Love this post

"I don't want to raise a good child."

I loved this post today by Lysa. This was great perspective for me, one who is filled with pride when Emerson behaves, then frustration with myself when she is wild as can be. Here are her final points. Take a look at the full post!

1.  Don’t take too much credit for their good.

2.  Don’t take too much credit for their bad.

3.  Don’t try to raise a good child.  Raise a God-following adult

Fashion Review

As Emerson has  gotten a little older I have let her look at pretty dresses online since of course she loves fashion. She loves to tell me what she likes, and why. So today we viewed the SAG red carpet arrivals. Here are my favorites. 

Emily Blunt

Michelle Williams

Emma Stone

Here are Emerson's favorites..

Dianna Agron

Because she has Rapunzel hair, Emerson said she was beautiful.

Kaley Cucuo

She liked her Rapunzel hair (aka braided hair). I think Emerson also liked that it resembled Cinderella.

Jayma Mays

One we both agreed on. Emerson loved it because she was sparkly!

Last week in pictures

Last week we headed out first thing in the morning to the consignment sale. I usually make a bee-line straight for the clothes. But, with it not being as busy I stopped off in the back room for books. At first I got a princess book for Emerson. Until I turned around and saw disney movies. Emerson loves Tangled so much I knew she would love some more classics. I had my eye out for Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Both of which I found for $3 each. Score! But, then I turned around and found a set of 6 movies for $3. So I vetoed Cinderella since I'm pretty sure it comes out on blu-ray this year, and got 7 movies for $6. Emerson has a tv with hcr in her room so tapes are perfect for us. She has watched Little Mermaid and loved it. Although she thinks King Titan is Santa Claus. I'm really excited to watch Lady and the Tramp, one of my favorites. 

Next we went to the boy section since he was in the most need of spring clothes. Of course as usual the selection of boys clothes is about a quarter of the girls and there was only one other mom shopping that section. So I think I got first dibs on a lot. But, when I got home I saw a pattern. Do I like stripes much? Umm... I think so. 

Jump to the girl's section which was bumper to bumper with eager moms.  I didn't have the time or the patience to dig through it so I only got Emerson a few things. One of which was this dress, which she calls her Jonah and the Fish dress. She loves it! A perfect cotton dress to run around in this summer. Although she has already wore it a couple times. So we survived another consignment sale venture. Having Rio on the iphone didn't hurt. 

That afternoon we played outside in the rain. Ezra was super excited to play with the big kids!

Let down your hair

What is this you ask? Rapunzel hair of course. According to Emerson, "She has long, long hair." Using one of my favorite scarves as rapunzel hair was all her idea. I love her creativity and spirit! She constantly amazes me with how her mind works. No one could deny she is one of a kind.

Ezra was amazed too.

"She's silly Mom."

Hello there

Hey Ezra! Look at Mommy!

Ezra, smile!

Hello there, smile for Mommy!

Come on, one big smile!

"Oh, hi Mom!! When did you get here?!?"

My little chef

 Emerson has been helping me cook for quite some time now. We've made muffins, cupcakes, cookies galore, breads, and pizza.

She loves to use the mixer and stir everything with a spoon. She put together her outfit here if you couldn't tell.  Not only a good cook but stylish as well. 

The other week we made pumpkin nutella bread. I added a few chocolate chips on top just in case there wasn't enough chocolate.  To make the bread it's basically a pumpkin loaf first then you swirl in nutella at the end. I had a bowl of nutella set aside to mix with the bread. 

I soon learned you can't turn your back on a toddler and a bowl of nutella. She didn't do a good job of covering the evidence.

Craftastic

I love pinterest. Not just because you can find some great ideas but I love clicking through to find fabulous blogs. I've found so many home design, and DIY blogs that I would have never found otherwise.  That is what happened today when I stumbled upon two awesome DIY Craft blogs full of ideas for little girls. I haven't made anything for Emerson since the skirt disaster where she hated it but, I'm ready to dive back in.

Lulu Dress Tutorial

I adore this dress and I hope to make it for Emerson this spring. She loves longer dresses and this will be perfect. I just have to remember to get a wonderful pink for her so she will like it. Apparently turquoise is my favorite but not hers. 

Scalloped Top Tutorial

The second is this adorable. It's retro, fun, and oh so sweet. Time to dust off the sewing machine! 

Designer Knock-Off

Lastly an adorable peasant style dress. The blogger says she used a thrifted pillow case for this dress for the fabric. We'll have to try that! 

Now only to find the time and focus to make these cute threads!

Ezra 8 months/9 months

Ezra is 9 months much to my disbelief! These are his 8 month pictures since I have yet to take any for 9 months.  The tongue is his trademark now. I can't get that gorgeous grin!

Oh how I love that baby chub. Just when I think he can't get any cuter, he goes and proves me wrong! 

His official 8 month picture before Christmas. Can you tell he was sick? How pitiful! I'm so glad we are finally on the mend. I'll post a full report on his 9 month stats next week after his check-up. In other random news have you heard "Beauty and the Beast" is being re-released? 

I remember this coming out when I was a little girl and it was one of my favorites. But, now it's in 3D! Will you go see it? We might!

Sibling Fun

Emerson and Ezra are starting to have a lot of fun together! The giggles are contagious.

2011 in Review

2011 was a full year for us. Here are the highlights..

• Our firstborn turned 2
• We welcomed a healthy baby boy
• We transitioned to a family of four
• Emerson went from saying a word here and there to full blown sentences
• We entered the world of princesses and tutus
• Emerson started dance class
• We celebrated 5 years of marriage
• Ezra went through too many milestones to count

What an exciting and fun year we have had. I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store.


 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed 

     us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ."  Ephesians 1:3

Pullen Park Holiday Express

Early in December we went to Pullen Park for The Holiday Express Train. Pullen Park has been closed for two years so I jumped on the opportunity to take the kids. They had the park lit up and you could view the lights when you took the train. On top of that they had entertainment, crafts, and lots of christmas cheer. It was quite chilly that day so we bundled up and spent the evening there. While we were there we also got to enjoy the renovated park. I think we will be making a lot of trips there this summer!

Emerson loved the music and danced in the field while we snacked on sandwiches I had packed.

The visit to Santa was a little startling to Emerson. She is not too trusting of him. She kept saying afterwards, "I don't like Santa Mommy."  But, what she did like was a woman who was dressed up like a goat. It was very realistic looking and Emerson loved talking to her!

Last we enjoyed the carousel. It was enclosed in a new house with heat so it was nice and toasty. It was much faster than we expected. I got a little dizzy riding with Ezra! Emerson loved it and we rode about 6 times. I think we will definitely come back next year. It was a fun time. We spent 4 hours there!

Even though it's late.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!