Look and Feel!

We spent Thanksgiving with my family this year. It is always fun to be with family during the holidays. We had a yummy dinner, and a good time being together. When I was little, I had a look and feel book that my mom had made.

This was always my favorite page....Just so funny!

It was the coolest book every!!! So, I wanted to make one for Ellie....or have my mom make one:) She found the pattern a couple months ago and when we got down there, she had a bunch of the supplies to make it. I love doing crafts with my mom! We got to work and didn't think we would finish....but we made it! Here are the pages. We looked for this hairy fabric everywhere, they only had brown and black....yuck! Luckily my mom and all her fun stuff from years of crafts, we found pink....yeah! Sandpaper!

My mom found these feathers...they are spotted. Really fun!You can actually put your little hand in this mitten!We couldn't find squishy stuff anywhere....we ended up buying a think car washing sponge and using an electric knife to cut it! I think it turned out pretty great!I had so much fun making this with my mom. I think it turned out great and I can't wait for Ellie to really get into it. Memories!We drove home Sunday morning....here is what our car looked like after....can you believe the gunk? Yuck!Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Can't wait for Christmas!

Ready or Not Here It Comes

I haven't been looking forward to the snow this year. It just seems more of a hassle with a baby. I have to worry about bundling up, getting places in the snow....etc...Well, this is how it looked outside this morning and I have to say it is just so beautiful.

I really love the snow. It has also made it feel more like Christmas is coming and holidays wouldn't be the same without it:) What makes it even better, Ellie is fascinated by it. Yesterday, as we got out of church, it was snowing. As we carried Ellie out to the car, she wasn't quite sure what to think, it was colder than usual. She just looked at it. When we went into the house, she had a look on her face that was so fun. We stayed outside for a few minutes and she was so excited. I held some snow up to her and put a little in her mouth. She didn't really want to touch it, but having in her mouth was something pretty cool to her:) She smacked her lips and grinned. So, even though I have been dreading the snow, I now remember how much I love it. It is so much fun to see Ellie experience things for the first time.

We tried peas last night, and by we, I mean WE! I made Patrick try them and I tried them too:) We decided to try peas first cause we both thought they would be gross and don't want Ellie to only eat the good tasting stuff....well, I guess we were wrong, because she LOVED them. She ate half a jar. She is doing extremely good with eating....so far at least. She opens right up and keeps most of it down.

Ellie is rolling over really good now. She has rolled to her side for so long, but just couldn't quite make it all the way over. Saturday she made it over all by herself. I figured it would take her a while to 'remember' how to do it again. Not so....she kept doing it all day yesterday. She started on her back and rolls to her tummy, and she even rolled back to her back once yesterday. So proud of her and she is so happy with herself too.(By the way, she isn't always in just a diaper, but trying peas....we didn't want them all over her cute dress...and this was shortly after. She does love being in only a diaper though....little nudest)

I had to post these pictures....Last night we went to check on her and she was sideways. She hasn't done this for awhile, and we usually hear her moving....screaming....not last night. I had to get a picture this morning. She is so happy in the mornings. I love the smiles. I couldn't choose which picture....so you get both:) Also, don't mind the black socks....we did that in honor of Grandpa Cassity. Ellie also loves to fall asleep with her face covered...either with a blanket or burp cloth. Does anyone else's kids do that? She gets so annoyed when I take it off, but I want her to be able to breath too:)

I have been trying to do something different with Ellie's hair....rather than just a headband and bow. It is pretty hard with a very wiggle girl, but I managed to get these the other day. I usually just do one little pony on the side....that's the way her hair goes, so it's easiest...but I had to try pigtails. They are pretty stinkin' cute! In the first picture she has her monkey's tail in her mouth. She loves this monkey-Patrick got it for her when we found out we were having a little girl-she especially loves the tail lately. She always finds it.

I tried a couple of new recipes last night and they both turned out pretty good, so I thought I would share. I always love a good new recipe.

Minestrone

Saute 1 lb hamburger with 2 diced onions and 1 clove minced garlic.

Add 1 large can crushed(or diced) tomatoes and 3 large cans of water. Mix together.

Add 1 pkg Frozen chopped spinach, 1 pkg frozen french cute green beans, 5 stalks chopped celery, 5 chopped carrots, 1 sliced zucchini.(I didn't have zucchini or spinach or green beans...so I added a can of french cut green beans, drained and a can of garbanzo beans drained and rinsed. As I was looking through recipes, you can pretty much add whatever you want....black beans, kidney beans, corn...etc)

Add 1 Tbls salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 can tomato sauce and one handful of noodles(not cooked, they cook in the soup)

Simmer until tender

FYI: I cut the recipe in half, and it made a huge pot.

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies(yes that is the entire name)

2/3 Cup butter or margarine, softened

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1-1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

1-1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1-1/4 cups dried cranberries

2/3 cut white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. Combine oats, flour baking soda and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Add to butter mixture in several additions mixing well after each addition. Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies

Family Pictures

We had these taken at the end of September, and I keep meaning to post them, but haven't gotten around to it. Our friend Jenny took them. She did a great job and has many other great pictures on her website. I like so many of them, there will be a lot of pictures!

Day 3-Rice Cereal-Success!

Three days ago, November 15, we decided it would be fun to start Ellie on Rice Cereal and see how she would do. The first day we did it in the evening just after nursing. As I mixed the cereal with some formula, it smelled so gross(the formula). We haven't ever used formula, so I really don't know what it smells like, but does it really smell gross??? Well, this is the response we received from the first serving. Ellie did really good and opened wide and...of course....wanted to help and grabbed the spoon many times. But then this is the look that she gave us.

After this, her lips were so tightly pressed together that there was no chance of getting the food in. It was hilarious. The next night, we tried it with breast milk instead of formula, and tried just before nursing, and didn't really get a better reaction than the first night, except she didn't throw it up five minutes later:)

Well, today we decided to try it during lunch time instead of dinner time. We tried a couple hours after nursing, and I used breast milk again, and warmed up the cereal a little bit. SUCCESS! She opened right up and tried it. She still tries to suck and all the cereal comes out, but it was much better and didn't even have a disgusted look. She ate/tried to eat a lot more this time. It was so much fun to see her trying something new and getting so excited to 'help.' Here's a picture from today after she was done. She just kept moving all over...as usual...and I couldn't get a great smiley picture:)

We will keep trying different ways, slowly...I can't wait to try some foods with actual flavor:)

Here's a picture after bath time.

11-13-2010

She just looked so cute all wrapped up. I can't believe it, but these towels are getting so snug. Ellie is growing so fast. I can't believe it. She is also getting so smart. She grabs at everything and puts her binky in her mouth all the time. She is chewing more and more on things(everybody always thinks she is teething, but I don't feel or see anything yet). She still isn't quite turning over, but is so close. She rolls to her side and back to the other side constantly. She can twist and scootch to places, but not roll over. It is nice that I don't have to worry about her rolling and getting into things quite yet, but it will come any day now. She wiggles everywhere and when on her tummy her little legs will come up under her and she pushes her bum in the air. When she starts crawling, she will be into everything!

Ellie has really started to whine more. She will do this little whimper when she wants something and gets this look on her face!

11-16-2010

It is just so sad, and takes so much effort. She is definitely going to have a little attitude in her and use any means to get her way;) It will probably work with daddy too, she's had him wrapped around her finger from day 1!

We are having so much fun with Ellie and love watching her grow and learn new things.

Halloween Happenings...and Zeppe's!

I haven't posted quite a bit, and I really want to get everything on here. So...there may be a few....I mean a lot of pictures:)

First...we went to the pumpkin walk. I love this tradition. They had so many great scenes this year. I am always amazed at how much work goes into everything and how well it turns out. My parents came up and went on Oct 23, Patrick couldn't make it so we went again on the 25th.Both days were pretty cold and rainy/snowy, but we happened to make it just at the right times to be out of the bad weather. Here are a few pictures.

Isn't this little hat so stinkin' cute?

My Parents and Ellie

At the end of the pumpkin walk there are all these cut outs(can't think of what you would call them...oh well) We just had to get a Harry Potter. After the pumpkin walk, we went over to carve pumpkins with Steve, Lacey and Ivy. We had a great time and I think all of the pumpkins turned out wonderfully!

Ivy had a great time playing with Ellie. She loved pulling out the binky and then shoving it back in:) Ellie smiled a lot and didn't seem to mind. Ivy really likes babies and does great with her. Patrick's Pumpkin My PumpkinDon't they look awesome all lit up! Left to Right:Steve, Lacy, Patrick, Nicky

I found the cutest...I mean scariest...looking cookies on this website. I thought they were so cute and just had to make them...well, they were a little harder than expected when I tried to put them all together. These were actually the only two that made it. So many of the legs broker and the inside frosting kept leaking everywhere...but these 2...look wonderful:)

We decided to head down South to visit our parents for Halloween. We couldn't miss dressing Ellie up for her first Halloween!

Isn't she the cutest little monkey ever?!?

She sort of seemed to even like being dressed up:) All smiles! Ellie's latest thing she can't get enough of is playing with her feet/toes. She has been doing this for a while when she had shoes on or cute jammies. But now it is constantly with her toes:) Every time I turn around her feet are sticking straight up and she's grabbed onto her toes. I even went in to check on her after she was sleeping and found her feet in the air...she's so funny! These pictures are from November 1, 2010. She also enjoys sucking on her feet. Yummy!A friend of mine told me about a new place her called Zeppe's. It sounded like fun, so we went and tried it last night. It was pretty good, a little expensive, but fun to try. It is an Italian Water Ice and custard place. They have lots of different flavors and change them each day. I had mine mixed together for a shake and Patrick's was in layers. Patrick and everybody else....my dad....Patrick's mom...all want to give Ellie everything to try. I am not quite ready yet....but I also want to see her reaction when she does try things(I don't want it happening behind my back:), so, I have to say, we slipped Ellie the tiniest bite of the Italian ice, she wasn't sure what to think about it...just kind of smacked her lips. I also tried to put her hair in a little ponytail. You can't tell very well from the picture, but it was so cute. I just love all of her hair! Well, that is whats been going on with us lately. I finally have our pictures back too, so I will post them soon!

5 Years Ago

5 Years ago today, Patrick proposed to me!

It had been an extremely long day of studying for both him and me. We both had huge tests the next day, and I was a little sad when I was getting ready for bed and hadn't seen him all night(he had been studying with a huge group) I thought for sure he was going to propose that night. (I need to back track a little-earlier in the day, I had received a text from Patrick, he was explaining exactly how he was going to propose and I was so confused and didn't know if I should tell him he had sent it to the wrong person, or just act surprised! Yes.....so smart:) Well, after calling my friend, I decided to just act surprised. Little did I know she was the one helping him and was supposed to receive the text.) Well, just as I crawled into bed, I heard him at the front door. Then all of the sudden, I was being blindfolded and carrying to the car, in my pajamas... He drove around for a long time and I kept trying to figure out all of the turns and try to guess where we were going. Well, when I was completely lost, he pulled over and left saying he would be right back. He took a really long time, but then finally he was back and guiding me out of the car. We walked for a ways and he sat me down. Then the blindfold came off and I was at a picnic table at Adams Park(I think that's the name of the park...I know I'm terrible) There were candles and pumpkins and flowers, etc....)Then I turned back to him and he was down on one knee, with a ring. I was so excited! It was the best feeling in the world to know that you are going to marry the man of your dreams. It was perfect....

I can't believe it has been 5 years already. When I got home tonight, I found these on my pillow with a reservation to the Melting Pot!!! I was so surprised at everything and I absolutely love surprises(so much that I never even once tried to find Christmas...birthday presents growing up, I really wanted to be surprised). Patrick is not very good at surprises, as you can tell from the beginning of the story:) and is not always the most romantic guy in the world and we often joke about it, so this really was a huge surprise. Daisy's are my favorite and I have been hinting for a while that the only thing I really wanted to do for our anniversary was to go to the Melting Pot. We are planning a trip in the Summer for our 5 year anniversary, but can't do it over our actual anniversary because I don't want to leave Ellie for that long when she will only be 6 months old. Anyways....how sweet and I just wanted to say I love Patrick so much! He amazes me all the time with how much he does for our family. I am so glad that even though when he first met me I wasn't all too nice to him....he still asked me out. I can't imagine my life without him and am so happy to have such a great guy!

Recipes

For those of you who wanted the recipes for dinner in a pumpkin and caramel apples here are the links.

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Caramel Apples

We use Symphony with toffee and almonds for our chocolate and then didn't put the colored chocolate melts on. But that would be really yummy if you did:)

Limeade

Mix one frozen limeade using lemon lime soda in place of the water. Add green food coloring. Niki and Jason used orange kool-aid for the hands.

And....here's a few pictures of Ellie...just because:)

October 18-She loves to pull up her shirts....and usually proceeds to suck on them until they are drenched:)October 20-binky in one hand, toy in the otherOctober 25-I laid her down and she somehow managed to turn 90 degrees:)October 25-20 Weeks Today