First Pigtails! :-)

This is my first attempt at putting Brooke's hair in pigtails. Surprisingly enough, she kept them in for a trip into town, but then after I brought her home and she started crawling around, they came out pretty fast. lol


Here's the "after" pic!

Check out this beautiful little family! ;-)

Ryan, Maria, and Mary.

(for those of you who haven't read the comments.....No, Ryan doesn't have a lot of static electricity in his hair! lol Its just a flower arrangement BEHIND his head. Who knew?!! Lol)

Nothing new....

Riley enjoying a cupcake and having trouble with the frosting!


I love to bake now that I have people who will eat my baking, but Kyle is not much of a sweets eater. He mentioned one day that he likes "white" cupcakes, so I decided I would indulge him a little bit. This pic was taken after we grabbed them out of their piping hot pans, slathered frosting on them and then tried to eat them with frosting dripping everywhere. I thought our mouths were pretty funny. I must say, I made it work much better than he did! lol




I just wanted to share some cute pics of the snow princess! She wasn't in a very princessy mood though, so not the greatest pics, but still, the outfit is too cute not to share pics of!

Jade--18 months

Jade is getting sooo BIG!


She is HARD to get good pictures of. Not the most cooperative child when it comes to taking pictures.

So cute!

Oh, Be Careful......

Carrie Carter put a music video of this song on her page a few weeks back. Not being a huge listener of ANY type of music, I had not heard it before. I was immediately impressed with it. The words are so relevant to our lives today in this materialistic, me first world that we live in. As I have gotten older and have struggled here and there with my own salvation, I have learned that sin is not a sudden thing that just overpowers you and takes you into a deep dark hole. Instead, it is a slow, steady walk down a road that has destruction at the end of it. The devil is no dummy, after all, he is the best deceiver in the universe. He knows that if he can get us started on that road to destruction, with something that seems harmless and "not too bad!", than before we know it, we are in way over our heads. But the other thing I have found out is that God is ALWAYS there ready to forgive. Isn't that amazing? Even if I make a clear, knowledgeable, wrong choice, when I humble myself and ask for forgiveness, He forgives! Another thing that has really struck me is the unforgiveness of other believers when someone does make a wrong choice. How is it, that we as believers think that we are above God when it comes to forgiving someone? Think about it. God forgives all manner of sins and yet sometimes we as humans will not let one of our fellow brothers or sisters in Christ live down wrong choices that they have made? How dare we?!!! We are human, and in that humaness we make mistakes....all of us. And some of us, even leave God and make choices we know are wrong. But if God is willing to forgive, shouldn't we forgive as well? Is it really our place to make sure they "pay" for their wrong choices? I am pretty sure there enough consequences of sin, that the sinner doesn't need the rejection of the people that are supposed to be their spiritual family. Anyway, enough of my soapbox! My church had this song as the special music after a wonderful message by our pastor. The presence of God was so strong, it was absolutely amazing. Even though I was very familiar with the song by then, it was even more powerful reading the words as they flashed across the screen. I challenge anyone who reads this little note to read the words and apply them to your life. Make sure you aren't on the slow descent down the wrong path.

"Slow Fade"

Be careful little eyes what you see

It's the second glance that ties your hands as darkness pulls the strings

Be careful little feet where you go

For it's the little feet behind you that are sure to follow

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away

It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray

Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid

When you give yourself away

People never crumble in a day

It's a slow fade, it's a slow fade

Be careful little ears what you hear

When flattery leads to compromise, the end is always near

Be careful little lips what you say

For empty words and promises lead broken hearts astray

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away

It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray

Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid

When you give yourself away

People never crumble in a day

The journey from your mind to your hands

Is shorter than you're thinking

Be careful if you think you stand

You just might be sinking

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away

It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray

Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid

When you give yourself away

People never crumble in a day

Daddies never crumble in a day

Families never crumble in a day

Oh be careful little eyes what see

Oh be careful little eyes what you see

For the Father up above is looking down in love

Oh be careful little eyes what you see

A Great Weekend....

Except for Kim--All previous "GBS" girls! Lisa (Graham) Pond, Teresa (Graham) Sams, Kim (Ensley) Matlock, Rhoda (Bell) Miles, Myself, and Carrie (Glass) Carter all enjoying Chipotle!

The day that Teresa called me and told me that she was going to have a "dirty, rotten, stinkin' boy!", I got the brilliant (if I do say so myself!) idea to have her come out for a baby shower. Since most of her close friends live relatively close to me, and her mom and sister live about 7 or 8 hours away, I thought we could maybe pull it off. And we did! You know those friends that you have that no matter how much time has passed....it is like you just saw each other yesterday? That is how the whole weekend was! It was so much fun! It was basically a weekend long party.

Kaelah and Ally. Teresa nannied Ally for about two years before she got married and KK and Ally became best buddies! They were so happy that they got to play together at the shower.

Erin got us this beautiful cake from the Bon-Bonerie. Well, she accidently ordered a "Girl" cake. So twenty minutes before she picked it up I called them and they did a wonderful job fixing it! You never would have known that it had anything to do with a girl! They always do a spectacular job. For those of you that live in the Cincinnati are....you really need to look them up if you haven't already done so. Especially if you like baked goods.

The mommy to be and the cake--you can't even tell she is pregnant in this pic! lol

Poor Elizabeth partied a little too hard and needed a nap right in the middle. So the last half of present opening was accompanied with the cutest little snores! lol

Back Row: Joy Barnett, Lisa Pond, Carrie Carter, Rhoda and Elizabeth Miles, Mary Emmorey, Ma Graham, Ally and Kaelah, Erin Emmorey, Kim Matlock, Diane Kerr, Marla Kouche

Front Row: Brittany Pond, Sharon Weckel, Teresa Sams, Arlette Makcen, Holly Emmorey

It was a great group and a really fun afternoon, full of wonderful memories and lots of laughter. Its is so nice when you get together with the people you are close to. It has a great way of reminding you of why you came to love them in the first place!

The shower Spread :-)

Teresa and I

Sisters!

Rhoda and Erin waiting on Pizza at Deweys! (another place you cincinnati people need to visit if you don't already!)

The three musketeers. We spent many hours together in college!

Seriously, how short am I? Ugh! lol

Yeah, Rhoda makes me feel tall! These two girls have been the best friends a girl could ask for! I was told once by someone in authority in college that I needed to find "better" friends. I wasn't sure who he was talking about, but I told him in no uncertain terms that the friends I had would be lasting friendships that would last a lifetime, and that I wouldn't trade my friendships with them for the world! I told him that our friendship was based on being "real" not on who was the next step up the ladder. (As you can tell, I am still a bit miffed at the audacity of his comment) I was so right! These two girls have gotten me through some pretty rough spots, and I like to think that I helped them get through some rough spots as well. Between us, we have had quite a bit of hurt to deal with and we have been there for each other every step of the way. Love them!

Happy Halloween!

Unfortunately there is no rhyme or reason to some of these pics. I tried to load them sequentially, but apparently, my brain isn't working...Rhoda and I met up with the Kerr family (the family that I nannied forever) and went trick or treating in their new neighborhood. Luke felt like he was too old to go anymore so he stayed home with his mom and helped hand out candy. Seth had the good sense to get on his bike and he most likely hit every house in the neighborhood! lol... smart boy. So that meant that Kaelah, Elizabeth, Rhoda and I tromped from house to house. We had so much fun. It took about two houses before Elizabeth was pointing at the next one and shouting, "moie, moie!" (her word for more!) By the end of the night we had walked quite a ways and Kaelah was getting tired so Elizabeth shared her stroller. Every bump we hit made them giggle. The really cute, belly laugh! So that is what the top picture is about.


I think after our first row of houses, Lizzie bit had already gotten a sucker out. Smart kid!



This is Brooke and Ashley in their costumes. We had fun laughing at the "scary" Tinkerbell with her stitches. Of course I have a personal preference to Brooke's cheerleading outfit!



Here is Scary Seth.

Even though Luke didn't want to trick or treat, he made his own costume and still had fun with it. He is such a great kid!

Kaelah the scary little devil! Check out those eyelashes!

This is Graham. He was a "dragosaurus" lol

Rosie decided at the last minute to be a Bumblebee--she is so pretty!

And timmy was the cutest little lion! Very hard to get a picture of this little dude.

And last but not least! Egan the gladiator. When his mom told him he was going to be a gladiator he was upset because he didn't know what a gladiator was, so his dad sat him down and let him watch PARTS of the movie Gladiator. Egan loved it and was quite happy after that to be a gladiator.