Those three little words.....

Feel free to shed a tear upon hearing little Miss Em say "I wuv ooh"  I know I sure did:)

Little snippets...

EmEm loves to play in a parked car.  She sometimes refuses to get out of the car and throws a huge tantrum if we have to go inside.  Good thing for Brent, I happen to be the one who always picks up Emma from school after a long. hard. day.  Lucky me.

In 15 years, Emma will be recreating this on the strip in Vegas, hanging out of a limo for sure.....

"Come on, guys!"

"Someone's gotta get exercise in this family.."

"CHEESE!"

"Hmmm....I wonder if I'm making too much noise for the neighbors?"

I could not love my weekend mornings with Emma more!

Little Helper

Emma certainly got her cleaning and organizing gene from me...no offense, Brent!  She hates having dirty hands, and loves to wash them.  A friend of mine was telling us about the museum and this giant hand washing station they have....I think we would have to pry Emma away kicking and screaming if we ever went there.  Emma also doesn't like it when things aren't in their "right" place.  She always places her cup upright on a table or counter, and doesn't like things scattered all around.  She helped me throw pine cones into the woods out of the grass the other weekend....because she knew they didn't belong there.  If she drops a crumb on the floor, she immediately cleans it up and also grabs a kleenex or wipe, balls it up and starts dabbing the area.  I think I might have met someone more anal about cleaning and orderliness than me....great....just take a look at the pictures below.

"This spot here is dirty!!"

"Aha!  A broom!"

The joys of cleaning...so energizing!

"This spot over here is dirty!"

"No press....."

drink break...and pondering her next task....

Now time for some coloring!

She insisted on having the empty cup in the chair cup holder and her milk on the table.  She also arranged all her crayons in the table tray...

Hurry up, Spring!  We love our outdoor time!!

Wrinkles only go where the smiles have been..

I'm learning more and more about balancing life as a working mom.  Some days, I have it all together.  Other days, I fall apart into a million pieces.  Working full-time, being a mom, and commuting are super tough.  I have a 40 minute drive to and from work everyday, along with the added stressors of road rage I-40 drivers.   Anyone who tells you its easy is a liar, or they have a very flexible job and nanny/maid fairy. 

I don't know what the future holds for me professionally or personally.  I do know, however, that I love this little girl to death.  I love watching her grow, watching her learn, watching her watch us....

Sometimes at night, all Brent and I can do is just look at each other in prideful disbelief at the latest thing Emma has just done.  Every parent says it...but this girl has stolen my heart completely.

After our weekly Walmart trip (the Morrisville one by 540 and 54 is awesome! If you haven't gone, try it - you may like it better than Target for some things!), we stopped at Tropical Smoothie.  I asked the lady there to pour some of mine into a small cup for Emma, and she got her very first smoothie.  She inhaled it!

Selfies with Smoothies...

She wouldn't let the cup go.....

and insisted on holding it in the car....I had visions of sticky smoothie everywhere.  Thankfully, we had no spills.

There have been a few nice days to enjoy outside.  Emma LOVES being outside and a few nights, we even ate dinner out on the deck.

Saturday, NCSU was playing Duke in the ACC tournament.  Sadly, Duke won that game (but lost in the finals - hooray!)  I bought this little Wolfpack dress before Emma was even born..and am so glad she now fits into it.

We spent the afternoon playing at my parents. Emma loves to go for walks there.

Her new obsession is also sitting in cars.  She loves to sit in a parked car and play with everything. 

We recently were given some books from my sister-in-law.  And Emma happens to love 2 of them...so much so that we have read them every night for the past 2 weeks...sometimes even more than once a night.  Here she is reading the Easter basket book...a really cute one about Jesus and Easter.

I know these are blurry, but I just love her in this picture...she is so grown!  Also, notice cat #1 in the background.  Bedtime routine consists of brushing teeth, and making sure BOTH cats are in the room with us for books.  Emma insists on it...and after the cats stroll their fat, happy selves in, she closes the door so they can't escape.  She then gets to hug each of them goodnight like 8 times...the cats love this part:)

It's Spring Break at school, so I am enjoying some quiet time at the office.  (No, teachers still work during Spring Break)  The past 2 weeks have been rough with advising period - I have seen an average of 9 students a day for advising sessions.  I am also taking some days off to clean and organize, and de-clutter....I have a whole trunk full of stuff for Goodwill and can't wait to get it out of my possession.  And just to spite winter and mother nature, I spent yesterday afternoon putting away almost all wool and winter clothes, all whilst watching it sleet and snow outside.  I don't care anymore...I'll just have to be cold. I can't stand wearing any more wool.  I know you agree:)

So, even though it's cold and wet and I'm struggling to find time to do it ALL.......I know that I have been blessed with an amazing life, and as Jimmy would put it...

"Wrinkles only go where the smiles have been..." 

so I'll take the wrinkles and the hard times because I know then that the good times will be so much sweeter when they come.  If you don't feel sadness, you can't appreciate happiness:)