Making Muffins!

Ellie LOVES helping out in the kitchen. She helped me with muffins one morning for breakfast. Recently, she has also started helping rinse the dishes. This is one of her favorite things to do - we both usually end up soaking wet! :) I'm hoping to work myself out of a job with the dishes thing!

Night Night Time

I couldn't resist putting this picture up... It was taken right before we started reading books. I left to room to do something and when I got back she was sitting there ready and waiting. I thought it was too sweet to pass up!

Picnic on the Deck

We are really enjoying having a deck at our new house! One particularly nice day we decided to have a picnic on the deck - I think this is something we'll do a lot!

Dollhouse Fun!

Ellie loves playing with her dollhouse. We keep it up in the closet in only bring it out occasionally to keep it as a special toy. We've found that if we rotate the toys out and only keep a few at a time, she plays with them so much more that having a bunch all at once. She really enjoys the dollhouse and interacts with the family. I was washing dishes one day and Ellie brought the baby to me and said "This baby has a stinky diaper." She wanted me to change the baby, but I reminded her that Mama's hands were all wet and she would have to do it. She put the baby down and "changed" him, and went back on playing. She's going to be a good little helper with our new baby!! By the way - notice I said "washing dishes." It's really not good to get used to a dishwasher and then move to a house without one!! :) I am learning to be thankful for this new chore.. We found a picture that says "Count Your Blessings", and thought it might be a good idea to put it up in front of the sink so I can look at it as I wash... I'm not so sure about this! :)

Pigtails

We experimented with new hairstyles one day and Ellie decided that she really likes pigtails! She would gently touch them and say "Mama, I like tails!" She is talking so much now. It is amazing to us how quickly she picks up on things. The other day I told her to do something and she said, "Mama, wait just a minute, okay? I be right back..." and ran off. Chris heard her say this as well, and although it was a sneaky little plight at disobedience, we were so excited that our daughter - not yet two years old - put so many words together! How quickly she is growing up - time really does fly when you're having fun!

A New Friend

Our new neighbors have four children - a seven and five year old, and twins that were born a month after Elliana. The five year old is a little girl named Lilyana, and she and Elliana have become fast friends. They always call each other by their name, which sound so much alike!! It's really nice to have children around for Ellie to play with.

A Morning With Aunt Shannon!

My sister, Shannon, came over one morning to go to Storytime with us. She helped Ellie with her little project that we had to make for the lesson, while I worked on unpacking some boxes. Elliana loves spending time with Aunt Shannon, and it's always nice to have an extra set of hands around!

Baby Goats

We love our new house and neighbors so much. Our neighbors next door have a little mini-farm. Whenever we tell people this they immediately ask "Do you live out in the country?" Well, we don't live in the country - in fact, we're only 3 minutes from the grocery store!! :) However, we have really enjoy getting to see goats and chickens from our back deck each and every day. Not long after we moved in two baby goats were born. When they were about a week old they invited us over to see them. We have fallen in love with these goats!!! When our neighbors move (which will be pretty soon), we might just have to get a few goats!! :)

Storytime with Miss Shelly!!

Elliana and I attended the Winter Lapsit Storytime program at the Library. What a great time we had!! The last session was a few weeks ago, and Ellie has asked almost every day if we are going to see "Miss Shirley." (Her name is really Shelly, but Ellie seems to only want to call her Shirley! She doesn't seem to mind!) We are signed up for the Spring session which will start sometime in April. Being the library nut that I am, I so excited that my daughter is just as enthralled with books and going to the library!

We Have EXCITING News...

Drumroll, please... Baby #2 is on the way!! We are very happy to announce that we are expecting another little blessing from the Lord!! Our due date is September 11, 2008, which makes us about seven weeks along now! We had an ultrasound yesterday and were able to see the baby and hear the heart beating. We are very excited about what God has in store for our family. Elliana has no idea what she is in for! We've been telling her that Mommy has a baby in her tummy and talking about baby brother or sister. After her bath a few nights ago, she looked down at her tummy and said "Baby in dare (there!)!" Hmmm... I think we've confused her!! :) Just wanted to share the wonderful news. We are praying that the Lord will prepare us and strengthen us for another little one. So, what's your guess... a boy or a girl? Comment and let us know!!

Psalm 127:3-5
Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Bi-Lo Shopping Trips!!

I know... you guys are going to think I'm crazy for putting a picture of groceries on our website!! I just wanted to share what great deals we received at Bi-Lo last week. They were having a triple coupon special - I rarely shop at Bi-Lo, but this was too good to resist. This meant that any coupon up to $.99 they would triple. I am a coupon saver, and had many coupons to use for this. Many items that we got were free, because the trippled coupon was the same or more than the cost of the item. For many products, there was an overage - they paid us to buy it! We bought this in two different trips. The second trip I wanted to have a $40 budget. I didn't bring the calculator in, so I couldn't keep up with my totals. While the cashier was ringing up the stuff, I kept watching the totals creeping up and up.... I kept thinking, "I know this will be more than $40. Lord, please let all those coupons bring it down to $40." Just about three seconds later a lady from another line walked over and gives me a $10 off $100 purchase coupon. She said she didn't need it and thought I could use it!! Well, the final total was... $39.40!!! I was so excited - Praise the Lord!! Isn't it neat how He cares about even the small details of our lives! We got over $280.00 worth of groceries for less than $80.00!! We're stocked up on many things for a really long time! Now if you think this is crazy, just wait until I tell you about the 10 huge bags or free M&Ms that we got at CVS!! If you've had a craving for M&Ms, come on over, we've got them!!

It's a Pizza Party!

Ellie had a blast helping me make pizza last weekend. She also thought that pizza dough was not just fun to play with, but also to eat!! I knew there was a reason why I haven't gotten any playdough for her yet!! Our finished product was quite tasty!!

Yummy Soy Joys!

We had a whole bunch of Soy Joy bars after one of my CVS runs where I was practically paid to purchase them. After trying them, we quickly discovered that Ellie is the only one that likes them. Oh well - at least she will eat them! I'll post about my CVS run and my HUGE triple coupon Bi-Lo run in the next few days. I'm hooked on this bargain shopping thing, thanks to Crystal at www.moneysavingmom.com

Aquarium Fun!

We had blast at the Aquarium last weekend!! Thanks to Mimi and Papa John for giving us a season pass! I think we'll be going quite often. Chris and I especially loved the penguins and butterflies. Ellie loved the fish and talked about them for the rest of the day! Chris has decided that she needs a fishtank for her new big girl room. We'll have to work on that one!

Elliana's First Ponytail!!

After much effort on Mommy's part - Ellie sported a new hair style (for a few minutes anyway!) I think it's going to be a little longer before we can get her to wear a ponytail and not pull it out!:)

Sharing With Ellie!

Ellie was so impressed with Mama's water from McDonald's that she decided to share it with her baby doll. By the way, the doll's name is...(what else but?)... Ellie!

Reading Library Books

We have really enjoyed making a trip to the Library every other week! I love Libraries so much, and it has been a blessing to introduce Ellie to books and the Library. Elliana loves to sit on the reading cushions they have and look at books. We're still working on our Library manners, though!! Last time we went Ellie walked in and screamed "Wow - Books!" to the top of her lungs!!

Cleaning Up the Kitchen!

How exciting it is to watch as Ellie learns to enjoy helping Mama around the house. We pray that we can help cultivate her helpful spirit.

"Mmmmm... I Like Spoon!"

Elliana LOVED licking the spoon after we made cookies one day. She thinks that all spoons have cookie dough on them now, though!

Helping Mimi in the Kitchen

Ellie loves to be a helper - and she is especially likes "helping" in the kitchen! It is a blessing to see her interested in doing what mommy does throughout the day. What a joy it will be to see her grow up and become a wife and mother one day.