Dress Up ~

Emma pulled out all of her old dress up clothes for Ella to play with (since she's too old for dressing up now)! Emma seemed to have just as much fun dressing El up as Ella did putting everything on! Ella's favorite was the coon skin cap that Poppy gave Emma a few years ago! She seemed to be a little confused at first! I think she thought it was a long lost family pet by the way she was petting and hugging it and saying "Awwwwww"! Eventually, with Em's help, she figured out that it was a hat! She wore it for the rest of the evening!!

Visitors ~

We see deer in our yard a regular basis, eating the fruit and nuts that have fallen from the trees! A few days ago there were 6 of them playing in the yard! Although they're out there at least twice a week, the girls and I still get really excited when we see them! What can I say, we're not used to seeing that many deer up close......that are still alive, at least!

Note to self.....

.....Ella + marshmallow cream = HUGE MESS! It wasn't that bad until she started using it as GLUE to stick her feet to the counter!

The New Guy ~

They've had this sign up since Jeb started working......which probably explains how everyone here seems to know us already! I finally remembered to throw my camera in the car the other day when I was headed to the store! I'm glad I did.......I think he's ready for them to take it down!

Baby Steps ~

A couple of weekends ago, Loni and her friend Abby hosted the first annual Baby Steps 5k marathon benefiting the Amelia Center! With a total of almost 400 runners, it exceeded all our expectations! I have never been as proud of or for Loni as I was on that day! I can't imagine the courage, strength, and determination it must take to turn ones own personal tragedy into something so positive! We all know that God has a magnificent plan for Loni, Justin and Maddox! And while this is certainly not the only great thing they'll accomplish.......MAN, it was a great start!!!!

Home Grown ~

Along with house came a small orchard! We have:

red/green apples

figs

grapes

pears

muscadines

blackberries

blueberries

pecans
and Walnuts!

We've picked more fruit in the last 2 months than any of us have ever picked in our whole lives.....ever! Especially blueberries, blackberries, and grapes! I made a ton of cobblers and blueberry pancakes (see picture below) but that wasn't good enough....Jeb wanted jelly! I have no clue how to make jelly! Surprised? Lucky for me, my Mamaw and Papa can! The last time they visited they took home a bag full of grapes and made 8 jars of jelly! Then they called to tell me how good it was and give me detailed instructions on how to make it.....apparently I was going to make it! So, with a little help from papa, I made 4 jars of grape jelly.....really good grape jelly! It taste nothing like the stuff I buy from the store! Now I can add "jelly making" to my list of things I've learned from Mamaw and Papa!

This is just what I had picked that day! Jeb, Emma, and El also had bags full!

mmmm....Blueberry Pancakes!

Grape Jelly!

2 Significant Events ~

As usual these days, I'm a little behind in posting. Better late than never, I guess!


8 Already?

Once again, August has come and gone; which means yet another birthday for Emma! I can't believe she's 8! Yes, 8! She no longer likes Hannah Montana......it's everything Taylor Swift! She also tends to roll her eyes at me a little more than she used too! Very few things aside, I couldn't have asked for a more loving, caring, beautiful child!

One downside to moving during summer, she hadn't really had time to meet any new friends to invite to a party! So, we had a "family" party for her a couple of weeks ago and decided to have another party (with her new friends) toward the end of September! We had a lot of family make the trip to Athens and Emma had a great time! We're now in the "planning process" of her "friend" party. Yesterday, she sat at one end of the dining room table and made me sit at the other end so we could have a "conference" about the party! That's SO Emma!





We decided to break out the slip-n-slide for the kids that were there! It's safe to say that El had more fun on it than anyone else! She couldn't quite get the hang of it on her own so she would just sit at the top of it and we'd push her down to the bottom!

Emma (and Jeb, for that matter) spent the rest of the day on her new scooter! She rides it every morning before she leaves for school and every afternoon when homework is done! However, I don't think she expected to have to share it with Jeb and Ella!

10 Years Already??

Not only did Emma turn 8, but 2 days later Jeb and I attended my 10 year class reunion! Personally, I loved high school! Most of my close friends now are friends from hs! But as much as we all still talk and keep up thru blogs, etc., it's a very rare occasion that we're all in the same town, not to mention the same place! True to form, they did not dissappoint! It was definitley the most fun we've had in a long time (and the latest we've stayed up!) Just 10 more years and we get to do it all again!

1 Day of School Down.......

We were so excited for Em to make it home from school yesterday to see how it went! Ella and I waited patiently at the end of the driveway for the bus to pull up (the bus was a little loud for El)! We were happy to see a huge smile on Em's face as she got off the bus and ran up the drive! She had a great day and met a few new friends! She seems to really like it....hopefully it will stay that way!

W

The New Kid ~

Unlike every other child in Limestone County, Emma has been looking forward to today ALL summer......the first day of school! She is in the 3rd grade at Julian Newman Elementary! You would think that she would have been a little (or a lot) nervous about being the new kid at a new school, but not Emma! She walked straight in, introduced herself to the teacher (Mrs. Carter), put her things away, and took her seat.......smiling the whole time! Her motto is "new girl makes friends"! With that attitude, I have no doubt that she will make lots of friends!

Summer Summary ~

Since I'm obviously so far behind on updating, I figured I'd try my best to sum up our summer and then move on with all that's happening now! We are finally getting settled here in Athens! Our "minor renovations" on the house turned into months of chaos, so it took us a little longer to settle in than usual! Jeb is officially a licensed practicing pharmacists! He loves his job at Westside Pharmacy and seems to be fitting in great! The girls are loving the house and the yard! Emma takes El outside every afternoon to play, which is a nice break for me! Ella will stand at the blueberry bush for hours, picking and eating blueberries! I posted a slide show of the progress on the house. We have enough to keep us busy for a few years but it already looks tons better than it did when we started! There are lots of pictures so sit back and enjoy!

Well Worth the Wait ~

After 10 years of college, 8 years of marriage, and 4 years of Pharmacy school, we finally made it to the big day......GRADUATION! I've waited a very long time for this "blog post" and thought a lot about what I would say. However, when I went to post it Tuesday night (Graduation was Tuesday morning) I couldn't bring myself to do it! How do I sum up the past 8 years in one blog post? So, after taking a couple of days to gather my thoughts, I am finally able to put into words what I've had in my head for 8 years!

There have been very few days go by that the thought hasn't entered my mind of how drastically different my (our) life could have been. At 19, our only priority was having as much fun as possible. So when I became pregnant at 19, well.........it wasn't good! As disappointed as our parents had to have been, they did what they had promised us they would do our whole lives....they continued to love and support us through it all! Without God's guidance and their love and support we WOULD NOT have made it!

From the beginning, Jeb's only goal was to provide for me and Emma to the best of his ability. In the beginning, he worked 2 jobs and went to school. There were many days that he did not see Emma at all. He would have to leave before she woke up and wouldn't get home until after she went to bed. When he started pharmacy school he continued to work for the first 2 years. He would come home from school/work, eat dinner and go back to the Pharmacy school to study for hours! When he said he would do whatever he could to make a good life for us, he meant it. God has blessed me, Emma, and Ella Reid with a husband and father who loves us so much that he has and will continue to give all he has to provide for us! For 8 years I've watched him work harder and stress out more than anyone I've ever seen. On Tuesday, May 5th, Jeb received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree. But most importantly, that very heavy weight that he's been carrying for so long was finally lifted. I, not to mention Emma (and El, if she'd known what was happening) could not be more proud of him!

Graduation in itself is a huge accomplishment for anyone! But for us, personally and spiritually, it was so much more. 8 years ago we had one HUGE decision to make; we could continue to trust in ourselves OR we could start trusting GOD, each leading down 2 very different paths! Since it was obvious that relying on ourselves wasn't working for us, we decided to give GOD a shot! I would love to say it's been easy but it surely has not! For every "high", there were ten "lows". But God never promised it would be easy, HE promised it would be worth the wait!