Picture of the Day

I just LOVE this scarf my Aunt D made for Miss Ellie! It has been freezing- it was 19* when I started my car this morning...brrrrr!!! It will sure be put to good use!

Ellie's 1st Birthday Party!

Ellie's 1st birthday celebration started this weekend with a Minnie Mouse Party...her official birthday is Thursday, November 11th (Veteran's Day). I have to admit, I am still a little girl myself and love all things pink and sparkley. I didn't want to get out of control with her 1st birthday, since she will not remember it at all, but it still a special occassion and I wanted her to look back on pictures and know how special and how loved she is! I was all over the place with ideas, so I finally decided I need a theme and went with the classic Minnie Mouse. I had help from lots of crafty and creative friends and family and was VERY pleased with the outcome of the party. Esteban sometimes jokes that he is worried because Ellie doesn't have many little people friends (that live around us), but I was thankful for that the party was mostly adults. We will have years of little ones running all around to enjoy...but I felt like it was crazy enough getting ready for my 1st "kid" birthday party.

The first step to the party planning was to chat with Mrs. Carolyn Lewis (she is the mother-in-law of my friend and co-worker, Katie Lewis. Mrs. Lewis lives a few miles away and LOVES babies...especially Ellie). Mrs. Lewis also LOVES to do anything that involves paper crafts. She has a one of my dream rooms- a room in her house fully stocked of paper cutting machines, ribbon, glitter, cool markers, and more...it's wonderful! I originally showed Mrs. Lewis a picture I found online of a birthday invitation that I was wanting to create. I was just hoping she would be willing to cut out the Minnie Mouse heads on her fancy machine and I was going to do the rest... but she went above and beyond and made these adorable invitations! (see below) I made the "mistake" of showing her a website that had lots of Minnie Mouse decorations and such.... so she lovingly went to town creating the most precious handmade decorations.

The adorable invitations!

Decorations on the front door

and throughout the house...

Ellie's 1st year book we made on Shutterfly.

Cake pops!! See my friend, Ashley's, blog for more details! They are delicious!

More Cake Pops!

Next, another crafty friend has a home embrodary business and made this shirt for Ellie... check out her website and see all of her handy work!

I was inspired to make a cake myself. I love baking and was up for the challenage. Yet another creative friend, Jennifer Williamson, had recently made birthday cakes for her little girls Princess and Toy Story themed parties. She was sweet enough to help me learn how to use fondant- which is SO MUCH EASIER THEN IT LOOKS!!! I had a lot of fun with the cake and look forward to making many more in the future.

Here is the cake before the ears and black ribbon went on...

Ellie's "Smash Cake"

THE Cake...with cupcakes

My sister, mom and Christa (AJ's sweet girlfriend) helped me get all the food ready and decorate the house. (Esteban helped hang the streamers as well) Before we knew it, people were ringing the door bell and the party was on!

Aunt Kelly and Teagan- 2 of Ellie's favorites!

The cake again.

Watching the J-E-T-S game before present time...only for you B. Strauss!

Our little family!

Ellie loved seeing all of her friends and it is so funny to watch her with different people. She is starting to recognize and remember certain friends and family members and has special ways of interacting with each. (I need to get more pictures with Ellie & her guests from the other cameras!!)

Ellie "reading" her picture book with Uncle AJ and Christa.

Ellie and her "Uncle Chuck"

Ellie was pretty good with opening the presents. She especially loved the toy phone Amber and Frank gave her. Brian and Meredith gave her a bag full of books- Ellie loves looking through books. When we were done opening presents Ellie clapped, so everyone started clapping...it was too cute.

I was anxious to see how the cake would go...but I shouldn't have been surprised that she was very delicate and danity- the way she is with everything. She just took little bites at a time, but soon enough had pink all of her. She was not nearly as messy as I imagined.

Now time to play!!!

Thank you to all the sweet friends and family who were there to make Ellie's 1st birthday so special for us and for her! We are so thankful that she is loved by so many!!! We are looking forward to Ellie having lots of little friends/cousins in the future to share many more birthdays with...with all the weddings we have had this year it shouldn't be too much longer :)

November is here!!

Can you believe it is November?! I can't, but I love it! I took off Monday and we have off today (Tuesday) for Election day- so I have been enjoying a nice 4 day weekend. We haven't done anything crazy with this time off, but it has been nice to spend more time with Esteban, hang out with Ellie all day, and do chores around the house! Yes, I just said I have ENJOYED chores. Our laundry room was starting to have more clothes then our closets. I finally had time to organize that mess and do some other cleaning around the house.

I can honestly say I feel refreshed and motivated to finished out the rest of the semester. Part of that excitement probably comes from the fact that the semester is pretty much wrapping up! I have 3 days this week, 2 weeks of regular schedule, then a WHOLE WEEK for Thanksgiving break!!! Once we get back from Thanksgiving there are end of course tests and reviewing for finals, and block schedules...whew, I thought this semester was never going to end. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I hate my job- but I LOVE the time I get to be home with Ellie and Esteban so much more!!

Here are a few pictures from this past weekend...again, nothing too exciting but what fun is a post without pictures?

My dad and Ellie at Krissy's soccer game Saturday. It was BEAUTIFUL outside and Ellie had so much fun playing on the blanket and talking to everyone that walked by. The Raines' family was up there for Kelly's game after Krissy and Ellie finally got to meet them!! Hopefully we will take some pictures together next time. It was so great to see them!

Just another Sunday morning breakfast with Ellie...she isn't typically THIS messy :0)

Bibs!!

Ellie is now 11 1/2 months old!!! I can't believe how fast time has gone by. Ellie is at such a fun stage right now and I love seeing her personality develop more and more. I am having a lot of fun planning her 1st birthday party! I want to show some pictures, but I am going to hold off and share all the fun at once. I am blessed to have lots of talented people in my life that LOVE Ellie, so we have had fun making the invitiations and tutu by hand- and practiced making the cake. Her birthday shirt will be hand made by another friend! Let's just say, this party was prepared with lots of LOVE.

Check out the 2 pictures below with 2 of her prettiest bibs- the kind of bibs you don't want to use when they are eating.

The first one is homemade by my dear friend, Britney (Smith) Miner's grandma. I was texting Britney this morning while Ellie was eating breakfast and I remembered she was in Savannah with her grandma this weekend. Her grandpa recently passed away and Britney and her sister, Kaley, took their grandma on a little trip. Her grandma has always been so sweet to me and I thought she'd enjoy to see a picture of her hard work in use :)

The second one is from another good friend, Amber Scates (soon to be Amber Heery!) It is just too cute for words!

Good thing Ellie had bananas and cheerios for breakfast so the bibs stayed nice and pretty!

UTC Homecoming

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Oh Happy Fall

I just LOVE this time of year. I love the color changes in the trees, I love pumpkin patches, I love candy corn, I love the weather in the south, and I love college football! Esteban and I took Ellie up to Chattanooga this past weekend for UTC's Homecoming Game vs. Georgia Southern. It was Ellie's 1st UTC game and she was great! She got a little scared with the loud crowd during a touchdown, but I think it made her want to just sit in my lap the whole game. We had a lot of fun and really enjoyed being up there. Being homecoming, Esteban ran into some old players and remininsed about the good ole' days :)

See above for a family picture at the game- 2nd largest crowd in school history!

I'm Back!

Ok, so I know it has been way too long since I have posted. Volleyball season is over and I feel like a new person! It is so nice to leave school at 3:oo pm and have no obligations but to love on Ellie. Speaking of Ellie, she is playing with her babydoll and giving her kisses over and over again as I type this. My sister, Krissy, taught Ellie how to give Eskimo Kisses (or "noses" as we call it to Ellie).

I will do my best to update the blog now that I have more free time! Here are a few pictures for now...

Ellie 10 1/2 months old...hanging out in her PJs before breakfast.

Current favorite thing to say "Uh oh"

With my mom and Krissy before Homecoming