Poppys Icecream

The best icecream in town... Poppy's, and Audrey's daughter, Emily, just happens to work there! We went there Thanksgiving eve to enjoy some yummy eggnog icecream!

One happy customer!

Emily and Emilia

Audrey and Emilia... check out the size of Emilia's cone

and you will see why she wanted another!

Emilia paying for her 2nd icecream cone of the evening... yes she is an addict!

Can you blame her?

decorating the tree

We usually like to decorate our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving night, but the festivities were delayed due to shear overeating exhaustion! Chris and I both had to work on black Friday, so opted for tonight. We made hot chocolate and dressed in our cozy “jacket socks” as Emilia calls our jammies with footies. (Yes, Emilia and I both have a pair!) We decorated our tree, listened to Christmas tunes and drank hot chocolate… all in all a good night! I would have loved to have used Elf's own Buddy's method to get the star on top (my fav part in my fav movie... we opted for a ladder! :) Christmas is around the corner!

getting the ornaments out

these are our blue jacket socks!

our huge but beautiful tree!

future architect

Emilia has loved playing with her wooden blocks lately... she builds a "city" and drives her toy cars and dinosaurs through the streets... kind of like Godzilla!

Count your Blessings

Where do I start? There are so many things I am thankful for, but rather than making a really long list like last year’s 303 thank you’s, I will only name the top few that come to mind…. (drum roll)...


I am so very thankful for God’s grace and mercy. I am thankful for my faith, for His forgiveness, for answered prayers, for miracles, and for His unbroken promises. I am SO thankful.

Chris, I am so thankful for you. You are my best friend and my husband. Going on 9 years… for better or worse, here we are and I am so thankful for you. I am thankful I found someone who loves me for (and despite) all my quirks…. I love you unconditionally. (And I love that you do laundry, make my coffee, and gave Emilia your smile!) XOXO

Emilia, I am so thankful for you… you are the most precious little girl. You are growing up so quickly and I am constantly amazed at the person you are becoming. I am thankful for your sweet heart and gentle spirit. I love your quirkiness… I think I know where you got it from! You are so loving, ornery, silly, beautiful, feisty, snuggly, unique and just plain amazing… I have been so blessed. I love it when you say, ”Mama, I very love you!” I very love you, too, peanut! (and I still love your morning breath)

My parents… Dad and mom, I am very thankful for you both. While we had our differences growing up (numerous differences :)), I am thankful you cared enough not to take the easy way out. I was quite (exhaustingly) rebellious, and it would have been easy to give in, but you persisted. And while I might not be so strict with my own kiddos, I am so thankful my you cared enough to raise me in a way that was difficult at times, but what you thought was best. I think I turned out pretty good, so mission accomplished! Dad, thank you for giving me an example of a Godly, loving, gentle, and yet strong man. Thank you for protecting the country I live in and and am raising my family in...you are an amazing father, friend, and papa! Mom, thank you for being a 2nd mom to my Emmy bug. I am sorry for all the stress I caused you growing up, but on the other hand, the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree, and I have a feeling I know where my stubbornness came from! Thank you for making me a strong woman...and mom...I hope I am half as beautiful as you are when I am a grandma! Thank you both for loving Emilia so much… you are her home away from home.

My sisters, Heather and Melissa… you both rock. Heather, you paved the pathway for parenting a little girl, and I hope I am a good follower. You are a great friend, co worker, and aunt (and karaoke singer in Europe… but we won’t go there). I love you! Melissa, I am so thankful for your friendship and big sister advice. Thank you for knowing when to give advice and when to just listen (and when to just show up with Starbucks). I love you both (and your kids)!

My nieces and nephews…. Ty, you are the one that made me an aunt… such an awesome job! From the age of 15, I took the role quite seriously and hope I have not failed… I love watching your soccer games and just hanging out. And I promise to be the cool aunt that teaches you how to drive (at 14 :))! I love you, buddy! Hannah… you made me want to have a little girl! You are beautiful, sweet, and an amazing young girl. I love seeing what an awesome big cousin you are to Emilia, and I am so thankful for you and love you so much! Garrett… where do I start… you make me laugh. While you may, at times, challenge the patience of a saint and allow a deaf man to hear, you are such a little blessing and I love your energy. You have a soft heart, and Emilia calls you “best friend Garrett.” I love you (to infinity and beyond :)) Lily, I am so thankful for your spunkiness and Taylor Swift singing. You have the cutest little grin, and I love seeing the beautiful little girl you are becoming. I love that you call Uncle Chris “Christmas”… too cute! I love you Lilybelle! Mr. Hudson… you are my handsome little guy. I love it that you love me so much… it is so nice to feel loved unconditionally! You have the sweetest little smile… I love you, Batman! Erika and Payton, while you may have only ended up my niece and nephew through marriage… you are my niece and nephew none the less (no getting out of it :)! ) Erika, I remember taking you on your first chaperoned date (funny I was chosen as a chaperone! :)) You have turned into such an amazing beautiful young woman, and I am thankful I was there to see the journey. I am thankful you found your sweet hubby, Tim, and that you two finally decided to move back in town! Payton, you always make family gatherings more fun, whether playing pool, Wii, or legos (with Emilia). I have enjoyed watching you grow up (and up… you can stop anytime), and you have become such an awesomely wonderful guy. Thank you for being such an amazing cousin to Emilia, and making her feel so special EVERY time you see her! I am thankful for ALL my nieces and nephews and love you all very much!

I have so many family members that I am thankful for… each for different reasons. While I will not name names (because you can find then in last year’s 303 thank you’s), I will name some things I am so thankful they provide me with… friendship, chocolate sheet cake at 2am if needed, support, financial advice, best cousins (ever!), fishing buddies, shopping buddies, art show company, hugs, lunch dates, coffee buddies,  and sometimes just somebody to sit with in silence… I LOVE MY FAMILY!

Friends… I cannot name you all… so I will name the last 5 I have seen/talked to/ or text! I have been so blessed with the best friends and am so thankful for each one of you! We will start with Jen for longevity sake… to think I didn’t like you in 4th grade and even cut your hair to prove it (for telling on my note passing and making “glue balls” in class)… 21 years and 1 matching tattoo later… I absolutely love you. It only took 1 birthday party to make us inseparable, and I am so thankful you came to my 9th birthday party and gave me a lifelong friendship (and a silver hairbrush comb and mirror that I STILL HAVE!! You get me… and I am thankful for that! Remember when we were growing up and you pretended to model while I took your photos?( If your mind needs jogging I can post some photos I found :)) How ironic you do this as a hobby and I still love taking photos… not much has changed! Samantha, I am so thankful for you (and my new growing nephew, Lincoln)! Sixteen years of friends…. family vacations in Myrtle Beach, college roommates, bar hopping buddy, and now church friends… our friendship is constantly changing and I am so thankful our changes are in sync to enjoy these times together. I am so thankful for you and so proud of what a great mamma you will make (in February! )! Kelly, I am very thankful for your friendship and for having other boring old couple to hang out with :)… you are gonna be a mama soon (next week?), so we only get more boring after kids! I am thankful for your friendship over the past 10 years and have fond memories of snow skiing and “Desperate Housewives” parties! Ahh… now to my “work friends”… the last two I spoke with… Audrey, I have had such a great time getting to know you and you have become one of my close friends. I am thankful for our friendship, scrapbooking buddy, and coworker that is always willing to lend a hand… feeding a baby, hanging IV fluids, or drawing up code meds… you are there! I learn a lot from you, and hope when Emilia is grown that she and I will be as close as you are with your daughters…. I’m taking notes and hoping for this! Saxton, I am thankful for your friendship and for Myles and Emilia’s friendship. I enjoy their play dates, and appreciate that you let me get my “baby fix” with Bella while we hang out… you would think I would get my baby fix at work :)! I love that our kids are getting to be good enough friends that they argue with each other…that’s always a good sign! While I have several more friends I would love to mention… maybe next time you will call or text me more often to make the “last 5 list”! ;) I love you all and am very thankful for you!

While there are many other things I am thankful for, I am choosing this Thanksgiving to focus on people and if you wonder about the other things… check out last year’s list… they still apply! Happy Thanksgiving… hope this holiday finds you counting your blessings! I know I am!

OOPS!

So I guess I am not good at not blogging... meaning I have 13+ blogs sitting in my draft box, so rather than not blog, I have decided I will. To blog or not to blog.... for some reason I felt relief by blogging that I would not be blogging, but found myself blogging but not uploading photos, which did make my life easier for a bit, until I realized I had 1,000+ photos to download and sort through, but then that sucked, so I will blog! Thanks to those few close friends whom I could never repay for helping me out lately.... your friendship is irreplacable! And here are the lost blogs!

Veterans Day

What an awesome day yesterday... Jen's dad was moved out of the ICU and I spent the evening with this veteran in the hospital drinking the strawberry Shatto milk I brought him (its his fav), and talking of old times. Talking to him... amazing he is doing this well... he was just on the ventilator yesterday! I guess I never did fill in why he was sick.. long story short... he received a heart transplant this spring, then came down with H1N1 the weekend of his son, Chris's wedding, waited a week before going to the hospital, and ended up with bilateral pneumonia. The problem being they had to take him off one of his anti rejection drugs to fight the illness, but then you risk hurting the new heart, and his kidneys weren't working well, so he was retaining fluid... ended up on a ventilator and everything...very scary situation and so amazing how he has made such a quick turn around! Since we have a few veterans in our own family that I missed out on spending time with, I am preparing a special meal tonight and having my parents and Uncle Danny over for dinner. Can't wait! My dad is retired Air Force and Danny was in the Navy... should be some good stories around the dinner table! Thanks to all the veterans and soldiers out there... because of your sacrifices we have freedom.

Baby shower

Tonight was Samantha's baby shower at the church we both attend. Emilia helped paint the tree trunks for the centerpieces and I actually made the cake myself... okay, I cannot take credit for the baking (my mom made homemade hot water choclate cakes), but I did the decorating! Samantha is having a boy, Lincoln, who is due in February. She got a lot of really cool gifts, and we had a lot of fun!

Why pray...

It seems the closer we get to the holiday season, which should be such a joyful time, I see so many people hurting… sick family members, financial difficulty, job loss, sick children, home losses…. I am surrounded by so many that are in the midst of hurtful situations. I could not even count the number of people I have prayed for in the past few weeks, because that is sometimes the only thing to offer. I was talking to one of my friends last week, who is not a Christian,and she asked me why I prayed if I thought God already knew the outcome. Good question, but I did not have a good answer. I know why I pray, and I have seen God answer prayers, but I have also seen them not be answered in the way I wanted. Why pray? Tonight I am sitting at the side of someone who brought me one of my soul mates and best friends, Jen and I have been praying. Her father is very sick, and the only thing I can offer is to sit with him while his wife has to work, and pray. I have been praying quietly, I have been praying out loud, and I have been praying feeling helpless. But for what? If God knows the outcome, as I believe he does, then why would I even bother? I can quote many scriptures as to how God commands prayer (I Thessalonians 5:17) and how God does answer prayers (I John 14:13-14, John 15:17), but to answer to someone who does not believe the Bible is difficult. I simply told her I could not get through life without it. I have never thought I had a difficult life, but I have been in many situations where my faith has been tested and I now I am finding myself there again. I find myself digging my feet in the ground thinking I can get through this on my own, and I am gently reminded that I can’t. Unfortunately my gentle reminding likes to come at 4 am, but when it does I pray. I pray for help through difficult situations, I pray for healing of those around me, I pray for my family, I pray for forgiveness, I pray that God will help me to rely on Him rather than getting out my super woman cape and trying to do it all, only to fail in the end…. I pray. Here I am sitting now and it is 2 am and I am praying. Tonight I am praying out of out of a sense of love, respect and helplessness, because there is nothing else I can do but pray with every ounce of my being for my friends dad. He is quite sedated now on the ventilator, and doesn’t know I am even sitting with him, but I will continue to pray.

where else?

It’s Monday night… where else would we be but at Atlanta Bread Company for dinner. I love the chicken enchilada soup and Emilia digs the grilled cheese… and we both love the cookies! I love our Monday nights!