Not sure when exactly I started the draft of this post...but it is now May..and I am encredibly behind in blog entries...I'm guessing it was sometime after Christmas, but before the New Year, as when I wrote this entry, I was not pregnant (or I didn't know I was pregnant)...but I am...and there has been a lot that has happened between when I wrote this post and now...but I'm posting it anyway...along with some great pic's from that time...And, hopefully very soon, I will get a mother's day post up, as I just celebrated the best one I can remember! Just a warning...there are a lot of pictures...Too many for me to have to choose, so I added a lot.
This has been another hechtic holiday season, filled with party invitations, travel and sickness! Within the last month, Eli has turned 2 and Emrey will turn 4 (in less than a week). We've celebrated with two parties, traveled to S. Carolina for Thanksgiving and I was sick (VERY SICK) with the flu for a week. It seems life is always so hechtic and chaotic, like I never have a moment to just breath or sit and read or simply enjoy my cup of coffee...in fact, sadly, I've found that lately, I haven't really enjoyed coffee nearly as much as I have in the past...(and I'm not even pregnant).
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| Fall 2012, October...picture shoot with me...at Flynn B Park |
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| Picking out Pumpkins |
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| Fall festival |
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| Chilling at Emrey's soccer game |
But, even still with all the chaos and always feeling like my head is just barely staying above water...I am SO encredibly grateful for all we have this Christmas season...With a recent shooting at an elementary school and countless friends who are struggling with sick ones, especially little ones, I am feeling so blessed to have Ellis and two healthy children, not to mention everything else God has blessed us with. I don't know how long it will last (that's the morbid part of me...) but for however long He grants us our family as we know it...I will take it.
These days, Emrey is so precious. For the most part, she is very sweet and encouraging to her brother. She will often bring him her blanket when he is crying or sad and offer it as a sort of majical healing instrument...he always appreciates it. She still LOVES to sing and her teacher recently asked me to practice some Christmas songs with her at home, because she said "Emrey is the best singer in class and we want her to do some solos in their Christmas sing along...but she does not want to wear the sheep costume"...I don't blame her, it looks a bit itchy...but I do believe that she is the best singer in class. She can pick up lyrics like it's nobodies business and she's inspired her brother who also wil belt out "twinkle, twinkle, ABC's and Jesus Loves Me" over and over and over again...They also love to sing Jingle Bells and get so excited every time it comes on in the car! Emrey has a pretty busy schedule...in fact, sometimes I wonder if it's too much for a four year old? She attends preschool two mornings a week, she goes with me to BSF one morning a week and then after that we run to ballet which she is taking at a local place here in Littleton. The teacher has been teaching for many years and she does it in her basement! It's very low key and very cute. They do tap for half the class and ballet for the other half. Emrey has a good friend Ava who is in the class and often after class either she will come over, or Emrey will go to her house. Then, later on wednesdays, she goes to AWANA at a local church. She loves all of it, but it totally eghsausted by the time her head hits the bed on wednesday nights!
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Emrey did a performance of the Nutcracker |
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| Emrey's good friend Ava, at their Christmas ballet performance of the Nutcracker. |
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| The anticipation of Christmas morning!!! |
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| Eli would have been content to ride the train all night! |
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| Emrey's party 4th Birthday Party, at Lollipop park! |
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| Emrey's teacher, Mrs. Van |
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| Emrey's buddies, Meghan and Myla |
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| Peachwave after Emrey's Christmas performance |
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| Emrey's party was at Lollipop park, a local indoor mini-amusment park! |
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| Emrey on her actual birthday (which fell on a sunday this year) Wanted to wear her Birthday crown! |
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| Emrey fell in love with the baby Jesus in the Creche at church on Christmas Eve |
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| Eli was so excited to go through his stocking! |
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| Emrey and dad getting ready to head out to do some sledding Christmas day! |
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| When she returned... |
Recently we got to go to Steamboat Springs and we were able to get Emrey up on skis twice. There really wasn't much snow, so we didn't even bother with skiing. The first day, she cried and didn't really want to go down at all. We did some research that night and bought a little piece of equipment that helps her to do the pizza and used it the next day! It made a world of difference. She still didn't last more than 15-20 minutes, but she was loving going down and so proud of herself!
Eli is also precious these days...as I mentioned above, he LOVES to sing! He will often sneak away upstairs to just play by himself in his room or Emrey's....Sometimes he gets into trouble. Last week, he had gone upstairs and it got very quiet...I thought, I should go check on him, but got distracted. A few minutes later, I realized it was still quiet, way too quiet, so I went up and couldn't find him anywhere? I was starting to get nervous when I realized our bathroom door was closed. When I opened the door I found him with the lights off, with both his blanket and his beloved monkey being dunked in the toilet! He sometimes gets doors closed and can't open them...well, he seemed to be having fun...so we washed Monkey and blanket and called it a day! He adores his sister and pretty much mimics everything she does in word or deed!
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| First 3-d movie at the wild life center (only 20 minutes long), it was the perfect length |
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| Back-country hike in Highlands Ranch |
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| Eli walked almost the entire 3 mile hike! He LOVED trommping in the snow and was off the path, most of the hike! |
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| Ellis & I got to go skiing New Years day. It was a VERY cold day at Keystone |
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| One of Eli's first haircuts...brave boy |
Ellis and I are taking a parenting class and have appreciated it so much! It's called Growing Kids God's way and it should really be called "growing parents God's way"....as it's really about training us. It's been really cool to see some of the changes in the kids, as we've shifted our behaviors a bit. The daily grind is still eghsausting and we still do a LOT of training...but I'm seeing some progress and that's been encouraging!
