New Year's Eve

Sometimes it becomes glaringly obvious that our life is completely different than it used to be...

New Year's Eve and the fact that Erin goes with us to Chipee and Betsy's party is one of those times. Erin loves a party and has a blast. She doesn't even come close to making it to midnight though. We end up leaving by 11:00 so we can make it home before midnight.

Anne and Rob

Luckily, Erin and I had been to Wal-Mart the previous day and found the perfect accessories...

Then we shamed eveyone there into having their picture taken. Before Erin, we didn't have the great accessories and we certainly wouldn't have been able to get everyone to have their picture taken!

Randy and Laurie...
I think that Randy was the most reluctent.

Erin and Chipee

Family picture! You know I love these!

Pops and Gramma

Chipee and Betsty with Chipee trying to be gangsta

Shane and Robyn

The Squeakquel

In your head, you should hear Erin singing, "all the singlettes, all the singlettes..." to the tune of Beyonce "All the Single Ladies" or as eveyone else may call it, "Put a Ring On It."

The Squeakquel was Erin's first movie theater experience. She was so excited about the big seats, big drink and lots and lots of popcorn!

Notice that the Icee is the same size as Erin. After over an hour of sitting still, Erin did start asking when it would be over. She prefers to dance and sing around while watching movies at home and since she has always hated to be confined to one thing at a time, she was ready to be on the move. Months later, she asks for me to play the "singlette" song. I don't correct her because it is just too cute and I know she will eventually figure it out so I am enjoying it while I can!

Imagination...

Erin created a birds nest, got in and called me to take a picture. I was impressed that it looked like a birds nest with a mama Erin and her baby dolls.

When Erin calls, you really never know what she is going to say or show you.
I love that she takes something and pretends it to be whatever she needs it to be. May she always be able to create...

Ideal Mall Trip

Train Ride

Erin's ideal visit to the mall includes little to no shopping, even for her, but must have a merry go round. So, after Erin asking for awhile, we made the trek to Mall of Georgia for a day of Erin fun. This was the first time that we noticed they had a train for her to ride as well. You can imagine that this made her day.

Merry Go Round

Christmas Eve

Tha annual Angel Bread creation...

Every since I was a little girl, we have always made Angel Bread to have for Christmas morning breakfast. As Chipee and I got older, we added egg nog with Maker's Mark for a toast...

With Erin, Christmas morning is a little more hectic so we don't always make the toast so now we have margarita's while making the bread. It's always important to toast your family and friends at the holiday season. Gramma always rolls the dough into balls. Erin and I rolled the balls in butter and Pops has become the cinnamon and sugar roller. He might be a little particular about making sure that each one is covered perfectly. There needs to be enough to make the bread gooey in the middle.

This is the first year that Erin actually helped with the Angel bread. In the past, she always talked about it but never quite stuck with it very long. She was actually very helpful.


I love all of her facial expressions. I hoep she is always able to say so much with just a look, especially if it is to everyone else and not her mother with attitude!

This year, we made gingerbread cookies for Santa. Once again, Erin decorated each one beautifully and then picked which ones she wanted to leave for Santa to enjoy.

Christmas Party at Lake

Since it was Chipee and Betsy's turn to be in Tennessee with her family over the actual days of Christmas, we celebrated with the Barry family on the Saturday before Christmas. It is always a fabulous day of opening presents, stockings and good food!

There is a definite theme to the Barry family Christmas... Betsy "somehow" appears to be part of Erin opening the first present. She has an incredible knack for being at the right place, at the right time for Christmas presents... Hmmm....

As Erin opened the pink Legos box, she exclaimed "Just what I always wanted!"



Toy Story legos with Buzz Lightyear and Woody.

A Disney Princess piano book

Erin was convincing Betsy to open presents and directing her on which one it should be...

A WHOLE box full of stickers... the smile says it all!

A Barbie for the lake... again check out the smile!

Beads to make jewelry...in the appropriate colors of pink and purple.

Betsy with a Georgia Girl hat!

Erin wanted to make sure that Gramma noticed that there were pictures of her on the calendar that Betsy made. There are pictures of everyone. Erin still loves to look at all the pictures.

Hungry Hippo...

I think it is safe to say that Erin has her own rules and isn't afraid to cheat so that she wins. She has no problem using her hands to block your hippo from getting "her" marbles. All and all, it makes for quite an entertaining experience!

Gramma and Pops getting the apple pie a la mode ready. Yummo!

Puppy Bingo...

Betsy was the "chosen" one to play with Erin. I think that there was less cheating this time...

A fabulous day with family... just what the holiday season is all about.

Christmas Party at School

Erin loves school and Erin loves parties so you know she was ready for today!

The class party had a book exchange where the kids were supposed to pass the wrapped book until Ms. Joni stopped the music. The kids had a really hard time passing a present....

Erin got a Princess and the Frog book with sounds.


Time for cookie decorating!
Erin was very meticulous in spreading the icing all over the cookie.

Erin was even more precise as she asked me to unwind the Twizzler and then she broke it into tiny pieces to carefully place each one.

Next were the gum drops arranged perfectly.

No cookie is complete without additional icing as tinsel.

My favorite part... watching Erin remove all the decorations that she so carefully placed so that she could eat the cookie with only icing! Just goes to show that it is all about the accessories!

Oh What Promise...

In the drizzly rain that is a daily part of life, Erin was so excited to be singing at school tonight. Gramma and Pops drove in to meet us for dinner at Wendy's and then we headed to Erin's school.

After last year where Erin didn't sing, I took her to the stage so she could perhaps be more comfortable. We talked about how mommy's and daddy's were sitting in the audience. She laughed and played around with Alaina from her class.

I was hopeful after she conquered having her picture taken with Santa the previous weekend, that she would sing a little bit. She knew the songs, ESPECIALLY "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" where you are to swing your arm. It is actually supposed to be a dance movement, but it turned into a much more forceful motion. I was worried that she might knock someone over!

But I need not have worried...

In the extreme upper left corner, you can see my beautiful girl in tears.

She was so upset that her teacher, Ms. Joni held her through out the entire performance so this is the only picture I have of her on stage.

Seeing her everyday, I am surprised that she is that shy, even in a room full of strangers!

On the way home way, she talked about wearing the costumes that the 4 year old classes got to wear and how she would get to do that next year.

Gotta love a 3 year's old optimism!

Waiting for Santa...

As most everyone knows, Erin has been in several cycles of sick by this point in the winter and this weekend was after pneumonia. Through all the asthma type breathing, inhalers, cough, ear infections, wheezing, bronchitis,etc., etc., etc... she has always been ready to go and do. She loves holidays and all the excitement and seasonal fun, so waiting for Santa was no different.

She was sick for the Breakfast with Santa's that we might have tried to go to, so we decided to head to Athens and hit the mall there. Expecting a wait, Shane and I talked about who wait in line and would you take Erin shopping.

When we walked up to the line, we were the second family there and waited all of 10 minutes!

Erin got very dressed up for her picture with Santa...

notice the pink Princess earrings that coordinate so nicely with her shirt!

Does make me wonder if it is time to pierce her ears...

Erin was more excited about watching Santa at this point. She was very excited about her picture but after the tears last year, I just wasn't convinced that she would sit and smile so nicely. In true fashion, she surprised me and we have a fabulous picture with Santa this year!

Also feel that I should point out the sign in the background that says no taking pictures this close to Santa since it can interfere with their camera and flash. Never dreaming that we would have that short of a wait, I had my camera out before we even walked up to the line. I thought there would be entertaining shots from waiting in a long line!!!

Again I am reminded that I am not in control of any planning when it comes to being a parent!!

Outside Decorations

Atlanta winter... you just can't beat short sleeves to put up Christmas decorations!

Yes, you see this correctly.

Erin does indeed have her chair and a purple popsicle while she watches Daddy do all the work putting up the outside Christmas carnival!


Just so you can see that I am not making this up...

Notice that more decorations are up and she is in the pink chair and now has a juice box. No kidding, she really dragged out the pink chair by herself....

Now that so much more has been completed, Erin decides to get in on the act. She is really starting to get in on this posing thing...

The day time view of Shane's hard work.

The night time view...

Erin was SO excited when she saw everything lit up at night. Then she told Daddy how great is looked. When I asked her earlier about the decorations, we were treated to a noncommital that's nice kinda reaction. After dark, we got the reaction that made Shane decide it was worth it all!

Thanksgiving

We were lucky enough to have Chipee and Betsy here for turkey day this year. Even better, Chipee and Betsy hosted to they cooked! I like to pretend that I am a cook, but my family knows the truth!

Chipee agreed to play Memory with Erin. I don't think even he was prepared for the amount of cheating that occurred! She blatantly turns over cards until she finds a match!! When we tried explaining taking turns and other such boring rules, she looked at us like we were crazy and went back to turning over cards.

Erin was upset by the fact that Chipee kept trying to cook instead of entertaining her the entire time. She gets a little possessive...
We also decided to have two days of Thanksgiving instead of sharing a day or having both families to our house. I don't know how, but I don't have any other pictures from Thanksgiving. I know that Erin was sick and on antibiotics so I must have been distracted...

Shocking, I know!

Family Feast with Yellow Flower

The annual GUMP (Grayson United Methodist Preschool) family feast. The kids are always so excited hat anyone is coming to see them at school. This year, Erin's class were all Indians. They were given Indian names which were put on the back of the vests they made at school. Erin was Yellow Flower. This was the Monday before Thanksgiving and Erin was brewing a sickness. She was fine that morning but definitly had a runny nose by the time it was lunch. She was happy that Daddy was there!

With Erin, it's always the eyes. I can tell from her eyes in this picture that she didnt' feel good. She is such a trooper when sick and tries to keep going. Since she has been sick so much, she has learned to just keep pushing through. Stay tuned for tonsil removal updates....