Everyday Life

Rr Bag

2011-06-18T06:26:00.008-04:00

Each week at school Emma had a letter bag that they decorated on Monday's with something that begins with the letter of the week. During the week, at home, we would fill the letter bag with certain things that begin with that letter. I took a picture of the "Rr" bag becuase I thought it was cute how Emma chose to decorate hers by tracing the letters in ribbon. :)

Valentine's Day

2011-06-17T06:13:00.000-04:00

These were the "treats" that Emma took to school for her friends.

I LOVED the idea that I found here.

Aren't they too cute??? :)

Our Valentine's Day Decorations :)

This year I decided to start a new tradition and buy "baskets" to put our Valentine's Day treats in. :)

Emma enjoyed it! :)

Art Show - 3yr old class

2011-06-16T06:59:00.000-04:00

Below is the artwork from Emma's artshow this past January. She wore her princess minnie ears ALL DAY LONG! :) Here she is proudly showing her snow man.

Her Lion from Daniel and the Lion's Den as well as her Noodle figure.

And here are the answers to her interview. :)

I love stuff like this!

Mommy's First French Braid

2011-06-15T06:55:00.000-04:00

I had to document my first time french braiding Emma's hair. I'd say it was pretty successful. :)

Breakfast Chef

2011-06-14T06:50:00.002-04:00

One Saturday morning I had a little helper in the kitchen. We made pigs n' a blanket. :) One of our favorites! :) She did a GREAT job rolling the dough around the sausages.

Uncle Jason Visits

2011-06-13T06:44:00.000-04:00

Uncle Jason came to visit in January! We were so excited to see him!

As usual I didn't remember take any pictures until it was time for him to leave. So this is what we have. :)

Thanks for coming, Uncle Jason. Hurry back to come visit us!!!

Dreaming Shopper

2011-06-12T06:41:00.001-04:00

I went to check on Emma before bed, one night in January, and found her with a little purse on her shoulder! :) A dreaming shopper. :)

Snowman Princess

2011-06-11T21:41:00.000-04:00

Emma had to design a snowman for school. So she wanted to make a princess....we got inventive using things around the house. :)

First she cut out the three circles all on her own (which she can't see good since they are covered up). She did a great job. Then she asked me to cut a dress out (which I did a terrible job of). She added foam stickers, we cut out silver foil shoes, and crown, made arms and hands, gave her some earrings. Emma glued on the eyes, nose, mouth, wand and hair.

Good Gravy, It's Chocolate!

2011-06-11T21:32:00.001-04:00

So, one night, I decided we would have breakfast for dinner and decided to make some chocolate gravy. Let me ust say, it was DELICIOUS! We LOVED it! :) The recipe is below.

Chocolate Gravy

1/3 stick of butter
2/3 c of sugar
2T all purpose flour
1/3 c cocoa
2c whole milk

Heat butter in a castiron skillet over low heat. Mix in sugar, cocoa and flour. Slowly poor 1c milk into the skillet and whisk well to remove lumps. Whisk in remaining milk, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick, being careful not to scorch. Serve hot over biscuits.

Piggy Tail Cutie

2011-06-08T05:18:00.000-04:00

My girlie let me put pigtails in her hair so I had to take some pictures! :) I love her in pigtails! :)

Isn't she so cute??? :)

New Years Day - consisting of FOOD! :)

2011-06-06T06:53:00.004-04:00

Black Eyed Pea Dip that we made for our snacky lunch. DELICIOUS!!!

We will be making this EVERY New Years Day!

Our Alabama china that we ate our Black Eyed Pea dip on. :) Our New Year's Dinner. Black Eyed Pea Soup with cheese grits and spinach. I'll have to find the recipe for the soup and grits to post. It is delish. This is the second year we made this and plan to make it for years to come. I must remember to 1/2 the recipe next year! :)

New Years Eve

2011-06-05T15:51:00.010-04:00

New Years Eve Fun! :)

On New Year's Eve we ate pizza and went bowling with our dear friends!

Emma enjoyed spending time with her "favorite boys". :)

Emma's first time bowling, not on the Wii! :)

Her ball went very slooooooow! Scores...some look good and some look pretty pittiful! :) Pretty Girl! chatting with the boys sweet, sleeping baby! According to Emma, he is going to be her husband! Emma pushing the other boys away so she could bowl all by herself! Big Brother getting Little Brother out of the way. sweet, sweet, friends!

We got home and played the Wii, and let Emma stay up with us to watch the ball drop.

Happy New Year from our family to yours! :)

Sleeping Beauty passed out on the couch.

Happy New Year 2011!

2011-03-06T06:42:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year from our family to yours! :)

For New Years Eve, we met friends for pizza and then went bowling. The kids had fun, the parents had fun and it was a great night! Then we came home and had some "family time". And for the first time ever, Emma got to stay up and watch the ball drop with us! We had a great, memorable New Years Eve. Looking forward to many more great memories together this year!

Our Christmas Card Photo

2011-03-05T06:54:00.000-05:00

Depending on the type of Christmas card you received from us you got one of these pictures in there. :) Maybe I can get the actual card scanned one day and put on here.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Branum's 2010!!

Emma in December!

2011-03-04T06:48:00.001-05:00

Emma holding/hugging Baby Cole. She LOVES that boy!

She wanted her picture taken early one morning! Crazy girl!

Picnicing in the castle tent one day!

The Day after Christmas

2011-03-03T07:22:00.006-05:00

The day after Christmas we woke up to this:

The view out of our bedroom window

out the front door our yard

see how deep the snow is?

our smiley girl...she was happy to get some snow cream! walking to the car to take a little drive and visit Target

our BEAUTIFUL church

below are LOTS of pictures of the church...it was just so pretty I had to take lots of pics!

the field behind the church

It looked like a winter wonderland here in Raleigh.

a HUGE snowman we found driving through a neighborhood!

looks like fun to me! :)

Christmas Day

2011-03-02T06:51:00.005-05:00

All the stocking loot. Candy, stickers, jewelry an eye mask (she asked for it) little princess dolls. I love the dollar store and dollar bin at Target...it is great for stocking stuffers! :) Lots of loot for little money.

A Belle purse filled with beautiful Belle jewelry and Emma's favorite, stick on earrings! princess matching game Belle doll to go with the Beauty and the Beast movie.

Tinkerbell nightgown Belle nightgown

Belle nightgown on with Belle doll

I couldn't get a good picture!

earrings

look at her cute little smile! :)

Emma Belle inside her castle tent eating her princess ring pop. :)

Emma woke up about 11 Christmas morning (yay) came and got us and then we went down stairs. She got to the bottom of the stairs, sat down looking at the tree and almost in tears said "Why didn't Santa bring me any presents?" We set up all her Santa gifts to the side and she didn't see them. When I told her to turn around she saw a castle with all of her gifts inside. Santa knew just what Emma wanted this year!!! He brought her a castle with all types of princess gifts wrapped in princess paper inside. This was definitely one of the most fun Christmasses for us. I had a blast getting her little gifts that I knew she would like and she had a blast opening everything and honestly, for the most part, plays with it all. We had a filling brunch of breakfast Casserole, pigs in the blanket and sausage balls. Late afternoon we went over to the Corso's for Christmas dinner with their family. Juli made a DELICIOUS dinner and the kids had a blast playing together! We left their house about 10pm because it started snowing and some of the roads were getting icy. We let Emma lay in our bed to watch her Beauty and the Beast movie to fall asleep. :) It was a WONDERFUL Christmas for the Branum's!!!!

Christmas Eve

2011-03-01T06:32:00.002-05:00

This is a pictureless post that is just for my records and documentation so we can remember what we did. :) We spent the day cleaning, cooking and getting ready for our Christmas Eve service, Christmas Eve meal with new friends. Josh and I decided that because we were having friends over for dinner Christmas Eve dinner after church that we would open our family presents before church. Emma received a few things from us that were useful. We got her her leotard, skirt, ballet shoes, and tap shoes for "ballet school". A thermos for her lunch box that she has been BEGGING for and little kiddy digital camera. I thought a camera would be a good idea since she is always wanting to take pictures but...it leaves much to be desired. I was not too impressed with it. Josh got us all a Wii and the Wii fit which we LOVE. We have had fun having family Wii nights of bowling and various other games. We gave Josh a scarf and gloves, and some Alabama items. I finsished prepping dinner and we all got dressed for our Christams Eve service at church. That service is one of my favorite things about Christmas. We had a great time remembering the Savior's birth and worshipping him. After Christmas Eve, a young couple that was just married and are up here for seminary came over to enjoy our traditional Mexican Christmas Eve. We had beef enchilada's and chicken enchilada's. I LOVE chicken enchiladas! It was a yummy meal. I think we all finally went to bed after midnight...even Emma. It made for a nice Christmas Day because I don't think she woke up until close to 11. :) This Christmas was our first Christmas not to go anywhere around the holidays and no one came here. It was a nice change for our little family just to be "us" with our own agenda and own traditions for the holidays. It really was a GREAT Christmas for our family and one I will always cherish. This Christmas season brought some welcomed relaxation for us and for that I am very thankful.

Our Home at Christmas

2011-02-28T06:15:00.000-05:00

I took a few photo's of our home at Christmas. We got a new tree this year that would fit better in our townhome. It is tall and slender. I liked the different look and had fun decorating it.

Our tree with a little present under it. :) stockings dining room

the advent tree that Mom bought us in Finland before they were popular over here and a really neet ornament nativity made from a coconut that mom and dad got somewhere oversees. I love it!

These were just a few of our Christmas decorations. We LOVE celebrating Christmas and the birth of Christ!

A Budding Artist...maybe?

2011-02-27T06:31:00.000-05:00

We got home from Michaels one day where we'd been purchasing some craft supplies. It was getting close to dinner time so I laid the bags down in our dining room and went into the kitchen to make dinner. While I was making dinner Emma did this.

When I walked around the corner of the bar Emma threw down the paint brush and ran up the stairs. Below is what I found all over my carpet. I quickly ran up the stairs behind her and shut her in her room so I could try to clean up the disaster that had occured. While I was cleaning the paint off the carpet and while Emma was in timeout she did this! Oh my...it was quite the eventful day. I was SOOOOO happy for Josh to walk in the door.

Singing at Church

2011-02-26T06:56:00.000-05:00

Our children's choir got to sing in church one Sunday night in December.

They were PRECIOUS! The kids getting lined up to sing.

When I was looking at the pictures, I discovered that Emma was sticking out her tongue. I'm hoping she was just licking her lips! ;)

5 Years

2011-02-25T06:45:00.000-05:00

Josh totally suprised me for our Anniversary. He told me about 11pm the night before on the 16th that I needed to back a bag that we were going somewhere that afternoon when he got off work. My friend came and picked Emma up from our house and then Josh and I left. I still had no clue where we were going or where we were eating. Josh splurged big time and got us a hotel room at the Renaissance Hotel at North Hills. It was so nice. Then, he splurged AGAIN and had reservations for us at Ruths Chris steaks house also at North Hills. Let me just say DELICIOUS and that I can't wait for the next splurge to take us back there. I think it would be a good tradition to eat there every year on our anniversary. Seriously, the best steak I have ever eaten!

The view from our room. I only had my cell phone so the pics aren't that great! My yummy steak and shrimp! Josh's steak. Potatoes Au'Gratin

Creamed Spinach

Not pictured: Creme Brulee with fresh berries

Because it was our Anniversary they treated us to Creme Brulee

We had a great night 'out on the town' for our Anniversary and are soooo thankful to the Corso's for letting Emma stay with them! :) We had a great time just being together!!!

I forgot to get a picture of the two of us that night...oh well.

Movie Time and Santa

2011-02-24T06:45:00.003-05:00

My friend and I took our kids to see Tangled. It was a GREAT movie that we will be purchasing when it comes out. All of us Emma, the boys and the mom's thoroughly enjoyed it! We had a fun time on that cold, rainy, Saturday morning. We met and had lunch at Chick-fil-a, ejoyed the movie and then visited with our good friend 'Sandy Clause'.

the Three Amigo's smiling with Santa O Once again, Emma wouldn't sit with Santa so I sat down with him.

I think in this picture, Santa was making fun of my baking... ;)

School Christmas Musical

2011-02-23T07:17:00.000-05:00

Emma's musical at Little Lambs was great, as usual!

On stage, getting ready for the musical to start!

She saw us! And we got smiles! :)

singing and doing motions! Where is Emma? Mrs. Susan had to help Emma stand back up.... ;)

singing away!

It's always fun to raise your dress up when you are on stage...

you might need it to wipe your nose.

the Kindergarten class singing their song. They were the nativity!

cute pic of Isaac walking out

Asleep

2011-02-22T06:14:00.000-05:00

I had a meeting at school one night and came home about 8 to find this on our couch! ;)

I left them there.

"Ballet School" as Emma calls it!

2011-02-21T06:58:00.000-05:00

Emma had her first after school play date with her friend Elizabeth from church. Elizabeth also goes to Little Lambs too but is in a different class. Emma went home with Elizabeth after school one Tuesday and got to try out "Ballet School" aka Little Gym. She had a blast! The first half hour is gymnastics, the next 15 is tap and the last 15 is ballet. Emma LOVED it and was asking to go back the next day. :)

Isn't she cute? Mom and Dad decided that they would pay her tution for Ballet School for Christmas! She is loving it! :) She doesn't always do what she should be doing. She likes to look at herself in the mirror instead of dancing and run around crazy sometimes but she is learning things and asks about every other day if she gets to go to "ballet school". Thank you Papa and Gigi for the great Christmas gift! :)

Sleighing in Santa's Sleigh

2011-02-20T06:12:00.000-05:00

My friends parents neighborhood has hot chocolate, cookies and a horse drawn sleigh ride every year. They invited us with them this year and Emma had a blast! We caroled as the sleigh drove us around the neighborhood and tried to stay warm. It was a REALLY cold day (it snowed the day before) but the kids had a BLAST! Emma all decked out and ready to sleigh!

sweet, sweet, friends with sweet smiles!

group shot! ;)

the horses were BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Emma "petting"the horse!

lol!

Our First "Snow"

2011-02-13T06:58:00.000-05:00

We got our first snow on Saturday, December 4th. Everyone was excited. I was out running errands at the time and the snow was coming down heavy and fast. They were HUGE snowflakes it was so pretty. My friends and I kept calling one another seeing if it was snowing at their house, etc. We were like little kids that day.

I was so excited about the snow that I had to take a picture when I was stopped at a stop light. I think this picture is a bit clearer. You can kind of see how heavy the snowflakes are. ;) Our little yard. A light dusting.

A beautiful tree in our church parking lot. I had never seen a tree look so pretty. The snowflakes were big and thick. It was not a normal kind of snow for us. We had our Sunday School Christmas party that night so I snapped this picture when we were leaving the chuch. I think this is SO pretty!

November Randomness

2011-02-12T06:39:00.000-05:00

This post is full of some random pictures I took in November. Some with my phone and some with the camera. :)

One night I found Emma sleeping like this. A polka dotted mummy. :)

We had a "Mommy Date"!

A leaf Emma brought me...she gave it to me like it was a flower.

E at the Thanksgiving dinner. All the kids took turns standing on the fireplace dancing and showing off. It was really funny!

E and I were in line at the post office and a lady in front of us asked E i she could jump over the rope that was 1 1/2 feet off the ground. E started trying to do it and I quickly stopped her and told her if she did it again that we would have a little "chat" in the car. Not real sure what the woman was thinking.

We have new favoriye ice cream spot! And it is kind of healthy..it is frozen yogurt. You get however much yogurt you like put whatever toppings on that you like and then you pay by the ounce. Pretty delicous! We first tried one of these places out in Knoxville with my friend Angie...I was so happy when the opened one right by our house! :)

Emma LOVED it! :)

Is he crazy? Probably.

We had an eat out night for my school at Texas Roadhouse. A lady was making all kinds of silly baloon characters. One of my students had this made but wanted a different one so he gave this to Emma. Emma didn't want it, she wanted a flower so Josh wore it! :) (And while I was typing this she saw me type her name and is asking why!) cute! :)

Emma's name tag at school. She is all about tracing letters. Not too much into coloring but all about tracing and writing! :)

My Indian Pilgrim

2011-02-11T06:28:00.000-05:00

Emma made the pilgrim hat and indian 'vest' at school. I think they wore them to their Thanksgiving meal. :)

Nose

2011-02-10T06:32:00.000-05:00

Emma stuck the button (on the left) up her nose the Sunday morning after our late night return from Tennessee. As soon as she did it she came to me and said "Mommy help, I have a button up my nose." Me: "Are you for real?" I then tried to get her to blow her nose (she sucked), I tried to get it out with tweezers etc. I had no success. So, I called the doctors office, made an appointment and jumped in the shower to get ready. When I told Emma that we were having to go to the doctors office and they were going to get the button out she started crying and THANK GOODNESS, the button came out! I've never been so happy to see tears...or buttons! :)

I think Emma learned her lesson about sticking things up her nose...hoping that does not happen ever again! :)

Tennessee Thanksgiving

2011-02-09T06:37:00.000-05:00

Well, I was pretty much the WORST picture taker on this trip. I'm really mad at myself. I don't have any pictures of Emma with Great Mam and Great PawPaw, or with Mam and PawPaw or with Aunt Laurie and Uncle Kenneth, Jason and Jenny etc. etc. Makes me sick! I don't even have any pictures of our Thanksgiving meal so here is a whole bunch of random pictures!

This picture should be towards the end of the post but I forgot to put it in there.

A sweet picture of Em, Jake and Shane. She loves these boys.

Josh carrying his Mom.

a picture Chuck took of Emma outside

Miss Priss!

little cutie

Em playing with Uncle Kenneth

funny faces

crushed ice off the windshield of our car

Em chatting it up with Aunt Jenny

lovin' on baby Annaliese

Smile!

Shane and Emma

Emma being silly in the car on the way home.

I think she kept asking me to take a picture of her! :)

Driving home from the Nashville area we stopped in Knoxville on the way home to eat dinner with our sweet friends, the Tyners, who are leaving TODAY for their first court date in Ethiopia!!! I can't wait for them to bring their boys. So excited about this trip and the first meeting they get to have with their boys!!!! :)

North Hills Santa

2011-02-08T06:33:00.000-05:00

Our friend "Sandy Clause" was the Santa at North Hills this year. He invited us to the tree lighting ceremony. It was a blast. We may have to make this a tradition. Thankfully we got there early (about 4) for the tree lighting at 6 and by 6 it was PACKED! We walked around for a little while. They had a band on the stage, train rides, horse drawn carriages, characters like the gingerbread man, rudolph, frosty, elves, etc and ice skating, "snow" for the children. While Emma and I walked around I told Josh to get in the Santa line behind our friend, Buddy, from church. :) It was a GREAT idea...otherwise we would not have seen santa that night.

Josh was thankful to have a smart phone while he stood in line for an hour and a half! :) We were VERY happy to be second in line! :)

Emma "playing in the snow". :)

isn't this sweet? even though she has "snow" all over her! ;)

I was standing in line with Josh...Emma was mad about something so standing far off...wish I could remember what now! :)

horse drawn carriage carolers

sweet :)

the "host" from a local news station

(can't remember her name)

she sang some Christmas carols...I think she needs to stick with reporting the news.

Here comes SANTA!!!!!

Santa throwing up the magic dust to light the tree! He did a GREAT job!

He lit it! :)

There are no pictures of Emma with Santa because she wouldn't sit with him alone. I had to get in the sleigh with her...lovely!

The Cove

2011-02-07T06:45:00.000-05:00

We had a Womens Retreat at the Cove this fall and it was WONDERFUL! :) Kendra Graham was the speaker/teacher. She really took us through the Word of God and taught us a new way to study it on our own. This was my first time to the Cove it was AMAZING! Absolutely beautiful! I hope I get to go back again.

It snowed while we were there and if you click on and enlarge the above picture you can actually see some snow on the furthest mountain.

Snow was coming down when I took this picture but I don't think you can see it. It was really pretty!

Kendra doing last minute studying.

Kathleen Howell, our worship leader.

Me, Sarah and Susan

more friends

"our women"

My sweet friend Kendra. She has become a really good friend and confidant over the last few years. I am very thankful for her friendship, her prayers and her support!

Group Picture!

I'm trying to find a better one but this will have to do for now.

Pictures of the Cove

Click on the above link to see some more BEAUTIFUL pictures of the Cove. It is a WONDERFUL place!

Oh and Did you know Billy Graham and Emma share the same birthday! :)

Birthday at School

2011-02-06T16:18:00.004-05:00

This year I was able to take treats to Emma's school for her birthday! She wanted rice krispie treats in the shape of ice cream cones. So that is what I delivered. :)

Emma Grace and her friend Nathan waiting for snack time! :)

My favorite 4 year old in the WHOLE world! :)

She got to wear a birthday crown! :)

Sweet school friends lining up for recess.

CHEESE

Happy Birthday, sweet Emma!

Happy Halloween!

2011-02-06T16:14:00.001-05:00

Well, I didn't take any pictures with my camera for Halloween. My friend, Juli did and I need to get them from her. This post is a reminder to myself to get them. :)

Virginia Creeper Trail

2011-01-25T04:11:00.002-05:00

I look a bit sick and apprehensive don't I? Well, this was after a loooooong van ride up a mountain that took us on ALOT of twists and turns. I was sitting in the middle of the middle seat so for this girl that gets carsick on occassion, I was not doing well. I had to ask one of the youth to empty out their Target bag so I could use it if I needed to. I was SO sick. It was an awful ride. Our driver was just speeding up the mountain on those twists and turns. Not to mention that I was already nervous about this bike ride. I hadn't been on a bike in 5 1/2 years and had never gone on a ride that was 17 1/2 miles long. So this picture is taken after the horrible van ride and right before I started the long journey on the bike.

I MADE IT!!! 17 1/2 miles on the bike.

Most of it was pretty easy, the last couple of miles got a bit difficult but I made it and was VERY proud of myself.

the BEAUTIFUL fall leaves...this picture doesn't do it justice! It was just beautiful...we went on the most colorful weekend of the year! The sweet Bell family enjoying lunch. In the Country where we stopped to eat. It was delicious!

Chris and Martin

J and I

sweet Bell girls

Chris and Ben

the Keiths

mother and son biking on our trip. :)

Josh sharing a short devotion with the group before they embarked on the second half of the journey...the harder part that two other ladies and I skipped. :)

Melanie and Mary Ann

Bell Girls

Daley's

Partial Group Pic

Somebody took a picture of the whole group, but I never got it....hmmmm. I'll be looking for that one now.

Fall Family Day

2011-01-24T07:01:00.002-05:00

Our church hosted a Fall Family Day Barbecue. It was a WONDERFUL time of fellowship for our church family. There were carnival type games for the kids, face painting, a hayride, smore's and singin' around the campfire. It was a blast! Our hospitality committee did a fabulous job getting everything together.

Little B - one of E's best friends.

Waiting for the hayride. Isn't he cute?

Sweet E waiting for the hayride.

Big B - Another one of E's best friends and Little B's big brother. Acutally E and her friends act more like brother and sister. It is a good thing since their mom and I are such good friends and always doing things together! :)

Little, Miss Priss enjoying a smore.

E on the hayride not wanting to get off.

She rode and rode and rode and rode.

I think J ended up having to take her away crying.

She LOVED it!

E's DIRTY & NASTY face after Fall Family Day.

She most definitely needed a bath! :)

NC State Fair

2011-01-23T07:43:00.003-05:00

We love going to the NC State Fair. I think we have been every year but one. We even went when I was 8+ months pregnant. I was walking, walking, walking hoping it would entice the little miss to come. :) I wanted to ride the ferris wheel then but J wouldn't let me! :)

We got to the fair this year on their opening day about 10 that morning which was the perfect time! Definitely the way to go! It wasn't too busy yet. We wandered through some of the displays. I saw the sign above and thought it was funny. :)

This is a grasshopper made out of gardeny things. Mostly water hoses. It was really cool looking in person. This picture doesn't do it justice.

Josh and Grumpy E A Candy Land Display = made from all flowers! It was AMAZING!

Mom, Me and E

I thought it was a funny picture with E goofing off and looking away! :)

Krispy Kreme burger...Josh ate it all....quite interesting.

2 Donuts, 1 Beef Pattie, Cheese and Bacon they offered to put ketchup, mustard, pickles, lettuce and tomato on it. J declined.

clogging those arteries! ;)

Eating a fried oreo! She LOVED them!

This was Emma's first year to ride the rides. We bought one sheet of tickets which with one of us having to go with her (because she wouldn't go by herself) only allowed her to do 3 rides. They are EXPENSIVE and we were not buying anymore!

Watch out! She's drving the car! :)

Petting Zoo!

She LOVED it! It was well worth the couple of dollars we paid for the food!

J and E riding the ducks. :)

The Chiquita Banana Queen

She has her cotton candy and is ready to go! :)

Tennesse

2011-01-22T06:42:00.002-05:00

Emma and I took a trip to Tennessee in October while I was off on fall break to visit two of my dear friends, meet up with my parents and attend my aunts wedding. Once again, Em was a GREAT trooper on the trip, we always have fun together!

As soon as we got to Knoxville to The Tyner's house E ran outside to play on their "playground" (as she calls it). When Jack got home he joined her. He is so good to her and plays so well. He is going to be the best big brother to Big Z and Little Z (that they are adopting from Ethiopia). I can't wait for them to get their little boys home and for their family to be complete! These are exciting times for them!!! :)

Friday night, I met up with Angela to meet her new little one. We took our kiddos and headed out for our favorite, Mexican food, and then we went back to her house to chat some more. Angela and I met back in the summer of '03 when we were both summer missionaries in China. We became fast friends! We were both in each others weddings and even though we don't talk all that often we can always pick up right where we left off. I am so thankful for her and her friendship. Emma LOVED holding baby Cooper. He is such a cutie! :)

My parents came and E and I stayed at the hotel with them. This is E in their car as we traveled to my aunts wedding. Apparently E can see her work better when she is wearing her goggles...on her forehead! ;)

The wedding chapel in Pigeon Forge. It has a corny name but it really was a pretty little chapel and the minister was very nice. From what I could tell, he believed the same that we did. He did a really good job.

Emma showing off.

She wasn't wanting to cooperate.

Me and my sweet girl. :)

E looking out the stained glass window. I think this is a cute picture. :)

E, Mom and Me

E feeding the ducks after our delicious steak dinner.

Alamo Steakhouse and Saloon, there is one in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.

It is a bit pricey but I HIGHLY recommend it. It is definitely a GREAT place to go if you are ever in the area! YUM, YUM!

My dear, dear friend Angie and me.

Neither one of us can really remember when we became friends...we just "were". :)

Jon and Angie are always so kind to let us stay at their house WHENEVER. If we want to come for a visit they don't mind, if we are passing through to Memphis to visit Josh's family or whatever they are always willing to let us stay. I just wish we all lived closer! :)

Scissors

2011-01-21T23:09:00.000-05:00

Scissors have been an interesting part of our life this year. One evening in October I found Emma still in her bed awake. I went to figure out what was wrong and found that she had gotten the scissors and was cutting up her sheets. Of course she was punished for that and the scissors were taken away for good. The following day, I thought her hair looked a bit funny but wasn't sure. Later in the day, the more I looked at her hair, the more I realized something wasn't quite right....she had cut her hair. I couldn't find it anywhere. We left to go out of town. While we were gone, I thought of another place to look, inbetween the bed and the wall. I also had Emma looking to.

So...from under her bed she first pulled this hair net out and told me it was her hair. (It came off of her clown wig.) She then pulled out this green hair that had fallen out of the clown wig. Well her hair isn't green so I knew that couldn't be! ;)

Then she pulled out this little girl...it looked similar to her hair but now quite her hair plus more of her hair was gone. This was her dolls hair...so when she was cutting up the sheets and her hair she also cut the dolls hair. When I looked between the bed and the wall I found ALL THIS HAIR! I added the bow for effect...my child cut all her beautiful curls off. :( My parents were here so my mom evened up E's hair. It is growing more but there are still no curls. :( I miss all that hair that was there.

October School Project

2011-01-21T06:51:00.000-05:00

This was Emma's school project for October. She wrote her name (as you can tell) and she told me what she enjoyed doing and what to write. Yes, she came up with it on her own! :) We had to collect the leaves and glue them on. Emma placed them where she wanted them and I assisted her in gluing them. I thought she did a great job. :)

Birthday Invitation

2011-01-20T07:01:00.003-05:00

This was Emma's birthday invitaiton this year. It took me forever to get it finished but I think it turned out really well. The things we do for our kids...

Clownin' Around

2011-01-19T06:27:00.002-05:00

These are a SLEW of pics that I took to try and get a good picture of Emma for her Birthday invitation. It was an interesting half hour to hour of taking pictures. You can see for yourself what a fun time I had! :)

Quite the moody one, eh? :) At least there were some cute one!

I love my moody clown! :)

Grocery Shopping

2011-01-18T07:08:00.002-05:00

I made my grocery list one day and the next day, found that a little someone had so very carefully crossed off many of the items on the list. :) I thought it was too cute!

Happy Birthday to our friends!

2011-01-17T07:00:00.003-05:00

Emma's best friends, B & B had a dual birthday at the fire house where their dad is a volunteer fire fighter. The kids all had a blast! :) They got to try on all the gear, look through the trucks, sit in them, jump on the "jumpy jump" (as E calls it), eat hot dogs, chips and cake and watch a movie. It was a blast.

The little birthday boy, turning 3. :)

the fireman cake the Juli made the fire truck cake that she made! I found an awesome YouTube video of how to make one. Her cake turned out great! :) I am impressed.

Little Birthday Boy! 3

Big Birthday Boy! 7

E taking a hit at the pinata

B taking a hit - I think he ended up cracking it open and then the craziness began! :)

Treats

2011-01-16T06:51:00.000-05:00

We LOVE Mexican food at our house. One of our quick and easy "go to" meals is Nachos. However, Josh is the best nacho maker so he frequently gets that job. One night he made them for us and made them all "sophisticated" so I had to take a picture and document the occassion! :) They were delicious!

Josh had alot of evenign meetings back in the summer. One night on facebook I said that I would LOVE a chocolate molten cake from Chili's and thought it would be fabulous if my husband brought one home and guess what...HE DID! :)

It was DELICOUS!

I have a weakness for the Chocolate Molten Cake! :)

Duke vs Alabama

2011-01-15T07:42:00.000-05:00

Our dear friends, the Daley's, took us to the Duke/Alabama game. We have been looking forward to it since Jan or Feb when Nathan assured us he would get us tickets. This was on Josh's "birthday weekend". It was a GREAT way to celebrate. We had ALOT of fun!

sweating like dogs, waiting for the game to start

a sea of crimson all around

there is some blue scattered in there ;) towards the end of the game when we smelled like cows it was SOOOOO hot! I was so stinkin hot and forgot to take a hair clip or rubber band with me. A guy in front of us had a pom pom so I asked him if I could have one of his pom pom strings to tie up my hair. He thought I was absolutely crazy but boy did it help to have my hair tied up!! Even our water was so warm! Even though we melted we had a GREAT time at the game! Fortunately, this was a game that Alabama won! :) We left before it was over but they didn't score after we left. It was a fun game! Thanks Daley's for taking us! :)

New Phone

2011-01-14T06:40:00.001-05:00

Our new phone.

I love it! :)

Thanks honey for making my birthday so special!

Happy Birthday to Me :)

2011-01-13T06:49:00.000-05:00

This was probably one of the best birthday's I've had. Several of the kids at school brought precious little gifts. One of my dear, dear friends brought me flowers, balloons and a gift card to school and my sweet hubby brought me lunch and ate with me AND had gorgeous flowers sent to the school. The flowers Josh had sent to the school game during lunch when he was eating with me so our school secretary brought them into the lunchroom and the whole lunchroom sang Happy Birthday. I was a bit embarrassed by that. It was sweet. :) It was a great day. To top it all off, I wasn't quite as depressed about my age this year as I was last year. :)

Sweet Emma and me on my birthday.

Josh and I taking a picture of ourself! :)

The pretty flowers Josh had sent to the school.

The pretty flowers my friend dropped off.

Josh and Emma made me a birthday cake. :) Emma is SO proud of it! :) Funfetti cake is one of my favorite boxed cakes. I think they are yummy. :) We treated ourselves to new phones for our Birthday. It was time for us to renew our contract. We have never before acutally "purchased" a phone. We always just get the free phone that comes with upping your contract. This time though, we upgraded to the new Samsun Epic 4G phone with a data plan. I must say that in some weird way being able to check email, etc throughout the day does save alot of time. I find that I'm hardly ever on my computer now unless I'm downloading pictures, updating the blog or working on something for school. I love our new phones and Emma enjoys playing games on them too. :)

September School "Project"

2011-01-12T07:32:00.000-05:00

Emma was given the form of a person and had to make it to "describe" her. I'm not exactly sure that we did it correctly but we did it the way Emma wanted to. We went to the good 'ole Wally World so that E could chose yarn, scrapbook paper and stickers that she liked that represented her.

Emma wanted a purple polka dot dress that we made from scrapbook paper and pink shoes. She actually drew on one of the feet how she wanted to the shoes and I cut them just the way she drew. I think she did a GREAT job! :) Pink and purple are E's favorite colors and she likes "polpa" dots. She chose blonde/brown colored yarn for her hair since that is what her hair looks like. She chose flower stickers because she likes to smell them, popcicles, candy, ice cream and snow cones because she LOVES to eat anything sweet. (She has been known to eat sugar from the canister.) And, she chose music notes because she likes to sing. Thinking back she should have chosen pens and pencils as well because she LOVES to draw and do artwork. As has been evidenced in previous posts. ;) Emma drew her face on once everything else was finished and exclaimed: "It's a REAL person!"

I love her! :)

Labor Day Cookout

2011-01-11T07:05:00.001-05:00

Some friends from church host a Labor Day cookout at the lake each year and invite all the members of the church. This was the first year that we were actually able to go. Emma had a BLAST! :)

All the preschoolers chatting it up! :)

Funny faces. More talking.

Eating and talking.

sweet girl

classic watermelon picture

corn teeth ;)

being silly

friends

more talking

and eating :)

First Day of the 3yr old Class :)

2011-01-10T07:54:00.001-05:00

My BIG almost 4 year old.

I LOVE her!

She loves me! :)

Swimming

2011-01-09T07:29:00.000-05:00

We went to my best friends parents pool several times this year with her and her boys. We always had a blast! They offered to host a pool party for our youth there so of course we said "yes"! It was a blast and Emma had so much fun, like usual! She has become quite the fish this summer.

Emma had been in the water for a while and decided to get out and...

jump in.

She has NO fear! :) She is always sure to wear her floaties though! :) She isn't comfortable without them which makes me happy. :) Just floating and lounging around.

Swimming with Daddy.

She kept asking Josh to flip her...over and over and over.

We had a fun Saturday! :)

Little Visitor

2011-01-08T07:04:00.000-05:00

When Emma and I were walking in one day after school we saw this strange blade of grass. I looked at it closely and realized it wasn't a blade of grass but a snake so I ran inside to grab the camera. Of course by the time I came back out the snake had moved further out on the sidewalk and was a bit more obvious.

We touched the snake and he started slithering away. :)

Goodbye...

2011-01-07T07:53:00.002-05:00

Emma's favorite SS teacher was moving so we had them over for dinner the week before they left. Of course when I wanted to take a picture of them together Emma was all shy and not really wanting to cooperate! :) We love those friends and pray for them as they are off on a new journey that He has called them to. :) Looking forward to seeing them again in March.

Cute Piggytails!

2011-01-06T07:44:00.001-05:00

My little bug FINALLY let me put her hair in pig tails and take a picture. I LOVE THEM! I think she just looks so precious! :)

Hope you enjoyed our "piggytail" pictures! :)

Emma's Shananigans...

2011-01-05T07:23:00.001-05:00

Emma is a busy little girl and ALWAYS in to something....

Well, one day she apparently thought that our couch needed a little personalization...so...with a green highlighter she drew E's on the back of our couch.

She thought our kitchen walls were a little bare so decided to glue a button to them. And, she thought that the living room walls needed some personalization as well. She drew a nice BIG E on the wall...if you look closely it is as tall as the chair. Our little Emma likes to "mark her territory" just like a puppy! ;)

Lynchburg

2011-01-04T07:25:00.001-05:00

So apparently, the pictures uploaded and I never had anything written. Sorry about that!

We went to Lynchburg back in July. Josh took the students to Student Life Camp for the 2nd time and we went up for one night, two days. Mom was here during that time so she could help me with Emma during the day since that was my week of workdays and Friday was my first day of school. The Whaley's are so hospitable and allowed us to stay with them. Emma had fun playing with Carter although, she mothered him too much. ;)

Grandma's and Grandbabies in bed watching a movie. :)

Gigi and Emma The kids participated in Missions Camp. They did a backyard Bible Club in one of the local underpriveleged housing complexes. They did a great job and had alot of fun with the kids!

Mr. Nathan with some of the kids. Isn't he so cute?

Precious Smile

Cutie

LOVE this pic!

Our youth with some of the kids.

So sweet!

Sweet Keshell! I love her. She is so sweet and such a sweet friend to Emma. :)

Chris talking with one of the boys.

The boys doing crafts. :)

more crafts

Holding a sweet little girl that wouldn't quit crying unless she was held.

Carter telling Emma bye. :)

Now Emma is standing with Carter telling us bye! :) She wanted to stay!

Stylin'

2011-01-03T07:12:00.000-05:00

Moo!

2011-01-02T08:54:00.003-05:00

Eat Mor Chikin

We went to the great 'ole Chick Fil A on cow promotion night or whatever it is called.

We did our job and dressed up as cows. :) We enjoyed our free meals. :)

Our cow family my BIG and little cow.

I think they are too cute!

I LOVE this picture!

me and my cute little cow :) the CUTEST little cow ever After we went to Chick-fil-a we took the kids up to the church to play on the playground. While we were up there the fire alarms started going off. And 3+ fire trucks showed up as well as several volunteer firemen.

I thought I would document our "experience" and take a picture of all the firetrucks. ;)

We also used this opportunity to take some cute pictures of our little cows. We can say that the spicy chicken sandwich caught us on fire. ;)

Emma and Sleep...

2011-01-01T04:58:00.001-05:00

I found Emma sleeping in a few unique positions in July...neither look too comfortable to me. Poor girl was so tired, she just passed out!

July 4th Festivities on the 5th ;)

2010-12-31T01:02:00.002-05:00

We went to our sweet friends, the Buchanan's, to celebrate July 4 on the 5th, which was a holiday for everyone. :)

I made a new recipe of a cake I found somewhere. It is a version of Strawberry Shortcake. It was really delicious and VERY "rich" tasting. I think it tasted better the second day once all the strawberry juice sank into the cake. Yum!

They put a slip and slide out for the kids. They had a blast! ;)

It was Emma's first time. She was a little skittish at first but soon started having a blast. :)

sitting in the "pool" of water

sweet Micah man :)

I'm surprised they didn't slip as they danced down the 'slide'.

Emma asking someone to pull her down to the end.

Attempting to give Ethan a push.

Lazy bums laying at the end. :)

July 4 Festivities

2010-12-30T01:01:00.003-05:00

We spent 4th of July evening with our friends! We had so much fun eating and watching the fireworks. E enjoyed the unlimited cotton candy, snow cones and soda! :) She had so much fun playing with her best friends.

E showing off.

B showing off.

E and B showing off and being silly! :)

E holding Baby C...she LOVES holding him but does not like me to hold him too much! :) Our little family. E giving one of her best friends a hug. Watching the fireworks.

The fireworks were wonderful and the fellowship was even better.

Thanks, friends, for inviting us! :) We had a blast!

Bathroom Cooking

2010-12-29T00:37:00.000-05:00

Emma got bored with her play kitchen and decided to take all her utensils to the bathroom to "cook"....with soap and water, I might add! :)

Emma's New "Rings"

2010-12-28T00:32:00.000-05:00

Emma has been getting into things ALOT these past several months. I was busy getting ready to go somewhere and Emma was busy "getting into things". She found a new use for some personal hygeine products. She had ALOT to clean up after this!

Girls' Trip cont.

2010-12-27T00:49:00.003-05:00

On our way back to Raleigh, E and I stopped in to stay with another set of dear friends, the Lewis family. E had fun trying out the Wii with the girls. She had NO CLUE what she was doing, but she enjoyed it.

Trying to get a picture with all 4 girls is not always easy but I think they turned out pretty cute! The older girls were still in their jammies. E and I were up and at it early that day! :)

We hung around Birmingham for a while. We went to Academy and WalMart to get some Alabama attire for Daddy. I took E to Samford and we walked around, ate lunch and bought Mommy some Samford attire and then we headed home on our 9 hour journey. Emma was a good trooper on the trip and we had alot of fun. The next morning, we met Daddy and the Bolivia team at the airport! It was nice to all be back home!

Girl's Trip!

2010-12-27T00:12:00.000-05:00

Emma and I took a road trip to Florida while Josh was in Bolivia. On our way, we stopped to spend a coupld of nights in Valdosta, GA to visit our dear friends, the Parkers.

Here is a picture of their sweet little girl, S, and Emma. Emma is still talking about her 7 months later. She had the best time playing with her.

I took them to Wile Adventures Water Park one day. It had to be the hottest day of the year. We were burning up. Even the water was warm. At least when you were in the water you weren't melting! Emma enjoyed letting the water fall all over her! :) She has become quite the little fish.

She had the best time playing with an older girl and S was SO go to her! Em passed out with one of S's animals. :)

The next day we drove to Pensacola to stay with Mam and Pawpaw! Em HAD to go swimming that night so Mam took her. E swam as much as she could the whole time we were there! Day or Night she was wanting to get in the pool! :)

E enjoyed her night swim with Mam! :)

On Saturday, we went to the beach to check out the situation with the oil. This is one of the clean-up stations. They had a TON of them all down the beach, every few hundred yards. I felt sorry for the workers b/c it was boiling hot out there however, they were making pretty good money doing what they were doing.

They would scoop up the oil and put the oil/sand mixture into a bag that they would later sift out.

The water was so pretty...no one was in it though.

Oil

Cold Drinks! Mam treated us to cold lemonade and fries at the Surf Shack...a cute burger joint on the beach. Lemonade never tested so good!

E and I went to my home church, Olive Baptist Church, to worship and visit with dear friends. I still miss it terribly and I've been gone for 5 years! I love going "home"! :) Mam wanted a picture with Emma and E wasn't the most cooperative! :) The pics are still cute, though. :)

I love this with her looking up at Mam.

Sweet!

And this is Emma's clothing after pictures. She took off her clothes as she was walking down the hall. What do you think she put on? Her BATHINGSUIT! This picture was just too funny!!!

Finally, she can relax in the pool! :)

I love it! :)

Cute Pics Taken at School

2010-12-26T23:33:00.001-05:00

I LOVE this picture of my sweet girl!

Fun in the Sun

2010-11-24T22:26:00.004-05:00

We got Emma a new sprinkler to play in. She was SO excited! :)

She tried really hard not to get wet.

She thought she would hold the little arms that spray everywhere so she wouldn't get wet! ha!

It might be a good way to get a drink.

or...spray Daddy.

oh no, wet again!

better grab those arms...got them good...I can't get wet!

ooops...wet again!

running away! :) Emma had fun playing in her sprinkler!

Memorial Day

2010-11-24T22:06:00.003-05:00

Our good friends, the Gayles, came over for dinner on Memorial Day. We grilled out, ate, talked and the kids played. It was a fun, relaxing afternoon! :)

They brought a "cookie monster cake" for dessert! The kids LOVED it!

You can tell why, right? All the ICING! Have you ever seen a cake with so much icing???

Emma says YUM, I say YUCK!

Cheesin' with an icing face.

Holding baby Cullen. Emma LOVES to hold babies...makes me nervous but she LOVES to do it!

Emma's First Stick Figure!

2010-11-24T21:58:00.002-05:00

I love it! I'm so glad I got a picture! :)

Emma's End of the Year Celebration at School

2010-11-24T20:53:00.004-05:00

The end of the year celebration at school started with a picnic in the fellowship hall with parents. Josh took Chick-fil-a for he and Emma's "picnic". It is her favorite meal afterall.

french fries and ketchup

chocolate milk

chicken nuggets

they had blow-ups and jumpy jumps in the gym

Emma enjoyed sliding down the BIG slide!

however, she did not look before she went and crashed into a little boy. I took the picture as I was putting the camera down to go rescue the poor boy. He was fine though! No tears for anyone involved. ;) cheesin' for the camera

Emma enjoyed her FIRST ice cream sandwich...she had two!

Of course she's all smiles when she's eating chocolate and ice cream! :)

Graduation

2010-11-24T20:41:00.003-05:00

Josh had 4 high school seniors graduate this May. All of them began college this fall. Three went away and one stayed. We miss those that are gone and look forward to seeing them on holidays!

We held a Senior banquet the night before and this time had the food catered! It was such a HUGE relief for me to not have to cook everything. This was the first time we had it catered...I hope we continue to do that! I just decorated and made the cupcakes! :)

Mother's Day

2010-11-13T23:33:00.006-05:00

The beautiful painting that Emma made for me at school. I love it! :) She used her favorite colors...purple and pink!

Mother's Day card that Emma decorated for me!

Mother and Daughter Willow Figurine. Emma LOVES it, she loves to stand on the stool and take it off the shelf and tell me that she gave it to me! :) They also gave me a pink Pandora bead for my bracelet. Emma picked it out...she wanted purple, but they didn't have a purple one so she settled for pink. :)

Baby dedication at church. Our sweet friends Mark and Juli had their youngest son, Cole dedicated on Mother's Day. We got to go over to their home afterwards for a cookout. The kids had a great time playing...and of course I didn't take any pictures! :/

Emma and me on Mother's Day

Our "First" Day - April 6

2010-08-31T23:07:00.007-04:00

Sleepy head...

The next morning sound asleep in her bed.

We could have slept all. day. long. We were exhausted!

Mom and Emma sitting on the couch while Emma tries to wake up. Poor thing, her schedule was all out of wack!

Lunch at my favorite restaurant in Imatra, Finland: Butenhoffs. It is DELICIOUS!!!!

Emma showing a "Moiku" (I'm sure my spelling is incorrect)

She LOVED them...you eat the WHOLE fish...head to tail.

I think I left the tails off. They were really tasty...believe me I was really hesitant at first but sitting her writing about it makes me hungry for them! Yum!

Chowing down!

Please note, these pics are not all of her eating the same fish, but of MANY fish! :)

Dad took a picture of all of us.

Buttenhoffs is right in the center of town where they have a little park area. Emma enjoyed working off her fish by slding down the slide...a million times! :)

Mom and Dad sent Josh on a little two night trip to Tallin, Estonia. I had ridden a little cruise ship over there for the day the last time I was there with mom and dad. This time, Josh was able to come and they sent us on a plane ride over. It was a nice little get away. We had alot of fun and it was a nice time of rest after a really stressful few months! Anyways, when we arrived in Tallin this is the trashcan that we saw in the airport.

Yes We Can, what?

Little Evangelist

2010-08-29T21:09:00.004-04:00

We are taking a break from the regularly scheduled blogging to record a conversation that occurred in the car on the way home from church tonight. :)

Emma: "When I grow up I'm going to tell people about Jesus."

Me: "You don't have to wait until you grow up to tell people about Jesus. You can tell them right now."

Emma: "Okay. When we get to Palsies (a local sweet shop we were meeting our friends at) I'm going to tell Elizabeth (Emma's best little friend from church)!"

Me: "What are you going to tell her?"

Emma: "That Jesus died on the cross for our sins. And you're my best friend."

A few minutes later...

Emma: "When I get older I'm going to go to China and tell people about Jesus. They're going to have to sit down and listen to me. They better make sure their listening ears are on and they can't talk. After I tell them, then I'll take them to the park."

I LOVE HER!

Headed to Finland

2010-08-29T07:18:00.002-04:00

We left RDU about 6 or so on Easter Sunday evening (April 4) and arrived in Helsinki, Finland Monday (April 5) about 3pm their time. We had a short and uneventful layover in London. ;) Thankfully for this trip, we traveled at night so Emma slept a decent amount of time and did pretty well.

When we got off the plane and gave our hugs to Mom and Dad we immediately went to the bathroom to change Emma's dirty clothes. I'm convinced she is a food and drink magnet when traveling. Once she came out she wanted to "ride" on the fire truck...she was happy just to sit on it and 'think' she was riding!

We got in Mom and Dad's car and drove about 3 - 3 1/2 hours to their town of Imatra. Emma played with her Leapster and read books...I think I slept the whole way. Best sleep I'd had the whole trip! :) Emma's dramatic reading of Barney.

Easter Egg Hunt

2010-08-28T08:47:00.000-04:00

Bayleaf hosts a massive Easter Egg hunt every year on their Creedmoore Road Property. This was our first year we have been in town and able to go. Emma was in a strange mood that day and did not really want to hunt eggs, jump on "jumpy jumps" or do anything else other than eat.

Here she is enjoying some delicious nachos! :)

After the hot day at the Easter Egg hunt (Emma was DETERMINED to wear a sweater) we decided to stop for a sweet treat at one of my favorite ice cream places: Brusters! YUMMY! Kids get a free mini cone (which is the perfect size for Emma). Emma had birthday cake ice cream with little eyes! :)

Isn't it cute? She enjoyed dancing around while she ate!

Creative Eye Makeup

2010-08-27T06:36:00.000-04:00

We were bus packing and getting ready to go see my parents in Finland. While I wasn't paying attention Emma got into my makeup. I think she's quite the make-up artist. What do you think? I'm really glad she didn't stick the mascara wand into her eye!

It Is Finished!

2010-08-26T06:24:00.000-04:00

This is "THE BOX" that I spent MANY MANY hours working on. I did not start the process until sometime in October. We decided the beginning of November we were moving so I didn't do any work on it then because I was so busy packing. We were gone the whole week of Thanksgiving, came back and Moved December 1. Our family came in town December 12 and December 17 to attend Josh's graduation on December 18. We were still in the unpacking mode at home so...once again another month of lost work on THE BOX. January, February and March were STRESSFUL months as I tried to complete the box and finish everything up. There were MANY sleepless nights because I was working, many looooong hours away from my family but FINALY by March 31 (the due date) at 2:37 PM I was at the post office ready to mail THE BOX. My hands shook as I handed it over. I spent two months resting and doing nothing until June when I went crazy studing for my big National Boards Test I had to take. The results should be in sometime after Thanksgiving....who knows what will happen.

"THE BOX"

Emma's Easter Musical

2010-07-21T23:46:00.005-04:00

Getting ready to sing.

Singing...

Not Singing... singing really loud...or...yawning?

singing AND doing motions

I LOVE IT! :)

Snow Days

2010-07-21T06:26:00.000-04:00

Back at the end of January, beginning of February we had some snow days! We ended up missing three full days of school and went in on a delayed schedule for two days. Needless to say, the students didn't learn much that week and we had several days to make up later in the year.

This was the view from our bedroom when we woke up Saturday morning!

The view from our front door

A happy little girl, all bundled up! Daddy and Emma taking a walk.

A happy girl playing in the snow!

Tasting the snow!

Our bowls we put out the night before to make snow cream with!

Our yummy breakfast of snow cream! Emma is STILL talking about it!

Our street.

Ice Cicles

Capital Blvd

Our sidewalk

Snow suit reading. She enjoyed putting her snow suit on throughout the day. She didn't understand that you were supposed to wear clothes under it...

Silly girl, lounging in her wagon!

Emma with her snow man that I made! Good grief it was hard to make...the reason why it is SO small!

February Randomness

2010-07-20T07:00:00.001-04:00

These pictures are some random pictures we took throughout February! I got a picture of Emma goofing off in the bathroom with toilet paper...not sure what she was doing. (Don't her rainboots look nice?)

sweet, sleeping beauty!

Emma wanted to be like Mommy with a towel on her head after she got out of the bathtub. :)

New Ride

2010-07-17T22:41:00.001-04:00

I bought Emma a new bike at the Kids Exchange in January. We were saving it until we found a "warm" day to ride. One day in February it was pretty comfortable outside so we gave Emma her new bike! She was SOOO excited! I wish I had captured her face when she first got it! It was precious!!!

Emma on her NEW bike!

Daddy helping her get the hang of it! Emma LOVES riding her bike around!!! Even in this H.O.T. weather we have been having!

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-07-17T07:57:00.001-04:00

The post here is all about our Valentines Day cards and treats! :)

I had the brilliant idea of cutting out a heart and have Emma look through the piece of paper and smile. Well...that didn't quite work out.

So...in the end, I just used this picture and put a heart around her for her cards! :)

I had seen the idea of making heart crayons. I had a heart form and 'thought' that it would work...however, as you can see, it did not. One this cooled off and I was able to scrape the wax off of the pan I tried again! I found silicone cupcake liners that I put the crayons in. As you can see below, they turned out really cute!

A boys crayon.

A girls crayon.

Teacher Treats: oreo truffles, symphony brownies & mini red velvet cupcakes coated in chocolate.

Cutie Pie

2010-07-17T06:57:00.001-04:00

Emma thought she needed glasses and decided to try Mommies out.

I LOVE this girl! :)

More Cookies!

2010-07-15T00:01:00.000-04:00

Emma ready to decorate cookies. You MUST have your oven mitt handy even when the cookies are pre-baked and you only have to decorate them! ;)

Emma and Mommy One cookie down, three to go!

A green reindeer...what everyone wants to eat! ;)

More decorating.

All four cookies are complete! Lots of icing there.

Mmmmm, that icing tastes good!

real good...

can't get enough! :)

January Randomness

2010-07-14T06:34:00.000-04:00

This post is full of various pictures takent throughout January that do not get their own post because I am SO. FAR. BEHIND! :) Enjoy "January Randomness"!

Emma thought our toilets were a little to plain. She decided to put her decorating touch on them.

I must say...she did a good job with the symmetry! ;) Emma got hungry so she brought her stool downstairs, found some hershey kisses and our container of oatmeal and had a snack. Yes, she ate uncooked oatmeal...she went through a phase where she would sneak it and eat it. Sounds gross to me!

Emma and Daddy having fun and playing around on the couch.

I 'think' she was giving him a hug!

Emma got in trouble one day and was sent up to her room to wait for us. When we got there, we found her on her bed like this. :)

Some cute pictures Emma and Gigi took of themselves! Here are some new profile pictures for you mom! :)

An early morning feeding for a doll! :)

Emma and Mommy walking to the car.

Don't we look alike? ;)

I Love You!

2010-07-13T23:04:00.001-04:00

LOVE

YOU!

National Board Stress

2010-07-13T06:40:00.000-04:00

Josh thought we should document what my life looked like for three looooong months. I'm so glad my National Boards are over with!!!

New Baby

2010-07-12T06:37:00.000-04:00

One of my sweet friends, and Josh's youth worker, had a little boy in January. The student ministry threw a surprise diaper shower for her and her husband during Sunday School one morning. I made the cupcakes and tried my hand at some photography! :) That blue icing left me with blue fingers and everyone else with blue mouths! :)

I also made a diaper wreath (like usual) and my first diaper cake but I don't have pictures of them to post. :( I used the cute Target brand diapers with the blue and yellow "polpa dots" as Emma calls them! Thanks to my friend, Shaleen, Josh and I were able to go to the hospital to visit Mark and Juli the night their precious boy was born! His big brothers were there too! :)

He still has the same cute little lips!

Indoor Playing

2010-07-11T06:33:00.001-04:00

My friend, Juli, told me about an awesome indoor playground for kids. We met and took our kids there during the dog days of winter. It was a GREAT place for them to run around and play. I was really impressed with the park! The pictures below are of Emma and her friends running and playing! We were there for a couple of hours at least!

Art Show Star

2010-07-10T07:36:00.002-04:00

Emma's School, Little Lambs Learning Center, at Bayleaf Baptist Church had an artshow the end of January showcasing some of the children's artwork. The winter artwork theme fitted well as the day of the art show was the day we got the BIG SNOW here in North Carolina that kept us out of school three days the following week.

Emma was showing me where her artwork was.

All of her artwork. I LOVE the mittens! :)

The cute little artist! :) They had been studying space in their discovery (science) class. So Mrs. Kelli built a space ship for the kids to get in. :)

3-2-1 Blast Off!

Bye, Bye, GiGi

2010-07-09T06:34:00.002-04:00

I wanted to get a picture of Mom and Emma before we took Mom to the airport. Emma was in a silly, lovey-dovey mood so I caught some cute pictures of her sweet hugs and kisses that she usually doesn't freely give! :)

More Baking With GiGi

2010-07-08T07:32:00.000-04:00

Chef Emma with Gigi! :)

The cutest chef in the world!

She had to go upstairs to get all of her play kitchen utensils to use for the 'real' baking! :)

Adding the bag mix to the melted butter.

This is "semi-homemade" right?

Mixing it up with her little whisk.

The proud little baker!

Sometimes your hand just works better than a rolling pin!

Icing the baked cookies!

Sprinkle Time!

taste test

cookies anyone?

I must say, I was VERY impressed with the bag mix cookies and the premade cookie icing!

I enjoyed them! :) Thank you Chef Emma (and Gigi)!

Happy New Year!

2010-07-07T06:30:00.000-04:00

New Year's Eve was pretty low key.

Josh preached at a New Years Eve youth service in Cary.

Emma and I hung out at the house and spent time together eating snaks! :)

New Year's Day we woke up and I made chocolate croissants for breakfast. Emma LOVED them.

Then I worked on lunch/dinner. I made a black eyed pea dish served over cheese grits with bacon spinach and garlic cheese biscuits. YUM! Emma LOVED it! :) It was a new recipe and I think it is a keeper. Once I find where I put it, I'll post it! :)

December Randomness

2010-07-06T06:15:00.001-04:00

This post is full of miscellaneous pictures taken in December that were not previously posted.

Josh and Emma

Lacey and Emma

Emma with her hat and candy cane after seeing Santa Josh and Emma snoozing in our bed. :)

Emma making the train go around at The Border restaurant.

Papa and Gigi enjoy breakfast there when they are in town.

Emma watching the ballerina with Papa.

Christmas Day

2010-07-05T07:12:00.002-04:00

running into the livingroom to see her gifts.

sitting down to play

she finally saw the PURPLE umbrella!

SOOOO Excited!

Santa left a chocolate covered cupcake looking Marshmallow in her stocking!

She STILL talks about it!

Chowing Down!

tea time

yum, that tea tastes good! :)

time out on Christmas Day :(

She just looked to cute not to snatch a picture.

She dressed herself that day! :)

Christmas Dinner

I didn't think to take a picture of the actual "meal" so this is all I have.

We had a yummy meal of may, grean beans, corn bread dressing, sweet potatoes, hashbrown casserole and yeast rolls with a dessert of pecan pie and chocolate pie!

YUM! :)

Papa did the Christmas boxes with Emma everyday, the last box to open was Baby Jesus.

Emma LOVED doing the boxes with Papa each day!

Showing off the nativity scene!

Christmas Eve

2010-07-04T06:15:00.001-04:00

Our Christmas Eve day began with last minute shopping (shocker)! I came home to make the traditional (for Josh and me) Mexican Meal. :) We had beef enchilada's and I made a new recipe of chicken enchilada's which I think turned out pretty good. We ate a late lunch/early dinner before our Christmas Eve service at church. Once we were home from that, we read the Christmas story and opened our family gifts.

Josh reading the Christmas Story with Emma.

Emma sitting in front of all of her gifts. :)

A new gown from Papa and GiGi, that she LOVES! A dress-up vest from...Poland I think?

New RED sparkle shoes! :)

Pink Clogs from...Finland?

Josh and I gave her a box full of dress up clothes. She is going through it. :)

Princess Emma with her tiara and ALL her jewelry. :)

the BEAUTIFUL girl :)

Trying on her snow princess costume.

Putting the beautiful jewels on Gigi! Thanks to Mom and Dad for giving Josh and I the GARMIN. I LOVE it!!! It has been so handy!!! One of the BEST gifts ever! :)