Blessed, Blessed, Blessed

We had a lot to celebrate this weekend... Our 7th Anniversary, Ellie's Baby (Toddler) Dedication at Church, and my Baptism! We LOVED having both families in town to celebrate with us. Ellie has been asking since they left this evening "Where MeMe/MiMi/Pap/Pop/CuCe (Lucy) go"?

We joined our wonderful church a few weeks ago and since I was not coming in from another Baptist church, I had to be baptized in order to be a member. I was thankful to be baptized with 5 other members all from our Sunday School class. We also decided to go ahead and have Ellie dedicated the same day! She was less than excited to be up in front of the church, but we all survived! I don't know that they will ever get all the raisins off floor in front of the church!

Jay and I celebrated 7 years over the weekend... You know you are old when you excited your gift is a garage door opener (and a trip to the Braves game)!

Say Cheese!


Ellie found a new "toy" - brass candlesticks from the Chapel Parlor


Family Picture before the Dedication


With Lindsey and Witt


With Dr. Ross


And then things went downhill... fast...




I wish I had a picture of when we are walking around the church at the end of the Dedication, and she is crying while waving to the congregation... Priceless!

At Chapel Knoll after a LONG nap




So, so thankful both sides were with us this weekend

JAWS!

Any help out there from the blogging world on stopping a child from biting? We are in the thick of it right now trying to teach Ellie that biting is not nice. She had a bad incident at school last week where she bit the same child (her BFF) twice in one day - the last time being a "bad bite" - he still has a bruise a week later. I feel TERRIBLE as the mother of the biter. Fortunately for us, we are friends with her BFF and they have been more than understanding.

I feel like we've tried everything... biting her back, spanking, a stern "no" and explaining we only bite our food - not people, etc... She was on the receiving end a few months back so I thought she'd for sure know how it felt. Her teachers have been wonderful and encouraging. She's not the only biter in the classroom, but that doesn't matter to me. Our other issue is that she only bites at school... not at church, not in playgroups, not when we're with nieces and nephews... only school!

I pray every day before I drop her off and pick her up that she won't back... I am on pins and needles walking down the hall each afternoon PRAYING we get a "no bite" report from her teacher. Please pass along any ideas! We have received good reports all week!

Beach 2011

We enjoyed every minute of being at the beach this summer. We were lucky to be able to spend time with both sides of our families while we were there. This was the first year I was not ready to come home and get back into our routine. I think I could stayed another week or two!

Ellie loved the pool, but HATED the beach after about 5 minutes each day. Any pictures you see on the beach were within the first 5 minutes, so don't let them fool you! She HATES anything on her hands or feet. Ellie + Sand = NIGHTMARE. We split our time between the pool with Ellie and lounging at the beach solo. Hopefully she'll enjoy it more next year.

LOTS of pictures...




LOVES her MeMe and Pap



Still OBSESSED with dogs



Ellie loved being with all of her cousins.

















She also became fascinated with babies this trip... real ones and play ones...



We had some family pictures with the Henderson's. HOT, but they turned out GREAT!




































Still learning about sharing...