Big Events December 2007

Well,  December has certainly come in with a BANG! in the Williamson household. (literally)

On Saturday the 8th at around 9pm, we were in the living room and I smelled what I thought to be burning rubber. We had the dishwasher going  so that's where we headed. Nothing.

I headed to the master bedroom which was filled with smoke. 

Scott immediately went to the basement and quickly made his way back up to call 911 and told me to grab the baby and leave.

Well, for all of you that know me, I had a few things to do first....

So here I am running around undressed, baby is not dressed and needs a diaper change (these things pop up at the most inconvenient times) and perhaps I am inclined to straighten things up a bit, when in rushes my husband GET THE BABY AND LEAVE NOW!!!!

It's cold, it's raining, I grab baby, diaper bag and head out. Where I am going I have not the slightest, but here comes all of the fire trucks etc., so the neighborhood is coming out to see the excitement so we filed over to a neighbors house.

Scott, by the way was in his element! Like a kid a christmas, he was having a ball. Just too bad OUR house had to be the hub of it all. Ahhh, memories of the Fern Creek FD.

After a while Ella and I came home, turns out our water heater caught on fire.

THANK GOD that we were not asleep and that we were home. Had we been away our house would be gone. Had we been asleep we may not be here to tell this story. The firefighters painted a very clear picture how this all would have transpired. 

The basement is unfinished and the water heater is directly below our bed. The fire would have traveled up the unit to the wood beams (our bedroom floor) I'm sure you can imagine the rest.

A REAL CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!

A month prior to the day, November 8th, we had a new thermostat installed on the unit, and that is what malfunctioned and caught fire.

Thank goodness for the home warranty, it saved us a lot of $ and headaches. The plumber however was going to charge us a cool $200 to dispose of the thing, so daddy drug it to the street and the trash man took it away.

Then comes Thursday, December 13, 2007. Our baby girls 1st birthday!

Auntie Rachel flew in for the big event and we all had a ball.

Ella's big gift from mom and dad was a toy box, and as you can tell from photos, Ella has found a few other uses. (jungle gym, hideout, etc)

The day of Ella's birthday we (mommy, daddy, and auntie) had a special cake just for Ella and we sang and opened presents.

 The cake is a story of its own. The cake I ordered was a tiny little pretty pastel yellow and pink personal cake for one. The cake I got was some 2 layer neon yellow and hot pink clown cake. Needless to say thing was $13, hidious and I wasn't paying for it. (We got it for $3. The price of the one  I ordered.)

As you can see from the photos, Ella and her daddy had a mighty fine time tearing it up. It was so CUTE! Ella was so sticky!

Auntie Rachel kindly babysat for Ella on Friday evening so we could go to a movie. (The first time we had set foot in a theatre in over a year)

This is the first time we have ever went out without a baby. 

It was nice. We saw I am Legend with Will Smith. Worth a look.

On Saturday 15th we had a few friends over for a party.

Notice Lala in her pretty party dress.

 It was a cold, icy and wet day so I made a pot of chili and we all ate, had more cake ( a baby strawberry shortcake one) and icecream, and called it a day.

Aunt Rachel left to go home today, and daddy is at the office packing up boxes to move into his brand new office in a new building. Ella is taking a nap, Enzo is curled up snoring, and I am going to say so long for now.... This all day nausea thing can end any time now. I wish I had stock in ginger ale and Tums :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!!!!

Ella's first trip to Nebraska

What an adventure! On Sunday the 18th of November we loaded up the van and embarked on an 11+ hour trip to Nebraska. The first stop was in Falls City to stay a couple of nights at Aunt Betty and Uncle Doug's house.

The following Tuesday we headed to Lincoln and then on to Omaha to pick up Ella's big brother Tyler. Ella got to see her brother play basketball. She loved it!

The rest of the week was spent at Aunt Barb and Uncle Julian's house in Lincoln.

We had a great thanksgiving seeing family and Ella getting to play with her little cousins, Carter who is 6, Cole who is 3 and Lexi who is 2.

Well, I must run now... I am being paged by a little lady who just woke up from her nap.

Halloween in Kentucky

Ella was adorable in her ladybug costume for her first halloween. She gave her daddy a helping hand on carving the pumpkin.

We went to the zoo and did a bit of trick or treating the Sunday before, and on halloween Ella got to dress up again and help hand out candy.



Also is a picture of Ella next to her first barrel of whiskey. We went to the Woodford Reserve distillery for a tour one Sunday (absolutely beautiful countryside)



2 other big bits o' news are... drumroll please....



Ella is walking & she is going to be a big sister!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :

First time at the pumpkin patch & petting zoo

What a great time of year!

The leaves are turning, the temperatures are dropping, football is in the air...(Poor Huskers) Ahh...autumn! :)

This is one thing that we love about Kentucky. The seasons.
It is simply a beautiful place to be in October.

This fall is especially wonderful with the addition of Ella Grace to our outings.
Scott and I have always enjoyed going to Hubers Winery & farm in southern Indiana. It is a great place to pick your own fresh fruits and veggies, shop for knick knacks for the house, sample and purchase wines, cheeses, ice cream, baked goods, etc., feed the ducks and the gianormus fish in the man made lake and pond, pick your own pumpkins from the patch, and come Christmas time we look forward to cutting down our first tree with Ella. This is one place that we adore going for quality together time.

I got to witness ( I WISH I had taken a picture) a once in a lifetime event.
Scott enjoys wine, and I encouraged him to do a tasting, (I'm still breastfeeding) While Scott was involved in sampling wines, Ella and I took a seat at a small table and I fed her a teething biscuit and we played while we waited. There was a large group having a private tasting close by where we were seated,and in the midst of this group was this small old lady, who looked like she stepped out of the pages of a history book. Literally, as if she just got off the boat @ Ellis Island. She was wearing a blue button down coat, sensible walking shoes and a cain. She had silver teeth, and her long hair was parted in the middle,& placed in a bun under a blue flowered kerchief.
She stood out in the group because they were all young, hip and a bit on the trendy side. She came over to the table were we were sitting and I motioned for her to have a seat and pulled out a chair for her.
She told me in broken english that she was from Russia. That was all she could say. A young man from the group was keeping a close eye on her, and he came over to the table to check on her. He told me that she was his mother, visiting him from Russia, and that the group he was with is the cast of Dracula, at Actors Theatre. They had been here since August and would be leaving Nov 1. He too is from Russia, however he now calls home the Bronx! ( Scott went and said hello later)
The neat part of the story is what transpired over the next 15 minutes or so.
On my left was this lady from Russia who does not speak or have much of an understanding of the english language, and is entering her twilight years. On my right is a small baby,who is just beginning her life and who too does not have the ability to speak and has a limited understanding of any language at all.
But the communication that I witnessed between the two of them was truely spectacular. Not a legible word (that I could understand anyway) was uttered by either of them, but they were having a great conversation! It was really something to see, a clear connection was made as if they already knew one another. Again, I regret not snapping a picture of them.

Ella had a ball in the midst of all of the pumpkins. Quite a few of them were way bigger than she was. :)

This is the first time however that Scott and I have ventured over to the petting zoo portion of the farm. I am not sure who had more fun, Ella or her dad.
Being born and raised in NYC, there weren't many farm animals running around when he was growing up.

We saw llamas, ponies, chickens, roosters,hens, bunnies, goats, donkeys, cows, horses, deer, and probably more that I am not remembering. Not a huge deal to us midwesterners, but it was fun for someone such as myself who grew up in Nebraska to watch her child, who was seeing these animals for the first time with her daddy who probably can count on one hand how many times he was ever this close to and fed animals of any sort. (if he ever has, I need to ask him)

Mommy helped Ella feed the bunnies. They liked eating freshly fallen leaves from the trees that weren't crisp yet.

Images of Ella's 1st year

photos #6 ~ nov/06; #7 ~ dec/06; #8 ~ jan/07; #9 ~ feb/07; #10 ~ mar/07; #1 ~ apr/07; #2 ~ may/07; #3 ~ june/07; #4 ~ july/07; #5 ~ aug/07

Not breakfast @ Tiffany's...It's breakfast @ mommy's!

Last night daddy went to Beef's to watch the Huskers get beat by Mizzou, and since it was such a late game mommy and Ella stayed home and went to bed.

For the first time in Ella's little life she fell asleep on her own accord, without being nursed! :)

It was very sweet, we were laying in bed watching law and order and Ella just curled up beside me, layed her head on my shoulder and poof! She was out. After a bit I carried her to her bed and she slept for the next 10.5 hours! She's such a big girl!

Another first happend at breakfast; Ella fed herself! As you see in the picture, Ella had her O's and 1/2 a bannana. Those new teeth are coming in handy :)