I've been tagged!

This is the second time I've been "tagged." The first time, I didn't have time to play along, but this time I'll be a good sport and keep up the fun. Here are the rules:

The object of the picture tag is to:

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer.

2) Select the 4th picture in the folder.

3) Explain the picture.

4) Tag 4 people to do the same. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.) Have fun!!! Here's mine!

Explanation of the picture: This picture was taken on my first trip to New York City (in 2006) while riding through Central Park in a bicycle carriage (not a horse and carriage, a BICYCLE carriage that was driven by a skinny foreign guy with broken English who broke a REAL sweat pulling my mom, sister, and I around Central Park.... ha ha. We exceeded the 2 person carriage capacity, but he let us ride anyway and got a good workout.) The photograph is of the oldest carousel in the United States and is located in Central Park. It dates back to 1871 and was originally pulled by a mule. Interesting, huh.... ha ha. Sorry my pic was a little boring.... I didn't cheat though!

I'm tagging: Lynn, Kim, Lyndsey, and Shannon

A Baby is on the WAY!!!

So, this is already starting to be old news for some, because I let the cat out of the bag a little early. Being how my doctor can't see me til January 6, (YES, JANUARY 6... and I'm a little fussy about that wait) and I've gotten 3 positive home pregnancy tests and almost threw up on a Belk salesman yesterday (he ushered me to the men's restroom and watched the door for me... ha ha,) I'm SURE I'm pregnant and I'm telling everyone.

We're very excited and Anna Kate is already referring to the baby as "she." No matter how many times I tell her it could be a "he" she still says, "No, Mom, SHE." Ha Ha.

My pregnancy with Anna Kate was super easy during the first trimester with no sickness, but I can already tell that this one's a little different. I'm tired by 9:00 every night (when usually I would easily stay up til 1 or 2am) and I'm having waves of nausea these last couple of days. Looks like it is going to be a long 9 months.

Just wanted to share the good news!

More from Thanksgiving....

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving Day with my family (Souths and Baileys) at my sister's new condo in Orange Beach, Alabama. We enjoyed great food, great sunsets, and fun in the sand! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

New Pics of Anna Kate

My friend Rachael Spencer is a very talented photographer. She took these photos of Anna Kate at the Botanical Gardens a week or so ago. Anna Kate was a total goofball that day, so the fact that Rachael got some great shots reveals her talent as a photographer... I'd recommend her for your kids pics!

You can see Anna Kate's pics on her blog at http://rachaelspencerphotography.blogspot.com/

Anna Kate plus 1 2-Liter of Sunkist= Destruction!

OK. So, again I'm TRYING to do a little work from home yesterday afternoon. I'm in the office at home and she's watching (or so I thought) Yo Gabba Gabba (what an annoying kids show, by the way!) Downstairs I hear a crash and a spewing noise. "Hmmm" I think, "better go check on this." "Anna Kate" I say, "is everything okay?" "Yes, mommy, everything is fine!" she yells back...... but it doesn't sound fine as I still hear hissing and spewing noises coming from downstairs. I walk downstairs and meet her at the bottom where I see her eyes as big as golfballs and in my peripheral vision see orange shooting across the kitchen. I run into the kitchen and there's what looks like the Old Faithful Geyser at Yellowstone National Park right in the middle of my kitchen, except its REALLY a 2 Liter Orange Sunkist drink with the top exploded off and orange spraying all over EVERYTHING in my kitchen. There's orange drink in the floor, on the cabinets, on the counters, the appliances, all the way across the kitchen on the glass table, running into the pantry, and worst of all, at least a liter of it is UNDER my refrigerator. It took over an hour to clean it all up. There's no picture of it here, because it was an emergency cleanup and there was no time, nor was I in the mood for a picture at that moment. I asked Anna Kate, "How did this HAPPEN???!!!!!" She replied, "I don't know Mom, it just jumped out of the frugerater."

This blog post is dedicated to all the work-from-home mothers out there...

Since I work primarily from home selling real estate, I have the opportunity to be at home with my little darling most of the time, with the exception of a few mornings she spends at moms-day-out. Most people who know Anna Kate know that she is constantly putting on some kind of show for anyone who'll watch. Either it is a rock show (see earlier posts,) a cooking show, pretending to be a dance teacher, an acrobatics show, etc, etc.... you get the idea. On this particular day, while I'm on the phone with an attorney all day trying to tie up loose ends on a real estate closing, Anna Kate is coming into my office riding on what she calls "elephant horse" and performing various acts. First a comedic session where she tells her one and only joke, "What kind of monster likes to dance?...... The Boogey Man!" Then a dancing show where she does what she calls the "Too Coo Pango" dance, then she rides out on "elephant horse" and comes back to climb up the back of my office chair and tries to sit on my head! Thankfully, most of the attorneys, loan officers, and other Realtors I work closely with know about Anna Kate because they are used to hearing her singing in the background, so they ask me how my "little assistant" is doing. So, for all those work-from-home moms who wipe hineys while doing business, I know your challenge. I wouldn't trade getting to have my little girl home with me, however, for the world.

Riding into my office on "elephant horse"

Showing me what she calls her "Too Coo Pango" dance (Have no idea what Too Coo Pango is!?!)

Telling her one and only joke she knows.."What kind of monster likes to dance? The Boogey Man!!!"

Riding back out of my office on the "elephant horse"

Trying to climb on my head...

Happy Birthday Dad!

Last Friday night, we celebrated my dad's 60th birthday at my house. I think my dad looks great for 60! My mom, Jacob, and Jared all came over to have steaks with us and we had a great time. Anna Kate LOVES for Jake and Jared to come play. She made Jared stay upstairs in the playroom with her the whole time. They are so sweet to her.

A typical afternoon at our house

Anna Kate spends most afternoons changing clothes, over and over and over again. I never know what is clean or dirty because we go through about 5 or 6 outfits (and/or costumes, Sunday clothes, bathing suits, etc) per DAY. It is something that she enjoys, so I let her do it, despite the effort it takes to collect the clothing around the house at the end of the day. It is one of those things that makes Anna Kate.... Anna Kate. On this particular day, she had chosen a costume to wear for the afternoon and was putting on a rock show for me on the steps when Daddy came home. Daddy decided that he wanted to take a turn with the guitar, and as you can see, she was in NO MOOD to share the stage that day!

State Fair - Yes, that is me in a teacup!!!

We went to the State Fair last weekend in Pelham and had a really fun time with Anna Kate. For those who know me, you KNOW I must really love my child to ride in a teacup with her. She was too small to ride alone. I normally vomit on these types of rides so I immediately tried to move us to another ride, but her mind was made up that we HAD to ride this one. I somehow managed not to get sick this time!

Daddy's Birthday

Last week was Chris's 32nd birthday and we celebrated at our house. Can you guess who enjoys the birthday cake the most?

First Day of Dance Class

Anna Kate LOVED going to Mrs. Lynn's dance class. In fact, she's asking me every day, "Is today the day we go to dance?" I was the only mommy in there snapping pictures, but Lynn was nice to let me have a few minutes to grab some photos of the class before she shut the door and started class. I wanted so badly to see the little girls dancing in there, but they have a "no Moms in the class" policy that I think is VERY SMART of Mrs. Lynn. Prior to starting class that night, we spent the entire day all over town looking for a black leotard to fit Anna Kate. Everyone had them, just not in her size. It was the first time I realized what all my mom must have gone through when I was taking dance, piano, softball, and my sister was a head majorette at the high school, and my brothers played baseball (ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!) She was a true Supermom. We "kept the road hot" as my dad always said... ha ha. I don't know how she kept track of everything with all 4 of us! Anyway, we're off to a good start now with our first official extracurricular activity.

Our little dancer...

Anna Kate has convinced us that she's now a ballerina. Last week she got her very own dancing attire, complete with 'real' ballet shoes and a sparkly bag. She also has some pink tights that she INSISTS on wearing every time, despite the fact that they are WAYYYY too big for her. Doesn't bother Anna Kate though... she just pulls the tights WAYYYY up high and makes a full outfit out of them. Genious, huh. Well, I thought that would be enough for right now, but now Memaw and Nana are pushing dance lessons so we're probably going to start dance lessons really soon. We've already made the call to Mrs. Lynn to find out about enrollment.... so stay tuned. Personally, I think Anna Kate is more of a hip-hop kind of girl (she loves to shake the bootie and break it down for us;) and even Aunt Sherra describes Anna Kate's dancing as "like Elaine on Seinfeld" for those of you who remember that Seinfeld episode (ha ha.) Nevertheless, we're going to try ballet and tap and see if she's star material.

Roll Tide!!!!

What an exciting game! I watched it on TV with Anna Kate and Carol while Chris got to BE THERE with his dad. I worked today so I had to pass on the opportunity to go to the game, but I'm sure it was even more awesome to be there! I haven't been prouder to be a BAMA alumni than after watching that game. While I was a student at UA our team wasn't so hot, so I've been waiting all these years to see a good comeback for the Tide and I hope this is the start of a great season.

Prayer Request

I didn't think I'd actually be on my third blog post in my first week of blogging, but we had bad news this morning. Chris's grandmother (Jimmy's mom, "Neenie") passed away very early this morning. She had been in the hospital in the ICU since a surgery she'd had back at the end of July. She just never did fully recover and this morning, she passed away. The family is very sad, so please keep the entire Elliott family in your prayers. Thank you.

"Dora Night" at the Barons' Game

There's nothing like a little last minute trip to the Hoover Met just in time to see Dora! We don't go to the Barons' games often, but found that it was actually very fun for the family. Laura Faith Beard was in-the-know about a special visit from Dora the Explorer tonight so she called up Anna Kate and well, we just "HAD" to go... Chris and I were pleasantly surprised to find out that we could feed the entire family for $1.25 because tonight was the 25 cent hotdog night, as well.... Woo Hoo! (Momma thought the cheesy fries were excellent too!) When the girls met Dora, it was funny because Anna Kate kept insisting on "high-fiving" Dora while she was signing autographs. Anna Kate was very proud of her autographed ticket stub that we brought home... ha ha.

Anyway, now we have a new place to go entertain the girls besides the Chuck E Cheese germ factory:)

Beginning Blogger!

OK, so I'm REALLY new to this and have resisted for over two years now but I'm afraid to become the "dinosaur" by not jumping on the blogging bandwagon. The first time I EVER read a blog was when those beautiful Hughes boys were born and we watched their earliest days online as we prayed earnestly for them to get to go home from the hospital. I still watch their lives unfold online and have found that although I rarely see them in person, somehow I feel like I know so much about them.

I have followed other blogs and found it to be such a great way to spread prayer requests, give updates on families and praise to God when good things happen to us, and a great way to BRAG on our little brilliant children... ha ha.

So, here it goes.... feel free to offer blogging advice and tricks for me because mine will probably be pretty bland for awhile til I get the hang of it!

Here's my latest photo of my little princess! We were playing in a friend's yard and since the weather was nice I started snapping pictures.