17 Months

Baby Girl is 17 months old now! It is crazy to think that our sweet girl has been a part of our lives for almost a year and a half. She is such a sweet little girl and we are so blessed to have such a great baby. So, what is Ella Kate up to these days?

• Her new words/phrases are: night night, go dawgs, right there/here, all gone, bulldogs, football, mamaw, papaw, purple, I don't know, in the box, apple, Ella, and I get down/up.
• She can count to three, however she only will do it when she wants to.
• She can identify her face, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears, head, hair, cheeks, hands, arms, elbows, fingers, tummy, belly button, heart, legs, knees, feet, and toes.
• She LOVES the moon and would stay outside all night looking at it if we would let her.
• She is still loving fruit, chicken, string cheese, yogurt, carrots, and now she has discovered pizza.
• She is getting really good at using her fork and spoon and has great control with it.
• She is obsessed with the Christmas tree. She laughs and squeals every time she sees it and she doesn't even try to touch it.

The last 17 months have been amazing and I can't wait to see what God has in store for our little princess.

I Love a Deal

For as long as I can remember, my mom has always been on the hunt for a bargain. My sisters and I have all inherited this characteristic and are getting pretty good at finding great deals. Well, Shutterfly is making it super easy this year. They have an incredible offer to bloggers for 50 free Christmas cards. FREE!!!! The magic word I love to hear!!! Now, the hard part becomes which one of the precious designs to chose???? Thank you Shutterfly. Check them out at this address: http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/

It's a GREAT day...

to be a Bulldawg!!!!

Keeping Up With The Joneses

We have a tradition in the Jones family...we celebrate Christmas on Thanksgiving Day. It just always seemed to work out best for my daddy's side of the family to be together on Thanksgiving, so we make it our Christmas too. It was great to get to visit with the fam and we really missed my cousin Brad and his family. I know EK would have had a ball with Brody and Archer!!!
Ella Kate loves her Kay Kay...
And she adores her aunts!!! Haley and Jordan make EK quite rotten!!!
I love my little turkey!

Ella Kate got her own Bully from one of our aunts. She LOVES this dog and has carried it all over the place with her since Thursday. So, of course it needed to be in our pictures! Bully even had to ride with EK in her car seat, and Bully is napping in the bed with her right now.

We have so much to be thankful for this year. God has been so faithful and good and we are blessed beyond belief!!!

Turkey Day with the Nelsons

We are so blessed to have such amazing families! J, Ella Kate and I got to spend several days in Columbus with the Nelsons this week. Ella Kate had a blast following behind her cousins, coloring and painting, and just being the "princess" of the family.
We attempted some pictures for a Christmas card for the Nelsons to send out to friends and family. I think it turned out pretty cute! Poor Ella Kate has to deal with those stinky Ole Miss cousins..we love John David and Gregory in spite of the team they root for!!!
Ella Kate and her Nana. Thank you Nana and Pop for a great week!

One More Time

Yesterday was a gorgeous day in Starkville. Sadly, the Bulldawgs lost a heartbreaker, but they played their little hearts out and left everything they had on that field. It was a really good game to watch and it was still a great day to be a Bulldawg. The sweet tribute to Nick Bell made me ball my eyes out and the patriotic halftime show always gets me. Since Jordan is home for Thanksgiving, she was able to go to the game with us. She had not been to Starkville since high school, and we all had a blast. We did miss J since he was at a conference in Nashville, but I made sure to bang my cowbell on the bleachers in his honor!! (He usually has to bang the cowbell once per game =) )

Ella Kate loves her Bulldawgs. One of her "tricks" that we love is even about football. We ask Ek, "What does a cheerleader do?" She will put her spirit fingers up and say "Yeah." Next we ask, "What does a dancer do?" She does her hips back and forth in her own little dance. Then we ask, "What does the coach say?" She puts her hands on her head, shakes it back and forth and says, "Oh No!" It is quite hilarious to watch and she was showing off at the game to the people sitting around us. She also barks when you ask her what the Bulldawg says and puts both hands up for a touchdown. "Football" is one of her favorite words too. Bless this little girl's heart!! I think Ella Kate is True Maroon already!!!
Little Bit decided to sleep through almost the entire game last night. She did wake up to see the 2 over times though. Thanks Kay Kay for holding her the whole time and carrying her all the way to the car!!! You got your workout for sure!!!
Thanks for a great season Bulldawgs! We have enjoyed this year and it has been a lot of fun to win!!! Now go beat TSUN!!!!

Jordan's Home!!!

My sister Jordan is HOME from law school in Virginia!!! YEAH!!! Mom, Ella Kate, and I headed to the airport of Friday afternoon to pick up Jordan and Ella Kate is thrilled to have her!!!!! Ella Kate has been very busy entertaining everyone in Madison. She thinks she is a princess for sure, so I think her outfit is quite appropriate.

This is Ella Kate's puppy dog coat. EK LOVES dogs and soft things, so this coat is a favorite!! She sometimes even naps with it like it is Lambie.
It even has a tail!

Happy Birthday to You, Part 2

Tomorrow is our friend Cynthia Clark's birthday. Mrs. Cynthia works at MRA with my mom and she LOVES Ella Kate sooo very much....Ella Kate loves her too!!! We hope you have a GREAT birthday Mrs. Cynthia!!! It was great to see you on Friday!!!

Happy Birthday to You!!!

Yesterday was J's 28th birthday!!! He started off his birthday by preaching the morning service at church and then we had youth last night. The kids surprised him by having a cake and they all gave him CDs that they made of all of their favorite songs. Since his birthday was a "work day," we celebrated throughout the weekend. Ella Kate went to stay in Madison with my parents, so we took advantage of being childless. We went to dinner with some friends on Friday night, were lazy all day Saturday, and then watched the Bulldogs look pretty miserable on Saturday night with some friends. My parents brought the munchkin back on Sunday morning and hung around to hear J preach and eat lunch. J did a FABULOUS job....as usual...and I think he had a pretty good day!

Fighting Okra

Last week, we loaded up and headed out to Baton Rouge to see our sweet friend Brooke Rhodes play basketball at LSU. Brooke was in our youth group in Pelahatchie and is an incredible bball player and an even more impressive woman of God. She is a freshman at Delta State this year and we are SUPER proud of her. It was very weird though to see her in the green uniform as opposed to the red, white and blue of East Rankin!!!!
Another one of our favorite college players came to watch Brooke too. Katye Magee and Brooke are the best of friends, so Katye drove up from Tulane to watch. We had a great time visiting with her!!!
We LOVE you Brooke and we can't wait to see you play again soon!!!!

Fall in the Deep South

We are FINALLY getting some cooler weather in Hattiesburg and we are taking advantage of it!!!! Happy Weekend!!!!

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

My sweet little girl was Dorothy for Halloween. The Wizard of Oz is a favorite in the Jones house!!! My precious Mamaw Porter made Ella Kate her dress and it turned out better than I could have imagined. Thank you soooooo much Mamaw for making this sweet little costume!!!!

"We're off to see the Wizard..."
This was our decorated trunk for the "Trick or Trunk" at our church. It was a fun time!!!

Ella Kate found a real Toto whom she LOVED!!! How cute are those butterfly wings???
G and Kay Kay came down to check out EK in her outfit. A HUGE THANKS to them for keeping up with Ella Kate while I handed out the candy. It was super to have extra hands!!!!
Kay Kay took Ella Kate to play on the playground before all the festivities started. EK would stay out there all day if we would let her!

Kay Kay also let Ella Kate have her first sucker. Needless to say, EK devoured it and then needed a bath immediately!!!! (No worries, she only got to hold the sucker by herself for the picture. We were watching her very closely!!!)

Fun times for sure!!! Now on to November!!!!

Hail State!

WOO HOO!!! 7 and 2!!!! It really is a great feeling to win and we had a great time cheering on our Dawgs! Some sweet friends from Hattiesburg were tailgating so we had a chance to visit with them for a bit and I was able to meet up with some of my very best friends as well. It was a GORGEOUS day to be in Starkville!!!
Ella Kate always "respects the bell."
We had lunch with my parents, Haley, and her bf Matt early on Saturday and then Haley stopped by the Hburg tent on her way to meet up with friends. That child is OBSESSED with her Haley!!!
(Kathryn Evans, Vera Kate Ray, Sally Ray, Ella Kate, Me)

Kathryn Evans was able to make it down from Wake Forest this weekend. It was great to see her and we are SUPER EXCITED that next year in this picture, there will be a little baby Evans to join Vera Kate and Ella Kate!!! We are so happy for Kathryn and James!!!!

Baby Girl was worn out by game time. She took about an hour nap in the car on the way to Starkville and that was it. She slept through the first half and then fell asleep again in the fourth quarter. Bless her heart. At least she woke up to see the fun halftime show! It was so cute to see all the band members in their Halloween costumes!
Ella Kate was a huge fan of her little gloves. She just kept clapping, looking at her hands, and laughing. Pretty good entertainment!

As for the Dawgs, enjoy the week off and then let's attempt to become 8-2...not to be Debbie Downer or anything, but I am not thinking we stand a chance! I hope the Dawgs prove me wrong!!!! GO STATE

16 Months Old

Ella Kate turned 16 months old on Friday. It really seems like the weeks are flying by and I really wish I could slow down time sometimes! We will be planning her 2 year old birthday party in no time!!!!