Welcome Spring!

We welcomed the fabulous season of Spring with a snowstorm here in Oklahoma! It was 71 degrees on Friday and on Saturday morning it was 29 with a feels like temp of 16 degrees and winds up to 30mph. We ended up with at least 3 inches of really pretty snow. Ella was excited to play in it and I loved the photos I took of her. She was coerced inside after many promises of a warm bath and jelly beans. She loved the snow so much...our little snow bunny! I told Tom that maybe we have to plan a vacation to a ski resort next winter so she can enjoy it even more. She was quite the disappointed girl this morning when she looked out the window and said "where'd the snow go mama?"...accompanied with a big old pout. **Sorry for the picture overload!**

Throwing a giant snowball!

There are a few more photos found here.

March is here:)

I love March for many reasons. One being, St. Patrick's Day! Tons of birthdays in our families and another being SPRING ARRIVES. And this March is really important because it means LESS than a month now until Tom returns home to us. With Spring arriving, the weather has warmed up a bit and we are able to play outside finally. Ella has been enjoying trips to the playgrounds and sidewalk chalk and bubbles! Even Riley is able to lounge on the patio and soak up the sun.

Brave girl...on the highest slide. Not even the slightest fear:)

My new favorite picture of her. So simple and sweet.

View more photos of our playground time here.

Out with February!

Ok so I'm a little late to post this. I don't have the excuse of being busy...just not in a blogging mood. We went bowling on Cadence's birthday where Ella proved to everyone she didn't need my help anymore. She picks up the 6 lb ball off the rack, walks it down the aisle and throws it down the alley. Not too shabby for a 2 yr old. Later that week was Cadence's real birthday party, but Ella wasn't in the mood to party. Could have been her lack of a nap that day, or the fact that she's pretty darn shy around people lately. Tom told me he was very shy in public as a child, but at home he was a wild man. Same with Ella! I don't see anything wrong with shyness. It's just hard for me to understand because I see this smiling, happy, outgoing, talkative little Miss at my house all day, but once in public eye she is a totally different person.

In sequential order of course

Riding in Cadence's new wagon! I want one of these for Ella!

All of the kids made Dirt Cups to take home with them...chocolate pudding, peanut butter pudding and crushed cookies with gummy worms. Note: Ella's Juicy purse. Couldn't leave home without it. We are also growing out her bangs so every now and then her hair will become a little out of control. See below.

Happy Blogging Anniversary!

It's officially been a year since I started blogging. I started a blog because it was way easier to update than the babysite I was using. We are far away from all of our family and friends so I wanted a way to allow them to watch Ella grow and for everyone to get a kick out of me learning to survive on my own this year without Tom. I hope you have enjoyed keeping up with us:)

Happy Anniversary Me & E! It's been quite the year.

I love to paint!

We painted some pottery the other week for more indoor fun. I think we are becoming desperate. Thank goodness this week the weather was a tad bit warmer. Ella picked a "heart box"...well I picked it for her, but she seemed to like it. She concentrated very hard painting this special piece and I am a very lazy mama and still haven't picked it up. I promise tomorrow I will go do that.

Isn't Johnny's little sister Taylor just beautiful?

Every fabulous artist paints with more than one brush

It's a GIRL:)

We are so excited to share our happy news with you all. Ella is going to have a little sister! I always figured I was having another girl because of the similar symptoms I had, but honestly I never thought I would be lucky enough for Ella to have a sister and for me to enjoy another girly little monster ( I say that with love)!! I have two brothers and Tom only has one sister and 3 brothers. His Aunt has one daughter and 4 sons. It seems on both sides of the family having sisters is rare. We are SO blessed. So very blessed. Although it was quite sad to go to my ultrasound alone yesterday, I managed just fine. To see the happy, BOUNCING baby on the screen with a perfect heartbeat was such a relief. The tech told me she has giant feet and long fingers (both of which Ella had at 20 weeks) and I saw she was measuring a few weeks behind which is exactly how Ella was. I'm assuming she will be tiny like her big sis was when she was born! She even had her hand behind her head EXACTLY like Ella entered the world. The tech told me she was posing;)

Our lives are soon to change for the better and we couldn't be more thrilled. Here she is waving "hi" to all of the blog viewers (Although I think this pic is of her foot...)! Oh and yes, she is nameless. We are slowly working on that.

PS This pic is a pic from my Iphone taken of the u/s picture printout. I can't work our scanner/printer for the life of me:( Sorry!

5 Questions

I loved this blog post so much from Mrs. In Training that I decided to "borrow" it;) Her blog is super fun!

Question 1: Where were you five years ago?

1. Stationed in Germany with Tom

2. Living off post in a cute German apartment in Lichtenau

3. Attending tons of Fests and drinking giant beers

4. Traveling all over Europe with our min pin Riley

5. Learning to be an Army wife

Question 2: What is on your to-do list today?

1. Update the blog

2. Do some online fabric shopping for the new baby GIRL

3.Make a list of potential names

4. Clean the bathrooms

5. Wrap Cadence's 2nd bday present for her big party tomorrow!

Question 3: What five snacks do you enjoy? (Only 5??)

1. Super Pretzels with cheese or mustard

2. Any veggies with dip

3. Zebra Cakes

4. Cheese and crackers

5. At the moment..plums. and lots of them.

Question 4: What five places have you lived?

1. Levittown, NY

2. New Port Richey, FL

3.Tampa, FL

4. Ansbach, Germany

5.Ft. Sill, OK

Question 5: What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?

1. Have tons of children

2. Travel the world

3. Take my ENTIRE family on an amazing cruise

4. Open a boutique for my mom so everyone can see her amazing talents

5. Shop til I freakin' drop.

Never say Never

Before I was a parent I think I had said "Oh I will never do that!" quite a few times and now it's coming back to bite me in the butt. Even when Ella was a baby I always said "I will never buy her character clothing." Yeah, well Ella owns Elmo pjs, a Ni Hao Kai Lan shirt, Dora pjs, ect. I also said "I will never buy her character bedding." The pictures below show I lied. When Ella refused to sleep in her crib after our trip to South Korea, I allowed her in my bed for a few months. (Oh another thing I said I would never do!) Truth be told, I didn't mind her in there. She was my little cuddle bug! But I knew Tom would be home in April and I needed to get her out of our bed. We have a four bedroom home, but I knew I wanted to keep the nursery for the next baby and Ella hates that room now. I wanted to keep the guest room because frankly I can't just move a queen sized sleigh bed and where the heck do I store that? Besides my mama is coming to visit for a month when this baby is born and I want her to be comfy with her own room. Our only other choice was the playroom for Ella's new bed. There is already enough in that room so Tom suggested a toddler bed...and to make it as girly as possible. So we did just that. Everything I ever said I would never ever do, I did. I never wanted a toddler bed. I especially never wanted a PINK FRILLY CANOPY toddler bed adorned with princess bedding. But you know what? It works. And Ella falls asleep peacefully every night in it. Now if only she would stop waking once...twice...sometimes three times a night, I would be sleeping peacefully as well. But hey, you can't win them all, right?

Here it is...in all it's glory... right after I set it up last month. She was so excited and kept saying "It's my princess bed! It's my princess bed!"

Here is how her playroom looks with it. I thought it would take up much more room, but there is still room to move and play!

And here she is sleeping quite comfortably if I do say so myself! (with her Dora pjs on, covered in her Princess bedding. Ohhh Lordy.)

A Proud Army Wife

On Thursday my husband will have his last day in Command. For those of you who didn't know, he has been in charge of Charlie Battery for two years now. With that command position comes a ton of responsibilities. He's been in charge of 90+ soldiers, millions of dollars worth of equipment and a large number of families who have relied on him for advice and care. It's been a 24 hour job for the last 24 months. There have been countless middle of the night phone calls and weeks where I swore he had a realllly comfy bed in his office because I never saw him. I know he's had stressful, tiring times, and he might have lost some hair along the way, but he was amazing at this job. I'm happy I had the opportunity to watch him interact with his soldiers and see the respect they had for him. I have always been proud of my husband...but I'm extremely proud of everything he has accomplished in his career thus far. I hope he signs over Charlie to the new Commander with his head held high because he deserves to do so. And even though I will no longer be the "Commander's wife" (a title I secretly loved) I always get to be Tom's wife...a title I will always adore. Congratulations, babe. Job well done.

Giving the salute two years ago to take charge of Charlie

Doesn't he look so cute behind that podium making his speech?

Hard at work in the field

Exactly what he was in charge of...

Family pic the day he took command

Loves her puzzles

This video is pretty darn cute. Ella loves building this puzzle and in this video she is telling me "good job mama!" I could watch it over and over again.