forget about this sweet face :)

LOVE!

Another cool thing we did was visit the gravesite where Connor's great grandfather was buried (this relative is where Elic got his name...Eli Alexander)...

Father and son

Ellison being cute...

3 generations...

We are so blessed!

Fun of Friday!

2011-10-15T21:43:00.000-05:00

Last Friday we had a very busy day! Ellison had Giggle Girls and the theme was Olivia (The Pig). It is one of Ellison's favorite shows to watch. All of the girls had to wear read and black attire. She made the cutest crafts and had so much fun with her friends!

All dressed and ready for the Olivia Party at Giggle Girls!

After Giggle Girls I took the kids to meet my mom at Oak View Elementary (I student taught 1st grade there a couple of years ago and my mom use to teach there). Every Fall the school has a fundraiser called Hoot Scoot and Boogie! There are tons of games, food and an auction. We decided to go so both my mom and I could see some old friends and for the kids to have some fun. Ellison loved it and it was great seeing the teachers I worked with...

Getting her face painted...

Bubby eating a snack...

She got a ladybug of course

Brother/Sister

Playing the bean bag toss

Ellison and GJ

Going fishing for a prize!

This was her favorite thing...it was a huge inflatable obstacle course. I wasn't sure she would be able to do it all but she definitely proved me wrong and flew right through it with no problem...such a big girl!

Disney on Ice!

2011-10-14T18:10:00.000-05:00

First of all, I just cannot get caught up! Time is not my friend, my babies are growing up too quick, I am falling behind on EVERYTHING and I admit it, I want a mommy time out! We have school/work 4 days a week, soccer practice on Mondays, play dates after school, dinners and fun with friends on the weekends, family events, soccer games on Saturdays...we are always on the go but I truly love every minute. Last Thursday night, Connor and I took Ellison to go see Disney on Ice. We wanted to take her out (just us) to spend some quality time with her. Thank you MeMac for watching Elic! Ellison had a BLAST and didn't want it to end. Her favorite part was the $12.00 cotton candy that she took literally 2 bites of (it came with a Nemo hat), her princess wand (soveneir) and when the princesses came out to skate. We enjoyed having some time with our favorite girl :) (sorry these first 2 photos are random!)

My and my soccer star!

Satarting to strut our Halloween/Fall attire!

At Disney on Ice...waiting for it to start!

Our $12 cotton candy (thank goodness the Nemo hat was included)

Nemo!

All of the characters during the finale...

Ellison waving to everyone

The princesses and princes doing their performance...

We love spending time with the sweetest little girl...

Go Preds!

2011-10-09T11:46:00.001-05:00

So last Saturday night, Connor and Mr. Doug took Ellison and Marin on a daddy/daughter date to see the predators play! It was the girls first time going to a hockey event. From what us mommies heard...they all had SO much fun! Ellison still talks about it and how she saw guys hitting each other with sticks! She calls the predator "the wolf" and points to eat anytime we see the Predators logo. I think there will be more hockey games in her future :)

Walking around downtown Nashville, Connor said the girls were just amazed at the big and tall buildings and the music! Marin was super excited and Ellison was not so sure...

Picture with some cheerleaders!

Daddy/daughter date...SO much fun! Can't wait to do it again :)

The girls watching the game...GO PREDS!

Happy Birthday Clara!

2011-10-08T18:37:00.000-05:00

I mentioned our sweet friend Marin in the previous post, well this one is about Marin's younger sister Miss Clara! We celebrated her 1st birthday last weekend :) We all had a blast eating very yummy food, decorating cupcakes, playing and chatting with friends...Happy 1st Birthday sweet Clara!

Elic and daddy...

Time to decorate some cupcakes, yum!

Everyone decorating...

Sweet Clara...the birthday girl!

Yum!

Boyfriend and girlfriend...

Sweet bubby...can't believe we will be celebrating his 1st birthday in just a month!

Silly Marin and Ellison...

Cheese :)

Little stud :)

Zoo with friends!

2011-10-07T23:10:00.000-05:00

Last Friday I helped out one of my friends and took one of her girls to the zoo with us! Marin and Ellison are big time buddies :) They always have fun together. A visit to the zoo was the perfect play date for them. The weather was beautiful...

Cute girls...

Meerkat tunnel...

Elic in the reptile house!

Petting some goats...

Great buddies!

Carousel ride

Playing in the Jungle Gym!

She is getting so big!

Being super silly...

Bubby got to play too :)

Giggle Girls, more soccer and friends :)

2011-10-02T16:42:00.000-05:00

Bubby cheering on the VOLS!

Bubby is really starting to pull up...brother and sister playing side by side :)

Ellison went with her friend Molly to a class called Giggle Girls...it is for 2.5 hours (you drop your child off :) and there is a theme for each class. The one Ellison went to was cheerleading. So the girls who attend dress up like the theme, all activities and crafts are cheerleading related and they play games, learn songs and get a snack. Ellison LOVED it and she had a blast. We signed her up for another class and the theme for it is Olivia!

We have continued to be busy with soccer every Saturday morning. Ellison truly loves it and seems to really enjoy playing.

Sweet Clara and Bubby cheering on their sisters...

This picture cracks me up because it looks like Ellison is getting on to her coach about something (notice her finger shaking at him :)

Action shot...

Ellison and Marin

Our future soccer players practicing their kicks...

Number 1!

We had our friends (The Pullen Family) come over for dinner last Monday night after the girls had soccer practice! These 2 cuties always have fun together!

Silly girls...

A random picture of Ellison getting ready for school...

A day at the park...

2011-10-01T14:47:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday we spent part of the morning at the park! We loaded up Ellison's bike that she got for her birthday so she could practice riding. She has the pedaling down now if she would only pay attention to where she goes :) The weather was BEAUTIFUL and we really enjoyed being outside together...

Ellison's First Hair Cut!

2011-09-27T17:16:00.000-05:00

You read right...after 3 1/2 years we finally decided that Ellison needed to get her first hair cut (or trim I should say :) She still doesn't have lovely, long locks however she does have a head full of hair and when it is combed out the ends are crazy! So we went to Snip Its to get a trim and shape up her ends. Plus I have had several people mention that getting the ends trimmed will stimulate the hair to grow so we will see :)

Getting ready for some snip snip...

A little unsure...

All done with the haircut...moving on to the mani :)

She knows what to do...

Of course we got purple nails :)

Getting a treat for being such a great customer!

First hair cut was a success...

Quick Catch Up!

2011-09-26T21:19:00.000-05:00

I just feel behind so here is a little catch up and some random pictures! We have been busy with school, soccer, play dates, being with friends and family! Elic is starting to pull up on everything in sight and is really becoming a huge mess :) I love it but man he keeps me busy.

Pulling up and playing his sister's piano...

Ellison is really loving soccer...here she is having so much fun and getting ready to score a goal!

Scoring a goal!

They won their game...snack time :)

Cheering on the VOLS!

Daddy and daughter camp out!

2011-09-20T07:30:00.000-05:00

This past Thursday night, Ellison and her daddy had a camp out in the back yard! Ellison was SO excited :) Connor took her fishing then they came back to the house, started a fire, cooked hotdogs and roasted marshmellows for s'mores. Ellison was in the tent and snoozing away by about 8:30. She slept all night til around 7am. She can't wait to do it again! I love my girly camper :)

Fishing with daddy...

Ellison and her pink camping chair...

She is getting so grown up!

Daddy and daughter...

I mean how sweet is that?!

Love these two!

Z-O-O

2011-09-18T15:17:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday it was so pretty outside so we loaded up and went to the zoo! The kids had a blast and we enjoyed some family time together...

Looking through the telescope at the meerkats...

Bubby checking out the fish!

Mommy and my little man :)

Riding the carousel with my sweet girl...

Happy Birthday Lee!

2011-09-17T20:47:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we went to Columbia to attend Lee's 2nd birthday party! It was at a cute toy shop in downtown and the kids all got to paint a monkey on a canvas. Ellison LOVED it! She had a blast painting and playing (Elic really loved playing as well). Thank you Lee for including us in your birthday celebration!

Ellison painting!

Playing...

Bubby playing...

Go Vols!

Ellison and daddy painting...

Eating some lunch with cousin Lee

Ellison and her master piece!

Our new Saturdays!

2011-09-16T14:32:00.000-05:00

So our Saturdays have changed and will remain this way for the next couple of months...we have soccer games now every Saturday morning! Last weekend was Ellison's first game :) We woke up and ate a yummy french toast breakfast that Ellison helped her daddy make...

Bubby didn't have french toast but loved some bananas...

Then we got ready and headed to the soccer fields! So at first Ellison was the one and only child who stood still in the middle of the field (while all the other little girls ran around her after the soccer ball) and she sucked her thumb. We finally pulled her to the side for a little motivational talk (which may have included a strong statement of "if you aren't going to play then we are going home to go to bed.") Well whatever was actually said worked. She went back out on the field and quickly warmed up to the game. Before we knew it she was right on the ball every time and even gave a little "kind" shove here and there...

Running for the ball!

Throwing the ball in to her teammates...

Doesn't she look SO big and grown up!

Go Ellison!

Well it came time for the last few seconds of the game and here is what our little Miss Soccer Star did...

She scored the only goal for her team!!! We were VERY proud parents :) Maybe a little too proud if you ask the other viewers about the crazy lady who was screaming with excitement like we just won the lottery!

Good game!

Ellison and her buddy Lillian...even if they didn't win they are still number 1 to us!

VERY proud daddy :)

Elic is 10 months old!

2011-09-11T20:14:00.002-05:00

In less than 2 months my precious baby boy will be a year old! WHAT!? I cannot believe it. He has changed a ton and I truly love it however I want him to stay my little baby forever :( My what a blessing he is and there aren't word to describe how much joy he brings to our hearts. Elic we love you so much! Here are some things our bubby is doing these days...

- Eating like CRAZY! I think we have officially said bye bye to baby food. He wants the good stuff. He gets totally mad if we are all eating and not sharing with him. Tonight he ate half of a grilled cheese sandwhich and cut up pears.

- He has 5 teeth (3 on top and 2 on the bottom).

- He caught his first tummy bug and it was NOT fun...

- He still drink about 4 to 5 six ounce bottles a day a long with breakfast, lunch and dinner (oh and snacks).

- He still wears a size 2 diaper but we are graduating to a size 3 with the next pack we buy.

- He wears 9 to 12 month size clothes.

- He is a crawling maniac, has started pulling up on his knees a lot, can go from a laying down position to sitting up and has pulled up to a standing position several times.

- He is starting to reach from me!

- He loves school! From what I understand he likes to share his food with his friends :)

- He takes 2 naps (morning and afternoon) sometimes he does not take a morning nap.

- He goes to bed between 7 and 7:15 at night time and wakes up anywhere between 5:30am and 8am. When he wakes up at 5:30 we give him a little bottle and he will easily go back to sleep til at least 7:30.

- He loves to click his tongue...it is so cute.

- He is starting wave "bye bye"

- He LOVES his sissy more than anybody.

Loving his red balloon....

Little stud!

LOVE!

Pulling up!

Can't leave out the best big sister :)

Love our friends...

2011-09-11T20:06:00.000-05:00

We love all of our friends! I feel like we have been blessed with wonderful sets of friends. We are always doing play dates with people, having friends over for dinners, being invited for dinners, we watch our friends kids and they watch ours. We are so thankful! Last weekend we ate dinner with some of our dear friends, The Pullen Family! Ellison and Marin love each other as do Clara and Elic :) We had a blast (as always). The girls played SO well and the babies were very entertained by their big sisters. Thank you Pullen Family for a super fun evening! Can't wait for next time :)

Elic and his girlfriend Clara...

Ellison and Marin eating dinner...

Watching The Little Mermaid!

Dancing princesses...

Soccer Star!

2011-09-08T23:04:00.000-05:00

Ellison has started her first soccer season! She had her very first soccer practice 2 weeks ago and has her very first soccer game this Saturday morning! I have to be honest...the girl loved it and sort of looks like she knows what she is doing :) She has 2 of her little friends on her team (Marin and Lillian). These sweet girls look SO cute running around on the field with the gear on and kicking the ball. I am SO excited about her first game this weekend! Here are some photos of her first practice :)

Lillian, Marin and Ellison

Her team talking with Coach Brad

Doing some drills...

She was so cute, everytime she kicked the ball in the goal she would throw her arms up and do a victory run :)

Doing more drills with Marin...

Action shot!

Clara and Bubby cheering on their big sisters!

Love my little soccer star!

Ellison and her buddy Marin after practice!

Random photos of the kids...

2011-09-07T06:31:00.000-05:00

Ellison's First Dentist Appointment

2011-09-05T08:04:00.000-05:00

Ellison had her first dental appointment during the first week of school! We went to Brentwood Pediatric Dentistry and saw Dr. Ryan. They were fantastic! Very child friendly and the staff was so sweet. Ellison was a little hesitant at first but warmed right up as soon as she heard there was a treasure box! She got her teeth cleaned, they did fluoride and then Dr. Ryan inspected and counted her teeth. All in all her teeth look great even with the thumb sucking which we need to break her of in the next 6 months. She was such a big girl and was so proud of herself!

Getting her teeth cleaned...

Pretty teeth!

After seeing Dr. Ryan...

My SURPRISE party!!!

2011-09-03T08:39:00.000-05:00

I thought that since my wonderful hubby surprised me on my actual birthday with inviting some of our friends to meet us at Arrington Vineyards that my birthday celebration was complete! Boy was I wrong! A week later, Connor insisted that we go out on a date night to celebrate my birthday just the two of us. Starting this particular day off I had a spa morning with my favorite, Nikki :) We went and got spa pedicures and then had a hot stone massage (along with some champagne and munchies :) Well Connor got the kids situated with my parents and then the scavenger hunt began! He had written out clues that took me to different places. And the last place that ended the hunt was a surprise party at the Franklin Green pool where all of my dear friends and family were waiting :)

Connor, Josh and then Nikki and I :) This is how our relationship is perceived, our hubbies think we love each other a little too much!

The Ogles and The Balls!

My favorite and the best hubby! They make a good party planning team :)

My favorite, Baby Ogle in her belly and me!

All the ladies! Love these girls...

Joc, Nik and me

Connor, Josh and Doug

Siblings! Danny, CB, me, Sarah and Jeff

Brother and Sister...so glad you were in town for it!

Brother and sister in laws :)

Danny and Sarah...cute picture!

Back to school...

2011-09-01T07:20:00.034-05:00

So last week was our first week back to school! I am so blessed to be able to work at the same place my children attend school. Elic is in the classroom directly across the hall from mine so I can peep on him whenever I want to abd even sneak in to give him some kisses :) I LOVE his teachers (Ms. Allyson, Ms. Lori and Ms. Kris). I know he is in the best care and gets spoiled with love all day! Ellison is upstairs in the older 3 year old class. She LOVES it, a lot of her friends from last year are with her again this year (including her favorites...Molly, Hattie and Marin). Her teacher is Ms. Beth and Ellison adores her! She came home and can already recognize the letter A, she traced it perfectly and made a prayer pocket that was filled with names of people she wanted to say prayers for (it was the sweetest thing!).

Also this year I am teaching Pre-K for the very first time! I was super nervous about it but after finishing almost 2 whole weeks I really do enjoy it. My class is great and my kiddos are super sweet. I am blessed with a wonderful first class :) I cannot believe that Ellison will be in Pre-K next year then off to kindergarten she goes :(

Ellison, Hattie, Ella and Marin at Open House!

Home from Open House...got her face painted!

My two precious babies on the first day of school!

Look at my big boy!

My sweet Ellison!

Coudl she be any more grown up?!

Put her stuff up at her hook and ready to go in the classroom!

Ellison and her teacher Ms. Beth!

Elic with 2 of his teachers, Ms. Lori and Ms. Kris! (Ms. Allyson wasn't there)

9 month photos!

2011-08-29T07:04:00.000-05:00

I know I have a ton to catch up on but had to go ahead and post these! We had Elic's 9 month pictures taken over the weekend and our photographer posted a sneak peak! I am SO in love, probably my favorites so far from Elic's baby plan...can't wait to see them all! Thank you Beth Lessard!

My 30th Birthday!

2011-08-28T00:08:00.001-05:00

The day after we got home from the beach it was my 30th birthday! Connor had quite a day planned for me :) He got up with the kiddos, got my favorite coffee from Dunkin Doughnuts and then told me to do whatever I wanted kidless :) He said just be home by 2:30pm. So I went to the mall ALONE and actually did a little shopping for myself! I got home on time, he had the kids ready and the car packed for a surprise outing. He took us all to one of my favorite places...Arrington Vineyards! It was

B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L outside. I mean it almost felt like an early Fall afternoon in the middle of August. As we were sitting there outside at a picnic table I turned around and SURPRISE...3 family friends of ours showed up with their kiddos to celebrate my birthday! I was so surprised and we had the BEST time. Thank you to my dear hubby for making my day wonderful :)

Me and the kids at Arrington Vineyards...

Pictures are a little out of order...since Arrington Vineyards closed at 6pm (it was Sunday) we were all having so much fun that we didn't want the evening to end! So we took all of the kids to a local park to play and have birthday cake :) Here are all of the girls playing on the see saw...

This was hilarious...while at the park the kids ran to me to give me a birthday hug and literally all of them tackled me to the ground and showered me with love!

Birthday Sandwich!

Not sure what I was laughing at but I truly was happy :)

Me and my wonderful hubby on my birthday :)

Dear friends celebrating with me (minus the kiddos) The Ogles, The Pullens and The Gores!

Kid shot...Marin, Clara, Ella, Ava, Ellison, Asher and Hattie (minus Caleb and Elic)

All of the mommies :) Love these girls...

Connor, Josh and Doug

Last round of beach pictures!

2011-08-27T07:42:00.000-05:00

Fishing...

Mama can fish too :)

Having some hubby/wife time :)

Self portrait!

My uncles did the cutest thing...they made a treasure map for Ellison and buried a treasure box for her...

She was SO into it!

Looking at the map trying to figure out where to start shoveling

GUE is helping her...

Start digging!

I see it!

Look at the treasures!

She was SO proud of herself...

Ellison with us and the Pasadena crew :)

Being silly on the ferry

Waiting to load up!

Lunch at Eb and Flo's

My precious little pirate...

He is too cute to be a mean pirate...

Napping on the beach

Uncle GoGo and Elic

Daddy and his sand creation...

I love this...

Swimming at the clubhouse

My sweet Ellison

So blessed!

And more beach pictures :)

2011-08-26T15:42:00.000-05:00

I know I know...I am SO behind! Okay I have one more beach picture post after this one then I will do end of our summer break, back to school and Ellison's first dentist appointment :)

Beach Trip 2011 (more photos :)

2011-08-18T06:55:00.000-05:00

Here are more photos from our trip...it was too hard to narrow down!

Uncle GoGo and the kiddos...

Go Bubby!

It is a little off center but love how Ellison is holding on to her brother...

Playing in the water

Ready to drive

Mommy and the kiddos taking a ride on the golf cart

Bubby trying some watermelon!

His bathing suit was a little long :)

Ellison with Cousin Matt and Uncle GoGo

Ellison and her cousin Grace

Cutie pie

Running from the waves!

She loved her buddy Matt

Building a castle with Grace, Matt and Uncle GUM

Bubby chillin and eating...

Ellison wanted to be buried like Matt...

Enjoying a popsicle...Elic ended up eating about half of Connor's popsicle!

Beach Trip 2011!

2011-08-16T06:17:00.000-05:00

This past week we went on vacation with my family to the beach at Bald Head Island, NC! My uncles have a house there. It was wonderful and went by way too fast :( We drove the kids 10+ hours each way...the kids were incredible, honestly. Going there we drove through the night and both kiddos slept the whole way. On the way home we left right after lunch time. They both stayed awake for the first 4 hours and were super happy. Elic fell asleep and Ellison was content watching movies. She finally gave up and fell asleep the last 4 hours of the trip (we got home at 1am).

We did SO much during our trip. We had tons of beach time (building sand castles, sand monters, burying people, playing in the waves, collecting sea shells, taking walks, we went swimming at the clubhouse pool, went on a nature trails, saw an alligator, went crabbing, went fishing, had yummy meals, played games/cards, had ice cream, ate popsicles...the list of activities is endless!). One of the best surprises was that my uncles set up a treasure hunt for Ellison on the beach. They made a treasure map and buried a treasure chest that had treasures in it (dress up jewelry, a little money, princess wands..etc.) Ellison thought it was the coolest thing!

Members of my family came in and out throughout the week we were there. Ellison had 2 awesome buddies that kept her SO busy (Matt and Grace her cousins). I have about 300 photos from the trip so I will try my best to narrow them all down.

Thank you to my uncles for providing us with a wonderful vacation...we love you guys so much! We can't wait to go back!

I have decided I am going to post pictures over the next few days...here is the first round :)

First day on the beach!

Uncle GUE and Elic

Daddy and Ellison

Family photo on the beach...

Mommy and Elic

Bubby loving the beach

Notice Elic putting chunks of sand in his mouth!

Father and son...

Ellison buried Matt!

View from the docks while crabbing...

Ellison fishing with daddy and Matt

Bubby was too tired to help with crabbing

Ellison crabbing...

Love her

We had so much fun crabbing. We caught 12 within 30 minutes...here Grace, Connor, Matt and Ellison were hard at work catching the crabbies!

Fishing with daddy

Our bucket of crabs!

Sister and bubby :)