Chrsitmas Dress #1

Emma's first Christmas dress was purchased at JC Penney's last year on clearance. Her size 5 red shoes still fit! Fingers crossed that they last all thru December....

Such a cute expression! Not supposed to touch the ornaments tho'!


Such a little ham! I didn't get any "perfect' portrait today, but she's a cutie anyway!!


Here is Jazmine enjoying the Christmas tree (and the skirt). As I finally get December blogged, you will come across several photos of the cats under the tree. A nice place to hide out but still keep an eye on things.

Hobe Sound Christmas Parade

Sat. December 5th (I believe) was my first coupon class, as well as the Hobe Sound parade. Daddy took Emma for the day and they had a great time. A great time in the pouring rain...

Here is the academy marching band doing their thing in those heavy soaking wet uniforms!
Their float. Not sure what it was supposed to mean....


Kids Kickin' For Christ carried on .doing their thing in the rain as well.


The water soaked Emma.... They got a free shirt, beach ball and lots of soggy candy, which had to be pitched. We were spending the evening, so she had jammies in her bag to change into at Nana's.

After the parade, the girls got dry clothes and had a nap at Nana's. Nana had a gift for each for them. She had bought them snowglobes. They were plastic and had a little fan in the back that made the fake snow blow around. The girls loved them!


Emma played with hers all during December! It had an easy button to push so that the lights came on, the snow blew around and it played a Christmas carol.

We all went to the Singing Christmas Tree that evening to end our very full day together. Whew!

December 1st~ Emma was 18 Months

Here is Emma on December 1st. We had bought her this Fisher Price nativity last year, after Christmas. It has been hiding under HER OWN BED all year long! Waiting for this day to arrive. It celebrates her 18 months of life and kicks off the Christmas season. (she was 24.5 pounds and 33.5 inches)

You can press down on the angel and it plays a Christmas carol. She likes that!

Think she likes it??? Or is just a ham? Probably a bit of both!

Nana had also given her an Advent calendar filled with little pcs. of chocolate. She has had very little candy of any kind, so this was something new and special!

Let em tell you, she has her Daddy's sweet tooth for sure! She very quickly caught on to the opening of a new window each day and remembered to ask for "chockie"!! I removed a picture from her wall and hung it on the wall. Easy to see, for us to get to but not at her reach.


It didn't take her too long to figure out which one was the "mama" and the baby ("de-de", as she can't pronounce a B sound yet)

Her Nativity all set up. Such a cute little thing! Although it was not created by a Jewish designer. How do I know that, you ask? It has a pink pig!! What in the world does a pig have to do with the Nativity story? Or with Jewish life and culture??? Odd.

Later that morning we went out to water the garden and Miss Emma decided to water herself! Funny isn't it that it is warm enough here to wear shorts and not worry about getting soaking wet in December??? (But then a month later we were at freezing temps!!)
She's trying to be helpful! But, mostly just getting into the water...

My Sugar Snap Peas. I planted them in late October maybe, not realizing that they didn't really like to be transplanted... So, I had to replant most of them and they are just now beginning to produce.

I have 3 rows of radishes planted! More than I can use probably! We have given some to Mom & Dad. Offered them to the neighbors but they didn't seem too interested. I don't care to just bite into one, but I do enjoy them in a salad. They have all come form one packet of seeds, but they are red, pinkish red and even some purple ones. Round, oval, oblong... Weird. Tasty, but odd.

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving 2009- at Mom & Dad's. We were ready early to make sure we got some family photos.... Well, at least we got some group shots that included the grandparents.. Sometime later we realized that we didn't finish them photo taking!!



We were all so happy to have another Thanksgiving with Grandma AND Grandpa Delamarter! He certainly gave us a scare the month or so prior to this!

Grandpa & Grandma with 2 of their kids. Ruth and Philip. Like Dad's beard???



Grandma was just so thrilled to have him home with her!

We brought Emma's table with us, so the girls could have their own place to sit. They had more fun playing than eating.

The whole clan gathered around Mom & Dad's table. We each made a dish or two, of course and dinner was soooo good! Mom had her dining room decorated so lovely.


Halie having a bite of 'birt-day" cake. Any cake is birthday cake and her Meemaw made this one.

The desserts: custard pie-Grandma, Oreo Cake- Gina, Caramel Apple Pie- Gina, Pumpkin Pie & Tart Cherry Pie- Mom, Pumpkin Cheesecake- Dee Dee.

Playing Corn Hole. This is Bob & Gina's set. Robert & Steph have their won and Martin also has his own. Someone brings at least one set to about any big family function.


HA HA!! This "looks" like she is lifting her leg to do something very unladylike... BUT, really it was a re-do of her happy dance after winning! :)

The girls had a great time playing in the yard during Corn Hole.


Here we are, the Lovejoy's. Emma is such a doll!

We forgot to take the rest of the family photos until the end of the evening!

Mom and Dad. Dad is looking a bit like Santa's brother. He has never had a full beard! He started a goatee/mustache, but Mom told him "no way! All or nothing. No Colonel Sanders".
Papaw & Nana with 2 of the cutest granddaughters ever! OK, the other two are cute too. :)

The Cantrell's: Bob & Gina, Robert, Stephanie & Halie.

We spent the night at Nana & Papaw's, so that we could stay up late and play games. AND so we could get up kinda early and got shopping on Black Friday! Nana was reading books to Emma before bedtime.

Buying Bigger is Not Always Better

This is taken from "A Thrifty Mom" blog: http://athriftymom.com/

One rule to getting a good deal with coupons is to buy small. I know this goes against everything we have been taught, that the family value pack is suppose to be the best deal right? Once again this brings us back to the point that anyone can match a coupon with an item. The real key to saving the big bucks is, learning a few simple rules. One of those rules is to to match a high value coupon up to the smallest and lowest priced item. Let me explain, if you have a $2.00 off Chinet paper plates coupon, and the coupon says it is for 36-72 count packages. If you look at the price per plate, the larger package will normally give you the best price per plate. So it would seem like that one would give you the better deal.

If you buy the 36 count plates they are $2.50 that makes them about 7 cents a plate. The 72 count plates are $4.50, that makes them about 6 cents a plate. But if you use the $2.00 off coupon on the 36 count package it now makes them only .50 cent, less than a penny each. If you use the coupon on the larger value pack it makes them only $2.50, or 3 cents each. So matching the high value coupon with the smallest package is the best deal. Using a high value coupon will save you money but, learning how to use it to your advantage will save you even more.

Morning & Bedtime Routines

Daddy has to be gone all day at work, so his special time with Emma is broken up into segments. He is in charge of her bedtime routine. Once dinner is over and the table cleared, they head off for bath/bed time, as this is not a rushed affair! On a bath night, he is the resident "shampoo guy". They have pretend tea parties and splish splash.

This is followed by jammies and reading. Emma will let you read as many books as she can get, so at bedtime we have to set a limit. Usually it is two. Occasionally she can sweet talk her Daddy into more.

(She is holding her bedtime blanky, that she has taken to calling "nonna", but we have called "Boo Boo" all along. She can't make a "B" sound yet, so it will be interesting if it remains "nonna" or changes to "Boo Boo" later on. Not sure where or how she came up with it's name, other than she can say "nigh nigh" when it is bedtime.)

They have a favorite book they read most nights called "Amazing Ants". Martin has been reading it to her since she was super small and has it memorized.

Daddy is also in charge of Emma's wake up routine. Yep! The whole diaper duty and all! :) Here she is at the sink, using her new step stool for the first time. (These were taking the morning after the "nigh nigh" pics. Didn't intentionally do it that way, but clever aren't I???)

She thinks she is big stuff now that she can climb up and reach the water all by herself! Brushing teeth is something she loves to do! Good thing Santa is bringing her a new tooth brush and toothpaste! :)

Martin needs to feel connected to Emma, as much as she needs to have him as a daily part of her routine, so Martin doing the morning & bedtime stuff works for them and it gives me a bit of a break since I have her to myself the remainder of the day. Oh, and he LOVES to hear her say "Dah-dee"! :)