Ella Brooke

My last post was about little Mary Beth, so I thought I should do equal time and talk about Miss Ella. Ella is a very healthy (about 28lbs) little girl. She is growing like a weed and has really started to talk a lot recently. Ella loves to sing! She is constantly singing "Shout Hallelujah" and clapping her hands. She loves to listen to Praise CDs in the car and if she is upset, she calms right down to "Beautiful Lamb of God"!
Ella is such a joy to our family. We never knew how much a grand baby would change our lives, but she has definitely changed us all! I love that she calls me, MOM and calls Laura , MAMA! She does this because Laura and Jared call me MOM. She keeps Pa on a very short leash! She needs to know where he is at all times, and he is the designated video and channel changer for her. He is at her beckon call! She sits on our bed, with her juice, her "tookies" and her pillow and yells for Pa to come and change the channel!

I recently took several pictures of her to enter in Regis and Kelly's beautiful baby search, but I never sent them in, so enjoy these pictures of our precious, Ella Brooke!beautiful blue-eyed blonde

i love the curls!!

she's even cute as a brunette!

Thank you God for healthy babies!

Sweet Mary Beth!

Mary Beth and her Mommy on Christmas Day

Rebecca called today to let us know that MaryBeth had her check-up and shots today. She said she hardly cried at all when they gave her the shots. Our sweet MB weighed in at 20 lbs and 2 oz. and she is in the 20-25th percentile for her height. She is growing like a little weed! Her ears looked great! Remember she had tubes in a few months ago. MB is in the 5th percentile for her weight, but if we all ran around constantly, we would all be that way! The girl never stops!!
I just had MaryBeth on my mind tonight and thought I would share these things~ I love to hear her yell, NANA! and see her wave at me as I am sitting with the Praise Team! I love to hear her yell at her Pa, she calls him, Ba! She loves her Uncle Jay and she and Ella can really rough him up! I love to watch her eat! She has an unreal little appetite and like her Mommy was as a baby, she will try anything. I love how she bows her head at dinner when we pray and then she yells, "mamen" when the prayer is finished.
Mary Beth, you are our pride and joy and Nana and Pa love you so much!!

Christmas 2009

Before we left for the family get-together, we had our Christmas at home with our kids. Ella and MaryBeth made it so much easier for everyone by opening all the presents themselves! We started the day with breakfast made by Pa and then the chaos began!Pa, Nana and sweetest girls on the planet!

One of the best gifts we ever received!

The girls help Uncle J (or Uh-Day, as Ella calls him)

Laura needs help, too!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were spent at my parents house. This has been a tradition forever! My kids have never been at home on Christmas, we have always been at Grandma's and Santa always found them there! The same is still true, even with the grandkids. This year there were 27 of us and we all spent the night! It is a crazy night! We eat, open presents, eat, laugh, eat, throw wads of wrapping paper at each other (ok, only the boys) and then we eat Jam cake and drink Grandma's boiled custard! It is a wonderful tradition and a special time for memories and lots of fun!

Grandma and Grandaddy

Feeding the masses Christmas Breakfast!

Jared checks out his loot from Santa!

Kids are "locked" in the basement until all are ready to see what Santa brought. Ella is not a happy participant.

The New Year! 2010

Today is Jan.2nd, 2010. That, in itself, is crazy to me. I can remember so well the Y2K scare thing and that we went to Sam's and bought peanut butter and water so we would not starve if the world came to an end!! We even went to Hohenwald to stay because Steve is prepared for any emergency and that is our meeting place in the event of an attack!! Seriously. Now it is 10 years later, the kids are all grown and gone, (NOT!) and I sit and wonder what will my life be like 10 years from today. Alot has happened in 10 years...we moved :( , both girls married, had 2 grand babies, quit dental, started Aflac, Alan lost his job, Jared is laid off, the economy stinks, changed churches :) and made lots of new friends. Some good, some not so good! I have learned one thing, though. We still have our health and we still have our God. He continues to bless us and keep us in His hand. I pray that this new year will be full of blessings for us and for anyone reading this. Maybe I can come back and read this in 10 years and laugh and smile, because then I will know for sure of all the blessings that he sent down on us! Happy New Year!

Job Woes!!

The company that Alan had worked for for 28 years decided to close the doors in August. We had known that this was coming, but I don't think you are ever really prepared for a life change like that at our age. The first couple of weeks he stayed pretty busy finishing up the loose ends of jobs and working around the house. Well, now it is December and it is not fun anymore!! I am pretty sure that he is going to go crazy here in this house and I am wondering just how much Sports Center can one man watch!! I say all this to say, HE HAS A JOB INTERVIEW TOMORROW!!!

Please pray for this to be the place where God has planned for him to be.

Bummer!!

To say that I am disappointed would be a MAJOR understatement!! You see, I am supposed to be on a cruise ship headed for Cozumel today. Instead I am laying on the couch with my leg elevated and hurting, due to a staph infection!! I have no idea how I got it and neither do the 3 doctors that I have been to!! All I know is, I got it and it is no fun!! The plan was for me, Connie, Carolee, Cliff and Kelly to take our Mother on a cruise for her 80th birthday. They are all aboard the ship and having a great time and I am glad for them. I am thankful that this is getting better and I can go on the next trip, right??
So for now, I am at home being taken care of by the sweetest husband in the world.

New to blogging!!

I love to read other blogs and enjoy the pictures that others share....so I decided to start my own blog! I am just learning so bear with me, and be prepared to see lots of pictures of grandbabies!!