In Honor of Emily Grace's Baptism

My sweet Emily Grace, I remember this day just like it was yesterday... this was the day we dedicated your life to the Lord.

Now you have taken the step yourself and dedicated your life to the Lord! And we couldn't be more proud of you... here's some pics from the special day!

Emily, Caleb & her friends that were also getting baptized that day in their KICK Start shirts, they all went through a KICK Start class together where they learned what it meant to become a Christ follower.

Em and Dad right before the baptism... her daddy baptized her, such a sweet moment!

Em & Cousin Bryce

Em with Granny, Aunt Sherry and Aunt Debbie

Em with Nana & Grandad

Always our little princess, and now a princess in God's kingdom forever!!

We love you and are so proud to be your Mom and Dad, Emily Grace!

I'm back!

I've been a little MIA over the past couple of months, I guess I can blame this...

In case you didn't know, we are building a new house here in Clarksville... it's kept me on my toes for a couple of months.... but we are getting closer to it being finished and I can breathe again... at least until the packing and moving begins :)

I'll post some new pics of kids and such soon to let you know what's going on in our world beyond house building :)

Our Gatlinburg Trip So Far!

We have an annual Christmas trip to Gatlinburg... this year it was even more special because we arrived to SNOW!! The road up the mountain was cleared, but the parking lot to the condo was NOT, so we had to park in the entrance and make the trek with our luggage in about 6-8 inches of snow to our condo, it was an adventure! Here's some of the highlights so far...

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Quick Recap of School Programs and Parties

Caleb had a Christmas program where he was supposed to sing Jingle Bells, but he just stood there with this "deer in the headlights" look the whole time. Em and Caleb both had School Christmas parties, here's a few pics to recap them all...

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Emily's Annual Christmas Party

One of Emily's favorite things to do is decorate...It's been a tradition for the past 3 years that Emily invites a few friends over and we decorate Christmas ornaments and such. So here's some pics from this year, we made ornaments and cookies. Caleb even decorated a cookie, it was a fun day!

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My little chef!

Emily helps me cook alot, but this particular night she took it to the next level!
She made the salads totally by herself and while I was cooking she got down all my little crystal bowls and filled them with our salad toppings. She got out our nice Christmas glasses and poured us all drinks. She made a fruit salad, and she set the table all by herself. Here's the finished product...

Emily's 1st Real Concert

The day before Thanksgiving, I took Emily to her very 1st concert! We met some friends in Nashville for dinner & then off to the show. A night of Miley Cyrus & hanging out with my girl was so fun.... I'm so glad she loves music, it gives me a good excuse to go to concerts :)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My Land of Oz!

My sweet kids have fallen in love with the movie Wizard of Oz! So for halloween, Emily was determined to be Dorothy and of course Caleb had to get in on the action. So he was the tin man, they were so cute! My mom came and visited and enjoyed going trick or treating with the kids and our cousins Bryce and Caitlyn came too, it was a fun night!

Best Buddies!

Ok, I know I know, it will NOT always be this way, but I love how much Caleb and Emily love to play together right now! This is not to say that it is always this GRAND, but most of the time they do enjoy each other! Here's some moments from the past few weeks...

Emily reading Caleb his bedtime story... he sits still for the whole story (I don't think he's done that for me or Steve yet!!)



Coloring together...

They built a "house" in Caleb's room...

One of Caleb's favorite books is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Emily loved to read it to him...check out this video

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My baby is growing up too!

Ok so Caleb is growing up too, but I must admit as a Momma, this one leaves me a little sad! It is fun to see him discovering new things everyday, but he's my BABY!

A few weeks ago, he started in his new 2 yr old room at preschool. He was so excited about school and he was determined to carry his own backpack, even though he could hardly walk with it on.... he was so cute!

My girl is growing up and I love it!

A few of you may remember our ear piercing disaster last year....

If you haven't heard it, it's a long story, but I learned "the hard way" that Emily was not quite ready for ear piercing yet and we left the mall with 2 holes in her ears, no earrings and a girl in tears!!

Well a few weeks ago while at a mall in Nashville, Emily declared I would like to get my ears pierced again! I reluctantly said, "Are you SURE?" She confidently told me "Yes, Mom I am ready!"

So we went into Claires, sat down in the chair and a few minutes later, came out looking like this...

No tears, just smiles! She is definitely growing up, but I'm loving every minute, I love hanging out with my girl!

Operation Serve 2009 - WOW!

Ok, so if there is anyone still reading this, you are probably thinking where did Christy go??


Well I have been immersed in Operation Serve 2009... it is an awesome day that our church does each year. We serve our community in over 50 projects during this event.

I spent lots of hours at work in preparation for the event, but it was worth each and every minute to see the lives changed on Saturday. We typically have an average of 1500 attendees on a Sunday and we had over 1200 volunteer on this day.... to me that is AMAZING!

We had projects all over the city... the Safehouse, Salvation Army, Hope Pregnancy Center, Loaves and Fishes, Nursing Homes, several local elementary schools etc...

One of the biggest projects of the day were the 17 homes that made up our "Extreme Neighborhood Makeover" project... these homes were in some cases, the worst of the worst in this city. For the families that lived in these homes, their lives were forever changed on Saturday as teams of people converged on their homes in what looked that something we usually only see on TV...

Steve worked at one of the home sites and Emily & I were on a team that made dinner and cookies for these families as well as taking them a new plant for their "new" home. The first few hours we mixed casseroles, decorated cookies and planted flowers, but the last few hours were the best part as we delivered them to the homes where the other teams were working. These people were so grateful for the tangible love the people of Grace showed them, truly touched that someone would do that for them.

I am so glad to be a part of a church where my child can see these things first hand, she loved interacting with the kids at each house and I truly think she came away with an appreciation of the blessings that we have and the desire to help others in need. It was a tangible way for her to see how to show God's love to others, how cool is that!

Our local paper covered the day here and here's a video we compiled...

Mommy Daughter Day

Emily and I had a fun Mommy/Daughter day today! Dad wasn't feeling well and Caleb was spending the weekend with Aunt Debbie so we just had a girls day. We started off our day at church, and it was great day at GCC! Mr. Adam hit a home run telling the story in Cross Street today and they sang some of Emily's favorite songs!! Then we went to Raffertys for lunch, she had her favorite potato soup and I had my favorite salad and we had yummy croissants!! Then the Hope Pregnancy Center here in Clarksville hosted a Mother/Daughter Tea, it was a great event with singer Natalie Grant. All in all a wonderful time with my sweet girl, it's so fun to hang out with her! Looking forward to all our fun times to come...

It's Back to School Time!

Well, we made it through the 1st Day of School, we had the new outfit, new backpack, new teacher and she was ready to go!!!

She was most excited that she had her OWN DESK in 1st grade! In Kindergarten, they had to share tables!

Here's my monkey when I picked her up from school!

Tennis Camp

Emily tried her hand at a little tennis before School started, she was actually pretty good at it, so we might continue with Tennis for a little while and see where it goes...

Here's my girl in her tennis gear...is she cute or what?

Summer Vacation

We vacationed in late July with my family in St. Simons Island! So FUN!

My sisters, my mom & some of my nieces and nephews joined us, we had a great time!

Swinging with Aunt Judy

Hanging out with Uncle Rob

The Water Park with Aunt Sherry and Debbie

Our Family Bike Ride - A Bicycle built for 4!