Out with the old...In with the new

This is it.....the last day of 2007! I feel like it went by so fast, but if I think of one particular incident, it feels like it was so long ago. Like this past week - Christmas was on Tuesday, but it feels like it was a month ago. We have been on the go and yesterday Emma finally had had enough. She was GRUMPY!!!! She spent Saturday night with her Aunt Tricia and Uncle Michael, and I know she had a big ole time, but they even said she was pretty low key compared to how she usually is when she is there. But it gave Steven and I the opportunity to go out and have a wonderful, nice, fancy dinner with friends and then we even went to a movie! Since Emma came, we don't get to the movies very often (like only once or twice a year), so I was pretty excited. Last year for Christmas, we went to see the James Bond movie, for our anniversary, we went to see Spiderman at the IMAX.....do you see a theme here - Action packed films! I wanted a chick flick!!!! So we went to see PS. I love you. It was incredibly long, incredibly sad, and it was really good. I would recommend it - but don't forget your hankies ladies - you will need it!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Years Eve and Day. We are going to spend the evening with friends and let all of the kids play. I doubt we will make it till midnight (we never do), in fact as tired as I am right now, I will be lucky to make it till 10:00!

Till next year!!!

One very happy girl

Well let's just say that Emma was beside herself with all the 'pwesents'. She had a blast opening them all up - and even enjoyed helping us with ours. We decided to open presents from Mimi and Papa and do our stockings on Christmas Eve. We thought that with Santa and going to Grandma and Grandpa's house on Christmas the day would be full, so it might be a good idea to spread it out a bit. Looking back - we probably should have spread it out even more! :-)

Emma on Christmas Eve with her 'Cwismas Moose' from her Mimi and Papa.

Emma's favorite ornament!!!

The tree that we only just got up 10 days before Christmas. Better late than never I guess!

Emma and Daddy playing with her new puzzle and her new baby. If you notice the pink box, you will see that the baby's name is 'baby emma'.

Yes, she is doing what you think she is doing. She got some Little Mermaid panties and couldn't wait to put them on. So over the P.J.s they went.......not just one pair - but all three of them that were in the package.

Emma had to take her baby to bed with her, so in the morning she had to bring her to see what Santa had brought.

Wow!!! Another Barbie....and this one has a vanity and LOTS of shoes!! Mommy is going to have so much fun keeping track of ALL these shoes for me :-)

Oh goody!!! Candy Land. I don't remember asking Santa for a game!!!

This is what I asked Santa for.........a Cinderella dress!!! Thank you Santa!!!!!One very happy little girl!

Not long after this, Emma curled up on the couch and went to sleep. All that present opening was exhausting. I went into the kitchen to start cooking and Steven of course went to sleep in his chair. Once I had everything cooked, we loaded presents and food in the car and went to Grandma's house for a feast. Oh yeah........there were more presents :-)

Ohhhhhhh......Another Cinderella dress....this one has shoes and a purse and a tiara. Thank you Aunt Bethany!

Emma had to help Ethan with his new Lincoln Logs....and yes, she is wearing her new Cinderella outfit over her clothes!

Emma and Ethan - our two Christmas cuties!

This is the only picture that was taken the entire day of Emma and I. And we didn't do any family pictures. We always do, so I am not really sure why we didn't this year. Oh well!!!

At some point this week, Steven's other brother and his family will come down from Cincinnati and we will do Christmas again. It will be great to see them, as we don't get to very often.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday. I am enjoying my time off and really don't want it to end. I got up incredibly early today to go shopping with my sister-in-law and I have officially started my Christmas shopping for next year - Yeah me!!! I am going to take Emma to school Thursday and Friday for a little while, so she can socialize and play with her friends, but we are going to enjoy not having to rush in the morning and watching movies and playing with ALL the new toys. I may even cook dinner (won't Steven be surprised!)

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

I am hoping I am too busy enjoying my family and the holidays to be blogging, so I want to go ahead and with everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!!!

I am off all next week, so I am going to try and stay away from a computer (I said try). I am going to focus on my family and my house and my friends and not think about work at all :-) I will be getting together with family and friends over the next 10 days and am looking forward to all of it!!!! I really cannot wait for Emma to open her gifts and realize that Santa came and brought her exactly what she asked for. It has been wonderful to view Christmas through her eyes. I am loving it!!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Back to School

Oh what fun I am having today :-) I am in school! I have had a piece of software at work for months that I had no idea how to use. I had tried.......but to no avail. It was so different from what any of us were used to that we (really that means me) just didn't use it. So here I am.......for two very long days.......sitting in a room with people I have never met staring at a computer screen and a projector screen watching an instructor while he very quickly moves his mouse around the screen and while talking very quickly. Talk about brain overload.

I was already in overload mode before I ever got here. We only just got our tree up on Saturday. (I usually have it up right after Thanksgiving.) And I have only gotten three presents wrapped so far . As for Christmas cards........................I usually make mine. I finally started them last night......I have about 8 done...............and I don't like them. I may just end up buying cards this year. But on the plus side.............I am almost done with my shopping. Yippee!!!! I have to say, that if it wasn't for Emma I probably would not even mess with a tree, decorating or cards this year. But I really don't think that there is anything that would keep me from buying presents. That is one of my favorite parts of the holiday season. Besides loving to shop and buy things, I love to give presents!!!! Yippee!!! I really can't wait for Miss Emma to open her gifts. She is so excited about Santa coming.

Well, I guess I need to go pay attention. Maybe while I am sitting her "learning" I can come up with a new idea for some quick holiday cards.

Hill Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Pedigree

No wonder people call her mini-me. I personally have always thought she looked a lot like her Aunt Patricia. But no matter who she looks like - I think she is pretty cute!

Mommy's Favorite Toy is......

EMMA!!!!

I had told her to put her toys up in her toy basket. She started to......but once I left the room this is what I found when I came back in.

And of course, once she was in the basket she wanted her toys in there with her. She was so proud of herself!

****Edit: I have been trying to post this for a week. But my camera and my computer have not been getting along very well. I tried telling them that it was the holiday season and they need to play nice and spread some holiday cheer, but no luck!

I Saw Emma Kissing Santa Clause

We took Emma to the Garden Patch on Main in Smiths Grove yesterday to see Santa. She has been to see this particular Santa every Christmas. She wouldn't talk to him, but she certainly had no problems giving him a little smooch!

Daily Grind

We made it home in just under 12 hours - yippee!!!! We were all tired of being in the car. Emma was so sick of it that she figured out how to wiggle out of her car seat! This did not make for a happy Mommy (or a happy Emma either once she got in trouble).

Yesterday was back to work (no yippee here). I really could use a week at home now just to recuperate from being gone for a week. I need to just keep reminding myself that in 4 weeks I get another week off. I was worried about Emma re-adjusting to being back at school, but she did great. I was really proud of her, but a little sad that she was ready to leave me.

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Tacky, Tacky, Tacky

The tacky light display was too much fun and Emma loved it! These pictures are just from the first two house we saw - and they were right next to each other. I bet the neighbors love them!!! Once we were done trooping around in the cold, we did go to The Cheesecake Factory for some awesome cheesecake and coffee.

On the road again...

Well... not quite yet. But early tomorrow morning we are piling into the car again to start the long trek home. Yippeeee!!!!

I hope that everyone had an incredible day of family, eating, and for the lucky - napping! We had a very nice, but quiet day. Steven got up with Emma and let me sleep. At first I didn't think I was going to be able to go back to sleep, but since it doesn't happen to often, I decided that I really needed to take advantage of it and do my best to sleep. It took about 30 minutes for me to get back to sleep, but then I slept until almost 10:00!! It has been years since I have done that. It was a wonderful way to start the day. I did have grand plans of helping my mother in the kitchen, but I apparently did something to my back and I was having a MAJOR problem with a pinched nerve and there were moments when I literally could not move without being in excruciating pain. Definitely NOT the way I had planned to spend the rest of my day - but that is just the way it happens sometimes. We ate until we could eat no more and then decided to go for a walk. And wouldn't you know that it had been sunny up until we decided to leave the house. It only rained for a little bit and that gave us time to clean up the leftovers. It never did really clear up - but it was nice to get out and walk (or in my case, hobble).

This morning I thought about getting up early and hitting the stores. Thought about it, but never actually made it. We did manage to get all of us out of the house mid morning and I was able to get a lot of our Christmas shopping done. Before I was a mom, I always had the Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving. So I am pretty proud of my self for having at least three fourths of it done by the day after. Well, we are getting ready to eat turkey leftovers and then I think we are going to drive around Richmond to see the 'Tacky Lights'. Sounds pretty interesting - HA!!! And then, if I am lucky, we will stop at Cheesecake Factory for some pumpkin cheesecake and a good cup of coffee!!! Then I have to pack and start loading everything for that little drive we are taking tomorrow :-)

Have a great rest of the week-end everyone!!!

Out and About in Richmond

I would love to be able to tell you that we have done a ton of stuff since we arrived in Richmond.....but we haven't. Monday we did do a bit of shopping at this massive shopping center just a couple of miles from my parents. It is really nice....one of those places that is all open but the walkways out side of the stores is covered. It is two stories and has just about any store you can think of. I love it!!!!! And they have a Santa - a beautiful Santa. Emma had been asking for days to go see Santa so she could ask him for Cinderella and a Cinderella dress. Even though it was not even Thanksgiving yet, I put her in one of her holiday outfits (yes, one of, meaning that she has more than one) and we went to search for Santa. She was so excited!!! Last year, she wanted nothing to do with him so it was nice change this year. She went right to him and let him put her on his lap. Then we spent the next 10 minutes trying to get her to smile! She was content to sit there, but obviously had no desire to participate in the picture taking process. (how dare she do that to a mother that loves to take pictures!!!). We finally got a decent picture of her smiling and she told him what she wanted then out of nowhere she reaches out and hugs him!!! I just happened to have my camera up to my face (imagine that) and got a great picture of it!!! I have to say - I was incredibly happy!


Today we took Emma to the Children's Museum of Richmond. I still haven't figured out who had more fun - Emma, her Daddy, or her Mimi and Papa. I got a big kick out of watching all of them. I think we would still be there if they hadn't been closing at five. Dad then drove us over to Dunkin Donuts to get some goodies for breakfast (Yippeee - I love DD and we don't have any back home!) We were going to an Indian restaurant for dinner, but Emma turned grumpy so we ended up getting take out - Yummy!!!)

Mimi and Emma had to visit all the houses in the Holiday Village. Emma's favorite houses were the ones that had puzzles. If there were no puzzles she would turn around and walk out and go to the next one.

My Emma as the cutest snowman (or girl).

Emma driving Mimi to the next activity for the day.

Emma and Daddy constructing a building.

I think that this replication of the James River was probably one of Emma's favorite things. She loved playing in the water, opening and closing the locks for the dam and helping the animals and cars go across the bridges.

They had this really cool "tree" that you could climb and then it had these weird slides. We got Emma to do it once with Papa, but after that she wanted to go back to play in the water.

Once we finally convinced her to go outside, she had a blast. She quickly made some new little friends. The little girl in the blue shirt was also named Emma.

Emma and her Daddy had a little to much fun in the sand. They built a sand castle (or tried to) and did a little digging. I thought we would never get her out of here. Once I finally did, I had to take her into the restroom to wash the sand off of her.

Emma getting a little more book learning in before it was time to go.

I think Emma is finally getting better. I have only been giving her medication first thing in the morning and before she goes to bed (instead of every 4 hours like we have been). Now, if I could just convince her to sleep for more than 7 hours at night, I think she would get even better. I know I would be better. I mean - this is supposed to be vacation and she is waking me up every morning at 5:30!

We arrived...

Well after 12 hours and 15 minutes and 624 (but who's counting) miles we arrived at my parents house in Richmond. It was an excruciatingly long day and Miss Emma had pretty much had her fill of after about 10 hours (but hey, I am impressed that she lasted that long). We even arrived in time for dinner...YUM!!!! We were able to attend church this morning with my parents and then we went to lunch at The Cheesecake Factory...YUM!!! Now we are just trying to recoup from our long day of driving. I finished the last of Emma's antibiotic today. I would love to say that she is better.....but I can't.....because she isn't!!!! The mornings seem to be the worst now, so maybe she is improving.
I was going to post some pictures, but my computer would not behave today, so I will have to try it again another time. Hope everyone is having a good week-end!!!

It's beginning to look a 'little' like Christmas...

We went and had Emma's Christmas pictures taken this morning. Thankfully, she was feeling much better (and looked much better)! I was going to post a few of them here but my computer is not co-operating with me!!!!!! So - if you are interested in seeing them, go to Wes Davis Photo and click on the 'Client Viewing' button. A little screen will appear and the password is emmaline. Let me know which one you like the best. I am having a hard time picking my favorite!

Grandma & Elvis

My mom sent me this picture last night that she had received from her sister. At the assisted living facility where my grandmother now lives, they have little picnics and socials for all the residents. At one of these events over the summer Elvis came and performed. I just love the look on Grandma's face as Elvis is singing to her. The woman next to her thought it was pretty funny!

Update on Dad:

Dad had is check up from his surgery yesterday. It went great and the best news is he is cancer free!!!! They got all of it during his surgery!!!! Yippeeee!!! God is great! Thank you to everyone for your prayers. We are taking Emma to see her Papa and Mimi for Thanksgiving and I cannot wait to see him. It was very hard for me to stay here while he was having his surgery.

Update on Emma:

I would love to be able to tell you that Emma is better and well on the road to recovery. But, unfortuately, I cannot. After we took her off the first medicine that she was given due to her resemblence to a demon child, she seemed to be improving. Then on Tuesday, I get a call from the school that they think she has pink eye in both eyes. So I go get her and she looks awful - besides her pink eyes, her cheeks are splotchy and beat red. I take her back to the doctor. It was not pink eye, but just her sinuses congested due to allergies. So they put her on a new medicine. Yesterday, I get another call from the school. She is coughing so bad that she can't lay down and go to sleep. The new medicine does not have a cough medine in it. I take her some cough medicine and come back to work. Last night she is still coughing so we gave her some more and off to bed she went. We could hear her coughing and coughing and coughing and coughing and I was starting to get really worried. Then I heard the gurgling...................I go running down the hall to check on her and sure enough, she had been sick..........and proceeded to be sick a few more times. Oh the fun in the Hill house! Needless to say, I did not get a lot of sleep and once again, I am waiting to hear from the doctor. I really hope they will just call something in. I am getting really tired of taking her in. I still do not think that all of this is due to her allergies, but, I didn't go to medical school. We are supposed to have her Christmas pictures done tomorrow so I am praying that she improves by morning.

Update on Dad & Emma

Thank you to everyone for your prayers. I have had quite a few questions regarding how my dad is doing and how Emma is, so I thought I would just post it here and update everyone at once.

Dad came through surgery okay and they had him up and in a chair by that evening. Mom was able to bring him home yesterday afternoon, so that is where he is now. When I asked him how he was feeling, he told me that he had felt better but he had also felt worse. He will be home recovering for a couple of weeks and then he will be able to return to work, but he won't be able to travel for a few more weeks.

As for Miss Emma........well..........she has also been better. But she is better than she was a week ago. She is still sick, but we have stopped giving her the medication that her pediatrician gave us. She has been having these horrible fits the last few days and Steven thinks that it was from the medicine. She just becomes completely irrational and nothing (and I do mean nothing) you do will make her happy or calm her down. Yesterday she ended up on the floor screaming and thrashing around. It was exhausting for both of us. I pray that as the medicine (if that is what it was) works out of her system, she will once again be her usual sweet self!

I will leave you with a picture from last night. Due to the fact that she was not in the best of moods I was not able to get the best of pictures.

Punkin' Face

Emma is in love.............with her punkin.

Last week at school, they painted pumpkins.

She even gave him ears!!

She is ever so proud of her punkin'!

I just love this picture!!!

In other news.....the day after I took these pictures (Wednesday), Emma started getting sick (Thursday). Since she has a long history of sinus infections and ear infections and she had a very croupy sounding cough and had been pulling at her ear, I went ahead and took her to the doctor. He says it is only her allergies. Her chest was clear, her ears were clear but her nose was a little swollen from the drainage. As for the croupy cough - that was a by-product of the drainage. I was like "So in other words, I just spent $75 to bring her to see you, so you could tell me that she has allergies that I already knew she had?" To which he replies, "Pretty much, yes." Now, I know I am not a doctor, but that was 4 days ago and the poor baby is still sick!!! Saturday was horrible!!! She coughed constantly and so much that at times she would start to choke. She kept trying to go to sleep but would again start to cough and wake herself up. She has had allergies since she was born - but never like this!!! She was feeling much better yesterday morning so I went ahead and took her to church, but by mid-afternoon, she was miserable again. She did go to school today, but she sound awful. I keep waiting for the phone call telling me I have to come get her. I may be wrong - but the mommy in me says that this is not her allergies!

Also...tomorrow my dad is having surgery. Please say a prayer for him and for the doctors as they are taking care of him. Thanks!!!!!!

I've been tagged!

Beth tagged me - so here I go...............

The rules:
1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

I don't know if I can come up with 8 things..............

1. Steven is 3 years younger than I am. He likes to remind me that I remember Elvis.

2. I am a list maker, with out them I would be lost because I have become very forgetful in my old age!

3. The Christmas season is my favorite. I love everything about it - the lights, the smell, the shopping :-) I also love to buy presents. I usually start shopping for Christmas the day after Christmas and shop all year. My goal is to be done by Thanksgiving so then I can enjoy all the lights and the smells. But since Emma came along, I am now one of those that is out there shopping for last minute gifts on Christmas Eve.

4. Of the four seasons - I love summer! At least I do until it gets so hot you can't breath. So maybe I should say early summer. I love to be warm. Maybe that is why I love Australia so much - Christmas is in summer :-)

5. I am a Daddy's girl and proud of it!!! I don't get to see him that often since my parents don't live around here (they moved from Connecticut to Virginia last year, so at least they are a little bit closer), but we are still really close.

6. I am an only child and was called 'Junior' while my mom was pregnant. If I was a boy, I was going to be named 'Kenny' (whew - thank goodness I was a girl!), Elaina is a much better name :-)

7. I love to scrapbook and make cards. I love the feeling of creating something from all those pieces and having it look like something special. I am addicted to scrapbooking products - especially paper. I think it would be so neat to wallpaper a wall with them.

8. Last but not least...................
I love carbs................and cheese...................and chocolate(this can be in the form of cake, brownies or even ice cream).

I really didn't think I could come up with eight things. Let's see........I am going to tag Jill (along with Terri - maybe this will help to resurrect her), Joanna (she also needs to be resurrected), Heather, and my new blogger friends, Kristen and LCP.

The Garden Patch

Yesterday we took Emma up to Eslie's Garden Patch in Smiths Grove to pick out some pumpkins. It was a beautiful day and it looked like a cross between summer and fall there. She had out all of the fall things.......like pumpkins, pansies, and mums...........but all her summer flowers were still in bloom and HUGE!!!! Here are a few pictures from our visit.

At first she was more excited about the flowers than the pumpkins!

Daddy taking Emma for a ride!

"Funny punkin' Mommy!"

Here I go! Do you like my pumpkin?

Good thing we aren't superstitious! They sure did get along though.

You all could quit taking pictures of me anytime now, please!

This is what I think of you and your pictures!!!!!!

After all that picture taking, Miss Emma was ready to go. By this time, I think the wagon weighed as much as she does, put she wanted to pull it all by herself.

She was kind enough to let us take one more picture. But after that, she was too worn out from posing to pull the wagon anymore!

It was a beautiful day and I was very blessed to be able to spend it with my husband and my daughter. Thank you God!