Lovell Family Updates

Joanie and Jimbo Chirstmas

2011-12-29T21:36:00.001-08:00

Our final Christmas hoorah. Dec. 26 we celebrated with Joanie and Jimbo....everyone got new bicycles.

It was too cold to ride for long...so back inside for more gifts and food.

The kids were completely pooped and asleep before we said our goodbyes for the night.

Christmas Lunch

2011-12-29T21:31:00.000-08:00

Christmas lunch at Granny Andrews. I promised William he could change out of his church clothes as soon as we got to Granny's house...a picture was not in his plans.

Christmas Morning

2011-12-29T20:40:00.000-08:00

He came.

We had to wake both kids up this year to make time for Santa before church services.
William took a little time for things to set in...he just looked at everything for a few minutes before tearing in.

I didn't get a great picture of Emma's initial expression...but the Barbie house was an instant hit.

Fingers Crossed

2011-12-29T20:30:00.000-08:00

Cookies and milk for Santa...
Magical reindeer mix for Rudolph...

Fingers crossed.

Do you think HE will come?

Christmas Eve with Mawmaw & Pawpaw

2011-12-29T08:17:00.000-08:00

I think we are going to have to start renting out a party room to host the Lovell family Christmas....the presents alone fill up the room minus the people to open them!
As is tradition, we all gathered at Mawmaw & Pawpaw's house for breakfast for supper and lots and lots of gifts.

An attempt at a cousin picture....

Then on to the presents. William was extra excited this year about giving and receiving presents. There were many mornings that I found him up early wrapping "presents"....random items from around the house...and signing his name to ever one of the packages under the tree. He cut the paper and everything completely by himself. He equally enjoyed opening all of his gifts...EVERY single thing was "just what he wanted"!

Helping Pawpaw open his gifts...

A great start to the Christmas frenzy.....

Family Time & Silly Gloves

2011-12-28T14:56:00.000-08:00

Last year we had a lot of fun making our very own "Charlie Brown" x-mas tree, so we gave it another try this year. We mostly just made a big mess, but hopefully it will be a tradition that the kids will always remember when they get older.
Then we turned our 'mess making' to the kitchen. We made white chocolate Rudolph crackers and pretty much covered everything else we could think of in chocolate.

And because I had no where else to include this....Emma modelling her silly gloves...

School Parties

2011-12-28T14:26:00.000-08:00

Both kids had their school parties on the same day and at overlapping times. Luckily, Will was off work so both kids could have a parent with them for the entire party. Emma chose me and William picked Daddy (surprise, surprise).

Emma's class did a book exchange and had snowman Crispy Creme doughnuts before letting out early for school.

William's one hour, 3/4 yr old party included decorations, lunch, crafts and cookie decorating. I think it was a little more than Will was prepared for. I'm signed up for the Easter party...looks like I have my work cut out for me....

Acro Parent Observation

2011-12-28T14:08:00.000-08:00

Parents got to see what they have been working on all year.

Decorating Rice Cakes?

2011-12-28T14:04:00.000-08:00

Most classes decorated gingerbread and sugar cookies...but not Emma's first grade class. They have been reading 'The Rolling Rice Cake' so they decorated rice cakes instead.

William's Holiday Musical

2011-12-28T13:51:00.001-08:00

William's turn!
Every year William's preschool puts on a holiday musical with the 3 and 4yr old classes. This was William's first year to participate and honestly, he did a lot better than I thought he would.
Most of the time he sang the right words with the right hand moves, mixed in with only a few moments of silliness with the little girl standing next to him.

Since Emma is in school and involved in more activities, it seems like we are usually attending something that is just for her....this time it was all about William! We celebrated his accomplishment with breakfast for lunch at Cracker Barrel.

Nutcracker

2011-12-28T13:25:00.000-08:00

Thank you Living Social. We have talked about taking Emma to see the Nutcracker for years and finally took the plunge when Living Social offered discounted tickets.
We all dressed up, took her to a special dinner and made a big deal about the whole night.

We all really enjoyed the night and I actually think William would have liked it too.

Emma immediately teared up at the end of the show and said she wanted to watch it again. We may have to make this a holiday tradition.

Disney in December

2011-12-27T20:23:00.000-08:00

I LOVE Disney at Christmas time! Last year we felt a little rushed going so close to Christmas that we decided to leave right after the Thanksgiving holiday. The weather was perfect and the whole family agrees that it was our best Disney trip ever!! Both kids were at a good age to still enjoy the "magic" but also be big enough to ride most of the rides and last all day without needing a nap. I wasn't ready for this trip to end...

We made sure to get our Christmas list in while we were there...

Emma FINALLY got to do Bibbidi Boutique. She has wanted to for a while, so we finally broke down and let her do hair and make-up only before she gets too old to enjoy it. Surprisingly, it was actually worth it. She really loved the experience.

One reason I love Disney at Christmas...the lights on the castle.

William was finally tall enough to ride the family favorite...Thunder Mtn. Railroad. He is ready and in riding position.

Lunch in Cinderella's castle...meeting with the princesses.

It really was the best trip.

Christmas Card Close Calls

2011-12-15T08:07:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving

2011-12-15T08:00:00.001-08:00

Emma had two Thanksgiving lunches at her school this year.
First, William and I joined her for the school wide lunch...
Then we had a special Pilgram and Indian lunch with the KG class....

Our family missed out on the rest of the holiday gatherings because of a stomach bug :(

Christmas Village/Disney on Ice

2011-12-14T22:11:00.000-08:00

Me and Emma joined Aunt Bree, Aunt Brandy and Addison for a weekend trip to B'ham for the Christmas Village craft show and Disney on Ice.
These two had a blast!

Best part of the whole trip...our view! It really wasn't great...but they sure thought it was.

Scavenger Hunt

2011-12-14T22:07:00.000-08:00

Sooo much fun! 80's theme

Halloween

2011-12-14T21:35:00.000-08:00

Trying to catch up...so this will be short and sweet.
Breakfast at Mawmaw and Pawpaw's/Birthday/Halloween....

Our Funky Witch and Buzz Lightyear
Fun at the Daniels...

The Simmon's T-or-T group....

Halloween marathon complete...until next year

Fall Festival

2011-11-25T12:32:00.001-08:00

Once again, Will "conveniently" had a business trip planned for the week of Emma's school Fall Festival.
If you recall, last year was a disaster! William had a meltdown after the first game and that pretty much set the tone for the rest of the night...needless to say, I was not looking forward tackling this event alone again. I contemplated just working my shift and leaving the kids at my parents for the night...but then the "bad mommy" guilt set in and I decided to tough it out.

SOOO much better this time around. May or may not have been the result of there being no slide this year...but either way, we all left happy from the night.

Number one on Emma's list of things to do....hair feather!!
The ultimate goal of every child there...win a goldfish!!!

Words cannot express the pure joy these kids felt over winning their very own goldfish!

So....as a bonus....a little lesson on the circle of life.

I was hesitant to allow the kids to win these fish because we all know the average lifespan of a carnival goldfish is not very good. I tried to prepare them before we even played to game that this would be a short term pet...in blind excitement, of coarse, they agreed.

The fact that Williams fish lived to meet his bowl was shocking. All night I caught him trying to pinch his fish. He also fell twice, dropping his baggie and sending it rolling across the floor. His fish lived 5 days, "slept" in his bowl for two more before "we" decided to flush him in hopes that Nemo's theory was right and he would eventually find a nice home in the ocean.

Emma's fish was a little more difficult. She seemed to understand that he couldn't live forever in our little bowl...but she was also convinced that Addisons creek would be a perfect habitat for him to live forever and always be around for a visit....she just wasn't quit ready to release him...so we put it off, and put it off... Emma's fish lived 7 days. We had a tearful flush only after the requested pictures were taken to remember him by. (I will spare you the dead fish pictures)

Some more Matilda Jane Love

2011-11-23T07:31:00.000-08:00

A little while back, I took some pictures of Emma wearing some Matilda Jane after school one day...nothing special, messy hair and all.

Anyway, Matilda Jane clothing asked for submissions of pictures of your children wearing their Homeroom line.
Just for fun, I decided to email them the above picture of Emma.

A few days later, my friend called to tell me that Emma was on the Matilda Jane website!!

In reality, it's not that big of a deal...but it sure felt like a big deal to us!

Something New

2011-11-14T09:06:00.000-08:00

Our first sport!

Definitely a new experience for our family.

This fall, Emma signed up to play soccer. I'm pretty sure she had no idea what she was getting in to.....she just knew that a lot of her friends played so it must be the thing to do. She was pretty excited about it at first, especially since her good friend Jasmine was going to be on her team...but a few practices in, she had decided that this would be her last season to play soccer.

First of all, every single practice and every single game started (or was suppose to start) at 8:30 p.m. , which is Emma's usual bedtime...and she likes her bedtime.

Secondly, Emma had no idea that this sport involved someone running towards her with, heaven forbid, a BALL...and they might actually make some sort of physical contact with her on top of that! She is a child after my own heart.

At any rate, we had a long season with lots of tears, but for her last couple of games she had finally come around a little and started putting a little more effort into actually making contact with the ball. So, we will see...maybe she will try again next year.

William is FOUR!!

2011-11-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

October 11, 2011...William turned FOUR!!! So on the Saturday following his b-day we celebrated with friends and family for his big day.

I always get really excited about planning the kids birthday parties and have lots of grand idea's for the "perfect" party, cake, favor, etc. At some point, I then become completely overwhelmed and wonder why I thought I could pull it off and drastically scale back on my plans. I am always happy with the way things turn out in the end...and it always helps to know that my kids enjoyed their day.

Of the two, William has always seemed to enjoy his parties the most. He talks about them for weeks before and after. I'm pretty sure you could see genuine joy in William on party day.

William was involved with the whole process and even helped with the decorations.

Another big helper was Aunt Bree. She is the one who had the grand idea's this year...the only difference is that she followed thru with her vision and made an amazing custom cake and some cute character cake pops for party favors. All I had to do was make some simple cupcakes and cookies.

The bouncy house was a hit.

Singing Happy Birthday...

Making a wish...

Present time...

Party guest...

All good things must come to an end though...

Already planned for next year :)

William's Ear + Mousquito =

2011-11-01T09:09:00.001-07:00

This was on day 2....day 1 was worse! He always swells up with bites...but it doesn't look as bad when it is on a leg or arm. Luckily, they don't seem to bother him as bad as they look.

Art on the Square-Sept. 2011

2011-11-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

We LOVE Art on the Square! Had a great time again this year. Addison came along for the fun this year and we ended the day with pizza at Village Pizza downtown.

Camp Out Jimbo Style

2011-11-01T08:00:00.001-07:00

Back in September....the kids were invited over for a camp out-Jimbo style (front yard camping). We all enjoyed a campfire, hot dogs, and ice cream cake (for Joanie's b-day).

The kids enjoyed riding their bikes and playing together before it got dark.

Then it was time to change into warm clothes and settle down for the night.
Emma and Jimbo were the only ones that toughed it out all night...but they all enjoyed pretending like they were really camping out.

Kiddie Carnival Weekend!

2011-10-11T09:28:00.000-07:00

Back in August (yes, I know I'm nearly 2 months behind), we enjoyed a weekend full of Kiddie Carnival fun!
It started out on Friday night celebrating Cooper's second birthday with family and friends
Non-stop rides...with no lines or waits.

Emma still wasn't feeling 100% and left early for another friends birthday party. William had a ball! He hated for it to end.

Not to worry though....just 2 days later, Uncle Roger hosted the family for a pot luck lunch at the club-house and fired the rides up again for the kids. These 4 had the park to themselves!

Even though our bunch was still a bit under the weather....and despite the fact that I forgot that I have no business riding the swings...we still had a great time. We really appreciate Roger and Rhonda for getting it all together.

William...First Day of School (like two months ago)

2011-10-11T09:15:00.000-07:00

William started back to school too...

Being the great mom that I am, I can't remember the date...but it was a week or so after Emma started and he missed his first actual day of school because he and Em were sick.

He's been in school for a couple of months now, but overall I think things are going well in his new class. He has shown his true colors a time or two...but hasn't gotten in too much trouble...yet! It's always interesting to hear what they learned/did for the day.

Camping...

2011-09-12T12:17:00.000-07:00

Or, more accurately, visiting friends who are camping.

To celebrate completing their first day of school...we headed over to Joe Wheeler to visit Emma's classmate and friend for a cookout. Emma was excited to spend some extra play time with her friend and William was completely mesmerized with the actual camper...it had bunkbeds!

We enjoyed good food and company, an attempt at homemade ice cream and campfire smores. We also enjoyed the comfort of our own beds in our air conditioned, bug free home, as our visit ended at bedtime.

It sure was nice to visit though!

Back to School

2011-08-13T16:41:00.000-07:00

Well once again, I have fallen behind and it's time to play catch up.
Honestly, we are just now feeling like catching up. We went for FIVE straight weeks with someone, if not two someones, in the Lovell house being sick. As you remember from my last post, Emma got a terrible ear infection on our visit to the beach....well, that ended up taking 2 full rounds of abx, plus several doctor visits to get her cleared up. She also had the misfortune of catching two separate viruses during this time. She missed her first full day of school and has missed 2 more since. All in all, she has had a rough start to the school year.
She did feel like going to school on her first official day of school....which was only for a half day. She wasn't very excited about the idea of going back to school until after we went to the open house and she got to meet her new teacher and see her new room. So for a very brief moment, she was looking forward to moving into the FIRST grade.
First Day of school pictures were in order!

Walking in she started getting a little nervous...

Constantly checking to make sure Mom and Dad were still close by.

Once we got settled in, she seemed fine and happy to start the day.

Her new teacher....Mrs. Sutton

When it was time for parents to leave, the tone REALLY changed. She cried and clinged and begged for us to stay. We tried to reason for a bit, but ultimately had to just push her back in the room and walk away. I knew she would be fine once we were out of sight and that if she didn't settle down, her teacher would eventually call us back.

She did settle down very quickly and ended up having a great first day! Her only complaint was that I made her wear sandals to school....."Mom, you know we play on the playground! and you knew I would get sand and rocks in my shoes! flip-flops you can just take off and shake out....sandals, you have to UNBUCKLE!!!"

I assured her I would not make that mistake again.

We have had several hard days since. Lots of tearing up at drop off, knocking on the car window, pleading to get back in the car and go home with mom. It has been hard. Being sick on top has not helped. Thankfully, now that she seems to be back to 100%, things seem to be getting much easier. She loves her new teacher...LOVES her, and we have gone a whole week without the first complaint about going to school!

Let's Go Out With A Bang- PCB 2011

2011-08-13T08:56:00.000-07:00

We had plans for a big blow-out, end of summer, save the best for last vacation to the beach this year! Last year we were able to take a week long vacation to PCB for the very last week of our summer break and it was perfect. This year we went out of our way to try and recreate the same experience for the kids as a final hoorah.
I will say that we technically did go out with a bang...just not in the same sense as we intended.

We left on Saturday morning for our week of fun! All went well until we got to our condo and found out that we did not have the wifi that we were promised. Not a terribly big deal had I not made a commitment that required me to have internet access on that Monday. It all ended up working out but in hindsight...that really set the tone for the rest of the trip.

We did have a few days that went perfectly....the water was super clear (NO seaweed--yay!), the weather was nice, only an occasional little rain shower, kids were both having fun...it was looking like a great vaca.

And of course, we always enjoy the food!

These two even seemed to appreciate each other more at the beach!

William showed off his beach bod....

And Emma learned to ride the waves...

She was doing GREAT and having a ball with her boogie board this year. Unfortunately, that combined with her new confidence in going underwater, she took on way too much water in her ears and ended up with a nasty case of swimmers ear which turned into an even nastier ear infection.
She was pitiful! Wednesday night she didn't sleep at all...just cried in pain. Will took her to the clinic first thing Thursday morning and we spent the entire day with a very sick little girl.

We pretty much stayed in the entire day and only ventured to the patio to watch some late night fireworks.

Emma couldn't really enjoy them she felt so bad.

Thursday was by far our worst day....but really it all started Tuesday night when we realized she probably had swimmers ear. After that we spent most of our time in the sand and out of the water...lots of sandcastles and late afternoon/nights on the beach to avoid the heat since she ran a pretty high fever for 3 days.

We managed to squeeze in time for souvenirs...

End the end we decided that an ear infection at the beach was still better than a week at home. We headed home with high spirits and all was going well until we hit Birmingham....then the tire troubles began. We had a near blow-out and subsequent tire change and then a much delayed drive home at 50mph on the temporary tire.

I guess that's kinda like going out with a bang?

Best Day EVER!!!

2011-08-04T20:41:00.000-07:00

Loosing teeth is apparently a very prestigious thing for a six year old. Most of Emma's school friends have already lost a few teeth and pressure to loose her first tooth was really starting to take it's toll.
A couple weeks ago we discovered that Emma had two loose teeth! She was so excited we decided to take a pic before her smile changes forever.

Well, it took a while because we were going for the no pulling technique...but this past Friday Emma asked Jimbo to go ahead and pull it while they were visiting at the cabin. It was practically hanging by a thread anyway.

Quite possibly the highlight of her life to date.

Play Dates

2011-08-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

We've had a couple of play dates this summer...most of which ended up at the pool. I soo wish we had our own pool. I think the kids would live in one if they could.

Leave it to William

2011-07-28T22:34:00.001-07:00

Emma had big plans for this little egg...
She begged me not to let William hold it.

She was afraid he would drop it.

I promised her that he would be careful.

Leave it to William.

Sigh.

Summer Fun?

2011-07-28T22:00:00.001-07:00

I've given the kids a little more independence this year when it comes to playing outside. We have started letting them play in the backyard unattended for short periods of time but ONLY in the backyard and only if they ask permission first.

I confess on this particular day, I was glad when they asked if they could go out to play as it would give me some time to do a little back to school on-line shopping and have a nice QUIET phone chat with my friend. I sprayed them down with bug spray and sent them out....

Over the next hour or so, I noticed one or the other coming in and out a time or two...but didn't really investigate as to the reason why. Just assumed they were potty breaks and such. It wasn't until Williams 3rd or 4th trip thru that I noticed him carrying out the picnic basket. I stopped him and looked in the basket to find about 5-6 bananas. We went back a forth for a while and agreed that he could take 2 bananas. I decided this would be a good time to go out and check on them and found that they had moved half the contents of their bedrooms to the "clubhouse" about their playset. They had packed bags and everything....complete with pajamas and underwear!

You can't see it very well...but in the bottom of the next picture you can see they even took a Renuzit air freshener out there...they were in it for the long haul!

Swim Lessons

2011-07-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

What a difference a year makes! Last year, William was too young to take but he was completely fearless in the water. I was certain that he would be swimming on his own this year. Instead....he has totally reverted! In his defense, he did have a couple of scares during the week where he stepped off the steps with no one close enough to grab him and went under a few times unintentionally. He did not love swim lessons...

Here he is with Mrs. Donna Jo telling him "see you can do it...keep going....your doing it!"

He turned around half way and pretty much said NO MORE! He did like jumping off the diving board so long as they held his hand though.
A year made a HUGE difference for Emma as well! Last year, our big accomplishment was putting her face under the water....this year she ended up swimming on her own in the deep end!

Here she is after jumping off the diving board swimming back to the ladder...you can tell she is proud of herself.

By the last day, she was even trying to learn how to dive!

Wonder what a difference we will see next year?

A Blur of Birthday Parties

2011-07-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

We get invited to soo many parties and July has without doubt been the busiest birthday month of the year! We have attended 8 of the 9 so far this month and I have pictures to share from 4....

First up...Emma's friend Reagan had a dress-up/make-over party at Laney's. This was our first time to go to a party there and the girls loved it. Plus this was the first time Emma has had the opportunity to see most of her school friends this summer...they all seemed to really enjoy getting back together for this play date.

Next....Mrs. Paisley's princess party at Onyx gym. I don't think the kids ever get tired of parties at Onyx....and look at that cake!

One week later....we headed back to Onyx for Kynsley and Anna Beth's party. No pictures of the birthday girls...but I got of few of the kids enjoying the foam pit and blow-up slide. Here is William flying high thanks to Matt...

Then on to the next....Emma N's swim party. Another opportunity for Emma to get together with her school friends...they all had a blast jumping in the pool together.

Took a short break for cake/ice cream and presents....

...then back to the pool for as long as we would let them stay.

Mixed in with these were a couple more pool parties, a Pinkalicious party and a beauty pageant sleep over party. The kids definitely can't complain about not doing anything fun this summer...they have truly partied for the past month!

Did I forget to mention ART FAIR ???

2011-07-25T10:50:00.001-07:00

I really can't believe I forgot to post about this!!
For all of those that know me well....it is common knowledge that I LOVE Matilda Jane clothing. Matilda Jane Clothing is still a relatively small company...but it's roots are even smaller. They started out selling their clothes at local art fair/craft shows. Now they are too big for the local art fair...so they just have their own. The owner of the company host two big parties at her home and all day Saturday they open up the warehouse to sell the limited edition pieces made just for Art Fair.
It's probably not something I should admit....but I've always really wanted to go. Will agreed to take me this year so long as we could make some stops along the way that were of interest to him....so to Ft. Wayne, IN we went.
We didn't decide to go in time to get on the party list...so we were only able to go the shopping portion of the event...but that's mostly why I wanted to go anyway.
We got there at 7:15 am (doors opened at 9 am) and we were pretty much at the back of this line. I don't know many husbands that would drive 8 hrs to a small town in Indiana and spend their Saturday standing in a line like this to shop for kids clothes...

We actually had a really nice trip....the weather was GREAT!!!...we spent one day in Louisville, KY...and just enjoyed having a low maintenance mini-vacation.

Holiday Weekend

2011-07-05T11:29:00.000-07:00

We had another busy 4th of July holiday....starting off with Will and the kids heading down to the family camp for roasting marshmallows and play time in the creek. I skipped out on that outing so there are no pictures to share from the night.
Saturday, we headed over to Grandmama Lovell's for the annual goat stew cookout. It was hot...but good food and a few box fans a good time was had by all. The kids got to spend the night with Mawmaw and Pawpaw, with a pool party at Aunt Alice's, so that Will and I could go out for my birthday Saturday night.

We rested up on Sunday and then headed to the river on the 4th for another family cookout (Andrews side) at Roger and Rhonda place. Again...it was hot....but the kids found ways to keep cool. I've never been a big fan of swimming in the river myself....but the kids took to it like fish! I think it's because they couldn't touch the bottom yet....that's the worst part.

William was pretty brave and wanted to swim out to the big kids...he went pretty far out before I made them turn around and come back to the pier.

How can it be????

2011-07-05T11:19:00.001-07:00

How can it be that the summer is already half way over? I feel like we are just getting started and I'm not looking forward to days like this coming to an end!

Locks of Love

2011-06-22T20:08:00.000-07:00

No more excuses! First it was Easter...then graduation....after recital, I had no good reason to put off the big cut any longer.
Emma was soooo excited!
First, sectioned off and put in ponies...
then came the painful part....
no turning back!

Totally different kid!

She was thrilled with the results and couldn't stop bouncing her hair and looking in the mirror.

I was so disoriented that I didn't think to take the classic "holding the ponytail" pic at the beauty shop....so we did a make up that night when we got home.

Emma's golden locks are on their way to 'Locks of Love' and will hopefully go to good use. I'm so proud that she wanted to do this....but this selfish mommy is still missing her long hair. It's growing on me though....she cute no matter what!

Addison's Turn

2011-06-22T20:04:00.001-07:00

A few days after Emma's recital...Addison had her turn to take to the stage. She did great!

Recital

2011-06-09T08:15:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again...Dance Recital!

Once again we were surprised at how well Emma did on that big stage in front of soooo many people. She admitted that she was a little nervous after it was all over...but you would never have known it.

We were very proud of her!

A LOT of work went into that hair....a lot of hairspray and glitter too.

Emma was really wearing down with her love for ballet this year. Up until Monday night she was 100% sure she did not want to take dance again next year. She enjoyed recital so much that now she wants to take ballet AND gymnastics. We will see....

Memorial Day

2011-06-07T19:42:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a fairly lazy Memorial Day at home. It was too hot to do much else. We ended the day with a supper at Mawmaw and Pawpaw's with the family.
And ultimately the reason for the this post....the kids matched and somewhat smiled for the camera as we were headed out that afternoon.

Cheer Camp 2011

2011-06-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

We didn't have much of a break from school before we started right into our first planned activity for the summer. I hesitated to sign Em up for cheer camp this year because I really just wanted a break from being on a schedule (and two days off didn't seem like enough). I caved at the last minute and signed her up anyway....it was only Thursday thru Saturday. On Sunday they had a short preformance to show all they had learned. Emma really enjoyed it and will definitely go back next year!

Emma's Kindergarten Graduation

2011-06-04T19:10:00.000-07:00

May 23, 2011

A sad day and a happy day.

Our little girl graduated from Kindergarten.

Here she is posing with Mrs. Nave and a few friends before the "Royal" affair.

As mentioned...it was a "Royal Affair". The auditorium and cafeteria were decorated in a medieval castle theme....they even had a knight in full armor to announce their grand entrance.
I have to say....I am VERY disappointed in my pictures!....like kinda wanted to tear up when I first looked at them. I don't know what was wrong, but for some reason my camera kept freezing up. I actually got better pictures of some of the other children coming in than I did of Emma. It seemed like, the more I was trying for a picture the worse it came out. So unfortunately, I ended up with lots of less than ideal pictures. Sigh....
Here she is walking in with her classmate Eli.

Emma surprised us all when it came time for her individual part of the program. She had a couple of lines to say and she also lead the class in singing two songs. I had NO idea she was singing until a couple of days before. She did GREAT!!! (yes, I'm bragging a little...but she really did)

She seemed a little nervous when she first came to the microphone...

but it didn't last long!
She sang her little heart out.

After everyone had their turn...it was time for 'diplomas'

Another freeze up moment for the camera.
Exit...
Then it was time to celebrate with friends and family at the reception. On of the other KG moms made the great cake and I held up the line to get a picture of Emma with it before they cut into it too much.

For such an accomplishment....she was rewarded with a few special pieces of jewelry.
She was pleased.

I dreaded KG sooo much. I hated the idea of our lives revolving around a school schedule not to mention the fact that school makes little ones grow up...and I wasn't interested in that at all. The school year ended up flying by and in a way I was sad to see it end. We are definitely ready for a break from the routine...but now that it's over, I have to face the fact that she will soon begin 1st grade...and that seems even worse than KG. My biggest fear when Emma started school was that it would make the years go by even faster than they already were...and it did.

We are very proud of her....just wish she would slow down a little.

Congratulations Emma Kaitlyn!

Up Next....

2011-06-04T19:06:00.000-07:00

someone is graduating!!

Field Day 2011

2011-06-04T18:35:00.000-07:00

After being postponed twice....the ABS elementary finally had their day May 19. The weather turned out to be perfect and the kids had a BALL!!!

...............................(Duck, Duck, Soak...instead of 'Goose')

By the end of the day...the kids were soaked, cold, and filthy! Emma had the best time....she wished that every day could be Field Day.

Field Trip...Birmingham Zoo

2011-05-26T13:37:00.000-07:00

Guess what? This is another KG post!
The big Field Trip!
We were originally set to visit the Birmingham Zoo on Friday, April 29....but due to the damage of the April 27 tornadoes, we postponed our trip to Monday, May 9. Will had originally planned to go when the trip was on a Friday...but after being off work unexpectedly for a week and the trip being moved to a Monday...it just wasn't feasible for him to come along. Emma and I bummed a ride with some friends and had a great day all the same.
Here is the group as we first entered the zoo. After pictures, we all separated and made the visit our own.
I'm not sure what it is about sunglasses...but they seem to turn Emma into a snob. She always has this "I'm too good for you" look when she is wearing her shades.

Emma and I hung with our "ride" (Rusty, Megan, and Jasmine) and the girls navigated us along the way ;) They were SERIOUS about the map...

I won't lie...these next pictures were hard to post. It was pretty hot and the kids were wearing down fast until the promise of camel riding came up. Emma absolutely wanted to ride the camel...but she absolutely would not ride it without me.....so here you go....

Wasn't my proudest moment...but well worth it! Totally rejuvenated the kids and marked the "best part of the zoo" moment for Emma.

All in all...a good field trip.

Back to Reality=Another KG Party

2011-05-17T20:08:00.000-07:00

After the disruption of the April tornadoes, the kids finally went back to school the following Tuesday...nearly one week later. It was back to reality...and reality for a kindergartner is 'we must celebrate something at least once a week'! So...to help the kids adjust back into normal routine...we celebrated all of the summer birthdays (including Mrs. Adams) on Wednesday.

There was a birthday cake for all the kids with summer birthdays and "Alabama" theme cookies for Mrs. Adams.

All of the Alabama fans posing together...saying "Roll Tide"!
Disclaimer...This party was planned long before the tornadoes...I am only making light of the MANY things we have celebrated during the KG year...it seemed fitting that we would have a party the second day back to school :)

April 27, 2011 Tornados

2011-05-10T12:20:00.000-07:00

Well, I have put off posting about the recent storms that tore through our state because quite honestly, it just seemed to overwhelming. Even now, over two weeks later, it still seems surreal. Life is pretty much back to normal in the Lovell house...but that cannot be said for many families in our area...and I am quickly reminded of that fact when I drive down Hwy 72, Pepper Rd., E. Limestone Rd. and Capshaw.
I want to document the event in our little family memoir though because I know this will be one of those days that sticks in our memory. On April 27, 2031 we will all be able to think back and remember where we were, what we saw and how we felt on that day.
My story isn't that impressive...but I will certainly remember it. We started the day off cranky from the lack of sleep after a night full of sirens and scared kids piling into our bed randomly through the night. I was already dreading the day...knew the kids would be let out of school early at some point, so even though I had things to do, I would have to be on stand-by for pick-up...then I knew we would have to go to my parents house and hang out in the basement all day and I would spend the entire time desperately trying to make the kids behave since the neighbors would probably be there too. I was already irritated at how this "bad weather" was going to inconvenience my day....and it pretty much went the way I envisioned.
At some point during the day...my irritation turned into genuine worry for what was happening in our area. Even though we didn't know the extent at the time...we knew that it was bad. My younger sister came home a little early from work and had planned to come straight to my parents but decided to stop by her house first to bring her dogs into the garage. It was not even raining at the time but as she was trying to unlock their pins, the sky went dark and she said things just started falling out of the sky...not being blown into her yard...but falling into her yard. We believe the timing was right for this to be the large tornado that came about 1 mile from her house.
Will was one of the last to leave from work...I don't think he was taking the storm very seriously at first so he missed his first opportunity to leave...then he had to wait until it seemed like a long enough break to come home before another storm passed though. It took him a little over 2 1/2 hours to drive about 25 miles home that night. So many trees and power lines were down plus flooding on so many roads that he was re-routed 3 times before being stuck in a complete stand still for about 1 hour waiting on lines to be cleared off Hwy 72.
The end result...
Largest tornado outbreak in 24 hr period in US history with over 230 deaths in Alabama and many still missing...so total number is still to be determined
We lost power at our house, so the kids spent the night with my parents while Will and I went back home for the night. On the following day we got up and packed up the salvageable food from the freezers to store at my parents. Will had told me that he thought that our friend Jane's old house had been lost to the storm but it was so dark the night before it was hard to tell. I wanted to drive by on the way to Mom and Dad's to see what was left. It was shocking. It was shocking to see the traffic coming in from surrounding counties looking for gas/food and it was shocking seeing just how bad the damage really was. I took a few pictures of our first little loop down McCully Mill Rd and then onto Hwy 72 to see Janes house...but honestly, when we actually got there I felt guilty taking pictures. It seemed disrespectful to those that had lost homes. I took a few anyway...but they were quick and from a moving car so they aren't good.
This first one is actually from our neighborhood and from a few days later.
These were from McCulley Mill...

Hwy 72...Bethel Church of Christ.

Where Jane's house once stood. Thank goodness she no longer lived there because I am certain we would have lost her with the storm had she been in this house.

Jane's mother's old house...next to where hers once stood.

The rest of the pictures were taken several days later on Pepper and E. Limestone Rd after some clean up efforts had already been made.

Address marking where a large house once stood.

We were personally without power for 5 days. I can't say that it was all that bad though. We had gas water for showers and plenty of family with power we could visit in the evenings. The kids stayed at Mawmaw and Pawpaw's for most of the time.

On day 2 the refrigerator got that cleaning it's been needing for some time...everything but bottled water, sodas and unopened juice went.

I caught up on my nightly reading by candle light...and a little help from a Hannah Montana book light that someone gave Emma a while back.

We were also a little more dedicated to catching the ice cream truck for a cool treat during our stint without refrigeration. It was actually kinda nice in a way...

Emma was out of school for 3 days and Will was off work for an entire week due to power outages!

We were very blessed to only have been inconvenienced by the power outage and nothing more.

ETA....William is still asked "if the tomatoes did that" every time we see a tree limb down or anything broken. He has lots of stories about the "tomatoes"

Bible Times...

2011-05-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

...which was somehow overlooked! Emma's class spent an entire week in April studying about all things related to life in the time of the Bible.

On the final day we had a Bible Times Feast! All of the children dressed as Bible characters and showcased their week's work.

All of the parents prepared a feast of "authentic" foods for the kids to sample. Fish, beets, figs, honey, grapes, cheese, butter, and pomegranate to name a few.

Emma was pretty selective in her samplings.

A group photo of the class.

Emma's "pottery"...

and her Bible times house.

Easter Sunday

2011-05-03T17:49:00.001-07:00

We started our busy day with baskets full of goodies from the Easter Bunny! Emma's favorites were her mini-Lalaloopsy dolls. William's favorites were his Toy Story t-shirt and Ham flashlight.
They were both very pleased!

We had about a 3 minute window for pictures before leaving for church...not the best, but honestly, I'm not sure that we could have done much better if we had an hour's worth of picture time. At least they were willing to stand next to each other without a fight...what more can you really ask for on Easter Sunday?

After church we headed over to my sister's house for the Andrews family lunch. I knew the kids would get horribly dirty and disheveled as quickly as possible so we tried for family and cousin pics even though it was really sunny at the time. My cousin Shannon was taking the pictures and bribed the kids that they could make a silly face on the last picture if they would cooperate for the rest....sadly, it was the best pic of the bunch!

William and Daddy in matching ties :) William was very proud of his first tie!

The cousin shot...little sun in the eyes, huh?

After a full afternoon with the Andrews, we ended our day with supper at Mawmaw's and Pawpaw's house. The kids went straight into the jammies for this one...we were pooped!

Found a little energy for more Easter goodies though...

Another holiday down...time to rest up for the next one.

It is funny to me that some people refer to vacations as "holidays"...because they never even closely resemble a vacation to me.

Day 3....This is a Big One!

2011-04-26T08:44:00.001-07:00

We had a FULL Saturday!

First up, our annual egg hunt with lots of friends and family. For the first time in it's three year run...we had PERFECT weather!

Ready - Set - GO!!!!!

Time for a few games....

And then came the redneck portion of the event!

Most of the guest left around lunch...after games, hunt and snacks...but there were a few to stick around, ditch the cute clothes, strip down to undies and test out the mud quality of the creek.

Filth doesn't even begin to describe....

Fun time by all though!

Before we left...the neighbor brought over his new bunny...another hit!

Now time for some egg coloring.....(Mommy is really wearing down at this point)

Works of Art!

Bath's and an early bed time were in order for day 3! No one objected.

Day 2...

2011-04-26T08:19:00.001-07:00

Not too much to show for day #2 of the Easter Marathon...William had his school party and egg hunt. Just this one picture though before we left for school with his bucket of eggs for the hunt. He was pretty pleased with the day until it was time for visiting Mrs. Tammy for his hair cut. The promise of ice cream got us thru though....plus the super size lolli he got in his school goodie bag.

The Begining of the Easter Marathon

2011-04-26T07:10:00.000-07:00

So once again, I have let the blog fall behind. I could list a number of excuses...but honestly it just boils down to lack of motivation. It seems like we have been super busy at accomplishing nothing for the last several months and blogging has just about lost it's place entirely.

At any rate...I am focused for now and starting off the Easter Marathon of post with Emma's school Spring party. Her party was on Thursday....that's right Thursday! In the days before having children...Easter was just an excuse to buy a new outfit and show up for lunch at Granny's house....now we have to start the activities 3 days in advance just to fit it all in.

The KG class had cute easter egg donuts from Krispy Creme for a snack followed by an egg hunt on the playground.

Here is a rare photo of Mom and Em!

Em's best buddies!

For the egg hunt portion...the kids were instructed to STOP finding eggs once they had 10 in their baskets. Emma took this very seriously and after each egg she would stop and count them all over before she would pick up another...as pictured here. Meanwhile...the eggs would be snatched up by other kids with the "grab first, then count" mentality. There was at least one egg in each of the tires in this picture, Emma was only able to get ONE! Needless to say it took us a while to make it to 10 :)

Then it was time to check out all the goodies.

Easter Gingerbread???

2011-04-01T17:52:00.000-07:00

As has become a tradition...Aunt Bree invited the kids over to decorate holiday gingerbread houses. Easter gingerbread seems more of a stretch to me for some reason...but the kids enjoy it non the less. I suppose there is one advantage to spring gingerbread...the weather permits for this to be an outdoor activity which means less mess to clean up! Here they are ready to get started...

And here are the finished products! William's isn't pictured because he mostly just ate the candies...very few actually made it to the gingerbread.

Thanks to Bree for another fun, crafty activity! Her specialty.

St. Patricks Day

2011-04-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

Not much to say about St. Patty's Day really....it was warm that day and we had ice cream cones on the front porch...

I was pretty excited that Emma could still wear her special lucky charm outfit from last year! I'm thinking maybe, just maybe, we can get a 3rd year out of it. Who really wants to buy a new St. Patty's Day outfit that you can only wear one day of the whole year? William didn't even wear green that day. I'm not sure if anyone pinched him or not...he probably pinched back if they did! Like I said, not much to say about St. Patricks Day.

Girls Weekend 2011

2011-03-31T20:42:00.001-07:00

Well, I've fallen behind again! I'm not sure what my problem is...but I can't seem to keep up with the blog these days.

Time to catch up again.

A few weeks ago, we decided we needed a little girls weekend shopping trip with Mawmaw. Will was out of town and Pawpaw volunteered to keep William for a couple days, so we just took off to the Smokeys for a "Girls Night Out" (as Emma called it).

Emma had no doubt that it would be great, but Mawmaw and myself had a few doubts. So glad we didn't let our doubts stand in the way...because it was a great trip. The weather was near perfect!

We even have airbrush documentation of the great "Girls Weekend 2011"!!! She really wanted it to say "girls night out"...but I thought "girls weekend" sounded better for a six year old. Not sure why...

William and Pawpaw had some grand adventures as well....they stayed up past midnight both nights!

School Musical

2011-03-15T18:12:00.000-07:00

Just a "few" pictures from Emma's recent school musical.

It was a Disney spectacular and the KG class sang the "Mickey March" and "It's a Small World"

Emma represented Holland...we choose Holland soley that Emma could wear her wooden shoes!

Here's our little Dutch girl!

Read Across America

2011-03-10T08:57:00.000-08:00

In honor of Dr. Suess's birthday, Emma's KG class dressed up as storybook characters for school. We went back and forth about what character we would be...we really wanted to be a Dr. Suess character...but we ended up choosing a true favorite....

Fancy Nancy!!!

Before I take down the V-day background.....

2011-03-07T21:27:00.000-08:00

V-Day parties!!!

William was sick and had to miss his party...Emma on the other hand had a great time at her party. Some of the moms made these cute pouches for the kids to decorate to collect their cards and goodies. I think they turned out pretty cute and they are more practical for storing as a keepsake than the classic decorated shoebox....I think this now...but when I was getting hand cramps from punching holes in them I was a little less positive about the whole idea (and I only had to make 5!)

The kids also got to decorate their own cupcakes for their party snack...always fun.

I asked Emma before her party if she thought she would get any special Valentines...if she had a "special" Valentine. She told me that Kaylee and Jasmine were her special Valentines because she loves them the most. Innocent and honest....a true "boyfriend" doesn't even register to her yet...she just loves her friends.

William has been pointing out hearts wherever he sees them and calling them "love hearts"....those are for "Balentimes Day" he says.

I've never been a big fan of Valentines day....kinda think it's silly (ridiculous is probably a better word)...but as with most things I enjoy that my kids enjoyed the special day.

Worn Out

2011-02-20T12:58:00.001-08:00

Weekend Birthday Parties

2011-02-17T12:58:00.001-08:00

Saturday was a day of Birthday Parties!!!! William was still a little on the cruddy side so the boys got...I mean had...to miss out on all the party fun! Don't get me wrong...both parties were great fun, but from the adult stand point they can really wear you out.

Anyway, we started off early (by Saturday standards) and headed to Allie's "Little Mermaid" party at Onyx. Wow, did she have a big turnout! Lots of kids and lots of fun. It looked like Allie really enjoyed her big day...Happy Birthday Allie!

After watching Allie open all of her gifts we headed over to Carmen's cookie decorating party at Suzanne's Bakery.
We were late to this one so we missed a lot, but we made it just in time for the main event... cookie decorating.

Carmen fixed Emma up to play "Kiss the Bieber" as the party was coming to a close.

She kissed him on the nose....
I don't think any of them really know who Justim Bieber is...but they all thought this was grand!

Happy Birthday Carmen!

American Girl Weekend---It's a big one!

2011-02-07T09:36:00.000-08:00

What a weekend! It was definitely all about Emma and her pick for her big day was to go to the American Girl store in Atlanta. We picked her up early from school and headed out in the rainy, yucky weather to the Marriott for an overnight American Girl package stay.
She loved it!!! Loved it!
Emma and Lanie had their own separate check in...

with a letter from the manager....

and a bouquet of lollipops to choose from.

The check in was a neat little experience and then we were off to check out our room. Honestly she was just as excited about the hotel as she was about going to the store.

Everything in PINK!!! Very excited about that. The rooms include a doll size bed for your doll (that you get to keep), matching doll/girl bathrobes to wear while you visit, and pink decor including a pink beanbag.

We gave part of her gift early (the rest was money to spend in the store)....Lanie's nightgown and matching gown for Emma (which ended up being WAY too big).

After dinner in the hotel restaurant we went back to enjoy our room...mani/pedi's...and room service milk and cookies for the "girls".

Saturday morning we had a great breakfast at the hotel before heading out to the store.

The first doll we saw when we got in the store was Naya...one of Emma's favorites...I really had to do some persuasive talking to keep from bringing home that big tee pee.

We did end up bringing home Kit though...

Emma had lots of Birthday money to spend and she brought her own purse and wallet to check out. Spent every penny.

It seemed like it was worth it though...she was pretty happy with her selections.

Next we headed over to the doll "spa" to get Lanie's hair done...

Walking around the mall and showing off her new doll tote.

We ended our day with lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Emma casually mentioned that we were there for her Birthday (which she did to anyone that would listen to her the whole trip) and they brought her a special dessert. She leaned over and whispered after they sang "Happy Birthday" that it was a good thing she told them about her Birthday or they might not have given her the sundae....smart girl!

This was not the sort of thing we can do often...but I am sooo glad we were able to for her special day....LOVED every minute!

Let the Festivities BEGIN!!!

2011-02-06T14:18:00.000-08:00

A certain little girl turned SIX on Thursday, February 3...and she couldn't wait for the festivities to begin!!

Here is the "Birthday Girl" as she headed off to school.

After school is when the fun really started though...she had a constant stream of visitors and they all came bearing gifts.
Most of the gifts were of the monetary variety, per Emma's request.

She asked for money so that she could "shop till she dropped" at the American Girl store later on in the weekend.

We finished up her special day with dinner at Logan's (her choice) and the classic Logan's "Yeehaw" in her honor. These last two photo's are of her soaking up the attention from the Logan's staff.

Happy Birthday Emma Kaitlyn Lovell!!!!!!

What's this?

2011-02-05T20:21:00.000-08:00

More KG festivities?

Another 90% parent/10% child project?

Surely not.

Oh yes, Hibernation Day! What else?

I let Daddy take the lead on this one and together they made a fascinating 1/2 poster full of fun facts about the partial hibernator...the brown bear.

For this KG celebration the kids got to wear pj's to school, discuss their posters, and watch LIVE footage of hibernating bears among other things, I'm sure.

We also had a little early birthday celebration for Emma during snack time. The class sang their own version of "Happy Birthday" while Emma pretended to be shy followed by.....

cake and Capri Sun! Of course.

100th Day of School....the activities

2011-02-05T20:03:00.001-08:00

One more thing to celebrate...100 days of school! I don't remember having any big to do over the 100th day of school when I was a kid, but I have learned that Kindergarten is all about having a party these days.

Emma's class had a number of activities that included 100 fruit loop/cheerio necklace, guess which one has 100 jars, "If I had $100...", 100 piece puzzle and more.

I was in charge of the 100th Day of School headband (as shown below) table so I don't have many pictures of any of the other activities but a good time was had by all...and most importantly, it was finished off with cake and Capri Sun in true KG party fashion.

100th Day of School Project

2011-01-27T08:04:00.001-08:00

Yes...I helped A LOT with this...but she did all the coloring and put 90% of the buttons on (on the hot glue dots I put in just the right place that is).

If we hadn't waited until the last minute it might have been a little more of an independent project...we are such procrastinators :(

Happy Belated Birthday...and Belated Post

2011-01-27T08:03:00.000-08:00

My very belated post for Alicia's surprise Birthday party....it was a belated party though so it only seems appropriate.

Happy 30th B-day!!!

Snow Days!!!---Part 1

2011-01-13T13:16:00.001-08:00

The view of our house Monday morning with about 6 inches of snow! Such a rare occasion I wanted to be able to remember how pretty it was before getting "messed up" with footprints.

We started our first snow day out exploring the neighborhood and looking for that "perfect" hill.

Again, these next few pictures are of the snow before it was "messed" up with footprints and tire marks. As we walked the roads that morning you couldn't really tell where the roads began and ended.

Emma is happy! She loved the snow from beginning to end...never got tired of it.

William was pretty happy too...he was especially happy to find a little friend to play with along the way...our neighbors cat stuck with us for a good little ways.

They were both happy to be pulled rather than walk at some point. We made a big loop around the neighborhood hoping some of our friends would be out to play but had no luck our first go around.

We didn't have much luck finding a good sledding hill...but Emma gave it several tries along the way.

Since no one was out to play...we headed back to our house and built our snow family.

Princess Emma...

Bama boy William...

Finally, some friends came calling and they had engineered a way out of our poor sledding conditions.

We finished our day with snowball fights, snowball tasting and snow forts.

We all slept very well after Snow Day 1.

Snow Days!!!---Part 2

2011-01-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

Day 2 we ventured out and headed to my sister's house in search of better sledding conditions. Brandy's yard was pretty much used up from the day before but we all had a pretty good time in the neighbors untouched snow.

Here is Jimbo making a run in his classic winter coat. He has had this coat for as long as I remember and we have always made fun of it...but I have to admit it is very warm and if he had offered to trade I probably would have taken him up on it.

Emma LOVED it!!! Loved it!

William did NOT love it! At this point he was done and spent the rest of the day in the house.

Emma could have stayed outside all day if I would have let her.

Emma and Daddy on the sled...they only tried this once because Will slowed her down too much.

Will had amazing sledding skills (shaking my head...noooooo). In his defense, none of the grown-up's did to well....I guess we were just to heavy for the snow/hill we were working with.

Emma and Riley having a ball....

I confess, I even went down a time or two...I also confess, I'm sore and bruised.

I'm not sure about the boys in the Lovell house...but these two girls loved every minute of it.

New Years Eve

2011-01-11T20:44:00.000-08:00

Guess it's a good thing I didn't make any resolutions about being more prompt on my blog, huh?

I would be failing miserably and only in the second week of the year.

Oh well, I will stick with my motto of better late than never.

Here is our NYE group after dinner at Bridge Street. We started pretty early so we were able to squeeze in dinner, football for the boys, movie for the girls and games back at our house all before the ball dropped. Great way to start the new year.

Christmas at Granny's and a little bit of snow

2011-01-03T20:26:00.000-08:00

We went to Granny and Pawpaw's for lunch on Christmas and the kids finally got to play in the snow for a little while.

Emma had gifts for both Granny and Pawpaw that she had purchased at the Candy Cane Shop at her school...they were interesting gifts, but I'm sure they appreciated her excitement either way.

Santa Came!!!

2011-01-01T14:38:00.000-08:00

Emma's loot....

William's loot....

It was Buddy's last day with us so he left Emma and William a letter saying goodbye until next year.

Our biggest Christmas surprise....snow!

Even though the snow was tempting, we stayed in most of the morning opening and playing with all the new goodies Santa left behind.
Emma's school was a last minute add on and turned out ot be her favorite gift by far.

Dinosaur undies...

Santa tried something new this year and wrapped some of the gifts. It kinda streched the fun out a little longer so I hope he decides to make this a new tradition.

Santa came thru!!!! Rainbow Brite!

Anything Toy Story was a hit.

The resulting mess.

Cookies for Santa

2010-12-30T20:31:00.000-08:00

Emma decided to leave a subtle hint along with Santa's cookies.

That's a "?" for a surprise gift, scooter (didn't get it), purple wooden unicorn (didn't get it), bed for Lanie, and at the bottom...Rainbow Brite and her horse.

Christmas Eve---Mawmaw & Pawpaw

2010-12-29T21:56:00.000-08:00

After a lazy day recovering from our Brasfield festivities...we headed over the river for our Lovell Christmas. Mawmaw always cooks breakfast foods and then we all pile into the living room for the messiest gift opening imaginable. Every year we say we are going to do things differently so that we can see what everyone is opening...then every year the tissue paper starts flying before the gifts are even passed out and no one sees anything except for their own loot. The floor is literally covered with tissue, paper, boxes and toys to the point that you can barely move. It's so different than how my family always did things...we always took turns opening one gift at a time (excruciating at times).

Anyway, here is the failed group shoot minus two.

Emma and her Leapster...she thinks it's a Leapster Explorer just b/c that is what all the commercials are for and she assumes that we did not consciously choose to get her the older model...but we did. Don't tell her because next year she will probably want a DS and it won't matter anyway.
And the Pillow Pet...did anyone not get a Pillow Pet this year?

William's favorite...dinosaurs. No one else was allowed to touch them.

As always, we had a great time and came home with lots more than we went in with.

Christmas Eve's Eve

2010-12-28T18:52:00.000-08:00

This year we had our Brasfield get-together on Christmas Eve's Eve (i.e. Thursday). It was really nice to spread the activities out a little bit more this year and not be so rushed from place to place. We had our traditional meal of finger foods followed by gifts.

All the kids were in their matching frock and here was our best attempt at a photo.

Emma and her Lalaloopsy doll. This probably tied for her favorite gift of the night with her Littlest Pet Shop set, although this being the first gift giving celebration of the holiday, she was pretty excited over every gift.

William is a little different in his gift opening tactics...once he opens something he likes, he immediately starts playing with it and you have to really work to get him interested in opening the rest of his gifts. One of his favorites of the night..."Evil Dr. Porkchop"

I think Addison was mostly excited about her Lalaloopsy because of Emma's excitement.

Classic Cooper scowl...

Everyone ended the night playing with Mom and Dad's new ipad (that Mom thought was a digital picture frame). It was a great start to holiday.

Charlie Brown Christmas

2010-12-21T14:50:00.000-08:00

Monday night we had a Charlie Brown Christmas night...we watched the movie and decorated our own Charlie Brown tree.

We strung popcorn on a string.

William ate popcorn.

Made paper snowflakes for ornaments.

Overall, a pretty fun little family night...we might make this a tradition.

KG Holiday Party

2010-12-21T14:16:00.000-08:00

Last Friday Emma had her x-mas party at school. I was unable to go due to William's stomach bug, but Aunt Bree filled in and took a few pictures as well. I'm not sure I can get Bree to volunteer again after experiencing the chaos of a KG party.

Bree said that Emma, by far, took the longest to unwrap her present. She was trying not to mess the paper up...she also brought home some folded up wrapping paper that she wanted to save...she does the same thing with napkins from school parties (if she likes the picture/design). Not sure where she picked up this behavior.

Anyway, they seemed to have had a great time and ended the party by decorating their teachers as Christmas trees.

KG Gingerbread Houses

2010-12-17T08:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the KG class made gingerbread houses. What a fun MESS!!!! This last week of school has been nothing but crafts and fun projects and Emma is loving it.

I was all set to drop William off and head up to school to help with this project when William suddenly got sick (all over the kitchen floor). The stomach bug has finally made it's way to the Lovell house. We had to do some rearranging, but I was able to make it for most of the KG activity and so far William has been the only one affected. Hopefully it will stay that way. William is missing his x-mas party today, but Emma was still able to make her party with Aunt Bree as her fill in "Mom"...which in reality was probably an extra treat in her mind. William is much better today so hopefully we can pick right back up with all the extra outings involved with this time of year. Although, between our "snow" day and William's stomach bug...I might have to give a few IOU's as gifts if I can't find some time to finish up this shopping....consider that your warning family and friends!

Santa's Surprise

2010-12-15T12:33:00.000-08:00

Our friend Buddy the Elf got the word to Santa that we deserved an early Christmas present. Although, we are using the word "deserve" VERY loosely. Anyway, the kids got a letter from Santa stating that he was sending us to Disney World for the week as an early present and Buddy sent us off with a "Have Fun" the morning we left.

Main Street was so pretty with all the extra decorations.

It was a lot colder than we had planned, so the kids weren't crazy about posing for pictures without jackets...but I hated for their matching minnie/mickey shirts to go completely unnoticed, so they had to tough it out for a few pics in front of the castle.

We all LOVED the new electrical parade! We were able to see it twice while we were there.

Williams first roller coaster!!!! He was still to small to ride most of the bigger rides, but he was able to ride Goofy's Barn-stormer. You can tell by the pictures that he really isn't ready to ride anything bigger anytime soon. When we got off, he said he liked it but didn't want to ride again.

Emma at Minnie's house.

Our only family picture.

The new family favorite ride....Toy Story in Hollywood Studios...also the favorite ride of every other person in the park which makes it nearly impossible to ride more than once.

Mickey Mouse.

Freezing at the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights

Epcot...finally warming up a little.

Minnie Mouse.

Pluto.

Goofy.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus. William was all ready to tell the big man his wish list up until the last minute...so Daddy had to get in the picture too.

He finally warmed up enough to at least talk to Mrs. Claus.

Emma on the other hand gave very detailed instructions to Santa.

Emma and William were also selected to open the curtain and get front row seats to one of the shows in Animal Kingdom. William backed out of this one at the last minute too...so here is Emma opening the curtain by herself.

William liked watching the show.

And we ended our trip with one last parade and one last fake snow.

I REALLY hope Santa is giving out early gifts again next year!!! and he gives us a little more warning too. Three weeks is not enough time to plan a trip during December.

Disney on Ice

2010-12-13T20:52:00.000-08:00

We surprised the kids with tickets to Disney on Ice.

We mostly went for Emma...but William loved it the most.

He sat on the edge of his seat the whole time and this is the face he would make every time Mickey/Minnie/Goofy appeared in the show...which made us very excited to give the kids our next surprise.

Ballet

2010-12-13T20:34:00.001-08:00

Catch up time again.

A couple weeks (maybe a month) ago, Emma's ballet class was open to parents for viewing. Here are a few pictures from the class...

I like the little girl in black in this one...

Almost...

And the last three are of Emma and her friend from school, Jasmine. I went to high school with both her parents and love that they are now becoming good friends.

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas!

2010-11-30T13:09:00.000-08:00

Well, one tree is up...and this year, I think it's the only tree going up.

I normally put up two, but I also normally start Nov.1. Just too busy this year. Will put the tree up a couple weeks ago and I stayed up all night Thanksgiving online shopping and tree decorating.

My dad says I need more ribbon.

I left a few shatter proof ornaments for the kids to put on.

Here are a few of my favorites...

Cinderella's castle definitely comes in first place.

I also really love all of my shiny brite ornaments. Just like the old ones.

This guy was one of my favorites, but he has been downgraded because his base is now broken. He was knocked off the tree and the drum which was his base shattered. I was really upset with myself so William came over and rubbed my back and told me it was ok...it was pretty sweet...and shocking that he had nothing to do with the accident.

Emma's first Christmas...

William's first Christmas...

I confess I've been a bit of a Scrooge this year...but the decorations are starting to pull me out of it.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-29T15:21:00.000-08:00

We had busy Thanksgiving day as usual. We started out with lunch at Mawmaw and Pawpaw's.
Emma and Allie were wearing matching outfits....

Then we headed to Aunt Rhonda's (& Roger) where Emma and Addison were wearing matching outfits. Cooper had on the boy version but missed out on the picture.

Then the kids headed upstairs for their annual tour of destruction with all my cousins old toys. The cousins always plot out our Black Friday plans while the kids play with all the vintage goodness from Shannon and Stacey's past. This year Emma became particularly attached to Rainbowbrite. I told her maybe Santa could bring her one since I thought I had seen them at Target last year...but she wanted me to take a picture just in case Santa didn't know what she looked like. Target DID have them last year....but not this year. Guess I'm going to have to overpay on ebay if she keeps the Rainbowbrite love up.

Indian Feast

2010-11-28T21:25:00.001-08:00

Yet another KG celebration....Indian Feast!

Emma's class has spent the last week and a half studying all things Native American and Emma has LOVED it! She is very proud of every craft made and is full of fun facts about the early and native Americans.

Here is the group, all in their custom Indian frock...Emma's Indian name..."Sparkling Star"

Singing their turkey song.

Emma sporting her Indian costume, including baby in papoose. She wore this for a full 24hrs. I checked her out of school early since we were going into the holiday, she wore it to Walmart, home, slept in it and wore it for most of the next day. She also now wants the Native American-American Girl doll and tee pee for Christmas.

And finally, a sad attempt at a mother/daughter picture.

The Joy of my Life

2010-11-18T11:10:00.000-08:00

I sometimes wonder what I did with my days before I had kids. I really can't remember for sure, but clearly I must have spent most of them just twiddling my thumbs wishing for something to do. I do recall that I have a very neat and tidy house, a job (with income), and a least a little bit of a social life.

Those days have long since gone.

Today, I spent at least one hour cleaning $35 worth of make-up off William and my bathroom floor. William had to be completely bathed and I spent a good portion of that hour trying to scrape up foundation off the counter tops and floor, pull out the hair and debris in an effort to salvage enough make-up to last me until Christmas.

Before all the clean up I took some time to snap a few pictures of William covered head to toe in an entire, practically brand new container of Bare Minerals foundation, mascara and snot.

Enjoy!

A True Fan

2010-11-17T11:50:00.000-08:00

Turkey in Disguise

2010-11-16T20:23:00.000-08:00

A recent school project. Disguise your Turkey.

It only took an entire Sunday afternoon to complete.

And I only cut out 15 or so little banners before Emma was able to get all the words to fit and be reasonably centered. I let her cut out the first 3...but then time became an issue.

She was pretty proud of the finished product.