Happy Halloween!

Yesterday we had a great day! We went to visit Uncle David at the mall; he works at the Apple store. Emersyn wanted to show him her cowgirl costume. We met David on his lunch hour and Ems at her peanut butter sandwich with him. What a big girl!

Uncle treated Emersyn to her first time riding one of these rides at the food court. I love how they are both making the same face in this picture! :)

Then, off to Pottery Barn Kids to play!

After we said "see ya later" to Uncle, we headed to our church's Harvest Party! Brett and I volunteered to help since Emersyn is still a little too young to really enjoy these kind of activities. It was a carnival like atmosphere with different games and a bouncy house. Very fun to see all the kiddos in their costumes!

This handsome Dallas Cowboy is Miss Sheri's precious son, Christopher!

Him and Emersyn are best buds. Whenever Emersyn sees him, she goes and gives him a hug, it is too sweet!

Second Halloween as a family of three. Thank you Lord for my family!! Side note: I am lovin' my handsome husbands new glasses!!!

My big girl, just walking her little heart out.

Emersyn, taking part in some of the activities and games. :)

Daddy's little cowgirl.

I already know what she is going to be for next Halloween....can't wait!! I love the challenge of making her costume, not buying one that she won't ever wear again. Fun fun.

Happy November!!

Estella's Birthday Party

*Sigh* I am enjoying a nice quiet morning at home. As much as I love the hustle and bustle of life, going out and enjoying Fall, I just as much love staying home and enjoying my home and sweet baby girl.

Yesterday we took Emersyn down to Albany. Pictures of that fun time to come! Our evening destination was Estella Joy's first birthday party. Emersyn and Estella are just two months apart. I will never forget when Jonette called me to tell me that she was pregnant, not too long after I had announced my own pregnancy! It was fun going through pregnancy and now being new mom's together. Her and her husband are the Youth/Young Adult Pastor's at our church, which are ministries that we have been/are involved with. It is fun to have another baby around, especially one so close in age to Emersyn.

Last night was so much fun; it truly is such a blessing to be surrounded by so many great families and go to the same church together. I can't wait to watch them all grow up and witness the amazing plans that the Lord has for each of their lives!

It was a costume birthday party, how perfect!!

The birthday girl. Brett took this pic, I think it is just stunning!!

Emersyn "helped" Estella open some presents!

Emersyn LOVES all stuffed animals. It is funny, we meant to dress her as a cowgirl but as the night went on, her costume resembled more of a bandit as she took off with all of Stellie's presents!!!

Left to right: Stella (in the Minnie ears), Ava, Emersyn, Sydney, Jackiya, Evan and Hudson

Isaac is seriously one of the cutest little boys!!

These boots were my only splurge for her costume. They were $20 from Target, which to me isn't the greatest deal but they seem really well made and totally complete the outfit. Plus, she can wear them into the Winter and Spring...they are a little big right now.

You know you're having a good time when you party your right pony tail right off your head!

Isaac trying to distract us with his good looks while Emersyn makes a run for it up the stairs!!

Busted! Note her skirtless/tightless legs....she decided she didn't want to put them back on once we changed her, hee hee. :)

Breaking news: these two girls are going to be FLOWER GIRLS TOGETHER next Summer!!!!

She's got legs.....she knows how to use 'em.....(cheesy 80's song reference) :)

Ahhh, home after a LONG day!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Candy Corn Cupcakes

Hi guys! It's me again, Emersyn. Last night my mom asked me if I wanted to help her with some baking.

I was shocked! This was my first time baking!

Mommy let me borrow her apron. She said that maybe we can keep an eye out for an apron my size, this one was a little big on me.

Baking is fun!

Mommy found a sweet recipe for "Candy Corn Cupcakes" on a really cool blog.

See? They kinda look like candy corn! Daddy had to eat this one, you know, for "research purposes" to make sure that they tasted good and that they really looked like candy corn inside!

I had to go to bed so Mommy didn't get a picture of me with the cupcakes. They really are SO easy, even a toddler could make them!

You add food coloring to the batter and even the inside of the cupcake looks like candy corn!!!

You divide your cake batter in half, adding yellow to one and orange to the other. Add the yellow batter first into the cupcake liners and then freeze the batter for about 10 minutes and then add the layer of orange and bake! Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

The white frosting on the top makes it look just like a piece of candy corn!

Mommy just put the finishing touches on my Cowgirl Costume tonight....can't wait to show you all!

Happy Friday!!

Wednesday Ramblings :)

Thanks to everyone that commented on my previous post about kids and TV. Since I have become a mom (which is still even a funny thing to say...I just can't believe it!!), I have truly adopted the policy of "to each their own" in regards to parenting. (Within reason of Things can work well for some children and parents and not others. I think that I have decided that some TV is okay for Emersyn but I never want it to be used as a "babysitter" and I want to be VERY careful what she watches. I was watching Sesame Street the other day and it is actually pretty educational! I got some great ideas of shows from you ladies so thank you!! :)

Last night we had another great book club meeting with some quality ladies. It is such a refreshing time for me. I want to blog about the thoughts that were shared...stay tuned! :)



This morning I took Emersyn to the dr. to have a look at her most recent flare of eczema. Yesterday morning at Bible Study, one of the ladies that works in the nursery paged me and said that Emersyn had hives. I was pretty sure that she didn't have hives and assured them that it was just her eczema. But then I got to thinking....what if? So I made a dr. appointment and $20 later, I find that it it is NOT hives but simply a bad flare up. I should take pictures to show Emersyn some day. Poor baby. Her entire back, tummy, the back of her neck, under her chin, and tops of her legs are red and scaly. I am going to aggressively treat her with the steroid cream that her dr. prescribed us today as well as using Vaseline like a crazy woman. Poor Ems is so slicked and greasy....but whatever helps her skin makes it all worth it! :)



When I got home I put Ems in her crib for some playtime while I went and took a shower. When I got out of the shower I heard nothing so I went and peeked and saw this....

She was zonked out! And note the sweet doggie that she is cuddling....a gift from her 10 year old friend, Christopher. Precious. She doesn't consistently take a morning nap but I often find that she will if given the opportunity. I miss her when she is sleeping in the mornings though because I work in the afternoons. *sigh* Someday.......

While Ems napped, I got a shower and got ready and then Miss Roxanne came over at about 11am! Roxanne watches Ems on Wednesdays ( I wrote about her last week) and often she will come over early so we can chat about her life and what's new. The best part: she doesn't mind if I multi-task while we chat!!!!!!!! It is such a win win situation!! She gets to relax and chat with me on a barstool at our kitchen island....meanwhile, I empty the dishwasher, load the dishwasher, vaccum, mop, etc. Hallelujah, what a blessing to ME she is!! I don't mind cleaning at all when I get to be distracted by wonderful conversation. It's like I go into auto-pilot mode with cleaning and just enjoy chatting and then all the sudden, my house is clean!! I am SO excited about all the amazing things that the Lord is doing in Roxanne's life. She is an amazing woman and has a heart that truly seeks God's will for her life. I know that God has big plans for her and her testimony. :)

Tonight: trying a new recipe thanks to Jennifer!! I will let you know how it goes!

Tomorrow: hopefully going to the zoo again in the morning, assuming the weather cooperates. Brett thinks that the zoo in the rain would be fun with an umbrella. I am a realist and firmly disagree with this theory. Also, some last minute shopping for her costume

Friday: taking Emersyn down to Albany to visit her great-grandparents in her costume! They both live in retirement/assisted living facilities and get a kick out of seeing Emersyn and showing her off to their friends. Last year we took our two month old little ladybug down there and let me tell you, she was a hit! :) Friday night Emersyn is attending the first birthday party of one of her BFF's, Estella.

Okay, enough rambling! Sometimes it is nice for me to write it all out and organize my thoughts that way.....makes me feel more on top of life that way! :)

Happy Wednesday everyone!!

Baby Einstein Scam!!

I received an interesting email link from both my mom and my husband today regarding the "Baby Einstein Scam". Apparently there are people out there that think that buying these DVD's will actually make your baby smarter. There is a class action against Disney and as a result, they are offering to either refund your purchase or send you out a new DVD or book.

We bought Emersyn a Baby Einstein DVD when she was a couple months old and honestly I wasn't that impressed. I had friends that swore by them and I saw the proof on their babies glazed over eyes as they were hooked on the TV screen. Emersyn just never caught on to it, plus we don't really watch TV much with her.

If you are interested in the refund, CLICK HERE!

Now that Emersyn's car seat is facing the front, she has had the opportunity to enjoy our DVD system that was a total bonus to us when we purchased the van. I definitely don't want Emersyn to become too dependant on TV for entertainment though. There is that whole "children that watch TV under the age of 2 will get ADD" school of thoughts.

Blog mama's: do your kids watch TV? what ages are they? do you think that TV for kids under two is bad?

I would love to hear your thoughts! :)

First Trip to the ZOO!!!

Last Thursday we took Emersyn to the zoo for the FIRST time!! We bought a membership after receiving an offer in the mail that we couldn't refuse! We had such a great time, got in a good walk, and Emersyn couldn't get enough of the animals!

The sea lions were our first stop. Emerysn was impressed at how big they were and waved at them.

She was especially attached to Twin, her beloved monkey. She insisted on holding him almost the entire time. Maybe she thought he would protect her from the big animals. It was pretty cute. :)

At the lion exhibit, I asked Emersyn what a lion said and when I roared, she cracked up!

Love this pink coat on her! These pics aren't even edited but the pink is so bright and dynamic!

Admiring the "big kitty". Emersyn squealed and laughed at him/her. :)

Peek-a-boo!

Watching the monkeys!

We had such a fun time and the best part was, since we didn't pay anything to get in, we weren't pressured to stay there all day and get our money's worth. We stayed about 90 minutes and it was just the right amount of time for Emersyn and us too. :)

We can't wait for many more zoo trips to come!