Cowgirl Emmy

Aunt Cindy gifted Emmy her very first cowgirl hat!  It happens to be her first legitimate, non-diaper hat, and she LOVES it!!

A different kind of playdate

I have been so blessed to have some really wonderful girlfriends here in Clarksville.  There was a large group of us army wives that connected up not long after we got to town.  We have enjoyed many late nights consuming good food and large quantities of wine while our hubbies were deployed.  We reunited this past weekend when Sara and her sweet Claire came for a visit from their new duty station in Florida.  My how times have changed...

L-R: Molly & Willa (5 months), Stacy & Madelyn (3.5 months), Kristy & Noah (2 months), yours truly & Hannah (2 months) & Sara & Claire (1 month)...Post-deployment baby boom at it's finest.

Hannah & Claire getting to know one another

Babies, babies, everywhere!

Hannah and her new friend, Noah.

Just Three Words...

RAINY DAY PLAY

It was a dreary, drizzly day outside; and just as wet inside our house.  Emmy had some fun playing with bubbles in the kitchen sink.  The good news is the "mess" actually left my kitchen a little cleaner than it was before.  After Emmy Girl made an impressive dent in our soap supply, we transitioned into a good old fashioned game of dress-up...

Loving Emmy's tutu!

Emmy forcefully gave everyone a tutu to wear.

Some photos from other recent play days:

Hannah got roped into playing with Emmy's babies.

Emmy helping Hannah to "color piture."

Emmy wanted to hold Hannah, so we made her sit on our bed to maximize the padding.

Emmy insisted on brushing Hannah's "teeth."

Tennessee Primaries

To fulfill my civic responsibility and promise to my dear Grandma Odell, I went and voted Republican today.  It took us nearly two hours to get out of the house and ten minutes to get from the car to the polling station; but Hannah, Emmy, Emmy's monkey leash "backpack," Emmy's Elmo backpack, Emmy's baby doll, Emmy's jacket, Emmy's fruit snacks and three sippy cups joined me to the polling booth.  How could I possibly ever be lonely with such an entourage?  As a somewhat funny side note, the sweet old ladies checking me in had to do a double take when they looked at my not-too-shabby driver's license picture.  I informed them that it really was me, and that I had just taken it in my pre-child days when I still had time to shower.  They threw a pity nod my way and then started in on stories about their grandbabies.

Later that night, Emmy returned to the polling station with Dada, immediately following our finding that Nick is, indeed, registered to vote.  (I'm not sure what happened, but I got unfavorable results in my earlier internet search for his designated polling station.  I'm still surprised--flattered, really--that he took my word as truth and didn't recheck the results until I told him that there was a chance I could've made a typo.)   Despite arriving with a significantly lighter load the second time around, all of the volunteers remembered Emmy.  Surely they were impressed by her devotion to the election process.

Those stickers were hard-earned.

Psalm 118:24

"This is the day the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it."

I'll come clean and admit that I don't rejoice in every day that the Lord has made; there are lots of days I wish to be over as soon as they start.  With that admission out of the way, I will say that I am still rejoicing in yesterday; which is why I feel so compelled to document it.

There wasn't anything particularly extraordinary about the day, other than everything seemed to go my way.  Nick woke up to cuddle with Emmy on the couch and let me sleep in after Hannah's first morning feeding.  I haven't stumbled out of bed at nine o'clock in a very long time.  Then, I got to chat, UNINTERRUPTED, with my favorite sister for a whole thirty minutes.  This is a rarity considering at least one of our five children is usually in need of something while we gab.

After wrapping up our gossip sesh, I got to enjoy a yummy waffle breakfast with my three favorite Horns.  It was over breakfast that I realized that something truly spectacular had come over my Emmy.  She was behaving like a perfect ANGEL.  "Please," "Thank you," and "Okay, Mama" were flying left and right, even when they weren't really the appropriate responses.  I knew I'd have been a fool to correct her.  She was more agreeable than I could ever hope for her to be.  So much so, that Nick and I questioned if she wanted money or something (which was silly because she has no idea what money is.)  We shared many grins over her head throughout the day as our two year old cheerfully agreed with our every request.  I'm not even exaggerating this time.

Nick took Emmy to Lowes to gather supplies to tackle the house repair projects that have lingered on our to-do list, and my sweet baby Hannah allowed herself to sleep in her crib for a whole hour!  I had time to clean up the house and climb on the treadmill for my initial assault on my post partum muffin top.  During the girls' afternoon naptime, I had time to finish a blog post, shower (AND blow-dry my hair), and take a nap with the dogs while my handsome hubby slaved away on the projects outside.

Emmy took a whopper of a nap, as did Hannah.  After which, we went outside to play and cheer daddy on as he worked.  We actually did cheer Nick on, it went a little like this:

Me: "Emmy, let's cheer for Dada, 2, 4, 6, 8 who do we appreciate? Dada! DADA!!  Ok, now say it after Mama...2..."

Emmy: "3"

Me: "4"

Emmy: "5"

Me: "Well, if nothing else we're practicing counting and making Dada laugh...6..."

After our outdoor play time (Hannah napped beautifully in the Ergo so that I could actually play with Emmy girl,) I hit the ball out of the park with a new recipe.  I know it might not be great for his waistline, but man, it stroked my ego to see Nick go back for three helpings of buffalo chicken tacos!  

After tucking Emmy into bed last night, Nick, Hannah and I sat down with a bottle of wine, chocolate and some "borrowed" episodes of Californication.  The cherry on top of my wonderful day was that my sweet Hannah gifted me six straight hours of sleep.  I would be grateful for just one thing to go smoothly in my day, but this all was more than I could have hoped for.  Thank you LORD for giving me that day!

Emmy, still wearing her helmet from yesterday, helps Nick measure our warped deck railing.

After I told her not to touch Dada's pliers, Emmy enthusiastically skipped into the house to find her play dough scissors with which to "fix" the gate instead.

I can't stop staring at my baby girl.  Since my memory is too poor to memorize each line and freckle on her face, I am doing my best to get them on "film."  I want to always be able to recall her seven-week-old beauty, because I know it'll change next week.

Weather Day

We were so fortunate that our severe weather preparations went unused yesterday.  We pray for those who didn't fare so well :(.  It was five years ago to the day, that we bared witness to the devastation following the category EF4 tornado that hit Enterprise, Alabama.  It touched down just a mile from our newlywed home.  The memories of that storm are still crystal clear; it was then that we learned that you don't mess with Mother Nature.  After stepping outside to the unseasonably warm weather yesterday morning, I packed up my girls to raid Target for an emergency stash to stock our "safe place." Given the weather reports of the incoming inclement weather (which rated a 9 on the scale of 0-10 for risk of tornadic activity,) Nick's boss sent everyone home at lunch time to hunker down with their families.  It turns out the worst of the storm bypassed us entirely, but we sure did enjoy our unexpected weather day together. :)

Daddy and all his girls.

The clouds rolling in.

The weather was disconcerting all day...The temperature reached a high of 78 before the cold air arrived.

Hannah contentedly cuddling with Dada (she fell asleep shortly after I took this photo).

Safety first for Emmy! (Truthfully, she had no idea about the weather, she was stoked that Mommy bought her a new helmet for her tricycle yesterday.)  We passed the time making some super yummy chocolate candies (thank you, PINTEREST...again!)

Unbeknownst to him, Nick was participating in Emmy's game of dress-up.

Judging by the photos, it looks as though Nick slept the whole day, but he didn't, only part of it. ;)  The same could be said for Hannah.  She was awake for the better part of the night. :-/

This & That

I had a box of fine chocolates on my doorstep the other day!  There was no slip inside the shipping box to identify the Chocolate Fairy who absolutely made my day....So BLESS YOU Chocolate Fairy for your incredible gift!  Not only have you provided me with a reward for getting through the tough parts of my day, but you saved me a trip to the grocery store!  Which makes it a doubly appreciated gift!!  THANK YOU!!!

I had to "break up" with my OB at my six week Post Partum check-up last week.  I've spent an awful lot of time at the doctor's office over the last 10 months, it's hard to believe that I'm off the hook for awhile.  I informed Dr. Anderson that he and his nurse Emily are on my "pro" list for staying in the military and coming back to Fort Campbell (I'm obviously having to dig deep...) He gave Hannah a bib that he calls it his shameless plug...

Emmy has one too... :)

Emmy modeling the BEAUTIFUL dress that Ashley Gustafson made by hand...It is a masterpiece!!!

 She is highly cooperative when Caillou is on the T.V.