Mommy's Helper

Annabelle is my BIG helper. She LOVES to make pink lemonade, help mommy make cookies and absolutely adores to do laundry...which is a HUGE plus. Anywhere Annabelle helps though, she needs her trusty stool! We got this stool as a wedding gift and I thought at the time...what a strange wedding gift, but this stool has been one of the most useful gifts we have ever gotten. We used it before Annabelle quite a bit, but Annabelle takes this thing with her EVERYWHERE. It goes to all of the sinks, to the countertops, to the tables, into her room, to the washer in the laundry room, and to the pantry...and yes...she can get into about EVERYTHING with this stool, which is probably why she loves it so much!

These other pictures are of Annabelle making beautiful bracelets. She made one for herself and made a special one for her Uncle Bryce when he stopped by. Lenzi, one of my very smart friends, has her girls string beads to promote good hand-eye coordination, so I did it and Annabelle loved it. I am also trying to be more crafty with Annabelle, so stay tuned for some crazy crafts!

Happy Halloween!!!!

Picking out the Perfect Pumpkin

We had fun picking out a few pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. Annabelle was definitely more interested in pushing the wheelbarrows and the wagons around. She gave some kids a ride on the wagons...well the ones that were lucky...sometimes she would tell them, "no, maam. This is my wagon". Poor kids. We did get punished for not acting very kind when we got home. Annabelle picked out two special pumpkins. One for her daddy, and one for Uncle Wyatt, whose birthday was the next day. Annabelle was very proud to present the pumpkin to her Uncle Wyatt, in fact, she opened his gift as soon he walked in the door.


I was in a store at the end of September and I saw this little outfit Annabelle is wearing in a booth. I couldn't believe it. This was the Bow Jangles store that used to be in the mall when I was young. My mom would always buy me these shirts...I remember having one shirt that had girls shopping on the top and the girls both had pink bows on top of their

heads. I loved that shirt! I also had cheerleading ones and ones for the seasons. Gotta love the 80s! I couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy one for Annabelle. Heather must have felt the same way, because her baby girl, Halley has one too! We will have to get their pictures taken together.

I am loving the fall season. We have had so much fun with all of these fall festivities! Annabelle has been asking us everyday, "where are we going today, momma?" because we literally had something fun to do 6 days last week. This week is Halloween, we can't wait.

The Parade

We had the time of our lives at the Shallowater Homecoming Parade at the beginning of October. Annabelle's best friend, Sidney Russell, had a miniature car that Sidney's aunt Scotta had gotten refurbished. It was AMAZING and absolutely ADORABLE!!!! This little car was gas powered and the sound it made was absolutely memorable. Scotta knew that Sidney and Annabelle were too little to drive the car in the parade, so Scotta had asked a 4 year old little boy to drive the ladies...what a gentleman! Annabelle and Sidney had a BLAST, as you can see from the pictures. The girls definitely had their waves down, and they did a good job of throwing the candy too! Bryan and Nannie came out to the parade and waved to Annabelle as she passed. Daddy and Nannie also ran about two blocks so they got to wave to Annabelle two times. What a great Daddy!
I have to give two thumbs up to the town of Shallowater. That was one of the best parades I have ever seen. I bet there were 50 floats, etc. in the parade and you should have seen all the people lining the streets. WOW. I think that we ran out of candy before the first turn. Well, and all the kids had there own stash of candy that there was no way you were getting them to throw to total strangers. Hee. Hee. Annabelle and Sidney did get to drive the car for a little bit, but as you can see, they weren't paying attention to the road. Thank you so much Lisa and Sidney, Scotta and Bill...this was fabulous and amazing and now we have a memory for a lifetime.

Lisa and Mommy. Wish you were still here!

The Very Merry Un-Birthday

A Very Merry Un-Birthday to you...to you! Bryan's mom called me one morning about 8:30 in the morning and told me that at 10:30 the Mahon Library was going to have a Very Merry Un-Birthday Party like the Alice in Wonderland movie. Annabelle had never seen the movie, but I knew that we needed to attend the Un-Birthday Party. I called my partner in crime, Sally, and told her about the idea. It was very spur of the moment, but all you had to do was dress either like Alice or wear a silly hat like the Mad Hatter. Sally had some crazy hats for her boys, and I knew that I could find something that resembled Alice. I called Bryan's mom and told her what I had, but she had hats galore for Annabelle to try. She raced over to our house with hats and white tights and we ran out the front door, so we didn't miss the party. You can see Annabelle's home-made Alice in Wonderland outfit...not too bad for only about an hour of prep time. I couldn't even remember what Alice looked like, but Bryan's mom knew the outfit by heart...way to go, Nannie!!!!! The party was fun, but there were so many people there, it was unreal! Sally and I needed a very strong drink after leaving that party. Whew...but oh the memories!!!

A new doggie view

I like this idea. I think this is Hilarious and I think that it would be highly effective for not only the dog being able to see what exactly goes on behind in the alley, but also effective for security purposes. Hmmm...I definitely might invest in one of these if we ever move out of our rent house.

Just like her Daddy!

O.K...I am posting this picture again, because I have had several people comment to me about how much Annabelle looks like Bryan. If proof was ever in the pictures than this is it. Good Grief!!!! Look at these two! Their eyebrows even arch the same. Now before you go and think that Annabelle looks Nothing like me...I did give her a few appearance qualities...she has my ears, my toes, the color of my eyes (although the shape is like Bryan's), and I think she is going to my hair. I have to conceive the rest though...it is from her daddy!

The Fabulously Fun, but Filthy Fair!

We had a great time at the fair in Mid-September. Ella, Annabelle's sweet cousin, turned 2 years old, so Bryan's parents took us to the fair to celebrate her birthday. We are so glad that we were invited. I don't think we could have had more fun. Annabelle LOVED all of the rides, and is just like her mommy and daddy when it comes to riding rides...fearless. She was thrilled to do any ride, but she loved the merry-go-round most of all. I think that we rode the merry-go-round at least 4 times.

I know the fair is icky and gross, but we had a great time. Bryan and I even had a fun time trying to squeeze into the tiny rides for the little kids! Hee. Hee. We can't wait until next year! Annabelle is going to be one of those kids that LOVES going to Six Flags and Disney World. I can't wait!!!!! Let's go!

Kudos to the Science Spectrum

We LOVE our membership to the Science Spectrum. We have been members for 2 years and we use it all the time. When we renewed our membership in September, I asked the lady at the front desk how many times we had been since January of 2008 and she told me 23 times. WOW...we really get our money's worth out of this activity. We have a 5 person membership so that my mom and Bryan's mom can take Annabelle. I know that Annabelle loves it. You can see that there is an entire room devoted to toddlers. It is about the size of a basketball court. During the winter months, when it is too cold to play outside, we go weekly. We can get some energy out and we have a ball! Even the hand dryer is fun!!!!

Brushing Teeth

Isn't is amazing how hard it is for little ones to learn to brush their teeth. It is such a force of habit that we do every morning and night that we don't even think about it. I brush my teeth and pick out what I am going to wear in the mornings. At night time, I brush my teeth and I don't even know what I do...I guess I just think. Hmmm???? For Annabelle, brushing her teeth is a challenge that only daddy can tackle. He always tells her how beautiful her teeth are and how gorgeous her smile is when he is brushing her teeth. What a great dad!!!! I am thankful to him that he has taken over this duty...it is a challenging one.

October 15th Deadline

Annabelle's expression is definitely how I am feeling right now with the October 15th deadline coming up. I have been a CPA for 5 years now, and have been an accountant for 6 years, and I have to say, although I know that the October 15th deadline is the worst one, I am always shocked at how crazy it is when it gets here! YUCK!!!! It is like the April the 15th deadline, but much worse, because you can't extend anyone. It HAS to be done. We are having phone calls out the wa-zoo, and faxes are coming in with hard to read number figures on them. Luckily for our firm this year, we have 2 AMAZING new girls that are making it much more manageable. Plus, we have an AWESOME new office manager who is faster than the speed of lightning and she pays attention to all the details. Whew...maybe this deadline will be easier, but for the time being I just want to say AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Gymnastics

I have put Annabelle in a 2 1/2 - 4 year old gymnastics class. To say the least, it is hilarious. She LOVES gymnastics, and looks too cute in the little outfits. Here is her outfit for this season. The picture of Annabelle in her pink outfit is from this spring. I can't believe how much she has changed from just a few months ago. WOW!

Funny Coupon Story

Bryan's sweet, sweet grandmother cuts out coupons out of the paper every Sunday. She always paperclips them together and gives them to me the next time she sees me, which is just too sweet for words. I used to be pretty good about using coupons when Annabelle was in diapers, but I am just not organized enough to remember to bring them to the store and actually use them. So instead, I give them to Annabelle, my "pack rat". Annabelle ADORES anything in a Ziploc baggy, so coupons is a perfect thing to put in the baggy. One day, Bryan and I went to pick up Annabelle from his parent's house and Mammy brought some coupons out to us. We thanked her and Annabelle couldn't wait to hold them and "count them". We load everyone up to go to dinner at Rib Crib and Bryan's mom says that she will make a plate for Annabelle to bring to Rib Crib, since she probably wouldn't like BBQ. With a plate of turkey and grapes in hand, we walk into Rib Crib. It is Monday night, and to our surprise, it is $1 BBQ Brisket sandwich night. We sit down and Annabelle starts looking at her coupons and talking about them. We are talking and look up and it seems like the whole restaurant is staring at us! I ask Bryan why everyone is looking at us and he says, "Because we look like the tightest people on the entire earth! Annabelle brings in coupons, it is $1 BBQ Brisket sandwich night, and it looks like we won't buy our child a $1 sandwich, because we brought in a plate for her!" He was mortified. I thought it was hilarious, but was embarrassed too! Needless to say, we ordered lots of other food, so it didn't look like we just came for a $2 food tab. We haven't been back since!

My first Blog

This is my first Blog...I know, I know...I am definitely behind the fast paced world of blogging and technology (I don't have a My Space page or a Face book page). I guess I am in that part of the generation that says that we are very up and up on the technology, but in all actuality, we are not. We are just like those old people that we make fun of all the time. I actually have several friends that blog, so I have "jumped on the bandwagon" and joined in on the fun!

I had a dream the other night about blogging. I remember waking up and thinking, "hey...that would make for a great blog." But now that I am actually typing out my very first blog, I can't think of anything to talk about. I better make this first blog good though, otherwise, people will stop reading my blog, because it isn't entertaining enough.

I think my first post will be about my family. People like to hear about everyone's families...except for those people that don't like it, of course. Anywho...my family right now consists of: My wonderful, sexy, successful husband of 7 years, Bryan. We just celebrated our 7th anniversary; I still can't believe it has been that long! We have a beautiful, happy, healthy and adorable little girl, Annabelle, who is 2 1/2 years old. She is definitely our family's crown jewel. I am a little obsessed with my child, so you have to know that this blog will mostly be about her! Last, and definitely least, is our dog, Cash. She is a 5 year old boxer, that is sweet as she can be, but poor thing is definitely not as popular as she used to be before Bryan and I had Annabelle. Bryan and I were about to give Cash to a young man that wanted an older boxer, but when Bryan and I asked Annabelle what she thought about Cash, she said, "Cash is my best friend"...so the dog stays...at least for now.

Right now, we are currently living in a rent house. Let me back up a few months and tell you why we are actually in a rent house. Bryan and I talked casually talked with a builder back in January of 2008 about the cost of building a home. He said that we could get everything our hearts desired for about $90 a square foot, without land. O.K...so that sold us. We put our house on the market, and had a contract on it in about 3 weeks. Of course...it took nearly 3 months for our house to actually close (the people purchasing our house had trouble closing on their house, so obviously, there was a trickle down effect), but that was O.K. with us, because we were in the middle of tax season and couldn't get in our house until after April anyways. Perfect! By the time we closed on our house in June, we talked to the same builder and he told us that construction was now $105-$110 a square foot without land! Hence the reason we are in a rent house. I didn't dream prices would increase $15-$20 a square foot in just 6 months! We are happy in our rent house, but it is definitely not home. I am sure there will be more to come on the house progess...so stay tuned!

Wow...this was fun. Maybe I can be organized enough to blog again. Thanks for listening. Em