Sweet Emily

A few photos of my sweetie pie. I can't believe she'll be ONE in less than three months! She's had a rough start at life so far so I'm sure she'll be glad to have this one behind her! I'm pretty sure we all will!

Little Chef

Lila got the movie Ratatouille for Christmas. We had never seen it and thought it was cute but the whole concept of rats in the kitchen and then actually cooking was a little gross to me. Lila however loved it and has been "Our Little Chef" ever since!

She sure keep our cup overflowing with happiness and joy! She's a cutie for sure!

Tub Fun!

Daddy loves makes punk rockers out of our girls at bath time...
Big Spike
You did WHAT to my hair?

Okay, It's kinda funny!



Little Spike

She's just so darn cute!

Special Ornaments

I usually wait until after New Years to take down the tree but I'm tired of Lila taking off the ornaments and having to "redecorate" it each night, plus I need the space for all these new toys! Before I start packing up the ornaments I thought I would take a few pictures of my favorites from this year and just a few from years past... it will be a long year before I will see them again and remember the sweet memories behind them! Bear with me... I don't know how to make a collage like some of my friends so there's a lot of pictures!

Emily's First Christmas Ornament

The hand print Santa that Lila made for me at church...Unfortunately he's been a one-eyed Santa since the second day he was on our tree... I'm not kidding about Lila's bad habit of ornament swipping! It's a shame this poor Santa lost an eye before I could rescue him... it's a cute memory now and I wouldn't have it any other way!

A family tradition... my grandparents send us an ornament each year for Christmas and now they send one to the great grandbabies.. so sweet!
Lila's Snowman

Emily's Angel... thanks Grandma and Grandaddy!



The Hershey's Ornament (from Summer and Brandt of course!) I love this one because it was the first ornament representing our family of four... even though Emily wouldn't officially join us for a few more months!

Our new tradition is to let the girls pick out an ornament for the tree each year. This was Lila's pick for 2007. She chose this Santa after a very hard time deciding on just one!


My mom gave me this ornament for Christmas last year so although it is not "new" it is new to the tree. I love it because my mom is my angel. She's the best and always here when I need her and boy have I needed her this past year!

And just to be fair.. Lila's First Christmas Ornament (from 2006)

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And last but not least...

Our First Christmas together 2002! Say it with me... Ahhhh! :)

A Very Merry One!

Although I was sad to miss out on Christmas with the big family, we've had a very relaxing and quiet week here at home. Wayne and I have had a big movie marathon, catching up on all those movies we never get to the theater to see anymore, (I'm sure the guy at Blockbuster now knows us by name) and we've played and played and played some more with all our new toys! Here's the recap...

Here's the tree. I usually forget to get a picture of my tree each year. The UPS man made several trips to our house since our little change in plans to stay put! Thanks everyone for sending us Christmas this year!


Santa Came!!







Our stockings.






Love at first sight! Lila and her new Care Bear.







Emily not sure what to think about all this Christmas!




And the big mess that Christmas left me... two trash bags full!






The plan for tomorrow is to take down the tree, reorganize the attic and clean out the garage! I bought new tupperware at Target today and am ready to go! I LOVE a big organizing project! And Wayne got a pressure washer for Christmas that he is dying to try out. Does that make us weird in any way?

Cookies for Santa

Let's just say I hope Santa likes sprinkles. Lila has more sprinkles than actual cookie. At least she didn't end up wearing all the icing this time! Have a wonderful Christmas Eve. We're missing you tonight!

This about sums it up...

Our Christmas "present" from MedImmune (the company that makes Emily's Synagis medication) was this handy dandy hand sanitizer that straps onto your car seat, diaper bag, keychain, etc. Today I found Lila putting it on the christmas tree. Not exactly an ornament but it pretty much sums up our Christmas this year!

Early Christmas!

We decided last night that everyone would open ONE present. Lila loves her new Little People Camper and is ready for our real camping trip! Emily preferred eating the wrapping paper instead of opening her present which is okay since Lila claimed her gift as her own and even slept with it last night! Thanks Mom and Dad! We love you!




















Emily is learning at a very early age to share. Lila really doesn't give her a choice!






Emily's new trick... suck in the top lip and pucker that bottom one!








Yummy paper!!



















Lila asleep on Emily's new table top play mat... or pillow... whatever floats your boat!

Christmas...

This year March 16th is a day that lives in infamy around our house. A day we were forever changed with the arrival of our sweet Emily, blessed with her presence but held captive at times in order to keep her safe. I am now very aware of every cough, sneeze, and sniffle around me. I loathe germs and have the dry cracked hands to prove it from washing my hands hundreds if not thousands of times a day! My house has probably never been cleaner (don't laugh Wayne!)in the five years we have lived here. Alarms are constantly going off in my head as I venture out during RSV season and put Emily at risk. It's a constant struggle to maintain a normal life and yet be cautious for Emily.

That was all the prelude to our recent news... Now that Lila has croup for the second time in three weeks and a nasty sinus infection to go along with it we have been strongly urged, dare I say forbidden, to travel by our pulmonologist, Dr. M. We didn't travel for Thanksgiving either but that we could handle. It wasn't easy but it was nice to have a few quiet days to spend with our little family of four and just be thankful for all we've been given this year. The news of spending Christmas at home is so sad for me (don't get me wrong..I love my husband and children and wouldn't spend Christmas anywhere without them) but I have NEVER not slept in my bed at my parent's house on Christmas Eve after dinner with family celebrating my Papa's birthday, and then waking up Christmas morning to spend time with my favorite people on this earth, Mom, Dad, Summer, Brandt, Charlie, Kate, Samuel and Shannon, having breakfast, opening presents, talking, laughing and just enjoying one another. Later in the day we go out to my grandparents and have Christmas all over again with the extended family...two aunts, three uncles, six cousins some with spouses and all of the great grandchildren, 11 in all now. But this Christmas we will be here in McKinney, per doctors orders, to keep Emily from traveling and getting sick. It's a bummer, a real bummer, but I'm trying to look at the bright side. If we make it through RSV season this year without coming down with RSV then we have gained more than we have lost, or should I say missed out on!

My Mom and Dad are here for a few days this week to love on my kiddos and spend an early Christmas with us. It was fun opening presents tonight but I must admit I went to bed really sad thinking about what Christmas would be like for my girls without their family. Emily is going to miss out in the line up, youngest to oldest, to go through the doors and see all the presents that Santa has left this year. And she almost would have been first in line, except that baby James was born just a few weeks ago, so he now has that coveted first place! More than all that I am going to miss watching Lila and Emily play with their cousins, and seeing her held and loved on by the people she belongs with, the people who will love, cherish and protect her all her life. I was hoping my girls could spend time in the house that always brings us all back together no matter what or where life has you at the time. Gram's house is magical. It's a place where we all sit and catch up, reminisce, and laugh at all the silly things we did so long ago. And the thing we will miss the most is spending time with great grandparents, my grandparents, who we all adore!! Yes, it's going to be a tough one. That's for sure. My heart will be heavy and longing for those back home but overjoyed that I will get to just soak up my girls and their excitement when they see all that Santa and his little helpers a.k.a. MiMi and Poppa and Gram have sent their way! So Have a Very Merry One... I really wish we could be there!

Hot Chocolate!

Who can resist a cup of hot chocolate with a peppermint candy sipper straw?!?












Or a lollipop the size of your face?











And check out Lila's hair! I've waited a long time for that hair so we could wear our cute hairbows... Too bad Lila refuses to wear them. "NO HAIRBOW MOMMY!"

Caught in the Act!

Lila discovered that this present played music. I caught her before she could unwrap the whole thing. It's going to be a long two weeks before the big day!

One Restored, Another Destroyed...

Today I hosted our weekly play group and decided it would be fun for the kids to make and decorate sugar cookies. Things went okay with the making cookies part... I burned half the cookies, but we had a great time. We ate lunch while the cookies cooled but got carried away with our conversation and the kids had so much fun playing that we never got around to the decorating part.

Several hours later people were leaving, and Cindy and I were looking at pictures on the computer. Wayne called to tell me the leather restoration guy was on his way so we were hurrying to finish up. Mia started crying and said something about the table. We thought she had hit her head on the table but she appeared fine so we went back to the pictures until I heard Mia say Lila and table. When I looked back Mia was pointing at the table so I figured Lila must be standing on it. I got up to go get her down but was HORRIFIED at what Mia had been trying to tell me. Although we didn't decorate our cookies today, the icing did not go to waste.... yep...you guessed it!

Just as the door bell was ringing (the leather guy was now here)Cindy and I discovered that Lila had used the very vibrant blue and the greenest green icing to fingerpaint her body.... check her out....




If you are wondering why she doesn't have clothes on it's because earlier she played with the water in the potty and got all wet! Lovely, I know!
And yes, we did have to stop and take pictures while the leather guy looked on in awe. I quickly showed him to the chair where he asked if the same child who had just smeared icing all over herself had colored the chair. Um, yes... not my proudest mommy moment. Anyway, back in the kitchen, Cindy is trying to keep Lila still and get the icing out of Mia's hair (turns out she didn't hit her head after all - she was crying because Lila had just smeared icing in her hair). I told Lila we were off to the bathtub at which point she simply climbed down off the chair smearing icing all over the chair pad/cushion in the process. I'm getting grumpier by the minute.

She gets in the bath tub and the icing makes the water turn a very pretty blue green color.

Cindy and Mia leave at this point, probably running out the door and away from us and our chaos as fast as they can because Mia leaves her adored puppy ruff-ruff behind. I have the guy working on the leather chair in the other room and I am scrubbing Lila to get the sticky greasy icing and blue tint off her skin. She is mad at me because all she wants to do is drink the bath water and tell me how yummy it is! (gross!) I'm talking to myself at this point asking "Where is Wayne?" Lila tells me,"He's working mommy get in the yummy tub." I can hear the leather guy laugh in the other room and I know he is going to use this story to compete for who had the craziest day when he gets back to his office.

But look... the leather chair is just like brand new!! He did an amazing job!

He even redyed the ottoman to match perfectly!

Too bad the same can't be said for my chair pad/cushion. I've scrubbed, soaked and washed (twice) but the icing on the cushion is here to stay! Now all I have to do tomorrow is scrub the bathtub for the icing has left a beautiful blue green greasy ring around the tub... that beautiful tint is also all over my fingers. How about yours Cindy? Still green? What a day!!

Take Two Bloopers!

The Christmas Card photo still eludes us. Emily is a little turkey in all the pictures and Lila... well.. Lila just won't stay still long enough, even with bribery... I had to hide the candy wrappers in all the pictures we took this morning!