all smiles

gemma seems to be all smiles these days.

it is so fun to see her face light up when we talk to her. she is really starting to be aware of things going on around her.




she isn't, however, the only one who is all smiles these days.
eric, as some of you may know, has been taking classes on-line to get his bachelors degree in accounting. he has also been working at a mexican restaurant here in town for the past two and a half years.
both of us have been praying for the past year that the Lord would provide a job for him in the accounting field.
it seemed, however, as though the Lord was having us wait for something, but what?

about two weeks ago the Lord began to do some incredible things. (not that he isn't always, but this was a definite answer to prayers =)

a man from our church who is also a cpa and has his own firm in town pulled eric aside after church. he and eric have been meeting together for the past few months just so he could give him advice on accounting things.
anyway, two weeks ago or so, the cpa pulled eric aside at church and told him that he wanted to meet with him. they mey later that week and he offered eric a fulltime job with him starting in april!!

eric and i couldn't have been more excited!! this is just the kind of opportunity that we had been praying for. we have been making plans to make a more permanent home here and are getting very excited to see all that God has in store for us while we are here.

so as i said before, smiles are running in the family as of late!!

leg warmers

so i have been looking like crazy online to find inexpensive leg warmers. let me just say...it is impossible to find them!!

the cheapest pair that i have found is $7.50/ pair. okay that doesn't sound outrageous, but if i want more than one pair, then that is just too much to spend.

the other night i was looking online again and found the perfect site...it explained an easy and inexpensive way to get leg warmers...

make them yourself.

now i am anything but a seamstress... (oh contrar...i know you are shocked since i was a home ec major, but it is true)

but, yesterday i sat down with the tutorial and began the step-by-step process.

i started with a pair of my knee socks...

cut off the toe and the heel...

turned the foot part inside out and in half...

put the ankle part into the folded foot part...

sewed the raw edges together...

and voila!!

a pair of peg warmers!!

well, as i said before, one pair just isn't enough...so i grabbed the other pair of knee socks i had in my drawer and began the process again...

two pairs just isn't enough, especially since they hadn't cost me anything yet...so i went to target and bought more knee socks for just $2/ pair.

isn't that a great deal?! so instead of paying $7.50 - $12/ pair i only spent $2!!

gemma was pretty excited about them...she is quite fashionable!!

parents prayer

makes me laugh

gemma loves her daddy...he makes her smile SOOOOOOO big!!!!

me and my girl

gems from gemma

mommy and i had so much fun in kansas city with uncle tim and aunt jenni.

after getting 9 hours of sleep, mommy and i left bright and early tuesday morning.

when we got there i got to go see some pictures of my new cousin. i am so excited for her to come out and play with me...it is only going to be a few more weeks and then i won't be the youngest cousin anymore. i can hardly wait to have another little girl cousin to play with.

it was fun to look at her on the funny computer screen, mommy told me that they could see lots of hair on her head just like me. maybe mommy will let me buy her a few headbands so we can wear them together!

my aunt jenni sewed a new little wrap so she can wear her baby around, she let me try it out. i liked it alot and could have stayed there all day, except i had to get out so mommy could give me a bath.

that is my favorite part of the whole trip...i love getting baths. aunt jenni took lots of pictures while i was taking a bath. i tried to smile for her the whole time, except when they took me out of the tub... i wasn't very happy then. they just don't understand that i would rather stay in the nice warm water instead of getting out and being cold.

but uncle tim came home and held me for a while and that made me feel better. he sure is funny. he made some pretty funny faces and made me want to laugh out loud...the only problem is i don't quite know how to laugh out loud yet, so i just gave him the biggest smile that i know how.

i can't wait to go back up and visit them when aunt jenni has her baby!!!

we are going to have so much fun together

3 months

our baby girl is getting so big...

i can't believe that she is 3 months old already. actually gemma was 3 months wednesday, but her procrastinator mother didn't get her pictures taken or posted until tonight.

she got this adorable outfit from her aunt cara. she loves it! okay, well, i love it and i love that the bib actually has her initial on it!!!!

her last doctor's appointment she weighed 10 lbs 5 oz... did i already tell you that

(can't remember, i must be getting old)

well, she is getting to be quite a chunk.

...but, obviously, we can't get enough of her.

she is really starting to smile at us and it just melts our hearts when she does. she is a real charmer.

she and i are leaving in the morning to go on another road trip to visit her aunt jenni and uncle tim. it is just going to be an overnighter, so it will be pretty quick, but she is super excited to visit them... can't you tell.

our little girl is growing fast and we love her more all the time!

uh-oh

birthday boy

so eric's 25th birthday was last week.
eric and i went out for dinner while adrian watched gemma for us. i wasn't going to do anything else, but decided since it was his 25th birthday i should do a little something.



so i made dinner and took it to ryan and adrian's house for everyone. it was kind of a surprise.




i was going to wait and have the surprise after dinner and bring out the peanut butter bars while we sang happy birthday...but... when we got to the house cy came up and said, "you have to wait to open your present" so we just sang happy birthday right away.

even though we turned 25, i only had 24 candles...i mean, i would have gotten 25, but there was a pack of 24 candles for $.88 and i didn't want to buy a whole other pack just for 1 candle.

here was one of his presents...well not really, but the boys had fun getting wrapped up and then popping out and surprising eric!

happy birthday, birthday boy!

pastime

gemma's favorite pastime (besides eating, of course) is sucking on her fist.

shout-out

gemma wants to give a shout-out to all of her AWESOME aunties:

jenni, adrian, anneke, aimee, cara, and janelle...

you all are the awesome-est!!!

gems from gemma

uncle izaak, aunt anneke and my virginia beach cousins gave me a Jesus storybook bible for christmas this year. every night either my mommy or daddy read to me from it. we started at the very beginning and are reading through the entire Bible.

i love it when my mommy and daddy read to me. last night it was my daddy's turn to read. he read to me about moses and the burning bush...wow, what a story... i think that it is my favorite story so far. i sat there and listened really quietly, well, most of the time i sat there quietly, but i wanted to stop in the middle of it so mommy could feed me.

mommy and i prayed together this morning because i have to go to the doctor this afternoon and get some shots. i am a little nervous, but mommy said she would stay right there in the office with me and it wouldn't take too long.

shew. all this typing has taken all my energy. i am going to go take a nap so i can be ready to meet aunt adrian and my branson cousins at the library later this afternoon.

gemma jaye

the christmas competition

adrian and i were privileged to direct the Christmas play again this year. it was such a different experience than the last two years.
in the past we have done a huge production with anywhere from 15-25 kids ages 4-12 years old. they have all been musicals and lots of lines. although the kids musicals have been so much fun, they take hours of preperation and are very time consuming.
this year we still wanted to have a christmas play, but didn't want to have to put all those hours into it.
so.......to make a long story short (or is it too late for that?).............we decided on a play that only has adults in it. all adults equals a lot less man hours.
we had so much fun. everyone was hilarious and adrian and i were blessed to have all of them help us out.




the play was called 'the christmas competition'. it was about two families who tried to outdo one another in regards to christmas....and as one of the lines in the play said...'the only two man made structures that can be seen from outer space are the great wall of china and our two houses.'
the whole play was filled with hilarious antics and witty quips. everyone played their parts beautifully. my darling husband is quite a character.......... he played the part of one of the husbands who was trying to have the most decorations........of course, the only way to play this part was with a strong new jersey accent that had people in stitches.

so all that to say, the play was a success and adrian and i are excited about next year!!

georgia christmas preview

we had a great christmas in GA. lots of family around...they were excited to see us too...well maybe i should say that they were excited to see gemma.


they were somewhat excited to see us, but gemma is now the center of attention and we wouldn't want it any other way.


she got to meet both her great grandparents and her aunt cara, aunt aimee, and uncle bill.

she also met her cousin jackson and several other great aunts and uncles. she got lots of christmas presents from everyone and we actually were able to fit it all in our luggage for the plane ride home.

she did a great job on the plane. on the way there she slept about half the time... on the way home she slept the entire time. what a great girl.