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!

Toddler Paradise

The ultimate Waggener Hosts never disappoint.....

Hola Pillows

It's been too much of a fun summer to blog. We have had several fun Texas weekends in the Hill Country and the beach. The picture below is from the Petru's lakehouse on Lake Conroe. Emory did NOT want to pull away from the boat dock, but was glad she did. She had a great time and didn't want to get off the wave runner by the time we were done. 

Hook 'Em! 

First day of preschool! It really is hard to believe we're already here, but she's social butterfly and had a GREAT time today. When I put her in the car afterwards there was a barage of comments like, "I did art." "I learned HOLA!" What does that mean? "I don't know....I mostly played with Maggie." "I like PE" (the only time in her life she might say that...) Suffice it to say, she likes school.

It was also big girl bed time. About a month ago while jumping in the crib, Emory did a flying squirll out of the crib and landed belly flop style. Luckily, the room has plush carpet. I don't know if a daybed was the most economical way to go. There are so many pillows involved (not all pictured), but it worked out. At first she said, "That's not a bed, it's a couch." But she's thankful for it and happy that her landing won't be too far if she jumps out. 

Emory at 2 and a few months....

Acting Lessons: 

Taunting: 

Kisses: 

Afraid!:

Saaaaadddd:

Swingin' with Buddy and Lincoln

Family Time

South Congress Hang Out

Music provided by Tony

Our good buddy, Shyla

Adventure Day: Downtown on a train