Ellery, You Are 19 Months Old!

Ellery, we are so thankful that you are ours! We want to tell you a little about what you've been up to lately.

You love the "Moon and Tars!" You are so excited anytime you see the moon, and you love finding it in books. You will say "Moon" over and over again when you see it. The first couple of weeks this year, you were into "Goodnight Moon" big time!

Words we can't hear you say enough:
1. "Oh!" when we talk to you or tell you something. You always say this at an appropriate time as if you know exactly what we are saying and you are acknowledging our explanation. We think you are really smart!
2. "Sign" when you give the "I love you" sign.
3. "Okay" when brother says, "Go under the bridge!" (you say okay and crawl right under his legs)
4. "My turn" anytime you and brother want the same thing. Exactly one week ago, you said, "Close it, computer (actually, "booger" is how it comes out), my turn!" You are also saying, "First" since you know that this is what Kiran says to get what he wants before you.
5. "Forsie" anytime you see a horse or just before checking out at Wal-Mart since I let you and Kiran ride the horse and motorcycles one time as a reward. Now, we usually ride the rides (without coins) then pour on the hand sanitizer in the car!
6. "Kien" (for Kiran) - You started this just after Christmas, and it is so sweet! Kiran loves it when you say his name.
7. "Cool" (for Kiran's school) - You love going there to see all of the big kids and to show off your shoes (actually, you do this everywhere now). You always hold up your purple crocs or pink boots so that Miss Angela and Miss Michelle will compliment you on them! They love it!
8. "Water" - you shout this out over and over when we drive by the river until we acknowledge that we heard you. Sometimes, it takes us a minute to remember and sometimes our first reaction is that you want something to drink.
9. "Ready, Set, Go!" when you and Kiran are running around the house or outside.
10. "Tinkle!" for "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" (your favorite bedtime song)

You are saying 3 word sentences occasionally!

What a little Gruffalo!



You have been asking to go potty and many times you are able to accomplish this task.

You love dancing to music.

You can't seem to keep your fingers off the laptop!

Being a little sneaky! Checking out Brother's motorcycle while he is at school! We start out with an adorable bow from Aunt Nat in your hair every day upon your request (actually a loud, BOOOOOWW!). You are keeping them in longer and longer each day, but they always come out at some point!

You are ALWAYS up early! Your inner clock will not let you sleep a minute past 7:00, and usually, you are up by 6:15 or 6:30.

You love singing.

You like puppies a lot! You also like stuffed animal puppies for bedtime. Often, when we get you out of bed, you are still a little sleepy and grumpy. The first thing you say is "Puppy, Blanket!" We take them with us downstairs for you to wake up.

You still play with your belly button (sometimes we think it's for comfort, but mostly it seems to be fun).

At Kiran's gym performance doing a little performing of your own!


When given 2 choices, you always say the last word we say. If we ask, "Do you want pink or blue (bows, for example), you would say "blue." But, if asked the other way you'd say pink. We've given you some pretty goofy choices to check this out, and your answers make us crack up!

You love to count, especially for Hide-N-Seek. You've been counting 8, 9, 10 since before Christmas, and now you can say most numbers to 10!

You are drawing circles. You love to drag stuff out of our craft shelves (pipe cleaners, etc.) You especially love crayons and drawing on your easel.

You are quite an independent little girl! You have been feeding yourself for several months but have practically refused help at all for a couple of months now! You come around occasionally when you can't get those last couple of bites in your spoon! You like to walk up the stairs holding our hands now - no carrying! You like to get your own bowl and silverware out of the drawer for meals. You try and put your pants on. You like to wipe your own nose. You are starting to stall and give me a head tilt and stinker smile when I ask for help cleaning up instead of your recent (maybe a month ago) excellent cooperation! You still love to sing the "Clean up" song though.

I took a quick shower one day and got out to find my two sweeties doing this!

Pushing Kiran around in the dump truck! You both get a huge kick out of this!

You love riding Rody, pushing your stroller and cart, playing in the kitchen, playing pretend with phone calls, doing anything Kiran is doing, taking care of your baby, getting your coat on to go outside (and always emphasize, "Hood" to make sure we get that on too), being silly with Kiran

You love brushing your teeth and always have. Now, you have a new trick - spitting! You love spitting next to brother. The other night was priceless watching the two of you go at it and giggling at each other the whole time!

Washing dishes with brother and Mommy
Shaking the rice in the yogurt cup shaker we taped together dancing to some fun "Going Green" music
Giving Baby a Bath (in your first baby bath tub from the hospital)

You are very sensitive and caring toward others. Yesterday, Kiran said "Ouch" after he had hurt himself a little. You reached over and patted him, then held your hand out and said "Hep you."

We just had your 18 months doctor appointment on Thursday, Jan. 29th, because you needed a shot that we had to wait for and because you have been sick with an ear infection. You did such a great job at the doctor's office the past 2 times! You used to get so upset upon walking into the room and especially upon seeing a nurse. But, you barely even cried for your shots the other day, and you had a great time getting so much attention from the nurse and doctor. You LOVED your "saur" and circus band-aids! I have to post some photos I took from my new iPhone (some day this will date Mommy, but for now, I'm in the technologically cool crowd, I think, after getting a hand-me-down from Daddy). I am not, however, in the cool geek crowd because I don't know how to get to them downloaded until Daddy gets home! :) You are very healthy! You weigh 21 lbs and 6.5 oz. (around 10-20% on the charts). You are 32" tall (exactly 50% on the charts).


We love you for everything that makes you, you! And, we are so grateful to be your parents. We look forward to these months leading up to your 2nd birthday to see how you grow and change even more!

a sweet thought

Just sharing something sweet about my kiddos. Tonight before bed, Kiran had extra lotion on his hands and was asking what he should do about it. I told him that he could put it on my hands or on Ellery. He carefully bent down and rubbed it on his sister's belly, arms and legs. She loved it!

Then, after I turned out the light but before our book with Flash (Kiran's special bedtime flashlight), Ellery ran over and started tucking Kiran in bed, saying "Tuck, tuck!" It was super cute!

snow play

Today we woke up to snow! So, even though everyone was a little under the weather (and we later today discovered that Ellery has an ear infection), we all managed to get outside for a few minutes and enjoyed our first snow this winter! We read a new fun and interesting book from Cookie and Papa called "Snowflake Bentley" (about the first person to study and take pictures of snowflakes), and we had yummy hot chocolate and coffee in front of our new wood stove. A great day!


Studying the snow!

Playing snow baseball!

A first snowball fight!

Snow is yummy!


The funniest thing is that Ellery had her tongue out practically the whole time we were outside. We're not sure if she was trying to catch snowflakes or if it was just the coolest new trick she has!


Boots!
Daddy finally feeling well enough to unload the firewood that he cut on Friday

The view from our backyard this morning!


My Cuties!

A hug for Daddy!

Snowy days are awesome!

Trying to get Sister to eat more snow!




Daddy teaching the kids to catch snowflakes in their mouths!

Making Tracks!

Our Christmas and New Year Adventures

What a fun few weeks we have spent with family! On Dec. 11th, we started our long drive to TX. We had a blast as we always do on road trips. The car activities, snow in parts of TN, endless singing of Jingle Bells, hotel fun, anticipation of seeing family and friends, and runs through the Starbucks drive-thru (thanks to our gift card from Cookie and Papa) kept the trip exciting!

We arrived at Nat and Keri's house on Friday night, and Addie, Doak, and Nat greeted us with great big smiles and hugs! Then, the kids were off and playing. Kiran and Ellery loved getting so much time with their cousins. On Saturday, Cookie and Papa arrived. We all waited outside for them to pull into the driveway, and Kiran and Addie ran straight for big hugs! It was so great to see Jeff's family!

Then, we headed to Dallas to meet my parents and get ready for RACE DAY! Yea, it was wonderful to see Mom and Dad (Granna and Grandad)! We picked up my race packet, and then went to a park not too far from the hotel and enjoyed playing outside before dinner. Kiran chased Granna all around the park trying to toss leaves on her. Dad hung out with Ellery, following her all over the place. Our good family friend, Eddie, came with my parents, and he was so helpful! He was familiar with downtown Dallas and knew right where to find the park and other locations. Time for our big race dinner - Sarah found a great pizza place, and we met her and Kurt and Amanda there. Yea! Now, everybody's here! Let's do this race!




(See the upcoming Race Day post for more on the big event!)
So, the race was awesome, and now time for some rest, relaxation and more time with family. We took some photos and spent time playing outside with my family before heading back to Nat and Keri's for Christmas with Jeff's Family.These photos were taken by Chera. She had taken shots of Nat and Keri before, and we were always amazed with their pictures. So we arranged for some family photos while we were all there together. It was fun, and she did a great job!


We had the best time at Natalie and Keri's house. They were so sweet to host Christmas this year! Some of my favorite memories were reading of "The Gruffalo" book, the grownups taking countless turns playing Gruffalo while the kids hid, the kids dancing to Jingle Bells and Rudolph, the kids dressing up in princess dresses (princess dresses are apparently just as cool as construction worker clothes :), taking Kiran and Addie to see a movie with Nat and Keri (thanks for babysitting Cookie and Papa!), Yahtzee with all of the grownups, seeing how much Doak had grown, visiting with Nat and Keri after the kids are asleep (always a favorite), and just seeing our kids having fun with family since we don't get to do this very often!


We then drove with Cookie and Papa to their house for a couple of days of fun there. Papa had the day off, and it was his birthday! Kiran, Ellery, and Papa had fun building with Kiran's new peg building set and some of Daddy's old Legos. Papa, Jeff and Kiran worked on Papa's wood pile and made a very nice fire for us! We went to Cookie's school, and Kiran got to stay with Cookie for the rest of the afternoon. He loved it! After leaving Kiran with Cookie, we decided to take Ellery to the doctor. She had a double ear infection! She healed quickly with the medicine and felt better in no time! Thanks, Papa, for helping us find a doctor and for going to the doctor with Ellery and me! Ellery fell asleep on me in the doctor's office (unheard of! she was really feeling bad!), and I really enjoyed talking with my father-in-law while we waited. Jeff and I both feel so blessed to have such wonderful in-laws! Thanks, Cookie and Papa for such a special time!


The next morning, we drove to my parents house to spend a little time with my Dad and to pick up my Mom and take her back to TN with us for a 2-week visit! Woo-hoo! Even though it was a short visit, we got in lots of quality time with Grandad! The kids played all over the place and rode the Gator again. Kiran helped Grandad pick up pecans, and when Eddie, Skint and Geral came out for a quick visit, Eddie taught Kiran how to play golf! It was Granna's birthday, and the kids welcomed her home from work with lots of hugs! We had birthday cake, opened presents, and played on a new wooden motorcycle my Dad bought for the kids. It was hard to say goodbye to Grandad the next morning. He was so wonderful to encourage Mom to take a long vacation with us through the Christmas holidays. Thank you, Daddy!

Now, for the even longer road trip home! Yea- Granna is along for the ride! We all had a great time playing games with Granna in the car. The kids loved for her to read books and most of all, to play tickle! We had 2 hotel stops and made great time the 1st and 3rd days of the trip. The 2nd day seemed like lots of bathroom stops and an interesting detour in Little Rock! When we got about 30 minutes from home, Kiran started feeling sick, and the next day we made a trip to the doctor to discover he had Tonsillitis! He was a sick little boy for a couple of days, but bounced right back by Tues. afternoon. During the first part of the week, Mom was so awesome to help me clean the house (you know, the stuff like under the oven, the grout on the countertops - the stuff that makes you feel really clean - and the stuff that rarely gets done otherwise:)! And, it was really fun for us to be able to do this together! Then, it was time for us to get ready for Christmas. Again, Mom was so sweet to keep the kids and get them ready for bed while Mommy and Daddy did some last minute shopping! And, Granna was a trooper this week getting up ready to go with our early risers!

Jeff picked up our new wood stove after work on Christmas Eve! That evening, we decorated the Christmas tree, played Christmas music and danced! On Christmas Day, we all slept a little later (7:00, I think)! We Skyped with my dad which was awesome! The kids had so much fun playing with new toys and opening presents. Kiran's Big Wheel ("motorcycle") was a huge hit! We had a blast taking it to the tennis court and watching him drive all over the place! Ellery loved pushing her stroller all over the house, and now she is learning to ride her Okiedog Fropper, too! The rest of the day, Jeff worked very hard to get our wood stove going! He did an amazing job, and we were all sitting by a cozy fire by that evening!



We love having a fire! Thanks for your hard work, Daddy! Hanging out by the new wood stove!

On Friday, Granna made Christmas cookies with the kids! They had a blast, and I was amazed by how it kept their attention! They really enjoyed using cookie cutters, and they sneaking a few bites of cookie dough! One of the kids' favorite things to play this week was Hide-n-Seek! Ellery was especially crazy about it and anytime we said someone was coming, she got so excited, said "Hide!," and ran to put a blanket on top of her. The funny thing is this girl can stay under a blanket for about 5 minutes without making a peep. It's hilarious! On Saturday, Jeff took a turn keeping the kids while Mom and I went shopping. That was really a fun and special time for us! We decided that we probably haven't shopped together since I was in college - WOW!



On Saturday, Kurt and Amanda arrived! They got to stay for a week, and we loved having them here! We had our family Christmas on Sunday, and my Dad got to Skype with us again! The kids had a blast playing with Kurt and Amanda (and Sammy Jo)! We had plans to go to a couple of fun play places that our kids love, but our schedule didn't work with holiday business hours. Instead, we went to a new place that had indoor games and outdoor rides. Kiran was so brave and had so much fun riding rides with Aunt Amanda and checking out all of the games. My favorite memories are playing "What time is it, Mr. Fox?" in the backyard with the kids, baking with Amanda and Mom, watching some football, seeing Kurt put in a pantry door and fixing an island kind of thing in our kitchen (Yippee - thank you so much Kurt! - be sure and check out the pictures. He did incredible work in just 2 days!), watching tv and playing Apples to Apples after the kids went to bed, going to Calhoun's, and taking pictures at the Gristmill. Mom got sick for a couple of days while she was here. It was no fun for her! Amanda took great care of her though, and we finished the week with everyone healthy and lots of fun activities! What a fun and special week! Thanks Mom, Kurt, and Amanda for coming so far to spend this time with us!

A Birthday Celebration for Daddy! (those are breakfast burritos in case you are wondering)!
The reason we needed a pantry door! Busted!
And here it is! Woo-hoo!


Just as we took the pantry picture above, our doorbell rang and it was the FedEx truck. We had been waiting all week for this Christmas present from Granna and Grandad. It made it just before Mom, Kurt and Amanda left. Jeff and the kids put most of their new kitchen together that night while I was at Girl's Night. I was amazed when I got home! We all finished the rest in the morning. They have had a blast playing with it!


Thanks to all our readers for your patience. You see, this blog is as much our family journal as it is an opportunity to share experiences with our family and friends. So, this is a long blog because we didn't want to leave anything out (though I definitely did), and because it is long, it takes me a while to write it and post pictures. Also, I am one of these folks that does one thing at a time, so while we were having fun with family, I didn't want to spend one minute of energy writing! There were too many photos to upload to the blog, so you will see much more of our adventure if you click here