Holiday Earrings for Everyone

I love visiting with my family. They are so fun and really liven things up. My mom (and really my whole family) are so enthusiastic. This morning as we were all getting ready for church she came running through the upstairs yelling, "The German Pancakes just finished and I have holiday earrings for everyone." It was so cute. I ended up with the cute pair of snowmen. Thanks mom!!

Birmingham Christmas

We did a lot of fun things in Birmingham to help us celebrate the season. On the 14th we went to Zoolight Safari at the Birmingham Zoo. It was a lot of fun. Emmeline especially loved the train (choo choo). Then we attended our ward christmas party on the 15th. That was also pretty fun. The primary was planning to do an elf skit and a nativity song. I was running around trying to get things going with that stuff so I didnt get to sit and enjoy dinner with everyone else, but I think it turned out alright and its over now. In the future I'll remember to make sure the primary only is involved in 1 activity. lol. But the cultural hall looked pretty and Santa did a good job (even though Emmeline refused to go stand up and see him.) On the 16th we sang Christmas songs with the ward choir and if I do say so myself, we sounded really great. I'm sure it was the spirit sending us an extra measure of talent, but we'll take it and be grateful!! On Monday we attended a white elephant exchange with some friends in the ward. I was proud of Brett--he picked up both of the gifts we took and both of those gifts were stolen at least once. Good job Brett. It was fun. We ended up with a new santa hat and a cool make it yourself scarf. lol. Tuesday through Thursday we were getting our christmas gifts put together and sent out. With all our family living away from Birmingham, the post office was pretty scary. We also got all packed up for our trip to Virginia where we will be spending Christmas with my parents. We didnt want to take Emmelines "big" present with us so we let her open it Thursday night. It was an easel with a magnetic white board on oe side and a chalk board on the other. She loves it. What a crazy and yet exciting time of year.

Sunbeam in Training

Right now we are up in Virginia visiting my parents. Today we went to church with them. Apparently in their ward, during the month of December they let all of the nursery kids go and sit in with the primary during closing exercises. They were all called Sunbeams in training. Even though Emmeline wont be a sunbeam for another year, she was so great. I went to pick her up and there was still about 5 minutes left of primary so I snuck into the back and watched. She sat quietly in her chair the whole time. Sure she turned around and leaned over the back for awhile but she was quiet and in her chair. And of course she folded her arms when it was time for prayer. I was so proud of her. (several of the other sunbeams in training were running around and not being so reverent.) She was the cutest Sunbeam in Training ever!!!

An official PhD Candidate

Brett had his first presentation of his dissertation project before his committee last friday. Apparently he did a great job and they say he is good to go. Since he passed that, he is now an "official" PhD candidate. I'm not sure what that made him before. . .an "unofficial" PhD candidate?! But we are happy that he so successfully jumped through one more hoop. Only 2 and a half years to go.

Update: Sister Sleepovers & Potty Progress

As I was reading over some old posts, I realized I said I would update you on a couple of things and I never have. So here we go.

We put Mabel to sleep in her crib in Emmelines room the last week in October. She did great and she has slept there ever since. She sleeps really great through the night. I think Emmeline likes having her little sister share the bedroom with her.

As for Emmelines potty training. . .she is mostly there. She wears panties all day and no longer has any accidents. In fact, shes been accident free for a long time. The only reason I dont say she is all the way there is because she still wears her diaper at night, but thats fine. I am so proud of how well she has done. I would definitely say that we met our goal of being potty trained by 2. Good job Emmeline!!

Shoes

Last night as I was putting Mabel to bed in her crib, I looked over at Emmeline. She was sleeping very soundly, everything looked normal. Then I noticed that she was wearing her pretty black sunday shoes. Somehow she must have fumbled through the dark and found them and put them on after Brett had said good night and closed the door. The silly little girl. Who knows what the kids do once mom and dad say "good night" and close the door. :)

Dancing Emmeline

Here is Em showing off her dancing moves during Thanksgiving in Atlanta.

Emmeline on Treadmill

Happy Birthday Emmeline

Emmeline had her 2nd birthday on December 6, 2007. I cannot believe how fast time goes by. It seems so fresh in my mind when I was in the hospital with her. Almost like it was yesterday. And then on the other hand, it seems like there has never been a time when she hasn't been a part of my life. What a strange paradox. Anyhow, back to the birthday celebrations. We didn't have a big party with a lot of her friends like we did last year, but I think she still had a great time. On thursday (the 6th) I made her a special breakfast. Then we had to go to the Doctor. She got a shot and had to get some blood drawn. She was very brave. Since she was so brave and it was her birthday we went and got an icecream sunday from McDonalds. (The 99 cent sundays are one of McDonalds few redeeming qualities.) Throughout the day Em got some different presents. Then after dinner she got to blow out candles and eat mini cupcakes. She has decided that she doesn't really like the cake part. . .just the frosting. So I made mini cupcakes. . .less cake for her to throw away. Oh and she loves to blow out the candles. I relit her two candles at least a dozen times. (at least she didn't expect us to sing each time. lol) On Friday we took Emmeline and Mabel to Chuck E. Cheese for a bigger celebration. I know what most of you are probably thinking. . "Chuck E. Cheese. eeeeeee what a nightmare. Lots of loud, screaming kids, annoying games and music, mediocre pizza at best." However, I happen to love Chuck E. Cheese. I love the little games and the noise and the excitement. I love all the little kids trying so hard to collect tickets so they can get those "awesome" prizes of rings and penny candy. And I dont even think the pizza is that bad. So my children will probably get to go to Chuck E's for several birthdays (if they want) as they continue to grow. As for this birthday, Emmeline loved it. She was excited to play any game that had lights and noise. Her favorite game was "knock down the ducks", and with daddys help, she got quite a few tickets. As she would collect the tickets, she would fold them up and put them in her pockets. That was a big deal to her. In fact, when we were getting the tickets counted at the end, she wanted to keep some to take home with her. As though the tickets themselves were a totally awesome prize. Anyhow, we had pizza and cupcakes and played all sorts of games. (my favorite was Deal or No Deal.) Emmeline was totally pooped by the end, but I know she had a wonderful birthday. Thank you Chuck E. Cheese. (and Brett for being willing to put up with it all. :) )

Its Beginning to Look alot like Christmas

On Sat. Dec. 1 we set up the Christmas tree. Yeah. It was so fun to have Emmeline help. Sure her helping included her placing our shatterproof plastic balls all on one branch while Brett and I tried to spread them out a little. It was super cute and she was super excited. Now the first thing we have to do when we come downstairs each morning is turn on the Christmas tree lights. lol. I am so thrilled to see her starting to undertand Christmas a little and to be able to participate in so many of the fun activities that come with the season.

Swimming--Summer 2006

When Emmeline was about 6 months old, we went to Atlanta to visit the Parkers. While we were there we gave Em her first test run in a real pool. She loved it.

Singing the Strep Throat Blues

Well, not so much singing since the pain in my throat wouldn't permit singing. . .but definitely I was feeling those blues this past week. I had a nasty case of strep throat which started Tuesday night. After two horrible days, I decided I did not have a regular old cold that would blow over with orange juice and rest. I figured it was probably strep and got a doc appointment set up for friday morning. Both the nurse and the doctor gasped when they looked into my throat. The doctor informed me how nasty my throat looked (if the look was similar to how it felt. . .I didn't need her comments to know.) But she put me on antibiotics and they went to work fast. (just a side note, she offered me a penicillin shot--but I resisted and got the pills instead :) ) I've been feeling much better ever since I got home. Looks like my blue days are turning sunny again. Yeah.

Mabel's Blessing

On Sunday November 25, 2007 we blessed little baby Mabel Jane. It was such a wonderful day. We were blessed to have so much family come and support us. Bretts mom flew in from Utah and so did his Dad and Donna. My Grandma and Grandpa Jorgensen were also able to fly here from Utah. From Atlanta we had my Aunt Sara and Uncle George and their two girls Auri and Jenny, plus Georges mom drove down also. Then my parents, Lucy and Leland came down from Virginia. (We also know we had other family support from afar and thats always great too). I was overwhelmed by the strength of those priesthood bearers in my family. Watching them gather around and give my daughter a blessing from Heavenly Father was so touching to me and confirmed (once again) the testimony that I have about the importance and strength of families. Brett gave a wonderful blessing. He is such a caring and loving father.

After the blessing we headed back to the townhouse for lasagna and

 more visiting before everyone had to head home. It was such a wonderful weekend. 

Here is a picture of Mabel wearing the blessing dress I made for her special day.