Mother's Day

It was a good day Sunday! Daddy and Emily started the day off by making me breakfast!
Then we had a good day at Church, a nice meal with Grandma and Grandpa Hill, and ended with a fun evening of playing with glowsticks in a completely dark house!

Great Family Day

The other day we went to ride the train at Trinity Park. So much fun!

Emily kept saying how "awesome" it was!

At the halfway point, we stopped at a depot and got some popcorn.

Emily ate half of her popcorn and decided she wanted to feed the turtles. We had seen some turtles in the river during the train ride. We stopped over at the Botanical Gardens and fed the rest of the popcorn to the turtles and fish. I have to say that was The Best dollar we've ever spent! It was so much fun!

There was a turtle there that had to have been a hundred years old at least. He was digging the popcorn.

Emily gladly shared her popcorn with some kids.

That's the last of it!

So cool! He posed like that for a minute or two. I think he thought I had food. "Duuude, gimme some food!"

It was a grand day out.

...right, Avery?

Christmas with the Crankies

Well, not all were cranky. Just some. Just one. Just Avery.

Emily came out of the bedroom and seemed very overwhelmed by what she saw under the tree. She just kind of stood there...
I don't think she was quite awake. And I'm sure she was wondering what was with all the cameras.

But she recovered quickly and tore into her gifts! Avery lay there like a slug. It was her only defense.

Grandpa Hill spent some time telling Emily some stories. Rob was able to capture some really sweet moments of them together.

In this photo, he was telling her the story about the Three Little Pigs and he was at the part where the Big Bad Wolf blows their house down.

Family Christmas

Look at all the presents! FUN!!! And the craziness begins! Watch the wrapping paper fly, see the kids' eyes sparkle with excitement, hear the parents' groan as yet another louder-than-necessary toy is added to their kids' toybox.

Hey there, Grandma and Grandpa Brown. I hope you enjoyed your presents, too!

Caiden was asleep when everyone else opened their presents. I think he was mainly interested in the candy that Nana included in his stocking.

We exchanged gift baskets this year. Mine was a bathroom themed basket, complete with Farty Lites, Farty Paper, and Fart-B-Gone air freshener. A must-have for anyone eating turkey and ham this season...

And the lucky recipient? Uncle Jason! A perfect fit.

An "old" family "heirloom" was passed on to the next lucky family member. Michael will hang on to it until next Christmas. Who will be the next lucky heir???

And a new family "heirloom" was introduced this year. This lamp is to be displayed prominantly throughout the year until it's passed on to the next heir next year.

There was good food! Then, people kinda got crazy!

Kelly, please don't hurt me for posting this...

We had a great time! Thanks, Kelly, for letting us have the celebration at your house!

pictures

Grandma and Grandpa Hill came over with Kyla and TJ to see Avery. And Emily, of course. Kyla was scared to hold Avery, but she finally agreed to hold her. She did just fine! No dropping of any babies!
Aww, hugs from Grandma!

TJ really didn't want me taking his picture. I can't get over how big he's getting!

Grandpa took lots of pictures! I don't think he held Avery this time. I guess you'll just have to come back and hold her!I love Avery's profile. She has such a pretty head. I love her lips and her chins.

I love these PJs. The reason I love them is because they have a zipper instead of snaps up the front. SO much easier than snaps when you've got a squirmy, wormy baby!

Aren't the feet on these PJs cute? They're little bears.

The other day Avery smiled a little. WAY more enjoyable than her crying. Way.

Nephews

Caiden loves to show all his teeth when he grins!
Corgan has his momma's eyes. And lips!

I melt in Eric's brown eyes...

And I get lost in Carter's dimples.

I just loves Nick's hair now! So grown up. He's getting tall! Watch out, Mom!

I didn't make Nick's photo black and white because I loved the rosiness (is that a word?) of his cheeks. He's so much like his dad that way.

"Wee Wee Wee..."

Nana was here this week. We had a good time. She helped me get my kitchen organized. We also went through Emily's toys and made room for her new ones. We got some photos hung around the house and a curtain hung in the kitchen. My house looks and feels so much better. Thank you so much, Mom! I don't know how to thank you.

I said goodbye to Mom today. I was sad, but I knew she needed/wanted to go home. I thought about holding her hostage, but that's just not cool. Dad was so nice to drive all the way down to pick her up. I appreciate him doing that. It was a nice day for a drive, though! Pretty day. I went and laid down for a nap after they left and when I closed my eyes, I could still see the glare of their WHITE car. I got a tiny tear. *sniff*

Swimming!

Yesterday evening Aaron, Tammie, Nana and the boys came to swim at our community pool. We had a good time! The boys seemed to enjoy themselves. There are two pools in our neighborhood, but one was closed due to fecal contamination, so the pool we were at last night was busy. Hopefully next time they come over the other pool will be open and it won't be so crowded.

I debated on the title to this post. It was almost "Don't Eat the Baby Ruth!" but I went with a tamer title.