2007 Christmas through pictures

As the old saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words." So enjoy the novella of our 2007 Christmas. Emma and Liam at Papoo and Gigi's house. Emma got this cute pretend banana split in her stocking. She opened it, tried to take a bite, and then said, "It not working." (this is what she says when something doesn't do what she wants it to.) I am convinced that she wanted it to be REAL ice cream. It was pretty cute!

Emma got this stroller from Mama Jean. I am certain this was on her top 5 list of favorite gifts from 2007.

This is a picture from my PawPaw's house. And yes, this is how it looks every year. With 10 grandchildren and a great-grandchild, what else can you expect?

This is Emma at Mommy D and Grandpaw's house. She was much more interested in playing the "finger, finger" (that is what she calls any piano or keyboard) than she was in opening gifts.

Emma and "Schlecky" (Lexie, my little sister) winding down by watching some "Bear Bears" (Care Bears).

Tis the season...

...for lots of parties, school programs, and more parties! Here are some great pictures of the goings-on of the Delaney clan:

1. Emma's school program--very cute. We couldn't really see her well, but another mom told me that she was one of the only children singing. At one time, she even screamed with excitement over the jingle bells. She definitely takes after her Mommy when it comes to being in front of crowds!

2. Our small group party! Here is a picture of me with the girls...I love these ladies!

3. Happy Birthday, Jesus! Party--we had a great time with the Kinneys and the Pages as we celebrated Jesus' birthday!
4. Home Groups Celebration--Home groups are home small groups for the 3rd-5th graders at our church. We call them home groups as to not confuse them with the small groups we have on weekends. We decided to go to ride go karts on quite possibly the coldest day EVER! :)

5. The Seahorses' Class Party--What's more fun than a group of two-year-olds on a playground in the middle of December? I can think of a lot of things, really...but the party was still lots of fun!

And to think--we still have four stops to make for Christmas. What an exhausting time! But when you're spending it with people whom you love and care about, do you even notice?

Thursday Thirteen (a day late)

13 Highs and Lows since I last blogged

1. I had an awesome "girls' weekend" with some ladies from church as we went to Atlanta to check out a Children's Ministry event (high).
2. I came back to turn in my notice that I will be leaving my position at Seacoast at the end of January (high/low, depending on when you ask me).
3. I had a great Thanksgiving with my family, and made sweet potato souffle for the first time (high).
4. I did not get to spend a lot of time with my dad's family (low).
5. We decorated our house for Christmas (high).
6. Dan started his new job and absolutely loves it (high).
7. We finished most of our Christmas shopping (high).
8. None of it is wrapped yet (low).
9. And now we are really broke (low).
10. But Dan makes a lot more at his new job, so hopefully we'll be able to recuperate some of that (high).
11. We have been watching Christmas movies--they always put me in a good mood (high).
12. My uncle died last week. It is so hard to see your family go through such a deep tragedy and want nothing more than to be able to take the pain away from them (low...really low).
13. The whole situation has made me realize what I feel like God has been telling me for a few weeks--that is what Christmas is all about. It's about God having such intense love for us and compassion on us that He would give us the gift of His Son. I was reminded that while we all like to think of the sweet first Christmas with the angels, the shepherds, and the wise men, that it was really about God coming to fight the very real and very powerful satan--who wants nothing more than to get a hold of our hearts and minds. But God loves us and wants the best for us and gave us the best gift that He could have given us.

Christmas in November

If there is one thing I get excited about, it's Christmas! As I think back to my childhood, most of the best memories I have are from Christmas. It seemed like the one time of year that I could forget all of my troubles and really just enjoy the season.

So over the last few weeks, I have been getting really excited about Christmas this year! We have gotten a 3' tree for Emma, complete with Care Bear, My Little Pony, and Disney Princess ornaments. The funny thing is that Dan actually had an opinion about the ornaments we were getting for her. He said, "I don't want her to have Barbie. I just don't think that Barbie teaches little girls the right things." He's so hilarious when it comes to protecting his little girl!

I have also been listening to some wonderful Christmas music! 102.5 FM has been playing Christmas music over the weekends, and there's a great radio station that plays Christmas music all day. It's http://www.xmasmelody.com/. Fantastic station, but I have to put in my headphones when I listen to it at home. Dan can't stand it!

And even though Santa won't be visiting the Delaney house--ever--we are still hoping to make this a special Christmas for Emma. She's going to have a Happy Birthday, Jesus! Party in December. We can't wait to have all of the babies and toddlers come over and celebrate with us! We're going to play games and make an ornament and of course eat cake. Yay!

So I guess I'm one of those nerds who gets into Christmas a little too early. But how could you resist?

Edisto Trip

Here are some pictures from a great vacation. Three days of sun, 70-degree weather, and time with friends--you can't beat that! But we will try next year, as this is set to become an annual tradition.

Sometimes, you just have to get away to remember how thankful you are for your husband, your child, and your friends. God's beauty is so evident at this place, and being with people you care about makes you realize why and that you want to worship Him. But here are just a few of the reasons I praise God everyday:

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights. James 1:17

Princess Emma...A priceless picture

It's not very often that I get good pictures of Emma. She's naturally photogenic, but she does not like to sit still long enough to take a good picture. Here's one from yesterday, though, that is one of my new favorites!

The many faces of Emma

As I was making a photo calendar for 2008 (you can easily make your own at http://www.shutterfly.com/), I realized that I have a daughter (and a husband--that's where she gets it) who has as many facial expressions as there are days in a year. So, here is my tribute to the many faces of Emma!

Finally Posting Again

It has been a crazy three weeks! We've had so much going on in the Delaney house, from late nights of work to out-of-town trips to birthdays--way too much for me! I will hopefully post some updates this week. But today I'm going to enjoy this great weather with my family!

Beautiful Day

What a beautiful day! And what a wonderful time with my family. I wish I would've had the camera! Here's the rundown:

• Picnic lunch in our bed with Emma
• Driving around Summerville looking for the BEST neighborhood playground (yes, I know that's called loitering, but the playground in our neighborhood isn't that great)
• Grocery shopping (Emma loves to put things in the cart--we have to take them out when she's not looking. The best thing that she put in there today was kidney beans...Mmm...)
• Ice cream for dinner at Dairy Queen!

Wow!!! I think that everyday should be like today!!!

Top 10 Things Emma Loves Doing Now That She's 2!

10. Carrying a pocketbook with who-only-knows-what in it.
9. Being allowed to sleep in a big-girl bed and making it up in the morning.
8. Being allowed to sit in a big-girl chair at restaurants.
7. Building block towers and knocking them over.
6. Playing in her kitchen and making Mommy and Daddy stuff to "eat" (Once, she gave Dan a piece of corn, brocolli, and two doughnuts...Yum)
5. Playing dress up in her clickety-clackity shoes.
4. Coloring with Mommy and Daddy and the miracle that is the Color Wonder marker.
3. Playing with her Fisher Price "Little People" sets that she got for her birthday.
2. Watching Veggie Tales...again, and again, and again, and...
1. Singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" at least ten times on the way to and from school.

I love being the mom of a two-year-old. Who could have more fun than that? :)

There she goes being cute again!

Emma's Princess Party

Our little princess turned two on Sunday! The day before her birthday, we had a special princess party with 45 guests (note to self: next year, Chuck E. Cheese can host all of Emma's friends and family and do the post-party cleanup). It was such a fun time for her to be able to spend with all of her friends and family. And who would've thought--she absolutely loved wearing the crown.

So, these are just a few pictures from her special day. And yes--there is a lot of pink!

Big girl days ahead...Baby days behind

Our baby girl is going to be TWO YEARS OLD on Sunday! I can't believe it! I just cannot help thinking about all of the memories we have made with her over the past two years...Memories that she will only know through pictures, but memories that will be forever embedded in our thoughts. We have come to realize that these last two years with our baby girl have been absolutely precious--the things that she says and does, the way that we always say "I think she's going to be just like [fill in the blank with a random family member]," and how she has changed our lives in so many ways just by being a part of our lives. And we wonder how we can love someone we've only known for two years so much, and we realize that this is only a small taste of the incredible love our Father in heaven has for us. So I would be remiss if I didn't recount some of her cute little quirks, sayings, and happenings from these past two years--so bear with me as I relive these things...

The happenings...
She peed on Dan when she was only eight weeks old (he realized from that point on that keeping a diaper on a baby was as good of an idea as I said it was), she was born with so much hair that I had to cut it when she was two weeks old (she had her own mullet), she didn't get her first tooth until she was eleven months old, she crawled when she was nine months and walked when she was fourteen months, she NEVER at baby food meat (who would?), she has been attached to her pacifier since she was tiny, we had to move her crib when she was eight months old because she figured out how to stand up in her crib and turn the lights on in her bedroom, she wasted at least ten diapers trying to put one on her baby (Pooh bear), she was terrified to try her birthday cake on her first birthday until she realized how good icing really was, she was so proud of herself when she learned to use a sippy cup at eleven months old and even prouder when she learned how to use a straw at eighteen months old

The quirks...
She loves baby dolls and pocketbooks, she can watch the same movie three times in a row, she has learned how to successfully put a DVD in the DVD player and then return the one that was in the DVD player back to its original case, she insists that eight stuffed animals stay in her crib every night, she likes to play tea parties but only if she can pour the tea herself, she loves boys and holding their hands and kissing them (her father has already told her she would be locked in her room starting at age twelve), she hated the ocean last summer but isn't happy until the person holding her is up to their necks in water this summer, she cleans up more than any other child I have ever seen (yesterday at school she not only cleaned up her mess but also the toys that two other boys had been playing with--I had to tell her that they were still playing because they were getting pretty upset), she loves dogs, ducks, and trees, she sings and dances all of the time, and she usually puts the food on the spoon with her hands instead of trying to scoop the food, she loves to read, and she attempts to say the blessing and pray every time we do

The words...
Goggy=doggy, guck=duck, wobby=movie, Mikey=Mickey Mouse, Daidy=Minnie Mouse and Daisy, shoe=shoes and juice (that one can be tricky at times), mulk=milk, Be-go=Bingo (our dog), baby=anyone who is not as tall as she is, cackuh=chips, crackers, and cookies that aren't chocolate chip, Oh no, what gon do?=Oh no, what are we going to do?, ke-gu=the clean up song, dank do=thank you, achoo=bless you (and her attempt at pretending to sneeze), tease=please, poon=spoon or fork, umpee or oo oo ah ah=monkey, ehpant=elephant, baa=sheep, and countless more

So, I hope that in some way typing all of this out will help me remember at least some of the special things about our little princess...these are things I don't ever want to forget.

From Good to Bad...

Well, I guess all good things must come to an end...Or so the saying goes. As great of a week as we had last week, it got that much worse this week.

To start off, I came home Sunday from work and lunch with a headache. I didn't think much of it, as I get headaches all the time. I know the signs that a migraine is coming, but this one didn't feel like a migraine at all. So I just kept on with my day until about 9:00--then the unbearable pain hit me like a ton of bricks! I have never had such a headache before in my life. I am not exaggerating that the only worse pain I have been in was childbirth! After tossing and turning and crying all night, Dan took me to the doctor Monday morning. Once she realized that the shot of Imitrex in my right arm wasn't doing anything (and that in and of itself should have knocked me out), she gave me a shot of Perdol (the mega form of Percuset) in my left arm. And then I was three sheets to the wind...

And for the next two days, I took antibiotics, decongestants, and Vicodin...And after 72 hours my headache was all but gone. Then Dan got sick. That's right--after I had sent him and Emma off for the day in my half-dazed state, I heard the pitter patter of feet coming back in the house, followed by a foul smell and the sight of my poor husband covered in his own vomit. Then his headache started.

He is at the doctor's office right now, hopefully to return soon with some diagnosis and a way to feel better. I am back to the doctor's office tomorrow for some tests, and if nothing is conclusive, she will be setting up a time for me to get my head x-rayed (Ha ha, I've known that I've needed that for years!) to figure out what has caused all of this.

And sweet, little Emma...She's been her usual loving, caring, affectionate self through this whole thing. And that's why we love our baby girl...

What a big week!

What a big week for the Delaney family! Here are some exciting things that have happened:

1. Emma started big girl school (Didn't she look cute?). It was a different kind of day for all of us. More on that later.
2. Dan has a really exciting new ministry opportunity--one that he had a vision of nearly five years ago. It is so awesome to see God bring to fruition something that we had prayed about and discussed when we just started dating. I am so excited to see what God is going to do!
3. I have had a life-changing revelation from God this week. It was as if a huge burden was lifted off of my shoulders when I felt God confirming something that I have been struggling with for almost two years.
4. We had one of the most amazing weeks of small group EVER! The funny thing is, we really did not expect that going into the evening.

So, it's been a red-letter week for the Delaneys. And we are praising God through every bit of it!

Emma's Blessings...

Oh, the blessings Emma has been pouring out on me over the last 24 hours...Not really! First of all, it wasn't any kind of blessing that was coming out, and it definitely wasn't being poured out--it was being projected onto me. That's right--the stomach bug has gone through the youngest Delaney.

I have never changed clothes so much in my life! We have done a total of three loads of laundry from her littile stomach bug. And if Emma is anything like me (which she is), nausea is the worst possible feeling in the world. I have never felt so bad for her in my life. There was a moment that I wished that I was the one who was sick just so she didn't have to go through that agony.

But she seems to be doing all better. I knew she was feeling well when she willingly put both of her pacifiers back in the crib (we usually only let her have them when she is in the crib, but I wasn't about to take them from her yesterday). Now she and I just have to catch up on a night of missed sleep...And hopefully we can do that tonight!

Such a big girl

It is hard to believe that she is almost two! I was putting some new pictures on the computer today, and I went back and looked at her baby pictures. And I realized something--I still call her my "baby", but she is quickly becoming quite the little lady. She is growing up so quicklly.

We are preparing for her Princess Party next month. I am so excited! I don't think she really knows what is coming up yet, except that we keep telling her she is going to be two. But it is going to be so much fun! My mom got her a Princess sand box, but we haven't even tried to put that together yet. I am sure she will love it a lot more than we will. The broom will become our new best friend!

Wow...two years old. That just doesn't seem like it's right. I have realized over the last few days that I need to soak up every minute of this journey, because it's not one that we can relive with her. We are going to enjoy every moment with our baby...

Thank heaven for little girls

I LOVE HAVING A DAUGHTER! Dan and I used to disagree about how much of a girl she was going to be, but she truly is "all girl". I love the way that she wants to love on and feed and change diapers and clothes on her baby dolls. I love the way that she wants to brush her hair and put on her "make up" with me every morning. I love how she has started asking us ten times on every car trip "Daddy, ou doin' okay? Okay. Mommy, ou doin' okay? Okay." I love how she gets SO EXCITED when we go pick out new clothes or shoes for her. I love how her face lights up every time she sees ANYTHING that has to do with Disney Princesses and how she always wants to carry around a "pabook" (pocketbook). God knew what He was doing giving us a little girl. She is such a blessing to us, and I cannot imagine life any differently.

Murts

There is no prouder day in a mommy's life than when her child...How many times have you heard that before? Well that never rang more true for me today when I realized that my almost-two-year-old LOVES Smurfs. We watched four episodes in a row on the Kids on Demand channel. And at the end of every episode, she would say "More Murts! Again! More Murts!" I started watching it for purely nostalgic reasons (at least that's the story that I'm sticking to) and ended up watching it for two hours.

What a proud day... :) Or just a really funny one!

Serving

This has been an interesting week. For four days, a group of 15 incredible leaders and I have been working with 80 kids to teach them about serving others and serving God. It has been amazing! It has been so much fun and so rewarding, and I have realized one thing--I am so blessed to have my family.

I look at my husband and my daughter...I see their hearts--my husband who works 50-60 hours a week, and when I make jokes like "You sure are going to have a lot of laundry to fold this weekend!" he just laughs and says, "Yeah, like 27 loads by then!" And I remember part of the reason I fell so madly in love with him in the first place--I see no greater joy in him than when he is helping someone in some way. Then there's Emma--yes, a typical 2-year-old in most regards. But I love the fact that one of her favorite songs is "Clean up, Clean up!" and that every time I get out the mop and broom that she grags whichever one I'm not using and starts cleaning. I love the fact that she freely shares with others (most of the time) and that you usually don't have to ask her twice to give someone a hug when they really need it.

And then I think about the verse that we've been trying to teach the kids all week: "For we are God's workmanship ("materpiece" in the NLT), created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10 We are God's masterpiece! I was thinking about that...You hear people sometimes use the image of God painting a mural, and on that mural is all of our lives entwined together on earth. And you hear people talk about how going through the bad things--they make up the browns and grays and other ugly colors on the mural, but that without them the mural wouldn't look so beautiful. And I wonder--is it loving God and loving others that makes up all the beautiful parts? Is loving others what makes up all the pretty colors and God's love for us that makes it complete? I would like to think so.

We have entered the world of Blog

It is official--we're a blogging family. Why? Well, probably just because I need some place to express myself (as if I don't do that freely anyway) and I figured--what better place than the World Wide Web! So, have fun reading!