Merry Christmas!

Customize a digital greeting

Sweet Sixteen... Months

At church today, in the youth building, there was the cutest display of candy and balloons for one of the girls' Sweet Sixteenth.  Her mother's advice to us as we passed was... "Don't blink!"  It is crazy to think that our baby girl, who is sixteen months old, will some day be sixteen YEARS old!!  I can't talk about it anymore though, because I may start crying. Moving on...

Ellasyn is sixteen months old! She is full of energy, and happiness.  The best comparison I can make is the Energizer Bunny... she really does just keep going. She is learning to obey, and she is very good about following one and two step directions.  Some of her favorite things to do are dance (anytime, anywhere, no matter what the music is or isn't), read her books, or yours, snuggle with Hollie, try on Mommie or Daddy's shoes and play outside (she loves to pick up one leaf, or rock at a time and hand them to you).  If you sing one of her favorite songs she will "sing" along or do the corresponding movements.  She loves "Teddy bear, Teddy bear", "I'm a Little Teapot", "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands" and "Rock-a-bye Baby".  If you sing "Jesus Loves Me" any time other than bedtime, she will start shaking her head "No".  I guess I should find a different bedtime song. 

~ Trying on Daddy's shoes and jacket ~

~ Reading to Hollie ~

~ Reading Daddy's Bible ~

~ Getting all cozied up in the wagon ~

She had her cast removed this week, and she is so glad to be able to wiggle, play, stretch and dance with both arms uninhibited.  Other than the actual taking off of the cast, which was pretty scary, she hasn't had any "rehab" time.  She bounced right back and moved full steam ahead. 

We made a trip to Canton, TX on Friday for their Trade Days.  This was Ellasyn's second trip with me and she was wonderful.  She sat in her stroller and talked, snacked and did NOT take a nap.  On the car ride home she talked, snacked and did  NOT take a nap.  When we got home she played and did NOT take a nap.  She went the whole entire day with no nap and she was full of energy.  I do not know how she did it.  Ethan's parents were babysitting that night while he and I worked a basketball tournament at his school. Jan said she was out at soon as her little head hit the bed. 

The last time we went to Canton, I saw the cutest Christmas dresses that had been made out of a vintage table cloth. Being the frugal gal that I am... I decided I would spend $10.00 on the table cloth and figure out how to make a dress, instead of spending $30.00 on one that had already been made.  So... never having sewn anything other than pillows and curtains... I gave it a shot.  I refused to buy a pattern... because that would cost me an extra $5.00 or so.   After I made the second top (the first one would have fit one of her dolls) it turned out pretty good.  She wore it to church today!

Here are some more pictures of Our Girl...

~ Post Pigtails ~

~ Checking out Marmee and Papa's new puppies ~

~ Going to Daddy's last football game ~

All decked out in our TA Howard Middle School colors.

 \

~ Gig'em Aggies! ~

~ She will kill me for this one some day ~

~ She has her keys, her purse and her car... Ready to go! ~

Happy Sixteen Months to the sweetest girl I know :)

... with and without the cast

Fall, Fifteen months and First Fest...

Okay, I am going to start giving a re-cap of the past month with the rocking chair picture at the end. Also, I am a little behind in blogging so this may get a little long. I will do my best to keep it short and sweet. :)

For those of you that have not heard... our sweet girl fell out of her swing in the backyard a couple of weeks ago.  She was a little too eager to get out, and I was not quick enough to catch her.  Long story short... she has a "buckle fracture" in her left wrist and will be in a cast through Thanksgiving.  She is getting around just fine with it and is using almost as much as she ever did.  The one thing that bugs her is eating... since her arm is bent, she can't reach her mouth. It slows her down a little having to eat with just one hand.

~Evening of the accident with her splint on~

~We got her cast on her 15 month b-day~

~ She chose blue, but I steered her toward green or purple instead :) ~

Her fifteenth  month has been full of fun! She celebrated two great-grandparents' birthdays... Papaw McDaniel and Grandmother Jackson.  The CD Jackson's came down for Gmom's birthday and we had a fun time with them at a pumpkin patch in Arlington.  Honey (Ethan's mom) treated her to her very first visit to the Dallas Arboretum, which was decorated to the nines with pumpkins, gourds, hay bales,etc.  She had a great time wandering around and especially sitting at a little iron table that was just her size.  We enjoyed some cooler weather and being able to play in the backyard. Ethan and I took her to the State Fair and we got to see all kinds of animals. (note: NEVER go on the last Saturday it is open... the crowd was ridiculous!) There was a lot more that I can't remember right now.  I will have to start taking notes!

~ Getting in the spirit of Halloween ~

~ This candy bucket is from McDonald's when Ethan was little! ~

~ Getting more in the spirit with a cute Halloween shirt from Nanny McDaniel and a fun headband! ~

~ Checking out the steer at the State Fair with Daddy. (I don't think Mommie would have gotten that close!) ~

~ State Fair... Petting Zoo ~

~ Cousins Jude and Penny at the pumpkin patch  ~

~ Penny says," Look at this pumpkin!" ~

She dressed as a black and white kitty cat for our church's First Fest.  She was the cutest kitty cat EVER! Of course I am a little biased...  First Fest is a huge community festival that our church hosts.  There is lots of yummy food vendors, a ton of games, bounce houses and activities for kids of all ages, performers and trunk or treat. (rows of cars/vans/SUV/trucks with their trunks open and decorated. The kids go through the line and get candy.)  It took Ellasyn a little bit to get the hang of it, she wanted to take out the candy that was in her bucket and give it back.  She caught on and had a great time.  We went down our street when we got home and saw a couple of neighbors.  I guess in the age of  fall fests, and trunk or treating people don't stay home anymore.  Three kids came by our house.... three.  I was a little sad about that.

~Getting dressed up!~

~Sitting with our faux Jack-o-lantern before we head to First Fest~

~The McDaniel cousins at First Fest... 3 ballerinas, an Aggie cheerleader and a Lil' Aggie~

~ Going through the Trunk Or Treat line with Mommie and inspecting her candy before she puts it in the bucket. ~

~ Daddy (Indiana Jones) and Ellasyn after her first night of trick or treating ~

~ Her first candy... a Kit Kat.  She dove right in! ~

We visited Dr. Geppert this week for her 15 month check up and she is growing right along.  I am pleased to say that her head is no longer in the 95th percentile. Her body caught up to it!  She is 31 inches tall ( near 75th percentile) and weighs 23 pounds 6 ounces (near the 25th percentile).  Tall and skinny, but healthy all around.  I could not be happier, more proud or more blessed!

Attempt #1

~ A little blurry ~

~ A little cheezy! ~

Attempt #2

 

~ A little silly ~

~ A little grumpy ~

~ We got one!! (Thanks to Daddy's quick camera skills!) ~

Alright, so it is a little long... sorry.  :)
Lots of love ~ The McDaniel Family

A trip to the Fort Worth Museum of Science!

We were invited by our friends, Krista and Noah, to take our first trip to the Fort Worth Museum of Science.  There was an amazing area for little ones with so many things to do!  We had a great little group of mommies and babies from our play group. They all had a great time, as shown in these pictures.  The blurry/poorly lit ones were made by my inexperienced photography skills. The awesome ones are from Krista's sweet, high tech camera. :)

~Peek A Boo, Friend!~

~grocery shopping was her favorite part~

~Selecting her produce~

~driving a train~

~The bunny face~

~hula hooping~

~the giant lite bright was a hit!~

~Austin~ 

~Baby Jonathan~

~Kason~

~Lexi~

~Noah~

~All the kiddos in the ambulance~

~taking care of babies~