Eva Grace can tie her shoes!!!

LONG LONG LONG time in the works but she can FINALLY tie her own shoes (Thanks to Uncle Adam). Now to practice so it doesn't take her 5 minutes per shoe. She is SO excited. Way to go, Grace!

Manamana...

Do do.... do do do


We saw the new Muppet movie Sunday night and the song is stuck in our heads! One of us will start it and the other will finish it. It isn't even a conscience thing anymore. If it isn't being sung, it's being hummed. HELP!!!

Ella Ruth ~ 4 1/2 years old... Such a comedian these days.

Insists on calling people, "humans."

"Mom those humans are buying milk."
"The humans are walking their dog."
"I drew these humans holding hands."
I don't have a clue where she picked this up.


Most common words:
"BA BAM" (used after an accomplishment she is proud of).
"Seweously" or "I'm Seweous" (serious- she can't pronounce her "r's").

Can make her stomach grown on command. Seweously, she can! It is hilarious. Trick is to "swallow a bubble."

She loves macaroni and cheese, cauliflour and cheese, broccoli and cheese, mashed potatoes. She will eat several servings during the meal, then leave the table. After everyone is done she will usually end up back at the table with the serving bowl and spoon finishing out the leftovers. Here she is Thanksgiving.

Emma hits double digits, Happy 10th!!!

I can't believe I have a little girl in double digits!!! Emma is 10 years old, where did this time go? We started her celebrations by singing Happy Birthday to her on November 1st, to kick off her birthday month. Then the countdown started when we were a week out, followed up by her birthday "two"day, birthday eve, and BIRTHDAY! Her birthday falls during the Thanksgiving holiday every year so she gets to see lots of family, which is great, but very busy. Grandma took her shopping and out to eat and Nanner got her 6 Hobby Lobby gift cards to do whatever crafts she chooses (Pinterest has given her lots of ideas). Having a holiday bday holds up her party so we have that mid-December. Elfie, our Elf on the Shelf, also came back on her birthday and had a big breakfast waiting on her and her sisters. She wanted brownies, not cake, so we had candles and brownies after our Thanksgiving feast. More bday festivities in the next few weeks.

Her party was 4 months later and is in a separate post.

Counting our Blessings, Thanksgiving 2011

Our Thanksgiving festivities were kicked off this year with Eva Grace's school having a Voyage of the Mayflower chili supper. We went to check out her artwork displayed in the hallway. My favorite was her poem.

"Thanksgiving looks as pretty as a kitten. Thanksgiving sounds as loud as 300 people talking. Thanksgiving smells as lovely as pumpkin pie. Thanksgiving tastes as sweet as candy. Thanksgiving feels as bumpy as a rotten pumpkin. Thanksgiving is special to me because it is my sister's birthday."

Saturday, Aaron and Chelsea came in from Benton to celebrate Thanksgiving. They ended the meal with a game of Candyland with the girls.

Since we celebrated with Aaron already and Andrew was coming in weekend, the Brown's decided to volunteer at the Community Thanksgiving meal on Thanksgiving day rather than do the big traditional feast with just the few of us. It was very rewarding for all of us, even the girls. After volunteering, we went to Grandma's house for burgers.

Later Thanksgiving night we did our Traditional feast at the Barrett's. It was sad this year because John Kirby IV passed away last week. Burt carved the turkey, as always!

Later Thanksgiving night we did our Traditional feast at the Barrett's. It was sad this year because John Kirby IV passed away last week. Burt carved the turkey, as always!










Emma and Eva Grace both made wishes and duked it out over the wishbone.

Emma won :)We ended the night with Ella dancing with Poppy. She loves to dance or anything Princess related. Poppy was a sweet dance parner. They spun around the living room floor for a good 10 minutes.

Black Friday I went shopping with Amy and Destiny, our tradition for the past 10+ years. They opened the stores at 10pm and midnight this year for the first time ever. Not sure how I feel about this. It seemed too early. I went though so it must not have bothered me too bad...

Saturday, Andrew and Sarah were in and we did Thanksgiving with them. It was also Emma's birthday :) We did breakfast that morning and the big traditional feast that night. We also did lunch on Sunday before they had to drive back to Atlanta.

It was a great Holiday. We have been given too many blessings to count.

Possum Problem Terminated... Thank you Eva Grace

So, we've had a possum. Don't have a clue where it came from, think it has been living in our landscaping in the front yard, give me chills just writing about it. It was spotted in our backyard a few times, once it even came out during a cookout with people over and wasn't afraid!!! We were afraid, but it wasn't phased. The best possum moment though was when it got trapped in our garage overnight. We were about to leave for school and I heard something in the garage, looked out the door and there it was. The girls and I were all screaming. I told them they didn't have to go to school that day because the possum was between the car and us... Burt had the calm solution though... open the garage and let him out... Duh, I know, but I really thought we could just kill him while we had him trapped. (I wouldn't say this out loud, but I don't think my macho husband could kill anything... He even said the possum was the cat's friend, Polly...Polly the Possum) Anyway, the girls went to school. Tardy, but with a good story!

Finale to the story: Eva Grace just told me that she thinks she has killed the possum because she set a gum trap. She spit her chewed gum out on the ground a few days ago for the possum to eat, which would have caused it to suffocate, like it does birds. She hasn't seen the possum in a few days so she thinks her trap worked. Hopefully so.... (I also heard a loud bang and saw some suspicious flashlight activity at the neighbor's house the other night. If the gum trap didn't work, maybe the neighbors had some luck).

New Finale to the story:  Possum ended up back in our garage at night as we were coming back home.  The girls and I wouldn't get out of the car.  We called Adam and Burt.  Burt finally rescued us.  We ran inside and Burt fixed the problem!

Emma... Another first.

Ughhh.... Such an exciting day for her, little does she know what this means. I, however, very much do!! My little girl not so little anymore. I did let her enjoy this experience and smell until her heart was content. Her decision.... Teen Spirit, Sweet Strawberries.

KICKBALL

Burt and I are playing on the first ever kickball league in Jonesboro! Our church has a team! Tonight was not only our first game, but the first game in the history of the league. ha. It was a lot of fun. We lost our first game but had a blast.


Some people on our team: Chuck/Amanda Hardin, Beth Wallace, Bridget Manley, Michael Broadway, Jeff Reid, Todd Dobson