HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Can you blame her? I wouldn't want to wear that hat either.

She's so wise beyond her years.

L: This is much more my style Mom.

We've been trying to get a little Valentine-y around here...

The goodie bags for school, the left-over stash for Mom and Dad, the Feb. calendar, and even heart-shaped petals on the flower. It's true. Take a closer look...

Can you see them? I prmoise the little leaves on the tall weed are truly tiny heart. Lillianna found it last weekend on a walk along the river. It just goes to show that God thought of everything first.

Oh and Ellenie has a question...

Will you be my Valentine?

yuck.

Brad, Ellenie and I have had the worst stomach bug. The kind where I promised myself I would never, ever eat again. ever. The kind where you think this will never, ever end. ever.

But then it all does and I actually ate some soup tonight.

The past 48 hours havn't been pretty or funny but this was pretty funny:

Paci Soup anyone? I was sick, Ellenie had just gotten sick, and Brad was up with her (not sick yet) and decided to sterilize the pacis. He then went back to bed. I'm not sure if it was a dream about the house burning down or just the smell of melting plastic that woke him

but thank goodness it did.

I think we can still use them though. ha.

Thank goodness Lillianna has not been sick. At all.

In fact, she has been entertaining us all with her running, jumping, twirling, and dancing she's been doing around our heads as we lay on the bed, floor, or couch.

Thank you Ellenie for summing up how we have felt.
I promise, baby girl, you'll feel better tomorrow.

A-ha! Moments

I love when I get to be there when one of my girls has a moment. A moment where they "get it" or see it or realize it for the first time. A moment where they've just grown up a little more...

Taking pictures of Ellenie with this hood on...when I would take it off she couldn't figure out where it went...and when I'd put it on she couldn't figure out what it was or where it came from. Then she turned around and saw reflection in the oven door.

Lately, Lillianna really wants to write her letters and her name. I wrote it for her first and then she did underneath. She was so proud! And so was I!

Ellenie is our curious one. Our curious crawler and climber. She wanted to crawl under the bar stools but then stood up and realized...hey wait, i'm stuck.
E: Don't take a picture mom! Get me out of here.

fun & friendships

We had our first friends come to visit!

We were so excited and honored that the Pylants took a special roadtrip

to come see us last week. It was so nice to see them and so special to get to share our new Columbus life with some Decatur friends. It was especially nice of them to come after they hit a large piece of metal on the highway on their way here and had to spend almost 2 hours getting their tire fixed!

It's always something, right?!

We had so much fun....

We jumped on the bed....took a road tour of Columbus...got ice cream...and

laughed and laughed and

laughed!

The Pylants are so very special to us and it made us all so happy to see them.

It has, however, seemed to have made Lillianna and Bibby realize their distance from eachother. They both have been having a more difficult time in the past week. On our end, sweet Lillianna will break out in tears and then sobs saying,"I miss Bibby. I miss our house, our neighbors. Decatur is so far away. I miss everyone in Decatur. It's going to be so long before anyone comes to our house again." It really is heartbreaking but part of the process. We talk lots about our feelings these days and about our many blessings we have to be thankful for.

It seems to help us all.

We also talk about how special it is that we get to keep our old friends while we make new ones! AND we get to make new memories with our old friends too! Just like we did with the Pylants.

So who's coming to visit next?

Treasures

I want to post about our move and the new house soon... and I will.

Just not today.

Now that we have most boxes un-packed we have really begun to resume life as usual.

Ellenie still only eats the strawberries out of the the freeze dried strawberry-banana mix.

We still hold large tea parties everyday.

We (read I) are back to lots of laundry. With help from my folding elf.

We still all sit around, day dream, and discuss important topics like what kind of pink princess we're going to be when we grow up.

And of course, we still treasure hunt.

And today we found two really encouraging treasures...

First, we tried out 1 of 2 parks in town. The equipment was not that great but the area around it was wonderful. Given that EVERYTHING is on a hill here, it was awesome to find a huge, FLAT, grassy area to run around. Then we found the large acorn "hats" seen on the right of the picture. I can admit that I have a real love for acorns and even though I try to blame Lillianna for all the stashes of acorns around our house...I'm just as guilty for stuffing them in my pockets and bringing them home. Especially the hats. So in the picture above, the ones on the right were found yesterday. The hat in the middle is a regular hat from Lillianna's treasure box and was just to give some scale to the picture. Then the one of the left is one from our favorite park in Decatur. So whattayaknow?! I don't know what kind of acorns those are but I'd never seen one before or since the park in Decatur and now we have one here! It's sign for sure!

THEN...

last night we were enjoying the last of the warm temp before the storm rolled through and one of our new neighbors stopped by. Guess what she told us?! That we are the proud owners of a "very prolific" blueberry bush! BLUEBERRY BUSH? Could it get any better since I am already the proud owner of the most prolific blueberry eater?!!

I'm taking these as two direct blessings/signs/gifts from God. Especially since I haven't found a lot of things about Columbus itself that have made me smile...but these did.

And these two treasures did too.

ONE

One year (and a couple of weeks) ago...

We welcomed Ellenie Lane Parsons to our family. It was a perfect day and it's been a perfect, well, how about a sweet, very full, wonderful year!

Ellenie's first birthday fell on moving day so we had a celebration the night before the movers came with our precious neighbors The Adams and The Hales, our dear friends Mike and Donna, and good ol' Dandy and Wil. It might not have been grand in scale but it was grand in love.

E: Uh, Mom & Dad, I really think you ought to think about what you're asking me to do.

A spoon full of sugar...

Ellenie,

you are a true delight to me and your daddy. You make us smile a hundred times everyday. We are absolutely in love with you and your blossoming personality, heart, and soul.

For the first half of your life so far, you were quiet, content, and as they say...laid back. Then one day, you sat up and decided it was time to get busy in this life. Truly, two days after you sat up on your own, you leaned forward and start crawling. You have been busy being big ever since.

E: Now this is fun!

In the end, icing covered Ellenie's ears, hands, hair, face, and neck. She squealed in delight when I took off her clothes to change her, so she spent the rest of the evening just how she wanted.

A couple of days later, on her birthday, we woke up for the first time in our new, empty home.

The truck arrived several hours later and so we had a Move-In Birthday Party.

E: It's my birthday. I'm gonna party like it's my birthday.

E: Sis, since it's my birthday, I'm in charge!

L: Uh, does that mean I have to change your diaper?

We celebrated her birthday the way every one year old wants...at the local Mexican restaurant!

Or atleast the way this one year old's mother wanted.

Ellenie, you are overwhelmed with curiosity, bravery, and happiness. You love music and have just discovered how much fun re-reading one book 12 times in a row can be. But you really only love books about animals. You do not love to eat. You love to make funny faces and love to cuddle all day with your blankie. You love to be outside. You love your family and it has been a gift to me to watch you fall in love with your Daddy all over again since moving to Columbus. Your sister makes you laugh so hard and also makes you so aggravated. That's the wonderful thing about having a sister. Your sister is so gentle and loving with you 92% of the time. The other 8% she really wears you out. But you are tough and often give it right back to her.

You have been such a joy. I can't wait to see your beautiful face each morning. You have made me a better mother. Thank you sweet child for making my life more blessed.

I love you.

CHRISTMAS

I know, I know...

it's almost the end of January and it's just not that exciting to see month old Christmas pictures.

But I feel I need it on record so I'm just going to hit the highlights.

The girls sat with Santa. Lillianna reported she wanted, "a Ariel dollie, a stroller, and a wand." Check. check. check.

The rode the merry-go-round. Not a traditional Christmas moment...just a cute one.

We celebrated with friends...here Lillianna and bibby show off their gifts to eachother. They just happen to get eachtoher the same thing!

Ellenie and Virginia show off their beauty.

We also celebrated with all of our precious little friends in Decatur. Here's just a few of the 18!

We had so much fun!

Christmas before Christmas in Birmingham with Sue-Sue, Pops, Jean-Jean, Aunt Ashley,

Uncle T, Aunt Lesley, and Cousin Kylen.

I wish I could kiss you everyday sweet boy.

My most favorite moment of Christmas...when Lillianna talked with Santa on the phone on Christmas Eve. Can't you just see the wonder in her face?

Christmas morning at the Lakehouse in Kentucky.

"Santa ate all the brownies!" (We forgot to bring the cookies to Kentucky!)

The Marvelous Millers came to celebrate too! Bentley looked so handsome and handy in his new tool belt.

Ella showed the other girls how to make a funny face with an apple slice.

Overall, a very happy Christmas!

A very, very sweet one too!

Connor Hayes Yezerski

Dear Connor,

Welcome to the world sweet nephew! I was so honored to be there...to hear your first cry and see your Mom and Dad melt with pride, excitement, and love when they first saw you.

What an incredible moment.

You are going to have a wonderful life my dear. Full of family, friends, laughter, music, teeth (your dad is a dentist), and lots of jokes (your Mom (thinks she) is a comedian).

You also have lots of Aunts, Uncles, and cousins who can't wait to get their hands on you and teach you the ways of the world. Lillianna couldn't wait and saw you when you not even a day old! We stopped on Christmas eve on our way to Kentucky so she could hold you.
Thank you for being so patient with her.

You do have 2 male cousins but you also have 5 female cousins so get ready to play your part in the next tea party. It's a loud, fun, crazy bunch when they are all together and I know you'll fit right in. Something tells me you are going to take center stage when you get big enough. I can't wait to be there and cheer you on!

I borrowed this picture from your Mom. I guess by now you know how special your parents are and how crazy they are about you. Your brother, Napolean, has had a little trouble sharing their love and their bed with you. But soon you will be big enough to play with him and love on him too. Just don't try and uncurl his tail...it's supposed to be like that.

I love you "Little Buddy" and wish you all the joy and peace and love your big life can hold.

love,

Aunt Carroll Lane

I don't know where to start....

I've never taken a break from this blog/family journal this long.

We just had so much going on I had to...but since so much happened I really want to catch up.

Let's see, in the last month...

We have a new nephew/ cousin!

We had a wonderful Christmas!

We moved to a new state.

We celebrated Ellenie's 1 st birthday.

We unpacked 167 boxes (okay, there are still atleast 30 in the garage)

We fought off the stomach bug.

We celebrated Brad's 30th!

We've tried to resume our old routines in our new surroundings.

Most of all, we've enjoyed our many blessings.

One of my favorite being that we all live under the same roof 7 days a week!

Whew. It makes Lillianna tired when I talk about it all at once.

So I'll try and catch up a day a time - just hitting the highlights.