Happy....

Birthday Meme!!

Today is Meme's birthday and we were able to spend the whole weekend with her! We had a great time and got to see lots of fun folks. Catherine Ellis sure loves her Meme and our only wish is that she lived closer to us!

On Saturday we traveled to Auburn to see Uncle Andrew and Aunt Kim and have a birthday dinner for Mom - a fun time was had by all. Here are a few pictures from Saturday's festivities:

Meme and Catherine Ellis excited about a road trip!

Mommy! That flash is brigghhhttt!

Catherine Ellis is so pleased that Meme likes her gift!

Meme, would you care for some of my puffs?

I like that pot - wonder how much noise I can make with it (bright flash!)?

Aunt Kim and one tired baby...

Loving on Meme!

We love you Meme!! We are so thankful you were born because the world certainly would not be the same without you! Thank you for being a wonderful mother, meme, and mother-in-law. God has truly blessed us with you! Here's to many, many more birthday celebrations!

Something else that is pretty happy is Catherine Ellis - she is the happiest baby and quite the ham - she has kept us in stitches the last few weeks with her playful nature and the funny things she does on a daily basis. She LOVES to entertain (David, anyone??) and LIVES to be the center of attention (I ask again, David??)! Here she is hamming up at the dinner table - what a joy she is!

A ham I am...

And last but not least, we'll leave you with a video of her latest performance at the dinner table - she tried carrots steamed for the first time (pretty chunky and not near as smooth as they've been the past several months) so the texture was different. Catherine Ellis realized that when she made the funny face we all laughed, so she continued to do it to get a rise from her audience. She would make the face and then peek through her eyes to make sure everyone was watching and of course, laughing - I introduce you to our tiniest comedian, Catherine Ellis Cain:

Have a great first week of March! Hard to believe we're a quarter of the way through 2010!

On the move....

Yes, we are officially mobile!! Within 2 weeks Catherine Ellis has gone from taking a few 'crawls' (much like first steps, but a crawl) to crawling full speed ahead! There are no boundaries and she's getting a bit more brave as each day comes. Let's just say she's into EVERYTHING and we LOVE it! She's so funny to watch as she discovers what she can and can't reach, crawl to, etc. She's enjoying school even more now that she's mobile along with her two best buds (they are 2 and 3 months older than her and have been mobile for a few months).

So, here are some pictures and video to show you how much fun (and help, as she sees it) she provides for us every day!

Who you looking at?

This is a lot of fun..

There are many days that I get to go down and see Catherine Ellis for a few minutes and sometimes I have enough time to bring her back upstairs (I am so incredibly blessed to have her at work with me, thank you Lord!) to 'help' Mommy and the rest of the ladies on our Communication/Donor Relations team. Here are some videos of Catherine Ellis 'working':

Crawling and helping sort invitations for an upcoming event




Crawling and playing with Mr. Cat & the Communications ladies

And just for fun, David got a new IPhone for work and we played with the video application today - kind of cool, but I still like my Flip. This is a peek into morning play time with Daddy (excuse his Elvis look, he'd just gotten back from early morning fishing):

Morning play time

Hope everyone had a great Saturday. We enjoyed the fabulous spring-like weather we had and tried to be outside as much as we possibly could!

Enjoying some sunshine at Pop and Gran's

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day, from our sweet little Valentine to yours!

Catherine Ellis's Valentine at school

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

Well, they got it right this time! It snowed in Birmingham and I just measured almost 3 inches in our yard! That's plenty for me!!

almost 3 inches

a bit over 3 inches in some places in the back yard

I decided to take Catherine Ellis out for a couple of minutes to experience her first snow. She wasn't real sure what to think and Cain was acting like such a fool that her expression was very confused and almost annoyed looking!

What is this stuff?

Sure is a lot of it!

Can we please go back in?

Crazy Cain - of course he loves it (that's his football he's biting at under all the snow)!

Wonder if I can catch this snowflake?

Emma - in her element

Bundled in pink

I might like this after all...

Nope, take me in NOW!

And a few shots of the yard.....

Front yard as of 3:15 p.m.

Trees are covered in it....so pretty

Our little Japanese Magnolia hanging in there...

Hope everyone is warm, safe and having a great day!

10 Months & 8 Years

Happy 10 month birthday Catherine Ellis! In two mere months you'll be a whole year old and it just doesn't seem possible! We've had so much fun these past 10 months. While I was pregnant David would always laugh and say "I wish you could birth them at 10 months, that just seems like such a fun age!" Little did we know then just how much fun it was. The days are too short - there is never enough time to soak her all in - she's SO much fun, SUCH a blessing, and just makes us want to have tons more!

February 9, 2010 - 10 months (it's early so I'm still waking up!)

Catherine Ellis also shares her 10 month birthday with Emma! Sweet Emma! If I think these past 10 months have flown by, the past 8 years surely have!! Emma was born as I returned back to Alabama from California and she was the best homecoming gift a Southern girl could have. She's been a constant companion and best buddy for 8 years and I can hardly believe that she's eight! Life really does fly by when you're having fun.

Emma and I have shared it all - living alone by ourselves in the woods of Nauvoo, meeting the love of my life, moving to the big city, gaining a baby brother (Cain), getting married, and now having my first child. She's been the best girlfriend a woman could want and we're so very blessed to have such a wonderful, fun-loving and well-tempered dog! Happy Birthday Miss Em!

8 years

So here's what our fabulous 10 month old is up to these days - 10 great things and one to grow on:

-she is somewhat mobile - slowly but surely. She is taking short 'crawls' and especially loves chasing after Cain.

-she has 6 teeth and a 7th one coming

-she has added dog (sounds like duh, duh) and duck (sounds like duc, duc) to her two other vocabulary words, Mama and Dada

-she's eating table food - so far we've tried, cauliflower, bananas, blueberries, strawberries, pears and avocado - did I mention she LOVES to eat?

-she's feeding herself with both hands, but we think she will be right handed

-she more and more social the older she gets - the bigger the crowd, the happier she is! She loves to wave hello and goodbye. Even when we wake her up from her naps when it's just us in her nursery, as soon as we pull her out of the crib, she waves to the right, and then turns and waves to the left. We have a beauty queen on our hands!

-she LOVES books and being read to - especially interactive or pop-up books. We read every night before bed and she helps Mommy or Daddy turn the pages.

-her bed is down on the medium level because she can now go from laying on her tummy to sitting upright...she is close to pulling up on things

-she loves music and if a dancing tune comes on, she bounces herself up and down and makes noises like 'ahhhhhhh' - it's hysterical to watch. When you say shake, shake, shake she takes her music toys and shakes to the music

-much to David's dismay after 10 months of using Aveeno (it has oatmeal in it and David read it makes your hair grow) she still has very little hair. However, what she does have of it is dark and it seems to have a fair amount of 'kink' to it. Only time will tell.

-She has the most fun-loving and sweet personality a child could have - we are truly blessed beyond our measure. We can't wait to see what the rest of her first year of life holds.

Happy Birthday precious child, we love you more than words can say!

“From the fullness of grace we have received one blessing after another” - John 1:16

Teaching an old dog new tricks?

You all know the popular clique 'can't teach an old dog new tricks.' We think there should be a follow-up to that quote...you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but he can teach you! In the last post I touched a bit on the relationship between Cain and Catherine Ellis and promised video of them playing together - I don't have video but I do have a photo montage of the two of them Saturday morning. There's something so sweet and refreshing about the two of them being big buddies....Cain's an older dog (especially in Boxer years - he'll be 7 in July)....but his spirit is like a one year old puppy...so maybe that is why the two of them are on the same wavelength much of the time.

I'll add a disclaimer that if you aren't what you'd consider 'dog folks' you probably think this is dangerous, but we are always in the room and very close by (within arm's length) and Cain is never allowed to 'let loose'. So, here goes, Enjoy!

Does this belong to you?

Mommy, look what I got!

This ball is hard to hang on to (maybe it's the slobber?)

Come get it...

Silly girl

Baby and doggie playtime

Best buds...taking a break

Look, it's Cain's ball....

I hope she throws it back here to me...

Want it?

Can't have it!

One very patient dog....

Slowing down

January was a whirlwind for us, like I'm sure it was for many of you as well! We traveled every weekend except this past one and we can't believe February is here. I don't believe in New Year Resolutions, but I do believe in striving to make your life better - one of my goals for this year is to slow down. It's hard to do, but it's worth it in the end. We are reminded every day in subtle ways just how great life is, but also how quickly it passes by.

So, the Cains slowed down this weekend (only one of us went out of town and that was for one night!)! The weather helped us to slow down as well, but slowing down doesn't mean we're not having fun!

So what's a typical day like in the Cain household (when you can't go outside!) with an almost 10 month old - well here goes:

Let's see if Yo Gabba Gabba is on - those people are crazy!

Peeking around to see my Meme

This is mid-hit on the music maker - it's the first thing she does the second she gets in

Yay! Touchdown for Daddy's team - I've seen Daddy do this A LOT this football season

Having such a good time!

Waving to my fan club

Daily Training Session with Cain

This picture needs some explanation. Cain and Catherine Ellis have been friends from the beginning, but now they are really beginning to enjoy each others company. Cain has been working each day with Catherine Ellis on throwing the ball. He LOVES to fetch and she loves to play, so what a pair they make. He's a great teacher - very patient, kind, and rewarding (with big kisses and talking) - and she's a great student. He thinks she is great and she thinks he is so funny. What is not to love about a big slobbery ball?? So, each day for a few minutes they work on playing together. It's hysterical and we hope to capture it on video soon.

Mommy & Meme did break away to do a tiny bit of shopping -
I was too excited to take the tags off!

Truly amazing - these little hands are so fun to watch!

What a great weekend we had slowing down and spending time with our families! February will prove to be a busy one too, but we plan to take another time out soon and enjoy a bit of the simple life. Happy February!