It must be fall ;)

It's that time again! PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE!!!!! Why can't Starbucks just have this awesomeness all the time??? Jana & I heard that PSL was fast approaching, so we called to find out when! Some said September 4 but one said August 28. We held out hope! It was closer than we thought. On a hunch, we called on the 27th to double check. Fail! All of the North Texas locations decided to forego a soft launch & make us all suffer until the 4th. Boo! However there was hope! The nice Starbucks lady told me that a licensed dealer was selling them already! So this morning became the 5th Annual PSL BFF date! We all headed to our Tom Thumb Starbucks to partake in the awesomeness that is the PSL!

Recap - Jana & I had two solo years, then Ellie joined, then Ellie again (jj was about 9 mos pregnant), & this year it's the four of us! Me, Ellie, Jana & Kaylin. What special times as friends & moms! We truly count down the days until PSL but more importantly, I am so blessed to have a soul sister, a BFF to share life with...even if it is a $4 coffee!

Ellie's friend, baby Kaylin has arrived!!!!

On October 15, sweet 7 pound 9 ounce, Kaylin was born! Ellie has been talking a lot about this arrival and is enjoying her visits with a baby!
Her first visit to see Kaylin was precious to say the least! She kept saying "she come out" and wanted to inspect every inch of her! Her toes, her fingers, her outfit, her hair. It really was a sight to see! We're still working on making sure she touches her nicely and doesnt scare her...I think she'll catch on soon!


3 weeks later and Ellie is still talking about how baby Kaylin was in JJ's belly but now she came out. Boy, the thing she remembers! I was blessed to be there during the delivery and one day, will share that story with Ellie!

Ellie's 2nd Birthday Party!!!!

Welcome to Ellie's Under the Sea Adventure!!! Complete with photo booth, miniature jello oceans, blue sea punch, Nemo playing in the background, & lots of kiddos & love! I spent a lot of time planning this party......I love idea stealing from other blogs & etsy ;) Hits this year were - clothes (lots of them!), OLIVIA toys, craft stuff, and dress up items! I intended on putting some of them away to pull out on a rainy day (ha! whats rain)...but I forgot & Ellie is enjoying all of her toys!

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

A week of firsts.......

Ellie has been doing a lot of fun things lately.....

We ventured out to the dog park today. Tipps Canine Park in NRH. Us and the Schaeffers packed up the dogs for some playtime. The doggies had fun and Ellie enjoyed seeing all the furry friends.....unless one of them just appeared in her line of sight and then she cried. :) There were about 10 other schnauzers there and 2 other maltese.......so Raider, Bailey, Macy and Molly all had look-alike playmates. Everyone left worn out!

We went to the Watauga Public Library with Angie, Brenley and Brooklyn. The girls had fun playing in the little house, looking through books and running around acting very un-library like ;)

On Friday night, Ellie spent the night at JJ's house. This was the first time Jon and I have been away from Ellie at night. Jon dropped her off at 6 and when I came home from work, Jon and I headed out for an evening alone. We had reservations at Silver Fox, a yummy steak place near TCU. The place was PACKED! Our late reservations were for 9pm but we didnt get a table until 10. Good thing Ellie was staying somewhere else for the night. Jana said that Ellie did great! They played, ate pizza, and all that kind of fun girl stuff. I picked her up Sunday morning, after a sound nights sleep. I'm so glad that she was close enough for me to not have a mommy freak out moment! Thanks JJ!!!!!!!!

SNOW!!!!! WEEK!!!!!!

This past week has been the craziest weather that I have seen in a long time! Less than 20 degree temps, ice and snow have consumed our week! Jon has pretty much stayed home from work and I braved the black ice to drive to and from work on Wednesday and Thursday. It took me one hour to go 13 miles!!!! Ellie has enjoyed staying home with daddy...except on Thursday when she went to Miss Angie's so daddy could work from home. We've played in the snow a bit. The first day of snow, Ellie was fine to walk around outside for a bit...not too excited about it, but okay to be out there. Then today she didnt really want anything to do with it! She just wanted to be held. Maybe it was the falling snow...who knows....but Jon and I had fun looking at it. Aunt JJ came down to play but Ellie wasnt much for playing outside...so they moved their fun back inside.

Here's a few pics from our snow week....

And a pic from last February............

Ellie's a Water Baby

You know how it is like, oh, 90 something degrees in Texas right now?!?!? Well since its getting hot, it's high time Ellie learned how to spend some of these hot summer days in the pool. Jon and I bought Ellie a little backyard pool one day and about a week ago we put her in it. She has been taking a "big girl bath" so "swimming" in a pool was no different. Well, except for the pool water is cooler. Anyways, she loved it. I put some bath toys in there and she sat there, splashed, crawled around the pool, all of that fun stuff. I am sure she is going to grow up loving the pool.

Today, I took her the the real pool. She loved it! Even though the water was a tad cold. It was mid 80's out today; I guess because it was overcast. We went anyway. We went to Wendy's neighborhood pool, threw the floaties in the water and put the girls in 'em. Both Ellie and Hayden seemed to enjoy the water. Both splashed and laughed. We though that we'd keep them in the kiddie pool, but for whatever reason the kiddie pool water seemed colder than the regular pool water. They stayed in for a little while and then got out to have snacks. Baby Mum-Mums of course. It was high past nap time, so we left. But since both the girls did great, we'll be going back soon. Ellie was so wiped out from the fun that she went to bed at 6:30 pm and is still asleep (it's 11:00 as I type this)

It is so much fun to watch her grow up and get to do all of these things. I am so blessed to be able to show her the world. Speaking of growing up.....Ellie now crawls (very well, I might add), pulls up on things into a standing postion (funny to watch), and is eating a TON of food. She still mostly eats purees but the amount she is taking in is crazy. She also gets snacks now - Baby Mum Mum's (melt in your mouth cracker things), baby puffs, and cooked baby carrots. She's an eater for sure! :)

Friends

Today I am reminded how special friends are. Sure your hubby (or spouse) is supposed to be your best friend, the one you tell everything to.....but besides him, I am so thankful for friends. I know that God has placed each and every one you in my life for a reason. I am blessed with a few close friends who I can cry with, pray with, laugh with, be silly with, and hang out with. Each one of these friendships has enriched my life so much and I want you all to know that I love you and cherish our time together. With this said, I pray that Ellie will come to be close with a few girls and they will enrich her life just the same.

Yuck, yearly check up

Why, oh why do we women have to be put thru this??? **Warning** quit reading now if you don't want to know more details about my doctor's visit. Everything went fine but as I was driving up to the hospital/doctor's offices all of these emotions came rushing back to me about Ellie's delivery day. I began to be frustrated that I was in the maternal obs area for 30 minutes before being checked; thus leading to the mass chaos of having to get me into an L&D room ASAP. I started to feel a little bitter about not having any time to process what was going on. I mean, seriously, when they handed me my child I was like what the crap just happened?!?! There isn't anything that could have been done to change that or slow my labor, but I was kinda disappointed that I really don't remember much about that morning. I mean, I do remember things, but in the moment, there was no time to process anything. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for Ellie's quick, safe arrival but seriously.....can a girl get a break? Please don't read this and then comment and tell me that I should be grateful that I didn't have labor that lasted 24 hours or something like that. I get it. I am lucky. I am not 'unhappy' about my birth story, I am just still floored when I think about how it all went down. It is almost unbelievable to me...still....after 4 months. So with all that said, it was nice to see Dr Tatum and not be pregnant. It was refreshing to know that I am past all of that and my sweet angel is here. Well, anyway, I was going to tell a funny story about something that Dr Tatum said to me about ahem (clears throat) but now that I am writing this, I think it might not be appropriate since I am not sure who all reads my blog. If you know Dr Tatum and can just imagine the smart ass things he might have said to me and want to know what it is....email me. Haha.

Also something that I do almost yearly.....have my eyebrows waxed! Well, not exaclty once a year, but seriously close enough. When I had this done on Sunday afternoon, the lady was like, "now your husband recognize you." Um excuse me, they weren't THAT bad and come on, I have a 4 month old at home, give me a break. Hehe. Before the eyes, Jana and I got pedicures. Yum! We usually go for the Lavender pedi, but we ventured out this time and went with the Vanilla Latte pedi. You might remember me posting a pic of the Lavender one on my Facebook. That was my last pedicure before Ellie and our last bff day sans child. If you live in this area and love pedi's you MUST go to this place. It is great! The bulding is awful but the service is well worth it.