My Ellie Kate is 5!

Oh, how time flies. I can't believe it's been 5 years already since our first baby girl came into this world!! If you don't know Ellie, she is sweet, sensitive, obedient, loving, smart,......the list could go on and on. She loves her little sister, although if she has the choice, she will choose to play with someone older than her. She has always been a little mature for her age and is drawn to older kids. She loves people and always wants to help. Our Ellie is such a blessing to us and to the people around her! We call her Ellie Kater (alligator) or Eleanor Katherine...no, her real name is not Eleanor, but people still ask me if it is!! Her favorite things are music (anything from Barney to Hannah Montana), playing doctor, using a cash register, coloring, playing school, and riding her bike. She's very good in her swimming lessons and loves going to Mother's Morning Out. Like me, she would rather be with her Nonee than just about anyone else, but loves all of our family very much and prays for them often. She had a very special bond with my Grand-daddy, who is not with us any more, but she still says, "I miss Grand-daddy Red!" She still asks us, "Is tonight a special night?", which means she can sleep in the bed with us. She doesn't like to be alone, and I'm okay with that. Happy Birthday, sweet Ellie Kate! Mommy and Daddy love you very much!!!

Ellie at Sea World - almost 5.















Ellie, Jeff, Becky, and Ava - Sea World, Sept. 2009





















Daddy Warbucks, Miss Hannigan, Annie, and Sandy (2009)





















ELLIE IS 5!!!

Ellie's 4th birthday - see our noserings?? :-)

Ellie is 4 (2008)

















Christmas 2007 (Ellie is 3)

















Look at those curls!?! Ellie's 3rd birthday (2007)

















We moved back from Texas when Ellie was 18 months old.
She was turning 2 here with my Mom and Dad. (2006)
















Our earlier pictures are on another computer...we have copies, but I can't post them on here right now. This was when Ellie was 1. My Mom and Nannie flew to Texas (yes, Nannie got on an airplane!!) to visit us. We loved being in Texas, but it was so hard being away from family. Thankfully, we visited each other as often as we could and we were only away for 3 years. I will have to find some baby pics to post. She was a pretty cute little baby, but has turned into a beautiful little girl!

Kindermusik

Ava LOVES her Kindermusik class - and so does Ellie. The teacher is nice enough to allow siblings and since Ellie's class is much different, she just enjoys Ava's - along with 2 other little girls her age.

cleaning house

The above picture is the "after" shot of the right side of our garage (plus some party supplies).














This one (above) is "before" of the left side.
















"Before" of the right side.
















"After" of the right side.


My mom came and helped me clean out the garage so we could have Ellie's birthday party out there and it was a huge hit!! My mom knows how to "get 'er done"!

After school (Mother's Morning Out) with 2 of their new best friends (twins).



Landy, these are for you...

Avie

Ellie

So, I still don't have a "studio", so the lighting on these didn't turn out just right, but they are still pretty darn cute. The flowers are especially for Landy. She thinks flowers in your hair is the perfect accessory...flowers and feathers! :-) Love and miss you, Merk Merk!

Where's your pumpkin?

This is Ava's version of "Where is Thumbkin"
I guess with all the talk of pumpkins,
she thought that was what we were saying. :-)

Happy Birthday and Happy Halloween!!!

Ellie will be 5 tomorrow!

Avie getting in the candy!

Bam Bam and Betty
(my sister-in-law and nephew)

Daddy Warbucks, Miss Hannigan, Annie, and Sandy

Ellie and Issy

Oh, we had such fun today!! Tomorrow is Ellie's birthday, so we had a big birthday party (pics to come), then everyone dressed up and we went trick or treating. LOTS more pictures coming soon!!!

Fall Fun

Our trees are losing their leaves fast, so even though their hair isn't fixed in some of them and they are wearing play clothes, I still thought these were pretty cute.

Kindermusik Halloween Party

Limbo to the Monster Mash

Running back to Mommy

Ellie and her little friend, Ava

Ava making her pumpkin

Ava, Ellie, and Ava
I think this one should be a Kindermusik advertisement!! :-)

My Sweet Ava Claire is TWO!

At 2, Ava can count to 10 independently, sing her ABC's, recognize her name in print, sing Twinkle Twinkle, sing Hush Little Baby, sing It's a Small World, sing Happy Birthday, recognize the 8 primary colors independently, draw a line and a circle, pee in the potty (pooping is still in progress...) and is telling stories like crazy. Her sentences and questions amaze us every day!! We were checking out the sharks at Sea World and talking about how big they were...and she found a small aquarium and said, "See these tiny fish, mom?" Last night she brought me a Barbie and said, "See her shoes and her socks?" She is such a ham, happy, silly, smart, and LOVES her sister! She is also very strong willed, so it is sometimes hard to draw a line between disciplining her and breaking her spirit, which we don't want to do. Ava Claire, we love you to pieces and can't wait to see what the next year brings!!

Clearwater Beach, September 2009

It was really windy on the beach, but I think our pictures turned out great!

Ava didn't like walking in this part of the sand -
there were several broken shells, so it kind of hurt to walk on them.

So fun!

One of my favorite pictures of the whole trip.

Hughes' and Jones'

Madison, our cousin. She was 1 in August and is so sweet!!
She's very well behaved and a happy little camper!
This was our first time to visit and I was so glad we got to meet her and her mom.

Sweet picture of Hadlie and Julie.
Hadlie wasn't fond of the ocean, but this picture doesn't show it.

Avie loved the water - and Ellie like it more than I expected her to.

Disney 2009

Oh, we had a blast at Disney!! Our good friends went with us and our girls had so much fun together. This was day 1 at Disney - the Not So Scary Halloween Party! Lots more pictures to come!!!