Getting out...

Well our Christmas tree is down and all of our decorations are put away. Kenny and his mom did most of the work since I am not allowed to lift anything. I really appreciated all the assistance! But our home looks so Blahhh now!! I already miss it all.

Even though the decorations are down, our home is not back to normal. We have to find places for all the new toys and items that Ellie received for Christmas and relocate the old items back to their original/newly adjusted locations. One thing is for sure tho, the radio flyer horse that Ellie got from her Gigi has already found its location...It have taken over the place in the livingroom where the Christmas tree was. The only problem with this was that this area used to house MANY toys and items and the horse now consumes the entire area!! LOL Now I am going to have to do some major thinking on how we are going to handle the toy land overload!! ;)

We decided to get out of the apartment tonight! I needed it, but man it was difficult. I am the "heavy" in our family and our daughter Ellie knows it. However, with this surgery, I am unable to do so much right now and Kenny is having to so most of the day to day stuff. Ellie is testing him really hard!!!

We went to Kohl's to return somethings that Kenny got for Christmas that didn't fit. Ellie was so demanding!!! She pushed her limits the entire evening. She is trying Kenny and seems to be winning. I actually broke down and spanked her in the store. She was so shocked...she looked at me like "You're not supposed to be doing that". HAHAHA!! Kenny is tryi ng so hard and for the most part doing a great job, it's just that my patience and tollerance with things that I KNOW she knows better seem to wear out long before his does...LOL

I would have been happy with just the trip to Kohl's because after that I was starting to hurt, but Kenny had already lined up dinner with his brother's family, so I popped some pain meds and went on. Dinner was nice. It was good to see them and their boys. We ate at Wings and that wasn't to bad either. It was nice to get out...and a good trial run for what I can expect tomorrow night. We will head to Jake and Emily's Wedding Anouncement Party for New Year's Eve! Can't wait to see everyone!!!

Christmas!!

As I have said earlier, Ellie is truly enjoying the Christmas season. Our apartment complex did a Christmas competition this year, and with all competitions we had to play. They did a contest for the best Christmas decorations. We were to decorate our balconies/patios. My inlaws brought by many of our old decorations that were in storage and they bought Ellie a lighted tree with gift boxes and a set of singing bells that were on motion sensor. Not only did we decorate our balcony but we also decorated the entry area of our door. We didn't win anything, but we had so much fun decorating for Christmas this year and enjoying those decorations through out the season that I think we will ALWAYS decorate like that. Ellie loved rushing home to turn on all the lights and being the first one to the door to set off the musical bells at the door. It was great!! She kept me happy and in the spirit of the season. She was full of such joy this year!

Saturday the 18th we did the Seale Christmas at Wesley's & Tiffany's house...That one was a fish fry! We had so much fun seeing everyone. Ellie played with Dillyn and got to watch Polar Express for the first time. She loved it!

We spent Christmas Eve at Ellie's Gigi's house and then spent Christmas Day at Nana's. Ellie got more gifts than any one little girl needs and is enjoying each and everyone. She got a Radio Flyer horse, a FurReal Puppy, a tricycle, an ornament for the tree that she absolutely loved, an indoor slide, tag Jr., a Click start computer, Donald and Daisy Duck, bouncy balls, little people, movies, tons of stocking stuffers and clothes galore... (Can you say over did it!! haha)

Santa and I had a little chat and we decided that the Biblical impact of Christmas should be reinforced by his visit, so Santa delivers three gifts to Ellie like the Wise Men delivered three gifts to Jesus...

We truly are a blessed family and we had a wonderful Christmas! I was looking forward to watching Ellie enjoy all of her gifts on the days to follow but life had different plans... The morning of the 26th I woke up with strong abdomenal pains. Kenny called my mom to get Ellie and took the to the ER. I had to have an emergency laparoscopy. Everything went well and with my urging I was able to go home that night (it helped that we live 15 minutes from the hospital). Mom kept Ellie for the next two days so that I would have time to start recovering. Ellie just got back home tonight and I am finally getting to watch her play with all her toys. It is great to have her home. I am unable to lift anything over 10 lbs for two weeks and I am not supposed to over do it. Those instructions don't work so well with having a 2 year old, so we will see how it goes. Right now I'm just glad to have her back home. I'm still not feeling very well and I am having to rely on my medication more that what I would like, but I'm improving. Hopefully I will be back to normal by the time we return to school. I have my post op apt on Friday the 7th.

Random Pics Below:

Ellie hitting the big slides at I-Jump for Korey's Bday

Baking Cookies for Santa

A Gorgeous smile by a little fella that doesnt let us get pics of him smiling anymore...

Look at those beautiful smiles....

Ellie Visiting with Santa and Mrs Clause

Snow in Alabama on Christmas day!!

Playing with the Mac!

Christmas Pictures at Ross Bridge...

Dec 4, 2010

Tried to get some Christmas Pictures at Ross Bridge, but it didn't go so well. These are the best that I got.

Sitting in the window in the hallway...

Playing in front of the fireplace...

Peeking out the window looking for ....

This shows is all!!!

After this we tried to do some shopping and see Santa. Ellie got tired and had melt down after melt down. We scrapped seeing Santa and got ZERO shopping done. She was a hornet!!! However it was nice to see my Mom. She helped me in taking the pictures and through out the mall.

We have decided that we get much better pictures out of Ellie if she is with a group of kids. She loves the interaction and likes to have a playmate! Hopefully next time I can line this up better.

November 2010

Well the month of November was full of activity....

In October I was flipping through facebook and a photographer, Melissa, that I am friends with was taking pictures of a SAHM that made tutu outfits out of her home and sold them via the web and some local stores. In Melissa's advertisement pics I saw the cutest Christmas outfit. At that moment I knew I must have it...

On November 9th I picked up the outfit and couldn't help but try it out! How stinken cute is my baby girl?!?!?! Of course she loved it....It was a tutu!

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Well before we even reached Halloween Ellie was ready for Christmas. Any time she would see Christmas decorations in the stores we would have to stop to watch them for almost 30 minutes or more! It was exhausting trying to get her out of the stores. So on Veteran's day (11-13-10) we decorated the Christmas Tree.

It is our family tradition that we all do it together. All most all our decorations were gifts from family and friends and most of them have a story behind them. As we hang them on the Christmas Tree we reminisce about the Christmases of old. There are some that are funny and some that remind us of those who are no longer here and some announcing the arrival of beautiful new family members. Going from ornament to ornament allows us to remember what truly is important in life.

On the 14th Ellie woke up bright and early and was facinated with HER Christmas Tree. She Kept playing with it as well as the Christmas Window Stickers she had placed on the windows. She kept touching the ornaments and the stickers. Kenny and I kept telling her to leave them alone and to just look, but as the morning went on the ornaments ended up lower and lower on the Christmas tree. The next thing I know, Ellie walks in front of me with 2 glass balls (one a silver Christmas ball and the other a glass soccer ball ornament that came in a set of,as Kenny calls them, "real sport" balls) and she says "Balls!" Right as she says it, she raises her hands over her head and smashes them together. They break and pieces fall everywhere...

We clean it all up and get on to her for pulling ornaments off the tree. Then she disappears... We find her hiding behind the Christmas Tree! HAHA...Her safe place.

After we pull her out from behind the tree we decide to make omelets for brunch. My little girl loves to cook and she just HAD to help me! We pulled her a chair up so she could reach the counter top and she became responsible for scrambling and peppering the eggs.

She made so wonderful omelets!

After filling her belly with an omelet, Daddy got out his guitar and they began to play a few songs. Ellie is quite the musician...

(Notice the addition of another tutu to her attire. LOL)

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Well, our football season ended in a third round rematch. We lost that game and the high school football season for the Cullman Bearcats came to an end. The week following that loss Kenny and his head coach headed to Kentucky for a quiet get away of Hunting...

Ellie and I were playing around one night and sent Kenny a picture of his two favorite girls!

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The Week of Thanksgiving...

I love the week of Thanksgiving. My school system works it to where the first two days of the week are weather days and and that last three are Thanksgiving Holiday. We did not use our weather days so we got the entire week off!! (Kenny is in a different system so he was working on Monday and Tuesday) That entire week of was WONDERFUL!!! I needed the relaxation, and for the first time in years Thanksgiving was actually relaxing.

This year was the year to spend Thanksgiving with my side of the family. We always have Thanksgiving at my Aunt Lynn's. This year Anna Beth got there early and she and Jaycee schemed up "A & J Rides." They posted signs all around the house. They declared their "hayrides" "Fun for all ages" (wish I had thought to get a pic of the signs).

They got the tractor and pull behind wagon out and hooked them up. Filled the wagon with leaves (didn't have hay so they had to make due) and drove the children around all day long. It was hysterical and the kids loved it!!




A & J Rides...

Ellie enjoying a ride...

After the festivities we returned to my Mom's house. All of my family was there. We sat around the table discussing the day as Ellie and Dillyn took off to play. They play so well together you almost forget they are there.

When we looked up they were piled into a chair reading a book...

Dillyn refused to allow me to take a picture of him with a smile on his face!

As we were sitting around the table I got roped into going Midnight shopping with my Mom and Sister. We started off at Toys R Us. They were supposed to open at 10 pm. We got there at 9 and there were a rediculous amount of people there.

We were down the side of the TRU building, across the front of the shopping center, around the corner and down the backside of the the shopping center. I didn't get into TRU until 12:00! I think I am a glutten for punishment...

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Friday night as everyone went to Kerry's semifinal game, Chrystal, Ellie, Casyn, and I stayed home and out of the nasty weather. Ellie and Casyn enjoyed themselves. Here they are dancing to Bon Jovi!

Beef Cook-Off

We had our FCCLA Beef Cook-off On November 17, 2010 at Jeff State Community College. My school winner, Heather Vining, took to the competition well!!

Heather worked dilligently on her Nacho Salad and prepped it perfectly for the competition. She was preparing to be judged by the Culinard Instructors or Jeff State's Culinary Arts Program.

She came in Second Place and we were thrilled!!! I was so proud of her! This was her first county competition. She beat out 2 high school duel enrollment culinary students. The winner of the competition was a very tallented young man who co-ops to a restaurant and works as a SuChef. So it was tough competition there!

Congratulations Heather!!!!

Halloween...

Ok, well I know I have been bad and we have a lot of catching up to do... Sorry about that!!

Halloween:

We were so excited about this Halloween. Ellie's first Halloween she was only 2 months old...so really that's not a Halloween. Then last year Halloween fell on Friday and we were still in Football so we just let her wear some Halloween type clothes and went to the game. This year was our first REAL Halloween.

Ellie is in to Tutus. She thinks they are the greatest things, so we dressed her up like a fairy. I found a shop in the Birmingham area that makes great fairy type things (Magnolia Moon) and I bought a purple fairy costume for her. She was supper cute. We went to Cullman to trick or treat and participate in a Halloween Carnival. Ellie had a great time! We took Korey and Kolton (her cousins) with us and met Rex up there too! We had a great time trick or treating thoughout the Cullman community!! It was really the "Old time trick or treating" the type environment that you see in the movies. It was Great!!

After we went to the school to do some football stuff with Daddy....You see football doesn't stop for Halloween and Daddy had to prepare for game 10!

Random stuff:

Picking flowers...

Stop to smell the flowers...

What Daddy will do for his little girl!

Ellie, Kolton, and Korey at the park, ready to feed the fish.

Ok...so it's been a while.

Well it's been a while since I updated last. So this is the short version of what you missed...

Sick - Kenny still!!!

Lost to a really good Fort Payne team, but we looked rough doing it!! So now we are 3-2. Not something our team is used to...so Kenny had a difficult weekend dealing with it.

Ellie said I love you for the first time. It went something like this....She's sitting there and looks at us and says "I wove eww Frwench Frwie." Yes that's right...not I love you mommy or I love you daddy....She loves french fries! I can't blame her though...she's a girl after her mother's heart!!

Ellie still can't get rid of her cough so I take her to the Dr's office on Thursday. Dr. Cortopassi (best ped EVER!!) decides that all signs are leading to allergens and irritants in the air causing Bronchial Spasms...They gave her an inhaler and put her on breathing treatments. No child should have to do all that this early!!! She does a really good job with it and doesn't complain but it breaks my heart to sit there with her to do them! In addition to that Breathing treatments makes things worse before they get better!! Now she has puffy goopy eyes, thick runny nose, and a cough that sounds like she is hacking her head off!! Yesterday she literally slept more hours than she was awake....and this baby is normally up at 8:30 at the latest and only naps 1.5-2 hours. I can only imagine how bad she feels. Also she is now noticing when her nose is running (which is a good thing) and she comes running to you saying "Nose, Nose" while pointing at her face. I began laying out burp clothes so that she could just grab one when she needs it to wipe her nose. Then she wanted to take care of herself....she's such a big girl! LOVE HER SO MUCH!! If I had the sick days or Kenny didn't have to be at school for workouts, practice, and game today, I would have kept her at home....but alas that is not the case...

Friday night we won our Football game agains Brewer...We are now 4-2, but this week will be a HUGE week for us in preparing for our next game.

The first real cold front has moved through the south, and we woke up this morning to 40 degree weather...This weekend, while I was washing clothes, I realized that Ellie has hardly any clothes for cold weather. I told Kenny this weekend that we were going to HAVE to get her winter jacket and pants (Game Gear) ordered AND I HAVE to go buy her some warmer clothes. Last night Kenny was opening the mail and our insurance money came in...He opened the envelope and said "Did you say Ellie needed clothes?" I said "Yes, badly." He handed me the check and said here, put it in the bank and go shopping. GOD is soooo GOOD!! I don't know how we would have done it without that check! It's not a huge amount, but just enough...Just what we needed to accomplish that task. God knows and He provides!

Hopefully we will get a chance to visit the pumpkin patch soon and get great fall photos!!

Well this Welcome to My World Moment was brought to you by the Crazy Life of a Coach's Wife!!

Puppies Puppies everywhere!!!

Last weekend we went to a friend's house to watch the Bama game and found out that their Lab had puppies! 9 puppies to be exact!! They were 5 weeks old, the perfect age for Ellie to play with them....and did she ever!!! After we left Mark and Katrina's home all Ellie could talk about was puppies and how she wanted a puppy. Everything was puppy!! We live in a pet free apartment right now, so a puppy is out of the question, but yes we are going to HAVE to get a puppy when we can.

Those puppies were so funny as she chased them around the garage and yard, as she tried to feed them puppy chow, and mostly as she tried to pick them up by their legs, tummy, and most hysterically their heads!!! LOL

Needless to say, Ellie LOVES PUPPIES!!

This Welcome to my world moment is brought to you by the crazy life of a coach's wife!!

Are we getting better yet.....???

Ok....So Ellie got sick and I got sick (Hayden game), I stay sick through the first of the next week and Kenny starts feeling cruddy, and Ellie says her ear hurts...yes infection (Walker Week & Big rival). Ellie on antibiotice and Kenny gets a full fledged sickness (West Point Week). Ellie is still on antibiotics, still coughing her poor head off and snotty. Kenny is still really fatigued and coughing his head off (starting Fort Payne Week)! So can someone please tell me when my family will be back to "normal"?? I feel like someone has been sick of an eternity!!

Well Ellie had a great accomplishment this week...no "accidents" at daycare. She is doing so well with her potty training....Now dropping her off at Daycare in the morning is another challenge in itself. She use to be so easy...I would say lets go and she would run to the door, but her teacher then adored her and spoiled her rotten! Now she has moved "up" and her new teacher is more structured (which is good!) but Ellie is NOT excited about going!! She refuses to get out of her chair in the morning and go to the car and often pitches a fit when I leave. It makes leaving her so hard, and add on to that she's been sick too and I am lucky to make it to work on time!!! Every morning is an event!! Once she is there and I am gone everything is good though. It's not like she crys all day....at least I know that and that helps!

Kenny has been sick all week and you know guys, they are such babies when they are sick!!! I think mine is the biggest baby of them all when he gets sick. Although I can sympathize with the fatigue part of his sickness since I had it! It just makes life so difficult when your worn out from your day and you have two sick "babies" to take care of when you get home in addition to the laundry, picking up the place, and cooking.

In addition to being sick, Kenny has been dealing with the first lose to Rival and Region team Walker since her started coaching at Cullman. It was a rough lose for him. The community was upset, the players were upset, and most of all the coaches were upset. Kenny knew it would be a difficult game with the offensive side of the ball since they has lost so many great players last year. The younger kids had not clicked yet. The lose instigated some changes in this team. Hopefully it will help them to appreciate every win and help change the direction of the season. The coaches work so hard each week and the players have to "click" I think after watching this weeks game that may have happened this week!

At West Point we came away with a HUGE win!!! Our offense was clicking and our defense was hitting hard. Our special teams still needs some work, but over all we looked pretty good. Still made some mistakes, but much improved from the first three games! Kenny actually went on the field at half time (normally he's in the pressbox). Howeve that move made my night MUCH more difficult...

We have a VERY ACTIVE little girl and when she saw her daddy on the field all she wanted was to be running on that field with him!!! She screamed at him to get his attention from the stands. She waived at him to get his attention. She yelled for him to come get her. She demanded from me to go. At 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter I gave up. I packed everything up and we went down to the track. It had a fence separating it from the field and she could run. In the begining she stayed right where he was...then she eventually just started running and playing on the track. That was the best thing I did all night....just let her run. By the ending of the 4th quarter I knew she needed to go potty, but she was adamant that she didn't and I knew if I picked her up and took her, she would pitch a fit up the entire bleachers. So I rolled the dice to see if she would make it to the end of the game. At 3 minutes till the end of the game I lost that bet! She had an accident on the track of the football field. I just got her together, took her to the film truck, and our wonderful film guy John and his wife Sharon let me change her in the trailor. We were in and out before the 1 minute mark...noone was the wiser (except for the fact her shorts went from white to pink! LOL). After the game Ellie would not let anyone spend time with Kenny. She took his hand and would pull him away from everyone who wanted to talk to him! She was NOT going to SHARE!!! HAHAHA!! She so misses him through out the week! She is often in bed before he gets home...

Overall a victory improves your week and weekend so much!!

This Welcome to My World Moment is brought to you by the Crazy Life of a Coach's Wife!

Walker Loss

I know this is late getting up but between work and putting in my inventory for school and Kenny being sick, I just haven't had time to post.

Yes, you read that right....all that talk about "atleast it's Hayden week" came back to bite him in the booty! He got sick on Walker week!!! Not saying that is why they lost or anything...just ironic!

Well the game was ugly, so many mistakes and Walker went hard the whole game. But when you lose because of mistakes the coaches are much more upset than otherwise. This means that the coach's wives have much rougher weekends!! MAN ARE THEY CRANKY!!!

I just want to send out a HUGE Thank You to Katrina and Mark (our friends and also a coach elsewhere). They made my weekend MUCH better. They invited us to watch the Alabama game at their house. Getting together with them is always fun. We have good food and great fun!

Their lab had just had puppies 5 weeks ago so Ellie had a blast playing with all 9 (yes 9!) of them. Those puppies didnt stand a chance!! She was picking them up upside down, chasing after them, throwing balls at them to fetch, etc. She had so much fun and she was hysterical to watch!! However, she has not stopped talking about puppies since she laid eyes on them!!!

I'm sick now....

So it's Thursday afternoon and I am headed home from school and I am beginning to feel a bit queezy... I think I may have gotten what Ellie had only 2 nights before. I figure I'm pretty prepared for it, she was only sick one night and I was elbow deep in it cleaning her up so it only makes sense that I would catch it. And as Kenny so eloquently stated..."at least it's Hayden week." (BTW....I want to interject...Hayden is a good developing program they are just new to this level of play and are doing a great job of building their program!! Very Proud of what all they have accomplished)

So I don't get physically sick, but I stay queezy all night and I run a fever of 100.4. I stay cold and achy and under a set of covers. I wake up Friday morning and I am not feeling great, but I don't feel bad and no fever. Ok. Off to school it is...

As I drive to school, I begin to feel worse and worse and worse. By the time I get there I am freezing cold and exhausted. I enter the building and I am thankful that the building is not as cold as it usually is (and the temperature that I normally LOVE). As I am walking through the halls toward my classroom I come across a teacher that is just-a-gripin'. She stops me to discuss how hot her classroom is, and can you believe the air is out in this whole school building...

What?!?!...I'm chilled....I can't still be sick...

So I make my way to the nurse and my temp is on the rise. I feel like death until about 1:30 and I catch a second wind. My fever breaks and I am feeling pretty good considering. I was planning on not going to the game, but now I might just make it.

I get Ellie from Daycare and we go get dinner for her and head towards Hayden. I'm not feeling great, but I am excited about he best Boiled Peanuts in town!! Their Boosters make them for every game and I buy them everytime we are down there. But as the night wears on my body feels worse and worse and worse. Ellie and I have to take a potty break for her and we dont go back up into the stands because with so many people it is just to hot. We find a friend ("Uncle" Greg) and visit with him. He begins feeding Ellie his food, and of course Ellie is not to bashful to eat it! He gets amazed that she loves boiled peanuts and she's devouring them one after another!! It's pretty funny to watch his reaction, but as this is going on I come to the conclusion that I am not going to make it through the game. We pack up and head home at the end of half time. We see Kenny coming out of the locker rooms and let him know that we wont be there at the end of the game and we go home.

In my 12 years of being a Coach's wife I have NEVER left a game early....this was a first for me...I felt AWFUL!

Saturday I slept in, Kenny got up with Ellie. When I emerged from the bed it was obvious I was sick. I stayed under a blanket all day and didn't eat a thing. However it was the wierdest of sicknesses...I was queezy but never threw-up, I had stomach virus let's say "symptoms" but my body ached like I had the flu, and I ran a fever of almost 101. Our school nurse thinks I had both viruses at the same time. By Saturday night Kenny needed to get started on the next weeks opponent films and planning...

It's now WALKER WEEK! They are not only a region game, but they are also a big rival of ours...

Kenny asks if I'll be ok if he runs up to the school to get started. I look at the clock and it is about 2 hours before Ellie's bedtime so I say I'll be fine. Those were the longest two hours...

Sunday I wake up and feel much better (I think) and decide that the weekend it to beautiful to spend the whole thing cooped up in the apartment so I'm determined to take Ellie to the Zoo for a few hours. My plan is to only spend a little bit of time there and spend some time in the sun then back home. But allas it doesnt go so smoothly. We meet family up there and everyone gets there at different times and we end up closing the place down. I got way to0 hot and did way too much and by the time I finally got home it was Ellie's bedtime and my fever was back!

Monday I could not get my feet back underneath me. Fatigue! Extreme Dehydration! It was rough. Although, it was a nice day. Kenny worked in the morning and was home by 3ish. We went and got some BBQ (I couldnt eat any of it...)and enjoyed the afternoon.

Tuesday we were up and back to school. I was still very sluggish and queezy but on the mend. I would actually say that Wednesday was the first day in a week that I felt back to normal...

...but wait for it....

"I don't feel so good" says Kenny

Never say "at least it's _____________ week."

Do you think he has jinxed himself???

Yes folks...it looks like my pitiful husband is getting sick right in the middle of WALKER WEEK!! I told him this morning to get to a doctor today and get a sub for tomorrow so he could get some rest before tomorrow nights big game.

This moment was brought to you by the Crazy Life of a Coach's Wife...

Sorry, I've been out of commission...

Well, in a nut shell, We've been SICK!!!!...

It started Tuesday night and Kenny and I both wake up to a strange sound in the infant monitor. Kenny identifies the sound before me (how odd is that since he normally doesnt even budge during the night) and he yells..."She's choking, Amy she's choking." I jump up and go to Ellie's room (note...Kenny NEVER got out of the bed, he just told me! What the?!?!) to find my poor baby girl covered in her own vomit. I call Kenny over the monitor to come help. He forces himself out of the bed and comes into her room to help overhaul the place.

I get Ellie out of her bed and into the bath, tell Kenny to strip the bed while I bathe Ellie. She's screaming the entire time she's in the tub. She's freezing due to her fever and she's wet from the bath and there's throw-up imbedded in her hair that I just can't seem to get out! Kenny Strips the bed and hands it to me to deal with, so I give him Ellie after I pull her from the tub so he can dress her. I deal with the mess of sheets and clothes and start the wash. We take Ellie back to bed with us to sleep the rest of the night.

1 hour later...

I awake to the now familiar sound and move quickly. I get Ellie in a place that she does not cover my bed with her "contents". She only gets my pillow case. I am now cleaning again...

We decide to keep her in the livingroom for a while so that if she gets sick again it wont cover our bed. I'm in one recliner and Kenny in the other (I told him he could go to bed but he didn't) and Ellie in my lap. I tried to get her to lay still but with the TV on she didnt want to settle down and rest. So after an hour and a half of struggling with her and since she hadn't gotten sick again, I get Kenny and we all pile back into the bed as Kenny complains that "she's just going to get sick again..."

For the next hour or so I struggle with Ellie to lay down and go back to sleep...FINALLY....Rest....

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP...You gotta be Kidding me, I just closed my eyes!!

Kenny climbs out of bed and tells me it's time to get up. I instantly decide that "Ellie" can't make it to Daycare she's too sick. (Not to mention I'm not going to make it through school today either!!) I call a dear friend of mine who's my normal substitute and she is available to sub for me. I lay back down to rest.

7:00 am...This shrill alarm is going off in my apartment. I get up to check it out and not only is our smoke alarm going off, but the entire building's smoke alarms are going off. So I quickly dress and get Ellie and we head out with cell phone in hand to call and see what's going on. I get in touch with the office people and no one knows anything but they will send maintenance. BTW...there is no smoke ANYWHERE!! The alarms stop and Ellie and I reenter our home, but the damage is done...Ellie is WIDE AWAKE...and I am a walking zombie.

Ellie never misses a beat on Wednesday...she plays hard all day like nothing ever happened to disrupt her night. I on the other hand am not so lucky...I shuffle around the livingroom thanking God for creating the genious that created Mickey Mouse so my child would sit still for thirty minutes to allow me to rest a moment!

Thank God for nap time....for BOTH of us!!

That night Kenny and I lay in bed a pretty long day and he says..."Well atleast it was Hayden Week. If this were going to happen, she picked a good week." What?!?!...Coach's

This moment is brought to you by the Crazy Life of a Coach's Wife.

Week 1...

Well we played our first game of the year and came out of it with a victory!!! As my husband says..."an ugly W is still a W"... so we will take it. From what little bit I actually got to watch (thanks to my active 2 year old) it looked like we need some work in some spots, but hopefully they will be able to iron out these kinks in the next few weeks.

Kenny went into this game a bit worried. Our opponent was very athletic team and could pose a threat at any time. Our D stepped up and controlled their Offense, and our O made plays when we needed them too (mostly thanks to our RB). Great job guys!! We still have a lot of work to do, but we are proud of you!!

As for the poor people sitting around Ellie and I....I am SOOOOOOO SORRY!!! She wasn't bad by any means, but we got there late. You see that 1.5 hour distance from Kenny's school plus the 1 hour commute from Kenny's school to the game site created quite a distance for us to travel. So we asked a friend to save us a seat, that way I would not have to worry about finding a seat when we got there. I knew we would not arrive until close to kick off.

So we arrive and I have to change Ellie out of her dirty clothes from daycare and dinner splatter into something clean. Shorts and a football shirt it is! I grab my bleacher seat and Ellie's bag and Ellie and we begin our walk to this tiny speck of a thing that I can see way off in the distance. Do you know how far it is when the field appears small when walking that way??? Well let me tell you....IT'S FAR!!!! Ellie was pitching a fit that she didn't want to walk, so part of the way I am loaded up with all our FB gear AND Ellie is perched on my hip. Can you imagine what I must have looked like??? I finally get into the game, we watch the coolest thing....They have parachuters come in and drop onto the field with the carrying the flags for the national anthem. Then it's off to the potty for Ellie. We finally make it to the stands right before kickoff. The stadium is PACKED!! We squeeze through the crowd to the center of the section where Amy has saved our seats....(BTW...Amy if you reading the seats were great, but babies work best on the isle especially if they have to leave 100 times for potty breaks!! LOL). To all the people I had to step over several times to get to my seats, I'm sorry if I hit you with my seat, bag, or baby...I really didn't mean too!! Ahhh...relief....we are seated and the game is starting.

Ellie is doing great, then half way through the second quarter she says it..."potty mommy" and we are up again. We have to squeeze our way down the isle stepping all over the poor people sitting around us and head to the potty. As we are leaving the restroom I see the truck and trailer that contains all our video equipment and I have the most brilliant of ideas...The truck is in the endzone area and I can see the game. I place Ellie in the back of the truck to play and Voila...instant Pack-n-Play!!! Ellie plays in the back of the truck for half quarter then her friend Rex comes by, we take another potty break then they both climbs in the back of the truck and play. Now Rex's mommy and I both get a break...sort of anyway. LOL! The two of them play in the back of the truck until half time is almost over and Ellie begins begging for something to drink. We head back to our seats, climbing over all the people along the way. When we get there Ellie so thirsty from playing in the heat of the night that she downs her entire drink!! Poor thing, mommy was neglecting her needs!!

On our way to our seat we added another friend...Erin. She came up after halftime to give Ellie her birthday gift, (We love it btw!) but she didn't stay long...

So Ellie stays seated for a very short time and then she wants another activity...the game is just not doing it for her. HAHA!! So I break out the coloring book. This buys me some time... She loves to color and I am able to watch some of the game. Then a little into the 3rd quarter she says it again..."potty mommy"...and we're off again. (Those poor people sitting around us.) When we come back to the stadium we just sit in the stairway...It's close to the end of the game anyway...When the stands start to clear I get our stuff and we head out. We meet daddy on the field and Ellie gets to run for a minute before it is time to head to the locker area. We wait for the team to load up before we leave to head back to the school. Amy was nice enough to ride with me back to the school since I was alone and tired. She did a great job keeping me awake, but Ellie passed out cold as a cucumber!!

After we saw daddy at the school and then headed home from there it was 1:15 am when we got home...Ellie had woken back up and did not want to go to sleep, but I was exhausted. I battled with her for a while and then finally....peace and quiet. It did not take long for me to fall asleep once my head hit the pillow! Then a few minutes later I hear Ellie awake in her room calling for me. I lay there thinking she will go back to sleep but she doesn't. I open my eyes and find that it's morning and she ready to go. I had my 8:30 wake up call....I guess I can be thankful that it wasn't 6:30...

This Welcome to My World moment was brought to you by the Crazy Life of a Coach's wife

Week in review...

Ellie's Birthday was great...it was a quaint event of just family, but we all had a lot of fun. She played the entire time. She didn't want to eat hotdogs & chips and didn't want to stop for cake & watermelon either.


We had her party at the splash pad and she loved it. We pulled up and she began yelling "water, water!" and she went straight to it when she got out of the car. We rushed to get it all set up as the kids played (we only could reserve the pavillion for 2 hours). The kids arrived and ate their hotdogs, then went out and played some more. Then we cut the cake and had watermelon. We chose watermelon because it was so hot outside that ice cream would not have survived. It was actually so hot that the cake was melting!!! Literally Melting!!! (Notice the poor Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...the cake was perfect when the day started!!)



Then she opened gifts...She had already gotten a kitchen from Nana...then Alyssa got her fruit and pots for it along with a bowling set... Korey and Kolton got her some PJs and a Minnie Mouse shirt and a book! She also got some playdough and bath crayons from the Ivey Crew... Ellie loved playing with those crayons that next night...


Saturday night we had a football kickoff party at some friends house out on the lake...Can't beat that plan....party for the kids in the morning and party for the adults at night! We had so much fun. It was great to be able to socialize with adults without the constant interruptions of a 2 year old. We laughed with all our friends all night long....and that included laughing at one coach who actually "crop dusted" a group of us... (btw...crop dusting has nothing to do with crops in this scenario)...so Coach Campbell, thank you for that breath of not quite so fresh air!! LOL! But more importantly thank you to my mother for baby sitting and allowing us an evening to let loose. It was MUCH needed!!!

Sunday Kenny was headed to the field house early!! He needed to set up the new computers they had gotten in before the boys got there....and the first game week of football began...

Monday afternoon we had Ellie's 2 year checkup. She went in like a big girl, and she was all about seeing Dr. C. She loves him! He was great and said she was perfect. That she was more than active and was far advanced in her speach (and I love him because he credited Ellie's mom for that achievement!! LOL). Then the time came for the shots. The nurse came in and told me to lay her down and told Ellie to "give mommy a hug." The nuse then looks at me, and with the most serious face says "She looks strong so hold tight." I reply with my most serious face, "She is so you too!" Ellie crys and I comfort her.

After the shot she is on the fast track out of there! She was pissed and she was just a jabbering on about something and it did not sound happy. Then out of the jabber she clearly says in this pitiful voice..."she just stuck me!!!" I just bust out laughing. I couldn't help it, it was too funny!

Tuesday was the only night that we didn't have plans, so I did laundry, dishes, and cleaned up around the house. We had just dropped everything from the party and weekend and week...our home was a MESS!!!

Wednesday I had a chirpractic appointment then I drove up to Kenny's school to meet them for dinner with the team. They always do a Wendesday dinner at a local pizza joint with the team. Ellie played with her Daddy some. Then I met a friend of mine and we took Ellie to play on the new football field. We had so much fun watching her run all over the field. I taught her how to do a three point stance (it was hysterical!!).


Tonight we had the picnic on the turf. This was a great fundraising event for our new stadium. The community bought tickets for a picnic on the new field and they had music, silent auction, and live auction. It was so much fun to spend time with everyone! It has finally gotten me in the mood for some FOOTBALL! Up until now I have not been able to get ready for game day, but when those lights hit that new turf and the entire stadium glowed... it all came together! It is FOOTBALL TIME!!!

All this and I still found time to actually teach my classes every day!! Can you say I was busy!! hahaha....But this Welcome to my world moment was brought to you by the crazy life of a coach's wife!