how has it been a year?

Life has kind of gotten away from me this past year with keeping up with the blog.  My hope is to backdate as soon as possible on all of our milestones and accomplishments!  Ellie Bellie is getting so big and I want her to be able to look back on this for some amazing memories :)  Now, since I wrote this one, I have to go back and update, right?!?!

new baby cousin, sky!

Ellie now has a second cousin!  Sky Elizabeth Allen was born in early May and we love her so much already!  We can't wait for them to move back to the Kentuckiana area from Los Angeles so that we can play with her more!

Love these two :)

happy birthday, amie!

Amie is 30!  We celebrated on Thursday night at Rocky's for her actual birthday and I told her that for her birthday, the boys had agreed to watch the girls and me and her were going shopping, for pedicures, and to the movies.  I kept her out of the house all day Saturday and we were coming back for a cookout with our little ones... or so she thought :)  We had a surprise party all ready for her back at our house.  It was a great time and I am so happy that I got to celebrate this big birthday with my bestest friend!!

the big apple!

I was blessed enough to take a trip to New York City with my fabulous mother and sister-in-law.  We had a blast!  It was so cool to visit someplace that I have want to visit my entire life.  We went in on a Friday and left on a Monday and we jam packed so much into that trip!  Friday, we went to see the Lion King (my Broadway choice) and it was fantastic!  Saturday, we took a tour bus around the city and saw so many things; Strawberry Fields, Central Park, the Empire State Building, a cruise around the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street and the 9/11 memorial grounds.  It was fascinating. Of course, I LOVED the shopping as well!  We shopped each day for at least a little bit :)  Sunday, we went to see Wicked (Amy's pick) and it was magnificent.  I think I liked it the most.  What a fantastic trip with two of my favorite people in the world!

In the taxi on the way to our hotel!

Times Square!

Rockefeller Plaza

View from our hotel down onto Times Square

The Lion King!

I missed my girls, but they had a great time back at home :)

Tour day and NYC pizza!

Wicked, Grand Central Station, and the Library

strawberry patch fun!

With our bestest friends being out of town the first week of summer, Ellie and I were on the hunt to do some fun things.  We ended up going to Huber's to pick strawberries with Jess and Erin and had a wonderful time!  It was a lot of fun going out into the field and seeing Ellie Bear try to get the best berries.

and of course some ice cream after :)

ellie turns two!

Ellie is TWO!

How can our precious baby be two years old?  Mommy didn't take off work this year because I was off so much with Grandma Mary in the past few months, but Aunt Lisa and Bailey made sure she had so much fun that day at Chuck-E-Cheese.  We actually had two parties for Ellie since my grandmother's passing happened really close to her birthday.  We had our close friends and family over on her actual birthday for pizza and party hats, and then we had a bunch of our friends and family over for her themed birthday party.  Pretty sure this momma isn't have a big birthday party for a while :)

Our original party date was supposed to be the 10th, but we pushed it back a couple of weeks to give my family a little time to recover.

One of her two year old portraits :)

 

She made everyone wear party hats.

Love this little munchkin to pieces!

 

 

we love you, grandma mary!

Grandma Mary had been in the hospital for the most part of the year, with only a few days at home.  She was getting sicker and sicker.  On February 17, she had open heart surgery and a quadruple bypass.  She was diagnosed with congestive heart failure back in December, and nothing really positive happened since then.  It was so hard to see her in so much pain for most of the time.  At one of her many stays in the CVCU (Cardiovascular Care Unit) in Floyd Memorial, we sent Grandpa Bud home and I spent the night with her.  I will always treasure that night and her waking me up every half hour because she had fallen down in the bed and her toes were on the edge.  After Easter, it was decided that she would go home under Hosparus care and out of the continuous hospitals and rehabs.  I spent the next week pretty much working, and then staying with my grandma.  Finally, on April 30, she took her final breath.  I am such a much better person for knowing my grandma and for her helping raise me.  I will never be able to thank her for everything she did in shaping my life, but I know she knew I loved her with all of my heart.  The days were really rough, but I have such an amazing support system of family and friends, and her funeral services were a testimony of how much she was loved.  We truly are a blessed family unit.

At my baby shower in March 2012... She loved Eliot so very much.