lots to say!

first of all, hooray for Art taking Friday off! I wish he could be home everyday! I love days he's home from work! We did a lot of "prep work" for our workday on saturday, enjoyed the picture perfect weather, ate at Pig'n'Chik (our new fav), had friends over for dinner and other stuff that seems to have slipped my mind. I LOVE ART!!! And I LOVE WHEN HE's HOME!!! So thankful he could even take the day off, because I know that is a sometimes rare commodity!

Saturday was perfect! Perfect weather. Perfect time with Arts parents. A completed project!!!

So proud of Art and his dad! They slaved away for hours. Hours!!! To replace rotten boards on the dormers on our house! THANK YOU PAPA CURT!!! We have a few BIG projects like this that need to be done and its so nice to cross one off the list!

While Art and his Dad were hard at work, Nana and I took the girls to The Home Depot for Kids Workshop. If you have not done this, you are really missing out! We started when EK was like 18 months (overkill perhaps) but we have loved every single hour we have spent there and so has she. Last month Harper got her own apron and is so proud. To our surprise and excitment we happened upon FIRE SAFETY DAY or something! H, EK and I climbed up in a REAL fire truck, asked bunches of questions and said many thank-yous! EK enjoyed cotton candy, popcorn, juice, etc. It was so fun and I am so glad we went and especially glad Nana was with us!

Then Sunday, whew!!! Church (was awesome as usual)! I can imagine going nowhere else. Buckhead Church is amazing!!! I am so thankful and continue to grow in thankfulness for what God is doing there!!! Then we ran an errand or two, lunch with Aunt Lisa and EY, soccer game, home to wash hair and get ready for ...SERENBE and pictures with Lesley Kerr who is amazing as well!!! If she gets some good pics she will be a miracle worker! I felt like there was little time between nose-picking, splinter-getting, crying, face-kicking (on accident), falling down, pulling, tugging, etc. Our main obstacle, believe it or not was HARPER!! She's a flippen camera hog. We would get the girls all situated and before we knew it, Harper was scooching up a foot or two and doing poses. Hilarious. We enjoyed dinner at the Blue Eyed Daisy with Lesley and her "friend" Matthew! We didnt know it, but it was Trivia Night! We got third place!!! Out of how many, you ask? I choose to not disclose such information!

Things I'm loving about Harper these days:

• She's getting cuter and cuter. like, duh! of course I think that!
• she get embarrassed easily. She's sometimes awkwardly shy, but can also be the most outgoing baby of all time!
• she handles boo-boos way differently that ek ever did. I am trying to figure out how to handle these two different "styles" of sadness! Its not THAT big of a deal, but its becoming more and more apparent that our parenting may need to change for each child, depending on their personality!
• she kisses EVERYTHING! She's talking to her friends in the crib and giving kisses, telling them night night. Oh my heart.
• she adores her sister. Occassionally, when ek gets in a mess of trouble and perhaps gets sent to TO, Harper just waits for her. She gets worried that she's gone away or something.
• shes afraid of nothing! UGH!!! cant i just have ONE WIMP to hang with me!?! Please! Not really, but sometimes I do wish I could have one a little more timid. Its a HUGE blessing that my girls have Arts sense of adventure! So thankful they are not like their mama in that way!
• i crave alone time with her. we dont get much, but hoping that will change one day...some how.
• She's at a tough age (guess all ages are tough in their own way). She's just in the stage of wanting to climb, run, jump, twirl, etc. She can do it ALL but without 100% stability! For example, a playground with her is a nightmare, unless I want to do everything with her while watching her daredevil big sister who could be hanging 6 ft in the air at any moment yelling my name! I'm more of an "open field" kinda mom right now. Just let her run in any direction and if she falls it'll be on a soft patch of fescue!
• She is a great eater! I really didnt know this existed at such a young age! Yay for an eater of anything!!!

Things I love about Emma Kate:

• she's stinking smart. not saying she's smarter than average. I'm just saying she's smart! I cannot get over how much her 4yr old brain can comprehend, remember, explain, etc. She's amazing to me! She can pretty much identify, sound out and write all her letters. Maybe ALL 4 yr olds do this, but whatev! I am just overjoyed that she LOVES learning and cannot get enough of it!
• she knows whats up, whats right, whats wrong. This is actually pretty frustrating because SHE KNOWS what is right and she still pushes buttons, disobeys, etc. BUT, when she GETS IT, when we mesh well one day, when she WANTS to love, oh my life cannot be better. I just stare at her in disbelief that the God of this Earth would care enough to bless my life so richly with a blond headed, blue eyed, fire ball like Emma Kate.
• She LOVES soccer and HATES ballet! Yes, HATES. Dern. She doesnt ACTUALLY hate it. She just says she does. I watch her in ballet and she's on cloud 9. She does use the word hate on a pretty regular basis, which concerns me. I dont know why it concerns me so, it just does. So we've been trying to come up with alternative for that strong word (as well as for the word freakin). Oops! Am I a bad mom? I say freakin! Yikes. So, now we're trying to say WOWZERS instead! Thats probably not the best parenting idea, I have no idea, but this is my first time!
• She is proud of herself! About 6 months ago, she would not stop talking poorly about herself so now that she is loving herself and her abilities, I am THRILLED!

thats it for now! Life is good at the Douglas house these days! Art and I are learning a lot...about each other, about the Lord, about how much we NEED the Lord, about our laziness, about the possibilities of our life, about finances, about parenting, about working together, about relationships, about family, about politics, about doing and giving, about lots of stuff! I am thankful for this season of our life! I feel like God has set us up to start leaning hard on Him and to really listen to what HE wants for us and how He can use us in His grand plan. Because at the end of the day (or life on this Earth) thats really what its all about!

OH! And DINNER! Y'all. You need to make this. Its easy peasy and SO good! Court brought this to me when Harper was born and I have craved it ever since! So good and SO healthy and its whats for dinner tonight!!!

Chili Verde

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

1 can cannellonni beans

1 cup salse verde

1 can chicken broth

9oz white shoepeg corn, thawed

mix it all together, bring to a boil. simmer 20 minutes. garnish with cilantro, cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips.

SO GOOD!!!