Happy 2nd Birthday Emily Grace!

Happy 2nd birthday Emily Grace! This is extremely belated but Happy Birthday little princess! She turned 2 on June 27. We had a sweet treats party where we invited all the kids to come decorate their own cupcakes. It was quite an afternoon!

Happy Girl!

Daddy, EGU and Mommy (Bailey and Kiwi had to make an appearance in the family picture too)

Getting ready to blow out the candles- Grandma Dance made the giant cupcake!

The singing startled her- poor little thing. I couldn't help but giggle a little at the fact that she cried on her birthday. It's her party and she'll cry if she wants to!

Whoops- Mouth full of cookie- she was so cute: she kept dipping her cookies in the icing on her giant cupcake.


This is so Emily Grace. A little princess, who doesn't sit at the table but helped herself right onto the table and had herself a cookie or ten... We should have made her get down but this was just too cute.

She loves balloons! PS-here is an idea for an easy outdoor table for kids: We used four cynder blocks with a piece of plywood on top and wrapped it in wrapping paper. It was easy to assemble, sturdy (lay the cynder blocks on their sides, not upright), low to the ground for little ones, and quick clean up!

We didn't get a good picture of it but we had a tent in the back yard and the inside was filled with balloons. Emily Grace loved it!

Home grown Hydrangeas- it was a last minute touch that really worked out!

This was so easy- I found a similar one on Etsy for about $30. But you know me- I can make that- and I did! Scrap book paper, a color printer, some ribbon from the dollar bin at Michaels and a scrapbook circle cutter and voila! And the nice thing is we can use it over and over. :)

And the grand finale: a pink hot wheels mini cooper- just her size but not her idea of fun right now. She has to grow into it- the loud noise it makes when you push the gas pedal scared her and she climbed out while it was still going! So, little Avary Anne tested it out for Emmy Gu. She's such a sweetie and she had a big time in that car!

Happy birthday little princess! I hope you enjoyed as much as we did! Love Mommy and Daddy!!

Lip Marks

So when I was little I called my mom's lipstick "Lip Marks." Yeah- this morning Emily Grace had "Lip Marks" EVERYWHERE! She got into my makeup case and pulled out a gloss compact. I figured she'd never figure out how to open that and since she saw me getting ready, I thought it was cute that she was trying to be like Mommy.

She got it open. My bad. But, she knew exactly what to do with it- she dug her FINGERS into it (ruined it) and put it all over her lips- she did a pretty good job too- Aside from getting it under her fingernails and rubbing her glossed hands on her pretty clothes. It wasn't that bad of an episode- we were close by- but we failed to get pictures. I didn't want to ruin any more fabric or walls so I skipped the photo opp and ran for the baby wipes.

We have a girly girl for sure...

Life without dogs

I can't do it. I miss the dogs way too much. They're spending one short week with Mimi and Papa since we left their house on Monday and will be back on Thursday. We all agreed that there was no point dragging them on the four hour trip back and forth.

We got home on Monday and Emily Grace kept saying Abbie- Buster- Bailey?!? Kiwuiesth?!? (she can't get Kiwi yet) I think she was looking for them. Abbie and Buster aren't ours but she loves to pull their fur anyway.

I went to the door Monday night and said "Come on girls- let's go out..." nothing. They weren't there. Duh- how hard is it to remember that they aren't there? Habit I guess. I love those little rascals so much. My feet have been quite cold the last two nights as there was no Kiwi-monster sleeping on them keeping them warm. And as mad as I get at Bailey, I miss the drool stains on my jeans/shorts/skirt every morning. She goes and gets a gulp of water and every morning wipes her mouth on my pants. I run from her, I yell at her- I swoop Emily Grace up and save her from an early morning drool shower- we all giggle and everyone gets a cookie. It's just a few days, I know, but I miss the girls.

There is nothing like the love of a dog. And we're lucky enough to have two.

POO POO IN DA' POTTY!

OH MY! This weekend Emily Grace told Mimi "poo poo" and patted her hiney. And, our genius child had in fact told the truth that she had poo poo'd. YAY- what a great start!

So this morning she came running up to me and said "poo poo" and patted her hiney. This child takes after her daddy so I could smell it from up here without bending down to check. We held hands and walked to her room to change the poopy diaper, and I praised her and congratulated her the whole way. But, what to my wondering eyes should NOT appear- there was NO poopy!

Like a flash, I ran with that naked little baby clear across the house back to our bathroom where the pretty potty was and plopped her down. She stared at me like I was crazy. Then she started acting bashful. I asked if she wanted me to leave and she nodded. So, I walked out of the bathroom and pulled the door behind me. Within seconds she started grunting and there it was, the brown gold (as Chris calls it)! SHE DID IT! Of course, we had a lot of clean up on Aisle 7 but YAY! Our child is brilliant. What do I do now- this could be a fluke- any suggestions?

Don't worry- I didn't photograph it. :)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

We had a big 3-0 party this weekend! The cups said "Chris is turning 30 and now he's OLDER THAN DIRT!" HAHAH! I felt so clever! But, I'll be there soon enough so I needed to watch myself. The big 3-0 officially hit last week. Monday was his birthday- Happy Birthday Chris! But we had the party this past Saturday. It was a lot of fun! Emily Grace was in full force- she knew something was brewing- presents, cake and lots of people to show off in front of. She had a big time- just like her daddy! And thank heaven's the clouds parted, the rain ceased and we had a beautiful evening for a birthday bar-b-que!

Emily Grace chased multiple guests around saying "peas, peas, peas..." for their cupcakes and honestly ran herself ragged playing with the other kids in the back yard. Avary Anne took her cupcake and ran. Poor little thing- the icing was up her nose! We have some good shots of it! I'll post pictures soon.

Next stop- Kate's Bachelorette Weekend in Charleston- Yippie! Does life ever calm back down?

Elivs Lives!

Pictures from Las Vegas:

Elvis Lives- I found him standing on the street corner!

Chris did not love being touched by the big hairy Elivs...


Clemson Shout Out in front of the Bellagio- the camera guy didn't get the best angle...

One last hoorah for the flight home. :) I had just won big at Casino War and black jack! Isn't that ceiling amazing?

He Has Risen!

We couldn't ask for a more beautiful Sunday to celebrate Easter!

This took about 4 tries with the auto feature. Kiwi and Baily were oblivious and Emily Grace wanted to crawl in the mulch. Oh what a day! Needless to say, we changed before going to brunch.

"CHEESE!"


Whoops- there went the hair bow again!

Alan and Emily Lee joined Main St. UMC on Easter Sunday, as Chris and I did two years ago. It was sort of special to us. :) Our friends Donnie and Andrea came to share in the special day as well. They went to their church at 8 and ours at 11- way to go Hulke's!

"Mommy- I don't know what this is but it will make me look funny and I will not wear it on my head." Dang- she figured me out.

The Easter Bunny Strikes again!