ava turns 7...

i'm not sure exactly how it happened, but one morning i woke up and ava was 7!  seriously.  time.stop.now.

 i took the day off of work so we could spend her birthday together.  she woke up and said she couldn't wait to see what her "special birthday breakfast" was. um, what? she proceeded to tell me that every year she has a special birthday breakfast. um, okay, sister. so donuts it was! ha! we went shopping and had lunch, and then came home to get ready for her little birthday party.  we kept it really simple this year with a family-only gathering because we were leaving for destin the next week, and wanted to keep it small. 

the birthday girl.  she woke up and said she couldn't wait to see what her "special birthday breakfast" was.  um, what?  she proceeded to tell me that every year she has a special birthday breakfast. um, okay, sister.  so donuts it was! ha!

she got some great presents.  favorite this year was hands down the ben 10 ds game from her aunt sarah, uncle brad, and preston.  she was super excited because we had told her that it was sold out everywhere, and that she shouldn't be disappointed when she opened her presents and didn't get it.  priceless :)

then it was time to sing happy birthday and make a little wish...



and of course, eat some cupcakes!

no emerson gathering would be complete without the mandatory family photos.  this first photo definitely captures what really goes on behind the lens, followed by the picture that would normally be posted.  gotta love reality :)

happy 7th birthday, ava!

preston sleeps over...

oh how these two kiddos love each other. When they first get together, you hardly know they are there because they just go off and play. 

we were so excited to have p-diddy come and stay the night with us over the summer.  he was in heaven with all of ava's toys and costumes!



they loved sitting at ava's little pink table for dinner and breakfast :)

and it only took about 20 minutes for a's room to look like this...

a sure sign they had a blast!

preston was in love with one of ava's dolls that he affectionately named "baby sarah".

i think he definitely needs a baby sister :)

they went to sleep in ava's bed, and did great all night.  the next morning after breakfast we headed to the playground for some morning fun.

we are looking forward to many more sleep overs!!!

anniversary weekend...

have i ever told you that i have a pretty sweet job?  if i lived in a fantasy world, i'd only work a few days a week to get out of the house, but that isn't the reality.  i have to work, and i'm lucky enough to go to a job that i really enjoy.  i'm an event coordinator, and vendors are sweet enough to send their products for me to test out [mainly food & hotels...not a bad deal!]

the new omni here in the big d offered me a room to test, and we decided to use it to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary.  brad and sarah's anniversary is 11 days before ours, so we asked them to celebrate with us. [let's be honest, we love spending weekends with them!]

we headed to dallas on saturday afternoon and got all settled in our room with a view.  after getting all fancy, we headed to the tower club where brad and sarah tied the knot 3 years ago. 

7 years...

 3 years...

After dinner we headed to the bar at the hotel for some drinks.  someone [cough-me-cough] had a little too much fun, but it was well worth it.

we slept in the next morning and woke up to a pretty great view...

then it was back to our kiddos and reality :)

i can't imagine celebrating my 7th anniversary with anyone else!

the one where we pretend...

lets pretend....

let's pretend that it's not been months since i last blogged.

let's pretend the the posts you are going to see over the next few days have been here for the last said months.  i want to be able to look back on these posts years from now, so i'm going to do my best to get caught up [atleast post the highlights!].  stay tuned for the following...

anniversary weekend
7 years on july 22...

preston's sleep over

ava turns 7

3 emersons + 3 emersons = 1 family vacation

first day in second grade

we bought a...house!

going back in [medieval] time...

ava's daddy steve, sherry, and uncle micah invited us to join them at medieval times a few weeks ago.  to be honest, i wasn't all that thrilled about going.  i'd been once before several years ago, and didn't remember it being all that exciting.  even ava wasn't too crazy about it.  all that changed when we got inside.  she was the perfect age for it.  she really got into the whole competition aspect of it. 

we were seated in the yellow knight's section, and proudly sported our crowns.

Micah and Ava were pretending they were guards :)



micah dressed up with a tie for the occasion, and ava tried it on ;)



steve and justin

girlfriend ate her chicken AND tomato soup!  she is a picky eater, so this was a BIG deal.  she thought it was crazy to not have silverware to use!

we went on a wednesday night, so it wasn't very crowded.  that meant we were able to sit two rows off the floor, and had prime seats to see/talk to our yellow knight.  ava was cheering for him and the two made eye contact.  ava gave him a thumbs up, and he gave her one right back!  she was in heaven. after he one his first challenge, he received flowers from the princess.  he kissed the flower and threw the first one right to ava!  she thought it was the best!thing!ever!



they also had a hawk that flew around during a part of the show.  i love this video because it shows just how happy ava was! i had so much fun watching her!

we even got suckered into buying the souvenir ;) 

if you have kiddos around ava's age, i highly recommend going to the dinner and show!



family fun on the fourth...

we headed to the in-laws on the fourth of july for some swimming, football, and a cookout. 

preston was ready to go!

his obsession with "gobbles" has continued, and this time he sported these gigantic blue ones.  priceless!

even though he took a time out from swimming to play football, he insisted on wearing his puddle jumper and goggles.  silly boy!



i'm pretty sure ava's only time to get out of the pool was to scarf down a hot dog.  she is a little fish :)

preston was insistent that he could swim all by himself.  little stinker :)

it was hot, so i think everyone was grateful for the pool fun!

this picture of brad and preston cracks me up! like father, like son...

these two pictures are absolutely precious!

one more from our day....the effects of wearing goggles for too long!

it was a great day :)

30 day challenge RESULTS [I didn't die]...

a month ago, i blogged about joining the 30 day/300 ab challenge that i learned about from Shannon over at life after i dew.  at the time, i was four days in, and honestly didn't know if i would/could complete the challenge.  i was sore, and so out of shape. 

here we are, 33 days into the challenge.  i am happy to say that i didn't give up.  but in an effort to be completely honest before showing you the results, i have a few confessions:

1.  the first 10 days, i could not do the scissors.  like, i physically couldn't get my feet off the ground after day one.  so, instead of completely throwing in the towel, i substituted leg lifts for scissors until my core got strong enough to handle the scissors. 

2.  i did not do the challenge for 30 straight days.  i struggled to get myself to do them on saturdays & sundays.  i know that might be pathetic, as it only takes 10-15 minutes to do the whole workout.  again, i wanted to give you full disclosure about my results.

3.  i only lost 2 lbs. during the challenge.  not anything really.  i told myself in the beginning that this challenge would not be a miracle worker.  i am overweight, and completely out of shape.  that being said, i think i had realistic results in my head.  i know that if i want a complete body makeover, its going to take more than a 10-15 minute ab workout.  baby steps, y'all. baby.steps.

4.  i was/am extremely nervous about posting the before AND after pictures.  as i noted on #3, my body is NOT a wonderland.  its defiantly a work in progress.  but i do think that this challenge was totally worth it, and i can definitely see the change. 

i think i have drug my feet long enough.  here is the photographic proof that i did, in fact, complete the challenge!

as i mentioned before, i still have a ton of work to do when it comes to my body and my ultimate goals.  but!but!but!  i am very glad that Shannon gave me the inspiration to do the challenge.  i am by no means ready to rock a bikini, but i do feel a little better that my muffin top isn't as ridiculous as it was before, and that 'the girls' are even a little smaller.  baby steps :)

if you are thinking about doing the challenge, i say GO!FOR!IT!  if you've done the challenge,let me know.  i'd love to see your results and hear your thoughts!

the goal is to keep this up for at least another month.  i've got a date with the beach, and want to feel a little better in the swimsuit, even if it is a one piece ;)



weekend recap...

i love the slower pace of summer. ava's out of school and my work load is pretty light, so we can afford to take long weekends and do fun stuff with some of our favorite people. this weekend, we did just that :) ava & i headed down to mansfield on thursday night for a sleepover with preston & sarah. we ran errands on friday morning, and after lunch and naps, we packed our cooler and bags and headed to a super fun pool for the afternoon! the kids had so.much.fun. sarah bought them goggles before we went, and I think they look so funny on the kids!

preston called them his "gobbles" and would correct me if i said "goggles" ;)

ava wore hers upside down :)

We attempted to get a photo of all four of us, but settled for this one...

so i snapped one of P by himself :)

both kids and mommas had a blast!  preston braved the frog slide...

and ava braved the big slide!

it really was so!much!fun, and i can't wait to do it again :)

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on saturday night, the kids headed so sissy and gpa's house, and brad and sarah took us out for my birthday!  we went to Four Day Weekend in ft. worth and it was really good! 

afterwards, we headed to Uno's for dinner.  i am so lucky to have such an amazing SIL & BIL who wanted to help me ring in my 27th year :)  Thanks s & b :)

i'm looking forward to many more great memories this summer with my people!