Merry Christmas

Isaiah 9:6 "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Birthday Photos

This morning I took Ella's birthday pictures for the third time! So, let's backtrack and see how the first two went, shall we.

Yesterday afternoon I got her all dressed up in her birthday outfit and we went in our backyard to take her pictures. She was just not feeling it. She didn't really want to smile, or stand up, or anything. I only tried for about minutes and then just thought I would wait for Trey to get home. See how non-interested she looks!

That night I dressed her up again and we tried again. Now, I get get some really cut pictures with her smiling, but I am just not a huge fan of taking pictures indoors. Outdoors is so much better. I just thought this picture was so funny! We put her in her rocking chair, which she usually loves, and this is what she did. She reminds me of a 13 year old slinking back in their chair saying 'Mom, this is so not cool!'. Haha!

Eventually, this is what happened. She was D-O-N-E!

This morning I woke up and was bound and determined to get some cute pictures though. And sure enough, we got a ton! She was feeling better and was in such a good mood! I love this one!

I remember when it used to be hard to take her picture when she started crawling because she wouldn't be still. Well, now we have the problem of walking. I would get her to stand up and back up to take the picture and she would start to follow! It was so cute. I love that she is starting to walk. She is up to EIGHT steps now!!!



Clapping because she was so happy! I love her bright blue eyes!

I am finally finished with her birthday invitations. I am picking them up tomorrow morning and I am just going to hand them out to everyone at Christmas. I know, lazy not to mail them, but I am such a procrastinator at mailing things, plus with Christmas and the new year and all that entails with the mail system, I figure they will get out a lot quicker this way. Yay! Now to design the cake and get someone to make it! It is so hard to plan Christmas and her birthday all at the same time. Maybe we can plan baby #2's birthday out a little better!

Holly Jolly Christmas

This weekend Trey's parents and Grandmother came in town to visit. We went out to eat and visited with some of their family and came back to our house and we all played with Ella. She just hates all the attention, can't you tell!? Ella and her Gigi (great grandmother).

Ella and her grandmother. Robin can't decide on a name that she wants to be called that Trey and I like, so for now she is Grandmother. When Ella starts talking Robin's name will be whatever Ella decides. Her Grandad is getting her!
And the boys. Ella looks like she is just chillin'.

Our little girl has been a little under the weather lately. She has yucky snot and is congested, but no fever thankfully. I am hoping it is just a cold and will pass. Unfortunately it looks like all the kissing I do on her has caught up and I too don't feel so great! Yuck! Just in time for Christmas!

On a very excited note though, I just picked up her first birthday shirt that was being embroidered by one of my wonderful friends, Jennifer. (Side note...I am seriously envious of Jennifer's sewing/embroidery machine and will probably have to snag one for myself. I say that very casually except for the fact that the thing is like $750. So, I may not be running and picking up one tomorrow, but soon enough it will be mine!!!) Tomorrow we are going to take Ella's one year pictures and get those babies put on an invitation and get them sent out (I hope it all goes so smoothly). Her party is in two weeks, but with Christmas coming I have been sooo distracted! Oh well, I am making some progress now! I can't wait to show you the pics we take.

Date Nights

This past Friday night our church had nursery workers appreciation night and offered childcare for two and a half hours so parents could do some Christmas shopping, go on a date, whatever. We didn't think we were going to do it at first, but then we decided we were going to go on a date! This was our first night out just the two of us since Ella was born. Yes, we have gone to a few things since Ella has been here, but never just Trey and I.


We dropped Ella off at 6:00 ad went to eat at Texas Land & Cattle. Trey and I both had steaks and they were soooo good. After eating we headed over to Bass Pro Shop to get a Christmas present for one of the guys in our family. This year we are doing the game where everyone draws numbers and #1 gets to open a present and #2 can open a present or steal #1's. The boys are doing hunting/man things and the girls are doing home accessories. I really like the present I bought and really don't want to give it away! After that we headed to Hobby Lobby so I could buy some ribbon and then it was off to get Ella. She was so excited to see us and she had wrecked the baby room! The workers told me she had scattered all the toys around the room. Of course she did, that is what she does at home! She is not happy until all of her toys are out of the basket we keep them in, then she scatters them! I was glad to see she felt comfortable enough to act like herself!

We had such a good time hanging out and talking just the two of us. It was amazing to me that I actually got to eat food without interruptions. That hasn't happened around here in a LONG time!
Saturday night we babysat Ella's cousin, Hunter. It was Kyle & Jennie's 6 year anniversary so they went out to dinner and let us play with Hunter. Ella loves Hunter, but she does not like that she can not hold him and play with him like her other babies. I mean, this baby is so life-like she can't resist!!! Unfortunately we see how she treats her babies, so there was so way we could let her get too close. We let her touch him a couple of time, but she really is like Godzilla!! It was her nap time though she she went to sleep and Trey and I played with Hunter until his parents came and got him. I just know they are going to be good friends and I can't wait until Hunter starts sitting up and crawling so they can interact more!Sunday night we had our Sunday School's Christmas party. Shoot! I forgot to take pictures of Trey and I or the party for that matter. Well, we had a great time! And we had a great babysitter...my mom!!! She drove in to spend some time with Ella and keep her for us. She bought Ella a new baby doll and Ella just loves it! They had a great time while we were out. On Monday mom and I went shopping and out to eat before she had to leave to beat 5 o'clock traffic. We also took Ella to see Santa Clause and that didn't go so well. See the following post.
Poor thing was scared to death of Santa. I really didn't think she would cry, but boy was I wrong. I thought if I sat up there with her she would stop...NOPE! We are going to try and take her again and see if she does better. If not, oh well, I think they are great pictures and will provide lots of laughs in the future when she looks back on them!

So Scared of Santa

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Christmas Decorations Home Tour

The Nester is having a blog tour of Christmas decorations here. This was supposed to post yesterday, but for some unknown reason it didn't, so I am a day late! Oops! I am finally finished with both of my trees. Well, Trey told me I was finished because I could probably keep buying and buying with no end in sight. I am addicted! Here is the dining room tree.

The chandelier in the dining room.

The centerpiece on the dining room table. The living room tree. This is a new tree this year and I LOVE it! I wanted a tree where I could putt ornaments for Ella's first Christmas and fun ornaments.
These are the mantle decorations, also new this year. It was hard to get a good picture, but I love the mantle.

Close up.

My stocking. Made just for me with what else, zebra!!
Ella's first stocking! It is currently at the monogram shop being monogrammed. I can't wait to get it back! And she had to have animal print too.

Trey's. What more does a hunter need than a camo stocking?!

Trey's grandmother gave us this little glass Christmas present that lights up.

The Christmas tree on our living room end table.
The breakfast room chandelier. I love hanging the beads from them!
And last but not least. The Reason for the season - baby Jesus. My mom got me this nativity scene this year. I wanted one last year, but couldn't really find one I liked.
Well, that is it for the Christmas decorations. Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Step In The Right Direction

Wow! It has been a really lazy week here at the Calhoun house. It has been so cold outside so I haven't wanted to go anywhere and take Ella outside. Plus she has had a stuffy nose so I just thought she needed to stay indoors. I like the cold weather because it feels more like Christmas time, but it really puts a damper on my activities. I love going walking ever day and I haven't been able to. We would always end our walk by going to the park and swinging because Ella loves her some swinging!

On the up side, Ella and I have gotten in some serious snuggle time and play time. We have also been practicing walking a lot. I hold her hands and we do laps around the house! Well, guess what she did tonight? She took FIVE steps all by herself!!!! She was standing up holding on to the breakfast room chair and I put my arms out for her to come to me and she walked to me. Then she did it three more times to me and twice to Trey! I know she can walk because you should see this girl cruise along the furniture.

I am even more determined now to get her to walk. I really want her walking by her first birthday, which is in less than a month! I spent last night designing five options for her birthday card, so I may post those bad boys on here and see what y'all think. I also need to design her cake and get someone to make it. I think my sister in law, Jennie's, Dad is going to do it. He owns a bakery and made her a cute cake for her graduation.

Tomorrow I am going to do some shopping and hope to have my trees DONE! So hopefully I will be able to post pics of them soon.

Christmas Tree - 2nd Edition!

Okay, so when I posted pictures of my Christmas Tree on Kelly's Korner Tree Tour, I wasn't too crazy about my tree. I wasn't finished with it yet and to be honest, I just didn't really like it. I loved it last year, but things change. This year I wanted to have a green & red tree, but I have a million amber ornaments, so what is a girl to do? Yep, that's right, put up two trees! So, I talked to Trey and told him my grand scheme and he said "That's stupid". Well, did I let that stop me?

Of course not!! After church on Sunday we went and bought another tree. We just bought a small 6' tree and put it up in our living room. Our big tree is in the dining room. I have also decided it is not big enough. We need at least a 9 footer in there, so I think I will buy that after Christmas is over so I can get a good deal. Guess what that means? Yep, I might just put up three trees next year! Hahahaha! So, it isn't finished yep, but these two little photos are a good sneak peak. I love it! It makes me feel like Christmas is really here!

And all of the ornaments are 'shatter proof'...we'll see! And I used ribbon instead of hooks since it is in the room where Ella and I spend most of our time. So far she has left it alone though. I picked her up and let her examine it while I held her, after about 20 seconds she was over it and back to playing with her baby. She is such a good girl!

I did make some changes to the main three though. I took down the ugly ribbon that I didn't even like. I am not sure why I put it up. And I added this to the top. Again, Trey said "That is stupid" and again, it did not stop me. I figure I don't give him advice on hunting, he doesn't need to give me advice on decorating.

I still want to add more to it, but I think I might have spent more than enough on Christmas decorations this year. I am not good at doing a little at a time. I want it all right now! If it isn't to yucky outside tomorrow Ella and I just might go shopping and finish both trees and you will get the full view. I am sure you are just on the edge of your seat dying of anticipation!!

Ella is 11 Months Old!

Wow! Ella turned 11 months old today! My goodness time has flown by. I can not believe in just one more month my girl will be a whole year old. Wow! In typical fashion we welcomed 11 months old in by doing a photo shoot, of course!!

So lets see what you are up to Ella. Well, you still weigh just about the same weight as you did last month, just under 25 pounds. I haven't measure you yet, but you do seem to have grown taller because your pants aren't s long. You are still wearing 18 or 24 month clothes.

You eat stage 3 baby food, puffs, yogurt, grated cheese, and on Thanksgiving you ate some shredded turkey. Your favorite veggies are squash and sweet potatoes and you will eat any fruit but you love bananas. You no longer take a bottle at all, which was never really your thing since you are still nursing, so the only time you ever got a bottle was when we started to introduce juice a couple of months ago. You are now drinking out of a sippy cup! You now also only nurse 4 times a day. Only a few more months a we will be done with that too. You are sooo happy! You love to laugh and smile. You are also very inquisitive and like to be able to figure out things by yourself. You love opening all the cabinet drawers and doors in the house and pulling everything out of them. You are a complete mommas girl. I can never be too far away or you get awfully upset. I have to admit I like that because it lets me know you love me too!

You say mama, dada, bye bye and try to imitate the sounds your Dad and I make. You do clap when I ask you to and you still seem like you are days away from walking. I know I said that last month, but it just seems like you will be doing it any day now. I even bought you some squeaky shoes which seem to have increased your bouncing while standing! You 'dance' when you hear music or a beat. Let's hope you have your mommas rhythm and not your dad's!

In preparation for Christmas you have been playing with this empty box untying the ribbon and opening the lid. I think you are going to do a great job tearing in to your presents! Now if only I could teach you to sit more lady like! You are just so much fun and so full of love and spunk! You entertain your Dad and me constantly. We love you so much!!

Show Us Your Christmas Tree

Last year I was oh so very pregnant and oh so very tired. It was our first Christmas in our new house, but all I put up was a tree and our stockings. Yes, we had lights on our house, thanks in no part to me because I didn't have anything to do with it. So, this year, I have purchase a lot of decorations and am busy trying to get them all up, and try to get Ella to leave them up. It is hard to decorate with a ten month old following you at your heels. But, she is the reason I am going all out. I want her first Christmas to be a lot of fun filled with great memories.

Okay, so onto the tree. I am STILL not finished decorating it. I just put the ribbon on this morning and I need to get some god twiggy things to stick out of it and I need to do something with the top. I am thinking a ton of twiggy things bursting from it. It is a monochromatic tree, all shades of Amber. See, you can tell I am not done yet because in the bottom left hand corner there is a picture frame with no picture in it. Yes, I did have these last year and yes I never put a photo in them. I left it that way for the whole Christmas season, but I am not going to let that happen this time. Ella's beautiful face will be right smack dab in the middle of these!

I love the deer ornaments. Yes, I am married to a hunter so it only seemed appropriate. I also love the feathers on the birds tail.

And since I only have one tree, I thought I would go ahead and show all of the dining room. I will save the rest of the house for the Christmas Decorations tour though in two weeks. Plus that gives me more time to go shopping!

I love to hang ornaments from the chandeliers. I am buying more beads this Saturday so it will be more full. I also just bought this Santa on the table on sale and thought he was so pretty. And I love the HUGE ornament in the bowl on the table.

Here is Santa up close and personal. What a cute guy!

I do plan on buying Ella a Christmas tree and getting her some cute pink and brown ornaments, plus a baby's first Christmas ornament. Wow! I have a lot left to do and time is running out! Thanks for stopping by!

My Sweet Girl

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