Keeping Up With The Connerleys

Easter in Philadelphia {2015}

2015-05-12T16:12:00.000-05:00

After a fun Friday morning at the zoo and a 3 hour car ride, we were happy to get to Philadelphia for Easter! That evening the girls had fun outside with Pop while I enjoyed a little time with Reagan on the front porch.

They love having so much room to roam in Pop and Grams' yard.

These two are big buddies!

On Saturday it turned a lot cooler! The four of us went with Pop to the farm for a little bit.

Bryant, LeAnna, and Emerson got to Philadelphia around lunch on Saturday. Ellington and Emerson were delighted to be reunited as usual! On Saturday afternoon we dyed Easter eggs.

Sunday morning we went to the early Easter service at 8:00 and then went back for the regular worship service at 11:00. Finley went to the nursery during the 11:00 service and did GREAT! I was sooo thankful for that!

Easter surprises :)

Easter Sunday was also our 7th anniversary! There wasn't anything particularly "anniversary" about the day...but I guess that's what happens when you have been married 7 years. We did get a picture of just the two of us which we never do!

Finley peeked a little during the hiding of the Easter eggs. Good thing she didn't know what it was about anyway. ;)

Emerson (4), Finley (21 months), and Ellington (5 1/2)

We had a wonderful Easter together!

Good Friday at the Zoo

2015-05-06T07:30:00.000-05:00

We went to the zoo for the first time last year on Good Friday (right before we moved here) and decided to go again this year on Good Friday to continue the tradition and to go once more before our membership expired! The girls were SO excited (Robert and I were too!).

For some reason on this zoo trip, Ellington asked me to take her picture 9 million times. So you'll see lots of her...and I didn't even include all that we took! :)

We decided to hit up the farm first which is not what we usually do and not a popular spot at the beginning of the day. I chose this because it's an area that is SUPER easy for Finley to walk around in and she would really be able to see the animals. We wanted her to stretch her legs some too before riding in the stroller. It ended up being the PERFECT plan. We were the only ones in the area and we all just had the best time together!

We got there as they were feeding the sheep!

Finley had some veggie straws in the cup holder of her stroller and she thought it was SO fun to be able to grab some whenever she wanted.

Robert finally got to ride the train! (Apparently every time we have been I was the one to ride. So I gave him a turn!)

I loved this picture because you can see Finley saying "bye". She looooved the train ride!

This was my favorite part!!!! There were THREE monkeys with babies! I could have stayed there ALL day!

We all LOVE the grizzly bears!

We had the best morning together!!! Such fun memories! After lunch at ChickfilA (because oh man....zoo food is TOO expensive!), we headed to Philadelphia for Easter!

Welcoming Warm Weather!

2015-05-05T15:27:00.000-05:00

Warm temperatures were much welcomed here after a long winter! The girls love being outside. I wish we had a swing set to make it a little more fun, but they find ways to keep themselves entertained.

Ellington loooooves pulling weeds. Luckily for her, we usually have plenty. :)

Finley is especially loving being outside! She started walking about the time it started getting cold so it's really the first time that she's been able to be out and about. She LOVES it and cries when we have to come inside!

One Friday evening Big Bob and MiMi were in the area so we went to supper together and then they came back to the house for a bit. The girls loved having them read to them!

I can't really remember why I took these but here they are! Ha!

Next up....Easter!

Valentine's Day 2015

2015-04-22T07:30:00.000-05:00

Valentine's Day is a favorite holiday at our house! Ellington was soooo excited for the Valentine party at school! Unfortunately, Finley missed out because she was at home with double pneumonia. :( Thankfully my mom was able to come and stay with us so I could work that week....especially since I missed so many work days bc of winter weather!

Ellington with her bag...ready to load it up! :)

Ellington's teacher, Mrs. Belinda, always has the CUTEST doors!

A great thing about working in preschool is that I can always sneak away to their rooms whenever I want to! I will miss that next year when Ellington is in kindergarten.

Ellington was SO excited to look through her bag!

I was so excited that Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday so that Robert could be with us all day! We decorated the table and got the girls a few surprises.

We normally don't do such "big" gifts for Valentine's but we discovered on Christmas Eve (at Big Bob and MiMi's) how much Ellington loved legos! We obviously couldn't get her any for Christmas at that point and her bday isn't until October so we decided to get her some for Valentine's Day. She LOVES them!!!

Finley got some animals and a book!

Chef Daddy made a super special Valentine breakfast for Ellington. :)

I don't remember what we did all day (ha!) but I don't think it was much since Finley was still recovering from being sick. We are so thankful for our SWEET little Valentine's!

An Icy/Snowy Winter

2015-04-21T07:30:00.000-05:00

We had such an icy/snowy winter! We had several ice/snow storms come through. The first couple were fun...but after awhile it got old. :) We ended up missing 4 days of school which is a lot considering we only go 2 days a week. Robert was off several days of work over the course of the winter but of course I didn't mind that one bit! Ellington LOVED the snow! One day we went to her cousins house to sled and I am pretty sure that was one of the best days of her life!

I realize Finley isn't super bundled...it's because 1) We don't have appropriate winter clothing and 2) She was only out for a few minutes :) Ellington on the other hand was dressed to PLAY PLAY PLAY!

Mississippi snow man!

One day we brought the snow in and the girls LOVED it! I think they played in this spot for over an hour..which is kind of major for them! We just refreshed their snow as it melted.

We had some fun family days together but are very thankful that we don't live where so much ice and snow is the norm!

In Winter We Wear.....Pajamas??!!

2015-04-20T09:24:00.000-05:00

Hey hey! Long time no blog. Winter was long and Spring has been much welcomed. When I went back through my pictures of Jan-Mar I mostly found pictures of the girls at home....in pajamas! Ha. That pretty much sums up our winter. Lots of playing at home in jammies!

Finley loooooves sitting at Ellington's little art table. We have to keep a close eye on her while she is there though! :)

On this particular day Ellington was working on making cookies and a cookie stand.

Open for business!

She had quite the line waiting for her yummy cookies!

She rang her cowbell to let everyone know she was open for the day! :) Loooove her imagination!

Two little monkeys jumping in the bed!

I LOVE these sweet moments!

Finley posed like this and kept saying "cheeeeese". I asked her if she wanted me to take her picture and she said "uh huh!". Crazy girl!

This is one of my favorite.pictures.ever.

The good news about having a boring winter is that it won't take me long to get caught back up! Hopefully more posts coming SOON! :)

Connor and Brody's Birthday Party!

2015-03-02T16:37:00.000-06:00

Connor and Brody had a super fun Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle party in January! Ellington always LOVES a party so she was super excited!!! (Unfortunately this day was the one Saturday that Robert is required to work all year so he missed out)

Look at that cute turtle shell! Aunt Julie always does such a GREAT job with their parties!

The first game was stacking sewage drain covers (oreos). :)

Four and Eight! Growing up soooo fast!

With Uncle Daniel and Aunt Laura

The morning party was a family party and they had their friend party in the afternoon at a skating rink. It was E's first time skating! She liked it for awhile but I think eventually it kind of stressed her out. :) We spent most of the time walking in the middle of the rink while Finley pushed the walker.

We had a full and fun day celebrating Connor and Brody!

Pappaw's 90th Birthday Party

2015-02-27T16:50:00.000-06:00

The second weekend of January we went to Philadelphia for Pappaw's 90th birthday party! It was a such a fun time celebrating such a special man! My mom did a wonderful job on the party. I took a few pictures before the party started but then put my camera away, so here are the few that I did take!

Emerson and Ellington stayed at the front door for pretty much the whole party. They were the sweetest little welcoming committee! It was so funny because they were not shy AT ALL!!!

I loved all of the memorabilia from Pappaw's life!

The birthday boy :) and Bryant

We had such a wonderful time celebrating Pappaw's 90 years of life!

Finley {18 Months}

2015-01-20T16:27:00.000-06:00

On January 2nd Finley officially turn a year and a half! The picture below is the only half way decent one I could get of her.

Because ya'll....this is one BUSY girl!

Then she decided to brush her hair. :)

Finley, what are you up to at 18 months?

You weigh 25 lbs 12 oz and are 30.5 inches tall

You wear size 18 month clothes and size 4 diaper

You go to bed between 7:30-8:00 every night and pretty much wake up at 7:00 am on the dot!

You take one afternoon nap. It can last an hour and a half or three. It's kind of unpredictable!

You are a carb girl just like your big sister! You love crackers, veggie straws, vanilla wafers, etc.

You are BUSY BUSY BUSY

You think it is sooooo funny when we tell you "no" and you rarely obey. I know you are young still but this scares us....a lot! Ha!

You can say ANYTHING you please! You are a talker!!! Everyone always comments about how well you can speak.

You know just about every animal sound there is to know...dog, cat, cow, horse, duck, rooster, sheep, elephant, lion, bear, bird (I am probably leaving something out!)

You are loving life since you started walking!

You almost exclusively call Ellington "Sister" even though you can say her name. I LOVE it!

You still looooove bath time and you come running when you hear the water!

You are extremely into Minnie Mouse right now.

You still love climbing up in our laps to read a book.

You do great at school now and don't cry at all!!! You still cry every.single.Sunday at church though. :(

Finley, we love you so much and can't imagine our lives without you! You keep us on the go and on alert at all times. We can't believe you will be TWO soon!

Christmas Day in Philadelphia

2015-01-11T21:04:00.000-06:00

After Christmas morning fun at our house we headed to my parents house. Now that we've moved it's a much longer drive but we got there...eventually! :)

Our family picture!

We enjoyed a DELICIOUS lunch together!

I always love their Christmas tree!

Poor Emerson was actually really sick on Christmas day (and I think several days afterward). He tried hard to hang in there.

We NEVER take pictures of just the five of us so it was fun to get this one!

Time for more presents! So much fun!

Mom had lots of fun Christmas themed games for us to play. We all enjoyed it!

I tried to get a picture of both of the girls but crazy Finley kept running away so I got one with just Ellington!

One of Ellington's very favorite gifts was this camera. She took a picture of EVERYTHING. It was like living with the paparazzi. Ha! So we took a picture of each other taking a picture. :)

What a great end to a WONDERFUL Christmas season!

Christmas Morning

2015-01-05T11:03:00.000-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas morning at our house. It was sweet and simple....and just perfect! The girls had a blast and we loved watching their excitement.

That white puppy is the ONE thing that Ellington asked for Christmas. She was SO EXCITED to find it under the tree. Sweet sweet memories!!!

Stockings are always so much fun!

Finley was LOVING the car! In fact, she cried when we got her out to look at her other stuff!

I just love this one of her peeking into her stocking!

This would be the point in the morning when Robert and I got teary eyed. MONTHS ago Ellington made Christmas presents for us and hid them under her bed. When we put the stockings up, she put our drawings in them with strict rules not to peek!!! After she had opened a gift (but still had others), this sweet girl remembered our gifts and was SOOOOOO excited it give them to us! It was so shocking to me that a five year old in the midst of Christmas morning, with gifts still to unwrap, would remember those gifts. She is really the sweet girl ever!

This lego table of Finley's has been a BIG hit for both girls!!!

Christmas morning breakfast!

Finley looooves Olaf so Ellington wanted to get her one for Christmas. She had such a blast picking it out and then helping Finley unwrap it. But the part she loves the most is how much Finley loves it!!!

What a FUN Christmas morning! It is definitely one of the best times as a family!

Christmas in Brownsville

2015-01-04T14:28:00.000-06:00

We started off our Christmas travels at Big Bob and MiMi's in Brownsville. Of course lots of playtime is always on the agenda!

Finley looooves Bro-Bro! These two are probably going to get into lots of mischief when Finley gets a little older!

Christmas Eve morning!!!

Christmas cartoons in pjs :)

Christmas Eve breakfast

Robert had to work part of the day on Christmas Eve which was really sad but we were so happy when he was able to come back to us!

We enjoyed a beautiful Christmas Eve Candlelight service at Big Bob and MiMi's church.

After the service we went back for a delicious supper and a birthday cake for Jesus.

After supper it was time for gifts! Ellington was over the moon excited! :)

What a wonderful Christmas in Brownsville!

The Weekend Before Christmas

2015-01-02T07:30:00.000-06:00

We had such a GREAT weekend before Christmas! It was very low key in that we didn't have any obligations or even many last minute things to do. We just really enjoyed our time together soaking in the last bit of the season before things got crazy with traveling.

Sweet girls!

Ellington requested a picture by her stocking :)

Finley decided to start dancing! It was so funny!

Ellington worked on some artwork to give to her grandparents for Christmas. She loooved doing it! She is all about a project!

Daddy built a little fort for the girls to play in.

Saturday was also COOKIE DAY! It's one of Robert and Ellington's very favorite Christmas activities!

Ellington chose her very favorite one to eat first.

I just had to include the next few pictures. Ellington got so tickled about something and it was just precious!

Ellington picked out one for Finley to try too!

Haha!!! LOVE this one!

Saturday night we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Robert laid out their school nap mats. They laid on them like this for approximately 45 seconds. :)

Ellington made a Christmas countdown chain at school and she LOVED taking a link off every night. It really made Christmas so much more special for her! It was definitely one of her very favorite parts!

She couldn't believe that there were only FOUR nights left! When she first brought it home it was sooooo long! How did it get so short so fast?! :)

Looking so pretty before church!

What a sweet, special weekend!

Polar Express Day at School

2015-01-01T20:07:00.000-06:00

Our last day of school before Christmas break was a Polar Express/pajama day!

I popped by Ellington's class during lunch to get a few pictures!

It was a fun day and got us started on a great Christmas BREAK! :)

Wordless Wednesday

2014-12-31T07:00:00.000-06:00

Gingerbread Night!

2014-12-23T07:30:00.000-06:00

We had a super fun gingerbread night recently! We made gingerbread cookies, made a gingerbread house, and wore gingerbread pajamas!

Well....we didn't exactly "make" gingerbread cookies. Ha! I bought the pre-made sheets. That is way more my style. :) E loved cutting out the gingerbread boys and girls!!!

We had SO MUCH FUN making the gingerbread house together! I think I will treasure that memory forever!

Sweet girls in sweet jammies!

Occasionally I look at E and think "Wow...she's really growing up!" This was one of those moments.

Ellington's School Christmas Program

2014-12-22T07:30:00.000-06:00

We recently had our Christmas program at Mother's Day Out. Ellington of course was super excited about it! She loved having Daddy, Aunt Julie, Connor, and Brody there to watch!

Ellington is on the right hand side on the back row. And you can see me getting my class on stage as well. :)

Robert said she did great and sang all of the songs! The one down side to working at the same school is that I don't get to enjoy most parent things but there are so many benefits that outweigh that! I can't believe it's her last preschool Christmas program! Next year she will be in Kindergarten. Crazy!!!

Christmas Tree Gazing

2014-12-21T07:30:00.000-06:00

By far my FAVORITE part of Christmas is spending it with my little family and seeing it all through Ellington and Finley's eyes! Precious memories!

Emerson is 4!

2014-12-20T13:08:00.000-06:00

Emerson and I both have birthdays on December 6th! His party was on Sunday December 7th at the Children's Museum! We were super excited about the location because we hadn't been since Ellington was almost 2. We got there pretty early to spend lots of time playing. It was soooo much fun and we loved celebrating Emerson!

We were there for just a few minutes before Emerson got there and once he got there we basically never saw Ellington again! :) They had the BEST time playing together!!!

Finley loooooved being able to walk everywhere and just play, play, play!

Pop, Pappaw, and Reagan came a little closer to party time. We had already been playing for quite awhile and were worn out and needing a snack. :)

Finley and Pop are big buddies! :)

Time to PARTY!

We had so much fun at Emerson's party and love watching him grow up!

The Big 3-0

2014-12-19T15:16:00.000-06:00

I turned 30 on Dec 6! I wasn't dreading it at all. I got married at 23 and had Ellington at 24. I think I have been feeling old for awhile. :) And honestly, with getting married and becoming a Mama so young....I am looking forward to "finding myself" a little more in my 30s. I didn't have much time for "me" in my 20s. I am actually looking forward to my 30s!

To be completely honest, the day of my birthday was one of the worst days of my life. Lovely, right? We have had MAJOR vehicle problems lately as well as other things and two big problems came to a head on my birthday. Or I guess I should say, reality slapped us in the face and it wasn't pretty. At all. I cried a lot. The day was bad. We tried our best to still make it fun (especially for Ellington...she loooooves a birthday!)

Robert got me a double doozie birthday cake! Yum-o! It looks like it's for "Lance" but whatever!!! It was DELICIOUS!

Eek! No make up. Oops. See? I don't think I even look 30! Haha :)

We decorated our little artificial tree. Ellington actually did most of it! And I didn't even move her ornaments around. She clumped a lot together and didn't do it like I would, but honestly....who cares??!! I just let her take over and she loved it!

We had recorded the lighting of the tree in Rockefeller Plaza and watched it while we decorated.

The day was stinky. It was super bad and I felt awful. I was exhausted from the emotion of the day. But ya'll? These two???? So precious and I will go through as many hard days as I need to to make things great for them!

We ended the night by driving through a big Christmas light display at a nearby park. It was a GREAT way to end the day and we all loooooved it!

Even though it was a HARD day I still was able to enjoy some sweet time with my family. I am looking forward to this new decade! :)

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

2014-12-18T19:24:00.000-06:00

Christmas time is our favorite! We just love it! I guess most people do, huh?! We actually decorated (everything but our tree) before Thanksgiving because we are THOSE people. Haha. As long as I am not hosting Thanksgiving....I am all about decorating early! I do however, wait until after Thanksgiving to dress the girls in their Christmas clothes. So, the Sunday after Thanksgiving...we were READY! :)

The sweetest sisters!

Sunday evening we went to get our Christmas tree. We actually don't have the tree anymore. Ha!!! I thought I would post pictures anyway. :)

The "winning" tree

So, what happened to our tree? Well....Ellington's allergic. Every.single.year Ellington gets sick in December. We've always wondered if it was the tree but we couldn't ever specifically pinpoint it. Plus, by the time we've bought and decorated a tree....we just carry on. Ha. Poor thing. This year it was OBVIOUS that it was the tree. The morning after we brought the tree home she woke up with blood shot eyes and was suuuuuper sick and snotty. Robert and I decided the tree had to go. It was a hard decision because we had just scrapped enough money together to buy the tree. We really couldn't afford to just get rid of it AND buy an artificial tree. The Lord worked it out for us though! Robert's sister's family got our real tree and we were able to borrow an artificial tree from someone else. Are we sad we can't have a real tree? Yes. But, as soon as it was gone Ellington was completely better so obviously it was worth it!

The night that we got our tree the girls got a few surprises! They each got a new Christmas book and Christmas pajamas!

A couple of days later Ellington decorated the little tree in her room.

Worldless Wednesday

2014-12-17T07:30:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving 2014

2014-12-16T07:30:00.000-06:00

We spent Thanksgiving in Brownsville at Big Bob and MiMi's house. They day was super laid back and we enjoyed hanging out together. It was just the four of us most of the day. Jake went hunting and Brad, Julie, Connor and Brody as well as Daniel and Laura didn't get to Brownsville until the evening. Once I loaded the pictures I realized what a terrible job I did of taking pictures! I only have pictures of the four of us for the most part. I guess by the time everyone else got there we were busy eating and visiting!

Of course we started the day watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in our jammies. This is one of my FAVORITE holiday traditions! I love it!

Ellington helped Jake work on a puzzle!

This is when they spotted SANTA!

I looooove this part! I started tearing up! So magical!

Thanksgiving Day was also this handsome guy's 34th birthday! Ellington requested that I take this picture because she wanted a picture with the birthday boy.

Ellington helped MiMi make a little surprise for Daddy and Mommy's birthdays.

We had a delicious meal and ended with celebrating our birthdays!

Sitting with Sister

2014-12-15T12:53:00.000-06:00

Ellington frequently sits at her little table and colors, works on projects, etc. Finley has always wanted to as well but always hears "no no" because quite frankly...she a busy girl and I have been terrified that she would fall right out of her chair! Recently I decided to let her sit at the table too and she was in HEAVEN!!!! She felt like such a big girl! Needless to say, it's where you can find these two quite frequently. I just wish that seat had a seat belt! :)

I am SO glad that I left the paper on the table from Ellington's birthday party because Finley can get pretty wild while she colors! :)

These two are the sweetest! And I know I have said it before, but Ellington is the BEST big sister. She CONSTANTLY amazes us how selfless and giving she is with Finley. I hope they grow up to be the best friends ever!

Gatlinburg Part 3

2014-12-14T13:37:00.000-06:00

We spent our last day in Gatlinburg at Dollywood! I was soooo excited about going and it did not disappoint! We had so much fun!!! It was a long day... I think we were there for somewhere around nine hours, but it was a blast. They had actually been closed the whole week to decorate for Christmas so we were there on their first day of "Christmas"! It was beautiful and got us all in the spirit! We especially loved the lights and Christmas parade once it got dark.

This was Ellington's first ever roller coaster! It was an indoor one and we went on it together (along with some of the others). At the end are two pretty big drops (especially for a 5 year old!). She was kind of terrified but also kind of loved it. :) She immediately said that she didn't want to ever do it again but later in the day she said it was one of her favorite parts!

Finley was SUCH a trooper all day. She spent the majority of the day in her stroller and handled it pretty well. We were even able to get her to take a stroller nap which is always a big accomplishment!

It's funny the difference a few months can make. At the fair Finley wanted nothing to do with the merry go round. At Dollywood, she cried when it was over both times that she rode it!

We had this HUGE piece of apple pie for an afternoon snack.

What a FUN day! And these pictures are only a small portion of what we did! So many fun rides and things to do and see! Hopefully we can go again sometime.

We had a great trip and are so thankful to Big Bob and Mimi!