Update on our happenings!

Well all, it has been a while and we have been busy here in Arkansas...and in Virginia. Kenneth, Ella, my mom and dad, and myself all took a vacation to Virginia to see my brother Rob and his wife Cari in the middle of May. We had a wonderful time and saw lots of sights (Kenneth's favorite part) and got to see lots of friends (my favorite part). This was Ella's first plane trip and she did wonderful on the trip down, but apparently caught a little bit of a cold while there, and we had a pretty rough trip home, but she was a trooper. My brother and his wife promised at the beginning of our vacation that this would be the most well documented vacation we had over been on...and, I would have to agree. Rob and Cari never left home without their camera's and they took some wonderful pictures. I have to give them credit for all the pictures posted here...and you can check out more on http://www.pinkroomphotography.com/.

Well, our trip started out with a picnic in the park at the local park in Springfield. Ella had a great time and Rob and Cari got some great shots. The evening concluded with grilled pizzas on the patio and a visit from friends.

The plan for the following day was originally scheduled to include a water tour of the monuments, but rain threatened those plans and we ended up out at the Udvar-Hazy musuem near Dulles Airport. This is basically the annex museum for the National Air and Space Museum. I had never been out there and I was highly impressed. If anyone ever has the opportunity or is looking for something to do, I highly recommend it.

On Monday we visited the Marine Corp Museum in Quantico, VA. This was another new museum since I had lived in Virginia, and another must see. Our official photographers had to work at their day jobs that day, so unfortunately, I have no pictures of that trip.

Tuesday included a trip to the National Zoo, a tour of the Supreme Court, and an evening at the Ballpark watching the Nationals and Pirates play.

Wednesday we took a day trip to Gettysburg, PA, so that Kenneth could learn all about the civil war from my dad, who was more than happy to ablige. Again, our official photographers were working that day, so no pictures!

Thursday...I don't actually remember what we did on Thursday...I am sure it was good...oh, it just came back to me. We took a trip into DC to visit the National Archives and the National Museum of American History. Well, the trip to the Archives was unsuccessful, as the President was there that day and the line was huge. But, we did make it to the Museum and enjoyed seeing all the great exhibits. Rob joined us that day, but I don't have any of those pictures, so they will have to been on a follow-up post.

Friday...we were able to take a tour of the U.S. Capitol and were able to go on the floor of the House Chamber...thanks Jennifer for arranging...and then spent the evening with wonderful friends eating, playing games, and enjoying the company!

Saturday we had re-scheduled the water tour of the monuments...however, we got out to the boat and unfortuantely the trailer had a flat...so, still did not get to go out on the boat...guess that just gives us a good reason to plan another vacation!

Well, that is the quick summary of our trip and we got back home Sunday night and back to real life come Tuesday morning, luckily Monday was a holiday, so we got to extend the vacation just a little bit.

Since we got back to town we have been as busy as ever. Kenneth is taking summer classes, so he has class just about every night of the week, except Friday, I think. Softball season has started, so that is where you can find Ella and I every Wednesday evening. I am the official scorekeeper, and she is the Junior Official Scorekeeper. She loves being outside and loves watching the team play. On Saturdays you can usually find us at Magic Springs, which is a local amusement park/water park. We bought season passes along with some of our friends and love spending the day out there!

Well, Ella is now 11 months old, I can't believe how fast the time has flown. We are in the process of planning her 1st birthday party... it will be on July 11 and we are having a BBQ...all are invited so call me if you need the details. Ella is now walking too....Kenneth and I had a hard time keeping up with her when she was crawling, I am afraid it is all downhill from here!

Well, you guys are probably sick of my rambling, but just wanted to post an update!

Some recent pictures!

The first are from the Wye Mountain Daffodil Festival that we took Ella to in mid-March, and then a stop at our favorite donut shop...at the end are some of her Easter pictures that we had taken the end of March! Hope you enjoy!

Sorry it has been so long...

Well, sorry it has been so long since I blogged. I warned you all upfront that this may be an issue. Things have been crazy and busy here in Arkansas. Ella keeps us running most days, which is a problem since she is not walking yet and only crawling, I can only imagine what is going to happen when she starts walking and/or running...lets hope that takes at least a few more months! She actually said her first recognizable word the other day and her daddy was so excited that it was "da-da". Well, here is a run-down of our life for the last month and a half...

Both Kenneth and I celebrated birthdays in March, and mine was the big "30". My great friends here threw me a surprise party and we all had a wonderful time. My mom actually came down and watched Ella for the evening, so it was a fun night out with just the big people. We celebrated Kenneth's birthday a little more quietly with just a few friends and dinner, but we had a good time!

Our big purchase of the month was a new car. While I loved my little Honda Hybrid, and it got great gas milage, it was just too small, I mean, the only thing that fit in the trunk was Ella's stroller and basically the only thing that fit in the backseat was Ella. Which would be ok if you never went anywhere with anyone, but as those who know me know, I am always on the go. So, we purchased a 2009 Chevy Traverse. It seats 8, which I love...the seats fold flat, so there is a ton a cargo room, it gets fairly decent gas milage, at least for an SUV, and it is not a mini-van! We have only had it for less than a month, but we love it, and Ella loves that it sits up higher and she can see out of the back window.

Ella has been doing all kinds of new things the last few months. She is pulling up on everything and getting into everything. She is finally starting to really enjoy all of the toys that she has and loves to sit on the floor and play with all of them. As I mentioned before she is saying "da-da" all of the time, she makes the cutest kissing noises and is pretty much the happiest baby I know. She had her nine-month well baby visit a month early, since she is a little small and they have been watching her weight. So she went to the doctor on March 18, and she weighed a whooping 16 lbs, but the doctor was happy with that and just said to make sure she keeps getting enough to eat, and she does love to eat. Sometimes she doesn't want to finish her bottles, but she loves to eat her babyfood, except for peas and chicken, and how a child of mine cannot like chicken is beyond me, but she is going to starve when she gets older, because all I cook is chicken. She also love her little puff (kinda like cereal) and her little crunchies (kinda like Cheetos). We spent easter weekend in Texas and her Uncle Dude gave her all kinds of new things, such as bread, broccolli, yummy potatos, fruit snacks, popsicles, ice cream, and whipped cream, which she all seemed to enjoy. Every now and again I catch her daddy trying to give her coke...and she has quite the taste for that too!

Well, that is about all that is going on these days...except for the normal work, school, etc...I am posting this at work, so I don't have any pictures, but I promise that I will post a supplemental post later today with updated pictures from the last month and a half!

Arkansas Girl

Well, this is what happens when your child spends her first 7 months of life in Arkansas!

Well...it has been a while since I blogged...I have been trying to think of something to blog about, besides Ella of course, but I figured you didn't want to read about Ella all the time! But, I have not thought of anything, so, here is a post about the recent happenings of Ella.

Things have been pretty boring around here. Ella has gotten to where she pulls up on the couch and anything else she can, but she is still pretty wobbly once she gets up. She was a little under the weather early in the week, but seems to have bounced back!

Ella also went to her first Mardi Gras parade. Most of you know that we live in downtown Little Rock and just a block from our house is the annual Little Rock Mardi Gras parade, so we bundled Ella up and off we went. She had a great time and collected quite the stash of mardi gras beads, including a special one that my friend Amanda, who was in the parade, saved for her, that lights up. She has enjoyed putting all of the beads in her mouth, along with anything else she can find to put in her mouth.

Last, but not least, Ella has also started eating animal crackers. Mostly I think she just sucks on them and makes a mess, but she has fun with them! Well, that is all I have for now, and hopefully the next post will be about something more than Ella, but her daddy and I do love to talk about her!

A day in the life...

Well, it has been two weeks since I last updated, and the fact that it has only been two weeks is a pretty good acomplishment in my book.

So, I thought I would tell you all about a typical day in Court for me. I was in court last week with one of the other attorney's in our office. She was actually handling the case, I was sitting in the back with the Judge's law clerk observing. Well, there was a non-custodial parent who was approximately $25,000 behind in his child support, and that may seem like a lot to most people, but it is not uncommon, unfortunatly. Anyways, he proceeded to plead his case and argue with the Judge that his entire arrearage occured during a 6 month period, which would mean his child support was approximately $1040 per week, however, his support was only $36 per week. Well, the judge kept threatening to send him to jail, and he kept pleading with the judge and arguing that he had paid all of his child support. Finally, he tells the judge that if she would just grant him a continuance until that afternoon, that he could bring Jesus Christ in to testify. Well, the law clerk and I thought the judge should grant the continuance, just to see who he actually brought in, but I guess that it what finally sent the judge over the edge, and off to the Pulaski County Adult Detention Center he went, and where he still sits today, on a $25000 plus cash bond.

Well, I would like to say that this was a unique experience, but then I would be lying...I get to see crazies like this everyday! However, the law clerk and I did have one question, that is, where would you send a subpoena for "Jesus Christ", if anyone knows, please fill me in because I could really use his help in some other cases that I have coming up in the near future.

Well, here is a short update on Miss. Ella. She is officially crawling and getting into all sorts of trouble! She has gotten to take a few rides in the new wagon she got from her Grandma Burleson for Christmas and she loves it, and we just hung her new swing that she got from Grandma and Grandpa Freeman, and she loves that too! I guess we just have an outdoors girl on our hands, which makes her daddy really happy!

Why Can Doctor's Get Away with It

So, this is one of those concepts that I just don't understand. I had a doctor's appointment scheduled for Friday morning at 8:00 am, supposedly the first appointment of the day, and what time do I actually get into see him? Well, 8:30 would seem reasonable, right, what about 10:30! I just don't understand how you can start your day off 2 and a half hours behind schedule. Maybe some of you medical professionals out there can enlighten me on this one. I do know that if an attorney or hairdresser keeps a person waiting for two and a half hours there would be all kinds of complaining being done, but with a doctor we just sit back and wait, I just don't get it.

Well, now that my rambling is done for the day, here is an update for all of you how need your Ella fix! She is just about to start crawling. She can get up on all four by herself, but she just can't seem to get the timing right to move forward, but we are thinking she will get it together this week sometime, but we will keep you informed. Below is a picture of her headed out to school last Friday. It was about 15 degrees outside here, and her daddy was convinced that she needed to be in her snow suit, I really just think that he wanted to make sure she got to wear it before it got to warm here!

My New Year's Resolution

Well, I decided that my New Year's resolution was going to be to start a blog and keep it updated so that everyone who is interested can keep up with us, or mostly keep up with Ella! So, here is it, my first post. I am going to try my best to update it regularly, but please forgive me if I am a bit of a slacker, at least I warned you up front.

Well, here is a little update on Ella. She went in for her six month check-up on Friday and she weigh's a whopping 13 lbs and 8 oz and is 24 1/2 inches long, both of which place her in the 10th percentile, but the doctor is not worried, so neither are we, guess she is just going to be a small girl! Also, she just started eating rice cereal, which she loves, and sweet potatos, which she is liking more and more everyday.

Well, since I am sitting at work writing this post, I guess I should get back to doing what they pay me to do. Check back often and hopefully I can keep you all updated. And, as my sister-in-law Cari says, don't just be a lurker, make some comments!