Boo at the Zoo

Our little duck...

Ellie got all dressed up Friday evening, and we headed to Boo at the Zoo!! After taking all of 2 pictures our camera started acting up, but luckily we ran into our friends Cameron, Beth, and Julia, and Beth was sweet enough to get some pics of our duck for us! This is about all we got...

Getting warmed up for trick or treating next weekend...getting some candy. We still have to work on actually saying "trick or treat!"

Ellie and Julia. Ellie is obsessed w/ babies. She hovered over Julia the entire time we were with them!

Mama and Ellie

E had a great time riding the carousel...well, we did have to rescue her off of the horse she was riding after about 2 minutes. She just wasn't so sure! Then we rode the train in the dark and saw all of the ghosts and goblins. Good thing she didn't actually know to be scared of them! After that we had some popcorn, a Laffy Taffy or two and headed home. The animals weren't out for us to see, but we did get to see a few peacocks which Ellie thought was really cool.

My Big 18-Month Old!

I forgot to mention that my baby turned 18 months old over the weekend!! On the 17th to be exact. Just a couple of accomplishments around here:

-Ellie, you are telling me now whenever you have a "Tee Tee" or a "Stinky" as we call it around here. I see potty-training in your near future!

-You started calling your paci your "sassy" a couple of weeks ago. It's the cutest thing we have ever heard!

-You have become very interested in books lately which makes us very happy. You will actually sit in our lap and let us read to you.

-You still eat just about anything we offer you.

-You add several new words to your vocabulary every day. The funniest is when the dogs are barking and you tell them to "hush." Wonder where you learned that???

-You have started calling everything you're holding "mine" and pointing to yourself. I guess you learned this at "cool."

-You can do your puzzles all by yourself.

-Your new "game" is running from me all of the time! When I'm trying to get you dressed, change your diaper, out in the driveway you head straight to the street and laugh the whole way, and the scariest is when we're trying to get into the car you always run straight for the parking lot!

-You still love playing outside. That's basically all you want to do!

I am sure there are many more that I'm not thinking of, but that's it for now! Happy 18 months sweet baby! It's been the best 18 months of our lives.

Fun Weekend at Lollie & Poppy's

Rusty headed to Chicago for an AllState conference from Weds-Sun of this past week so Ellie and I decided we would take a trip down south to see Lollie, Poppy, & Uncle "Ayee" as Ellie calls Thomas. We have NO idea why, but she for some reason cannot pronounce his name so he has officially become "Ayee!"

Ellie loved playing in the sand in Lollie & Poppy's backyard! Dad poured some sand in order to try and get the grass to fill-in, but Ellie just used it for playing!

On Saturday, Lollie and I took Ellie to a local farm to see and pet some animals. My parents know the people who own this farm, and they raise "cage free, organic" animals which I think is very cool and rare for South Alabama! First, we got to pet the goats which were very sweet...

Just as I thought, Ellie wasn't in the least bit afraid or timid around them...

We also got to see a herd of sheep. They apparently aren't quite as "people-friendly" because this is about as close as we could get. Ellie is chasing them here!

"Cage free" turkeys...

Then we saw lots of chickens!

Ellie is "calling the chickens"

Cutest of all...baby chicks!!! They were adorable!

Lollie, Ellie, and I also made a quick trip over to Wal-Mart in Bay Minette (25 minutes away and the closest to Atmore) to buy Ellie some toys for when she is visiting. Lollie decided she needed some entertainment. We found this Wal-Mart grocery cart and thought it was so cute! She definitely thought so too and enjoyed "shopping" all weekend!

We're back in Bham safe and sound and glad Daddy is back from his trip!

Little Visitor

Ellie had a friend stay with her last Thursday night...Piper Kelton!! The Keltons were coming through Bham on their way to Florida and stayed the night with us. It had been waaaay too long since we had seen them so it was great to get the girls together. Ellie is 4 months older than Piper, but they are at the age now where they have so much in common and had a great time together!This is about the only picture we got of them somewhat posed and standing side by side!

Very typical...Ellie and Lilly harassing Piper for her "nana!"

Sweet.

"Come on Piper, please let me have a bite!"

Rebecca and I attempted to get some shots of them together. Ellie sits, somewhat cooperative, but Piper will have no part in sitting.

Now Piper sits, and Ellie is over the sitting!

Ellie goes in for a kiss!

Let's try the backyard...

Uh, no. Picures just weren't happening this day!

Ellie did find a really good stick though!

As a side note...happenings around our house...Ellie can pretty much reach anything that is on the edge of the kitchen counter I have recently found out! Example...this morning as I was wiping down her tray on her highchair, I hear a lound "splat!" I turned around to see about 8 eggs cracked and smashed all over the kitchen floor! Yep, she grabbed the egg carton that was apparently on the edge of the counter and pulled it right off. Meanwhile, Lilly runs up and proceeds to eat the raw eggs, and Ellie smears her hands all in the mess! All I could do was laugh, and the thought crossed my mind to go and get my camera, but after 15 minutes of clean up I was over the laughter!

Ellie is also still eating anything and everything we give her. After she ate her dinner at church tonight, she proceeded to steal collard greens, black eyed peas, squash casserole, and green beans off of my plate! I mean she literally climbed up onto the chair at the breakfast table and stole food right off of my plate! I thought for sure she'd spit the greens out, but she kept going back for more! She never ceases to amaze me!

Fall is here...

and we sure are enjoying it!

We got our pumpkins and mums yesterday! Ellie loves the pumpkins and doesn't remember them from last year so it was something new and fun for her!

Smelling the flowers...

She's lovin' the new grass! And we are too for that matter!

Daddy got her an orange push pop from the gas station, and she loved every bite of it!

She's also still into climbing! She discovered that I kept fruit in the bowl on the breakfast table and oh what a treat!

Just about every time I grab a banana, it has bite marks through it from you know who!!

"Oh, I love it when Mama just lets me have the bag of Chex Mix to myself!"

Mouth full...So happy!
Ellie is changing every day and saying so many new words. We are just amazed by what she understands and can say. I am quite certain her vocabulary is right on target with where she should be for her age, but her daddy and I are blown away with some of the things she can say! She is very much into her Daddy these days too which I love to watch! I love to see her face light up when he walks in the room...precious.

Weddings, Birthday Parties, etc

We have had several busy weekends here lately!! We celebrated Jackson Brien's first birthday with him in Atlanta last Sunday and had so much fun at the party!!!

Mandy, Jackson, and Sam

Ellie insisted on helping Jackson with eating his birthday cake!!

And he didn't seem to mind sharing!

Ellie trying to figure out if she wants to jump in...

Ellie going in for a kiss for the birthday boy!!! He seems to like it!



THEN, this weekend we headed down to Pensacola for Leigh and Brett's wedding!! We had an absolute blast, and Leigh made the most beautiful bride! I wish I had some pictures from the wedding, but unfortunately I didn't get my camera out all weekend. Congrats Leigh and Brett!! We are SO happy for you!


After the wedding festivities, we headed back up to Birmingham today to celebrate Miss Katherine Crowe's first birthday!!!!
Anna Kate, Katherine, and Blake

Look how stinkin' cute this birthday cake is!!!

Blair Verdigets made the party all the way from Atl!!

Ellie had a blast at the party...she's starting to get the hang of these bday parties and figured out real quickly how much fun they are...especially the cake! Swingin' at the party...

I think she has done this at every party...playin' in the ice...

And, she did a lot of this...

"Diving" in and out of the bouncer!!! In and out, in and out, over and over again!!

Before we left the party, she had to lean in and give the birthday girl a sweet hug and kiss...
Happy 1st Birthday Jackson and Katherine!! We had SO much fun at your parties!!!

First Day of School

Backpack, check. Lunch box, check. Paci, check. Blankie, check. New dress that Lollie was supposed to have ready by her first day of school...not so much! Lollie, we hope it's ready soon! And yes, she insisted on carrying every bit of this!

This is about the best picture I got. I wouldn't say she was exactly thrilled about her first day of "cool" as she would say. She actually started Mother's Day Out at our church today so I guess it's technically not "school" but close enough for this Mom. She has been going to a little program at our church for the last 3 weeks that has gotten her warmed up for this big day so she actually did really well. She still cries every time I leave her, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that will change very soon. It still breaks my heart every time though!Getting in the car w/ her backpack. Notice the mud in the background? Yeah, we don't quite have landscaping at the new house yet. Rain, Rain, go away so we can get some grass so my 2 little rats aka dogs will quit tracking muddy pawprints all through my house! I question having 2 dogs quite often but am always reassured that they're nice to have around when I see Ellie's face light up when she sees them. I guess that's worth all of the muddy pawprints!!!!!!!!!! We've officially moved in and are trying to get settled and finish unpacking box after box after box. We are loving all of this space!