Its Been A Year and a Half

...since Emmalynne had a haircut. Matter of fact, that was her first haircut. Today was the second. She was pretty excited, too. Here are the before and after shots! She sat so still. I couldn't have asked her to have done a better job. I hope she doesn't get any bright ideas from this experience and decide to cut hair on her own. For some reason, I've been terrified of that.

Some Day I'm Going to...

Run a marathon-just like my sister! Carman, the girls, and I went to cheer her on. We tried to meet up with her at the 13 mile mark but we a few minutes late. Eventually we called her to see where she was. After what felt like a full on sprint, we finally caught up to her, snapped a few pictures, and then Carman ran with her for a little bit. I thought I was going to also but by the time we finally caught up to her, I was plum tuckered out!

I headed them off around the 16 or 17 mark and joined them for a short while. It was amazing to me how tired and sore I was at the end of the day! I was complaining to Carman about my current lack of running ability. He said, "well you should have seen yourself today." I didn't know exactly what he meant so I foolishly inquired. He said I ran like I was pregnant. Again, I foolishly probed, "you mean like you could just tell I was pregnant or I was waddling?" He was happy to explain, "Oh, you were waddling!" I found it slightly funny and slightly embarrassing. 

 The girls made posters for Aunt Laura.

 Here we're waiting for Laura just before the finish line!

 And, here's the awesome shot Carman got of her crossing the finish line. Way to go, Laura!

 Finally, here's the whole gang with the champ after she finished. By "whole gang" I am only referring to my little family. Laura had her family and some friends at the finish line to cheer for her, too.

I've really wanted to run a marathon for a couple years now. I almost did it last year (the same race even) but once I ran 13 miles on the treadmill during training, I decided it wasn't fun anymore and quit. I've officially decided NOT to run this particular race, the Charlotte Thunder Road. Its too hilly. As long as we still live close, I'd much rather run in Kiawa, right by the coast. Nice and flat sounds so much better....

29 Weeks, 29 Years!

I'm 29 all around today! I'm 29 weeks pregnant and I turned 29 years old! Woo-hoo for 29. We celebrated this past Saturday by having my sister and her family over for dinner. Laura and I had previously arranged to go to lunch today (Wednesday) for my birthday gift. I knew what was coming and was, therefor, elated when she brought a surprise gift-a serrated spoon and grapefruit! I wish I had a video of Emmalynne and Megan helping me open it. They were sitting on either side of me and ripped the tissue paper out of the bag like.... crazy women. If I were an author I'd describe it better. 

 I had ice cream for my birthday treat. We also threw in a surprise cookie cake to celebrate my sister's marathon that morning. (hopefully more to come on that later)

 Here is my favorite gift. Carman gave me the money to do a project that I've been thinking about doing for quite some time. Its our family history wall. It was lots of fun trying to acquire all the photos for Carman's side of the family. As a matter of fact, I'm still waiting on one, but couldn't wait to hang the rest up! So what appears to be a picture of his Great Grandma is actually a younger photo of his Grandma :) I've had so much fun doing Carman's family history. Getting these photos when we were in Houston last week really got me going again.

Warning: objects in this photo are much larger than they appear. As requested by my mommy, here's a picture of my tummy. I'll admit, its flattering.

 Last of all, Carman surprised me tonight by bringing me flowers and ice cream cookies home! I was sufficiently spoiled this year.

Flower Girl

Carman's brother, James got married just over a week ago. We drove down to Houston (which was quite eventful). Emmalynne and her cousin, Lexi were the flower girls. We hadn't told Emmalynne much about it before hand and we sincerely wondered if she would actually do it since she can be rather shy. The rehearsal the night before went surprisingly well and when we told her she could wear her new dress the next day, she was ecstatic. On the way home that night she asked me more times than I like to remember, "Mom, I'm the flower girl!?" She did a great job at the wedding and when it was all over she walked down the isle, picked up her flower petals, and did it all over again-and again-and again.... until someone put them away and made her cry! (Not me-they were putting them away because it was time to go to the reception).

Details on our drive: Carman hit a coyote on our way to Houston, just about an hour and a half after we left home. It was still dark out and when we looked at the car all that looked damaged was the fog light that had fallen out of its place. The windshield washer fluid reservoir leaked all the fluid out also. Not too big of a deal, so we kept on our way. A few hours later, when we hit Atlanta traffic, the power steering went out. After some investigation we found out that although only a possibility, one thing could lead to another and we could destroy the car/wreck while driving if we continued to Houston. We also realized the coyote had cracked  the fender up pretty bad. Little did we know we have awesome insurance that paid to fix the car and paid for our rental that we drove the rest of the way to Houston! We were extra appreciative when we picked the car up on our way home and saw the insurance's $1,346 bill! Yikes.

Um, and here Emmalynne is smooching with the groom! (Uncle James didn't act uncomfortable but Carman's family are not lip kissers with little kids so I assume it was a little awkward!)

Ladybugs

We've had a lot of Halloween activities this year! 

Activity #1: Here the girls are at the annual trick-or-treating at Carman's work.

Activity #2: We went to a friend's house who had a little Halloween party. There were quite a few kids there. Although my girls loved decorating a pumpkin and a ghost with stickers, the cupcake decorating and eating was by far their favorite part.

Activity #3: We had a church activity at someone's huge farm. They had a lot going on. Clara has a thing for horses and she was thrilled to pet this one.

 Em enjoyed a "line dance" with Carman. It was more of a circle dance...

 Activity #4: On Saturday we had the ward trunk-or-treat. Emmalynne has absolutely loved wearing her ladybug costume. She adorned it for more than just the festivities.

In the last picture here, Clara has trying to throw a shower puff in the pumpkin. Out of 4, she actually got one! Emmalynne got two of hers, I just don't have any photos to prove it. :)

Don't Take My Picture!

Clara put this shawl on her head and pranced around like a beauty queen. The moment I pulled out the camera she gave me quite the crusty look and ran away! Cute little stinker!