Wrapping, wrapping, wrapping...

Ella and I have spent the day wrapping presents. She's a pretty good helper. She loves to help pick out bows and sign the tags. Chances are, if you get a gift from us this year, it will have about 3 or 4 tags on it, because Ella likes to "detorate the pwesent" (decorate the present). It's pretty sweet.
Having fun, Honey?
She works really hard on each tag...

Then has to add a finishing touch once it's on the gift...

Then ever so carefully puts each gift under the tree...

Thanks for being such a big helper, Ella!!

And on a side note, we had kind of a scare at the doctor's office yesterday. I went in for a routine OB check-up and the doctor noticed some irregularities in our little boy's heartbeat. We spent a couple hours in the hospital being monitored and had another ultrasound. Everything seems to be fine. Apparently, the placenta and the baby's cord are positioned in such a way that, depending on my and the baby's position, the cord may get a little compressed and cause his heart rate to slow down. It's a little scary for me, because obviously I can monitor his movement, but not his heart rate. We'll go back next week for another check, so please say a little prayer for us (!) that everything continues to look okay and that our little guy will grow to be a strong, healthy baby. We are counting our blessings this holiday and are so thankful that God continues to provide us and our family with so much happiness and good health.

Early present...

Ella got to open an early Christmas present over the weekend. She cracks us up because she really doesn't get too excited about these things. Before she opened it, we told her to shake it and guess what's inside. She shook it and said so matter-of-factly, "It's a puzzle, Mommy." Big deal, huh? :)
Yea, a princess puzzle! She was a little more excited once she saw it.

Putting it together with Daddy...

"Hey, Mommy! Look what I did!!"

A funny little thing...

that my family will get a kick out of. My family always teases my dad because he makes pretty much a daily trip to Allen's Food Mart, a mom-and-pop food store in Palmyra. He's constantly going for milk, ice, hamburger, or a newspaper, or whatever else Mom decides she needs at the last minute. Sometimes when all of us kids are home on Saturday, he may make 2-3 trips to Allen's before noon!! Needless to say, it is an ongoing joke, "Hey, Dad, how many times have you been to Allen's today?" It's just funny to us that he cannot ever get all these things in one trip.

Anyways, the point of the story... we "big kids" are not the only ones noticing. This afternoon, Ella and I were talking. She asked me, "Mommy, where's Daddy?" I said, "He's at work."
She asked, "Where's Grammy?"
"She's at her house," I said.
"Where's Pappaw?" she asked.
"Pappaw's probably at work, " I answered.
She thought for a minute and said, "No, Pappaw's probably at Allen's." hahahaha!!!!!

Head-banger

I had to post this. Every night before bed, we sing some lullabies or Sunday school songs. Last night, Ella somehow managed to turn "Jesus loves the little children" into a head-banging experience. Silly girl! :) Check it out...

The last few days...

have been a little hectic. Chris and I spent the weekend Christmas shopping and, I'm proud to say, have all of our shopping done except for a couple things!! We were a little exhausted by the end of it all, but had so much fun getting it done. It was especially a blast picking out things for Ella- she is going to be so excited! I can't wait!! We also loved having some time together- we tend to forget how nice it is to do nothing but sit and talk to each other over dinner. We were so thankful for those moments this weekend.
A few of our many packages...
We were anxious to get our little rascal home, too. I picked her up from Mom and Dad earlier today and was thrilled to see her. Of course, she's been a cuddlebug all day- she keeps saying, "I love you so much, Mommy!" -which I love hearing!! I think she's happy to be home, too.
She asked me on the way home if our Christmas tree was still there and she couldn't wait to run in and see it...

She checked on every single musical Christmas decoration, making sure they were all still there and that they all still played music when she pressed the buttons. :) Then we sat down and read every Little Miss book three times!!

It's good to be back to normal, even if it is a little less peaceful. :)

A day of PEACE...

My mom really wanted to keep Ella for a few days before the holidays, so we decided this weekend would be perfect. I have part of the weekend off, and we have a TON of shopping to do! I really thought this year would be different- that I would get all my shopping done early. But somehow here it is less than two weeks till Christmas and I have bought only two gifts!! Yikes! It's hard, because Chris and I like to do the shopping together, but I work every weekend, and he's only off on the weekends. But this weekend is IT- we are going to do a power day of shopping (sounds serious, huh?) on Saturday, and get it ALL done. I'm so excited and Chris is, too! I know I'm lucky, because most husbands hate to shop, but mine likes it as much as I do- as long as we stop often for snacks and coffee. :)

So anyways, I took Ella to meet Mom and Dad last night, and I have been enjoying a day of peace. I slept in later today than I have in, well, 2 1/2 years (!) and feel fabulous. I have loved having some time to myself- I painted my nails, did Pilates, made cookies (yeah, I know those two are kind of contradicting, but what can I say? I'm pregnant! haha!). I miss my little munchkin and her sweet, little laugh like crazy, but I know she's having a ball with Grammy and probably not giving a thought to me. And I can't wait for work to be over tonight, so we can go SHOPPING tomorrow!!!!

Christmas tree!

We got our Christmas tree last night and we are excited!! It smells so good- that smell alone makes it feel more like the holidays. Ella kept jumping around and squealing- it was pretty cute. Her excitement about getting a tree and hanging our stockings (or "socks" as she calls them) makes us remember how special all these little things are. She gave us a big hug and said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!!"
She thought the tree was "so beautiful" before we even put any decorations on. :)
When we got up this morning, she couldn't wait to get started on the lights and ornaments. Everytime we would add something new, she would say, "I love it! I love it!"

A train ornament she picked out because it looked like her gingerbread train...

We're going to wait for Chris to get home tonight to put on the rest of the ornaments and the star on top. Ella's so proud already...

Fun weekend

Chris and Ella traveled to New Salisbury to spend the weekend with family. Saturday night, they went to Louisville to hear Mark sing with the Thoroughbreds. I think they both really enjoyed it, and Chris said Ella made it through the whole show except the last 20 minutes (pretty good considering the show was almost 3 hours!).
Ella with Papaw and Mamaw after the show. Nice antlers, Papaw! That was the one thing Ella told me about the show- that Papaw had "ears on with lights!" :)
After church on Sunday, they went to Pam and Dave's for a Christmas brunch. Ella couldn't stop talking about all the Christmas decorations- "Mommy, Aunt Pam had FOUR Christmas trees!!" I think she had a ton of fun and I wish I could have been there to see her enjoying herself so much.

Chris said she was fast buddies with Kelsey.

And she really took up with Uncle Kyle this weekend.

Kyle and Ella enjoying a Christmas tree...

Aunt Pam even let her open a Christmas present early!! Boy, is she excited about those books! Thanks, Pam! She loves them!

Sharing her books with Kyle and Great-Grandma...

and with Aunt Susan...

A picture of all the ladies...
What a fun time! I wish I could have been there to enjoy the family!! These pictures make me miss everyone so much!

From 0 to 20

In honor of Jared's official birthday (today), I had to pull out some of my favorite pics of the "little" guy and post them on here. I got some pretty good laughs from these, because every one brings back a great memory. Here's to you, Jared!!

Brand new brotherFirst Christmas First Easter So sweet and innocent

First birthday

"I'm not little, I'm a big, tall kid!" By the way, cool BK's!! :)

Third birthday

What a cutie!

Always the life of the party
Never a dull moment

The way Jared will always be in my mind :)

With the "bros"

First day of school without the chili-bowl. 6th grade, I think.

First-time uncle- Jared and Lex

What-up

Can anyone say "Cancun"? Jared's favorite part of the week was the mariachi band.:) Jared's favorite pic of the two of us

Getting picked on by his other big brother

First pic with Ella

Looking sharp
Heisman pose (I'm sure he'll tell me if I spelled that wrong!)

The guys
Just being Jared

So in love :)
Our "little" brother all grown up

We love you, Jared!! Hope you got as many laughs from this as we did! Happy Birthday again!!

Family date night

We usually have a family date night on Friday or Saturday, but since I have to work all weekend, we decided to go out tonight. Chris took us to BRAVO!, an Italian place I have been wanting to go to since we moved here. Needless to say, we will be going back, because it was delicious!! And Ella was so well-behaved! Chris and I can tell she is growing up (sniff, sniff), because she is so good in public these days. We were really proud of her, and of course she loves to be told she is being so good. As we were leaving, she said, "Wow, Mommy, can you believe Ella was such a good girl at the restaurant?" :)

A few pictures before we left- Ella talking to her baby brother. She said, "Hello in there, baby brother! Do you want to go eat at the restaurant? Okay, bye bye!!" :)
Aww... Mommy and her special girl...

My growing baby bump- somewhere around 22 weeks...

My two favorite people in all the world...