PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN

I just love to dress Emily up in patriotic clothing....Ok, your right, I just plain love to dress her up!!! We went to a local pond to do this photo shoot. Oh, Momma and Daddy had so much fun!! We were mother hens when it came to feeding the ducks. If they got too close, we let them know they needed to back off or we would be having Peking duck for the 4th! LOL

Daddy and Cinderella

She swings and she sways to whatever song plays without a care in the world. I am sitting here carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.

Just home from work, still work to do. Daddy, Daddy I need you.

There is a ball at the castle, I need to practice my dancing. Please, Daddy please.

So I dance with my cinderella, while she is here in my arms. I know something the prince never knew. All too soon the clock with strike midnight, and she'll be gone.

Cinderella, by Steven Curtis Chapman (probably have some words missing, but you get the idea).

These photos were taken at a chinese restaurant where Donnie's cousin got married in June. The bride and her Daddy were dance to Bob Carlisle's "Butterfly Kisses." I was beginning to tear up, so I walked outside, and this is what I saw. The last two were taken inside. Daddy and Emily were dancing. In the last one she is singing. The look on her face was priceless. The camera didn't do it justice. Too Sweet.

SINGING IN THE RAIN

We got some MUCH needed rain today. Emily Begs to play in the rain everytime it rains. She ran right out before I could stop her. Did Mommy run to get her? No, she ran for the camera...that is what a good momma is supposed to do right??!!! Was it lightening you ask? Probably....just don't tell Grandma and Granny.

Oh I am so behind on blogging. I have several posts to do. We went to a wedding last weekend and I took some really cute pictures of Daddy and Emily dressed up. We have been swimming at Granny's...you guessed it, more cute pics. Granny also retired last Friday.

Upcoming events:

• 4th of July. I have a cute dress that I am planning on taking pictures in....Can't wait, it will be lots of fun. We will probably do the normal swim and bbq for the 4th.

• The weekend after the 4th our town is having a 100th birthday party. Parade, carnival, and fireworks, oh my!!
  
  

**I don't edit my photos before I post. Sorry - what you see is what I saw when I snapped the photo!!!***

A PRIZE FOR EMILY

A prize for me??!! It is wrapped in my favorite color....BLUE

MRS. Duckie is as excited as I am!Oh look, it's a violin, a BLUE violin.

I just love music and can't wait to learn how to play.

TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR......

This is a just because present from a friend of grandma. She has children, but no grandchildren and she says it doesn't look like she will have grandchildren, so she has adopted Emily!! We will put her in lessons when she is closer to 4. She loves music, so I can see her really enjoying her violin.
THANK YOU MRS. DUCKIE!!

***Notice that Oscar (aka Dog) is in almost every picture. Poor thing feels so neglected and starved for attention!!****

Emily and Grandma

One of Emily and Grandma's favorite things to do is march. They each get their tamborines and shake them wildly and march from one end of the house to the other....and beleive me, they are both quite loud!!

Emily and Grandma love to make cupcakes. They have lots of fun together no matter what they do. Emily does have a temper and does occasionaly get mad at Grandma, sometimes for no reason at all. When she is mad she calls her, "Grandmama" and makes it sound like a bad word!!

MOMMY AND DADDY

Ok this is a rare treat. I am actually going to blog about Donnie and I. I was going to do this post last month in honor of our 16th wedding anniversary, but everything else got in the way.

Because this blog is for and about Emily, I thought she might enjoy some pics of Mommy and Daddy before they were even married. She saw the pics today and she asked where she was!!

I was going to do a post of how we met as well, but that is for another day. These pictures were all taken in 1992. We look so young!!

TEASER POST

Yes, I am still here. We are still in the "temporary" normal around here. Mom's car is still in the shop, so been doing a lot of running back and forth. Yuck. Things will be back to the old normal soon. May was kind of a challenging month, praying June is better. Emily is sick....again. It is just allergies (running nose, chest congestion, coughing...) and I am taking her to the Dr. tomorrow. May was just a month of breakdowns and poor health. All complaining aside, we are very blessed, things could be so much worse, and really we know this "season" will pass.

I have several things to post about, but just kind of short on time and energy, but I will catch up in June.

Here are some current updates on Emily:

She is talking so well, she just cracks me up with the things she says. It is so funny to hear your words come out of your child's mouth.

Emily and I were at the mall about 3 weeks ago and I shared my C*ke with her. Just in casual conversation I told her not to tell Daddy. We were at the mall last week, and again I told her I would share my drink with her and she said, "I won't tell Daddy!!" I almost fell out, it was so funny.

She LOVES to sing. She can sing probably about a dozen songs word for word...It is so amazing.

Emily "reads" her books all the time. I overheard her reading nursery rhymes. She call humpty dumpty "humpy dumpy."

She is very inquizative. She asks all the time "What you talking about Momma?" "What is that noise?"

Emily and dog are like brother and sister. This evening, I spanked her for being mean to Oscar, and he cried and tried to bite me!! She can't understand why he can go in the kitchen when she can't. I tell her because he is a dog, and she answers "Emmie gog." They vie for my affection all the time. Drives me crazy.

Her favorite new game she calls "toilet paper gog." she can reach the toilet paper in the laundry room and she will tear up a whole roll of toilet paper over the dog, then run and jump in it!!

You can ask her what she is afraid of and her answer is "nothing." She has very few fears, and what she is afraid of, she tries her hardest to hide it...way too funny. You can ask her if she is afraid of something and she will either say she isn't or she will avoid the question.

She can't pronounce her "f's" so flip flops are "sip sops."

If I tell her I have a headache, she rubs my head (she says that makes it feel bebber) and wants to know where the bleed is !!!

OK, I am sure I have lost you by now....way more info than you wanted to know!!

I will have some more "exciting" posts up in a few days....

WATER GIRL

Emily just loves water. she was by no means intimidated by the big swimming pool with the slide. She didn't mind the water "showering" down on her either. When she would get to the bottom of the slide and go underwater, she just got up and climbed the wall again!!! There was also a "baby" pool. but it wasn't exciting enough for our little adventurer!!

THE LONG OVERDUE POST

Emily loves her sand and water table. It has a cover on it and is a picnic table as well.

I know, I am way behind!! It has just been crazy here. I normally do my blogging late at night after everyone has gone to bed, but I have been having to get up at 5 am to take Donnie to work on a few mornings a week, and have just been too tired!! I have also discovered F*ceb**k, and that has TEMPORARILY taken the place of blogging!!

Things are still a little crazy around here. We are having a new engine put in Mom's car. It will be like a new car for her (she still has 4 notes on it, and this was much cheaper than getting a new one).

Emily is much better. I didn't want to say anything, but they tested her for the Sw*ne Fl*. I don't beleive she had it, it was just a precaution. The results aren't back, and it is one of those things that if she had it there wasn't much that could be done anyway. They did give her T*maflu just in case. She had horrible side effects from that, I will never give that to her again. So last week we fought the side effects, and just getting back to normal. It is hard to explain to a 2 year old that last week she ate only popsicles and this week she has to eat food!! And temper tantrums aren't acceptable behavior, even if that's all she did last week!!

Here are a few more things that she says that is funny:

"I knew that was going to happen."

"I have everything I need."

Daddy can fix anything. She loves popsickles, but hates it that they are cold....."Daddy Six it!!"

Here she is making Alphabet soup. I was cooking and she got out a pan and took the letters off of the fridge and took out a spoon. We asked her when her soup would be ready, and she said 30 minutes!!

EMILY IS SICK

***UPDATE ON SICK EMILY*****

Emily is feeling much better - praise God!!! Her fever broke this morning. She woke up at 3:00 am burning up, I gave her M*trin, and that did the trick. She slept in till almost 7:30 (lately she has been getting up before 6). And she has been a monkey girl all morning - you know - into everything, climbing on everything (caught her climbing onto a door knob!!) and jumping off of evrything, and terrorizing the dog. So glad to have my monkey girl back. I have also got some decent rest, so I feel much better. Check back this afternoon, and you just might see a happy post!!! Thanks for the prayers - please continue......

Just a quick post. Things have been super crazy around here and I have not had the time to post. Cars broke down, fridge that has gone out. Yuck. We had to put mom's car in the shop, got it out and it had to go back, still not fixed. We had to call a repairman for fridge, had to call repairman back out 2 days later. I have had to take D to work (45 miles one way), leaving the house at 5 am, then take my mom to work (25 miles one way), then stay "in town" and go pick up D, then feed and put Emily to bed, take a quick nap and go pick up mom for midnight.

And worst of all, Emily is now sick. When I put her to bed last night she told me she was sick. I gave her some ty*nol. She woke up at 2:30 crying and shaking like a leaf. She was burning up with fever, 104.5 (she is prone to high fevers). We took her straight to the ER. They ran a battery of tests and basically couldn't find anything wrong with her. We got back home at 7:30 am, and I got a little rest but not much. Poor little thing she is still pretty sick. Will you please pray for her.

Sorry for the whining, but I am pretty sleep deprived!!

I do have some pics to post, but will have to do that when I have more time and not as tired.

Here are some quick phrases and things that she is saying lately

Everything is WHY.
If you ask her something and she doesn't want to tell you the answer she says: "Mommy tell Emmie"
She always wants daddy to have candy because he shares with her. She says "buy daddy candy, daddy share with Emmie."

There were some other cute phases that she says that I wanted to post, but I am so tired I can't even think!!

Sorry for such a whiny post, but I'll make it up with "happy posts" once Emily gets better, and I get some much needed sleep and am back into our routine!!

THE LAST OF EASTER

Thank you Miss Rhonda. I love you!!

Sorry we are side ways - didn't know how to turn it!!!!

These are't the greatest pictures, but you get the idea. And besides Easter is about the Ressurection of Jesus. He's ALIVE for evermore!!

HOPPIN EASTER ACTIVIES

Notice the slanted eyes!

Granny, cousin Billy, Emily and Pappa supervising

Granny gave her one of the tablets to put in the cup and she put it in her mouth!!!

We kicked off Easter festivities on Wednesday. We had craft day and we made a bunny mask out of paper plates. She was so excited to do a craft. She said "big kids do kat (craft)."

Next was the coloring Easter eggs. This is Granny's area. She and Billy look forward to this every year and they were really excited that Emily was joining them this year. At first I was a little sad that Daddy and I were handing this tradition to Granny. Then when I saw the mess, I was hapy to let Granny have that tradition!!!

Then while Mom and Dad were at the Good Friday service at church Grandma and Emily decorated cupcakes. Momma got home just in time to take a few pictures. Emily's favorite part was eating the jelly beans.

All and all we have really enjoyed Easter so far....we still have the egg hunt at our church tomorrow.

THE HUNT part 1

These pics are from Easter egg hunt number 1. We are planning on at least one more. Last Sat. we went to our old church for their sping festival/egg hunt. Emily just loves the bounce things. She really gets into picking up eggs. It's funny, the difference between this year and last year. Last year she would take eggs out of her basket and put in other kid's basket, this year she was taking eggs out of their basket and putting into her basket!!

Next hunt is at our church. There is a local sportsman store that is doing a hunt too, so weather and time permitting we may hit it too.

We are going to kick off Easter activities into full gear this afternoon. After nap we are going to do an Easter craft of some kind, then Thursday we will bake cupcakes with Grandma, Friday we will dye eggs with Granny and cousin Billy, then our churches egg hunt on Sat. Fun, Fun, Fun

ANOTHER PICTURELESS UPDATE

Yes, folks, that's right, no photos. I know, I know that's all you stop by for. Check back next week for photos. Wait, don't leave yet, read what we have been up to and what we are doing in the next couple of weeks. That way you will know what to expect picture wise.

We had our 2 year check up last week. At 27 months old, Emily weighs in at a whopping 22 1/2 pounds and is 33 1/2 inches tall. And as far as intellectually she is off the charts. The Dr. gave me a survey to fill out on where she is at developmentally, and she scored at the 3 - 4 year old range. The Dr. was amazed at the things that she knew and could do.

Emily can count to 10. Most of the time it is 1 2 3 4 8 9 10, but if you say 5 she says 6 7 8 9 10

She can sing her ABC's and we are working on the recognition of letters and numbers.

She knows the days of the week.

If you ask her when her birthday is she says December. She still calls birthday everyday, begging birthday to come back. She also tells birthday that she will be 3 next time birthday comes.

She knows Mom and Dad's first name, and calls us by them when she wants our attention. She thinks it is quite hilarious to say "excuse me Becky!!" She also knows Grandma, Granny and Papa's names.

We are also working on colors. I thinks she knows way more than what she wants me to know that she knows.

She has a memory like an elephant. You can tell her something today, and she will remember it a month from now!!

She still is not potty trained. For the most she will only go for candy. I try not to push her and remind myself that she will not go to kindergarten in diapers - At least I hope not!!

And can I tell you there is nothing worse than being outsmarted by a 2 year old!!! She knows how to push my buttons and make me mad, then she laughs and says Mommy mad or Emmie made Mommy mad. We laugh and say she bribes us instead of us bribing her. If we want her to say or do something she says "candy," which means she will do it if we give her candy!!

What we have on the agenda for the next couple of weeks

This weekend we are going to an Easter Egg hunt and to the Zoo (Hint: Pictures)

We will dye Easter eggs for the first time next Friday with Granny and cousin Billy (Hint: Pictures)

Grandma and Mommy will probably bake a cake, cookies, or cupcakes for Easter with Emily.

I think I will try to do an Easter craft with her next week as well.

Go to the park more often now that it is SPRING.

ARE YOU READY TO TUMBLE

Here she is, dressed and ready to go. I usually dress her in a onsie and leggings as she is dressed above. "Little Treasure" was an online China Adoption bookstore. She also sometimes wears just a t-shirt and shorts.

Here she is doing "table top." This is the beginnings of a backbend. The teacher has them sit and put their hands behind them and lift their butts up. She has also taught them to wave with one hand and Emily likes to do that.

The balance beam. Emily is doing the "bear walk." Keep your legs straight and put your hands down on the beam and walk. This is another favorite activity of Emily's.

The bars. Emily loves to hang (I wasn't quick enough with the camera to catch her hanging.). Her favorite exercise on the bar is to put both feet up.

Not Pictured: the trampoline. Emily loves to JUMP JUMP JUMP. She has also learned how to do a cart wheel, a front roll (somersault) and back roll (with assistance). I think we have a future gymnist on our hands!!!

KISS ME I'M "CHI-RISH"

HAPPY ST. PADDY'S DAY

EMILY'S FIRST FAIR RIDES

Daddy was in a craftshow this weekend and they had a little fair. Emily LOVED the rides. She wanted to ride the ZIPPER!!! I really do love it that she has such a sense of adventure and isn't afraid of anything.

MY FRIENDS MIKE AND DORA

Friday night we took Emily to see "the big kids tumble." We took her to a gymnastics meet at LSU. She loved it!! It was kids night and D*ra was there. As you can see from the picture, she is a little unsure of D*ra, but she is not afraid (remember, she isn't afraid of anything!!). She loved Mike the Tiger, the mascot. The middle picture is a mural of Mike in the outer concourse of the arena - looks like he is on her shoulders!! It was a really neat mural - it had a measure stick (like on the doors of convience stores) and coaches and players so that you could compare your height to theirs. That was the best picture that we could get of her and we had to bribe her with popcorn. She was really good enjoyed the meet. She had to have a pom-pom and she shook it and yelled "Go tigers." When you ask her what was her favorite part of the night, her answer is "POPCORN!"

NO PICS...JUST UPDATE

Not much new here....Momma about to go stir crazy with Spring Fever!!! We have had some kind of nice days - but that old North wind is still cold. Sorry for no pictures...this is just a quick post and I can't find my USB cord (it's late and I am just too lazy to look for it).

We are taking Emily to a gymnastics meet at LSU on Friday. It is kids night, so D*ra will be there, she will be so excited!! This is the first LSU "sporting" event we have taken Emily to and we are excited. We used to go to the LSU Basketball games all the time and just couldn't wait to have a little one to take.

Emily has been asking EVERY day to go to the park or zoo. She is as ready to get outside as Momma is. Sat. night she kept begging to go to the zoo. I told her the animals were sleeping, she said she would wake them up!!

Daddy is doing a craft show the first weekend of March. It is at a large church here locally and they are having carnival type rides and petting zoo, so Miss E will really like that.

Sunday we installed an alarm on her bedroom door. She has been getting up at night. It made me a nervous wreck. I could just imagine her into all kinds of things while I was sleeping!! She can also unlock the front door!! The alarm on her door is one of those like stores have that chimes when you open the door (I surely didn't want to start locking her in her room at night!!) We also have to use the deadbolt on the front door to keep her from getting out!!! What a monkey!!

Emily is really enjoying her gymnastics class. She is really good as well. Just like her Daddy, she is so intense, anything that she puts her mind to, she does well. She can do a cartwheel, kind of. They teach them to put there hands on the ground and do a "big jump" to the side. I have to really watch her because she wants to do "big jump" off stairs, tables....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA

Grandma turned 60 today!! Happy Birthday. Emily sang "happy birthday" to her and it sounded so sweet. Emily and I will be taking Grandma out to eat next week. We love you Grandma.

FINGER P*INT AND PL*YDOUGH

The Masterpiece

Last Wednesday after our nap, I decided we would fingerp*int. I kept telling her as I was getting everything ready that we were going to have fun. She loved it. Emily kept asking to play with pl*ydough though, so after about 30 min. we put up the painting and got out the pl*ydough. As I was cleaning up the paint, she said "Happy fun!" and signed thank-you. She totally melted my heart!!! She is just about big enough to start doing easy crafts - I can't wait!!

No, my card reader isn't fixed, but I plugged the camera into the laptop, and am downloading pics that way. It seems to be quicker, The only thing I am concerned with is my camera sucks batteries, so I don't know how well this will work, but for now, I am happy.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

TREASURE TROVE TUESDAY - HUNAN

This is one of my favorite pictures. I had seen this done on some of the MANY blogs that I watched as I waited. They put the baby in the window, with the city they were from behind them. The purpose being that it looks as if they are overlooking the Province that they are from, and kind of connects them to their Province. I thought it was a great idea.

Emily is from Yi Yang China, which is in the province of Hunan. Province is like a state here in the U.S. We stayed in Chang Sha Hunan, which is the capitol of the Province. The photo was taken from our hotel room (Dolton Hotel), we were on the 33rd floor. As a testament on how bad the smog is, this photo was taken at about 1 PM.

TREASURE TROVE TUESDAY --LOOK WHO'S WALKING

LOOK WHO'S WALKING

Emily began taking her first steps in early Dec at 11 1/2 months and was fully walking in late Dec. early Jan. at age 12 1/2 months. The outfit that she is wearing was one of my favorites. I got it at a garage sale. And the one with Daddy at the bottom are of Daddy being silly. That is a pillowcase that he has on his head - and I am sure he won't be very happy that I posted them!!

Here are some current updates on Emily:

• Growing like a weed of course.
• Sleeping in her big girl bed (the daybed) and sleeps much better. She is also getting up on her own, so I have to really listen for her at night, or she will be roaming the house and having a good ole time!!
• Last Sat. we went to a local Chinese restaurant for Chinese new year and saw the Lion Dance. She is still too little, she thought it was just OK, but Mom and Dad really enjoyed.
• She is saying 5 and 6 words at a time, and is very opinionated. Here are some of the things she says, "Put movie in" "No like that" "Emmie happy baby"
• Emily LOVES music, and has begun to sing several songs including Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. We need to get the video camera out to record.
• She can now reach and operate the VCR/DVD player and is climbing EVERYTHING.
• Favorite toys: puzzles, play kitchen, dishes, food, Pla*dough, coloring, telephone, and books.

GOOD-BYE THUMB PART 1

Here are a few of the MANY pictures taken of Emily with her thumb in her mouth. All of these were taken while we were in China. I have decided I am going to start posting some of the old pictures we have of Emily. I will do it on Tuesdays and call it Treasure Trove Tuesday. We have Tons of pictures (Just ask Poppa), and thought this would be a great way to share them, and also I am thinking about making a book for her from the Blog (a very popular thing to do, replaces the scrapbook). Enjoy!!