Getting in the Christmas Spirit

After returning from Phoenix, we started decorating the house. Although we won't be here on Xmas day, we still wanted to get into the spirit of things. We think Ella enjoyed decorating her 1st tree... although she seemed more interested in the Santa hat!

I've been playing Christmas music nonstop. I think I'm driving Mark crazy!

10 months old

Ella turned 10 months old in Phoenix over the Thanksgiving Holiday. And she has changed so much in just a month! We can't believe it.

Since starting to crawl just a month ago, she is moving FAST! Too fast for me in fact... I turn around and she is gone! She amuses herself by doing laps around the couch and coffee table in the family room. This has resulted in a few too many head bumps, but I think she's starting to lean how to DUCK! Ha!

A BIG milestone while in Phoenix, Ella is starting to walk while holding our hands. Maybe not a big deal to everyone, but until the day we arrived in Phoenix, Ella wasn't showing any interest in walking... now I think it won't be long until she is running! It must be Aunt Patti! (She rolled for one of the 1st times with Patti too!)

And by the time we left, she was holding on to furniture and trying to cruise around.

Happy Thanksgiving

Ella's 1st Thanksgiving was great! We spend the long weekend in Phoenix with Aunt Patti & Uncle Chopper at their beautiful new home. We enjoyed the company and the food- espcially Patti's cornbread stuffing! MMM MMM Good!!!

Our trip included lots of rain, some hail, golf for the boys, pedicures for the girls (except Ella!) and a family trip to Ikea! Ha! Ella enjoyed riding on the Ikea rocking horse!

Thanks Patti & Chopper for having us! Looking forward to seeing you again soon!

MIZ-ZOU

I FINALLY returned to my alma mater, the University of Missouri, for a football game. Mark and I traveled to Kansas City and left Ella with my parents for the evening so we could see Mizzou kick butt against K-State! Go Tigers.

It was great fun to take Mark back to Mizzou and so neat to see the Pi Phi house again with all my pledge sisters. Yes, WE were the annoying alumni visiting the house! Ha!

It didn't hurt that the Tigers played great! And we REALLY enjoyed hanging out at Shiloh after the game... maybe a little too much!