Pics

All of these pics are in the snapfish album below, but since some people can't view snapfish at work, etc... here are a few fun ones for today.





Aunt JuJu



Josh & Jer

Is this not hilarious w/ the powerpoint screen behind them?


Opening presents (note her adorable Madonna t-shirt from The Hutchersons)


Two awesome daddies (SAHDS!)

A Life

I just looked at the past, oh I don't know, 47 posts on my blog here and realized that every one of them has ELLIE in the title.

Don't get me wrong. I love my boo! She is the center of our universe. But, I should once in a while post about SOMETHING ELSE, huh? (Or maybe just post more often, but that's another story--which may or may not be related to she who must not be named).

Hmmm.... what else can I post about?

I have read some HILARIOUS books lately. I would highly recommend:

Afterbirth: Stories You Won't Read in a Parenting Magazine

Sh*t My Dad Says

And not-so-hilarious, but great:

The Help
(seriously, have you not read this yet?)

And to name some other ADULT things I've done lately:

-Browsed at an antique store
-Purchased a bottle of wine that cost more than $5.99
-Purchased some new clothes for myself (At a consignment store, but it was in Carmel! And they were name brand!)
-Got my car washed and vacuumed it out myself
-Went to see Eclipse (ok, maybe not adult, but it was without kids)
-Watched True Blood (2 vampire references in a row?) (also? this past weeks episode was so disturbing that Craig and I decided that we need to be careful whom we admit to that we love the show!)

Aaaaand............that's it :)

This Saturday my girlfriends that I grew up with and I are heading out downtown Indy, so maybe I'll have a few more adult experiences?

Ellie Update

Just a couple pics from my phone...

Me & Grammy! Ellie hadn't seen Grammy in over a week and was obviously super happy!



Best Cousin Ever! Tate & Ellie "swimming" last weekend.



I have lots more fun ones of the Mitchens visit which I'll post soon.

We had a blast while they were here... She is so spoiled now and has to have someone playing with her at ALL TIMES. Just like her mommy!

Here are some new stats:

-12 month check up last week: 25 lbs, I forget how many inches, but she is in the 93rd percentile for height, weight, headsize! She's a big girl! She did really good w/ her immunizations.

-SIX teeth! Four on top, two on bottom. SO CUTE. It really changes her smile and how she looks. She tried to bite Grandma last night (not maliciously or anything), so hopefully she's not going to be a biter!

-ALMOST walking... she will walk behind some push toys on her own and is getting braver by the day, but we aren't necessarily rushing this one :)
-As always, but even more, LOVES her doggies. Especially Roscoe. They hug and play every day when she gets home from Emily's.

-LOVES Emily's! She goes right to Emily every morning and starts bossing her around over there saying NANNER (banana) and pointing to her high chair demanding breakfast. She loves playing w/ Aidan, Izzy & Ethan. Ellie & Ethan are really cute together. She loves all the other kids that come to visit, too, especially Tessa (Jeff & Carrie Cummings little girl). Tessa is a momma hen and loves taking care of Ellie--which in turn, Ellie loves.

-Words she's saying: mama, dada, balloon (ba-oon), ball (oh she says ball like 100 times a day), nanner (banana), dog (da). She'll sometimes repeat what you say but I think that's about it for words she says on her own.

-Her bed. She loves her bed! She is still such a good sleeper (we are so lucky!!!) and pretty good napper. She loves to get in her bed and play w/ stuffed animals and roll around in there.

-Chairs. We have her booster seat sitting on the floor of her playroom and she LOVES to sit in that like a big girl chair. We need to get her one of those toddler rocking chairs or just a little plastic chair.

-Milk. She's off formula now and drinking milk. We are supposed to be starting to wean her off bottles... goal is by 15 months. She doesn't seem to like milk out of sippy cups, so we are working on that.

-Food. She's still a good eater, but getting pickier. Loves mac & cheese (well ANY cheese in general), fruit, green beans, black beans, hot dogs (gross! i have tried to get her to eat the vegan ones--she won't! i do buy the "good" hot dogs though that are all beef, no nitrates, no yucky stuff!). Her and daddy battle every night w/ her throwing food on the floor for the dogs... we are working on telling her "no" but she's still pretty little to really grasp that concept.

Craig and I are both liking our jobs pretty well. I'm lucky to have a house cleaner PLUS grandmas around all the time who like to help w/ dishes and laundry :) Otherwise working 5 days a week would be a LOT more stressful!

Mom is scheduled to have her hip surgery Oct 4th! YIKES!!!! That will be an adjustment for all of us! Of course, especially mom :)

I think that's about all for now!

Ellie's Bday (67 photos), by jennifer skinner

Here are the pics from Ellie's birthday, her baptism, her baptism/b-day party with the family (in Osgood at The Grub!), then some more of the party & randoms from Emmie!



I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos

Ellie's One!

Quick update… Everything was great Saturday for Ellie's party! Thanks so much to all of you for making it so special! The weather was perfect and I think a good time was had by all! Of course, I didn’t feel like I got to talk to anyone and NOW I get it, why a smaller one might be a better idea :) I didn’t really get to take it all in and enjoy Ellie eating her cake, etc but I know she had a BLAST. Special shout out to my parents, Craig's parents & my sister for helping w/ all the set up and clean up!

Sunday we got up early and went down to Versailles to my Grandma’s church for Ellie's Baptism! She did great—she was really antsy but no one cared, of course. She let the minister hold her and walk her around the church. We had a big lunch w/ the whole family after church and celebrated boo’s birthday some more!

My house is FILLED to the brim w/ toys, in-laws and dogs (my inlaws brought their 2 chihuahuas), but we are recovering from the fun filled weekend. I know Ellie is going to have such a fun week w/ Mema, Papa & Tate. Oh, she absolutely LOVES Tate. Anytime he is sitting on the ground, she crawls over and plops down in his lap. He hates that I'm sure! :)

Pics to come in the next few days.

Love you!

July...so far

Well, HEY THERE! Howdy folks!

Sorry I haven’t been so good at updating the blog. My good friend Jamie warned me that as soon as Ellie became mobile I would no longer be posting as often… She was certainly right! But, I must say I chalk a lot of it up to our recent life changes. Which, by the way are going good!

So what have we been up to? Here’s a bunch of random thoughts….

We have been busy busy busy every weekend… visiting w/ family and friends. Craig and I have gone out TWICE w/ friends and no kids and had a blast. Things seem to be working out pretty well w/ the living situation aside from the fact that Grandma Jan has a hard time going up and down the stairs to the basement. Last week Ellie B came down w/ a stomach virus… that was not fun! We had the middle of the night vomiting and all. Poor girl! She is all better now though. We had our first Dr. appt w/ her new pediatrician who we LOVE. Ellie has 2 teeth already and now is cutting seriously like 3-4 more, so that does tend to effect her mood now and then! And rightfully so! Ellie is staying home w/ Grandma on Mondays and Fridays and going to Emily’s on Tues, Wed & Thurs. That is working out SO good. She loves Emmy, Aidan (especially Aidan), Izzy & Ethie (ok and Andy, too). She gets good QT w/ Grandma, but then gets to go get her playtime on! My commute pretty much stinks (30+ min), but really isn’t worse than AZ… and now I am working 7-4 so that helps w/ traffic. OH! And I just got a promotion! Pretty good for being here less than 2 months J I was really just in the right place at the right time, but it’s going to be good. Craig’s job is going good at Pepsi. He is on his own route now out of training, so THAT’S GOOD. We just bought a new car last night—a white Prius, for him to drive for work. He gets a car allowance, so we now own THREE cars. At least one is hybrid, right?!!!? We recycle!!! And have an organic garden!!! Seriously though, my garden is not doing too well… we are getting some tomatoes and the lettuce did good, but all the peppers, onions & cucumbers don’t seem to be doing too well. It may have something to do w/ the fact that we have NO idea what we are doing.

So since most of you probably check the blog to see how Ellie is doing, let’s get some stats here…

· 11 months & 1 week old
· 2 teeth (front bottom 2)
· 25 lbs
· Hair is still strawberry blond
· HUGE birthmark on her left arm that looks like the state of California. Gets darker every time we are outside.
· Crawling everywhere
· Pulling up
· Walking & climbing steps—with fingers of WHOMEVER WILL WALK W/ HER – She would do that 24/7!!

album 07\12\2010 (41 photos), by jennifer skinner

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos