Happy Birthday Addy!

As I type this, Addy is a little less than 48 hours away from turning one! I can't believe it! When I had her, for some reason I thought that it wouldn't fly by as fast as Emmy's first year did. I figured that since I already knew how fast everything went, I would enjoy it more and it would slow down. I really have enjoyed her first year probably even more than I did Emmy's, but just the fact that I'm SO much busier than I was when Emmy was a baby is probably the reason why it has flashed before my eyes.



I thought for this day, I would write out all of the memories I could think of off the top of my head of her first year. I hope that when she gets older, she will look back at this in her scrapbook and know how loved and cherished she was from the moment that I saw those 2 little lines!



*When I gave birth to you. It was SO much more relaxed than when Emmy was born. I watched you being born in a mirror and held you immediately. I probably held you for at least thirty minutes like that with a blanket over you keeping you warm. Those moments were so precious and we were in love with you, just like we were the moment we met your sister.

*The morning you met Emmy she ran into the room and jumped on the bed with us. When you started to cry/grunt, she started singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and you immediately calmed down. I hope that you girls will always have that special relationship like your Aunt Nah-Nah and I do.

*We went to Target on the way home from the hospital and got Emmy a doctors kit from you so that she could help take care of you. When we got out of the car, we gave it to her and told her it was from you. She immediately said "Thank you, Addy!." She still uses that kit to this day to help take care of you if you are sick!

*The night we brought you home from the hospital you slept until about 5AM. You woke up, ate, then went right back to sleep. That morning Daddy and Emmy got up and left us in bed. We cuddled until 11AM. It was SO sweet!

*When you were about 8 weeks old, we traveled to GA for the weekend so that Daddy could fill in for Mr. Ron at his church in Rockdale. You slept all through the night in an unfamiliar place! I was so thankful!

*We started Mother's Day Out when you were about 8 weeks old and I worked in your class all year long. You changed so much from October to May. It was so much fun to see you go from a little lump that didn't care about what was going on to a crawling baby that was extremely tough around the other kids who were all several months older than you.

*You started going to the nursery much younger than when your sister started. I think it helped you because now you pretty much have no problem going to other people.

*When you started smiling, it melted our hearts! You would smile at your sister more than anyone! You have always had the sweetest smile-just like your Daddy!

*I will never forget the decision we made to let you visit Granny in the nursing home when she moved here from NC. I was so worried about germs, but ended up getting over it and I am SO thankful that I did. She died just weeks after she moved here, but the look on her face when she held you...I will never forget it.

*Rolling around was your FAVORITE thing to do when you started! It was all I could do to keep you still for a diaper change or changing of clothes. You're still a little wiggle-worm, but much stronger than you were then!

*When you were about 4 months old, we traveled to VA, to meet Danny, Laurie, Gabbie and Luke. You were SO good the whole trip! The ride home, however, was a NIGHTMARE! You were SO tired of being in the car. Thankfully, when we got home you were happy to be in your own bed and slept well. I will never forget that loud car ride home, though!

*You acted like you were going to crawl for about a month and a half before you actually did it. You started at about 5 months and learned how to get faster very quick. It was then that I got the full-effect of this 2 kid thing. :-)

*I love that you and Emmy could play after you started crawling! Emmy was always very gentle with you and you LOVE playing together.

*You did not do well with babyfood for several months. We eventually decided to give you mushed up table food. After a few weeks of that, we tried babyfood again and you did great. I believe you were about 9 months old when you started eating babyfood well. Now you can't get enough of food.

*Speaking of food, when we're at the dinner table, or table in general, you make this noise like "MMMMMM, MMMMMMM, MMMMMM" and it is SO loud. Once we give you a bite of something you stop until you swallow then it's "MMMMMMMMMMM, MMMMMMM, MMMMMM" the rest of the meal until you are full!

*You put EVERYTHING in your mouth. I am constantly picking things out of your mouth throughout the day. Even though it scares me to death, I think the little chewing face you make when you've got a non-food item in your mouth is SOO precious!

*You are and always have been a Mommy's girl. You love it when Daddy gets home, but are ready to be back with Mommy shortly after you give him lovin'. I hope you stay that way! (Let's keep that between you and me, though!)

*Until about 7 or eight months you were a chunky monkey, but now you've thinned out and are average in weight and above average in height. I loved those little rolls you had, but think your little figure is so cute and girly now!

*I guess you will see in your pictures that I always put either a headband with a big bow on your head and as your hair grew I started to put just a bow on your head. You're precious with or without them, but what can I say?? I LOVE bows and my philosophy is the bigger the better! Just wait until you see your first birthday bow!

*At about 11 months we were all sitting at the dinner table. I looked at you and told you I loved you. I swear right after that you looked at me and said "Iloveya".

*Sometimes when we are playing, I will try to work on speech stuff with you. You are already starting to repeat some things with me. F.E. When I say "Fish" you repeat "shhhh". I know you're not talking a lot yet, but you are definitely understanding me!

*You love music and often direct Daddy on Sunday mornings when we sit in on him practicing!


That's all for now! Your birthday party went great and I will be posting that very soon! We love you sweet girl! You are such a blessing to our family!

-Mommy

A Day At The Beach

Tim took the day off on Monday because he hadn't really had a day off all week. He's been working so hard getting various things ready at church. Monday morning after breakfast, we decided to head to a local park on the lake where they also have a sandy area.

The girls had SO much fun! Tim got in the water with them because I think it is DISGUSTING and they LOVED it! (I know I should probably get the Mom of the year award for letting them get into water that I wouldn't even get in, but oh well. LOL)

Hannah, Addy, and I mainly just played in the sand while Tim and Emmy played in the water. The first thing Addy did was stand in the sand because I think she was a little unsure of what was going on. After she got used to everything, she started crawling all around and then would stop and put her sandy hand in her mouth. She puts everything in her mouth! I am constantly digging things out. Anyway, the grittiness didn't even phase her! Yuck!

Addy has learned how to drink from a straw. We had put our slushies within reach of her without think of it. She got ahold of them and was drinking them both! ha!

Emmy swam all around and loved seeing the "little fishies" swimming in the water below. She is getting to be quite the swimmer, by the way. We went to a pool on Saturday and she swam in the shallow end pretty much the whole time with NO floaties or anything. We took a swimming class a few months back because I am terrified of her drowning. I really thing the class helped her! She kept saying she was going to build a sand castle, but couldn't stay in the sand long enough to do it!

She was spinning around in circles and singing when I took this picture!

We only stayed for about an hour and a half, but it was such a fun, spur-of-the-moment adventure! I'm sure we will do it again soon!

I felt bad because I only had a couple pictures of Emmy, so I wanted to show y'all a couple more of her recently.

K, Emmy, and A having a picnic.

We have been let Emmy play in the sprinkler lately. She thinks it's so fun, especially when I go through it with her! lol

Hope you are all having a great summer! I can't believe it's almost over! :-( Thankfully, it usually stays pretty warm here well into October.

Dollywood 2009

A few months ago Andrew, my brother, called and said that he had some free tickets to Dollywood that he would like to share with us. They live very close to the park, so it was a perfect opportunity to spend some time with them!

We had such a wonderful time! We ended up leaving on a Sunday night after church, so we got there, put the girls in bed, and rested up so that we could spend Monday at Dollywood.

Emmy was SO excited and I think overwhelmed when we first got there. When she got the hang of everything and understood that this day was pretty much for her since the babies didn't really know what was going on, she was PUMPED!

That child was FEARLESS and ended up riding a ride that took her up very high and slowly made her go up and down, one of those round rafts that carry about 6 people and take you down a rough river and get you SOAKING wet, and the ferris wheel. Some other things she road were the carousel, flying elephants, train (she actually thinks she road that twice because the trolley from the parking lot to the main entrance was a train to her :-}), and the antique cars.

Addy and Brayden also did very well. They just sat in their strollers and enjoyed everything that was going on. After lunch, they both fell asleep and slept through many things without making a sound!

All in all, we had an AWESOME time and are already planning to go back soon. Thanks Andrew, Valerie and Brayden for your generosity and love that you showed us while we were there!

Addy and Brayden taking it all in.

Daddy holding up Emmy and Andrew on a boat trying to squirt me while I'm on dry land.

Addy loves to give hugs. She says "aww" while she's doing it. SOO sweet!

The Daddy's and babies on the carousel.

Emmy and Valerie. Emmy LOVED getting to spend time with Val that day. Every time I would try to hold her hand while walking at the park, Emmy would say "No! I want to hold Valerwie's hand!"

Mommy and Emmy about to ride Dumbo. I couldn't believe how high and fast that thing went!


Addy snoozin'

Brayden snoozin'


Emmy playing a little game. She won a frog!

I just love this picture! Andrew is such a good Daddy!

Emmy and Tim on the antique cars. She said that this was her favorite thing at Dollywood! lol

I just had to share this recent picture of the girls. Addy can't quite walk without help yet, but she's almost there. I look at this picture and I can't help but thank God for my little girls. They are so precious to me! Raising them isn't easy by any means, but seeing them smile and play brings me so much joy and makes it so worth the difficult times! I love being their Mommy:-)!

4th of July and Life These Days

First of all, let me just say...God is SO good!

I think the last time I updated, we were waiting on the vote for the church that we were hoping God would call us to. Well, they voted us in almost unanimously and we have now been there for a little over a month. The people in this church have been such a blessing to us. They have welcomed us with opened arms and encourage and love on us like we've been there for years and years. Things have been very busy, but we like to say it's a good kind of busy! :-)

Anyway, besides the new church, we have had a few other things go on. On June 20th Emmy was in a wedding in Mississippi. Her job was to run down the aisle with a Mississippi State cowbell yelling "The bride is coming! The bride is coming!" If you know Emmy at all, you know how perfect of a job this was for her! The wedding was at 8 PM, 9 PM our time. She did exactly what she was supposed to with the exception of her tripping right when she got to the front of the sanctuary and then deciding that she was done standing on the platform after about 2 minutes and wandering around the church until she found Tim. It was a lot of activity for just a few days, but we had a great time and we were very honored that Whitney, the bride, wanted our little girl to be a part of her big day.

Emmy taking directions at the rehearsal

And...there she goes! We don't have any of the front of her in the wedding. She was too fast! (Someone else got some, though :-})

The beautiful bride! She looked like a brunette Barbie doll!

Right when we got home from MS, Tim literally un-packed and re-packed his suitcase to go with our new pastor to Louisville, KY for the Southern Baptist Convention. He was gone from Sunday-Thursday leaving me at home all week by myself. On top of that, I was puppy-sitting my in law's new puppy. I was so worried about not being able to handle the girls, the dog and whatnot, but I made it and am actually very proud of myself! I hear that now I'm a youth ministers' wife I need to get used to my hubby being away a lot during the summer. I guess it was good that I got some practice before next summer comes around!

Addy with Annie-the puppy were baby-sat. Emmy was an AWESOME helper, too! Every time it was time to take her potty Emmy would pick her up and we'd all go outside. When Annie was done, she would pick her up and bring her in. Emmy is becoming such a big girl! So is Addy :-{!

We celebrated July 4th a little differently this year. Every year our new church does an outreach at a park right near the church. Tim was there from 8AM-4PM handing out flyers about our VBS while some other members painted faces, handed out balloons and offered free waters to the people enjoying the festivities. That night we all went over to my aunts house to enjoy a cookout and then Tim, the girls and I all went back to the park we had spent the day at and watch some beautiful fireworks. Emmy LOVED it and so did Addy, surprisingly. One of our friends that met us for the fireworks brought Emmy some glow sticks. During the display, she started throwing them up in the air and cheering. I got onto her because I didn't want her to be a distraction. She then said, "Mommy, I'm making fireworks!" It was too cute, to I didn't make her stop! We ended up not getting home until about 11, but it was worth it! We all had an awesome time!

Our little family before we left for the fireworks. Look closely, and you can see a big butterfly painted on Emmy's face. She was so sad when we had to wash it off!

Emmy's new BFF's from church. They are a little older than her, but it's actually making he act a little older when she's with them. This is a bittersweet thing!

Vacation Bible School is going on this week. I am working with 4 and 5 year olds and we have had at least 10 each night, so far. Tim has planned out an awesome week for the youth. They are calling it Youth Camp and the theme is "Planted". They have averaged over thirty kids(6th-12th grades) every night. 3 have accepted Christ as their personal Savior and several others have re-dedicated their lives to the Lord and joined the church. We are so amazed and humbled to see the way God is moving and how He is using us. I'm getting chill bumps just typing this!

To say the least, these past few weeks have been overwhelming from one extreme to another. However, in ALL honesty, God's goodness has exceeded my expectations of anything I could have ever thought up and I don't think that saying "thank you" to Him would do any justice for all He is doing for us.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21

What time is it? SUMMERTIME!!!

I definitely couldn't come up with any better blog title. These are lyrics from a song from High School Musical. What can I say?!?! I love those movies!

I feel like we've been so busy, but I my mind is blank now that I have a chance to sit and write what's been going on! Here are some updates!

*Addy started sleeping in the crib in Emmy's room a couple of weeks ago. She gave me my FIRST sleepless night with her May 15, the second May 16, and by the next morning I was over it! It was like she would wake up just to play and if I put her in her pack-in-play by our bed she would scream! It was so frustrating! The first night she hated when I put her to bed for the night in it but, thankfully, when she woke up in the night she only fussed for a little while and fell back to sleep and slept until about 7:30AM. Some nights she will sleep through the night, but it's not consistent yet. I'm just glad she's out of our room! I was so worried that once the girls shared a room Addy would disturb Emmy's sleep, but Emmy normally just sleeps right through Addy's fussing. The first night she did come in our bed and say "My baby sister's crying." In a very matter of fact way, but other than that it has been great! I remember just sitting and worrying about milestones when Emmy was a baby like "what's gonna happen when I stop nursing her to sleep?", "what's gonna happen when I take her paci away?", etc., but we've gotten through every step-then you have new worries which is a whole 'nother blog! I guess the lesson I'm learning is that there are times where it's not easy by any means, but you get through them and a lot of times look back and wonder why it was such a big deal!

Addy's first night in her crib sharing a room with Emmy!

*Since Emmy is our first child, we've always thought she was the cutest, smartest, best baby in the world! (Come on, admit it! Everyone thinks that about their first kid! When they are about 2 or 3 you kind of snap out of it and realize they AREN'T perfect and there is probably a kid you know that is almost as cute, might know a few more letters than your's, and will actually sit still, be quiet, and eat their food at a restaurant, unlike your child!) As I was saying, Emmy is the smartest 3 1/2 year old in the world. Lately, she has just amazed us at what she knows and remembers! She asked for something the other day and then said "Come on, Mommy! All we have to do is turn wight on ****** Pike and the store is off of dat woad!" She doesn't quite know left from right, but she says "How do we get dere?" all the time and I've gotten to the point where I just tell her very detailed directions and it makes her be quiet! I wish I could remember every little story! I love how she is a little sponge and will pretty much take in everything we teach her. I just pray that she will also be smart enough to apply the Truth we have tried to instill in her when the time comes!

*Emmy and Addy's last day of Mother's Day Out was Thursday before last. I love working there and the checks have been such a blessing, but boy am I glad it's over! Working with children under the age of two for several hours a week on top of caring for your own 2 under the age of 3 1/2 gets very tiring! The last day of MDO they had a whole little carnival planned for them in the parking lot. They started out by serving Happy Meals, then whisked each class outside where there were inflatables and games. It was such a beautiful day and we had such a wonderful time! Emmy is starting the summer Mother's Day Out program next week. She will go every Tuesday from 9am-1pm and I will not be going with her! In August she will be going to preschool for 3 hours a day 3 days a week. The other day she said "I can't wait to dwive myself to pre-school next year. I'll be a big girl den." She was dead serious, too. Anyway, it will be nice to have a few hours to get some things done. I laugh because now that I have two kids, it's a piece of cake when I've only got one with me!

Addy's first french fry. I think she liked it. What do you think???

Addy's class in the lunchroom on her last day of school. We were missing 2 kids. I love these babies! I'm sure gonna miss them this summer even if they do wear me out!

Emmy's class at lunch time on her last day. Emmy is at the head of the back table cheesin' it up, of course!

She was having such a good time! One of the things I will miss about working at her school will be getting to peak in on her any time I want.

Emmy waiting her turn to play a game at the carnival.

Addy on a window seat with the boys in one of the inflatables called Crayon Land.

My little jumping bean. She's pretty much like this all the time.

DRUM ROLL, PLEASE................



*So you know how on my last blog I said I had some exciting news?? Well, it's still not official yet, but we believe that the Lord has opened a door to a church for us to serve in FULL TIME!!!!!!! We are SOOOOOOO excited, thankful, and anxious all at the same time. The reason that it is not official yet is because the church still needs to vote us in. Tim and I both have a peace about this church and feel like this is the place where God is going to use us, so we are optimistic about the vote. That's all the details that I can give so far, but please keep us in your prayers in the next couple of weeks. The church will vote June 7th.

"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

'Til Death Do They Part

The past few weeks have been super busy for us! My best friend Jessica got married yesterday! I am SO happy and excited for her and her new husband, Norman. She planned everything herself and I am so proud of her for that! Everything turned out beautiful and God heard our prayers!

For the past week everyone who was a part of this outdoor wedding has been watching the weather reports for the weekend. The predictions were always scattered thunderstorms all day. Yesterday morning the predictions were actually an 80% chance of rain at 4:00 pm, the time the wedding was to begin. The sun shined until about 5:30 pm, which was about 30 minutes into the reception that was held at a nearby country club. PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Jessica was a GORGEOUS bride. She composed herself in a classy way (which is obviously sometimes hard on your wedding day when you're the bride and you want everything perfect and everyone's not acting perfect! ha!) Norman was the sweetest groom I have ever seen. Get this-as they danced their first dance he looked her in the eyes the whole time singing their song, "True Companion", to her. It was the sweetest thing! It was one of those mushy moments where I think every woman in the room was crying. Also, when they said their vows to each other it gave me chills.

Emmy was the flower girl. I've been nervous about it since about a year ago when Jess asked me. She did a great job. She walked down the aisle kind of shy and didn't throw down any flowers. lol She stood by me for a minute, but then realized that one of her little friends, Brooklynn, was in the audience and walked off to see her. She then ran back up to me and said "Here Mommy. Hold my basket." In the middle of the wedding. It was super cute! By the middle of the reception she was over it, so Tim took her and Addy home to put them to bed. All in all, Emmy was a great little flower girl! I pray that she will be just as good in the next wedding she's in on June 20th!

I was the Matron of Honor and what a priveledge it was! I was truly honored that she asked me. I was so emotional all day because we have been friends since the 6th grade. Since I was in the bridal party, we obviously had to take a lot of picture with the groomsmen. At one point the photographer asked all the bridesmaids to put their hand on the groomsmans shoulder and kind of lean on them. When Emmy saw me doing that to the best man she said "Why's my Mommy touchin' that boy???" I thought that was worth sharing :-)!

About a week ago she reminded me that I had to give a speech and toast. This is pretty much what it said:

When I met Jessica in the 6th grade, I could have never dreamed what our friendship would hold. From eating jelly belly jelly beans on a rooftop and watching Lifetime movies with my Mom, to her becoming like an aunt to my girls and hearing about this guy named Norman who was more than just someone special. Through the years, Jessica has been a wonderful friend to me. She has taught me what a true friend really is. She has been there to talk when I needed someone to listen and has always supported me even when the outcome seemed impossible. Norman is blessed to have found her. My prayer is that you will have a marriage filled with happiness and that God would be the center of it. Song of Solomon 8:7a reads "Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away."

To Jessica and Norman:

May you both love in a way that nothing can defeat it. We all love you so much and pray that the Lord will bless your marriage.

I am so happy for them and I meant every word that I said. I wish that I could have said more, but sometimes it's just hard to put into words how you feel.

Patty, Jess, Me and Emmy on the morning of her wedding. Patty is Jessica's close friend from Knoxville. We all had a slumber party!

Me and Jessica

Jessica and Norman. What a beautiful couple!

Emmy and Brooklynn dancing at the reception

I hope that you all had a great weekend! Tim is off from school for the summer, so he doesn't have work or anything tomorrow! I don't even remember the last time he had an off day. Also, stay tuned-I have some exciting things I'll be sharing in the next few weeks! I just need to wait on all the details. And NO I'm NOT pregnant and NO we're NOT moving. Just wanted to get that out in the open....

A Nice Little Weekend

Even though Tim had a big project due today and had to work on it all weekend, we still managed to have some fun things go on around here!

Friday night we went over to Tim's brother Jeremy's house where his wife Faith cooked us dinner and we got to play with our nephew, Zachary. It was such a fun little visit! They sure are brave to invite our little clan over! Emmy loves being over there and suggested that she would like to have a sleepover with them sometime. I told her to go talk to her Aunt Faith about it. Ha! Ahem...

Tim works on Saturday's, so me and the girls just did our own thing all day. We had a giftcard to Outback, so we met Tim there after he got off of work. It was yummy! He had to go back to Jeremy's that night to finish his project (he had to do it there because Jeremy has a special program on his computer that we don't have), so me and the girls went over to my in-laws house to play with Zachary and visit with my brother-in-laws girlfriend who was in town. We had a great time! I got some of the cutest pictures!

I think this is my favorite picture EVER of them! Addy looks SOO big!

Apparently, Emmy LOVES caterpillars! She wanted to keep it (we didn't) and was very gentle.

Crawling up her shirt!

We let Emmy take her cake out on the back porch. By the time I got out there, look who followed his big cousin to sneak a treat! (Sorry Faith, I had to let her give him another bite so that I could snap a picture! :-} I DID get him to eat most of his dinner before this, though!)

Happy boy!!!

On Sunday we decided to sleep in since Tim didn't get home until around 3AM that morning. It was so nice to have a few hours to do nothing. That night Emmy's little choir sang in church and it was so stinkin' cute! She is a natural.

I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend as well! It was so beautiful and warm-just like summer! Thank you, Lord, for the little blessings!