MiMi's Birthday

This past weekend we celebrated MiMi's 60th birthday! Hopefully she won't mind me announcing her age, but all of the things we did revolved around "60" so there wasn't much way around it. ;)  We all met at Laura's parent's lake house at Pickwick on Friday.  We had a great time!  Here is a little peek into the weekend....

Ellington, Connor, and Brody had the BEST time playing with the balloons.  We blew up 60 balloons and inside the balloons were words that described MiMi.  She got to pop and read them throughout our time there.

I couldn't find E and Connor at one point.  They were on the stairs snacking away. :)

Ellington had a great time dancing with her new puppy that Big Bob and MiMi gave her!

Connor and Brody's artwork

Ellington's artwork

We also gave MiMi a book of 60 things we love and appreciate about her.

Fun times before bed with Uncle Daniel

Saturday we gave 30 sweets and 30 treats (get it??...it equals 60). 

Check out the amazing icecream cake that Julie made!

We had a wonderful time with everyone celebrating such an important birthday! 

Bits and Pieces of our Week

We have been pretty busy this week, but nothing particularly blog worthy.  I thought I would post a few pictures from our week though!

On Monday we made Amish Friendship Bread (yum!).  Ellington LOVES helping in the kitchen.  She especially enjoyed wearing her chef hat while she cooked!

Ready for errand running on Tuesday...

On Wednesday we pulled out her tent and tunnel that she hasn't played in in FOREVER.  She was delighted by it!!!

We made a GREAT find at Wal-Mart today!  In the clearance toy section there was one Disney Princess trunk with three dress up dresses, a crown, two pairs of slippers, and some rings.  We snatched it up!  Ellington loves princesses and dressing up, but the dress up clothes are usually a little pricey.  We got a great deal today!

Ellington loves throwing parties!  She is constantly throwing someone a birthday party.  Tonight she put her Cinderella dress on and threw a birthday party for me.  I turned one just in case you needed to know. :)

Ellington has had a renewed interest in reading lately.  Tonight I got to read to Snow White!

So, there you have it....a little peek into our week.  We have a fun birthday celebration for MiMi this weekend!  Blog post to follow I'm sure!

We're Still Around

This might be the most boring post I have ever done, but I still wanted to check in! Last week was a DOOZIE. It was going to be slightly crazy anyway because Robert was working 12 hour shifts, but then all kinds of things started happening that were unexpected. By last night we were all WORN out and we just get to start over again today. Robert will be doing 12 hour shifts again this week and I've got a to-do list a mile long. Whew. It's been crazy, but we try to stay grateful for everything in our lives.  A little break would be very appreciated though. :)  The pictures below don't really have anything to do with this post.  They are the only pictures I have taken in almost a week.  

After I took the above picture Ellington ran over to the jingle bells saying that she wanted her picture taken with them.  These are our CHRISTMAS jingle bells that got forgotten when we pack everything up and they are still hanging on our front door.  Nice.  

I hope you all have a great week!  Maybe I'll be back with something fun soon!

Wordless Wednesday

The Toothpick Tip and a Pillow

I have seen/read/heard several times that giving a child a toothpick to eat their food with will often encourage them to eat more or eat something that they don't normally eat.  Today I decided to try it because Ellington has been more and more reluctant to eat her fruit.  Strawberries were the main thing I was going to see if it would work with and it did!!!  Ellington hasn't been eating them recently and today she ate a TON because she liked the way that she got to eat them!  So, in my book the trick definitely works!

Around Christmas I found a cute pillow case that matches Ellington's room at Pottery Barn Outlet.  She still sleeps in her crib, but I thought it would be good to add a pillow to the mix.  I finally bought the pillow today and she is currently taking her first nap with it.  She was super excited about it!

We haven't met with our small group since the first weekend in December when we had our Christmas party.  Tonight we are meeting again and we're so excited!  It seems like it's been forever.  It's fun to have something to look forward to when you're doing the two year old thing all day. :)  

Happy Monday!

Hibernating

It's been pretty quiet around the ole blog lately.  It's been quiet because it's been pretty quiet around our house lately too.  Well, I suppose with a 2 year old it isn't really actually quiet- it's just less busy.  It's like we are in full winter hibernating mode.  Except for going to school Mon-Wed mornings we didn't leave the house at all until Thursday and that's because I decided we should finally go somewhere.  We just went to Dirt Cheap and that it was it for the whole day.  Today (Sunday) we went to church this morning and then were just at home the whole rest of the day.  Maybe it's not weird for some people, but I usually get VERY stir crazy so it's pretty funny that we've just been at home.  I also haven't really even picked up my camera lately.  We've just been full on relaxing I guess!  I decided I would post just a few pictures from my phone from the recent days.  Every blog post deserves pictures!

I started Couch to 5k {again}.  This time it's MUCH easier because I was in sort of decent shape when I started.  It is still hard, but I don't feel like I am going to die.  So that's a plus.  I usually get on the treadmill after E goes to bed.  I would love to be able to do it first thing in the morning, but I just can't make myself do it!

We have LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of birthday parties.  LOTS.

The picture below was taken when we were still off for Christmas.  How big does she look??

This wasn't the most exciting post ever, but I start getting a little crazy when I haven't posted in awhile. :)  We are so excited to not have school tomorrow.  We had two and half weeks off for Christmas...then went to school 3 days (our normal Mon-Wed) and this week we only have to go two days.  Pretty amazing!  Maybe we'll do something wild and crazy like leave the house tomorrow. :)

Connor's 5th Birthday Party {Super Hero}

On Saturday morning we went to Connor's Super Hero birthday party!  When we got there Ellington had this PRECIOUS cape that Julie made waiting on her.  Her outfit just so happened to match perfectly. :)  She LOVED it and wore it the whole time we were there.  And she now has a new addition to her dress up clothes!

Ellington and the birthday boy.

{Ellington adores Connor so much.  I love watching them play and he is sooo good with her!}

The big people got to wear capes too!  In the picture below everyone is crafting a little super hero and coming up with a super hero story.  We found out that Big Bob is especially good at super hero stories. :)

We played "Minute to Win It" games.  If you aren't familiar with it, it's a tv game show where contestants perform various challenges.  We played boys vs. girls.  Mrs. Patsy and I teamed up for the first game and we beat the boys!  I don't have pictures of that one though.  Daniel and Laura had to try and stack 3 golf balls. 

Brad's parents had to pull out a whole box of kleenex one at a time using only one hand.  I think this was my favorite one!

After presents, lunch, and cake we resumed the games.  Robert and I had to get a cookie from our forehead to our mouth without using our hands.  HA!  It was crazy!  Neither of us ever did it after MANY times of trying! 

Matt and Tosha had to roll golf balls into cups on a tape measure

The game below involved dental floss and toothbrushes.  It seemed pretty impossible to me!

We had the BEST time this weekend celebrating the birthday's of Brody and Connor!  We are so grateful to know such great little guys! :)

Brody's 1st Birthday Party {Little Man}

This past weekend we went to Olive Branch to celebrate Brody's FIRST birthday and Connor's FIFTH birthday!  How are these kids getting so old?!  Brody's party was Friday night and it was a "Little Man" theme because that's their nickname for him....and because it's a PRECIOUS party theme!  In our invitation we were asked to dress "dapper".  I didn't really know how to do dapper for E (without purchasing anything) so I just let her wear a tutu. :)  Brad and Julie did an AMAZING job with the party.  It was so adorable...and so FUN!

Brody, the birthday boy!  How precious is his outfit?!

I loved his monthly pictures with mustaches!  Too funny!

Everyone wore sticky mustaches.  Ellington DID NOT like me wearing one!  

He didn't like getting his hands dirty so this was his technique...

Pin the mustache on Brody!

Ellington loved playing blackjack! 

We also played a game where we tossed hats, Brody trivia, and Bingo.  We were awarded chips throughout the night and at the end we had an auction!

When we got back to the hotel Ellington was WOUND up.  Here she is while she was jumping on the bed after 10 pm.  Ha!  

We had to rest up because Connor's Super Hero party was coming up the next day!