Things That Make Me Happy

This week on Kelly's Korner it is Show Us Your Life: What Makes You Happy. There are lots of things that make me happy. One being my amazing husband and my beautiful baby girl. I love how helpful my husband is and what a good daddy he is. I love watching Ella learn and grow and develop her own sassy little personality and the fact that I don't have to miss a minute of it.

I love our church. We have an amazing Sunday School class & a preacher who loves the Lord. I love being able to read God's Word and talk to Him whenever I need or want to.

I love doing something creative. I have always loved to paint and draw. On a canvas or on a wall, it makes no difference. I would include photography in this area too. I love my DSLR and I love taking pictures, mostly of my sweet baby girl! I also like the editing process in photoshop and seeing what I can come up with.

Mmmmm, I crave Italian food all the time. I also crave Mexican food, but really I just love the chips and salsa, so Italian food is where it's at! Give me a plate of baked ziti, a glass of red wine and some breadsticks and I am a happy girl. I like to go out to eat or I can cook it at home.

Unfortunately for the scale, I also like Coke! No diet here, give me the real thing. I am probably addicted to it, but I really have been limiting it since I am trying to loose weight. No fun!

• Getting a new outfit for a special occasion because I always feel better in something new.
• I also like to sing along with the radio in the car very loudly
• A fresh hair cut and highlight
• Going some where I get to dress up
• Giving really good presents to people
• A nice clean, freshly vacuumed house (now it only stays that way for about 5 minutes!)
• Spending time with my girl friends

Back In The Swing Of Things

Ella and I are finally feeling better. She is back to running, playing, dumping out her buckets of toys and I am back to chasing, playing and picking up the toys. Mr. Hunter has even decided to show up this week after a two week hiatus when he had a yucky ear infection and pneumonia. So, we are back in the swing of things.


We had a good day yesterday of playing and napping. I love to go walking everyday, but my goodness it is getting so hot already!!! I pick up Hunter EARLY in the morning and then we come home and usually he stays awake for about 30 minutes before he goes back to sleep. Ella, my late riser, goes straight back to bed. Yesterday I thought I might see if she would stay awake a little bit, but she walked in to her room and stood by her crib. I came in and asked if she wanted to go to sleep and she nodded yes. Haha! She is sooooo my baby!!!


After they woke up we did go on a short mile and a half walk, but I had to call it quits because I didn't want the babies to get hot. We came home and Ella proceeded to dump all of her toys out of the basket in the living room. Hunter loved it and just crawled around playing with each toy for about 3 minutes.

My girls favorite thing to do is read. She will flip all the pages, point to each word, and babble on and on like she is reading. She likes this book because it is so big. I dare say she likes books now more than babies. Ha! I thought this shot was hysterical!!! Poor baby has been having a lot of snot and she likes to stick her finger up her nose. And Hunter's favorite thing to do is chew on this. Now, he will chew on just about anything, but he really loves to chew on this. Ella took it away from him once and you would have thought he was being tortured the way this boy started to scream. I gave it back to him and all was right in the world again! I am guessing that he is going to have some teeth come in soon the way he went to work on it. These kids keep me on my toes and there is never a dull moment. I have slowly watched Ella be more and more of a mommy to Hunter though and it is just precious. I think it will be so cute in about three months when Hunter is walking and these two can really get to some serious playing!!

Catch Up

Last weekend we went to Wichita for one of my friend's wedding showers. It was a couples shower, so Trey went with me. He is not too fond of going to these things, but he is such a trooper and always has a good time when he is there. It was at a house and after four hours of being there we all loaded up and headed out on the town. It was so great to get to hang out with all of our friends.

While we were in Wichita my Mom started to feel bad and had the sniffles and a little cough. Little did I know that it was going to rub off and by Monday night I did not feel good. By Tuesday I did not want to get out of bed. My head hurt, my nose was stopped up, but running (I hate that!!) I had a horrible cough and my sweet baby girl didn't feel good either. She ended up throwing up and can I say in the 16 months she has been alive she has never thrown up and she did not like it. She kept moaning and had the saddest little face you have ever seen. Into the bathtub she went for the second time that night.

Also when we got home I found that my pot filled with hydrangeas and purple leafy plants from Mother's Day had died. There goes $40 worth of plants. So sad!!! I had watered them two days in a row and then it rained and I noticed before we left that it looked a little water logged. When we got home Sunday it still looked like that. I looked at the bottom of the pot and noticed a rubber stopper holding all the water in. As soon as I unplugged it all the water drained, but it was too late to save them. Saturday we went and looked at the two houses I posted about. None of us felt like going, but we went and were sadly disappointed. I had talked to Trey the night before though and told him I really didn't even want to go because I love our house and just don't think I am ready to part with it yet. After a few hours of looking we headed home and we all went straight back to bed and took a thee hour nap. Did I forget to mention that Trey got sick too! Yes, it has been no fun around here.

It was our turn to bring donuts to Sunday school though so Sunday morning we went to church. We made it through Sunday school coughing and sniffling, so we didn't go to church. Ella may not feel good, but she always looks precious!!
I love this little dress I got her. It is a little more floral-y than I typically dress her and I usually prefer brighter colors, but she looked lite a little doll in it! I had bought ribbon to make a bow to perfectly match, but obviously didn't get around to making it.
So there is my catch up post. We were sick, we still are sick. Now I have to go take a nap.

I Want This...

So, one of my favorite bloggers Kate Richardson does a post ever so often entitled "I Want That". Well, it is my turn! Some days when Ella is taking her afternoon nap I spend a while on the computer looking at houses in the area. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE our house!! I think I am just looking for a steal. The other day I stumbled across these two houses and we are going on Saturday to look at them. Kate, if you lived here you would be showing these to us, but it might be a long drive from Wichita!!

This is my favorite house. It was built in 1905!! It has always been my dream to own a really old house and fix it up. It does already have central heat & air as well as the washer/dryer connections, cable connections, etc. but it does need some work. However, it is beautiful. It is also a STEAL!!! With the money we would be saving on our house payments we could do the renovations over time. This is a house I would live my whole life in. Now, come Saturday I may have a whole new story because it may just be tooooo much work, but a girl can dream can't she??!! (Might be too big of a dream!)I mean, look at that window!!! And the ceiling detail...uhhhh!!!!Gorgeous!This is Trey's favorite one though. It is out in the country on two acres. Trey already has big plans in his head and he is so cute talking about all of it. My mom and I started talking about it and all I can think of are snakes and bugs!! YUCK! We will see though. It was built in 2007 (so much much newer) and is just under 2,400 square feet. It doesn't have a garage though and I am not sure how I feel about that. So, I don't really think/know if we really will move. It is A LOT of WORK!!! And honestly when I think about leaving our home I get a little sad. All the memories that I have of the first year of my baby girl's life. I am pretty crazy about wonderful houses though so I might just change my mind!!

Finally!!

My internet has been down for a week!!! SO happy it is finally working again!

My 2nd Mother's Day

Saturday I went and ran a bunch of errands and Trey worked, so when he was done working he called to see where I was. We chatted and then I casually said "Don't forget tomorrow is Mother's Day & you need to get me something." Okay, maybe that isn't so casual! Last year his Mom and my Mom both called to remind him. Well, neither of them did this year and if I wouldn't have I wouldn't have even gotten a card. He has been working a lot and he does not have the best memory, but he left and went and bought me something before I got home.

He pulled through because Sunday morning I found my present. A big beautiful pot with hydrangeas and some purple leafy plant. (I am a true gardener, can't you tell by the description!) And it matches our front door!
It was a very special day because our nephew, Hunter, was being dedicated to the Lord at his church. Kyle and Jennie were so proud as they should be. We dedicated Ella last year on Mother's Day so it brought back a lot of memories.

After church we headed over to Kyle and Jennie's house for some yummy Mexican food and to open presents. Of course, the grandparents took every opportunity to play with the kiddos. Three generations of girls. I love my Mom so much! She is an amazing woman and an even better Mom. Everything I have learned about being a Mom has come from her and the awesome role model she has been. I am a little bummed about our families picture. It didn't turn out so well and I didn't get a long shot to show yall what a CUTE dress I had on. I will have to wear it again soon. And of course, we all matched, but you can't really tell from the pic. Bummed!!!Granny and Papa love these kids! Every time I saw Mom she had one, or both, of them with her.
And even though Hunter had an ear infection he was happy and so giggly! Dad was really getting him going by blowing on his tummy. It was so precious!
Jennie's Dad owns a bakery and made this cake for Hunter. Okay, let me tell you I do not like strawberries and do not like strawberry cake. Yuck! When I saw them cute into this cake, which I was so excited about, and saw it was strawberry I got really sad. That is until I tasted it!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!! It was delicious. I have had one other cake her Dad made and it was really good too. Oh! I wish I had more.

He also made these chocolate covered Oreos. Good thing he is not my Dad or I would have him bake me a cake every week and I would get really fat. We had a great time visiting & eating. I am so sad I didn't take a picture of my Mom opening her presents. We got her a 'brag book' for pictures of Ella. For those of you who don't know what that is it looks like a wallet (very skinny) and is an accordion style picture holder that holds up to 16 4x6 photos. She had gone to a party on Saturday and someone asked to see pics of Ella, but she didn't have any...Now she does!! We also got her a very cute metal frame with crosses on it with a picture of her three grand babies.

16 Months Old!!

Ella is 16 months old today! We celebrated by going to the park for about an hour and playing and playing until we were both sweaty and Momma was getting sunburned. It is so fun to watch her climb over, under, & on everything. I was watching her climb up the stairs and slide down the slide all by herself and just thinking to myself 'Wow, my girl is not a baby anymore'. She can do it on her own now. I love it though. I love watching her do things and conquer things that I used to have to help her with. Her favorite is still the swing though and she just giggles and laughs almost the whole time. I tickle her feet and get her sweet little legs and she loves it.

Her hair is getting longer, so the other day I decided to let her rock some pig tails. (Or as my Dad & Mom would say, Dog ears) Ha! Soo cute!


She is currently getting 4 molars in & one canine tooth in. YES, ALL at the SAME TIME. Poor thing. It really does not seem to be bothering her that much though. She has been more tired than anything and instead of one two hour nap in the afternoon she has been taking one three to four hour nap. I know it can't fell good though. She has been extra cuddly too.


Her animal sounds now include: Dog, Cow, Snake, Lion & Bear. She still does not like the cat sound. Her words are: Yes, No (I think this is her favorite!!), Up, Down, Out, Get, Baby, Momma, Dada, Juice, Fish (for Gold Fish), Bite, Hi, Bye, Uh-Oh, Wow, and I can get her to say Papa but only occasionally.

She will point to where the eyes, ears & nose are in a book and on my face, but not on hers. I have to be careful of the eyes though. She is not gentle!
She loves to read books and her favorite is still "Jesus Loves Me" followed closely by the Belly Button Book. She now likes to pretend she is reading the books and just gibbers and jabbers and I think it is adorable. She tries to sing along to Jesus Loves me too. It melts my heart.

She DOES NOT like brushing her teeth. She does not like peaches. She throws amazing temper tantrums. She throws herself on the ground and cries. I didn't know they did that this early, but our girl has a strong will.

She loves bananas, being outside, running, when her Daddy gets her neck, greeting her Daddy at the door when he comes home from work, playing with her babies, dogs, big kids, cell phones, gold fish, being tickled, splashing in the bath tub, & people - she is SO social!

We love this girl so much and I am so blessed by God and so thankful to my husband that I am able to spend my days at home with her.

Wordless Wednesday: When Mom's Away...

Ella will play (with pens). Her Dad was babysitting and didn't realize she had the pen until she had done this beautiful artwork. I figured since it was already there I might as well laugh and take a picture.




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