Yes, we have the Cottonelle dog!

Actually, our new puppy looks like the traditional yellow lab that you see everywhere, but of course our's is "special"! Our dog of about 14 years died the day after Christmas last year and I told Chuck we would not have another one for awhile. Well....6 months is as long as it took! A friend of mine had adopted a dog and did not realize she was "with puppies" and the puppies were born a few weeks later. We decided to surprise the girls with "Cutie Pie" so I drove to my friend's house to pick up something "for school" (HAHAHA) and walked out of her house with Cutie Pie. The girls were looking at me like I was crazy for holding someone else's puppy but then I said, "This is our puppy." Emma's eyes were as big as tennis balls and they were both soooo happy. Best surprise I have ever pulled off...at least so far! The puppy, like all puppies, chews on everything from baseboards to carpet, and seems to think Ella is a chew toy herself. Hopefully Cutie Pie will grow out of that stage soon. Until then, I will feel like I have a new baby in the house minus the formula and diapers. But we are glad to once again be pet owners!

It Has Been Awhile

It has been so long since I have blogged that I almost forgot my password to sign in to my blog! It has been a very busy summer. I am posting pictures of some of the things we have been doing, most of which include baseball with Emma. She made All Stars and they have practiced (sometimes for 2.5 to 3 hours a night) or have had a game for 6 out of 7 days a week for the month of June. Need I remind you how hot it has been? Last night was her last game and so tonight we actually started our "summer". So around 5:00 pm when we would usually have been at or headed to the ballpark I started to sweat even though I was within the airconditioned walls of our home! I think my body has just been so use to sweating that it just naturally started sweating again! I make it sound bad but it has been the most exciting, rewarding, socializing, month of our lives. I am very proud of how well Emma has done and I think she has had a ball (no pun intended!).

In addition to All Stars we have had Vacation Bible School for a week, went to the beach for a week, had soccer camp and basketball camp at church, got a puppy and have survived Father's Day, Chuck's Birthday, and numerous other birthday parties as well. It has been a busy month of June! Now I just have to get plans finalized for Ella's birthday parties. She wants her first party to be at Disney World (and of course EVERYONE is invited), her second party at "The Beach House" which we do not even own "A" beach house, and her third party to be at Pizza Kastle. Although I really do not want a party at Pizza Kastle, it is the most practical of the three choices and does not involve me cleaning my house in order to have the party. So planning her 4 year old party is at the top of my list for next week!

Enjoy the pictures!

Let Summer begin!

This is Emma with her 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Hamner! I highly recommend her! She has made this year great for Emma. We will miss her in 3rd grade!








This is a picture from Emma's End of the Year party for 2nd grade. This has been a great year for her and her class seems to all be such great buddies! We hope to see lots of their faces in our class again next year!



This is a picture from when we went to Destin Mother's Day weekend. I am posting it because we are Florida bound again tomorrow (Saturday) this time for a week! Soooo looking forward to it. Got to go pack though!

Reck Neck Summer

Well, it must be the official start of summer. We have our "blow up" pool and slip-n-slide out. The girls wanted to play in the water Sunday afternoon and so they did. Ella surfed down the slip and slide and Emma ran and slid so hard I thought we might have to replace a panel in the privacy fence. Fun Fun Fun...And yes I plan to take my babies to a "real" pool and to the beach this summer. Actually we will be going to the beach Memorial Day weekend and the week after. A whole week at the beach! Something we have never done before but we are staying in a condo that is much like a house with several pools to choose from so the actual sand will be optional! Looking forward to good times!

Mother's Day 2010

It has been more than a week since my last post and I can't imagine why????? Could it be that the end of school and alllllllll that is involved with the end of school has been happening? Or could it be that we are at the ballpark for at least 2 nights a week? Or could it be that I have been full of joy from sharing all of this with my two sweet girls and have been able to serve others in special ways, all at the same time? I can honestly say, I have been multi-tasking lately and it feels great. Forget there is laundry to be done (LOTS of it) or that the kitchen floor needs to be swept. I love to be busy in the Lord's work and to be with my family/children which I also believe to be the Lord's work!

Mother's Day was such a blessing. We went to Destin on business with Chuck Thursday and Friday nights and stayed Saturday night as well on our own. It was a beautiful weekend for the beach. No BP-oil-spill-damage spotted where we were! My mother went with us for the weekend and although she really seemed to have a good time, she quickly headed home once we were back in Alabama! It is always fun to spend time with my girls and my mother because they just love being around her. I just sit back and watch most of the time. And I often wonder if she was ever embarrased by my behavior when I was a child when her mother was around, like I am sometimes embarrased by my girls behavior when she is around. I guess embarrased is a strong word but believe me, the girls in my family have strong personalities no matter if they are 3 years olds, 8 years old or 37 years old. We had a great time together! Thanks for hanging out with us mom!

For Mother's Day I got an ice cream maker from Chuck and the girls! I have mentioned buying one several times for the summer and obviously they were listening! And Chuck doesn't ever do something in a "normal" manner...I mean this looks like a wopper of an ice cream maker! I will let you know when I perfect an ice cream recipe! Ella made a poem/card at school with her handprints and another card with flower seeds on it saying how her love for me grows and grows and grows! If that precious angel told me Happy Mother's Day once, she said it 1,000 times Sunday! I love her to death! Emma was so proud of her gift for me that she made at school. It was a flower pot with her fingerprints made into ladybugs and a poem about what it takes to be a "#1 Mom"...and according to her, I have what it takes! Oh, how little she knows at 8! She is my best friend and I love her sooooo much! I even got a card in the mail from my best friends children wishing me a Happy Mother's Day too which was a nice surprise! Lots of beautiful well wishes on my Mother's Day 2010.

I read a post from my friend Tonja that told about all of the special women in her life that she was thinking about on Mother's Day and it made me think back to my grandmother, my mom's mom. For as long as I knew her, she was blind. She had been blinded as an adult by diabetes complications. Her name was Louise or grandmama. I remember many trips to Greenville to see her and my grandfather who still lives there, and as we would leave we circled the backyard driveway and she would stand at the top of the back stairs (about 15 steps or so) and wave at us...I remember my mother crying as we would leave most of the times and now I understand why. Grandmama would stand there waving and not even be able to see us but she loved us so much and was so glad to "see" us and have us visit that she stood there until we were well down the street and out of "sight". I wish I could go back to her house and see her standing there again waving. She was an awesome women and even though I was only in the 9th grade when she died I know she was great. When she died I learned that her full name was Emma Louise and from then on I said that my first daughter would be named after her, and that is exactly what I did. Talk about a woman who made an impact on me! I can cry just thinking about her on those back steps, or on her birthday which I always try to remember to talk about with my mother (March 10th), or whenever I call Emma by her full name.

Thank you to all the wonderful female "motherly" influences in my life! I need all the help and positive encouragement I can get! You guys rock!

Shhhh! You are in the Library...

It may be hard to read the cover of this book, but it is titled "Football in the SEC". This, my friends, was the book Emma picked from the library today. And, although it has Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators on the front of it, her selection made her daddy smile. She loves football and it is because she has watched it since she was very very young. Actually she was born on a Tuesday in September I think it was and by Saturday she was in front of a tv for an Alabama football game. And so it continues...

All I Can Say is "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"

We have had a great time at the ball park so far this spring. Emma is playing coach pitch baseball again this year, not sure when or if softball will be her pick. She has lots of buddies playing as well and some of them are pictured with her below. She plays first base and loves every minute of it! This is probably my favorite of all of her sports! Play Ball!!!

Well, it is official...I am 37

Yes, it is official that I am 37 years old. Or is it years-young? Some days I am one and some days I am the other. My birthday was last Friday and I enjoyed it to the n-th degree. I was remembered by the sweetest of family and friends and surrounded by my immediate family all weekend long. We had opening ceremonies for Emma's baseball Friday night, had a surprise birthday party at our favorite mexican dive hosted by my long-time, dearest friend and her family. Then Saturday we continued the celebrating by going to Emma's first ballgame and then to lunch with family from both my side and Chuck's side of the family. Chuck actually engineered and hosted lunch at the Red Elephant and included everyone related to us that attended Emma's ballgame. Then Sunday we went to church as usual and to a church-wide picnic that was hosted on one of the most beautiful days in awhile. All of this to say I had a beautiful birthday on a beautiful weekend surrounded by beautiful people. No wonder 37 didn't look so bad!

Easter Party and Egg Hunt #1

Today was Ella's preschool Easter Party. As you see she was very excited about the day. The children hunted for 6 eggs each, which took all of 30+/- seconds! They were funny to watch. Ella was excited because Chuck and I were both there. They sang some of the sweetest songs and talked about Jesus' death and the fact that, in their words, "He's ALIVE". It was so sweet to hear them tell the gospel truth about the meaning of Easter. Pure excitement! Happy Easter!

She is growing up...

I looked into the eyes and face of my 8 year old this afternoon and said to her, "You are becoming so growny". Is that even a word? I looked into her eyes and could see confidence, which is hard to notice in a shy person. She is more than 4 feet tall (4' 3" I think) and wears a size 4-4.5 shoe at age 8 so physically, yes she is growing up. But in alot of the things she does and in the ways she acts, she is "growny". I remember when she was in 3 year old preschool and I began working part-time at her school, where I still work today, and she and I would "hang-out" after preschool each day. She would go anywhere I went. We would eat Labamba (mexican) for lunch about every other day, and to this day the employees there still know her by name. She went everywhere with me and we would even take naps together in the afternoons, especially after I was pregnant with angel #2. Emma was my buddy then and she still is today. Thank you, God, for her! There is none other like her!

Home for a week

Here are a few more pictures from the most magical place on Earth!

We made it home from Disney World last Sunday around 5:00 pm and we haven't stopped since. Thanks to Tide and $24 in quarters I was able to wash, dry and fold all of our clothes while we were at Disney World except for the last day's worth. But we must have bought something from every shop we went in to at all 4 parks because we had a zillion bags to unpack (give or take a few). I was able to find 2 princess gifts for Ella's summer birthday without her knowing that I know she will love...one was a Cinderella musical jewelry box and the other was a castle/princess snow globe. The favorite souveniors for the kiddos were Legos from Downtown Disney, which, aren't those available at Wal-Mart and Toys R Us? But I guess there is just something more exciting about buying them from THE Lego store.

The week has been very busy and I feel so behind on Easter decorations. We aren't having an Easter egg hunt at our house this year, and we don't plan to have company on Easter Day so the extent of our Easter decor may include the children's Easter buckets filled with whatever eggs we find at the 3 different egg hunts that we will be attending...so far (school, church, family).

I will add this: My mom and I went to see Chonda Pierce last night in concert here in Dothan. She was hilarious! She had an opening act of sorts named Bone...He was in the tv shows My Name is Earl and Medium, and was also in a movie with Sandra Bullock, each time playing small parts. I look to seeing more of him in the future because he was sooo funny. Mom and I had a good time and actually had seats on the third row. The tickets were her birthday present from me this past February. Had a great time!

Forgive the randomness of this post...I am a little pushed up if you know what I mean. No idea what that means? Pushed up=swamped with lots to do!

Currently At Disney World!

We are currently in the most "Magical" place on Earth. We arrived mid-afternoon Sunday and went to Magic Kingdom until 1:00 AM...That is right, one hour past midnight! We were sooo tired. The girls hung with us, even when I woke them for a character breakfast Monday morning that was scheduled for 9:30! Needless to say we came back to the resort (or "hotel" as Ella calls it) and took a nap before heading back to Magic Kingdom for another long night. It is "somewhat" easier to ride the rides at night because there are "somewhat" fewer people in the parks plus the fireworks are the most awesome display I have ever seen! We had another fun day today at Animal Kingdom and then the girls FINALLY got to swim in the pool at the resort. I asked them if we might could have stayed in Dothan, rented a hotel room there that had a pool, and have saved lots of money...Would they have been just as happy? But I knew the answer before I even asked them because they have had such a great time the last few days. Memories being made for sure! During one of the nightly parades at Magic Kingdom we saw Snow White walking along the parade route. She came over the Ella and said how much she liked Ella's red hairbow and Ella lunged towards her and hugged her like she had met a movie star! That little girl was so excited! Emma has been a big help this week too but I can tell she is enjoying the family time as well. She has pretty much made our schedule and chosen the rides we have riden because she knows what she wants to ride and Ella is just along for the fun! Here are some pictures from the hundreds we have taken the last 3 days. Hope you enjoy them and can tell how much fun we are having!

Counting the Days...

We are soooo excited about our upcoming Spring Break trip to Disney World. We went last Spring Break but it was our first time going with our children so I had us scheduled to the max, so this year we are going to be a little more relaxed with our schedule. Those of you who know me know that this means having a character breakfast at 9:00 instead of 8:00, but we will still be very much "organized". My children loved Disney last year and have talked about the upcoming trip since we made reservations back before Christmas. My ever-so-thoughtful joking husband told the children that if they loved Disney so much then they ought to tell me to go back to work full-time so we could afford to go to Disney 4 times a year! Ella thought that sounded great (4 times a year) but Emma declined his idea after she thought about me being back at work full-time. I love her! Well we started our 30 day countdown back...well 20 days ago and today we have only 10 days left. There is so much non-Disney stuff to do between now and next Sunday that it is hard to believe we will actually be leaving in 10 days. Expect to see lots of pictures from the trip!

I'm a Collector...Are You?

I am a collector of sorts. Sure I collect "normal" things like Willow Tree angels, serving pieces (ceramic, acrylics, etc), stationary, gifts for giving and the like but I also collect other "things". For instance, open my kitchen utensil draw and you will find, among other things, three ziploc "collection" bags...one with tab tops from Coke type cans, one with "Box Tops", and one with Campbells labels. All of these items are collected by Emma's school for various purposes. It is so easy to do our part, and really has become addictive...Emma and I both look over our grocery items for the Box Tops and Campbells labels and we have even employed the grandparents on both sides to help with our efforts on all three collections! And I guess I would be fooling myself if I did not admit that I collect laundry too! Whether clean or dirty, I always seem to have lots of it! Got to go! I hear the rinse cycle on the washer! What do you collect?

Alabama Football Players Make Smiles Happen

Chuck and Emma went to a Providence v. Rehobeth baseball game tonight. Three University of Alabama football players were there to sign autographs. Boy doesn't my little girl look happy! Here, she is pictured with Leigh Tiffin, Javier Arenas and Cory Reamer. She got her National Championship hat autographed and hasn't stopped talking about it! I asked her if she offered to throw a few passes with them and she rolled her eyes! I may sound like a boastful mother, but I think the players would have been surprised! Her daddy has certainly built himself a huge 8 year old fan!