Home is where your family is...

We are about to see if there is any truth to this quote.

Emma is now at the stage where she gets excited to see our house every time we turn the corner onto our road:
Emma: "Home Momma, Home"
Momma: "Who lives there?"
Emma: "Emma....Momma...Daddy...Clara Pearl"

Our family is moving to Aiken, SC the end of the month for Eddie's new job at Bridgestone. This step in our lives was not a quick decision as both Eddie and I are not ones to move easily (both being home-bodies and not loving the idea of change). After much prayer, we feel that God is leading us in this new adventure. We are hopeful that this will provide us with much more family time. The hour-each-way commute will be a thing of the past for Eddie, and I will get to work from home and spend much more time with the girls.  Aiken is a beautiful southern horse town and we are excited...

...but I think the small knot forming in my stomach might be the emotions slowly rising to the top which I have suppressed for the more practical and immediate tasks at hand. How do you say goodbye to friends, a church, the familiar of over 12 years? When does it sink in that you are never going to come back to this house you have made your home?

What will happen when we have all of our worldly belongings packed into a semi-trailer and we drive out of the driveway of the only home Emma has ever known? Of the home where Eddie and I started our married life? Of the home where we brought each of our two beautiful, precious girls home for the first time? Where we have planted gardens, watched sunsets, enjoyed (yes enjoyed!) the wonderful smell of cow manure in the morning haze, and made so many other countless memories.

Aiken here we come!?!??!?!

Are we ready!?!?!?

The Christmas decorations are up...

 most of the presents have been purchased or made...

Chef's hat/apron for Emma (shhhh...don't tell...)

Little clutches for teachers

the baby's room is ready...

Is it possible that the baby will be small enough
to fit in those little tiny diapers??

big sister is prepared...

(ok...so she knows there is a baby sister coming
but I'm pretty sure it won't sink in until we bring her home...)

and the belly is very large!

(Oh, and I almost forgot, the blog has been updated.)

Just a few more days to go (I hope)!!!

Growing up...

Our little girl is growing up. She doesn't even look like a baby anymore. She is cruising (walking holding on to walls/furniture), saying a few words (mama, dada, kitty cat, hi, uh-oh...), and most of all understanding everything it seems! She has given up her bottles for sippy cups and big girl milk and is feeding herself just about anything she can get her hands on. Most of all, she has a sweet personality with a little stubbornness thrown in (don't have any idea where that came from)! She is the most beautiful little girl on earth and we are blessed to be able to guide her and watch her grow.

Discovering a flower during our visit to South Carolina in late January

(Yes, her shirt is dirty and her pants are a little too short.
Didn't I say she was eating everything in sight and growing like crazy!?!?!)

Playing outside at home

Emma's favorite playmate is Max, our kitty cat.

An afternoon at the park. Emma's ride down the slide by herself.

That was fun Momma!

Emma is swinging high and Daddy is trying not to get hit!

The tongue helps with balance ;-)

Hide and seek with Daddy

Helping to plant our first seeds of the spring. Garden time is just around the corner.

Our first (and only so far) snow of the year. Emma is discovering what it feels like.

And, of course, you have to eat it to truly test out the snow.

A big girl standing up at the window.

And always on the move...she likes to rock her rocking chair!

The Tree

We decided to make a special trip to pick out our Christmas tree this year. We drove to a tree farm outside of Elon, NC about 30 minutes from our house. They have cut-your-own long leaf pine trees. We had a nice time walking around the farm and then we bought a frasier fir tree that was pre-cut from the mountains (apparently they only grow over 3000 feet in elevation)!

Haircut

As with everything about Emma, her hair is growing fast too! It was starting to get a bit uneven looking so Momma tried to cut the front to make it look less stringy. Ooops....so Emma then went in to get her first profressional haircut!!

A special occasion

One of our dear friends got married a few weeks ago and we had a blast at her wedding. We wish Sheri & Barry all of the best in their new life together!!

It was Emma's first dress-up function, so I decided to make her something special to wear. The dress is from toosweets patterns over at etsy...the 'best bubble dress'. I made the little flower to add some flare. The clip in her hair is an original too! I also made shoes to go with the outfit (maryjanes in the same material as the dress, with pearls on the buckle), but unfortunately I made one size too small and they didn't stay on for more than the first half hour. Needless to say, I was disappointed but I hope to try the shoes again soon in a larger size...maybe black to go with some of her church dresses.

Thank you to Lisa Albert for these great pictures!!

Emma's friend Jack with his daddy Brian.
Jack is about 4 months older than Emma.

Crawling....almost!

Emma took her first crawl last week. She actually moved using her knees right before bedtime. You can see the stages of the movement below.

She also loves to push up on the tips of her toes as far as she can go and then flop forward. She does this over and over again to get where she wants to go. It made me laugh the first time I saw it!