Off to the great outdoors!!

Well, I think the bags are all packed up! We are heading out to Franklin, NC to the Standing Indian Campground. I'm *so* excited!!
We'll be back on Thursday so keep us in your prayers this week..

Then sings my Soul..

Better late in the afternoon than never, right??
Tomorow afternoon we leave until Thursday to go camping with my family...
I am SO looking forward to it, we are ready to relax and have some FUN!
So..
for this week I chose "Hey Ya!" but Charlie Brown Style..
because this is how I feel right now as I am about to pack my bags!!

Ella's First Movie

This past Wednesday Ella went to the movie theater for the first time. Lora was out of town at a pastor's wifes conference and Jason had the kiddos. One of our local movie theaters does a family day once a week where they show an old movie (thats already on video) and you can bring your kids for free. They even have popcorn and drinks for a dollar each!! I think this is such a great program for the community. This past week the movie was Charlotte's Web (one of my favorites!!) so I loaded up the Ebeling Gang and Ella and we went. I wasn't sure how she would do, but she did great. She sat in my lap and watched almost the whole movie. A little over half way through she started wanting to get down and explore, but she kept quiet until the last 5 min or so when she started talking and fussing a bit..

*The whole group*

*Ella and her best bud Hannah*

On the way there we were driving along when Tyler noticed this sign on the dump truck ahead of us...We decided an emergency lane change was in order!!

Tyler did a great job snapping the pic from the car window, too!!

New plants..

While Randy's parents were here, they took me plant shopping for my birthday. It was alot of fun! We spent a day in the yard cleaning out the front adn side flower beds..They have never had any weed block put down so the grass was always growing up in them. It was alot of fun spending the time together and they came out so great! Everytime I pull up they make me smile :) I need to take some more recent photos now that everything is cleared out from up front, but here are some of the process!

LONG overdue...I know!!

The pictures from Ella's Birthday overwhelm me- only because we took WAY too many..and because I want to post them ALL on here so that you can see every part of the party. I have decided to put up a few for now and load the rest onto Myspace/Facebook since most of you have those and can see them all there..
The party was great though!! We had a great time and Ella almost made it through the whole thing before needing a nap. We are just still shocked that she's one..She has been a learning machine this week, it's like she really did grow up over night!!

July 12, 2008

Today is the day I have excitedly anticipated and yet dreaded at the same time. Our little baby is 1. It's been the most wonderful year and we are thankful for every single moment that we have been blessed with. I still can't believe she is already 1, but I am excited to watch her as I know this next year will be FULL of new changes.

Happy Birthday Ella, we love you!!

Ella Grace Strickland

Born: July 12, 2007

10:45 pm

6lbs 11.4 oz

Here are some of my favorite blogs since Ella was born, I hope you enjoy looking back with us!

*Ella's Arrival (starts at the bottom of the page)

*Ella's New Hat

*Ella's First Christmas

*More Kisses Video

and..

*Terrorist in Training

Also, since today is Saturday, I am going to post the song I chose for Then sings my soul..

This week I have chosen:

"Find Your Wings" by Mark Harris

This song was popular around the time I was pregnant with Ella and I would hum and sing it to her even before she was born. I will still occasionally sing it to her when she is sick or cuddling. It has great lyrics and sums up my desire for her.I hope you enjoy it.

It was only a matter of time...

before someone decided to crack THIS joke..lol..

Growing up so quickly...

Well, Ella's big day is approaching quickly. Tomorrow Randy's mom and dad will be getting here. We are also pretty excited to get to see Davey and Janelle some this weekend!! I'm really looking forward to the next couple of days although they will be VERY busy.

I forgot to upload these pics from the 4th of July, so I figured I would go ahead and stick them up here :)

Then Sings my Soul...

I know I missed last week, but I'm still trying to remember about this!!

This week I chose Glorious by Chris Tomlin.
Randy and I just LOVE this song. It has been sort of our"theme song" I suppose since we got married. We sang it this past week at church and I couldn't help but think of all the times we have sang it at home together. We have sang it to Ella since she was a newborn. I think it's something we have to hold in our hearts because things can get so crazy in life. I hope you will listen to it and the lyrics :)

"Glorious over us, you shall reign, glorious!"

*GLORIOUS by Chris Tomlin*

We lift our hands in praise to You
We lift in our hearts in worship to
You, Lord
You Lord

We lift our voice to
You and sing
Our greatest love will ever be
You, Lord
Glorious
Over us
You shall reign
Glorious

There is a King that we adore
With humble hearts we bow before
You, Lord
There is a place we long to be
Face to face we long to see
You, Lord
Majesty and power
Are Yours alone forever



Ps:
Did you know??
One year ago today was my due date for Ella (July 5, 2007)
Exactly one week late she decided to enter the world in her own time :)

Happy 4th ya'll!

Just got back from grilling out and fireworks with our friends James and Ashley. It was a great time. Hope everyone enjoyed the holiday, too. We will post a couple of pics tomorrow!
*Thank you to all of the men and women who fight for our freedom!*
Happy Independance Day!!

Birthdays and Busyness!

Well, just when I thought I had been spoiled PLENTY for my Birthday, I showed up to my Ladies Bible Study on Tuesday and was welcomed with a big "Surprise!!" It was really sweet and they totally caught me off guard. I'm thankful for the good friends that I have in my life :)

Here are some pics from the night:




We have also been staying very busy now that little Miss Ella moves around..I hear a lot of moms complain about the path of destruction left behind a crawling toddler, and I must admit it's tempting, but I just can't. It took poor Ella 11 months to figure out she can move. Randy and I think it's awesome to watch. Yes, we're tired of picking up the DVDs 20 times a day and the magazines..and cleaning up Princess' water bowl which is spilt daily, but I still can't help but smile and cheer her on! She is finally getting to explore the house! Tired of cleaning up the messes? Sure. Scared to death that she is going to get into something dangerous? Absolutely. But mostly just really proud...

Here is the sneaky one this morning as she plays with the movies..

Great Birthday!

My Birthday was on Monday (the 30th). I had a great one! On Sunday night my sister and her boyfriend Eric cooked us dinner. We had the Lord's Supper earlier at church so we only ate a little there so that we would still be hungry. It was SO good! They baked chicken, and we had corn and mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes had cream cheese and herbs in them- yum yum!!

I enjoyed talking with my family on the phone and really missed getting to spend my b-day with them...

Then Monday morning I heard a knock on the door and it was Sheila with a gift and a balloon for me! I couldn't help but smile! Lora had also sent a gift over with Randy on Sunday night so that I would have it on my real birthday. Later on my sister and Shanna came by to hang out for a little bit. Also got to celebrate with my small group in the evening, too! What great friends I have.

You guys all made my day!! Thanks!

Here are pics from my party at Lynsey's..They even had balloons and streamers!!

Everyone was trying to get Ella's little cousin "Sweeny" aka "Sweeny Todd" lol to come out and play!

Here's a pic of Sweeny in case you were wondering :)

New Floors!

Saturday went great! Claude put up some pics, too. I came home on my lunch break from work and was shocked to see the amount of people there helping. What a great turn out. There were too many hands working on the floor so they strated moving onto other tasks like the yard. They mowed, weed wacked, and trimed trees! They grilled out some hot dogs and hamburgers..just a really great day. We are so blessed to be a part of a church that takes such good care of their members. Thankyou again to everyone who helped in any way! We are extremely grateful!!

I will post some with the funriture and all back in, but for now...