Happy 29th Birthday, Bert!

Monday was Bert's 29th birthday!  We were leaving Toccoa a few days before his birthday so we decided to celebrate early while there.  We all went out for Mexican and then back to my parents house for cake and ice cream! 

Stanley is living in Macon and had to work all day on Wednesday, so we didn't think he was going to make it for dinner.  He had talked to Bert and some point that evening and told him that he would meet us at the restaurant, but told him not to tell any of us (he wanted to surprise us).  Bert had to stall.  First, he offered to run back into the house and get my jacket, and he literally took FOREVER to find it. Haha!  Then when we were at the restaurant he couldn't decide what he wanted to order.  This is very unlike him...especially at a Mexican restaurant b/c he always gets the same thing!  He kept sending the waiter away asking for "a little more time."  I finally told him that we were all going to starve, but it was his birthday dinner so whatever.:)  About two minutes after we ordered Stanley walked in the door.  We were all really excited to see him, and I must say Bert did a great job stalling!:) 

After dinner we came home for cake and ice cream.  Mama made Nanie's chocolate mud cake.  My mom always asks us what kind of cake we want each year for our birthday (even still....now that we're getting closer and closer to 30:))...she'll either bake it or buy it, but she wants us to have our favorite kind of cake.  Anyway, this has been Bert's request for the last few years.  It's soooo good!! 

I L.O.V.E. this picture! 

On Saturday morning we had a big breakfast with Bert's family (before our Thanksgiving meal that night).  Bert's parents were going to be heading back down to GA before his birthday on Monday, and we couldn't let him get away without have some birthday festivities while they were here, so we stuck a candle in a stack of pancakes and sang happy birthday at 9:30 in the morning. 

On his actual birthday Emily and I wanted to make sure he had a GREAT day!  We both made him a card.  Emily worked hard on the one she made for him, and he loved it!  I also made him one and listed out 29 reasons why I am thankful for him.  I could have listed so many more, but I decided 29 was a good stopping point.:)  

Emily was a big help in opening his presents.  Please excuse the pink paper....it was all we had, so it was either that or a wal-mart bag.:) 

All day long Emily kept saying "birthday, birthday."  She was excited about his birthday too!  After opening presents and cards, Emily and I took him to dinner at Milton's (Italian restaurant in Wake Forest).  We had a great time! 

So, so thankful to be married to this man.  He is such an amazing husband and father...he loves us so well!  Happy Birthday, Bert!  We love you too!!:)  

Thanksgiving in Wake Forest

On Friday we headed back up to Wake Forest to celebrate Thanksgiving with Alison, Stephen, Jeff and Linda.  (Jeff and Linda had driven up to Wake Forest on Thursday.) 

It's a fact: Emily's a dog lover.  Thankfully, Alison and Stephen have 3 dogs so Em was easily entertained the entire day.:)  

We all got together for breakfast.  Let's just say it's a good thing we had our big Thanksgiving meal for dinner instead of lunch b/c I definitely wasn't hungry for awhile after such a good breakfast.  Emily usually picks one person to "mooch" off of during meals like this (when she's not in her highchair).  Linda (Grandmama) was the chosen person this time.  It didn't matter that I had a plate just for her.....she'd rather get her food from her Grandmama.:)  Grandmama didn't really mind!

After breakfast Jeff, Linda and Bert took Emily outside to play.  The weather was absolutely beautiful and she loved just walking around picking up leaves.  Alison and I were in the kitchen finishing up the dishes and chatting.  Emily kept asking for us.  She really likes for everyone to be all together.:)  I wonder where she got that from?:)

Em kept picking things up in the yard, but she didn't want to put even one leaf down.  She just kept adding things to her tiny hands.:)  You can imagine how hard it was for her to walk up the stairs while holding her juice and an assortment of leaves, flowers, and grass...PawPaw had to come to her rescue. 

Here we are watching a Christmas movie and getting ready for the feast. 

Katherine, Brett and Jacob also came over to enjoy the Thanksgiving meal.  We definitely had plenty of food!  Thanks so much to Alison and Stephen for hosting....we had such a great time!:) 

Emily in the dress her Grandmama made for her.  She is one talented lady!

Jeff and Linda, thanks so much for coming up to Wake Forest to celebrate Thanksgiving!  We're so thankful for y'all and we can't wait to see y'all in a few weeks!

Thanksgiving in Toccoa

This year we started out our Thanksgiving travels in Toccoa, and no trip to Toccoa (or day in Toccoa) is complete with out visiting Papa Stan at work.  Emily was really excited to see him!  

Just after Emily woke up from her nap my mom let the dogs outside.  Emily was still sleepy and did not handle this very well.  She completely fell apart...she wanted them with her.:)  We decided that it would be a good time to rider her around in the wagon my mom had picked up for the grandbabies at a yard sale.  She really liked it, although she does look a little sleepy in these pictures.  

And....time to swing!  This girl still loves to swing! 

I decided we needed to get a picture of Hannah on this 2011 Thanksgiving holiday!  We're very thankful for her! 

Emily playing with Papa Stan. 

The guys had a great time playing Foosball!  Emily kept wanting one of them to pick her up when they were mid-game.  She didn't understand why they wouldn't.:)

We actually had the entire family there for Thanksgiving dinner...21 people in all!  Huge accomplishment....a lot of years we're missing at least one or two people!  The food was amazing and it was great to spend time catching up with everyone!  We also played a fun game together after Jacob and Emily went to bed.  Here are a couple group pictures...

Please notice the name tags at each person's place.  We've been using the same ones for over 12 years now.  They're nothing special....they have a picture of a turkey drawn on them and the person's name...but they're full of memories.  Nanie drew some of them, Papa drew some of them, and the grandkids have all done some too.  I love little traditions like this!:) 

I'm thankful for so many things, but looking at this picture makes me especially thankful for family.:)  

Elizabeth's Wedding

I met Elizabeth a little over a year ago, when she moved to Wake Forest.  She joined our small group and I'm so thankful that she did.  She has a huge heart, and she is so quick to help anyone in need.  Love her.  We were excited to be able to be there for her special day.  The wedding and reception were absolutely beautiful!  It was 73 degrees outside (on Nov 20th!), and felt a-mazing!  They were able to have part of the reception outside b/c the weather could not have been more perfect...so fun!!:) 

Nathan and Elizabeth Price....being announced at the reception.:)  

One of Emily's favorite parts of the night was when they announced the wedding party.  She loved all the clapping and cheering!  



Elizabeth was letting Emily smell her flowers!  Elizabeth and Whitney (also in the picture below) took turns keeping Emily for us last year for a few hours every Monday.  They took such good care of our girl...thanks ladies!:) 

Family picture.  Emily - 19 1/2 months; Hannah - 28 weeks in utero.:)  

Congratulations, Nathan and Elizabeth!!  We're praying for you as you begin your life as husband and wife!! 

Washing Bunny

This morning I decided it was time to wash Emily's Bunny.  She has become even more attached to Bunny over the last few weeks.  You will find her holding Bunny most of the day!  SO....I knew I had to be sneaky to get Bunny into the washer without Emily seeing.  I got Emily distracted, grabbed Bunny, threw her in the washer, and I thought all was well.  

WRONG.  

It took Emily about 2 minutes to start looking for Bunny.  When she couldn't find her she started getting more and more upset.  I tried to calm her down by distracting her, giving her a baby doll, and finally telling her Bunny was taking a bath.  For future reference, telling your 19 month old that her Bunny is taking a bath does not go over well.  Just stick with trying to distract the poor child.:)  

She had several meltdowns throughout the washing/drying process...

Thankfully, now Bunny is clean and dry and back in Emily's arms.  All is well!

I do believe when it's time to "bathe" Bunny again, I'll try to grab her out of Em's crib after she falls asleep at night.  Ummm....I see major problems with that plan too.  I'm not sure what we'll do. Wish me luck.:)  

Wordless Wednesday

Two for the Day

This past Thursday was Katherine's first day back to work and I got to keep sweet little Jacob for the day.  He is SUCH a good baby....so so laid back.  Emily was so excited to have her cousin Jacob ("Baycup") hanging out for the day.  She did not want to let him out of her sight for lunch or nap time.  Jacob was down for a morning nap and started crying in his pack-n-play.  Emily started running down the hall saying "crying...Baycup....crying....Baycup."  She was on a mission to rescue him!  

It was definitely good practice for having two.  I would say the most interesting part of the day was when I was trying to feed Jacob and Emily wanted attention.  She would try to climb up in my lap or go into the other room and climb up on the kitchen chairs.  I wanted her to play quietly at my feet, but that didn't sound like as much fun to her.  Thankfully Jacob is laid back and a great eater, but we'll have to see how the feeding time goes once Hannah arrives.:)  

I was excited when I realized they were both going to be napping at the same time.  I got Jacob to sleep and then it was Emily's turn.  She finally fell asleep and 5 minutes later Jacob woke up.  I picked him up to calm him down and rock him back to sleep and literally 3 minutes after I got him back to sleep Emily woke up crying.  I couldn't help but smile.  I truly seemed like they had coordinated who was going to cry when before they went to sleep!!  Finally, Emily fell back to sleep to finish up her nap and Jacob stayed asleep in my arms. I so enjoyed just rocking him. He was just so peaceful and content....I loved every minute of it!  

All in all it was a GREAT day!!  Emily and I loved having Jacob to play with, and it really did give me a few good things to think about before Hannah arrives.  We're going to get to keep him a few days next week too and we're already looking forward to that.  

Here are a few pictures I took of Jacob on Thursday (3 months).  

I thought this picture was so cute!  He's giving me a smirk!:)  

This one's my favorite...I can't help but smile when I look at this one.:)  

Bay Leaf Toy Chest

Today was the 18th annual Bay Leaf Toy Chest.  This was the second year we've been able to participate.  It has been such an amazing blessing!  Here's some info on it that I got from Bay Leaf's website....http://www.bayleaf.org/toychest/

What Is The Toy Chest?

Bay Leaf Baptist Church collects donations which are used to create a huge “toy store” open one day only for Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary(SEBTS) students. The toys are sold for a minimum price, allowing these students to provide Christmas gifts to their children during their years of sacrifice and study.

Who Is Eligible?

The following students with children are eligible - 
The College at Southeastern students: enrolled a minimum of 9 credit hours
SEBTS Graduate/Masters: enrolled a minimum of 6 credit hours
SEBTS Doctoral/Ph.D./Ed.D/Th.M, etc : Full-time status

What Types Of Toys Are Available?
We buy a variety of gifts for preschool, elementary, and youth. All toys are brand new. (There is an aisle upstairs of lightly-loved items for 25 cents.)

How Much Does It Cost?

• All toys are priced at about 10% of our cost (i.e. A $50 toy would be priced at $5).
• Families can spend $7 or get 3 items (whichever first) per child
• Bicycles purchased separately for $10 - limit of 1 per family (first come first serve, ~40 available).
• There is a quarter aisle upstairs of lightly-loved items for 25 cents and these do not count towards the $7 limit.

We were able to buy Emily three gifts for Christmas for $6!  It's going to be so fun to be able to give her these gifts.  We definitely wouldn't have been able to afford them without this ministry....we're SO thankful!  All money raised by the Toy Chest goes to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, an offering the Southern Baptist Convention takes up every year to support world missions, which we also love.  It's so encouraging to see all the volunteers there.....they are ALL smiling  from ear to ear.  They are so excited to be able to bless us with these gifts.  You definitely can't help but feel loved!  

Thank you, Bay Leaf, for blessing us yet again.  Your heart for giving is an example to all of us!  

26 weeks

26 weeks down....14 to go, and I'm feeling great!  I took these pictures last weekend (closer to 25 weeks).  So far, this second trimester has been amazing!  I have so much energy back (though not as much as I did before I was pregnant).  Probably my only "complaint" would be having to try and sleep on my side.  I'm so much more comfortable on my back.  I feel like the fact that I'm not supposed to sleep on my back has been bothering me more with this pregnancy than it did with the last.  Who knows why?  My sister is letting me borrow her monstrosity of a pregnancy pillow.  It seriously takes up so much room, but I'm really hoping it will make sleeping on my side more comfortable.  Bert's definitely not jumping up and down about this huge pillow, but he's being sweet about it.:)  As far as cravings go....for the last few weeks I've started craving pizza.  This is funny b/c during the first trimester of my pregnancy I couldn't even think about, much less look at or smell, marinara sauce.  Oh, how things change daily when you're pregnant.:)  Anyway, poor Bert's been having to eat pizza about once a week.  I really don't think he minds, but if this continues for the rest of the pregnancy I'm sure he'll be ready for a break. 

I'm beginning to get ready to start cleaning out, organizing and making room in our apartment for little Hannah.  The girls are going to share a room so I have lots to do to make room for Hannah's things (right now Emily has definitely taken over the entire closet and all the drawers).  I wouldn't call this nesting, but I just know the holidays will fly by and once we get back in January we'll be very close to D-Day.  Too close for me to wait and organize everything then.  The only problem is that I'm not sure where to begin.  Ummmm...  Hopefully I'll figure it out soon.:)  

We had a check-up for Hannah and me on Wednesday afternoon and we got a great report.  Hannah's heart was beating 152 bpm.  When the doctor put the heart beat monitor on my stomach Hannah started kicking the monitor HARD.  She made the monitor bounce back up.  Emily was sitting quietly in Bert's lap (for that moment) and the doctor started laughing and said she didn't think Hannah was going to be as calm as Emily...she thinks Hannah is going to be our feisty child!  Haha...we'll see!:)  

Nea's Visit

Renea flew from NM to NC a few weeks after Emily was born to spend several days with us.  She was such a huge help!!  She just came back (a few weeks after Jacob was born) to spend several days with Katherine.  Thankfully, Katherine and I only live about 17 minutes apart so we were able to spend lots of time with Renea on this trip too!:)  Mama, Daddy, and Stanley decided to drive up to Wake Forest from GA to hang out with Renea while she was visiting the east coast.:)  This past Friday was Katherine's birthday so we were also able to throw a birthday celebration into the mix.....so much to celebrate and be thankful for! 

Here's Renea reading a book to Jacob and Emily...

On Friday (Kate's birthday) Katherine and I went to get our hair cut by a lady in her church.  Judy was so sweet to do it and work around our crazy feeding/napping schedules.  Judy had a couple dogs and Emily thought the whole trip was great fun!  She kept telling the dogs "sit down" or "come here" or "no, no."  No surprise there...she gets so excited when she gets around a dog of any kind that she just starts spouting off all the "commands" that she knows.  Thankfully, the dogs completely ignored her.:) 

Renea was in charge of holding Jacob.  I'd say she was doing a pretty good job of keeping him happy.  He was loving hanging out with his Aunt Renea. 

Katherine let Emily "help" with bathing Jacob.  She thought it was soooo much fun! 

Renea, once again, spoiled us rotten.  She cooked for us all weekend long and she left us (BOTH) with several meals to just pull out of our freezer.  She had fun while she did it if you can't tell from the picture below.:) 

 Mimi and Papa Stan loved being able to see Renea AND their grandbabies!:) 

Katherine and Brett haven't had to child-proof their cabinets yet and Emily has definitely figured that out.  One of the first places she goes when we get to their house is to their tuperware cabinet.  It's a full time job to try to keep her from pulling everything out of the cabinet.  Here she is playing with some of her finds and "telling" Mimi about it.:) 

We decided it was time for another cousin's picture (Emily 19 mo and Jacob 3 months).  Renea gave Jacob the cute little green frog that you see in the picture.  We handed Emily a book to hopefully keep her happy while we took their picture.  

 

Emily reached over Jacob to get the frog that he had.  Thankfully, Jacob is laid back and didn't mind.  

Jacob's facial expression looks like he's saying "WHAT are you doing, Emily.":)  Haha!

And finally....they're both looking in the same direction.  We'll take it!  Love these cuties!;)  

After Emily and Jacob finished their photo shoot I had the bright idea to get a picture of Emily and me.  She had other plans.  She wanted down and was not in the mood for another picture.  I decided to include this picture b/c it just shows the stage we're in.  My sweet girl will have a melt down in the blink of an eye.:)  I love this stage, by the way...it definitely keeps me on my toes! 

Here we are celebrating Katherine's birthday!  Happy birthday Kate!!  Love you!
 

This picture shows trouble with a capital T.  They are all four laughing at something.  Who knows what?! 

These next two pictures are two of my favorite from the weekend.  Mimi with her grandbabies. 

If you know anything about my dad you know one of his favorite things to do is to let a sleeping baby sleep on his chest.  He got to rock Jacob to sleep several times this weekend and Emily once....I have no doubt he loved every second.  Dad had gotten Jacob to sleep and Emily decided she wanted up too.  He loves them so much!:)  

Group shot....

We had such a fun weekend with everyone!  Thankful for family!