How she's changed

This is from last summer. She's on the front porch and managed to get this butterfly to land on her. In fact, if I remember correctly, she caught it. It was sitting on the flowers behind her, and she just picked it up.


But look at her; in one year, she has grown up sooooo much. She doesn't seem to be this same little kid. She's gotten more mature, she throws less fits, and she's become more attached to me. She chooses to stay home with me and Ray when Hannah runs off down the street to play with Maggie. She's not always interested in the games Hannah and the other girls want to play. She does what she wants, not necessarily what others want. She has become more independent, more sure of herself, more pensive.






She's still just as adventurous, though. Next week she will start karate and basketball--2 brand new sports for her, and she's really excited about both of them. And she keeps asking about piano lessons.



Looking at these pictures I realize how time really does fly when you are having fun. I just wish I could slow time down so I can have more of it to spend with this awesome kid!

She was on "fiya!"

Emily had a game tonight--in the rain and the mud--and she was awesome! I don't think I have seen her play this hard in a long time. She scored 4 (2 of which she was playing defense) of the 7 goals and stopped countless shots on goal. The other team would be bringing the ball down the field, and then out of nowhere, Emily would come shooting across the field to take the ball. As the goalie, she threw herself into the mix of kids and grabbed the ball many times. She tricked the other team by making them think she was running one way but would then run the other. She purposely threw the ball to her teammates rather than just kicking it. She even stopped a ball one handed as the rest of her body slid in the mud. She even assisted a goal from a corner kick--a deliberate kick.


I try not to overly brag about my kids, but I can't help it. She was freakin' on fiya! ;-) And it was an amazing thing to watch.

Many hours later

I have a fantastic, usable basement! Most of you saw it on Sunday at Hannah's birthday party, but I just had to post, for the record, how proud I am of Ray for the fabulous job he did on our basement. I love, love, love it! And once our furniture comes in and we buy a new t. v. it will be complete! So excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!

;-)

Inching closer

Today, I spent 4 hours painting the basement...every day we get closer to being finished...every day I get just a little more excited. Look for a sneak peek sometime this weekend ;-).

39 and 20 years

Today, Ray turned 39...hard to believe that just next year he and I will both be 40. (No old jokes, please!) But really, 40??? I remember thinking how old 40 was when I was a kid, when I was 20, when I was 30. Now, it's almost a reality. I shudder...but we spent today eating at Golden Corral (Hannah's choice; why he let her choose, I'll never know) and we will be buying him some new running shoes as his gift.

As most of you know, Saturday was my 20 year reunion. It was nice. Even though none of them will be life-long friends, it was good to go back and see what some of my classmates look like. But most importantly, I wanted to see Jason. We were such close friends in high school that I really wanted to spend some time catching up. I decided not to take my camera in; I was afraid it might get stolen. Luckily for me, people took pictures and posted them on Facebook:

He still looks so much like he did back then...just older.

The other guy in this picture (besides Ray who was talking when the picture was being taken) is Jimmy Parker. He was and still is quite an interesting character.

Here's to getting older and having old friends!

Pumpkin Farm

Today, we went to the Pumpkin Farm with my family. We started out at Turpin Farms, but left after a half an hour since there wasn't much for the kids to do. I did snap a couple of pictures of Mya, Jo Ann and the girls, and Aaron while we were there.








Our next stop was Burger Farm. We rode a hayride to the pumpkin patch and the kids rode a couple of rides. We couldn't stay long because Emily had a 1:00 soccer game. Even though we didn't stay long (and I didn't get a lot of pictures because my hands were too cold), we still had an enjoyable morning.













The girls picked out 2 big pumpkins. Hopefully this year we'll actually get around to carving them! ;-)

Just chillin'

Tonight, Emily went to bed at 7:00. That's early, especially since she doesn't have school tomorrow, so it was just me, Hannah, and Ray hangin' out. She was laying on the couch when I came into the living room. I took the opportunity to run and jump on her. She just giggled and squealed and squirmed around. I decided to use my remote for my camera and capture a picture of us just chillin' on a Wednesday night!

At 2:39 p.m.

Hannah turned 9 years old. That's what she said to me this morning. After jumping out of bed at 6:20 a.m., she ran into my room and said, "Today's my birthday! At 2:39 I'll be 9 years old!!!"

At first I was like, "Why would she say '2:39'?" Then it dawned on me--she has been reading her baby scrapbook and I must have written that in there. So I said, "Well, I guess you need to go back to bed and stay asleep until 2:39 because 9 years ago, you weren't awake yet." She didn't find that to be a desirable option. ;-)

We sent her off to school today carrying a huge bag of popcorn balls and a whole lot of cheer.

When I got home from work, I hung a Happy Birthday sign on our front porch, and when her bus pulled up, I heard her yell, "Look!" and she was excitedly pointing at the front porch.

Then she came flying across the front yard yelling, "It's my birthday! It's my birthday!"

She then opened her gift...a new American Girl doll. This time she got Ivy, the best friend to her current American Girl Doll. She was very excited to receive this unexpected gift.

After Hannah's soccer practice, we went to TGI Friday's for dinner and a cup of dirt (her favorite desert). There, they sang to her.

And, if they didn't sing to her, she would have been very sad. As soon as we entered the restaraunt, she made sure every employee knew it was her birthday.

Finally, at 9:00 (one hour past her bedtime) the birthday girl hit the sack as one happy, content, pooped puppy!

Happy Birthday child of mine!!