Merry Christmas!

Holiday Fun

Ellie & I are having so much fun this year making fun treats to celebrate Christmas! She is so into making anything these days, whether it's a paper snowman or decorating a gingerbread house, she is in hog heaven (right along with her mama!).

We made sugar cookies last Thursday when we were stuck inside due to a wintry mix. Ellie loved rolling out the dough and sticking the cookie cutters in it most of all. Please excuse the major bed head, this is what she looks like most mornings when she wakes up!

Just a few of our cookies...notice many of them have little bites taken out already!

A few weeks ago we made our first gingerbread house together. (the first of what I hope will be many more in a long tradition) Ellie loved trying all of the different candies and quickly realized that she she liked her M&M's ("emmies" as she calls them) the best.

June 29th...

This is the due date of the newest member of our family! We heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time on Tuesday and it was such a relief. I am 12 weeks today and am looking forward to starting my 2nd trimester in the next few weeks. Like my first pregnancy I have been nauseous, in the afternoon-evening and it has not been fun! I am definitely starting to feel better and hope that I am nearing the end of this phase in my pregnancy. Ellie is excited about being a big sister and having a little baby in our house. When I tell her to say hi to the baby she waves at my belly, so cute! We are so thankful for the blessing of another child!

Catching up...Part 1

Ellie always looks forward to "driving" Paw's tractor when we go for a visit.

Helping Nan take pictures of the family on Thanksgiving

Ellie & Paw

Ellie loved "helping" her daddy rake leaves this fall, and of course jumping in them!

Apparently, she was a little hungry here. This girl still puts EVERYTHING in her mouth and it drives us crazy!!!!

NOVEMBER

I like to refer to November this year as nauseous November, which is fitting because I was sick for the whole month! Besides that Ellie & I both had a bad cold for one week. I watched a friend's daughter, Reece for a few weeks, and we traveled to Brevard for Thanksgiving. We had a fun time visiting with family and thankfully my nausea was a little better while we were away! I don't even remember if I took any pictures but if I did I'll post them later.

Catching Up...Part 2

OCTOBER

Halloween
This year we took Ellie out for her first trick-or-treating experience and we stayed out for an hour, which was much longer than we had expected her to last. It didn't hurt that we met up with her best buddy Teagen. Our little bumble bee buzzed around the neighborhood picking up candy for her mom & dad (mostly dad) to enjoy! Thanks Ellie!

In honor of Ellie's love for Mr. Potato Head instead of doing a traditional jack-o-lantern this year we opted for a princess potato head pumpkin. I found these kits at Target one day and knew this would be perfect!

NC State Fair

Ellie & our neighbor Emma checking out the piggies

This was our first experience in the kiddie section of the fair and we had so much fun watching Ellie enjoy the rides. She rode the ferris wheel, carousel (twice), cars, & a big slide. She would have ridden rides all day if we would have let her!

It's official...

I am a slacker when it comes to updating my blog these days. I have lots of fun things to posts, just no energy or motivation to do it! I promise, I'll snap out of it eventually, but until then here is a recent picture of our crazy nut for you...

Pine Knoll Shores 2010

A few weeks ago we headed down to the beach for some much needed down time together. We had a great time, and a lot of rain. But it was a nice week away, and for that we are thankful!

Ellie loved this alligator

We went to the aquarium 3 times thanks to our Zoo Society Membership!

Unfortunately, Ellie wore her rain jacket more than her bathing suit.

She also enjoyed watching the frogs

Eating a snack in front of the big tank

The sand fleas were also a big hit. She loved to hold them and then "help" them dig back under the sand.

"Eyyie Su"

Lately...

Ellie is doing so many fun/funny things lately that I wanted to record them so I won't forget.

1. She is fascinated with our cars and wanting to "drive" them. This usually consists of turning on the windshield wipers or "washers" as she says and making the windows go up and down a few times.

2. She absolutely loves lawn mowers, especially when they are off. If there is anyone nearby mowing the grass she immediately hears it and says "mow mow." She has always loved to watch Brad mow the grass and is now helping daddy push it (while off, of course). Today I'm pretty sure she asked for Brad to mow the grass by saying "mow mow...gass...da da."

3. The girl loves all things Mr. Potato Head! Yesterday at the consignment sale I bought her this whole container of body parts (until now she only had the original parts) and that is all she has wanted to play with all day.

4. If you ask Ellie what her name is she says "Eyyie Su" we have to prompt her for the "Emey." She also says "yeg" instead of leg! I took a video of this that I'll try to post this week.


5. She is giving the best little hugs ever, squeezing your neck with a few pats on the shoulder.

6. The poor girl has had so many mosquito bites this summer that after bath time she always asks for her "Ceme" (anti-itch cream).

7. She loves the "sa sa" (salamanders) that live around our house. Every time we go outside she wants to look for them. Brad has taught her to be quiet while looking so she follows up "sa sa" with a "shh." Then when we can't find them she says "all gone."

Little Grocery Shopper

The other night we went to Harris Teeter to pick up a few things. Ellie loves Harris Teeter for may reasons, the free samples (that her daddy has taught her all about) riding Harry the dragon, the free sugar cookies, & now the little shopping carts! She was in heaven pushing this little cart all over the store. It was the funniest thing ever watching her whip that thing around. Brad and I are convinced she would have stayed in the store all night if we would have let her. I have a feeling our trips to Harris Teeter will never be the same after this!

Spotting the balloons


Cutest thing ever!

Labor Day Weekend

This past weekend we went up to Brevard to visit family. For the first time since Ellie has been around we actually made the trip in less than 5 hours. We spent Saturday at Granny & Paw's house and Ellie loved exploring everything inside and out. She even got to "drive" Paw's tractor, which made her day! In fact, she is still talking about it 4 days later. Sunday we got to help Aunt Leah celebrate her birthday with some yummy cake and mexican food for dinner.

When playing outside at Nan & Pop Pop's one of Ellie's favorite things to do is swing.

Just the right size...

for a sweet little girl!

Isle of Palms 2010

Well, we've been back from the beach for 2 weeks now and I am just getting around to posting about our fun week. Every few years we head down to SC with Brad's Dads side of the family for a week of fun in the sun. Two years ago we told everyone I was pregnant at the beach and it was fun to have Ellie there with us this year...and let me tell you that she loved every minute of it! From playing in the sand to splashing in the waves Ellie is definitely a beach girl through and through. We had great weather all week except for the last night when we were supposed to take family pictures out on the beach. Here are the few pictures that I was able to take in between chasing Ellie around on the beach...

My favorite picture of the week

Can you tell how much she loves her goggles?

Another favorite activity...burying her feet in the sand.

Ellie loved the waves in the "ocea" as she called it.

Another favorite thing to do at the beach... eat snacks, of course!

We stayed in a great house with a pool and it was so nice to have. We spent our mornings at the beach and afternoons enjoying the pool. Here is Ellie blowing bubbles...

and "floating" on her back.

My favorite squat she does

One of the benefits of going to Charleston is all of the yummy food you get to eat! I am a seafood lover so I was in shrimp (instead of hog) heaven. Thanks to Nan, Brad and I were even able to go on a little date to my favorite restaurant, Uno Mas, for some delicious shrimp tacos. I love those things so much that I literally could eat some right now! Even though we ran 3 times during the week I'm pretty sure I still came home with a few extra pounds but it was worth every calorie.