The Hunt for the Perfect Tree

Saturday was the day to get our Christmas tree!  We carried through with our usual tradition and made a breakfast stop by Shipley's Donuts.

And don't let the Santa cup fool you....it leaks like crazy and is terribly annoying.  It's Ellington's favorite cup, of course. :)

Ellington always likes to rock for a spell at the co-op.

Following Daddy to find the perfect tree....

As it turns out, Ellington didn't so much enjoy the picking out of the Christmas tree.  Oh well. :)  

Here's our tree!  E thought it was so funny that it was on top of the vehicle!

Robert started putting the lights on the tree Saturday afternoon.

And after a light situation (isn't there always one?!), we commenced decorating on Sunday...

Ellington LOVED decorating the tree!

We also brought out the nativity that we bought after Christmas last year (for half off!).  Ellington loved it!

I had always wanted to start the tradition of opening a new pair of Christmas pjs on Christmas Eve, but I am much too practical for that.  I wanted E to be able to wear them all month long!  So, we decided opening them as an after Thanksgiving day tradition would work just as well.

Cute new Christmas jammies!

We are so excited that the Christmas season is here!

Somebody Had a Birthday!

Yesterday was Robert's birthday!  I am, admittedly, not the best at making birthdays special.  It is something I actually really have to work at.  Now that I am a wife and Mama I try really hard to make it a special day.  This past couple of years Robert and I haven't gotten each other birthday gifts, but I really wanted to get him a little something this year. I hope Robert enjoyed his birthday!  I know one little girl who was plenty excited for him! :)

Running to Daddy before church to give him his present!

Ellington was so excited that it was her Daddy's birthday!

She wore her MSU dress to church on Sunday since we beat Ole Miss in the 3rd straight Egg Bowl.  I think the win was a pretty good gift for Robert too! :)

Thanksgiving 2011

The Sunday before Thanksgiving we always go to my parent's church for the big Thanksgiving potluck.  I think Robert looks forward to it all year long. :)  So, we headed to Philadelphia on Sunday morning.  Everyone else also came on Sunday because we had family pictures made on Sunday afternoon with the whole family.  We got the proofs back quickly and they turned out great, despite Ellington's complete lack of cooperation!  Robert had to head back to Starkville for work, but Ellington and I stayed in Philadelphia for Sunday and Monday nights.  I did a TERRIBLE job of taking pictures while we were there.  I only have the pictures below...Bryant reading to Ellington on Sunday and Ellington playing in the leaves on Monday.  Oh well! 

On Wednesday we headed to Brownsville, TN to spend Thanksgiving with the Connerley family!

Thursday morning we watched the parade in our pjs! Sooooo fun!

The parade was a little long for Ellington's taste.  Mimi helped entertain her!

This is Ellington waving to Santa. :)

Ellington LOVED this toy that the Connerley kids played with when they were little!

Our Thanksgiving 2011 family picture

Our Thanksgiving supper spread.....

YUM!!!

Ellington was in heaven when Connor got there on Thursday night.  She LOVES playing with him and following him around!  

Sweet Brody

On Friday we went to the park.  Brownsville has a new, fantastic park!

Sweet cousins

We had a great Thanksgiving and are trying to get settled back into a routine after being gone most of last week.  And now we're gearing up for Christmas!!! :) 

Her First Haircut

On Friday afternoon we got Ellington's hair cut for the first time!  She has been needing it for awhile, but I just wasn't ready to do it!  :)  We only got the ends trimmed and got everything evened out.  Misty has been cutting my hair since I was a freshman...so about 8 years!  Of course I wanted Misty to cut Ellington's too!  I thought E would cry, but she didn't at all!  She did great!  Robert was sweet to go with us too.  He wanted to be there for the big event and he was able to take pictures and then hang out with Ellington while I got my hair cut!

Here Comes Thanksgiving!

Can ya'll believe that Thanksgiving is LESS THAN A WEEK away??!!  In case you couldn't tell, I sure can't believe it!  It's so annoying when you are young and people talk about how fast time goes.  Well, I have arrived because time is flyyyyyyyiiiinnnnggg by.  Seriously flying.  We don't have school at all next week and since I only work M-W, I am on my second day of Thanksgiving break.  We've got plans that will keep us busy busy and E and I are looking forward to spending some time with Robert on Thanksgiving and the weekend to follow.  He's been working hard for us....12 hour shifts, 6 days a week.  We are missing him!  The hardest part about it for me is that he leaves for work at 5:30 pm so we don't get anytime for just the two of us after Ellington goes to bed.  But, we are thankful for his work and that it provides the needs for our family.  But we are looking forward to being TOGETHER soon! :)

 Um, how cute is she??!! I asked her to smile for me and this is her pose....

Ellington had her Thanksgiving party at school this morning.  Since she goes to Parents Morning Out there is pretty much a different group of kids every day.  The kids come anywhere from 1-5 mornings a week.  So, they just pick one day for the party and everyone can come (even if it's not your day to be there).  Since I don't work on Fridays I signed up to be the parent volunteer and help out.  It was fun being there, but it made me very thankful that I don't work with the little bitties anymore. :)

I couldn't get a good picture of E with her turkey hat.  I think there was too much going on!

We are looking forward to the next week and are counting our many blessings!

Life Lately

We've been busy around here just living life.  I thought I would stop in a post a few recent pictures of Ellington. 

Morning picnic in pjs, a necklace, and a tutu!

Reagan came to town this past weekend for Bulldog Bash, the basketball game, and the football game.  We were happy to be able to spend some time with her between all of her activities! :)

Ellington loves taking care of her dolls.

My parents also came to town on Saturday for basketball and football.  Grams brought us some treats from Africa!  Ellington LOVES her xylophone and her giraffe.  And you can also see in the picture below, an awesome nativity that I got!  Oh yeah...the necklace E is wearing too!

A little light reading...

On Sunday we started decorating for Christmas!  We haven't done our tree yet (since we get a real tree), but everything else is done.  We don't have a big house so we don't have a ton of decorations, but it was FUN getting it all out.  Ellington loved helping us out this year!