Emma's Birthday

I cannot believe our little girl turned 4 on the 23d!! We just had us, mom (dad was working), Lindsay and Andy together for dinner - it was her choice and her decision was Outback! After dinner we came back home to open a few presents and have cake and ice cream. She was super happy and loved her presents. She felt very special even though we have not had her real party yet and she understands completely. I think she ate two loaves of bread by herself at Outback and then the waiters and waitresses sang to her, which she thought was great.

Bo and I gave her a few little things - a Beauty and the Beast music box, basket/bell/streamers for her bike, princess book, pajamas and charms for her bracelet. Mom and dad gave her a silver princess necklace and ring, mom had made her a princess pillow, princess book bag and princess school stuff. Lindsay gave her a Barbie vet set.

She was just as happy as could be.

 she had to have Lucy in the picture too!

We love you birthday girl! Can't wait to celebrate more at your party!

A Few Things

Just a few pictures I had on my cell phone recently:

Aunt Eloise from Tennessee was able to come back for two weeks again. My parents were in Tennessee on business so they stopped to see her and she wanted to come home with them. So, they brought her back and we celebrated her 92nd birthday with extended family. Later that week we had dinner at mom and dads before she flew back to Tennessee. I love this lady so much. It was so good that she came back again.
                                   

The other night we had a line of storms come through - I mean one after another from about 6:00 to 11:00. This frog clung to our window like he was begging to come inside. The girls just thought it was hilarious. Oh, the joys of living in the country now!

Just a cute picture of Emma sleeping before I went to work this week. She woke up, got in our bed, curled up with Lilly and went back to sleep. 

Insanity

Here are the top 10 reasons why my blog has majorly suffered and why life is as complicated as ever:

1. we moved

2. Bo is in the middle of being hired by a new company

3. we are renting our old house - yet selling it in October by the woman who is renting it

4. back to work (it's been great though) no longer sleeping in just plain sucks, however I am loving my adult and professional time

5. had an issue with E and H's preschool - seriously considered pulling them out, so we met with another local preschool director - however we decided the best decision is to stay put (although I am still highly upset with them about a very minor issue, which they made a ridiculous decision on without trying any possible solutions)

6. My sister was rushed to the hospital this week thinking she was in preterm labor - turns out she had either a gall bladder attack or pulmonary embolism. I was up at 3:15 in the morning to go watch my  nephew who then did not want to go back to sleep until 5:30. You can imagine how I felt at work that day. Lindsay was thankfully released, the baby is fine and we are just hoping she does not have another attack. They cannot do any testing until the baby is born.

7. stressing over new appliances being installed, cabinetry work done in the kitchen, decorations, new furniture, painting rooms, yard work, carpet - you name it.

8. girls birthday party is in TWO weeks!

9. I am hosting a baby shower for my sister in THREE weeks!

10. doctor appointments, paperwork, back to school shopping for preschool

So.......there you have it. Things are crazy - HOWEVER I am not complaining BECAUSE every single thing that has happened to us recently has happened for a reason and we have seen these reasons pop up every step of the way and within just weeks of each other. God has a plan. He has planned for us to live more comfortably in a bigger house with a huge yard and private area. Because the house was my grandmother's He has planned for her house to not be sold by just anyone and that we can keep this house in the family. He has planned for Bo to not travel as much, be home more, up his career in the medical field and possibly start his MBA soon. He has provided celebrations - Emma's birthday, upcoming parties and a new baby in the family. He had a plan for a lovely lady, although she is conquering major hurdles in her life, to desire our old house so much she was willing to rent early and therefore help us financially. It is also going to be a perfect place for her to live. She is also buying it at a very reasonable amount of money considering the real estate market, paying for closing costs and there is no realtor fee because she approached us herself and has been interested since the beginning of summer.

Aside from the births of our girls I have never seen God at so much work for our family. It also makes sense to why I got the job last year at Hillpoint. Everything is working in a positive manner and although time has been an issue and things have been crazy, we could not be more thankful to be where we we are today.

I hope I can catch up a little bit and post pictures later when a few more things are done to the house!

Road Trip

Bo had to go to Charlotte for some work related things so the girls and I decided to go with him and visit a few people along the way.

On our way down we made a very quick stop at Elon. We wanted the girls to see mommy and daddy's school and also take a look at all of the updates. It was so sad to see Staley gone! We went to the ice cream store and E and H had a quick dessert and then we hit the road again.

We met up with some of the Rogers clan Thursday night in Kannapolis for dinner and got to Charlotte around 10:00 pm. The girls thought the hotel was just awesome although Emma was confused as to why the hotel was not at the North Pole - the last time we were in a hotel with her was when we visited Santa in Richmond, and of course Santa lives at the North Pole so that is where the hotel was! It took several conversations explaining that there were lots of hotels in every city and that this was a different hotel - not in the North Pole!

We were so happy to meet up with Kirby and miss Mylah for breakfast Friday morning! I had just seen Kirby at Kristin's wedding, but I have never got to meet Mylah in person, even though I feel like I have. She loved Emma and Hannah being crazy. They were unusually hyped up I think because of seeing so many new people. We just played outside of the hotel and hung out for awhile.

On our way back home we stopped in Kannapolis again to visit with Bo's grandma since she had just undergone knee replacement surgery. She looked wonderful and was getting around really good. I was so glad she got to see the girls. We also had Kannapolis BBQ, and it was super good.

 girls at Elon

 someone got my phone

 the girls and Mylah - love them!

soon Kirby will be holding two babies too!! 

Five and a half hours, a bathroom stop and a Chick Fil A milkshake stop we were back home around 7:00!

Busch Gardens

We finally had the chance to take the girls to Busch Gardens - we have not been at all this year and we have yearly passes - what a waste they were becoming. Emma could barely sleep the night before. She even woke up early saying, "wakey, wakey! It's Busch Gardens Day!"

I first had to take Hannah to the ear doctor to have her tube removed, but then we left around 12:30 or so and stayed until 9:00. I didn't take many pictures - the girls pretty much did the same things and rode the same rides. They did have a new fairy tale show that they liked and we saw the Irish dancers, which Emma and Hannah both loved.

Here they are with the fairy tale characters after the show

 Hannah loved when the witch was dancing, but had to have me in the picture!

 Hannah was not too sure about that wolf!

Emma watching her cotton candy being made that she was dying to have

We had a very fun time and hope to make it back again for our passes to be worthwhile! 

Meet Lucy!!!

A few weeks ago the girls and I drove to Richmond to see a Maltese puppy. I had been encouraging my mom to get another dog since we lost Lacey. We were by no means replacing Lacey, but adding to our family and giving another dog the lucky chance of living in a great home. Lacey would have also wanted my mom to be comfortable with my dad being gone some nights and having her protected by another dog.

So, we went and saw her and came home with Lucy! We had to have another "L" name - Leslie and Lindsay (the humans) and then came doggy Lacey, my dog Lilly and Lindsay's dog Lola. Lucy was perfect. She is too cute - 1.5 pounds and a little feisty thing! She is very playful and all puppy right now. We are already just loving her!