Thankful for a good little traveler

We were home from Florida for two short days before we loaded up in the car and headed to Pennsylvania to spend the holiday with my mom's family. It's normally about an eight-and-a-half hour drive to Reading, PA; but with Ellie dictating when we had to stop for eating and changing, it took every bit of ten hours. Luckily, every time we got her out of her car seat she was as happy as she could be - giggling and laughing and happy to be with us.

Thursday morning we headed out to Honey Brook for our 3rd annual Tel-Hai Camp Turkey Bowl 5K. Uncle Corky rode with us to the race and Uncle Richard met us there. I was looking forward to the race - it is always nice to 'earn' a big turkey dinner. Alas, Ellie's morning nap time fell about 30min before the race began, and I certainly was not going to wake a sleeping baby - especially when we had a big day ahead that would include her dining with 30-some other people. So I did not get to run the race - I sat in the car with Snoozy Boof.

Since I didn't participate, I was able to get some good snapshots of those who did.

Pete came in 12th out of 497 with a time of 18:45. Rich and Corky ran as well, finishing 105th and 107th, with times of 24:41 and 24:44, respectively.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty calm - I didn't take many pictures, we just hung around the house. Dinner was at 5pm - Ellie did really well in the high chair at Aunt Susie's and really seemed to enjoy her first taste of turkey. She LOVED her first taste of whipped cream, but I don't have any pictures as I was holding her while she ate dessert.

what's up turkey butt?

all dressed for dinner

nom nom nom - note Ellie's place card on the cabinet (thanks, Jade, for thinking of her!)

Thanksgiving dinner was our main event for the weekend. Other than that we didn't do anything terribly exciting. Went with Corky to get a new pair of running shoes and helped Aunt Susie and Uncle Joe clean up the woods around their property - there were two chainsaws, a chipper, and lots of folks (I think 12 in all?!?) sorting out the brush from the fire wood, stacking logs and cleaning up debris. New puppy Auggie even made an appearance!

Before we headed out of town we stopped in Tamaqua to have breakfast with Aunt Phyllis. Ellie was pretty excited to meet her great-great aunt!

Ellie's first Thanksgiving is in the books! Now on to Christmas!!

Our 2011 Florida Trip

Florida is full of our relatives - so we took advantage and drove up and down I-75 to see them! Sunday evening before Pete had to be in Naples we had dinner with Carl and Estelle. Ellie was most excited to meet Flash the dog.

Ellie and I spent Sunday evening through Saturday night at my Grandma Prann's house. Ellie was cheerful each morning when she awoke at her house and enjoyed many of the things I have always enjoyed about her house: the abundant sunlight, hand-picked oranges and grapefruit, and the peaceful view of the lake.

Wednesday morning Grandma, Ellie, and I drove to Palm Harbor to see Umpah and Jan. Ellie hadn't met him yet and was on her best behavior for him as well. I think he was glad to meet the youngest of his great-grandchildren.

Friday morning Ellie and I picked up Pete from his meeting in Naples. Aunt Susie and Uncle Joe were at their house in Marco Island so we joined them for lunch.

Ellie was especially happy that Aunt Susie has an Ellie-sized rocker at her Florida house.


Back together, Pete and Ellie and I spent Saturday afternoon at St. Armand's circle in Sarasota. For those of you who don't know our history, our first date was in St. Armand's circle March of 2003, and in May of 2004 he proposed! Seven-and-a-half years later I couldn't wait to take Ellie to the spot where we promised to become Pete + Laura, Queep + Loo, Mr. + Mrs. If you had asked us then - or even a year later when we married - if we would ever become Mommy + Daddy I'm not certain what our responses would have been. I was emotional thinking about all of it!

5/26/04 - I was sitting on this bench chatting with Pete when he suddenly dropped to one knee! And now we have a BABY!

We tried to take a picture with the three of us - this is the result after propping the camera in a nearby tree. Oh well. At least our faces are in it.

Then, just like we did after getting engaged, we went to Kilwan's for some ice cream and fudge!

Since it was a very special occasion, we even let Ellie have a lick!! Key Lime Pie flavored - we think she liked it.

Sunday morning was back to Kentucky. It was a great trip, but we do love our home!

We're back!

Ellie and I are back from spending the week in Florida at my Grandma's - Pete was in Florida as well, unfortunately it was at a sales meeting in Naples, not in Venice with us. I will try to share about our trip tomorrow or Tuesday, but to tide you over until then, here is a picture of my blue-eyed babe playing in Grandma's florida room :)

6 months.

I can't believe our Baby Girl has been with us for half of a year. I feel like I love her more every day. I miss holding the tiny baby that was placed in my arms six months ago, but each day she does something new and amazing that I would not trade for the world.

Ellie's 6-month checkup was on Wednesday, she weighed 16 lbs, 9 oz (56th percentile) with a length of 27 inches (85th percentile). She had two immunizations, one of which was her flu shot. She's been pretty clingy and extra tired since then. I'm hoping she'll be able to sleep through the night tonight, last night she was up every three hours, which hasn't happened since she was about six weeks old. Poor girl, I just don't think she feels very well. I know my annual flu shot usually makes me feel puny for a day or two.

In the last month, Ellie's personality has really started to shine! She is a happy baby, babbling the most after her morning feeding or when she's on her changing table. That's right - she's now producing front consonant sounds!! The morning she first made a /b/ sound I almost squealed out loud, but I didn't want to startle her so I managed to hold it in. She has also made a /p/ and an /m/, though not as often. A few days after her /b/ production, she blew a raspberry, and was instantly hooked. She blows them all the time now and is so pleased with herself with each production! But if she is not happy - she let's us know it. Ellie will kick her legs and furrow her brow until the situation changes, whether it is placing a toy closer so that she can grab it or picking her up out of the Bumbo or off the floor.

Thankfully, her hair is growing in quite rapidly. She was born with red hair and then it all fell out when she was 3 to 4 weeks old. She looked like Lex Luthor for her 1-month pictures! Now she's nice and fuzzy, but it is looking more brown than red. That's okay, though - brown hair/blue eyes has served me pretty well - look at the wonderful hubby I managed to score :)

In her 6th month, Ellie really championed sitting up - no more tripod - she just sits tall and proud, turning her pretty-shaped head whenever we call to her.

look at the band-aids from her shots - sweet girl was a trooper and barely cried

We have also started using a few signs with her to facilitate her language development. We use the following signs: mommy, daddy, doggie, milk, diaper, bath, water, all done, and out. When she begins to use approximations of these signs with us, hopefully in a few more months, we'll add more signs from her routine and some modifiers such as 'more' and 'please'. I'm excited to see how this develops!

Here are some pictures I took the afternoon of her 6-month birthday - it was warm and sunny out, probably for the final time this year.


Baby Girl, we are really looking forward to the next few months with you! We know the holidays will be more special than ever before - can't wait!!

You need to go make these.

Now. Well maybe not now, but at least by the end of this weekend.

Pumpkin Pie Croissants

image via Pinterest

Finally! A Pinterest recipe success! These were much easier to make than the pumpkin pull-apart bread and they taste much better.

1/2 block of cream cheese
1 cup of canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
3 T sugar

Beat together until fluffy and creamy.

Roll each crescent roll out and cut lengthwise in 2. This recipe will make 32 mini croissant. Spread a generous tablespoon of the pumpkin pie filling on each piece of dough. Mix together 4 T sugar and 1 T pumpkin pie spice and roll each pumpkin pie croissant in it. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-18 minutes.