Goblins in the Gardens

We found out Friday that the Atlanta Botanical gardens does "Goblins in the Gardens" one Sunday before Halloween. Our original plan was to get there at 11 when it opened, but that just didn't happen! Leave it to Emma Catherine to take a super long nap the one day we don't want her too - wait, scratch that, we want her to take long naps any day she needs them... By the time we got to the gardens the sun was at the worst angle for this amateur photographer to take photos, but here are a few to show some of our fun!

Emma Catherine loved decorating her pumpkin.

Of course mommy helped too!

She loved showing off her pumpkin to the volunteer she just met as well =)

Here she is just walking around acting like she owned the place

My favorite part was the cornucopia of blown glass pumpkins - the pictures just don't do it justice

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Pretty flower =)

Then she talked with daddy about the birds and the bees - literally "those are bumble bees, they buzz, and pollinate flowers"

Bo and EC playing in the children's garden. Also huge and really cool, but there just wasn't enough time to enjoy it all. If you look closely, you will notice EC holding her bag of popcorn. This is really all she cared about at the time so it was easy to make a quick exit before she followed the sick - hacking up a lung - kid down the slide.

Just the three of us girls!

I love this tree of blown glass pears. Bo can you make me one for the backyard, please honey?

A really nice guy offered to take a picture of the three of us on the sky bridge. He actually knew how to use our camera. Maybe I will get to take that photography class next month, so I can learn to use our camera a little better...

Here is EC chugging her drink as usual. You can seriously hear the gulps just like you could when she used to nurse.

The pumpkin was also great for the ride home. I think Emma Catherine liked removing the stickers almost as much as she liked putting them on! Please note the small stickers on her face =)

It was a very nice afternoon, but too short to enjoy everything! Hopefully we will make it back to the gardens again soon!

30 weeks

I'm way behind on the blogging again - and I think it is only going to get worse! Here are some pictures of the belly at 30 weeks and Asher's 2nd birthday. (I promise to post pictures from Emma Catherine's 2nd birthday party and from Goblins in the Gardens very soon!)

I had to get my hands on baby Lilly. Emma Catherine didn't scream in protest - this time!

The birthday girl and Emma Catherine!

Bo let Asher open one gift a little early...

And she decided it was a stoller just her size =)

So Emma Catherine helped by giving her a little push!

My Curious George

I think EC needs a little hat =)

Emma Catherine had to check out Asher's drums

Of course Emma Catherine just had to sit in the stroller too even though mommy said she was too big. So she took it outside with daddy and Asher - mommy wasn't there to tell her no...

The Ace of Cakes

Hi everyone, this is Bo. Emily usually writes these posts, but this post is about her. See, today is Emma Catherine's birthday and we're getting ready for her party tomorrow. (You may wonder why the party wasn't today - short answer is we're in the midst of college football season.) The theme of the party is Veggie Tales, which you can read more about here. Emma Catherine's favorite movie in the Veggie Tale series is about Larry Boy, a regular cucumber turned superhero. What? A cucumber turned superhero. All I can say is that if you skipped clicking the link above thinking you could just wing it and figure out what Veggie Tales is using context clues, you should have clicked here.

Anyway, back to the story. Emily decided she wanted to make a Larry Boy cake for Emma Catherine's party. Last year she made a really cute giraffe cake, so this is kinda becoming a tradition at our house. She started on the cake last night by baking the layers and cutting it into the shape of Larry Boy. Even then it was a dead-ringer for the character. But today was over the top. Pretty much all day she and her mom worked on piping the cake with various colors of frosting they made and dyed themselves. I would come and go from doing various chores, and marvel at how well it was coming together. By the end, I was nearly speechless - the cake looked great. Over the last several weeks Emily showed me pictures of similar Larry Boy cakes people have made, but none of them looked this good!

I'm really proud of Emily for so many things. She's a loving wife, a wonderful mom, and a caring friend. Today showed me once again just how much she loves Emma Catherine. It's not really about the cake. It's about the love she poured out in piping those hundreds (maybe thousands) of little dots until her hands cramped, just to make one little girl happy on her birthday. So, happy birthday to the sweetest little girl in the world, and special kudos to her mom, the Ace of Cakes.

EC cuteness, Larry Boy trial, and 10 minute tutu

It seems like I have no time to blog these days and so much to catch up on, so here is a random assortment of things!

Emma Catherine's latest cuteness:
At daycare last week, the substitute teacher asked Damika "How old is Emma Catherine?" To which Damika replied, "Not quite 2, why?" The sub said, "There is no way. She speaks and acts like she is at least 3." Apparently Damika told the children to clean up and one of Emma Catherine's friend was not helping. So Emma Catherine walked up to the child, addressed them by name and said, "Did you hear Mika's [Damika's] words? Mika said clean up!" Emma Catherine takes cleaning up very seriously, can't you tell?
Today she was talking to Grandma while eating her first "all by self" ice cream cone. She told Grandma "I got my ice cream. It's good!" And later she told Grandma "I headed to my house." Yes, I let her finish the ice cream cone in the car - crazy mommy! I'm not sure if Grandma caught all of that because Emma Catherine was trying to eat and talk, but it was fun to hear!
She also told me "Mommy my best friend. Mommy's best friend Daddy" =)
And her new favorite thing is talking on the phone after mommy. It all started one morning last week when we both talked to daddy on the way to work - we are driving separate a little more because Bo is working so much. So Emma Catherine would reply to daddy with "Um, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!" And she likes to say "I good" if you ask how she is doing! So give her a call sometime, she would love to say "Um, Yeah" to your questions too! Plus you can always get her talking about school or Larry Boy! She has started singing a new part of the Larry Boy movie. She says/sings, "Knock, knock." You say "Who's there?" She says, "Temptation!"


We had a busy, but great weekend with my parents. They came up to help us with things around the house. We are so grateful they are willing to come teach us how to take care of a house. My dad has so many tips and tricks from many years of trial and error, who wouldn't want his knowledge? Dad painted the columns on the front of the house, Bo learned how to bleach mold to get if off the siding, Dad changed the battery in that fire alarm that started beeping and driving me crazy last week! Mom, Emma Catherine, and I got a lot done too. Including a test run at cutting a cake to look like Larry Boy!



Don't worry, this is not the actual cake we plan to serve at the party. It will be made fresh this weekend and iced very pretty! Oh, and this I call the ghost of Larry Boy =)



We also made this adorable orange tutu!



I cannot wait for Emma Catherine to wear it to the pumpkin patch! She calls it her "new dress" and says "I so pretty!"


Please keep praying for Bo's new position at work. It is really stressful to merge three groups of people into one lab when they come from such different environments. Trying to make things "fair" is not always easy when everyone is "used to" things being a certain way. He is managing people, budgets, and to say it as politely as possible "dealing with difficult people". These are all things Southern Company would send me to many, many training classes to learn about, but Bo was just thrown in. Not to mention his boss travels quite a bit and his new office is still being vacated by the last owner - but he will get there! He is also blessed with many supportive people he has worked with over the years at GTRI and he is doing such a wonderful job. I couldn't be more impressed or proud!!


My last week of work was anything but fun. To make a long story short, one of my projects fell apart. It was an inherited project that had been on going for a few years. It was a project no one wanted to claim, but everyone wanted to give their input on how it should operate. And worst of all, my vendor was anything but professional. I tried to get him released from his contract back in August and I even documented why we needed to let him go, but his boss is friends with one of our guys... Needless to say, the equipment didn't get installed last week and my friends at the plant are now installing the system for me. I was finally successful at getting the vendor removed from our bid list. As it turns out, when you potentially hold up delivery of ammonia to the plant a few people get quite upset. All I can say about the vendor is "You can't help stupid, lazy, and unmotivated" no matter how hard you try to babysit them and do their work for them. I honestly think my toddler understands simple concepts better than he does! Sorry to gripe ya'll! It really wasn't a horrible week, but it was a bit stressful. Although Emma Catherine is always a great stress relief! The morning after the project wasn't installed, she woke up saying "I no want school" to which I replied "I no want work". Then, while Bo was changing her diaper she said, "Catherine's a big girl. My shirt so pretty. I so smart." =) I guess we all need to start off the day with a good little pep talk sometimes!


I also saw the OB last week. She said Annabelle seems very comfortable head up and facing my belly button - aka worst position! But most babies turn by 32 weeks, so she has plenty of time to decide to cooperate! We have started seeing a chiropractor that practices the Webster technique, I'm trying to walk at least 3 miles a day, and doing all the exercises that have been recommended. Who knows if it will work, but I'm willing to try anything to prevent a c-section! So if you know of any tips, please send them my way!


Whew! That's a lot. I hope you all have a great week!

Sweetwater

The weather this week has been absolutely incredible - at least this preggo lady thinks so! One friend said she wasn't ready for the cool weather because she wasn't ready to give up flip flops. The only thing I could think was bring on more of this cool weather because I hate breaking a sweat every afternoon as I get into my car! =) It is so funny how we all think a little different!

Emma Catherine was up several times last night with a stopped up nose, horse throat, asking for water (we keep this on hand), and asking to eat. Because she wasn't feeling well, I broke down the second time she asked and took her downstairs for a snack. I think we were up off and on for an hour or two. She wanted to rock, then lay down with mommy. I'm not willing to sleep without my preggo pillow for support, so we ended up in my bed. She has never been a snuggler, not even as a new born when she slept with us quite frequently. She finally said "I sleep in Catherine's bed", kissed me good night(morning) and walked to her room. Ahhhhhh sweet relief! She is such a wild sleeper and I always worry about her keeping Bo up.

You might ask why I worry about Emma Catherine keeping Bo up at night? Don't worry, he has gotten up with her during the night as well, but as of Friday, Bo started a new job within GTRI. We were told when he took it that it would be very time consuming until the end of the year. He asked what I thought about the position. I said as long as he would like the new job as much as the old one go for it! It means we can pay off student loans faster and it isn't like being a lawyer - we aren't signing up for years of constant, crazy overtime. He will have a lot more responsibility in this position and initially more stress, but I know he will enjoy the challenge. Plus, I would rather he put in the overtime before I'm staying home with two children in January. We have this working parent thing down pretty well right now, but who knows what things will be like when we go to a family of four!

To help us all relax, our family took advantage of the cool weather this morning by making a trip out to Sweetwater Creek. It was very relaxing and peaceful. (Mostly pictures by Bo - thanks bubs!)

Emma Catherine and I did very well about not being cranky despite being up and down so much last night =) However, the water bug was a little upset I would not let her walk around in the water. Here is proof that I did let her put her feet in!

The three girls got a picture (27 weeks preggo)

And we were oh so grateful when a nice lady offered to take a family picture!

After enjoying God's beautiful handiwork, we made a trip to Cracker Barrel for lunch. Emma Catherine would insert "yummy, tummy" in this sentence because she ate a ton! She must have been feeling better =) And daddy even spoiled her by buying her one of these

During Emma Catherine's nap, I went to visit my friend Kimber and her two week old Miss Lily - so precious! I just sat there and held Lily for over an hour, it was wonderful to hold a newborn again. I cannot believe I will be holding another newborn of my own in just 13 short weeks!! There are few gifts as precious as being a parent - not that it isn't the most demanding thing Bo and I have ever experienced - we just really do view it as a privilege and not a job. This mind set really helps when you are up in the middle of the night =)

I ended the day with a haircut. Mandy just came back from maternity leave and the only appointment I could get was at 7PM tonight. She is booked solid for the next two months - not surprised! I will not post pictures. Even though she cut off three inches it is nothing drastic because I had three inches to spare - trust me!

Here's to hoping we can get our chores done in enough time to get our fall decorations up before Bradley class tomorrow! Happy weekend everyone =)