Technology...what's next?

I remember as a kid we had one phone in our house and it had a cord reach of 6 ft, not nearly enough to avoid parental ease dropping! Now we have phones that are not only mobile but can play games, music, take photo's and on and on. Take this blog for instance, I can type a few silly sentences, post a pic of Ella and instantly our family in Florida can view it! I continue to be amazed by the advancements in our technology.
A couple of months ago my brother in law (Mitch) told me about a program that can be installed to to your blog that can track everything! By everything I mean everything! It can tell you who is visiting your site, how long they are staying on it, pages they view, how they got to your web site.....the info is limitless. My brother was able to determine that he had people visiting from West Virgina all the way to India!
Well, I had to see what this was all about so we installed it. In the last couple of months we have had hits from Hawaii, Canada, Florida, Texas, Washington, United Kingdom and West Virgina...just to name a few. I can break down the information to even tell you that someone from the far East side of West Virgina visited our site on Nov 20th and 26th and Dec 4th, 10th, stayed an average of 7:34 minutes and viewed an average of 2.75 pages per visit. So a big shout out to West Virginia and everyone else who continues to enjoy reading this blog! Thank you for stopping in and Happy Holidays!!!

Say Cheese!

We had fought the urge to get Ella's pictures professionally taken long enough. It was time to let someone who knew what they where doing take some pics of Ella. We had been doing some research on local photographers that had an eye for babies but would also allow us to have some creative input. In the end we decided on Frank Becker at The Time Photography in Lexington, KY. For those of you who where at our wedding The Time Photography was responsible for the amazing photos that captured that amazing day.

We where all a little unsure how Ella would respond to an hour long photo shoot with several outfit changes, but all that went to the back of our minds as Frank set up for his first shot. It became real clear that this was Kate's baby - "Lil Kate" as I called her while she was getting her pictures taken. She laughed, smiled and to seemed to respond to Franks suggestions for the perfect shots.... such a HAM! . We are so happy with the end results and we hope that you enjoy a small sample of what happened that day.

My Woof Woof

Over the last month or so it seams that Ella has really discovered this furry brown bear that roams our house looking for morsels of food. She gets so excited when he enters the room and starts jumping around and smiling. At this time he's still pretty unsure why he generates this response, but walks over to give her a kiss none the less. It is still early but Kate and I believe that we are witnessing the start of a wonderful relationship.

Giving Thanks!

There are a lot of reasons for us to be thankful this year, but none bigger than our families. We where fortunate enough to spend some time with our family over Thanksgiving. From Gayle spoiling her granddaughter to Tom teaching her what it takes to be the next Alicia Keys. We are looking forward to seeing even more of our family as we celebrate Ella's first Christmas. We want to thank our families for everything you have done to make this such a special year!!

Ready or not....STL here we come!

The doctors confidence was building everyday that my sister and Matt where going to have their baby around the 14th of October. As soon as we got word we checked the airlines to see how close to the 14th we could get without taking out a home equity loan to purchase the tickets. Halloween weekend would be a great weekend to make the trip, besides Matt (Hershey Employee) gives out FULL size candy bars! As the 14th came and went it became clear that their bundle of joy had a few plans of his own. On Tuesday, October 27th we got the call that they where headed to the hospital and where not going to be leaving without a baby! Our trip turned out to be perfect timing and it was unbelievable to have our family share in the excitement as they brought their baby boy home - Liam Nash Collins - 8lbs 6oz /22inches. We are so happy for Matt, Tiffany and baby Liam -The Collins Family!!

rub'a dub, dub......

After a few weeks of being anchored in Michigan it was time for a road trip. The family packed up and headed towards the Haute so the Grandparents could get their hands on Ella and to allow daddy some time to participate in ISU's homecoming. When Kate and I arrived back home our daughter sat in the tub (sink) as Grandma waited for the perfect photo. Although Ella was pruned up from sitting in the water for an hour, Grandma got the one she was looking for!

Pumpkin Patch

Fall in Michigan means two things - a long cold winter is around the corner and, it's time for cider and spice donuts. Apple orchards in Michigan rake in the profit by making fresh cider and spice donuts. They also provide the opportunity for a family to put a $10 spot down to take a ride on a slow moving wagon back to a field packed with $30 pumpkins. Must have been "special" pumpkins......