Christmas Day 2008!

Emily was surprised early on Christmas morning by an unexpected visit from Grandma and Papa. They have been with us every Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning since she was born and we were a little sad that they may not be able to make it. But, with the magic of Christmas, they arrived early this morning to wake up the sleeping princess. We hurried downstairs to see if Santa had made the visit and he HAD! Emily was so excited,especially with her new workbench and tool belt. Papa and Grandma brought her a magic set (a new focus after seeing a magician at a birthday party), and she got a new camera of her own (no more using mine!). Santa left a lovely note after eating her hand-decorated cookies. We are a little sad that Tiger is no longer here but he left a lovely letter and a picture to help us remember him until next year. He was such a sweet elf! We hope everyone had as magical a Christmas as we had this year!


Look Papa! Santa came to see me!

Santa ate the cookies!!



I am a handyman --no princesses here this year=)


Look what Steve and Patty gave me!! I love John Deere!

Emily and Tiger

Emily received a special visit on Thanksgiving and has been enjoying this special visitor since. After reading a special book "The Elf on the Shelf", we asked Santa to send a special Elf to Emily. When our Magical Elf came from the North Pole, our first mission was to name him. Emily thought very carefully for several days and finally named him Tiger (for her favorite LSU Tigers). Tiger is very special in that he can't talk but he listens well. Every night, while Emily is sleeping, he flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa if Emily has been naughty or nice and lets Santa know what Emily would like for Christmas. Emily's elf is different from others that visit our friends because nobody can touch Tiger or he will lose his magic. Tiger likes to hide in a new spot every morning when he returns so that he can play hide and seek with Emily. He has been found in the refrigerator, bathroom, Christmas tree, and many other silly places. On occassion, he has even brought special North Pole treats when Emily is especially good! He will return to the North Pole tonight but will be back next Thanksgiving. We took some pictures so we can remember him even when he is gone for a year.

Visiting family and friends

This past weekend, we traveled first to Heflin to visit Grandma and Papa. While there, Grandma hosted a cookie decorating party for lots of her "grandkids". We decorated cookies, had fun watching the little ones play (and playing with the toys too!) and even had a visit from Santa Claus! Then we were off to Montgomery to visit some of the Scroggins' family there. We ate some Mexican and then met up at Hal and Charlene's house (our niece and nephew). Emily enjoys seeing her "cousins" Evelyn and Millie but we don't see them as much as we'd like!






Emily and Millie


Millie, Emily and Evelyn

Reading

Emily loves to read and I recently took her to the library to pick out some books. She looked so serious coming out of the library that day with "her books". She has also recently realized that there is a Toys R Us flier in every paper during the Christmas season. She has been asking to "read" the toy paper while I read the paper in the morning. She studies those pictures so hard and shows us all she likes!

No holiday weight gain for Em!

Emily has been asking to exercise every night using her Wii Fit. She is actually getting good at holding some of the yoga positions for a few minutes. You can set goals on the game and it will track your weight to see how you are doing. Emily has met her goal of GAINING 2 pounds in two months. My how I wish my goal was more not less!

Callaway Gardens-Fantasy in Lights

This past weekend, Emily and I joined Grandma, Papa and Lela at Callaway Gardens in GA. During the day, we shopped at the Christmas village and the country store and visited the butterfly house. That night we rode a trolley through several miles of Christmas lights (over a million lights!). It was so pretty and so amazing to see the girls' faces light up as they saw different Christmas scenes.
In the last picture, you will see Emily's typical "you are so crazy" face. I think Papa was trying to make her smile at that point. Emily was not feeling too well all day but she and Lela do enjoy spending time together. The guns are not real and Emily will not have any toy guns-but we let them see them at the country store and I made sure to tell them "you'll shoot your eye out!" like any good mama would!

Mommy's new cast!

A few weeks before we left for San Francisco, my left foot started hurting. I had it x-rayed it and found a "weak spot". I wore a boot for a couple of weeks but was told I wouldn't need to wear it in CA. We enjoyed our trip and saw all the sights we wanted to see. On the last night (after walking across the Golden Gate Bridge), we were headed back to our hotel to pack and I stepped down wrong and broke my foot. We visited a not so well know tourist attraction-St. Francis ER. I was in an out in an hour with some ace wraps and crutches. I was told to go home and put my boot back on and see my orthopedic specialist when I could. I did that today, and he decided to put a cast on it. Apparently it was not protected well with the boot and not healing at all (hurt a lot today!). So, I chose the same green that Emily had. She is THRILLED that mommy has a cast like her=) Not too easy to walk with but will have it off by the 22nd-just in time for Christmas! Here's a pic of the lovely Christmas accessory