Lunch with Santa

Yesterday was a big day for the girls. They got to see Santa and sit on his lap and then we had lunch and made some Christmas crafts. This was a fundraiser for Emery's preschool, along with a golf tournament. Tad played in the tournament, so I got all 3 girls ready and to the luncheon on my own. I dressed them in their matching dresses I had just finished making on Friday, and Evie's new hat I made her the night before. Needless to say, they stole the show. I had numerous moms approach me to make their children hats or dresses, and I got some contacts for the store. Tad met some really nice guys golfing, including the head pro at 2 local golf courses!! It was a good day. Here are some pics of the girls with Santa! Isn't Ev a crack? Oh, they make me smile, I'm truly blessed!

Today I worked on making some aprons for teacher Christmas gifts, and took the big girls to see The Princess and the Frog. I loved it, but it was a little scary for Emery on the big screen. I think she'll like it on DVD, but it was a little intimidating for her. Ella liked it though! Loved all the jazz music and the feature of New Orleans! Great movie. Now they want to see Alvin and the Chipmunks that's coming out soon, thanks to the 30 minutes of previews before the movie started!

Hope you all had a good weekend! Hope to talk to you all soon!

Busy busy busy

Wow- this time of year just flies by doesn't it? I can't believe it's been a month since I posted. As I'm sure with your lives, ours have been quite busy. But- I won't bore you with the details. Here are some of the highlights though.

1. I finished my sewing 101 crazy and have gone a little beserk in that department. I'm making the girls their second set of matchy-ish dresses, and have made myself a few things too. Made some of my girlfriends keychains, and I have plans for a whole lot more of my crazy ideas.

2. Both Ella and Emery finished their swimming lessons in fabulous shape. Emery graduated from the 'toddler' classes onto the big kid classes and will resume in January. Ella graduated to level 3/4, but is most likely joining the swim team in January. She likes to race! :)

3. Evie's finally walking!! Did I mention that before? We got these shoes that squeak when she walks, and she has taken off. She's close to running now. And of course she can open every door in the house, including the one to the garage. She also can climb on the chair in front of the computer and wreak havoc. Evie can climb just about anything- it's amazing to watch.

4. We had a great Thanksgiving- I cooked a turkey. That's worth repeating- I COOKED A TURKEY!!! Ha ha! I made a whole meal, including a pie. The girls looked at me in a whole new light! ;) And we discovered that Evie likes to eat off of other's plates when she's not in her highchair instead of her own plate, and that she LOVES corn on the cob- pics below for proof!

Look at the lips on this one!!


5. Nana and Papa T came in town for Emery's 4th birthday. Good gracious where has the time gone? My baby is 4? This is crazy! She had a great time, although she did not enjoy the 4 yr old shots we had to get earlier this week. She had to get 5, plus her finger pricked, and a full workup. Yes, I'm a cruel mother- but we got it all over at once.

Don't you just love her hair ? Ha ha- courtesy of big sister Ella- school of hair design. Emery wouldn't let me touch it all day she kept saying, 'but Ella already did my hair'. Oh well, I tried. And yes, we went out in public like this, to her favorite restaurant Applebee's. Want to know why it's her favorite? Because it has steamed broccoli- yep that's right, this kiddo loves her broccoli!!

6. Now we are prepping for our first Christmas in the south. Our elf on the shelf- Scout- came and the girls are totally enthralled with him. He's been great for the attitudes, sharing, and general overall behaviour at our house! LOVE HIM!!

7. I made a baby hat for a friend, and now it has exploded. This friend owns a retail store in town and has asked me to make hats to sell at her store. I gave her 5 a week ago, and one sold within 24 hours of them putting it out, and a custom order for another one. I have 8 more hats to give her today. Here they are! If you want one or know of anyone that wants one, let me know!!

Hope all is well where you are!!

Albert

Well, since Ella had a friend over, it was now Emery's turn. This is Albert, her 'brother' from school as she says! He's so stinkin cute. He has this adorable little southern voice, and is SUPER sweet!! His parents are awesome too!!

Albert came home with us today, and was so busy playing I could barely get him to eat lunch, and then he was super sad to go home. They played so well together, this might become a regular play date! He was kind enough to let me take a few pics of him.

Then we have Ms. Ev- and her many faces!! I was practicing with my flash and caught these! Thought you might enjoy!!

Hope you all are having a great week!!

Sisters&Friends?

Can I be so blessed? Of course they have their moments, for the most part all 3 girls are friends. They enjoy playing with one another, they look out for one another, and they miss each other while at school. One of my favorite times of day is when we pick up Ella from Kindergarten. She gets in the car and I get to ask maybe one question about her day before Emery pipes in. They ask each other how school was, what they did during the day, what they learned that was new, etc. It is so darn cute to listen to their conversation. And to see Ella give Ev a big kiss and say 'I missed you today!'. It's so sweet. I can only hope that it lasts through their teen years :-)

One of their other favorite things to do is get in Evie's crib with her. Ev takes a nap every day after we get home from picking up Ella. Good for me because I get time with the oldest two, but bad for them because they love playing with her. So, when Evie does wake up, they are the first in there to talk to her and play with her until I get her out. Sometimes they crawl in her crib with her and play for about 20 minutes before they are ready to get out. It's so stinkin cute! I tried to sneak in and take pics of it, but they saw me and the camera and began posing!

Hope you are all having a great week!! Love ya!!

Halloween pics a few days late!

I've been under the weather lately. One day I think I'm getting better, then I feel awful for the next two- UGH!! Darn sinus infections!! Anyway, thankfully Halloween day was a good day! We got lots done!! Emery had swimming lessons, I finished their tutus, we carved pumpkins, baked pumpkins seeds, made chocolate covered peanuts and pretzels, and prepared for the big event! The girls were excited and had been for DAYS!! And we were invited to a neighbors big Halloween bash, so trick-or-treating and a party! BONUS!! Thankfully I had made a pumpkin cake with maple frosting the day before in a brief period of feeling good, so we took that to the party.


Our neighbors warned us how big of a deal Halloween was in our neighborhood, but we couldn't envision it. We live in a nice community, kind of secluded from others, and apparently those who don't have a good trick or treating area come to ours. They come on trucks, trailers, ATV's, and golf carts. There is security and off-duty police officers EVERYWHERE!! We started to go through our double cul-de-sac around 6:30 after we took some pics and it was dark. Needless to say, we hadn't even gotten through one of the cul-de-sacs, and at least 50 kids showed up in a matter of minutes! It was crazy! Many people just sit outside because they don't get to close their doors there are so many people!


It wasn't bad though. Everyone was respectful, curteous, and kind, there were no problems. The only complaint we heard was that this year people were asked not to drive ATV's and golf carts after dark, they were requested to walk. They were very diligent about it, between security and police officers, people were off of them pretty quickly. That made some people mad, and some happy- go figure. We didn't care- we were walking anyway.


Then we went to a Halloween party, and totally enjoyed watching all the costumes, young and old alike! The kids had a blast playing with their friends, even Evie! We didn't last long though, and were home by 9 to put tired, worn out kids to bed.


Here are a couple pics of the butterflies and fairy before we headed out! A special thanks to Uncle Curt, Aunt Glenda, Kyle and Laura for the butterfly wings and antenna's, and to Auntie Lee for the Tinkerbell costume!! Tinkerbell is missing her wings! She didn't like them, and they didn't fit very well in the stroller, so it ended up being ok. Note her shoes! We just got those the day before. They squeak each time she takes a step, she LOVES it!! And it has encouraged her to walk more, still holding on to others, but much more than before. She had so much fun at the party walking around everything and hearing them squeak! Party-goers enjoyed it too!! We'll see how long I can handle those!

Luckiest mom ever!

I know I'm the luckiest, most blessed mom and wife ever, but it's nice to be reminded! As I go through some of our photos, it's nice to stumble on those photos that remind you why.

As many of you know, Ella asked for a baby sister/brother for her birthday when she turned 4. She obviously got what she wished for. And it's very evident that she truly meant that wish. She loves Evie more than words can say. It's touching how sweet, gentle, and kind she is to her baby sister. Ella loves to do anything with Evie, except change her diaper :) So, this summer when it came time to rock Evie for her naps, Ella eagerly offered to help. I was skeptical. I mean really, can a 5 1/2 year old really rock an 11 month old to sleep? Apparently, they can. She did it on several occasions after this, up until school started. It became her favorite time of day, and mine too. I decided I better get it on camera and share it with everyone instead of being selfish and enjoing the moment myself.

This other photo is just Daddy with his baby girl, asleep. Nothing fancy, but a pretty special moment for me. After a long, hot, summer day and putting the big girls to bed, this totally put a smile on my face. And it still does each time I look at it. To me it just says 'Sweetness', and reminds me why I'm so blessed.

Hope you all have had a wonderful weekend!! See you soon!

Naps

I sure miss them. When I stopped working both Ella and Emery were still taking naps. It was a glorious time of day. We'd all climb into my bed and take a nice 2 hour nap. It was AWESOME!! Then in February of 2008, Emery decided she wasn't going to take them anymore. I was beyond devastated, especially being pregnant with Evie, I NEEDED those naps! Ella of course quit when Emery did. We quickly worked out an arrangement though. The girls would get a snack, drink, and get to watch a movie while I laid down. I was still quite sick with Evie, so I really needed to lay down for a bit. That process has worked well to this day! I don't get to lay down much anymore, but we have a daily quiet time while Evie naps, the girls and I all need it!

Emery does occasionally fall asleep in the car when picking up Ella from school, but that never lasts long. So, it is on a rare occasion when Emery naps at home. She adamantly refuses to nap. Emery is so stubborn about it that when she does nap, she hides it. She doesn't tell anyone what or where she is, or that she's tired. Most of the time she crawls in her bed, but when she doesn't, I try to snap a pic because it's usually pretty funny looking.

These first pics are from back in July. I was busy still unpacking and organizing the house. We had been here maybe 3 weeks at this point. Evie was napping, and Ella was coloring and I thought Emery was too. When I realized she wasn't coloring, I started looking for her. It took me two trips looking through every room in the house before I spotted her. I bust out laughing when I did see her, she reminded me of a scene from ET!

The ones below were taken a couple of weeks ago. Evie was down for a nap, Tad was down for a nap, Ella was coloring and Emery was watching a movie. I decided to lay down for a bit. After about 20 minutes, Ella came in asking where Emery was. I got up to go look, and this is what I found. Ella had walked right past her, thinking it was just her blanket laying on the bean bags. What a crack! She reminds me of my brother Kent. My parents have several photos of him as a child sleeping in odd places, or around odd things. Now Emery will have these to look forward to when she's older! :)

I'm having fun going through older photos that I haven't shared! I'll share some more soon! Hope you all had a great week and are preparing for a wonderful weekend!! Love ya!

Ahh, I'm in photo heaven!!

I'm so EXCITED!! I upgraded my photo editing software, and was able to install it on Tad's desktop (since my laptop is about to DIE!), and it is AMAZING!! I can edit so much faster, and there are so many more things I can do!

It has been one of the few highlights this week. It was a horrible week from my point of view. It started Wednesday. I was cutting out a pattern in the kitchen, the girls were playing with the scraps and Evie was napping. I went to check on Evie and accidentally woke her up. I then discovered her leg was wedged in the crib and she couldn't get it out. Neither could I! I began to panic, and couldn't get a hold of Tad. After about 10 minutes of spraying water and rubbing lotion I finally got it unstuck- except she was in full meltdown mode at this time.

I'm trying to calm her down when Ella comes out screaming "Emery cut me" with blood running down her finger. I had her go to the bathroom to run cold water on it. I finally get a wet towel on it and have her sit down with me when Tad gets home. All 3 kids are crying at this point. I look at her finger, and she has gashed it down through the tissue. Off we went to the ER. We saw the dr for all of 30 seconds. He just put glue on it and sent us on our way.
So, I head to get her a slush for being so good at the ER -only to spill half of it handing it to her in the car. Then we get stuck at the swing bridge (it swings open instead of a drawbridge) and Ella has to go potty! The only positive thing on Wednesday was we found someone who wanted to lease our house through the spring immediately.

But Thursday morning I learned we were getting an offer from a couple who had looked at it 3 times earlier in the week. We negotiated all day long, finally reached an agreement and were waiting to sign the contract. Unfortunately there was an expiration of paperwork on the buyers side they would renew Friday morning. I meanwhile tell our potential leaser that we had an offer so they could find something else. Early Friday afternoon I learn the buyer has backed out of the deal because he just found out he was getting his hours cut at work and wasn't sure he could afford it anymore- UGH! I quickly get a hold of the person interested in leasing the house. THANKFULLY I had caught her right before she left to go sign paperwork on another house. We quickly signed all the lease paperwork with her, and the deal is done. We have someone in the house until at least May- and hopefully longer. Whew- what a long couple of days!

We had planned to go to the State Fair this weekend, but it's been raining all week and is cold. I didn't think a cold muddy trip would be fun, and Tad didn't feel well this morning anyway. So we are home, and I've been playing with my new toy!!

Here are a few pics of the big girls from last week. They were waiting patiently for Evie to wake up from her nap so we could go to the Shrimp and Jazz festival here in town down on the waterfront. Ella is now craving shrimp- this is HUGE!! 4 months ago she wouldn't have even tried the stuff, and now she craves it???!!!! Wow- what a difference location makes!! There are some HUGE old trees around town, and one is right down on the waterfront. The girls didn't climb all the way up since there were so many people around, but you get the idea of how big they are with the girls standing on the trunk! They are beautiful old trees that have withstood who knows how many storms!

Hope you are having a fabulous weekend!! Talk to you all soon!

A tisket a tasket a baby in a basket!!

Evie has decided that her favorite new spot is in the baskets underneath my coffee tables! These originally had the girls magazines, coloring books, and some coloring papers. Now, they have a lot of torn pages from magazines, coloring books, and coloring papers ;) Isn't she so stinkin cute??

Family photos

One goal I had while Nana and Papa were here was to get some family photos. We took some down by the dock, and some down by the beach. It was hard to get 3 kids and 4 adults all looking and smiling at the same time!! Whew! Here's the best I got! Enjoy!