Kreativ Award!

This is the first time I've been tagged (or nominated) for an award! My youngest sister, Courtney, tagged me. I've never done one of these before and I think they're pretty fun. Thanks Court!

Courtney started her blog just a few months before me. I love following her blog. She and her husband Jeremy are such a beautiful couple and they're really enjoying life as newlyweds. Check her out when you get a chance.


1-Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2-Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3-Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4-Name 7 things about yourself that people may not know.
5-Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6-Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7-Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they've been nominated.


Let's see, 7 things about me that people may not know...

1. I used to play the Trumpet. I played for 6 years throughout Junior High and High School. I played in Jazz band, Orchestra, Pit Orchestra, Marching Band, and the Concert Band. I really miss playing.

2. I am left handed. Well actually, I'm ambidextrous but I use my left hand for writing and eating, and my right hand for throwing and using scissors.

3. I have wavy hair. It's not pretty though because it's only wavy underneath and it's straight on top. That's why I always straighten it out before I style it.

4. I'm very short. I'm only 4' 11". It's funny because all of my sisters are short (I'm the shortest by far) and we married tall men. There's almost a foot and a half difference in height between me and my husband.

5. I was once hired for 2 different jobs on the same day. I was hired as a receptionist for a small Dr's office, and I was also hired as a bank teller. I took the receptionist position because they called me first. I've been a receptionist for two different medical offices for the last 9 years. I often wonder how or if my life would be different if I had taken the bank teller position.

6. Okay, this one's embarrassing. I used to suck my fingers as a child. You know how a lot of kids suck their thumb? Well, I sucked the first two fingers on my hand until... well, let's just say WAY too long! I won't even say how long. :)

7. I used to draw a lot too. I have lots of drawings in a box somewhere. I don't know why I didn't pursue art more.



Now I'm supposed to nominate 7 other kreativ bloggers. I don't think I'm going to nominate 7, but I do want to nominate a few. I'm going to nominate:

Dana, one of my friends from High School.

Jamie, another friend from High School.

Shamree, my sister-in law.

And, last but not least, my friend Rebecca. I met Rebecca at church in our College and Career group about 6 or 7 years ago.

Elliana at 9 months

For those of you that follow Kelly's Korner, you'll notice that I am TOTALLY stealing her idea. I AM aware of this! :)

I love this idea though and I think it's a great way to document Ellie's life. I only wish I had started blogging when she was first born.


Elliana, this is your life at 9 months old:

~You weigh 14 pounds, 6 ounces, and you are 26 1/4 inches tall.

~You are in the 13th percentile for height and the 1st percentile for weight. You are very small.

~You wear 6-9 month clothing.

~You have two bottom teeth.

~Your hair is starting to come in and I can't quite tell what color it is. In some lighting it looks blonde, and in other lighting it looks light brown. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

~Your nap schedule is starting to change. Some days you'll have two naps, and some days you're doing fine with just one nap.

~You are crawling so well now and you are into EVERYTHING!

~You are also pulling yourself up with the help of chairs, couches, the bathtub, and even walls. I think you'll try to start walking soon.

~Your favorite place to play right now is the bathroom (I have no idea why, I think it's because you like to pull yourself up with the bathtub).

Here are some pictures of you playing in the bathroom:









~Your favorite "toys" are the laundry basket, your pacifier, your bath toys, and your walker.

~You LOVE your baths!

~You LOVE to eat! You'll eat anything we give you. You don't even object to your veggies. Good girl! Right now you eat formula, baby oatmeal, lots of veggies and fruits, and today you started yobaby yogurt.

~You still have a very happy, bubbly personality and you smile at everyone you make eye contact with. You make everyone around you smile.





~You babble all the time and you can say "Mama, Dad-da, and Hi".

~Your current nicknames are Ellie, Missy, and Kiddo.

~You are growing and changing all the time and you bring us SO much joy.

Busy, Busy, Busy

So I haven't been around the blogging world lately. That would be because last week and the coming week have been crazy busy. Truth is, more busy than I like to be.

This is mostly because of my husband and his volleyball team's schedule. We will have only one evening at home this coming week and it was the same last week. As much as I love how much he enjoys coaching, I don't love how much time we spend apart. I come to most of the home games, but I miss most of the away games.

On the nights that Caleb is away, I've seen a small glimpse of what it must be like to be a single mom. I must say, I have A LOT of respect for single mom's. I don't know how they do it.

We just spent the weekend out of town for a volleyball tournament. Elliana came too and the team just LOVED her! I think she enjoyed being around all of them too. She kept them entertained. She is such a ham! It's so much fun to watch her experience all of this for the first time.

I don't think she understood or even cared why we were there, she was just upset that she couldn't crawl around and move all over the place. Even though she wasn't crazy about being confined to the bleachers, I was impressed by how well she did. She is SUCH a trooper! Somehow, we even got a nap in. I think she has no idea that she better get used to this because we are going to be part of this world for a long time.

I'm looking forward to the week after next. Things should slow down (a little) by then. We'll still be in the midst of the volleyball season but the scheduled isn't nearly as crazy. Then I'll have some time to do the things that I love like cooking and eating dinner as a family, blogging :), and spending evenings together at home.

She's Crawling!

Well, It's officially time to baby-proof the house!

Elliana has been working on crawling for quite some time now but today was the first day that she actually crawled a long distance (long for her anyway).

I set her down in her room while I was getting dressed in my room and she started crying. I went in to peek at her and she started crawling towards me. Call me crazy, but I was SO excited and SO proud of her! I kept cheering her on and she just kept crawling. She made it out of her room and into mine. Then a little later I put her at the end of the hall and she crawled all the way down the hall.

Here she is, crawling down the hall.







She was a little cranky and needing a nap when I took these so she isn't exactly smiling about it. I apologize about the quality of the pictures. They were taken on my camera phone so they aren't great.

Here she is a little happier. I took these a few days ago when she was just crawling short distances.





Hopefully soon I'll catch it on our video camera.

A New Look

It's so much fun to have a talented sister that designs blogs. Thanks Jenn! I absolutely LOVE the new fall look. It goes perfectly with my previous post. I will be keeping this one for a long time.