A Memorable Weekend

My sweetheart Emmy Ruth turned three on Valentine's weekend and Julia and I made the trip to Memphis to celebrate. Emmy had a great party with everything fun....a jumpie, the ball pit (Julia's favorite), delicious cake, and most importantly, good friends! I cannot believe that Emmy is three. Everytime Julia and I head to her birthday party, I get a little teary-eyed thinking about the many conversations that Tara and I had before we had our babies. I think we both agree that motherhood is so much better than either of us could have ever imagined!

Fun in the ball pit!

The Birthday girl!

Sweet Sol and Julia

I think she was first in line for the cake!

Without going into too much detail, I have to post about my most traumatic experience ever in Memphis. I decided at the very last minute to send Julia back to Wynne to spend the night with Jee Jee and Paw Paw. She left the party with Neall and Becca who insisted on taking her back to Wynne with them (THANK YOU!!!). The plan was for me to stay and meet up with John later where he was playing at a restaurant/bar. While I was waiting on John, I had a few glorious hours in Memphis to shop and hang out by myself. I went to one of my favorite stores on Summer and was just about to check out when Tara called me. I put down my things to look over them one more time before I headed to the register and chat with Tara. I was in the middle of telling her what a great time I was having shopping when I hear, "This is a hold up!" about five feet behind me. I looked and saw a man with a black mask and sawed off shotgun at the register. I hid behind a rack of shoes and thought about Julia. He fired two shots, one in the ceiling and one at the register. He got off with the drawer, but noone was hurt. Well, noone was hurt physically anyway! I am grateful for so many things. First, that Julia wasn't with me! Second, that we all got out of there alive because I know that it could have been much worse. Wow....I am not sure that I will ever be quite the same.

To balance out the horror of the experience, John and I had a great time in Memphis and got to celebrate Valentine's Day in style. It's always fun to watch John play guitar (makes me fall in love all over again!) even though I don't get to see him play that often anymore. We spent the night in Memphis and then saw Jersey Boys at the Orpheum. It was definitely one of my favorites! I loved every minute of it and was sad when it was over. Thank you John, for my very best Christmas present ever! We had dinner then raced home to get our sweet girl who didn't want to leave her Jee Jee and Paw Paw's house. I hugged Julia extra tight when I got to see here and know for sure that I am one lucky Momma.

Disneyworld February 2010

I am still not sure what came over me when I decided to book this trip, but it was a blast and we made lots of good memories. We were able to leave Wynne in the midst of LOTS of ice and snow and make the long drive to Northwest Arkansas to catch our flight. Thanks so much to my friends in Rogers, we were dropped at the gate and had a great $29.99 each flight on a large airplane (no prop plane!) to Orlando. Julia flies like a queen and never skips a beat. I would leave tomorrow for Paris with our little traveler. I brought lots of snacks, books, and a DVD player to keep her occupied during our travel time and never once even opened the DVD player. The snacks, on the other hand, well we needed those from time to time!

Julia waking up with a smile the morning we left for Disneyworld!

Riding the bus to our first RAINY day at Animal Kingdom. It poured all day long. Looking back on it, John and I decided that we preferred the first two rainy days at Disney because there were NO lines!

Had to post this picture because you can see my jeans and how soaking wet we were!

Imagine what the tennis shoes felt like.

This was as close as Julia ever got to one of the characters. She loved them all....from a safe 10 foot distance. She would stand back and wave at them. She got really close to giving Tigger a hug here, but changed her mind just in the nick of time.

Miss Independence wanted to push the empty stroller instead of ride in it. This is where the snacks came in handy. Bribery does work.

We loved the safari ride, Lion King show, and parade best at Animal Kingdom.

Julia loved the parades more than anything! They were loud and colorful and Mickey was waving right at her, of course.

See those little happy eyes? Now that's why crazy mom and dads take their 2 year olds to Disneyworld!

It's a small world after all....never fails to deliver. May have been my favorite!

The 36th (I'm exaggerating) parade that we saw at Magic Kingdom. Anytime Julia heard music, she asked us, "Is it a parade?" and we had to run and find where the music was coming from.

A family teacup ride!

Oh she loved that castle!

Julia is a heavy little thing, but I will hold her until my back breaks when she needs a blankie break!

Seeing the first fireworks

Swiss Family Robinson treehouse was another of Julia's favorites.

Dumbo is all that she has told people about since we came home. She didn't seem to love the ride near as much when we were there, but she sure loves to talk about it now! When asked if she had a good time at Disneyworld she say, "I rode Dumbo and he flys up in the air!"

She really loved the shows too. Nobody quite does 3D like Disney.

Hanging out with Miss Piggy at Disney Hollywood Studios on our last half day.

John's favorite part of the trip were the 3D movies.
A great and very memorable vacation. Not the greatest pictures. I think we were too busy having fun to waste time with the camera!

Snow Days 2010

We've had more snow here this year than I can ever remember. Fortunately, only two hours without electricity. There are a lot of great things about living in the country, but snow and ice are not one of the benefits. Our road is rarely, if ever, traveled and it makes leaving difficult. I missed two half days of work and only made it in because a friend with 4 wheel and cookie sheets DO work just fine. John says this one will never be the same......

First, Julia and I

Then, Julia and Dad

Then, Julia by herself...again and again and again! As soon as the "sled"starting slowing down, she would scream, "I wanna go again!" But then would cry when she realized she had to walk up the hill to get the 3 second downhill rush! She made the curve and missed all the trees just fine.

John was proud of himself for capturing this masterpiece.

Julia and I sporting our matching mother and daughter aprons hand made by by Aunt Amy and shipped from California. It was such a treat to get these beauties in the mail! The only challenge with these was trying to explain to Julia that she could not sleep in the apron.

Trying her first bite of snow ice cream. (Excuse the ugly princess pajamas....I so swore I would NEVER!)