Emmy's Fall Party

Today has already been such a fun day! After I dropped Emmy off at school, I headed to Target. What a great way to start the morning! I don't know about you, but Target just puts me in a good mood. I could do SO much damage to our budget there :-). I had to rush a little because I had to be back at Emmy's preschool for her Fall party. It's ok, though. I got some great things on sale and also got a new little sweater wrap dress.

After my little shopping trip, I dropped Addy off at her Grandmommy's house and headed to Emmy's school for her fall party. It was so much fun! They has chicken nuggets and chips and also some yummy treats. I signed up for desserts and thought I did a great thing by going to Walmart and picking out a cute little orange pumpkin shaped tray of orange sprinkled pumpkin shaped cookies. When I showed up, I noticed that the other Mommy who signed up for desserts made these little hand made treats. They were little owls made of moon pies on a stick with an opened oreo for eyes, a candy corn beak and cute little hand embellishments made of icing to really make it look like an owl. Oh yeah, they were also all individually wrapped with a curly ribbon tied around the bottom. It looked like something my Mom would have done! I guess I need to get on the ball!

After lunch, the other Mom's and I went into the other classroom to get a head start on the scare crow that each class was to make. The scare crows are going to be displayed at the fall festival at the church where Emmy goes to preschool. The people who attend it will judge them and the class that wins will get another special lunch one day! (They usually don't eat lunch at school because she gets out at 12.) After getting most of the scare crow put together, we took it in for the children to stuff. Wow. They fought over who's turn it was and pretty much didn't care about what they were doing. One of Emmy's creative teachers decided to give them all some orange felt and let them cut out triangles, circles, and squares and one of their names was written on each shape and then glued on the overalls like a little patch. Needless to say, the Mom's did most of the work. It still had a personal touch, though!

I really enjoyed getting to have that time with Emmy today. The past couple of years I have worked at her school, so I couldn't be involved much with her class. I had my own class to take care of! It was so nice to get to focus on her and help with whatever was needed. It was also cool to see her with all of her little friends acting like such a big girl! Before I know it, she's going to be in KINDERGARTEN! My, how time flies by!

I hope that you are all enjoying Fall as much as we are. I LOVE this time of year. The colors are absolutely beautiful here. Emmy is even noticing how pretty the leaves look! On the way to church Sunday she said "Mommy, look at all the colors! There's red, green, purple and gold!" It was a perfect opportunity to talk about how awesome God is and give her yet another reason to praise Him! Good times...

Emmy's BFF, Brooklynn. They are inseparable.

Lunch time!

Emmy's class with their scare crow.

I took this photo later on during this day before we went to church. I think it's my favorite picture ever. :-) (Laurie, do you think you can work with this?)

A New Life

Since Tim and I got married, we have always talked about how many children we would have, what we would name them, how we would raise them, etc. I guess you could say that once we had Emmy-we were in love with being parents and couldn't wait to have another one! After Addy came along, I realized that kids are a lot of work. Don't get me wrong, having a second child pretty much confirmed why I love being a Mommy so much, but I was tired and felt like 2 little girls were perfect. I had always pictured myself with 2 girls, so it seemed like our little family was great the way it was. Ironically, God had other plans.

A few months ago, Tim and I started looking at houses. We decided that this isn't the right time for us to buy, but it did make us think a little further into our future. One day, I just basically said "Tim, do you think that we will have any more children?" He grinned from ear to ear and said "Yep!" (I'm glad that he had figured that out already, because I had NOT! LOL) Next thing I know, on August the 7th, I was looking at a positive pregnancy test. And just to get this out in the open you CAN get pregnant while breastfeeding AND on birth control! I know that was a litte TMI, but wanted to make it clear that we were not planning to have our kids this close together. That's why this child's name will be Serendipity-the faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident. :-) Ha! (I'm j/k, by the way.)

Today, I'm 14 weeks and 1 day pregnant. Tim and I got to experience an ultrasound together this morning. It's so cool how every pregnancy, every new life, is so exciting. It is amazing to see that little baby wiggling around on the screen inside of me when just 8 weeks ago it wasn't even recognizable. I am in awe of God's power.

I hope that you are all just as excited as we are about our news! My hands are full already, so I ask that will pray for me! The enemy is really good at controlling your thoughts and at times I am overwhelmed by the thought of what my life will be at the end of April! However, I know God will provide the patience and strength that can only come from Him. I am also praying that I will be able to ignore those lovely comments that people like to make when you're pregnant. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Thank you all for your prayers and support! I am excited to be able to document this pregnancy on my blog! I didn't have a blog when I was expecting the girls, so this should be fun! Have a wonderful Tuesday!

I'm Still Here

I'm still here guys! I'm just kind of blank about what to write about these days! I will have something exciting soon.... I PROMISE! Thanks to those of you who check it often!

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