Stephanie's Blessings

Family Fun

2010-11-12T18:10:00.000-08:00

We loaded up and went down south last Saturday to a pumpkin patch/farm. We had heard about it from several people and thought we would check it out.

The first thing we did was take a hay ride around the grounds.

They told us about all the different things they grow on the farm and the history of the farm. One of the things being, a couple of fields of sunflowers. They said we actually missed it by a few weeks when they where all in full bloom.

AEH and I picked a few before we left and brought them home and put them in a vase.

They had a Sudan grass maze. The kids loved running through this but they mostly liked trying to hide from us.

They always love feeding goats.

EMH and I checking out the other animals.

They had what they called, sand mountain. It was a big pile of sand that had some big ropes hanging down over it for you to swing from. AEH loved this!

SLH even decided to give it a try.

This was one of EMH's favorite things. It was a hay maze for preschoolers. He wouldn't do it by himself at first but he got his confidence up and got the hang of it.

This was a big black tunnel slide and it was pretty steep. SLH put EMH on it by himself the first time and I don't think that went over too good. By SLH's reaction and snicker, I think it was a little rough. Probably glad I didn't see it. So needless to say SLH went down with him the rest of the time. AEH went down this a lot with some kids that she met.

This tunnel was in the preschool area and was more EMH's style. It didn't have a slope. He went through this several times.

Another favorite! Driving a pretend tractor! We had trouble getting him off of this when it was time to move on to something else.

We each got to pick out a pumpkin to take home. They had a large hay bale maze behind the pumpkins and they were more interested in that than picking out a pumpkin.

Posing with the pig!

EMH giving the pig a kiss!

When we told them it was time to go, EMH took off down the hill. He did not want to go!
This is SLH bringing him back. Notice EMH has different clothes on. He wet through his other ones. They were having so much fun that we never stopped to change his diaper.

This was the scene in the back seat, not long after we got on the road to head home. They loved it and were worn out! We will definitely have to try to go back next year!

Halloween Weekend

2010-10-31T19:56:00.000-07:00

We have had a fun Halloween weekend!

We started it off on Friday at AEH's school. They had a Hoe-Down all morning and the families were invited to come. EMH actually had a Halloween party at his school at the same time so it worked out good that he could just come to this and we could all be in one place. It started at 8:30 and ended after lunch. The kids dressed in their cowgirl and cowboy outfits and enjoyed a morning full of fun activities.

They started off singing some songs outside on a stage. EMH and I barely made it! We were walking up as they were singing their last song. AEH was scanning the crowd to see where we were. This is when she spotted us. Boy, am I glad I made it! Well sort of made it. ;)

Next was the square dancing in the gym. EMH even participated, but only while I was dancing with them. Hence why I have no pictures of us.

This was probably her favorite. The hay ride! She enjoyed sitting with her friends! EMH enjoyed it too.
As we were getting off, SLH had arrived and was waiting for us. AEH was so excited to see him!

We went inside to their class room and they colored a piggy bank. AEH's didn't make it home with her because she accidentally dropped it as she was getting on the bus. :(

Yes, I dressed for the occasion. Aunt Suzi let me borrow her hat and I wore my cowboy boots.

Brother was enjoying some skittles while they painted their pigs. He also wore his cowboy boots.

Next they took a class picture.

Their favorite,the funny one!

The last thing they did before their picnic lunch was watching and learning how a horse is fitted for horse shoes. They were very intrigued by this, as were the parents. It looked so painful for the horse but they promised that the horse didn't feel a thing.

Saturday night was our trick or treat night. We had an interesting combination.

Princess Leia and a Dalmatian dog.

As you can tell in the above photo, our dog wasn't sure about his costume. Meme and Ampy had stopped by to see them and bring some goodies. With Meme's help and waving some candy in front of our dog, we finally got a little smile out of him.

To no surprise, our Princess Leia was ready for the night!

AEH has a friend in her class at school that lives in our neighborhood and they invited us to trick or treat with them. We went on a hay ride with them around the neighborhood.

EMH loved it! He kept saying "I get candy".

AEH's friend also has a brother the same age as EMH, so they had fun trick or treating together as well.

AEH and her friend had a blast running from house to house getting candy.

This was taken as AEH would say, "the real Halloween day", on Sunday morning before church.

Like I said last year, it will be interesting to see what they choose to be for Halloween next year!

Busy, busy, busy!

2010-10-17T19:58:00.000-07:00

WE ARE STILL HERE! It has been crazy these last few weeks. I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted. I don't even know where to begin.
Well, first of all, I have had a sinus infection/cold for about 3 weeks now. I went to my ENT for the second time today. He did a scope and didn't see anything unusual. I have taken two antibiotics, a steroid pack and several different antihistamines and decongestants. My mom said the other day that our kitchen counter looks like a drug store. Nothing seems to be working. I think a little rain would help. He gave me a new antihistamine and a nasal spray today. So we will see how that works. I am suppose to sing a solo this coming Sunday and I really need to get well. I may go in on Thursday and get a steroid shot to get me through the song on Sunday. AEH had an ear infection last week and EMH had bronchitis a couple of weeks ago. They are well now. SLH has had something similar to what I have. I have been so tired from the medicines and every chance I get, I want to take a nap. I haven't been able to go to church because of the coughing. I almost had to leave out of the choir loft the last time I was there. I have just kept going but not been 100%for anything. I mean I couldn't just shut down for 3 weeks.
We celebrated my birthday. I had several birthday meals the week before my birthday.
This was one night after we went to Pizza Inn. We picked Pizza Inn obviously for the kids. If they are happy then it makes for a much more pleasant experience. I got my presents this night...gift cards and clothes. I had lots of help blowing out the candles.
We did go out to one of my favorite's the night before I left, Cheddars.

I left for my girls trip on my birthday. We had a great time. We shopped, ate, played games, stayed up late talking and just enjoyed getting away and spending time together.
This was our first night at the Oyster House.

This was our last night at the Hangout.

Our packages took up all the room in the back. We had our luggage on the top. This was after we had already taken some out.

SLH took the kids to Birmingham for the weekend. They met up with his family. My Nephew was playing soccer there. So they just made a weekend of it.

We took the kids to the State Fair this past weekend and they had a blast. We went with our friends the C's. We have gone with them for the past several years. It is so neat because our kids are the same ages and it works out well riding rides together. The kids loved all the rides. I think they would have stayed out there forever if money and time would've allowed. They just couldn't get enough. AEH got her a funnel cake and of course we brought home some taffy. The Fair and all it entails is right up her alley. EMH loved it too. He didn't know much last year but this year he was taking it all in. There was not a ride they wouldn't try. No fear in those two.

Another reason I haven't been blogging is I am reading a book that Meme gave me. I don't think I have read a book since AEH was born. It is "Choosing to See" by Mary Beth Chapman. She is the wife of the Christian Contemporary singer Steven Curtis Chapman. They have 3 biological children and they adopted three girls from China. They lost their youngest daughter from China in a tragic accident. I followed their blog for several months after the accident. It is a great book about their life and all the ups and downs they have faced. The only time I get to read is at night after the kids go to bed and that is usually the time I update my blog. Hence the reason I haven't been blogging.
We are also car shopping. I leased my SUV for three years and the lease is up in November. We are trying to decide what we want to get and if we want to buy or lease again. We are probably going to buy which makes us want to be a little more picky, knowing we will be driving this longer. It takes a lot of time to go look for car and the only time we can go together is on the weekend.
My house is a mess and has suffered with us being so busy and me not feeling good. It is driving me crazy. I don't even know where to begin cleaning.
Our shrubs need trimming and new straw put out but that can't happen until I get well. Breathing all of that would probably put me in the hospital.
We have a lot of events going on the next two weeks with Halloween. With AEH being in school now and EMH going two days a week, it makes for many events during the holidays. This is also the time of the year when SLH travels. He will be gone four weekends between now and the end of the year. It's going to be a busy rest of the year.
AEH also has a birthday coming up and we are trying to decide what to do for that.
Having said all of this, I am still thankful for a house to clean, money to buy a car, medicine for my sinuses and most of all, kids and a husband to love and care for.
But for now, I am off to go read my book. :)

Birthday Season

2010-09-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

I guess you could say it is "birthday season" for our families. We have a few others scattered through the year but the majority are at the end of the year and September is the big month.
My dad starts it out with his birthday on September 9th. We had a big birthday celebration for dad, SLH, Suzi and I at mom and dad's last Sunday. Dad got gift cards to Home Depot to use for some home improvement projects.

And then of course there was our little two year old who had his own birthday party on September 11th. EMH got lots of toys!
Since I have already showed his birthday pictures, I thought I would share this picture that I took this morning before church. I had gotten my shoes out to wear and I turned around and he had them on. Sporting them in his pajama top and diaper. I could just eat those cute little legs up! :)

We went to Uncle Todd's and Aunt Toni's on Labor Day weekend and they had an early party for EMH and SLH. Granna and Granddaddy were there too. We had a great time! There will be a blog post coming up with more about that fun trip.

Meme's birthday was on September 14th and we got take out from PF Chang's and celebrated on her birthday. SLH and AEH made a homemade birthday cake. I am so mad that I didn't get a picture of that "masterpiece". :) Meme got some Bath and Body Works soap and some Yellow Box sandals.

Next up was SLH's on September 15th. We celebrated at Pizza Inn and then came back to our house and had his favorite cake that Meme makes for him, "Sock it to Me Cake".
He got two LSU shirt's, gift card to Malco Theater, a Polo button down shirt and some running pants.

Aunt Suzi's was on September 20th. We celebrated at the big celebration last Sunday at mom and dad's. She got MONEY and a gift certificate to one of her favorite stores, "Judith Lee's".

We went ahead and celebrated my birthday with my family since it is October 8th and I am leaving that day for my annual "girls trip". I got money to take shopping with on my trip!! :)
SLH is holding his money up that he got at the big birthday celebration at my parent's.

That is all for now. Next up will be my official birthday October 8th and Granddaddy's October 9th.

EMH is two!

2010-09-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

EMH turned the big 2 this past Saturday. He is now an official toddler and not a baby. It is sad to leave the baby years behind but it is exciting to watch him grow and learn new things. He learns new things everyday and if asked, we can tell a funny thing that he said or did everyday. He is having some of the toddler fits and testing us to see what he can get away with. He told me today when I picked him up from school, "I pull Ms. Leta's hair". Ms. Leta is his teacher. I asked her if he did and she said no. He will tell you he did something wrong even when he didn't just to see your reaction. He did get in trouble for the first time at preschool last week for pulling hair. His teachers tell me that he has not done it again but we do realize that he probably will. :) The sweetest thing he is doing lately is singing. He can sing several songs in their entirety... "Kum Bah Yah", "Jesus Loves Me", " The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Happy Birthday". He also told me tonight as I was rocking him before bed, " I hold AM's hand". This is a little girl at his school that he likes and talks about a lot. I met her mom the other day in car pool and she told me that she hears about EMH a lot at her house too. Wow, they sure do start this stuff early!
We had a party at our house for EMH on his birthday. We rented a train and he LOVED it! Actually he wasn't so sure about it at first...

but he ended up really liking it and has talked about it a lot since. Meme found him a cute Train Conductor outfit. He wouldn't wear the outfit but he loved the hat! We also gave out train whistles to all the kids for their party favors.

He had the cutest cake that our friend Gayla made for him.

He loved being sang to and blowing out his candles. He keeps telling us "I blow out two candles".

EMH loved all his gifts!

He was a wild man on his truck that Juju and Granddad got him. We have definitely got to work on how to steer and drive it.

The kids enjoyed jumping on the trampoline and just playing around in the backyard. It is neat because EMH's friends (and our family friends) have children that are EMH's age and AEH's age. So AEH had just as many of her friends there as EMH. So much so that when everyone left she said "I really enjoyed my birthday party". This gave be an idea. I may have to combine their parties sometime. :)

Our friends/neighbors let us borrow a blow up jumper that they really enjoyed.

As the shirt says, "This little monkey is two". He had a great time at his party and so did we!!!

A big thanks to Aunt Suzi for taking the pictures. It was so good to not have to worry about taking pictures during the party and she has a much better camera and does a much better job than I do. I just hate that we didn't get any pictures of her. :(

"AEH's Tea Party"

2010-09-01T20:13:00.000-07:00

It is probably no surprise to anyone that AEH loves to dress up and adding a tea party to it is just icing on the cake. She had been telling me that she wanted to have some friends over for a tea party. So the week she started school, they split the alphabet for their first day and AEH went the first day and was off the second day. EMH went to his preschool that day that she was home, so we made it a special day for AEH since this was a such a special time with her starting kindergarten. We invited some of her friends over, got some flowers for the table, laid out the tablecloth and had a tea party!

We ordered a cookie cake for her desert.

AEH, being the sweet lover that she is, REALLY enjoyed her sugar cookie cake.

Juju had a cute tea set that we used and AEH picked Milo's sweet iced tea for the drink. They even did a little toasting.

They mostly enjoyed stirring and sipping their tea with their teaspoons.

Two of the girls came dressed in their own outfits, but RB chose to dress up with some of AEH's dress up clothes. We loved what she chose. The horse just made the outfit!!

They had a great time and it was all that AEH wanted it to be!

Waiting for Daddy

2010-08-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

SLH will usually call me when he is on his way home and one day last week the kids heard me talking to him and went to the window to wait for daddy. They got AEH's chairs out of her room and they pulled them up to the front door.
They were so cute! SLH always gets a big welcome from them when he comes home. He barely makes it in the door good before he is bombarded. :) They are much more consistent with thier nice welcome than I am. I usually am glad he is home but mostly because I need some RELIEF! Sometimes my welcome is not quite as happy as theirs. I am working on it though and trying to learn from them. :)

The Bus Ride!!

2010-08-16T13:15:00.000-07:00

I have an update on the bus ride. I was standing out waiting for her and the bus went past our house and on around the culdesac. I saw and heard him make a few stops.

And then I saw him coming back down our street. I must admit that I was a little nervous at this point. Wondering if she was on the bus and if he was going to stop.
And then right after I took this picture, he honked his horn and I knew she was on there!

AEH then, stuck her head out the window and yelled "MOMMY!!". Can you imagine how happy I was!!! I wish I could have been quick enough to get a picture. He stopped right at our driveway and as you can see she jumped off!

She got home at 2:40, so that means our street was probably the first stop and that she wasn't on the bus more that about 10 minutes. So much better than carpool. It took me 1 hour from the time I left home until we got back home the first day and the second day it took me 50 minutes. That was also with a 2 year old taking part of his nap in his car seat. She seemed to really like it and wanted to do it again. So as long as she likes it and as long as we don't suspect or hear about any problems, we will let her ride home in the afternoon. But if for any reason she wants me to start picking her up again, I will most definitely do it!
One day I am going to have to wake EMH up early so that he can see his sister get off the bus. He will love it!!!

Kindergarten and Preschool

2010-08-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

We had some exciting "firsts" at our house last week. AEH started kindergarten and EMH started preschool! It was physically and emotionally draining for their mom and dad. :) Our babies are starting new phases in their lives and although we are so happy that they are growing and blossoming it is still hard to see them move on and leave those baby years behind.
Our hardest thing is going to be going to bed and waking up earlier. We have never been good at getting in the bed early. AEH wants to ride the bus. First of all we just don't know if we can put her on a bus and second it comes by our house at 6:23. When I woke her up about 6:30 the first morning, I told her she missed the bus and she said "mom, your kidding" and then thought about it and said, "i'll catch it tomorrow". I don't want to have to get her up that early, and who am I kidding, I don't want to get up that early either. :) I also don't want her to have to ride the bus that long before getting to school, so I don't think we will ride it to school. But her teachers have told me how great her bus driver is and she would be the first drop off in the afternoons and she would ride at the front of the bus, so we are going to try letting her ride it home. It would also help because of EMH's naps in the afternoon.

AEH had meet the teacher night to start off our week. Her teachers were very nice and we have had several friends tell us what good teachers they are. In fact, we have not heard one negative thing about the school.
This is her with her teacher's. I just love how EMH just hopped right up in her teachers lap like this was all about him too.

AEH got a special treat from Ms. Staci and Meghan. They wanted to take her shopping for a new school outfit. They have been a very special part of AEH's life since the day we brought her home. AEH had such a good time with them picking out an outfit. Such a sweet thing to do at a very special time.

Ms. Staci wishing her a great year at kindergarten.

Ready for her first day of kindergarten! Her face shows a little hesitation but she looked so cute in her outfit!

She and daddy walking up the sidewalk to her school. I just about lost it here. :(

Mommy trying to be a "big girl" in this picture.

Daddy was holding up pretty good.

AEH saying to her teacher, "excuse me can I go play with those toys?"

EMH giving her a goodbye hug.

We left her coloring at her table with a new friend.

When I picked her up she ran out with all smiles and got in the car and said "I like school!". She was ready to go back. Her first thing she talked about was a song that they sang about popcorn. And then she talked about how she didn't go to sleep during rest time. That's about all the details I got.

EMH started two days a week at the Mother's Morning Out/Preschool Program that AEH went too.
He had his backpack on and he was ready for his "big day".

We were prepared for him to not go so easily but we were pleasantly surprised. He got right out...

and went to one of the nice ladies doing carpool without a tear in his eyes.

He was waiting with all smiles for me in the bye-bye buggy when I pulled up to get him. His teacher said he stole all of their hearts. She said he was so loving and liked to be held and cuddled. That's our EMH!

Well, we will see how this next week goes. Maybe we can ALL get into a good routine. :)

A Very Special Day!

2010-08-02T13:05:00.000-07:00

It was just another ordinary Monday as I witnessed something that made me so happy that words can hardly describe.
We had just finished eating lunch and AEH came and asked me how much longer it would be before I put EMH down for a nap. She wanted to know because while he takes his nap she gets to watch a video and she was ready to watch a video. I told her to give me about 30 min. and I would put him down. I was cleaning up lunch dishes and I looked in her room and saw her trying to hold him. I quickly figured out that she was trying to get him to sleep on her own so that she could start watching her video. I didn't think much about it because he was squirming and I didn't think he would comply. About 10 min. later, I realized that I had not heard much coming from her room and I peaked around the corner and to my surprise, she was rocking and singing him a lullaby and he was sound asleep on her shoulder. I quickly grabbed my camera and video. It was the sweetest thing I think I have ever seen and AEH was so proud of herself.

Please forgive the mess in her room. We have been home all day and well, this is just what happens. :)
As she sings you will hear her correct herself as she sings the wrong words a couple of times and I am not sure where she got cotton roll for a part in this song???? I also like the way she is patting and shushing him (just like I do to him). :) What a priceless moment!!!

Our ordinary Monday turned into a "Very Special Day" that I am sure we will never forget!

EMH's First Haircut

2010-07-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

Finally at 22 months, we decided it may be time for a little trim, and I do mean little. EMH didn't have a lot to trim but he did have some split ends and some unevenness that could be shaped up.
SLH had said that he wanted to take EMH to Mr. K who he goes to for his haircuts...one of those father son kind of things. So SLH made the appointment and we went last Friday to see what would come of EMH's first haircut. We definitely had our doubts if this would even happen.
SLH got his haircut first which probably helped, being that EMH was able to watch daddy. Earlier this same day, AEH got hers cut as well. It was a haircutting day!
When it came time for EMH's turn, we tried to sit him in the chair and he did the turning inside out thing. So we knew it was time to pull out the trusty dum-dum sucker. YEA!!! It worked and he tolerated it pretty well. Mr. K didn't cut much but we did manage to get enough to put in his baby book. Now maybe it will grow faster since we got the dead ends off and evened it up.

He was not liking that his hair was sticking to his sticky sucker hands.

The sucker was gone and he was done with this!

Who knows what the next time will be like???

2010-07-18T21:30:00.001-07:00

I have been wanting to get some video of EMH talking but when I try he always wants to look at what I am videoing which makes it difficult to get video of him. Well, the other night I gave the kids a juice bar(like a popsicle) after dinner and while he was still in his high chair restrained, and while his attention was on the popsicle, I grabbed my camera. He wasn't too sure about the popsicle. This is not the first time he has had one but he hasn't had many. Judging on other cold foods that he has had, I'm not sure he likes cold things. When I give him something right out of the refrigerator he will sometimes say "too cold". I think he liked the flavor and taste but not the coldness of the Popsicle. He will take a quick bite and then put it down. His sister on the other hand is scarfing hers down and doesn't as you will see have too much to say because she is LOVING hers and is busy eating every bit. Oh, and the panting in the background is Bonnie. She thought she might get a little drop.

22 Months Old

2010-07-11T20:12:00.000-07:00

Our "little man" is 22 months old today! He is growing up way too fast! I am reminded when I am no longer saying his name in months and when people ask me how old he I tell them he will be TWO in September. YIKES!! We are starting to think about what to do for his birthday in 2 months. I hope these next two months go by really slow.
He seems to be right on track developmentally for his age. People continue to notice how well he is talking. In fact a friend at church today that kept him in the nursery was commenting on it to SLH. He repeats everything we say. We call him our "little parakeet".
I think it is safe to say that he is at the beginning stage of the terrible two's. He is throwing fits pretty easily when things aren't going his way. He throws things, throws himself down and gets really mad. He tells us to hush and be quiet when we tell him not to do something...we are working on that one. When we are at home and he comes and tells us bye-bye, we know to go see what he is about to do because it is most always something that he is not suppose to be doing.
His favorite thing to do right now is turn light switches on and off. He will find anything to stand on and move under a light switch so that he can turn it on and off. He has fallen a few times but it is amazing how that doesn't seem to deter him from doing it again.
He still loves all forms of transportation...airplanes, trucks, boats(especially granddad's),helicopters, fire trucks, motorcycles, etc.
We love that he is exploring and learning new things. He is all boy, except on occasion when he is wearing AEH's shoes, carrying a purse or playing with a baby doll...the perks of having an older sister. My brother did all that too and he survived it.

He was outside with SLH on Saturday while SLH was cutting the grass and I looked out the window and saw this.

"I can cut the grass like daddy."

"Look, I can even pull it behind me like daddy does."

EMH loves his big sister and loves having fun with her!
The other day while they were jumping on the trampoline and I was watering my plants, I decided to give them a little squirt with the water hose. Well, you can see from the next two pictures what that led too. EMH kept saying "do it agin momma". They loved it! AEH was even in her gown for the trampoline and water hose fun.

He is a special little guy, our EMH and we love him SO very much!!!

Balloon Glow

2010-07-05T20:12:00.001-07:00

We went to the Balloon Glow last Friday night to kick off the 4th of July weekend. We met up with several of our friends from church and enjoyed hanging out and watching the kids play.

AEH loved the goodies she got to eat...snow cone and funnel cake.

The blue mouth and lips hung around on her for a while from the snow cone.

EMH enjoying a ring pop.

We left early and went to the post office parking lot to watch the fireworks so that we wouldn't get caught in the traffic when it was over. We ran into a friend of AEH's that goes to her school. The fireworks show was later than we thought and we ended up waiting almost an hour. We almost gave up on them but the kids were having fun playing so we stuck it out.

EMH loved them!

We celebrated with Meme and Ampy on the 4th and Juju and Granddad on the 5th.
We had a great weekend with family and friends!

15 Years

2010-07-03T20:50:00.000-07:00

SLH and I have been married for 15 years! Wow, where does the time go. If you ask me the happiest day of my life, I will tell you it was my wedding day. Everything about that day was PERFECT. Thanks to mom and dad, all the little details from the flowers, my dress, the cake, and the horse and carriage were just what I wanted but the most important was, I married the man God created just for me. He is without a doubt the love of my life and I cannot imagine my life without him. He is a devoted husband and father and the rock in our family. 15 years ago on June 17th is where it all began for our little family. It is so amazing to look back and see God's hand in every detail and circumstance of our life.

We talked about going to the US Open for our anniversary but this summer was just going to be busy with business trips for SLH and tennis tournaments for me so we have decided to wait until next year and try to go.

We did get to go out last weekend on a "date". We tried out a new restaurant in town that is owned by another restaurant that we really like. I had a fillet and it was delicious. It might just be the best I have ever had.

AEH took this picture of us when we got home from our "date".

I am so blessed and looking forward to spending the rest of my life with this man!

Father's Day Weekend

2010-06-24T21:46:00.000-07:00

SLH and I are both so blessed with Godly fathers who have been great leaders and examples in our families. We have turned to them many times since we have been married for wisdom and guidance in certain situations that we have faced. They are always there for us and we know that we can call on them for anything at anytime. Whether it have been handy work around the house, advice about a job or prayer for the strength to make it through our battle with infertility, they have always just been a phone call away.

SLH has already proven to be that kind of father to his children and boy do they LOVE their daddy! I am so blessed to have a husband who is a Godly man and leader of our household. He is such a hands on dad and he is committed to providing a safe and comfortable home full of love, that is centered upon the presence of God.

We started off the weekend celebrating with my dad on Friday night. We went over to mom and dad's and got take out from Abner's. Daddy's favorite food is probably ice cream, so we had a Dairy Queen Cake for desert.

AEH helping him open his card.
One of AEH's and Aunt Suzi's favorite thing to do is each others hair. AEH said that she wanted 10 pony tails so Aunt Suzi came close with I think about 8. We all thought she looked like a Cocker Spaniel.

On Saturday night we cooked out at home with just us and SLH. We had never tried cooking boiled shrimp so we did it and it was delicious! After church on Sunday, SLH picked his Father's Day lunch to be at Pizza Inn... always thinking of the kids.
An AEH classic was on Sunday morning after giving SLH his present and card she asked us "when is it going to be Daughter's Day?" We both answered, "EVERYDAY".

This picture was taken after we got home from church and eating. EMH was not into having his picture made, hence his disgusted look.

SLH opening one of his Father's Day presents.

We ended the day celebrating with Ampy. We went over and had yummy roast beef sandwiches and Meme made his favorite desert which just happens to be one of my favorites too :)...coconut pie. Meme also made SLH his favorite, which is Sock It To Me Cake.

We missed getting to see SLH's dad in Chattanooga. We hope to make a visit to see them real soon.
Since I didn't have a recent picuture from this weekend, I found this special picture of SLH's dad and his brothers on SLH's Graduation Day.

Ballet Camp

2010-06-24T20:56:00.000-07:00

AEH participated in a ballet camp at our church last week. She had been talking about doing ballet and we thought we would see how she liked it with this camp. She seemed to really like it and did very well in the performance on the last day. I think her favorite thing was dressing up in her ballet outfit and wearing her hair in a bun. We may try it out this next fall. When asked if she likes ballet or gymnastics better she says something different depending on the day.

Her performance.

They made several crafts during the week. One of the crafts was the tambourine she is holding.

Showing us her "arabesque".

Her one requirement for me was to wear a dress to her performance. The performance was VERY casual. They just told us to come 15 minutes early on the last day so that we could see the dance they learned. She had been talking about her "program" as she called it all week. So I made sure I wore a dress. It's a knit dress but it's a dress. :) She didn't forget either because when she saw me she said "you wore a pretty dress".

SLH and Meme got to come see her performance. Juju had an eye doctor appointment but we got it on video for her to see.

Vacation Bible School / Stomach Virus/ Camping Out

2010-06-12T19:18:00.001-07:00

We had a fun first few days at VBS before the AWFUL stomach virus hit. It has been going around rampantly at our church. We had a Sunday school party last Sunday and about 20 of the people that were there have gotten this virus. I had planned to help with VBS the first 3 days and then I would leave Thursday morning going to the State Tournament on the Coast with my tennis team. But, Thursday morning at 4 a.m. I woke up and by 6 a.m. it was in full force. At that point I didn't care if they were going to Hawaii, I was just trying to survive. After about twelve hours of misery, I could finally stand up and walk and then I was really missing that I didn't get to go. They are in the finals tomorrow and we will get to go to sectionals in July, so at least I can hopefully go to that, if nothing happens (I may quarantine myself the week before).
EMH got the virus on Tuesday afternoon but by Wednesday morning he was back to his normal self. I, on the other hand didn't get over it that quick. I was so weak and sore for a couple of days after. Children are so resilient and bounce back so much faster.
I taught the Preschool Music again this year at VBS. I really love doing this and the kids are just so cute. We had some great music this year. The theme was Saddle Ridge Ranch. AEH got to go everyday. EMH went the first two days.

Us on the first day at Saddle Ridge Ranch. AEH and I had so much fun wearing our boots, hats and cowgirl attire. If you look closely you can see red paint on EMH's shirt. They finger painted the first day and instead of painting paper, he painted his shirt. When I asked him what he painted, he said "sirt".

This is when I dropped off EMH. All of the kids were crying and Ms. Leslie, their teacher was still smiling. I was holding EMH when I took this picture. He wasn't sure what was going on. He loves "Ms.Eslie", she is his Sunday school teacher.

EMH loves riding in the bye-bye buggy.

This was during Worship Rally the first day! We were teaching them the theme song.

Some of the Preschool Music Team. We had so much fun together!

This is me and another friend of mine that was helping. She got sick with the virus after the first day.

AEH loved the songs and motions!

SLH is leaving for Canada tomorrow(work related trip) and won't be back until Thursday, so maybe he is in the clear of getting the virus. Hopefully AEH will not get it. She has a busy week this next week. She is doing a ballet camp in the mornings and swimming lessons in the afternoons.
SLH is such a great dad! AEH has been seeing the tents at VBS this week and wanted to get one and camp out in the living room. He took she and EMH to Walmart last night and bought them a tent and some marshmallows.

He roasted marshmallows outside on the grill for them.

They were loving those marshmallows.

EMH liked getting in the tent but he didn't want any part in sleeping there for the night. He wanted his bed. SLH and AEH slept there all night.

He even set up the DVD player so that they could watch a movie in the tent.

And, as I was just walking through the kitchen I found this.
He has already made pancake mix that is in the refrigerator. And, his griddle and spatula...

syrup and plates are ready for making us some pancakes in the morning.

We sure are gonna miss our daddy this week.:(

Destin

2010-06-03T20:34:00.000-07:00

We had a great time in Destin a couple of weekends ago with my family. Mom and Dad were so generous to take us and my brother and sister-in-law for a nice long weekend. It was great spending time together and the weather was perfect. We stayed in a Condo at the Sandestin Hilton Resort. Our Condo was on the beach and the pool and grounds were so nice. We went to the beach the first day. EMH liked playing in the sand and the ocean. AEH liked it until she scratched her leg and the salt water bothered it. We went to the pool that afternoon and then we couldn't get her to go back to the beach the rest of the trip. She loves swimming so much and this was the first time this summer that she had been in a pool. She made a friend each day and it was always hard to get her to go in, in the afternoon.
We ate out each night and then on Monday morning we had our favorite breakfast buffet at the Hilton Hotel. It was so good and something that we all look forward to when we are in Destin.

Our morning on the beach!

Randy and Suzi

Pool Time

AEH and her friends she met! She really liked the 11 year old boy on the right in this picture. She saw him a couple of the days and made SURE to get his attention. :) Mom and Dad are entertaining EMH in the background.

Dad and I got to play in a round robin one morning. It was so hot but we got some fun tennis in.

Eating out! We ate at Pompano Joe's, Acme Oyster House and Louisiana Lagniappe.

SLH dared me to eat a raw oyster (with no cracker, sauce or anything) and told me that if I ate it that he would give me 100 dollars to spend at the outlet mall. I do NOT like oysters but for the extra money to go shopping, I would definitely give it a try. It almost didn't go down and there was a little bit of gagging involved but I DID it! Yea, for my new coach purse! :)
Look at poor EMH. He feels so sorry for his mommy.

The highlight of the trip for EMH, the bus ride from our breakfast on Monday morning. We walked to the Hotel from our Condo on the way to breakfast but we decided that after we stuffed ourselves that we couldn't walk back, most likely carrying two children, so we took the bus. EMH loved it! He talked about it for a long time afterwards and just sat in awe during the ride.

Waving bye to the bus.

Of course, I couldn't be 10 minutes from an outlet mall and not go to it, so mom and I went one afternoon and shopped a little bit. We got some REALLY GOOD DEALS! :)
Juju bought AEH a new "two paste" (as AEH calls it). She had been talking about wanting one. She modeled it for us one morning.

AEH loved hanging out with Aunt Suzi. Aunt Suzi fixed her hair every night and even put some makeup on her one night. AEH loved it!

Thanks mom and dad for another GREAT trip!

We had a great time!

A Special Day!

2010-05-26T20:03:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday night was AEH's Graduation from the preschool that she has attended since she was 2 1/2 years old. It has been a wonderful experience and we have been very pleased. So much that EMH will start there next year.
When AEH got up Thursday morning she came in my room as I was getting ready and said. "Mom, today is a special day, isn't it?" And one of many special days it was! Her daddy had already left for work but he had something waiting for her in the kitchen. Her favorite breakfast food, DONUTS! He had gone to our favorite donut store and gotten her some donuts and brought them back home just for her. She was loving her special day already!
Notice the vitamin to the left of her donut bag. At least we try to counteract the unhealthy food we feed our children. :)

Juju is so good at coming up with unique and great ideas. She thought it would be fun for AEH to wear a shirt on the last day that said thank you to all of her teachers from the past three years. Aunt Suzi is very good at stuff like this so Juju asked her to make it. It was darling! The teachers loved it and AEH was so proud to wear it!

AEH usually stays for lunch bunch but not today on her special day. Her daddy surprised her and picked her up from school and we all met for lunch.

And finally the night came and our daughter was ready to walk down the isle and graduate from preschool.

They called her name, our names, the school she would be attending and then they told what she wanted to be when she grew up... which we had no clue what she had told them. She said "a ballerina"...something we have not even tried yet. Good thing we are trying out a ballet camp this summer.
Her class sang some cute songs with dancing and motions.

She even had a small speaking part.

She and her friend AA were really enjoying themselves here.

SLH bought these flowers on his own and gave them to her after the program. She LOVED them and thought she was so special!

We were all so proud of her!

Her friend since they were infants, MC. Better known to AEH as her "sister".

AEH is wearing a locket that Meme and Ampy gave her. She had been asking them for a locket with mine and SLH's pictures in it. She loved it!

She and her friend HB met strictly through preschool. They ended up wearing the same dress and they were so happy about that.

And the proud parents with the "graduate"!

She will enjoy her last celebration of preschool tomorrow night at a swim party for the graduates. She can't wait!

End of the Year Programs

2010-05-16T20:23:00.001-07:00

It's the end of the school year and time for all the programs. AEH had her gymnastic's program this past Friday night. She did great! It's amazing how much strength she has gained. They showed us everything from floor exercises to the vault and beam. The grandparents came and enjoyed watching her and of course were very proud of her. She seemed to really enjoy it. We will take a break during the summer and if she wants to we will take again next school year. I wish I had more pictures but my camera battery went out. RB's mom took some for me so I will have more later.

We have her preschool program and graduation this Thursday night and then Friday we are off to Destin Florida with my family.

This is her back-bend. When she started she couldn't even get her head off the floor. Her friend RB took with her and they had so much fun together! AEH's preschool choir at church sang during the evening worship service on Sunday night. They sang some cute songs! AEH loves to sing and perform!

EMH doesn't have any programs yet but it will come all to quickly. We kept his Sunday School class at church this Sunday. It is so much fun to watch how they interact with each other.
They were taking a milk break here.

Mother's Day 2010

2010-05-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

As I sit here tonight and write this at the end of another wonderful Mother's Day, I can't help but think of myself as the honored one and not the honoree. I remember some past Mother's Days when I didn't know if I would ever be a mother and those days were sometimes kind of hard. But, God so graciously blessed me with two precious children and I am so honored to be their mother. I can't imagine my life without them!
We went to "Muffins With Mom" this morning at church. On the way, I was telling AEH how sweet she had been this morning and how she had done everything I asked while getting ready...Sunday mornings can sometimes get a little hectic. :) She replied "Mom, I love you on Mother's Day". Then later while leaving church she told me I was "Miss. Mother's Day". I smiled and thought, yep, I am one lucky mom.

The kids got me a new bathing suit and cover up for our trip to the beach in a couple of weeks. I got a Gerber Daisy(my favorite flower) from my mom, a gift card to one of my favorite stores(Ann Taylor Loft)from Meme and some great lotion from Granna. I sure don't expect any gifts from them. They are just so sweet to praise me as a mother and give me support. Thank you moms!

Enjoying their muffins!

We went to P.F. Chang's for lunch! One of my favorites.!

We got Meme some bath gel and slippers. She had lots of help opening her present.

We went over to Mom and Dad's for dinner on Friday night. We got mom a new pair of pajamas and slippers. She also had a lot of help.

We missed getting to be with Granna. We got to talk to her and we sent a gift card for her to go shopping for herself.
It's been a great Mother's Day weekend!

"Crusin"

2010-05-06T20:58:00.000-07:00

We have been spending more time outside the last couple of weeks. Trying to enjoy the weather before it gets too hot.
AEH got this car a couple of years ago but was never really interested in riding toys. She likes it a little better now that she has a passenger. EMH has persuaded her to take him for some rides and as you can tell he LOVES it!

Could his smile be any bigger??

Another one of those, "could eat em up moments"!

Annual Fishing Trip

2010-05-01T11:28:00.000-07:00

When AEH got out of school on Thursday we headed out to meet Granddad at the Reservoir for our annual "Bream Fishing Trip". We had been trying to find a time this week to go because this was the week for bream fishing...so the fishermen say. The full moon was shining and the temperature was just right. We had a hard time trying to find a day we could go when it wasn't too windy or it wasn't raining. The conditions weren't great because of the wind but after a bumpy ride in to our trusty spot we found us a bream bed. Dad and I weren't sure at first. We were thinking we might go home empty handed. We fished for about 45 minutes before we found them. Dad caught 3 within a couple of minutes and it was on from there. We anchored down and camped out in that spot. He let AEH and I catch the most. Actually, he was pretty busy taking our fish off and keeping AEH's line baited. We ended up with 53 bream and stayed out for about 5 hours. We caught the most we ever have. I think last year we caught around 40. We were all very tired but it was FUN, FUN!

Juju and EMH waving bye! They went back to Juju and Granddad's house and Juju said EMH talked about the boat all afternoon. He liked it but he didn't want to get in it.

AEH reeling her first one in.

Look at Granddad's smile. I think he was happier than her.

Dad and I caught one at the same time and AEH took our picture. This was during one of her many snack breaks. I think she ate everything we brought. Granddad said one time that he feared she might eat the boat. :) Hard fishing can sure make a girl hungry.

By the end, she was casting her rod perfectly...much better than I could.

Dad and I may go back one day this next week, to make sure we caught them all. :)

Zoo Field Trip

2010-04-26T20:13:00.001-07:00

AEH and I went with her school to the Zoo last Friday. AEH wanted to ride the bus so I followed along in my car. When we got there the traffic was backed up to even get into the Zoo to park. Not sure what was special about this day but there were alot of schools there. I thought oh no what have we gotten ourselves into. It turned out to be fine. AEH's teachers were very organized and cautious. If I am ever not able to go with her on field trips, then I would feel very comfortable with knowing that she is in safe hands. One of the mothers suggested that we start at the end and work forward. That was a great idea! We took our lunch and had a picnic before we left. We had a great time and the weather was perfect!
EMH went to Meme's for the morning so that AEH and I could have some time together.

I just love the way the little boy next to her has his arm around her. I'm pretty sure her daddy wouldn't say the same thing.

Doing her elephant imitation.

Makes my heart smile...

2010-04-21T20:31:00.001-07:00

these two!

The other night after baths and pajamas, this is what I found them doing. Or should I say heard them doing. EMH can get on the piano bench by himself now and he frequently gets up there and makes his on music. Sister decided to join him for a little duet.

I could just eat-em up during times like this!

EMH Sick and The Bethany Picnic

2010-04-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

Poor EMH has had a bad case of the Croup the last few days. It started out as what we thought was a virus but when he started having trouble breathing and the coughing got worse we decided it was probably more than a little virus. We took him to the doctor Friday and he said it was Croup. He was concerned about it and told us that he needed to sleep elevated. So we settled in for a long night, last night, on the sofa. We brought the blankets and pillows in and EMH thought it looked fun until we started trying to sleep. He and I were both very uncomfortable. He woke up several times saying "I go nite, nite". He loves his bed and that is where he wanted to be. We survived and he is much better tonight. He is still running a low grade temp so I guess we will be in for at least one more day.

EMH being sick came at a bad time. We had our annual Bethany picnic today and of course we like to go and show off our cute and perfect kiddos. :) They have a lot of fun things for the kids and they also provide lunch. SLH decided to go ahead and take AEH while EMH and I hung out at the house.
I sent the camera and asked SLH to take some pictures. Well, he took some pictures, all two of them!
They had face painting, a petting zoo, several jumping inflatables and horse riding.

AEH had a great time and when she got home I asked her what her favorite thing was and I couldn't believe what she said. An adopted, little girl from China played the violin for them during lunch and that was her favorite thing about the day. She came right home and got her violin out and played it for us in her own way. It amazes us and we are seeing it more and more everyday what she has a passion for and what she really likes. Out of all of the activities they had, seeing and hearing this little girl play the violin was what she enjoyed the most. I think we will definitely be trying out some violin lessons in the future.
EMH should be well soon and hopefully AEH won't get what he has.
I'll end with a cute picture of this precious brother and sister that I took last Sunday after church.

Kindergarten Registration

2010-04-09T20:40:00.000-07:00

I really can't believe that our baby girl is starting Kindergarten this year. Wow, where does the time go! I cherish the memories of the day we brought our beautiful and perfect little five pound baby girl home. She has grown into such a little lady and we couldn't be more proud of her. She is going to do so well in school. She is so smart and talented and has such a fun loving personality.
AEH and I got up Wednesday morning and headed out to register her for Kindergarten. We had been talking about it and she was so excited. I took off work since it was on a Wednesday and we spent the day together.

When we got there we were greeted by the principal. She welcomed AEH to the school and told us how cute we looked in our matching outfits. We went to the cafeteria and the Kindergarten classes performed a few songs for us. AEH enjoyed listening to them. After they sang they let the kids go into a classroom and do an activity and have a snack while the parents watched a slide show and learned about the school. I was really impressed with the school. Thanks to SLH I had all my paper work ready and copied so it didn't take me long at all to turn it in. I went to get AEH and the teachers were so nice and said they enjoyed meeting AEH. She made a name tag with the school colors and a paw print for the Jaguar's.

As soon as we got in the car AEH wanted to call SLH and tell him all about it!

AEH and I did a few errands and then we met SLH at Broodstreet for lunch.

We only have a few more months to get emotionally prepared for the big day. AEH starts on August the 12Th. It will be a tough day for mom and dad but we have no doubt that AEH will jump into it full force!

Easter

2010-04-06T19:19:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter Sunday! It started off with seeing what the Easter Bunny left. AEH was so excited to see what he left. She got some pajamas,a dress up hat and head band, an Alice and Wonderland DVD and of course her favorite, candy. EMH didn't really know what was going on but he loved his puzzle, cell phone, and Elmo camera.

We had a great morning at church celebrating our risen Savior. I had a solo in a song that the choir sang so I had to be at church early and SLH was left to get the kids ready. Other than not getting the right shoes on EMH, he did pretty good.

After church we went to Meme and Ampy's. It was an extra special day because it was also Ampy's birthday. This was only the second time in his life that his birthday was on Easter. Meme cooked a fabulous meal as always, we hid Easter eggs and just enjoyed watching and playing with the kids.
Happy Birthday Ampy!

AEH had one of her classic moments while we were eating lunch. Since we knew there would be lots of candy later, we told her that she had to eat a decent lunch. SLH was telling her what she had to eat and if she didn't eat it she would not be able to have candy. Well, she didn't like it and in her AEH way she looked at him and said "nail him!" We all had to stop a second to process what she said and then we just couldn't help but laugh. Lets just say we were at least glad she was listening and learned something about Easter this year.

We all just loved how he held his bucket.

EMH got tired of the egg hunting and went to play in the sand box with his Aunt Kip.

His first sucker...and he LOVED it!

AEH found an egg she liked! Oh, and she did eat some lunch. :)

Not sure what this thing is called but AEH got it for Christmas. Some sort of tree swing.

SLH took EMH for a ride.

And I even gave it a try. SLH just loved pushing me fast.

We ended the day at Juju and Granddad's.

EMH got a train.

AEH got a sewing machine.

Playing some tennis.

EMH riding his tricycle.

And this is my dining room table after all the Easter baskets and goodies. These kids sure are blessed! And so are we!!!

Easter at Juju and Granddad's

2010-04-01T20:25:00.000-07:00

We had an early Easter get together last Sunday at Juju and Granddad's. Juju's side of the family joined us. This was the first time we have been able to get together since our Memaw died last summer. She would have loved being with us and I know she would be so proud that we were making an effort to keep in touch and spend time together. We ate good, hid Easter eggs and enjoyed visiting. AEH and EMH had a great time playing with their cousins.
All the kiddos!

18 Months Old

2010-03-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, we have a little boy who is 18 months old now and we sometimes call him "E". Our family is known to shorten names and somehow EMH has gotten just the letter "E". Sometimes we call him "Ev" but lately a lot of our family have been calling him "E". Granddaddy, calls him "Big E". Ampy calls him "Little E"... (Ampy's name starts with an E so he says he is "Big E" and EMH is "Little E"). SLH has even started calling AEH, "A". Not sure what our deal is. I guess but we just like to use letters around our house. :)
Now back to our sweet boy who is growing up too fast! I get really sad and it reminds me how fast he is growing when I have to go up in sizes when buying him clothes. He is doing and saying new things every day. He will try to say just about anything we ask him too and he is starting to put two and three words together. SLH gave him a "gape" (grape) the other day and he said "tank ooo daddee". Nothing melts my heart more than when he pats me and says "oh momma". And yes, we still think he is the smartest little boy ever!
One of his favorite things right now is airplanes, “A-A’s” as he calls them. He is always looking for them and pointing them out when we are in the car or outside. He even hears them in the house and says “A-A” and makes the sound of them. Juju and Granddad got him a big one to hang from the ceiling in his room and he loves it! He wakes up saying “A-A”.

Who looks the most excited in this picture??

Another favorite thing right now is shoes. He wears all of our shoes. He goes from Audrey’s red Dorothy slippers to mine and Stacey’s shoes to his rain boots. Whosoever he can get to he will put them on.

We have started giving him a spoon to eat with. He is not very good at it yet but he thinks he is so big and he loves it. He usually ends up putting the food on the the spoon with his hand and then he puts the spoon in his mouth. He tries so hard and it usually becomes a game and a distraction so we don't give the spoon to him until the end of his meal. Notice which hand he is using. He uses his left hand everytime. Not sure if that means anything yet but I think it's neat because I am left handed.

EMH loves his big sister and AEH loves her little brother! AEH is such a great big sister. She looks out for him and loves to help him do things. They both miss each other when they are apart for any reason. They have been playing more together now that EMH is older and can do more. Yes, there are times when I hear a little fussing but it is rare.

There are some trying times with our little man. He has a temper and sometimes throws things, he hates to get his teeth brushed and he is not the best dinner guest when going out to eat. We have to choose our times and places wisely when selecting where we eat. You know, he is just 18 months old so we've got to give him a little break. The best thing of all is that he is our "E" and we love him so much! He brings many laughs and smiles to our days!

Shopping with Friends

2010-03-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday some girl friends and I took off to Vicksburg Outlet Mall to do some shopping. We made a day of it. Of course we found some great deals but most of all it was just fun hanging out together and visiting. I got the kids some spring clothes and even found myself a couple of things. I didn't buy SLH anything because I usually end up taking it back whether it be the fit or that he just doesn't like it. Our taste in clothes are TOTALLY different. I told him we will have to go back because I really think he would like some things at the Gap and Bass store. Actually, I need to go back because they didn't have my size in some jeans that I found in Foley last year that I really like. I don't need an excuse to go back but it sure helps if you have one. It is not a bad drive and the drive itself gave us time to visit. We got back around dinner time and decided we would just really make a day of it and go out to eat. The daddies were really nice and let us stay out a little longer. I was craving Bonefish and my sweet friends let me pick. I love their Bang, Bang Shrimp and Ahi Tuna. It was so good and just what I wanted.

I wish I would have taken more pictures but we were just so busy shopping and eating that I only got two pictures. Two of the girls that went took their kids and had to leave earlier than those of us who didn't have kids. They were troopers(the kids and the mommies) and I'm glad they braved it and went.

I love to shop and what better way to do than with friends.

Spend the Night Fun

2010-03-15T19:53:00.001-07:00

AEH had a friend (I will refer to her as "AA") over to spend the night last week. Well, not exactly. She didn't end up spending the night but they did get to spend the afternoon/early night together and they had a great time!
AA's little brother had a terrible accident a week ago involving a trailer gate and he was still in the hospital, so we asked her to come home from school with us and spend the night.

They played dress up and ate popcorn...

AEH's gymnastics teachers let AA join in on her lesson.
Here they are ready to go!

We went to Pizza Inn and had dinner. They had face painting this night and the girls loved it!

Then we went home and they played a little more, got baths, brushed teeth and got in the bed.

They look really happy don't they. Well that didn't last long. The lights went out and it all broke loose. AA had been telling us that she needs a "grown up" to lay with her until she goes to sleep. So I decided that the girls and I would sleep in mine and SLH's bed and SLH would sleep in AEH's bed. AA got upset when the light's went out and told AEH that "this is not normal, I need my mommy". We could tell pretty quickly that the spending the night was not going to happen. So we called AA's mom and told her and decided that we would go ahead and take her back to her mommy and daddy. Well while I was on the phone with AA's mommy, AEH starts crying hysterically and tells AA that "you tricked me, you told me you were going to spend the night". They were now both crying and when SLH got AA in the car she told him that she was so sad that AEH was crying. SLH and I were just trying not to laugh because they were just so serious in their on way. AEH ended up being fine and I know AA was happy to be back sleeping with her parents.
It will definitely be an experience that we will never forget and I'm sure it will be told many times throughout their lives.
P.S. AA's little brother is home now and improving more everyday. We are all so happy about that!

Frog and Toad

2010-03-07T20:08:00.000-08:00

Juju took AEH and I to see "Frog and Toad" at New Stage this past Friday night. It was a cute play and of course AEH loved it! She was tuned in the whole time and didn't want it to be over. There was one part that she didn't like though. As she says it..."the scary mean frog with the green eyes". She really has loved all the Plays and Musicals that we have been too and always comes home and acts or sings like what she saw. They have a little summer camp they offer at New Stage in the summer that we may have to try out when she is a little older.

Ready for the show!

We had dinner at Broadstreet before the show.

On Saturday afternoon we got to go see our friend Meghan perform at her Guard Competition. Once again AEH loved it and yes, I had a hard time getting her to leave. Meghan is in the Madison Central Guard and they did great!
AEH thought it was really neat when I told her that I was Guard captain and that I twirled the rifle and flag at my school. SLH is going to have to find my old rifle in the attic. Maybe I can still do a few simple things. :) Things have really changed. They do a lot more dancing and in dept routines. It was really neat to watch. However, I will never forget in one of our routines we rode a bicycle and twirled the rifle at the same time. If I remember correctly, I think we won an award for that one. :)
Meghan

AEH met up with her sweet friend RB. RB's soon to be Aunt directs Meghan's group.

Watching intently!

Fun in New Orleans

2010-03-04T19:55:00.001-08:00

We took a little family trip to New Orleans this past weekend. SLH had heard about a Marathon there and decided he would do something he had never done before, RUN. He talked to his brother Todd, who has done several Marathons and they decided to take the families and meet up in New Orleans for the weekend.
They did the half marathon which is 13 miles. I was so proud of him. He had been training for several months and he DID IT! He started out just running to the end of our street and back. I'm not sure I could even run to the end of our driveway.:) SLH is very disciplined and when he puts his mind to something, he can do anything. He is going to keep up his running and he is talking about doing another one soon.
We were in New Orleans on Saturday and Sunday and we packed in a lot. We went to the Insectarium, Aquarium,took a Horse and Carriage ride, and SLH did the race. We ate well too...Hard Rock Cafe, Bubba Gumps, Deanie's Seafood and of course some Beignets at Cafe Du Monde.
SLH grew up in New Orleans. Another fun and special thing was seeing SLH's old stomping grounds and the house he grew up in. I wish I would have gotten a picture but it was dark when we went by.
We had a great time! AEH and EMH loved being with their cousins. They are such good kids and they are so sweet to AEH and EMH. My sister-in-law and bother-in-law have raised some very polite and caring kids. I mean honestly, not one time did I see conflict. How is that possible with three boys? I would really like to find out their secret! :)

Their sweet family!

AEH and her cousin Jarrod. She calls him her husband. I know, we are trying to explain that one. :)

Me and my sister-in-law Toni.

Having fun at the Aquarium.

EMH is looking up at the fish above him.

Sacked out! We did a lot of walking.

Getting signed up for the race.

Eating Beignets.

Open wide!

EMH loved this dinosaur.

Horse and Carriage Ride

Insectarium

Bubba Gumps

A Child's Imagination

2010-02-26T12:48:00.000-08:00

Don't you just love a child's imagination! Especially your child's.
We bought EMH a pair of rain boots the other day and he LOVES them. He walks around the house saying "boots, boots". We put them on him and after a while he takes them off but of course wants them back on and we do this SEVERAL times until.... NO, I would not be guilty of hiding his boots. :) Okay, I have done it a few times. So glad he likes his boots but we need a break every now and then.

Pjs, Mardigras beads and his boots.

AEH has been watching "Mary Poppins" so she was inspired to dress up like Mary Poppins.

Mary Poppins with an attitude.

Some Nice Weather

2010-02-23T10:57:00.000-08:00

Cold weather, be gone...PLEASE! Can you tell I am NOT a fan of cold weather. I hate jackets, pantyhose, tights, cold hands and feet, and dry skin. Not to mention what a damper it puts on my tennis game.
Well this past week and weekend we finally got to be outside and enjoy some nice weather. YEA!!!! We also were able to meet up with friends, and that made it even better!
We took the kids to McDonald's and then to play on Friday. They had so much fun and the mommies were able to visit...a little. I say a little because EMH is a HANDFUL. He knows no danger and just goes at everything full speed. Lets just say I worked off the nuggets that I felt so bad about eating. A couple of the kids who were 6 months older were a little easier. EMH is just at a tough age for the park. He wants to be on the big stuff like the other kids but doesn't realize that he can't just walk off the top and land without injury. :) So I end up going around with him while I bump my head on a few bars along the way. We had some close calls but we made it through it.
He really enjoyed the slide!

In this picture, his expression shows what he thought about me sliding with him. "Mommy, I really don't need you, I can do it by myself!"

I was taking a breather at this time. His feet were on the ground.

AEH had a great time with her friends! Thank goodness she didn't require much attention.

Mommies trying to visit.

EMH not happy about leaving. And this was after I got him in the stroller. WOW, boys are soooo different.

We also had a fun day outside on Saturday. I actually got to play tennis outside in some perfect tennis weather. Then we had lunch and some outside fun with some dear friends who recently moved and were in town.
The weekend definitely gave us an itching for spring and summer!

Captain Roddy's Boucan Dip

2010-02-14T20:14:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share a recipe that we really like and has been a huge hit. I have taken it to several parties in the last couple of months and it is gone within minutes. I always have several people who want the recipe. The marinade is Captain Roddy's Boucan Glaze. You can get it at several places in our area... Everyday Gourmet, Paul's Meat Market (by Highland Village), Brock's Salon/Gift's(in Maywood Mart), Ace Hardware (in Maywood Mart), and I'm sure other places but these are just some places where I have found it. Brock's Salon has been the cheapest, 10.00. You can make 3 recipes with one bottle.

By the way when I was taking this picture the other day, SLH looked at me like I was crazy and said "What are you doing?". I said I wanted people to know what it looked like so they would know what to look for. Men just don't understand these things.

Captain Roddy's Boucan Dip:

8 oz Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1 cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded
2 Green Onions, chopped
Mix(I just stir with a spoon) all together. Put in a greased (I use Pam spray) quiche dish and top with 6 crushed Ritz Crackers(regular Ritz Crackers).
Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
Top with 8 slices of crumbled cooked bacon and then pour 1/2 cup of Marinade on top.
Serve with crackers.

Until recently, I didn't have a quiche dish so I just used a glass pie plate dish and it worked fine.
I like the air crisp Ritz Crackers or the Air Crisp Wheat Thins the best for dipping.

Yum, yum! Wish I had some right now!

I am also going to post it on the blog "Taste and See". If you look under the list of blogs I follow in the right hand margin, you will find it and there are a lot of other good recipes from my friends on there.

Snow Pictures

2010-02-12T11:11:00.001-08:00

We woke up to lots of beautiful snow this morning.

AEH loved it!

Making a Snow Angel

EMH on the other hand was not too fond of the cold white stuff. He fell a couple of times and couldn't get up and then he was wet and cold. We didn't have any mittens for him and I tried to put socks on his hands but it didn't work.

I did get a couple of little smiles out of him.

Most of the time he was up at the door ready to go back in.

We did manage to build a "Snowgirl" as AEH called it.

We had a snowball fight.

Well, I gotta go. AEH is ready to go out again...while EMH is sleeping. :)

Fun Times With Old Friends

2010-02-09T08:57:00.000-08:00

We got together with some friends this past weekend that we haven't seen a while. We all did a lot together pre-kids but since kids we haven't gotten together as much. We use to have lunch together at least once a week as well as getting together on the weekends. We even took a trip to Gulf Shores together one year. We also all played on a mixed doubles tennis team together. We met Brad and Angie through SLH's work and even had a part in getting them together. :) We met Mark and Terri through our church. Not sure how all the three of us got together but we did and we just clicked.

Brad and Angie were so kind to invite us to their house for a get together this past weekend. The kids had a great time and so did we! We enjoyed talking and remembering old times. The last time we got together was about 2 years ago at Mark and Terri's house. So we are going to try to get together sooner this time at our house.

The kiddos watching a movie. These are Brad and Angie's two boys, Thomas and Drew with AEH.

EMH really took up with Mrs. Terri

Angie and I

Can't wait until our next get together!

Happy Birthday Mom

2010-02-02T06:07:00.000-08:00

Today is my sweet mom's (better known these days as Juju) birthday. I would tell how old she is but she might not like that. :) I will say she looks great and like I have said before, I hope her genes run deep in me. :)

We had a "partay" as AEH calls it, at our house this past weekend. I cooked and we had chicken enchiladas, corn casserole, Mexican rice and coconut cake. I guess Mom and Dad thought they needed to help me so they took the kids that afternoon and brought them back over with them that night. They will look for any reason to keep them :). I did appreciate it and it sure did help me out. Especially since we spent Friday morning in the doctor's office with AEH. She woke up that morning with fever and a sore throat. She tested positive for Strep but after getting the nasty penicillin shot, she was better within hours.
I enjoyed setting the table. I don't do this much anymore. :)

Singing Happy Birthday!

We got her some charms to go on her Pandora bracelet. I wish I had a picture of it. It is so pretty!

Uncle Randy and EMH having fun!

AEH was feeling better and had no problem enjoying her cookie!

We played the Wii...

AEH dressed up...

and she did some gymnastics moves.

We had a great time!

Happy Birthday Mom! We love you!

Fashion Show

2010-01-25T20:25:00.000-08:00

AEH put on a fashion show for us last night. Dressing up and modeling is one of her favorite things to do. She started out as some form of Fancy Nancy.

This was the next. Not really sure who she was trying to be. Just using her imagination.

And she ended on a Princess.

Brother liked the sunglasses and decided to try them on with his pajama's. We couldn't get him to stop picking his nose for the picture. Every time we would tell him to stop or try to move his finger, he would start laughing.

She sang us a song in the mysterious outfit. She sang "How Great is Our God". Interesting choice for this outfit. Don't you just love a child's imagination.

Temporary Home

2010-01-20T20:49:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPgZOOgKffY

This is Carrie Underwood's new song and I just love it! I am so blessed and in awe of the life that God has given me. But, as a Christian I have the peace and comfort in knowing that this is my temporary home and one day I will be with HIM. I can't imagine my life without HIM!

Outside Fun

2010-01-19T13:27:00.000-08:00

We have been enjoying the nice weather the past two days. Santa brought a trampoline that we really haven't gotten a chance to enjoy because of the rain and cold the last couple of weeks. Poor EMH is doing the best he can to stand and jump, but it can be a little hard for a boy that just started walking 2 months ago.
The main two things that AEH got for Christmas have both been hits. The Wii and the trampoline. She is enjoying both.

Brother is just gonna have to endure this pink car. We hate to buy another one just because of the color.

"The Wizard of Oz"

2010-01-16T13:29:00.000-08:00

We took AEH to see "The Wizard of Oz" last night and just like we thought, she LOVED it! It was a great production with a live orchestra and even a real dog to play "Toto". She sat through the whole play wide eyed and mesmerized by her favorite movie. She even sang along when "Dorothy" sang "Over the Rainbow". When it was over she asked if she could watch it some more. We had a great time and it was so good to share this with her. I am pretty sure that we will be going to many more plays like this one. AEH just loves it! She loves to perform and pretend. Who knows one day we may be watching her on stage. :)

Excited about the show!

She wanted to take her Madame Alexander, Dorothy doll with her. She also has Glenda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch and wanted to take them too, but I said no. That would have been a little too much to keep up with.

EMH And The Dryer

2010-01-12T20:02:00.000-08:00

It doesn't take much to amuse a 16 month old. I was taking the clothes out of the dryer today and EMH decided to help me like he sometimes does. However this time he found that the dryer did something that was pretty funny. Atleast, to him it was. I love his little belly laugh... it is simply intoxicating to his mommy!

Dressed Alike

2010-01-10T20:50:00.000-08:00

AEH and EMH were dressed alike for church this morning. I have always liked to see siblings dressed alike and while they don't care, I am taking advantage of it. AEH liked it. She kept telling people at church that she and her brother looked alike.

Not sure what they were doing in this picture.

EMH graduated from the bed babies today at church. It was a little sad because our little boy is growing up and not an infant anymore. I guess they call this age the toddler age. SLH and I kept his class today for extended session. There were 6 children and they were all so cute and very good. They don't really play together at this age but they were so fun to watch. EMH didn't seem to be bothered by us being in there. He didn't seem jealous or clingy to us. He just played and had fun. He adjusts pretty well and doesn't seem insecure. We are glad for that.

Now, we did have our first temper tantrum yesterday. I was the only one here to witness it and I wish I would have gotten a video of it. He kicked, rolled around on the floor and screamed. I asked him if he was hungry or sleepy and if he wanted milk. Usually when he is upset it is one of these. I finally just put him in his high chair and after a little bit he did settle down and eat. I think it was hungry and sleepy. He was just so mad, he couldn't even decide what he wanted. AEH never really had temper tantrums, she was just defiant and said no. This is new. Maybe a boy thing. I am sure we will see another one pretty soon. Maybe I can get it on video. :) It would be great to have to show him one day.

We have a busy week. Both of them have checkup appointments tomorrow. AEH will get the dreaded 5 year old shots. I hear it's pretty bad and there are several.

I have two continuing ed courses this week and a couple of tennis matches.

AEH has her friend MC's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese and she is looking forward to that.

We are taking AEH to the "Wizard of Oz" play Friday night. That is her favorite movie and if you remember, she was Dorothy this past Halloween. It will be fun to share this with her and see her enjoy herself. I even found her a smocked dress with the characters on it. She is SO excited and so are we.

Have a great week!

EMH Talking

2010-01-07T19:52:00.000-08:00

My new camera that I got for Christmas has video on it. I was playing with it tonight and trying to get EMH to say a few words on it. He played along with me for a little while. He is talking a lot more now and is even trying to put two words together. Of course he usually doesn't do it on command, only when he wants too. You will see and hear AEH coming in to let us know that she got a point on the Wii playing tennis and then later wanting some milk.
SLH went over to his boss's house to watch the game tonight, so the kids and I have been hanging out and playing the Wii.
I am excited about this video option on my camera. It will be fun to post some video of the kids.

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Beat By a Five Year Old

2010-01-02T20:22:00.000-08:00

We got a Wii for Christmas and somebody is playing it REALLY WELL!!! That would be AEH and not me! She is beating me at bowling. We have been playing it at night after bath time and before bed...you will notice in the picture she is in her pajamas with wet hair. She loves it and wants to play it over and over. We have never seen anything keep her attention this long other than a movie. We don't have many games right now but we are really enjoying what we have. EMH even likes watching it and joins in on the clapping when we do good.

Be sure to check out the little boy digging around in his toy basket in the lower left corner of the picture.

Not only is my 5 year old beating me but my sweet husband is beating me in tennis. Yes, and I am NOT happy. I play tennis much more than he does and he is just loving it! I was beating him a couple of days ago but now I can hardly get a game. I am very competitive and I like a challenge, so there will be no giving up on my end.
We are having fun with it and it is great to have something we can all do and spend family time together.
AEH got the movie Mary Poppins for Christmas and the other day when I told her to get ready for us to go somewhere, this is what she came out looking like. She had an umbrella but it didn't make it in the picture. She was also talking like Mary Poppins too. This girl loves to imitate and act. We may have a little actress on our hands.

TUPPERWARE! What kid doesn't like to play with Tupperware. With all the toys he got for Christmas, he still likes the Tupperware. I try to wash it before I use it but sometimes it just gets a good blowing out. Oh well, I guess it won't kill us.

We had a good ole New Years meal yesterday at Meme and Ampy's. We ate our peas, cabbage, and pork. So we are off to a good start in 2010. AEH starts back school next week and I guess I need to get back to the gym. I took off these last two weeks because of so much going on. I am also back to playing tennis. The holiday's were nice but it will be good to get back into a routine. The hardest will be getting to bed earlier so that we can get AEH to school on time.
Looking forward to fun times in 2010! Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas 2009

2009-12-28T21:02:00.000-08:00

I can't beleive Christmas has come and gone. We had a wonderful Christmas with the kiddos. Santa came and was very good to us this year. AEH was really into the Santa thing more this year. We really had to hide things and watch what we said a lot more this year. One of us even stood guard outside her room while the other put the gifts out and put gifts together. Her big present was a trampoline. SLH took off on Wed. and he and Granddad put it together, while Juju took the kids to their house. We had to close the blinds and cross our fingers that she wouldn't see it on Thurs. I was so nervous. I let her stay in her room and watch a lot of movies that day. She loves it and is going to really enjoy it.
SLH surprised me with a new camera on Christmas Eve. I was so in need of one. On Christmas day, I was also surprised with a Wii. We have all enjoyed playing it and I think if will bring some fun family time. Of course, I love playing the tennis game. AEH has enjoyed the bowling. I also want to get the New Super Mario Brothers but all the stores are out of it right now.
EMH got some fun things too. Odviously he doesn't really understand anything yet but he enjoyed playing with his new toys and he is also liking the trampoline.
We also had fun with our families. The kids got more toys at their houses. We are still trying to find the floor around here. SLH and I got a lot of great things too.

We are just so blessed and thankful for all we have. However, we really want to try and make our focus more about the real meaning of Christmas and not Santa and toys. It can be so hard in our society. We get so bogged down in the hustle and bustle of the season and we don't stop and celebrate the birth of our Savior. AEH talked a lot about Baby Jesus this year and really seemed to understand the Christmas story better.

Christmas Morning

Christmas at Meme and Ampy's

Christmas at Juju and Granddads

Birthday Pictures

2009-12-18T12:18:00.000-08:00

Birthday at Pampered Princess

Birthday at Juju and Granddad's

Birthday at Meme and Ampy's

Still here!

2009-12-14T20:32:00.000-08:00

Yes, we are still here! My computer totally crashed on me and it is being worked on. They had to order a part for it. Hopefully I will get it back soon. I have just been using SLH's computer at night, which doesn't leave me much time to blog.
We did celebrate a special birthday a couple of weekends ago. AEH turned FIVE! I was a little sad putting 5 candles on her cake. Our little girl is just growing up too fast! She had a great birthday weekend. She had THREE parties! Woohoo!

Her first party of the weekend was at a Princess Mini Spa with her friends. She dressed up in one of her princess gowns and was the queen of the party. The girls had so much fun getting their nails painted and their hair and makeup done. AEH was definitely in her element. She had a beautiful princess cake that Aunt Gayla made. It was almost too pretty to eat but her cakes are so good that we couldn't resist.

The next party was at Juju and Granddad's. This theme was a dinosaur theme. I know...we went from princess to dinosaur. Let me explain. AEH saw a dinosaur at Toys R Us that she just loved. She kept going back to it while we were in the store so this is what Juju and Granddad gave her. It does all kinds of things, some things include bodily functions. :) AEH named her "Precious". Bet you never heard of a dinosaur named precious. She has really enjoyed her and she is now an official member of our family.

Her next party was at Meme and Ampy's. This party's theme was a wedding theme. I mean we have gone full circle haven't we. :) AEH loves to dress up and she wanted a wedding dress, so you guessed it, that's exactly what she got. Another big thing that she had been asking for was a violin. Ampy has a violin and she has been wanting one of her on. It is a really nice one and it will be a great beginner violin if she decides to take lessons in a couple of years. Right now she just makes noise with it and we clap and say what a great violinist she is.

AEH had a great weekend and now she can finally say she is five. Oh, I am getting teary eyed saying that. We love her so much and thank God for blessing us five years ago with our little girl. She is like no other and her little personality can put a smile on any one's face. We laugh all the time and say that God must have thought we needed a little spice in our lives. AEH is a care free, fun loving little girl that enjoys life and wants everyone else to do the same. Who would have thought that my daughter would teach me some of the important things in life. Boy, am I glad she's mine!

Yes, I have lots of pictures but I just can't upload them right now without my computer. :( I will be putting some on here as soon as I get it back. I haven't even been able to look at them and it is driving me crazy. I am hoping I will get my computer back this week. I am telling myself, patience, patience.

Fun in Chattanooga

2009-12-03T21:47:00.001-08:00

We had a great time in Chattanooga over Thanksgiving. We left on Wednesday night and stayed in a hotel half way there to break up the 7-8 hour trip. AEH was so excited about staying in the hotel. I think she likes that we are all in the same room and it is like a sleep over to her. We left Granna and Grandaddy's on Saturday afternoon and stayed in the hotel again on the way back. EMH didn't sleep well but this is just a hard age for him to travel. He loves his bed at home and well, lets just say we managed.
When we got there Thursday, Granna and Mawmaw had cooked a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. And, of course we ate too much. It was so good to see a lot of family that we had not seen in a while. We met up with some cousins from the other side of the family for lunch on Friday. AEH had so much fun with all of her cousins.
Granna and Granddaddy had a early birthday party for AEH and her cousin B. The only problem with that was that AEH thinks she turned 5 that day since that is when we had the party. She has been telling people that she is 5 now. I mean when you have a birthday party, don't you turn a year older? Why can't we be as simple minded as kids? :)
Enjoying her Great American Cookie Cake.

Gigi dress up set from Granna and Granddaddy.

Two Christmas dresses from Granna and Granddaddy.

A Barbie set from her cousins.

Her cousin B loved his money that he got.

This is Granna's mother, Mawmaw. EMH really took to her. He was even saying "Mawmaw" before we left. He fell asleep with his book in his hand.

Taking a nap with Grandaddy. This is how he got his naps...however and whenever he could.

AEH loves their dogs Maggie and Mindie. They like to run and play with her. This is Mindie taking a break from all the excitement.

Not long after we left Saturday, this was the scene in our back seat. Two tired kiddos! They had a blast and loved all the attention! Thanks Granna and Granddaddy!

I Go Out Walking...

2009-11-20T09:22:00.000-08:00

At 14 months, EMH is seeing everything at a whole new level. He is walking and LOVING it! Last Thursday was his official debut. He definitely has the Frankenstein look but he is doing great. He can even stand up by himself sometimes. We have turned a few heads the last couple of weeks while we are out and about. There is just something about babies when they first start walking. We have gotten many "oh he is so cute" comments.

We have been so busy these last couple of weeks. The calendar is full for the rest of the year. AEH had 3 birthday parties last weekend. She loves going to parties and it seems that most of her friends have birthday's in November and December. She had 2 jumping parties and a party at the park last weekend and she has a bowling party this weekend. And, of course she is looking forward to her own party in a couple of weeks.
We will be going to Chattanooga for Thanksgiving this next week. We are looking so forward to it. It will be fun to get away and spend time with family. AEH can't wait to see her cousins and grandparents. They will be giving her an early birthday party while we are there. She will be non stop the whole time we are there...but really, is there any other way for her? :) EMH will of course get a lot of attention too.

I'll leave you with a photo of "our princess". I found her this way the other day when she just couldn't go anymore. As you can tell from the mess in her room, she had been really busy. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

"Pig"

2009-11-08T20:55:00.000-08:00

Meet "Pig", a very important member of our family.

This is EMH's special buddy. We discovered "Pig" when we were trying to get rid of EMH's pacifier. One day a few months ago, when I had decided to try to put EMH down for a nap without a pacifier, I thought maybe having something for him to hold would help. So I hurriedly dug around in his stuffed animals and tried to find something small and this is what I came up with. "Pig" actually has a name on his tag. He is Wilbur the pig from Charlotte's Web. We didn't notice this for a while, hence the name we gave him, just plain ole "Pig". EMH loves "Pig" and can't go to sleep without him. I have already been online to try and find an extra one to buy if for some reason something ever happened to "Pig".
EMH puts him up by his face, loves on him and says "awww".

He even bites on his nose and tail. This is done strictly out of love for his "Pig". :) "Pig" can get pretty stinky from this so he gets a bath in the washing machine quite often.

These two have a very special bond. I don't think much can come between this little boy and his "Pig".

Halloween

2009-11-04T20:08:00.001-08:00

We had a great Halloween night with the kids last Saturday. This is without a doubt one of AEH's favorite holidays. She has talked all year about what she and everybody else is going to be for Halloween. She has really gotten into watching and liking the "Wizard of Oz", so she was "Dorothy" in all her glory. She had everything from the red glitter shoes to the wig with the long braids.

EMH obviously didn't care too much this year and I'm sure wondered why in the world he was wearing tights and a hat that was so annoying. He was none other than the "Cowardly Lion".
This is pretty much what he thought about the whole thing!

He's looking the part here.

We started off the night trick or treating Meme and Ampy. Of course they thought they were the cutest little Dorothy and Lion that they had ever seen. They got lots of goodies and to be honest we could have gone home with what they gave.

We went to the Festival at the church next.

We ate hot dogs. Don't you just love SLH's face. He was into that hot dog! That's our friend JB with the plate over his face. We never know what he's going to do in a picture. :)

"Dorothy" rode a horse...

played games with her friend MC...

and this his her (wig and all) climbing up an inflatable to slide down.

SLH worked the dart game for a little while...

and EMH just hung out taking it all in.

On the way home AEH wanted to trick or treat some houses in the neighborhood. It was getting late but we did stop by a few.
Here she is going up to a house. SLH and I thought our little "Dorothy" was the cutest thing ever and we knew she was having so much fun. OH my, was she on cloud nine! What could be better to her than dressing up and getting candy! Her two most favorite things!

Fun times! Can't wait to see what next Halloween holds!

Fair pictures

2009-10-27T20:29:00.000-07:00

I have a few fair pictures from our trip a couple of weeks ago. AEH loved it! She is already talking about going next year. She rode rides and ate a corn dog, cotton candy and a funnel cake. I had my favorites, grilled corn on the cob, a gyro and a funnel cake. SLH had some kind of steak sandwich and a cinnamon roll. EMH rode a couple of rides but he mostly enjoyed all the bright lights. His little finger didn't stop pointing the whole time we were there. We had great time and it was fun watching the kids enjoy themselves.

Mom and Dad met up with us and Granddad even rode a couple of rides. He went down the big yellow slide with AEH. He said the landing was a little rough. :)

And here is EMH and Juju. He is just a pointing!!

Riding the Merry Go Round.

This is SLH and EMH coming down the slide. EMH wasn't sure about this. He didn't have much expression. He looked like he was thinking "what in the world was that?"

AEH sliding down on a ride.

My girls trip.

2009-10-18T19:49:00.001-07:00

Just as I had thought our girls trip was so much fun!!! We ate, shopped, played games, shopped some more and enjoyed catching up and talking about anything and everything. We stayed up late and as the nights went on getting in the bed got later and later. I think the last night it was around 3:00 in the morning. :) I am just now catching up on my sleep. We made a lot of new memories that we will never forget...from milk in a wine glass, backwards spelling in a game, misreading a name in a game and many more. I am already ready for next year. I think I am going to propose one during the spring. A year is just too long to wait.
Other than a wasp sting on EMH, everything went great here on the home front. I am very comforted and don't every have to worry,thanks to my wonderful husband and the grandparents. Actually one of the grandparents told me they didn't even want me to come home because they were having so much fun here. I don't take that any other way than a compliment to what fun children I have. :)
I did get some cute pictures.

We definitely did our part in helping out the economy. :) I think when we added up about how much we all spent, it was around 3,000 dollars all together. WOO HOOO! I bought a little of everything from clothes for all of us, a new purse :), shoes for the kids and I, sunglasses and jewelry and a Christmas present for SLH. I had been saving up because I knew I would find a lot of GOOD DEALS! :)

Eating at Desoto's.

I had me a feast on crab legs. They were GOOD!!!

All ready for our first shopping adventure.

Eating at The Original Oyster House. Oh, and by the way I lost a couple of pounds on the trip. I really tried to do portion control...or I guess it could have been all the walking from shopping. :) I have gained them back while being back home. :(

I will try to update later this week on our fun trip to the fair this past weekend.

I'm a big kid now!

2009-10-07T20:52:00.000-07:00

EMH graduated to the tub this week. We have been bathing him in a little ducky float thingy, because he was scared of the big tub. After a couple of times, he decided he liked it.

He and sister playing together.

He can now stand alone and when he does, he wants us to clap for him. He even claps for himself. Also, he is cutting 2 teeth and drooling buckets. So you will notice the drool on his clothes. He leaves drool all over the floors and I've given up on trying to keep it wiped up. I was walking on the wood floor the other day and I slipped on it. Who knew drool could be dangerous.

And, one for good measure. The tigers play Florida this weekend. YIKES!!! SLH is going to Baton Rouge to the game. Man did he pick a tough one to go too. EMH wore his LSU outfit last Sunday because we are not sure this next Sunday will be appropriate.

I am going to Gulf Shores with some of my girl friends this weekend. I'll try to take lots of pictures in between all the fun!!!! YEA!!!!

Soccer and Sweet Moments

2009-10-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

AEH had her first soccer game today. I have two words to describe her first game...NOT INTERESTED. She never did make contact with the ball. On the way home SLH and I decided that she was probably the worst on the team but we would never let her think that. We are fine if this is not her thing. We plan on trying whatever she wants to and this year we decided on soccer and gymnastics. She is just not showing any interest in this sport. Let me just put it this way... On the way to the field we saw her teacher from last year and she jokingly said "Is she going to get sweaty?". We laughed and said "we will see". She did have her coach laughing during the game because as she was lagging behind most of the game she was talking to him. He told us after the game how funny she was and that she was saying stuff like this... Molly (his daughter) and she were friends and that they were going to have a sleep over. SO not interested in soccer. She would cheer for the girls that scored and try to comfort the ones who got hurt. At least she was a good team mate. :) When leaving she actually said "I had fun playing soccer". We just laughed and said I guess that's all that matters. Our team actually has about 3 girls on it that are really good. They don't keep score so there is not a winner and the rules are not really followed. The rest of the season should be interesting for AEH and soccer.

This was the best family picture that we got.

AEH talking to her friend Molly.
She is actually in the middle of this run, you just have to look real close.

Off by herself. Where's the team???

She loved the water breaks. :)

EMH hanging out.

I have a couple of pictures of some sweet moments. Now that EMH is standing up and can stand alone, he will stand up holding AEH's hands and then hug her. It is just so sweet and she LOVES it. She always wants me to see and says "Awww, mommy look how sweet". We were in Kroger this past week and they were riding together in the car that's in front of the buggy and he leaned over on his on and put his head on her shoulder. It was so sweet.

Notice AEH's attire...a gown, red slippers that don't match and a Halloween headband.

Then, when we were coming home from the infamous soccer game. AEH said "look he's holding my hand."

They stayed like this for a while.

So thankful that God brought this brother and sister together. It is just more than we can comprehend at times and nothing short of amazing at how our family has been brought together. God is so good, and thankfully he is SO in control!

Home sick...

2009-09-27T06:52:00.000-07:00

AEH is sick and we are staying in today from church. Long story short...I took EMH for his 1 year check up Friday and AEH woke up that morning sick. So she ended up getting checked too. She had fever when we got there and a headache and cold. They did a Flu test and it came back negative but they said it could just be too early to pick it up. Whatever it is... flu or virus, she is sick but getting better. She still had a little fever this morning and a runny nose. She was sad when SLH and EMH left for church without her. We are going have to find something fun for us to do this morning.

EMH would not look at the camera because he was too busy checking out one of his favorite things, WHEELS!

EMH's check up went good and he is on target with everything for his age. He got a shot in each arm and one in his leg. He was M-A-D! He doesn't even like to sit on the weighing scale. He and AEH are totally different when it comes to going to the doctor. We know that there will be a lot of screaming with him. He did muster up a "bye- bye" when we were leaving. He was glad to say those words. :)

As a mother this is one thing I don't like to do. Hold my children down while they get shots. I wish someone else could do this so that I don't have to be associated with it. I am not so sure that it comforts them for me to be there anyway. I don't want them to think that I am allowing them to get hurt. :( Just something that has always bothered me. AEH is right there to check it all out.

We are staying busy around here. AEH is still enjoying gymnastics but has yet to play a soccer game due to all the rain. They have practiced a couple of times though. Maybe we will get a game in this next week. She is enjoying school and has been getting green hearts regularly. YEAH!!! They are learning letters and numbers. She has been calling out letters on labels and anything else in the house with words on it.
SLH was in Paris last week. Yes, that is Paris, France. He was there for a quick trip with work. We all missed him greatly and are soooo glad he's home.
I am looking forward to my weekend get away with some of my girl friends in a couple of weeks. We are going on our annual trip to Gulf Shores. This will be our forth year and we always have sooo much FUN!
Tennis is back in full swing and I am enjoying that! I started working out a couple of months ago to try to get off about 5-10 pounds. I have been doing step aerobics, body pump and sport zone. I have succeeded and feel much better. Now I just need to maintain and keep it off. You know the age thing is catching up with me. I will be 38 in a couple of weeks and I just can't eat like I use to.

Well, I have a little sick girl here wanting my attention so we are off to find something fun to do!

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays

2009-09-18T19:50:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy couple of weeks, filled with birthdays. Between my family and SLH's family, we have 5 in September. We have had in order my dad's, EMH's, Ms. Judy (SLH's mom) and SLH's. My sister in law, "Aunt Suzi's" is next week. Needless to say we have had a lot of delicious "Aunt Gayla" cake. Not to mention that I am trying to do a little dieting. :)
With my family we just had a big get together last Saturday night and celebrated all of the birthdays at once. We even did mine since it is in early Oct. We had a great meal. One of my favorite, boiled shrimp. SLH got a digital photo frame and I got money to spend on my girls trip in Oct.
We celebrated Ms. Judy's birthday this past Monday at McDonald's. Yes, that is right. She wanted to do it there for the kids. It was fun even at McDonald's and we took our cake and presents in there and just had our own little party.
Blowing out the candles.

The Birthday girl!

We gave her some Volatile sandals.

AEH always makes some friends when she goes to McDonald's.

Tuesday was SLH's birthday. He turned the big 4-0. Yes, we celebrated his 40th and EMH's 1st. :0) SLH can be is a little sensitive about the whole age thing. I tell him that it will keep him young longer but he doesn't seem to see it that way. :)
We went to his parents on Tuesday night and celebrated with more great food and cake. Actually we are still eating cake from this past week. The kids and I gave SLH a couple of shirts and a new book. His parents gave him gift cards to Home Depot and the movie theater. And his standard every year for his birthday, a new LSU shirt.

SLH celebrating with his little princess. His mom said the glasses were flaming and symbolized that he was still "hot". :) I definitely think so! :)

EMH hanging out in the swing, taking it all in.

Now we have a couple of weeks before more cake for my birthday. :)

Our Little Man Is One!

2009-09-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

Well, our little boy is a year old. What a wonderful year it has been! He is such a blessing from God and we love him so much. He had a great birthday party at our house the night of his birthday. He was the star of the show and he loved all of the attention. We sang the traditional Happy Birthday and then Aunt Kip found a song for us to sing to him. It was one of the highlights of the night. The other highlight was his smash cake. This was the first time he had ever had cake and ice cream. I think it is safe to say that he liked it. We weren’t sure just how much he liked sweets because he didn’t eat the fruit and desert baby food very well. He seemed to like it okay though. It was so much fun watching him and seeing his expressions. He got a lot of great gifts. We mainly asked for some boy toys like trucks, cars. Well he got several of those, along with a glove chair an overnight monogrammed bag,a big farmhouse and some gift cards for some clothes. We got him a little baseball, basketball and football gym.
Our friend "Aunt Gayla" (as the kids call her) made the cakes and they were absolutely darling and delicious! Thanks for this gift, "Aunt Gayla".
Here is a video of our special song. The quality of the video is not really great. You will hear us trying to come in a couple of times too early (pretty funny, we didn't have time to rehearse it) and yes, we are a CRAZY family! :)
Here is what we sang.
EMH has hit some milestones these last couple of months:
This is kind of long so if you are not a Grandparent then you may want to skip this. I wanted to write it for his baby book.

He is eating a lot of table food now and he really likes it. We probably won’t buy any more baby food because he will not eat it now after having our food. We can’t blame him. He has four teeth now and can pretty much eat anything we eat if it is small enough. We go to the doctor for his yearly check up next week.

He is babbling a lot and he has said his first word, “bye-bye”. It is so cute and he has such a sweet little voice. Not sure if we can classify this as a word but he is also saying “uh, oh”. We think it is great and of course, he’s the smartest little one year old boy in the world.

He is pointing to things and babbling about them. His favorite things are lights and fans. When he goes into a room, that is the first thing he looks for. His Granddaddy put him a fan up in his room. It is so cute. It has sports balls on it.

He is walking behind his walker now and can stand alone for a few seconds. He can walk very slowly when we hold his hand. It probably won’t be long before he is walking.

He can put his play phone next to his ear and pretend to be on the phone. It is so cute because the phone is usually upside down and turned around.

He no longer is taking a pacifier. He wasn’t completely attached to it so we decided to do without it for a week and see how he did. We could see that he was probably about to start getting more attached to it and thought it would be better now than when he was 2. We found that he missed it mostly when going to sleep. We rocked him more often for about a couple of weeks and he has been passy free for 4 weeks now. We like rocking him anyway. There is just nothing like that sweet little head being on your shoulder sleeping.

He has started sleeping with a stuffed animal. It’s a pig. :) With the passy being gone we thought he might like to have something to hold. When we ask him were his pig is he starts looking for it. We may have to come up with a better name other that just “pig”.

He has switched from a bottle to a sippy cup. He didn’t like it at first but just like everything with him he doesn’t put up much a fuss for long and is very easy going. He is doing good with it now.

He is starting to climb on things. He has climbed on some steps that are by our bed and on AEH's piano stool. AEH never was a climber and stayed in her crib a long time. This will be different for us.

He loves to try and get in all of the cabinets and drawers. He is not so much interested in what is in them as he is in just wanting to open and close them. We have child proofed all that are hazardous or that we don’t want him in.

As you can see EMH is changing and doing new things every day. This is such a fun age and he is such a fun little boy. We look forward to a lot more birthdays and fun times with our "little man"!

Here is a slide show of some pictures from his Birthday.

Granna and Granddaddy

2009-09-06T19:56:00.000-07:00

Granna and Granddaddy who live in Tennessee came to visit us this weekend. We all had so much fun spending the weekend together. AEH was so excited and asked several times Friday "are they here?". EMH warmed up to them very quickly and loved all the attention. We went to Cock Of The Walk Friday night. They love to eat there when they come and it is one of our favorites as well. Saturday we went and bought EMH a fan for his room and Granddaddy hung it for us. He is so good at doing this kind of stuff. He hung AEH's in her room a few years ago. EMH loves his new fan and he points to it and watches it while he is on the changing table. Fans and light switches are two of his favorite things. We cooked out Saturday night and just had fun visiting and playing with the kids.

See what he is pointing too. "Granddaddy I'm not interested in that toy...I like those lights." We went to Toy R Us Saturday for SLH and I to get him a birthday present for next week.

They brought EMH a train for his birthday present and he LOVES it!

This is a bean bag toss toy that he got.

He also got a cute bear that sings Happy Birthday.

Grandaddy even got the pleasure of feeding EMH. They were so impressed how well he eats.

They brought AEH a giant coloring book with paint, colors and her favorite thing "scissors".

Blowing bubbles

Playing tennis.

We love you Granna and Granddaddy. Can't wait to see you again soon!

Playing Dress Up

2009-08-31T20:17:00.000-07:00

AEH has been watching "The Wizard of Oz" at Meme and Ampy's. Dressing up is her favorite thing to do and Ampy got her a "Dorothy" costume this past weekend. She has everything from the wig and "Toto" to the red shoes. She loves it and even tries to talk like "Dorothy"(we are just glad to get a break from her singing like "Annie"). In fact she told one of her friend's daddy at church that she was not AEH but "Dorothy". She has character names for all of us. She went for a stroll in her car yesterday.

She hasn't quite got the steering down yet.

Brother checking it all out.

Playing Soccer

2009-08-29T13:20:00.000-07:00

AEH had her first soccer practice this week. They will practice for a couple of weeks before they play their first game. She seemed to like it okay. On the way to practice she told me that she wanted to win and get a medal. I told her that this was just practice and that she didn't know how to play yet. She was ready for the big game. How do they learn that competitiveness so early?
She started off totally missing the ball at first( we were really ready to win, huh) but by the end of practice she was making contact with the ball and having fun. She got tired at one point and said she didn't want to play soccer but that didn't last long before she was back out there. There are 7 girls on her team and they each bring there on ball for practice and they do drills. This is all new to me but when they play their games they won't keep score and there won't be an actual winner. Her coach is really nice and SLH has volunteered to help him this season.
Here are a few pictures of the first BIG practice.

All ready to play!

Not quite sure what she was doing here. I think she thought she made a good play. :)

Just look at that kick!

EMH enjoyed playing in the grass. Thank goodness he only got one bite.

We made it through the first soccer practice and EMH had, had enough.

AEH also started gymnastics last week. She is enjoying it as well. Maybe I can get some pictures this week.

Photo Shoot Gone Bad

2009-08-23T20:34:00.000-07:00

We TRIED to get some pictures today after church.

Did I say TRIED...

this is how it started.
EMH what definitely not interested and AEH was really trying to help out.

At this point a motorcycle road by. I could hear him coming and thought well maybe I can get a picture of them both looking forward right as he passes. I of course wasn't looking at him in my attempt to use him for entertainment. Well, I suppose he waved at them or maybe AEH was just being her friendly self. Oh well, it didn't turn out like I had hoped it would.

After this, I just gave up on trying to get one of the two of them.

We decided to go inside and try to get a family picture. I sat the camera on the mantle and pushed the timer...no such luck. The sun was coming in from the front door and just look at their faces!

Finally AEH saves the day with this one and I put the camera AWAY!

Fun Times!

2009-08-20T21:00:00.000-07:00

We definitely don't have any table manners yet. Tonight at dinner, EMH would take a bite of food and then suck on his big toe. :) It's amazing how something so gross was cute with him.

And then when he got down from his high chair, he decided to get under the kitchen table and play.

AEH wanted to take a bath in our tub the other night. Do you think SLH put a few to many bubbles in the tub??? I think he forgot that once the jets are turned on that they multiply quickly.

EMH checking it all out.

This is was happens when daddy comes home from work. As you can tell, he barely gets in the door before his favorite little people attack him. He LOVES IT!

Quick Update

2009-08-15T20:20:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy weekend, so I am going to give a quick update before trying to get in bed earlier than normal.
AEH started her 4 year old preschool program this past Wednesday. She will be going Monday through Thursday. We decided to take Friday off since this would be her last year in a while to not go to school everyday. She had a great two days and got green hearts both days (green is good and red is bad). Thursday one of the teachers told me in the car pool line that AEH was doing so good and that she was doing everything they asked her to do and minding so well. This is big for us!!! :)
We went swimming with some friends Friday at their pool and had a big time. They have a slide in the deep end and AEH was able to slide and swim to the steps all by herself. We are so proud of how well she has done with her swimming this summer. Maybe next summer we will try swim team. She loves the water and loves to swim!

On the other hand,EMH was content just crawling around on the concrete and scratching up his legs. He turned 11 months old this week. One more month and our baby will be having his 1st birthday. He started walking behind his walker this week and his most favorite toy this month is the light switch in his room. When he is on the changing table he has full access to it and he loves to turn it on and off. I honestly don't know how long he would do it if we let him.

SLH and I went on a date Friday night. We went to Bravo's to eat (one of my favorites) and to the new movie "The Traveler's Wife". I had not been to a movie in a while and this was a good one. We had a great time! It was so good to just get away and have some "us" time.
AEH had two birthday parties today. One was a water Slide party and the other one was at the new Chuck E Cheese. I played tennis this morning and took EMH with me while she and SLH went to the water Slide party and then I took her to the Chuck E Cheese party in the afternoon while SLH stayed home with EMH during his nap time. AEH was so tired tonight. After her bath and before I could dry her hair, I found her laying on the floor in our room asleep.
We have church tomorrow morning and then AEH has a swimming party tomorrow night to kick off mission friends. It has been a fun packed weekend and we wouldn't have it any other way!!!

Pictures

2009-08-09T20:04:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of EMH watching his daddy cut the yard yesterday. He went to the window sill and found his daddy all by himself. It is amazing how boys just know to like boy things. We went out and he just sat in his wagon and was very content watching his daddy use all his yard tools.

Bethany(the adoption agency we used) is having a banquet to celebrate 25 years and they asked for some pictures. I picked these two of the kids.

This is EMH in his birthday outfit that he will wear in a month. :) :(

It is so hard to get AEH to smile without that fake smile. I take so many pictures and I guess that's what it has come too.

Splash Park Fun

2009-08-06T15:08:00.000-07:00

We met some of our friends at a Slash Park in Brandon this past Tuesday. We had a lot of fun. It is perfect for preschoolers. EMH loved it! He stayed out the whole time we were there. Not having to be submerged in water was right up his alley.
AEH played for about 30 min. and then she fickled out on us. She went and laid on a bench and gave several reasons why she didn't want to get back out there. Not sure what was going on with her. She kept asking where we were going for lunch, she said her stomach didn't feel good and then she fell off of the bench that she was laying on. A nice man went and got her a lawn chair and she laid there the rest of the time. Who knows?? She went with my mom a couple of weeks ago and she may have just gotten bored with it. It is border line being to young for her age. She likes to swim and there is no pool just sprinkler type things. She perked up when we got ready to go. We went to Abner's and ate and she acted fine the rest of the time.
It was fun just hanging out with our friends. I do have a few pictures that we took when we first got there.

Aren't they cute???

2009-07-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

My sweet friend AC brought over dinner to us last week. We had a rough couple of weeks and she wanted to help us out with dinner one night. The food was great and we appreciated it so very much. While she was here, I snapped this picture of the boys. Aren't they just so cute and could you not just eat those cute little legs up! I love how JDC is looking at EMH. I have a good feeling that they could get into some serious trouble together one day. :)

Weekend On The Lake

2009-07-27T19:36:00.000-07:00

We spent this past weekend with SLH's family in Alabama. SLH's brother Todd and his wife Toni have a condo on a big lake in Alabama. All of the family met there and had a great time!
They have a nice boat, that we all really enjoyed. AEH loved jumping off of the boat and swimming in the lake with her cousins. EMH found it very relaxing and when the boat was moving he was usually asleep. You will notice in the pictures that he has a pink life vest on. That is all they had but he didn't care. He just didn't like the bulkiness of it, he didn't care about the color.
There was a big pool at the condo and a man made beach. One of AEH's favorite things was just running and jumping off of the pier. She went from one thing to another. She didn't stop during the day but at night it didn't take her long at all to go to sleep. She was one tired little girl.
SLH's brother also has two Seadoo'sthat we rode on. This was the only thing that AEH didn't really like. Which was surprising. SLH and I rode one and I even drove it. I wasn't sure about it at first but I actually liked it.
They have a place where you can jump off of some high rocks and SLH just had to go give it a try. He likes that kind of stuff. I was not wanting him to do it but he won that battle.
We cooked out and just had some great family time. It was like being on vacation with your family. Can't wait until we can do it again.

My Mom

2009-07-22T20:03:00.001-07:00

I just love this picture of my mom and I. We took this picture at my grandmother's funeral. People tell us all the time how much we look alike and talk alike. I catch myself all the time saying and making gestures that are just like her. I am very proud of my mom. She works out everyday and watches what she eats. She goes to all of her doctor appointments and really just takes good care of herself. If I look half as good as she does when I get her age then I will be a happy woman. Pat yourself on the back mom, you deserve it!
She had a test to come back showing an abnormality last week at her annual checkup and they had to check it again. Turns out everything is okay and they didn't see what they saw on the first test. We were really worried and we are so thankful that everything is okay. It just hit me hard to think that something could be wrong. It really makes you think about enjoying every minute we have with our loved ones. We may not know what tomorrow holds, but we know that God does and he is always with us and will see us through.

Busy, Busy, Busy

2009-07-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

We have had a very busy couple of weeks. We went to the doctor's office 5 times in one week. AEH went for a virus one time and the other time was for an allergic reaction to a cupcake that she had at a party. EMH went 3 times for ear infections. After two rounds of antibiotics and 2 Rocephin shots, they referred us to the ENT for tubes. He had his tubes done Friday and everything went great. We can already tell a difference.

On a lighter note, AEH, Ampy and I went to see the Play "Thoroughly Modern Millie" at New Stage last week. My mom got the tickets but was not able to go because of the passing of my grandmother. Kids from all over the Jackson Metro area went to a summer camp at New Stage and were the performers. I can definitely see AEH doing this when she is older. She loved it! When we got home she went straight to her room and started dressing up and pretending to be "Millie".
Ampy and AEH before the show.

AEH and I

Dressing up like Millie.

We got to see some old friends of ours 2 Sundays ago. It was so good spending time with them and meeting their precious children. We met them at our church about 10 years ago. They moved to Texas and since we found each other on Facebook, we were able to get together while they were in Mississippi visiting family. They are the kind of friends you can pick right up with and it's like they never left. They came to our church and we ate out for lunch and dinner. The kids had a great time but I think the adults had the most fun! :) Can't wait until we can do it again!
My friend and I... I am in desperate need of some lipstick and whatever else that could help me! :)

Buds

The Kiddos

We have a pretty laid back week ahead of us and we are looking forward to it!

My Memaw

2009-07-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

This is my "Memaw". That's what all the grandchildren called her. She is my mother's mother and she passed away Monday. She was 84 years old and had heart problems, diabetes, and was developing some dementia/Alzheimers. She passed away peacefully Monday morning. She was living at a nursing home in town and had been to physical therapy that morning and was going back to her room when someone saw her take two deep breaths and then just lay her head back on her wheel chair.
She was a fun and loving grandmother to us growing up. We had some trying times over the last few years with her. She was very independent and she just didn't do well when her health started failing. She was a very strong woman and had a very sharp mind.

One of my most fun memories was getting to spend a week during the summer with her all by myself. Everything was all about me and she did whatever I wanted to do. We went and got icy's, she taught me how to make things (sewing/cross stitching), we played board games until she had callouses on her elbows and she even let me roll and fix her hair before we went to her church. I remember how she would brag to all of her friends at church about me fixing her hair. She never forgot a birthday, anniversary or holiday. You always knew you would get a card from Memaw. We always went to her house on Christmas night and she would have matching pajamas for all the grandchildren. She made sure that when we were at her house that it was all about us and making sure we were having a good time.
I lived with her on two occasions during my college years. Her door was always open and I can say and know that she loved me and that she would have done anything for me.
My mom had taken AEH over to see her a lot of Wednesday's while I was at work. She loved AEH and she was always so glad when she came to see her. One time while AEH was visiting her, Memaw took her down to the dining room and AEH sang "Jesus Loves Me" to all the residents. You can imagine how happy that made her. She hadn't known EMH long but she loved my kids and always wanted to be around them as much as possible.
We have the visitation and the funeral tomorrow. SLH is one of the pallbearers and all nine of the great grandchildren will be there. The kids might make it a little crazy but she wouldn't have it any other way. It will be a sad time but we know she is feeling better and in a better place.
We love you "Memaw"!

10 Months Old

2009-07-11T19:07:00.000-07:00

EMH you are 10 months old today! It is so hard to believe. These last 10 months have gone by too fast. You are such a good baby and we are so thankful that you are in our lives. You are truly a blessing from God and we love you so much.
You have hit several milestones this past month...

You started crawling at 9 1/2 months. You can get to anywhere you want to go, which is mostly your sister's room and it is off limits because of all the little things that you can put in your mouth. Of course this is why it is so appealing. When we don't see or hear you for a little while then we know exactly where to go look. Mommy is getting even less house work done because she is having a hard time keeping up with you.

Just this past week, you have been pulling up on anything that is sturdy. Mommy found you standing up in your bed after one of your naps this week.

Tonight after your bath you decided to pull up and play the piano.

JuJu taught you how to clap your hands last week. You especially love to do this when you hear music. Juju is now working on teaching you to wave bye bye. She is a much better teacher than mommy.

We "tried" out a sippy cup this week and well, lets just saying it went "okay". We have a couple of months left to work on this. :)

You are really starting to like the pool more. You are pretty finicky. You don't like the sun in your eyes, the water if it is too cold or a day that is too hot.

You love it when mommy sings to you. You stop what you are doing and listen and give that handsome smile of yours. No one else in the house seems to like mommy's acappella singing like you do. You love it when we sing the "God Our Father Prayer" before meals.

You have two teeth now on the bottom. They are lined up perfectly and they are so pretty and white. Mommy has been trying to clean them before bed at night but you DON'T like it. They bothered you some when they came in but it wasn't too bad.

You are recognizing people that you know and don't know. You won't go to someone that you are not familiar with. You cry a little bit when we drop you off at the church nursery or the courthouse nursery, but you get over it pretty fast. Daddy, Mommy, Juju and Grammy are your main four right now. We would all me re miss if we didn't say that we like it just a little bit. You are starting to warm up to people a little more now though.

You do NOT like the doctor's office. Unfortunately you have had to go there a few to many times within the last month for ear infections. This past week you had to get 2 shots and that really did you in on liking that place for a while. Daddy took you one time and you did the best with him. So we may have to let him do the honors from now on. We go for your check up in a couple of weeks and if your ears are not better then we may be looking at some tubes. You weigh 21 pounds and your height is 30 inches. You are in the 90th percentile for height and between 50th and 75th for weight.

You are finally starting to get some hair. That's okay, your sister didn't get hair for a while either. It looks like it is going to be blond/light brown.

One of your most favorite things is WHEELS. You like to watch car wheels. You even like to play with the wheels on your stroller and the wheels on sister's tea cart. Anything with wheels is always a sure bet that it will get your attention...hence your red car. You love to ride in it!

Your Meme and Ampy have a mirrored plant stand in there room that you just LOVE. All four sides are a mirror and you love to stand up and play peek-a-boo in it.

One of your favorite things to do is open and shut things. You can do this on several of your toys but your most favorite are any of the doors in the house. It scares your mommy because she is worried that you will get your fingers caught in the doors.

You love your bed. You sleep about 11 hours at night. You do best going to sleep on your own. We turn your music and humidifier on and that is all you need. Sometimes you go to sleep when daddy gives you your night time bottle. Sometimes mommy just can't help but rock you a little...she just needs that every now and then.:)

Boy, you have really had a busy month. We can't wait to see what the next month holds. We love you so much EMH! Your sister still says it the best..."I am so glad that God gave us a baby brother".

Happy 4th

2009-07-04T15:48:00.001-07:00

Happy 4th of July! We started off the day at the pool and then we went and had some good ole hamburgers at Meme and Ampy's. It has been fun just spending time with my family. We went to the Balloon Glow last night and met up with some friends. The music was good (I am a big Country Music Fan) and the kids really enjoyed the fireworks display.

Loving the fireworks!

MC and AEH

After church on Sunday.

Crawling

2009-06-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

EMH started crawling last week. So at 9 1/2 months he decided that he wanted to be on the move. He can get anywhere he wants too and is pulling up on things as well. Last Tuesday is when he started. I was cooking supper and I had sat him in our bedroom to play with some of his toys on the floor and I realized that I had not heard him in the last few minutes. I went in to find that he had made his way over to where we have the monitor plugged in and he had unplugged it and was chewing on the cord. :o Yikes! So needless to say we have had to do a little baby proofing. All of our blinds are pulled up, outlet covers are in place, the kitchen cabinets have the baby proof latches on them, the fireplace has a baby gate in front of it, Bonnie's dog bowl gets moved several times a day and many other things have been moved and put away. This morning I had to retrieve from his mouth a loose bead that came off of one of sister's necklaces. Thank goodness he was right under my feet and out of the corner of my eye I saw him put something in his mouth. Somehow it had found a way onto the kitchen floor. Her room is definitely off limits but it's going to be hard to prevent stuff like that. Lately he has just been following me around. I kind of feel sorry for him because by the time he gets to me, I am off to doing something else. He gets stuck under the kitchen table a lot and bumps his head. He hasn't figured that one out yet. I was too panicked to get a picture of him with the monitor but I have gotten a few more.

"Hmmm, this drawer looks interesting."

"Too heavy...can't get it open."

"If Bonnie can get through this then maybe I can????" I just realized when looking at this picture that I missed an outlet plug.

"Why are you taking a picture of me mommy? I am busy."