From a guppy to a goldfish

Goofing off with Hallie

Floating on the raft with Miss Megan

Waiting her turn for the slide





Floating on her back

Putting her hands "like a pillow" so she's ready float



Hi Mom

Ellery loved her teacher

Ellery had her last day of swimming boot camp on Friday. It was as dark as night outside, the skies had just opened up, and tornado warnings were in full effect. I called Houston Swim Club to see if they would still be holding lessons, and of course they were. I wanted to miss so bad, especially since I was going to have to wake Ellery up from her nap to get us there on time. However, they told me it was a special class because parents get to sit pool side and take pictures and the kids are given awards at the end of class. So, I felt I owed it to Ellery to get us there. She did so well throughout the entire two weeks, made so much progress, and I wanted her to get her much-deserved award. She was promoted from a guppy to a goldfish and we will now be doing maintenance classes a couple times a week for the next month. Her certificate says she has satisfactorily completed these skills: comfortable in water, puts face in water, breath control (bubbles), glides, kicks with barbells, back floats, rolls over, turns and climbs out of pool, and retrieves rings.

I am glad we attended and I got to get a few picture of our girl in action before my camera battery died.

Part 2 and a funny story

We got together with the extended family after lunch. It was a hard Easter especially for Papa, since it was the first one without Nanny. Hopefully having all of his kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids around made it a little bit easier.

Aunt Sherry helping Ellery take a swing at the pinata. This was E's first pinata experience and she thought it was the coolest thing ever. After the pinata, they all went outside to hunt Easter eggs. Of course, there was the treasured prize egg. Family traditions are so much fun.

After church we went to lunch with my family. Ellery carried Bolt wherever she went that day. Today she tried to see if Bolt would rescue her like he does Penny in the movie. It was hilarious. She kept saying, "Zoom, zoom Bolt. Zoom, zoom."

The Easter bunny visited us at lunch. She kept telling him thank you for bringing her Bolt.

Okay, I think I figured my blogger problem out. Yeah. Here are some more pictures from the weekend. Oh, and the funny story from today has to do with a little issue at swimming lessons. Ellery has been taking swim lessons for the past two weeks. We have to go every day for two weeks and then she can start on a maintenance program. I was not looking forward to this two week boot camp but I have to say it has been the best thing for her. The first three days she cried her way through the lesson. Seems my little girl does not really like being told what to do, especially when it involves diving her head underwater. I don't really blame her. But, on the fourth day she started loving her lessons and enjoying her new skills.

So today was that day for her, meaning it had been four days since her last bowel movement. I can always tell D-day because she starts tip-toeing more, asking to be held a lot, and not really wanting to run around and play. Well, I keep telling her she needs to try to go before getting into the water but she wasn't having it. I make the hands-down best decision of the day (or maybe week) and decide to put her in a swim diaper just in case. As I am watching from the window, I can see her straining and telling the teacher something probably to the likes of, "My poopy hurts." I am thinking, oh no. I am wondering if anyone else is watching what is going down. I decide to break the rules and go into the pool area and ask her teacher if I need to get her. The teacher shakes her head no and says she is fine. Hmmmmm...maybe she didn't go. Fast forward to the end of the lesson. They all get out of the pool to make their way to the slide. Ellery gets out and practically has a tail from her massive pooping incident. I am just laughing by now as I watch an instructor go up to her and turn her around to get a look at it. They then send her back to me to do a seriously dirty diaper change. It was disgusting. She is humilitated but crying even more because she didn't get to participate on the slide. She rushes back to finish the last 2 minutes of class. Life with a toddler who only poops twice a week! Thank the Lord for swim diapers.

Picture overload Part 1

Our weekend in pictures! It was a wonderful Easter weekend with family. My dad was sick all weekend though, and so Poppy was unable to be a part of all the festivities. We missed him! We enjoyed having Paige and Taylor here so much and are always sad when they have to go home.

Getting set up to color eggs

"My Paige" as E calls her

Look how pretty!

Can't forget the princess stickers as the final touches

In honor of Nanny we present our first bunny cake

This was our first attempt and it is sure to get better each year

Celebrating the birthday girl again!

Price loving his bath in the sink

Ellery got the dog Bolt in her Easter basket...she is in love with the movie.

Price in his Easter duds

I will post the rest of the pictures tomorrow. I am having a hard time with blogger and uploading pictures in an orderly fashion, as evidenced by my previous crazy posts. I spend forever getting them to look good and the minute I hit "publish post" they go all funky on me.

Easter and Birthdays

***Can someone please explain to me why most posts come out looking so crazy? Sorry but I am giving up trying to fix it this time.

We have had so much going on this past week and this weekend, but I didn't want to get behind on posting pictures. Last weekend, we had an Easter egg hunt with our neighbor friends. We have the most wonderful neighbors.

Ellery, Taylor, and Carter

This weekend we are celebrating Paige's birthday and Easter with the family. We attended a service on Thursday night in which we were able to really take time to think about Christ's death on the cross. Tomorrow we will rejoice that He is Risen!

Last night we went out to celebrate Paige's birthday! We also went on a little girls shopping trip to Nordstroms - my mom, Paige, and I - during the day. I love spending time, just the 3 of us. We laugh together and are brutally honest with one another, whether it is when trying on clothes or picking out baby names. I now am 100% sure that skinny jeans are NOT for me (I was 95% sure of that already) and Paige knows how we feel about her future baby name choices. No, she's not pregnant. We were just having fun!

We went to Tony's for dinner and the dessert we had was called The Bomb. It is seriously the biggest ice cream cake I have ever seen. And it tastes even better than it looks!

Ellery had her first slumber party last night. My sweet (although I told her she might be crazy) friend Tiffany offered to keep Ellery over night at their house. Somehow 2 little girls turned into 3 and it was a full on party! Tiff says they did great although they didn't sleep much! I am sure there will be some funny stories and pictures that will surface soon!

More on the weekend in another post...we are off to carry on my Nanny's tradition of coloring Easter eggs. We will miss her so much this Easter!


Oh and here is a picture of Pricey. I don't want to leave him out. How he ever managed to sit all 23 pounds of him upright I am not sure!

Play date with Ford

Ford came over last week and Nathan captured some pics of the boys. Ford is about 3 months younger than Price. I can't wait to see what the future holds for these two!

And the four boys!

A Big Girl Bed Dilemna

Tuesday night we decided that we would finally put together Ellery's big girl bed and let her make the transition. We had been talking it up to her and were confident she could handle it. The rule was that a big girl bed meant no pacifiers. Her dentist encouraged us to get rid of the paci by age three so this was what I came up with. I was so sure she would want to be out of her crib that she would gladly give up her paci. I am sure you see where all of this is headed....I completely under-estimated her attachment to her paci.

I remember saying to Nathan, "No turning back on this paci thing." Famous last words. Ellery was all ready for bed, so excited about her new princess sheets, and enjoying bouncing around on her new bed. We broke out the camera and took pictures and Ellery gladly put her pacifiers in a bag and bragged about how she was giving them to baby Emery. So we tuck her in, say prayers, and leave the room. About 10 minutes later, we hear her crying for mama and daddy. I go back in to see what is wrong and she tells me that she is not ready for her big girl bed and instead wants to sleep in her baby bed with her paci. It was too late to deal with any of it at this point, so we make the change and put her in her crib.

Fast forward to this afternoon. I decided that maybe we would try one change at a time. I got to thinking that no diapers, no paci, and a new bed were a lot of changes at once for an almost three-year-old. I make the decision that she could sleep with her paci in her new bed and I will deal with getting rid of it down the road. I really do not care that she still uses one and in fact, I think I will really miss seeing it in her mouth at night and during nap times. It keeps her somewhat of a baby in my mind I guess. I just don't want her teeth to suffer any consequences from having used one for so long.

Well, she seemed excited about my change of heart and laid down in her big girl bed for a nap. As I am walking out of the room, however, she tells me that she wants back in her baby crib and that maybe she will be ready for a big girl bed when she is three! I try to talk up the bed and all of it's great benefits, but my girl is set on being in the crib. How long can they stay in those things? I am sure there is some sort of weight limit!

Ready for baby Emery! Did I mention that E still uses newborn pacifiers? The round ones! She sucks on them out of the side of her mouth like a pipe. This is what has caused one of her front teeth to not fully descend. We made sure that Pricey took the Nuk from the get-go.

Saying her prayers

All ready for bed...we think.

Trip to Southlake

We had a great weekend getaway to Southlake to visit Paige and Taylor. We had been planning this weekend for awhile because of the Race for Wishes event Paige was planning for the Make -A -Wish Foundation. We packed all of our "racing" gear and the double jogger and then woke up to freezing temperatures and gusting wind Saturday morning. It was COLD. I wasn't going to miss it though. If Paige could get up and out in the elements at 3:30 a.m., then we could do it! So we bundled up the kiddos and headed to the Ft. Worth Stockyards. There was face-painting, clowns, lots of good food, but not a lot of runner or walkers! We still enjoyed our hour there though and Ellery managed to eat a couple bites of a donut before having to get her hands back into her gloves! We were so proud of Paige and her co-workers - it was a fun event for a very special cause.

We warmed ourselves up over Mexican food at Mi Cocina in the Southlake Town Center and then went back to their house for much-needed naps. Later that afternoon, Paige and I took Ellery to this place called Sweet and Sassy. It is a little boutique and "spa" for girls. They have a salon, mani/pedi station, and then an area for birthday parties with dress-up clothes and a miniature runway. It was super cute and Ellery enjoyed her first mani/pedi. It was so fun watching her pick out her nail polish colors and lotion (vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry)! I must admit though, that watching the girls at the birthday party was a little disturbing to me. They were probably 5 or 6 and acting about 13 with their up-dos and outfits. It was just too much for this mom - maybe I will feel differently when E is a few years older? Or maybe not. Ellery watched a couple girls getting their ears pierced and confidently told me that it was time to get her ears pierced as well. Funny girl!

Saturday night we just stayed in and hung out. Ellery was obsessed with her Aunt Paige and Uncle Taylor this trip. She just couldn't get enough and had so much fun being away from home. In fact, Price loved it too. He slept better and later than he ever has before, waking up at 8am each morning. He was Mr. Smiley all weekend and Paige got some fun laughs out of him. Paige was the first one to get a great laugh out of Ellery when she was a baby, and so she must have the special touch.

Sunday we packed up and made a couple of stops on our way out of town. The first one was to meet up with Jody and her two girls. They were driving towards Ft. Worth and so we were going to cross paths and couldn't miss the opportunity to see each other, even if it was only for 3o minutes. Ellery, Emily, and Taylor picked right back up where they left off last summer, not missing a beat. Jody and I are the same way so it was sweet to see that bond between our girls.

We then met Bebe and Pops for a quick bite to eat in Arlington. Of course, Ellery and Price were delighted to see them. Ellery practically took her pants off at the restaurant to show them her big girl panties. She was so proud to show them off! They are always so willing to drive to us and after making the drive ourselves, we are so grateful they do!

On the way home, Tiffany and I were texting back and forth. They had been visiting her parents in Weatherford over the weekend and were headed back home as well. She texted me the mile-marker they were at and it happened to be the same one we were about to be at - so fun! So we had a caravan home and enjoyed a great snack/potty break together. Then mom had a huge lapse of judgment and regretted it most of the trip home. I suggested that Madi Kate take Ellery's movie, Bolt, for the trip home and we take one of theirs. Since Ellery had watched it 5 times already, I thought it would be fun for them to do a little swap. I learned my lesson because Ellery screamed and carried on for about 45 minutes about Penny and Bolt. Afterall, it was her brand new movie her dad had bought her especially for the trip. We tried everything - bribing her with gum, candy, her pacifier (we just wanted a quiet trip home, can you blame us?). Nothing worked and it was getting ridiculous. We knew she was exhausted from the weekend and no naps, but it was out of control. So we had our first pullover on the side of the road. We actually exited from the freeway to be safe and happened to be among the most beautiful field of bluebonnets and wildflowers. Nathan calmed little miss down and I joked about how perfect the setting would have been for pictures (the sun was setting and everything) minus the splotchy, snotty, red-faced little girl.















Ellery and Paige cheering on the racers. Doesn't Ellery look miserable? If you look closely, I think you can see some frozen glaze from her donut all over face.


















P was all bundled! No one told me my swoosh was on upside-down. What a dork.


























First pedi.


























Checking them out.

















Pretty toes!

























First mani.



















And pretty fingers to match. Check out the cute flower they paint on them and glitter spray!















Emily, Ellery, and Taylor. Jody and I think Taylor and Ellery will be college roomies like we were. We think they might go to UT though if their dads have anything to do with it.



















Pit stop with my BFF and strawberry milk - does it get any better? I LOVE these two girls!

And Price turned 7 months on Sunday! Yummy carrots.