Five on Friday {September 18, 2015}

Yay for Friday! I thought I'd do a little "Five on Friday" during nap time today. :) Here's a little peek into our life lately.

One.
I started Kindermusik classes with Emery last week. She *loves* music, almost always saying "uggie" {again} when a song ends, and she's super shy in new situations and around people she doesn't know very well, so I'm hoping these classes will help her come out of her shell a little bit. She seems to really like it, except when she has to give back the ball. I took this picture at our first class after she had to give the ball back. She cried and then eventually went over to my purse to get herself another "ball" {my chapstick}.

The classes are close to Daniel's office and they end at 11:00, so it's perfect because we can meet him for lunch! We got her pasta and she made the biggest mess she's ever made. We tried to control it at first...wiping her hands, feeding her with our forks, and it just wasn't happening...so we just let it go. First of all, thank goodness for baby wipes. Secondly, I put her straight in the bathtub when we got home! {And her high chair cover in the washer to soak!}

We had our second Kindermusik class yesterday and she definitely seemed more comfortable. She even danced! :) The classes are at the church where Daniel and I got married. We went there while we were dating and until we moved across town...lots of sweet memories in that place. Yesterday as we were walking to our classroom, I stopped and took Emery's picture in the same spot where Daniel and I first saw each other on our wedding day. <3

Two.
We officially started our Christmas shopping yesterday! I am determined to get it all done much earlier this year! Mostly so I can enjoy the Christmas season more, but also because I love a Christmas tree with a ton of wrapped presents under it, so I want to have lots of presents under there as soon as possible! :) The first thing we bought was Emery's "big gift"...a kitchen! I've had my eye on it on Amazon for a while now, and I saw the price drop by $40 the other night! Daniel was outside, and I was going to order it as soon as he came in and could talk to him about it. By the time he came in, the price was back up. What in the world?! Well, thank goodness for camelcamelcamel {say what?!}. Yes, you read that right. It's an Amazon price tracker that emails you when an item goes down to a price you specify. So, that night I set it up to track the kitchen and I got an e-mail the next morning that the price was back down so I ordered it! Yay! The price only went down for a couple of hours again. Emery loves to play with the kitchen at my sister's house, so I know she's going to love it! I can't wait to play with it with her! Now to find some fun kitchen accessories! :)

{source}

Three.
September is a huge birthday month in our family! We have several family birthdays and Daniel and I both have birthdays next week! My mom's was yesterday, so we celebrated with dinner at my sister's house. Emery even colored Nana's birthday card!

We got to pick Vanna up from her piano lesson at church before the birthday dinner yesterday, and Emery discovered this little raccoon in the preschool lobby. She's obsessed with "beeping" noses right now, so she was touching it's nose and saying "beep, beep". :)

Happy birthday, Nana!

Four.
I started a new Bible study at church last week and I am loving it so far. It's Hosea: Unfailing Love Changes Everything by Jennifer Rothschild. Redeeming Love is a book by Francine Rivers that's based on the story of Hosea, and ever since I read that book several years ago, I've been fascinated with the story. Well, Jennifer Rothschild is an amazing teacher and I'm learning so much about God's love for me and my identity in Him. I've highlighted so many parts of the book, but I just love this:

"To be chosen by God means you are His first choice and His best choice. He didn't shrug His shoulders and say, 'Well, I guess I'll take her if no one else will.' No. When Jesus' hands were nailed to a cross, His fingers pointed to you--He chose to die for you. He chose you and He chooses you every day. He doesn't love you because you are cleaned up, religious, or even because you are a Christian. He loves you because He is love."



I was doing my Bible study the other morning when Emery was awake and I started to feel guilty about it because I thought, "I should be playing with her". Let me tell you, "mommy guilt" is a huge struggle for me. Then I came to my senses and was like, "What am I thinking? She absolutely needs to see me reading and studying my Bible!!" And what do you know, she climbed up on my lap and sat with me while I read. That was a precious gift.

Five.
Emery has become quite the little block stacker. She used to love it when we would stack blocks for her so she could knock them down and we'd say "boom!" Now, she will stack them herself, knock them down, say "boom!" and laugh like crazy. She's stacked all 12 of her blocks before! It's so amazing to me to watch her be so careful and make adjustments so it doesn't fall down. She's also started counting. She'll say "one, two" pretty consistently, then she'll say the "s" sound when it's time for six, she says "eight" almost perfectly, and she'll usually say "ten!" It's so funny how she matches our tone when she counts. Whenever I count with her, I say the numbers really slow and kind of sing-songy {especially ten}, and now she does it! She's just learning so much every single day! It makes me so happy and so sad because she's growing up too fast!

She loves to watch this video in my lap and laughs hysterically when the blocks fall over! :)

  

Five on Friday {July 11, 2014}

Happy Friday, friends! I hope y'all have had a great week! We've had a pretty low key week here which is really nice from time to time. Other than running a few errands, we've been home most of the time. We have big plans for this afternoon, though. It's Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A and I have every intention of dressing Emery up like a cute little cow. Honestly, I've been waiting a few years to do this because I felt like just Daniel and I dressing up like cows would be ridiculous. It makes so much more sense to do it now that we have a baby...especially since she can't eat Chick-fil-A. Makes perfect sense, right? ;) I will definitely be sharing pictures of Emery, but that's probably where the pictures will stop!

Anyway, here's what's been going on in our little corner of the world for the past week... :)

One.
Emery had a great first Fourth of July. We had plans to go to a barbecue and fireworks show in my parents' neighborhood, and I have to admit that I was a little nervous about how she would do. She's gotten overstimulated pretty easily in the past, so I really was thinking that we probably wouldn't even last long enough to see any fireworks. She certainly proved me wrong! Shortly after we got there, she fell asleep in her stroller and slept the entire time we were eating. Then, she woke up to take her bottle and was perfectly happy for the rest of the time. The best part? She fell asleep *during* the fireworks. For real. She's just getting more and more laid back.

3-1/2 months old

I know she looks less than thrilled in a lot of these pictures. She smiles all the time during the day, but hardly ever when a camera is out. I'm really hoping that changes!

Two.
Daniel has been dying to do some work in our back yard ever since we moved into our house. I've been a little hesitant because, well...I don't do well with plants. I kill everything. Part of the problem could be that I hate watering them. Actually, I guess that's probably the entire problem. I just hate dealing with that darn hose and sweating within five seconds of stepping outside. Anyway. My mom is an expert in all things plants. {Why did I not inherit this?} They got to talking about the yard and got a plan. My parents came over on Saturday and Daniel, my mom, and my dad literally transformed part of our yard. I did very important things like getting everyone food and water and taking care of the baby. {In my defense, I did help unload all those stones from the truck.} I'm loving how everything looks and am so excited to work on the rest of the yard!

Here's the before...

And after...

Emery enjoyed a little sun that day, too. This is a rare occurrence for her due to her mother hating being in the Alabama summer heat.

Three.
Although we were incredibly productive this past Saturday, our typical Saturday includes a lot of HGTV. See, usually we just *talk* about all the things we want to do with our house, yard, etc... Last weekend, we actually *did* some of them! One of our favorite HGTV shows to watch is Fixer Upper. These people do *amazing* things with the scariest houses and they are so totally fun and cute to watch. I would be totally fine with buying the worst house imaginable in a heartbeat as long as Chip and Jo Jo were going to renovate it! And I actually want to be friends with them in real life.

I mean, just look at this before and after!!

{via}

Four.
Emery's nursery is coming along! I know, she's nearly four months old and it's not done. {Knowing me, I'll *never* be able to feel like it's completely done.} My mom and dad bought us a precious lamp to go next to the glider. It makes that corner of her room feel so cozy. I love it as much as you can possibly love a lamp. And that base...so pretty. I feel like it's so classic and that Emery will be able to keep it forever and use it in her own house one day with a different lamp shade. And now that I said that, I want to forget it because I don't want to think about my baby growing up and having her own house. As fast as time has been going, that day will be here in what will feel like approximately two weeks.

Five.
We're going on a date night tonight! Yippee!! We haven't gone on a date just the two of us since our anniversary, so I'm super excited. We're going to see a movie and I considered The Fault In Our Stars. But after everything I've heard, that one will be a Redbox. I prefer to ugly cry in the comfort of my own home, thank you very much. I think we're going to go see Tammy. Yep. I wasn't so sure about it, but we watched the trailer the other night and I died laughing 30 seconds in and told Daniel to stop it because I didn't want to ruin any of the movie. Seriously, Melissa McCarthy is just ridiculously funny. This SNL pizza skit owns me every time!!!

Whatever you end up doing this weekend, I hope y'all have a wonderful one! :)

  

Five on Friday {June 27, 2014}

Happy Friday! You know that saying, "The days are long but the years are short"? I am totally finding that to not be true. Our days absolutely fly by and I can't believe Friday is here again! I realize that I'm sort of in the honeymoon stage of having a baby that isn't mobile, and I may have some completely different things to say about the days not being long when Emery is walking and I'm chasing her around all day! But for now, time is flying by and I wish it would slow down just a little!

Anyway, here's my Five on Friday this week! :)

One.
I just finished reading the best book I've read in a long time. Like seriously. I had heard about Sparkly Green Earrings on a few blogs, but I didn't end up reading it until it showed up on our church's list of suggested books for summer reading. It's all about motherhood and I was laughing out loud on the very first page. I laughed pretty much the whole way through. There were definitely a few tearful moments, too. Not like oh this is so, so sad tears the whole time, but more like this is so touching and I totally feel the same way tears. The author also blogs at The Big Mama Blog and she tells the story in the book of how she came up with the name of her blog. Hilarious. She's also written a book about marriage called The Antelope in the Living Room: The Real Story of Two People Sharing One Life. It's definitely on my list!

{via}

Two.
We are starting to think about getting Emery a high chair. She'll be four months old in a couple of weeks, so we'll be starting some new foods. She probably won't be ready for a high chair that soon, but we're starting to check some out. We're considering this Ikea high chair because it's $19.99. Yes, you read that right. I mean, even if we hate it, we're only out $20. I don't like how it looks *at all*, but it's price makes it a lot cuter. Anybody out there have this high chair and love it? Or hate it? Let me know! I do know we don't want something with a lot of nooks and crannies because that would just be nightmare to clean.

{via}

Three.
There is this fabulous popsicle place in our town called Steel City Pops and they just opened a new one just a few minutes away from our house. We went last weekend and we decided right there that we were going to go every weekend this summer. It's such a summery thing to do and it's a fun, cheap night out.

Four.
Emery and I have settled into a pretty good daily routine. One of my favorite parts of our day is when I lay her down for a nap. We'll sit in the glider, I'll read her a story from her Storybook Bible, and then we'll listen to the Praise Baby station on Pandora while she goes to sleep. I usually sit there and pray for her, or cry, because she's just so cute and sweet and my heart can barely take it. It's all very sweet until the Walgreens commercial comes on.

Five.
Daniel took this picture of us on Sunday morning before church and I think it's my favorite picture of us so far. Probably because all of the pictures from the first two months of her life I was so tired that I looked like I'd been drugged.

I hope y'all have a great weekend!!

  

Five on Friday {May 30, 2014}

Woohoo, it's Friday!!! It's been an exciting couple of weeks around here. Since I've kind of fallen off the blogging bandwagon here lately {there's a *great* reason for that ;)}, I thought I'd recap our last couple of weeks with a fun Five on Friday post.

One.
I went back to work last Monday for the last week of school. Call me crazy. It's seriously the most wild week of the school year, but in a way, it was a really fun week to go back. The kids were so sweet on Monday and I was so happy to see them. I missed Emery soooo much, though. I cried almost every morning and couldn't wait to go get her every afternoon. I even left my classroom in utter disarray at the end of the day! This is so not like me... This week, we had to go back for teacher work days and I packed up my classroom for good. I grew up dreaming of being a teacher and played school every chance I got. My play classroom was serious business, y'all. I had a chalkboard, bulletin boards that I changed monthly, a teacher desk, grade book, lesson plan book, and stickers. Oh, the stickers. I'm so thankful that I got to live out the dream of being a teacher for 7 years, and now I'm oh so incredibly grateful that I get to live out another dream and stay home with my sweet baby girl. It's a gigantic blessing that I won't ever take for granted.

My first classroom
The nameplate on the desk was a gift I got when I was about 10 years old. That's all I ever asked for...teacher stuff. :)

Saying goodbye...

Two.
My sweet niece, Vanna, graduated from preschool a couple of weeks ago! HOW is that possible?! It was such a cute program. They marched in wearing their cute little hats and sang songs that I sang in Sunday school like "I'm in the Lord's Army" and a personal favorite, "This Little Light of Mine". Although I always preferred this jazzier version by Psalty the Singing Songbook. I'm sure my parents and sister are having flashbacks right now of me belting it out in the car. :) Anyway, I was armed at the graduation with Kleenex, but Vanna kept me smiling...especially when she used her rolled up diploma as a spy glass. I. Loved. It. When they called her name, they said that she wanted to be "an ice cream lady who tastes the ice cream and makes sure all the ingredients are right". That is my kind of job! I picked her up from school that day and we went to Bruster's to celebrate her graduation and future career. ;)

Cutie pie.

Three.
Speaking of graduations, another one of my nieces, Jayma, is graduating from HIGH SCHOOL tomorrow. Stop it right now. I cannot believe it. I remember when she was BORN, when she called grapes "glapes", when she wore her hair in these cute little curly pigtails. And now she's an absolutely beautiful young woman on her way to college! We're so proud of her and can't wait to see her graduate!

Another cutie pie.

Four.
I heart Weight Watchers. Not really, because who loves watching their weight, but I love that it works. I've lost 11.2 pounds in three weeks. Hallelujah. Baby weight be gone! So obviously I didn't go on a crazy candy eating binge like the CVS cashier probably thought I would. Click here if you have no idea what I'm talking about. It's a funny story. Those darn name tags get me every time.

Five.
Speaking of Weight Watchers, one of my favorite things to eat lately is Greek salad. My sister came over for lunch one day recently and brought the most delicious Greek salad. It's so super easy, too. The dressing is just 2/3 cup olive oil, 6 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, and 1 clove of minced garlic. Then I just toss it with salad mix {sweet butter is my fave!}, tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta seasoned with a little oregano. On Weight Watchers, all of that is free except for the dressing and feta so I can eat a big yummy salad for only 4 points! Love it!

I'll leave you with these pictures of my little sweetie. Oh my heart.

 

Whatever you end up doing this weekend, I hope it's wonderful! :)

  

Five on Friday {March 7, 2014}

Happy Friday from the longest week ever! I pretty much want to throw confetti in the air and celebrate that it's finally here! I'm linking up with Darci again today for Five on Friday!

One.
*Today* is my last day of work before my maternity leave starts. It feels like the day before summer break!! Best feeling ever. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Working a full time job while pregnant is no joke, as I know lots of you know. It's been tough and I'm so glad I've reached the end...for now at least. :)

This was my classroom before school started. It definitely is not this neat and tidy anymore!

Two.
Being that it's been my last week of work, I've been getting myself a little something special these last couple of mornings before work. You know, just to help me make it through the day. It's necessary. After all, the days of guilt-free eating are quickly coming to an end. There is this new donut place that's on my way to work and I have found my perfect donut. I used to love the devil's food glazed donut at Krispy Kreme, but they just haven't been very good the last several years. They're just not chocolatey enough anymore...not to mention you never know if they'll have any. Big problems, I know. Anyway, this double chocolate donut is amazing. I want another one right this very minute.

Three.
A friend of my husband sent him this recently and we both laughed and laughed. Soon enough, this will be us. Gone are the days when we can decide we want to go somewhere and leave the house within minutes.

Four.
I really thought I was doing great to have already bought a few headbands and hair clips for Emery...until I saw this picture yesterday on one of the blogs I follow. The baby who these headbands are for hasn't even arrived yet! I'm actually just totally jealous of the organization...it's heavenly.

{via}

Five.
I cooked the other night for what will probably be the last time for a little while. I made this tortelllini soup recipe a few years ago and I remember loving it, but for some reason I never made it again. It's so easy...the hardest part is dicing the onions and mincing the garlic. It's also pretty healthy and is super yummy. It's perfect with a few slices of crusty bread on the side. Or nearly an entire loaf in my case. {See #2 above. Guilt-free eating days = almost over}

Whatever you end up doing this weekend, I hope it's wonderful!! :)