we're still here

It has been a long time since my last entry and so much has happened!



christian is growing like you would not believe! here he is taking a sunday afternoon nap with his daddy!



this is elder hartley, one of the mormon missionaries who we have met with for over six months. he has left and moved on to north caroloina. please pray for him that he will see The Messiah in Truth! he is a wonderful young man.



here is gigi and emily at target. lots of love there! christian and i took advantage of the situation by getting a decaf raspberry mocha and shopping!




This is a photo we took on a Friday night trip to Tallahassee. Emily's friend from play group, Anna Leigh celebrated her 2nd birthday at Zoinks. Tyler joined us on our journey.



I am not sure who had more fun...Tyler or Emily. Kevin was definitely the most disappointed when he learned that he would not be allowed to jump because he had forgotten his socks! I really felt bad for him. Those of you who know Kev...know he really wanted to jump!

One major event that has happened over the last few months is we have decided to pull Emily out of play group. we feel that it will be better for her to play in smaller groups of little ones so that she is not overwhelmed by large numbers of kids. this has been a hard decision for us, but we feel certain that God will bless this decision as we have bathed it in prayer.



here is a picture of emily playing with her friend alyssa. she came over for a play date and they had a great time!

on a more positive note...we are attending some wonderful studies. kevin is meeting with a group of men on tuesday evenings and they are working through the psalms. i am meeting with a group of ladies on monday night and we are working through the psalms of ascent ( a bible study by beth moore) & then i am also meeting with a smaller group of ladies on tuesday mornings. we are working through a dee brestin study called becoming a woman of worship and it is also on the psalms. you may be asking yourself...does she really need to be in two Bible studies? the answer is emphatically....yes! ask my kids, my husband, my mom, my dad, and my in laws! i need all the spiritual training i can get! in all seriousness, i had a friend recommend that i do a word study in the psalms on every scripture reference to "rock", "strong tower", "defender" & "protector". i had tried doing this on my own and felt overwhelmed. then these two studies fell into my lap and it has been such a blessing. just to immerse myself in the provisions of the almighty maker of heaven and earth. and also, to surround myself with women of faith. women who have walked a road similar to mine. i have learned so much already and i am looking forward to the weeks ahead!



here is a picture of christian trying out his sisters high chair. soon enough it will be his! we have actually moved emily to a booster seat and she eats at the table like a big girl! we did try a season of letting her just sit at the table without a booster seat. after several meals with her running around the kitchen with butter and green bean juice all over her hands, we have decided to resort back to a booster seat until she can remain seated. mommies nerves can't handle sticky fingers exploring our new home!



although, according to this picture, emily is perfectly fine with just sitting in her very own chair! i believe she is eating pancakes with home made peach preserves...thus the nakedness is explained! believe you me... i busted out the windex after this meal! ( as we speak...emily is below the computer desk eating her exquisite breakfast of raisins and water...yes i have sticky hands all over my pajama bottoms! ~ praise The Lord I am ok with it...I think?~ I wonder how many raisins i will find this afternoon!)



in late september mom, dad, emily, christian and i traveled to birmingham for aunt cindy's wedding. she was a beautiful bride!



this is her new hubby daryl webb



emily had a great time at the wedding. here she is enjoying a cookie!



this is the chapel where cindy was married. it was such a beautiful chapel.



the following weekend we helped deliver hot dogs to the concession stand at the thomasville high football game. here is kevin carrying hot dogs. doesn't he look thrilled!



dad was happy to see us and busy as ever!




my mom is the gracious one who orchestrates all of the work with the concession stands. dad is really lucky to have all of her help!



on this particular evening, the dickeys helped out mom and dad. they all had a great time!



another neat thing that has happened is a new mentoring program that these three beautiful women have put together. they are simply reaching out to women our age and trying to help us along the journey of managing the many roles of being a woman.



this is the group we had and we plan to meet the 28th of October again! it was really a neat evening to just let go of all the facade and be real with one another. i am looking forward to our next meeting!

we have in fact moved. we love our new home and are working towards getting everything in just the right spot!



here is a picture of our three troopers who worked so hard to get us moved!



this is our cute little home! mom has spent a lot of time trying to make our home look cozy. i am afraid the outside looks more "together" than the inside right now...but we are trying to straighten and oragnize in between carrying for little ones!



here is christian at moms house. during our move, i stayed with mom while kevin and his parents worked hard to get us situated in our new home. i had layed christian on his back so mommy could go to the bathroom. when i returned from my potty break this is how i found him! he had turned over!



here is emily enjoying her breakfast at gigi's house.



here is a picture of emily during the great move. she really did have a great spirit during all of the moving and i feel that she has handled the transition well.



while daddy was busy working...this is where we spent a lot of our time. on mom's back porch swining in the swing. i could have stayed there forever. it was so peacful! as you can see christian also enjoyed it!



we gave emily lots of attention (and grace!). we took a trip out to the farm so she could enjoy one of her favorite things. horses!



christian also did well with the move. he was a trooper!




he has recently gotten his first two teeth! and boy is he getting to be more active. when i carry him around in the baby carrier he is constantly reaching for whatever is in my hands. he even cries if you try to take it away from him!




here is where we eat most of our meals in our new home. this is one of the first experiments with letting emily eat with "freedom".



here are the three stooges enjoying our red couch in our new home! (which i am very very very sad to report is currently out of commision because our cat decided to turn our couch into a potty spot!)



our first weekend in our new home, we went to a birthday party for brandon. kevin is such a wonderful daddy! he held christian almost the whole time and i was able to spend time with emily.



this is max, brandon's brother. he is such a cutie!



and here is brandon the birthday boy!



this is my friend heather. she is such a wonderful mom and here she is showing brandon the cake she made him.



here is emily enjoying her cake!



after the weekend...came emily's birthday! she is now 2! on her birthday mom, dad, christian and i took her for a muffin at kuppa coffee.



she had a great time and was a little angel. i have really been praying over my relationship with emily. (i know mom has too!). the last few months have been challenging and refining for me. i am grateful for all the God is doing in our lives, but it has been hard. kevin has often told me that children are a mirror to us, reflecting what we really are on the inside. i think for so long i was able to hide many issues that are deeply rooted within. similar to what many may think of my house by looking at the outside and presuming that the inside is all together & well put, some may look at my life in public and think many things about me that are not the truth of my core being. i have prayed and prayed that God would refine and purify me and i believe that He is doing just that in my relationship with emily. you see...i like to have control because control allows me to accomplish objectves that i have set for myself, which in turn gives me an identity. when i don't have control i get very angry because i fear i am going to loose my identity.

the truth is my identity needs to be in Christ and in Christ Alone. emily, being 2, is not easily controlled. she is in a period where things are very frustrating to her. she is constantly being told what to do and when and she cannot share her desires or wishes because she lacks the words. the result is she screams, bites, hits, throws herself on the floor and even sometimes she bangs her head against things. she has even bitten herself. i watch in horror as she throws these tantrums. i have prayed and prayed for our family that we would live lives honoring to God and i have the hardest time fitting this behavior into this picture. but i feel god convicting me that i do the same thing. when plans change or things don't go my way, i throw a fit just as emily does, but in different ways. the strangest thing is i believe that God is teaching me how to better handle releasing control to Him by helping emily learn how to handle dissapointments in a healthier manner.

all of this has really strained my relationship with emily. i love her more than any word could possibly describe, but i have been so frustrated with her at times because of her behavior and the behavior it brings out in me. i would ask that you would pray for us in this process as i believe it is a refining process. my prayers for many years have been to have authenticity in my relationship with Christ. to be the same in private as i am in public. i have been so ashamed by many of my responses to emily that i have lamented and asked forgiveness time and time again. kevin reminded me yesterday that when i learned to ride a bike i fell down many times and parenting is no different. i will make many mistakes but i must keep trying!

i am not sure any of this makes sense...initially i was trying to say that emily's birthday was dreamy. seeing her in an angelic light once again. seeing her as the amazing gift that she is from God and not the evidence of my failure as a parent, was so liberating. she was so beautiful on her birthday to me and i believe God had answered my prayer about our relationship. i made her a scrapbook with pictures from the time of her birth and it brought back so many memories of that special time.

all day on her birthday i prayed that God would help me to treat her like a princess every day. to make her every day a delight and to not be so consumed with trying to control her and make her behave a certain way (which by the way may not even be realistic for a toddler).



how could you not love an amazing girl so full of life! here she is showing off her new shoes and beads from grandma.

after her birthday muffin at kuppa coffee, emily took a trip out to the farm to visit with the horses. mommy and christian went to publix to get food. that night we had some of emily's friends over to celebrate her birthday.







here is emily enjoying her grandma!



and here is christian enjoying his grandma!



emily got lots of good stuff for her birthday, but one of her favorite gifts by far was her bright red boots from papa!

Emily had a great time playing with her friends. But the party was not yet over
After our celebration at our home on Glenwood we moved on to celebrate once again at grandma and pa's! we had a great time. Our celebration over the weekend at Grandma and Pa's was extra special because grandma judy and grandpa stan came up for the party! we had breakfast with them at Savannah Moon!






then, emily got to go with her papa and her ty ty to the fly in to see the planes.

after her visit to see the planes we let her take a nap and then it was off to the big party! while baby emily slept, her daddy and ty ty ran errands with little shep and mommy frantically tried to finish the scrapbook she was giving emily for her birthday.



here are our little party goers! they get their own special table for dinner.



here is the big kid table...



and another big kid table!



aunt mindy and uncle chris came up early to help mommy get things together to take over to grandma's. and even though we had help... we still arrived late to our very own party! (at least this time i got a shower. her birthday party at our house on monday i simply ran out of time so i had to do the quick powder brush trick after the first guests arrived!)



pa did the burgers (for both parties!) here he is enjoying his grandson..the mcmillan heir!



this is a classic photo of grandpa stan. how could you not love him! we are ready for them to move back whenever they are!




here is uncle chris. who i must confess emily always wants to pray for. whenever we pray together she always wants to pray for her uncle chris. and whenever we mention aunt mindy or ty ty she wants to make sure uncle chris is included! she loves her uncle chris!




here is my southern living, classy well mannered sister...



who has a wild side!



after dinner, i wondered into the kitchen and found grandma judy being a true grandma! she had already given emily cake! actually truth be known, emily had helped herself to a cupcake! this does not surprise me!




abigail was ready for her cake!



and so was daddy!



what you can't see here is that it took an entire assembly line to cut, plate and deliver the cake. christy cut the cake, i held a plate which received the cake, donna scooped ice cream and mindy put the fork on a delivered. how efficient are we!



here is everyone watching the auburn game. how boring!



here i am wearing a goofy hat. what can i say...you've got to find some way to have fun!



here is cutie, tootie aj!



here we are opening presents!



and more presents!



here is uncle allan with little shep at emily's party. allan loves to hold babies!



here is gigi sharing a max lucado book with emily & meredith.





here is papa toting around our sweet baby!



after the party, emily and her daddy were tuckered out! they both fell asleep on the bed...so i could put them both down without any extra work!

the next day was a very special day for us as we celebrated grandma & pa's 40th wedding anniversary. we surprised them with an unexpected lunch at their house! see the video below.



here is the happy couple!





we had a wonderful lunch and enjoyed spending time together.



we tried...



and we tried...



and we tried! these were some of the best we could get!


Last week in Bible Study, we were discussing how at times, when our circumstances seem contrary to a life of blessing it can be easy to fall into the trap of believing God has left us or no longer loves us. we have learned in the psalms that nothing can be farther from the truth. in our tuesday morning study, we have a time of worship before we get into prayer and study. this last week we sang a song that sweetly brought me to tears. this song so perfectly illustrates how i feel in my walk with Christ right now. i have prayed for authenticity in my relationship to Christ. i have prayed to live a life pleasing to God. i have prayed to be kind, loving, joyful & a woman of worship. i think in my spiritual immaturity i believed that by simply praying these things, God would see the goodness of my heart (because i was praying such earnest prayers) and grant me my request. like a fairy god mother, suddenly i would be transformed into the sweet wife i long to be. suddenly, i would immitate the life of caroline ingles on little house on the prarie. i must admit, i have been tempted to be disillusioned by the trials i have faced after praying such prayers. how readily i forget that gold goes through a refining process. a catepillar must live a time as an ugly worm before it becomes a beautiful butterfly. why would my journey to completion be any different?

you may be tempted to skip over reading the lyrics to this song, but i would encourage you to take the time to read through them. they are powerful!

I Asked The LORD by John Newton
1. I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith and love and every grace
Might more of His salvation know
And seek more earnestly His face

2. Twas He who taught me thus to pray
And He I trust has answered prayer
But it has been in such a way
As almost drove me to despair

3. I hoped that in some favored hour
At once He'd answer my request
And by His love's constraining power
Subdue my sins and give me rest

4. Instead of this He made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart
And let the angry powers of Hell
Assault my soul in every part

5. Yea more with His own hand He seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Cast out my feelings, laid me low

6. Lord why is this, I trembling cried
Wilt Thou pursue thy worm to death?
"Tis in this way" The Lord replied
"I answer prayer for grace and faith"

7. "These inward trials I employ
From self and pride to set thee free
And break thy schemes of earthly joy
That thou mayest seek thy all in me,
That thou mayest seek thy all in me."

this song sweetly illustrated the fiery trials we must go through in order to truly see God. how i yearn for the destinations!






Just in case you thought the birthday celebration was over...you were wrong! we still had to celebrate kevins and Dads! kevin's was wednesday october 15th and dads was october 17th.
so....last friday we went to valdosta to look at scooters for kevin and get new boots for emily. also to pick up some khaki pants that mommy got daddy for his birthday. (i got a little behind with birthday presents this year. i got so focused on emily that my poor husband and father were kind of left behind. dad got a check and kevin got a pair of khakis fresh from a belks bag!)

above is a picture of emily systematically setting up a tea party for her little doll house figures. note...they are having their tea on a carpeting portion of the floor (compliments of brother! this is his blanket!)






christian with his development has gotten to be a little more difficult to handle than in the past. we had to lower his crib because i am afraid he might roll out! i have found him with his feet hanging out of the crib. often we find him like this, laying on his side. he is such a cutie! i could eat him up!



here are my beautiful parents eating at red lobster. this is where my Dad wanted to celebrate his birthday.



here is emily eating her mac n cheese~!



and here is daddy being a good sport! the scooter shop closed at 5:30pm which is just about the time we arrived in valdosta. we were unable to go and kevin (as usual) was great about it. ever smiling is he!


here is our beautiful family! yes i know i am bragging. but please know i am not bragging on us. i am bragging on God! My Bible study this morning was on psalm 78. which by the way i reccommend you look at if you are feeling down in the dumps. the psalm is remembering all of the mighty works that God did for the children of Israel.

delivering them from the hand of pharoah with the plagues, the locusts, the frogs, the water turning to blood.

parting the red sea

creating water from a rock

and raining down manna and quail from the sky

all of these things God did for His people and yet, while the water was in their mouth they doubted he would provide meat! after he parted the red sea they were ready to return to slavery because they thought for sure, they would starve.

how quick are we to forget Gods provision and how it saddens His heart! This picture of my family amazes me. We are not perfect...but we are together and daily we are seeking Gods face. So often I feel as if we are going to fall apart. I thing to myslef. that's it Lesli. This time you have really blown it! Nothing can repair what you have done. Or all too often after a quite time in the Word and reading a convicting scripture, I am convinced that my heart is irreparable, that they only way to "fix" me is to "erase" me or like i told kev the other day, can i just be a computer and you can program me? but am i really believing God and trusting His sovereign mighty hand? He has delivered me from so much! I could list the same number of miracles He has performed in my own life as He did in the Israelites. Perhaps even More!

God converted my soul in 1997 from a life of death and self to a Christ centered life!
He has delivered me from temperments, habbits and addictions, He has given me a wonderful Godly husband, with wonderful parents, my parents have never given up on me in spite of myself! and i have two beatiful children to God be The Glory! All of these things have been given to me yet from the time I was 12 until I was 21 I was living in the pit! and I mean the pit!

SO after all of this...why would I doubt God's continued provision in my life? I know He will provide. It simply requires my faith and patience! Praise His Name!



here is emily in all of her glory! enjoying her new bright red boots!



in case your wondering...she wore the boots to belks and books a million...with her short shorts and her pink shirt!




so after the new boots were purchased..of course we had to team them up with a whole cow girl outfit and head out to the farm!



beautiful!



this is emily's third cousin katie. when i asked her what her favorite subject was in school she said fashion! love it~!



this is katie's mommie and my favorite second cousin! jennifer~ (author of give in to motherhood)





this is madison, jennifer's oldest daughter who is a mathematician like her mom and dad!


does this photo even need commentary? is this not a papa's dream come true? i pray emily will remember this moment for the reat of her life!





have i lost my mind? this is my daughter riding all by herself! sorry about tuffys ears dad!



dad...maybe this picture will make up for the slacky ears in the previous picture!



here are the riders!





our day of riding ended with a cookout at gigi and papas house with the fulton clan. here is tyler bing a super duper cousin!




is christian trying to tell us something?


isn't he a cutie?

well, i guess thats all for now. mom just called. she is headed to the beach in a jaguer convertible with alice dickey, carla defnall, rose marie robbins, kay alexander and donna carney! boy do i want a picture of that! pray for them!

lesli~

The McMillans as of late...

Currently we are facing many challenges it seems. I am ashamed to say this because I know how very blessed we are to have all that we have. A wonderful extended family, a beautiful immediate family, we have a wonderful and supportive husband and daddy (who puts up with all our quirks!) and A God who continually forgives us and continues to tries to mold us into His image in spite of ourselves.

But with that being said our spiritual pilgrimage is still up hill.



(Here is our Baby Christian, or little Shep. He is so beautiful!)

I would like to quote a book I am currently reading called The Shack. It is a lengthy quote but worth the read,

"Emotions are the colors of the soul; they are spectacular and incredible. When you don't feel the world becomes dull and colorless....So help me understand them, pleaded Mack. Not much to understand, actually. They just are. They are neither bad nor good; they just exist. Here is something that will help you sort this out in your mind, Mackenzie. Paradigms power perception and perceptions power emotions. Most emotions are responses to perception-what you think is true about a given situation. If your perception is false, then your emotional response to it will be false too. So check your perceptions, and beyond that check the truthfulness of your paradigms- what you believe. Just because you believe something firmly doesn't make it true. Be willing to reexamine what you believe. The more you live in the truth, the more your emotions will help you see clearly. But even then, you don't want to trust them more than Me." this is spoken by Sarayu a character playing the part of The Holy Spirit.



(Here is Emily, regressing. We got out the exersaucer for Baby Christian and Emily has decided she likes to play with it too!)

What we believe, what we think affects us in astronomical ways. I am reading a book with my Dad right now entitled Renovation of The Heart by Dallas Willard and the entire book is about spiritual transformation. How can we become more like Christ. The premise of the book is that, as we submit our hearts to Christ, God The Father and His Holy Spirit, our thoughts will be pure and holy leading unto pure and holy emotions or feelings and subsequent actions, relationships and as a whole, genuine, pure, authentic Christlike lives. Of the Glory of such a life, and yet it all starts in the microscopic realm of our heart. What am I doing with the issues that filter through my heart? Am I handing them one by one to The Sovereign Creator or am I clinging to them with worry and selfish ambition? This makes all the difference in the world for from it come my thoughts, feelings, actions, relationships and my life.



(Here is Kevin after he "bounced" Christian to sleep. Little man is getting some teeth so we have had some restless nights!)

The quote above from The Shack is healing. For it teaches us that in every situation we have a choice. And that choice will paint the color of our days. Are we going to choose gray and see things critically, selfishly, pessimistically or are we going to choose a shade of blue and see the freshness of each encounter, see the crisp opportunities of each situation? We have the power to choose and Gods Spirit has the power to change! What a blessing!

"Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of Gods Wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Summing it up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious-the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into His most excellent harmonies."

Philippians 4:6-9 The Message



(Here is baby Christian, he doesn't have a care in the world, so long as he's gotten good sleep and yummy stuff to eat! After this picture was taken, his daddy changed his clothes. We were afraid he wasn't getting circulation to his peripheral limbs!)

For me right now I simply feel overwhelmed!

We are moving in a month,

I am trying to begin homeschooling Emily, wondering if I need to return to school to get a teacher certification so that I can effectively home school our children,

I am trying to save as much money as possible to move us out of debt, which
means home cooked meals, no more dry cleaning and limited nights out.

I am also trying to keep our house clean, the laundry done, and myself somewhat appealing in appearance.

Not to mention disciplining Emily as she faces her own self will

and trying to stop and enjoy the great beauty contained withing the smile of both Emily and Christian.

Plus,keeping Kevin and I together in our marriage.

Trying to make times for us to get away alone and really talk like we use to
before the little ones came.

Did I mention I am speaking to my Dads students next week about nutrition?

(Whew! I am overwhelmed just re-reading that statement!)

But put into practice the advice of Sarayu and change my paradigm

We are getting a new home!

God has called us to homeschool and will provide me with everything I need to do it! All I have to do is obey Him!

We are called to be stewards of Gods money!

I get to cook and care for an entire family!

I have two beautiful children to care for!

And I have a wonderful husband and a wonderful marriage to enjoy for many years to come!

I feel I must give my husband credit. Today I came home from Mommy group a little (okay maybe a lot) disheartened. Emily is trying to learn how to be a good friend (aren't we all?). She continues to wrestle with expressing herself and often resorts to aggression when she is frustrated. This is generally not accepted among her peers and is hard for us all to push through.

She made it through the entire Mommy group without any incidents until the very end of our time there she grabbed Lydia, a 10 month old baby in the face. I was horrified as I saw it happening but it was too late and there was nothing I could do, except for apologize to both the child and the mother and explain to Emily how what she had done was wrong. My heart breaks for her each time this happens. I don't truly understand what causes her to do it but it is a huge obstacle for us right now.

As we drove away, all of the issues I am facing right now starting pouring in. All in the color gray. I felt defeated and discouraged. I felt like a failure and I felt as if everyone at Mommy Group probably hates me.

I came home and sought counsel from my (poor) husband who hears many of my saga stories and he reminded me of the power of optimism, not knowing that God had already done a work in my heart on this very issue earlier this morning.

Optimism...

Maybe these issues with aggression in Emily will help the two of us to draw closer together.

Maybe God is teaching me to be more considerate of others in it.

Maybe one day I will be able to help another Mommy who will struggle with the same issues?

Not to mention that this is an opportunity for me to reach out to the other Mommies on our group instead of closing myself off from everyone because I feel out of place.

Praise God that He loves me enough to work in my heart to change me and not leave me the way I am!



Here is a picture of Emily and Grandma Judy. We got to visit with her last week. What a blessing to have godly people in our lives. Even if they do live in Panama City!

Father, I pray You will work in my heart Lord. Change me from the very inner core outward. Leave no stone unturned and create in me a clean, pure authentic heart that thirsts after You. Cause me to live obediently to all that You have taught me and let me not fall into pharisee ways, knowing so many truths, but never living them out in my own heart. Oh Lord I pray You will change my heart, change my thoughts, let my emotions be pleasing to You, my relationships for Your Glory and my life a sacrifice for Your Kingdom. No more words Dear Lord, let there be actions! Let me continually look up unto You!

Let God work a new work in you today! See through a shade of blue, pink or purple. Put away the drab and the gray and see the world as God has called us to. As an opportunity to give every trial and challenge over to Him and grow closer to Him, grow more like Him as your choose to
serve Him in each challenge an every trial.

Imitate The Christ!

Running in the Rain

I could certainly learn a few things from my daughter about enjoying life. Check out this video of her "running in the rain"




I am beginning to truly believe that God has blessed me with children to teach me much!
They are growing up so fast and we are loving every minute of it (except for the moments when I think I am going to loose my mind because they are both screaming!)



Here is Emily at breakfast. I have been trying to get her to eat English Muffins with whole grains and the only success I have had so far is to give it to her at snack time. At breakfast I tried home made peach preserves on top. She licked off the preserves and asked for more. At lunch, I tried cheese, she ate it off and said "cheese". Oh well! I guess I will keep trying at snack time!



Here is our sweet pea and her new big girl bed. We had many nights with all of us in bed that Kevin finally said, ok we are trying out a new bed! About a month ago, he converted her crib to a toddler bed and this has been working out really well. (sometimes) (we still have nights like last night where she slept with mommy and daddy)



Recently, she has enjoyed playing dress up with her stuffed animals. Here is her teddy bear with her PJ's on! She also has begun to try to feed her baby doll like Mommy feeds Christian. Out of respect to Emily's pride, I will not include a photo of this activity! But I will say it is quite special to sit on the couch with my daughter and her baby doll and feed together!




Can you believe this handsome fellow! He is now using the exersaucer and playing with the bells and whistles involved. I can't believe he will be four months this weekend!



He's already looking like his daddy!



Speaking of Daddy, we have a super daddy! Here is Kevin with both kids upstairs. I was downstairs cleaning up after dinner and this is what I heard from the monitor in Emily's room.

We have a wonderful Daddy!

My Mom

Here is a picture of my Mom asking me not to take her picture. Sorry Mom...I couldn't resist! Don't you just love modern technology!

Sunday Lunch

This last Sunday we ate lunch with my very favorite second cousin. Jennifer Upton, the far left, holding Christian, was always my buddy growing up. She was that special adult who treated you like you really were something even though you were a kid. We are so lucky (and excited) that they have just bought a home in Tallahassee. Emily and Christian have already recognized the richness in this family. Kevin and I are excited because now we have babysitters in Tallahassee!



Here is Jennifer with Emily and her daughter Katie. Katie was super patient with Emily. Emily can be a little bossy sometimes but Katie took it all in stride!



Here is Madison holding baby Christian.



And here is Emily. After everyone left, I took her upstairs so she could take a "night night". When I went to wake her up, this is how I found her. Her head is between the pillows!




She is such a cutie!