Future American Idol

You know how every season on American Idol there's a contestant that has a home video that they show all the time of them singing when they were little and then they talk about how obviously they were destined to be a singer? Well, tonight I managed to film Emmie's video. She even moves around some (the judges get a little critical when you just stand in one place the whole time) and she has an audience and her audience is clearly enthralled (it's important to connect to the audience). Now the big question is "What would Simon say?".

PS. The first one is of her singing Amazing Grace and I have been trying to get it on video for quite awhile but usually she only sings it when she's in her crib. We have sung Amazing Grace to her since she was a newborn to get her to sleep and I just love that she knows the words (ok...the tune...the words are a little spotty).

Beauty Shop

Yesterday I was getting ready to go to a meeting at work and Emmie was watching me straighten my hair. She was pretty impressed (my hair was quite a mess...I'd let it air dry...the straightner turned mom from a scary looking creature with hair going everywhere to a more put together look!) and wanted me to fix her hair. So I pretended to straighten it and pulled it back and put a bow in it. After we got done Emmie went and got her little hairdryer and Ellie's brush and declared that Ellie wanted pretty hair too.

First, Emmie explained to Ellie that she needed her hair done. Ellie was agreeable to the idea.

 Emmie then went to work on Ellie's "hair". Ellie really wanted to watch!

 Next Emmie decided that Ellie needed a bow. So we went to Ellie's room and picked one out. I was quite proud of Emmie that she picked the biggest one we have...clearly I have raised her to be a good little Southern girl!

Sunday Style Section

It's been a while since I did a Sunday Style Section. I feel like many days I'm doing good to just get everyone dressed let alone get a picture! Plus it's been yucky and cold so there are lots of days we hang out in pajamas...especially Ellie, who's my cooperative child when it comes to pictures.

I love this Vitamin Baby outfit. I found it on Zulily.

I love this blue smocked Rosalina dress.

Emmie thinks snow is stylish!

I love this little outfit especially when the hood is up...it has bear ears on top! (By the way, I think Ellie looks like a little chunky monkey here)

This was the dress we brought Ellie home from the hospital in! (The pattern says it's a newborn size...perhaps a 15lb newborn!)

I wish you could see this outfit a little better. The shirt has big snowflakes on it and she has her new black boots on...she was so excited when she saw them and she wore them all afternoon today. By the way this shirt is a 4t and it actually keeps her tummy covered up...yay!

Week in Greenville and Ski Trip

Lots has gone on in the Edwards household this past week. Last Saturday Paul and I gathered up all the children (Franklin included!) and headed up to Greenville.

Grandaddy sleeping...this doesn't really have anything to do with the story but I found it funny.

Sunday afternoon Paul and I came back to Columbia and the kiddos stayed in Greenville. Paul and I didn't quite know how to act with no babies in the house...not even a Franklin in the bed! Sunday evening we went to see a movie and then went out the dinner...it's been a very long time since we had a date night and it was lots of fun. I worked on Monday and Tuesday and then drove back to Greenville Tuesday night. Wednesday I had a dentist appointment and Thursday Emmie and I went and got our haircut. We all had a great time hanging out with the family the rest of the time. Thursday night Paul drove to Greenville after work and we got up bright and early Friday morning to head to Maggie Valley, NC for a quick vacation with Paul's familiy. GG and Papa were there when we arrived and Uncle Blake and Emily came in late Friday night. Saturday we hung around the house.

Emmie cleaned up a bit.

Hop on Paul!

Emmie modeled Emily's boots for us but she decided orange wasn't really her color!

Emmie loves to crack eggs!

We had a 1/2 birthday party for Ellie. GG made cupcakes which Emmie enjoyed...Ellie can't wait until her first brithday when she can have some cupcakes too!

Saturday night Paul, Blake, Emily, and I headed to Cataloochee to do some night skiing. It's been over 10 years since I'd been skiing but it came back to me quickly and I had a great time skiing.

Beautiful sunset on our way to ski.

It was snowing when we left and we even got some snow overnight at the cabin!
Sunday morning was interesting. Ellie woke up around 7:30 and I got up with her and fed her and then went to get Emmie out of bed and when I walked in the room it smelled pretty gross in there. Then I looked at Emmie and it looked like she had hairspray on her hair. All I could think was that she had pooped and then rubbed it in her hair. The good news was that it wasn't poop. The bad news was that it was her first stomach virus. Apparently at some point during the night she had thrown up and then rolled over and it got all in her hair. This is probably TMI but let me just say that it will probably be quite awhile before I eat craisins again! So I threw Emmie in the bathtub and Paul's mom changed the sheets and Lysoled everything in the room and Emmie seemed just fine...so I just assumed it was something she had eaten the night before. We had a big breakfast Sunday morning so it was about 9:30 before we were ready to eat and Emmie seemed fine so I gave her her milk like normal and she chugged it down and then promptly threw it up. Needless to say we stuck to water and bland foods the rest of the day! She was pretty traumatized about the whole throwing up thing...remember she'd slept through the first episode! Once Ellie went down for her nap Emmie perked up a bit and we took her outside to play in the dusting of snow. She doesn't remember all the snow we had last winter so she was really excited about seeing snow and getting to play in it. There was a big hill behind the house with a little snow and lots of leaves so we grabbed some plastic saucers and sleds and had lots of fun going down the hill.

GG made Emmie a teeny tiny snowman.

I think Gin-g and Blake had the most fun and we all got some great laughs watching them!



Sunday afternoon Paul and I stayed with the girls while everyone else went tubing and then Sunday night Fred and Gin-g stayed with the girls and Paul, Emily, Blake, and I went tubing. It wasn't very crowded so we got to go down about 15 times. It was cold but fun!

Monday morning we got up, packed, and headed back to Greenville where we picked up Frankln and ate lunch and then headed back to Columbia. It was a fun trip but we were all glad to be back at home and Paul and I are very excited to sleep in a room with no babies in it tonight! (We played musical rooms up at the cabin...the girls were together one night...major fail...then Ellie slept in our room one night...she talks and grunts all night apparently...and then Emmie slept in our room the next night...she talks at night too but not as bad as Ellie...we're hoping by this summer when we go to the beach they'll be able to be in the same room!)

BFF

Now that Ellie can sit up by herself she's so much fun to play with. Emmie has really started playing with Ellie lately and last week when we were at my parent's house Ellie was sitting on the kitchen floor with a little bowl and a spoon playing by herself and Emmie came over and started playing with her. I only got the end of their play session on video but it was sooo cute! \
PS. At the end, the reason Emmie is right on top of the camera is because she thought the video camera was a microphone and was trying to sing into the lens...funny girl!

6 months!

• I am 6 months old!

• I weigh 14lb15oz ( 27th percentile) and am 26in tall (54th percentile).
• When Emmie was 6mo she was 15lb11oz and 25 3/4 in.
•  When Mommy was my age she was 26.5in and 14lb12oz and when my daddy was my age he was 26.5in and 14lb15oz.
• I wear a size 3-6mo clothes, 6mo or 6-9mo sleepers, and a size 2 diapers.
• I eat baby food (that my mom makes) 3 times a day and I nurse 4 times a day. I eat peas, green beans, acorn squash, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, pear, apple, avocado, apricot, and banana.
• I take 2 naps a day and sleep about 12 hours at night. I take my naps at 10ish and 2ish and I go to bed at about 7:45pm and wake up at about 7:45am.
• I take my bath with Emmie in the big bathtub. I sit in the bumbo for my bath and it works out quite well!
• I am a Mama's girl through and through.
• I love to watch Emmie and Franklin play.
• I love my Daddy and I give him big smiles whenever I see him.
• This month I got to meet baby Laura who lives in France. She and her Mommy and Daddy came to visit.

• This month I celebrated my first Christmas.

• I got lots of great presents for Christmas including my own swing for the swingset!

• I was baptized this month on December 18th by Dr. Ferguson.

• This month I spent my first night away from Mommy. Emmie, Franklin, and I stayed at Gran and Grandaddy's house by ourselves for 2 nights while Mommy worked. 
• I went on my first trip to the mountains this month (we went to Maggie Valley with GG, Papa, Blake, and Emily). Being in a new place freaked me out at first but I adjusted pretty well after the first day.

• I went to Edventure this month with Emmie and her friend Will. I enjoyed watching Emmie and Will play!
• I had a half birthday party while we were in the mountains. I wore a lei and GG made cupcakes. Emmie told me they were really good...6 more months and I can have one! I had lots of fun playing with the tissue paper from the presents.

• I still sleep on my back with my hands behind my head.
• I can sit up all by myself for long periods of time. I love being able to sit up and play and I also like to watch Emmie and Franklin...they're pretty entertaining!
• Even though it's colder now, I still prefer to be naked baby.

• I still drool a lot and chew on my hands and toys all the time but no teeth yet!
• I really like to grab/reach for toys.
• I'm not too big into stuffed animals yet but I like blocks and the little piano and any toy that I can chew on.
• Sometimes I will reach out for someone. The person I'm most likely to reach out to is Emmie. I love to hold her hand, or give her hugs.

Here is Emmie at 6 months and here is her 6 month post.

Christmas in January

So I'm really late getting this up but here's our video from Christmas morning!

Mid afternoon break

Emmie and I have had a hard couple days. She's been in whine mode and has been very needy (I'm hoping both of these are because of her cold.).  So today I decided we needed something fun to do so I decided we would bake! Emily gave us a jar of the dry ingredients for chocolate chip cookies for Christmas so Emmie and I set to work making them! We both had fun (and Emmie didn't even run away from the mixer...making progress!) and afterwards we taste tested them...they were delicious!

2011 Favorites

2011 was a busy year for our little family so I've compiled a list of my favorite blog memories...enjoy!

We kicked off the year with Emmie making a big announcement...she was going to be a big sister!
We went to Sugar Mountain with Paul's side of the family.
Emmie started walking!
We found out Emmie was going to have a sister!
Emmie learned how to buy Franklin's love.
Prince William got married...and Emmie got in the spirit of things with a new hat.
Gran finished chemo and is cancer free so instead of going to chemo we went to the park!
We discovered the water park at Fort Jackson.
Ellison Rachel "Ellie" was born! I still wish that we had gotten Emmie's first reaction to Ellie on video...she was sooo excited.
Emmie got her first taste of homemade ice cream.
Emmie went on a date with her daddy.
We got to meet baby Cohen.
We went to Boo at the Zoo.
Ellie started rice cereal.
Emmie started singing songs.
Ellie started talking to the baby in the mirror.
Emmie went to her first USC football game.
Paul and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary.  When we got married I don't think either of us thought that 4 years later we would have 2 sweet girls and a fabulous puppy...and we wouldn't trade this life for anything!
Ellie found a funny way to sleep.
The girls started taking their baths together.
Emmie turned 2!
Baby Laura came to visit from France.
Ellie had her baptisim.
Christmas!

Our family is excited to see what 2012 has in store for us...hopefully lots of fun adventures and more sleep than we got in 2011 (Ellie that comment is directed towards you!)!

Super Savings

Recently I've had some great cvs and publix trips and have saved bunches of money which makes me super exciting. If you're not a couponer you might not understand the excitement but it's a bit of rush to walk out of a store with a cartfull of goods and have saved over 50% on what you bought...it makes all the hard work  worth it!
Here are my recent super savings:
Publix on 12/20 (yes I'm a little behind getting this up...got behind with the holidays): 2 bags of cranberries, 2 packs of goldfish crackers, 4 packs of ziploc bags, 2 cartons of breyers ice cream, 1 box of granola bars, 2 boxes of macaroni noodles, 2 boxes of keebler club crackers, 5 bags of birds eye steamfresh peas and greenbeans, 2 bags of texas toast croutons, 1 tub of butter, 1 pineapple, asparagus, 2 packs of chinet dinner napkins, 1 mystery item that i can't decipher from the receipt, 2 boxes of hot chocolate, 1 avocado, bananas, 2 blocks of kraft chedder cheese, sweet potatoes, 1 bag of baby carrots, pears, carton of eggs, 2 boxes of spaghetti noodles, 1 gallon of organic milk, 1 bag of deli flats, 5lbs of flour. Everything except the last 3 items was on the sale.
After coupons I saved 67.99 and paid 53.93 for a total savings of 56%!

If you haven't checked out the CVS ad this week, it's AWESOME. Plus I found a few things at the store that weren't listed on Southern Savers but were really good deals (esp on Cascade and Tide) but I didn't have those coupons with me so I'm planning to run back later in the week and grab those items.
Transaction #1: 3 pk of ivory bar soap, 1 oral-b battery powered toothbrush, 1 pack of oral-b floss.
                         After coupons I saved 13.18 and I paid 1.57 for a total savings of 87%!!!
Transaction #2: 4pk of duracell batteries, 9pk of charmain toilet paper, 1 covergirl lip gloss,                         1 covergirl  foundation, 2 pks of cvs makeup remover pad thingys
                         After coupons I saved 15.67 and spent 19.78 for a total savings of 44%. I also got a $10 CVS gift card and as I was walking out I remember I had a $5 off of $25 coupon that I forgot to use and so because it expired in 2 days I went back to the register and asked if I could get ECBs for it...so I also left with $5 ECB which I will use when I go back to get my Tide and Cascade!

Sunday Style Section

We have 2 weeks worth of Sunday Style Section this week! Sorry about all the runny nose and drool pictures but that's how we roll these days!

I love her body language in this picture (and I love the outfit...it has bows!).

This penguin dress is adorable especially with red shoes and the fabulous bow that Emily gave Emmie for her birthday.

 She's so happy about her big, fabulous Christmas bow!

I didn't get a good picture of Ellie in his outfit but it's always stylish to hang out with friends from France!

Christmas sweater and socks and a Santa bow!

This was probably my favorite of Emmie's Christmas outfits. It's a Kelly's Kids outift that I got at Daff-a-deals and I'm very excited that Ellie should be able to wear it for the next 2 years (one year as a dress and one year as a shirt)!

Emmie is modeling her new duck towel...she was a happy little duck!

Her Christmas dress for church Christmas Eve.

Ellie in her very pretty Christmas dress ready for church Christmas Eve.

Ellie is an adorable Ellie-phant!

She loved looking at herself in the mirror and had a great time modeling her Ellie-phant towel.

This is one of my all time favorite pics of Ellie. I just love how big her eyes are!

Emmie wore her penguin dress again!

Ellie in her Hanna Anderson dress that my friend Susan gave Emmie when she was born. Emmie only got to wear it a few times but I'm very excited that Ellie is going to get a lot of use out of it. It is adorable and super soft!

I included this picture because you can see the bottom of the dress and the bow on the bottom.

I love this cow dress from Mud pie and Emmie thought it was great too!

The girls in their matching dresses from GG and Papa.

How cute is this little munchkin?

How cute is this little animal print dress? I love the soft colors.

And I saved the best for last. We were finishing up dinner the other night and Paul and I were talking and I was feeding Ellie her food and we weren't really paying attention to Emmie. We happened to glance over and discovered she had found a new hat!

Hope you have a great start to 2012!