Ellie's first Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! It was especially great because we had our little Ellie with us! It was so much fun for Jeremiah and I to go shopping for Ellie's first Christmas presents! (even though she had no clue what was going on, hehe!) She loved tearing the wrapping paper off the presents and then playing with all her cool new toys she got from her Papa and Grammie and Aunt and Uncles. And Ellie wanted to say a special Thank you to her Nana for sending her the cutest clothes ever!
Ellie is at such a fun stage right now. She is becoming a little more independent and is able to play and entertain herself for longer periods of time. If this girl could be on her feet all day long, she would definitely prefer to be. She is a little walking machine. She pulls herself up on everything and will walk around in circles holding onto her toy or the couch or whatever it may be. She's even brave enough to attempt to let go of what she is holding onto and take a step to reach for one of us. She is crawling now, so I will be in the kitchen doing something then all of a sudden feel a tug on my leg and look down and there is Ellie....standing up holding onto my leg with a big smile on her face. It's so cute! Her favorite word to say is Da-Da! Jer is loving that! :) Ellie is now 8 months old! (officially tomorrow, the 30th) I guess what they say is true....time flies when you're having fun!

opening up a Christmas present!

I think she liked her talking ducky!


Ellie's new buggy!


our family Christmas pic

...should we have gone with this one instead?!




boo boo...with her hair in her eyes





big smile :)

Picture Fest

It's been a little bit since my last post....so I thought I would just put up a whole bunch of pictures of the last month or so. Ellie is now 7 months old!! She is keeping me quite busy these days, now that she can get around to wherever it is she wants to go, I have to keep a good eye on her. She is pulling herself up on anything she can get her hands on and loves to explore and study everything she finds. She is quite the little cutie! Jeremy and I are doing really good, we are getting so excited for Christmas to be here! I love this time of year! All of the Christmas decorations everywhere, spending time with family and friends, and celebrating the birth of Jesus....it just doesn't get any better than that! I am so excited that Ellie gets to celebrate her first Christmas this year, even though she is just a baby and won't really know what is going on....I am so thankful she is here with us!! :)

my family with Grandma Pickrell (my mom's mom)
(taken a couple months ago)

Ellie and Auntie Chelsea





Ellie loves to blow her cheeks out...it's so funny!


take 1 for some Christmas photos





all the grandkids for Grammie and Papa's Christmas card

they are adorable!

piggy tails

just found this pic of Ellie from right after she was born...it made me all teary remembering her sweet little face just staring up at me. Greatest moment ever!

...and now look at the big girl she is becoming!

Fun at the park!

Yesterday, Ellie and I headed over to the park to meet up with her cousins and some friends. It was super fun to watch all the kids play together. I told my dad to bring the little tricycle Ellie likes to ride because I was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to do much, being she is only 6 1/2 months old. But Ellie LOVES to be outside and when you have some cute little faces there to entertain her too, she is one happy camper! So she rode the little tricycle around while someone pushed her, which is absolutely hysterical to watch! As soon as I put her on the seat, she instantly grabs onto the handlebars and starts swinging her feet....it's so cute! They had little baby/kid swings there, so we put Ellie in the swing and I had no idea if she was going to be way too small or if she would not like it at all, but she loved it! I couldn't believe she was big enough to swing at the park! (I know I totally sound like a first time mom right now, every "first" is such a big deal!) I definitely had to take a video of Ellie swinging to show her dad, because he would be just as proud!
Okay, here are some pictures from the park. It has been SO beautiful outside, we have to take advantage of this weather before it gets all cold and rainy out.

our little racer








Ellie sports the piggy tails now


Grammy, Ellie, Halle and Kylee

our buddy Hayden


Bubba sticking his tounge out at Auntie


sweet little ZoZo


Ellie swinging for her first time


My favorite picture...look at those eyes!

little boo-boo

UH-OH!!

.....I think we're in trouble!!!


Ellie is six months old now! Everytime I look at her I can't help but think, "how did she become this little person so fast?" I know I say this alot, but time is flying by! She is trying to pull herself up on things now (as you can see in the picture above) and can get around by scooting and rolling over and over. It's pretty funny. Ellie makes us laugh so much! She is a little spitfire! And she says MOMMA!!! I'm not even kidding you! I couldn't believe it when I heard her say it for the first time! Jeremy was out of town on a business trip so he didn't hear her say it until I was talking to him on the phone and I put Ellie down and she started to cry and say momma momma. He was all, "No Way!" It was pretty funny.

Here are a few cute pictures of Ellie just hangin out and playing on the floor.

First Halloween

This was the first Halloween that Jeremiah and I have actually gotten excited about in a long time. We are not the biggest fans of this day, but now that we have a little one, it makes it alot more exciting and fun because we get to dress Ellie up in a super cute costume! I do have to admit though... I did wait until the very last second to find her a costume and it barely made it here on time,(since we ordered it online) so next year I will definitely be a little more prepared and start planning out costume ideas sooner than 3 days before Halloween! oops!
Ellie was the cutest little panda bear I've ever seen and we had so much fun going to the church harvest festival and meeting up with Ellie's cousins, who by the way were absolutely adorable!
Before we headed over to the church, we stopped by my Nana and Papa's house so they could see Ellie in her costume and also my uncles were in town visiting, so we got to see them too!! It was a really fun night...and so fun to see all the cute little kids dressed up in their adorable costumes!

our cute little panda bear




Ellie and Papa


Ellie with her cousins...
Cooper the elephant, Kylee is Cinderella and Zoey is Tigger