Saturday, December 31, 2011

One year.

Lulu Birdie,

This year has gone by so incredibly fast. People told me when I was pregnant that when she got here, it would go by super fast. I thought, yeah right...whatever, there's no way. But holy cow - it has.

The only thing negative I have to say about you, is that you are so defiant. If I put a bow on you - engage freak out. You loves to pull the headbands off and swing them around to taunt me. Such a brat. But I still love you - who wouldn't? :)



Hands always behind your back lately . . . . makes you look so guilty!

I am so proud of you, my baby girl. I love going places and seeing you make strangers smile. You really have brought so much joy to my life, and to others. There sure is something special about you, Beans.

Love, Momma

Happy New Year!

The best pics of 2011. Such a great year. Can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for us!


11 months

Yes, these are late. As a reader of my blog, you are used to this. I think I've waited to post them because I'm not too fond of them :/ Ellie didn't cooperate too well when we took these pictures! 

Dear Ellie Beans,
You continue to amaze me. Your personality is BLOOMING - and you are becoming your own little person. You know what you like, and thus, you know what you don't like. You can be very difficult, and often sassy, but at the end of every day, you are so sweet to your Momma. 

.....protesting my camera.

Mom, what did I tell you?! I'm NOT in the mood for this!!!
You don't understand that these monthly pictures have to be taken on the 15th, whether you are in a good mood or not!!

This one cracks me up. "Blinded by the Light," anyone? 
I know you're singing the song in your head now . . . 

Look at you. I'll miss these days when I can lock you up in a cage crib.


You're getting so big! 

runny nose - but still cute.

 giggles!

Love you more and more each day, Lulu Birdie. You are so special to me!
Love,
Your Momma


Thanksgiving

Okay, I know this is over a month late. . . . butttt, better late than never, right?! And at least I am posting it before 2012! :) 

We had a great Thanksgiving - - - - we spent it running ourselves ragged to multiple family get-togethers. We didn't even make it to all of them. :( Hopefully next year we can. This year, we were a bit under the weather - as you can tell by Ellie Bean's nose. 

Ellz lookin' festive in her sweater dress. She looked so cute! 

Ellie and her Nana at Aunt Diane's house. 

Ellie and her Auntie M - so thankful for one another! 

Next year I will have to take more pictures - we just weren't feeling it this year, I guess! 

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Embrace the camera.

A break from the birthday posts :)



"Ellie" found the pickle at Grandma and Grandpa Vogt's Christmas! (ok, really it was me) Each year, Grandma Betty hides a pickle in the Christmas tree, and the first one to find it gets a $2 bill. It's a pretty big deal around there, so I was ecstatic when I Ellie found it. I love this little family tradition - such a good idea and so fun! Ellie and I had to document the moment!!!

She did not want to let go of this thing - she thought it was hers to keep! 

Linking up to this blog - along with all the other families who embraced the camera this week! :D


Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Ellie's 1st Birthday (continued)

Just picking up where I left off  . . . more pictures from the party! These were taken by Ellie's Aunt Donna. :)

....Okay, so here was the cutest thing ever. When everyone started to sing happy birthday to Ellie, she smiled SO big and was so excited! (So was I, apparently...)

...then she looked at me to see if I knew what was going on, and saw that I was singing, too....

....AND then came the freak out. I think she was embarrassed. 

Inspecting her cake. This was about as "messy" as she got with it.

Ellie's cousin Colten seemed to enjoy the cake! 

 Colten and Grandpa Don

Ellie wasn't sure about opening presents after awhile - she received way too many...but, she did enjoy sitting on the counter-top. 

Smiling with the card her Aunt Monica gave her - - - half of it is missing in the picture. The other side has Ellie's face on Kobe Bryant's body - and if you can't tell, that is Jimmy's face on Kevin Garnett's body. TOO FUNNY!

Opening Ellie's first pair of Toms from Taylor Paige. She loved how sparkly they were - they are so cute!  

Jennifer and Callie

Ellie and her Uncle Mark

Some of the party crowd! :) 

I have even more pictures to share, so there will be one more post coming soon of Ellie's birthday...hope you guys aren't getting bored! ;)

Monday, December 19, 2011

Party time!

Ellie's first birthday party went so great! It was really awesome to see everyone -- even though Christmas is next week! :) It is such a blessing to know how many people truly love our little girl. We are so thankful that all of them are a part of her life!

These are just some pictures from my phone and a few Jimmy's Aunt Monica took. The ones with my camera aren't the greatest quality, so stay tuned for some better shots of the way things were set up - and of Beans, of course! I will have to go through my camera and do another birthday party post. We really couldn't have asked for things to go any better.

One side of the bar where things were set up....

The other side....don't judge me for my fingerprint spotted mirror, please. :)


The cake was made by Amy Reed. She did such an amazing job. Everyone loved it and it was oh-so-tasty!

Opening one of the many presents - seriously, this little girl is so blessed! She is loving all her new toys and other things!

This picture is one of my favorites. It is one of the ones Monica captured :)

She didn't dig into the smash cake too much, which is probably a good thing!

Jimmy took off his hat so Ellie could play with it for a minute - she must have thought his hair was funny!


She was so cute when people sang Happy Birthday. She smiled SO big and cheesy-like, but by the end she started to whimper....I think she got embarrassed!

Thank you to everyone who shared her special day with us!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Needing a miracle.

If you're friends with me on Facebook, you know that our whole family has been miserable this week. We contracted the flu. It is awful. I would never wish this upon anyone! For the most part, we are on the mend....but I'm really hoping that we are all back to normal for Ellie's birthday party tomorrow. So much effort has been put into preparing for the party, it would break my heart if we were forced to cancel :(

Itty bitty triangles I've cut out for decoration on Ellie's cake....

the table Ellie's Papa built for her and Granny painted...

Other misc. things I've been putting together. 

*Sigh* really hoping that all this praying for healthiness works!

Cookie day

Every year, our family gathers a couple weeks before Christmas and we make thousands of cookies - literally, thousands! This year was the first time Ellie attended. As usual, we had lots of fun and baked SO MANY cookies!

If you didn't know, you'd think these two were sisters. 

Ellie - obviously enjoying herself! ;)