WELP! DROPPED THE BALL ON THAT ONE!

So hello! Are my thousands of readers more disappointed than I am in myself for blogging one measly time in January? I am so sad.  We haven't been doing all that much when it comes to the excitement scale but for some reason I have felt like we are busy. So coming in the next few days will be a few consecutive photo dump and totally random posts.  I will try to bring us up to speed as quickly and unrambly as I can.

Can I just say that part of my extreme frustration is that my computer isn't recognizing my iPhone when I plug it in so my photos are automatically uploading meaning I have to manually email all my pictures to myself and then save them that way.  It is a PAIN!!

Yes. I realize I have barely spoken about our move.  We are moving in a week and I have barely muttered a word about it.  The reason is I keep meaning to get over to the house and take pictures (better than iPhone pictures) and post them on here and do a real post about it.  Here is a little sneak preview!

Isn't she a beaut!  We stumbled across this brand spanking new house being sold by the builders a few days before Thanksgiving and fell in love.  It wasn't completely finished so I was able to make a few minor decisions like back splash and blinds and things like that.  We have enjoyed getting to know the builders and are excited because they will be our new neighbors.  They are building their new house across the street.  We are so excited to get in before summer because this neighborhood is chock full of young families with tons of kids Elle's age.  The street over has a cart path connected to our country club so the swimming pool will be a short golf cart ride away!  I swear I will get over there and post more pictures soon!

Most of our days have been spent trying to have lots of fun all while not freezing our tails off.  It has already been quite the winter. We have become huge fans of open gym day at the local gymnastics place and of course the tried and true Chick Fil A. Come on summer!

 Taking selfies to send to Daddy.  

 One freezing morning I needed to run a ton of errands and Elle hates leaving the house when she is in the middle of playing which is always.  So I bribed her with her favorite thing in the entire world.  Donut holes.  It totally worked and we were both happy campers.

And speaking of running errands. We can't leave our house without a purse filled to the brim with princesses.

We have been trying to get to as many basketball games as we can.  We have started SEC play and those games are a lot more fun.  Bigger crowd means better atmosphere.  Elle loves her Bulldog hoops almost as she loves her football.  We will see when baseball starts where that falls on the the list.

 Love that little scrunched up face.

Serious conversations with Daddy.  I am sure it was during a time out.

ELLE'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

Well hello 2014!!  I felt like I blogged so consecutively trying to make sure we got all of Christmas into the 2013 blog book which is already sitting here at my house with all the other years that I must of been worn out.  As always things have slowed down a little bit now that the holidays are over with. That is always a welcome change.  I will be sure to do a little update on just the day to day stuff we have been up to and a total photo dump.  BUT today has to be dedicated to one thing.

Today is Elting Caroline's birthday.  She is three years old.  And oh my goodness the amount of cliches that want to come out of my mouth and fingers right now.  She's growing up too fast.  I could not love anything more. She is the light of my life. (along with her daddy.)

But know this Elle, if you are reading this many many years later.  My love for you is limitless and unconditional.  Even on the hardest days I have with you I thank God for giving you to me. You make me laugh, cry, worry and pray daily.  You are smart and witty.  You are kind and sweet.  You can be a little bossy and hard headed but honestly what three year old isn't. I adore you forever and ever.

This Saturday we celebrated Elle's birthday.  Kenny will always miss her birthday because Elle made a surprise arrival while Kenny was at furniture market.  So we just told her Saturday was her birthday.  She and I will do fun things together today.  My mom and my sister came into town early that morning and we all spent the day together.  Kenny's parents plan to celebrate her birthday in a few weeks.  

We tried to pack in lots of Elle's favorite things and make sure she knew she was loved.  We went to donuts, went to a movie, opened presents where she got every Frozen toy on the market right now because she is absolutely obsessed. We ended the day at hibachi (a new fave) and birthday cake.  It was a wonderful day.  And here are lots of pictures!!

 Starting the birthday morning off right at one of Elle's most favorite places.  Shipleys!!!

 Kenny put together her Frozen castle the night before and studied the box extra well so he could set it up perfectly to surprise Elle.  If that doesn't bring a tear to your eye.

Checking out the awesome castle.

She loves it!

Nannee gave her a trunk with Frozen dress up clothes.

She loved that too.  She is so into dress up right now.

 Cheesing at Hibachi.

Watching the chef. Taking it all in.

 Blowing out her candles.  I had it decorated blue with snowflakes because anything with snowflakes is Frozen of course. I am telling you.  She is obsessed.

 Still trying.  It took her a few times.

My favorite pic.

And one last present form CeCe before the night was over and it was time for bed. A mexican food pretend food.  Per my request because chips and cheese dip is my most favorite thing in the entire world and I am going to need her to think the same.

On Sunday we spent the day as a family before Kenny had to leave.  That afternoon after Elle had her bath we all sat down and watched a movie and enjoyed more birthday cake.  It was a great way to end the birthday weekend. 

Happy Birthday Elle! We love you so incredibly much!!

CHRISTMAS IN FAIRHOPE

To wrap up our Christmas celebrations we headed to Fairhope to spend a few days with Gramma and PopPop. Upon our arrival Gramma needed immediate help baking our favorite chocolate pound cake.  Elle was so excited to help her stir. I guess I can add Gramma's house to our short list that only really includes the donut shop where we get amazing smiles from Elle when we ask to take her picture. What the hay!!

Stirring the chocolate cake batter with Gramma.

After the cake was in the oven it was time to open some presents.  Honestly, Elle was still a little burned out from opening the first round of presents.  We were still opening presents the day after Christmas one by one.  Next year I think we will leave everything unwrapped.  

Opening a few presents.

The next morning Elle had her two bigger presents to open.  She was so excited when she opened up a princess power car thingy.

Not even three years old and learning to drive.

She loved loved loved this Christmas tree Gramma had out as decoration.  It played music and lit up.  And it was covered in glitter.  Subsequently she stayed covered in glitter the entire weekend. But look at that smile.

Kenny and I are always so lucky to get a really nice date night while we are in Fairhope.  Free babysitting! On this night we ventured out in the pouring down rain to see Saving Mr. Banks which I had to hold back the ugly cries during and then to a fabulous dinner to one of our favorite restaurants, Camelia Cafe.

Kenny's mom coerced us into taking a picture before we left.

We thought Elle needed to see Frozen one last time.  Okay, I didn't mind seeing it for the third time either. So Gramma came along this time.  We still can't wait for it to come out on DVD.

Waiting to leave for the movie.

Waiting for the movie to start.

After we got home we went for a leisurely drive.

And then for dinner at the yacht club.

On our final day Elle helped Gramma cook the spaghetti sauce for dinner tonight before heading to the park.

Cooking with Gramma.

"Don't touch. It is hot." Elle told me.

Another great smile.  Happy girls at the park.

It was a great Christmas spent in Fairhope.  Now to watch our Dawgs play and try to unwind just a little before the start of the new year!

CHRISTMAS EVE AND CHRISTMAS DAY!

Christmas Eve was spent baking sugar cookies for Santa, Christmas Eve church service, chicken enchiladas for dinner (can't remember a Christmas where we didn't have enchiladas on Christmas Eve), reading Christmas books and lots and lots of talk about Santa.  Lots!

My sister and mom were in town for all the fun.  I am not sure why my pictures don't document this fact but we were so happy to have them.

For the cookies I actually made the dough the day before and let it refrigerate overnight before using some Christmas cookie cutters to cut out shapes and then bake.  Last year I used premade sugar cookie dough and the dough just did not allow us to use cookie cutters.  This year they turned out a lot better.

We had a lots of fun getting creative decorating the cookies.  Kenny, never to be outdone had some amazing cookies considering I did not do a great job on buying things to decorate with. (next year!)

Decorating cookies!

The snowman, the pink reindeer and the pretty Christmas tree were all done by Kenny.  I told you he was the best.

Santa Claus came!

Elle was totally Santa Claus obsessed this year but she still didn't get some of the aspects of how Christmas Eve and Christmas Day went down.  She threw Santa Claus for a loop when while we were putting her to bed she started talking about how Santa Claus was going to come in her room and leave her presents under her personal tree.  Luckily Santa Claus had picked up the three Frozen dolls at the last minute and those were placed under her little tree to greet her when she woke up.  She was so excited.

So excited about her Frozen dolls!

Checking out the all the cookies and milk Santa ate and drank.  He must of been hungry.

This Minnie Pet Shop was the first thing she saw when she saw Santa came and she wanted to play with this  Completely ignored her kitchen until we encouraged her to go check it out.

Excited about her realistic groceries.  

Finally notices her kitchen and is so excited!

Making Daddy some breakfast.

I realized I had all the stuff to make this cinnamon roll breakfast casserole.  And yall! It was a-mazing.  So so so good and so easy.  Excuse me while I share and document this recipe so I will have it in my blog book for future Christmases. I did not use the maple syrup at all.

Cinnamon Roll Casserole

Serves: 12

Ingredients:
cooking spray
2 cans (12.4 oz each) Pillsbury® refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing
4 eggs
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2  teaspoons ground cinnamon
2  teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup chopped pecans (you can use more or less according to your liking)
1/4 cup maple syrup

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°F.  Spray a 13×9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray.

Separate both cans of dough into 16 rolls; set icing aside. Cut each roll into 8 pieces; place pieces  in dish.

In a medium bowl, beat eggs. Beat in cream, cinnamon and vanilla until well blended; gently pour over roll pieces. Sprinkle with pecans; drizzle with syrup.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove covers from icing; microwave 10 to 15 seconds or until thin enough to drizzle.

Drizzle icing over top.  If desired, spoon syrup over individual servings.

Okay back to Christmas!

Elle also received several princess outfits.  Here she is playing with her new doll clothes wardrobe in her Princess Jasmine outfit.

And checking herself out all decked out as Tinkerbell. Melt my heart.

It was a fantastic Christmas.  Kenny and I did not do a lot of gifts for each other.  I got him a tailgate tent and he got me an electronic accessory for my car and an overnight bag I had been eying. It was all about seeing the excitement of Christmas morning through Elle's eyes.

THE FINAL DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS - NO WE DIDN'T SEE SANTA

I know you are surprised we didn't go to see Santa again.  Believe me, Elle would have. We spent the final days before Christmas going to see Frozen twice, (Have you seen it? We are obsessed!) wrapping last minute presents, watching Christmas movies and decorating a gingerbread house. 

I was worried I wouldn't have anything to do at night while we relaxed and watched Christmas movies since I got our Christmas cards out early.  So I decided to do little happys for Elle's class. I absolutely cannot take any credit for the idea.  Totally Pinterest.  I looked for something that looked easy enough and settled on these sweet reindeer made out Hershey bars.  They actually ended up being a little more time intensive than I originally planned but turned out cute.

Basket all ready to go with teacher gifts(gift cards) and friend happies.

Charlie had been doing some pretty uneventful things so one night he got into my wrapping supplies and this is where we found him when we woke up. 

Elle and I spent one morning at the park.  After going down the slide a few times we ended up roaming the bushes around the perimeter pretending to be Princess Sofia for most of the time we were there. So funny.

I bought a reusable gingerbread house a week or so before Christmas so we could make decorating it one of our out of school Christmas activities.  Buying all the candy kind of stressed me out.  I wasn't sure what we needed and what would work well and what wouldn't.  Thankfully the dollar store had enough good stuff that we managed pretty well.  Elle had a great time.  She was more into eating the candy and making sure I was keeping all the bowls stocked with decorating supplies.  Kenny on the other hand totally got into it. (as he normally does when we do these kinds of things)

House and bowls of candy ready to go.

Kenny spackling the house with a tub of icing and Elle sticking a few things on in between bites.

I swear I just got lucky and captured this picture.  I love it.  They are so much alike sometimes.

This is the ONLY picture I could get her to take with me.  Another selfie.  I will still 

take these pictures and post them on here to prove that I was present.

Finished product-Side 1

Finished Product-Side 2

Don't ask me what is going on with the lifeless Santa on top.  Elle insisted we put him there.