THE DAY ELLE SAW ALL THE PRINCESSES

A month or two ago Elle started noticing posters and commercials for Disney on Ice.  This year's show was Princesses and Princes and she was drawn to the all the pictures of Ariel, Cinderella and Belle on the posters.  Honestly the thought of taking her had not occurred to me but she would get so excited when she saw anything about it that we decided we needed to look into tickets. When we finally looked at Ticketmaster, everything was sold out except for the front row.  Which in hindsight is totally weird because there were a lot of empty seats the day of the actual show.  We ended up buying the first row seats and they were awesome.

The actual morning of Disney on Ice we just told Elle she was going to get to see ALL the princesses and Tinkerbell (she loves her some Tinkerbell) and she was thrilled.  Her excitement and wonder only multiplied when the lights when out and Tinkerbell came skating by and waving her wand.  She got kind of quiet at first.  When Ariel came out she was so exciting.  Standing up and waving at her and dancing.  It was all so much fun and a wonderful day spent together as a family.  Kenny and I just grin ear to ear when we get to see Elle excited about simple things.

Here are some sweet pictures from our day.

Elle and Daddy talking and waiting on the princesses to start coming out.

Mezmerized.

During the Under the Sea number. She was in heaven.

Watching Aladdin lift Jasmin in the air.

Tinkerbell riding in the Cinderella carriage during the finale.

Saying goodbye to the carriage and the princesses.  She cried when it was over.

JUSTIN BROUGHT THE SEXY BACK!

I bought my friend Tracy and I two Justin Timberlake tickets way back in the summer as a 30th birthday present for her and maybe a little bit for me.  Her birthday was in July and mine is in August.  So it only made sense.  I went to Justin's Future Sex LoveSound concert years ago and was so amazed that I vowed to never miss another concert of his.  

I broke my no traveling rule in November/December for this one night.  I got in early Monday afternoon and we met a couple of other friends not going to the concert for an early girls dinner at Alchemy. It was delicious! Then it was time to head downtown!

Obligatory pic in front of the headliner.  We were so excited!

Selfie while we waited...and waited.  He didn't start until 9 which is close to my bed time.  

But then boy oh boy did he come!  He did an amazing show.  He played every single song in his catalog it seem.  At the very least all the popular ones.  He closed his first set with Cry Me a River which is a personal fave.  Then he sang all of his Future, Sex, Lovesound songs and then of course his 20/20 album.  He closed the show with Mirrors.  It was a three hour show ending at midnight but oh my lord what a fun concert.  It took me two days to recover!

He's coming! He's coming! I was screaming like a 12 year old. 

At one point this part of the stage detached and moved through and across the entire crowd.  It was awesome.  They rolled all the way to the end of the Forum and sang 5-10 songs right in front of us.  We were loving our seats even more at that point.

Still singing right in front of us!

It was a fantastic way to ring in our 30th birthdays! 

LOVIN OUR BULLDOGS!

We have been staying in town the last few weeks (which has been heavenly) and supporting our Bulldogs like crazy. We took Elle to our first basketball game as family and her first Mississippi State Basketball game ever.  We decided to get season tickets to basketball because we had a hunch that Elle would like all the action.  We were right! She loves it! She can spot Bully easily and enjoys watching the cheerleaders and dance squad.  Not to mention we ran into Deacon who is Rick Ray's son and she was excited to see her friend.  They were in the same class over the summer.

The game time was at 7.  That is normally her bedtime so she was a little cranky the next day but it was still worth it!

Mommy daughter selfie! This is the only way I can get a picture with her anymore. 

Please notice she could care less that I am trying to take a picture with her.

And this is the only way that I can take a picture of Elle and Kenny lately.  It has to be a 

candid moment where she doesn't realize I am taking her picture.  She is such a stinker 

when it comes to pictures lately!

Enjoying some popcorn at the game.  This bought us a few more minutes.  

She was getting tired and ready to go!

Our friend went and got us some Mississippi State ice cream 

from the club level and that made all of us really happy! Yum!

Then that weekend it was time for Mississippi State to face off against Alabama in football.  This is our last home game that Megan and Patrick and Frances came to stay.  We only have one home game left and that is the Egg Bowl on Thanksgiving Day.  We were so happy to see our friends since had been a little while.  The weather was totally yucky but Elle and Frances still had a ball playing together.

Sweet babies.  They aren't really babies anymore but still.  Aren't they sweet.

After playing all day and then tailgating all afternoon we expected to make it for five minutes of the first quarter of the game.  We were in for lots of surprises.  The Bulldogs were playing amazing against the National Champs and for once in her life Elle was pretty content to sit on our laps and take it all in.  The team kept it an extremely close game and somehow Elle held out until middle of the third quarter.  Then she started swaying in her seat.  She asked me for her "ah ah" which I did not have.  Her Cinderella barbie doll had to do.  She took Cinderella. We wrapped her up tight in our blanket because it was freezing and she curled up and passed out in my arms.  She NEVER does that! The Bulldogs lost but it truly was a great game and I was so proud of the team! It was a great night together as a family!

Elle and Kenny cheering.

Oh my goodness we all look so rough.  The weather was rainy and humid and then the wind was blowing so hard and it was freezing.  I was not dressed warmly enough and my hair was not happy.  

How we ended the night.  Exhausted.

EVERYDAY LIFE

I have had such a hard time blogging lately because we haven't really been doing a whole lot of big things.  We have just been living life.  I have stuck to my guns about not going out of town for November and December and so far so good.  I struggle with just dumping random pictures on this blog and doing a ton of repeats from Instagram but then I know that these are the posts that I will want to see the most.  Just glimpse of a fall afternoon or an everyday moment.  So to heck with it.  I give you a glimpse of our days.  Just normal days.

 Playing with a good Zulily find.  These Dot paint things. I have to admit they are pretty fun.

 For a few nights in a row Elle has fallen asleep while I read her books.  Then I get to hold her and rock her and tuck her into bed and watch her sleep.  Of course I sent Kenny a picture because he was out of town. I am loving the rocking. Elle was never a rocky, cuddly baby so it is always a treat.

 Kenny and I squeeze in a quick lunch date on day when Elle was at school.  I love when we get to do this.  I especially love it when we get to enjoy some cheese sticks at The Grill!

 This a total Instagram copy.  But Elle isn't napping so we have resorted to quiet time.  She sits on her bed and is allowed to read books and play with small toys.  She has been doing great with this.  She is happy to stay in her room with the door closed for around an hour to an hour-fifteen.  You have to take what you get!

 My sister (Nannee) sent Elle a Thanksgiving book in the mail. T is for Turkey. It is cute little book and also very educational. We have enjoyed reading it almost nightly.

 We got our second tshirt quilt in.  I am not sure if I posted my sorority quilt on here.  But this is the one with all of Kenny's Pike tshirts.  So many fun memories from all those parties! I am so incredibly happy to have these quilts done.  

 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  Yep! All of these came one night.  It was so fun opening them all up and making piles for each person.  I only have a few more things to buy for my Christmas shopping.  I like to be done by the beginning of December so I can stay out of busy stores and enjoy the holiday's fun offerings without feeling stressed.

 Some of those presents were for Elle and I started to doubt I even need to buy her any gifts when she played with the box one of them came in for a good hour.  Typical kids.  Boxes are so much fun.

 Loving on Lena. Lena looks thrilled though. Ha! Elle has a love hate relationship with Lena right now.  Sometimes she throws temper tantrums because she is so mad that Lena keeps coming in her room or in her bathroom.  And then other times they will run around the house hugging and playing.  I think they love each other though.

Elle likes to get her computer out and pretend to "work" like Daddy.  They were having fun this past weekend while we watched the MSU vs. Texas A&M game.  

WHAT WE HAVE BEEN UP TO- THE BIGGEST PHOTO DUMP EVER!

We have been so incredibly busy and out of town so much that I cannot find the time to go back and write a post for every single thing that we did. So here is the most gigantic photo dump ever.  Some of these were on Instagram too but I always include those for memory sake. 

Can I just say this October was the busiest month I think we have ever had.  I am not sure if it is because Elle is older and able to do more or Starkville seems to offer more to do.  Who knows but man!  I hate to say it but I am a little Halloweened out! We did so many fall fests and pumpkin patching that when it actually poured down rain the actual day of Halloween we easily opted to watch a fun movie with Elle while eating dinner and ice cream on the floor. Looking forward to a relaxing November and then a magical Christmas. 

So alrighty...here we go!

We hit up the pumpkin patch one last time with our friends Amanda and sweet Sutton.  

Sutton and Elle are close in age and have a great time together.  They are so sweet!

Peeking out out of the hayride.

Running through the tunnel

Checking out more pumpkins even though we did NOT bring any more 

home that day.  We have enough pumpkins already.

We celebrated Kenny's 32nd birthday in Memphis.  Friday night we went to dinner with Elle and my sister and then Saturday night he and I went to see Captain Phillips (it was great) and then I took him to an amazing dinner at Alchemy. It was fantastic to have a date night!

Happy Birthday Kenny!

Had to include this picture because both of their faces.  Kenny looks totally 

confused at whatever she was hurumphing about.

Sister pic!

One of my besties was so wonderful and offered to keep Elle two different times when I was in Memphis last week. All while trying to get her house ready to be put on the market.  Elle was thrilled to get to see Lizzie!

Can get over how old both of them look in the picture of the left.  And Lizzie was 

reading to Elle on the right.  So sweet.

Kenny went to the World Series Game 4 in St. Louis on an impromptu guys trip. I was so thrilled when we were able to make it work with everything we had going on.  He loves the Red Sox and this was actually his first time to see them play.  He just could not pass up this opportunity.  To make it even more exciting Boston hit a home run to take the lead and then they won.  They had such a great time and I am just so incredibly happy that he got to go.

The view from their seats.  Not really seats.  The game was pretty sold out so they bought standing room only tickets and staked out some prime real estate for the entire game.  

The week of Halloween we went to two Fall Festivals.  The first one started with Trick or Treat on the Row and then MSU actually hosted a big festival in the Junction.  It was all a lot of fun.  Elle got a ton of candy and it was so fun going to all the sorority houses.  Of course I explained to her which house was mine and that is where Mommy lived.  She already knows Kenny's fraternity house because we pass it more frequently but now she knows where she will reside one day.

Saying Trick or Treat to the sweet girls at Mommy's house.

More pictures from the MSU Fall Festival and Trick or Treat on the Row.

Had to include this sweet picture of Elle.  It was the day of her Halloween 

party at school and she was so proud of her pumpkin painting.

One day Elle spent an entire hour playing with a dead moth. I hate bugs.  

The pictures were pretty cute though.

Yuck.

Finally our last Fall Festival.  This one was a Trunk or Treat at the church that Elle's PDO is in.  We had a great time.  Elle was totally over her costume though.  It is probably a good thing we didn't go trick or treating because I was kind of over her costume too.  Like I said.  We were busy.

Pretty pleased with her smile in this picture.  It has nothing to do with me.  It has to do with that bag of popcorn in her hand.  She is just like her daddy.  Loves loves loves loves popcorn!

Elle and Kenny play golf all the time together at home with her little play golf clubs.  

It was so fun seeing them put those skills to use all in the name of candy!