One last stop at Animal Kingdom and then a long journey home December 29th

On Saturday morning we got up, finished putting the last minute items in the car, ate breakfast, did our final run through of the condo, and then headed for Disney's Animal Kingdom. We had been thinking all week that as a way to get some energy out before the long ride home, we would go for the morning. Since we had really liked Animal Kingdom and it was quick to get in and out of, we went there. Since we were not able to do the Safari on Tuesday, John immediately headed to the Africa section of the park to get some fast passes. The girls and I meandered over to Dino Land, looking at some of the animal exhibits on the way and one of the shops. John made his way back over to meet us in Dino Land and we all got in line for the fling Triceratops (Emily called them the rhinoceroses). We were in luck that early that the line took only a few minutes. That seemed to be one of Emily's favorites from the other day and she seemed to love it again. In addition, Ansley and Bailey seemed to have a blast. Since the line was so short, we rode one more time. After that, we ventured back to the Dino play ground, specifically the digging area with the little rocks. Emily again, though that was the best thing ever!!! After leaving Dino land we headed to the Africa section since our time was approaching to use our fast passes. On our way, we happened to see the Calypso band again. By the time we made it over to the Safari, the little ones were to tired, so Emily and I got in the fast pass lane. I have to say, it was one of the neatest rides ever. You board this large jeep type vehicle and a driven through Disney's safari area that they have set up to look like the African outback. It took about 15 minutes and while on the safari, the animal are just roaming around you. Emily was amazed, as was I, and she had me taking a picture of every animal she saw. The first group we saw were the Rhinos, birds, and Hippos. The Hippos were in the water and our guide/driver said they were able to stay under water for up to 5 minutes. Next were the Nile crocodiles. They were kind of down in a moat type area since the driver said they were noted to be even more aggressive that the American crocodile and got upwards of 20 feet long. Next we moved on the the plains type area where we say a variety of antelopes and other similar animals, giraffes, elephants, zebra, and much more. We then made our way around past the flamingos, saw ostrich eggs, and then several more elephants with their babies. Once we pulled back in the loading station, Emily and I got out, tried to see the gorillas and then met up with John and the girls. Emily mentioned she was hungry so we headed towards the Mickey area to get her something to eat. On the way out of the Africa section, we got to see the African dancers. It was a group of about 8 guys and they were doing various African dance and acrobatic tricks. One of the acrobatics was truly amazing. This one guy did a hand stand balancing on another guys hands that were over his head. After the show, we got some lunch, went through a few shops, and headed for the car. Unfortunately, we had no idea what kind of traffic we were going to face on the way home that started not long after leaving the park. After a few hours, we had only made it to 80 miles south of Jacksonville where we made our first stop at a McDonald's/gas station. We took a break, got a snack, and then walked over to the fruit stand next door, since John was dying to get some oranges. Very surprising since I never see him eat fruit =) He samples a couple and decided on the Red Navel Orange. A special type from that area, that was really quite good. The 1/4 bushel was the smallest size, so after buying it, we loaded back up and headed back to I95. We again hit a lot of traffic with numerous slow downs (that never seemed to be explained at the end of them). Around 7 we stopped again, at around Brunswick GA at a Sub Way/gas station. There were picnic benches out side, so John took the girls to one of the benches while I got our food. After eating, changing the girls into jamies, and filling up the car, we were off. We overall made better time with only about one more slow down and a little rain. The little ones went to sleep after while. At around 10, John was ready to switch drivers, so we stopped at Balentine SC and quickly switched. Unfortunately, Emily was not able to get comfortable in her seat so it was a long last hour or so for her until we made it home at 11:15 pm.

Sea World December 28th

Going in to our trip, I had heard may good thing about Sea World and really wanted to try going. However, since we had been so kindly given Disney tickets for Christmas, we were not going to get additional tickets to another theme park. By fate, while Emily and John were at the pool on Thursday afternoon, there was a person that had left over Sea World tickets and offered them to John.

On Friday morning, got ready and were off to Sea World by 9. When we arrived, it was just time for the park to open, so we were able to get a close parking space and walked into the park. The first area we went to contained sting rays. John touched them and Emily really enjoyed looking at them. Ansley and Bailey were also very interested in seeing them. On the way out the sting ray area, they had a separate area for the baby sting rays that we looked at. After the sting rays, we came upon the dolphins. They offered the opportunity to feed the dolphins and we were in luck to come at one of the feeding times, so Emily and I went through the line to purchase fish to feed the dolphins while John and the little ones were routed around to the other side of the dolphin pool. After getting our fish, Emily and I went to one of the sides of the dolphin pool and waited for the dolphins to swim up to us. Emily and I would hold the fish up and the dolphins would come get then out of our hands. When they swam up, I petted them. Emily was a little unsure about touching them, but towards the end, she decided to try. After the dolphins, we went to the penguin exhibit and then by the sharks, on the way to the Shamu show. When we got to the show, the little ones were tired, so Emily and I went in and found a seat on the second row. It was perfect, although we were in the splash zone. While we were waiting for the show, the offered ponchos and I got one for Emily. The show was very impressive and Emily was amazed to see the whales jumping in the air and the trainers riding on the tip of the whales noses while jumping out of the water. However, when the whales started going around and splashing the audience, Emily wanted to move higher up. After moving up, we finished watching the show and then went to meet John and the girls. We met up and while I changed the little ones, John and Emily went to visit the Sea Lyons before lunch. For lunch, we found a neat outdoor cafe that served BBQ. It was really the best food we had at any of the theme parks. After lunch, we headed to the kids play area where John and Emily rode the merry go round and went in the big play fort that was made up of tunnels, ropes, and slides. After the play area, Emily and I went to ride the balloon ride and while John, Ansley, and Bailey played in the fountain area. Emily and I went over to the fountain and the girls played for a while before we headed out.

Pool Day - Downtown Disney

On December 26th, we decided to take the morning off from theme parks. After getting up, we went to IHOP for breakfast. After we came back we played around some, before deciding to go over to Downtown Disney to look for Emily a princess dress. She loves to dress up as a princess so we had promised she could pick out a princess dress while we were on vacation. When we arrived at the Down Town Disney area, we parked, and first found the main Disney store. It was huge, so we all walked around for a while and let Emily look at all of the choices before she picked. She had talked about a Cinderella at the first of the week, but when she found the Little Mermaid (Areal) wedding dress she was hooked. She also picked out some shoes to go with the dress. After getting her dress, she was anxious to put it on, so we found a bathroom to change. We walked around to a few shops before trying to get some lunch.


In the afternoon, we made a trip to the pool.

Christmas Day 2007 - Disney's Animal Kingdom

On Christmas day, we were woken by Emily asking if Santa came. We told her he had and went into the living room of the condo to see what he brought. The little ones were awake so they also came in to check out the action. Emily's was first and the very first thing Emily noticed was her soccer ball sitting at the top of the stocking. This is something she started saying she wanted just days before Christmas, and luckily Santa was able to come through. She was so excited she was running for the door. Although she turned back when we told her Santa had brought more and it was in her stocking. She quickly pulled out her new baby doll and followed with her various other goodies, including bath toys, a shake and go plane, candy, paint, etc. Her and the little girls loved playing with the stuff while I opened mine next. I got a digital picture frame, memory for my camera, a filter for my camera, and a movie. Next we were on to Ansley. She didn't really know what to do, but Emily and I helped. She got a remote control car (special made for 12 month+ that was really neat), various snacks she liked, bubble bath, a new WubaNub Purple Frog passie, and new plate to eat off. Next John checked out his stocking, which included a shake and go plane, a Superman shirt, a USC shirt, season 6 of Scrubs, some cologne, and a game. Finally we were on to Bailey. She didn't really know what to do ether, but Emily and I helped. She got a remote control car (special made for 12 month+ that was really neat), various snacks she liked, bath toys, bubble bath, and new plate to eat off. After all the stockings were opened, John took Emily outside to let her play with the soccer ball some while the little ones ate breakfast. She was very excited about her new ball. When they came back in, she also ate and all the girls played with their Santa stuff. At around 10, we met Daddy, Katrina, Leslie, Megan, Quinten, and Blake at the Sizzler for a breakfast buffet.

At around 2, Daddy and Katrina came over to our condo to keep Ansley and Bailey while John and I took Emily to Animal Kingdom. When we arrived at the park, we say Leslie's group and all walked in together. They wanted to do the safari. John headed with them to the Africa section to try to get fast passes. As it turned out fast passes for that ride was up for the day, and since we did not want to wait 90 minutes, we opted out. While John was trying to get the passes, Emily and I walked around. As it turned out, we quickly found a Calypso band and Emily had the best time dancing. The band was playing a variety of songs, including Christmas songs like Jingle Bells. When they were getting ready to play Jingle Bells, they got some of the kids to come up front, and gave them bells to shake with the song. Emily loved playing the bells. After a while, I got a call from John and he was able to meet us at the band. Since he did not have any luck with the fast passes for the Safari, he got us some for Its a Bugs Life (we late found out this would be a big mistake). In the time we had before our fast pass was ready, we went to Dino Land. While in Dino Land, we rode the Triceratops ride and then went to the playground. In time for our fast pass, we headed back to Its a Bugs Life. When we made it to the front, we waited a few minutes in this cave like staging area, which is where Emily started not to be crazy about it. However, when we went in and were on the second row, things seemed to be looking up. The show started out cute with the main ant coming out from the moving and doing a speal. After a minute or two, then the villain (which caught us totally by surprise), came out right in front of us. Since we were on the second row on the side, the probably 6 foot tall villain bug was hanging over us. Emily was scared, but we did not have any way to leave. We tried to get her to bury her head, but soon a big spider came out on the screen and started talking about showing us what it was like to be a bug and was spraying smoke. This is when things really went bad and Emily was screaming "Get me out of Here". Luckily it ended quickly and we were able to leave, but it defiantly turned out to not be the "show" we expected. Lets just say we did not try to get Emily to go to more "shows". After the trauma was done, we say a little bit of the parade on the way out of the ride and headed back to Dino Land. On the way, we stopped at the meet the characters section, where Emily go tot see Pooh, Piglet, Ehore, and Tigger. After we ate, I was able to get in touch with Leslie, and by coincidence, they were just coming to the restaurant where we ate, so we had a little visit. After our visit, we went back to ride the Triceratops again. There was a neat ride in Dino Land, the Primeval Whirl, that was for big people. I wanted to give it a try, so John and Emily went back to the play ground, while I went to get in line. By chance, I saw Megan and Leslie a few people ahead of me and some nice people let me go up there with them. The three of us had a blast on my first "big person ride" of the trip. When we got off, we saw Blake and Quinten. They had fast passes so they were off to Expedition Everest. I then met up with John and Emily at the playground. As it turned out, in the back of the play ground was a very neat digging section with all these tiny rocks for the kids to play in. It was like a huge sand box, but with tiny rocks. This was defiantly a highlight for Emily. After that, we started walking some and ran into the Barton's near Expedition Everest. They offered to keep Emily while John and I rode. I have to say that it was a really neat ride!! You start off traveling up what is suppose to be Mt. Everest, race around, then suddenly start racing backwards. After the ride, we headed to the play ground to meet up with the Barton's. Emily was really getting tired, so we played for a few minutes with Blake and then headed towards the car.

Christmas Eve 2007

After a very busy few days, we decided to take the 24th off from theme parks to enjoy a more restful day and to have more time to do Christmas stuff. After breakfast, we headed to the near by outlet mall since John had not done his Christmas shopping. John took Ansley and Bailey to the electronics store and I took Emily to Eddie Bauer. Once we were done with those two stores, we all walked around for a while since it was such a nice day and hung out some at the boardwalk/fountain area they had. After returning to the condo, having lunch, and naps, we let the girls open their Christmas presents from us. Starting this year, we decided to let the girls open their gifts from us and each other on Christmas Eve so that they were not lost in the shuffle of Santa. All of them had a great time oepning gifts, including the little ones. Ansley and Bailey needed help from Emily, but loved playing in the paper. Emily got a wooden clock and some new Christmas jammies from us, a princess radio from Ansley, and a Leo conductor's wand from Bailey. Ansley received a stuffed rabbit from Emily, and jammies and a Toby the Tot Bot from us. Bailey also received a stuffed rabbit from Emily , and jammies and a Twilight Lady Bug from us. They really enjoyed playing with their new toys. When Emily was ready, I took her outside so that we could sprinkle her reindeer food. This was something they made at school where they took oatmeal and sparkles and mixed them together. The sparkles were suppose to attract the reindeer and the oatmeal was a snack for the reindeer. Emily thought this was really neat. The two of us went to the grass outside the condo and careful sprinkled little bits around. She wanted to keep some for a while, so we headed back in and her and John later went out since she wanted to put the rest out. After dinner and baths, we dressed all the girls in their new jammies, loaded them in the car, and we were off to find some Christmas lights. At first we were having trouble finding some, but then we ran upon a nice neighborhood that had lots of lights. As it was getting late, we returned to the condo, put Ansley and Bailey to bed, and then I read Emily various books, including Twas the Night Before Christmas and one about the Christmas story. They we put out the cookies and milk for Santa before bed.

December 23rd - Magic Kingdom

After a hard first day arriving in Florida and going to the Magic Kingdom, we decided we would hang around the resort on Sunday morning, December 23rd. The weather was beautiful and in the 70's and Emily had been desperately wanting to go to the pool. So after getting on her bathing suit, we all headed down to the pool. After watching her play a little while, Ansley, Bailey, and I headed off to find a grocery store. As most of you know, we can not make it long without getting groceries. We were in luck in the fact there was a grocery store within a few blocks. When the girls and I returned from the store, Emily was playing in the tub. We all had lunch, got the girls down for a nap, and when they awoke, we got ready to head over to the Magic Kingdom. When we arrived at Disney, we caught the ferry over to the Magic Kingdom and headed in the gates. We just made it there as the 3:30 parade was going through. Emily was very curious so we stopped for a few minutes until she was ready to head on. It was extremely crowded due to the Christmas season, but we slowly were able to make our way around to meet up with Daddy and Blake at the entrance to Toon Town. First thing, Emily and I got in line and rode the Barn Yard ride in Toon Town while John and the girls walked around. Emily really enjoyed the ride. While we were in the Magic Kingdom, John and Emily rode the tea cup, we ate at the cafe in Tomorrow Land, played on the playground in Toon Town, all of us rode the Snow White ride, and all of us got on the Pooh ride. Not long before the Spectro Magic parade started, we headed down the main drag, were not able to find the group, so we made our way out of the park and rode back via the monterale. Emily seemed to have a really good time even though she was exhausted by the end of the day.

As a recommendation for all of you that are thinking about Disney with little ones, I would not recommend going to the Magic Kingdom on the several days surrounding the Christmas holiday. With the crowds, it is impossible to get through with a double stroller, the lines for the rides are extremely long, it is extremely noisy (little ones are not able to fall asleep), and the lines for the bathrooms can be worse (which does not do well when young ones need to go to the potty often and there are diaper explosions). That being said, it is really neat to see everything decorated for Christmas. If would recommend that if you will be in Orlando at one of these peak times, try to hit ones like Sea World or Animal Kingdom on peak days. There is much more to offer that you do not have to wait for and they did not seem as busy.

Traveling to Flordia Dec 21-22

On Friday, December 21st, we all awoke with excitement because we were leaving for Florida that morning. We went downstairs to eat breakfast and got dressed. We were suppose to be at Leslie’s house to leave for Florida at 9:30 since we were all going to caravan down together. Around 8 we got a call from Daddy to let us know everyone was up earlier and that since there was suppose to be a bad storm along the coast, we were all going to try to go down interstate 85 through Atlanta vs. down 385. The new plan was for us to wait on the group at the Mauldin Rd. exit so we left the house around 8:45 and headed by CVS in Mauldin to pick up a last minute item, to the gas station, and then we headed to wait on the exit ramp at Mauldin Rd. Around 9:15, we got the call that Leslie, Katrina, Megan, Blake, and Daddy were getting ready to pass the exit so we looked for the van (since Marna, Jim, Mason, Sydney, Sophia, and Lilly had flown to Orlando; they were driving Marna’s van). Soon we saw Marna’s van passing by so we pulled off the ramp and headed for the interstate. After months of talking about our trip, we were finally off and running. All the girls were in good spirits and playing in the back seat. Emily was mainly watching Dora the Explorer for the first part (Dora has recently tuned out to be one of Emily’s favorite shows and books after Mom got here some Dora movies for her birthday) and the little ones were playing with various toys I handed them. For this first leg of the trip all was well, is was drizzling and a little cold outside, while the babies drifted in and out of their naps, while Emily watched Dora. She seemed to be so excited and keep asking us wear we were going. We explained it to her that we were taking a very long drive to Florida and in Florida was Disney World were Mickey lives. After a great few hours, we stopped in on the south side of Atlanta at a mall to have lunch and take a break. While we were there the little ones rode the carosel on our way out. They seemed to have a great time. For the next stretch, we drove for a little over an hour before the other group needed to stop for gas. After this brief pit stop we kept on to Valdosta, GA where we all stopped at Chick-fil-a around 4. Ansley, Bailey, and Emily all ate and played, while the others tried to get on the internet and played some. They were ready to call it quits for the day. Since our group was doing well and we figured it would be easier to keep going in the evening, we kept driving. Around 7, we decided it was time to call it quits for the evening, so we stopped around Ocala, FL. We were in luck that there was a Comfort Suites with availability. I checked us in, we unloaded our necessary items, and made our way to the room. The next morning we got up, ate breakfast at the hotel, and started down to Orlando. Since we were not going to be able to get into the condos until 4, we decided we would go Disney for the morning. We had spoken with Marna the night before and they were thinking about the Magic Kingdom, so we headed there. We arrived around 10, and all the girls seemed to be very excited. It was a little nippy, so we bundled up and headed for the tram. From there, we took the Ferry Boat over to the Magic Kingdom. It was all buzzing with excitement with the Christmas holiday. When we first came in, they were having a show at the castle, so we stopped to see that. Emily really wanted to see Cinderella, so we stayed there for a little while after the show. After that we headed back to Its a Small World. Luckily they had a pretty short line vs. the other rides. The girls all stared in amazement as we went through. After that, John took Emily to the Pooh play ground while to changed the girls. We then met up with them. After the girls played a little while, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my side that would not let up (It was due to an ovarian cyst. I have had these on occasion since I was in college.) It quickly got very bad, so we hoppled out of the park it what seemed to be the longest journey and headed for the condos. We hated to leave so soon, but even the happiest place on earth could not make that better =) After this rough start, we hit some luck in that we were able to check into the resort early (around 2:30) and spent the rest of the day at the condo.

Ansley and Bailey's 1st Birthday

On the afternoon of Wednesday, December 18, 2007, Emily, Ansley, and I made our way down to the creeper room after Emily’s Christmas party. When I arrived Bailey was very excited to see me. We started by passing out the cup cakes (Emily helped me make the cupcakes on Tuesday night) and then singing Happy Birthday to each girl. Bailey of course tore into her cupcake while Ansley was much more reserved for a while. Ms, Jessie helped with the cupcake party. After the party was through, we headed to the van. I spoke with John on the way home, and we discussed going over to see Granny. So swung by the house to pick up cups for the girls, the girls birthday cakes and birthday presents. Starting this year we started the tradition that even though the kids have their big party with their friends, on there actual birthday we give family presents and have a family meal. It was really nice. Since we were going to be at Granny’s on their birthday, I wanted to bring everything to have their celebration. When we arrived, Emily, Ansley, and Bailey enjoyed playing on Granny’s air mattress in the living room. Soon John arrived and it was time to feed the little ones. After they were fed, we all headed downstairs to check on Gran. Once we were in the basement, we said hi to Gran and worked on getting Emily fed while Mrs. J worked on getting Gran ready. Once Emily ate, John and I took a few minutes to eat some beef stew. After that we let the girls open the presents. Bailey got an ABC play stand and a silver bracelet with a heart on it that was engraved with her initials from John and myself. Ansley got an animal train and a silver bracelet with a heart on it that was engraved with her initials from John and myself. On her birthday, I took Emily to Babies R Us where she picked out a set of passies for Ansley and some crayons for Bailey that she gave to them after they opened their other gifts. Emily helped the little ones open their gifts. While the gifts were being opened, John worked on getting them out of the packages so that the girls could play. After some playing with the new toys, it was cake time. First we sang happy birthday to Ansley and gave her cake to her. Then we followed by singing Happy Birthday to Bailey. Both girls really enjoyed their cakes and after they had worked on them a while, I gave them baths and put on their jammies so that John could take all the girls home. Once John left with the girls, I took Gran to the mall to do some of his Christmas shopping.

Emily's Christmas Party in Mrs. Ann's Class

On Wednesday, December 19th, Ansley and I attended Emily’s Christmas party for class at school. Ansley had been sick starting Monday and was not able to go back to school on Wednesday since she had not been symptom free for 24 hours, so she had been with me for the day. When we arrived around 3, the kids were having circle time and singing with Mrs. Denise (the teacher’s aid). Ansley and I came over and we proceeded to sing various songs including Jingle Bells, twinkle twinkle, and Deep and Wide. After song time was up, it was time for the party. Since there were several kids that had been on yellow or red cards that day (this is a system where depending on each kids behavior, they start on green each day, then go to a yellow card if they are not doing well, and a red card for really bad offenses), they had to go to the office for the first 15 minutes of the party, this included Emily. While they were in the office, I helped Mrs. Ann and Sherry Marler (Kyle’s mom) get all the goodies out and handed out. Soon the kids came back in from the office. Ansley wanted to get down, so she played in the circle in Emily’s class, while I visited with Emily as she ate her goodies. After the kids were finished, they all enjoyed playing in the room and playing with Ansley. After the goodie bags were handed out and Emily said her good byes, we headed to Ansley and Bailey’s class room.

Bailey Update at 1 year old

As of one year old, Bailey is doing the following/has the following interest:

1. She loves meat, carbs, and most of all, loves to eat fast and furious with two hands
2. When she hers the bath water running, she comes crawling since she loves to take baths
3. She likes to wave and clap at people
4.She crawls around all the time, pulls up, and walks along the furniture
5. She is saying: MaMa, DaDa, ByBy, and Hi.
6. She sucks her thumb and likes to hold something like a blanket in the palm of that hand while sucking her thumb
7. She is a little explorer, always trying to go somewhere, like crawling furiously to the front door any time it opens or going all over the house.
8. She is pretty clingy, especially to me and is more reserved with strangers.
9.At times she breathes heavy and sounds like a bulldog =)
10. She gets mad if she sees someone eating and they are not feeding her. Even when she just ate.

Ansley Update at 1 year old

As of one year old, Ansley is doing the following/has the following interest:

1. She loves carrots, cheese, and spaghetti
2. She loves her passie
3. She loves music
4. When she hers the bath water running, she comes crawling since she loves to take baths
5. She is very silly and is quick to laugh, she also is the type that has never met a stranger
6. On the flip side, she is quick to cry
7. She likes to wave and clap at people
8. She is a jumper. She always wants to jump in your arms or in her jumparoo.
9. She crawls around all the time, pulls up, and walks along the furniture
10. She is saying: MaMa, DaDa, ByBy, and Hi.

Christmas with the Dyensons 2007

On the morning of Sunday, December 16, 2007, John, Emily, Ansley, Bailey, and I made our way over to Mom’s house around 10:30. When we arrived we were greeted by Mom. We made our way in the house and all settled in the living room for the kids to play. It was very nice to have the time to let the kids play and visit. While we were playing, Dave and John worked on the oven. For some reason it was not lighting. Since Emily mentioned being cold, Mom had a very special present for her to open. It was Emily’s very own electric blanket. Mom had gotten this since Emily had fallen in love with Mom’s electric blanket that was down at the lake house. Emily snuggled on the couch with John, while the babies played and I tried to help Mom with dinner. Around 12, Laura, Alyssa, Ashton, and a friend of Alyssa’s arrived. All the kids played until Matt, Jennifer, Nicholas, Claire, and Jeoff (Jennifer’s parents) arrived. They came in a visited for a little bit until it was time for lunch. All the kids, John, and I ate in the kitchen and played. Since it was getting late for all of the girls, we quickly let all the kids open their presents. Emily got her electric blanket and color wonder markers and pad from Mom. Ansley and Bailey got very cute Push along toys in the shapes of animals. John and I were given a termite treatment for the house. In addition, Clare gave Ansley and Bailey sweaters and hats she had knit and gave Emily a scarf she knitted. After the kids opened their presents we had to pack up and head home.

Christmas with the Sizemores 2007

On Saturday, December 15th, we went over to my Dad's house for Christmas with the Sizemore side of the family. Since most of us were going to Disney for Christmas, but Granny and Jennifer would not be there and Marna's group would not be there on Christmas, we decided to get together before Christmas. When we arrived, we were greeted by Daddy and headed inside. After a week of record setting heat (on Wednesday it hit 78 for the high), it was a nice crisp day and suddenly seemed like Christmas time. When we got inside, we say Granny and Jennifer. John and Emily went out to play after a little bit, while Ansley, Bailey, and I went into the kitchen to help. Actually Ansley and Bailey played on the floor with bowls and cups, but they seemed to have a big time =) Slowly everyone started to filter in. All the kids played, including Mason showing Emily his pogo stick. Once it was getting closer to lunch time and in order to lets the kids not be so anxious for presents, we let everyone open one thing prior to lunch. Bailey opened her shape sorter from Lilly, Ansley opened her puzzle from Christian, and Emily opened her play dough set from Blake. After opening one present each, it was time for lunch. We had hot dogs, baked beans, and chips. Ansley, Bailey, and I sat in the kitchen, while John and Emily ate in the dining room. Since they should not eat hot dogs, the little ones enjoyed the carrots, corn, and cheez-its I brought for them. In pretty typical fashion, Bailey shoveled food in her mouth and spread it everywhere. Ansley used her thumb and for finger to daintily pick her food up on piece at a time. In addition to the items they fed themselves, I gave them some baked beans. Ansley did not care for them, but Bailey thought they were great. Mid way through the girls and myself eating, we were joined in the kitchen by Katrina, Christian, and Blake. We all enjoyed visiting and the kids played. As soon as Bailey was done eating, she got down and crawled around. Her and Blake had a great time playing with the shape sorter. Ansley was taking her time eating. Soon it was time to all head in the living room to open presents. Once the gifts were sorted, we all started opening. As seem in the pictures, Ansley was very excited about one box of ours and crawled on top of it. The girls and us got various items for the trip from Jennifer including walkie talkies, bags with the girls names on it, and snack boxes with lots of treats. Granny had given the girls a variety of toys that they quickly got into =) The final Christmas present to all the kids were tickets to Disney from Daddy and Katrina. After all the kids had opened their gifts, Katrina opened her robe from us kids and Daddy opened his golf bag. Everyone was very excited about the upcoming trip. It was getting late for all the little ones, so John packed up while Ansley, Bailey, and I visited with Granny.

GMOMC Christmas Party 2007

On Thursday evening, December 13th, I attended the GMOMC Christmas party at Ann Marie Sanderson's house in Simpsonville. When I arrived a few of the girls were already there, including Lisa Cox, Leah Howard, and Mary Clevenger. We all visited and ate as various girls arrived. In total there were about 25 moms that came. After we all spent a while just mingling, we all piled into Ann Marie's living room where we prepared to do an ornament exchange with "Dirty Santa". We started by drawing numbers, and then one by one picking an ornament to open. The first person to pick was Jen Osborne. Her's was immediately taken so it was time for her to choose again. As we were going through, I happen to see an ornament I liked (a white bell shaped ornament with a Santa on top) and kept my eye out until it was my turn to pick. I was in luck, because it was the third time it had been stolen, so it was frozen when Jennifer tried to steal it in the end =) After the ornament exchange was over, we all talked a while and then it was time for me to head home. Outside Lisa, Mary, and I talked until it was almost 10:00.

Emily at 4 Update

At four, Emily is doing the following/has the following interest:

1. She likes to say she wants to "take a rest" when she is tired
2. Very inquisitive
3. Asked why God made me her Mommy
4. Loves to be at home and ask to go home
5. LOVES sweat stuff
6. Favorite place to eat is McDonald's
7. Favorite foods are pizza and chicken nuggets
8. Wants to put sprinkles on all foods and dip anything in ranch dressing (including her pancakes)
9. Her favorite candy is smarties
10. Likes to say "Sure" and "Well"
11. Loves to swing, go camping, and always wants to go with us to our work
12. Her favorite tv shows are The Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Club House, and Dora the Explorer
13. Favorite color is pink
14. Loves to play dress up and always wants to wear dresses
15. She wears a size 11 1/2 wide shoe and size 5T or 6 in clothing
16. Dances around all the time
17. Her best friend is Regan Webber from school
18. Still sleeps with "blanket" and gymbo
19. Can write her name
20. Likes to take pictures with my camera
21. Is very dramatic

The Girls' Birthday Party at Jump Zone

On Saturday morning, December 8th, Emily, Ansley and Bailey had their birthday party with lots of family of friends at Jump Zone starting at 10:00 am. Our day started out as most Saturday's do with our early morning greeting from Emily. Since we wanted Ansley and Bailey to take their morning naps before the party we woke them up after Emily got up. We had a great breakfast, Emily's favorite, pancakes and then gave the little ones baths. After a little while we put them down for a nap and while John, Emily and I got showers and dressed for the party. Before we knew it, it was time to get the little ones ready for the party and we were off. John and Emily rode in his truck and the little ones and I rode in the van so that we would be able to divide up when the party was over if needed. When Ansley and Bailey arrived at Jump Zone, we got out of the car and we were soon greeted by Mom and Dave. We all went inside to check in. While we were doing that, John and Emily arrived. Emily was so excited to be there so she took off her shoes and was off to play. While Mom and John watched the little ones, I started unloading the car. On my last trip out, Kim, Alan, and Helen arrived. They helped me make the last trip in to the party room with the various party stuff and then we all went out to the arena. Helen seemed amazed to look at all the stuff. All of us talked and let the little ones play on the floor some. Before long, Justin, Emily's friend from school arrived. Emily came up and gave him a big hug and then they were off!! They were soon followed by a whole variety of people. The party attendants were as follows, Alan, Kim, and Helen Walker, Justin from Emily's class and his dad, Marna, Jim, Lilly, Sophia, Mason, and Sydney Marow, Joy and Carson Wright, Melissa, Dave, and Addison Cooper, Stef and Walker Jefferson, Valery, Scott, Brandon, and Heidi Phillips, Todd, Stacy, Tori, and Colin Goldsmith, Will and Mary Pate, Ian Bondurant, Grandmommy and Grandaddy Dyenson, Grandmommy and Grandaddy Sizemore, Granny and Jennifer Beaver, Kyle Marler and his dad (Emily's friend from school), Regan, Mandy, and Webber (Emily's best friend who has been in her class since she has been at Mauldin), Lauren and Susan Huber, Beth and Megan Jefferson, Alycia and Christian Nielson, and Blake and Leslie Barton. While we were in the party room, all the kids seemed to have a blast!!! John, I, and various people took turns holding the babies and playing with the kids. While in the party room, Bailey and I took a turn in one of the jump houses along with Colin. Ansley, John, Sydney, and I took Ansley in another jump house. And Emily and I went up the big pirate slide together and slid down. Around 11:15 it was time to head back in to the party room. Since Ansley and Bailey were also getting hungry, they enjoyed some Cheerios, cheeze-its, and chef-boy-r-d, while all the kids and some adults ate pizza. After pizza we sang happy birthday to all the girls and it was cake time. Each one had their own little cake that we let them have. Bailey though it was great and immediately started playing with it. She had the greatest time smearing it all over the high chair, her face, her hair, and even managed to eat some. Emily decided that even though she was 4 she would do pretty much the same as Bailey, minus the high chair =) Her favorite part of cake is the icing so she smeared it all over her face and licked it. Surprisingly, Ansley was very particular about the cake, only taking small, delicate pieces with her fingers. Needless to say after the party, her cake was the only one that looked barley touched vs. the other two that were destroyed. After covering herself in cake and icing, Bailey was ready to get out of her chair. Mom got her and took her to the bathroom to attempt getting some of the icing off. Since time was almost out, Emily sat in the big castle chair for a few minutes to open a couple of her gifts, while John passed out the party bags for the big kids and I passed out the ones for the little kids. It was then time to say goodbye to everyone and load up the car. Since I had to take care of some stuff, John headed home with Emily, and mom took Ansley to her house. After things were loaded, I payed, and we visited with the remaining few, Bailey and I headed home. When we arrived, Emily was down for her nap, but Bailey was wide open, so we let her open and play with a few of her new toys. After a while, she was tired and so she went down for a nap. After Emily's nap, she helped in opening/playing with the rest of the gifts.

Emily's 4th Birthday

Today was Emily's 4th birthday. In ways it is hard to believe four years has passed by so quickly, but yet so much has happened as we have watched Emily grow into a little girl =) Birthdays are always a time of reflection. This birthday of Emily's makes me think of this time four years ago and how much our lives were changing and how much we had no idea of the happiness and hard work that was to come.

To start the day out, John and I got up at our normal time, 5:45 to get ready and woke Ansley and Bailey at 6:30 to get ready for school. Around 7:10 Emily work up, late for Emily. Since I was taking the day off for just the two of us to have a special day for her birthday, we had not woken her up. John left at 7:25 to take Ansley and Bailey to school and Emily and I started our big day. The first thing she wanted to do was to make a cake. So we pulled her chair up to the counter, got the ingredients out, and I let her put the various ingredients in to the mixer. Once she had put all the ingredients in she turned it on and we watched it mix up. While it was mixing, Emily picked out a small heart shaped pan for her cake and I got the cup cake pan out. Emily helped me by putting the papers in the pan. Once the batter was ready we filled the pans up and put them in the oven. While the cakes were cooking, I make pancakes for Emily and myself. After Emily and I ate and she watched a little bit of TV (Santa Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), it was time to take showers and get dressed. Once we were ready, we loaded up in the car to get ready to go to my office. For a while, Emily has been asking me to go to work with me. So for a birthday treat, I promised her I would take her to work. Since it was still a little early and I did not think she would want to stay for a long time, we stopped by Babies R Us to let her pick our birthday and Christmas gifts for Bailey and Ansley. For their birthdays, she picked out a set of colorful passies for Ansley and some special crayons made for one year olds. For Christmas, she made it over to the stuffed animal section and picked out these very soft white bunnies for each of them, and managed to get one for her birthday also =) Once we checked out and made it to the car, she came up with the name Lolly for her bunny. We then drove to my work. Emily decided she wanted to ride the elevator up to the second floor where my office was located. When we walked in, she was immediately drawn to the big Christmas tree in the lobby. After she oohed and aahed for a little bit, we walked around to Joy's office to say hi. We then slowly made our way around to my desk, stopping to say hi along the way. At my desk, Emily had the best time, drawing on my dry erase board, drawing on various pieces of paper, and sticking tabs on the papers. She was so excited to be at my work. Also while we were at my desk, she wrapped up Lolly in her coat since she thought she was cold and sang two songs for me, "Deep and Wide" and "Twinkle, Twinkle". Around 11:15, I thought it was time to get Joy and us head for lunch. Since Joy needed to run a few errands afterwards, we took separate cars. On the way out, we stopped by Karen's desk for her to see Emily. Between Emily's charm and Karen's love of kids, Karen gave Emily a big box of crayons, some gum, and several tabs (Emily thinks of them as stickers). We then drove over to Rafferty's to have lunch, we picked a restaurant so that Emily could have happy birthday sung to her. While we were there, Emily colored, took pictures with my camera, ate her chicken nuggets, gave us a little dance show of her "interpretive" dance. Towards the end, we asked about doing something for her birthday, but it turned out they did not sing, but they brought her out some ice cream. Once she was done, we headed for the car. Within a few minutes of leaving the restaurant, I got a call that Bailey had pink eye, so we went to the school to pick her up. When we arrived, Ansley was asleep and I was thinking I would have to take Bailey to the doctor, so we let Ansley stay. Once we were on the say home, I received a call back from the nurse letting me know they could call Bailey something in for her eye so we headed home to let the girls nap. After Emily was awake, she helped me ice her cake and put on the sprinkles. We then headed for the pharmacy to pick up Bailey's medicine. While we were going, I called John and he said he would be running a little late, so we headed to pick up Ansley after going by CVS. On the way home, we also picked up pizza from Little Cesar's since that is what Emily wanted for her birthday dinner. Once we got home, I fed the little ones while we waited for John to make it home. When he arrived, we had pizza. Emily was so excited to open her presents, I brought those down from the office and let her dive in. She started with the present from Ansley, a Honey Bee Hop, then it was on to Bailey's gift, a house that she could draw on, and then she opened the one from John and I, an easel. She really liked the gifts and was ready for her cake. I lighted the candles, we sung Happy Birthday, and she blew out her four candles. Of course, the birthday girl was the first to get a piece, then I cut one for John and Bailey, and then one for Ansley and myself. As soon as I sat down, Ansley quickly reached out and grabbed the whole piece. It was so funny to see cake all over her. Emily laughed hysterically =) After cake time, I bathed Ansley and Bailey, while John worked on putting together the easel. Once the girls were dressed, I also worked on putting together her Honey Bee Hop. She loved coloring on her easel and then jumping over her Honey Bee Hop. Once the little ones were put to bed, I then worked on putting together her house. She was so excited to color on it and go in and out of the door once it was together. We then found a place in the dining room for her to keep her house and she took a lot of her little toys into her house. After a long day of fun, it was time to get ready for bed and after watching a few minutes of TV to settle down, and giving John a hug goodnight, she wanted me to carry her to bed. I then tucked her in with Lolly and Blanket (something she still needs to sleep with ever night). It was a great day!!