Happy Birthday Emmy!

Here's our 4 year old! Can you believe it?!? Emmy turned 4 on December 22nd. Poor girl, having her birthday so close to Christmas!




This is Emmy on her Birthday last year....3 years old.



She's done a lot of growing this year, and we can't wait to see what a new year brings.

Just Because.....

Happy Reformation Day!

To celebrate Reformation Day, we had a festival at our church. Emmy was a ballerina and Lydia was a bee. They had such a good time and now we have way too much candy in the house!

The Zoo

Last week we went to the Columbia Zoo and enjoyed it very much. I think the girls were most enthralled with the fish. What's your impression?

A Short Story About Emmy

Yesterday we were in the car (Emmy, Lydia, and myself), waiting for Jim to get out of Office Depot. Lydia was already sleeping and Emmy was complaining about the wait (can't say that I blame her). I told Emmy that if she wanted, she could take a nap. Emmy paused for a few seconds and said "Mom...I've thought about it, and I'm not going to take a nap." I'm glad she takes time to think the important things through.

Third Time's A Charm!

Many have been skeptical as to whether Jim was capable, however, he has come through. An heir has been produced and his name is "Bubba"! No....we have no name for him yet and are officially accepting name donations! I am four and a half months pregnant and am due March 3rd. For those of you who care(I wouldn't admitt it if you did), that is square root day, 3/3/09. Emmy is particularly excited. When I was two months pregnant (Emmy did not know yet), she spent the weekend with Jim's mom. At church that Sunday, she told the pastor during the children's sermon that she was going to have a baby brother. This of course, then prompted Jim's mom to ask us if I was pregnant at which point I was busted. Emmy has continued to hope for a baby brother and was so glad to hear the news this week. Lydia doesn't understand yet, but she loves babies and I'm sure she'll be very excited when "Bubba" comes. Everything looks great so far with the baby, please pray that he will continue to develope and be heathly.

In other news, we've had a very busy summer and now fall. We went to the beach twice and the mountains twice and of course, in the midst of that, my camera broke, so we really don't have a lot of summer pictures. We also went out on Lake Wyle were we had so much fun with some friends who took us out on their boat. Michelle went on the tube with the girls becuase Jim had a broken wrist (another highlitht of the summer) and I was pregnant. Here are a few pictures from this summer.

Worms, Worms, and More Worms!

Did I mention I was a city girl? I have found a new hobby outside. In our area there are beautiful large white rocks, most of which have gold of some amount in them. The ground is very unique and attracts lighting (another story all together.) Here is some Smyrna trivia: the largest nugget of gold ever found on the east coast was found here in Smyrna. So.....I decided to place these large rocks around my garden. It's like a treasure hunt finding these things, because you see one sticking out of the ground and you think, "That won't be big," then you dig up a 50 pound rock! Under these rocks of course, are worms. Emmy, who hates bugs, loves worms, who knew? She names them, cuddles them, baby talks them, and builds them houses. Could a worm have it any better? Here are some pictures of our recent days:

That's a worm hanging out of her right hand if you can't tell.

Some packing peanuts fell out into our shed, so we gave the girls the task of putting them into a trash bag. Emmy did a great job, Lydia however, liked breaking them into pieces. You win some, and you loose some.



After the "peanut pickup."



Yep, we're in the lawn big leagues...non of those sissy push lawn mowers!



Emmy on one of those bouncy ball things.



Thanks Aunt Joanne for these sweet dresses!

Rainy and Cold (Our Spring Break Happenings)

Rainy and Cold, at least one of them (and usually both) describes our vacations to the beach and mountains. Although the weather was unfortunate, and quickly became beautiful after we left each place, the company was wonderful. First we went to the beach with Grandma and Papa (Jim's mom and stepdad.) Even though it was freezing cold, rainy, and windy, we still found a day to play on the beach. Emmy and Papa are cohorts in crime, and sandcastle experts. Lydia, however, takes after her father, who is not too fond of getting dirty or wet. Hmm.... I'm a little scared for our summer beach vacations!

The girls waiting anxiously the morning after we arrived to go to the beach.
High hopes for Lydia at this point.



Grandma and Lydia taking a stroll.



Papa and Emmy retrieving water for their sandcastle.



The start of the sandcastle.



Well, at least the shovel is touching the sand. Baby steps, right?!?



Not too many options on the seashell front.



And of course, beautiful weather the day we came home from the beach.

The day after we came home from the beach, we headed to the mountains to celebrate Granddaddy's (Jim's dad) 60th birthday. We were only there one night, and of course, it was rainy and cold. However, we found ways to entertain ourselves.

Hanging out with Jim's extended family.



HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDDADDY!



Maybe she'll be a ski bunny...



Thank you to Janet (Jim's cousin) for entertaining Emmy!

Happy Valentine's - Easter

Sadly, since Valentine's day, we have had internet trouble and I have not had the patience to post anything on the blog. So, here is a run down of the past 6 weeks.

This is a picture taken Valentine's day weekend, the day before Jim, I, and Calvin went skiing.



For those of you curious what Calvin looks like, well, here is a masked Calvin.



Here is Calvin and his friends from our church who also went skiing.




Well, this one I couldn't resist, because it's Lydia's first picture with her tongue sticking out. Aren't you glad you could be a part of it?



Which brings us to our church Easter Egg Hunt!




Although, all the kids loved looking for eggs, I think their favorite thing was jumping into a pile of leaves left by the cemetery wall. Here are some of the kids jumping off the wall together. Emmy somehow found herself in the middle.




These are last years Easter Pictures.




You didn't expect me to get two of them looking at the camera at the same time did you?
Here is Lydia.


And Emmy.




I hope you all had a very Happy Easter!