A Fun Fourth With MANY Celebrations!

Last year, Emorie was such a tiny little thing, we did not partake in any Fourth of July activities.

Emorie, July 4th last year

We began our celebrations with a church picnic on July 1. Emorie loved playing with everyone, and although she was too little for the water slide, she still got her feet wet and loved it!

 We were a little worried she might be afraid of the fireworks, so we decided to "try it out" at the Beulah Baptist Church fireworks in Bennett, NC on July 3. My parents, Emorie's Mimi and Pop-pop, decided to go with us. We were a little surprised to see that Emorie loved the fireworks- she pointed and laughed at them the entire time- and wasn't a BIT scared of the loud noises.

We also celebrated with a cookout and pool party at Emorie's great-grandparents' house. She is a total water baby, so she had a blast. We had planned to go to McCrary Park the evening of the Fourth, but since Michael had to work, we didn't go.

We did get one last fireworks show in, though. We went with my husband's brother and our sister-in-law to see the fireworks show in Liberty on Saturday night. Once again, Emorie loved them! She even got upset when we put her in her carseat to leave.

 

Since we had so much fun celebrating our nation's birthday with a one-year-old, I can only imagine how much fun will have next year.

Remembering

9-11 happened ten years before Emorie was born. Although the event did not happen during her lifetime, she will hear about it throughout her life and will someday ask questions and will likely have some of the same feelings concerning the tragedy as you and I have.

When she asks how long ago it happened, I can tell her she was a baby when we observed the tenth anniversary. She was there.

I hope you like the picture of Emorie and our hero. People like my husband rushed into the WTC to do whatever they could to help, most of them knowing they wouldn't survive. God bless them.

12 weeks

We have survived the first trimester! We hit the 12 week mark on Christmas Day, which, coincidently, resulted in another major milestone here in NC- the first white Christmas in 40 or more years. I've never experienced a white Christmas here in NC. It's not uncommon to go to my grandmother's and have snow for Thanksgiving, so it's almost unheard of for WV to NOT have a white Christmas . Here are a few pictures I managed to take of the snow.

Our house in the snow.

A pine tree was leaning across the road...do you see Michael trying to break it off?

Front yard.

Car is buried  

HEY! What happened to my feet?

Before the walk was shoveled.

This is my 12 week bump, not much change from last week.

Overdue update May 2010

It has been a crazy long time since I posted. Here's just a snippet of what we've been up to.

April 30-May 2, 2010:
We traveled to Asheville, NC for our first wedding anniversary! We stayed at the Renaissance Inn in downtown Asheville and spent Saturday, May 1, visiting the Biltmore House. It was a great experience and we had a wonderful time. Can't believe we've been married a year now- it just doesn't seem possible. We also took side trips to Waynesville, Cullowhee, Dillsboro, and a few small towns in the Asheville area. We love the NC mountains and go back as often as we can. Here's a picture from our weekend:



May 3-May 8:
I took exams for the Spring 2010 semester, undeniably the most difficult semester of both my undergraduate and my graduate college experiences. While my classes weren't difficult, I took too many of them, was almost NEVER home, and had tons of work to complete. My grades were wonderful though, and all my hard work paid off. I finish completely in September. I'm now enjoying a two and a half week break before beginning Summer Session I.

May 9-today:
On that Friday evening, we went out to eat with some wonderful friends of ours and their daughter. Since my horrible semester started in January, we've really been neglecting our friendships. Catching up was wonderful. On Saturday we spent the evening at a community dinner and got to hear some great music, played by some friends of ours. That Sunday, we went to church for Mother's Day with my mom and then went out to lunch with her, Michael's grandmother, his aunt and his mother. His cousins and brother were there as well. After spending time with them, we went to visit his other grandmother. We had a great time with each of them and were grateful for the time spent together as a family.

That's all for now! Stay tuned for more updates.

Easter Weekend

Hello all. I've taken a brief Blogger hiatus because I've had tons of things to do lately! In fact, today is the second day of my spring break, and I'm taking a "homework break" to give you all some quick updates. Hope everyone had a great Easter. We had a busy weekend, but a good one.

FRIDAY

Since Michael and I both had Friday off, we decided to complete some things around the house that needed finishing. Michael worked in the yard, while I weeded the flower beds and painted our front door. I'm no painter, but the door looks much better than before, and that was my goal. Friday evening found us heading to the Good Friday service at our church. This is the first year since I've been attending Moon's Chapel Baptist that they've had a Good Friday service. The music and message were wonderful- I'm glad we were able to attend.

SATURDAY

My grandmother came into town from Iredell County on Saturday. We went to Greensboro to visit my great uncle Raymond, who lives in the Gate City by himself. He's such a neat person- he's very intelligent and always has some great stories to tell. My parents, grandmother, Michael and I joined Raymond for lunch and we had a great time visiting our family.

SUNDAY

Easter Sunday at our church is always great- there is a sunrise service, followed by breakfast, Sunday School and worship service. The music and messages were, once again, great. We then went to my parents' house for Easter dinner, which was delicious. My mother is a wonderful cook, and we always enjoy eating with them. Sunday evening found us at Michael's grandparents' house.

My handsome husband and I, dressed in our Easter clothes: