Cousins

We were recently blessed with a visit from my brother, his wife, and baby. We only live about an hour and a half apart, but it's hard to get everyone's schedules in sync (also hard to take a picture of seven people looking at the camera at the same time).
Beautiful brown eyed girl, Alexis. Check out the lashes!!

Can't wait to watch the girls "socialize" again soon!

First Foods

We gave miss Elli Kate cereal for the first time the day after she hit the six month mark.


First bite:
Thinking about it...not sure if she likes it:Hmmm, what is this?
She likes it!!
She grabs the spoon and helps us shovel it in! She loves cereal. Noah never really was a fan of cereal, we had to buy the flavored stuff or mix it with food to get him to eat it. Not this girl!And she loves being able to sit next to big brother at the table and be part of the action!

Since then, we've given her peas and carrots and she liked both. I hope she's on her way to being a good eater!

Girl's Weekend

My cousin Tab is having her baby girl next month (if not sooner) so we had a little sprinkle for her a couple weeks ago at Panera.


My mom made this cute shopping cart/highchair cover for her.
Ellianna at her first baby shower:Having fun with great aunt Kathy.

Hammin' it up with memaw.
Getting reacquainted with Great grandma and great aunt Elaine.

Since the shower was out of town and I knew I'd be gone most of the day on Saturday, the boys decided to take a trip to visit nana, pawpaw and great-grandma. It was fun to have some alone time with my girl, we haven't had much of that. It's amazing how easy one baby is after getting used to caring for two (not that I'd trade my babies for all the money in the world!). Noah had a great time at great-grandma's house. He "helped" move dirt and stir up dirt and play cars in the dirt.

Of course, they had to go visit the tractor lot.

Noah loves the Lightning McQueen shades nana bought during her last visit.

Noah and nana.

My handsome boys enjoying their weekend outing.

Happy First Day of Spring!

It's a lovely 30 degrees and snowing on the first day of spring! BOOOOO!! I've never been SO ready to see green grass, budding trees and blooming flowers! Did I really say something about looking forward to cold weather and wearing winter clothes. I was off my rocker. Out of my mind. Insane in the membrane. We are all SO tired of winter weather. We definitely got our fill and more! Snow, snow go away!

This was our weather yesterday. A one-day teaser of spring with temps in the mid-seventies.

Someday we'll get to use our grill again and sip lemonade from our patio table, but this is what it looks like today. Rain, sleet, and snow cover our backyard.
This is the view out the window at the neighbors house. Brrrrr!!

Texas Bestie, did you pray this on me so I'd want to come back? :)

Six Months

WHAT?! I'm pretty sure I say this every month, but how can this be? My baby girl turned six months old on Sunday. That's halfway to one! It's going too fast! *sniff sniff*

She is the SWEETEST baby! She's such a jabber-er. She still favors mama at the moment which I LOVE.

She has such a sweet tempered (most of the time), precious, fun, crazy, cheesy, loveable little personality and she's such a cuddle bug.

Noah still calls her Eh-we-yanna, but I rarely call her Ellianna anymore. I call her Elli, Elli Bell, Cheeks, Sweet Cheeks, Girl Baby, Baby Sweet, Sweetest Girl, Sister, Sissy, CiCi, Toots, Moops, and various other crazy names I give her in bursts of giddyness. :) Pappaw calls her smiley. She smiles SO much and so easy. She smiles to try to get your attention, she smiles even bigger when you acknowledge her. She's such a ham! I've never seen anything like it! She has even started smiling at strangers.

She lets out squeals as if her happiness just overflows and bursts out!

She luuuuuvs big brother. She has gotten to where she constantly watches him. She'll smile so big at him and I'll have to ask him to acknowledge her or talk to her. She gets so distracted while she's eating. She rolls over backwards so she can watch him and everything else going on. She reaches her arms up to touch him when he leans over her.

Doctor's appointment is in a couple weeks, so no stats yet.

Delicious.

Beautiful SUNday

Last Sunday was a fun full day!

Why is Ellianna so happy? We might've found a church, it only took 8 tries (frustrating), but I think we have a strong possibility. I was about to decide that we were going to start Kingsland North. :) After church, we went to brunch in a fun little part of Tulsa at Brookside by Day. Yummm!

Then, it was on to the train show downtown. It's hard to believe that it was a year ago that we went to the train show with my parents while Brandon was on his way to Israel. He tells me at least every other week that he wants me to go to Israel so bad. He keeps the notepad that he used in Israel on his lamp table and at least once a week, he gets it out and reviews his notes and relives it. It had such a huge impact on him. What a year it's been! The Israel trip in March, his MBA graduation and we found out we were having a GIRL in May! In July, Brandon finished his final MBA class. Baby girl surprised us in September, Brandon got a new job and we bought a house in October and we moved in November/December!

Noah waving to the trains:

They had these fun little ride on trains for the kids, powered by "pedaling" their arms. Noah wanted nothing to do with them last year but LOVED it this year.

Little boys love trains! It was so fun to see all the little boys lookin' at trains with their daddies (and mamas).

Ellianna had a good time too!

Shout out to Katy!! Katy is supposedly named for the MO KS TX (MKT) railroad that runs through town.

Noah wanted to ride the trains again so we waited in line and paid and chose his car. The conductor guy says, "you ready mom?" I'm thinkin' to take pictures, I said, "sure!" He said it again, "you ready to help out?" I was like to blow the horn or what? Nope. He wants me to fill in on one of the empty cars. I thought he was kidding. He wasn't. Here he is giving the instructions. I love how Noah's looking back, like are you getting this, mom, you think you can handle it? I laughed the whole time, it was so embarrassing/hilarious!

It was a beautiful sunny day so when we got home we headed outside to play. Noah logged a few hundred more miles on his tricycle and Elli enjoyed riding facing forward (for the first time) in her stroller. She needs a hat and some shades, though.

Brandon and I finished the day by getting to go on our Valentine's date. We weren't in the mood for Italian which is what we had originally planned so we went to a new restaurant, Copelands. Actually, I don't think it's new, but it's new to us since it wasn't here when we moved. It was SO delish!!

New Stall Tactic

Noah came up with a new stall tactic the other night. He wanted to hold Elli. He rarely requests to hold her, he's a busy boy after all. I didn't mind because I got some sweet time and a sweet picture with my babies.

Mini Skirt

The only time in life I'll let her get away with wearing such a tiny skirt.




Thanks, Aunt Beth for the precious outfit!