ruby kay's first birthday party

for ruby kay's first birthday, we had a flamingo themed party in the evening to celebrate with friends and family. we reserved a gazebo at a local park in fayetteville, and decorated everything in shades of pink. since we had been travelling for the three weeks leading up to her birthday, we tried to keep everything simple and easy. i tried to take pictures all throughout our day, since both sets of grandparents were out of town.  

we kept the menu simple, since we had an evening party. our guests enjoyed cupcakes, candy, and drinks. ben jumped on opportunity to get his favorite birthday cake oreo's.

i printed off a few favorite instagrams from our year with rk. when i picked them up from walgreens, i almost got teary eyed seeing her transformation in picture form starting as a brand new baby to a walking toddler! the first year really does go by so fast! the first picture of her is still so special to me, because it's the first time i saw what she looked liked while waiting for the nurses to bring her to me after my c-section!

after waiting to find out if ruby kay was a boy or girl until she was born, i thought it might be appropriate to go all out with the pink theme. also, pink decorations are so easy to find!

sisters, but missing one!

i spy a little girl who found the apple juice!

ruby kay's "smash cake" was simple: white cake and frosting with sprinkles. she surprised us all by being polite and slow with her cake. ben and i both expected her to dig right in and make a mess! i guess we might be able to save money on etiquette school in the future. :)

 

we had such a nice evening celebrating our little girl. we are so proud of her, and are grateful to God for making us her parents. she has taught so much about selflessness and love, and has made our year so sweet. here's to many more with our sweet girl! thanks to everyone who made her day so special too. we are so blessed by our friends and family, and feel so special when people love our little girl!

family pictures in georgia

while visiting georgia, my good friend brittany graciously took a few pictures of our family. brittany is self-taught, and has become such a good photographer in her short years with the camera! i love how perfectly she captured RK, and all her little expressions. thank you brittany, for these pictures!

a day in nashville

after spending the day in nashville, i'm hooked. it has the perfect blend of local flavor, and still feels like a small town. we stayed in brentwood, and made multiple trips into the city, which only took 15 minutes tops. since we were only in nashville for a short time, we decided to try as many fun restaurants as possible. we did, and our secret was taking it easy on the big meals, and opting for appetizers or sharing meals. 

 we visited the frothy monkey for breakfast, and enjoyed our "julia". ben's grandmothers name is julia, so he was partial to begin with.

 tourists for the day

 after some down town, we ventured out into the city again. the Parthenon was recreated in 1897 for the tennessee centennial exposition in nashville, and is a full-scale replica. our little girl seemed itty bitty next to the huge columns.

 

downtown nashville was quite fun too. we enjoyed walking up and down broadway, and braved the sidewalks with a stroller. we took a few videos, and hopefully will compile them later.

 mike's ice cream made me miss ruby kay's papa.

the ryman, or "the carnegie hall of the south" was such a beautiful, historic building.
here is a silly video that we made to remember our evening in nashville. enjoy!

http://vimeo.com/99502068

nashville, we hope to see you soon!

visiting kennesaw mountain's battlefield

we are currently in the atlanta, georgia area, and visited kennesaw mountain's national battlefield. ben loves history, and especially loved visiting this battlefield because his great, great grandpa wiley ellison fought there in the 3rd tennessee Infantry during the civil war.

we took a short tour through the museum, and enjoyed catching up on our civil war history. 

 downtown atl in the distance, but mostly hidden by the fog.

ben and ruby kay next to one of the four confederate cannons on top of kennesaw mountain. kennesaw mountain was one of the last holds of the confederate union, before the north could reach atlanta. 

south facing view on kennesaw mountain. downtown atlanta is on the horizon here also. This shows how the federal army took atlanta. wiley was apart of the blue troop movement.

according to the park ranger, at the far west side of the confederate line to protect the mountain, and atlanta, was kolb's farm. this is the area that wiley's unit would have fought. 

swimming with ruby kay

pool days are a whole new level of fun with the addition of our ruby kay. she is such a curious little girl, and it is so fun to experience new things along side her. we have easy access to a pool, which is a plus for living at an apartment complex. this past sunday we went to the pool for the second time, and i brought my camera to help remember her at this age.

here are a few from our afternoon together:

 daddy's hands close by in case ruby kay decided to jump in!

memorial weekend camping trip

this past weekend, we went camping in theodosia, missouri to celebrate memorial day. each year, we spend the weekend together with the Ellison family, which is Ben's Mom's side. the family. it's fun to look back through the archives of my little blog at the past years of our camping trip: here is 2013, and 2011, not sure what happened to 2012 though.

this year we had extra fun due to ruby kay's addition, and a surprise visit from two good college friends (katie and michael eichner!). we played cards, enjoyed a plethora of flavored wings and popsicles, and enjoyed the lake. ruby kay did great the whole camping trip, and we are so thrilled to have such an easy-going baby. she got to sleep in her poppa and mimi's camper, and we slept in a tent. 

hi!

not too sure about the sand. but looking extra cute in her sun hat. 

we are already excited for next year!

an afternoon at the strawberry patch!

today we went to the strawberry farm with ellanora and aunt bethany. we had such a good time, and the girls loved the sweet berries. us mama's decided that taking babies to pick strawberries is hard work- especially at their ages. we started off carrying the babies on our backs, but got tired of standing up and leaning down to get the berries. our end solution was to let the babies play at the end of the row on a blanket, and take turns picking. by the time we left, the girls were covered in berry juice, but i think we all had a good time.

thanks aunt bethany and cousie for the great memory!

10 months with ruby kay

dearest sweet girl,

happy 10 months to you! i can hardly believe how fast time is flying, and i'm in disbelief that you will be one full year old in two short months. you are such a joy to be around. your da-da and i can't get enough of your sweet smiles and giggles, your adorable mannerisms, and your curious personality. 

this past month we found ourselves in a big transition, moving out of apartment and packing almost everything we own up for storage for the next few months. you were a great baby, and made the most of our situation, climbing on boxes and providing opportunities for me to re-pack a box after you unpacked them :) 

some sweet things to remember from our tenth month with you are:

-you are now taking steps! your balance is still a little shaky, but soon we know that you will be a walking machine. you are very fast at walking around the coffee table, and have good balance when you have one hand resting on something. 

-you love to blow bubbles with your lips, and make the silliest face while doing so

-you are now nursing just twice a day, when you wake up and go to sleep

-you are a good little eater, and love blueberries, bananas, chicken, noodles, yogurt, and whatever mama is eating

-you are starting to drink really well out of your straw sippy cup, and your favorite choice is juice.

-you crawled up steps for the first time at mimi and poppa's house. you were slow the first time, but by the second you were pretty speedy.

-you love your cousin, ellanora and have been best buds with her for the past two weeks while we are their house guests. after being apart, you two crawl towards each other with excitement. you two play so well with each other, and love sharing pacis.

oh girl, we love you so much. we can hardly wait to see who you grow into, and pray that you continue to be a sweet girl who is kind to others, and loves the Lord with your whole heart.

{9 months}

{8 months}

{7 months}

{6 months}

{5 months}

{4 months}

{3 months}

{2 months}

{1 months}