Playdates galore!

For those of you who don't know, it was a real trend among my group of friends back home in FL to have babies in Fall 2007. It makes me a little sad that Ella will never be that close with the group as they have playdates all the time back home, but we certainly enjoyed our time with them while we could. Each child has SUCH a different personality and I have to say my friend Kim's daughter, Ally, is one of the funniest toddlers I have ever encountered. You can literally have a conversation with her like she's an adult. All of the kids are adorable and I miss them and their mamas more than they'll ever know. We can't wait for the playdate in April! Hopefully the mamas who couldn't make it (yes there are more but they all had new babies in December including Kasie who had twin boys) will be able to make it to the next one. To view all of the pics (sorry I didn't always have my camera at every playdate) click here.

Playdate at Sheryl's House

Miss Ally with Jaimie

Ella hoarding toys again.

My sweet Godson, Aidan

Aidan with his mama Bridget

Kim & Ally, Sheryl & Makayla, Me & E, Alicia with Hayli & Taylor,

and Bridget with Aidan & Ethan

Makayla really is enjoying this:)

Playdate at Bridget's House

Did Ella actually eat any of the cream cheese off her bagel? Or is it all on her shirt? And apparently she's hoarding the cell phones now.

Beautiful Ally

Ethan has the coolest room! It's huge and really reminds me of Toys R Us. The kids were kept busy the whole time with his array of toys! Our friends Steph, Ellen, Mary and Christy stopped by as well to get a feel of how crazy these playdates can be!

Ethan and Ella (Ella totally digs Ethan)..what...his shirt says so!

Nicole and Miss Katrina... I love her because she has the MOST adorable cheeks that you could kiss all day just like Ella has!

A fight between Ally and Ella. No surprise there. But check out how everyone just laughs. And of course I'm taking photos.

Ally trying to explain herself to Stephanie

Ella found Ethan's tickle me gloves and wouldn't take them off!

Group shot!

Visit with Ella's Great Grams

Ella's Great Grams (Tom's grandma) came to visit and it was wonderful to see her. She just celebrated her 75th birthday in November! Doesn't she look great? Ella got to play with her second cousin, little Johnny, too. Fun for all!

Me, Ella, Uncle Phil, Grams, Lil Johnny and his big sister Katie

Look at Ella's left hand in this picture. LOL. She's just chillin'

My sweet elf

Grams, Ella and Granny P!

1/4 left!

Tom will be back in our arms in three months and we absolutely can't wait. We have so much planned for when he returns. He's taking a month of leave to spend with his family and we will be headed to FL for a Disney adventure, lots of date nights (right grandparents?) and plenty of family togetherness. Oh and it will be a roadtrip. But it's ok because I will just be on cloud nine to have him back and so will Ella. Why wouldn't I want to spend 20 hours in the car with my husband I've barely seen for a year? :)

PS I started my second trimester today and I've been feeling GOOD for a week now. Thank you Lord. Six more weeks until we find out BOY or GIRL!

Have a Little Faith

I finished the first book of 25 I am determined to read this year. My husband thinks that's a crazy goal and asked where I would find the time to read 25 books. Little does he know, I will be locked up in my room reading when he gets back and has total control over Miss Ella;) Muahaha!

Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom is a book I bought for my dad for Christmas. He introduced me to Mr. Albom's books and I have loved every one of them. I loved Tuesdays with Morrie so much, I decided to teach it my first year as a 10th grade English teacher (show those kids a slice of humanity!). My students loved it as much as I did. I wasn't surprised it was chosen as their favorite, but if anyone remembers the novels of their sophomore year...yikes. Can't really compare! Although I do love me some Jane Eyre... Back to my story. I bought this book for my dad in hopes he would read it quickly and let me read it next (which is exactly what happened! Works every time.) My eyes were opened reading it. Wide opened. Especially from this Sermon posted in the book (and no this book doesn't scream religion at you. It's about faith, yes, and the two heartwarming journeys of faith for two men...and for Mitch himself.)

From the Rabbi's Sermon:

A man seeks employment on a farm. He hands his letter of recommendation to his new employer. It reads simply, "He sleeps in a storm." The owner is desperate for help, so he hires the man. Several weeks pass, and suddenly, in the middle of the night, a powerful storm rips through the valley. Awakened by the swirling rain and howling wind, the owner leaps out of bed. He calls for his new hired hand, but the man is sleeping soundly. So he dashes to the barn. He sees, to his amazement, that the animals are secure with plenty of feed. He runs out to the field. He sees the bales of wheat have been bound and are wrapped in tarpaulins. He races to the silo. The doors are latched, and the grain is dry. And then he understands. 'He sleeps in a storm.'

"My friends, if we tend to the things that are important in life, if we are right with those we love and behave in line with our faith, our lives will not be cursed with the aching throb of unfulfilled business. Our words will always be sincere, our embraces will be tight. We will never wallow in the agony of 'I could have. I should have.' We can sleep in a storm. And when it's time, our good-byes will be complete."

This particular excerpt was my "ah-ha moment". God put us on this Earth for a reason. What is my purpose for being here? I think sometimes as a mom, I feel that I am never doing enough. I should volunteer more. I should go back to get my Master's Degree. I should have a career to help with finances. I should be more involved in our church. The list is really endless. I should. I could. Instead, what I need to do is live the life God has given me and have a little faith I am doing exactly what God intended for me to do. I am truly inspired though to be a better person, mom and wife. The book gives us pause to rekindle our faith and realize our lifetime here is so short in comparison to what comes next. To live life to it's absolute fullest, but don't forget to have a little faith.

Lunch with a celebrity

Ok maybe not a real celebrity, but Ella sure does think she's one. Once Aunt Monica put those sunglasses on her you would have thought we were dining with Nicole Richie or one of those other giant sunglasses-wearing celebs. She even broke out the big Washington's to pay for our meal;)

10 in 2010

I saw that my friend Clayton had posted this on his Facebook so I stole the idea and decided to share with you my 10 goals for 2010. Nothing crazy (well maybe the first one is a little off kilter for me, but it's something that needs to be done).

1. Eat healthier. Since I have been feeling better, I have been eating more junk. Going through 2 boxes of fruit roll-ups, a bag of Doritos, a bag of pretzels, a box of Nilla wafers, a box of Sweet-tarts and a box of those frozen Super Pretzels with cheese is unacceptable. And that's just in 5 days. We won't list the amount of frozen ice pops I've consumed. It's almost embarrassing. (I won't go crazy and throw the Double-Stuffed Oreos I just bought away either). Oh I did eat a pint of strawberries though and a bag of grapes!

2. Write my husband a love letter. It's been too long since he's received one.

3. Start and finish Ella's first year album. (such a procrastinator).

4. Go on a babymoon before the second baby comes in July. All I'm looking for is one night with my husband sans Ella.

5. Have a HUGE garage sale in the Spring when Tom comes home. Whatever doesn't sell, gets donated. I'm one of those people who says I will bring it to the Salvation Army and then never does.

6. Read 25 books. I would say more, but with a new baby coming in the summer, I doubt I will have the time.

7. Call my friends and family more. I am a huge slacker in this dept. But for some reason I don't think they would enjoy talking to me with Ella screaming for me to get off the phone. We'll see.

8. Drink more water. Sounds silly, but I know I don't drink enough. My mom let me know this while I was visiting;)

9. Pay more attention to my dog. She doesn't get the love that she used to.

10. Once Tom gets home in April, never use a screwdriver, drill, plunger, lawn mower, edger again:) But let him know constantly how much I appreciate him.

The BEST Korean Souvenir...ever.

We have some very exciting news to share with you all! We are expecting baby #2 July 14, 2010! That's right...we got "lucky" in Korea, huh? Ok that was a little crass, but we did. I found out the day I came back from our Korean adventure. My friend Michelle put it in my head that I could be pregnant so I went to the store and bought a cheap test. I saw the one line right away so I assumed it was negative, but looked again and yup there was a plus sign. (At this point I was going on 30+ hours of traveling and wasn't sure if I was seeing things straight.) I went back to the store and took another test in the morning and sure enough it pretty much screamed PREGNANT at me. I did the happiest of all happy dances (it was 4 am...that 15 hour time difference was a pain) and I told Ella she was going to be a big sister! I took a little video to tell Tom the news and of course he was in denial, but once it sank in, he was positively thrilled! I am finally feeling better after 7 straight weeks of morning/all day sickness. I guess it's a little better than the 10.5 weeks of being sick with Ella. But between battling morning sickness, taking care of a wild two year old, and dealing with real colds/sicknesses, the past two months have been the most challenging so far as a mom. It's all worth it though.

Here's the video of how we told Daddy the big news. Remember it's 4 am and Ella wasn't too into the camera first thing in the morning:)

Happy New Year!

I know I am quite tardy for the party, but I wanted to wish everyone a very Happy New Year...and shoot Merry Christmas as well! We spent two fabulous weeks visiting family in Florida for the holidays and even though I returned last Monday to Oklahoma, I have been the laziest of all lazy people. As a matter of fact, I just unpacked this afternoon. Ella and I have been hibernating for the past week because the weather has been too cold to venture elsewhere. With temps below zero, I prefer the indoors versus the icy outdoors. Do you blame me? Finally my FL friends had a little taste of what we go through being stuck indoors all day with a two year old because of frigid temps. I heard it even snowed in FL. Now that is crazy.

Being home was simply perfect. Our Christmas Eve was spent at Mass where Ella exclaimed "CHURCH!" as soon as she saw the altar. It was loud, but cute and I was beaming with pride;) We went to my MIL's house afterwards for some tasty treats and quality family time. The next morning everyone came over to my parent's house for breakfast and to watch Ella open her presents from Santa. Tom joined us via Skype so he didn't miss out on a single present being opened. Ella would show him every gift backwards, but he still smiled. Technology is amazing...to know he was across the world, but it felt like he was right there...if only we could have hugged and kissed him;) Ella was adorable opening her presents. Every gift she would talk about the wrapping paper. "oh look snowmen!" "Oh Santa." "wow Gingerbread man." She has quite the love for the Christmas season. It was a constant singing of "Silent Night", "Frosty the Snowman", "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and "Jingle Bells". When you ask her what Santa says, she yells "Ho ho ho, Merrrrry Christmas!" I can't wait until what she has in store for us next year.

Rockin' Out before Mass

With Grandpa

At Granny P's house for the annual Christmas Eve party!

With her new Tony Stewart bear from Grampy Larry:)

Playing baseball with Uncle Phil

Back at Grandma's about to open a present

Our Christmas tradition with Ella--opening Christmas PJs on Christmas Eve and then reading A Night Before Christmas (which my mom read to my brothers and I every Christmas Eve til we moved out!)

The beautiful tree with presents all ready for Ella Christmas Morning

I love how Santa wraps presents with fabulous ribbon:)
Still snoozin...
Daddy is here...we can open presents now:)
And of course show him every single gift..opened or not.



Ella's big castle from the Korean Santa!
How talented is my mom? She made this for Ella!
One of Ella's favorite new stuffed animals
"Is this donut all for meeee?"
"It must be Christmas! And no, mom I am not sharing!"
"Santa knows my taste in fashion"
With Uncle Bryan:)

A few pictures after Christmas playing in her dress
I love how she's turned in this photo

Yes, that's candy cane on her face.

If you want to view a few more photos from Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, click here.

Stay tuned for more photos from our trip to FL.