It's a girl!!!!!

No, not for me....but Clark and Heather!!!! They just found out that they are having a baby girl!!! We are so excited. I think that we all anticipated another girl. Mom had already bought some girl clothes. This will be grandchild #5 for our family. Poor Joshua is the only boy so far. Her name will be Charlotte Rose Ensminger. (I hope that I spelled that correctly.) We will be having a shower for them at the end of the month. I know, it's a little early, but we are trying to do it before the huge "Duck, Duck, Goose" sale at the beginning of March. I will try to stay away from the bonnets and smocking and vintage baby clothes. Congratulations Clark and Heather!!!!

I loooove bonnets!

Okay, do any of you realize how much I adore bonnets? I understand now which decade I was supposed to be born in. Somewhere in the 30's or 40's. This sweet set that I got for Emma for four dollars!!! Can you believe it. It's vintage, which I adore! I just had to take a picture and post it. Oh, and if you think that this is the only bonnet set that I have hunted down, think again. I will be posting more!!!!
Oh yeah, this is just a brief little update of what the girls did one day. I was busy doing something, I don't remember what, so I checked on them. I went into their bathroom to find that they had taken a rubbermaid container and filled it with water and were taking a bath. What stinkers!!!

Christmas in Gatlinburg

Wow, I'm not sure where to begin. Let's just say that this will definitely be a Christmas to remember. I had this bright idea that we should all have Christmas at a cabin in Gatlinburg. I imagined a less-stressful, event-filled, memorable Christmas. We even invited my Grandmother to join us from Winchester. Well, it wasn't quite what I had in mind. Our cabin was stinky, smaller than it appeared on the website, had a mouse problem, there was a chipmunk that lived somewhere in the kitchen walls and would occasionally jump on top of the stove and also somehow climb underneath the stove and make a racket, there was what I think was a small blood stain on my bedspread, and well, I could go on. HOWEVER, I think that it will also be one of the most memorable Christmas's that we will ever have.

Our girls had so much fun playing with their cousins. I must say that I enjoyed holding a very cute baby boy and really, our objective was achieved. The girls had a blast. They made a gingerbread house together. One day we all walked around some of Gatlinburg's cute shops. My favorite was the candy store. We at lunch on top of a cheese store which was also interesting.

This is Emma throwing a penny in the fountain with Grandmother and below are both of the girls admiring a toy display in one of the windows.


Christmas Eve we first celebrated Emma's third birthday after which we siblings did our traditional gift exchange. Later, Santa (Poppy) made an appearance. The girls were entranced. We took video footage both from outside and inside the window. It was pretty cute.
The fun did not stop there, though. Christmas Eve, in the middle of the night, Emma started having really bad chest pains. We could not console her except by putting her in a warm tub. Mom, Dad, John, and I were up with her through much of the night. We almost took her to the ER, however, there was also a yucky storm going on outside and we were on the top of the mountain. Below is a picture of her and Bella in the loft looking down ready to go down the stairs Christmas morning.
In all seriousness, this was a neat Christmas, maybe a little dirtier than I imagined, but special just the same. I really enjoyed getting to see my grandmother, as well as the rest of my family, and having a reason to be reminded of how much I have to be grateful for. At one point during our stay, in a moment of frustration, I remember thinking, "This is not what I had envisioned for this Christmas with my family." Then later the thought occurred to me that Mary probably did not imagine giving birth to her son in a stable. I was sickened by a chipmunk and mice, but she gave birth to her son in much worse conditions. I don't think that I would have had my mind reflect on those things if I had been staying in a comfortable, luxurious, perfect cabin. It also didn't hurt that we were refunded a good portion of our money for our troubles! All in all, we had a special Christmas and two little girls had the time of their lives. I hope that all of your Christmas's were wonderful as well!

I know

I realize that I have neglected my blog. I'm blaming it on the holidays, which I do enjoy, however, they do not enjoy me. Anyway, we had a great Thanksgiving. We went to Nashville and visited my Dad's extended family. It was nice to see cousins and aunts and uncles that I haven't seen in a while. I must say that they do a nice job of hosting holidays without panicking. I could learn a thing or two from them. It's nice that we have a holiday devoted to thanks and nothing more, well, nothing more than giant meals, however, nice just the same. I am thankful for my family. I have been thinking a lot about them and what kinds of things are most important in my life. It was pointed out to me that it's not the huge parties or craft projects, but the little things, like spending time playing with the girls and just being able to talk to John that are so important.


By the way, we also were able to see Ad'Lynn and Bella and Josh last month. That was fun. I think that Josh is the most handsome baby boy I have ever seen. What a doll!


Lastly, we recently enjoyed our first snow. As I am sure you can tell, it wasn't a huge one, however, it was enough to excite two little girls. Ally enjoyed just running in it and making a tiny snowman. Okay, really I made it under her supervision. It was still fun. Emma kept tasting the snow flakes and touching the snow with her hands. Sweet girls.

Happy Halloween!!!

We had a very fun Halloween this year. I was a little bummed that it rained, however, our church planned their trunk-or-treat on Halloween evening which worked out great given the weather. Ally and Emma were Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, respectively. Emma had a hard time deciding between Cinderella and a kitty cat. I'm rather glad that she chose Cinderella.


We were not the only ones in Princess mode! These are our sweet princesses before candy......

.....and after!

Isn't this sweet?

I realized this year that if you are a cool parent, you dress up for Halloween as well. I didn't get the memo. We passed from trunk to trunk which was decorated so cute with adults handing out fun candy. Then we came to John and Doug in front of Doug's van where John was handing out smarties and dum-dums (cheap candy that no one wants). I don't know why that was so funny to me! The girls didn't seem to mind.

We then came home and ate halloween themed food with a group of our friends and played games while our kids played in the living room. It really was a blast! Hope you all had a fun evening as well!

Just can't get enough

Did I mention that I love the pumpkin patch? Throw some cute girl scouts in there and we're talkin' some sweet memories! Ally's girl scout troop went to the pumpkin patch where they took a hay ride, went through a corn maze, learned about how pumpkins are grown, and drank apple cider. It was adorable. We have a rather large girl scout troop. Thankfully, all of the moms are so kind to help and volunteer. I think that it's going to be a great year!

Winchesters!

Two of my favorite places, home and Winchester! Winchester is where my mom grew up and where my grandmother as well as extended family members live. When I was little, it was my favorite place to visit. I loved everything about it. It was bliss. When we were little we used to call it "Winchesters". My daughters now do the same. My mom has said that every child needs a place outside of mom and dad where they feel unconditionally loved. Winchester was that place for me. My grandmother used to drive us to this old country store where we picked out red hots and lemon heads every time. One the way over she would sing, "Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go!". We looked forward to going to church with Poppy and taking trips to Wal-mart with Aunt-Mel. My grandmother would cook anything that your heart desired. We would also get to see my great, great, Aunt Hazel who lived next door and go shopping with her and Grandmother. Even in her 90's, Aunt Hazel loved to shop. My favorite pastime in Winchester, though, was prowling through my grandparents' closets! I could spend hours doing this and must admit that at times I still wish that I could! It's neat to see how my daughters are now getting to experience those sweet memories. Here they are during our visit for fall break!