Behind

I feel like I am just SO behind on this little blog. I have so much I want to share and so little time. When I do sit down at the computer I don't have time to devote to blogging. Right now EC is dragging every. single. toy. out. to play with occupying herself so I thought I'd blog real quick. I'm going to share some pictures I took last Sunday, just because they're precious. And because I just HAVE to blog. It's been too long. 

On Sunday all of the kiddos who attended VBS the previous week got to preform one of their songs up on stage during service. I, of course, let EC join in on that fun. Before going in to preform Emma Claire got some attention from a few of her favorite "big girls". It melts my momma heart to see other kiddos loving on Emma Claire.

She LOVES the attention. LOVES IT.

And here she is "preforming" in front of everyone at church. So proud :-)

After church I had a friend snap a picture of the three of us. I've got a little double chin going on and EC has some major squished/squinty eyes but I still love it.

After we took our picture EC stood against the wall and said "CHEEEESE" and insisted I took her picture. It cracked everyone up. She's hilarious.

Right now we have several BIG projects going on in our little lives. Currently the hubs is out on the deck building a headboard for us that I'm going to upholster this evening. I'm also in the middle of painting our kitchen cabinets. It's tedious and time consuming but I know the transformation at the end will make it all worth it. 

I hope to be a better blogger this week and get some of our fun activities documented!

VBS: Emma Claire Style

This week while I volunteered at VBS, miss Emma Claire had a blast in the nursery. From what I hear she was quite entertaining and had everyone cracking up. Which was no surprise, she's a hoot. 

I was actually able to go into nursery with her and snap some pictures. And I managed to get some pictures of her singing and dancing with the "big kids" before and after VBS. Love that I now have pictures of her at church taken with my "big" camera and not just my iPhone.

Oh baby jail.

Even when I'm INSIDE of the nursery she wants out. 

SO Emma Claire. ;-)

Love her. We would get some goldfish from the supply closet each day before leaving. It made our ride home much easier. 

 

She just loved watching the kids sing and dance. 

It was a pretty awesome sight. 

Yep. That's right. She is ON stage. She loved every minute of it. 

It was so fun for me to watch Emma Claire just take it all in. I can't wait until it's her turn to sit in the pews with her friends and sing and dance.

Praise Your Name

So tomorrow is Friday. And the last time I blogged was an entire week ago. Blogger Fail. But this week I've been a tad busy. It's VBS week at our church and I was asked to photograph each day. I have been LOVING my "job" this week. I get to hop around from group to group, see all of the different games and activities, and watch it all come together.

Watching kids learn about Jesus and get EXCITED about the gospel is pretty amazing.

I LOVE watching kiddos get immersed in their bible.  Such a beautiful sight.

 Emma Claire and I matched on Wednesday. Black and White polka dots with a splash of yellow.

"Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6

Paint and Popsicles

Emma Claire has become quite the little artist these days. Painting on the back porch has become part of our daily routine. It's messy, it's chaotic, it's hot, it's a little crazy, but most of all...it's fun. She loves it and that's really all that matters. Most nights {since she's filthy anyways} we finish off painting time with a Popsicle. I usually just use my iPhone to snap a few pictures of EC actually painting because let's face it...todder+paint does NOT equal an environment that my big camera is allowed in. ;-) But tonight was special. Tonight my daughter ended up sans clothing and covered in paint AND popsicle. Plus she grabbed her tushy with paint covered hands. Which makes for a hilarious picture. And memory. {however my daughter's tushy won't be featured on the blog tonight, so use your imagination...or follow me on instagram ;-) malloriegayle} Basically it was a cute scene I just had to capture. Our neighbors even came over to see what all of the fuss was about. 

She has SO much paint on her. It looked like she got into some clown makeup. 

Popsicle=happiness

Her "this is really cold" face. Hilarious. 

Her "hey mom, come inside my house!" face {she is a toddler of many faces}

Even her hair was painted. And is this picture not the epitome of summer? Baby covered in paint holding a Popsicle. Perfection. 

Poor Dixie. The one food Emma Claire does NOT share. 

War paint. 

Sweetness

 And just in case you thought she was too sweet here's some major sass for ya ;-)

Texas Trip: iPhone Style

 So I've been a major slacker in the blog department lately. I am going to go ahead and blame my huge storage issue I'm having right now. I need to dump a bunch of files over on my external hard drive to free up space. Until then I can only upload small amounts of pictures at once. So my iPhone is full, my computer is full, and I'm going crazy! It might be time for a computer upgrade with more storage. Anywayssss...tonight I'm going to share some iPhone pictures from our Texas trip. We had such a blast and I can't wait to order prints and make a book about our trip. 

Each morning Emma Claire would pick blackberries, tomatoes, and cucumbers from my parents garden. She LOVED it! And this garden is special because the hubs built it when we visited a few months ago. It's so neat to see it at it's full potential now!

Speaking of fresh blackberries...I was able to make a cobbler with the blackberries from the garden. And it was DIVINE, I'm telling you! 

We spent time on Mimi's back porch. 

I got to have some "me" time...well really "Mallorie and Paige time" ;-) Which is way better than me time! We were able to go to a movie, get manis and pedis, grab starbucks, go to Target, and just have some girl time. Not all in one day though! ha! 

We made ice cream several times. To go with the cobbler, of course.  

Wagon rides. 

Little fish. She loved the lake. My parents live right around the corner from the lake so we were able to just take their golf cart down there and play. It was great. 

One of my favorite things we were able to do was have lunch with my sweet sorority family. My little and grandlittle {Allie and Jessica} were both in town so we met for lunch at Uncle Julios. Jessica had met EC when she was itty bitty but Allie hadn't ever met her! So I was so glad we got to meet up. And Emma Claire was a ham..as always. 

We had to do the typical sorority fam pose. EC wasn't a fan. She will learn ;-) 

We spent many hours out front playing with bubbles. 

Going through these pictures makes me want to go back! It is so hard to live far away from family and friends. I am thankful that EC and I have been able to go back and visit as often as we have. Can't wait until our next trip!

Worthy of Documenting

This blog has grown into a place for me to share all of Emma Claire's firsts, funny moments, special memories, and today...well today I'm sharing what I'm pretty sure was the melt down of the century. I figure, what's the good in having a blog if you can't blog about the good, the bad, and the hideously awful moments that make you wonder whos child is laying in the middle of the road ahem. ugly? So here it goes.

Since we arrived in Texas last week, my dad, Emma Claire, Sammy the dog, and I have all taken a little walk in the evening after dinner. Sammy loves it, Emma Claire loves it, therefore my Dad and I love it too. Until last night.

The first few days we walked Emma Claire practically ran the entire way. I was thrilled. Getting extra energy out before bed equals better sleep at night. It was perfect. Then she got tired of walking. So I began holding her, which was fine but got kind of tiring/sweaty. So I had the genius idea last night to put her in my parent's wagon that she loved. That was perfect! She loved it. Winner in my book. 

 

 See! She is living the life, I tell ya.

 So it was totally natural for me to assume that she would love the wagon just as much last night. Silly me. What was I thinking? She was NOT having it. So I let her run most of the way while I pulled the wagon. Towards the middle of the walk I asked her if she wanted to pull the wagon. Which she did, of course. All was right with the world....until she started to get hot, sweaty, and tired. Then the wagon started to drift towards the side of the road, and she started having trouble pulling it. I tried to help her pull the wagon, which really didn't sit well with her. She started pushing my hand away and yelling, "NO!" at me. Lovely. After a few minutes of that I just plopped her little tush in the wagon and told her that she can't pull the wagon without a little help and since she wouldn't let me help her that she had to sit in the wagon. Well that didn't make her any happier. She really started crying and screaming, while trying to stand up in the wagon. Danger danger right there. So I got her out and tried to let her pull the wagon WITH me, one more time. That's when she ended up screaming and crying in the middle of the road. Finally I had enough, and so had my dad. I scooped her up {screaming and flailing}, my dad grabbed the wagon handle, and we walked back home. 

 Quite the deceiving picture.

You should have seen the three of us when we walked in the door. EC was still crying, and we were all a hot mess. Emma Claire immediately ran to Grammy and told her about what happened. It was hilarious. 

All in all, I know for a fact I'm dealing with a very smart and VERY strong willed little lady. I know this won't be our last melt down, but I think it was handled pretty well. Emma Claire wants what she wants and when things don't go her way she gets MAD. Sadly, she can't always get what she wants. Tough life lesson to learn. 

I just knew if I didn't write down the details of this epic toddler tantrum I might forget it in the weeks and months to come. And while I love reminiscing about the good times, I want to remember our struggles as well.  Especially when they're as entertaining as this.