Happy Birthday Daddy!

Rusty's birthday was yesterday, the 16th, and we had a good weekend celebrating together. Ellie insisted on getting him a balloon at the store on Friday, and Daddy was so excited about it! Ellie was also extremely excited about "Daddy's cake," and she and I had a very hard time not tearing into it all day Friday while it sat on the counter! Finally after dinner on Friday we couldn't wait any longer. Ellie actually couldn't even wait until we actually cut it, and Daddy let her dig in early! We have a tradition of having a pink cake on Rusty's birthday since it's his absolute favorite!

See that cake plate in the pictures above? Yeah, that was one of my favorites. Too bad as of today it's not longer around because of this...

Yep, she broke it today while up on the kitchen island. The climbing had stopped, well gotten better, there for a while, but she's right back to it. After this weekend I have begun to lose my patience and am at my wit's end. I tried moving every barstool on the other side of the room, but she proceeded to slide one all the way back over to the island and climb right up. She thinks it's cute. Me, not so much. There is a story behind the picture above too. Anna Kate and Katherine came over Friday for a little visit, and while AK and I were over in the living room AK looks up and says, "Mandy, Ellie is spraying water all over your kitchen!" I turn to look and run over to find the faucet turned on with the sprayer shooting clear across my kitchen with water going EVERYwhere. And I do mean everywhere. Of course we're all dying laughing so Ellie thinks it's hilarious. 5 towels later AK and I got it cleaned up while Ellie did this in the picture above! AK captured this pic below, and it doesn't even do the flood justice. I mean, water was EVERYwhere! What am I going to do with her?????

Back to the big birthday...Rusty woke up Sat morning on his birthday to a nice breakfast cooked by yours truly.

Ellie's thinking, "wow Mama, I usually get oatmeal or an egg...this is a real treat!"

After 5 attempts to find a babysitter for Sat night, the 3 of us ended up going to Brio at 4:30 and having a lovely birthday dinner together. It's times like those that I would so love to have some grandparents in town! I think Rusty enjoyed every sec of his day anyway! Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you to pieces!!

Props to Daddy

Daddy had his work cut out for him this past weekend. I left Saturday morning to head to Atlanta until Sunday afternoon, and Ellie stayed at home with her daddy. They went to the McWane Center on Saturday and had a great time together. Around 2:00 am Daddy awoke to Ellie screaming his name, and when he walked into her room she had thrown up all over herself in her bed. The poor baby got sick several more times between then and when I got home on Sunday so needless to say I think it was a stomach bug. Daddy handled the entire situation SO well, and by the time I got home on Sunday he had washed Ellie's sheets, our sheets, comforter, and all of her pajamas and had every bit of it back in its place! I flew home in a panic on Sunday to get home and find everyone and everything perfectly fine thanks to Daddy! He handled the situation so well and didn't complain about it one time. Thank you Daddy! We love you!

On to other news around here. Over the past 2 days I have found these little guys just about anywhere and everywhere...in the shopping cart...

she's insistent on them sleeping with her...

and having a snack with her...

she placed them perfectly beside her bowl of apples all by herself...

and in the back of her car!

To those of you not familiar with the little guys, they are the cast of Yo Gabba Gabba which is the current favorite show of Miss Ellie! I promise she really doesn't watch that much t.v...she just has her favorites, and they usually change every few months. All she watches is Nick Jr. (formerly Noggin), and right now this is the show of choice. Yes, this show that I have always thought was a little on the strange side, but there must be something magical about it because it sure gets my 21-month old's attention. Btw...these little guys were on the clearance isle at Toys R Us yesterday, and we couldn't pass them up. She is a bit OCD about making sure every single one of them is with her at all times which can be annoying!

Oh, and tonight I found her like this...

and kept asking to go for a "ride!"

Never a dull moment...

Christmas 2009

I think I started this post Saturday and am just now getting it up on Monday night. It's been a whirlwind around here.

It was a big one, and we enjoyed every single second of it! It's the first year we have stayed in Birmingham for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, and I look forward to continuing that tradition for a long time. We had a blast just being at home and waking up in our own beds to see what Santa brought!

I purposely packed our day on Christmas Eve because I was afraid if I stopped to think about the fact that the rest of my family wasn't here I'd get sad! Boy was I wrong...we had so much fun, just the 3 of us. I also made sure I stopped to think about the fact that it was our last Christmas as "just the 3 of us!" Don't get me wrong, I cannot wait to meet this precious baby boy, but I/we are cherishing every minute with Ellie these days!

We started out going to a fantastic brunch Christmas Eve morning. Ellie was absolutely without a doubt not up for pictures this entire day so they are very few and far between, and the ones we got are pitiful.

Out in the foyer after brunch...trying to escape again! A kind lady walked up and politely asked if we would like a "family picture," and I politely declined and told her we would be leaving right that second before another meltdown. I was sweating like crazy and found myself getting really frustrated, and then I decided it wasn't worth torturing her for the "perfect picture!" How silly was I being?!
After brunch I headed out for a couple of last minute errands while Daddy and Ellie stayed home and napped. We then headed to church at 4:00 for the best Christmas Eve service I have ever attended. It truly made our night so special. I only wish Ellie could have been in the sanctuary with us to see all of those candles while singing Silent Night. After church we headed over to our neighbors, the Dellaccios, for a little Christmas Eve Open House.

We thought we'd try again with the pictures....it just wasn't happening.

Then Daddy bribed her with a cookie, and we got this!

and this...

This sums up her mood that day!

She got over the crankiness real quick at the party and found a buddy. This is her friend Douglas' cousin, Charlie. We ended up not leaving until well after 8:00 because she was so entertained by him! It was hysterical.

Once we got home we had bathtime, and Daddy and Ellie read "Twas the Night before Christmas" together.

The next morning...Santa came!!!

and filled her stocking!!

Santa knew that this little girl loves some Dora...the bubblebath and Dora and Boots help make bathtime that much more enjoyable! And those boots...they were the very first thing she ran up to and had to put the on that very second!

Another favorite...

Finishing off Santa's cookies and candy...

Opening our presents from Daddy together...

After opening presents, having breakfast together, and loading the car (for at least an hour), we headed down to Goodway to see Rusty's grandmother, Maw Maw. Maw surprised Ellie with a new kitchen!

Cookin' it up!

We spent Christmas day night with Maw and then headed to Atmore Saturday morning to see Lollie, Poppy, She She and Thomas. Ellie walked in to see her new table and chairs from Lollie and Poppy. She chooses the pink chair every time!

After a delicious lunch that Lollie prepared we headed over to my grandmother's house. Ellie usually spends the better part of the time that we're there doing this...

In and out of Sally's doggy door!

Momese surprised Ellie with an Auburn tricycle!! She loves it!

She absolutely loves Sally, Momese's dog, and always has. Poor Sally gets tortured every time we're there!

Ellie and Momese...the two Eloise's...

Putting on her lipstick that was in her purse she got.

Always the entertainer

Sunday morning we woke up and headed over to Meme's house for some more Christmas! Ellie's cousin Mallory was there too!

Meme surprised Ellie with her new slide, and she loved it!!

Then, on Monday morning, we headed to meet Paw Paw Roger for even more Christmas! We had a nice lunch and got to open even more presents!

The plan was to stay in Atmore until New Years Eve and head back, but Daddy talked us into staying a little longer so he could get some hunting in. So, we ended up staying an entire week and enjoyed it tremendously. I didn't want the week to end. We spent New Years Day over at my parent's friends house where Ellie got to play with Mary Ruth. This is Mary Ruth's car, but Ellie got a car like this from Paw Paw and couldn't really understand that it wasn't hers!

Mary Ruth, Ellie, and Jackson having their black-eyed peas, ham, and turnip greens!

I didn't want the week to end, but we're back home now and settled back into our routine. It's nice to be home, but I sure did enjoy having so much help last week! I told Lollie that she's just going to have to move in for the summer after this baby boy arrives! By the way, this baby boy is still nameless. Working on it....