Visit with Grandmama and on the farm with PaPa T.

We had a great time at home for Christmas visiting with family and relaxing.  The kids loved visiting with Grandmama and giving her sweet love.

There could not be a more precious picture!

We also enjoyed some great time on Papa T. and Meme's farm. 

The kids love all of the animals and of course a tractor ride!

Happy Halloween!

We had a very fun but low key Halloween this year.  We just went trick-or-treating down our block and back and then handed out candy at our house.  The kids of course had a fantastic time and loved the candy (even going to just about 10-15 houses on our street, they both came home with a basket full each!  I think we will have to find another use for all of it!  Can you tell who we are?  Ethan Jay is the Big Bad Wolf,  Emma Ann is Little Red Riding Hood, I am the old Grandma and Robert is the Lumberjack!  The outfits need a little help, but I made them myself and am pretty proud for a beginning sewer!  

Ethan Jay loved handing out candy.  So sweet to see his sharing heart!

Emma Ann's 1st B-Day Party!

We had a fantastic day celebrating Emma Ann's first year of life and the sweet sweet blessing that she is!  We could not have had a more perfect day at the park with lot's of friends and of course yummy hotdogs and cake.  Since it was so close to Halloween, we had a Noah's Ark theme and asked everyone to come dressed as their favorite animal.  Isn't Emma Ann the cutest bumble bee you have ever seen!

Momma rabbit and baby bumble bee!

I am not a proffesional cake decorator at all but I think this turned out pretty well!  I was a little proud of myself!

Emma Ann and her friends



Enjoying some yummy cake!

Cousin Jacob as a cute chicken!



Baby Kylie 

Ryker as an adorable puppy!

Ethan Jay as a puppy (minus his headpiece), Ashlynne, and Ava as a piggy!

Bailey enjoying the swings!

Cousin Jaelyn as a bunny rabbit! 

What an amazing day celebrating an amazing little girl!  Looking forward to the years ahead watching her grow into the precious little girl that the Lord has so wonderfully created!

Beach Day!

Ethan Jay had been begging me to take him to the beach.  Every morning we got up he asked and each time we got into the car he pleaded his case that he "needed" to go to the beach.  So we finally were over that way and headed to the beach.  I brought along a few sand toys and the kids had a blast!

Girly Things!

It wasn't until Emma Ann received this in the mail from her sweet Aunt Terry and Uncle Jerry did I realize that we did not have any little girl toys!  She has a few stuffed animals and of course a girly bedroom and clothes, but no toys.  I guess I just never thought of it before, but all that we own is trucks and blocks with a bunch of gender neutral educational toys.  It was such a delight to see her playing with this and instinctively knowing just what to do!  She loved it and as you can see, Ethan Jay does as well.  Anytime that we go somewhere that has a play kitchen, you can gurantee that that is where you will find him.  So of course they have spent hours happily having a very fantastic tea party!

Emma Ann ~ 1 Year Old!

I can't believe that my baby girl turned one today!  She has brought such immense joy and light to our family!  She has such a vibrant personality and let's you know exactly how she feels.  She also still loves to squeal in delight, frustration, excitement, pain and anger.  Emma Ann has just started to take a bottle a few times a day with yogurt juice in it and she loves it.  It is by far a bit of a life support for her!  She loves to trail behind her brother and do everything he does.  She is still our little eater and will eat anything you put in front of her, except that thing that most babies eat, babyfood!  We gave up on that a long time ago!  Although she is a bit on the nosy side and wants to see exactly what is going on, she is a little reserved about it.  Especially if someone new is involved, she keeps a little distance but still wants to be involved.    

So to celebrate our little one's big day, we headed to a local petting zoo with some friends and had a great day!  Here Emma Ann is enjoying the jumpy that they had there!

Ethan Jay feeding the turtle.  He was so cool.  He would eat right out of your hand.

Feeding the Guinea pig.  He really wanted to take one home with us!

Emma Ann petting the guinea pig and loving it!

Ethan Jay needed a break so the natural place to go is to the trough for a little rest!

Ethan Jay and Ava going for a hayride.

Emma Ann really enjoyed the swing and did not want to get down!

Ethan Jay enjoying a cool treat.  It was so hot out there!

Happy Birthday to Emma Ann!

I think she is ready for the cake!

Yep, I think she likes it!

C-A-K-E! 

It makes girls do crazy things!

See, Ethan Jay seems just fine!

Emma Ann opening up her birthday present.  It is our tradition to give each child a name book on their first birthday.  I just love this picture of Emma Ann flipping through the book and you can see her name on the page.  So very sweet!

A precious blessing to our family and a perfect day to help her celebrate how special she is. 

Dinner with Friends

After the pumpkin patch we headed over to Jake and Joy's house for some yummy chili and great company.  The kids of course had a blast with all of their friends.

I think I see a grass cutter in my future!

Ethan Jay was attached to this little puppy and took it everywhere with him.  I even found him feeding the dog!

Yep, grass in the dogs mouth.  I guess he was hungry!  I still have a very special stuffed dog of mine when I was a little girl named "Doogan" and I feed him all the time.  Really gross, but you can still feel how crusty his mouth is from all of his treats!



Emma Ann hanging out in the grass.