Fried Graham Cracker

While I was cooking dinner tonight, Emma decided to whip up her specialty dish....

FRIED GRAHAM CRACKERS. Yummy!

Our Silly Monkey

The Double Nose Pick (gross!)

Just doing a little shopping!

She may be silly, but she sure is sweet!

Four Fantastic Years

What a wonderful four years it has been...

We built and purchased a house and moved away from family.

We sold a house and moved back home.

We struggled to get pregnant and then felt the joy when we saw our daughter for the first time.

We've gotten job offers, been un-employed, and struggled with money.

Through it all, there is no one else I would rather do it with.

Happy Anniversary Babe!

Emma's First Dog

Today Em ate her first Skin's Hotdog. If you are ever in the Upstate of South Carolina, you have to eat one. They are the best hotdogs on the planet.

Saltines and Ginger Ale

I've been sick. Yuck. Just hoping that no one else gets it. Finally starting the feel better. THANK GOODNESS!

18 Wonderful Months

A year and a half. Has it really been that long? Here are 18 things that I love about you...things that make me giggle, things that make me cry, and things that (well) are just YOU.

1. You will do ANYTHING for a "kno-kno." (AKA doughnuts)
2. You like to ride Daddy like a horse and you get mad when he doesn't make horsie sounds.
3. You've become fascinated by your little kitchen and love to make "treats" for Mommy and Daddy.
4. You wear 18-24 month clothing and size 5 shoes. (little feet)
5. Mommy and Daddy think you are so smart.
6. You can point to every body part correctly. (even elbows and knees)
7. Your newest words are "See ya" and you say it whenever someone leaves. SO STINKIN' CUTE!
8. When you dance, you look like a dog chasing it's tail.
9. You love to watch "The Fresh Beat Band."
10. You are so sweet most of the time and love to give hugs and kisses.
11. You know how to get to Memom's (my grandmother) house. When we leave to go to her house, every turn we make, you say "Memom! Memom!"
12. I can't believe how much you have grown! You weigh 25 lbs and are VERY tall for your age.
13. You like to climb in the snack cabinet and pick out your own snack.
14. Helping Mommy is one of your favorite things to do.
15. You still love to golf with Daddy outside.
16. You are a little swimmer! You have NO fear of water and will swim by yourself across the pool. (with swimmies on of course)
17. You know how to hold your hands when you pray. We say prayers every night before bed.
18. You are the BEST. We love you so much. You are our perfect gift and we can't believe you are already getting to be such a "big girl!" We can't wait to see what the next six months bring.
    

Wordless Wednesday

Sleeping Beauty and all her royal subjects!

New Obsession

Emma has always loved books. That fact makes my heart swoon. I love reading and I desperately hoped to pass that down to Em. Last night before bed, Em and I were reading books. She was cracking me up. We would finish a book and she would hop down and get another out of the basket. She would say "Mommy read?" Now I don't know if this was a clever plan to extend bedtime or that she was genuinely interested in reading, but we read EVERY book in the basket.

These are some of her favorite books. She loves to look for the firemen and doggies in the Fireman Bill book.

She calls the Peek-A-Boo I Love You book "Pee Pie Book" and she always grins so big when you get to the last page. She makes me laugh so hard when she "reads" the Where is Baby's Beach Ball book. She will babble and then lift the flap and say "No." When you get to the last page and lift the flap to find the beach ball, she says "Oh, find it."

I would say that this is Em's favorite book. She calls it "Momma" book. We read it 8 times per day on average. It is adorably cute and I'm glad that she loves it so. It is a paperback and I am pretty sure I need to invest in a hardcover edition soon. I also want to get the other Llama books. I've heard they are all wonderful!

Do you recommend any other childen's books? What are your favorites?

Some of my favorites are The Giving Tree, The Great Kapok Tree, Oh The Places You Will Go, and The Polar Express.

Prayers Needed

I know this might seem trivial and there are tons of people out there with problems greater than mine, but I have an interview tomorrow for a 3rd grade position at a local school. Please pray that this is the door God intends to open for me.

All things green and flowery

Emma has continued her obsession with green beans. She loves them...calls them ga bean and requests them at almost every meal. I think she would live off of green beans and blueberries if I would let her.

This past weekend, we spent A LOT of time in here.
NO...not what you're thinking. We scraped wallpaper and painted all weekend. I will be so happy when all the wallpaper is out of this house! One more room to go!

I never think to take before shots until I am halfway through the project, but here is a pick of the wallpaper that used to adorn our bathroom walls. Lovely...right? Nothing says "manly bath space" like flower wallpaper.

Butterfly Hunting

Going on a butterfly hunt...

LOOK...we found one!
"WOW, Mommy fly, fly"

Now it's time to read.

Sweet girl LOVES being outside. (or "side, side" as she calls it)

Potty Time

Em has been flirting with the idea of using the "big girl potty." She would sit on it and call it potty. She would pretend to wipe and flush. Well, Saturday after returning from the lake, we let Em run around in her birthday suit for a couple of minutes after taking her bathing suit off. I noticed she kept pulling and touching her girly parts. I asked "Do you need to go pee pee in the potty?" She ran to her little potty and she went! That was it. So today, we went off to buy some of these.....

Showing off her cool new princess pull -ups. She was so proud.

Doesn't she look cute in her princess pull-ups!

July 4th Weekend

We spent the holiday weekend with family and friends and we had a BLAST! I have a dear friend whose husband just joined the Amry Reserves. He had to go away for basic training and just got back home last week. She held a WELCOME BACK party at the lake Saturday. Em loved playing with all the kids...I think there were 9 in all, chasing the dog, and jumping in the lake. She did not, however, enjoy the jet ski and Mommy had to swim out to the rescue.

After the lake, we got all cleaned up to go to our town's annual firework show. This was the first time Em would get to see fireworks. (We didn't go last year.)

Em was very excited about the fireworks and kept pointing at the sky. She loved that her friend, Baker, got to go with us. They had a blast dancing to the songs and waving their flags.

And then, it happened. The first firework lit up the hot night sky. Emma DID NOT like it. There was no crying just a death grip around Daddy's neck and eyes averted from the evil (and loud) sparklers in the sky. She came to me about half-way through the show and finally snuck a peek at the "boom-booms" near the end of the show. Maybe next year we should invest in some noise cancelling headphones.

"Em's death grip"