Old Nursing School Friends

Old Nursing School Friends

Earlier this week Matt, Ellie and I went up to Gadsden to see some of my old friends from nursing school. Betsy and her husband are travel nursing and they are in the changing assignments and on their way to Washington D.C. , but they had stopped at their house for a few days. So we had to go up and see them before they were off again! Betsy had seen Ellie one time before but she was much smaller.

I had brought my camera and was all prepared to take pictures, but I forgot that my battery was dead...

So anyways...

Here is a picture of the first time Ellie met Betsy...

We also got to see my friend Jamie too. I haven't seen much of Jamie since we have been out of nursing school and I miss her. I was so happy to be able to see her. It was so excited to be able to see her too because she is pregnant! She is going to have a little girl sometimes on November. I hope that her and Ellie can be friends! I of course didn't get any pictures of Jamie and Ellie because of my stupid camera, but maybe we will get some shots the next time we get together!

New Table!

New Table!

Last night Matt came come early from work and we went shopping for a new dining room table. The table that we have now I really love. I love it because it was my Mimi's and my sister refinished it for me and Matt to have when we first got married. It is very special to me, but it is very old too. Matt is really the one who wanted a new table. He said that this one is too hard for him to sit down at...ok. So anyways... its took a while for him to convince me to start looking for one, but we do need something a little better sized for when Miss Ellie starts eating at the table with us. So we went to four places last night and looked. Ellie was so good while we were shopping. I really think that she likes shopping. She did finally start getting fussy while we were leaving our very last place though, but as soon as she got in the car ( and we started going) she was fine.

The table that we ended up getting was at Ashley Furniture. It is very pretty. I didn't take any picture, but I will post some when we get it here. They had to order it and they said it would take 2-4 weeks to get it in. I am excited. I cannot wait to see it in our dining room!

We were also looking for a new coffee table. The one that we have now is beautiful. We have had it since we got married, but it is very big and it has four square glass pieces in it. I want to get a smaller one so Ellie will have more room to play on the living room floor and I do not want glass because I know that's a disaster waiting to happen. So we looked and looked for one. We found one we kind of liked at the first place we looked, but didn't get it. Then every other place we looked you had to buy the table in sets and I don't want a set...I just want a single coffee table. So we will have to keep looking for that.

Super Model Ellie Reese

Super Model...Ellie Reese

This past week our fiend, Kim Lancaster-Brantley took Ellie's 3-4 month pictures.

Ellie did so good. We changed her outfit multiple times and she didn't even fuss!

She must have enjoyed being the center of attention.

Here are some pictures below of Ellie at her photo shoot.

Here are some collages that Kim put together...

I thought that they turned out so sweet.

After a long days work a girl starts to get a little tired!

This picture I love.

It is of Ellie and Kim's little boy, Hunter.

They are only 5 days apart.

It is so fun to see the two of them together.

I know that they will have the best time when they get a little older and can play together!

Here are some things that we don't want to forget about Ellie at 3 months

- The way you are so attentive about your surrounding. You look at everything and are so interested about where you are

- The way you suck your top lip with your tongue. It is soo funny. We have decided that you are very talented!

- The way you love to lay on Mommy and Daddy's bed and stare and talk to our fan.

- Your BIG smiles that you give when people talk to you.

- How you have found your fingers and you love them! You have started putting everything in your mouth.

- The way you have started to talk louder and makes different sounds

- The way you have started to reach for and play with your toys. It is so fun watching you see new thing!

Hamburgers and Old Friends

Hamburgers and Old Friends

This weekend we got together and cooked out with my sister Ashley and her family, my oldest best friend, Ashli and her family, and my sister's (Ashley) old college roommate, Kristy and her family. ( I know its kind of hard with all the Ashley/Ashlis in there!) But anyways...you get the point. It was so fun getting together and it was extra special because it was the first time we all got together with all of our children. Kristy's baby Karlee is only 5 weeks old and it was so fun to see all of our kids together. I couldn't get over how small Karlee was. She was already almost 9lbs, but she felt so tiny compared to Miss Ellie Reese who is pushing 16lbs. I cannot believe that a few short weeks ago Ellie was her size. They grow SOOOO fast! I was getting ready to take a picture of all three babies and of course my camera died... so i am gonna have to get some from my sister Ashley.

Another very exciting thing about getting together with Ashli is that her husband Pete makes hamburgers with his secret sprinkle spices! They are so good! Pete is Greek and he cooks the best food. Well I think the only thing I have ever had that he has cooked is hamburger, but I am sure he is great at cooking other things too! Every time we get together with them we always want him to make hamburger...I am sure they are getting a little tired of this, but they are delicious!

Here are some pictures...they are not the best, but i tried...

This is Ashli's little boy, James...he is so cute!

He loved climbing and sitting in the pink bumbo seat even though he was a little too big for it!

My niece, Anna - Claire being the wild woman that she is...

She really did not want to have her picture taken. Every time I got my camera out she went running the other way.

James, climbing on the table.

You can tell he is all boy...climbing on everything and a black eye!

Anna -Claire and Ellie attempting to get a picture together

My sister, Ashley and Anna-Claire

Me and Elle ( She did not want to look at the camera for anything!)

Our attempt at a family picture...

Anna - Claire finally decided she wanted to be still enough to be in a picture, so she joined us.

I have no idea what Matt was doing. I guess he didn't want his picture taken either!

Cry Baby?

Cry Baby?

I am convinced that I will never get a "good" picture of Ellie with her cousins (as "good" as you can get with 3 kids under 1 year of age).

This picture was taken a few weeks ago and it makes me laugh.

My mom always tells me what a fussy / bad baby I was for the first year of my life.

So I guess the old saying is true..." Like mother... like daughter"

Happy 1st Birthday Rileigh James!

Yesterday we spent the day in Florence, Alabama to celebrate Rileigh James's 1st birthday party!
Ellie was so excited to be able to see all her cousins!


Everything was so cute!
Jamie and Ashley did a wonderful job of decorating for the party.
The wild zebra print and hot pink decorations definitely went with
the party because it was wild too!
There were little kids everywhere.
Every time I heard somebody ring the doorbell I kept thinking...
" Oh my goodness, there isn't anymore room!"


Ellie hanging out with four of her six cousins...
I don't think we will ever get a picture where they are ALL cooperating!


Ellie with her Great Grandaddy


The Birthday Girl...Sweet Rileigh bug!


Jamie, my sister and Rileigh.
Rileigh is so lucky to have such a sweet, good momma!



Decorating cookies.
They were so good!



River and Anna-Claire were enjoying Rileigh's new toys.
These two were a wild pair!
They would push each other as fast as they could into the wall, then just fall out laughing about it.
It is always crazy when they get together...



River LOVED Rileigh's new sunglasses.
He walked around for everybody to take his picture with them on!



Rileigh with her little birthday cake.
She never really "dug in" like I thought she would...
This really surprised me because this girl LOVES to eat!



After a long, fun day with family we got ready to head back home.
River loves Ellie so much and he is so sweet to her.
He spent a long time telling her goodbye!



Happy Birthday Rileigh!
I cannot believe that you are already 1!
We Love you SO much sweet girl!

Finally...a clean house!

So...I would have never guessed that it could take ALL day to clean house when you have a baby...



I usually try to clean every Thursday but it is hard to do with this as a distraction...



She is just so cute and sweet that I just wanna sit and play with her all day...
But I made myself clean...
Our house had not been this clean since she was born!
By 7PM last night I was exhausted but everything sure looked and felt better!

Fourth of July at the Beach

Every year on the Fourth of July we go to the beach with my family. It started out as a trip for my aunt's birthday and now 20 something years later we are still going. We go to Navarre beach and we have stayed at the same place since we started going. It has been rebuilt many time because of hurricanes and storms and we were scared that we would not be able to go this year because of the oil, but we went and it was beautiful! Besides Matt being chased by a school of sting rays and a red flag everything was wonderful.


This was Ellie's third beach trip but it was her first (of many I hope) time to go to Navarre. We love going because our whole family tries to go and stay for a week. It is so great to see everybody and spend the week with sisters, cousins, parents, grandparents and brother in laws. I hope that we are able to do this for many more years so Ellie will love it as much as we do!