Happy New Year!!! A few weeks late...

Well, it's been quite a while since I updated the ole blog, mostly because I have been so busy!

I became a stay-at-home Mom in June of 2013, and that was the beginning of a new chapter of my life. Adventures of every kind! I have learned a lot about myself, and my children over the past seven months. Some very challenging, but most have been joyful memories that wouldn't have happened if I had not been obedient to the Lord calling me home!

In September of last year, I began homeschooling Jackson. We have gone through a Pre-k 4 curriculum, from September to November, and have now moved on to phonics, and will begin telling time soon, and spelling three and four letter words, as well as reviewing sight words. Maybe simple math! I have so many great options that it's hard to choose! Jackson has been doing great!

We celebrated Jackson's 4th birthday last September. That's right, 4 years old!! Time really needs to slow down!!

He also enjoyed playing soccer for the first time, and did great! We are so proud!

We recently celebrated Katelyn's 2nd birthday, December 18th 2013. We invited friends and family over for "Tea for 2"! We had a great time!

We finished the year with a wonderful Christmas!

So cheers to an adventurous 2013!! And Happy 2014 to you!! Many blessings!

Happy Birthdays!

The Ellard Family has celebrated two big milestones this month; first our Katelyn turned 16 months old on the 18th, and a few days later, Andrew celebrated his birthday on the 23rd.

Katelyn Two Weeks Old

                                 Katelyn 15.5 Months Old...on Easter morning

Katelyn last week...16 Months - most pictures are not of her looking straight at me...or the camera. Very difficult to get good ones of her because she's a mover!

I haven't done this in a while, but I would like to write 16 Things about Katelyn. I used to try and do this each month, but have fallen way behind! Sorry!

16 Things to Know About Katelyn:

1. She is a wiggle worm.

2. She likes to be doing something at all times.

3. She loves banana's, bread, and peaches.

4. She likes to play with Jackson. He can make her laugh like crazy! So cute!

5. She only likes Double Luck brand green beans, and that is the only green food she will eat (for me at least)

6. She loves dogs; Beau-roe has been in her vocabulary for a while now!

7. Her hair is getting really long.

8. She can have both shoes and socks off, and any hair bows or pony tail bands out in under 10 minutes. This means we have to nearly re-dress her everywhere we go! Lol...

9. She has four teeth, two top front and two bottom front, and is getting in about four more.

10. She likes to try and put her shoes and socks on by herself.

11. She likes to help me in the kitchen; when I am cooking I give her bowls, spoons, etc. and she pretends that she's cooking too. ;) sweet!

12. She is a cuddle bunny! Loves to be held and loves to hug and cuddle.

13. She loves her bunny lovey, and we almost can't go anywhere without it! Nothing else will do when she's tired. So, unfortunately this makes it difficult to wash the bunny, because there is only one. It currently has chocolate cake dough on it from the other night because she rubbed it on her face before I could clean her face up! She is holding said bunny here...

14. This brings me to my next interesting fact, the baby girl loves chocolate! She is a true female!

15. She loves to be outside and likes to dig in the dirt.

16. She is truly our little monkey....loves to climb too!

17. Ok, so this is more than 16, but I have to say that she is adorable in pig tails and of course, is the most beautiful baby girl I know.

18. She can say Ma Ma, Da Da, Beau-Roe, Baby, Bunny, Bye Bye, Ba Ba, and a lot of other babble!

We love our little girl and can't believe she is already 16 months old! She is changing her looks and growing so fast. We are so proud of the little girl she is becoming. ;)

In other news, we celebrated Andrew's birthday Tuesday. Monday evening the whole family joined in to help mix and bake his cake. There are no surprises around our house; Jackson just volunteers information without us even asking, so when Andrew came in the kitchen and asked what we were doing, Jackson said, "We're making your birthday cake, Dad", lol. At that point, I may as well have enlisted his help. He got to enjoy licking the cake dough off the mixer spatulas (just went blank on what those are called, lol). Jackson, Katelyn, and I also got a little taste. Yummy!

Jackson wanted to put his monster truck on Andrew's cake, but we didn't do that. Instead, I "drew" trucks and balloons on his cake with icing. I'm sure I will be using Jackson's monster truck on his birthday cake this year...stay tuned! It was a yellow cake with chocolate icing, and a hint of strawberry icing in the middle. After Andrew's birthday dinner (of Mexican lasagna), Jackson and I took his cake, complete with one candle on top, and his birthday cards to him while singing "Happy Birthday". He blew out the candle and read his cards. We all enjoyed cake and ice cream after dinner. It was a very nice birthday evening. Happy Birthday Honey! We love you!

Until next time...have a great weekend all!

He Is Risen!

Mark 16:6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here." 

Last weekend we celebrated the Resurrection Day of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! I am so thankful, and overwhelmed, by the love He has for us. He died the death I should have died, and bore my sins yet He was sinless. You will not find a love this awesome anywhere else, but in Christ alone! Thank you Lord for your eternal gift of salvation through your Son.

I have not posted in some time now, and life in the Ellard household has been very busy! Full of ups and downs, challenges, and wonderful spirit-filled times as well. Our children are just growing by leaps and bounds. I can barely believe Jackson is so big now. He is a little man! He has been doing so well with his manners, among other things. Using "please" and "thank you" when he should, asking for things kindly (most times), being a good helper, being obedient (for the most part), doing well identifying the letters of the alphabet, starting to write letters, dressing himself, brushing teeth by himself, bathing himself. He is just becoming so independent!

The biggest breakthrough, at least for us, was that he finally got the courage to start riding his motorized tractor at Ya-Ya's, and then his motorcycle at our house. I will definitely have to post pictures of this when I get the chance. For the longest time, he was afraid of driving these little vehicles. Not sure why, maybe he got scared when they went too fast the first time he put his foot on the pedal. Either way, once it was explained to him that if you put your foot on the pedal gently, the tractor or motorcycle goes slow, but if you push it down fast, the tractor/motorcycle will go fast. He thought a little while (as he does a lot these days), and finally gave it another try! Success!! And we are so proud of him. Now all he wants to do is ride his motorcycle when we get home in the afternoons. ;)  

Katelyn is becoming a beautiful little girl. She has her moments, melt-downs, etc. like any toddler, but she is the sweetest little cuddle bunny. She loves to hug and be held. Sometimes the being held thing gets challenging, like when I'm trying to cook dinner or clean, but for the most part I try to enjoy it because I realize that she will not want this forever. She is getting 6-8 teeth in right now, and poor little baby has had a double ear infection in the past two weeks. Thankfully, she is on the mend, we believe anyway, but still has a little stuffy/runny nose. I never realized how important good health was until me and Katelyn got sick with allergy crud and ear infections. Oh, and her hair is getting so long!

 It is amazing to me how much she is picking up on things; eating with a fork, recognizing what we are saying to her (even though she can't "talk" back), trying to put her shoes on, etc. She is big on exploring everything! Also, I've noticed that anything she see's us doing, she wants to do. She wants to eat what we are eating, and in the way we are eating it (with utensils), try to put her shoes on, etc. A very curious little girl. She can say Ma-Ma, Da-Da, Baby, Puppy, Beau-roe, Bye-Bye, and the rest is mostly babble, but she knows what it means, lol.  

Here are a few pictures from our Easter Sunday. I will post more, hopefully sooner rather than later. Have a great week!  

A New Year!

Good Afternoon!

It's been quite a while since I've updated the ole blog, so today I just wanted to post a quick update of our past month. So, we welcomed the New Year by celebrating my birthday (the day before my birthday - ha!) on January 1st, with my family in New Orleans. I had really been wanting to take the kids to the aquarium for some time now and since my older brother was leaving from New Orleans to fly back to Colorado, I thought that would be a great time to plan our trip to "the Big City" - that's what we told Jackson the morning we were getting ready to leave. So we packed up the family and headed south for the day. It was rather chilly and windy that day, so we bundled up. I never thought I would be pushing a baby stroller down Bourbon Street, but I found myself doing so as we made our way to Redfish Grill for lunch! At least it was in the morning before the infamous street got crazy! My wonderful parents and brothers met us for lunch and then they headed to the airport afterward. We had a delicious lunch and then took the kiddo's to the aquarium. Jackson loved it, at least for a good hour and a half, then both kiddo's seemed to be getting really tired. So, we left NO around 2:30 or 3 heading home. Both kids slept all the way back to Hattiesburg, giving Andrew and I a quiet ride home, for the first time in forever! Or for the first time ever, lol.

It was a long day for us, and I must say that by the time we left NO my feet were killing me, so I was ready to ride for a while. Anywho, the next day, my actual birthday (Jan. 1st) we spent the day at home relaxing, a little. Andrew and Jackson whipped up a yellow cake with chocolate icing for me and gave me the sweetest cards and gift certificates. I love those two! Of course, Katelyn helped to! She helped color a picture that was included in my card from them. Jackson actually picked out the card when he and Dad went to the store. It was a nice quiet birthday for me this year.

After that, the whole month seems to be a blur! Everyone has been sick. First Katelyn got the sniffles, cleared up, then Andrew got the crud. After that Katelyn got an ear infection, then bronchiolitis; the same week I got a severe sinus infection and felt terrible. Jackson managed to escape with only little sniffles and sneezes and nothing major, thank the Lord!

Now that we all seem to be doing a lot better, we are ready to continue our New Year in 2013! Andrew and I have become group leaders for our church small group, which meets weekly, so we are very excited about that. We are also excited about the way the Lord has been leading in our life. We are preparing to make some big decisions in the year to come, so please keep us in your prayers. Thanks and have a blessed day!

Merry Christmas!

Over the past month, things have been so very busy. We got our tree put up the weekend after Thanksgiving, and I was so excited that we goto to pick out a real tree this time. Jackson was too! Unfortunately, it is now really dry, so we'll have to try and take it down shortly after Christmas. I didn't do as much decorating as usual this year, so there are not as many pictures of decor, but more of my sweet little angels. My little blessings are more important than Christmas decorations any day! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. We are all blessed that the Lord loves us to much that He sent His only Son in the form of an innocent baby that first Christmas morning. I am so very glad that Jesus made Christmas perfect the first time!!

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."
-Luke 2:8-14

Here are a few Christmas pictures from around our house...and about. Enjoy!

                         Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!

Merry Christmas!!

The Ellard Family 2012