Welcome Ella Beth to the Terrible Threes!

Yes, indeed, it's hard to believe it's already that time, but yesterday, my BABY turned 3! Yes, everyone should stop and blink because that's how fast the time really goes! Happy Birthday Ella Beth! She had a fun filled day, starting with SCHOOL! She of course said she didn't want to go, but she is doing SO much better, and really does have a good time there! Greg and I came just as they were finishing lunch, well, Ella didn't even start lunch until we got there because ... well, who knows why, maybe because she's a girl, and she's 3! Go figure! Anyway, Ella treated her class to her favorite - pink iced, sprinkle cookies! She was thrilled to have me and her daddy there! She even got to skip her nap and go home early with mommy - what a special birthday treat! After school, we had to make a pit stop at Ingles. Or should I say the parking lot of the new Ingles, which is set to have it's grand opening -TOMORROW! Papaw took a quick break to come and give Ella Beth her present. A kind thanks to TV advertising for all the commericals promoting her favorite toy of the moment, which is the Dora Prance & Fly Pegas! She loves it! Yesterday, and today, and hopefully longer. We'll just have to wait to see what's advertised next! We picked Kaeley and Miles up from Kindergarten and then the girls were treated to a special play date all afternoon with their buddy Miles. They all had a great time! We topped off the day with pizza at Mr. Gattis. More party plans are in the works. Family is supposed to be coming to town tomorrow for Ella's birthday party. Unfortunately, Kaeley is sick today. Let's pray for a speedy recovery!

A Wii bit old for video games!?!

I'm not sure where the time is going, but it sure is flying! It seems that now I'm married to a 40 year old. Greg is 5 1/2 years older than me and it's never seemed like a big difference until now! Of course this birthday could not go without celebration! However, anytime you celebrate a significant number like 40, one tends to be a little suspicious of surprises. However - I pulled it off! I literally started planning a couple of months in advance when I emailed his brother, Gil, in Texas to see if he could come to Knoxville for the party. Gil usually just comes home at Christmas, so I expected that he wouldn't be able to come. SURPRISE! He was able to get tickets in the midst of hurricane season, but he couldn't come until the 1st weekend in September, which was a week after Greg's birthday. Actually - PERFECT! Greg didn't suspect a thing! I had Gil email him and tell him he had some time off and was coming home to Manchester to spend time with family and wanted to come to Knoxville for a few days and visit. As most of you already know, my husband is not a social butterfly, so I did keep the party small and only invited family and a few close friends. Gil was able to come the Thursday before the party and visit and he was planning to go back to Manchester on Saturday. He was able to keep Greg out of the house most of Saturday morning so I could get the house clean and food prepared. I also had to keep all of this a secret from my two little helpers, which was very hard! I did tell Kaeley while Gil had Greg out of the house that morning. She was so excited - she knew a secret! I told her she couldn't say a word about it - not even that she knew a secret because her daddy would have caught on to that in a heartbeat! Greg's sister, Ginelle, and her family made the trip with Greg's parents. I was so nervous about the surprise getting out, so once they arrived, and I was getting all the food out (and decorating!) - we yelled "SURPRISE!" He was so shocked! Then friends started arriving after that. Now, on his actual birthday, which was the week before, I had to act as if "this is it" ...so I baked his favorite - carrot cake, and had to go ahead and give him his presents. Another big surprise, which I was so very proud of - a Wii! He's been wanting one for a long time now and they are a bit hard to get your hands on. Not to mention to the fact that Greg is so hard to buy for and finally, I had a great idea of something FUN to get him. So, here again, a few months before the birthday, I began searching. I was out with my friend Mindi having a girls day, and she suggested we run into the Game Stop to see if they had a Wii. They told us that they had just checked and the closest one was 400 miles away. Then they decided to check one more time and low and behold, there was one at their other store, right across the street! Mindi had to pay for it because I couldn't charge it on the credit card as Greg was sure to spot that suspicious transaction at a game store! She also kept it at her house for me so there was so risk of nosey eyes finding it at my house. The title of this post comes from Greg's co-worker who wanted to have a shirt for him made that said "I'm a Wii bit old to be playing video games!" I love it! Age 40 and Greg reclaims his youth!

Now... with all of the stress of pulling off the surprise, there are not a lot a pictures, but here are a few. Ella spent the day napping... she was sick with a cold.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

Papaw invited us to his church picnic on Sunday night. The girls had a blast! They got to play with their bestest buddies - Hadlee and Khloe! The girls always have a ton of fun when they're together, they're close in age - Kaeley 5 1/2, Hadlee 4 1/2, Ella weeks away from 3, and Khloe 2. Here are some pictures of the evening. Enjoy!

Strike A Pose!

We just had a great weekend with Mimi! Mimi came into town for a visit on Friday. Friday night turned out to be pizza night cause I worked on making a cake for a baby shower - literally - all day! When poor Mimi arrived, she was bombarded with "look at this Mimi", "watch me Mimi!" Mimi said "you would have thought they hadn't seen me in a year!" The bad part is the jealousy of one showing Mimi something better than the other! Attitude, pouting, tears, oh my! GIRLS! Saturday we ventured out for a stroll at our local farmer's market and then we set out for a little shopping with just Ella. Mimi treated both girls to a treat from Toysrus. Kaeley has been beside herself wanting the new singing Diamond Castle Barbie Dolls! She was so excited that Mimi bought her one! She said it was the best gift ever followed by a zillion thank-yous! Ella picked out a set of twin girl baby dolls, they're water babies. She loves them, but she also LOVES the singing Barbie! Calgon take me away! We thought we were going to have to return the babies and get her a Barbie, but she insisted that we not take the babies away! Yes indeed - she's all girl, she wants her cake and wants to eat it too! Kaeley really has done an AMAZING job sharing! I'm so proud of her! Ella has even done pretty well sharing her babies with Kaeley. Kaeley is intrigued with them because they have water inside them are are supposed to feel like a real baby. So it's a good thing we ended up with twin girls so they can each have one. It works pretty well, but every once in awhile Ella remembers they are really both hers! And of course, she says the Barbie is hers too! We tell her it's Kaeley's and she says "no, it's mine". New toys are overrated, eh? The picture above was taken at the mall today... Notice the statue in the background... Mimi had the girls thinking they were statues too!"

Golden Girl

Saturday night after the football game, we went to eat at Cracker Barrel with Papaw, Ella was hungry and wanted to "get a biscuit." That's her new phrase for "I'm hungry". Nevertheless, Cracker Barrel serves them up well! When we were taking Papaw back home we had to make a stop at his "other" field... he has horses at his house, but he has a couple more just down the road from his house in another field of his, which is where Golden Girl is at. Ella's favorite! We have a pink stick horse that she rides at the house...her name of course - Golden Girl! This just happens to be Papaw's newest horse, or should I say Ella's horse? She has absolutely no fear! Kaeley enjoys them too, but is a bit fearful - yes, she gets it honest from her mom! These pictures are not the greatest, they were taken with Greg's cell phone... you never have your camera for all the Kodak moments in your life! I wish you could have heard Ella talking to the horses... "Come here Golden Gurl"... "I love you Golden Gurl"...and the black horse in the pictures in Thunder. He's BIG! She calls him "bouy" ... as in boy. "Come here bouy"..."I pet you". So sweet!

I don't want to go to school today...

Mamma Pig and my sweet girl! This little one has had a rough week. We started Monday off with "I don't want to go to school today." No school Monday, but worse, the dentist! She screamed the entire 30 minutes. The lady who cleaned her teeth said at least she was holding her mouth open. Then in came the dentist followed by Ella saying "I got wet". Yes indeed, a pee pee accident while in my lap. She was just so upset. Tuesday also started with "I don't want to go to school today." I said, well.... today is the day! She said, "No, I'll go tomorrow." She did have a good day at school and the only time she cried was when Mamma Pig couldn't go to gymnastics. Wednesday after she said she didn't want to go to school, I tried talking her out of her traditional oatmeal by tempting her with a biscuit from McDonald's. She wanted oatmeal, but then went with me to McDonald's. Today, you guessed it "I don't want to go to school today." She informed me that she wanted a biscuit. Literally, crying as we entered the church parking lot... "I want a biscuit!" She was crying as I dropped her off, but much to my surprise, she had a super great day! She was happy, participated in activities...her teacher said it was if she had been doing this everyday. Happy, cooperative, curious, and busy were all checked on her sheet that comes home. Wow! It made me so proud! And it made her proud too! Today was day 7 of school! She's making progress! Yay! Now, every day when I leave her she cries and says "I need her." Well, tonight we went out for dinner and passed by her school, she was so excited (more so than usual, she likes seeing her school as long as we're not heading into the parking lot!), she said she wanted to go tomorrow to see Ms. Jessica and Ms. Mary, she needs them! WOW.

Say Cheese!

Well, I have to say, this was one of the easiest photo sessions we've yet to have! The last time we were at a studio, I had to leave and come back after nap time because Ella was such a bear! My friend, Jessica came across this photographer, Jennifer Farmer, and she will either come to your home or to an outdoor location of your choice. We chose a little park off Campbell Station, near the library that I had never even been to, but it was great! She followed us around with her camera, Ella even warmed up to her. It was all good! Here are a few pictures... and the best one's are on her website: http://www.jfarmerphoto.com/ We will for sure be doing more pictures with her!

I'm really pleased with these pictures! Only sad that these are the only professional pictures we've had made since Christmas. I've been trying since Easter though! Kaeley decided to take a pair of scissors to her Strausburg dress in Bible class, then she decided to give her little sister a hair cut a few weeks later. Then, the day before these pictures were made, Ella fell off a picnic table bench at preschool and busted her mouth, and it was yes - bruised - on the outside of her mouth. And last, but not least, Kaeley's 2nd tooth fell out, literally hours before these pictures were taken. Whew!