What a sad day...

Okay, so it's been over a month since I last blogged...but HONESTLY...didn't I warn you?!?! I'm really no good at sitting down and doing this sort of thing on a daily basis. Anyway, here's the latest!

Dennis left going back to Camp Shelby about 12:00pm today. It was one of THE hardest days that I have had in a very long time! Ella is almost 13 months old and Lily is 2 1/2 years old and neither of them really have a clue that they won't see their daddy for the next YEAR! It makes my heart sad.

We all went to Hattiesburg, MS on Monday. Ella and I arrived first and met Dennis for lunch at a chicken place called "Raising Cane" (VERY YUMMY...similar to Zaxby's and Abners'). Ella almost jumped out of my arms when she saw her daddy (and he was still in his truck)! We had a good lunch and then went to check in to the hotel. We stayed at the Residence Inn, so we had a room that had two bedrooms, a living area, and a full kitchen. So Dennis' parents stayed with us to help with the girls. Soon to follow us arriving at the hotel was Dennis' parents, Nana and Poppie. Dennis was just aching to take Ella swimming so I suited her up and sprayed her down and off we went. WELL, Ella absolutely did NOT like the water! She screamed and clung to Dennis. He even tried putting her in the hot tub....NOPE not that either! So we went back up to the room and played until my mom and step-dad, GiGi and JJ, got there with Lily bug. She was ecstatic to see her daddy! SO precious! Well, Lily is a little fish...so Dennis decided to take her swimming. She LOVED every minute of it! Ella and I went back to the room to take a nap because she was just exhausted. After an hour of swimming, Lily and Dennis came in. He said that she absolutely did not want to get out of the water! We then went to dinner and then Jan, Randy, Lily, Dennis, and I went to Camp Shelby to the MWR concert. (GiGi and JJ stayed at our hotel with Ella...she was just TOO tired to go) Lily had a blast at the concert! She climbed the rock wall, ran around, danced, and pretty much just entertained everyone out there :) Finally about 9:00pm or so we left and went back to give Lily a bath and for everyone to get in bed!

On Tuesday, June 9, 2009 we all woke up really early, got ready, got everything packed, and headed to Camp Shelby for the 155th's Farewell Ceremony. I have to say that I saw a total of about 10 minutes of the one hour ceremony. It was SO hot and humid outside and my poor lil' Ella bear just couldn't handle it. I finally just got her and took her back to the van so she could get some cool air. The girls were dressed SO cute! I made them hot pink shirts with an awareness ribbon in ACU fabric appliqued on it and then I embroidered "My Daddy Is My Hero" on them. Then I made them some shorts out of the ACU fabric and put hot pink ruffles on them. They were SO stinkin' cute! After the ceremony we all met up and ate lunch together. After we ate, Dennis was taking Lily to wash up and as he was walking away Ella just started screaming and fussing at him!!! He had to come back and get her too! She was NOT having her daddy leave her behind! (And that's how it stayed the ENTIRE time he was home!!!) We then all loaded up and headed home. We all took naps and then got up, ate some take-out from Logan's Roadhouse, went for a walk around the neighborhood, and then crashed out!

Wednesday was the long awaited for "Dora the Explorer LIVE" show! Lily had been saying for WEEKS that daddy was taking us to see the "real" Dora! Needless to say she had an AWESOME time! She never took her eyes off of the show! She paid VERY close attention and has told us SEVERAL times the entire story! Dennis' grandparents came to watch Ella while we went and afterwards they took us to Zaxby's for lunch. We then came back home and all took naps! (We LOVE naps at this Bittle house!!!!) That night, Michael and Becca had us over and grilled steaks for dinner. They were delicious! The kids had fun playing together too! Then home, baths, and bed!

Thursday we all went to the water park (Alabama Adventure). Ella did NOT like one single thing about that place! It was hot, she didn't like the water, and she was sleepy! She ended up falling asleep, so I called a good friend of ours, April Cork, and she met me at our house to keep Ella for the rest of the day. So, off I went...back to the water park! Lily was having the time of her life :) That baby played and played and played! We primarily stayed in the toddler section and she went down those slides it seemed like a million times! Dennis was standing up at the top and I was at the bottom catching her. As soon as she would hit the water she would say "I want to go AGAIN"! So off she'd go! We ended up staying at the water park for FIVE hours! Lily was exhausted, but would have definitely stayed longer if we would have let her! She was SUCH a good girl! (With the exception of her little mean streak where she kicked over a baby's bucket...she had to go and sit out for a while...and believe me...she KNOW'S what she did was wrong! She even told us about it on the way home) So we went home, got on dry clothes, and all took naps! (Catching on here???) When the girls got up I went to Publix and bought stuff to make lasagna (Dennis' FAVORITE) for supper. We ate, gave the girls a bath, and chilled out the rest of the night.

Friday was our lazy day! Dennis and Lily went to Cracker Barrel (their favorite restaurant) for breakfast. They came home and Lily helped him clean out his truck. Then we played until lunch time and then we ate and put Lily down for a nap. Dennis went to run errands and Ella and I cleaned up a little bit. We didn't do much else. Dennis went and got Applebee's-to-go and brought it home for supper. Afterwards we all loaded up and went to Hibbets to get Dennis some new running shoes (which were MUCH needed!). After the girls baths, I baked us some cookies and we watched a movie that Dennis had rented.

Today was a very "different" kind of day. It was filled with the joy of spending time with Dennis, the sadness of him leaving, and exhaustion from all the week's activities. Dennis played with the girls all morning. His parents got here about 10:30am to see him for a little while, and then we all went to Logan's Roadhouse for lunch. It was a very emotional time! I would look at him holding Ella (she REFUSED to sit in her highchair...she wanted her DADDY!) and I would smile, then I'd tear up because I knew that it would be one of the last times for a year for me to get to see them together. After lunch we all said our goodbyes. I was just bawling my eyes out and Lily just did not understand why. She kept asking me what was wrong. Dennis told her that mommy was just a little sad. Then she asked me if I hit my elbow! I just agreed with her. Poor baby just didn't understand.

I know that Lily, Ella, and I will be perfectly fine over the next year, but it is still very hard. I have all of my faith and trust in God and I know that He will provide for us. He will provide for us emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically. But we still need all the prayers we can get! Please pray for strength and guidance as I care for our girls, pray for the girls to remember their daddy (this is one of my biggest fears), and pray for Dennis to have a safe journey, to keep a clear head, to accomplish his mission, and to return home safe. His unit will be doing Convoy Security, so they will be out on the roads pretty much every day.

Please know, if you get a call at mid-night...it's probably me! I will NOT hesitate to call any of my friends or family if I need any of you for anything! I sincerely hope that I don't ask to much of you during this next year, but if I do, please just remind me of it.

Sorry for such a long blog, but I wanted to journal our last week with "daddy" before he left. I think it is important for the girls! Again, please keep us in your prayers!

Missy

Pre-deployment!

Okay, so it's been a while (yet again) since I've blogged. Dennis left this past Friday (May 1st) going to Camp Shelby for 6 weeks. On June 9th there will be a Send-Off Ceremony there and then he will get a 4 day pass to come home. So...sometime after June 14th he will actually ship out for Iraq. Please keep our family in your prayers! We can definitely feel them!!! I have surprisingly enough been very calm about this deployment so far. Dennis is SO busy that he is just ready to get there and get it OVER!

We will be having Ella's 1st Birthday party on her actual birthday, May 16th, in Millport at Dennis' parents house. If any of you are in the area and would like to come, you are welcome!

Here are a few pictures that we had taken last week. They were done by Tina Folsom (www.tinafolsomphotography.com). She is AWESOME! Any of you in the Birmingham area should really check her out!

More pictures to come (hopefully...if I have time)!!!

Easter Fun!

WOW! I seemed to think that this might happen...me not actually posting on here as often as I would like. Anyway, tonight will be quick but I just wanted to post some pictures from Easter! We had a fun filled weekend! One that included WAY too much candy!!! On Saturday we went to the Easter Egg Hunt that our church hosts at Shadow Lake. There was a total of 16,000 eggs out there! YES, that is correct 16,000!!!! Lily had a blast. Ella...not so much. It was cold and windy and she didn't feel good. She was a good girl though! On Sunday, the Easter Bunny had came and the girls got their baskets and hunted for eggs in the house. My momma cooked breakfast and then we went to church for a WONDERFUL service! (GOD IS ALIVE!) After church we ate lunch and Lily hunted for more eggs with Sawyer outside.

Ella riding in her car at the egg hunt.

Girls in their new dresses that I MADE! Yep...all by myself!

She's so stinkin' cute! (And that's a Yogurt Melt in her mouth :)

Sweet Lily bug!

Lily's loot from GiGi & JJ


Okay...so blogger decided to mess up tonight and it won't let me finish uploading pics. More to come tomorrow!

Craziness!

I know...I know...I am always saying how crazy things are, but gosh...THEY ARE! This past week just flew by! My in-laws left Wednesday before last on a motorcycle trip to Texas (yes they are crazy like that! Last summer they went to Canada on that thing!!!) Anyway we were SO ready for them to be home this past Wednesday. Well, when I was picking Lily up from school, my sister in law stopped me and told me that my in-laws were about an hour from home and the back tire on their motorcycle blew out and they WRECKED! I was SO worried! My FIL knew that the tire was going bad and had actually slowed down and was about to pull over when it blew out! Let me tell you, they were EXTREMELY lucky!!! My MIL left with only a few bruises and my FIL broke his wrist. The did have to do surgery on him Thursday, but THANK THE LORD that they weren't hurt any worse than that! He is still hurting pretty bad, but the pain meds are really helping. Please continue to keep him in your prayers!

On Friday, DENNIS CAME HOME! He had been at Camp Shelby for pretty much the entire month. Ella was OH SO GLAD to see him. She would just fuss and fuss at him if he got away from her...even for a second! It's absolutely amazing how a 10 month old can miss her daddy SO much! She is a DADDY'S girl! After nap time, he went to pick up Lily and she was glad to see him too! She has talked and talked about him for the past 3 weeks. It was sad because I knew she was missing him :(

On another note about Dennis...this past Monday he got either food poisoning or a severe case of the stomach virus! The medic took him to the ER in Hattiesburg Tuesday morning when he got an IV and some medicine. Well Wednesday, not much better...Thursday, not better. SO the medic gave him another bag of saline. Friday he came home and thought he was a little better. WRONG! I had to take him back to the doctor today. They did blood work and all sorts of stuff. The verdict...probably the stomach virus. Anyway, they give him some meds and sent us home. HOPEFULLY he will be a LOT better tomorrow! 5 days of this is ENOUGH!

Okay, I've got more, but not tonight! We've got a busy day tomorrow!

Loving Life! Praise the Lord!

Well, the girls and I made it home (to Birmingham) yesterday...just barely! I have NEVER been so scared in my life!!! Just as we got onto I459 I looked up and there was a pick-up truck on OUR SIDE of the interstate coming right at us!!! I slammed on my breaks and swerved off the road. He only missed us by a couple of INCHES! It was the scariest thing I have ever experienced. All I could see was me and my girls last moments. Praise the LORD that He was with us and protected us! We have an amazing God!!

I took the girls to Chick-fil-a last night for supper. Ella ate 2 whole chicken nuggets, all of the oranges out of the fruit cup, and then ate a grape and a few bites of strawberry. I swear...that girl LOVES food! There isn't anything that I have given her that she hasn't liked. Thank you God! Lily and I are such picky eaters, but Ella on the other hand...not so much! She is more like her daddy everyday. Lily ate pretty good and then she played for a while. Then we stopped at Publix to get some baby food. The girls LOVE going there because they have the buggies that have steering wheels so they can "drive" the buggy! Ella can't even see over the wheel, but she thinks that it is GREAT fun :)

I talked to Dennis this morning. He is doing good, just REALLY tired. He is working EXTREMELY long days and is under a lot of stress right now. Please keep him in your prayers! He will get to come home on the 27th and will be here until May 1st with us. Then we will have to go to Camp Shelby to visit him when we want to see him before he deploys to Iraq.

Anyway, he told me this morning that he had locked his keys in his truck! I've read the e-mail that has went around about putting a phone up to the locked vehicle and on the other end pressing the "unlock" button....WELL....that did NOT work for us. I'd love to hear if anyone has actually had success with that :) SO...I jumped in the shower, got the girls ready, and headed to FedEx to send him his keys. I then braved taking both of the girls into the Galleria (by myself no less...) for lunch. Lily had pasta (that's all she would tell me she wanted to eat) and Ella had some of my nuggets, fries, and Lily's pasta. Then we rode the carousel. Ella found it quite interesting but wasn't quite sure what was going on. Next we stopped at Children's place to get Lily a couple pair of new sunglasses. I have never saw a child who loves sunglasses like she does! She does NOT like for the sun to be in her eyes and will always ask for them. Anyway, she was down to only one pair that fit. Finally...I got them loaded up and we headed home. When I opened the van doors, this is what I saw....

PRECIOUS! HUH?!?! They are now down for naps and I'm about to do the same! Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weekend! Don't forget to leave comments!!!! I LOVE THEM!

Whirl Wind!

The past couple of days have been a whirl wind around here! Tuesday night the preacher from the church my in-laws are members of came by to eat supper and visit. They stayed really late, but the kids had a great time! Wednesday morning Jan and Randy (my in-laws) left for a week going on a motorcycle trip to Texas. I was a little hesitant to stay here in the boonies all by myself, but last night was good so we'll see how tonight goes :) I shopped AND worked at a local consignment sale yesterday. I got some REALLY cute things! I ended up with 5 smocked dresses and a bunch of cute outfits. I spent a little too much, but there is NO way I could have bought even 3 of the dresses new for what I paid...so I'm still really excited!!!

Today I played catch-up. I have washed all the clothes in this house, cleaned, organized, and took care of kids. Anna, Lily & Ella's older cousin, came home with Lily after school to play. Man, it sure is a chore to take care of THREE little girls all by yourself! They were actually pretty good though. I took them outside for a while so they did get to burn a little energy off ;) Sorry, no pictures tonight. I'm too tired to pull out my stuff to upload them. We are going home tomorrow and hopefully I'll get around to posting pics then! Hope everyone is doing well! Please leave me your comments and let me know how you all are liking the blog!!!!!

Whew! Catching up....

Wow! It has been really busy here lately! The girls and I left Friday morning and went back home for the weekend. GiGi and JJ came to visit and stayed the night. It was a welcomed break because Becca and I were able to go see a movie! (Confessions of a Shopaholic) Saturday morning we got up and took the girls to have their Easter pictures made. When we got there Ella was in an excellent mood, but Lily wasn't. Then all of a sudden the roles reversed. We ended up with only a couple good shots of the two of them together, but such is life :) There were a lot of good ones of them individually though. We LOVE our photographer! Check her out! http://www.tinafolsomphotography.com/ Sunday morning we went to church. Lily absolutely LOVES church! It is SO good! (We LOVE our church too! It has been such a blessing to us!) After church the girls and I went home, they took naps, and I got us all packed up to head back to Millport.

Today after I picked Lily up from "school", she and Poppie played outside. It had rained here most of the day today so the ground was still soaking wet and well....Lily was filthy! BUT she had a BLAST playing outside! Ella just couldn't stand being held while we were outside...she wanted DOWN! SO.....I went inside and got an old pair of Poppies socks and put them on her all the way up past her knees! I put her down and she TOOK OFF! She loves playing with the puppy dogs here...so needless to say, she crawled after them the whole time :) I'm going to check with our photographer and ask if I can post the girls Easter pics here...so be watching! Here are a few pics from today...

Ella watching the dogs!


She was SERIOUS about them!


Lily bug! She had a great time getting dirty :)


And...she's OFF!

What a beautiful day!

Today was SUCH a beautiful day! Ella and I went to Columbus and did our Wal-Mart shopping and met a friend for lunch. We came home, she napped, and we went to pick up Lily from school. Lily was SO excited that Ella came with me today to pick her up. They were singing songs when we walked in and Ella was loving it! So we sat down and all the 2 year olds performed for Ella and I. It was so cute!!!

We then came home and played outside. The girls had a wonderful time. Here are some pics from our afternoon...

Okay, so I'm new to the blogging world so please bear with me :) I really need some help here with getting myself a really cute layout...so someone...PLEASE help! I really love reading all of my friends blogs and it really makes me feel like I am part of their lives even if I haven't saw or heard from them in years. So now I'm giving this a try to do the same!

SO...a quick update on me and my family...
I am a VERY proud mommy of two BEAUTIFUL girls! God has truly blessed me with these two :) Ella is now 9 months old, almost 18 pounds, and a very healthy baby girl. She FINALLY learned to crawl about a month ago and she can "GET SOME GONE"! Even on hardwood floors she can take off! She is a very sweet baby...not too demanding...eats well...sleeps well...and loves everybody she meets!
Her big sister, Lily is now 2 years old and SO smart! She comes up with something new each and every day to tell us! She knows all of her ABC's, can count to 16, knows all of her colors and primary shapes, and can recognize her numbers 1-7. Just this weekend we found out that she knows all of the months of the year (in order) and has also learned "My Country Tis of Thee". This child never ceases to amaze me!!! She is a very sweet and tender hearted little angel. She LOVES playing with other kids! We put her in a pre-school in January and she has THE best time at "school". I am SO proud of my girls! God never ceases to amaze me!!!!
As for Dennis and I...we are doing well. Just trying to make the most of our time together. He has been working full time AGR (Active Guard) since January and he will be deploying for Iraq sometime in June. We are temporarily staying with his parents (in Millport, AL) so that the girls and I can spend more time with him. He is a very busy man right now! Please keep our family in your prayers. It's going to be a LONG year! I know that God has his hand in this and that he will guide us through!!