Embrace the Camera - First Haircut!

Anna made it to almost 4 before her first haircut ever!

It's been a long time coming though.

Crazy to think that all that hair on the bottom has been there since the day she was born (in theory).



She felt like such a big girl!

And she was so excited with the results!

So was I!

Mommy got her haircut too :-)

I can't believe my baby is turning 4 on Sunday!

We're celebrating with a ballerina birthday party.

I'll just say there's been a lot of tulle in the house lately ;-)

Hoping to share some of the party details here next week.

Embracing the Camera with Emily

Embrace the Camera-Baby Love

I was trying to get Ellie to give her baby kisses at the same time as me.
She had a different plan...look at the camera and smile :-)

That works too :-)



Linking up with Emily at



BTW...trying to do this post from the BlogPress app on my phone. Not as easy as I was hoping :-( Any advice in that area is welcome!

Eat Cheese...Get Cracker

Ellie is getting to the age where she is understanding right from wrong.

She is starting to understand cause and effect.

And she is starting to understand consequences.

At lunch one day, she asked me for more cheese.

"mo.  cheese.  pease."

So I got her some.

Well...she decided she didn't want to eat it.

In this house, if you ask for more of something, you are expected to eat it.

Or at least eat SOME of it.

To help her along in this lesson I placed an animal cracker on the table.

And a tiny piece of the cheese she was refusing to eat.

Thus began the epic battle of...

EAT CHEESE...GET CRACKER

Here is a pictorial view of this training session :-)

(please excuse the crumbs on the table - she's a messy eater)



"I want that Mommy"



"What?  I can't have that?"



"I have to eat that first?"



She ate the cheese! (after about 5-10 minutes of whining and crying and sitting quietly and contemplating)  And is enjoying her animal cracker!



"Whew...that was a lot of work."



"But so worth it!"





Embrace the Camera - Turkey Pumpkin

Best and easiest pumpkin decorating EVER!!

At a garage sale a couple weeks ago...

I opened a box to find some painted wooden turkey parts.

A head and five feathers.

I instantly knew what it was for and confirmed with the lady selling it.

I think I got it for around $1

(it was bundled with other things...so it's hard to say exactly)

Bottom line...it was CHEAP!

We decorated our pumpkin in like 2 minutes :-)

With no mess...I might add!

We'll probably carve one next year...

but for this super busy month...

it made my life so much easier!

We just shoved a couple things in the pumpkin...





my concentration face lol



And...we're done.





Anna was not cooperating...so I got a pic with my Ellie.



I look tired and my hairs a mess...captures me pretty well lol



***Embracing the Camera with Emily***

My Prima Ballerinas

Last weekend we took our girls to Sea World

(with free tickets woohoo!)

to enjoy Halloween Spooktacular!
They got to trick or treat and show off their costumes and see some animals.

Here's a few highlight pics.

If you want to see more...you can view my FB album here.

I made their ballerina fascinators :-)

I love how they turned out!

Our skinny little preschool ballerina...

And Chris Farley in a ballerina costume :-)



It's ok Ellie - you'll be that skinny prima ballerina in about a year ;-)

Our chubby ballerina just can't put down the candy lol

Anna was posing for all the pictures all by herself...she was in character all day!

We had a very fun day!

Looking forward to the girls wearing their costumes 3 or 4 more times!

Love getting more use out of them!

Let's put a couple more !!! of these in here!!!

!

Giddy Up...It's Friday!

Thank you nice lady for giving Anna this horsey for free at a garage sale!

And when I saw they had a mini one too!

I was like shut up!

Yes...I must MUST pay .25 so my girls can have matching horseys!

Best 25 cents I've ever spent :-)

Happy Friday!

Embrace the Camera - Photobooth Fun

Ellie and I spent some time alone last night.

Daddy took Anna with him to worship band practice at church.

He plays bass.

Ya...he's pretty cool :-)



So...back to my cute baby Ellie...

We had a little fun with my phone :-)

She is at a ridiculously cute age!

BTW

I couldn't figure out how to make my pictures look like a photo strip

then I found this website Big Huge Labs

I know nothing about it except I used it to make the cute photo strip above

but I thought someone else out there might want to know where to make one too

So there you go!

Photobooth strip away!

hmm...that can be taken out of context lol

Embracing the Camera...Join us!

Embrace the Camera - Love my Girls

Here's the back story to these cute pictures.

After naptime, Ellie was fussy and tired.

Why the child won't just sleep longer is beyond me!

So she was laying on my chest while I layed on the couch.

I thought...Embrace the Camera Picture!!!

So I asked Anna to go get my phone and take our picture on the couch.

Yes, my 3 year old totally knows how to use my iPhone.

So she took some pics and as I reviewed them I decided my arm looked majorly huge.

Not going to work what with posting it on the World Wide Web.

I like keeping it real and all...but even I draw the line somewhere.

So I adjusted my position...so as to make my arm look skinnier.

AKA fake a skinny arm

Then Anna, all on her own, decided to do one of those

I'll hold the camera out in front of us and try to get everyone in the shot type of pictures.

She's fun.

And here's what came out.

I love my girls :-)









beautiful Anna



cute grumpy Ellie



 

Would you like to Embrace the Camera with us??



My Big Little Girl

I learned something about my daughter this weekend...she's pretty much amazing!

My family got a stomach bug this weekend.

First, Ellie got it on Thursday.

Her first "incident" in her carseat.

Daddy had to be called for backup...caus this Momma was about to have an incident herself.

Oh my...I don't wish that on anyone!

Then it was poor Anna's turn.

I had been on a women's retreat with my church and had been home seriously 5 minutes.

I went to check on Anna, because she was still awake yelling for us.

And...she threw up on me.

[sigh]

That was a first.

Welcome Home Mommy!

And she proceeded to be sick about 8 more times that night.

But let me tell you a little about her character.

This 3 1/2 year old child NEVER cried about it.

She NEVER even complained about it.

And she thanked us every time we brought back her trash can after cleaning it out for her.

I mean seriously...who are you??

I'm going to be honest here.

When I am that sick...I cry...a lot.

I cry out of pity for myself.

I complain about it.

I lament over the fact that I'm going through something so horrible.

She is such a strong person.

I am so proud of her.

I have even more reason to love my big little girl.

I cannot wait to see her grow up.

She's going to be a pretty amazing woman some day.

Leaving a Legacy

If your death preempted live prime time television...you're a pretty big deal.

I think we would all agree that Steve Jobs has left quite a legacy here on earth.  He will forever be known as a creative genius, innovative genius, business genius, visionary genius, and just all around smart guy.

His death has reminded me of my desire of leaving a legacy too.

Before I had kids...before I was even married...I imagined my kids running around the house singing "Jesus loves me this I know..."  It was kind of symbolic of how I wanted to raise my children to know Jesus.  To know how much he loves them.  To know the price he paid for them.  To know him as their friend and Savior.

But I don't just want my kids to have a relationship with Jesus.  I want their kids to know him...and their kid's kids to know him...and their kid's kid's kids to know him.

I want them to remember their Great Great Great Grandma Cheryl - the one who loved Jesus.  I want to be up in heaven and be surrounded by the family Steve and I created on earth.

That's the legacy I want to leave.

Now if only I can keep that perspective all the hours of the day.  You know...the hours where your child is disobeying you for the umpteenth time, or peeing their pants, or hitting their sibling, or just plain on your last nerve.  That's when I am most thankful for God's grace.  Because the Lord knows I do not always display the most "Jesus Loves You" attitude during those hours.

I pray the Lord brings my children to himself despite my bad attitude hours.  And he is more than able.

What kind of legacy are you leaving?

Please by Ellie

Ellie is finally starting to say some words!

She will be 18 months in a couple weeks.

Her current word list:

Hi

No

Mama

Daddy
Up

Please

Bye

Cheese

I don't ever want to forget this stage.  So glad I caught it on video :-)

Joining Embrace the Camera via YouTube this week...

Happy Jumping Doggie Friday!

Ok...I know I'm a little biased...but I've got cute kids!

And I'm blessed to have kids that like to laugh too!

About a month ago I posted a video of Ellie laughing at me basically pointing at her...not something that I thought was inherently funny...but she thought it was hilarious :-)

Not to be outdone by her little sister...here is a video of Anna when she was a wee little 6 month old rolly polly baby.

Hope it makes you smile :-)



Embrace the Camera - 9/29/11

Here's my favorite pic of the week with my girls.

We were checking out the fishies at Dixie Crossroads (my birthday dinner).

I can't think about Dixie Crossroads without thinking "corn fritters...yum!"

I literally think that every time.

I mean...seriously...

Corn Fritters from Dixie Crossroads

 

Get in front of the camera and join us...



Zoo For My Birthday

I promised some zoo pictures...hope you're ready for LOTS of zoo pictures :-)

We went to the Brevard Zoo on my birthday last week.

Besides it being blazing hot...we had a great time.

The girls checking out the jaguar.



My Ellie LOVES animals. She was in heaven!

Pretty much all my pics are like this...the back of their heads.

They were too busy checking out the animals!

Woohoo!

Feeding some birdies birdseed on a stick.

Come and get it birdies!



Feeding the other more colorful and more aggressive birdies.

Didn't get the birdies in the picture...but look at that baby saying "CHEESE!"

Here's my "keepin it real" picture.  I literally laughed out loud for like 5 minutes after seeing this picture.  Apparently I'm not a fan of birds sitting on my leg lol

"There's a bird on my leg...ahhh!"

So proud of my Anna wanting to hold the cup to feed the birdies all by herself.  We didn't get a pic of when the birds got a little too close and she threw the cup and screamed :-)

And we ended our zoo visit by trying out the wading pool...

It was such a fun day at the zoo with my family :-)

I got to celebrate with my girlfriends a few days later with a Craft Party at my house.

SO.MUCH.FUN

You'll see more about that later this week.  Here's a little teaser...