easter 2013

Easter- a celebration of the one who paid it all so that we could live.  They usually sing a portion of this song at Easter, and I feel that it sums up my feelings entirely (as well as brings me to tears in a moment's instant).

O praise the One

 

Who paid my debt

 

And raised this life

 

Up from the dead.

 

I can't fathom the person that I would be without my relationship with Jesus Christ.  It is far from perfect, and I continually struggle with making it better, but I am so thankful for everything that He has done.  I have such a beautiful life and will be forever gracious with the blessings that I have. 

 

 

This Easter has hit me harder than normal.  My newest and greatest blessing of all fills my heart with overwhelming joy each and every day and I just can't ever seem to find the words to thank Him enough.  We sure did have an amazing Easter with family and friends :)  So blessed.

 

 



Haha... mean mugging me for taking so many pictures!  Check out all of the loot the Easter Bunny left at Mamaw and Uncle B and Aunt A's house :)

Mamaw showing E her new bunny :) 

 

The Easter Bunny left our little rabbit some goodies!  She loves her new mega blocks :)

 

 Ellie and my great Aunt Doris.  She sat on her lap for over 15 minutes as still as could be :)  She loved her!

 E and Aunt C... lighting was wonky :/

E with Nan and Mommy amidst all of her goodies at GG's house... The Easter Bunny visited Nan and Pop, Aunt Caitie and Uncle Tysoon's, and GG's house for Ellie!  Spoiled rotten!

spring break!

Mommy has been patiently waiting since crazy Christmas Break to finally slow it down a bit, and that was in the form of Spring Break.  With no official plans other than hanging out with my favorite people all week, I was so happy to just spend time with my number one girl.  We did a lot of cleaning, organizing, and playing in Ellie's new playroom!  While I am sad that it is over, I am happy that I only have a few short weeks left until summer break and playing all day long :)

I mean, who wouldn't want to hang out with this cutie all day?!

Cam, E, Amie, and I hit up the zoo on Saturday and it was BEAUTIFUL out.  All of the animals were out and acting super funny.  The baby zebra reminded us of Brohdi and Penny doing laps in the house by running around like crazy!

My gorgeous girl loved the zoo!

She even came to Kindergarten with me at Northside to teach on Saturday :)

 

What a great break!  So blessed to have a career that allows me so much time with my little one!

danger, danger!

Ellie has turned into quite the little monster on the move around here.  She is into EVERYTHING!  She now has a playroom full of toys but her favorite hangout spot is my little two foot area of "office space."  This has been a tough stage for me so far because I never feel accomplished with anything.  I know these moments go by all too fast, but for this multi-tasker, the weekends are just too short and I hate having to constantly pick up.  However, I do love how inquisitive she is with everything.  She "reads" books constantly and will want you to read them to her over and over.  She seems to have conversations with you, as if she knows exactly what she is talking about.  I just can't get over how much this little girl has changed our world.  It makes me cry everytime I think about how sweet she is and how proud I am to be her mom. 

Wild Child!

monthly post?!?

So, this momma got behind on months 7, 8, and 9 when posting and she probably has changed that much since then.  With the illness and everything else going on, blogging was always put on the back burner.  Currently, at 10 months, she is:

*crawling up a storm
*pulling up on EVERYTHING
*is a danger to herself and others :)
*says lots of words:  roar, moo, woof, mom, dad, mamaw, papaw, hat, more, ball
*shakes her head yes or no when she does or doesn't want something
*gives out lots of kisses when asked
*wears mostly size 12 month clothing (with a few 9 months here and there... pants are definitely going to be an issue.  This child is LOOONG!)
*wears a size 3 diaper (and now has to wear overnight diapers because of a pee pants issue)
*has brown hair that is typically going every which way
*refuses to wear a bow in her hair most days
*loves to take off her socks
*hates shoes
*loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, Gaspard and Lisa, and Doc McStuffins
*loves taking baths
*will eat ANYTHING you put in front of her.  I have yet to find a food that she doesn't like :)
*is eating more and more table food.  She loves mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, shredded cheese of any kind, baby goldfish, cheerios, bananas, and probably a whole lot of other stuff that people have given her!
*has her whole family's heart!

I did take a picture of with her nine month sticker... hope to take her 10 month before she is 11 months :)

wilson crew!

I feel so lucky to work with such amazing people on a day by day basis.  Not only do we all work so well together and love what we do, we also like to hang out after school.  These girls love Eliot SO much and always want her around, too, which makes it easy to go to dinner or other things, especially when Nick has a meeting or other event at night.  I have captured some pictures of Ellie hanging out with the girls and having a blast :)

 Chick-Fil-A Night (photo courtesy of Erin)

 Basketball Games with Aunt Jess (photobomb courtesy of Marci)

 Sweet Frog (kiddo loves some dessert, just like momma!)

Eating all of Marci's rice at the Panda Express after the basketball tourney :)

 

Love my girls and love that they love E so much!

first birthday as a mommy!

I had an incredible and low-key 27th birthday.  I couldn't have asked for more.  Saturday we celebrated with the Kane's with pizza and cookie cake (yum!) and I got to hang out with my favorites.  Sunday (on my actual birthday), Ellie and I ran errands for the week, and then I got to come home and take a nap with my favorite girl.  I got to wear sweatpants all day and do absolutely nothing!  It was FABULOUS!  Monday, we went out to eat with my family at O'Charleys and had a great time.  I will take these kind of birthdays every year from now on, please :)

I will share my birthday cake with this girl ANY day!!

 

family dedication at northside

We were so very blessed to dedicate Ellie at church.  Our whole family came and made it so special.  It was such a wonderful day filled with great memories.  Seeing how much our cutie pie is loved made me tear up throughout the program!  She got a certificate, bible, and a DVD of the day from the church, as well as lots of other goodies from our family. 

I loved her outfit and shoes... so precious!

 Mommy's girl, for sure :)

Well, she can be a Mamaw's girl a lot, too :)

 Haha, still so cute!

 Pop and Ellie

 Praising Him during the service.  So sweet.  She was so into the music!

My bigger girl, C Monkey, joined in on the action, too!  We had dinner at Mark's Feed Store afterward.

My two favorite girls in the whole wide world.  Blessed beyond belief!

mommy's night out!

Or, more like Mommy's two days out!  I went with Amie's co-workers on a road trip to IKEA and the Jeffersonville Ohio Outlets and left my loves at home for a night and most of the next day.  We had a great time talking, laughing, and most importantly, shopping!  As you can tell, we were really successful based on how the Jeep looked at the end of the trip.  Poor Cara had to be squished with all of our packages in the back :)  What a great time!

 We were packed down!

I was so happy to come home to this cutie in her new aviators... she got lots of good stuff when Mommy went shopping :)