The Big OnE!

Sweet, sweet Elly...where has a year gone? It seems like just yesterday that I was waiting anxiously for the nurses to bring you to me. You were and are a dream come true...I had stopped imagining that I could have a baby girl to hold and love on. You captured all of our hearts the instant we saw you and you have added so much life and excitement and joy to our family. Your smile is constant, it is infectious and it is golden--it lights up your whole face. You make the best faces--from your constant desire to stick your tongue out as far as it will go, to your sweet nose "scrunches" to your excited, eyes wide-open "I'm so proud of myself" looks. You are as ornery as they come and I LOVE it--you have so much personality already. I love that you light up when you see any of us (Logan, Daddy or I), that you stop instantly if you hear Logan's or Daddy's voice and you search out where it came from. I love that you will only let me put you to bed at night without fussing. I love that you can play by yourself and have the BEST time doing it. I love how FAST you can get to Logan's room or Daddy's office if the door is open. I love that you will play with Logan or just sit back and watch what he's doing and then try to do it. I love your sweet voice saying "uh oh" and "up" and "moo" and "neigh" and "boo" and especially "mamamama." I love that you don't want to sit still, you want to move and move and move. I love how easily your feelings get hurt if you fall down or if your dinner is gone or if you have to be interrupted to change your diaper. I love that you love your baths and any and all water, that you will splash and play and cry when it is time to be done (with a bath or swimming.) I love that you cry in your car seat if Logan's not there beside you to hold your hand and make you giggle. You are so sweet, so cuddly and so perfect in every way for our family. I thank God for the miracle of you every moment of every day.

Some one year milestones and "sizes":
You can still stand up and let go, but you don't yet have a desire to walk
You got your second tooth yesterday and your top two teeth pushed through today
You repeat nearly every word we ask you to, but only when you want to
You LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to eat and drink your milk
You can climb the stairs with perfection and in the blink of an eye, but you make me insanely nervous
You wear size 6-12 months or 9 months
You wear size 2 shoes
You wear size 2 diapers
You sleep with 2 binkies (1 in your mouth and 1 to hold)
You sleep every night under your crocheted blanket from Mrs. Jessica
You wear size 12-18 month hats
You weigh 17 lbs. 11 oz.
You are 25 1/2 inches tall
You have 2 teeth
Your favorite toys are baby dolls, balls, Logan's cars, and books

Summer Fun

Well, summer is winding down for us. It has been one of the best summers I can remember--we've had a blast doing so many fun things. I still owe a South Padre post, but that will have to come when I have a large block of time to go through the hundreds of pictures I have from the trip! ; ) Since we've been home, we've done a few things like:

Had a visit from Jarrod's sweet cousin Amber and her husband Jon:



Hosted a baby shower for a precious friend, Ashley S:

Had some playtime with the sweet Bray girls:

Had some bounce house fun with the Starrs and Joneses

Tooth Picture

Here is a picture where you can "kinda" see the infamous tooth...

Logan Quotes

Well...if you know me at all, you know that I have a definite love of country music. I also have a definite dislike for "kids music" as the norm in the car. Not to say that we don't have the occasional Acapella lullabies or Praise Baby or Cedarmont Kids going, but it is few and far between. This being the case, Logan has also developed a love for country music. His favorite song is "Chicken Fried" by Zac Brown Band along with some Taylor Swift--"You Belong With Me."

A few months ago, (yes I'm behind on this one but today reminded me that I never blogged it) we were at the dinner table and Logan just busts out with "Little bit of chicken fried...Cold Beer on a Friday night." I don't think I really paid attention before this to how much he loved this song, but I thought this was hilarious albeit a little inappropriate. So, today we are on our way home from the pool and he starts telling me to turn up Taylor Swift. Then we get home and he asks, "When are we going to hear that one song again that I like?" I'm thinking..."uhhh...which one???" He says "you know that we heard on the way to Memphis by that guy: 'some brains'." Okay, I couldn't get it, but all that came to mind was that VERY inappropriate song "Some Beach"...when I said "Do you mean that song that says 'some beach, somewhere'" He responded by smiling and saying "Oh yeah, that's the one. I like that song. When can we hear it again?" I generally remember to turn the station when it comes on but apparently, we didn't catch it on the way to Memphis. Oh D-E-A-R!!!!

A tooth, a tooth, a tooth!!!

Sweet Elly's tooth finally broke through on Friday...so we officially have one stub of a tooth as of August 7.

Sea World and College Friends

Every summer we get together with a group of our closest college friends and have a long weekend away from the kids, the computers, the phones (with the exception of a daily "kid check-in") and just enjoy getting to be together. It is such a refreshing time--these friends are truly an extension of family and a group that you can completely be yourself with--there are no pretenses, no eggshell walking, no worrying if you'll offend someone. God has given us a real gift in each other and we try to do whatever we can to continue to nurture these relationships. We realized this year that our kids know each family individually, but we have never all gotten together with our kids included and allowed our kids to be blessed by the mass chaos that often comes with this group. So, we decided that we would all go visit Kim & Kyle and Vic & Colleen since they both just had babies and weren't able to be with us at the boat this year. Our family was already planning on heading to visit my sister-in-law and her husband, so we decided to leave a few days early to meet up with everyone and enjoy a trip to Sea World-just the 19 of us (and we were missing the Hemphills and McClures.) My mother-in-law joined us because 1-she was going on vacation with our family and 2-she hasn't gotten to "enjoy" the craziness of this bunch in the past few years. She was a DOLL--such a trooper. Fourteen of us were camped out all over the Stringer's house and she managed to fit into the craziness, as she always does. All of the kids adopted her as their "Annie" and she sweetly, patiently read stories, held babies, slept in a room with 2 of the kids (not mine), treked around Sea World in the hot, hot sun while holding hands with at least one child nearly all day. If you know my mother-in-law you know that she's a gem, but she truly outdid herself with this one--I love that she is so willing to fit in and be flexible and never utter one word of complaint. Thank you Annie for being you--we love you! Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Blake Stringer and Elly (one for the wedding slideshow...)


The oldest boys-Logan, Braden and Seth with Annie

Blake, Mallory, Seth, Braden, and Logan with Annie

The only girls--boy are they going to have to be T-O-U-G-H with all of these boys around.

Sweet Rylan was wiped out!

Logan, Braden and Seth

Porter and Blake P.

Sweet Baby Cullen and Elly--this was a rare shot--Elly couldn't leave Cullen's feet alone. She would grab them and laugh and laugh. She did NOT get this love of any and all feet from her mama!

Is it hot out here??? (at Viva--our favorite show)

Look at this precious boy! Sweet Lincoln is so easy going and such a cuddle bug!

Catch Up

Well...its been a busy, crazy summer and I love it! We've had a 14 hour trip to my parents in TN, an 8 hour trip to my sisters in MS, and an extended trip to San Antonio and on to South Padre to visit Jarrod's sister. Throw in 2 Vacation Bible Schools, a week visit from my niece Whitney, 2 weeks of Swimming Lessons and you have about 3 days of uninterrupted "home" time. So, here is my attempt to catch up on blogging.