The new lifestyle of a three-year-old

 When you are three....

You are able to blow out the candles all by yourself after several tries...

You are studious at the library with your friend....No longer running around hiding from Mommy while she yells, "SHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

You get to see free  movies at the Alamo Drafthouse like, "Annie"....You stay in your seat for the first hour and a half, but not after that. That would be silly.

You dress like a princess for important occasions like porch time, or royal princess balls, or going to the grocery store.

You learn to properly use chopsticks.

When that doesn't work out you use chopsticks any way you possibly can. 

The Men in Her Life

Emory has official noticed that there is a difference between boys and girls. I believe that happened last summer when she saw Cousin Jack get his diaper changed and asked, "What is THAT??" She now has moved on to a slight crush on a pair of brothers in our neighborhood. She speaks of them on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. She got to have a play date with them this week which was a dream come true. She eats all of her carrots and says, "Mommy, I ate all of my food and now I'm BIGGER like ***** (his identity will remain anonymous in case this fascination lasts long enough for her to be very embarrassed that I blogged about it). 

But, thank goodness, Daddy, Buddy, and Papa are still her main guys. And Shep, too, since my stomach is now larger than a beach ball and he really can't be ignored. 

Pictured with Daddy at Mt. Bonnell 

Making Daddy's specialty: Rice Crispie Treats- which were of course shared with the brother pair. She already knows the main way to a man's heart is through sweets. 

Weekly Date Night With Buddy

Preparing for Date Night with Buddy with instructional guide, "How to Babysit a Grandpa"

Good times at Threadgills

I had an awesome birthday this year. It included birthday cake for Breakfast #1, farmers market tacos for Breakfast #2, and kolaches for Breakfast #3... and I wonder why this baby in my belly is so big.... I then got to have a prenatal massage while Brent and Emory played Putt-Putt, lunch at Shady Grove, and dinner at Fonda San Miguel on a date with Brent. It was an ideal birthday for me.

Um, Shout out to the Blue House Girls. The ginger bread houses at the Four Seasons are not too shabby. The Salt Lick one made me think of you girls. I think I was dancing or something when I took the pick. Sorry it's so blurry.

Loves all things bunny.

When in doubt, wear EVERY necklace. Learned that from Aunt Kitty.

My little house keeper helper makes cleaning so much more fun.... except when she tries to clean the toilet and drops things in it that I have to retrieve. But her intentions are wonderful...

Early Christmas

Christmas starts the weekend after Thanksgiving for us. We start playing Bing Crosby and can't wait to get out the decorations and the eggnog. The actual Christmas tree presents started pretty early, too, this year. We visited Papa, Grandmama, Aunt Kim, Uncle Don, and Hunter in early December. Emory got a present every day (usually princess oriented) and Santa brought her pink suitcase request early to Grandmama's Christmas tree. 

Hunter sporting his 4 X 4, which earned cool points from Emory, despite the Amish facial hair look. :) 

 Grandmama's Princess Party with the local little girls. I didn't know that it was possible for a 2 year old girl to talk more than Emory, but we found one in one of these little princesses. Here Emory is amazed with the many, many words.

This is truly amazing. Here is our buddy, Romeo The Horse. He has a new friend. A cat family came through the area, and one kitten decided he preferred horse life to cat life. He stayed behind and moved in to Romeo's shed while his cat family lives 1/4 mile away at a barn. They check on him regularly. But he seems just fine as long as he is near Romeo. He hangs out by Romeo's feet, in Romeo's food trough, or sleeps in the hay in the shed. Emory named him Caboo.

For Christmas we had the blessing of time with the Stouts (Brent's sister Dana's crew). We all had so much fun, and the kids loved their special cousin time. Yes, Emory has learned to pick her nose and she may be doing that in this picture. Oh, well. 

The Little Guy....

Official introductions seem overdue, but I'm pretty sure that Ashley Waggs is the only person who reads this thing anymore (maybe because I only post 4 times a year), and she's already met him. But for the other people who happen to have stumbled across this blog, please meet Shep Coley (aka "Baby Blue"). 

I am 20 weeks prego. Yay, for the half-way point! And we were delighted to find out that Baby Blue is a boy. We may have willed that gender a little by calling him "he" and "Baby Blue" all the time.  And Emory was not surprised at all considering she has said he was a boy from the beginning. Her first response to learning of the pregnancy was, "Ohhhhh, I hope it's a brudder." 

Facts about Shep: 

1) He is flexible. Those are his toes above the top of his head.

2) He has boy parts. We got a great picture of them for Brent to reference when he is feeling skeptical. This is just the 4D face picture. We don't need to totally expose him yet. :) 

3) He has a chance of being a UT quarterback, because his name fits the profile: Major Applewhite, Colt McCoy, Shep Coley. 

We had blueberry pie on Thanksgiving in honor of the news. 

Bunnies and Chickens and Stepsisters....

Aside from Brent's appendicitis and the preschool monthly colds we have had a great fall. Below are some recent pictures. 

Last night Emory and I went to a living Bethlehem. There was an ancient market with tons of fun crafts and food samples from the days of yore...that's the phrase, right? Who knew how yummy dates were? 

There was a petting zoo. What happens when you combine 30 bunnies, chickens, ducks, lambs, donkeys, and a pig and cow with 50 children under the age of 7 in a very, very small pin???? Well, hopefully not rabies, but certainly lots of chaos. Emory was pretty brave. I have NO desire to hold a chicken, but she was pretty into them. Lucky for the ducks that they can outrun her.  

The Cinderella Family. No, I am NOT Aunt Jemima, despite several of the party guests' confusion. The Ugly Stepsisters do have rather large backsides.   

Season of Orange

Kim and Don, I post this picture as an idea for Hunter's free time. All goats should have a playground in the trees. 

Papa, someone else likes tractors, too!