Leslie's Little Ladies

Women of Faith Weekend - More Than I Could Have Imagined

2011-08-26T11:04:00.000-04:00

A few weekends ago, I had the opportunity to attend Women of Faith in Atlanta, GA. My highschool friend Cathy and I drove the 4 hours to Atlanta in hopes of having a nice weekend together, away from our kids and the responsibility of family. Not only did we have a nice weekend, we got a chance to be refreshed and inspired. Here we are at the conference (please excuse the grainy iPhone pic).

I am not going to lie though, I have been dreading writing this post. I just couldn't figure out how in the world I was going to be able to write a post that accurately summed up the weekend.

For starters, the music was great! From the Women of Faith worship team leading us in praise and worship music, to Natalie Grant totally bringing the house down, to the sweet, ministering voice of Laura Story, to the passion that flows from Mary, Mary, the music was the best I have heard in a long time, if ever. I had never seen any of these ladies in person/concert before, and none of them disappointed at all. I can't wait to get some of their music loaded onto my iPhone so I can listen to it over and over!

If all that great music wasn't enough, the speakers were even better!

Lisa Harper made us all laugh as she shared her "naked man" story, but the way she tells stories from the Bible really causes you to think about those stories in a whole new way. She was so down to earth and real, that it made you feel like you were one of her dearest friends.

Steve Arterburn was not technically a "women of faith", but he shared real life stories of how God had redeemed his life when by all accounts, personal and professionally, he was a failure. Who can't identify with failure? We have all been there for sure.

Nicole Johnson presented not only her popular skit "The Invisible Woman", but also shared her personal story of a broken, shattered, life and how God turned it into something beautiful. Normally you think of Nicole as a very funny, lighthearted person, but hearing her share her story showed a totally different side to her that I think almost everyone can identify with. Having her step out from behind her characters and stand vulnerable before an audience of thousands, was touching on so many levels. Don't we all need to step out from behind the characters and masks that we wear, and just be real with one another? It sure made me think about the mask that I wear sometimes...the ones that say "I'm fine", even though I know I'm not.

Luci Swindoll was so funny and real. She has such an outgoing personality. It's hard to not walk away from hearing her without wanting to just grab onto life, and live it to the fullest!

Sheila Walsh...I'm not even sure where to begin here. She has so much Bible knowledge mixed in with practical application. She shared her stories and was way more honest about her mental health struggles than most people would be. I am sure it took more than a fair share of bravery to be totally honest about that, when for most people, that would be a source of shame and embarrassment. Her honesty and openness about her struggles and how God has walked with her were inspiring and uplifting. If all that wasn't enough, she also has an amazing voice. Her versions of traditional hymns leave you with chill bumps as her voice echoes in the rafters.

Angie Smith. If you have ever read her blog or her book I Will Carry You, or heard her speak before, then you will understand why describing her and her story is so hard. She walked us through a time in her life where most people would have turned their back on God and just walked away. However, Angie and her family decided that no matter what news doctors can give you...our Jesus is still the same as he was before the bad news came. Her unbelievable faith is both humbling and inspiring. She encouraged us to trust God in the face of fear and reach out to him as "Kyrios"...the one to whom I belong. As she shared the story of her daughter Audrey, there was not a dry eye in the room as I'm sure thousands of mothers like me, imagined how they would feel if they were facing what she and her family faced. Her honesty and humor make you wish you could just sit with her for coffee once a week and share like old friends.

One of the highlights of Women of Faith for me, was getting to actually meet Angie. After following her blog for years, and having already read her first book, I was anxious to read her second book What Women Fear. I wasn't sure if there would be a chance to meet here at the conference, and was happy just to be able to hear her speak. I was so excited when I saw that she would be signing books as well. I got in line early and was able meet her and have her sign my new book. Let me tell you...she is just as cute and sweet in person as you would imagine. Here we are at the book signing.

Noticing a trend here with all the speakers? Real... I think that's what Women of Faith is all about. Allowing women to be real with others and ourselves and knowing that God loves us, in-spite of our fears and failures. Women of Faith gives us a change to sit with thousands of women just like ourselves and "Imagine" what our life can be life if we just turn our hopes, our fears, our pasts, and our futures over to a God who loves us more than we can ever imagine.

Thank you so much BookSneeze and Thomas Nelson for the opportunity to attend this awesome event. I am forever grateful!

If there is a Women of Faith event near you, I urge you to find a way to attend. You won't be disappointed! Click the banner below to see if Women of Faith will be coming to your area.

Two tickets to the Women of Faith event in Atlanta were provided to me by Booksneeze, in exchange for two blog posts about the event. The thoughts, opinions and photos are all my own.

Women of Faith - Atlanta, GA

2011-08-11T13:58:00.000-04:00

About a month or so ago, I got an e-mail from Book Sneeze, saying they were looking for bloggers to attend the Women of Faith events around the country this Fall. I have had many friends attend these events before, and they all had a great time, so I was excited to see if Woman of Faith was coming to a city near me. Luckily, they were coming to Atlanta, GA, which is about 4 hours away. So, I decided to throw my name in and see if I might be one of the bloggers selected. I was really excited when I got an e-mail back from them a few weeks later saying that I was chosen to go!

I have never been to a Women of Faith Event before, but I am really looking forward to it. Below is a preview video provided by Women of Faith. Check it out!

There are going to be lots of great speakers and musicians at this event and I'm sure they are going to be awesome. I am especially looking forward to hearing Angie Smith of Bring the Rain. I have been reading her blog for a little over 2 years now and she has such an amazing story. Also, Laura Storey will be singing at this event. Her song Blessings has been all over christian radio stations in my area and has really spoken to many people lately. I think it's gonna be a great time and really nice chance to get away and spend some time around other Christian women.

Tickets for these Women of Faith Events are still available in most areas, so check out the Women of Faith Website for locations and ticket information.

Disclaimer: 2 Tickets to this Women of Faith Event were provided by Book Sneeze. The options expressed in this post are my own.

First Day of School

2011-08-05T10:18:00.000-04:00

It's that time again. School started back today for our school system. Yeah, I know, it's strange to start on a Friday, and I have no idea why they did that. Emma was really excited to be headed to school this morning. No joke, she really was! I think she was getting tired of being with me and Madeline all day. I can't believe she is in 3rd grade now. Time has just really flown. It seems like yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital.

Here is Emma this morning, before heading out to get on the bus.

For comparison, here she is on the 1st day of 2nd grade, next to the picture from this morning.

And just for fun, here are some shots from Kindergarten, 1st grade (we home schooled, so there is no picture from the actual first day), 2nd grade, and 3rd grade. Wow...what happened to my little girl?

(The second picture is from Kelly Williams of The Bond Between Us Photography)

Maybe I will dig up some pictures of me from my 1st day of 3rd grade and do another post next week. Me and Emma look so much alike, I'm sure it would be an interesting comparison. I'll have to get my mom to find a picture for me.

Until then, have a great weekend!

Emma's 8th birthday party

2011-07-14T07:30:00.001-04:00

Emma turned 8 on June 27th. We decided this year to not actually have a "party", and instead to just take her to Chuck E Cheese. So, on her actual birthday, we just had a small cake with dinner and let her open a present or two. I made her cake myself, and I think it turned out great considering.

I guess the only thing that really mattered is that she liked it, and she did.

On Saturday, July 2nd, we headed to Tallahassee with my Mom and Dad to meet my Aunt, Uncle, Cousin, and her two kids at Chuck E. Cheese. We figured the kids would have a blast playing the games and being together. The kids and the adults played lots of games and won lots of tickets. After all the playing was done, we let Emma open her presents. She got lots of cool things! We didn't take many pictures, but here are a few that we did get.

Yes, that is an iPhone that you see, but, before anyone freaks out and thinks that I have lost my mind giving an 8yr. old a phone, let me explain. I just recently upgraded my iPhone from the original one, which you see Emma holding, to a new iPhone 4. Emma loves to play on our phones, so when I got my new one, I decided to just hold on to my old one, and reinstall it so that she could use it as an iPod touch. This basically means that she can only use it when she is connected to Wi-Fi and that there is no phone service. We were able to find her an app that she can use to text us and other family members that doesn't cost anything. By having these features only available when she is connected to either our home Wi-Fi or my parents, we are really able to keep an eye on her, while at the same time, allowing her to have fun. So far it's working out great, and there haven't been any major issues.

This was our group! Me, Ike, Emma and Madeline aren't in the picture, we forgot to get a shot of us I guess. It was really nice to be able to get the kids together to play. After all the fun, we had Olive Garden for dinner! Yummy!

Thanks so much Lightfoots for taking the time and money to drive all that way to meet us! Emma had a great day!

Girl's Bathroom Makeover

2011-07-07T08:30:00.001-04:00

Ever since Emma was little, our guest bathroom has been decorated in a Disney Princess theme. So, that means at our last house and this house, our guest have had to use the bathroom with Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty watching them. I have been wanting to re-do the bathroom, but in true Leslie style, I just couldn't decide what to do. All I knew is that I had had enough of the princesses. So, last month, with Emma's birthday approaching, and no real ideas on what we were going to get her, I decided that part of her gift would be giving her bathroom a big girl makeover. After all, she is 8 now, and was really over the princess theme as well, AND, she has so many toys that I really just didn't want to add to the growing toy problem we already have. I had already planned on cleaning off and reinstalling my old iPhone for her to use as an iPod touch, so along with the bathroom makeover, I thought she would be pleased, and she totally was! She told me that she LOVED her new bathroom.

I would have loved to paint the bathroom, but that just wasn't in the budget this time around, so I found a cute curtain that I liked at Target, and built the bathroom around that. Madeline and Emma will be sharing this bathroom, so I wanted to make it friendly for both of them. I think the bright colors and flowers were just the thing!

Notice the little blur underneath the doorknob...Madeline was trying to get in all the pictures. She kept running into the room and saying "Cheese". Also, please excuse that white blob to the right of the mirror. I had to wait for the nail hole filler to dry before I could hang her hand towel ring back up.

I am still working on getting these frames filled, but at least they are hung and ready when I get the photos printed. The E & M frames are just temporary. I am hoping to have those initials redone in a cute button craft I saw on Pinterest, but I just haven't had the time to sit down and plan it out yet, so these will have to do for now.

The frame in the top middle was a frame that I got from grandma's house. She had a frame for each of her 3 daughters with a picture of their family in it. It was a brown wood look, but I painted it black to match the others. I'm so glad I can incorporate items that have sentimental value into my decorating. Here's a picture of the frame in progress, to give you can idea of what it looked like before.

The counter is also a work in progress, since I think there needs to be something in the corner, like some flowers in a vase or something. I have to be careful with my decorating in this room, since Emma is really rough on things. Whatever it is, is gonna have to be durable and not easily broken. Anyone have any ideas?

Now that my chairs have new covers, my dining room and kitchen have curtains, and the girl's bathroom is looking better, it's on to my next project...stripping and painting my grandma's 1949 Lane Cedar hope chest that my mom rescued from my grandma's shed before her house was sold last week. Right now it looks pretty rough, since it's a faded green color and had been living in that shed for years. I can't wait to get started on it. I think she would be so happy and excited that I am going to be giving it a new life.

Drop Cloth Curtains

2011-07-06T08:30:00.002-04:00

Since we moved into our house 4 years ago, my living room and dining room windows have been bare with the exception of the blinds we put up the week we moved in. I am really horrible at decorating and have just always felt like I had no idea what I was doing. So, when we moved in, we had blank walls for months, dare I say over a year maybe? I just didn't know what to do, and these windows were no exception.

After all of my pinterest pinning and blog reading I came across another use for those awesome Home Depot drop cloths. Curtains! So, off to Home Depot I went again, and purchased more drop cloths, even buying the last one they had in the 6ft x 9ft size.

I threw them into the wash with some detergent and fabric softener. I figured that at some point in the future I was going to want to take them down and wash them, and wanted to see how the fabric was going to act after being washed. Once they were washed and dried, I got to work on hanging the rods. Ok, Ok...Ike did most of the work with the rods, but I was the supervisor and screw holder.

I found the cheapest, decent looking cafe rod that I could find, which happened to be at Target. Since I wasn't planning on sewing the drop cloths, I also bought the curtain rings/clips. I just held the drop cloths up to the rod to see how long I wanted them, then just folded the top of the cloths over so they would hang at the right length, and clipped them onto the clips. Did that make any sense? Ha!

Anyway, I think these pictures of the finished product will clear things up.

First up is the living room:

Now for the dining room:

I couldn't be happier with how these turned out! I love them! They really have changed the whole feel of my living room. I really wish I had taken some before photos, but I completely forgot. My dining room still needs some major help in the decorating department, but at least I have curtains! I do have some ideas floating around my head for the dining room, but just haven't really decided on anything yet. I have a large open wall that needs help, as well as that corner shelf. I had big plans to paint it to match our trim in the house, but haven't done anything with it yet. I also have some chalkboard paint that I plan to use to spruce up the canisters that are on the shelf, but I need to do a bit more research on painting glazed pottery before I attempt that.

Next up: Emma & Madeline's bathroom gets a facelift! Check back later this week for those pictures!

Dining room chair makeover

2011-07-05T15:32:00.000-04:00

For months now, I have been staring at my dining room chairs and wishing I could recover them. Children, a cat and white/cream upholstered dining room chairs just don't go together. See how nasty they were? Yuck! I was embarrassed for anyone to come over and sit in these nasty things! I tried cleaning them before, but nothing really worked as well as I thought it should have.

I'd looked for fabric to recover them before, but the decorator weight fabric that I needed was pretty expensive, and with 6 chairs to cover, I just couldn't spend the money. So, after reading tons of home decorating blogs and seeing slipcovers being made out inexpensive drop cloths, I had an idea. If they can make slip covers out of drop cloths, then I'm sure I can re-cover my chairs with one! So, off to Home Depot I went. (They have the best drop cloths, since theirs don't have seams and are already hemmed on all 4 sides) I bought a $10 drop cloth, a staple gun, and some staples and got to work.

First I took the seats off the chairs and measured them to see how big of a piece I would need for each chair seat.

Luckily one 6ft x 9ft drop cloth was enough to cover all 6 of my chairs. I got to working measuring and cutting out the pieces. I was able to get 8 pieces out of the drop cloth, so I had 2 extras that I saved in case I need them later. The cutting wasn't too bad, and I folded over the fabric to make it double layered, so I could cut down on the number of cuts I had to make.

After all the cutting was done, I took each piece of fabric, and "wrapped" each seat with it. I used the staple gun to staple the fabric to the back of the seat. Sorry I didn't take a picture of this part. I was on a roll, and totally forgot.

Once they were all wrapped and stapled, I took each seat and screwed it back onto the frame.

Ta da!

I am so pleased with how they turned out, and can't believe I hadn't thought of this idea sooner. What a cheap, quick and easy fix! It took me about 2 hours from start to finish. Now I just need to figure out how to decorate my un-decorated dining room. Anyone have any suggestions for the big empty wall behind the table? The one with the light switch right in the middle of it? ha!

Stayed tuned! More home decorating projects coming this week!

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T22:32:00.000-04:00

Happy Independence Day! Thank you to all of those who have or are currently fighting for the freedom we enjoy. Here are the girls are decked out in their 4th of July attire thanks to my mom.

We had a pretty easy going day and went to visit Ike's mom, then did some grocery shopping. We decided not to go to the fireworks, but we did a few sparklers in the backyard with the girls once it got dark. They had a great time.

Look for some posts this week on a few home decorating projects that I have been working on. Thanks to Pinterest and many, many home decor/crafting blogs, I have seen so many neat decorating ideas lately, so I decided to try my hand at a few of my favorite ideas. So, make sure to check back this week to see what all I got accomplished.

Happy 8th Birthday Emma!

2011-06-27T10:45:00.001-04:00

It's so hard to believe that 8 years ago today, I gave birth (without an epidural) to a sweet little 6lb, 9oz baby girl that I named Emma June. She has grown so much and seems to be more and more like me everyday. We are celebrating with her today by taking her to a movie this afternoon, and her cake is cooling on the stove.

I thought it would be neat to do a little flashback to see how much she has changed over the years.

2003 - Just a few minutes old. Yes, I know I look terrible...ignore that please! ;-)

2004 - 1 year old - Sears Studios

2005 - 2 years old - Sears Studios

2006 - 3 years old

2007 - 4 years old - Connell Studios

2008 - 5 years old - Portrait Innovations

2009 - 6 years old - The Bond Between Us Photography

2010 - 7 years old

2011 - 8 years old - The Bond Between Us Photography

Wow! How could a little girl be any cuter! Happy Birthday Emma! I love you!

Happy Friday!

2011-06-24T09:34:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure about you, but Friday is my favorite day of the week! I'm not sure if it's the fact that my hubby gets off work early or that I know the weekend is coming. Either way, I love Friday's.

Today is shaping up to be a lazy day around our house, and we really don't have anywhere to be. The kids are playing together nicely, and I am actually getting a chance to drink my coffee and watch the Today show. It's really the simple things that make me happy!

This weekend is gonna be fairly relaxing too, and the only "official" plans we have are to attend the wedding of my old friend Leigh tomorrow. Leigh is the one responsible for me and my hubby meeting. She introduced us in August of 2000. We got married 9 months later. Here's a picture of us with Leigh on our wedding day.

We just celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary last month. Here is a picture of us then and now.

I owe her a lot of thanks for introducing us! So excited for her. Happiness has been a long time coming! I know in a way, tomorrow is gonna be tough for her, since she lost her mother to cancer a few years ago. Here is a great picture of the two of them together in 2001.

Leigh, if you are reading this...I am so happy for you, and I pray you have many happy years full of blessings!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-22T20:00:00.000-04:00

Wordless Wednesday - Almost

2011-05-11T10:06:00.000-04:00

Here is a picture of me with my girls at my birthday party last week. They just had to help poor old mama blow out the candles. Also, please ignore that number on the cake. I think my mom must have put the numbers on backwards. There is NO way I am 32. LOL Ok, ok...maybe I am 32. ;-)

Wranglers, Cake Pops, Ikea and Donuts

2011-04-06T10:57:00.000-04:00

Back in March, me and my friend Keri decided to drive to Atlanta to meet up with my sister Erin for a quick girls trip. We all love The Pioneer Woman, and she was coming to the Borders in Buckhead for a book signing. There was no way we were going to miss it. Her new book Black Hills to Tractor Wheels had just come out, so we all bought the book and loved it! Meeting her and getting our book signed would be the icing on the cake!

The signing was on a Friday night, so Keri and I headed out early Friday morning. We drove to ATL and meet Erin for lunch before heading to our hotel. We ate at Jason's Deli and it was so yummy. I had this:

While we were waiting for Erin to get there we noticed a World Market next to the Deli. Keri and I had a great time browsing. I got some coffee and a few little treats for Ike and the girls. I could have spent a fortune in there.

After lunch, we headed to our hotel to check in. In true Pioneer Woman style, I decided to take a pic of the hotel room just like she does. Although mine isn't nearly as cool as hers, here is is:

After checking in, we headed to the bookstore to pick up our wristbands. The book signing wasn't until 6pm, but they started giving out the wristbands at 2pm and we wanted to be near the front of the line. After securing our bands, we headed across the street for some shopping at a really neat 2 story Target. It even had this really cool escalator for your buggy!

After target we went to a really nice mall with lots of really nice stores like Tiffany & Co. Way out of our price range, but had a really good time window shopping and people watching. Starbucks and their yummy cake pops were the best part! They were great! Here is a before/after shot:

Around 5pm we headed back to the bookstore to line up. The line wasn't too bad, since everyone was lined up based on the letter on their wristband, but we still had to wait about an hour once we were lined up. We were group B. The line went quick, and we were at the signing desk in no time. Ree was super nice! She signed all our books, and even took the time to let us snap a photo. Marlboro Man and two of her kids came too, which was a nice surprise. Marlboro Man was really nice too. He took time to answer questions and signed books as well. He was even more handsome in person than I imagined. We had a great time meeting them! I am so glad we decided to go!

After the signing was over, we headed to Macaroni Grill for dinner and it was yummy! I ate this:

The next morning we got up, packed our stuff and went for breakfast at Dunkin Donuts. Yummy!

Next, we went to Ikea...can I just say: I love Ikea! I could have spent all day there. So many different things to buy. It made me want to redo my house! I really want one of these couches!

After Ikea, we closed out our trip with lunch at Five Guys. It had been a while since I had eaten a cheese burger and it was delicious!

The weekend turned out to be so much fun! I can't wait for our next trip! Erin...Keri...Where are we going next?

Flashback Friday

2011-04-01T10:27:00.001-04:00

First off, I know that I am super behind on my blogging. I really am going to try to catch up on what's been going on with us, but today I just wanted to do a quick picture post. So, here ya go...Flashback Friday!

This is Ike and I on our wedding day, May 26, 2001.

This past weekend Ike and I celebrated our 10th anniversary (a little early since it's not actually until May 26th) with a "wedding redo" photo shoot. The pictures turned out great, and we had a good time getting all dressed up again! Here is a preview of our session. Our wonderful photographer Kelly Williams did an awesome job! Check out her work here: www.thebondbetweenus.com

I am not sure about you, but I think we look even better today than we did 10 years ago! Thanks again Kelly for all your hard work on my "wedding redo" project!

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas, Finally!

2010-12-16T17:55:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure what the deal is, but it has taken me and unusually long time to get my decorations up this year. I just couldn't get in the mood or find the time. So, over the weekend, I finally just buckled down and did here. Here are a few pictures of my decorations. We don't normally go all out or anything. With small kids in the house, I just would rather not spend all of December telling them not to touch things.

My Precious Moments Nativity. I collected the pieces over a few years, but since we got the piano this year, I decided that this would be a safe place for me to put it.

This beautiful ornament was part of our Christmas portrait package from Kelly Williams of The Bond Between Us. I think is it awesome! She ordered them from a seller on Etsy.

With kids in the house, and advent calendar is a must. I got this one from Hallmark when Emma was little, and I just love it. All the little ornaments have magnets and stick onto the tree. The star even plays a song when you press it. The best part if the hidden pocket between the bottom two tiers of the tree where you keep all the ornaments.

This shelf in my dining room is filled with random items that really don't have another home. Madeline has already enjoyed rearranging them, and even breaking one of my snowmen.

Our Christmas tree, all decorated and ready for presents. After I took this picture I realized how sad it looked with no presents, so I wrapped some, but didn't take any photos. :-(

Here she is again, all lit up. I turned the lights off for this shot, and I really like how all the colored lights are showing on the wall.

Thanksgiving recap - just in time for Christmas!

2010-12-13T11:20:00.000-05:00

I started off Thanksgiving with a week long visit from my sister Erin, her husband and her little boy, who is 6 months younger than Madeline. We had a great time. Since she lives far away, we rarely get to spend that much time together at once, and we made the most of it. We baked for a whole day, we crafted, we shopped, and we even ventured out on Black Friday. We were in line at Old Navy at 10pm for a midnight opening, then headed to Walmart after that. Although the trip was a little stressful, considering the crazed redneck lady that tried to break in line at Old Navy once the door opened, it was a successful trip. I was able to get some Old Navy jeans for $15 for me and Ike, and I got our whole family fleece jackets at Walmart for $7 each! I love a good deal!

The actual Thanksgiving meal was at my mom's house this year, and it was full of activity. We ate, played, and just enjoyed each others company. The house was so full. We had two little ones under 2, two 7 year olds, and one in between those. So to say the house was nuts is a little bit of an understatement. The kids had a great time together though. My sister Erin and I made the kids cute shirts with turkey's on them, and I think they turned out well. I did not come up with the turkey shirt idea by myself though, I got it from an Etsy shop, then just drew it out. I'm not very creative on my own, so I have to "borrow" ideas from other bloggers and crafters.

Here are some pics of the kids in their cute shirts.

Wordless Wednesday for Decemeber 1, 2010

2010-12-01T10:08:00.000-05:00

Camp out - Take two

2010-11-08T12:21:00.002-05:00

Emma is always asking to go camping, but it's just such a pain to have to actually go to a campground, and I don't think Madeline would sleep in a tent. Last year we tried to camp out in my mom and dad's backyard, and we had a decent time, but it got cold after the sun set, and Emma wouldn't sleep in the tent. She also complained about the noise of the traffic coming from the road near my parents house. So, basically we put up the tent, sat in our camp chairs, made smores and played with sparklers.

This year, Emma wanted to try it again. So, a few weeks ago we decided to try it out at our house instead. We live in a really quiet neighborhood, and it was looking like the weather would be good, so we just went for it. Ike helped me, and we spend a good part of the day cleaning off the back porch, getting the tent set up, readying the fire pit, and moving around the patio furniture. By the time Emma got home, everything was ready to go. We spent the afternoon and night playing outside in the backyard as a family and it was so much fun. Emma and Ike slept in the tent, and Madeline and I went back inside to sleep. I just didn't feel comfortable having her in the house alone.

Here are some pictures from our night.

Our new fire pit/bowl. It worked out great, and we can't wait to use it again.

Madeline loved playing in the big tent.

Ike had a great time cutting up some limbs for us to use as firewood. Ha!

This was Emma's play tent from when she was little. Madeline loved going in and out of it.

Check out Madeline trying to eat one of the GIANT marshmallows that we got to make smores with.

Madeline loves to be outside!

I had to put this shot of her with the marshmallow in her mouth. It was so huge! She wanted to do it all by herself.

It was a full moon that night, and I tried my best to get a decent shot of it.

Madeline had a blast bouncing around on Ike's air mattress.

Trying to get a good picture of Emma these days is getting harder and harder. She never wants me to take her picture, and it's like pulling teeth to get her to smile.

Infant and Pregnancy Loss Remembrance Day

2010-10-15T10:13:00.001-04:00

October 15th is Infant and Pregnancy Loss Remembrance Day. I know many women including myself who have experienced the loss of a child, so I just wanted to post this to help raise awareness. This day was created for those who are suffering or may know someone who has suffered a miscarriage, an ectopic pregnancy, a still birth, or the loss of an infant.

I lost a child in April of 2008. It was an ectopic pregnancy and I never even got to hear the heartbeat, but the loss was devastating all the same. We had been trying for a year to get pregnant and with the help of clomid, we thought our dream of having a second child had come true. Sadly, two days after getting a positive HPT, were were told that I would lose the baby. It was such a sad time for me, and I really didn't have anyone to talk to. I turned to the Internet and realized that I was not alone in my grief.

The grief of losing a child is very real, whether or not you were able to hold your child on earth. Society has somewhat put this type of grief on the backburner and failed to recognize the loss of a pregnancy or an infant as a real loss. Some well meaning people, even women, will say things like "you can try again", or "just be thankful you weren't further along". While I am sure that the people that say these things mean no harm, their words are very hurtful.

So, today, please remember those who have lost a child. Their pain and loss is real, and their child's life, no matter how short, had weight.

You can check out www.october15th.com for more information.

I'll leave you with a bible verse:

Psalm 139:13-16
13 For you created my inmost being;
       you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
       your works are wonderful,
       I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
       when I was made in the secret place.
       When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
       All the days ordained for me
       were written in your book
       before one of them came to be.

Plowboy Day - Winnersville 2010

2010-10-07T10:27:00.002-04:00

This week marks and important time for our town. It's Winnersville Week! Basically this means that we will play our cross town rivals in football on Friday night, and that this week is full of activities at the local schools. This week at Emma's school, they had a chance to dress up each day. They were out Monday for Fall Break, but the schedule looked something like this:
Tuesday: Twin Day
Wednesday: Tacky Day
Thursday: Plowboy Day
Friday: Viking Spirit Day

Emma didn't have a "twin" for Tuesday, so she didn't dress up. Wednesday was tacky day, and I had a really tacky outfit all picked out for her to wear, but when it came time to get dressed that morning, she wouldn't do it. She said she didn't want anyone to make fun of her. I tried to explain that everyone would be tacky, but she wouldn't do it. But today, she dressed up with no problem.

Our teams mascot is the Viking, but for as long as I can remember, our nickname is the plowboys. If I remember the story correctly, when they started the county school system as we know it today, and built the high school back in the 60's, most of the areas of the county that were divided off to go to the new school were full of farms and "rednecks". So, since there were so many farmers, the city school started calling us plowboys.

Anyway, I said all of that to show you a few pictures of Emma dressed up this morning.

Back to school

2010-08-09T11:24:00.001-04:00

As many of you know, I have been teaching Emma at home through Georgia Cyber Academy. She has been at home with me, for half of K and all of 1st grade. Over the summer Ike and I started to talk about when we thought we should send Emma back to regular school. For a while, things are home were getting pretty rough with Emma, and it was starting to make the mother/daughter relationship feel very strained, since she was having trouble distinguishing between my role as her teacher and my role as her mom. We debated back and forth all summer about what to do, and we just couldn't seem to make a decision. Finally, with about 2 weeks until the start of our local public school, we decided to talk to Emma and see what she wanted to do. She really wanted to go back to regular school, so we decided to give it a try. So, on Friday, August 6th, Emma started 2nd grade at the brand new Pine Grove Elementary. I was really nervous for her, but she did great. She wouldn't even let me walk her in once we got to school. She said that she would be fine, and walked in all by herself. We were really proud of her. She came home after school on the bus, and said she had a good day, and that she liked her teacher. So, only time will tell, but we are hoping for a great year.

Here are some pictures of her on her 1st day.

Some of you may notice that she only has one earring in. I would like to say that I was a super observant parent, and didn't let my child go to school on the 1st day with only 1 earring in, but....I did. I didn't even notice it until after she was already at school and I was back home downloading the pictures off the camera. Uggh. Maybe nobody noticed. Ha!

Long Time No Blog

2010-08-09T10:58:00.000-04:00

Well, summer has come to an end, and it went by really fast. Last weekend we celebrated the end of summer by heading to Destin to visit some family and to celebrate my cousin's little boy Devan's 7th birthday. Here are some pictures from that weekend.

Me and my cousin April at the bowling ally.

Me, and my cousins April and Stephanie at the bowling ally.

Check out Emma's bowling form. Ha! She had a great time.

The birthday boy Devan, and his sister Laila.

After the party, the kids had some fun in the sprinkler and the hose. Even Madeline got in on the action.

We had a great time visiting with our family!

Happy 7th Birthday Emma!

2010-06-27T15:50:00.000-04:00

Seven years ago today, I gave birth to a 6lb 7oz beautiful little girl. I really can't believe that it has been 7 years. Emma is still just as cute, if not cuter than she was then, and is still just as hard to handle. She is the most stubborn and persistent child that I have even come in contact with, but I really hope that those personality traits will serve her well in life. Sadly though, she is so much like me, that I can barely believe it. So, here's to you baby girl! I love you!

Here are some pictures from her party that we had on Friday night. we had pasta for dinner and cupcake and ice cream for dessert. Thanks for my sister Erin for all her help with the party. She had a great time, and I really appreciate everyone who was able to come and celebrate with her.

I apologize for the quality of these photos. Our house is terrible for taking pictures at night, and during present time, it was almost impossible to get a picture without someone walking into the shot. Thanks to my hubby for taking these pics though, he really tried his best.

Schools Out for Summer!

2010-06-02T12:49:00.000-04:00

Emma hit a milestone this week, that I wanted to share. She finished the 1st Grade over the weekend! She was super excited to be done with school for the year, and she worked really hard over the holiday weekend to get finished up. Our last day is officially Friday the 4th, but once you have all the days and hours accounted for, and all the lessons complete, then you are done for the year.

Here is a picture of her online school screen, showing that she completed all the subjects.

We also got Emma's CRCT scores from her teacher last week, and she "met" the state standard in Math and in Language Arts, and she "exceeded" the state standard in Reading. We were really proud of her! Her attention issues make concentration hard for her at times, and she has some anxiety issues as well, so for her to be able to concentrate on the questions and push her anxiety aside to complete the tests and do well, was an accomplishment!

9 Years and Counting

2010-05-27T15:42:00.001-04:00

Yesterday Ike and I celebrated our 9 yr wedding anniversary. I wanted to post something yesterday, but just didn't find the time. So, here it is. Happy Anniversary baby! I love you! Here are a few pictures from our wedding day. I hope you enjoy them! We got married at the same church my parents were married in. It was small, but it had great sentimental value to us.

This is right before we saw each other for the first time.

Don't we look so happy?

I told all of the guys to make sure to wear black socks. This was their idea of a joke. :-)

Leaving the church through a bunch of bubbles.

I loved these outdoor pics underneath the magnolia trees.

Me with all of the bridesmaids.

The whole wedding party. We had such a fun day with all of them.

You may kiss the bride....as everyone watches, and then laughs. Our photographer told us to hold the kiss a little long to make sure they got the shot. So, we did....and everyone laughed.

Cutting the yummy cake, that we are the top of on our 1st anniversary, and it was still yummy. I couldn't believe it.

About to pull away from the church in Ike's green mustang. He still misses that car.

I promise I'm still alive!

2010-05-12T13:35:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! I know I haven't posted in a while but I am promise I am still alive and kicking. Things have been super hectic in our house lately, not to mention the sickness that has had me in bed for 2 days with an almost unbreakable fever. I'm feeling marginally better today, so I figured I could take a few minutes while the girls are napping to check in.

So, look for me to be back soon and on track with my Project Life posts. Also, I'm hoping that since school will be done for us in the next few weeks, I will have more time to share some things from our life with you that aren't just pictures.

Thanks to all of you who read my blog and keep up with what's going on with us. I really appreciate it! "See" y'all soon

Plan B by Pete Wilson: A Review

2010-05-05T09:01:00.000-04:00

I recently became a member of a website called Book Sneeze. It is a Thomas Nelson website that provides bloggers with complimentary copies of book, in exchange for honest book reviews. I have been following a Nashville Pastor, Pete Wilson, on twitter for a while, and he had a book called Plan B coming out. It sounded like it was gonna be a great read, so I was super excited when I saw that I could get the book for free, and all I had to do was write a review once I was done reading it. So, here goes:

Plan B by Pete Wilson is a book about what happens in the Plan B's of life. Plan B's are situations in our lives when God seemingly doesn't show up the way we though he would. Pete offers example after example of real life people who have been in Plan B situations in their life and how they have been able to continue to trust God despite the seemingly hopeless situations they were faced with. I particularly related to a situation that Pete and his wife dealt with as they suffered a miscarriage. I had been in that place where I was wondering where God was, and why he wasn't coming to my rescue like I thought he should.

Pete offers practical wisdom through the use of real life, and biblical stories to show that sometimes our Plan B's are God's Plan A for our lives. His conversational style makes his advice relevant, believable, and so easy to read and relate to. I wasn't even through the first chapter and I had already thought of a friend that could really benefit from reading this book. I would recommend it to anyone who has had a time in their life when they thought things were hopeless and God was nowhere to be found.

"The truth is that God is most powerfully present when he seems most apparently absent. - Pete Wilson

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Project Life: April 20-26

2010-04-27T12:01:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, April 20, 2010
After work today, we went to visit Ike's mom, who lives in a nursing home. She is completely "with it" in her mind, but physically can't take care of herself anymore, due to a injured shoulder, that can't be repaired. Here is a picture of her and Madeline. Emma was too busy playing on Ike's iphone to get in the picture.

Wednesday, April, 21, 2010
Ike had to go out of town for the day with work. Here is a pic of him and his co-worker Andy before they left. Emma wanted Ike to take along her dinosaur so that he would have something of her's with him, and Andy decided to hold it up for the picture.

Thursday, April 22, 2010
Madeline's new thing, is to climb up into the furniture. I was in the kitchen doing dishes, and I came back to this. I guess she wanted to relax and read a book.

Friday, April 23, 2010
Madeline is getting so many teeth, and she loves to show them off!

Saturday, April 24, 2010
Ike went to the drag races in Cecil all day today, and left me and Madeline at home. We had a great relaxing day, and I did just a good amount of things done around the house. Mostly though, we just played and cuddled. I really needed a day like today. Here is a picture of Ike's ticket to the races. I forgot to ask him for a picture from the race.

Sunday, April 25, 2010
Here we are at Walmart, checking out. We had to get some groceries for the week.

Monday, April 26, 2010
Emma is taking the CRCT this week, so I have time to kill in town in the mornings. My grandma lives with my mom now, but still has her house in town, so I have been going there to hang out and wait. One of the things that always sticks in my mind about my grandma's house is what we all call "the wedding wall". This wall above her couch, is where she hangs up pictures of the weddings in our family. There are a few pictures that aren't from a wedding, but they are the exception. Our is the gold frame with the round mat, to the left, and mom mom and dad are in an identical frame to the right of us, and my sister is in the frame to the right of that. The one on the far right is my aunt and uncle, and the pictures on the far left aren't from a wedding.

Easter 2010

2010-04-24T11:05:00.001-04:00

I just realized that I never got around to posting about Easter and sharing our pics with you. I guess I'll do that today, since it's raining and Ike is with DJ at the races, and I am in denial that there is laundry and cleaning to do.

We started out the morning by going to church with Mom and Dad. I tried to keep Madeline in the service with us, but she was "talking" to much, so I had to take her to the nursery. She had a great time, and was completely worn out when I went to get her.

After church, we went to back to Mom and Dad's house for pictures, lunch and our egg hunt. Lunch was yummy, pictures turned out great, and the girls had a blast hunting eggs. Fun times! So, here are some pictures from the day. Enjoy!

I love to see all the pretty flowers this time of year.

Madeline was actually smiling really cute in this picture. It's really hard to get her to look at the camera. She normally wants to get down and play.

Classic family photo. We take pictures in front of these same azalea bushes every year.

Happy baby!

Grandy and her girls, minus Erin.

My parents. They rarely get their picture taken together for some reason, so I was excited that this one turned out so great.

Madeline loves playing outside. Can you tell?

Madeline loves her Poppy.

My girls.

My big girl Emma. She looks so grown up.

Project Life - April 6-19

2010-04-20T11:48:00.000-04:00

Well, it's Tuesday, and as luck would have it, Emma's CRCT session for this morning is a no-go, due to an error on the part of her teacher. So, that's hopefully good news to all my Project Life followers. So, put on your seatbelt, because I have 2 weeks worth of pictures to catch you up on.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Today was my Dad's birthday, so we celebrated at Texas Roadhouse, then had a mini "party" out of the back of our car. Lame I know, but the table was already so crowded with food and it's just not easy to spread out, so we took our party to the car after dinner was over. Happy Birthday Daddy!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010
One of Ike's co-workers Pepper has a garden at home, and grows tomato plants and peppers I think. Anyway, Emma has been wanting to grow tomatoes for the longest time, so Pepper sent home a plant for her. We potted it, and have been attempting to take care of it. I think it looks pretty good so far. I really hope it produces at least one tomato.

Thursday, April 8, 2010
Our office has been a mess for a while now, and I really just haven't had the time to clean it up like I wanted to. I finally decided enough was enough, and just made time. It may still look a little messy to you, but you should have seen it before. LOL

Friday, April 9, 2010
This picture was taken in my mom's yard. This is one of her knockout roses I think. Isn't it pretty? I love this time of year, with all the flowers blooming. We have such pretty flowers in the South.

Saturday, April 10, 2010
Emma loves to play outside. Here is a pic of her on the swingset at Mom and Dad's house. We have the exact same one at our house. The thing she is on is called the star cruiser. Funny name, but it looks like fun.

Sunday, April 11, 2010
After Sunday lunch, Mom took the girls on a wagon ride around teh neighborhood. They had a great time!

Monday, April 12, 2010
On Saturday our Friends Lauren and Clayton had their beautiful baby boy Michael Solomon. We decided not to go see them at the hospital and just wait until they got home. They came home on Monday around lunch, and Lauren called us as soon as they got settled so I could come for a visit. He was just precious and tiny, and Emma couldn't get enough. Doesn't Lauren look great? I always look like death after I give birth, but after only 2 days, she looks awesome! Congrats Clayton and Lauren!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Emma has started back with her piano lessons, but the time, we are taking from an individual, instead of in a group session. This seems to be working out better already, and Emma is even wanting to practice!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010
We had steamed carrots, crescent rolls, sausage on the grill, and rice-a-roni for dinner. Ignore the green beans...Madeline loves them, but I already had some ready for her, and didn't need this can.

Thursday, April 15, 2010
Mom ordered some flip-flops from LL Bean a week or so ago, and got a clearance catalog in with her order. I saw these "summer sneakers" in it, for $12.99. They are normally around $40, but this was last year's version, so they had them on sale. Mom also got a $10 off coupon with her order, so I ordered 2 pairs of the on-sale shoes and used the $10 off. What a deal. These shoes are made to dry really fast, so you can get them wet and it's not a problem. I figured these would be great for a trip to Wild Adventures, the zoo, or any other summer activity. They look like old lady shoes in the pic, but actually look really cute on.

Friday, April 16, 2010
Isn't my hubby cute? I sure think so! In August we will have been together for 10 years. I took this pic while we were waiting for our dinner at Sonny's.

Saturday, April 17, 2010
I joined a website called Booksneeze last week. It's a site that gives away books, in exchange for book reviews. I've never done anything like this before, but thought it sounded like fun. I had been wanting to get this book when it came out (May 4th), so when I saw it was going to be available through Booksneeze, I went for it. I got it in the mail today, and I can't wait to read it. Pete Wilson is the pastor of Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN. You should check this book out on Amazon.

Sunday, April 18, 2010
Apparently I'm a tard, and let Madeline's 1st birthday go by without putting it in the paper. So, I got on it this week, and got her info submitted, and her announcement was in the paper today.

Monday, April 19, 2010
Emma loves to play "babies". She gets a few of them out, and lays them in the cradle, dresses them, wraps them in blankets, you know the drill. Emma walked out of the room for a minute, and came back to this. I think Madeline wanted to play too!

CRCT and other time hogs.

2010-04-15T12:22:00.000-04:00

I'm sure all 2 of my readers have been wondering where I've been this week. LOL Ok, there may be more than 2 of you. :-) To say I have been busy is an understatement. This week and next week we are prepping Emma to take the CRCT on the 26-28th. We have 2 online review sessions each day for these two weeks, in addition to our regular school work. I feel overwhelmed, scared, nervous, you name it. Emma has some attention issues and I have no idea how she is going to be able to sit through the test, much less focus enough to be able to read, think about, and answer all the questions. The problem isn't that she doesn't know the material. She knows it. The problem is, getting her to actually read the questions and answers before just picking an answer. I know these tests can be tricky, and I want her to do well. My other worry is that she won't be able to sit still for the whole hour that the test will take. Sometimes she is just not able to sit still for that long, without talking or moving around.

Anyway, this is what my next 2 weeks will look like. If you will, could you please keep us in your prayers as we jump this educational hurdle. We would really appreciate it.

I'm not sure when I will get around to posting my pictures for this week, and maybe even the next 2 weeks, so just bear with me, and I promise that once this is over, I will get caught up.

Thanks!

Project Life: March 30-April 5

2010-04-07T13:43:00.001-04:00

I know, I know, I'm late again! Sorry, yesterday was a super busy day for us, and I just didn't have time to get this post up.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Today, I went on a little shopping trip to Toads and Teacups and was able to get these great shoes for Madeline for only $9.99! I love Keds for little girls, they wash really well, and last a long time.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010
You know that lawnmower we bought? Well, it hasn't gotten used yet. Things have just been too busy so far this week. Hopefully by the time the weekend rolls around, Ike will be able to get a chance to use it on these yucky weeds that are taking over my backyard.

Thursday, April 1, 2010
After months and months of dealing with my shaggy hair, I decided to go and get it cut finally. I have been trying to grow it out, and didn't want to lose my length, but it sure needed a trim. I took this not so great self-portrait of myself to show off my newly trimmed locks. Also notice that I have finally made peace with my straitening iron. I have been refusing to use it, and stuffed it in my bathroom drawer for the longest time, but after talking to my cousin/hair dresser, she convinced me to just do it. So, I did. Although it is a little more work, than just blow drying, It really makes my hair feel soft and look shiny.

Friday, April 2, 2010
We used to go out to dinner with my parents every Friday night, but due to finances and time, we had stopped doing it for a while. Tonight, we decided to go out as a family again, and we couldn't have picked a better place. I LOVE the Smok'n Pig. Yummy, Yummy BBQ.

Saturday, April 3, 2010
Today, we decided to take Madeline to see the Easter bunny at Confetti and Lace, the party place. Madeline wasn't really sure about the bunny, but she didn't cry. She really just wanted to touch the bunny and grab the ears. Sadly, this was the best picture I got. She wasn't really in the smiling mood I guess.

Sunday, April 4, 2010
Happy Easter! This is a picture of our little family after church in front of the azaleas near Mom and Dad's driveway. We have been taking Easter pictures in front of these bushes for years. Madeline wasn't really smiling in this one, but she was super tired from having so much fun in the church nursery and was really needing a nap.

Monday, April 5, 2010
Today was a super boring day, and Ike was home sick, so I don't have a picture for today, so I am using one from Saturday. Mom took Emma to Lake Park to an easter egg hunt, and she had a great time. Check out those pigtails! She has been requesting these lately, but I rarely give in, since she normally ask me to do it as we are walking out the door, and it takes more time than that. Leave it to Grandy to spend the extra time to create these!

Project Life: March 23-29

2010-03-31T14:42:00.000-04:00

Sorry I'm late on this week's post. I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010
We have been working for the past few weeks to get Madeline off the bottle/formula and onto a sippy/whole milk. In a way, I was ready for the formula buying to be over, but I was also sad, because it means that my baby is growing up. Bittersweet.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Emma like to have waffles for breakfast, but she really likes them with chocolate syrup. Not the most healthy option, but it's ok to have a treat every now and then.

Thursday, March 25, 2010
We had some pretty bad weather this night, and it rained most of the day/night. As is started to get dark, I happened to look out the window and saw this rainbow. It's hard to see, because the sky was such a strange color, but I just had to take a picture of it, since the day had been so dreary.

Friday, March 26, 2010
Today was Madeline's 1yr doctor visit. Her birthday was on the 9th, so it was a little late, but not too bad. At every visit, they give you a little slip of paper with your child's measurements on it. Here are Madeline's for her 12 month visit.

Saturday, March 27, 2010
Today, we finally were able to get a riding lawn mower. It's not the "best" one out there for sure, but we are hoping it will do the trick. Please excuse the dust and the junk. Our garage certainly has a ways to go to being clutter free.

Sunday, March 28, 2010
This week, my mom bought another little tykes car for Madeline, to keep at her house. I don't have a picture of us putting it together, I think I just forgot, since we were so busy trying to get it together. I also spent some time with my mom, trying to decide what dresses the girls are going to wear for Easter Sunday. Why is this such a production? LOL Here is a pic of the dress I "think" I decided on for Madeline. All of these dresses I was picking from were Emma's, so I am really happy that I am getting a chance to wear some of the clothes that I packed away years ago.

Monday, March 29, 2010

This is what the corner of my kitchen looks like most of the time. I keep Emma's school stuff in this crate to make for easy access to the worksheets, etc. I keep the rest of the supplies/books/manipulative items in my office closet so that I can get to them when I need them.

Project Life: March 16-22

2010-03-23T10:31:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Emma (Right) had her friend Elizabeth (Middle) and her little sister Sydney (Left) over to play. They had a great time with the bubbles.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Census 2010 - We got our form in the mail this week, and I have already filled it out, and it's ready to mail back in. Now I just gotta get it to the mailbox before the deadline.

Thursday, March 18, 2010
Madeline's new thing is to play in the kitchen cabinets. She loves to drag out the pots and anything else she can get her hands on. This day, she choose one of the bigger pots, and has that look of uh oh on her face. I thought it was so neat that you can see her reflection in the door of the stove.

Friday, March 19, 2010
My friend Cathy hosted a Pampered Chef party on Friday night. I rarely go anywhere without Ike or the kids, but Ike stayed home with Madeline, and Emma was with her Grandy and Poppy. It was nice to just get away for a little while and not have to keep looking over my shoulder to make sure the kids aren't getting into anything. I had a good time, and even ordered a few things.

Saturday, March 20, 2010
Madeline loves for me to have the windows open. Everytime I open them, she always comes over to look out and enjoy the fresh air. This is a face that she does a lot, and normally it's accompanied with a "Oh, Oh, Oh." I also love that you can see all her pretty curls in the back. I'm just fascinated with them. Noone in our family has curls.

Sunday, March 21, 2010
We went to my Mom and Dad's for dinner on Sunday, like we always do. Mom saved all the toys that she had at her house from when Emma was little, and Madeline found this NOISY Elmo in the pile. I think we will just leave that one at Grandy's.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Last night, Madeline wouldn't go to bed at all. Emma was already sleeping away, and Madeline was wide awake, at 11pm. You can tell from the messy hair that she was sleepy and had been rolling around in my lap.

That's all for this week! If you missed it, please check out Madeline's 1st Birthday Party pics here.

I realize that I have tons of pics of Madeline, and not so many of Emma. She isn't very cooperative when it comes to pictures, but I am going to try to do better at getting her to let me take her picture.

Madeline's 1st Birthday Party - March 14th

2010-03-22T12:37:00.002-04:00

I'm sorry I am a week late in posting this. I was planning on posting it last week, but things just go too busy. So, here are the pics from her birthday party, and there are a lot of them. So, sit back and enjoy! I'll comment on some of them, but for the most part, the pictures speak for themselves.

I made this banner using card stock, stencils, and curling ribbon. It looked much better in my head, but I think it looked cute anyway.

I realize that this pic of me is terrible, but I must explain. About 5-10 minutes before the guests arrived at the house for Madeline's party, I was charging my camera battery, and my camera was on the kitchen counter. Madeline walked over, and grabbed the strap, and my NEW camera came tumbling down onto the tile floor. It took all I could do not to burst into tears. Good news: All is well, and there was no damage.

Here's the birthday princess ready for bed after her party. She had such a great day!

Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with us!

Project Life: March 2-15

2010-03-16T16:02:00.001-04:00

Ok, hold on to your hats y'all. Since I ran out of time, and I didn't get to post my pics from last week, here are 2 weeks worth of pictures. I hope you enjoy them. I will have a seperate post later this week of pictures from Madeline's 1st birthday party, so be on the lookout for that.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Today, I decided to make a loaf of bread. It was from a mix, but it turned out yummy! I'm sure I will try it again soon.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010
My new camera came today! I am super excited to be letting my old one retire. It was so sad looking. I will take a picture of my new camera soon I hope, and maybe even a pic of the old one, so y'all can see what I was having to work with.

Thursday, March 4, 2010
This is one of the first pictures I took with my new camera. Not the best picture ever, but look how smiley Madeline is. :-)

Friday, March 5, 2010
I found this super cute fabric at Hobby Lobby. I'm planning on making a strap for my new camera with it.

Saturday, March 6, 2010
Today, we had Madeline's 12 month photos done with Kelly Williams. We had a great time, and I think Kelly got some great shots. Working with a busy 1yr old is no easy task, so hats off to you Kelly!

Sunday, March 7, 2010
This picture pretty much sums up our Sunday afternoon. We were trying to teach Emma how to ride her bike without training wheels. Can you tell we had lots of fun?

Monday, March 8, 2010
Here is a pic of Emma working hard on her school work for the day. She was doing a great job that night with her work.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010
This afternoon, we went to Brenda's and had Emma's hair trimmed. Brenda has been cutting my mom's hair since I was little, and now she cuts Emma's. She also gave me my first perm when I was 5. (I will NOT be sharing a picture of that) She always has such pretty flowers in her yard, and this one was especially pretty. I think it's called a "fire poker"?

Wednesday, March 10, 2010
I have been up to my eyeballs in laundry for a while. I am finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it feels great.

Thursday, March 11, 2010
Rain, rain, and more rain. It's been raining a lot here lately, and this is a picture I took from my back door while it was raining the other day. See how dreary it looks? Can you see the raindrops?

Friday, March 12, 2010
I have two pictures for today. The first one is of my old camera (taken with my new camera). The second one is of my new camera (taken with my old camera). I am SO happy to have a new camera that I can barely stand it. I was so tired of having to use scotch tape to hold my other one together. So sad.

Saturday, March 13, 2010
Tonight we went to a birthday party for my nephew who turned 7. The kids had a great time playing together, and the adults had fun chatting too. Emma always had a great time with Thomas, and hugs him every chance she gets.

Sunday, March 14, 2010
Today, we had Madeline's 1st birthday party. She had a great time. I will be doing a separate post with her birthday party pictures, but I just had to share this super cute one.

Monday, March 15, 2010
First of all, I know that this is a terrible picture of me. It was a self-portrait. The reason I posted it was for the look on Madeline's face. It's too funny! Plus, you can see her new teeth on top. Aren't they cute?

Happy 1st Birthday Madeline!

2010-03-09T09:06:00.001-05:00

One year ago today, I met my sweet Madeline. She is just the sweetest thing ever. She loves to hug and snuggle, and has a great smile. She loves to play with her toys and to chase after her big sister and the cat. I really can't believe that a whole year has passed since she came into our life. Here are a few pictures from her first year.

Madeline still inside at about 36 weeks. Our last picture as a family of 3.

Madeline at 13 days old.

Madeline and her big sister Emma.

Our new family of 4.

Madeline at 4 months old.

Madeline at 8 months old.

Madeline at 1 year old.

All of the photos used above were taken by Kelly Williams from The Bond Between Us Photography.

If you are ever in need of photos, please check her out. She has been wonderful this past year helping us document our changing family.

(These were all saved from the web, and not full-resolution images)

On another note. There will more than likely be no Project Life post today. I may get to it later in the week, but if not, I promise to include the pics from this week, in next weeks post.

Project Life: February 23 - March 1

2010-03-02T11:26:00.001-05:00

Tuesday, February 23, 2010
For a while, I have been wanting to give my bathroom a makeover. So, now is the time. The wall hangings with the leaves on it are from my Aunt Shirley (they didn't work in her house, I don't think), the shower curtain in just plain, the towels have green and brown stripes, which I think will go great with the leaves on the wall hangings. It's still a work in progress, but these are the pieces I have to get me started.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010
While I was loading the dishwasher, Madeline decided she wanted to get in too. She climbed up all my herself. I had walked away for a minute to do something else, so of course when I turned around and saw this, I had to stop and take a picture before deciding that I better get her down before she got hurt.

Thursday, February 25, 2010
When Emma was little, she had tons of toys, like this kitchen that she rarely played with. She wasn't really the play independently type. She was much more into having us play with her, or entertain her, and she loved her little kid movies, like Bear in the Big Blue House, Jo Jo's Circus, etc. Madeline seems to be the opposite. She really loves to play with toys, and is taking advantage of all the toys that we had for Emma that are in like new condition, since Emma didn't play with them much. Here's a cute pic of Madeline playing with the kitchen, which is in our kitchen. Emma sat her on that little stool, and she just played and played. So cute!

Friday, February 26, 2010
Remember a week or so ago when I had the paper pieces taped to the wall? Well, this is what went in it's place. I was so proud of this, since I did it myself. I used a hammer and everything! Normally I would ask Ike to do things like hang up pictures, but I am trying to branch out, and learn how to do more things on my own. Go me!

Saturday, February 27, 2010
I really haven't had time to sew in a while, but this weekend, I decided it was time. Ike had a pair of pants that needed to be fixed, I had a curtain that I needed to modify to make 2 curtains, and I had come up with an idea to make Madeline a 1st birthday hat. So, I went to my closet and drug out my sewing machine for the first time in a while. It felt good to get it back out. I really find sewing relaxing for the most part, and wish I had more time to do it.

Sunday, February 28, 2010
This is the beginnings of Madeline's 1st birthday hat. The colors that I chose match her invitations, in case you are wondering why they look odd. It's made of felt, which I had never worked with before, but it was super easy.

Monday, March 1, 2010
Here is the finished product. I'm not sold on the color combo, even though it matches the invites. I think I may have to make another one, out of just the pink and green, since I think those look great together. My 1 is also a little crooked. Oh well, think it turned out great for my first try.

Project Life: February 16-22

2010-02-23T09:43:00.001-05:00

Well, I'm back again for my weekly Project Life Update. I really can't believe that I am still keeping up with this, and it's been 2 months already. I think what keeps me going, is that we will have an awesome book to remember our year by when it's all over.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Madeline loves my iPhone. She grabs it every chance she gets. Here she is in Ike's office trying to chew on the case.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Look what I did today! I cleaned out the pantry. It may not look that strait in this picture, but you should have seen it before. This area always seems to get so messed up, and I had been ignoring it for way too long.

Thursday, February 18, 2010
Look at this bathing beauty! Ike had already left for the day, so after I got a shower, I decided to just give Madeline her bath in the sink. She looks like she isn't too sure about it, but she loves to splash in the water. I can't wait till summer and I can get her out in the pool.

Friday, February 19, 2010
One of the things that I have been really trying to get to is actually decorating our house. We have lived her for 2, going on 3 years, and there are still blank walls everywhere. I am just no good at decorating and accessorizing. I just don't "see" it. But, I am not letting that stop me. I have finally decided to make use of all the wonderful pictures Kelly has taken for us, and I am finding places to hang them. Here is a wall in between my kitchen and dining room that will soon be getting some decoration.

Satruday, February 20, 2010
I've mentioned Emma's love for puzzles before, and she is at it again. I found this cute 100 piece puzzle in the Dollar section at Target.

Sunday, February 21, 2010
Madeline's first birthday is fast approaching, and I am trying to figure out the decorations and menu. Here is a birthday banner I am working on for her party.

Monday, February 22, 2010
Today, for school, we did a ton of history. We have been slacking on this area, choosing to focus on Math, Language Arts and Reading a little more. Emma seems to be most interested in History and Science these days. I'm not sure if she is truly more interested, or if she is just avoiding the others. Either way, an interested student makes a happy teacher.

Blog under construction

2010-02-17T09:03:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog from time to time. I just wanted to let you all know that for the next week or so, my blog will be in a state of transition. Emily from Polka Dot Pixels is giving my blog a makeover! So, sit back, and enjoy the ride! I know I can't wait to see the finished product.
So excited!

~ Leslie

Project Life: February 9-15

2010-02-16T10:00:00.001-05:00

Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Madeline wasn't feeling too well this day, but isn't she cute anyway? I had to take a picture, since it was her 11 month birthday! I can't believe my baby is almost a year old. Time has flown by so fast. Anyone know how to make it slow down? Happy 11 month birthday Madeline!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Remember when I said that Madeline wasn't feeling well? It turns out she had a double ear infection. Poor baby! So, off to the doctor we went to get loaded up with some meds to clear it up. She weighed 20lbs 10oz at the doctor today. 2010 on 02-10-10. Ok, maybe I'm the only one who thought that was neat. Haha

Thursday, February 11, 2010
Emma loves puzzles and she has tons of them. Right now she can do the 100 piece ones without too much trouble. This is a Tinkerbell one that she did today. I thought it was cute.

Friday, February 12, 2010
SNOW!!! In South GA!!! For those of you who live up north, this may seem a little silly, and not look like snow at all, but for South GA, this is snow. For the first time in years, Valdosta saw snow. I think it was in the late 80's when it snowed last time, so to say this is a rare occurance is an understatement. We were on our way to Mom and Dad's house when it started showing at our house, so we missed most of it, since we were driving south. I was really sad that Emma didn't get to enjoy it while it lasted, but when Ike and I got back home from dropping her off, there was still a little snow hanging around, so I took a few pictures so that she could see. Since Mom and Dad's house is more south, they didn't get any of the snow.

Saturday, February 13, 2010
Today Emma went to a birthday party at the bowling ally for her friend Hunter. Hunter's mom Cathy and I have been friends since 8th grade. It's been so nice to be able to stay friends with her all these years, and to be able to have our kids be friends as well. Emma and Hunter had a great time together at his party. Happy 6th Birthday Hunter! Emma is in the white shirt on the left, and Hunter has on the stripes to the right of her. Cathy has a better picture of them together that I'll get later, but this crappy one I took will have to do for now.

Sunday, February 14, 2010
Happy Valentines Day! Ike got Emma and me some pretty roses to celebrate, but I don't have a picture of them. Mom loves to celebrate holiday's, no matter how small. For Valentines Day, she got Emma and Madeline each a balloon, and gave the rest of use a little gift as well. Here is a picture of all of us (except me and Dad) opening our gifts.

Monday, February 15, 2010
Earlier in the week, I put my name in the hat at Polka Dot Pixels for a blog makeover giveaway. I got word this morning that I WON! How exciting! I can't wait to give my blog a new look! So, in the next few weeks, be on the lookout to see how it turns out! I'm sure it's going to be awesome! Here is a picture taken from their website on my winning entry. (Thanks Emily!) (It was a random drawing, so I didn't say anything special in my entry to win, in case you were wondering.)

Project 365: February 2 - 8

2010-02-09T12:02:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Oh Target! I love Target. This is the first place I go when I have extra money. They always seem to have something I want to buy, and I always spend more than I should. I'm sure Ike wishes I would stay out of there.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010
When I was at Walmart the other day buying groceries, this bread called my name when I walked by, so I just had to buy it. I've been eating it for breakfast, and it's super yummy!

Thursday, February 4, 2010
Every once in a while, I have been letting Madeline get in the tub with Emma. She loves it! She likes playing with all of Emma's tub toys, like this Aerial doll.

Friday, February 5, 2010
Emma's school, GCA has field trips every now and then so that the students can meet each other. Emma's teacher hosted a trip to Wilder's World in Tifton. It's this large warehouse kind of thing full of bouncy houses/slides, etc. Emma had a great time!

Saturday, February 6, 2010
Harvey's is our local grocery store, and it's the closest one to our house. We go here when we don't have much to get and we don't want to go to Walmart. Ike goes by this store sometimes on the way home from workto pick up something we need to make dinner.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Isn't this the sweetest picture ever? On Sunday at Mom and Dad's house, Madeline brought Granny a book to read. It was so sweet to watch an 80 year old Great Grandma read to her 11 month old Great Granddaughter. I am so glad that Madeline and Emma are getting the change to know their Great Granny, since most kids never get the chance.

Monday, February 8, 2010
Madeline hasn't been feeling too well this week. She's been teething really bad. Sometimes when she gets tired, she will pull a pillow off the couch and lay her head on it, but she never goes to sleep or anything. Emma had her beanbag out in the living room, and Madeline went over to it, and layed down. She got really quiet, and next thing I know, she was asleep. I doubt she will ever do this again, so I made sure I got a picture of it.

Project 365: January 26 - February 1

2010-02-03T11:38:00.000-05:00

I was a bit of a slacker this week. Things were so boring around the house, that there just wasn't much to take pictures of, so I don't have 7 pictures to share, but I will share what I have. They aren't dated like normal, but I promise to be back on track next week.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 to Monday, February 1, 2010

If you know me in real life, you know what the thread bare piece of cloth is. It's my blankie. I have had it since I was a baby, and I still sleep with it every night.

Emma got sick this week with a UTI, so we spent an afternoon at the doctors office, and came home with this lovely script for antibiotics. Sorry the picture is so bad.

One night this week as the sun was setting, Emma came running to me in the kitchen and telling me that I needed to come look at the sun. When I went to the front door to look, this is what a saw. It's kindof dark, but the sun was a really neat shade of pink, and it looked awesome!

Saturday, Ike and I went with our friends Clayton and Lauren to Jacksonville to go baby shopping. We had a great time, and mom watched Emma and Madeline while we were gone. When we got home, Emma had gotten mom to help her make a sign to welcome us home. How sweet is that?

Project 365: January 19 - 25

2010-01-26T10:44:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

This is what sits beside my kitchen sink on most days. It seems like I can hardly keep them all washed and filled these days. Madeline has been cutting back on the amount of formula she drinks lately, due to all the table food she's eating now, so hopefully we only have a month of two left of buying formula.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

It seems like I go to Walmart all the time, and really, I think I go about once a week. I always try to look for the "clearance section" in the store, which isn't always easy, since they move it around the store to different areas all the time. This time, it was in the Garden Center. I found this UNO Attack game for $4.50! Normally it's $18.00. The best part is, that when I went to our other Walmart a few days later, the same game was still $18.00 there. I love a good bargain!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Emma has a friend that lives across the street named Elizabeth. She attempts to come over to play with Emma almost everyday. I try to let them play when we aren't busy with something. Here is a cute pic of Emma and Elizabeth playing boxing on the Wii. This was so funny to watch. They had a great time.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Look what I made this week! I have had this frame for a while, but hadn't had the time to get my photos put into it. I originally had 2 of these frames, so I made Ike one to hang in his office, and this one is going to hang on a large blank wall in my kitchen. I was hesitant to put it in the kitchen at first, but we have this blank wall next to our pantry, which is right next to the hallway leading to the garage and our bedroom, and we spend tons of time in the kitchen, so I knew I would get to look at it often.

Satruday, January 23, 2010

Ike's mom's birthday is coming up on the 30th, and since she is in a nursing home, and doesn't really need anything, my sister-in-law Sherry arranged for us to have a group photo taken of our two family's to give her. The photo session turned out pretty well, but it certainly wasn't what I was used to. We normally go to Kelly Williams for all our photos, so being a chain studio was a new experience for us. I missed Kelly's eye for photography, but we got the picture of the family that we needed, so the day was a success. We also don't spend as much time with the other Barton's as we should, so getting to spend some time together was nice. Here's a photo of Madeline playing with the legos in the lobby.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

We go to Mom and Dad's every Sunday to have lunch. Mom always cooks us something yummy, and we get to spend some time together with them and Granny. Mom is always buying me and the girls little things here and there that she thinks we will like. It can be anything from clothes to food. Well, this Sunday, she gave me a Cadbury Creme Egg. There are one of my absolute favorite chocolate candy items, and you can only get them when the Easter candy is out. My mom is so sweet, and as soon as the Easter candy comes out, she almost always buys me a few. I would have had a picture of the 2 that she gave me, but I ate one of them before I could snap a picture.

Monday, January 25, 2010

I remember as a kid, that learning how to tell time was pretty hard. Right now in Math, Emma is learning about time and I am realizing that not only was it hard to learn time, it's not so easy to teach time either. Our last unit was on Money, and this one is on Time. I am so ready to get back to some regular addition and subtraction.

Project life Tuesday

2010-01-19T10:23:00.000-05:00

As you all know by now I hope, I am working on a Project 365 log for this year, taking a picture a day for a year. Jessica Turner over at The Mom Creative is hosting Project Life Tuesday, where everyone can come to her site and link up to share our pictures from the week. It doesn't matter if you are doing Project Life, Project 365, or Project 52, everyone is welcome to hop over to her blog and link up.

I hope you enjoy seeing everyones pictures and getting ideas.

Have a great Tuesday!

January 14, 2010

Madeline has been sleeping terribly lately, not to mention that I have never been able to put her "down" for a nap. I always had to hold her. So, I tried to get her to sleep in her crib for naptime. She cried and cried, then it finally got quiet. When I went to check on her, this is what I saw. How sad is that? The kid is sleeping standing up. We still haven't been able to fix the issue yet, maybe soon.

January 15, 2010

Friday night Ike and I went to JCPenney to get Granny's gift. The mall wasn't busy at all, and we were in and out really quickly.

January 16, 2010

On Saturday, we celebrated my Granny's 80th birthday! She had a wonderful day filled with presents and food. It was nice to have all the family together again so soon after Christmas.

January 17, 2010

This is our cat Pepper that we got right before we got married. She lived with Ike for about 2 months until we got married and I moved in. She was sleeping in one of her favorite spots, my side of the bed.

January 18, 2010

Ike was off for MLK day, so we were all home together. For a few days, Emma's front tooth had been super loose. We were eating our lunch, and Emma was having a really hard time with her food because of the tooth, so she asked Ike to pull it. It only took a second, and it was out. Here is a picture of her new smile!

Project 365 for January 11-13

2010-01-13T18:49:00.000-05:00

January 11, 2010

We had yummy bacon cheeseburgers and The Pioneer Woman onion straws for dinner. Yummy!

January 12, 2010

Emma has a very loose tooth up front, and she has been wiggling it all week. It looks like it could fall out any second.

January 13, 2010

Madeline was so excited to get a package from The Peterson's today! :-)

Project 365 for January 7-10

2010-01-11T10:47:00.001-05:00

January 7, 2010
This is my new favorite iPhone app/game. It's called UnblockMe. I've been playing it a lot lately and got all excited when I reached 95, thinking there were 100 levels, but then I looked, and there are 400. Oh well, I guess I have a lot more to go than I though.

January 8, 2010
I know this is random, but this is my favorite batteries for my camera. I am posting these, because my camera ran out of these this week. They are well worth the $9.50 for four of them, they last forever! Plus, I got this package at Walmart, and it had a mail-in-rebate for $3.00 on it. Yay!

January 9, 2010
Our friends Lauren and Clayton invited us over on Satruday night with some other friends Loretta and Daniel. Lauren had gotten 2 free Wii games, and all she had to do to get them, was have a party and invite people over to try it. By hosting the party, she got coupons and a headband to give us for trying out the games. The main game was Your Shape with Jenny McCarthy and the other game was called Dance Dance. Anyway, here is a picture of my coupons and headband. We had a great time eating Pizza and playing Wii. I hope we can get together again soon.

January 10, 2010
We went to Walmart this afternoon and bought groceries. Our freezer looks so much better when it's full of food. Yay for something to eat this week!

Project 365 for 01-05-10 & 01-06-10

2010-01-06T16:56:00.002-05:00

January 5, 2010

Since we are teaching Emma at home, we have lot's of teaching aids around the house, like these pieces of fake money. The math unit we are working on right now is all about money.

January 6, 2010
Madeline loves to play with her bottle once she is finished drinking it. Today, after lunch was over, Emma and I were working on school, and Madeline decided it was play time. Do you see the formula on her face? Yeah, I know, I should have just cleaned her up, but it was too funny not to get a picture of. Emma actually let me get her in the picture too!

2009, What a year!

2010-01-04T21:25:00.006-05:00

I know I am a little late in posting this, but it took me a while to gather the pictures. There are some things that happened, that I didn't have a picture of, but I'll try to work them in with the descriptions.

2009 was a great year for our family, and I can only hope that 2010 is even better!

I hope you enjoy my look back through 2009.

January 2009
This my friends is how I started 2009. Madeline was inside growing like a weed, and I was certainly growing too! Pardon my lack of makeup and my goofy grin.

February 2009
We took Emma to a Big Sister class at the hospital in preparation for Madeline's arrival, and she loved it. They got a chance to change a diaper, learn to swaddle, and practice feeding a baby. Doesn't she look sweet feeding her baby?

March 2009
Our family of 3 became a family of 4 on March 9, 2009. Madeline Jade arrived by emergency c-section at 7:33am weighing 7lbs 9oz and was 20in long. Here is a sweet pic of Emma seeing her for the first time. Emma had been at SGMC all night with my parents in the waiting room, and they woke her up once Madeline was here, so that she could see her. This picture brings tears to my eyes every time I see it.

When Madeline was 13 days old, Kelly Williams took this awesome picture of her! It was too great not to include.

April 2009
This is a great picture of my two girls on Easter Sunday. Awww....

May 2009
I don't have a picture from my birthday, but I turned 30 on May 4. Yikes! It really didn't take Emma long to warm up to Madeline and want to play with her. Since Madeline was only 2 months old in this picture, she couldn't play much, but that didn't stop Emma.

June 2009
Emma turns 6! I really can't believe it's been 6 years. Time really flies by so fast. This was another great picture taken by Kelly Williams.

July 2009
We spent the 4th of July in Destin with my Aunt, Uncle and Cousins. The most exciting part of the trip, was that Madeline took her first boat ride. I still can't believe I took a 4 month old on a boat. What was I thinking? She was all decked out in her infant life vest, and even took a nap on the ride back to shore.

August 2009
Madeline sat up for this first time in mid-August. When she did, I ran to get my camera so I could capture the moment. She was so proud of herself.

September 2009
On September 4, 2009 Liam Grant Peterson came into the world, just like his cousin, by emergency c-section. Erin and Kurt were thrilled to have him and I was excited to be an aunt again.

October 2009
I'm not sure that anything really spectacular happened this month, but here's a cute picture of Madeline.

November 2009
I have no pictures of Thanksgiving at all. I know, I know...I'm not sure what happened, but I am gonna say that I was so busy being thankful that I just forgot. Instead, here is a picture of Kelly Williams at Madeline's 8 month photo session at Hambricks Tree Farm. She was working hard for her money that day. Madeline didn't want to sit still at all, and kept trying to eat the grass. We also got a family shot for Christmas card while we were there.

December 2009
Instead of boring you with photos of us opening gifts, I will just share our Christmas Card. Kelly did a wonderful job taking the photos and creating this awesome card for us.

Project 365

2010-01-04T20:22:00.005-05:00

Last year about this time, I saw a post on a blog that I read regularly, The Mom Creative by Jessica Turner. It was about Project Life by Becky Higgins. The idea is to take a picture a day for a year, and do a small journal entry for each one. Becky has a paper/binder kit that makes this super easy, and from what I have read on her blog, a digital one is in the works, and should be released soon. I'm sure the idea came from the original Project 365 website, but she is a scrapbooker, and decided to make a scrapping project out of it. Although I don't scrapbook, the idea sounded great, but I just never really got on board last year once I found out that the kits were all sold out. Not to mention I was about 2 months away from my due date with Madeline, and just didn't really think I would have the time to keep it up. So, this year, I am going to try to do it! I'm not sure if I will actually buy Becky's kit or not, but I am definitely going to do the pictures and journals. I am hoping to be able to share all of my pictures and journals with you here on the blog, at least on a weekly basis. I think trying to make a post a day is a little too ambitious for me at this point.

So, here are my pictures for this year so far:

January 1, 2010
The tree is undecorated, and ready to go back in the box. It's always sad to see the decorations go down, but it had to be done, and I wanted to get it put back in the attic before Ike had to go back to work on the 5th.

January 2, 2010
My friend Lauren, who is 23 weeks pregnant with her miracle baby Michael Solomon, got these candles as a gift, but her pregnancy hormones and sensitive nose, just couldn't take these, so she gave them to me. They smell yummy! Ike and I are so excited for her and Clayton! We can't wait for Madeline's boyfriend to be born in April! :-)

January 3, 2010
Madeline once again feel asleep in her highchair. The holidays have really worn her out. We have been so off of our normal schedule since Ike has been home. Once he goes back to work, we should all be back on our normal schedules, which I am sure will be much better for Madeline.

January 4, 2010
During dinner tonight Madeline had what I will refer to as a "butt explosion" in her diaper. It was super nasty, and the only way to clean it up was for her to get a bath. She has not really had a "bath", since I bathe her in the shower with me in the mornings, so we put her in Emma's tub to see how she liked it. She had a great time splashing in the water, and Ike was able to catch this super cute smile.

My sister is also doing a Project 365, so head on over to her blog Chaos and Creation in the Backyard and check out her pictures.

Wordless Wednesday for December 16, 2009

2009-12-16T14:00:00.002-05:00

Touchdown!

2009-12-13T21:11:00.001-05:00

I think Madeline has been watching too much football with her Daddy!

Isn't that just the cutest thing!

More from the Christmas Tree Farm

2009-11-30T18:11:00.002-05:00

Hey all! Just wanted to post a quick update. We are back from Destin, and had a great time with all the family. I didn't get a chance to take many pictures though. It seemed like the kids were never in one place and still long enough to get a picture of them. But, mom took a few, so hopefully I can get those from her.

Kelly posted a few more photos of the girls that we took at the tree to her blog. She does such a great job! The girls always look beautiful! So, go check them out! Leave a comment on her blog if you want to! I'm sure she would appreciate it.

Sneak Peek!

2009-11-23T17:14:00.005-05:00

Here is a sneak peek of our photo session from Saturday morning at the Hambrick Christmas Tree Farm. As soon as Kelly posts a few more of them, I will make sure to share the link with y'all.

Update your blog much?

2009-11-20T12:04:00.003-05:00

Apparently I don't. Well, it's not for a lack of want-to. Things around our house have been so busy lately I feel like I have barely had time to breath. This post will be a little all over the place, but I hope that it will at least give you an update on what's been going on with us, and what we will be up to in the next week or so.

Since I updated last, Madeline has turned 8 months old. She is very mobile now, and it getting into everything. I hope to have some updated photos of her posted soon. This weekend we are meeting with our favorite photographer Kelly Williams again for Madeline's 8 month pics and also a Christmas picture of our family. We can't wait! We are using the Hambrick Christmas Tree farm as our location, so I think it will be a fun session. I'm sure Kelly will post a few to her site, so I will be sure to post the link to them here when she does.

Emma is doing all she can to try to hold herself together at this point. She loves the holidays, and gets so excited. She has already picked out close to 2,000 items for her Santa list. (ok, that wasn't completely true, but she has picked out so many it feels like 2,000) I really hope that she won't be disappointed this year. Times have been really tough for us this year, and we have lost some of our Christmas funds due to furloughs. Not to mention that with 2 girls now, our Santa funds have to stretch even further. I guess the important thing is that we use this as an opportunity to remind her that Christmas is not all about this gifts. I hope that we can do that, but it's hard for kids to understand sometimes.

I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is next week. Where has the time gone? Ike has all next week off, so I plan to do some major cleaning in the early part of the week. On Wednesday, we will be headed to Destin for Thanksgiving, like we do every year. It will be a great time for us to visit with family, and to finally get a chance to meet my nephew Liam, who was born in September. My sister keeps me updated through her blog, but it will be nice to finally get to hold him.

Every year it seems like our Thanksgiving gets more hectic. This year we will have 5 kids, age 6 and under. Yikes! I'm just glad that I am only responsible for 2 of them. I am excited though. I love Thanksgiving and all the food that goes along with it. I know it's hard to believe that I like food. I mean, you would never be able to tell by looking at my trim, fit, skinny, body. Ha Ha Oh well, I plan to enjoy my Thanksgiving, and worry about the figure later.

As soon as we are back home, I am going to get out the Christmas decorations and decorate the tree. I'm also hoping to finish up my Christmas shopping in the next week or so. I have somehow already managed to get most of my shopping done, and I am so excited to know that I will not be rushing around at the last minute trying to get my gifts done this year. I love it when a plan comes together!

I hope that all of you enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday! Hopefully I will find some time to post an update once we get back, and be able to share some pictures.

We have Mushrooms!

2009-10-29T08:38:00.004-04:00

This morning when I was changing Madeline in her room, I happened to look out the window and saw mushrooms in the yard. I know that having shrooms in the yard is nothing new, but this one looked huge! So, I had to go out and take some pictures of them. Yes, I know I am strange, and yes I know it's weird to take pictures of yard mushrooms, and yes, I know this is a strange post. All I can say is that once you become a stay-at-home, you get impressed by the smallest things. So, just pretend this is really cool with me... OK???

This is the biggest one. I put my flip flop in front of it for comparison.

Here is a picture of the sun coming up in our back yard. It's hard to tell in the pic because it turned out dark for some reason, but it really is pretty in real life.

Our Back Yard Camping "Adventure" (or lack thereof)

2009-10-22T13:13:00.009-04:00

Last weekend, we decided to take Emma camping. Not "real" camping mind you, but camping in Mom and Dad's back yard. For the most part, I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves, but I will tell you that Emma only made it to 11pm in the tent. It was a little chilly that night, and the road noise was a little scary for her, so she decided to sleep inside instead. Ike was out there with her, but I guess that just wasn't enough. So, for your viewing pleasure, here are some pics.

Wordless Wednesday for October 7th

2009-10-07T08:54:00.009-04:00

The pictures of Emma were taken at her GVA field trip to the Birdsong Nature Center in Thomasville.

While I realize that this last picture is terrible, I posted it because this is only picture that you can see Madeline's milestone for last week. Can you see it? Ok, stop squinting and just click on the picture, and you should be able to see Madeline's first tooth! (It's the white speck on her bottom gum) This tooth came is last week, and I was just able to get a pic of it this weekend.

Teething Biscuits

2009-09-12T23:32:00.011-04:00

Well, I think I have officially joined the ranks of the domestic mom squad. This week I decided to make Madeline some homemade teething biscuits from a recipe I found in the now defunct Wonder Time magazine. (Yes, I know....sewing???....cooking???, who is this person, and what has she done with Leslie? I guess that's what being a Stay-at-home does to you.)

They looked pretty yummy, and seemed like they would be easy to make. So, below you will find photographic evidence of my adventure. I think they turned out pretty well, served their intended purpose, and Madeline seems to like them. But, even though the smell good, and taste decent, they are indeed "teething biscuits" in every sense of the word. To say the least, they are REALLY HARD. So, be warned, if you are going to try them yourself, that I am not responsible for any dentist bills.

I am also including a graphic of the actual recipe, taken from the issue of Wonder Time. You should be able to click the picture to see the recipe bigger, but if not, you can also see it here: http://wondertime.coverleaf.com/wondertime/200902/?pg=52

Now, on to the pictures of me being domestic!

Introducing Liam Grant Peterson

2009-09-11T13:12:00.004-04:00

My family had a very exciting event last Friday. My sister Erin's baby boy finally arrived after a somewhat complicated labor and delivery. But, Mom and Baby are doing great now. Liam Grant Peterson arrived at 9:08pm on September 4, 2009. He weighed 7 lbs, 5 oz and was 20 inches long.

Erin will hopefully be updating her blog with new pics and videos of Liam, so head on over to her blog and check it out. Her blog address is: http://kandepeterson.blogspot.com/

Congrats Erin and Kurt!! I can't wait to come visit and meet Liam in person!

Madeline is 6 months old!!

2009-09-09T08:28:00.005-04:00

I'm still alive... I promise.

2009-09-02T13:13:00.010-04:00

Hey everyone! I have been a terribly blogger lately, but at least I have good reasons for my absence. School started for us on the 17th of August and I have running around like a chicken with my head cut off since then. Teaching Emma at home through GVA and taking care of Madeline at the same time, has left me with not much time for anything else.

So, here's a quick update.

Madeline: She is doing great, and eating like a champ. She still doesn't like anything green, and we have also added chicken to this list. On an exciting note though, she sat up for the first time last week. I was so excited! She is turning into such a big girl.

Emma: We are on week 3 of 1st grade, and things are going pretty well. Emma is not too fond of school or authority, but we are slowing working on correcting her attitude in those areas. (That's just a fancy way of saying that she doesn't want to do her school work, and I am making her. LOL) She is growing up so much lately, it's hard to believe she is 6.

Ike and I: Busy....that's all I can say. We are both working hard in our various "jobs" and trying to make time for each other. Ike just celebrated his birthday on the 29th, and I made him a Boston Cream Pie for the occasion. It turned out great! See??
That's all the updates for now. I promise to do better in the next few weeks with my posts! Here are a few recent pics for your viewing pleasure.

Is this a happy baby or what?
Here is Madeline enjoying her new highchair and some sweet potatoes.

Madeline sitting up for the first time. Thanks Aunt Kathy for the floor mat! We love it!
On Monday, we took Emma to a GVA meet and greet at the bowling ally. She had a great time with the other kids. She bowled an 85!!

More sewing

2009-08-06T21:37:00.003-04:00

Today I made 2 burp clothes. One for Madeline and one for Liam. Madeline's turned out ok, but I tried to do a zigzag stitch around her M, and that didn't work out to0 well. I did a strait stitch around Liam's L, and I think it turned out much better.

Here they are:

More Wordless Wednesday for August 5th

2009-08-05T20:49:00.006-04:00

Wordless Wednesday for August 5th

2009-08-05T18:11:00.003-04:00

Madeline hates peas!

2009-08-04T10:48:00.004-04:00

Well, at least it seems like she does, after we attempted to give them to her last night. She will be 5 months old on the 9th, so we decided now was good time to start her on baby food. Last night was the first time we tried, and our doctor suggested that we start with a green veggie. So, peas is was. Madeline first just held the peas in her mouth, unsure of what she was supposed to do with this mush I had just put into her mouth. She slowly started to try to swallow it, but didn't seem to like the taste at all. She made an ugly face and then shook her head like she had eaten something sour and was trying to "shake it off". It was hilarious! I continued to try, and she continued with the ugly faces. I think she got more on her bib than in her mouth, but we are going to keep trying.

Help!! I'm sewing and I can 't stop!

2009-08-03T22:47:00.010-04:00

Apparently my crafting from the weekend (my crinkly squares) were not enough to satisfy my crafting urge. When I got home from town today, I was at it again. Today, I decided to make a bib and a travel wipes/diaper pouch.

Here are the links to the tutorials/patterns that I used:
Bib: http://chickpeastudio.typepad.com/chickpea_sewing_studio/2008/01/chickpea-infant.html

Travel wipes/diaper pouch:
http://www.sleepingbaby.net/jan/Baby/dipecase.html

Now, the moment you have been waiting for. Ok, maybe not, but here they are anyway!

This is the front of the bib, and the plain pink is the back. This was my first attempt at a bib, and I think it turned out great. The pattern was super easy, and it fit Madeline really well.

Here is a pic of Madeline modeling it for me!

This is the diaper/wipes thing. I think it turned out pretty good, but if I make another one, I will make it a little larger than the pattern, or use a smaller seam allowance, to allow for extra room.

I'm so crafty!! NOT!!

2009-08-02T20:37:00.005-04:00

I have been feeling the urge to craft for a few weeks now. Normally I am not crafty at all, and rely on my sis to help me out in this area. But, I finally decided to just do it! So, I got out my sewing machine, and decided to make something. I found a tutorial online for these cute little crinkly squares that have little ribbon tags on the edges. Madeline has been eating her clothes lately, so I thought these would be great for her. So, I got all my supplies out, and got going. It didn't take me long to make the first one at all, so I made 2 more. Madeline seems to like them, so at least it wasn't a waste of time.

You can see the tutorial here: http://www.joyshope.com/2009/05/baby-crinkle-square-tutorial.html

I did exactly as the tutorial said for the most part, and I used baby wipe refill packaging for the "crinkle". I tried to use a gerber onesie package, but it didn't "crinkle" as good as the wipes packaging. Please excuse my "wonkiness", but I don't think I did so bad, considering this was the first time I have used my sewing machine without Erin's help.

Here are a few pictures of my finished products!

Wordless Wednesday for July 29th

2009-07-29T08:01:00.007-04:00

Madeline loves the iphone. She tries to grab it all the time.

She also loves her exersaucer! That little teapot you see in the picture plays music when you press the top. Isn't she cute!

I know I was shooting for actually being Wordless this week, but apparently it's a no-go. Hopefully next week I can be a little more wordless and include more pics of Emma, if she will get dressed and let me fix her hair. :-)

I will leave you with one last pic. This pic is from our latest session with Kelly Williams from The Bond Between Us. You can see this picture and a few more pictures from the session on her BLOG.

Wordless Wednesday for July 22nd

2009-07-22T10:28:00.005-04:00

Ok, Ok, I know I am no good at the "Wordless" part of wordless Wednesday, but I hope you enjoy the pics anyway!

Madeline has finally been able to reach and grab the toys on her bouncer this week. When she pulls the bottom ring on the butterfly it plays a little song. It's so cute to watch her discover new things!

This is Emma using my clothes basket as a desk to play her games on the computer. We have a computer hooked up to our TV, and we let her play her games and watch movies on it. This helps me keep and eye on her and what's she's doing on the computer during the day. I just thought it was neat that she rigged up this desk so that she could use the keyboard and mouse. She normally uses the ottoman, but right now it's full of clean folded clothes.

2 years ago this week....

2009-07-21T10:27:00.006-04:00

While sitting with some friends this weekend, I realized that Ike and I moved into our new house 2 years ago on the 19th. We were so excited when we were approved for our new house. We got even more excited as walls went up, cabinets went in, and tile and carpet were put down. When move-in time finally came, it felt like a dream come true.

Well, it's been 2 years and we still love our house, our neighborhood and most of our neighbors, with the exception of the 2 large dogs that live next door and bark every time we go outside. They especially like to bark while we are outside enjoying the pool and patio. Nothing like a relaxing swim while the dogs bark!

You would think that in the 2 years we have been here, the yard landscaping would be finished and look great, that all the walls and rooms would be decorated, and that we would have finally found the time to clean out the garage so that both our cars can fit it. Sadly, that is not the case. There are plenty more landscaping tasks that I would like to do, pictures/decorations that I would like to hang, and a messy garage that I would like to clean. Maybe I will get around to all those things one day.

Anyone else feel like they don't have time for home projects?

Even without the landscaping, decorations and a clean garage, life goes on. With 2 kids at home, some things just don't get done as quickly as I would like them too, but I wouldn't trade the time at home with my girls for anything.

So, for today, I will leave you with a pic of the house, taken the day before we moved in. Stay tuned tomorrow for Wordless Wednesday!!

Wordless Wednesday for July 15th

2009-07-15T07:00:00.000-04:00

These pictures are from Splash Day at Pine Grove Community Baptist Church this past Saturday. We had a great time! Emma was the only one in our family who intended to participate in the "Splash" part of the day, but when the rain came in, we all got soaked and had to "splash" back to the car. Even Madeline got all wet, but it was too cute, she kept sticking out her tongue trying to catch the rain drops.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-08T08:30:00.002-04:00

Ok, I know that Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be, well, wordless, but I really have a hard time just posting a pic without at least telling what the pic is about. So, until I can get over that, you will just have to deal with a little commentary on the pics I post.

The first pic is of me and Madeline waiting for the boat to get to the dock on the 4th of July. I kept putting the tail of my sling over her head to keep her from getting too much sun.This pic is Emma enjoying the boat ride. Doesn't she look happy?

MckLinky Blog Hop!

2009-07-07T08:00:00.003-04:00

This is one of my favorite "recent" photos. This was taken when Madeline was 13 days old and Emma was 5. Kelly Williams (The photographer) made my girls look beautiful! I'm sure this will always be one of my favorites from this time in our lives.

If you are in the South Georgia area, you will want to set up your own session with Kelly. She is awesome! You can check her out at thebondbetweenus.blogspot.com or www.thebondbetweenus.com

Celebrating the 4th!

2009-07-06T13:44:00.007-04:00

We spent the 4th of July weekend in Destin visiting the Lightfoot's. We went out on the boat, played on the beach, and enjoyed spending time together as an extended family. The kids all had a great time playing in the water and riding on the boat, but I think the adults spent more time "coming up with a plan" than anything else. When you put 8 adults and 4 kids together, "coming up with a plan" is not always the easiest thing to do. Apparently our family is not very good at being spontaneous, who knew. LOL Ok, we all knew, I guess I just keep hoping that one holiday we will all just be able to "wing it."

I will be the first to admit, that I was a little grumpy when our original plans to go to Crab Island didn't work out, but I'm gonna blame that on PMS. Either way, there was enough grump to go around as we tried to come up with a plan B, when our Plan A, turned out to be the same as everyone else in Destin. For future reference, everyone is Destin who has a boat goes to Crab Island to dock it and play in the water. Everyone that doesn't have a boat, parks their car in the parking lots adjacent to Crab Island and plays on the beach and walks out to the boats. So, unless you want to get up really early, then don't plan on doing that.

We ended up taking a boat ride to another part of the beach, and spent some time playing in the water. It turned out to be a nice day overall, but we were all pooped by the time it was over. I didn't take as many pictures as I should have, but I did manage to capture one of the more important events of the weekend, Madeline's first time on a boat. She really did great! Uncle Mike had an infant life vest already, so we didn't even have to worry about getting one. She actually feel asleep on they way to and from the beach, and when the breeze would blow on her, she would smile. It was so cute. I know that mom took some pics too, so maybe I will be able to post one of those later this week.

Thank you so much Lightfoot's, for letting us stay with you this weekend, and for all the food and fun you provided! We can't wait to come back and do it again!

(Not so) Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-01T10:05:00.005-04:00

Well, last week was a whirlwind of activity as I tried to get my house ready for Emma's party. So, to say the least, I didn't get to my blog at all. The weekend was very busy. Erin had come into town on Friday night, and she had a shower on Saturday morning and Monday night. So, between the showers and Emma's 6th birthday party, things were just crazy for me. In other news, Madeline rolled over for the first time late last week. A few times since then, when I went to get her out of bed in the morning, she was on her stomach. That is an exciting milestone for any baby!

So, anyway, here are a few pics from this weekend and yesterday.

Here's Emma at her party. She had a great time, and got lots of nice gifts!
This is a picture of Madeline's first time in the pool. She wasn't scared at all, and was even kicking her feet. It was really sweet. I only kept her in for a little while. The sun had already gone down, and I didn't want her to get cold.
I hope you enjoyed my Not So Wordless Wednesday.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-06-15T12:05:00.005-04:00

Every Wednesday I am going to try post a Wordless Wednesday post which will just contain pictures. With sweet, cuddly Madeline and energetic, sassy Emma, I should have no trouble coming up with some pics to share each week.

So, here are today's pics! Enjoy!

I love Kelly!

2009-06-15T11:17:00.003-04:00

Ok, I know that I showed you some stunning photos in my last post that were taken by Kelly Williams. Well, we are at it again! We (Me, Ike, Emma & Madeline) met up with Kelly again this weekend in Downtown Valdosta to take pictures of Emma in celebration of her upcoming 6th birthday on the 27th. Emma and Kelly had a great time walking around and touring the alley's to get some great shots.

We survived a small rain shower during the shoot by running onto the porch of the courthouse which also involved Ike having to tote Madeline's stroller up the steep marble steps.

We also survived a case of "I have to go potty" by Ike running Emma over to the Taste of New Orleans restaurant, which smelled awesome from what I hear. Maybe one day, when we are alone (which I don't think has happened in 3 months at least) Ike and I can go eat there, and see if it tastes as awesome as Ike said it smelled.

Here is a sample picture from the shoot:Please head over to Kelly's Blog (The Bond Between Us) to check out some more photos from the shoot! They turned out great and I can't wait to see the others!

I'm the worst blogger ever!!

2009-06-10T14:18:00.011-04:00

After logging in to my blogger account today, I realized that it had almost been a year since I last posted. I really started out last year with very good intentions of blogging, but things just didn't work out according to planned. So, I guess this post is going to be a catch up post of sorts, and I am going to apologize up front for how long it will more than likely end up being.

After re-reading my last post I realized that it was completely wrong. That was not one of the worst weeks ever. In fact, just the opposite was true. It actually ended up being one of the best weeks of my life. The weekend of Emma's party was that date that I got pregnant with Madeline. TMI for some, but it was a great end to 16 months of trying to get pregnant.

So, let's start there. I got pregnant with Madeline in June. My pregnancy was fairly un-eventful as far as she was concerned, but I ended up having some liver issues. So, after 2 trips to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, they decided that nothing was really wrong with me at all. Good news! I ended up not gaining much weight throughout the pregnancy, but that didn't mean that by the end I didn't feel huge. Here's a pic of me a few days before she was born. Please ignore the fact that I look dead. This was late at night, and I was really just trying to show how huge I was.

Now that you have seen almost the worst picture of me EVER, let's move on to a better picture, just to prove that I don't look terrible all the time:

This picture was taken by Kelly Williams of The Bond Between Us. She is awesome! She did a whole maternity photo session of me and it was wonderful.

I ended up having Madeline by emergency c-section on Monday, March 9 at 7:33am. Not exactly the delivery I wanted, but Madeline and I were both safe and sound, and that's all that matters in the end. Here is a lovely newborn portrait of her that was also taken by Kelly Williams.Isn't she cute? Yep, she sure is! I'm so glad you all agree. LOL As I type this post, Madeline is now 3 months old, and getting cuter by the day. I'm sure I'll post more pics of her later.

Now for an update on my other beautiful daughter Emma. She will be 6 in just a few weeks, and is doing great. She started Kindergarten last fall, and ended up not being too happy there, so in January, I decided to take her out of regular school, and enroll her in Georgia Virtual Academy. It was a very tough decision at the time, but I really felt that it was the best decision I could have made under the circumstances. Teaching her at home has been stressful, but I think most of that was due to the fact that I was pregnant and tired. She will be enrolled with GVA again this year for 1st grade, and I am anticipating that things are going to go great. She is adjusting to life as a big sister pretty well so far, even though she gets bit by the jealousy bug quite a bit. Here is another beautiful pic by Kelly of Emma and Madeline:

Both my girls are so cute! I just can't get enough of them. I am so blessed to be able to spend all day every day with them.

The only update left to give is on Ike and I. We just celebrated our 8th anniversary, and things are going great. He is still working at VSU, and I am still working at home taking care of the girls. We are both enjoying life as a family of four and can't wait to see what the future holds for all of us.

I think that gets us caught up on what's been going on with us. Let's hope that I can do better with this whole blogging thing, and not let another year go by before you hear from me again.

Anything else you wanna know? Just ask!

One of those weeks

2008-06-24T14:06:00.003-04:00

This is shaping up to be a week that I don't think is gonna go well. I know, a great attitude to have, but I'm just telling the truth. More on that later...

I had a great weekend celebrating Emma's birthday at our house. Almost everyone that I invited showed up, and even a few others. Emma had a great time and got lots of nice toys. The kids had a chance to hit the pinata, they played in the pool, rode around in Emma's car, and played with all of the toys in her room. It just turned out great, and I was so happy about it. Now, I have tons of thank you's to write. :-)

Now, back to this week. Monday started off with a doctors appointment to follow-up with him after my ectopic. The visit went well, and he said that things look good. Even though this was my first time seeing him since my HCG went back to 0, I had talked to the office to get a refill on my prescriptions once my cycle started. I took the first prescription with very few side effects, but when I started taking the 2nd one, that was not the case. Basically this medicine has side effects that mimic the 1st trimester of pregnancy. So, to say the least I feel really bad. All I wanna do it lay on the couch covered up in a blanket, which is hard to do when I have Emma at home to take care. I was hoping that I would feel better today, but I don't. So...let's hope this week gets better, and that I actually feel like getting some things done around the house.

Sink or Swim

2008-06-17T14:50:00.002-04:00

Well, this is the week that I take Emma for her swimming lessons again. Last year she screamed and cried the whole time. This year is going a little better, but still not great. Even though I have told her many times that "Mr. Bobby" Tucker will not let her drown, she still acts like that at any second, she is going to vanish underneath the water, never to be heard from again. As I sat and watched her today, I couldn't help but think of my own life, and how at times I felt like I was going to "drown" and vanish underneath the "water". No, I'm not talking about physically, but emotionally and mentally. Just as Emma is learning to swim this week, those times in life that make us feel like we are going to drown, are really just teaching us to swim. In order to really enjoy life, I think we need to swim, instead of just floundering around hoping to survive.

I Will Carry You

2008-06-13T22:30:00.000-04:00

I am not sure if you are like me or not, in that I really like music. Music speaks to me sometimes when nothing else seems to get through. I can think back to times in my life, and almost always a song comes to mind. Or, sometimes I can hear a song, and it will take me back to a moment in time, and I feel like I am just reliving that moment over again.

There is a song that has recently really been on my mind alot. It's a new song called I Will Carry You. It is by a christian group called Selah. It has not officially been released yet, but will be on their album in the fall. The song was written for a little baby girl named Audrey Caroline Smith, who had not even been born yet. Her parents had received news that she would not live once she was born due to some medical problems. Instead of terminating, they decided to carry the baby to term. That song was put with photos of the family and put up on YouTube. You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2CnUtVY35o&eurl=http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/2008/04/slideshow.html

This song has meant a lot to me, and here's why. Ike and I have been trying to have another baby for about a year. On April 18th of this year, we though that our dream of having another child was finally coming true. Our excitement was short lived, when we found out 2 days later that they pregnancy was ectopic, and that I would lose the baby. The whole ordeal drug on until May 28, when my pregnancy hormones were finally gone. So, to say the least the loss of child, no matter how early it is in the pregnancy, is difficult. This really hit me hard, considering that it took us a year, and fertility drugs to even get pregnant in the first place. I am slowly feeling better and we got released to start trying again about a week ago.

Well, that's about all for now. I'm tired and it's late.

To Blog or not to Blog?

2008-06-13T21:46:00.001-04:00

To blog or not to blog? Well, I have decided to blog. For years I tried in vain to stick to a new years resolution of keeping a journal. Since technology has made things so much easier for us these days, I figured I would give blogging a try. I am not going to promise that these entries are going to be earth shattering, or even interesting. I will promise that each one will be honest and from the heart. So...I hope you enjoy.