reflections

Well, another year has come and gone.

This is how my oldest, Emma, started out this year.

And this is what she has grown to at the end of it. Emma is 4 years old and is my imaginative girl. She is constantly happy living in her pretend world where she is a different character every hour. She is my encourager, telling me how beautiful I look and how she loves my outfit. She loves school and is so ready to learn. She loves church and hates when she has to miss.

Ava at the beginning of the year...

Ava at the end of the year. She is my spunky almost 3 year old girl. She always wants to do it on her own. She's my explorer. She is going to make a great leader one day. I love that she enjoys school and church, but also really loves hanging out with Mommy and Daddy. I love that at random she comes up to me and kisses my belly and asks how baby Lila is doing today. She is always making sure that I feel good. Such a considerate little girl. She is moving out of the toddler phase and into a little girl. Tear...

The girls together at the beginning of the year...

And the girls at the end of this year. The best of friends! Just now as the girls were playing with their Play-doh at the table, Emma leaned over to Ava and said, "You know what Ava? I love you!" To which Ava said, "Well, you know what, Emma? I love you, too!"

So precious!

And at the beginning of this year, we will have another precious little one to add to the mix, Lila Kate!

christmas in memphis

After we were done celebrating with our family on Christmas morning, we headed out that afternoon to Memphis. When we got there, we opened gifts with my side of the family.

The girls were so excited about all the good stuff that Mimi and Aunt Nanie (Melanie) got them. It was a Christmas filled with Disney princesses and Fancy Nancy.

The girls are opening up the mega set of Disney Princess Barbies from Target. They have already played with these so much that they are looking a little disheveled.

Ohhh, Disney Princess figurines!

The girls had to watch over all of us as we opened our gifts. You know, just in case someone needed some help.

Here they are waiting on Papa.

Patiently waiting on Aunt Nanie...

Aunt Nanie posing in her new scarf from us.
The girls and Nana...

Waiting on Mimi to open her Wii from all of the family.

This gift that the girls got cracked us up. Melanie got some things from Victoria's Secret and 2 stuffed dogs came with it. She decided to give them to the girls. So the girls got their first gift from Victoria's Secret this year.

Emma's new precious Fancy Nancy, the Christmas edition.

Ava's with her new Fancy Nancy.

Aunt Nanie and a shocked Ava.

An attempt to get a picture together on Christmas day.

Mimi and Aunt Nanie

christmas morning

While we were sleeping Christmas Eve night, it looks like someone came for a visit. When the girls woke up, this is what they found...

But most importantly, this is what they found around the tree. It looks like Santa had him a snack and dropped off some presents for 2 little girls!
Santa did good this year. He had a theme going. He brought the girls all kinds of dress up/costumes. This is all that they have asked for repeatedly. Word on the street is that Santa hit up the after Halloween sale this year.

After the girls finished opening Santa's gifts, they opened the gifts that we got them. We got them books, puzzles, play-doh sets and much more.

This is a picture of Ava in one of her new costumes playing with her new movie camera.

christmas eve

Christmas Eve this year was so much fun! We started the evening with our Christmas Eve service at church. I was a little nervous with trying to handle both of the girls during the service. Pastor Sam had a sweet time of inviting the kids to the stage and reading them a story. Emma ran on up, but Ava decided to stay with me. Halfway through the story, Ava jumps up out of her seat before I could catch her and heads up onto the stage. Jason was able to get her seated with the rest of the kids. The story ended and all the kids got up to go back to their parents. Well, all except Ava. She thought she would just hang out with Daddy on stage. Pastor Sam was able to coax her off and over to me. I really wasn't in the mood to climb on stage 9 months pregnant. You never know what little Ava will do next!

We have started a tradition of going out to eat just the four of us after the service. We had a yummy dinner at Outback and then headed home to do more celebrating. We started the time off by letting the girls pick a present each to open.

Sweet Ava was so meticulous in opening her presents. I'm pretty sure this one present took her 5 minutes to open.

Emma opened a giant sized puzzle.

Ava opened a Gigi video.

Emma with the finished result of the puzzle.

Posing in front of the tree...

Ahhh, sisterly love!

Next, we had a birthday party for Jesus. I had made red velvet cupcakes earlier in the day. So, we stuck a candle in the cupcakes for the girls, and they sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.

I love this pic of Ava!

The icing is Emma's favorite part of cupcakes!

I wish I had pictures of what we did next, but I am incapable of correctly operating Jason's mammoth camera. After we had cupcakes, Jason pulled out his guitar, and we all sang Christmas carols around the table. Then, Jason took the girl's to the couch and read them a book about Jesus' birth. I loved that when it was over I was able to ask the girls questions about Jesus' birth, and they were able to answer and recite the story for me.

Nothing could touch this parent's heart as much as knowing that your children understand the concept of why we celebrate Christmas. During our time of singing, we sang the girls' favorite song, "My Soul Magnifies the Lord". A line in the chorus says, "He has done great things for me." I asked Emma what was something that God had done for Emma that was great. She told me that it was just great that He loved her. So basic and so true. At the heart of it God loved us so much to send his only Son as a baby to rescue the world from sin and darkness. I am thankful that at 4 years old that my child knows the most basic of truth that God loves her!

Of course, no night would be complete without setting out a little something for Santa. Jason told Emma and Ava that Santa loves cupcakes and chocolate milk. Needless to say, "Santa" cleared his plate!

crafting in lila's room

I am so excited.

I now actually have a camera I can use. It's dummy proof which means I can use it. I love the pics my hubby takes, but I also love having a point and shoot camera that I can use myself. Now, I don't have to wait around on him to take the pictures.

I have slowly, I mean very slowly, been working on pulling together Lila's room. I am so excited about it because I have been making a lot of the things that are going to go into the room. I can't wait to see it all together!

The quilt, the inspiration, for the room. Then, I found a cute coordinating fabric by Henry Glass. I still have to pull together and do some sewing for the bedding. Nothing like waiting to the last minute...

The lamp shade that I redid in the fabric. Please ignore my crafting table in the background... it's slightly a mess.

Lila's blocks that I also made for her shelf.

And the door hanger I made.
Maybe in the next couple of weeks I'll have pics of the finished room up!

a busy sunday

We had quite the busy day Sunday! It started with church that morning. Emma was to sing in "big" church with the preschool choir. Surprise, surprise. She was the only child in the choir that would not sing. When I asked her why would she not sing, she just said, "Because it's scary up there."

Amen, sister. I completely understand. I am still holding out hope though that she has more of her Daddy in her when it comes to singing.

After that, we went caroling at a nearby nursing home. Emma was a different child. She had her paper of carols printed off that she was "reading" as she sang to the group at the nursing home. No shyness from her during that performance. Daddy and her even did a little duet together. When we all finished singing, Emma went around hugging all of the elderly people's necks. I was so proud of her!

Later that night, we had the worship team Christmas party. It was so nice! Santa Claus even made an appearance. He "appeared" on the rooftop and then came in later to hear all the kids' wish lists. We didn't have our camera with us, so I was happy when a friend of ours had theirs.