Thankful for this...

It's so true how kids mimick everything you do. There is one thing that Ellie mimicks that I am so thankful for....saying her prayers.

2 Weeks in FL

When Jesse had agreed to do this depoyment, I planned a 2 week trip to FL to have help from my parents and get a little vacation in during the break in my contract with Pellissippi. Lucky for us, Jesse was able to be here during that time to go with us! The only bad thing about the trip was that we were always in limbo on if he would hear anything from Big Army about him going so we had to plan our vacation day by day. She did as best as can be expected on our flights to and from FL, but I'll take a 90 minute flight over 10 hours of driving any day!

We were able to be in Bartow for July 4th this year and our family has always had a few traditions for that holiday. We always have people over, grill out and eat homemade vanilla ice cream. We end the holiday by setting up chairs on the driveway and watch the town's firework show, which is pretty good for a small town! Jesse and I ventured out to Bartow's Festival, but it ended up not being anything more than a walk around the festivities. Here are some pictures from our holiday with family and friends.

The rest of the first week was spent in my parents pool, we had a little date night full of seafood and baseball, and a family trip to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. We celebrated my mom's 65th birthday and ended the week with a day at the beach with the Shaefer's, but only made it out on the actual beach for about 30 minutes due to weather. Here are some pictures from the rest of the week.

Our 2nd week was full of more time in the pool, some visits with friends, another (with better weather) day at the beach with the Shaefer's and a Friday night Ray's game. I was able to see my high school friends Ashley Valenti (Pup) and Hayley Hurd, people I didnt' get to see during my March visit. We ended up going over to Anna Maria Island for lunch to introduce the Shaefer's to one of our favorite places to eat and then headed back to Longboat Key for a few hours at the beach with them. Ellie had a blast playing with Kinsley and also experiencing the beach for the first time. We had planned to go to the Ray's game and it just so happened that the Shaefer's were going too, so we ended up going together for a fun evening while my parents babysat Ellie.

Overall, it was a great visit to FL and since we were there so long, we were able to space out our time with visiting people and relax more. Ellie was able to spend lots of quality time with "Mimi" and "Papa" (those are her chosen names as of yet for them) as well as quality time for our little family together. Plus, Ellie turned 19 months the day after we returned so enjoy our pics of our growing little girl!

A Quick Trip to Nashville

While Jesse is home, we decided to take a quick trip over to Nashville so he could see some of his extended family and some friends. Our first stop was dinner with Bill (Poppi) and Cindy (Pippa) Mason. Ellie got spoiled with some new toys and had fun climbing in chairs and visiting with everyone around us. It was a fun dinner with the Mason's and Ellie loves the new toys she got from them. The next visit was with our friends, Jason & Lena Cox, who we stayed with that evening. It's always a guaranteed good time visiting with them. Ellie was able to play the piano for the first time, mainly wanting to touch the lowest and highest keys after some random pounding. The next morning, we drove over to Nana's (Jesse's grandmother) house for a few hours and Ellie had a ball playing there. It was great to catch up with Nana and let her have some time with Ellie without all the craziness of a packed house. Jesse was also able to visit his grandfather's grave (his dad's dad) since he was unable to make the funeral in April. We met Uncle Jeff (Jesse's dad's brother) for a lunch visit to catch up with him and then headed back to Knoxville afterwards. We were sad not to be able to see everyone, but it was a productive visit and Ellie was a trooper!

7th Wedding Anniversary

Jesse and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on June 26th. We were lucky enough to be able to be together for it as it was (lucky #7 I guess). We ended up having a little dinner date on our short Cincinnati trip to a restuarant close to my brother's house that we highly recommend to anyone visiting Cincinnati. It's a local Italian place called Betta's. My brother and his wife have spent some of their anniversary's going to this place and so it came highly recommended and didn't disappoint! I am so blessed to be married to my very best friend and I am more in love with him every day. I hate that we will spend most of the next year of our marriage apart, but God has blessed us so much and I know he will return to celebrate our 8th anniversary together! Thank you Lord for an amazing husband - I am blessed!

Meeting Langston Kate

In late June, Jesse and I were able to schedule a quick trip up to Cincinnati to meet my new niece. Langston Kate Hardwick was born on March 22nd when she was only 30 weeks in the womb. Jennifer (the trooper Mom) had preeclampsia that developed quickly and caused her to have to deliver Langston early. She was a fighter and was in the NICU until May 10th. Now, she is a thriving, adorable little girl that has made it through such a hard ordeal with flying colors. Langston is a really good mixture of both Jonathan and Jennifer.

I was so happy to finally meet her after all the restrictions being lifted due to her immune system building up. It was also really neat to see my brother as a new dad. He's really patient and loving with this miracle baby. So happy to have this new addition to the Hardwick Family! :)

18 Months Old!

What a milestone! After having Ellie's 18 month check-up and shots, she weights 25 lbs and is over 32 inches tall. Such a big girl! Lots has changed over the last month, including having her daddy home, and even Jesse commented on how much she has changed and grown in the last few weeks. Here are some of the changes:

1. Ellie will no longer sit in a high chair in a restaurant - it's either a booster seat or on the regular seat like a big girl. It was like a switch went off and she just couldn't be confined like that any longer.

2. She has added at least 4 more teeth to the mix (all 4 dagger teeth are about 1/2 way in).

3. Her vocabulary is growing weekly - Dada is now Daaayee, Memememe is now Mom, etc. Also, she is now saying words like kitty, bye bye, bear, all done, cheese and Boz. Of course, none of them sound the way you read it, but we at least are expanding the communication!

4. She ate something "bad" and had a throw-up weekend which was no fun for mommy and daddy. She also had an abscess that we had to take her in for recently and she was a total trooper with the doctor.

5. She drinks her milk by herself while she walks around instead of sitting in Mommy's lap (sigh).

6. She has had 3 swim lessons and is really starting to catch on to the pool.

7. She loves playing outside with her mini-pool and gardening tools.

8. She's back to eating lots of fruit and even has a "fruit dance" that she does when she eats it.

It has been so great having Daddy home to share all of these new things with us. Ellie is totally smitten with him and calls his name looking for him when he's not around. This next goodbye is going to be a tough one - she is very aware of his presence or lack thereof. We can't believe that she is this old already, but we are enjoying every minute of it! Praise God for a Daddy at home and a healthy, happy little girl!

He's Back! (Temporarily)

For those of you that might read my blog and not my husbands, the reasons for Jesse being home can be found on his blog (realtnvolunteer.blogspot.com) so catch up! It has been a great time for Jesse to be home with us and we are cherishing EVERY moment. I wanted to post this video - proof of a little change since Daddy left in April!