Arboretum

Wednesday morning my small group at MOPS took our kiddos to the Arboretum. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a great time. I had Ella and Hunter strapped in their double stroller (or as I like to call it my mini-van because it is so HUGE! but I love it!) The bigger kids were so fascinated with the ponds and fountains and I could just see having to jump in one of them after Ella dove in, so needless to say I kept her close by my side. That is when she wasn't running away trying to make a break for it. Luckily, I can always count on Melody! Ella ran right to her. I think it is so sweet the way she really just seems to love Melody. Here are the two babies I had with me. Okay, my family and I have all had the discussion that these two look a lot alike. They do! However, they do not look like twins. If they were the same age, or size, yes I could see it, but do you see how much bigger she is than him?? I got asked several times about my twins?!? I guess when they are in their mini-van it is hard to tell how much bigger she is?She has a new found love of her tongue. She did this when she was younger and just discovering her teeth, and it might be because she is currently in the process of getting FOUR molars, but she is loving that tongue again! And I love it!
She just loved that she could run wild.

And look at the beautiful flowers. And even pick a few. I told her she wasn't supposed to, but the girl has a mind of her own. Hunter felt a little left out since he can't walk yet, but he did a lot of rolling around and got held a lot too.

I know Hunter...I love her bows too!

It finally became too much for him though and he passed out in the stroller. So Miss Priss and I took a few more pictures.
I love this girl!! And Ella and Aliyah finally got some time to spend together. They shared the flower petals that they were picking! Now, I know you are not supposed to pick them, but when you see their faces, you just can't be mad at them!
See...




And here is her older brother CHEESE-ing it up for a picture!And some more of the kiddos that were with us.After about three hours we packed up and headed home and both the babies were fast asleep in their car seats. Play dates always seem good for that too!

Bluebonnets

Sunday afternoon I decided to take Ella and take her pictures in the bluebonnets. I have seen quite a few patches of them in our area, but they are all next to busy highways. While I do love a good picture & have done such things as put a baby in a bucket, a basket & on a foyer table, I just can't justify getting out on the side of the highway and putting her life in danger. I just have a fear that some car would loose control and come barrelling towards us. I know, I have lots of somewhat irrational fears now that I am a Mom. I used to not be afraid to do anything and was always up for whatever.

Well, I was in Wichita at my parents house so my Mom and I headed out to the country to look for bluebonnets. And sure enough, we found a great patch mixed with Indian Paintbrush flowers and it was beautiful. And not a car or a highway in sight. There were however two dogs (Boxers) behind a chain link fence that my Mom was very cautious of. (They were about 100 feet away, but that is my mom's fear.) But, I got some precious pictures of my baby girl!She really wanted to pick the flowers and even tried eating a few. She quickly found out they didn't taste very good and would spit them out. And isn't her outfit just perfect? My Mom got it for her.

We had a great time and she really liked it at first. We then decided to see if there might be some taller ones somewhere else. We drove around and found some at a dead end street and got out. Ella was now over it and did not want to stand and definitely did not want to sit in the flowers.

So, what do you do in that situation? Well, her Granny laid down in the flowers and let Ella sit on her and Ella was quite content. I however was dieing laughing! My mom is such a character!!! There just isn't anything she wouldn't do for her babies!

But I did get some more cute pictures!

And Granny got to snuggle with her favorite granddaughter.

April Showers...

Bring June weddings! And this sweet thang is getting married in June so I helped host a bridal shower for her this weekend in Wichita Falls. Trey had to work on Saturday, so I had to go in town alone...again. I do not like having to go out of town without him. Trey grew up with Mikel and their families are very close, so I was excited when Trey's mom asked me if I would help with Mikel's shower. Isn't she pretty? The food table....I liked the apothecary jars. My sweet baby girl. She started picking her nose just for this picture. I guess she thought I record every other moment, big & small, so I might want a record of what was in her nose. I was in charge of the floral arrangement and can I tell you how much I LOVE this! I enjoy doing floral arrangements and as soon as I found out my job I knew exactly what I was going to do. And it turned out so great!I used mini oranges and Ella got to eat a few so she was a happy camper. No, not the ones from the vase. That would be gross!Can you tell I loved it? The only thing that gets that many pictures around here is Ella & yall all know how crazy I am about her. I would love to have fresh flowers in my house everyday!

Yay! No finger in the nose. Just that sweet tongue!


This is Ella's Grandma (Trey's mom). I wanted to get a picture of her with her Gigi (Great Grandmother), her Grandma and me, but Ella was exhausted and her Grandad came and picked her up so she could go home. She was running around being chased by two six year olds and was only on an hour nap, so she was just worn out. Plus, it is just exhausting to be that cute! . We went to her Grandad and Grandma's house after the shower to eat. This is her Aunt Lindsey and cousin Raelyn. Raelyn was not a happy camper and was exhausted too. She had been passed around and handled more than she cared for. You have to be quick to catch Ella, so she didn't have that problem.

Ella got her first taste of pickles that night. Oh, I thought she would spit them right back out, but boy was I wrong. She loved them! This is her Uncle Shane and her Grandad. She was having a blast with them outside while they were cooking on the grill.

We had a fun, but long day on Saturday. Before the shower we had gone to my parent's friends 60th birthday party which was also fun, but I didn't have my camera. Ella was wearing a white dress and there was mud in the backyard so we had a close call. That was my cue to leave and head on to the shower.

How I Met My Husband

This week on Kellly's Korner: Show Us Your Life we are all sharing our wonderful stories of how we met our husbands. Let me start this story by telling you I always thought I would go to college, meet the man of my dreams, and be married by the time I was 21, or at least graduate then shortly after get married. Well, that didn't happen. I was an interior design major with a minor in architecture, so I was surrounded by guys in the architecture building. I just knew that was where I was going to meet him. I attended church regularly and thought for sure I would meet him there. Well, that didn't happen either. I graduated, moved to Dallas and worked at a high end residential design firm. I went to the "right" places and knew the "right" people, but it wasn't happening. I was a member of one of the largest Baptist churches, Prestonwood Baptist, in Dallas with a HUGE singles ministry. Everyone was looking for Jesus and a husband! =)

One weekend I was in my home town, Wichita Falls, and I had given up on guys. I went out that night with two of my best friends to a bar. Yep, a bar. That is where I met my now husband. Let me first tell you, he approached me and we talked. I asked him who he was with and just so happened he was with guys I had known almost my entire life. Guys I knew, liked, and trusted. Turns out I had known his older brother for years, I just never knew he had a little brother.

Well, I lived in Dallas and he lived in Wichita, and it was hard but we made it work. It forced us to decide if we were serious or not. And I was not about to drive 2-1/2 hours every other weekend to see him if he wasn't serious. But, after dating him for a month I knew he was the man I was going to marry. We dated for 9 months, engaged for 7 months and have been happily married for two and a half years. And one 15 month old later we are still fabulous!

I always remember my Mother saying I did not need to go to places like that and that I was going to meet my husband in church. Well, it looks like God had other plans because I met a nice, Christian man at a bar.

I See Dots: Ella's Room

Every night for the past 15 months I sit in the same chair and rock my baby to sleep. It is a sweet time. I time I LOVE and cherish. I love holding her in my arms, singing to her, saying our prayers, and then just looking at he beautiful face as she sleeps. After that, I stare around the room and think...What can I change in here to make me like it more?!

This was Ella's first room. I loved it, until I sat in the chair every night looking around and thinking...Why did I put her in the smallest room in our house? So, she moved here.


And I finally came up with something new. See... Maye this will help you a little bit better.
Okay fine...how about now? Yes! POLKA DOTS!!! I have always looked at this big wall and wanted to add sconces, or paint something on it, or do something. Then, I put her to sleep and go about my day to day tasks and don't really think twice about it until the next night would roll around and I would be faced with the big bare wall again. Repeat process.
I finally decided I was going to paint a damask pattern. But remember the scrolls I painted at my sister in law's house. Uhh! I didn't want to go through that again. I needed something simple I could do while having a 15 month old pull on my pant leg. And can I say I LOVE IT! I rearranged the room and am so happy with the final result. However, now the chair faces a different wall, so I may have to change that one now!!!