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.

It's a 'stay in our PJs kinda day'...

With weather temps in the teens and feels like temps in the single digits, this Florida raised mama is not going outside the house. Ella happens to love the cold weather and I usually enjoy it as well. But since we have been battling 'the never ending almost 2 month long sickness' in our home, I just don't think we should be playing outside. We will wait 5 more patient days until we are in the warmer weather of FL where we can leave the house without 18 layers and a North Face jacket on. Or the 30 mph wind slamming into our faces as soon as we open the garage door. Soooo, most of our days are spent in our pajamas! And I love it.

We play dress up!

We make sure the dolls are read to and fed fake cake.

Ella wears my Uggs around the house...talk about knee-high boots:)

We bake strawberry cupcakes with homemade frosting!

And yes, I let my child eat powdered sugar out of a cupcake holder

She's a really good baker's helper!

And Ella spends the majority of her days singing this song...over and over and over again. Tom taught it to her in Korea and they used to duet together. When I try to sing with her, she tells me "no singing mommy."

We have made it 2/3 of the way!

That's right! Only 4 more months til the man of the house is home again. It feels great to be able to say we only have a 1/3 of this year left. Woooohoooo! Just in time too because there are air filters that need to be changed, ceiling light bulbs that need replacing, a Jeep that is rotting in our garage (sorry babe!) and lots of other little household chores I am saving JUST for TOM:) I mean...we have to make him feel needed when he gets home, right? ;)

It's been quite the trying 1.5 months since we returned from Korea. After Auntie Monica's visit, it seemed we have this sickness in our house that just won't leave. Ella was sick, then I was sick, now Ella is sick again. I took her to the ER the other night with a pretty high fever. It made me nervous because Ella's highest temp in her life has never been over 101. She was lethargic and wouldn't move, eat and kept telling me she had a boo-boo. She also ASKED to go to the Dr. We spent 4 hours in the ER to find out it's just a virus. Ella even peed in a cup for those people! But the Dr. warned me the congestion would follow and it has. I just want my girl all better for the trip to FL in less than a week. She is in happy spirits though. Now if only we could get rid of these tantrums...

Ella at the ER

Onto other news...Tom gave up an AWESOME position in AUSTRALIA for two years to stay at Ft. Sill for another two years and instruct at the Captain's Career Course. I am going to go ahead and say two years is probably a lie...let's just make it LIFE. This place is like a damn black hole. It has sucked us in and we can't seem to find our way out! Tom promised when we first arrived here we would be here for 12 months. That 12 months turned into 18 months and then we got orders to return to Germany. Ha! Right before Ella was born orders were changed and Tom took command here. 41 total months later and I am STILL here. Now we will be here 72 months before we "supposedly" move somewhere else. Like I said, BLACK HOLE.

Ok that's my catch up...sorry for not blogging. But this sickness isn't fun and the camera hasn't been taken out in well 1.5 months. But I have caught a few photos on my Iphone.

A very quick trip to the playground since it's just too cold. But we both needed the fresh air!

Bored because of the weather so we decided to pierce Mr. Potato Head's ear. As if it isn't weird enough to be dressing a potato...

No matter how sick she was, she still wanted to dress in her heels.

Oh and Elmo and Snow White are now dating. Or as Ella says "Kiss kiss".

Our First Thanksgiving

Before Ella was born...before she was just a glimmer in our eyes, Tom and I had a really adventurous life. I want Ella to know her parents at one time in their lives were kinda cool. We spent our first married Thanksgiving in Zell Am See, Austria skiing with friends. It was my first time skiing the alps and it was amazing. We had a great time and the Austrians at our hotel even cooked us a nice little Thanksgiving Day meal complete with my first bowl of pumpkin soup. I will never forget it. It was the start of my traveling bug;) From that point on, I was determined to see what the rest of this big, beautiful world had to offer.

I spent today thinking about how thankful I really am for all of the blessings I have in my life. I adore my husband and can never thank him enough for working hard so I can stay at home to raise Ella. People always ask me how I do this without him, but I can't imagine being in his shoes watching us from afar. (Although I wouldn't mind a vacation every now and then!) I am so thankful to have my little buddy Ella. She keeps me sane and sometimes makes me insane but it's always a new day with her and I love her more than she will ever know. I'm thankful for family, friends, Riley, the roof over my head, the clothes on my back, the hot showers I take, the hot meals I eat. I could go on forever. Some people in this country don't even have those simple things we take for granted everyday. It's so easy to want nowadays, but I don't remember the last time I felt I needed for anything. That's a blessing in itself.

Here are a few photos of our First Thanksgiving in Austria! (This was back in the day when I barely took photos. Can you believe that?)

Driving toward the mountain. I was intimidated to say the least.

In Salzburg, Austria

In front of Mozart's House

And now, a little Ella on Turkey Day:)

Hmm this was the ONLY bite she took of her meal. She filled up on those tater beaters;)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with their family and friends. I sure missed mine a bunch today...everyday for that matter:)