Out of the mouth of babes...

Today we were checking out at Target and Ella was making all sorts of grunting noises in the cart.  The lady checking us out said, "Oh my, you sure are talkative", and Griffin responded with, "She's going BROOOWWWN poo poo, and it's DIAREEEETTA!"  Give me a shovel so I can dig a hole and hide!  Ha

A Special Visitor

 Santa made a special visit to our house Monday during nap time.  He left hot cocoa and oreo pops for Griff and Mommy and a few little marshmellows for Ella. :) Santa also dropped off a special present for the kids, Elf on the Shelf!  Griff was so excited about his new friend, and decided to name him...Elf (so original, think we're going to try the naming thing again next year).  When I told him Elf would be watching his behavior and reporting back to Santa, and he quickly asked me to take him off the mantle...ha!  After some convincing Elf is a part of the family and working out nicely.  Griffin loves to find his new spot every morning.  I just love family traditions, some old and some new!  

 Looks yummy!

 Trying out an oreo pop

 First drink of hot chocolate...

 He loves it!

 And Ella had her first sweet treat, a marshmellow...

 She LOVES them!

 Unwrapping Santa's present

Thanks Santa for such a fun treat!  

Bathing Beauty

Thanksgiving Memory

I was thinking about Thanksgiving today and a special memory overcame me.  It's not a typical Thanksgiving memory, but when it crossed my mind I was overcome with feelings of security, comfort, and thankfulness.  When I was young we traded off Thanksgiving and Christmas with The Prices; Aunt Annie, Uncle Mark, and cousins Luke and Hallie.  The years we went to their house in Bertram near Austin are my most favorite ones.  They live on a beautiful piece of property on the creek out in the country.  Everything is quiet and peaceful, and we had MANY adventures there together.  All the kids would sleep in the living room on the various couch beds.  Early in the morning, around 4 am, the sounds of three women I admire most would rouse me from my sleep.  My mom, Aunt Annie, and Gigi (my precious Grandma who passed away when I was 15) were in the kitchen beginning to prepare the Thanksgiving meal.  I could hear them discussing the menu, the pots and Pyrex clanging, how much sage to add to the stuffing, what time to put the pecan pie in the oven, should we try to be health conscious and use chicken stock instead of heavy cream in the mashed potatoes (for the record NO!!).  There was something so safe and comforting about knowing they were in there together, working to serve our family a delicious meal.  Everything was made from scratch, nothing came from a package or a box, and God forbid someone suggest using Cool Whip instead of fresh whipped cream!!!  Did they know I was listening, soaking up all their wisdom, hoping to one day be in there with them?  Could they have possibly understood that as they were buzzing around in their robes and slippers, fretting over how many eggs to use in the dressing, they were leaving a legacy for their children and grandchildren?  And so I would lay there, half asleep but not wanting to miss a single word from these three, and I'm so thankful I did because it has stayed with me to this day, my own incredibly special Thanksgiving memory.  Happy Thanksgiving!

 My mom and cousin Hallie

 The mommas (Annie and my mom) and the "legacies", Lindsy, me, Hallie, Ella, and Leslie

 One of our Thanksgiving meals prepared in that same, special kitchen

Happy Turkey Day!

Better Together

 These two were so excited to ride in the race car together at HEB!  Sister is finally big enough to fit and Griff was happy to get back behind the wheel.  He is quick to tell her that she's just the passenger and HE is the driver!!!

Work it Girl!

When I took Ella for her 9 month check up I raised some concerns I had about her gross motor development (she wasn't trying to crawl and wouldn't put ANY weight on her legs).  After observing her, Dr. K thought we should have her evaluated by a physical therapist.  Of course we were really concerned about her, but thankfully I have a great friend, Nicole, who's a PT herself and she gave me lots of advice and reassurance.  We went for the evaluation on November 8th and they recommended that Ella come for PT once a week.  After a few sessions her therapist Lisa observed that Ella has overdeveloped back muscles and very weak abdominals.  We always laughed about the way she did tummy time because she was like a little airplane.  Not so funny now!

So basically Lisa said Ella has learned to use her muscles incorrectly and making her do it the right way feels wrong to her.  She used golf as an example, when you learn the wrong swing, it feels right to you and when someone tries to correct you, it doesn't feel natural.  Ella gets really frustrated during her sessions but they are already helping so much!  She even got up on all fours for the first time on Tuesday night and she has been standing to play with her music table.  I'm so glad we caught it early, and I know with time and prayers she'll be all caught up!  Go Ella Boo!!!

 Reading a little magazine while we wait ;)

 working hard with Ms. Lisa

 Her favorite is the ball

Happy 9 Months

(Photo by Twinty Photography)

Ella is 9 months old today!  She has completely stolen our hearts and we just can't get enough of this precious, happy baby!  Ella has changed a lot this month, and here are a few things she's been up to:
- LOVES music and will wave her arms and try to "sing" anytime she hears it
- in a bit of a mommy stage right now, if I'm in the room she definitely prefers for me to hold her but will go to Daddy too.  If I'm not around, she's fine with anyone holding her :)
- can wave bye bye
- smiles all the time and is so easy to please
- Griffin is her favorite person!  She lights up, squeals, and kicks anytime he comes around.  She loves when he takes a bath with her too.
- has completely given up all pureed baby food and only eats soft table food.  This has been pretty nice considering I can cook dinner and everyone in the house can eat it...doesn't mean they always do ;).  So far I haven't found anything she won't eat but her favorites are bananas, avocado, beans, cheese, pancakes, and fish
- loves to roll around in her bed and play with her lovies before she falls asleep
- such a good, easy sleeper- 2 naps a day and sleeps 12 hrs at night
- becoming frustrated with not crawling, she wants to get to toys so badly but can't quite get there...kinda sad.  I will do a post on this later, but Ella will be starting physical therapy soon to strengthen her core muscles.
- such a love bug, cuddle bear, sweet little sugar pie...can you tell how much I love her?  An indescribable amount!!!

Trip for three

 A few weekends ago, I was brave (or crazy) enough to fly with the kids to Midland to visit my parents (Mimi and Pops).  We had such a great time, eating, playing, visiting people, and just being spoiled!  My parents still live in the house we grew up in so it still feels like "home".  I helped host a baby sprinkle for Mel's second baby due in just a few weeks, Maddox!  It was a great shower and she got lots of fun things.  Griffin enjoyed a special day out with Pops at the duck pond and to get a big scoop of bubble gum or "water gun"(as Griff called it) ice cream.  We went to church and out to lunch at Tampico (always fun with two babies ;).  We took the kids to the pumpkin patch and out to Pop's office.  Griff convinced Mimi to drive the fork lift which was quite entertaining for us all.  The kids loved swimming in the hot tub every night.  We've always known Griff was a little fish, but his sister just might have him beat.  Whenever we walked out in the backyard and she saw the hot tub she would start squealing and kicking her feet to get in. :)  The kids actually did GREAT on the airplane and now that I've done it once I know I can do it again!  Thank you Mimi and Pops for such a wonderful visit.  We love you and appreciate ALL you do for us!

Pops knows a guy in Midland who builds model trains as a hobby and has a working "miniature" train running through his property.  Griff loves trains so he was in heaven and Ella enjoyed the ride too.

 Hostesses for Mel's baby shower and the Mommy to be looking precious in the middle.  You can't even tell she's prego in this pic!

 Pops and Griff carved a Jack o Lantern

 We had a play date with Pax!  Such a cutie pie

 Griffin loves his Bella Boo and wanted to lay with her on the couch

 Mimi and Pops wanted to see the kids in their Halloween costumes so we dressed them up for the pumpkin patch.

 Griffin had SO much fun making doughnuts with Mimi and she even let him put as many sprinkles as he wanted on them, that's A LOT of sprinkles!