My girls...

Could my girls be any more different?



Molly looks like me. Fair skinned, blonde hair, light eyes. It took Geoff and I about 1 year to get pregnant with her. She presented me with a fairly uneventful pregnancy (besides EXTREME morning sickness - but we'll forget about that for a bit). She made an easy enterance into the world. She was slow to walk, she didn't even attempt her first steps until she was 15 months old. Always very cautious, Molly takes her time. Never in a hurry. Everything has to be perfect and in its place. At school, her work is so tidy. In fact, she gets a bit behind, because she is so hard on herself if it's not perfect. She is shy, quiet and embarasses easily.



Ally looks like her Daddy. Olive skinned, darker hair and darker eyes. I got pregnant with Ally on week #3 of trying. She started her tricks in utero. You see, when I was 5 weeks pregnant with Ally I was told after an ultrasound that there was no heartbeat and that I had miscarried. A week later, just to be sure, we did one more ultrasound, and there she was .... beating away! I fell flat on my belly 29 weeks, chasing Geoff through the house and had to go the hospital to be monitored. All was fine, but I am sure Ally's tendency to fall, or be generally clumsy stems from this! Ally is not in school yet, but I am almost certain, her work will not be perfect! She's a hurry up and get it done kind of girl. She makes messes everywhere she goes. She is not shy and pretty darn loud.


But thank you Lord for giving us these 2 precious girls, no matter how different, they are sisters. And I love them!

A bittersweet September song

A friend on Facebook shared this and I thought it to be so very true!


A bittersweet September song - The Boston Globe

It's that time of year....

It's that time of year again.
When a Mommy has to send her baby off to 1st grade. In complete awe at how much she's grown in the past year and knowing that she will grow by leaps and bounds again by the end of the year...physically, emotionally and spiritually.

It's the time of year when little sisters (who have one more year til they can go to school) get a little lonely when their playmate heads off to school.


It's that time of year when new bonds are formed between students and teachers and many prayers are said for teachers. Praying that Ms. Malone has a fabulous first year of teaching and that her enthusiasm for learning and love for our Savior seeps into our precious kids.


Molly, may your FIRST grade year be as FANTASTIC as you!

Future Rock Star

Ok, so I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but Ally LOVES to rock!

Barbies in the Bathtub

A friend of mine from church inspired this post.
You see, she's the mom of 3 grown girls. And now a grandmother. (Although you'd NEVER guess when you meet her). She recently posted on my Facebook that one of my posts reminded her of when her girls used to leave barbies in the bathtub. She reminded me to cherish these moments with these little girls, because they will pass so quickly.

This very much sums up this phase of my life...Barbies in the Bathtub.

(yes here was naked barbie in the girls' bathtub--tried to cover her up a bit,she's very modest!)

You see having 2 girls, barbies are everywhere...


What a great reminder from somebody who's been there. Every day I feel like I walk around hunched over picking up toys, barbies, dress up clothes. I feel like I'm always saying, "Clean this, pick up that." Many days I am frustrated. But soon this will be replaced with girls closing themselves in their rooms, not wanting Mommy to play princess with them. They will have cell phones and friends, and boyfriends (not til they're 30!).

Just a friendly reminder to Enjoy Each Moment! Thank you Lord for blessing me with 2 beautiful princesses.

A Tale of 2 Dancers...

The girls wrapped up Dance Camp this morning. They both learned so much this week and had a great time dancing and meeting new friends. We are already looking forward to next summer!

My girls' 2 distinct personalities truly shine through in their dancing!

Ally -

She is my adventerous one. Not scared. Having a good time. Go with the flow.

(here is a link to her doing her lyrical dance)



Molly

She is my cautious one. She gets nervous. Doesn't smile too much. Always checking to make sure she is doing it just right.

(here is a link to Molly's ballet dance)And yes, guess who's shoe is always untied after school...same girl who was the only one with her ballet shoe untied!


It cracks me up how very different the girls are. Molly is so intense and dramatic while Ally is equally dramatic but loves to be the center of attention. Molly was terrified that someone was going to laugh at her, and Ally was delighted to have all eyes on her.

The girls also each did a ballet, lyrical, jazz and hip-hop number. They did awesome. We are very proud of them!

Dance Camp here we Come!

First day of Dance Camp!

Both girls started Dance Camp this morning at Suzanne's. Molly is an experienced dancer, and this was Ally's first time!

They had a blast and are learning a lot. Molly's favorite it hip-hop, Ally's is ballet.

They have a performance on Friday and hopefully I will video and upload a few clips.

Mommy is loving Dance Camp, I have 3 hours every morning to go and get things done! YAY!

A Parent's Worst Nightmare

2 posts in 2 days...AMAZING!

Last night our Sunday School class had a party out at the ranch of some of our church members (who are also the parents of 2 ladies in our class).

This place is AWESOME! They have a splashpad and playground, every kid's dream come true.







They also have an INCREDIBLE pool. As we were walking up to the pool after dinner, I reached into our pool bag to get Molly her goggles, put them on her, arranged a couple of things and was getting Ally's life jacket for her. I turned around to put it on her.

"Where is Ally?" I said. I didn't see her to my left, to my right. Straight ahead, the pool!

The sun was starting to go down so there was a glare, but there in the pool I could see the top of my baby's head going down. I jumped in as quickly as possible and got her out.

She had taken in a lot of water and was gagging and gasping for air. After about 3 minutes, she was completely fine. For a lifetime - I will not. The image of Ally's head under that water will forever stick with me. It is quite honestly one of my worst nightmares.

What ifs playing in my mind. What if instead of turning to look for her, I'd started talking to one of the other mom's around me, got caugt up in a conversation? I try not to think of those things and just thank God for watching over her and I that night.

It was a reminder to me to always (especially when going to a new pool) go over the rules. No getting in the pool without permission, etc. It scared Ally. It scared Molly and it terrified Geoff and I.

On a happier note. We had a wonderful time with church friends and look forward to many more!

Quick Catch Up!

Since it's summer and things move a bit slower, I'd love to get back into this thing.

A lot has happened since I last posted...so here it is in a nutshell.

In March, I ran the Armadillo Dash 1/2 Marathon here in College Station while the girls and Geoff cheered me on. I then took a break from running to do a boot camp for a few months. Now I am starting training again- this time I have my sights set on a 10K!

April brought Geoff's first ever Marathon in Oklahoma City. He did really well considering that he hurt his knee really bad at mile 7 and still ran the rest of the race! We are proud of him for sure!


In early May the girls attended a Father/Daughter Dance at our church, Central Baptist Church. I was on the planning committee. We started planning in February and we are all so happy - it was a huge success. I was involved with the room decor and it was a big task. Myself and 2 other very dedicated flower makers (Sutton Pitcock and Tiffany Wall) made close to 1,000 tissue paper flowers! Lots of little girls had the time of their lives, so it was well worth all the work.


Geoff also took on a business partner. Randy Hightower is now a co-owner of GreenPrint Real Estate. We are so excited about this venture. Randy is great and his wife Erica and baby girl Hailey are wonderful. We look forward to where this is going to take us!




Later in May, my sweet Molly graduated from Kindergarten. Can hardly believe my baby girl will be in 1st grade. That seems so incredibly old. It is beyond amazing how far she came in 1 short year. She is reading like crazy and loves to write. We went to the library this week and checked out some books. About an hour later, she had read one already, 60 page chapter book! This girl is like her Mom for sure, a bookworm!





On June 3rd we welcomed a new member of our family. My brother Erik and his wife, Laura had their 2nd baby boy, Knox Benjamin. He is just as cute as can be. I love being an Aunt to 2 precious little boys.



Really am going to try to keep it up -- Keep checking in, I might surprise you!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Busy.
That one word sums up my life.

I remember when I first had Molly and how bored I was.
I would plan out our week and stretch out our errands to where we would have somewhere to go each day just to get out of the house.
I would watch the clock move so slowly through the day.
Longing for Daddy to come home from work.
When she started Mother's Day Out, the day seemed to last forever, I'd go home, watch TV, nap, etc.
If I had a blog back then, I'd have been able to post several times a day.
Don't get me wrong, I cherish those memories of quietness and stillness.

Fast forward.
I no longer am bored.
I can't possibly fit every errand into my week.
Yesterday for MDO, I never even came home, my day consisted of errands and meetings.
The clock seems to move at super speed.
Daddy works from home now (which is nice) so when I'm not busy with the house or kids, I am busy helping him with his business.
I have no time to blog, except once every few months.

So thankful that God has given me this time of being busy.
I have a wonderful husband who is providing for our family by working hard and growing his business.
I have 2 beautiful, healthy children who bring me so much joy!
I have a roof over my head that I can take care of and clean (whoo hoo!)

Enjoy your day and hope to be back soon!

Time Flies...

Geoff and I in early 2000. Our engagement picture.
Eager to begin married life. Moving into a tiny little one bedroom apartment in Dallas.

Here we are 10 years later in 2010. Still in love, and now also in love with 2 precious little girls.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Playing Catch Up

With my new blog look I plan to be much better- promise! Our lives are going at warp speed it seems. Weeks are flying by.

Christmas-
The girls had a great Christmas this year. They both really got into all of the Christmas songs and traditions. Ally really understood more this year and was so excited for Santa to come. On Christmas Eve the girls got to open their Christmas gift from us. They each got a princess dress. We then told them that we were going to DisneyWorld in January. They were very very excited.



Random, but our Dog Brady decided to make herself into a plant:


Up next--- Molly turns 6 in DisneyWorld!

Did you Miss Me?

After a long sabatical- I'M BACK! And thanks to Shauna I have a new look. What do you think?

I have lots to catch up on! Since I left you last we had Christmas, New Year's, and Molly turned 6 with a trip to Disney World in Florida.

Will start updating ASAP!

I did it!

Whew...1/2 marathon is complete. Thank you all for your support and prayers...it was truly appreciated!

I wanted to blog tonight so I didn't forget anything that I wanted mention - since this blog is sort of like a journal to me.

Last night I did not sleep well at all- I guess just the nerves and excitement about the race. I probably slept for 3-4 hours total.

We woke at 5:15 and headed to Dallas since parking was expected to be a problem. After navigating American Airlines Center exits, etc. we were parked and ready at 7:10. After using a quick portable potty (fun!)...we did some stretches and fueled up with our gels/sport beans.

We got ready in our corrals - Geoff was A and I was at the back in group E. It wasn't much fun waiting for the race to begin all by my lonesome but it was good for me to get focused!

The race started and 12 minutes later group E was at the starting line. The race begins. The first couple of miles are good, still navigating through the people. The course went through Highland Park so we got to look at some really neat houses. People were everywhere watching and cheering the runners on. My very favorite sign of the day read: "Run like Tiger is chasing you!" (with a pic of Tiger Woods)...made me laugh at least. Lots of people outside in their robes, hanging out, watching the race.

I encountered my first ever barefoot runner. I don't get it, but hey, do what you need to do. I'd hate to have to look at those feet at the end of the race. Up to mile 10 was pretty easy breezy. Felt really good. Then mile ten took us to the Katy Trail where there were less spectators. I really missed the encouragement! Our names are on our bibs- so everyone would yell- "Come on Emily you can do it!"

At mile 12 my arches were killing and I stopped to walk about 50-100 yards, but realized it actually hurt more to walk so started back running. Pretty soon the spectators are back yelling that the finish is around the corner...run, run, run and you can get a banana! Just when I spotted the finish line I took off and completed the race in 2 hours 28 minutes...2 minutes below my goal of 2:30!

Geoff found me immediately- he finished in 1 hour 43 minutes--way to go babe! Then we found my parents and the girls in AAC. They didn't see me finished because the finish line was so congested...but since I had my medal they thought I had won!!

We headed to eat at Hunky's (a hamburger-sandwhich place) in the Bishop Arts District. I thought I would be super hungry but was barely able to eat!

I was so thrilled with how it all went. I did and felt so much better than I thought I would. I am even looking forward to doing another soon!

If you have ever thought about running a race you really should--it's fun!

Hebrews 12:1- my race verse

Geoff finished strong!


Geoff snapped this pic of me right after I finished before I had even spotted him!

The Day is Almost Here

White Rock 1/2 is tomorrow. I am extremely nervous and super excited. Looking forward to a fun run. Please pray for me if you think of it at 8 am. Pray for my mind especially that it remain calm and focused.

Big shout out to Jamee who reminded me of my race verse - Hebrews 12:1 ....let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Thanks readers and I will update tomorrow or Monday -- off to drink more water!

O-M-G!

Dear 3 blog readers,

My 1/2 marathon is less than 2 weeks away! I am SCARED! Those of you who know me know that I can get a little worked up. Such is the case now. I ran the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day in Dallas. 8 miles. Went okay--but was definitely happy to see the finish line. But what's running through my head was that in 2 weeks I'd have to be able to keep going for 5 more miles. You know 8+5 = 13!

The Turkey Trot did teach me a few things:
1. Slow down - I started off and stayed too fast trying to keep up with the 37,000 runners. I need to just focus on me!
2. Go potty - right before race, not fun to run while needing a potty break
3. Hydrate often - I got water at the 3 stops but will need to carry a hydration bottle with me to hydrate as often as need be.
4. It's okay to walk - I did not stop during the Trot but it will not be the end of the world if I need to stop and walk a few times during the race.

I have a bruised ankle from the Trot so I am nursing that so I can continue my training. Keep me in your prayers so I will not have a nervous breakdown leading up to December 13th.

Hope to update you again before the big race, if not I WILL after:)

And then you were 3...

Happy 3rd Birthday Miss Allyson Brooke!

Wow...I can't believe you are 3 already. Last night we all watched the video from when you were born. Looking back, I can't believe that was you--that teeny tiny black haired little baby. Watching it, it made me so proud of you and how much you've grown and the little girl you have become. But also a little sad- because it all goes so fast!

We started celebrating on Saturday with a party at Powersports with all your little friends and some family. Today you went to school and munched on #3 decorated cookies with your school friends. We had cookie cake after school and Chuck E. Cheese for dinner!

I looked back at last year's blog and last year I named 10 of your favorite things at age 2. So I only thought it would be appropriate to list your 10 favorites at age 3:
1. Singing - especially songs on the radio. Thanks to Mommy's addiction to Kidd Kraddick (goes way back to childhood) you are a fan of top 40. Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus are some serious faves:)
2. Dancing - you love to dance--we bought you a CD player for your room so that you can dance your heart out!
3. Dress-up clothes - you love tutus and crowns
4. Snow White- she is your favorite princess. You were Snow White for Halloween this year and are super excited that you got the DVD for your b-day.
5. Aggravating your sister--you have learned what pushes her buttons and you love to push!
6. Pepperoni and Fried rice- you are a PICKY eater with a capital P - but you love random things that we would have never guessed. You will gobble up Pepperonis and fried rice if given the opportunity.
7. Your friends- you love all of your little friends, friends from school, gymnastics, Bible Study, friends from everywhere.
8. Helping me clean- since Molly is in Kindergarten - it's you and me most of the time. You like to swiffer and get your duster out and help mommy do some cleaning.
9. Milk - you are still a big fan of milk. I am so glad-- Molly didn't touch milk much after age 2 - so I am happy that you are still a fan-- even if you favor chocolate:)
10. Sharing the love- you tell Mommy and Daddy and even sometimes Molly that you love us and are always willing to share a sweet hug.

You are a sweet, sweet little girl and we love you very much!!!

The Sultan's Soiree 2009

Well Jr. League Ball has come and gone. I am proud to say that it was a success. Myself, Julie Kennedy and Whitney all chaired the Auction for Ball. It was a hard 8 months of work --but worth it at the end.

This post is dedicated to my friend Whitney (of the Wests on my blog list). She worked tirelessly on Auction with us but was unable to come to ball because she is pregnant with her 2nd baby and due today- the day after ball. We for sure thought Willa would make her appearance early but she hasn't! So poor Whitney had to stay at home during ball. So some of these pics are for her benefit as she didnt get to see The Zone Club transformed into a Mediterranean Wonderland:)

Me and my princesses who were so sad they could not go to Ball! (Yes that's Ally in the red wig!)


Julie and I before the hard work of Ball began:


The Ballroom at The Zone club-- home of our Soiree!


One of our auction tables:


One of the table decorations:


Me and my super handsome date:


Geoff in an intense Auction Spotters meeting with our Auctioneer- David Coleman, who did a fabulous job.


The Sultan and myself:


A close up of Geoff and I--note my bling! David Gardner's lets the Ball Committee pick out jewels for ball- I was sporting 3 beautiful David Yurman pieces (earrings, necklace and bracelet).


My friend Trisha and I moments before I became Cinderella and the David Gardner's girls came and took my jewels away!



Way to go JL ladies! It was a fantastic event!

Fall Break 09

Molly's school had to start school a week before everyone else. BUT-- we got an entire week off last week for Fall Break. The four of us went to Waxahachie/Dallas to a few days. We took the girls to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine for one night for a mini-vacation. We stayed at Mimi and Pops house for a couple of days and were able to squeeze our family photo session in despite the storms.

FYI- Great Wolf Lodge is a family oriented resort type hotel. They have an indoor waterpark that was great for the girls. I highly recommend going. But go off-season during the week. I have friends who have gone during peak season and it's super crowded. There were maybe 20-30 families there total so we had the run of the place!

Molly and Daddy Ripped and Roared down really big slides. Molly came in right at the height requirement of 42"!
Ally was a little under--maybe next year!

A Leap of Faith

I am proud to introduce my husband's new company!

Let's backtrack....Geoff and I moved to BCS 6 years ago. We came for his work--his dream job. He took the job at Traditions. Started selling lots, then houses, then became a broker. Traditions has been so good to us and eventually became our home. Over the course of the last many months, Geoff has had the urge to go out on his own. We have prayerfully considered making this move for quite some time.

So -- a couple of weeks ago, Geoff let Traditions know and here we are. GreenPrint Real Estate is born. He will be a one man show for a while...well with his trusty assistant (me!) by his side. He is working from home for a while until a suitable office space is found.

This is super scary, but super exciting. God has already showed us amazing things in the last couple of weeks. We could really use your prayers as we start this journey. Oh, and we could use your business as well. Geoff is no longer restricted to Traditions and will now be working throughout the Bryan/College Station area. So let us know if you are buying or selling real estate!!