sunday

We went to church with Meemaw & Peepaw this morning...Essie got to spend her first day in the nursery...she was the ONLY baby there and did fantastic from what I hear.

Then we got invited to eat lunch with their choir...and Essie got to try her first real strawberry...and she l-o-v-e-d it!  She tried swallowing it whole!

Then we headed home and stopped in Bald Knob to meet my parents to eat at the Bulldog...it was so good and Essie was tickled to see ALL her grandparents in ONE weekend!

Happy Birthday Meemaw!

strawberry shortcake...

First of all...how stinkin' cute is Essie in this strawberry dress?  We got it for $3 at the Carter's Outlet last summer!

 After work Friday we headed out towards Pine Bluff...we had to stop by Benton to pick up Essie's new, handpainted Easter Bucket from WhimsyTin.

Travis' sister Tanya called and wanted to eat with us that night so after we picked up her Easter bucket we stopped in North Little Rock to eat...

And Essie was a ham for her Aunt Tanya!  She sure put on a show!  

Aunt Tanya let her try a lemon...it must have been really sour...

We finally rolled into Pine Bluff around 10 last night and we were exhausted!  But Essie's been busy showing off her new mad crawling skills!

12 hour day and a pimped out car

Ahhh...tonight was Parent-Teacher Conferences so it was a 12 hour workday for me!  The conferences were from 2-8 so I'm exhausted...it's so tiring to go from parent to parent and talk for like 6 hours straight (after teaching ALL day).  But I do LOVE PT conferences...I love catching up with the parents-and this year was almost like a party-I've never laughed so hard! I have been lucky to have been given such great kids this year with great parents!  And to top it off-my secret pal at work surprised me with this platter of cookies AND a diet dr. pepper! Just made my night!  AND to top that off my hubs brought me a sonic diet coke and Essie by to see me!  I was super bummed since she'd be in bed by the time I got home! I thought it was sweet but I didnt' want her to leave!  AND to top that off...the house was clean when I got home.  So nice!

And what's my hubs been doing to pass the time while being at home (other than updating his resume and applying for jobs like crazy)....well....are you ready?  He's been "pimping" Essie's car...yes...he put her name on it...oh that man! :)

33 Weeks...

Essie is 33 weeks today! Woohooo!

And she's gotten an awful case of "crawler's knees" since she's all over the place now!

And I'm in the process of updating the recipe blog with some new recipes so hop on over and check it out!

Mice from Outer Space

Look at my two favorite people this morning....how sweet is that? And yes...her pants are unsnapped and that diaper is just about to POP! :)

I started afterschool tutoring today so I didn't get off work until 4:30 and boy I was exhausted! But we only got to stay at home for a few minutes because we had to head over to the Performing Arts Center to see the 1st grade performance of "Mice from Outer Space". It was soooooo darn cute! I was so proud of my kiddos!

Essie was sooooo good too. She kicked her feet and sang along with the kiddos!

loooooong

So...today was Travis' first day of "unemployment". He took me and Essie to work/daycare because Mrs. Deena had a dr appointment and had to be picked up early. So this afternoon they got to come and pick me up...I loved having my 2 favorite peeps come to get me! She LOVED the kids and was smiling/flirting with them all. Everyone kept commenting on how long she is...I noticed it today too...she looks like she's gotten so tall!

And it's crazy how much better at crawling lately she's gotten! She's EVERYWHERE! I stepped out of the room and within seconds she was across the room going after a dog toy!

A whole new world...

Well today I hoped to wake up and yesterday be all a dream....but today's it's a whole new world for us. A world of uncertainty...a world of unknown....a world of what ifs. Yesterday we woke up and went about our business as we always have...today it all felt strange. It feels foreign and icky. We've become accustomed to our comfortable lifestyle. And now I have to second guess all we do...second guess what feels natural to me. Today I called to cancel our "romantic weekend away" that we were planning for next weekend. I cancelled my hair appointment. I found myself questioning what items we really, really, really couldn't live without at Walmart today. I hate not knowing what's headed our way...I feel so unprepared. I (if you've not already caught one) am a PLANNER by nature...I plan things way ahead of time. I didn't plan for this...and I can no longer plan for our future at the moment and it sucks.

We've been through hard times before. When we first got married I had just graduated and yet to get a "real" teaching job so I was subsitute teaching & Travis was working at KMart while he finished college. We had very little...in fact we went without heat that entire winter because we couldn't afford the heating bill...we lived huddled near a small space heater and under an lime green electric blanket. But we were happy. We knew no other life and we were in newlywed bliss.

But that was years ago and I don't know how to live that life right now. I know we will get through...I know God will provide but it sucks. I am bitter and angry and emotional and regretful that we didn't plan for this earlier.

But then again I am thankful for what we do have...we have a beautiful daughter who is oblivious to this whole scenario and makes me laugh even when I want to cry. We have a house (at least for now, haha). I have a job. We have a wonderful support system who are lifting us up in prayer and giving us words of encouragement...and that includes all you bloggers who have left us some absolutley beautiful comments...I cannot express what those mean to us. We have each other to lean on. And we have a God who will provide for us. We will get through. (I just have to keep repeating that over and over to myself).

And....anyway........moving on to not so depressing subject matter....today is a whole new world for us in that we now have a crawling machine in our house!

Today she found the fireplace and tried getting the rocks out of it...Oh my...what will we do next?

And it was a BEAUTIFUL day so we decided to get out and find something to do with ourselves. We found ourselves at the park. It seemed everyone had that same idea in that it was packed! We tried Essie in the swing for the first time...she was very serious the whole time. I think she would've rather just sat and watched the kids playing. She was engrossed with them!

And then this evening our dear friends Sarah and Matthew came over to grill out and watch "Couples Retreat". Matthew works on the road and is gone alot...he had only come home for the weekend in fact. But Essie loves him and is always sooooo excited and happy to see him....