Update...

... after 2 weeks of sleeping on the floor, last night Ellie slept all night in her big girl bed!! Praise the Lord!!

One happy girl!!

Now if tonight will be the same... we will see!?!
We are enjoying our beautiful Fall day~
We had a very fun weekend! My in laws were in town. We went out to eat Friday night, shopped Saturday & us girls went to a 'favorite things' party. Sunday after they left we went to Knoxville to watch Ellen play.
I am looking forward to recieving the proofs from our Christmas card min session with Lauren Clark!! We went to downtown Kingsport & took lots of pics in 20 minutes. I am a big fan of Lauren with Captured by Clark!!
We have a play date planned tomorrow &a first birthday party this weekend. LOVE~

Happy Halloween

We celebrated Halloween all week! Ellie had some cute & festive clothes, found out she loves candy corn & enjoyed herself at all the parties!

Aunt Neen came for a visit the weekend before. Ellie wore her dress out to eat!

 Saturday night we attended a halloween party & Ellie wore her Ballerina costume

 Happy girl with all the kids at the party~there was a cow girl, scooby & a turkey!

 Sunday, Ellen had a home game so we went to Knoxville! Ryan & Ellie matched & the perfect shade of ORANGE for the Lady Vols!!

I love these 2 babies so much~

 Aunt Maggie, Ellen & Rie with the cousins!! They are so much fun & enjoyed cheering aunt Ellen on to VICTORY over SC

 Ellie holding her favorite cousin Ryan aka Ry-Ry

 Little Halloween play date with Katelyn!

 Ellie's first door to trick or treat at~not sure why the finger is in the nose... It was so cold here, she could not be the cutest ballerina... so we went with plan B, a warm Pumpkin!!

 Daddy & Ellie trick or treating!! We went around with three families here in JC~ 8 parents & 7 kids... we had wagons & strollers & ergo carriers! We had such a fun time.

We ate a quick crock pot dinner then headed out to trick or treat ~6.  Chad actually was off, YAY! He enjoyed getting the candy as much as Ellie did :) Once we made a big circle, it was getting cold so we wrapped it up. Once we got home, Ellie was wired! She played for a hour before we got her to bed. & brief sleeping update... she still gets out of bed & sleeps on the floor right inside her door every night. I put a quilt & pillows down for her. Hopefully, she will realize her bed is more comfortable & warmer, but for now we aren't fighting that battle! Hard to believe it is November now & Thanksgiving is right around the corner ~ we have a busy month ahead. Chad just switched roatations, back to Kingsport.

PLAY TIME

We love playing with friends & here are a few shots~

Maddie & Ellie

 RUN!!!

 Lunch time with Zach & Maddie

 Helping me make dirt cake for our visit from cousins Abby & Ashlyn

(I guess I know why this Polo dress was on sale... she can unbutton it too easy!)

 Enjoying the Cool Whip top

 (excuse the beer bottle in the back ground... I was not drinking during the day, promise it was empty from the night before!)

 At Hadley Gray's 1st Birthday Party~ Ellie's owl shirt was perfect for the little hoot theme!! She was checking all the kids out!

 Multi tasking... lunch & blackberry! She loves talking on the phone now. She brings me the phone & says "Yaya" so of course we call my mom & she LOVES it!!! It is so funny, everyitme the phone rings she thinks it is Yaya (do we talk that much?!) & everytime I say bye she says 'byebye Yaya'!! SO CUTE! 

Ellie wants to know where everybody is now. She goes through all the names she knows & says 'where daddy' or 'where Pa'? I tell her what everybody is doing at that particular time! & she likes to tell you whose item it is... mommy's & points to the bed), daddy's &points to his car. She is a mess & when I call her a mess, she says 'mess' :) love her~

BIG girl bed

So, the last couple weeks Miss Ellie hasn't been wanting to sleep in her crib. She is only 19 months old & I thought surely, she was not ready to move into a toddler bed. But night after night of fighting with her about getting in the crib, we tried putting her on the futon in her room. She wanted me to lay with her,  but she napped & slept pretty good. So, we figured it was worth a shot. Chad converted her bed to a toddler bed & she is doing pretty good. She likes me to rub her back~so sweet!! But after just a few nights she is still having some trouble falling & staying asleep. We go in & out calming her down, playing her Violet, patting & all. She will doze off but sometimes if she hears me leave, we have to start all over again. For the most part, she does ok falling asleep & napping. But, ugh, last night we were up from 3:15 - 5:15am ... back & forth. Finally, when Chad was leaving for work I had him go check on her ( I was so tired!) she did end up falling back to sleep!! But this morning, when I got up she wasn't in the bed (we are borrowing a video monitor)...  I found her sleeping on the floor by the door :(
WHEW... needing a picture break~

 Here are Ellie & Chad reading a book before she went to sleep in her big girl bed for the first night... she looks excited, huh?!?

 We made a visit to Salon Couture for hair cuts the next day... aren't we beautiful?! Thanks to Carrie~
& I just love her little outfit from Aunt Courtney!

I wonder if it is a  problem with the bed? do we convert the bed back? I just don't know & it makes me so sad that my good little sleeper is having such a hard time. Looking back it has been about a month we have been having sleep issues... granted this girl was falling asleep on her own & sleeping 12 hours with NO trouble & a nap for a while now! Sometimes being a mommy can be rough. I hate hearing her cry & being so upset, but I know she needs to fall asleep on her own. I guess we will give it a little more time. & guess where she is napping right now?! With her blankets, on the floor, right by the door. I think she was looking under :( poor baby!

Fender's Farm

It is fall ALREADY!

We had a great day with friends at Fender's Farm!! It is a nice little day full of activities... pumpkin patch, playground, hay ride, petting zoo, etc. My friend, Allyson, made the kids matching shirts. I even had her do Ryan one ... sad he wasnt there with us.

Chad & Ellie walking at the Farm

 Checking out the BIG pumpkins

 & one just her size

 Family shot by the "How Tall This Fall' sign

 Here is the whole gang: Jon Michael, Barrett, Maddie, Zach, Caitlyn, Ellie & Maddie

 Our family off 3~

Ellie had such a fun time with her friends! She was exhausted & fell asleep on the way home. We really do have some wonderful friends here, all 3 of us do!!

A sweet text from a special girl: "Your pictures are so cute! Your bond with all the other moms is so special. So glad you have them & Ellie has so many sweet friends. Makes my heart feel good about you being there!! Love you so much."

18 month photo session

Lauren Clark took these pictures for us! She is a new friend & a wonderful photographer. Check her out on facebook or her website 'CAPTUREDBYCLARKPHOTOGRAPHY.COM'

We enjoyed our session with Lauren! She was very patient & we walked all around the VA here in Johnson City.  We plan on her shooting our Christmas Card Photo before Thanksgiving!!

Zachary's 1st birthday

Our friend Zach turned 1!

On his birthday, some of us celebrated with him!! His mommy, Allyson went all out! She was a kindergarten teacher & is SO creative! It was a baby einstein theme~

She made all the decor & it was precious!

 Ellie enjoying a party sucker

 Homemade cupcakes to match the decor!

 Ellie thought it was YUMMMY!

 Mr. James getting a kiss :)

 Baby Z

 HAPPY birthday to you, ZACHARY!!!

He ate all his cupcake & ice cream! Z is such a good friend. His older 2 sister are sweet, too. We love the whole Denham family & feel blessed ETSU brought us together!!