Baby Wearing and Book Reading

I will be doing a post soon about our {eventful} Easter. It does involve Ellington being sick which is the reason for our most recent baby wearing experience. I haven't "worn" Ellington in a long time. Yesterday she wasn't feeling well and wanted to be held. I had a couple of things I really needed to get done so on my back she went! Unfortunately she was only happy with it for a few minutes, but it worked for a bit!

I got a package in the mail yesterday! Hooray!!! I pretty much never get packages so I was super excited. I got these books almost completely for FREE (and if I had only gotten two they would have been free) using my swagbucks. Swagbucks is a search enginge that you earn "bucks" through. These bucks can then be used for things like Target gifts cards, Starbucks gift cards, and in my case....amazon gift cards! In the 3 or so years I have been using swagbucks I have probably gotten a couple of hundred dollars worth of FREE stuff! Click on the link below my picture to try it out. It's FANTASTIC!

I Think It's Safe to Say....

...that I will NOT be opening a bakery any time soon!!!

Epic cake fail.

Taking Pictures of a Toddler

I haven't taken very many pictures lately.  Usually Ellington is always on the GO and so I always end up with a blurry mess or a picture of her back.  On the rare occasion that she will sit for a picture I usually end up with a face like this...

or this....

She does some sort of strange "I don't really know what 'smile' means so I'll just try something" paired with "I know that camera is going to flash any second so I will go ahead and squint."  Anyway, good pictures are hard to come by these days!

After I dressed Ellington on Sunday morning she went over to the little table beside the chair in her room and picked up her Bible.  It was so precious.  It was like she totally knew we were going to church and therefor should take her Bible.  So sweet.

We hope that you have a very happy Easter! 

Jump Jump Jumpin'

This afternoon we went over to Ellington's friends Katelynn and Reese's house.  They have lots of fun outside activities including their new trampoline!  Ellington really loved it, but she was also a little timid on it. 

Today was Ellington's first time to play in sand and she LOVED it!  Although she wanted to pour all of her sand out into the grass.  I had the hardest time trying to get her to stop doing that! 

When it was time to leave I had to practically drag Ellington to the car.  She had a blast and didn't want to go home!

Baby's Got Talent

When we picked Ellington up at church on Sunday she had her first sweet little church artwork.  I was so proud I could have cried!  The first thing I said to Robert was, "Don't throw that away!".  It is prominently displayed on our refrigerator.  What a talented little girl.  Mama is proud. :)

Foot Loose

I have been foot loose and fancy free the past day and a half.  My parents took Ellington with them back to Philadelphia Sunday afternoon.  It was kind of a last minute thing (which is sort of a long story that had to do with the possible government shutdown, crazy but true).  So, it wasn't anything I had been looking forward to nor was it for any particular reason (like I had something to do or was going somewhere).  And let me just tell you, I have thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Don't get me wrong, I CAN'T WAIT to see Ellington tomorrow afternoon, but it has been a nice break.  So here's a rundown, in no particular order, of what I've been up to:

Bubble bath (first since I was a kid...heavenly)

Reading

Dining uninterrupted (2 date nights!!!)

Vacuuming

Sleeping all night (E wakes me up through the baby monitor all.night.long.)

Meal Planning 

Dining outdoors at McCalisters after work enjoying a sweet tea & cookie...blissfully alone

Driving with my handsome man

Washing and putting away all clothes and towels

Dreaming (& planning) about a home business

Sleeping a tiny bit later

Money meeting with the man of the house

Blogging

I feel like for the first time while having a little break from Ellington I was really able to balance getting things done with relaxing.  It was the perfect mixture this time and just what I needed (although I didn't realize that I needed it so much).  The best part about it though is that I know Ellington is well taken care of and perfectly happy!  But tomorrow I know we'll both be glad to see each other. :)

SBW

This past weekend was Super Bulldog Weekend (also known as one of the BEST weekends in Starkville....and this year also known as the weekend that I did a really bad job of taking pictures).  On Friday afternoon Robert's best buddy from college and his son came over to our house to play for a bit.  You can see below that I did a TERRIBLE job of trying to get a picture of Ellington and Reynolds.

We ate supper with Reed and Reynolds and then took the kiddos to campus to run around.  They had the BEST time.  I left my camera in the car so I didn't get any pictures. :(  Friday night was a blast.  Robert, Reed, and I use to hang out before we were all married and had babies so it was fun to be back together under much different circumstances!

On Saturday afternoon we went to campus for the Fan Fair and the football scrimmage. 

Robert and I enjoyed our free MSU ice cream.  Ellington is on an ice cream strike and wouldn't even consider taking a bite!  Silly girl.

We attempted a picture with the Bully statue but it didn't quite work out....

She wanted to be walking.....

The football scrimmage was really hot and not so much fun at all.  Ellington is in the stage where she just wants to be walking.  If she were a little younger she would have sat in our laps better....and if she were a little older she probably would have been entertained sitting in her seat and watching all of the action, but as it was....she was very restless.  I have NO IDEA how people take little kids to real football games.  That is definitely not for me!

My parents spent the night with us Saturday and I got my mom to snap this family picture before church on Sunday.  Not the best, but I like to get pictures of the three of us when I get a chance!

The Easter Bunny and Baby Dolls

On Saturday morning Starkville was having Spring Open House and so we went to see the Easter Bunny! Ellington enjoyed checking out his basket. (He was on a water break when we first got there.)

What??!! You want ME to sit in HIS lap??!!

So yeah, she was definitely not going to sit in his lap so I got to be in the picture too!

When we got home Ellington had the best time playing with her baby dolls, so I got some sweet pictures of that.

Little mama.  

It's so fantastic how God puts that caring/nurturing spirit in little girls from the very start.

Ellington uses this remote as a telephone.  She usually uses it to call MiMi.

Wordless Wednesday

Half Birthday

This past weekend we went to Philadelphia to do a yard sale at my grandfather's mini-storage.  We were selling some of our stuff, some of my parent's stuff, and a whole bunch of stuff that gets left at the mini-storage.  The sale was a HUGE success!!!  We did the yard sale on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.

Ellington & Pappaw in his office

Another reason for being in Philadelphia this weekend was that my mom had arranged for Ellington and Emerson to have their pictures taken together.  This was the first time that we have all been in Philadelphia together since Emerson has been born.  It was so fun!  At one point I said to Reagan, "I can't believe there are two babies in this house!".

On Saturday night we all had supper together.  My dad called this table the "Metro Jackson Table" since they all live in the Jackson area. 

Last year we celebrated Ellington's half birthday.  You can find the blog post here.  I decided it would be a fun tradition to celebrate Ellington's half birthday every year on April 2nd!  I must confess that I got teary eyed while I was lighting her candles! :)  It's SO CRAZY to me that she's halfway to being two years old.  How is that possible??!!

The whole family. :)