: happy birthday :

still celebrating my 20's

at least for 1 more year

we had a fun week & weekend with lots of celebrations...thank you to all the friends & family who made it extra special

the celebrating started with a few days spent with great grammie white. it was so fun to see ell light up when great grammie showed up to play each day she was in the ville. and for days later she'd still ask where great grammie was.

on my actual birthday we celebrated with my family with a fun game of bowling!

i LOVE bowling

(something you probably didn't know about me)

all 9 grandkids posing for a photo is always a challenge...but so worth it!

we also celebrated my mom's birthday from feb. i loved sharing the day with her

and what are you to do when the little one is fussy and it's your turn to bowl...take him with you. it was fine for about one time bowling and then realized there were plenty of empty hands to pass it off to. gotta love a big family for that reason.

elle LOVED bowling

can you tell from the picture below that she couldn't take her eye off the ball until it hit the pins. just after i snapped this one, the ball did HIT the pins and she jumped up so quickly that she knocked josh backwards...pretty funny!! maybe someday she'll have her own birthday bowling party.

had to snap this one...ryan, why so serious?

before bowling we met our GREAT friends for lunch

thanks docks for making time for us and letting us crash your place for naptime, which ended up with the older ones sleeping and these 2 rascals winning the nap war.

how could you not love these two sweethearts?

thank you honey for a wonderful birthday

i'm so grateful for all the blessings the Lord has given me and my family. each year it is a reminder of the gifts and grace God has blessed me with. what an amazing 29 years so far!

you've got to love a husband who enjoys giving little "blue" boxes

when i get time

in my few minutes of spare these days i search the endless world of DIY blogs for new projects to add to my list. there are so many fun ideas out there, but i have to say as i read these other so called "stay at home mom" blogs i wonder who's watching there kids while they do all this?? or maybe it's me who hasn't figured out the art of multi-tasking while the littles are up. anyway here are few of the things i hope to try, finish and enjoy while staying at home. note i'm not giving myself a deadline.

animal art work for beckett's room

through the year handprints - actually have already started this!!

recycled t-shirt dress for ellington

recycled crayon creations

yarn wrapped letters for Beckett - actually have the B mostly done

bubble painting with ellington...and any other kid that wants to join us

yummy doughnuts- if you know ellington at all you'll know she's in love with doughnuts

takes after her dad and grampie

so these are just a few of things i'd like to make sometime soon.

i a big girl!!

daddy: elle are you a hedgie?

elle: NO! I a BIG girl!!

daddy: elle you'll always be my hedgie, even when you're a mommy you'll still be my hedgie

it's true BIG GIRL you'll always be our little hedgie

but you are definitely growing up!

- 5 months -

at 5 months you're

17 lbs

wearing 6-12 month outfits

still some 3 month pants

on again off again with sucking your thumb, right now it seems to be your whole hand at times. but you're definitely NOT a pac kid, spite elle's attempt to give you one

you're starting some solids

bananas, pears, prunes & sweet potatoes

you love sitting in your chair with us at lunch and dinner

you think your sister and puppy are pretty funny. and love to watch what they do, as they usually run circles around you. not for long though!

you love to sit in your exersaucer, watch basketball with daddy, and you're starting to grab for things and even roll your body towards things you want. it won't be long and you'll be moving!

you're still our little charmer. you can turn on the charm in a heartbeat when someone shows you some attention. you've learned to roll from your tummy to your back, which is not good for naps and night time. you haven't figured out how to roll back and you do NOT like to be left on your back for long, especially to sleep.

we love you little man

: want to play? :

it's always :playtime: here

after almost 5 months we're settling into a good routine and i'm realizing how much i love being at home. it's such a blessing to be with these 2 precious little ones all day. ellington is talking ALL the time and is very curious about EVERYTHING and hears EVERYTHING. if you've spent even a hour with her you'd hear her say "noise?" waiting for your response as to what the "noise" is. which is typically a truck. and, well beckett is still mr. flirt. he smiles all the time and is beginning to recognize tackle. he gets really excited when he comes by and will give a little screech sometimes. his laugh is the best and just melts your heart. ahhh...these are the moments to remember, right!?

during beckett's morning nap i spend sometime with just ellington. we do a craft project, work on our colors, letters, or her newest obsession piano - via the iphone/itouch. i guess it's just the next generation of piano lessons, at least they're FREE lessons. it's fun to have these few hours with just her. she's growing up so fast...i know a phrase every parent says, but it's hard to remember her any other way right now.

painting our paper plate shakers

play dough & mr. potato head

free piano lessons

dance, dance, dance

another favorite of elle's

so if you ever want to just come and play...come on over!

a few of our favorite things

sunday mornings are BUSY at our house, but we still find time to make pancakes and enjoy ellington's rather colorful circus like pajamas she picked out. we hustle in the morning to get to church early so we set up for kidport. i've recently taken on the director of children's ministry at our church and while it's busy and makes our sundays hectic, i'm loving it. usually elle comes with me since it's beckett's naptime and josh brings him later. but this sunday we decided to go all together, so we really had to hustle. ellington loves to get herself dressed and usually picks out decent options. of course we tweak her choices just a bit. don't worry she wore a matching outfit to church.

so... a few of our favorite things

pancakes, pajamas & cooking

the bean bucket

flip flops!

well, really any shoe. she's for sure a GIRL

stretching & football

iphone!

i know i said i'd never get one...well, really i said i didn't NEED one. which is true! but i caved and got one. thanks babe for the new phone. i thought he'd give me a hard time for holding out so long and giving him grief about it, but really he was more than happy to pick it up for me on his way home from work out of the blue. AWESOME!