Ellie update...

What might our sweet angel be up to these days???

-She is 19 months old (almost 20)

-She talks up a storm!!!! Mostly words we understand but still jibberish at times.

-She says please and thank you

-Another two word sentence she says is "dogs bark"

-She loves to help! She has such a helping spirit! I love it.

-She is obsessed with shoes, shoes, shoes!

-She has to sit in time out frequently

-She is learning/trying to play me. When I tell her to sit, she asks for hugs ;)

-She loves horses, but has never seen one in real life

-She thinks she needs to feed her fish at least 5x/day

-She still sleeps with her blankies

-She tries to sing along to twinkle twinkle little star

-She can repeat almost any word I ask her too (eek)

She is the love of our lives and we are so blessed!

Easter 2011

For Easter this year, Ellie had a week long celebration it seems like. We headed to Houston/The Woodlands to see my parents the weekend before Easter. Ellie had her first Easter egg hunt there. At home, on Easter weekend, Jon's parents stayed at our house and Ellie opened two more Easter baskets!!!! Wow! We went to church on Saturday night and hung out with family on Sunday.

My sweet girl in her Easter dress!!!

Thank you Jesus for paying the price so we can celebrate freely! You rock!

Well, hello there Blogger!

My, my, my! Where have I been??? Well, well, well! I have been cleaning the house, playing with Ellie, boiling chicken for raider, hanging out with Jon, taking care of the babies at work, having quiet time with God, catching up on DVR & probably much more.

But now, here I am, updating my blog! Hang out for about 5 fun filled posts!!!!

Check out our sweet Ellie belly hanging out in the bluebonnets!!! She was unsure of what to do, sitting on a steep hill, surrounded by flowers. I got a few shots and this was my favorite!

PINK Impact

Wow, oh, wow, oh, wow! This years PINK Impact at Gateway church was nothing short of amazing! Gateway, the church I call home, has a womens conference every year. I have been two other times but this time my heart was so open to hear and change. I was so blessed by the speakers....and am forever changed! Every time I've gone to PINK, its been with my bff and this year was no different...we had such a good time!

PINK friends, PINK after party, PINK scarfs!!!!!!! Praise God for a wonderful time, wonderful fellowship, wonderful worship, and wonderful change!

Next year --- PINK Impact 2012 featuring Beth Moore! www.pinkimpact.com

Frog Alley

After visiting Lubbock for their fan day, the next weekend we completed the college rounds with a visit to TCU's game day. Frog Alley is all about KIDS! Bounce house, bounce house, bounce house! Wow. Ellie is all over that. She doesnt yet understand having to take turns, so when the lady would blow her whistle to let us know it was time to get out and let the next group of kids jump...she was upset!

They also have face painting but shes not old enough for that, I dont think. However she would stay still long enough to have TCU painted on her arm. She was so proud!!!

This time, Ellie & I didnt stay at the game too long...nap time was calling! All in all, we enjoyed. We got some game worn jerseys, jumped a little, and watched a few plays!

Texas Tech, here we come!

Every year, we make a trip to Lubbock, TX for the football spring game & autograph signing event. This is Ellie's second year to go & she definitely enjoyed it more this time! Our seats were right behind the horse & masked rider......& Ellie came unglued! "orse, orse, orse!!!!!" she screamed! When the masked rider left to wave at the other fans, we thought we would have to change seats to keep her contained! She loves orses ;)

Sitting in the stands during the game, we had a clear view of the cheerleader! Oh my, the dancing that came out of Ellie was hysterical! She loves watching them dance & then she danced along! Jon got all but one autographs he came for & Ellie ran around on the field. She especially liked wallering around on the 40 yd line :)

Prairie Dog Town is one of the 'highlights' of a trip to Lubbock! Seriously! Back when I was going to school there, the PD's were plentiful....today, not so much, but there were still a few to enjoy! Ellie wasnt so sure about these animals. They bark but dont look like dogs. I enjoyed visiting PD town & enjoyed passing on one of my Lubbock, TX traditional visits to Ellie!

Visit from Mimi & Pops

In March, my parents visited us in Keller! My dad had an education class in Dallas on Saturday, so Ellie, me & my mom shopped a little ;) Ellie came home with shoes!!!!!!!!!! And a purse!!!!

I love this picture below, such a sweet moment!

Ellie loves stickers. And by love, I mean LOVE!!!!!! "ticker" is what she calls them and if you ever give her a sheet of stickers, you are her new best friend. I guess she decided that this would be a funny was to play with stickers this night!

My dad wanted to see Ellie eat pizza, since we always rave about how funny it is to watch her carry around a piece and eat like such a big girl. After pizza, we took Ellie to Bear Creek Park. She loves playgrounds, swinging, & running around. I love these family pics! Such a great day! I miss them so much & would love to live closer!

Raider

Raider, our first baby was diagnosed with chronic renal failure about 1 1/2 months ago. He just wasnt acting the same and we took him to the vet for a check up. He had lost some weight and wasnt eating very well. His kidney numbers came back very elevated, so much so that the vet said she was surprised he was alive. His BUN was 110 & Cr 9.5. After 2 full days of doggie IV fluids, his numbers dropped to 80/6.5 (still very elevated). But the vet is hopeful that his life can be extended with special kidney meds and food.

He now looks much better than these pics. We have been making him chicken tenders and lean beef. On days he wont eat that, we let him have a can of dog food. Its most important that he eats, even if it cant be chicken & beef all the time! He's had some trouble with vomitting and we had him on pepto every day. We now switched to pepcid to help, since he starting vomitting again :( Just when I thought his time was up, we got some good news. We have this urine specific gravity tester (loaned to us by a wonderful friend, Stan) His ability to concentrate urine is actually getting better. I was a little confused about what #'s he was supposed to have and called the vet one day when I thought his #'s were out of range. To my surprise, his # was actually improving! Thank God. Jon had just told me that he had been praying for Raider....so definitely a prayer answered.

Thank you all for your support during this time! Especially to Stan, who has been through doggie renal failure before with his own fur baby. Jon and I can always count on our friends and we are so thankful!

Fort Worth Children's Museum

I am always looking for fun & exciting things to do with Ellie.....especially outside of the house! My nurse & mommy friend, Jaime invited us to the Children's Museum recently! Ellie had so much fun!

She played dress up Doctor, but come on guys, we all know that being a nurse is WAY more fun ;) She dressed up, picked out a baby from the nursery & weighed the baby. So sweet!

Stella & Ellie really enjoyed playing with the bubble wall!

Grocery shopping was Ellie favorite thing, I think. She was a little confused about what to do, but had fun picking out fruits & veggies...& then pushing around the buggy!

Thanks Jaime & Stella for inviting us out! We had a great time!