Friday, December 31, 2010

Christmas 2010!

Boy did we have some fun but VERY busy Christmas! I won't bore you with all the details because when I say busy-I mean BUSY! So I'll just post a lot of pictures. :)

Christmas Eve we did the traditional Ellison Christmas gathering. It was awesome like always! Great food was had-I loved the ham, tater mush, & rolls! It's always great catching up with all of your relatives & enjoying the Christmas spirit. We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus & celebrated with a delicious Red Velvet cake. Papa read Luke 2 while the youngest kids dressed up & acted it out. (it's weird to not be apart of that anymore-I'm growing up!) Then we had a couple of presents passed around. The greatest gift given was to Papa from my cousin Sundi. It was (drumroll please....) A Superman Snuggie! Oh it was so awesome!



Christmas morning started with a bang! I started waking up at 5am hoping the Jackson crew would be ready to rumble! Finally at 7:30 the girls were up & Santa did come! :) We loved spending the morning with them! The rest of the day was spent with my brothers going to & fro from Kevin's house to Aunt Renee's house. It was busy but fun. I loved reminiscing & making new memories with the family!

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We can't wait to see what Christmas 2011 will be like with our little baby!! :)

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

A Bun in the Oven!


If you don't know by now-Kyle & I are expecting our first baby! The due date is May 29th! Will we have a May or June baby?! Either way we are incredibly excited but still a little in shock. Here's how it all began...

Kyle & I agreed that we would hold off on starting a family until Kyle was done with school. Well about January of last year something inside of me clicked & my desire to be a mom really kicked into overdrive. Kyle was set to graduate in December so I thought we could get the party started just a little (ok a lot) early. After lots of talking (& crying on my hormonal part) we decided to hold off a little while longer.

Finally around July of last year we decided to start the whole 'trying to get pregnant' process because you never know how long it could take.... Long story short it took just over a year for the stars to align & there to be a baby in my belly! ;) (One of the hardest & longest years of my life-I couldn't have made it without many prayers, my incredible husband & some amazing friends)

Sept 29th, 2010- I thought I would die when I the pregnancy test actually came back POSITIVE! (it was probably the 20th test I'd taken over the last year & the FIRST to be positive) I immediately started crying & I knew exactly who I had to call. Kyle you say? Nope. MinDee. (to my defense it was a Wednesday morning & Kyle was at work. After trying for this baby for SO long I needed someone could could scream & cry with me-not whisper 'oh nice but I have to go into the meeting'-no offense to Kyle but you catch my drift) Anywho! So I called MinDee but I couldn't say anything I just cried! FINALLY I get to say the 2 words I'd been praying to be able to say "I'M PREGNANT!" It was SO incredible to share that moment with MinDee. She was freaking out with me which in turn made her baby girl Khloee cry but it was totally worth it. After I got off of the phone I took a couple more tests for good measure & called my Dr to set up a visit. It was the longest day waiting for Kyle to get home! So I went out & bought a plain toddler size Tshirt & wrote "Big Sister" on it so Moose could wear it. :)

Moose looks thrilled huh? I don't know if she's ready to share the spotlight!
(I forgot to take a picture of the final product with the due date)

Kyle was in shock when he saw Moose wearing it. After letting it process for a few minutes & looking at each other in shock we hugged & spent the evening chatting about our future baby. (Btw Kyle hates surprises but I HAD to surprise him right?!)

Everything went great at the first Dr's appt. I have had 4 appointments total, loads of bloodwork, & 2 ultrasounds. Speaking of Ultrasounds-When I saw our little munchin & that tiny but healthy heart beat for the first time-I was speechless. Yes I got a tad emotional but how could you not?! It was awesome. I can't wait for Kyle to join me on my next appointment. We'll be finding out the gender & he'll be able to see our baby in real time for the first time! (He hasn't been able to attend any of my other appointments so I'm very excited for him & to find out if we're having a Boy or a Girl!)

Since this post is already crazy long-I will do another post on how we spread the word & my weekly belly pics. :)

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

FREE Shutterfly Christmas Cards!

So here's the deal. If you post about how amazing Shutterfly's Cmas card collection is you receive 50 card FOR FREE! How amazing is that? Here are a few of my faves...I'm going to have a hard time picking out just ONE! (Ok so I started typing this before actually looking at the card selection... can we say 'overwhelming with awesomeness?!' There are a bajillion SUPER cute cards to choose from! What a fabulous problem to have right?!)

"Holiday Wrapping" (isn't Cmas wrapping paper so fun?!)
"Love Hope Faith" (you have to remember the reason for the season!)
"Sparkling Tree" (what gal doesn't love sparkling things?!)

Not only can you make Cmas cards on Shutterfly but while you're at it why not make some Cmas gifts?! Perfect for parents or grandparents! Some gifts include: Calendars , Mugs , & Stationary! Don't celebrate Christmas? No need to fear! Shutterfly has Hanukkah Cards HERE!

So get out there, blog, & get some free Christmas cards from Shutterfly people!! :)

P.S.
Kyle & I have made photo book using Shutterfly & we have not been disappointed yet! Can't wait to see what the cards will look like... I guess we should work on a picture of us to put on it! :P