Holidays and what not!

This was my first Christmas in 30 years away from my mom and dad! Luckily I had 2 wonderful boys, some good friends, and an anticipated visit from my sister's family to keep me occupied! Kingston really didn't get the concept of what was going on but he still enjoyed himself. On Christmas morning we woke up to see what Santa had brought!A letter from Santa to Kingston recapping the year and all his big events!

Stockings full of good stuff!

And of course a ball pit for him to play in!

And a brand new bone for our favorite girl!

After we opened gifts our friends Phil and Elizabeth brought their little boy Riley over and we ate dinner, played games and took the boys for a ride around the neighborhood in Riley's new wagon! It was a great day!

On Friday my sister came down with her family for the weekend and it was great to see her and the boys. And of course Kingston had a blast with them! We went to the park and on Saturday when it was 70 degrees and the boys had so much fun!

Kingston's first time on a real swing!

While Corey looks like a pro!

My sister, Chase and Andrew being silly on the turtle!

Even Laney got in on the action!

On Sunday we went to OpryLand Hotel to take a look at the lights and ride the boat! Alfred and I took this opportunity to get a picture taken just like we did last year only this year with our new addition!

We had a great weekend and Kingston went back to West Virginia with my sister to stay there until Friday so Alfred and I are home alone and seem to do nothing but talk about Kingston! We miss our little buddy but it is nice to have some us time!

A Week in Rewind!

Just a quick look at our week through snapshots I just uploaded off the camera!

Enjoying my cake at the dinner theater with my work girls.

AnneMarie holding up one of our 5 bottles of wine at the table! Yes it was a great night!

Acting silly before the show started!

Kingston working on his skills!

Sitting in the tub like a big boy!

Showing off his pimp jean jacket from his Aunt Amanda!

Kingston crawling on JoJo's mom Natalina while JoJo plays with Kingston's ball!

And me eating steak for the first time in 6 years! Oh yea I'm a meat eater again!

As for the rest of the week Kingston got his picture taken with Santa and we are awaiting Christmas! Hope you enjoyed our week in review!

If These Walls Could Talk!

One year ago today with shaky hands the dotted line was signed, a 30 year commitment was made and we became homeowners! When Alfred called and reminded me of this little fact this morning I quickly thought back to the memories that have already been made here. This is where we moved in on Christmas day last year (thanks mom and dad),had our first party on New Year's Eve with very little furniture, where my water broke, where we brought Kingston home from the hospital, where Alfred proposed for real on my birthday in front of the kitchen sink, where we came home for the first time as a married couple, the house we learned to become parents in!! And even the small things like the nights we've stayed up just the 2 of us playing uno or scrabble or the wii, the mornings when we lay in bed laughing at the sounds Kingston's making across the hall, the visits from our friends! It's unbelievable how much fun, excitement, heartache, love and overall emotion can be felt in one year in one house. If these walls could talk I'm sure they'd have a crazy story to tell about the Ellers! I can't predict weather we will live her for the next 29 years of our mortgage but I do know that if we don't one day we will drive back here with our family and share the stories this house will be able to tell!

Yippee for 3 Day Weekends!

I decided to take today as a vacation day so that I could have a 3 day weekend and get some stuff done before Christmas.

Friday night I went to my friend Jennifer's to hang out with the girls, make cookies for the troops, play board games and catch up, it was so much fun. Saturday I hung out at the house all day with Kingston just playing and enjoying some just the 2 of us time. Sunday morning we all got up to go to church and imagine my surprise when I put Kingston in his crib to pick out his outfit and I turned around to this...

When did he learn how to do this and how did I miss it? Was this the first time? I yelled to show Alfred and he said he'd been trying to pull himself up on the couch the night before but hadn't succeeded! I'm going to have to ask at daycare to see if this is something he's been doing! They are usually really good about telling us anything new they see him do! But maybe they forgot this or maybe he had a little motivation to see what Laney was doing!

Guess it's time to lower the mattress! Although he still can't go from laying to sitting but I'm sure that will happen soon enough!

On Sunday we drove to Murfreesboro to see Bethlehem Marketplace. It was amazing! Besides the absolute wonderful job they do portraying the city the day after Christ was born we got to pet camels and donkeys and experience something that was truly unbelievable. Here are just a few pictures from our visit.

It was a great weekend but now we have to get back to the real world and since we are supposed to have ice storms I'm sure I'm back to my 3 hour commute in the morning! Be safe this week!

Let it Snow Let It Snow Let It Snow!

We had our first snow of the season yesterday and while I spent 3 hours in traffic trying to get home Alfred took Kingston and Laney outside to play.

Laney had a blast running around in the driveway and yard and then shaking the snow off!

A View from our front porch.

My men enjoying the weather! Alfred said Kingston was so excited he couldn't stand it!

And of course after being outside in the cold every baby needs to warm up by the fire!

And although this has nothing to do with snow! Today he had to wear Red to daycare and I thought this was so cute I had to throw it in! Of course the hat came off as he and I waited in traffic for 3 hours this morning on the way to work :)!

Christmas Time Anyone!

We finally had a chance to put up our tree last night, It was wonderful. We put on Christmas music made coffee and danced around putting up the decorations! It was so fun! I'm so excited to be starting these traditions with my family! It's great to be an Eller!

Nine Month Check-up

It's hard to believe that it's already time for Kingston's 9 month check-up! Where did the time go? Alfred took Kingston to his doctors appt. today and his stats are as follows:
17lbs. 9oz. - 12.4 percentile
27 in.- 19.9 percentile
He got a clean bill of health except he has a testicle that still hasn't dropped so they want us to take him to Vandy on January 28th to see a urologist and make sure all is well, I will keep you posted. Apparently worst case scenario he has a small procedure but let's hope it doesn't get to that. The word procedure always scares me.

In other Eller news Alfred was out of town last week with work so I was pretty much on my own. I gained more respect for single working moms. It was exhausting doing it all alone, not to mention lonely. I was again reminded how lucky I am to have Alfred and how helpful he is!

Saturday night we went to Opry Mills Hotel to look at the lights and out to eat with my Rockin' Mom's Group for a family outing and we had such a wonderful time. These ladies are great fun and are quickly becoming great friends!

Sunday we were both off work together for the first time since Thanksgiving so we just hung out, cleaned house and enjoyed the time off. I'm looking forward to putting up our Christmas decorations this week for the first time in the new house! Yippee! Have a great week!