Whitney's First Birthday

A few weeks ago, we went to Indiana to celebrate Ella's cousin Whitney's first birthday. As you may have read in previous posts, Whitney was born prematurely last August. We were all very excited to celebrate her first birthday! This was actually our first time meeting her, so we were extra excited! Here are some pictures from the festivities:

Whitney is about to dive into her cake!

Ben, Whitney, and Jill

Ella and her Auntie Jill

We love our sweet little niece!

Trip to Pensacola

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We recently went to Pensacola to visit Ella's Mim Mim and Pep Pep, and to celebrate Auntie Carly's birthday. We had a great time while we were there! We went to the beach, of course, and ate at Brad's favorite restaurant in Pensacola...Peg Leg Pete's. (Brad would probably drive all the way to Pensacola just to eat there:)
While at my parents' house, we attempted to play badminton...which is always very entertaining, given that we are all pretty bad at it. Ella even got in on a game or two. But she really enjoyed blowing bubbles and running in the sprinkler. Here are some pictures of our fun trip.

Ella chasing the birds at the beach

My sister (Carly), my dad, and me

We were finally able to get some family pictures!

Ella is a great badminton teammate!

Ella blowing bubbles

Having fun with Auntie Carly

Having fun with Uncle Kory

There's really no explanation for this

Playing at the Creek with Hannah

My sister, Brad, and I took Ella to play with her friend Hannah at Edwin Warner Park on the 4th of July. The girls had so much fun splashing in the water, and playing with rocks and sticks. Unfortunately, the fun ended rather abruptly when we saw a snake! It was swimming around in the water right by Hannah's foot! Thank goodness Brad spotted it. We didn't stick around to get a picture of the snake, but we did get some cute pictures of the girls playing.

Destin

We recently took a much needed vacation to Destin. We were so anxious to have some time at the beach, but were even more anxious to see how Ella would react now that she is a bit older. Fortunately, she LOVED it more than we could have imagined!! That girl played in the sand and water all day long! She would float around in her turtle float for a while, then point to the beach to indicate that she was ready for some time in the sand. After playing in the sand for a while, she would start dragging her float to the water to let us know that she was ready to cool off. It took her no time at all to become accustomed to life at the beach.
Brad and I are seriously still in awe of how well behaved our precious girl was. She acted like a perfect angel during both the drive there and the drive home. While we were at the beach, she quickly adapted to being in a different environment and having a different schedule. She is such a good girl. Brad and I still don't know how we ended up with her! :) We are so incredibly blessed!

Gracie Louise

Our family recently lost one of its most beloved members, sweet little Gracie Louise. Gracie went to Heaven on May 31. She was with our family for over 9 years, and was an absolute joy to be around. Although she was timid around new people, she was super loving once she got to know you. She was often times more like a puppy than a cat, in that she loved to play and snuggle all the time. We have so many wonderful memories of our little sweetie. She will be greatly missed.

Ella Playing in the Waterhose with Dada

Way Behind...

It has been way too long since we last updated the blog. Instead of rambling about everything that has happened in the past few months, I thought I would just post pictures. I will, however, say that we moved into our new home on April 1st. We absolutely LOVE having a house of our own!

Happy Spring!

It is finally springtime, and we have really been enjoying the wonderful weather! I took Ella to the park almost everyday last week. Many of our friends had the same idea, so Ella had several playmates at the park. It is always so cute watching her interact with other kids. One of my friends took some pictures of Ella playing with her ball, her grocery cart, and her friend Hannah:

Moving Along...

As I said in a previous post, Brad, Ella, and I are building our first house. We are so sick of the apartment life, and ready for some space! Fortunately, our house is moving right along according to schedule (or so our builder tells us). According to our builder, we should be able to close and move in at the end of March or beginning of April. Here are a few pictures that we took today. We are so ready to make this house our home!

Ella is ONE!

On February 11, 2009, our precious baby girl turned one year old! Understandably, I have mixed feelings about this. Part of me wants to hold on to her as an infant as long as possible. But the other part knows that as Ella gets older, the connection and bond that she has with Brad and me will only grow stronger. Now that she is starting to explore the world around her and communicate more, she has actually become more fun to be with. It is amazing how much babies can do by the time they are one. Seriously, I never realized the number of milestones that occur in a child's first year of life until Ella came along.

Ella took her first step one week before her first birthday! Brad and I were both there to witness it, which is amazing! We were all playing on the floor, and Ella attempted to walk to Brad and me. We have never been so proud! Today she officially walked (i.e., she took 4 consecutive steps). In addition to walking, she also talks constantly! We can't understand most of what she says, but I just love hearing her little voice. It is definitely my favorite sound in the world. I can just see so much emotion in what she is saying...I love it!

To celebrate Ella's birthday, Brad and I planned 2 celebrations. We planned a party for her on the Saturday following her birthday (Valentine's Day). To celebrate her actual birthday, which was on a Wednesday, Brad and I took Ella to Chuck E. Cheese. I must also mention that our wonderful friends here threw a little surprise party for Ella at the playdate prior to her birthday. They had a yummy chocolate cake for her, and everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to her. We just have the sweetest friends here...we are so blessed!!

Brad, Ella, and I had a blast at Chuck E. Cheese!! There were several little rides there that were appropriate for her age, so we literally let her ride them over and over until she was exhausted. Brad and I also played a few games ourselves, which Ella seemed to enjoy watching :) One of the greatest things about having a kid is that you get to be a kid all over again too! Here are a few pictures from the Chuck E. Cheese experience:


We had Ella's Wonder Pets themed birthday party in Columbus, MS at Grammie & Pop's (Brad's parents) house. We are so thankful to them for agreeing to host Ella's party there. We just don't have enough room here to accommodate everyone. My parents, my sister, our friend Jeremy (Worm) and his girlfriend Lindsey joined us for the celebration. We had a cookout for lunch, and then after Ella's afternoon nap we had her official party. We all had such fun! Ella absolutely LOVED her birthday cake! I spent hours making it from scratch (including the buttercream icing), so it thrilled me that she enjoyed it so much. I have decided that in the future I will probably not make her cakes from scratch, but will probably still decorate them myself. It is already quite obvious that Ella is going to enjoy sweets as much as her Mama does :). Ella got tons of great gifts for her birthday. Thank you to everyone!! Here are some pictures from her party: