Sweet

sweet=cake and my girls

Emma's Day

Today was such a great day. As soon as Emma woke up this morning I sang Happy Birthday to her. She looked at me like "mom, I just woke up, leave me alone".But then once she woke up, she continued to say Happy Birthday ALL DAY LONG. It was the cutest thing ever. She requested waffles for breakfast and also to watch Mickey Mouse. After breakfast I snapped this picture.

Taken at 7:39 am....exactly 3 years old!

We spent the morning playing. I got out a few things that she got for her birthday to play with. We did a puzzle and also played with some stamps. Josh worked until about 1:30 today and once the girls got up from their naps, we went to Build-A-Bear Workshop. We took Emma last year on her birthday and we would like to keep it a tradition. Since her birthday falls during the week we wanted to do something special for her. She still loves the little frog she made last year, and I knew she would love it even more this year. We didn't take the big camera, so phone pics will have to do.

Once we got there it took her a while to pick out an animal. They had some that were not so cute, so I tried to help her pick one out. We ended up with a monkey. Emma wanted nothing to do with stuffing it. I think she was a little scared of the loud sound that the machine made. So Josh stuffed it and also put in a little heart.

After the monkey was stuffed, she gave it a bath.

After the monkey got a bath, Emma picked out some clothes. She ended up with a ballerina PJ set.

This is Millie the Monkey. Emma loves her so much and has literally not put her down since she got her. She also got some little ballerina slippers and some sunglasses to go with her outfit.

She wanted to carry her out all by herself.

Here are a few pics of Emma and Millie.

After we got home I fixed spaghetti for dinner and then we had birthday cake. We sang to Emma and then she blew out 4 candles all by herself. Up until tonight I haven't really cried. But as I was putting Emma to bed tonight I spent a few extra mintues with her telling her how much I loved her and that God gave me the most precious gift. This little girl means the world to me and I hope that we gave her a wonderful birthday.

Emma also received a few phones calls today. Nana, Papa, and Cheyenne called her to wish her a Happy Birthday. Emma was so excited to talk to them. I think it really made her day that much more wonderful.

I will post some birthday cake pictures tomorrow once I get them off the camera.

It has been such a great day and I am now looking forward to the next year with my little 3 year old!!

Three

3 years ago today, at 7:39 a.m. my 1st little girl came into my life. What an exciting, scary, crazy day that was. I knew nothing about how to be a mother. I only knew that there was going to be this little tiny person that I was responsible for. I did lots of research, read lots of book, asked for lots of advice.....but nothing could ever prepare me for the stage of life I was about to enter.

It is absolutely amazing the love a person can feel for their child. There hasn't been one day that I haven't seen my Emma and told her I loved her. She is one of the most beautiful little girls I have ever laid my eyes on. I know I'm a bit biased, but I am so proud of the little girl that we are raising.

This little girl has changed my life.
Just one smile from her melts my heart and makes any bad day, so much better.

I have thought for a while now what I would want to say to Emma on this special day, but there are just no words that I could possibly come up with that would describe my feelings. She has a special place in my heart that will always be just for her.

Emma,
We are so blessed to have such a wonderful little girl. You are the light of our lives and we love you so much. Happy 3rd Birthday sweetheart.


A big thank you to my sister Autumn for these amazing pictures.

Emma's 3rd Birthday Party

Sweet little Emma's birthday is tomorrow but this past Saturday we had her party. I planned for a long time and I was glad that the day was finally here. I was so glad that Josh could stay home from work and help me with everything. I'm sure most, if not all, think that I go way overboard for a 3 year olds party. After the party I asked Josh if it was too much and he said "As long as it makes you happy, that's all that matters". I'm glad that he "gets it". Anyway, we had around 15 people or so. Not all of our family could make it, but we still had a lot of people in our little house. The party was so much fun. I can't believe that my little girl will be 3 tomorrow.

For the food table, we had cupcakes, pigs in a blanket, goldfish, chips and dip, fruit and dip, sweet tea, pink lemonade, and water. Somehow I didn't get a picture of the completed table. :( But I thought it turned out great.

Emma showing you that she will be 3 years old!! (little tear)

For the party favors we made birthday cake push pops. I found this idea on Pinterest and I was able to get the containers so that Josh and I could make them. I thought they turned out really cute. For the kids, I put together little Hello Kitty tins. Inside there were stickers, necklaces, a bracelet, rings, and bubbles.

We sang Happy Birthday first thing so that everyone could go ahead and eat. As soon as we started singing Emma buried her head in her hands. I guess she didn't like it or was embarrassed or something. But once we were done, she blew out her candles with the help of Cheyenne.

Ryleigh was spoiled at the party too. She got passed around a lot and she ate so much her tummy stuck out all night. :)

Ryleigh got to share a cupcake with Nana

Emma got so many great gifts....a magna doodle, a music player with microphone, a TAG reader, a laptop, books, puzzles, etc. She is so spoiled with all this new stuff. But it's so great to have some new things for her to play with. I put up several things so that I can get them out periodically.

Emma and Aunt Katie

Her new helmet was the last present she opened and then when she turned around, Josh had brought in her new bike.

She LOVES her new bike.

Josh, Emma, & Chey drawing on the magna doodle

Thankyou so much for everyone who came to Emma's party. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family that love our little girl as much as we do.

Wednesday Randoms

Yesterday afternoon Autumn invited us to meet her and her girls at Oak Ridge park this morning. We haven't been to that park in a while so it was nice to be somewhere different. We had a great time. Not too long after we got there Cheyenne had to use the potty and so Autumn took her, but ended up locking her keys in her car. It was kind of funny and not so funny all at the same time. Luckily my dad was home from work today and was able to go back to her house and bring her spare key to her. He was a lifesaver today. Thanks Daddy! The girls always have fun playing together. Ryleigh doesn't usually do a lot of playing though. She likes to observe her surroundings a little too much. This morning she decided to put as much mulch as she could at the bottom of one of the slides. Emma and Chey decided they would help too.

Ryleigh's nose has been kind of stopped up when she sleeps the past couple of days and that is causing her to not nap as long as she usually does. She only napped for an hour today so I brought her back to my room and let her have a snack. She thought she hit the jackpot by getting the whole box.

The girls and I got in the car to go out for a little bit this afternoon and this is what my car said when I got to the gas station. I really don't like pushing it that far,...I just get a little lazy sometimes. Don't know how accurate it is....but I don't want to find out either. I was getting a little nervous.

While I was out I decided to get everything I needed to make a chicken pie. I tried chicken pie a few months ago for the first time. (yes, I've been under a rock apparently) But I loved it. I just hadn't found one that quite tasted right. Well, I made this one and it was awesome. Josh was even impressed so I get gold stars for that! Even Emma (who always eats her fruit before any of her chicken) ate all of the chicken pie first and asked for more. Definitely a winner.

After dinner is when the girls, especially Ryleigh, start getting a little whiney. We sit on the floor a lot and try to play together as a family and spend time with the girls. Emma has recently gotten into rolling a ball across the living room back and forth. The simplest things make her happiest it seems. Occasionally daddy will let her play on the iPAD and she loves it. She has her own little folder with a couple of games and she threw a fit tonight when it was bed time. This little game has been great with helping her learn lots of shapes though.

1st earthquake

A 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit in central Virginia at 1:51 this afternoon. I definitely felt it at my house and I know people from many other states did also. I know that Josh, my mom, and my sister Autumn did not feel it, but my younger sister Katie did. It was absolutely the weirdest and scariest thing I have ever felt. Emma was asleep and Ryleigh had just woken up a minute or two before it happened and was standing up in her crib. I was sitting on our bed working on some things for Emma's party. The whole house just started shaking. Our t.v. started shaking really bad so I went to try and support it so it didn't fall, and there were a few things on our bathroom counter that fell off. I was watching the girls in the monitor and Ryleigh fell over in her bed and it woke Emma up but they were fine. I was really confused at first when it started shaking. It didn't even cross my mind that it was an earthquake because this is not supposed to be happeneing in this part of the country. Really crazy......

I hope that everyone is safe.

On a different note, the coast is gearing up for Hurrican Irene that is supposed to hit this weekend. Please pray for their saftey and that it doesn't cause too much damage.

around the house

Today was just a lazy day around the house. Well not so much lazy I guess, because I did do a lot of laundry and cleaning. We just stayed home all day except for a CVS run I made after dinner. My little Ryleigh hasn't been feeling too well today. I think she might just be teething though. She had her finger stuck in her mouth most of the day and she was running a tiny fever. I'm hoping she will wake up feeling a lot better in the morning. Here she is getting in a few cuddles with daddy. This is her favorite place to sit. Her and her daddy could sit there together all day long.

Emma makes me laugh ALL DAY LONG. She just has this sweet little personality that is absolutely irresistable. She has really started showing some motherly instincts lately. Every time I change Ryleigh's diaper, she wants to help. She sits next to me and helps put the diaper under her and then she helps put it on and also pull her pants back up. She is so proud of herself when she is done. She loves being helpful and I love that quality about her. I hope it never changes. Today she was taking very good care of her little frog named "Bubbles". She got several naps throughout the day and also all of her meals. I caught her feeding Bubbles dinner around 4:00 today and it was so cute. She put her in Ryleigh's seat at the table, fed her, gave her milk, and cleaned her up.

Emma has really started to like Winnie the Pooh. She asked to watch a movie this afternoon and she made herself a cozy little place to watch it.

As you all can see, I've been taking a lot of pictures with my phone lately. I don't like getting out the DSLR for just a few quick pictures around the house. It's too much of a hassle. I used to have a small digital camera but it was dropped into the ocean back on Memorial Day so it doesn't work anymore. I really really really need a new one, but it will have to wait. I found an app on my phone that I've been playing around with so even though the pictures aren't as great, I'm still glad I have tons of pics to look back on.