Thanksgiving at the Oxbow

We celebrated a nice Thanksgiving at Cece and Gramp's house and also one at Lloyd's mother's house.  Two meals in one day!  Ellen was excited to have her great grandfather visiting and kept him very entertained.  At one point I heard her say, "Come on, Great Grandpa, we're going to go play with the giraffes out side".  What else is a great grandpa to do but to oblige...

 

Of course, Gramps is also there when Ellen gives instruction about how she would like to be entertained.  She tends to be the star of any family gathering.  Here she is hearing a story and drinking some tea with Gramps after helping him cook the Thanksgiving meal.  She is quite the chef and loves to be right in the middle of anything that happens in the kitchen.  She knows how to peel garlic and rosemary.  She is also very good and scrambling eggs.

 

 

After Thanksgiving we went on our last trip to the Oxbow Plantation.  Lloyd has been mourning the loss of this 1000 acre playland for quite some time.  I was a bit worried as I was convinced that this was a huge selling point in Lloyd proposing to me.  However, he has still stuck around, for now...  He got to take Ellen on one last mule ride. 

 

 

Ellen thought this was pretty fun but was full of warnings for Gramps that included, "Hold on" and "I don't think we belong here" when we went off-roading.

 

 

She also took Gramps on a hunt for a woodpecker.  I'm not sure where her fascination with woodpeckers came from but she will frequently put her hand to her ear and say, "do you hear that?  It's a woodpecker".  Next she wants to go hunt for it.  So off she and Gramps went in search of a woodpecker.  This time there really was one to be found. 

 

 

Ellen, Cece and Mommy had one more stop at the Picnic Spot.  It wasn't the same for Mommy since she can't drink wine right now but at least we got a very pretty sunset and found a dinosaur bone.

 

 

Ellen enjoyed one last cuddle at the Picnic Spot with Cece and we thought about our sweet Beau.  We scattered his ashes on the picnic spot three Decembers ago.

 

 

We have enjoyed the time with the Oxbow and hope that the new owners enjoy it too.  Now on to the next adventure.  I hope this one involves less cows and a cable television. 

 

 

Love, The Little Bee and her Momma

 

 

 

 

 

Entertaining a Sick Toddler

Sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving Ellen and I got pretty sick.  We stayed home for enough time that we began to go pretty stir crazy.  Neither of us are big about sitting around and not doing much.  I have to get creative about low energy ways to keep the Little Bee entertained.

 

 

This tent in between the couch and coffee table was just the thing to keep her busy for an entire afternoon.  She even ate lunch in her tent.  Of course, any good tent explorer knows that you must have a pink flashlight in your hands at all times while inside your tent. 

 

Muffy also enjoyed the tent but preferred the roof access.  She and Ellen have really been getting along very well.  Muffy has even been sleeping with Ellen in her new queen size big girl bed.  We made the transition after Christmas and she took to it pretty well.  It takes a bit longer for her to go to sleep but the incentive of sleeping with Muffy really helps. 



 

 

Ellen is also doing a great job with potty training.  She wears big girl underwear all the time, even for nap, during the day.  She sleeps in a pull up at night but is not at all happy about this.  We will transition out of this when she drinks less milk before bed.  Right now she into asking her Gramps to take her to the potty.  We are pretty excited to have such a big girl who will be such a great help with her baby sister. 

Love, The Little Bee and her Momma



Halloween 2012

Halloween was a very busy time for us.  We had a super hero party at our church, the school carnival, and two nights of Trick  or Treating.  Of course all of this required costumes and since we didn't have a cape, I made one via Pinterest.  What did we do before Pinterest!  Warning - this will be a photo heavy post...

 

 

Mommy and Ellen had a girl's night of Jack O Lantern shaped pizza...

 

 

and pumpkin carving.  Ellen even helped roast the seeds for Daddy.

 

 

The whole family had a great night at the school Halloween carnival.  Ellen's teachers did an amazing job of making this the best carnival to date!  Ellen had a great time running around with her besty Betsy Boo.

 

 

She also got a chance to try out her new driving skills on a fire truck.

 

 

The night before Halloween we did our usual trick or treat with all of our favorite mini monsters.  You know the phrase "herding cats"?  Whoever coined that term never tried to take a group shot that consisted mainly of two year-olds...

 

 

On the actual night of Halloween we went to Cece's so Mommy could get some help with the Trick or Treating.  I promised my OB that I wouldn't go at all but we both knew I was lying. 

 

 

Little Bee had a blast sporting her princess dress all weekend and eating nothing but candy for dinner two nights in a row!

 

 

I can hardly believe that next year we will be trick or treating with not one but two princesses!  How much fun! 

Love, The Little Bee and her Momma

 

 

 

 



 

 



Catching Up Before New Years!

Man oh man has life gotten in the way of my blogging!  I'm going to try to do a quick synopsis of the last three months before the New Year comes so that I am all caught up for 2013.  This is going to be a challenge because we have had a great three months!  I'll just hit the highlights. 

 

 

In October we visited Crockett, Tx for a Conaway family reunion.  This was Lloyd's childhood happy place and he is always so happy to share it with his girls.  He and Ellen had a great time together and worked on filling his deer feeders.  Love my little pink city slicker trying to hang in the country!

 

 

Daddy also gave Ellen her first driving lesson.  He tells me that this is what you do in the country and that he could drive well by twelve years old.  I'm all for this since I was the joke of my driver's ed class.  Drive on Little Bee!

 

 

Of course no trip to Crockett would be complete without a little commune with the cows.

 

 

There were a bunch of calves in the herd this visit and they were all very curious about the Sweet Bee. 

 

 

Just a little mommy/baby cow kiss to wish you a happy Friday!  Wish me luck as I try to finish this update on our very slow Tiki Internet! 

 Love, The Little Bee and her Momma

 



Just Hanging Out

I haven't been doing much blogging lately but I'm working on some updates on what we've been up to that I will share soon.   Ellen has been keeping me on my toes, which is not so fun when you can't even see your toes.  She is very excited about her sister and tells me daily, "Mommy, your tummy is so big".  She also frequently says, "Mommy, that baby never gonna come".  I think she is getting tired of waiting to meet her sister.  Other times she is concerned that the baby is just going to "chew on [her] toys".  It feels like we are all just sort of hanging out waiting for this baby sister to come. 

Love, The Little Bee and her Momma (with the big tummy)

It's a....

Today we found out that the Little Bee will be the big sister to a...

 

via

 

via

 

via

That's right, a beautiful, pink girl.  I am thrilled as I think about all of the shoes, dresses, and bows.  We can't want to meet our Ladybug!  Of course, Ellen has known all along that Ladybug was a girl and got upset when people tried to tell her otherwise.  Daddy's reaction to all this pink?  "Looks like my pedicure bill just tripled!" 

Love, The Little Bee, her Momma, and Ladybug too!

 

 

Grandparent's Day

The place where my grandmother is living while she heals from a broken hip hosted the most wonderful Grandparent's Day Carnival. 

 

Ellen got to "Hee Haw" with a donkey, or at a donkey.

 

Hang with a heard of goats.

 

And kiss a deer who was dreaming of being anywhere other than a petting zoo.

 

She also bounced in a bouncy house and rode on a train. 

 

And because I have half a brain, Ellen got to eat a red snow cone after the bouncy house.  It's kind of like that rule you learn in college that helps you remember to drink liquor and then beer, "bouncy house then snow cone never fear, snow cone then bouncy house never sicker".  Can you believe that some people think being in a sorority is useless?  Look at how I am still using this knowledge today. 

Love, The Little Bee and her Momma (who would love someone to quiz her on the Greek alphabet)

 

Crafting Again

Sometime in July I started this burlap bee door hanger as a back to school gift for Ellen's teacher.  Her class is called the "Honeybees" and I thought her teacher would love this.  I got as far as cutting out the shape and painting the yellow stripes.  Morning sickness kicked in and I put it away until September.  Ellen, who is my harshest critic, tells me that the bee looks sad, like he is missing his mommy. 

 

At the same time I started this football and planned on giving it to my favorite LSU fan for her birthday which was in July.  I got as far as cutting out the football shape back then.

 

 

We had an LSU theme baby shower that inspired me to resurrect this project.  It also inspired me to make these Gold and Purple fruit kabobs. 

 

 

Not wanting to leave the Little Bee out of the crafting fun, I have been collecting toilet paper tubes to make glow-in-the-dark Halloween monsters with. 

 

 

Ellen loves to paint and really dug this project.

 

It's great to be feeling more like "me" again, even if it's not all the time. 

Love, The Little Bee and her Momma



Daddy Fashion Show

 

 

I found this old, unpublished post of photos Lloyd took when he was the one to dress Ellen before taking her to school. I was in such a rush to pump and get dressed before my 8:00 AM meeting every morning that I didn't always get to see her in the outfits I picked out.

Knowing that this made me very sad, Lloyd was sweet enough to take a picture every morning so that I could see what she looked like in her outfit.  



They may not be the best quality photos and the are not posed to hide the dirty house behind them (I know every Momma knows the importance of this) but I loved getting them.

 

I can't believe we are about to be in this phase again in about seven short months. 
Love, The (suddenly tired) Little Bee's Momma

More Maine

I think one of Ellen's favorite activities in Camden was hiking up Beach Hill Preserve.  She threw on her backpack, found a little walking stick and kept telling us that we were "hiking in the jungle".  My sweet little city slicker.

 

This was by no means a strenuous hike but she eventually got a lift from Gramps and had the best view of any of us. 

 

 

The highlight of the trip for Lloyd was sailing around Penobscot Bay on this sailboat.  Did I mention that he wants to grow up to be a sailboat captain?

 

 

Ellen even donned a special sailing hat.

 

 

She doesn't really remember the sailing at all and the Captain said that it was common for little ones to fall asleep the minute you take off.  That's ok, she remembers the bus ride to the airport and is still talking about it...

 

My favorite part of the trip was eating lobster for many meals.  Oh my goodness, were these good.  I wouldn't have thought that I could tell the difference between fresh Maine lobsters and previously frozen Houston restaurant lobsters.  No comparison.  I hope you get to taste the difference soon!

Love, The Little Bee and her Momma (who is now craving lobster)

Maine - revisited

We made the very long trek to Camden, Maine in June and I have yet to blog about it.  This was the house we stayed in.  The front yard was an English cutting garden with peonies that bloomed the last two days we were there.  A rolling stream runs through the backyard.  The house itself had four bedrooms and lots of common spaces. 

Here is a shot of Camden Bay to get an idea of where we spent the majority of our time.  Camden itself is filled with lots of great shopping, restaurants and the best children's library ever.  We had a great time poking around the town and the surrounding towns. 

This was the view outside of our window every morning.  Lloyd fell in love, hard, with sailing and these boats.  Seriously, I'm afraid he might just leave to work on a crew somewhere...

Ellen fell in love with the ducks who live in the same harbor as those beautiful sail boats.  Every morning and most evenings we walked across the street to feed the ducks and the gulls. 

I really loved walking along this coast and watching how it changed based on the tides.  I was really hoping to come across a tide pool.  You know like the one in "Blueberries for Sal".  My whole life I have wanted to jump into that book, pick blueberries and investigate a tide pool.  Sadly, we didn't come across one on this trip.  We did have a great time and got to wear sweaters in June, though!  Love, The Little Bee and her Momma