TIME DECK THE HALLS

Emily found another use for the tree shirt :-)





Monday night we got the tree up and decorated. We had a really good time with Emily this year. She is really excited about Christmas this year. She wanted to know about all the ornaments. She remembered a few form last year and could not wait to put the topper on the tree. Abby was watching from her highchair and could not wait to see what it was all about. When Emily was as little as Abby is she touched the tree once and did not like it. After that she really did not want anything to do with it. Abby on the other hand is all about the tree. She is taking the ornaments off and grabs branches and shakes them.

We also started a new tradition this year. Meme got us an Elf on the Shelf. If you don't know what that is. He is Santa's special helper that sits somewhere in the house by day and reports to Santa at night. When he returns he is in a different location. Emily is really enjoying looking for him every morning. He comes with a story book that explains the tradition to the kids and you have to name him and write tit in the book. Our Elf is named Eddie the Elf.

something SPECIAL at emi*lou

Mom and I are running another special at emi*lou boutique today
Check it out!

SOMEBODY FOUND THE CANDY

That somebody was sweet little Abby! Sunday morning while Bill and Emily were still at the lease. I decided to get some presents wrapped. Abby decided to help herself to an after breakfast desert. I promise I was in the same room. The lid must have not been on tight. She did not make a noise and I can't believe she did not spill not one M&M. She sure is a crafty little thing don't you think!

emi*lou is having a CYBER MONDAY SALE

Don't miss out, emi*lou is having a CYBER MONDAY SALE

click on image to view larger
Hop on over to emi*lou boutique and check out all the Christmas shirts!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. We sure did! This year we had a nice relaxing Thanksgiving at home. Thank goodness Meme ( my mom) she did about 90% of the cooking and it was excellent. It was just us and meme, and Lisa and Austen this year. Emily kept asking when were the guest coming. We had a nice meal around 2 and then we played a little Wii. We love the Wii and always have a blast playing it with family. Emily has become quiet the Wii bowler. She does not pay attention and spins around and does all kind of tricks while she is bowling and shill gets strikes and high scores. It is too funny. Abby seems to have a huge fixation with the Wii remote right now. She wanted one and when she saw them she would scream until someone would give in and give her one (usually meme). One big announcement is that Abby took her first few steps on Thanksgiving day! First she did a few steps between Bill and I and them she did even more to get to the Wii remote that meme was holding. She is still a little unsure but I have a feeling she will be off and running soon. after all the fun we called it a night. Bill and Emily had to get packed up to go to the deer lease and I had to get my pre Black Friday shopping beauty rest.


Lisa, Austen, Emily, and Abby

Meme and the yummy turkey

Abby waiting for some of meme's turkey

Emily and her crazy Wii moves :-)

OUR LITTLE PILGRIM

Long time no talk, usually that is the case when we have had nothing going on. This time it is the opposite. I have been really busy with orders :-). Sweet little Abby had her tubes and then a rash. Seems like you name it she has been through it lately. She seems to back on track to being her sweet healthy self.

Emily had her Thanksgiving Feast at MDO yesterday. She was so excited and ready to go as soon as she woke up. They sang some songs and did some moves which I am happy to say she did this year. She was most excited about getting to talk in the microphone and say what she was thankful for. When she was practicing at home she would many different versions. First was God (love that one). Next was Mommy and Daddy ( so sweet). And the last one the night before the real deal was her Scooby Doo movie (please not that one). When the time came I could tell she as a little nervous and when her teacher said Emily what are you thankful for she looked right at me and said my Mama. That was the sweetest thing I has heard in a while. We had a nice lunch together and enjoyed looking at all of her and her classmates art work.

SINGING AND DOING THE MOVES

I AN THANKFUL FOR MY MAMA (heart melting)

THE MOST PRECIOUS PILGRIM I KNOW!

EMILY AND HER SELF PORTRAIT

SAY A LITTLE PRAYER

Our Sweet baby girls is having tubes put in her ears today. We are hoping that this will put an end to a 2 month long string of illness and ear infections. Please say a little prayer for her and I will update later. Thank you so much!

GIRL TIME AT THE PARK

Bill is at the deer lease all week so it is just the girls and I. The other night we decided to kill some time at the park. Emily had fun and made a new friend right away. She is so shy when it comes to adults but has no trouble with kids. Anywhere we go that there are other kids she has a new buddy in no time. I guess that is a good thing? It was the first time for Abby on the swig by her self. She did not like it at all. I don't know why I was surprised she didn't really care much for her infant swing either. The girls and I had a really good time. Emily and I decide we need visit the park more often. I guess we need to do it now while we can enjoy the nice weather.

TRICK OR TREAT

Halloween night was a blast. We went to our friends The Hengst house. Their street had a block party. There were lots of kids, food, and fun! When the sun went down the kids were ready to go. Emily was really sweet saying Trick or Treat and thanking the people when they gave her candy. Abby was just along for the ride and pretty happy as usual. We ended the night sitting on the driveway visiting. Emily really liked handing out candy to other Tricker Treaters. To bad we don't have any come to our house out here in the woods. Thank you so much Hengst Family for including us in the fun!






Cathy and Lori when did we grow up and get all these kids?

LET THE HALLOWEEN FUN BEGIN

Emily had a Halloween party at school today. All the kids wore their their costumes. they were all so cute. Emily was Tinkerbell but gave up on the wings shortly after she got to school. They got to play a few games in the gym and had a Chick-Fa-Lay lunch. We made some yummy monster cupcakes for her class. Of course she came home with way to much candy (I am sure her daddy and I will help her with that problem)!

Our pretty Tinkerbell

Playing a game in the Gym

Sharing the fun with Abby

The 3 girls in the class

Our yummy monster cupcakes

THE BEACH HOUSE

My in laws lost their beach house on the Bolivar Peninsula during Hurricane Ike. The beach house has been in there family for many, many years. I know they had lots of fond memories there. Bill and I have some too. I don't know if we ever told anyone but the beach house is the first place we ever seriously discussed getting married. Emily has only been to the beach house a handful of times but talks about going to Granny and Papa beach house all the time. A few weeks ago out of the blue she asked me when we were going back. I tried to avoid the conversation then decided to just explain as gently as I could what happened. I was surprised at her reaction. At first she was really quiet. Then I asked her if she had any question and told her she could ask me anything she wanted. She just started crying. It really broke my heart to see her so upset. We talked for a while and I explained to her that Granny and Papa were ok and that they are really lucky because that have another house to live in. She seemed ok with that.
My sister-in-law April started a blog to share her stories and feelings so you can check it out. The Beach House

SCREAM ON THE GREEN 2008

This past Friday night we went to Scream on the Green at our church. It was so much fun. We camped out on the lawn in a tent. There was so much to do. There was a train, petting zoo, pumpkin carving contest, and movies on a giant outdoor movie screen. We were so lucky that Meme was sweet enough to spend the night with Abby so we could have a fun over night with our big girl! Thank you so much meme, we really appreciate you! It was nice and cool out and that was nice accept it made everything wet when we got up in the morning. Emily was such a trooper! Her only protest was the Port-A-Potty and who can blame her. Click here to see more pics

PLEASE PRAY FOR THIS FAMILY!

I would like to ask you to all take a little time out of your day today and everyday to pray for this very special family. I don't know them But I have been following their story for 10 months now. I found out about them and their blog from a link on my friend Cathy's blog shortly after I had Abby. I don't let a day go by that I do not check up on the via their blog. You can get their whole story here at Confessions of a CF Husband. I find their FAITH incredible and I think you will too!

ABBY IS 10 MONTHS

It is hard to believe the in two short months this little monkey is going to be 1.
Miss Abby is on the go and into everything. She is crawling but much prefers the army crawl when she need to get somewhere fast. Her favorite place to hang out right now is is Emily's room. That is okay with Emily for about 2 mins. Just until she starts touching things. If you remember the beloved guitar, it is totally off limits.

Sweet little Abby has been fighting an ear infection for a whole month now ( she is such a trooper!) Most days you would not even know that she had one accept the the constant runny nose that is driving us both crazy. We can't wait to see the ENT later this month!! My guess is that she will be getting tubes in the ears we will see. So say a little prayer that we resolve the ear infection soon!

Abby can tell you that the dog says "woof woof" but so does the cat, duck and most animal. We have to be on our toes with Abby on the loose she has not run into anything she will not put in her mouth. When she get excited and playful she squeals and growls. I think it is a mix between Emily and Max (our dog).

Every day is exciting around here can't wait to see what this month brings!

AN AFTERNOON AT THE ZOO

Saturday afternoon we decided to load up and go to the zoo. The weather was nice and the zoo was packed! We had a great time and got to see everything we wanted to see. I think most of us really enjoyed the train ride. If you have not been in a while they are building a new train depot and the train ride is much nicer and Longer. After the train we walked over to hill at Miller Outdoor Theater and had a picnic dinner. The kids had a blast running around and rolling down the hill. Leave it to Layne to find the kids with a soccer ball and get a little game started. My girls passed out in the car on the way home. It was the perfect end to a fun day.

RAH! RAH!! RAH!!!

Emily had been wanting to be a cheerleader for a while now. We have been telling her she could do it when she turned 4. Well she is 4 now and we signed her up for Upward Cheer at church. She has been so excited! Due to hurricane Ike we only got in one practice before our first game. The girls all really had fun getting to know their coach and each other. All of Emily's games are at 8am! She went to bed excited and when I woke her up at 6:30 so she would have time to wake up, eat, and get dressed she was not excited at all. She said "it is still dark! Can I sleep for a few more hours?" After a few trips in she got up and got going. She looked so cute and did a really good job. She loves her pom poms and the mega phone. Oh and don't forget the bucket that we decorated! Here are a few pics from the game.

GO FLY A KITE

Well what do you do when there is a hurricane coming? You spend lots of time and energy putting away anything in your yard and on your property that my become a projectile. You clean the house and do all the laundry because you know the power is going to go out at some point. Then when all the work is done and the Daddy is ready to drop you ask him to fly a kite. The wind was starting to kick up and we just happen to have a kite ready waiting for a windy day. So we all went outside and gave it a try. That was the fun before the not so fun.

Emily and Daddy getting started


Aunt April, Reiko, and Emily giving it a go


Run Forest Run!




Look at that determination and joy!