new house!

We closed on our old house and new house on January 10th!  We are so very excited to be so close to our best friends and to have so many other blessings that come along with a bigger space.  We got our closest family and friends together to paint our entire upstairs (minus the kitchen and extra bedroom) the first weekend of our ownership, and we moved in on January 18th.  So exciting!

The only picture I took... Ellie's brand new big girl bed in her big girl purple room.  She is still mad at me for painting it purple because she wanted pink :)

our little gymnast

Ellie started a Parent Tot class at SIGS this session!  She was so very excited and did a great job listening to Miss Kandi.  We are hopeful that this will continue and she will make new friends through her gymnastics classes :)

A little anxious...

But overall, very excited!  Love that little belly :)

destin with mamaw and papaw

Since Nick didn't have any vacation at all this year, we kind of invited ourselves to go down with Mamaw and Papaw on their annual trip after Christmas to Ft. Walton Beach and Destin.  Aunt Amy got to come with us since Uncle B didn't get vacation at his new job, either.  We all flew down a day after Mamaw and Papaw got there and we left a few days earlier.  I still wasn't feeling too well at all during the trip, but Ellie had a blast in her own Media Room, watching The Lion King over and over and having Mamaw and Papaw all to herself :)  It was nice to get away while Daddy was back packing our house up for our big move.  When I got back, I went to the doctor right away and they put me on Omeprazole for stomach issues.  It might be stress related, but who knows at this point?
Thanks, Mamaw and Papaw for a wonderful week at the chilly beach!

We survived a flight, a layover, and another flight with a 11/2 year old Ellie Bellie!

At one of our favorite restaurants in Destin, Pompano Joes!

We lost little Stitch in the Gap Outlet, but Jesus was looking out for us, because there was a Disney outlet with this gem in there :)

Knocked out from all of the excitement!

Loving being with Mamaw and Papaw at breakfast )

Beachtime!

Love this time with Papaw!

Marshmallow the Alligator at Fudpucker's.  Ellie liked him!

Silly willy at dinner at Harry T's

christmas 2013

I love, love, love the Christmas season, but I love it about fifty times more since becoming a Mommy.  I love the wonderment and excitement that Christmas brings and I love seeing it in the eyes of a 1 1/2 year old even more.  We always do a TON of stuff for Christmas, so I tried to take pictures of all of the big stuff :)

My kiddos at school for their Christmas play.  Can you tell which one doesn't belong? :)

Not a fan.

A little better with Mommy by her side :)

 Some early snow and ice before Christmas means that Daddy gets home early!

 

The annual Kane/Lawrence cookie night got started off with a bang!

E loving her shades even in December :)

Cookie Night 2013!

Wild woman got into the icing :)

Ellie loves her new Anna hat!

Lawrence Family Christmas 2013!

Ellie loved all of her gifts!

 Ellie and her best pal, Mamaw opening gifts

 

Ellie and Daddy before the big Lawrence Family Christmas at Mark and Jina's.  So cute!

Oh how Christmas Eve night has changed around here :)

Ellie with her Aunt Weesa at the Lewis Family Christmas.  I was really sick and barely made it through :/

Presents, presents, and more presents!

justin!

We got tickets to the Justin Timberlake concert way back in May and the day was finally here!  We had such a blast with my girls from school, and Amie and I got some much needed BFF time :)

thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday.  My whole family gets together, it is the start of the Christmas season, and that means the start of the shopping season!!  We start out the day by watching the parade and hanging around the house until we leave for my Aunt's house.  We get to see my Grandma's entire side of the family and I LOVE it.  This year was bittersweet because my Aunt Doris, who passed away in June, wasn't there with us for the first time.  We had a great time until we noticed that my Grandma Mary wasn't walking too well.  It turns out her toes had gotten really infected and when Caitie saw them, she made her go to the hospital right away.  Once we had gotten all of that settled, we went to Nick's Aunt Pammie's house.  I love seeing everyone over there and eating all of her amazing desserts.  After a few rounds of Mexican Train Dominoes and having Ellie play with all of her cousins, it was time to go shopping.  Black Friday was awesome as always, even though we got started much earlier than in the past.  Stores are opening around 9:00, but we didn't make it out until around 10:30.  Amie and I got finished quite early (around 1:30 or 2) and had a blast as usual :)

Ellie decorating the tree on Thanksgiving Morning.  I just couldn't wait :)

One of my favorite things to do on Thanksgiving Morning... the ads!

 Sitting like an old man in her recliner during Thanksgiving Break :)

sold?!?!?!

Well, our house sold within six days on the market!  We only had three showings and we got $1,600 more than our asking price.  We are so very blessed.  With that blessing also came a huge bearing on us of finding our forever home.  The house that I had originally fallen in love with in Sterling Oaks (Chris and Amie's neighborhood) already had an accepted offer, and that has left me pretty heartbroken.  However, we went and saw a house two houses down from the first one and put in offer in and they accepted that day!  We are set to close in early January, with a move in late January.  This has all happened so fast, but I am so excited to be able to be within very close distance of our BFF's. I know this is the right move to be making in the long run, and I am so happy to have Ellie grow up in a beautiful home, neighborhood, and great school district. 

The flyer that Troy sent out to our neighborhood after our house sold so quickly :)