Perdido Key

My family went on vacation the week of Father's Day. We love Perdido Key, FL & had such a great week together! Ellie loved the pool & liked the ocean. We shared a room with Ann. Our good friends, The Travis' came with their daughter Kat & her son Travis. Also, my mom's friend Lisa came!! I was sad Chad wasn't able to get off to come with us :( we celebrated Father's Day before we left!) & as you will see Michael was able to come, too!

Ellie at the pool the first day

 Just one night before dinner, in her cute Polo dress

 Yaya & her babies! Ellie Loves Ryan so much, he got lots of hugs& kisses!

 Ellie got more brave every day~ she is climbing up the ladder! little water bug~

 Travis, Ellie & Ryan in their SO CUTE matching crab outfits

 Me & my girl on the beach

 The family shot (one of MANY!!!)

 Michael, Marie & Ryan

 Just us GIRLS

What a FUN week, had by all!! We are already talking about next year ... trying to go for 10 days in May!!

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer! It is HOT here, but we play outside anyway! Happy July 4th weekend to y'all~

Ryan Patrick

Baby Boy Blanchard was born on Sunday, May 22, 2011 @ 12:29 pm. Weighing in @ 9 pounds 0 ounces & 20.5 inches long!!
Marie was in labor for 24 hours & did absolutley wonderful! She started contracting around lunch time Saturday afternoon. By 2 they were pretty consistantly 10 minutes apart. Ellie & I decided to drive on to Nashville, she was already 3cm & 80% effaced. We arived @ 6 pm & her contractions were every 7-8 minutes. She was still home at this point sitting & talking with us. The contractions were getting closer & stronger but she was hanging in. Her dr told her to stay home until they were 5 min apart or she could not stand the pain or by 10pm... so at 10 pm we headed to Baptist. We got her checked into triage & they were coming every 3-6 minutes, but she had not made any change from the drs office. Long story short, they decided to admit her @ 3 am... long night! She got into her room, got an IV, still no pain meds & was 4cm. We took a little nap, Michael was by her side the whole time! During her nap she got to 6cm & the dr came to break water @ 8am. She was finally ready for her epidural! She quickly went from 7 to 8 to complete by 11 am & started pushing @ 11:40. Ryan was born within 50 minutes!!
 

We are so proud of Marie & Michael! They are all doing great! Ryan is a good baby & nursing well.

The Mullins group of RYAN fans!

Ryan after his bath in the nursery

Me, Ellie, Ryan & Marie on day 1!

I had some fun taking pictures of him @ home!

& Marie wanted me to give him his first sponge bath! What a cute nephew I have!!!



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Santa Rosa Beach

We had a wonderful second half of vacation!!! We spent it with the Moss' on Santa Rosa Beach in Florida. We flew in on Wednesday morning. They rented a beach house & we enjoyed spending time together by the pool! We ate out & relaxed. Ellie was great & loved the water. Chad's sister, Courtney, got married on the beach Saturday evening! Here is our family picture after the wedding~

The wedding was nice. She is a simple girl & that is the kind of wedding she wanted. She looked beautiful!! We got a mani/pedi that morning. Then in the afternoon, I took her to get hair & makeup done! Her new husband, Derreck, wore linen kakhis & a white buton down. All the guests went barefoot! The reception was catered in the back yard, poolside! We had a great day!!

CONGRATULATIONS COURTNEY & DERRECK WORLEY!!

Vero Beach

OH VERO~ what a BEAUTIFUL place!! We had such a great start to our vacation there! Chad's friend from med school, Ken Illingworth's parents own a home on Orchid Island in Vero Beach. We flew into Orlando Friday night, drove an hour south & spent 5 nights there. The Illingworth's are such great hosts & so nice to have us down! We had a great time~ the guys played golf & the girls realxed at the beach club or out by their pool! We had some delicious meals & they offered to watch ellie for Chad&I to have dinner out one night! They are truly great friends & we look forward to going back for another visit!

Me & Ellie on the boat

 Ellie walking out by their pool

 happy girl checking out the pool @ the club

 playing on the beach

 walking on the dock with daddy

 wearing such a cute dress, had to take some pictures

 Not so sure about getting her feeet in the sand at first!!

We love the Illingworth's & had a wonderful vacation @ their home!! The weather was perfect ~ Ellie was not too sure about the beach or pool @ first but by the end of the week, she was loving the ocean & sticking her face in the pool to blow bubbles! She was good on all 4 of our flights, slept pretty good & napped every day! I kept her SPF on better than my own ... mommy got a little burnt (oh well!!) Looking forward to fall vacation already!

hoppy easter

Hope everyone had a very nice easter 2011!! We sure did! Saturday was our family day because Chad was home. Today it was just Ellie & I, we went to church then to a easter egg hunt @ the Denham's!!

Ellie's Easter Basket this year (i love how it turned out!!)
Ellie in her new, white, beautiful Easter dress, before Church!

Ready to hunt eggs for the first time

& she got the idea~ YAY!

Chad was on call in Kingsport. After our get together with friends, we drove out to take him dinner & visit! Ellie & I had a pretty full day with church, then she took a nap while i cooked for the party. She woke up & after some lunch we headed over. Allyson had everything SO nice! She made all the kids a little basket with their name on it & goodies in it! They all had so much fun hunting eggs! We brought eggs with little kid goodies (puffs, fish ...) & let them hunt first then all the big kids got the real candy! We all brought some yummy sides to go with the ham! It was a delicious meal with special friends. Then after all the fun was over, we drove to see Chad at work! I really wanted him to see ellie in her dress & he really wanted some good food. We visited for a little while & I got a picture of my 2 loves . Then just as we were ready to go ... whoops, we lock the keys in the car!!! OMG seriously?!? wonderful ~ So, Ellie stays with Chad in the on call/trauma house @ holston valley as I drive back to Johnson City (20 miles away) get the extra keys & drive back (we only have 1 car seat)!! Whew~ what a mess ;) I had to share because I am sure its not the first time this has happened to someone & I bet its not the last time it happens to ME!! & it will be funny to look back on!! :)

Well, there was our Easter 2011 ~ Ellie has changed so much since this time last year! We feel so blessed to have her in our lives & I THANK GOD for her everyday!

~Jesus Christ has risen today!!~

Marie's Baby Shower

Marie with the hostesses of the shower

Aunt KaKa, DoDo, & Brittany

Marie & baby Ryan are so blessed to be surrounded by such love & support! The girl is having a total of 6 baby showers! She has gotten some really cute things for him already! Her first shower was at our Aunt Charlene's house. Mostly my dad's side of the family & some close friends were there! Her nursing school classmates all brought her goodies to school ~ how sweet!! Then her APSU volleyball coach had a shower in Clarksville ~ a baseball theme (since Ryan's dad is a college player!) It was the cutest themed shower I have ever seen!! All the girls brought a signed baseball for him, all the food was like what you would eat @ the ball park (hot dogs, popcorn, rootbeer...), the baseball invite was adorable & he got lots of cute baseball outfits!! Next was this shower @ my mom&dad's house! Our Aunt Kate did it all ~

the precious centerpiece


Marie is glowing!!! She is such the perfect pregnant girl!

Such nice gifts!!

Ryan's hand made quilt

My Ellie girl @ the 3rd shower of the trip!

R P B (his initials) painted on canvas from the Rosenthal's

Ryan's grandma's with his mommy

Leigh (Michael's mom)
Marie

My mom, Sarah

& Sherry (Michael's step mother)

all the Lipscomb volleyball friends & Dani

Us sisters (Ellie taking Ellen's place)

Maggie, Ann, Marie, Lynne, & Ellie

Marie is having a high school friend shower this weekend @ the Molteni's, then heading to Memphis for a shower with Michael's family! I can hardly wait to meet this boy! Still kind of hard to believe he is a boy!! I have had so much fun shopping for him & getting his name on lots of cute things!! Any time after May 15 he is welcome to arrive! Please keep Marie, Michael & baby Ryan in your thougths & prayers as his arrival is quickly approaching!
~WE LOVE YOU ALREADY, sweet baby Ryan~