Christmas at the Emmorey's....

Almost everyone made it to my mom's this year for Christmas. I left for home on Sunday, and after a windy but great trip, I ended it in a horrible snowstorm one hour from home. Not a fun drive. Thankfully, after a couple of close calls, I made it safely home. The picture above is of the three grandkids that made it home this year. Maria is three months old and not fond of being held by "little" people, Emma is 2 (almost 3) and not fond of looking at the camera, and Jade is 7 months and had a BAD cold, poor baby.


Maria and Emma got matching outfits from Aunt Holly this year. We got a tiny smile out of Maria, and a huge one from Miss Emma. Emma LOVES her cousins, "Ria and Jada!"

My brother Jeremy and his wife Melissa. We had a hard time getting Emma to give us a smile, so Dad was getting tired of smiling by the time we got her at least looking.

But, she was really proud of her new bunny shoes, so smiling wasn't a problem here!


If any of you know Nick, you know that he has a hard time getting his pictures taken as well. 99% of the time his eyes are closed so this pic is his reaction to my command to keep his eyes OPEN!! Ha!

Here is sweet Jada! This little girl will charm you right to death. She is very free with her big smiles and everyone I talked to at home had to tell me how adorable she is and how they just love her so much! I have to agree with them. She is a heart stealer for sure.

Here is the "wild" outfit that Aunt Holly got for little miss Jade this year. Here she is proudly showing off her ability to stand while just holding on to a chair. She was quite nervous about it, but decided it was okay.


Here is a pic of Ryan's new little family. Maria is pretty close to the spitting image of her daddy, with a little bit of her big sister Casey thrown in.

Here she is showing off that beautiful smile of hers. Grandma went all out on her little outfit here! :-) Christmas was a lot of fun and it was so nice to be able to sit down with the fam and enjoy the time together. I hope yours was wonderful as well!

Merry Christmas to All!!!

Me and my Emma Em! She is so fun! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Maria at 10 weeks

Just a couple of pics of Ryan's baby girl. Isn't she soooo cute? These are her first smiling pics and I just love them! She is such a sweetie.

Merry Christmas!!!!

Check Kyle and I out as we do a little Christmas jig!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1301083497

A visit with Santa

From the first time Kaelah ever visited Santa when she was a year old, she loved him. I don't mean the 'I love Santa because he brings me gifts' kind of love, I mean the "I LOVE SANTA CLAUSE" kind of love. Back when she was little we went to the mall a lot in the winter. During the Christmas season, we had to visit Santa EVERY time we went to the mall, in fact many times, we had to visit him every time we walked past. It got to be a bit embarrassing, almost.

Now that Kaelah just turned six, she is a bit more reserved about Santa, but not by too much. She is in school now, so yesterday was the first time we had a chance to go to the mall together. She was so excited to get to see Santa again. I figure it isn't going to be too many more years, and she won't even want to go and see him, so I love getting her pic with him.

Unfortunately, Little miss Elizabeth Miles, wasn't quite so fond of dear old St. Nick. I love this picture though. It will be a classic someday when she looks back on it. Poor Rhoda, couldn't bear to see her so terrified. It was so funny.

MIssouri vs. Kansas Game

Kyle's dad got tickets to the MU vs. KU game the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was about 40 degrees and dropped down to the lower 30's. VERY cold.... Thankfully once we got in the stadium it was much warmer. This game was HUGE. It was packed out and people were crazy for their teams.


Since Kyle went to the the university of Missouri-Rolla, and his brother Skyler is currently attending Kansas, the family was split in their loyalties. Kyle's mom and sister decided to take up the Kansas side of things, much to Kyle's dismay.

It was a cold, but fun night. Thankfully for Kyle's sake Missouri won out and he was a happy man. (I don't think Skyler cared even a tiny bit who won) I think this last pic is hilarious. It looks so sweet, but I was actually slapping his mouth, because he wouldn't cooperate for the picture. :-) His sister just happened to catch it. We did have one annoying incident. There was a fan sitting behind Kyle's mom who wasn't with it enough to handle his "cold beverage" without spilling it on Kyle's mom every five minutes. She finally gave him a look, and he got in her face and started screaming at her that it was no big deal. I thought we were going to have WWIII, but thankfully no fights were started. But then I turned around and saw Kyle's mom, who is a sweetheart, with big tears in her eyes--that is the closest I have ever come to actually getting up and socking someone right in the nose!! I convinced her to move a couple of seats away from him and probably two minutes later, the guy dropped his whole drink in her seat. Some people are just beyond rude. If I would have been thinking, I would have gotten security to get him out of there. But even with that, we had a good time. Kyle had fun with his family and friends all in one place, and it had a good ending--at least for the MS fans.

My new photography job....

SO, I had my first practice sessions a couple of weeks ago. They told me to have people I know come in and I could take their pics for practice. SO I scheduled three people--WAY too close together. I felt bad because they had to wait.

I did my brother and his family first, but the baby kept crying so we didn't get too many of them. For some reason every time my sister in law tries to send me the pictures, they won't load, so I can't share any of them. The other people that I took pictures of were two boys that are kids of a friend of mine that I play volleyball with. They turned out really cute as well. But I can't show you them either.

Thankfully, though, I can show you the pics of Elizabeth. I hate to say it, but she was as easy as pie. She was in a great mood and was a little ham. Obviously we took many more than these, but these are a few of my favorites. I loved taking the pics, but we are so busy, I don't know as I will be able to practice again til after Christmas and then I don't know if I will even have a job there. :-) SO I guess we'll see. Oh yeah, the ZAZZLE is a watermark they put on the online pics so people won't print them out. So that is why that word is through all the pics.

more kids....

Teresa was complaining that I don't have any new pics so I thought I would post the few that I do have. Not that she has anything to complain aobut. Her postings are so few and far between if it was food I would hav been dead by now. :-) This is a pic of the Dewitt kids. They are so cute and fun to watch. It is really hard to get a good pic of all four of them though!

This is Timmy the youngest. He is such a cuddly doll baby.

And here is my KK. Love that girl!

A little bit of this and that....

Well, I am really disappointed in myself. I went trick or treating with the kids and totally forgot my camera. I can't believe I would do that. I always go trick or treating with my kids and this year I convinced my friend Rhoda and her 1 yr old, Elizabeth, to go with us. They live in Cincinnati where it probably isn't the best place to go trick or treating. ;-) Elizabeth was so cute! She would hold the bucket out, they would put candy in, and then she would wave. SO adorable. Towards the end of the night, her bucket was so heavy she had to hold it with two hands, we started talking about going home and she started saying, "Mo, Mo" Too cute. By the way for those of you who don't know baby talk that means MORE! :-) All in all we had a lot of fun, and it was a beautiful night.

I am now employed at Kenwood mall as a sales person for the christmas season at the Picture People. It has been interesting to get to know this side of the picture taking business. I don't know if I will stay after Christmas we will have to see how it goes. So far it is going well, and it is all very interesting, which I like. SO if anyone wants to get their pics taken come on over and visit us! :-)

A week with my little sister and her baby girl....

Liss and Jade came down for a visit last week. It was so nice to spend some time with them. She didn't really get to do too much since both Erin and I had to work for the most part, but we had fun anyway.

Erin and Liss decided to drive home Thursday night after Erin got out of work, so while we were waiting for Erin, Liss and I got Jade's pictures taken. That is a story unto itself. They didn't even start taking her pics until a half hour after we got there and by then Jade was tired and in every picture but one, she stuck her tongue out. If it wasn't so frustrating, it would have been hilarious. So after Erin came to meet us at the picture place, I convinced them to go and have supper with me, and while Erin was getting Jade out of the car, her door shut locking her keys and purse in the car.

So we asked the restraunt for a phone book, found a lock smith and when we were assured that he would be there within the half hour, we commenced eating our supper.

An hour later, we place a very frustrated phone call to the company and was told he "was two minutes away." After another half hour he finally showed up. He immediately told her that she needed to pay him $150 and sign a paper before he would unlock the door. Now, unfortunately for Erin, she has done this about 6 or 7 times before, so she knows pretty well how much a locksmith charges to open her door and it is no where near $150!!!

Here is Jade ready to steal my car and drive herself home! She is all about funny faces at this stage in her life. Crazy baby. Anyway, I told my (by this time crying) sister that there is no way she is paying that much, so we told the man that unless he would do it for $60 we would not be needing his services. He told us that we "wouldn't find ANYONE who would do it for that little" so we watched him drive away. Long story short we called the police, they gave us a number to call and another locksmith was there within 20 minutes and charged--you guessed it--$60!!!! So all is well that ends well.


Liss and I were getting kind of slap happy after an hour in they parking lot. Here is another one of Jade's classic funny faces.

Liss and Jade still not cooperating....

Well, two out of three isn't too bad. :-)Even with all the drama at the end we had a good time, and I can't wait for her to come and visit again.

Another update...

I was correct in saying that I didn't think this new job was going to work. We had a talk Wednesday and I told her I thought she should find someone who would work better in this type of situation. So, now I am job searching again! Ugh. Jade and Melissa came for a visit this week. I have a few more pics that I am going to post, but not enough time right now. This pic is of Quinn very curious about the little baby. Apparently, he thought she smelt good. :-)

New Job.....

I have a new nanny job. Hayden is 4 and Sydney is 2. It seems to be a nice family, but I am already unsure that it is what I want. I think I am just nannied out. I had it so good with The Kerr's that I don't think I am going to be happy with anyone else. The mom is a stay at home mom, and I just don't do well in situations like that. I never feel like I am ever in charge, so the kids don't listen to me at all. It is frustrating. So here they are for now, but not sure if it will last. :-)

Maria Caitlin 9 days old

Just a quick pic of Maria.

Trip continued....

All my pics wouldn't fit on one post so here are a couple more. I made Kyle go out and try the hammock with me just before we left. He decided that it would have been a good place to take a nap.

We all had a good time. It is always nice to go home and spend time with family. The only problem is that it goes way too fast.

A trip to Michigan!

I went home this weekend for Red Flannel Day weekend. This festival is something of a tradition in my family. Our little town of Cedar Springs was where the first pair of red flannel underwear were made. Not just any red flannels, but the drop seat full length red flannels. So we have a festival every year to celebrate that wonderful honor. :-) Of course, Aunt Holly had to play dress up with Jade. She looked so cute. She is getting even bigger than I thought.

My nephew Shadley came over as well, and since it has been quite a while since I have seen him, it was pretty nice to spend some time with him. He is a very tall three year old, who loves to swing on the swing, and hit the whiffle ball.

He needed a little help gettting things going, so his dad helped him get a stance.

Here are the girls. My mom has a hammock in her front yard, and it is the scene of much hilarity. We have had some really nice, funny times out there, and we have had some pretty good accidents hammocks aren't the steadiest of napping places. :-)

Emma loves to swing as well. She is such a cutie and so much fun.

The parade was extremely hot for October. I don't think I have ever been to a Red Flannel Day Parade that was hotter, and i have only missed two in my 31 years. Poor Jade is not a lover of the sun. She would get mad everytime the sun was in her face, so we finally put Emma's cowboy hat on her and that helped shade her.

I have been tagged.....

I am not sure how I will do at this but here goes......7 random things about me

1. I love being with my family, especially my 6 nieces and 1 nephew. Kristina, Isabelle, Casey, Emma, Jade, and Maria are the girls and Shadley is the boy. They are great fun and make this aunt feel young.

2. I love playing INDOOR volleyball, not much of a fan of outdoor, even though I still play it. Right now, I play at least 6 games every Monday night, and 3 games every Tuesday night. Most of the friends that I hang out with, are people I met while playing volleyball.

3. I am not a mother, but I love three kids almost as much as if I were their mother. Luke, Seth and Kaelah, are my kids that I have nannied for 7 years now. Kaelah doesn't even know life without me. :-) To be honest, its hard to believe that someday I will love my own children even more. They are some of the biggest contributors to my happiness. I love you, Luke, Seth and Kaelah!

4. I never really liked dogs until I started working at the Kerr's. I loved my job so much , I told myself that I needed to get used to the dogs, and not only did I get used to them, now I love them, and would be considered by most--a dog person.

5. Any time I am in a crisis, confused, upset, etc. my Mom is the first person that I want to talk to.

6. I am an extremely opinionated person, no surprise there to anyone who knows me. But, I am learning to try and look at every side of an issue before I state an opinion.

7. I can be extremely shy, if I don't know you, andyou are going to affect my life. (i.e. boss, teamate, boyfriend's friends, etc.) Or if I am impressed with you and want you to like me....

Casey and Maria....

I went to visit the baby yesterday and Casey was home. She had a great time showing off--wanting to make sure that I paid more attention to her than her new little sister. :-) She begged to go to my house to see Callie, she doesn't quite understand that Callie does not live anywhere near anymore. So I took her to Chick Fil A trying to get her mind off of going to my house, but it didn't work. On the way back I asked her what her new baby sister's name was and she said "Woxy!" I thought I misunderstood her and I said, "Maria?" And she answered, "NO! Woxy!!" So I guess that even though her parents have named her sister Maria, Casey has named her Roxy! :-)

Maria is a great sleeper so far. I guess her mom has to wake her up to feed her. Not bad!!!!

Football and cheer....

Ryan plays football and Ally cheers for his team. Its interesting to see kids that young, being indoctrinated in a sport. I love sports but I was really turned off by some of the overblown sense of importance to these sports at such a young age. I am all for a sport being taught correctly and all of that, but I hated the yelling at the refs for a game being played between 7 and 8 year olds. CRAZY!


Kaelah went with me to watch Ryan and Ally do their thing. We had an ok time when we weren't saving ourselves from some really aggressive bees and trying not to pass out from the extremely hot day. :-)

Its Official!!

Her name is Maria Caitlin Emmorey