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!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Jim and I spent the most wonderful, romantic, lovely weekend together......NOT! We did however, have a great time with my mom and Calvin who came to visit. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Computer Woes

Well, you may have noticed that I haven't posted in a while, that would be because our computer crashed. Finally, we are up and running again, and Jim even built this computer. Yeah, guess I married a dork after all. So, now that I'm back in modern times, here are some pictures to get you caught up.

Emmy on a cold day.



Lydia sitting at Emmy's table coloring. She's getting so big!



Emmy looking like she's going to run away from home.




Lydia right before church. You always take pictures before church because who knows what they'll look like after. For instance, the road rash on her nose is a product of after church happenings.



Emmy requested to take a picture of her tongue sticking out, it's her favorite pose these days.



Outfits courtesy of Oma. Thanks Oma!



Silly girl!


Well, she went from sitting at the table, to sitting on the table. She figured this little trick out today. I'm thrilled...

Happy Birthday To Me......I Get All New Makeup.

And this is why:

While typing up Lydia's birthday post, my wonderful daughter Emmy was supposedly watching Little Bear in my bed. When I went to check on her, she was under the covers and wouldn't come out.

I knew something was up, so I grabbed the camera,
this is when I pulled back the covers. This is what I saw:


My bed was caught in the crossfire.


Umm, yeah.


Personally, I think she's going for the battered wife look.

Happy First Birthday Lydia!

Today Lydia turned one! It has been a wonderful year with her and we are so excited to see what this next year holds. Here are a few pictures we took today:

Lydia and Emmy are sitting in Lydia's big present. Lots of balls
mean lots of fun (especially for mommy to pick up!).


Lydia loves Emmy's ABC frig toy, so we got her one with animals.


This was a video, but I decided not to torture everyone with our singing.


Lydia mischievously eating cake.


Emmy.

And this is something I have decided I'm going to patent. It tires out the child who has too much energy while simultaneously entertaining both children. I wish I had taken the video when Emmy was going really fast and whipping Lydia around the corners. Unfortunately, by the time I got back, she was tired.