Big Sister Outing

We decided to let Emily pick something to do this weekend just for her. I think it is actually sinking into me that it's almost the end of "just the 3 of us"!!! I am kind of sad that all of my one-on-one time with Emily is coming to an end. Don't get me wrong, I am way excited about Baby Sister coming. But, it has just been us and Emily for almost 3 years and it's kind of sad to me!

Anyway, we had wanted to take her on a picnic to the park, but the weather didn't cooperate. So we gave her a few choices of indoor things to do and, of course, she chose Chuck E. Cheese :) She got to play all the games she wanted, eat all the pizza she wanted and even drink all the Sprite that she wanted....a real treat for her :) At the end she chose a blow-up Chuck E. Cheese hammer, even over a balloon. We thought it was kind of an odd choice. But then when we got home she said she could help us hang pictures up with her new hammer (which we had been doing this weekend)....so that explained it!

Emily's 1st trip to Chuck E. Cheese in August of '07! Look how little she is!!!

Our almost 3 year old and Big Sister!!!

Having a very important conversation with Chuck E.

This one took her by surprise :)

It's Sprite Mommy :)

She actually wanted to get close enough to him to have her picture made. I think this is the first time to take a pic with him by herself!

Such a pretty girl!!

Showing off her hammer :)

Rooms Ready

We finally have Emily's room finished....well, for now :) We hung her pictures up this weeekend so her room looks a lot better now :)

The baby's room is all finished now except for the name letters :) We will put them up when we get home from the hospital!!!

Thank you so much to my friend Elaine for the awesome canvas paintings in Emily & baby girl's rooms and for Emily's letters!

Thank you also to my wonderful friends Adrianne and James who came over and painted the beautiful wall mural above the changing table! I am so lucky to have such talented friends! I have ideas, but they all come out looking terrible! Thank you guys so much for helping with the "girl's" rooms (how weird is that?!). Here are a few pics of the finished rooms!

Baby Girl's Wall Mural Wall Mural w/Changing Table

Elaine's Painting over Rocking Chair
Full Wall Shot. Her name letters will go over the crib :)

Elaine's Letters and Canvas for Emily's Room. Her room is hard to take pics in so I just took one of the important things :)

Good Times!

Here are a few random pictures from last week!

Our friends, the Sheltons (the Shelters as Emily says :), came over on Thursday and Friday morning. They are in South Carolina right now after driving 18 hours...just Layne and the 4 kids!! So, last week the kids came over in the mornings so that Layne could get stuff ready for the trip! Emily was already at Layne's because I had a Dr. Appt. that morning. So, I just piled everyone in my car and brought them over here!!! The funny thing about this picture, is that my Mom has the exact same one of me with 2 of my friends when we were all in carseats! I will have to scan it in sometime :) I am sorry Baylee, she was sitting in the fron seat and I didn't get a good shot of her!

This picture was taken on Thursday night. Emily had done a very good job of helping Mommy and Daddy pick up the house, so we decided to go to Sonic for a Slush...her new favorite ;) Anyway, yes, we let her wear her houseshoes, a black and white diaper cover on top of panties, and 3-4 bows in her hair! She was as happy as a bug in a rug and loved her Sonic slush :)

Emily's Trip to Dallas

Last weekend, Mimi and Bub took Emily to Dallas for Uncle Jeremy's graduation from Seminary. We were a little hesitant at first about letting her go. She has not been to anything like that before and we just weren't sure how she would behave. But, after looking at our to-do list for Baby Girl #2, we decided that we did need the time to work and get things done!

We got so much done! We had a to-do list a mile long and crossed several things off which was very exciting! It will all be done in 2 weeks whether we're ready or not :)

Congratulations to Uncle Jeremy! Apparently Emily did really well and stayed at the graduation for the whole 2 hours and 45 minutes!! I was way impressed! Afterwards Aunt Vicky & Uncle Jeremy had a great party at their house with BBQ and cake and everything! We thank you to Mimi and Bub for taking such good care of Emily and to Aunt Vicky and Uncle Jeremy for being wonderful host and hostess to her :)

Uncle Bob, Emily, Mimi, Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Vicky, Bub and Grandmother Pat! Uncle Bob experienced his first trip with a 2 year old and lived to tell about it :)

I'm assuming this was taken after the ceremony :)
All dressed up and ready to go....just wish her eyes were open :)

Emily's first introduction to a video game. These are all Emily's cousins-in-law, right? Naomi, Emily, Nicholas and Natalie!
Nicholas showing Emily how it's done!

Big Sunday Night

A few weeks ago was a big Sunday Night for us. It was the Spring Concert and all of the children's choirs and handbell groups performed. My handbell choir played as a big group for the first time since I have been the director! I was SO nervous but they did a GREAT job! Also, the 4-5 year old choir that I have been helping with sang. My friend Layne is officially the director of that group. However, on this particular night she got the stomach bug........shew :( So, I directed 1 song of handbells, then 2 songs of 4-5 year old choir, then the second song of handbells. Needless to say I was a little stressed out, but everyone did GREAT!

To top it off, we had decided to let Emily come to Big Church because she loves to listen to the handbells and she knew the songs that my little kids were singing. Aside from one tantrum at the beginning (a slight misunderstanding between her and Daddy :) she was perfect for the whole concert....well, I think they left at the next to last song. She got to see Mommy's groups perform and that was the most important :) Most of the little kids songs had some sort of motions that went to them so she would stand up and try to mimic what they were doing. When each group was finished she would just clap and say "Yeah!" It was so cute to watch her! We did decide that that was a one time only deal, I just don't think she's ready to sit through a real church service yet!

Sitting like a big girl!

She wanted to do just what the groups were doing!

Baby Girl #2 Update

Starting last week, I go to the doctor 2 days a week on Mondays and Thursdays. They are doing a N0-Stress-Test both Monday and Thursday and then I see Dr. Smith on Thursdays. So far everything is going well! Nothing is progressing, except for the size of my stomach :) We will keep you posted if anything changes!

I cannot believe that Baby Girl #2 will be here in 2 weeks! These past 9 months have gone by SO FAST!!! First of all, we have finally decided on a name!! It is.....a big secret :) We did this with Emily and it worked really well :) So, we decided to do it again! There has to be some sort of secret when she's born and since we already know she's a girl, this is the next biggest thing!

We are almost finished with the nursery. As soon as we get it all put together, I will post some pictures! We have finally finished getting all of our "baby" stuff down. Emily has had a wonderful time playing with the carseat, swing, high chair! She'll say "When I was a baby I used to swing...or sit...or eat here!" It's so sad that she is not a baby anymore! She's almost 3!!!!!!

As I mentioned before, Charles' work had a shower for us, some of my friends had a shower and our Sunday School Department had a Diaper/Wipe shower for us one night! We have gotten so many things I just can't believe it! I had to take a picture!

Family/Friends Shower

My friends Adrianne and Tarah and Adrianne's Mom, also hosted a Family & Friends Shower for us! We are so fortunate to have such wonderful family and friends! Of course on the day we picked the weather was absolutely horrible! But my family from Ft. Smith and Harrison drove over just for us! I appreciate all that driving everyone did!

The shower was beautiful! Adrianne and her Mom and Tarah outdid themselves! The food was wonderful, I think I had 3 plates!!! We again got so many wonderful things! I just can't say enough how blessed we are with family, friends and co-workers! Thank you Tarah and Adrianne for all you did and for being great friends!! Here are just a few pics from the shower!

Part of the food table, somehow I didn't get a picture of the whole thing!

The gift table. All of the shirts and onesies in the front were made by Adrianne and her Mom! There are 3 shirts with matching bows for Emily and Baby Girl #2!
Tarah, Adrianne and I!