Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Thursday, February 23, 2012

On Year Ago Today...

...we were in the hospital for Ellington's tube surgery.


And this morning Ellington happily played at the park with her buddies for a couple of hours.
I think we both prefer today's activities!





Our only regret about tubes is that we didn't do it earlier!  They have been AMAZING for Ellington!  She use to be so so so sick all of the time.  Now she rarely gets sick.  I also don't think physical therapy would have been necessary if she had tubes earlier.  So yeah, we're big fans of tubes!

We had a LOVELY morning at the park with some of our friends.  It was beautiful and about 74 degrees.  Perfect.  We stayed for a couple of hours, but I think I could have stayed all day!  It's SO much more fun to go with other people.  Ellington has friends to play with and I have people to talk to.  Win win.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Looking for the Positive

These are just a few pictures from our rainy Saturday.  I wanted to do a post and when I looked for pictures I realized that I haven't taken a single one since Saturday.  I think that about describes our life lately...crazy.




Robert has been working working working lately.  We miss him and he misses us.  Also in the past 24 hours or so I've had about three different things that I was excited about/counting on not work out.  Disappointment would be an understatement.  One of the things is that the fair and the start of school conflict.  Thankfully, not the actual start of school, but room prep and room visits.  So I'm going to have to miss some of the fair.  Ugh.  Not fun.

It's been tough lately and I find myself having to CONSTANTLY remind myself how blessed I am.  I have a home that no one can take from me, more than enough food to eat, a husband who loves me more than anything and who will never leave me, a precious healthy little girl, and a Savior who rescued me.  I am blessed and I can't forget that.  Ever. 

Sunday, February 19, 2012

85 Years Apart

They might have been born 85 years apart, but these two have become big buddies... 


It must have been the harmonica playing that brought the two together!





For a long time (as in...about two whole years) Ellington wouldn't have anything at all to do with Pappaw.  But, now they are fast friends!  I am so thankful.  I know it means the world to him and I LOVE watching them together.  Pappaw comes up with all kinds of little games to play with Ellington.  You can tell that there is NOTHING he would rather be doing.  The rest of us are always so busy and often feel like there is something else we could (or should) be doing.  I think we could all learn a lesson from Pappaw about what really matters!  Pappaw is Ellington's only great grandparent and I am so thankful that they have become buddies!

Friday, February 17, 2012

Friday Favorites {Guacamole}

I have recently development a strong LOVE for guacamole.  Actually, "obsession" might be the better word.  I love it and can't get enough.  Store bought guacamole isn't usually the best, but I have found something that might change your life for the better...


Yes ma'am, Wholly Guacamole.  I can't really take the credit for it.  My sister in law, Julie, served it at a birthday party recently.  Ya'll, it is DELICIOUS!!!  I add a little bit of seasoning and I am ready to go.  I can eat this stuff like it's my job.  And you know what?  Avocado is the first ingredient listed AND there are only five ingredients.  If you know much about processed food/nutrition, you know this is a really big deal.  So, I call it "healthy" and enjoy tons of it.  :)  Note: we haven't found this at Wal-Mart.  We do all of our grocery shopping at Wal-Mart because we have found it to be the cheapest.  However, this stuff requires a trip to Kroger.  And it's totally worth it.

Man, now I want some guacamole.

Happy weekend!



I am linking up with Rachel over at Finding Joy


friday favorite things | finding joy

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Valentine's Day

I LOVE Valentine's Day.  It's not really the romantic/roses/etc. stuff that I like...I just love having a day of fun goodies and sharing little happies with people you love.  It's SO fun to me.  I love it all.  It's funny to me that some people hate Valentine's Day.  It's all in good fun and I think it's all so sweet.  As a preschool teacher it's a blast, but it's definitively the craziest day of the year...even more so than Christmas or the last day of school!  This year was Ellington's first year to really get into it so of course that made it even more fun!  

Ellington LOVED her party at school!


These were the little treats Ellington took to her friends.  I loved how they turned out!


After nap E found some goodies waiting on her. :)


Ellington and I gave Daddy some chocolates and E made him some artwork.


Robert gave me a sweet card and a book.  I LOVED getting a book.  I love to read, but always hate spending money on books so I never ever do.  I told him I thought it would be a fun tradition to always get a book on Valentine's.  Maybe he'll remember next year. ;)


We also made Valentine Mickey & Minnie cookies.  Ellington loved these because she could do them all by herself.



The little bag full of Valentine cards from her friends was just like heaven to Ellington.  She went through them all over and over and over.




Robert took his two girls out to supper. :)  After we got in the car after supper Ellington threw her hands up in the air and said, "Happy Balentine's everyone!"  A happy Valentine's indeed! :)

(I must edit to add that this preschool teacher/Mama went to bed at 8:45 last night!!  Yes, I love the day but like I said...it's also the craziest!)

Thursday, February 9, 2012

The Weekend

So, I was going to post about our weekend on Monday, but Monday got crazy.  I was going to post about our weekend on Tuesday, but Tuesday got crazy.  I was going to post about our weekend on Wednesday and well, you get the point.  So here I am...on Thursday morning!  And since the weekend starts again tomorrow, I got here just in time. :)

Have you ever told your two year old that you are going to a parade and that even though it is cold and rainy we'll have so much fun sitting in the back of the explorer?  Have you ever sat in the cold and rainy weather trying to get your 2 year old to contain her excitement for almost an HOUR looking down the road wondering WHERE IN THE WORLD IS THE PARADE?  Have you ever had to tell your 2 year old after almost an HOUR "I don't think it's coming sweetie"?  And did you ever find out later in the evening that you were actually an hour early?

Yeah, us either.... :)



Friday afternoon we decided that despite the weather that we would go find a spot to park and watch the little parade of left field lounge vehicles parade to the baseball stadium.  Ellington was SO excited about the parade.  We got a great spot and waited. And waited. And waited.  It was cold.  And rainy.  Eventually we left. :(  I thought it started at 3:30.  As it turns out, 3:30 was the time all the vehicles were gathering and 4:30 was the actual start time.  We didn't figure this out until later in the night.

And that poor 2 year old with no parade?  We took her to Wal-Mart and bought her a toy. :)

On Saturday (again despite the rain) we went to a basketball game.  My parents were already planning on going and some friends offered us some tickets, we decided to go too!  It was a blast and E LOVED cheering with her pompoms! 




Sunday evening our small group had a Super Bowl party.  I meant to take more pictures, but I guess I got distracted with all of the eating. :)


You know we all have kids because at halftime the party started breaking up!  So, that was just a little recap of our weekend.  And we'll start weekending again tomorrow!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Currently

In the past few days I have seen several blogs that did a "Currently" post.  I love a writing prompt (because sometimes I get stuck trying to come up with things on my own!) so I thought I would jump in and do it too!  


Current Guilty Pleasure:
 Hmmm...it's bad when you have trouble on the first category.  I can only think to say television.  It's definitely what I like to do to just chill out, but I watch WAY less than I use to.

Current Nail Polish:
None. I am not much of a girly girl I suppose so my finger nails are ALWAYS natural.  I do paint my toenails during sandal/flipflop weather, but I have been using the same polish forever and ever.  I should get something new this summer!

Current Drink:
Diet Mountain Dew.  I have always thought diet drinks were horribly bad for you (and I suppose I still think that), but I have recently become OBSESSED with Diet Mt Dew.  Obsessed.

Current Food:
Breakfast - bacon (yes, every day)
Lunch - apples and peanut butter (yes, every day)
And if I had my way, I would eat my new love, chips & guacamole, every day for supper

Current Favorite Show:
My favorite show is Survivor, although I don't know if it can be considered current since it isn't on right now.  Never fear...it will be on in a few weeks!

Current Wish List:
This is going to sound REALLY bad, but my current wish is a new house.  I am terrible at coming up with gift ideas for Christmas, birthday, etc.  I genuinely don't think of little stuff that I want.  Lately I have been wanting a new house though. :/  I know...probably the biggest wish ever.  I am so thankful for the house that we live in, but I have been living here since my FRESHMAN year of college (yes, you read that right).  I have always felt this is just where we live, but not our home.  I am looking forward to living somewhere else some day!


Current Triumphs:
I have been doing Couch to 5K and I can now run for six minutes without stopping.  This is HUGE people!


Current Indulgence:
As mentioned earlier, chips and guacamole.  I die for it.  


Current Blessing:
I have been thinking A LOT lately about how blessed I am with my job.  I LOVE it, my kids are great, the ladies I work with are great, and E is in the same building.  Truly the best part about it is that I only work three mornings a week.  It's perfect!


Current Excitement:
I am really excited about the Super Bowl.  I feel like that's a dumb answer, but I am!  Our small group is getting together (fun), we are going to have party foods (my favorite), AND I get to watch a great game (love).  So, dumb as it may be...the Super Bowl is my answer!

And just for fun...here is one of Ellington's current favorites


Vacuuming with Daddy!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

And Then...

This morning someone went out of their way to compliment me about how well behaved Ellington is.  They told me that I was doing a great job as a Mama.  This compliment meant the WORLD to me.  It's one of the best things I could ever hear.  All day I thought about what she said.  I thought about the fact that she is well behaved because I don't back down.  She knows I am the boss.  Does she test limits?  Of course.  Does she still try to get her way?  Yes.  But I am the Mama.  I always win.  And I realize it's not that simple...it's not about "winning", but it is about letting her know who is in control.  Working where I work, I see sooooo many kids who are in charge at their house.  And the results aren't pretty.  All of this to say....this subject was on my mind today and I had been planning on blogging about it.  And then the afternoon happened.  Isn't that how it always goes?  You think, "Yeah, I've got this" and the two year old shows you that they still have some fight left in them. :)

After nap and snack I decided we should go outside because what else should you do when it's in the 70s in February? 


Ellington quickly got a little bored outside and Robert and I discussed how we should have planned better and gone to the park or to campus.  At this point it was a little late to do either because I needed to cook supper and Robert had to leave for work at 5:30.  There is park near our house, but it's not very good and I honestly would never go there without Robert.  Kinda sketchy sometimes.  In fact, I have only driven by.  We haven't ever been.  We decided to go there since it was close and we would have time.  Well....it was gross and barely had anything that Ellington could do.  There was one slide she could go down and that was it.  I did get some cute pictures though!




On top of the total bust that was the park, Robert was wearing shorts and his legs were being SWARMED by mosquitos...yes, in February.  Oh yeah, we all got muddy shoes as well.  We decided to leave and of course Ellington breaks down like we are taking her away from Disney World.  We get home, I get supper ready, and Ellington proceeds to make us crazy.  She wasn't happy about what she was having and then she (on multiple occasions) chewed up food and then spit it out. She cried and whined through supper.  I was wondering how earlier in the day I thought that I had it all under control.  Robert had to leave for work and I could only wonder..."How in the world will I make it to bedtime?".  Then this mother of the year let Ellington watch an HOUR AND A HALF of television.  Ugh.  Major fail.  I just didn't have anything else left in me!  So anyway, I guess all of this to say...even when you think you have it all together...you probably don't. :)  As I was putting E in her pjs she was acting silly and we had the BEST time together.  

I guess I won't give up just yet. :)