My Little Fairy

We take Emmalyn to Sears pretty often to Sears to get her pictures taken, and she usually does a wonderful job smiling and looking beautiful for the camera. Well, this is what happened at the last sitting: This was the ONLY pose with a half smile, so we bought a few of it:

Well, Sears had a special event, called the "Enchanted Forest" today, so we took Emmalyn to see if she could redeem herself from earlier this month. She still didn't smile very well, but there were quite a few precious moments captured. (I sincerely think the Sears employee working with her today and last time is crazy, and she simply scares the smiles out of my child!) But without further ado, here are the results from today! :)






To see the all of the proofs from today, go HERE.

Yummy Recipe

The same wonderful woman over at Titus Two that gave me the prayer list gave me a recipe for a cilantro sauce that was delicious! I poured it over tilapia Tuesday night, and it was AWESOME!!! We had James and Kristin over, and everyone loved it! Kris even said "that is the best thing you have ever cooked!" He went on to mention 4 times before bed..."I just can't get over how awesome dinner was! Make sure you give props to the wonderful woman that gave you the recipe...and make it again soon!" I really loved it too! It was yummy mixed with the rice as well!

I would like to share it with all of you!:
1 garlic head, peeled, minced
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
2 bunches cilantro, finely chopped
1/2 cup lime juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
Pour over fish, refrigerate leftovers. :)

I've Been Tagged

MrsSaf over at "Deaf Chicks Shouldn't Sing" tagged me with the "six quirky things" meme! I had quite a bit of trouble coming up with six odd facts about myself!

Here are the rules:
1) Link to the person who tagged me.
2) Mention the rules.
3) Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about myself.
4) Tag 6 other blogger´s by linking to them.
5) Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment that lets them know they’ve been tagged.

So 6 uninteresting quirky facts about myself are......

1. I collect turtles, sort of. I used to collect a LOT of them, then realized they had to be dusted...now, not so much. I still really like them though!

2. I met my husband on the world wide web (eHarmony)...crazy, huh? And we couldn't be more perfect for each other. I am still SO IN LOVE with him!!!

3. I am a pretty picky eater and have HUGE texture issues that my husband is still trying to predict and understand. Give up, honey, it will never make sense! :)

4. I am the bionic woman...I have 8 very large screws and 2 long titanium rods in my back.

5. I will NOT leave the house without makeup. I know, it's weird...but my complexion is awful, and I feel unclean without a fresh "appearance" on my face.

6. One of my best friend's (Pennie) shares a lot of quirky little things about names...middle name, spelled the same odd way; our father's have the same name; her mother's maiden name is my maiden name; and we have wanted the same name for our first child since we were both 12!

Geez, I feel boring...it was hard to think of things about myself. Maybe my readers can think of other things they know about me that are "quirky."(?)

OK, so now who do I guilt into filling out the same meme? :)
Let's see...how about
Jana at Faithfully Following
Michael at Our Story
Jessica at Surrender
Kristy at The Home of the Lindsay Family
Jennifer at LIFE
Kristin at The Stark Naked Truth

My Second Sewing Project

So, I have finally taken time to get back to sewing. I finished my quilt, my first sewing project back in November...so it was time to dust off the (new) sewing machine and get back to work! About 2 weeks ago, my friend Michael and I went to Hobby Lobby to take advantage of McCall's patterns being on sale. She helped my pick out some easy beginner patterns, and taught me to buy the right amount of fabric and the little "notions" you have to buy along with the pattern. We had a lot of fun, thanks Michael! (She is a new friend around here, and I think this is going to be "the beginning of a beautiful friendship." :)

So, the first thing I decided to try was an apron...that seemed like an easy beginner's project. Well, I wanted to have her come over and kind of explain the vocabulary and tricks of the trade with patterns, but she was a busy bee, so I decided to try to teach myself. After a couple of phone calls to her and to my awesome sister, I did it! "All by myself" lol :) I had a LOT of fun sewing! This is a really fun hobby! I like creating a project and being able to look back at it and have a sense of accomplishment.

So, here it is:


And of course Emmalyn wanted to get in the picture. She thought "why would you have the camera out if not to take a picture of ME?"!

Mostly About Emmalyn

I have noticed that many of my friends write about great spiritual awakenings, funny events in their lives, or simply have more thought provoking blog entries than my own. But, mine is similar to a blog I saw recently..."mostly about my baby." Is that normal? Will that change when I no longer just have one? Who knows. I will, for the moment, consider finding more interesting topics to muse and discuss...until then, I will stick with the current theme! :) Here is another video to make you laugh! :)

I think she got my love of animals :)

Every time there are animals on t.v., wether a commercial or show...Emmalyn pays close attention, often laughing or talking and pointing. I managed to get a little on video recently.

Gator Country

So, when my brother and niece were here (ahem, about a month ago) we went out to a place called Gator Country. (I'm sorry it has taken so long to post this, Cal. :) I completely forgot...but better late than never, right?) We didn't think was the BEST place for a one-year old, so she spent the afternoon with Kris's parents, and we went out there for lunch and a tour of the park. The restaurant was very good, we ate fried alligator that tasted, like, well...you guessed it...chicken! It was a little "fishy" and chewier than chicken, but still very good. :)

It isn't quite as impressive in pictures, but it was pretty cool to see all of these alligators in person! I also wanted to share some of the fun info and statistics we learned, but I waited a month to share this outing with you all, and I forgot all of them. Oh, I do remember one...an alligator chomps that huge mouth down with 3,000 pounds per square inch!!! Ouch! OH...and they eat each other!!! They can only keep them in ponds with other gators about the same size, b/c they have a 2 foot rule. An alligator will eat any other gator that is about 2 feet smaller than himself! Crazy!

We also fed alligators and watched some crazy guys wrestle and mess with them. Here are some fun photos and video from the day.

Feeding the gators hotdogs from a string:


This is the largest alligtor in captivity in the US, longer than 13 feet!...and these crazy cats are standing in there aggravating him!
Seriously, how crazy must you be to get in the water and swim with a 9 foot alligator! Remember, these are not "tame!!"
Cal holding a baby gator named "Chubbs"
Cal holding a white python...pay no attention to the classy guy with the tattoo (the other side said "pride"...nice, huh?)
Cal wanted to hold a bigger gator!:
We all had to pet this little lizard, but check out that cat that worked at the place...certainly fits in, doesn't he?!
Funny Uncle Cal!

And Cal wanted to hold a bigger gator...funny watching the alligator wrestler catch him.

Daddy got a Benz! :)

So, we finally sold the truck to get out from under those monthly payments, and with the profits, we were able to afford this! We will not only be saving over $600 in payments and gas, we have a Mercedes Benz C230 Kompressor. Very cool! It is a 2000, but fully loaded with leather, sunroof, and 6 disc CD changer, and pretty low miles. We are very excited! :) :) :)
Inside:
Sunroof: :)
And this is what happens when Southeast Texas humidity fogs up your camera lens! :)