2007 Year in Review

Wow - it is already New Year's Eve?? As always, I am shocked at how fast this year has gone by. And, as I did last year, I wanted to do a Year in Review post. Here's what we did over the last year....

January 2007 - Emmy was 2 1/2 years old, Pook was only 6 weeks old. Emmy started potty training, and we had no clue how difficult this would prove to be! Emmy and I also started our Mommy and Me class at gymnastics that ran through May.

February - Pretty uneventful. Pook started rolling over, and the potty training with Emmy continued....

March - My birthday! I turned 27 years old. Emmy started sleeping in her big girl bed. Pooky started eating "real food".

April - We celebrated Easter by dying eggs and going to an Easter Egg Hunt. We quit potty training. I got a new part-time waitressing job at an expensive steakhouse. We spent a lot of time with family when Ray's mom and Aunt Anita visited along with my sister from Florida.

May - Pook turned 6 months old. I cut Emmy's long hair off. Fairly boring month.

June - Pook started crawling. I was hating my new job and first started thinking about doing daycare.

July - Vacation! We all spent a week in Pigeon Forge, TN for our annual family vacation and had a lot of fun. I officially quit my steakhouse job and went back to my old work, the Pie, and was much happier. At the end of the month, we celebrated Emmy's 3rd birthday by having her first "real" party at our house with her friends.

August - Emmy's 1st visit at the dentist. We visited my sister in Florida for a few days. It was super hot outside. Pook took his first steps!

September - Pooky got his first tooth. I was working a lot as manager at the Pie.

October - I quit working at the Pie and started doing daycare for Baby R. We did lots of fun Halloween stuff - Emmy dressed up as a Care Bear and Pook was a dragon.

November - Pook turned 1! Ray's mom visited from Michigan again.

December - Catfish Stomp, lots of Christmas stuff, vacation in Michigan for Christmas!

So, here it is, New Year's Eve - so much has happened. The kids have grown up so much! Emmy is now 3 1/2, Pooky 13 months. Emmy is finally potty-trained (I don't think that I have really mentioned it - but all of a sudden she just started doing it - finally!). Pooky is running, climbing, getting into everything. He now has 5 teeth. Ray and I also had our 8th wedding anniversary this month.
Here's to a wonderful 2008!

Christmas in Michigan!

We had a really nice Christmas - the kids got way too many presents, it is cold and snowy, and Emmy is having a blast playing with Ray's mom, aka Wama, and her cousin Sophia. It has also been great seeing family and friends who we haven't really seen in 2 years - most of them had never even met Pook. We are still here for a few more days, but here are a few pictures for now...



Pooky and Emmy with their cousin, Sophia










Happy Pooky on Christmas morning












So many presents.....











And she got the xylophone! And she seems to really like it!











More pictures to come, because I have a million good ones! :)

Merry Christmas!

Busy morning! We are leaving today for Michigan and will be gone until after the New Year!

Have a wonderful Christmas!!

I am So Darn Creative

And she loved it. :)

Almost Christmas

Wow! I just realized that Christmas is only a week away - and that we leave for Michigan in 4 days!

Crazy. Thankfully most of my shopping is done, just a few random things to pick up. I still have a ton of things to do getting ready to leave, but so far, so good.

I also think that we might actually see snow while we are up there. I think that I am happy about this - I would love for Emmy to see snow, and have a chance to play in it. And it is nice to have a white Christmas.

I have also realized that I am going to freeze my tail off.

I would regularly make fun of people down here who are bundled in scarves and mittens when it is 50 degrees outside. "Ha!" I would say to myself. "They don't know what cold even is!".

But, I fear that I have become one of them.

It was 40 degrees this morning. I walked outside to take out the trash and holy cow, it was freezing cold! I ran back inside and put on 2 layer of clothing, then planned to stay inside the rest of the day.

I just checked the current weather conditions in Michigan right now. It is 9:00 pm, and it is 17 degrees. The high temperature for tomorrow is 32. I AM GOING TO FREEZE.

Nevertheless, I am looking forward to this trip. I need to start packing soon.

Christmas at the Zoo

Last night, we went to our local zoo for their annual Christmas Lights celebration. We had a lot of fun, the lights were pretty, and the kids got to see Santa. This was Emmy's very first time seeing Santa - and she did awesome! She climbed right up in his lap and told him exactly what she wanted, and smiled for a quick picture. I also got a picture of Luke in Santa's lap. Emmy also had a lot of fun dancing around in the "snow" - which was actually soap foam blowing around. But, it is probably the closest thing she will see to snow until we go to Michigan (did I mention that it has been in the 80's all week??) Anyway, it was a fun evening.



Pretty lights!













Lights on palm trees













Emmy riding the carousel with Daddy














My big girl! "I want a xylophone!"













Pooky!

Jingle Bells

Lights on Emmy's Side!

I have always loved Christmas lights. As a kid, we would be out driving at night and my parents would let us know of upcoming houses with Christmas lights by telling us "Lights on Missy's side!" or "Lights out Christie's side!" if it was my sister's window. I also remember getting mad if my sister had more lights on her side than I did. Because that's just not fair.

Emmy also loves Christmas lights. As soon as our neighbors started putting up lights Thanksgiving weekend, Emmy was beyond ecstatic every time we drove down the street. "Ohhh, look at those ones! OH! There are RED ones!". And over the past couple of weeks, it keeps getting even better as more and more lights are being hung. We are lucky to live in a very festive neighborhood.

And when we drive during the evening as a family, Ray and I are both calling out "Lights on Emmy's side!" or "Lights on Pook's side!". It makes me smile every time. :)

To Ray....

Happy birthday Baby. I love you more than you know....

:)

Chistmas List

Emmy has just 1 thing on her Christmas list.

A Xylophone.

Now, she has one of those green caterpillar xylophone/piano toys, but she has informed me that it is a baby toy for her brother, and she wants a real one. And where she got this idea, I have no idea.

Right... so now I am trying to find a xylophone for my 3 year old, that is sturdy and inexpensive, but not a baby toy. I did find a few on Amazon, so it won't be as hard as I originally thought. Why can't she just want something normal, like a new baby doll??

The Stomp

Yesterday was our town's annual festival, which is called the Catfish Stomp. Yep, you can laugh - I did.

Anyway, the Catfish Stomp is your typical small town celebration, with a parade, music, craft show, and... catfish. Ray bought himself a catfish platter and a bowl of our town's famous catfish stew.

We went to the parade in the morning. The parade consisted of every fire truck in the county, about 6 different boy/girl scout troops, the local high school matching band, and several cars carrying kids crowned "Miss Catfish Stomp", and "Little Miss Catfish Stomp". Funny stuff, but I had fun.
A few pictures...



Waiting for the parade to start - Emmy's friend from next door came with us.









I love a parade!













Emmy, in the stroller with Luke, covering her ears. Every fire truck that rolled by had sirens blaring and horns honking!





Santa, at the end of the parade.