Prince Christmas

I made a point to try to take pictures this time because whenever we are with his family we get so caught up having a good time that and running after kids that I forget! We had such a great time this year!

We went over to Ryan's parents on Christmas Eve and spent the night over there. I am not sure why, but Ryan, I , Nick and Bill stayed up till 2 am watchin American History X. Not exactly a Christmas selection, but it was a good movie. Ella Reese was sick with a cold and I didn't sleep much cause I kept hearing her cough and toss and turn. So Christmas morning, Ryan got up at 8:30 with her and let me sleep in. What a treat!

We ate lots of wonderful food and had a great time while the kids ran around.

Ella Reese loved all the little chair and seats in the house.
Helpin Nana with the dishes Christmas Eve.
I like this pic cause you can see how different our eye color is...
Snugglin with Uncle Matt. You can tell she is sick here... Her cousins love her.
She loves blowing out candles. When Ryan makes fires at home, she'll bend in and blow at it copying Ryan. When we put our tree up she starting blowing at the lights on it.
Owen
Before we opened any presents, Brenda sat down with the kids and explained that Christams is about Jesus Christ. She then gave each of the grandkids a small gift to open. They each got a baby Jesus to put in the nativities around the house! It was so sweet!

Ella Reese putting her Jesus in the manger.

Trying to slide down the train track toy
PRINCE family

You can't tell here, but there were presents lined all around the tree in layers upon layers. The Princes are known for their great ability to find incredible deals, so the number of gifts we recieve is always so overwhelming.

Thank you to everyone for all your generosity and time spent hunting down those gifts! We are so blessed by your gifts!

I made Ella Reese another blankie since the two she has now will soon be in trashed. She saw the silky white fabric and immediately snuggled with it.
It was so fun watching Ella Reese open presents. She has taken an interest in clothes lately. She'll try to put them on herself at home. As she opened this box of clothes from Brenda, she kept picking up each article and making a sad face and saying "ow ow". I died laughing cause I knew she was copying us when we were going through our presents and when we say, "Awwwhh!" with that certain face that looks like almost a sad face. Make that noise and you'll know what I mean. Yum, one her favorite presents, animal crackers.
She loved all the shoes she got and wanted to put one on that night.
She got this from Matt and Lauren. When we got home that night we put it togther and she was so eager to get on it before we got the seat on.

We are so thankful for the all the hospitality Bill and Brenda and making that amazing meal. We always love spending time with all the Princes! Thank you again so much everyone for all your generous gifts!

December

Here are some catch up pictures from December, in order, but random....

There were a few days earlier this month where Ella Reese would not take a nap all day. I could not figure out why. Now I know it was because she was cutting her bottom molers.

Here is one afternoon I kept hearing a strange nosie, from her room. She was talking to herself then starting fussing for me. I open the door to see my child running around in circles in her crib and everything thrown out of it.

Then she didn't even want to come out. Which, is what she does these days. I go to get her, and she will want to roll around in her bed and not get out until she has snuggled in her bed for another 5 more minutes.

One night Ryan and I were reading and ER kept crawling into Ryan's lap and talking to him and trying to turn his pages. Here she is after taking hold of my book and "reading" it.
Learning at a young age...
She loves to take my diaper bag and put it on her shoulder. She'll start saying "bye bye" and head for the door. Too cute. She does it with any handbag she sees now. Or she'll pull out the wallet and try to take the credit cards out.
We hung out with Matt, Lauren and the boys one night. Lauren and I tried to get cute naked pics of Cole and ER.

Back in the day we use to all stay up till midnight playing cards and laughin it up. Now our children amuse us. Although we did play cards late last Monday night and had a blast!

Cole giving Ella Reese kisses. She was trying to get away... See how ER has the remote pointing to the TV? She has been doing it for the past month or so. She is a pro at it at home.
Cole giving kisses to Ryan after shooting him dead with his gun.
We went to the flea market last weekend. She was starting to show signs of a cold and wanted to hold her panda bear all the time. I thought it was cute how she clutched it around the parking lot.
And if she didn't have the panda bear, you'd see her with her eyes poking out behind her blankie.

Doris and Evie visited us for a day on the 26th. Tim had already left back to Philly...I got Doris a gift card to World Market for Chirstmas so we headed down there so she could pick something out. We stopped by Baskin Robbins for an icecream treat. Here is Ella Reese pointing to the fountain outside BR saying "ba ba" which means bath. Cutie pie Evie. She never stops smiling! I love it!

Chicken Alfredo for dinner, can you tell? Ella Reese took right to Doris again. Once Doris was free from Evie, ER would sit in Doris's lap.
Doris sportin the Alfredo look.
Evie you are so cute!

They loved playing with this air vent thingy. Evie thought it was the funniest thing to hear the noise it makes when you run your fingers across it!
Bath time!
Matching hair styles...
We had so much fun spending the day with you! See ya in 6 weeks with another cousin and nephew for you! Love ya!
Right as they were getting ready to leave Doris and I were sniffing diapers because I thought I smelled a stinky. Then Ella Reese bends over and puts her nose to Evie's bottom mimicking Doris. It was so funny! And she kept doing it!

Little copy cat.

Four Years

Yesterday was our 4 Year Anniversary! Wow, time flies. Poor Ryan was sick last night with a cold that hit him all of a sudden and Ella Reese is still getting over the last bits of a cold. So as they both napped for an hour, I quickly wrote down some thoughts on a card for Ryan. I almost forgot it myself until this morning!

Two weekends ago we went away to celebrate our Anniversary and my birthday. We had a blast! We had a free night's stay in a Marriott and stayed in Gatlinburg then went to Dollywood for a day, which we also had a free pass to. We had gone to Dollywood together one winter when we were courting, so it was special to me. I forgot how neat that place is!

Funny how I am always taking pics of ER, but I think these are the only two I took of our entire weekend. I really just did not think of it. We really had so much fun being together and it was such a treat to just eat out and spend days together without thinking about nap times or the house and dinner.

The forcast was calling for rain on that Saturday, so we were prepared for the worst. Then around dinner time Ryan suggested that we leave Dollywood and eat at a resturant instead at the park then catch a movie, which both are rare for us to do. As we are waiting for the tram to take us to our car, it started pouring rain! We were so excited knowing that it was the kind providence of God to spare us from getting soaked. Although Ryan did jokingly boast that it was his own infinte wisdom and planning that spared us instead.

( in the parking lot of Dollywood. Should have gotten one INSIDE. It was so pretty in there)We came upon this resturant Bubba Gump down in Gatlinburg and ate there Friday night. It is, of course, after the Forrest Gump movie. It was a really neat place. And as yummy as the seafood looked and smelled, neither of us got seafood.

And, Ryan bought one of their hats- see above.

Ryan posing...

As I was writing in his card last night, all I could do was recount all of God's faithfulness in our lives and marriage. God has been so kind to us, to first save us from our sins and now to pour out abundant mercies and grace to us through our marriage! I have grown in respect and admiration for Ryan this past year, and see more and more how kind God is to me as I have come to realize with growing conviction how much I need him!

This past year I have in my heart desired to grow in serving Ryan. Which "serving" him meant making his lunches, keeping the house clean, making sure his socks were washed and trying to make gourmet meals. But as I look to this next year I want to grow, with God's help and grace, to carry his burdens on my heart and listen to him. REALLY listen to him. I find myself so busy with house stuff and food that when we sit at dinner and he is telling me about issues at work or other things on his mind, I hear them and then quickly move onto my tasks at hand. And as much as I run around keeping the house in order etc...he really could care less that all those things are done. All but maybe except the part about keeping his socks in stock. So, as I look to this next year my desire is that I would cultivate a habit and love for praying for Ryan and grow in listening to him and carrying his burdens. All by God's Grace!

I love and adore him so, and each year I am amazed that I could love and adore him even more than I did before! Happy Anniversary babe!

Getting some practice

This past Monday it was so warm that I took advantage of the nice weather and planned a fun day for us. I had to run to the mall to get a gift card, so the plan was to get the card, let ER play in the indoor playground, then we'd go the park and have a nice picnic. Plus I wanted to get some practice in with my camera.

Well, after carrying ER across the mall and after a 40 minute play session at the mall I was already perspiring. Once we got to the park my attempts to photograph her were harder than I thought. Ella Reese only does one thing when you take her outside: walk as far away from you as posssible without looking back. I'd be shooting her then take my camera down to realize she was a mile away from me. I had spotted all these beatuful spots I wanted to shoot her in, but she would cry once I picked her up and plopped her under a pretty tree. And she didn't like the lunch I brought her.

So after our lunch and I piled a muddy, fussy, sleepy Ella Reese back into her stroller along with my camera gear, blanket, cooler and baby stuff. Taking a deep breath and wiping the sweat off my brow I lugged my pregnant self up the steep hill to the van thinking "That was not as fun as I thought it would be".

But was it worth it? Definately. She had a blast and the the pictures I got will always be a treasure to my heart.

This is the face she makes when she is talking to you. She puckers her lips like this.
Of course, no day would not be complete without some crying.
Recovering from her crying session.

Before I took this shot she was actually putting her mouth on the floor eating something. It is a habit we started one night we were eating dinner over at Sharon's one night alst week. Out of frustration that ER was not eating any dinner and exhausted from keeping her out of stuff and danger, we let her eat her dinner off the floor. Yes, like a dog. It was quite funny to us at the time, but now that she does it more it is just gross.

BUT,.. I love this picture