Our Life = Chaos

This wild thing...

+ this little project...

+ hosting parties for Aunt Susie & Uncle Trav...

= CHAOS around here lately!! That's why we have been so MIA w/ the blog!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Most of you probably already know, but for those of you who don't, Rusty, Ellie, and I are currently going through a MAJOR renovation project and hope to be moving sometime within the next 4 weeks! I was able to snap a few pics this past week of the progress and pull some "before" pics so you can see the transformation!

The front of the house "before" obviously!

The Kitchen before (don't you love the peach?)...
The Kitchen now!!!

which opens to the great room (Rusty and I love lots of natural light)...
The Dining Room before (pls notice the lovely windows that HAD to go)...

The new Dining Room...
Ellie's Bedroom before...

Ellie's Bedroom now...no more blue!!!
Ellie's Bathroom before...
E's Bathroom now...

Back of the House before...

The Back of the House now...

Plus a few features/rooms that I have always dreamt of having!!

A Mudroom/Desk Area for all of our JUNK that we love to set down the minute we walk in the door...Now hopefully my dining room table won't be full of junk ALL of the time! It's currently the "catch all" for everything from my purse, keys, cell phones, Ellie's shoes, and more random junk!

A Playroom for all of E's plastic!

Right side of house w/ side entrance, carport...

So needless to say, we have been VERY busy around here lately. I am hoping to have this renovation project behind me very soon!! I honestly didn't know what we were getting ourselves into with this, but I know it is all going to pay off in the end! More pictures to come once we get to the end of the project!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back to the other fun stuff we've been up to! Uncle Travis and Aunt Susie are getting married this Saturday, August 1st, and we can't wait!! A couple of weeks ago we threw them a little Mexican fiesta at our house and had a great time!

Before the party, Ellie was helping me w/ the decorations...

Rusty & Blake at the party...

Me & Leigh (who is marrying Brett on Sept 19th!!! woo hoo!) at the party...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We have also had a little time to get together with friends...Mallory & Ellie playing in the wagon. Notice sweet Mallory just sits in the wagon while Ellie proceeds to climb in and out, in and out, over and over again. My little busy bee never sits still! These sweet babies only have one more week of Aunt She She keeping them, and then she's off to Auburn to start grad school. Ellie and I are still in denial about this HUGE transition. We are going to miss her SO much around here!!
As for my busy bee...I feel like I haven't updated you in so long on all of her little accomplishments. She's doing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" in this picture...

Ellie is 15 months now, and I just can't believe it. She is trying her best to talk and repeat everything we say and do which can sometimes be scary! We are getting to the age where you really have to watch what you say and do! For example, Lollie was in town a few weeks ago and very lightly pushed Lilly out of the way w/ her foot, and said "No Lilly." Well, now Ellie follows Lilly around, kicking her and saying "No!" She has also started walking up to things she knows she shouldn't get into and looks at me and says, "No no." Which is what I say to her ALL of the time! It's hilarious! She is still extremely energetic and keeps us on our toes at all times!!

I'll leave you with this....just plain sweet...
I guess she still looks like him, huh? I hear it everywhere I go!! ha!

4th of July Lake Trip

We went with Rusty's family to Lake Martin for the weekend of the 4th. Rusty's older brother Chad, his wife Tonya, their 3 girls, his younger brother Travis, his fiance Susie, MeMe, and Maw Maw (Rusty's grandmother) all went! We all had such a great time, especially Ellie! She has a great time when she gets together with her older cousins, Madison who is 13, Mallory who is about to be 10, and Mary Mykal who just turned 7. It works out great for me too because it's like having built-in babysitters the entire time!

Ellie spent most of the weekend wearing this:

The best group shot I could get of the 4 girls:
They were determined to get that hat on Ellie!

Her cousins are SO sweet and love her SO much!

Ellie and MeMe

Mowin' the grass...

Ellie's favorite part of the entire trip...getting to carry around her very own piece of watermelon!!

Mmmm..."I never get to do this at home!"

If you look closely you can see the drizzle running down her belly...

I really wish I had gotten some pictures of the entire group, but it just didn't happen. Who cares about anyone but the baby of the family anyway, right? At least that's the way it is in our family! As long as we got pictures of her we're golden!