Spring, Easter and Life...

I am embarrassed to say that the reason I haven't posted in so long is because I just tonight figured out how to upload pictures on the new computer that Tim got me for Christmas. You can stop laughing now...I actually have no excuse except for the fact that I only tried once and it made my head hurt. Tonight it was easy! Who knows?!?! I am technically challenged.

Things are going great here. I am now 37 weeks pregnant which for those of you who get confused I need to get to 40 weeks. I am technically full-term now if that makes any sense. ANYWAY, this has been the most difficult pregnancy so far, but I shouldn't complain. I am healthy, Baby Girl (who has yet to be named) is healthy and Tim has been amazing. I am blessed.

I'm not going to say too much because I have so many things running through my mind that I don't know where to start. Hopefully, now that I know how to load pictures I will post more often. Thank you to all of my faithful readers! I'm sorry if I've disappointed you! The pictures below are from Easter.

December Wrap-Up

Seeing from my last post, you can tell that December started out great! We were blessed to get some snow right at the beginning of the month! It was a fun way to get pumped up and ready for Christmas.



The next two weeks were VERY eventful. I volunteered to help lead the music for the children's Christmas program. We practiced for a few months and I honestly had no clue how the real thing would go. To my surprise, the program was wonderful! It was so nice to take a deep breath after the fact and realize that we got through it. It was also a really cool experience to be on the other end of the children's program. I have been involved in stuff like that my whole life, so to get to direct those children was an experience I will never forgot.



A week later we celebrated Emmy's birthday. My baby is 4! FOUR. YEARS. OLD. This does not seem possible!!! We threw her an Angelina Ballerina party complete with a ballet teacher and all. Emmy was decked out in a fluffy tutu, birthday shirt with a number 4, and a bow to match that I made for her. She also got to have her hair done the morning of her birthday party. We had a wonderful time! One thing I will always remember about that day was how she proudly proclaimed that she was "The Birthday Girl". I'm pretty sure that every time she asked for anything the whole day she made sure to remind us of that! lol Oh well. It was nice to have a day to just spoil and focus on her!



Emmy's party was on Saturday, December 19, and our adult Christmas play was on Sunday, December 20. It was a busy weekend, especially for Tim. I am so proud of him and how well he led our choir in that program. I know that God is using him in a huge way at our church. I am so blessed and proud to be his wife.



Since we didn't get to have "Emmy's special day" with our little family on her actual birthday because it was so busy, we decided to do it Tuesday. We started off by letting her have one of her best friends spend the night. This was Emmy's first sleepover. I was hesitant because I know that they are still so young, but I thought that we could at least try and if her little friend got sad we would take her home. Monday evening was filled with playing, dressing up, ordering pizza, playing hairdresser after baths, and ended with watching the Wizard of Oz and eating fruit loops. (Don't ask. That's what they wanted instead of popcorn! ha!) I put the girls to bed at around 10 and Emmy did great. Her friend stayed awake and quiet for a while, but ended up going to sleep around 11. The next morning we took the girls to a children's museum and to lunch at Chili's. Emmy just HAD to go to Chili's for her birthday so that she could get "some of dat yummy corn". :-) We had such a fun day and I am SO thankful that it went so well! When we got home all 3 girls took a nap!! What a good day.



It seems like as soon as we caught our breath from all of the festivities it was time for Christmas! We celebrated Christmas in our house a little differently this year and I LOVED it. Tim's brother and his wife introduced me to "The Wisemen Christmas" last year and I looked forward to making it a tradition for our family starting this year. Here is the article if you would like to read more about it. We believe that Christmas should be celebrated because of the birth of Jesus Christ. Basically, instead of Santa bringing the presents, we gave the girls presents that would compare to the gifts that the wise men gave Jesus at his birth-Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. Emmy's "Gold" was a brand new 16" Disney Princess bike with a matching helmet and knee pads, her "Frankincense" was "The Jesus Storybook Bible", and her "Myrrh" was a set of pink towels with her name monogrammed in curly hot pink letters with a Tinkerbelle bath set. She LOVED all of her gifts and I really think she understands why we celebrate Christmas. Addy's "Gold" was a Fisher Price horse that you ride and put a doll in front. Her "Frankincense" was a Praise Baby DVD and her "Myrrh" was the same towels that Emmy received (except with Addy monogrammed on it, of course) with some Johnson's Buddies bath soap. She too was THRILLED to see her gifts. Addy obviously can't understand a lot, but I know she will get it in years to come. Our Christmas was very special this year. We spent Christmas Eve with Tim's family and my side of our family's houses throughout Christmas day. All in all, I am very thankful to have our family close by and blessed to have not only have received so many wonderful material things this year, but also more of an appreciation of why we celebrate in the first place.



The next few days were packed with shopping, playing with new toys, and just spending time with our family. New Years Eve, Tim and I were fortunate enough to go to the Chick-Fil-A Bowl to support the TN Vols. We even spent the night in Atlanta without the kids thanks to my Dad and Step-Mom. Our team lost, but we enjoyed some much-needed time to just focus on each other. However, we were both VERY ready to get back to our sweet girls. We missed them!



Ok...I think I've covered everything now! I hope that you have all had a blessed year so far!




(I have started this post for weeks and would then delete it or leave it in my drafts and start a new one. I don't have a camera cord right now so that is why there aren't any pictures. I'm sorry...I know it's no fun, but I just really wanted to update!)

Let It Snow!

Saturday morning I was like a little kid when I glanced out of the window to see SNOW! I couldn't believe it! The weather forecast predicted snow, but that doesn't necessarily mean we will get any. I ran and got the girls all bundled up and took them outside. They LOVED it. Addy wouldn't go inside when it was time because she was having so much fun. (It snowed once when Emmy was that age and she hated it!) One of the coolest things about being a parent is seeing everything through your kids eyes. Do you know what I mean? I feel like I'm experiencing the magic of little things like snow all over again!

My Life Is About To Get A Little Sweeter

Most of you who read my blog already know that we found out Monday, November 23, that we are going to be having another little girl! We are SO excited!

I think that a lot of people figured (and even said) that we "wanted" a boy, but I honestly did not mind one bit if it was another girl. I would have been tickled to have a boy, but my girls are precious gifts and I would not trade them for the world!

I'm nervous about Addy and the new baby being so close in age (20 months), but knowing it's a girl is making it a little easier. We have tons of girl clothes and toys, we won't have to repaint a room, I have an excuse to get to buy more bows..hehe, and I know girls. I also know how special sisters are and the fact that my daughters are going to have 2 of them gives me so much joy. Oh yeah, and so far I won't have to worry about having a daughter-in-law someday. Did I really just say that? lol I just think that's a hard relationship for a lot of news wives. Thankfully, my M-I-L and I get along wonderfully. The first couple of years weren't perfect, but the Lord was gracious and taught me SO much during that time. I am so thankful to have such a God-fearing woman in my life. I could learn a lot from her! (And just to clear this up, I'm not trying to be negative about boys . I know that boys are wonderful. My nephews are very, very special to me. I could just ball my eyes out telling you how much I love them. I'm just trying to focus on the positive things about having a girl. So far, I'm kinda just pretending that I won't have 3 hormonal teenage daughters with boyfriends who want to dress like hoochie mama's and think their Momma doesn't know anything that would be of worth to them. Wow. Maybe Jesus will come back before then. :-])

I guess the last part of my paragraph showed some of the thoughts that are really going through my head, right? That was a little extreme, but there are a lot of things that I'm worried about. However, I was nervous about having Emmy and it was fine. I was nervous about transitioning from 1 to 2 children and I couldn't have asked for a better outcome when our little Addy arrived. I am now trusting and have faith that the Lord is going to see me through just like he has done in every other area of my life! I can't think of a better "problem" (for lack of a better word) to have!

I guess to sum things up, Tim and I couldn't be happier about having another child, another daughter. 3 little girls. My house, my life is about to get a little sweeter! Oh, and by the way, we are thinking of naming her Molly. "Emmy, Addy, and Molly". What do you think?

Mommy, baby girl, Emmy and Addy

(I'm 18 weeks and 5 days pregnant)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Emmy is most thankful for "Halloween" and Addy is most thankful for "Jew" aka juice.

My children are so sentimental.

I hope your day is filled with food, family, friends, fun and blessings from the Father!

Happy Thanksgiving! However, I think we should be practicing thanks LIVING! I know that I have so much to be thankful for and I'm sure that you do as well!

Halloween!

Tonight we enjoyed a trunk-or-treat at our church. It is basically the same as trick-or-treating, but a lot of the church members meet at the church, decorate their cars in whatever theme they want, and give out candy out of their trunk. We had SO much fun! We were so thrilled to have a TON of people come to this event. It's always neat to just get to meet new people and invite them to the other activities going on at our church. I think things like this are a wonderful outreach. Plus, it gives kids a safe and loving environment.

My little girls looked SO cute. After looking at costumes in a few different stores, I decided that there was no reason for us to buy a $30 costume for Emmy, when she had at least 5 different things that she likes to dress up in. She decided this morning that we was going to be Cinderella. Sounded good to me! I decided to go all out and make her hair curly with a curling iron. After I did that, I put a little of my make-up on her! She LOVED it :-). We did decide, however, that Emmy is much prettier without makeup. I wish that was the case with me! ha! A sweet friend of mine let me borrow her little girls old lady-bug costume. Addy looked precious and was so excited to see herself in the mirror after I put it on her. She looked so cute with her little wings flapping behind her as she walked around!

Cinderella and my little lady bug.

Two pictures in a row of them BOTH looking at the camera. It's a MIRACLE!

On the way to Trunk-or-Treat. She was SO excited! Look at those eyelashes, by the way! She got it from my Momma!

Addy was excited, too!

One of my favorite cars and costumes. She did a great job!

My jungle man. Our van had a jungle theme :-). He gave out the candy with that giraffe thing that's in his hand. When you squeeze the handle, its mouths opens.

Cinderella and Ariel. This little girls Mom made her costume AND made her little sister a Flounder costume. They were SOOOO cute!

Trick or treat!!!!

I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of Addy at the Trunk- or -Treat! She just rode around in her stroller a lot of the time. I hope that you all enjoyed your evening as much as we did! Also, just in case you didn't notice, I just published a post I started on Wednesday right before I published this. Goodnight!

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?)