From the category archives:

emma

Christmas program cuteness

December 22, 2011

So Emma had her preschool Christmas program last week, and I’ll go ahead and tell you … I cried. Three times.

I blame it on the fetus.

Anyway, after she hid her face last year [I can't believe I didn't blog about it!!], I was worried that I would have to pull her off the stage again.

My mom and grandmother drove up from Georgia to see her, which was super exciting for all of us! We got there early and got good seats, and then the kids came marching in. I was right on the aisle, so I whispered, “Hey, Emma!” when she walked by, but she looked at me and gave me that, “Not now, Mom! I’m concentrating and walking and singing and being in a program!” look. Point taken.

And then she was on stage. And I got really nervous. That face? With the little smirk and the refusing to look around? I have seen that face. I know that face well. And I knew for sure that this would not end well.

But then the singing started, and you know what happened??

She sang!

She really really sang!

away in a manger, no crib for a bed

the little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head

the stars in the sky

looked down where He lay

the little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.

And then she played the bells …

I’m telling you guys, I was as proud as I could possibly be for my girl. She was absolutely amazing!

I had to catch myself from running up on stage and hugging her.

SQUEEEEEEZE

So so proud of how much she has grown in a year. Of course, I would have been proud of her, no matter what, but she is really growing up into an amazing little girl.

And then Mema, her great-grandmother, gave her these flowers, which she has smelled and touched and talked about every single day since then.

So if I don’t get online before then, Merry Christmas from our family to yours!! I hope you all have a blessed holiday season.

xxxooo

{ 21 comments }

quick share

December 20, 2011

in emma,family

Emma is out on Christmas break this week, so I have less time for blogging and more time for playing! In that case, I just have one quick share today with the promise of much more in the next couple of days.

flowers for Emma from her great-grandmother after Emma’s flawless performance in their school Christmas program

{ 5 comments }

apologizing

December 16, 2011

in emma,honest blogging,life with two,lucy,phone pics

I really try not to blame any crazy mood swings on pregnancy hormones, because, let’s face it – I am an adult. I should be able to stop myself from being a total nutcase. But some days, I just lose it, and I say things to Emma or Ken that I shouldn’t say. And then I have to apologize. Luckily, they are both very forgiving people, and we just keep on loving each other.

But yesterday morning got particularly bad when Emma wiped her runny nose on her shirt, and I got upset and yelled. It was a ridiculously silly thing to get upset over, but the wiping mouth/nose/hands on clothes thing has been an issue lately. I immediately scooped her into my lap and apologized and tickled and giggled, and all was right in the world.

I guess it’s the repeating of things over and over and repeating and over and repeating and over and over that gets to me. I don’t know. I just know that on days like this, we need to get out of the house for a while.

And yes … Lucy climbed to the top of the slide, crawled around inside the super high playground, and then crawled out to the little plastic viewing globe. And then I had a heart attack and died. The end.

Some days, we just need to hunt mushrooms – all found by Emma, all photographed by me, 3 almost eaten by Lucy.

all pictures taken with my phone and edited with RadLab

Today is the LAST DAY to enter the giveaway for Kellie Hatcher’s amazing color and b&w presets – BOTH SETS!!!

Have a great weekend!! xoxo

{ 18 comments }

bento lunches [week 1] and the vintage pearl giveaway winners

December 9, 2011

in emma,giveaways,lazy bentos,phone pics

So I’m not much for bandwagons, and “bento lunches” seem to be the latest trend. Cutting food into shapes, using cutesy toothpicks to hold food together, carving fruit, etc. I’ll be honest … I thought it was kind of nuts.

But then I noticed that Emma was coming home with the majority of her lunch still in her lunch bag, and she’d be hungry all afternoon. And if there’s one thing I hate more than bandwagons, it’s wasting food.

So I pulled out our Easy Lunchboxes and started loading them up with the same stuff I was fixing for her. But instead of doing a baggie of fruit, a baggie of crackers and a sandwich in a baggie, I put it all in a box.

[ham and mustard sandwich [I let her pick the shape], slice of cheese, goldfish crackers and grapes]

And lo and behold, she came home with a handful of goldfish crackers and 3 grapes.

Wednesday was much of the same …

[ham and mustard sandwich, olives, cheese, goldfish crackers, yogurt-covered raisins]

And today’s lunch …

[this week's letter is "J" so I made her a "jet" ham sandwich, a pickle, strawberries and goldfish crackers - not seen: pudding cup for a Friday treat]

So far, this is really working out great, and she is eating quite a bit more than she ate before. And honestly, it’s not any harder than what I was doing before. I still give her the same food, but for some reason, having it like this makes it more appealing to a 4-year old.

I look to Wendolonia.com for inspiration, because she makes beautiful “bento” lunches in a way that I prefer, which is making what I would normally make, but making it more fun for Emma.

And one more positive is no plastic baggie waste!

If you’re interested, here is what I used this week …

Now, before I forget, I wanted to announce the two winners of the Vintage Pearl giveaway!

Congratulations to …

#72 is Mrs. H

#14 is Laura H.

I will be emailing you both shortly – congratulations! And thank you all for entering. Remember, all items ordered from the Ready to Ship page by December 15 will make it in time for Christmas!

{ 13 comments }

when things don’t go as planned

December 7, 2011

in emma,lucy,photography,pictures

I had these grand ideas for our Christmas card pictures. I was going to dress the girls in cute outfits. I was going to take them to this neat little path tucked away in a corner of our subdivision. I was going to lay down a fuzzy blanket and get a bunch of adorable pictures of the two of them.

I was going to have to spend HOURS pouring over the amazing images just to choose two or three.

It was going to be PERFECT.

Yeah.

That was fun.

My vision flew out the window, and I realized that we were not actually going to get anything “posed.” So I just let them do whatever they wanted to do, and I ended up with three really cute shots for our cards. Which is kind of how it should have been since I actually never do posed photography, and I don’t know why I thought it would work now.

I won’t share the main image until after the cards have been sent out, but I was pleasantly surprised with the final result.