This Big Sister is going to have a . . .

Little Brother!

We found out yesterday that we're having a little boy . . . the perfect addition to our family. We are so excited! I know Ellie is going to be a wonderful big sister to her sweet baby brother!

As soon as I have a chance, I will post some pics of our little sweetie!

Kid Fest/Ellie's Early Birthday Present

The weather this past weekend was beautiful! On Saturday, Ellie and I met up with Jess, Jett, Tammy, Jade, and Jazz at the fairgrounds for Kid Fest. I wasn't sure if it would be something Ellie would be interested in, but it turned out to be really fun! She got to do a lot of fun things and spend time with her cousins, so she was in heaven! I also won a cool little train set as a door prize, so we had something new to play with when we got home. Here are some of the other things we did:

We met Rumble, 2 of the Thunder girls,


got Ellie's face painted,

played with cousin Jett,

and cousin Jasmine,

pet a bunny,

a baby goat,

and a turtle,

and jump in the bounce house with Jasmine, Jett, and Jasmine's friend!

That night, Nana came over to babysit while we went to a friend's birthday party. Ellie had a very fun day!





Although her birthday is still about 6 weeks away, I was looking through a Toys R Us ad and saw that the playhouse I wanted to get her was on sale this week. So we went and picked it up on Sunday and thought we might as well let her get some good use out of it while the weather is perfect. She loves it! It is the first thing she wanted to do this morning when she got up and the first thing she talked about when we got home from the Y. We ate our lunch out there today, although I have a tough time getting in. I probably won't be able to fit at all here in a month or two!!

Ellie and Daddy putting it together

Washing something in the sink

Her mischievious look . . . she was starting to stand up in the chair!

Ellie and Daddy

She was looking around and saying, "Hi, Mom!"

She loves to open and close the windows

We didn't have any batteries for the doorbell or phone so she reminded me this afternoon while we ate lunch. She said, "We need some batteries for my phone, don't we?" We now have batteries for dad to install when he gets home. :)

Happy (early) Birthday, Ellie!

Eating lunch today

St. Patty's Day/Birthday Celebration

We spent St. Patrick's Day celebrating Gage's birthday! I can't believe he's already a year old! It was a St. Patty's Day theme and everyone was wearing green . . . so cute! I made his smash cake and Ellie and I (and everyone else) thoroughly enjoyed watching him eat it. He was covered in green icing!

Ellie had so much fun. She'd been talking about his party all week. Anytime she'd hear the word birthday, she'd shout, "Happy Birthday, Gage!" She's also been talking about it since. She really loves Hayley (Gage's mom). The whole time we were at the party, she'd start asking for Hayley as soon as she went in another room. Today she said, "Gage ate his cake and made a mess. I love Hayley. I love cupcakes. Where's Jordan?" Not sure how all that came together . . . but I love how she remembers and knows that Hayley, Jordan, and Gage go together. So sweet!

Gage's smash cake Ellie, Dad, and the birthday boy!

She was very serious when we first got there. Takes her a while to warm up.

She looked so precious!

Happy 1st Birthday, Gage!

He enjoyed his cake!!

Sadie, Ellie, Colton, Haven, Gage, Brynn, and Kinley

My best girls surprised me with a cookie cake and gifts! We didn't get together for my birthday this year, so they planned this surpise. Love you Hayley and Sherri!

Another birthday!

Thursday was my 31st birthday. Not a big one, but it was a great one! I have to admit, I celebrated for 3 days! It helped keep my mind off the fact that I'm another year older . . . ha, ha, . . . Actually, I don't mind too much, but it was fun to do some shopping. On Wednesday night, I got some new tennis shoes and maternity clothes from my mom and Kyle's mom.

On Thursday morning, I woke up planning on going to my Thursday morning bootcamp class and then to the library with Ellie like we do every Thursday, but my sweet husband had different plans for me! He had an appointment made for a manicure/pedicure, and gift cards to Old Navy, Marshalls, and Gigi's Cupcakes! He came home early from work to watch Ellie and I got the entire day to get my nails done, shop, and eat cupcakes! It was such a fun surprise and he earned some major points! After all that, we had dinner at Ted's with my mom and nini (YUM!) and I would've been asleep by 9:00, but Ellie had a sudden burst of energy and stayed up until 11:00!

On Friday, we went to Dave and Buster's with Kyle's family. We had dinner and played games until Ellie and I were exhausted! After all our tickets had been counted (1,293 of them), we ended up with a Dallas Cowboys bear, a soccer ball, a kazoo, and a pack of Sweettarts. Ellie got 2 Sweettarts and then cried the entire way home for "just one more piece!"

It was a wonderful birthday and thank you to everyone for my awesome gifts! I am a very lucky girl to have such a thoughtful family!

Family pic Waiting to eat at Ted's
I begged Kyle NOT to tell them it was my birthday . . . obviously, he didn't listen! Ellie thought it was very funny!

Playing games at Dave and Buster's

Big Girl Room!

Ellie has officially moved up to her big girl bed! We bought her furniture used and it was hideous! It was pink, all scratched up, covered in crayon and marker, and missing knobs. But it was nice and heavy and made of solid wood, so we bought it. My husband is very handy and I knew he could make it look new . . . and he did! Ellie loves it and says, "Big girl room" when she goes in there. She slept in her bed last night and did great! I set my alarm for every 2 hours to go and check on her because she is a wild sleeper. Once, she had turned sideways and had her feet on the wall. If I didn't think I'd wake her, I'd have taken her picture.

She is really liking to get up there and read books. She read some books to her doll, Lily, this afternoon. And, of course, she like to jump on it!

Now we've moved her furniture into the extra bedroom which will be a nursery as soon as we know what Baby #2 is going to be . . . find that out 3 weeks from today and we can't wait to know!

Dad and Ellie resting after getting everything moved in and set up She was saying "Hooray!"
Her new bed and night stand

New curtains and chest of drawers

New dresser and mirror (please ignore all the sticky handprints on the mirror. We just put it in there . . . how has she done that much damage?????)

Ellie and Lily reading "Goodnight Moon"

This is very bittersweet for me . . . it was fun to get to redecorate and add some fun colors to her room, and I'm anxious to get started on the nursery, but it just seems too soon. I feel like we just brought her home! I felt like she would be in that crib forever! I know this won't be the first time I feel like this, but it's still hard. My girl's growing up!

Feeling better!

Ellie is finally feeling much better and I'm so glad . . . for her, of course, and because we don't have to do the inhaler anymore. She did great with it and actually seemed to like it, but it made her CRAZY! I can't even describe how different she acted the 4-5 days she was on it. She was bouncing of the walls hyper, easily irritated and frustrated, and difficult. I did some research and it seems that this type of inhaler does that to children, only I wasn't warned! I didn't know what had happened to my sweet, mild mannered, go with the flow little girl! Needless to say, I'm glad she's back!

Helping Daddy with her inhaler

She felt like such a big girl doing this ;)

Another pretty day . . . she looks so carefree!

This is the life . . .

Helping Dad plant shrubs