Thirsty?

Back to school ~

Emma started her first day of second grade monday! It's hard to believe that summer is already over......and even harder to believe that Emma is in SECOND grade! I know everyone says that they grow up so fast, but it's the truth! When I look at Ella, I can't help but to think about when Emma was her age. It doesn't seem like it's been that long ago! But as I walked her into her classroom Monday, carrying her Hannah Montana Backpack and lunchbox, I realized it HAD been that long ago! My baby, the one who completely changed my outlook on life and what it's really about, is no longer a baby! She's an amazing young lady, more than eager to begin her second grade year! We're so lucky! I know she'll have a great year!!

Pudding makes everything better ~

El came down with a pretty nasty ear/eye/throat infection last Friday! As you can probably tell by looking at her eyes, she was not feeling too great. However, she managed to work up enough energy to eat a few (or more) bites of pudding. She wouldn't let me feed it to her. I had to dip the spoon in the pudding and hand it to her. She made a great mess (notice the pudding running down her arm!)

What makes Emma such a great big sis?

Of course there are tons of things that qualify Em as being the best big sister ever, this is just one of them! She put El in the laundry basket (along with beary, Emma's favorite bear) and pushed her all around the house yelling "choo choo", "choo choo"! Ella seemed to think it was the best thing ever! What a great sister!

Happy Anniversary ~

My parents celebrated 34 years of marriage yesterday! Unfortunately, that's not something you hear of too often these days. What an accomplishment! My sisters and I knew we wanted to do something special for them, something a little more personal and intimate than just sending them out to dinner. So we found Michael Carillo (www.michaelcooks.com), a personal chef who serves the Birmingham area. After talking with Michael about what my parents liked to eat and didn't like to eat, he came up with the perfect anniversary dinner! While my dad was at work, we sent my mom to the spa to have a mani/pedi. They weren't allowed to come home until 4:00. Michael arrived around 3 and began setting up. He brought all of his own "tools" and everything he would need to cook a great dinner. After he cooks and serves the meal, he cleans up EVERYTHING and leaves the kitchen just as he found it! When they got home, they walked in the front door to see the table set with all of mom's china, silver, candles, and bottle of Pinot Noir! I think they were in shock. Each plate had a menu: pre-dinner snacks~dates stuffed with spicy cream cheese and pea and sun dried tomato puree on endive; Appetizer~crab cakes w/ red pepper sauce and a capresi salad; main course~seared duck breast with a fig compote, polenta, and baby bok choy; and for dessert~bread pudding with rum sauce! They said it was all great! We all love them so much and couldn't begin to give back to them everything they have given to us! Hopefully they enjoyed the meal and the experience of having it cooked for them in their own home! Happy Anniversary to them both!!

After Daddy's Heart ~

Anyone who knows Jeb, knows that he's a huge DMB fan ("huge" really doesn't describe it). So when we found Ella playing with the DMB cd, as if she was saying "please play it for me", Jeb was so proud! Thanks to Jeb, Emma's been a Dave fan from the beginning. He's always planned to take her to show when she was old enough. I guess Ella will be the same. Maybe our next family vacation will be to Colorado to see Dave perform at the Red Rocks. Jeb would be in heaven!

I think she likes it!

Well, Ms Emma finally made it home last night. She had no idea about her new room! We asked her to take her bags to her room and when she did, she got a huge surprise! She loved it! It took her a minute to look around and see everything. Ella was excited too. Every time we would show Emma something new in her room, Ella would start clapping! We explained to Emma that she had been so good lately (as always) and she was turning into such a big girl, that we thought she deserved to have a big girls room! She just kept saying "thank you, thank you, thank you!" It didn't take long for her to climb up to the top and start drawing and coloring! I think she likes it!!

Breaking in Emma's new bed!

Ella loves Emma new room! She really loves the bed! She, so kindly, broke everything in before sister came home.

A room fit for EMMA ~

Jeb and I decided to surprise Emma with an all new "big girl" room when she gets home Saturday....after all, she's not a baby anymore! We got new bunk beds (which can be made into 2 twin beds when we move). Ella will have to use the bottom one when she grows out of her crib, but for now it will be a "loft" on top for Em to play, read, watch tv, etc. She can sleep on the bottom. She's growing up so fast! She'll be starting 2nd grade in a few weeks so we thought it was only appropriate for her to have her own desk and study area in her room! Jeb's mom gave us the desk. It was painted yellow when we got it so we had to make it look a little more "Emma" like. So we painted it white and added really pretty, "girly", glass knobs. I added her initials on top (which turned out great, if I do say so myself!) and ordered a piece of glass to go over it. Throw in some super soft, hot pink bedding and a lime green shag rug and there you have it....a room fit for no one other than Emma! She's been so wonderful since Ella arrived. She hasn't complained (too much) about not always being the center of attention. She helps out a ton! She means so much to Jeb and I, more than she'll ever really know! I'm so excited about being able to do something special, just for her. She'll be home Sat so I'll post more pictures of her after she sees it. I hope she likes it!

More Baby Shower Pics ~

I wanted to share a few more pictures of the Teen Moms baby shower. As you can see, we all had a great time! I made sure to ask all of the girls if they would mind if I posted their picture....they all said it was ok. I don't want anyone to think I posted them without asking!

Teen Moms Baby Shower ~

We had a baby shower, this evening, for 3 of our expecting teen moms! Victoria, Samantha, and Sherricka are all due around the same time (Sept/Oct) so we decided to do a joint shower. They all seemed to have a great time. A few of their family and friends came also. They each got several "baby necessities", not to mention some really cute clothes and toys! Thanks to all of the very generous donations from my wonderful friends and others, we were able to give them each a basket full of brand new things! All of the girls were very excited and very grateful for everything. Two of the other girls from the program came as well. Jaysha brought her baby with her and Alexa is newly pregnant. I'm sure we'll be doing another shower for her soon. These are some of the sweetest girls I've ever met! I'm so happy to have the privilege to be working with them. These are just a few of the pictures from the shower......I'll post the rest in slide show soon! By the way, aren't those cakes awesome!? Two of our new volunteers made them this afternoon! They were great!!

Emma's Home ~ For Now!

Emma finally came home today! We are ALL so happy to see her! Ella was so excited to see her walk through the door! Things quickly got back to normal with Emma picking her up and pulling on her until she screams! Emma's excuse is "but I just love her so much!". Even with all of that going on, El was still happy to see her big sis! However, she won't be here long! She's leaves tomorrow to go to Birmingham, and then She and Mimi will fly out Saturday morning to Texas! When she gets back Wednesday, she's here to stay! She and I have "girl's day" planned, full of pedicures and shopping for Hannah Montana school supplies! I can't wait!

Have You Seen My Sister?

Like I said before, El has gotten into a habit of crawling into Emma's room every night to play. Once again, Emma is out of town on a "mini vacation", in Augusta, GA, with Jeb's mom and sister. So tonight, Ella made her way back to sister's room, but when she got to the door and didn't see Emma she just sat in the doorway trying to figure out why she wasn't in there! She had the saddest little look on her face when she looked back at me! She misses her sister! And then, after she realized that Emma wasn't going to be popping up anywhere, she thought it might be a good time to play with all of her toys while she's gone! I'm so glad that Emma has the opportunity to go to all of these different places and spend time with family......but we sure do miss her when she's not here! She comes home tomorrow afternoon, only to be leaving AGAIN on Friday. She and my mom will be flying to Texas to visit Lolo, Branny, Ava, and Cakes! She's so excited. She will be home next Wednesday for good! I know Ella will be happy when she gets back.....so will Jeb and I! We miss our Emma!!

We Have a Winner ~

I've been trying to get Ella to drink out of a Sippy Cup for a while now. I kept buying different brands thinking that eventually she would find one she liked! After collecting 5 cups in the cabinet I finally just decided to give it up for a while. Then, Jeb's mom left some that she had bought, in my car Saturday (at least I think she's the one who left them) so I decided to give it one more try! She started out the same as before, giving me that look like "um....this is not my bottle....are you serious?" But once she got a little taste of juice, that's all it took! It does make me a little sad that we're already to the "sippy cup" stage.....but, still, I'm proud of her for giving it a try!

Hey Sister....Wanna Play?!

Ella frequently makes her way into Emma's room to play, these days! She loves it in there. It probably has something to do with all of the bright colors (and the fact that Emma's always in there, of course)! Emma doesn't seem to mind her playing in there, but she doesn't always want to play with her. Emma likes to have her alone time! The other night I heard El "talking" and Emma telling her to be quite (politely, of course). When I walked to the door, I found Ella pulled up to the side of the bed like she was saying "hey sister, wanna play with me?" I thought it was so funny because, as you can see, Emma really wasn't in the mood! Poor Ella! I'm sure there will be lots more moments like this to come! And, I have a feeling Emma might not be as "polite" as she was this time!