Five Question Friday!! :)

Hey bloggy buddies!! I am so glad to be back and excited to hope on the 5QF train with the wonderful Mama M. If you want to join in just click on the little linky link over there and get started. Its super fun :)

I have to get down to business because this momma is tired tonight (yes I am writing this Thur night ;) I took Emma to see the movie "Hop" today so we kind of had to skip her nap. As if its not bad enough to skip a nap with this crazy one but I also let myself her induldge in some candy and a coke while we were there. We got back home this afternoon and she was bouncing off the walls until literally she just crashed in the bed.

On a side note "Hop" was a pretty cute movie. Sometimes it was a little over E's head but she was still entertained and did pretty well.

Alright well lets get to the questions...

1. If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
One thing?? Hmmm... that is hard. The question did not really narrow it down to whether that would be a physical or a character trait so I am going to pick a character flaw of mine.  I would change my worry-wart"ism"  I am such a worry wart. I worry over every thing and alot of times am unable to just relax and live in the moment. I am a woman of faith and know that if I am worrying then I am not trusting God to the fullest but it is so hard. I am a work in progess and try to do a little bit better every day :)

2. Write about a time when you got lost.
Lost? Me? Never! Truthfully I get lost so much that I am having a hard time coming up with one incident that is blogworthy. I mean it is so bad Derek gave me a GPS for Christmas and I use it. Frequently.

Ok 'nough said on this one.. no story to tell here ;)

3. Camping or 5 star hotel?
A 5 star hotel any day! I am not a camping, out in the woods, cooking over the fire, tent loving type of girl. I am not high maintance by any strectch of the imagination (well my imagination anyways... you might want to check with Derek and see what he says.) but outdoors for the weekend just ain't my thang. I can handle an evening bonfire type deal and be perfectly happy with a beer and a smore but over night? With the bears? Nope.. not this chick (not by my choice anyways)

4. Have you donated blood?
Yes but only once. Does that make me a bad person? It was in high school and rather uneventful. I am not really sure why I have not given since but...... OK I dont really have an excuse. Just laziness I guess. Dont hate me.

5. Do you have a budget or do you 'fly by' most months?
We are more of the "fly by" type. Not because I am not anal about money (did you see question 1? I am a worry wart remember?) but literally when I write it out on paper it never really works out. Seriously every month that I am able to stay  home with my girl is another blessing from God. He provides and makes a way for it to work. We may not have a huge retirement account building at the moment and our savings is pretty pitiful but for us this is what is working. We both feel confident in our decisions and feel like God is taking care of us.

Well that wraps up the first week in months I have been able to participate in 5QF! I am so excited to be back and hope to be able and hop around to your blogs this afternoon!

Have a great weekend everyone and Happy Friday!!!

PS: I ALMOST forgot to mention something. Guess who is in town this weekend? Mckmama. She is going to be taking our first ever family portraits on Sunday. I am so excited.. I know she will do a fantastic job! :)

A Tot Style Conversation

So my girl and I had this conversation the other night at dinner. It went a little something like this.

Me: Emma you need to at least try a few bites of your ham before you get down from the dinner table.

E: I dont like ham nenny-ways

Me: Well if you try it and you don't like it that is fine but you need to have a "no thank you helping" of ham before you leave the table if you want dessert tonight.

E: No way... I dont like it

Me: Ok that is fine but no dessert or any snacks the rest of the evening

E: *looking around like is she serious* I take ONE bite

Me: Ok just try it I think you will like it

E: *reluctantly puts a bite of ham in her mouth* *Smiles* Ham is my most favorite I have ever seen

She then proceeds to eat her entire helping of ham and dessert afterwards!

KIDS!!

Coming Out Of Hibernation...

I know you probably can not even believe that you are seeing a post from me! I have been incredibly slack hibernating for the winter. There was alot going on but it was all just kind of blah and I could not get up the spunk to write it all out.

BUT.. the sunshine it out! The warm weather has arrived and this girl is ready to get back to blogging (and commenting.. I have been slack in that dept. as well) Take it easy on me though, it may take a while to get back in the swing of things.

I am guessing that my first post back needs to be an update post! There is alot to catch you up on so hang with me and I will get you filled in.

First things first of course.. Emma :)

My girl is growing and changing so much day to day that I can't even begin to keep up. Her vocabulary is amazing and quite hilarious at the same time. Her new word today was disappeared. She said " my play doh dis-peered and I can't find it anywhere" She has all the drama to go along with her new words as well. She is quite the drama queen. All her "stories" that she tells are complete with many hand gestures and lots of body language. It is all super cute right now.. not sure how cute it will be in a few years BUT we live in the moment right?!?!

Our days have been full of zoo trips, park play dates, and just enjoying the sunshine lately. I love spring and plan to enjoy it to the fullest. :)

Oh yea!! One more thing.. E is officially fully potty trained! My girl has been totally rocking the panties for a few weeks now and I could not be more proud of her. It did come with a weeks worth of crap (literally...) for mom but we both got the swing of things and she is doing great now.

Next thing I may need to update you on (that alot of you already know...) is that Emma will be a BIG SISTER this August. We are so excited to be welcoming another little girl into our family. We can not wait to meet little miss Piper Grace. I am so anxious already and still have a ways to go. Not totally sure yet if I will be posting belly pics or not.. we will see ;)  Emma is sure to be a great big sister, however, I would be lying if I said that I am not concerned about adding another little one to the mix. I will post on that later and be asking for all kinds of tips and advice..so get ready.

Last thing to catch you up on is my dad (some of you already know this as well...). I am very sad to tell you that my sweet little daddy passed away on Feb. 2nd. I would be lying to you if I told you that I am doing great and everything is sunshine and roses. My heart is broken. I may never be the same. There is a part of you that literally dies when you lose a parent. I can't explain it but I do know if you have ever had to expierance it then you know exactly what I am talking about. Two months later I still pick up the phone to call him and realize he wont be answering. So hard. I know he has been totally healed and is in a much better place however, for selfish reasons I still grieve his loss here. I am not going to go on and on.. there may be a day when I type it all out to get it out of my head but not tonight..

I am thrilled to be jumping back into the blogging world *stretches* nothing like a good winter's nap ;) Hope to be visiting all of your blogs and back to my old bloggy self now!!

I have missed you!

PS: I just realized I didn't have much to update on my sweet hubby Derek.. he is doing great. He is being absolutly wonderful to me while I am pregnant. He is working hard by day and a wonderful daddy/hubby by night :)


Ok.. I am done now!

Just A Few Thursday Tidbits

Hey Everyone!

Can you believe that it is time to start the Holiday talks!? I can't! I am so excited though. I think this year will be an absolute blast with Emma. We have been out quite a bit this week and she is loving seeing the occasional Christmas Tree at the mall or decorations in different stores. We made a trip to Hobby Lobby today bought some fun little Christmas crafts as well (I know it is early, but I can't help myself ) Even found a precious little Holiday apron for her. Think I will have it monogrammed and do alot of baking this year *ahem* attempto bake anyways ;) I will also be looking for some EASY fun baking recipes so if you know of any please send them my way. Also if you are having hard time coming up with a gift for somebody then you should definatly check out Mama M's Holiday Gift Guide that will be kicking off on Monday! I will be joining in.. should be alot of fun.

In other news Emma's sleeping problems seem to be getting worse. I wrote a post about a week or so ago talking about transitioning her from two naps a day down to one because she was having some issues not wanting to go to bed at night. Well, she is now down to one nap a day and is still have a hard time. Homegirl did not go to bed the night before last until 10 pm. We started the battle around 830 and she was just yelling for us or coming out of her room every five minutes until she finally gave up at ten. I don't know about you but that is not cool. Last night she woke up around 1230 and  decided she was done sleeping. I tried everything! We snuggled, said prayers, changed diapers, you name it we did it. Finally as a last resort I pulled out the pack and play! I set it up in her room at 3 AM and told her if she could not stay in her bed then she would have to sleep in there. Needless to say that is where she slept because of course she did not stay in her bed! I feel terrible leaving her in there to cry in a P &P but she can not be up and ready to play at midnight. Something has got to give! Praying for a better night tonight. She has not had sleep issues like this since she was 6 month old?!?

Alright well I am going to get my craft on and enjoy a few quiet moments. Don't be surprised if you see a few Christmas decorations slowly going up in the next few days. Derek will have a heart attack if I pull that stuff out before Thanksgiving...but....why not?!!? LOL

Talk to ya soon!

Last But Not Least...

I know I am really late in the day with my Halloween pictures.

But this little one....

 this sweet cute puppy dog.. has been a disaster today. A very loong weekend full of nightS waayy past her bedtime made for one crazy day today. She only wanted to cuddle, cry, be antsy, cranky and any other shananagin (sp?!!?) that an over tired toddler would pull. However, she was still the cutest puppy on the block this weekend!

 From L to R My godsone Landon (swat team member ;) Kelsey (Alex from Wizards of Waverly Place) and Emma!

We went trick or treating in style. Complete with an awesome hayride around the neighborhood! So much fun!!

My sweet grandmother bought this precious trick or treat bag for E. I loved it.. on the other side it had her name.

 Sorry for the blurry pic here.. my nighttime photo skills are not up to snuff ;) Anywho this was our pumpkin this year. I thought DH did a great job!

 We went to a fall festival on Saturday. It was fun but not exactly what I thought it was going to be. What did make it fun was that my sister, her bf, and my mom got to come with us since Derek had to work. We really enjoyed the time together..

This is our scarecrow we made.. hilarious huh?!

Group shot...

From L to R (Cole, my sister Lauren, and of course little E) 

 Two of my favorite girls in the world. my mom and sister!

We had a wonderful weekend! I hope y'all did as well. Now that is over though...

I say bring on ChRiStMaS!!!! If it was up to me I would have pulled out my decorations today (Derek says no way! ;)

Transitions...

Hey Everyone!

Here in OUR Paradise we are going through some changes. My little E is changing and doing so much growing that I am having a hard time keeping up. I may need a few pointers or tips if you don't mind!

Emma has always been a two nap a day kind of girl. Even at 26 months old! Yes, I understand I am really lucky and that most mom's do not get to enjoy two naps a day at this age. However, she really needed them and never had any problems going to bed at night or never fought a nap. UNTIL this week! I am seeing a few sleeping pattern changes in the making. My question for you is how did you transition from two naps a day to one nap? I have tried for two days in a row and she is acting extremely over tired. Yesterday her nap was a little over an hour and a half and still was fighting us to go to bed at 9 pm. Not cool! Any suggestions, tip, or anything of that sort is welcome!!

Toddler-hood is hard enough but then you add an over tired cranky girl on top of that and it is enough to do me in ;)

So help a sister out!! Give me all you inside info.

Thanks!!

A Helping Hand

I took this picture this past weekend while we were up in the mountains. Derek was giving E a helping hand (she loved climbing up the rocks..) Once I got home and uploaded this picture it took my breath away. For some reason for me it just captured his love for her and his commitment to always be there to give her a helping hand. I kind of related it to how God must feel about us. So wonderful and loving always there for us when we need him. There for his children if we will just call on him and ask for his help!

Happy Wednesday everyone!!