"Just alittle dancin"......

Ellison loves, love, loves to dance. Loves to twirl. Loves to spin. Loves to flat out move...., no matter what form that movement takes! She equally loves dressing up in her costumes. Elijah loves to be in his Star Wars or Ninja costumes while she is in her ballet costumes. I am absolutely loving having both a girl and a boy in the house!  They both bring such a different atmosphere to our home and balance it out just perfectly.

"Ellison's 1st trip to the Dentist"

About a month after Ellison turned 2, she had her first dentist visit.  She overall did great - she got alittle scared when "Dr. David" had to examine her mouth and it took both of us to hold her down (fun times), but she did great with the sweet young girl who cleaned her teeth beforehand!  Big brother came with us and he was about as encouraging to her as I have ever seen!!  He really took the lead and showed her around and explained everything to her and helped make her so comfortable. It was one of those precious moments that you wish you could freeze in time. It upset him to see her get so scared with Dr. David, but he continued to gently encourage her and pat her head. She was fine as soon as the exam was over, and acted as if she realized it wasn't as bad as she was making it out to be!!

I asked her what she was going to do when Dr. David asked to see her teeth...., this was her response! 

He really was so helpful, so encouraging, and so proud of her

A balloon and a bag of goodies makes everything better

Big milestone crossed! 

"A few more Disney pics"....

I forgot that I had taken a few on my camera the first night. After these, I stopped lugging my big camera around and the rest were I-phone pics.

Our budding guitarist stayed at the "All Star Music Resort"

Such a fun pool - was guitar shaped, and then there was another one at the other end shaped like a piano. Was bummed it got too cold later in the week to swim. 

A beautiful Florida sunset 

and a very happy little boy! 

"Unexpected Trip....."

A few weeks ago, Jay was sent by our church to attend a ministry conference in where else, but Orlando, FL.  Elijah Brooks and I thought it would be fun to hop in his suitcase and go with him, so at the last minute, we did just that!  Jay worked while we played. I was alittle anxious about braving Disney World without Jay, but my little buddy and I did just fine together. We only had 3 days in the parks and we made the best use of our time together. I had already decided before we went that we would take it easy, enjoy our time together, and not kill ourselves to do everything. I am trying hard to simplify my life and not live stressed out, so this was a perfect opportunity to put my desires to the test. Well, I was thankful that this was already my mindset, because God did indeed slow us down alittle bit the 2nd day we were there when EB came down with a fever! So, while we didn't do everything, we did plenty and we had a wonderful time together. It was so great to get to spend some good quality time with EB - one on one face time - was good for both of us. Jay wasn't able to go to the parks at all with us, but met us for dinner each evening. Ellison stayed home at "Camp Bebe and E-daddy" and did not miss us one bit!

I didn't want to drag my large camera around all week, so pictures were taken on the phone.  The quality is not good at all, but I really just wanted to capture the moments.

First monorail ride on the way to the Magic Kingdom 

Day 1  - 81 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, perfect (the ice storm hit home the day we left)! 

My little Pirate loved the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride this year. He carried his sword and pistol all over Disney World the rest of the week. 

He was so excited to meet Peter and Wendy. 

Peter was VERY friendly, and didn't think much about getting in people's "personal space"!  Love EB's face here.  He was running out of room to back up, but kept trying to! 

Pirates of the Caribbean pistol

This was the face I saw ALL day! 

Swimming of course - it was 81 degrees afterall! 

He and I were on our way to dinner after our 1st day of fun, and on the way to dinner he said his fingers were hurting, he had a headache, and didn't want to go to dinner.  I knew immediately that he was coming down with a fever. My assumption was correct as he woke up the next morning with a 100 degree fever.  Poor guy. 

Day 2 : The next morning, the temperature had dropped to 45 degrees overnight and it was raining. We took it easy the first few hours of the morning to see how he felt before deciding to venture out to Animal Kingdom. He was still running a fever, but really wanted to try to go to the park. I knew he felt pretty bad and didn't want to push him at all, so I just let him decide what he felt like doing. We lasted about 4 hours at the park before he begged to go back to the hotel and rest. Honestly, that was fine with both of us because it was cold and really wet. He saw as much as he wanted to so I don't feel like he missed too much. 

He really enjoyed doing this little "scavenger hunt" in the woods

Trying to keep on smiling, but he was definitely slowing down by this point in the day. Fever was up to 102 by night.  Had we been home, he would have been on the couch all day so this was not normal for us to keep moving through fever...., but he wanted to at least give it a try, and Motrin is a wonderful thing :) 

He loved the LEGO store, and was very proud of his creation

Dinner at Rainforest Cafe with Daddy. He has been in meetings from 8-6, so it was fun to finally get to meet up with him. 

Day 3 :  Loaded up on Tylenol and Motrin we headed out in the cold rain again to EPCOT.  He actually was feeling alittle better and really perked up by the afternoon..., but it was still so cold and wet! 

Waiting for our "flight" on the ride, "Soarin'".  So fun! 

He loved this place where you could sample different drinks from around the world

Dancing in the cold rain, but still smiling! 

New character, Duffy Bear (I have no idea who this is, but he wanted a picture with him) 

Street music in Mexico 

Definitely feeling better by afternoon and I could hardly get him out of the park in time to meet Jay for dinner!  I was so thankful that the virus was so short-lived during our trip so he could still get out and enjoy his time away. Virus reared it's ugly head several days after we returned home, and boy was I thankful we were home!!