Santa, are you under here?

I think I am about done decorating for Christmas. Which I guess isn't too bad since it isn't even December yet, but I have been working on it all week. It has just taken longer than usual, maybe it is the little girl I keep tripping over. But it has also taken a little time beause I have been tying ribbon to hang all the ornaments. Katherine suggested it as a great way to keep Emily from eating the hooks her poking her eye out. I think it has turned out really cute and gives a lot of color to the tree. As you can see in the picture, I am going with a red/silver theme.

Emily hasn't been too interested in the tree yet probably because she has been entertained all week with all the lights and decorations all over the floor. However she does love the tree skirt. She loves anything soft and cuddly, so she keeps laying her head down on the skirt and rubbing her face in it. It is so cute, but she never lasts long for a picture.

Thanksgiving Travels

We are back from our holiday travels. Emily is either so excited to be home that she was unpacking her suitcase as fast as she could or she wanted to go back that she was packing herself in the suitcase. She handled all the traveling pretty well, but she definitely had her moments since she was running on just one nap a day. Thankfully, today she was back on her two nap schedule.

On Wednesday, we drove down to my mom and Larry's house. Mom and I cooked a really good Thanksgiving dinner for 20 people!!! Of course we did have a few mishaps, here are a few:

• Mom bought black cherry kool aid instead of black cherry jello for her cranbery jello salad.
  
• When mom got back from her 11pm run to the grocery store, Larry secretly switched the jello in the grocery bag with another flavor they had in the house. For about 3 minutes we thought mom was losing her mind and had bought the wrong stuff -again.
  
• Mom cut herself 3 times with her new Cutco knives.
  
• Mom almost burnt the house down when she turned the oven on and forgot she had been keeping the roasting pan complete with the plastic wrap and label in the oven - burning plastic is not a pleasant smell.

Notice, that I was not the cause of any mishaps. Love you mom! Here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving and some before and after pictures of my turkey. Not to brag, but I was very proud of my turkey. It was yummy!

Then Andy's favorite day of the year came... Black Friday!!! Nana decided she couldn't let her little grandbaby be woken up at 4:30, so she stayed home with Emily, who was still asleep when we got back. Since mom lives in a tiny town, there were no mile long lines to deal with. (We steered clear of Walmart!) We bought plenty of fun little things, however I must admit Black Friday is pretty much a boys' holiday, I couldn't find many girly things.

Then we headed down to my dad's house, where my sister was visiting. All the girls had a fun time together.

Then we had one more stop to get together with Andy's family.

And I love that my birthday is always around Thanksgiving, because I get to celebrate with all my family. I wasn't going to reveal how old I turned, but the picture gives it away. I am doing OK with this milestone, however please don't point out my gray hairs, that might send me over the edge!

Sunny day

Emily and I went out back to feed the ducks the other day. Unfortunately the ducks were gone by the time we got out there, so we just played outside since the weather was so nice.

Who needs toys???!

My husband often says that toys are a waste of money. This partly comes from the fact that he is the biggest cheap skate, but he also says kids have more fun with the most random things. Emily proved that to be true today. (But don't worry, I will never tell Andy he is right.)

She enjoyed playing with my laptop, paper towel roll, body sprays and toilet paper today. I thought I had the door to the toilet shut, but after a few minutes of too much quietness, I knew she was up to something. But I must admit it was pretty cute to see her pulling all the paper apart, luckily she hadn't thrown any in the toilet. I am sure that will come soon enough.

Emily's 1 year pictures

Emily's favorites

A few of Emily's favorite things these days are:

Her school bus riding toy. She just learned to push the buttons, and does it over and over again.

Her pink kitty. She squeals when she sees and will crawl as fast as she can to get to it. She loves to cuddle up to it.

The TV. She is starting to become quite the TV junkie. I usually have the TV on for background noise, but now she really watches it. I think I might have to start limiting the TV time.


Here is a video of her enjoying all three, despite the interruption from her dad.

Little Emily

Here is a picture of Emily in her new place favorite place. I had to clean all of the stuff off the bottom of the shelf, so she wasn't pulling it all out. So then she started climbing up there to play. She just hangs out on the shelf, laughing and kicking her feet. Of course, she usually falls out or bumps her head on the top shelf, so it doesn't always end that great.

One of my former coworkers came over to visit us with her new baby, Aidan. He is 2 months old and weighs just 2 lbs less than Emily! That is crazy! Our doctor suggested giving her some Carnation instant breakfast in her milk and yogurt made with whole milk, so I have started to do that. The other day I went to get her out of her high chair after breakfast and noticed brownie crumbs all over her. I questioned Andy on this and he had guilt written all over his face. I had to remind him that brownies for breakfast was not one of the doctor's suggestions. We are going back to the doctor next week for her flu shot and will have to see if she has gained any weight in the last month.

Halloween Fun

Go Heels! Emily was a UNC Cheerleader for Halloween, complete with face paint and pom poms. We went trick or treating with our neighbors, Avery, Laura and Katelyn. We pulled Emily and Katelyn house to house in the wagon. Obviously this was more for us parents than the girls, but they had a fun time too.

The next night we went to a haunted hayride with the youth at church. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and laughed at the screams coming from the hayride. But wouldn't you be screaming if you saw Andy coming at you with his chainsaw running???

Funny thing is Emily didn't even seem to notice his get up, she got all excited when he came walking up to her.