So many faces....

Waking Up....

Seriously thinking....


Being giddy over painting nails....

and just plain silly while playing...

So many faces, so little time...and these are the good ones:)

Angry and upset faces is a whole other chapter!!!

Have a good weekend


Oops, just got caught face!!!!

Playing Catch UP

hey all-
I am so sorry that I have not updated this blog in forever!!! Since Thanksgiving I have been working non-stop. I offered to start working more since Emmalyn goes to school 5 days a week, but I didn't think it would be this crazy!!! I have a whole new appreciation for mothers who work everyday and still keep a sane household. It is sooo hard! I just want to pass out at night as soon as Em goes to bed! Can someone please give me some advice on how they do this, lol????
Emmalyn is now 22 months old. She talks about everything and repeats my every word! However, we hit that terrible 2 stage early. Temper tantrums over clothing and her food consume my life these days. Emmalyn has a say on every thing she puts on. It has to be bows, jewelry, shoes, and dresses everyday. She now loves her nails painted pink and telling me all the time that we are "pretty girls"- so at least she includes me!!! It really is the cutest thing how their personality develops so quickly. She loves school and church and hanging out with anyone who will give her attention!!!



Our dog, Drake, has now gone from being called "Bubba" to his actual name or "my buddy." And she now calls everyone by their name and can sing her ABC's. It makes me sad we are already leaving this baby stage with her currently being potty trained. I can not figure out where each day has gone these past few months. I guess I can see how people starting getting baby fever again during this stage... but good news for me...I'm NOT. I thought we'd be ready for planning our next baby but I am so content with my little family that I am not having those feelings. I have decided that giving my daughter everything and leading her down the right path in life has consumed my mind more. I know God has plans for every family and right now I believe this is ours! So that is a quick sum up for all who keep asking when we are having our next!!! I just don't want to miss any moments of her life right now since it is flying right by!!

Christmas was such a blessing this year. We actually got to spend time with everyone this holiday and have our own traditions too. Emmalyn thought that having a live tree in our house was the coolest thing! Everytime we'd light up the tree she'd say "oh wow, look at that"...then stare at it in amazement for hours. She got to decorate the tree and place the star on top- which she kept wanting to repeat every night. It was so nice to watch her open all her presents and understand Jesus' birthday!!! I hope everyone had good holidays!!!

I was offered a wonderful job today, that will be full time and give me the best opportunities. I have placed it in the Lord's hand and decided that I am going to take it. I have been so stressed out about what my future holds and it is amazing how the Lord steps in and gives you what is needed! I will be working alot but I will make time to update this blog again. Now that the holidays are over and my life will be somewhat sane and scheduled again I promise to do this:)

Love you all and I can't wait to see what life holds!!!

P.S... I love you Lindsey and I am so happy for you!!! Congrats!!!!

From Emmalyn...

Hey everyone, I am not lost or missing...
My mommy is just slacking on her updating my blog because she is working alot these days and really tired!!! She promises to do it this weekend though, I will make her!!!!
Love you all- Em

Halloween Day

Happy Halloween all! We have had a busy weekend with a pumpkin patch trip and classmate parties to last awhile. Emmalyn decided to dress up as a pink cowgirl as an excuse to wear her favorite boots, the pink cowboy style tall boots. First off, I am room mother for Em's Toddler 2 class so I had to get ready for that which started at 3:00pm and was for parents too! All the kids changed into their costumes so they could go trick-or-treating afterwards...we got the kids fruit, goldfish, and apples...all they cared about was the giant cupcakes I brought. So, sorry to all you parents that the cupcakes became the start of their sugar high for the day:)

We went Trick-or-Treating in Mountain Brook which is such a beautiful area...and where Em's school is! She got so excited practicing her words to get the candy, "Tic-oh-Tet." However, when the people would open the door she would get so quiet and stare, unless they had a dog then she would try to bark and say Hi to the dog. Em still got some candy for only doing it 30 minutes. It was such a long day that we were all tired and quit early! We all did dress up in our cowboy gear for support though...here is her and her daddy on the doorstep before school!

The night before Halloween, Emmalyn decided that she just had to have Minnie Mouse on her pumpkin! So I found a template on Disney.com, great place by the way, and printed it out. I made a special trip to the store to get the new electric pumpkin cutter, not just one store but three because the other stores had already sold out. Cause who waits till the night before??? This sweet gesture to make my child happy became the biggest chore of my life. After I cut the template out and poked all the holes into the pumpkin to begin cutting her, it was already Em's bedtime (2 1/2 hours in).

After getting her fed, bathed, and in bed...I began cutting it. Another 2 hours later you could make out what it was. I have never in my life been so focused on something so useless...don't know when I became the perfectionist! That 4 hour pumpkin looked so nice for these pictures and Em was so happy...but it was done after that because it was already Halloween!

Wilkins told me before I started cutting the pumpkin that he was not doing it this year because it was already too late and tiring. Now I see why! Next year, I think our pumpkins are just going to be smiling with little holes in them or maybe just painted on, lol!

Here she is...hope you like her!!!

Hope everyone has a safe Halloween! Love ya

Pumpkin Patch Kid

We took Emmalyn to the Pumpkin Patch at Ole Baker Farms the other weekend for Halloween. She has been obsessed with pumpkins for some reason. She just wants to hold all pumpkins close and not let anyone else mess with them! So when she saw all of them in the field she started running and screaming all over the place...it was too cute! At the patch they had all the kiddie games and petting zoo stuff, our child loved the calf's that just sat there doing nothing. Her interest in weird or boring objects makes me wonder, she must take after her dad...yes!!! We were in that patch for almost 45 minutes before she found her pumpkin. It was a cute little round orange one with a long vine! She drug that pumpkin across the field hanging on by that vine and was so proud of it... she told everyone on the hayride, "See. See. See, my pumpkin" and would just smile and point!

Dragging her pumpkin with the long vine across the field...

Daddy is so proud of his baby for doing things on her own...

In order to leave the farms you had to go through the maze to get to the cars. It was terrible- if you want to go home with a tired and whiny child you should be able to opt-out of this stupid corn maze. Luckily it only took 10 Min's to get out, but that was a very long walk for Emmalyn who was wiped out from all the excitement! Happy Fall!

Mobile Trip

Last weekend I finally made it to Mobile with no agenda necessary. Me and Emmalyn got to enjoy a nice weekend with no plans! Wilkins went to the hunting camp, so us girls went to my parents for a fun weekend that included the fair. I used to love going to the fair as a child so I was so excited when my parents talked about taking Em!
Her favorite thing, on Saturday, at the fair was the exhibit that housed turtles. She has been learning all about them in her class and touch-n-feel books. So when she saw them in person she knew exactly what they where and didn't want to leave their side. I think my parents had to drag her away from the exhibit. She couldn't even pose for this picture because if she took her eyes off the turtle she thought something would happen!
We got to ride a lot of rides, mainly kiddie rides, which I have never ridden before:) New experience for both of us. She found everything so exciting that she couldn't sit still for any of it. We couldn't get her to look at a camera to save our lives due to all of the entertainment around us. Her favorite ride was the Dumbo ride cause it would go "so high" as she would say!
Got some of the ride in this picture of us!

I think my mom had just as much fun as Emmalyn did. She rode most of the rides with her including this picture of them on the carousel. I found that this weekend my body is not is young as it used to be. I rode the Himalaya ride with my mom and almost died it felt like! My neck and back were so sore and I had bruises on my legs and arms from trying to hold on!!! Its not fun realizing your getting old, haha!

I got to go to dinner that night with my best friend Lindsey, which was nice. I haven't gotten to spend much time with her since I moved to Birmingham! I love how you know when someone is truly your friend when no matter how long its been since you've talked you can pick right up like no time has passed. That's the way it is when we are together...she is like my sister, knows everything about me and is always there! I love you Linds!!! Had the best time with you at dinner the other night, need to do that more often!

Went to breakfast that morning at Cracker Barrel! My dad hung out with Em outside of the restaurant while my mom and I finished up. Emmalyn loves to be outside and swing on anything... so she was thrilled when my dad took her to rock in the chairs. She cried, after 15 mins of rocking, when we told her it was time to go. She probably would of sat in that chair all day if her Granddad would of stayed too!!!!

Thanks for the nice weekend mom and dad. Also Thank you to everyone for my birthday presents and cards. I really appreciated everything:) Love you all

This was her on my birthday..."what, today's not about me???"

Halloween Festival

We went to a Halloween Festival for our community yesterday. Emmalyn had so much fun dressing up as a cowgirl. She had a cowboy hat that she obviously felt took away from her outfit cause she would throw it down and laugh. However, she rocked her pink cowboy boots with a strut and got lots of attention with that! She ate a ton of candy and watermelon shaved ice. I couldn't believe how hot it is still being mid-October. There is normally a chill in the air by now, but haven't seen it:). The heat didn't stop her though...she ran all over the park like she owned it. They did such a good job putting
it on this year. We got to play games like "Go Fishing" and "Duck Pond." She didn't want to actually play the games but flirt with the volunteers working them.
Her favorite thing was the bounce houses. They had a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse one that took the Jaws of Life to get her out! Outside the bounce house they had people dressed up in Mickey and Minnie costumes. She fell in love with them and would not let them out of her site- she followed them all over. We tried to get her to take a picture with them but she started shaking and crying when they went to pick her up. She wouldn't have anything to do with them!!! As soon as they would walk away again she would call for them, they could only wave from afar...I guess we know what Chuck E. Cheese is going to be like!

As soon as we got there she found the miniature pony rides. She wasn't scared of getting on it at all. She rode around the track like a pro- that's my cowgirl, lol!!!

After all the excitement yesterday, we are so tired. I can't wait to sleep one day...I just keep dreaming about it! I hope everyone had a good weekend!

Love you!