Happy Thanksgiving 2015

Sooooo late on this! 

But... it was a good day full of family, games, and FOOD! Thanksgiving was spent at the Underwood's (my family) and we did Thanksgiving with the Murdock's the Saturday before. 

We have the BEST family. Lots of playing with the kiddos. Lots of eating. A nap thrown in the mix. It just puts a smile on my face thinking about it. 

My heart is so full.... and so was my belly! 

Saturday, November 21st at GiGi and PaPa's house! (A note - the best picture we could get and honestly (sad to say) I think this is the only picture we have ALL of us together. Great day and so much food! Oh, and Emma loves fly swatters... random. Tristan and Emma are the cutest little turkeys - they even kind of look like twins....)

Thursday, November 26th at Grammy and PawPaw's house! (A note - Emma tried green bean bake for the first time and LOVED it. Chowed down. Also, she slept for a 2.5 nap. Mom and Dad got some quality game time in with the kiddos) 

So much to be thankful for this year. It has a been a great year. Full of joy and love. 

XOXO

17 Months + Fall Pics

Emma is a bundle of energy. Constantly dancing. Girlfriend has some moves. Constantly playing with her legos, balls, fly swatters, minnie and mickey, tupperware, babies, blankets. You name it, she's playing with it. And constantly reading books, well looking at books. We have a little Dustin on our hands with how much this girl loves her books. "Dog wants to Play", "Piggie Paints" (thank you Dolly), and "Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs". The list goes on, but those are her favorites. We all know when it gets really quiet that can only mean one thing.. TROUBLE.. so I ran in the living room to find her flipping through pages of her books. Wow. Can we say perfect child? I'm a little biased. 

Sleeping is still great. We ask her aroudn 745-8p, "Are you ready for bed?" and she grabs her baby, unicorn and pillow, walks towards the stairs and says "bed" while pointing upstairs. Hey smart girl. We then go upstairs and read around 10-15 books and then we are ready for cuddles, snuggles and bed time. 

Eating is still a hit or miss. Her favorites are hands down Mac and Cheese and applesauce. Still trying to work on those veggies, but still no go most of the time. Can't win them all. As long as she is eating, I'm happy and she is happy. 

Can we say goofball?

In other news, while I'm off over Christmas and New Years (Yes, my work gives us 2 weeks off. Wahoo!) I think we might attempt this whole potty training thing. I will be researching and asking my mama friends on what is the best way to do this. Anybody have any suggestions out there? It might be a long weekend after Christmas BUT I'm staying positive! 

Every morning I send Dustin a car seat picture of Emma on our way to school. This was yesterday on her 17 month birthday. She looks so old here. My red-headed blue-eyed beauty. 

So a couple of weeks ago we did some family pictures with the amazing and fabulous Alli Golden. She took them on a Sunday morning at Harlinsdale Farm in Franklin. I'm literally obsessed with every. single. shot. she took. She must have slipped Emma some happy pills because she is smiling or being a goof in every pictures. And to top it off, when we finished up Emma held Alli's hand while walking to the car. Precious. 

Shirt from Old Navy and Top Knot from Pieces to Peaces

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! Dustin and I are thankful for so many things this year. Our little girl, our marriage, our family, our home, our health, and our God. Without Him none of us would be here and none of these things would matter. 

I'm grateful and thankful to and for Him.  

XOXO

Halloween 2015 cont....

Weekend Wrap-Up. 

So. Much. Fun.  

Love my little family and my sweets. 

2014 vs 2015. 
From Flintstones to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She has grown so much in just a year. Me and D on the other hand.. look about the same (and so does sweet Moose).

A collage of the day. It was fantastic! 

Sass faces, reading books, giggles (more like belly laughs), horsey riding, football watching (Davis and UT) and doggy kissing. 

And... last but not least... I call this "Emma in November". Lame, I know. But look how happy she is in these. This is just a little preview of the pictures Alli took that morning except mocs were boots and ponytail was a big bow! Of course. 

Lets be honest, it is the BEST time of year - except for Christmas, which is just around the corner and.... I have not bought 1 item yet. Oops. #FAIL. 

Amazon prime, anyone?

Loves. XOXO

16 Months and HALLOWEEN 2015

So life has been busy. I want time to slow down especially with this cutie patootie. I can't believe she is 16 months already. I was in Vegas for a work conference for basically an entire week and I was so ready to get home to my little family. Emma and Dada had a blast and apparently daycare drop offs were not so great. Shannon told Dustin that he has a "daddy's girl on his hands" and I have to agree. Emma loves her daddy and it is the sweetest bond I have ever witnessed. Makes me fall in love with him all over again. 

She is full of personality and saying so much lately. She says "uh oh" whenever something has dropped (probably the cutest thing I have ever heard), "daaa" (dog), "dooo" (Doc McStuffins, of course), "eeee" (three), "door" (door), "side" (outside), "dada" (dad), and "mommyyy" (mom). Also, she now loves to point at each of our features on our face and tries to say each of one of them - - "mose" (nose), "my me" (mouth) and my absolute favorite - she has found her hair and mine. She pets it every night and says "sawww" (soft - because we tell her that when she is petting Moose). 

She loves baths, which make us very happy because who doesn't love a clean baby and its a great distraction for when she is having a meltdown. She was having a bad night and we said "Hey Emma, lets go get in the bath" and she looked at us and said "baaaa" and pointed upstairs... yep, girl, let's go! After bath... we brush our teeth... as a family. :)

We go outside A LOT lately! Who doesn't LOVE this fall weather? 

Eating has been hit or miss lately. With teething I can understand, that has to hurt. I can't even imagine. She eats great at school, which is due to all the kids being around her, but when she comes home for dinner... it depends on her mood. 
Favorites - Mac and Cheese (obsessed), pizza, spaghetti, pasta (in general) graham crackers, chicken nuggets, marshmallows, carrots, peanut butter and jelly, bananas, mandarin oranges (obsessed), fruit/veggie pouches  
Not-so-Favorite - mostly veggies which makes me grateful for pouches, but specifically any green veggies and puffs (has never liked them).

GO VOLS!!

Sleeping - she is champ. Nothing more to say there. :)

ALL the sass!

Halloween is hereeeeeee which means... DRESS UP TIME! This mama gets really excited about Halloween. I dig it, thus I make the whole family dig it! I hope she learns to love it. Right now, she doesn't really get it but that's OK. This year we decided to be the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Me - Mickey, Dad - Goofy (of course) and Emma - Sweet/Cute little Minnie Mouse. 

We dressed up and headed to our Fall Festival at church. We were in charge of decorating our trunk for the trunk-o-treaters. We did Mickey theme of course. We were also asked to help in doing games for the preschoolers. I had some help with other volunteers and we had a GREAT turn out. Tons of kids were there decorating pumpkins, playing football, dancing to the "Boo"grass Band, and eating hot dogs, popcorn and of course CANDY! Emma on the other hand was in her own world or throwing and kicking inflatable balls. Basically playing fetch with herself and keeping herself occupied. Overall, a great night of fellowship and FUN! 

This weekend is looking like a blast. Tomorrow will be actual Halloween. We are going to Davis' football game and then we are planning on going to the Oates House in Westhaven for a little party including football, food, and costumes. VERY excited! Maybe hit up a pumpkin patch as well. Sunday is God's day with us going to church and the we are getting some fall family pictures made by the fabulous Alli Golden. Can't wait to see how they turn out! 

XOXO

15 Months

This month has been an adventure. Trying to understand what she is saying and also dealing with booty rashes and teething. Honestly, I wouldn't change it for the world. I love the constant change of day to day. Never thought I would EVER say that, but with a kiddo I have learned to adapt and go with the flow. This OCD and routine-liking mama is finally getting there and it has put me at ease... and has bettered mine and Emma's relationship. 

This is the face I get in the morning on the way to daycare... Graham in hand and Minnie for the ride, of course.

Emma has been pointing at everything and wanting to know more and more. My favorite times are when we go for our family walk in the evening. The conversation she thinks she is having with us is just amazing. Pointing at and saying "tee" (tree) and obsessing over the birds every time they fly by. She doesn't care too much for the stroller so we either hold hands or we still use the baby bjorn. She loves that thing and I get an extra workout by carrying my 25 lb baby. 

She has a lot of personality lately. She is a goofball and pretty independent. 

She is understanding more too. She shakes her 'no' and says 'yes' to answer questions. When we say "let's go outside" she points to the door and attempts to say 'door'. She "sings" the ABCs and dances to Wheels on the Bus and the Itsy Bitsy Spider. She knows what upstairs means because she looks up and points. That is where her room is for changing, playing, reading books and night night. We tried to make it a fun environment, not just a sleep or be changed room and it seems to have worked. Still loves playing peek-a-boo and now loves chasing and/or being chased by Moose. They are best friends... sometimes. She knows him as "dog" and says it All. The. Time. She also loves watching TV including Sophia the First, Looney Tunes Babies, and Doc McStuffins. She sat through an entire episode for the first time. She is usually on the go from Morning til Night, so it was nice to chill for 20 minutes. 

15 months was a lot of booty rash and teething. We called the doctor because it would not clear up with all of our remedies we tried. The nurse prescribed her some medicated ointment and we are finally clearing up. She said that she might have had a little yeast infection, very common, so we are thankful it wasn't anything worse. BUT it has been miserable for Emma and for anyone involved with changing her. She closes her eyes every time we lay her down on the changing table. Poor bug. But with that being said, she is liking bath time as long as there are lots of bubbles and splashing!

We are, also, in the midst of teething.. again. Will it ever end? Lots of white teeth popping through on top and bottom, but none have come all the way through. Poor thing. Her sign for teething is an awful cough (caused by drainage), lots of snot, and very clingy. Hopefully it will pass soon. With that being said, she is till eating. Lost a little bit of appetite, but who wouldn't? It has to be painful. 

Mac and Cheese face.

Figuring out this whole fork thing...

Fall Season is FINALLY here and that means Football is here. Once again, our Vols are failing us. But we still have to support our Big Orange. Besides that, who doesn't love this weather? Of course, being in the south its cool and almost cold one week and the next its hot again (in the 80s). I love it though. The fall colors are out and Emma loves playing in the leaves in our front yard. Super cute to witness. 

Fall is the best season. 

Up next is Halloween. Hint Hint... We will be singing in our "clubhouse" and might be eating some "hot dogs" very soon. Till then.... 

XOXO

Blue Jean Babyyy

Yesterday. Was. My. Favorite.... 

My favorite scrunchy faced Ginger.

Up to No good. 

Oh hey Dad. 

"Ok, enough pictures mama" 

Hey...curls, backless dress (thanks Target), and pink converse. 

XOXO