Christmas Time is Here!

I know, I know. I've been behind on my blogging; however, since December 1st to now I have had 11 parties. Each of them have been so much fun, but I am partied out! I'm so thankful that the Lord has blessed me with such an abundance of friends that I can surround myself with! Honestly, I feel like my life is one big continuous party because I just enjoy each day to the fullest and have so much fun doing it!

My first Christmas party was at Mrs. Barbara's house. The "Golden Girls" (see a few blog posts below) were all in attendance at this party along with several other of Mrs. B's friends.
Barbs, Me and Francie

These are a few of my J.A.M. (Judson Arts Ministry) kiddos before their Christmas program. They worked so hard and did a fabulous job! I'm sure that many of you are thinking, "Emilee? Working with children?" I must admit that this is completely out of my 'comfort zone', but I have really enjoyed working with this rambunctious group and I think that they have taught me more than I have possibly taught them. It's amazing how God works like that!

For one of the sounds, Mrs. Susan taught some of the kids to play the hand chimes. You may also notice the beautiful banners in the background--my kids worked very hard to make these for the Christmas program (thanks Mrs. Susan for your leading role in the banners! They looked great!

Next I had another party at Mrs. Barbara's with our Life Group (Sunday School). We had so much fun as usual. Finally a pic of all 4 "Golden Girls"! Our Life Group Leader, Jenny--such an amazing woman with so many talents!

Then, day while I was at work I was pleasantly surprised to have a little visitor stop by! My boss brought his son with him for a little bit. So The Bear came and sat with me at my desk for a little while to play. Unfortunately I don't keep a toy stash at work so the pink scarf was entertaining for a little bit. The Bear is such a cutie and I can't believe how fast he is growing!





Since it is 1:45 a.m. and I am starting to close my eyes, I am going to call it a night and will continue with more fun pics from this month's various fiascos soon!

Scrooges...

...yeah I live with two of them!

I got home last night and decided that I wanted to starting setting out my snow village. I made a deal with my roommates that I wouldn't set out my actual Christmas decorations until this coming up weekend (they are scrooges and the Christmas spirit doesn't hit them basically until Christmas day and for that day only). Anyways, so I decided that I was just going to set out my snow villages. I don't consider that as 'Christmas decor'--it's more of just winter time decorations. Anyway, Amy was totally against it and decided to latch herself onto my bistro table so that I couldn't move it over to the 'snow village area'. Jessica was peacefully asleep in her room until she was woken up to Amy screaming "JESSICA--HELP! WE CAN'T LET THIS HAPPEN YET!"Bah-humbug to them both! I won though...the snow village is up, but not completed yet. I will post pics of it later, but Jessica couldn't pass up the opportunity of getting a pic of me trying to pry Amy off the table first!

Halloween at The Flat

This year, me and the roomies hosted a Halloween party at The Flat (our apt). We thought long and hard about what our costume was going to be this year (we were trying to top last year's costume (the Spice Girls--which was a big hit!); however, this year it was only the 3 of us for a group costume. So we thought and thought and what else would be better than 'saving the world before bedtime'?!--you got it--The Power Puff Girls! Bubbles (Jess), Blossom (Amy) & Buttercup (Yours Truly).

Bubbles, Blossom and Buttercup

Bubbles "The Cute One"
Blossom "The Smart One"
Buttercup "The Tough One"

"Saving the world before bedtime" (by beating up the Jon the Pirate)
We had such a great time with a great group and can't wait until next year!

The 4th Golden Girl

The Golden Girls is one of those shows that I rarely watch, but when I do catch it on television, I always get a great laugh watching what those four ladies always get themselves into. My favorite thing about the show is the theme song: "Thank you for bein' a friend. Traveled down the road and back again Your heart is true your a pal and a confidant. And if you through a party Invited everyone you ever knew You would see the biggest gift would be from me And the card attached would say thank you for being a friend."

My Life Group (Sunday school class) gets together once a month to go out and eat, talk, catch up and get to know each other better. I really love my group of ladies I am with. Last night we met at Chili's and it was just a small group last night, but we had a blast. I am the youngest in my class, but I think it is so much fun because the broad age range in our class brings out such variety and different perspectives to life and different stories we have. We had the best time sitting around the table laughing and talking about funny experiences that we have encountered in our lives.

I'm so thankful that God has provided me with such godly women that I can laugh and talk with, but more importantly look up to as a Christian example and listen to how they have handled problems/dilemmas in their own lives. God is so amazing!

While I was sitting beside Mrs. Frances last night, I leaned over and told her that she and Mrs. Barbara and their other friend, Mrs. Ruby are definitely today's Golden Girls, but I wasn't sure who the frouth one was...I think I've decided I'm going to be the 4th Golden Girl!

Thank you Lord, for blessing me with my 'Golden Girl' friends!

Celebrating 30...80's Style!

My good friends Ben and Tatum turned 30 last week. So they had a birthday party, but this was not your typical 30th birthday party by any means. They rented out the skating rink and everyone was to come in their best 80's garb they could find! We skated to the best 80's music and has such a great time! Ben and Tatum are such sweet people. There were probably at least 50 friends and family there to celebrate with them. Here are a few pics of the Judson gang sporting their awesome outfits!

Eric, Robbie, Curtis and Chris

Sarah, Cara, Christine, Laine and Sara

Cara, Me, Tatum, Emily and Sarah

Me and Laine

We had such a great time celebrating Ben and Tatum's 30th Birthday. They are such sweet people to me. Happy Birthday Ben and Tatum!! I love y'all!

It's been a while...

Well, I must say that I have been quite the slacker with my blog over the past 5 months. Things have been so crazy I just haven't even had time to keep it updated. Plus, I was in my best friend, Jessica's wedding back in June and I accidentally left my camera there (in Michigan). Somehow between it getting from Detroit to Nashville, someone realized a camera was in that box and thought they needed it more than me. So I've also been without a camera this whole time and haven't been able to capture what's been going on in my crazy life. So I've got a camera on my wishlist for Christmas this year (**Hint hint!)

To sum up the last few months I was going back and forth to Mississippi alot in June and July because Mom had surgery. Once again, God never ceases to amaze me. The doctors were so amazed at how well Mom did with the surgery and even the recovery. Plus, there was a bonus--she even got to stop taking her blood pressure medicine--and she has been taking BP meds as long as I can remember.

I was able to squeeze a Florida trip in as well to meet precious Abigail "Abby" Grace. My best friend Wendy had her bundle of joy in January. I was a few months late getting down there, but we had such a great time visiting and playing with sweet Abby.

I went out to Arizona for a week this summer to visit my sister and brother-in law Ashlee and Billy. Which BY THE WAY...I am going to be an Aunt! I can't wait to meet sweet little Elizabeth "Ella" Grace! Ashlee and Billy are going to be great parents (even though it's still a little frightening to think of Billy being a dad!--haha. just kidding Billy!).

Well, that's enough updates for now. I will have more updates in the next blog soon!

Tour de Nash

I woke up at 6:45 this morning to get ready to go downtown and do the Tour de Nash 5k. It was a 'rain or shine' event and sadly when I woke up I realized it was raining. I met up with my friend Tina T and we met Aprille G at the Titans stadium to get the party started! About the first half was rain. It wasn't too bad though. It definitely kept us cool! We had such a great time.

**Sorry these are so out of order**

Headed to the starting line

I took my shoes off as soon as I was finished because they were soaked.

We are tough!

Me, Tina and Aprille before we got started.

We had such a great time!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

I hope you had a great day!
1.4.3~Em

A great day for my first 5k!

Today I participated in my first 5k (3.1 miles) run/walk. My friend Tina went with me and I'm so glad that she was there to keep me motivated. Thankfully the Lord held the rain until right after we finished! It was such a great time and I look forward to doing many more of these and hopefully get faster each time. We finished this one in 44 minutes and 21 seconds. I was proud of my time since this was my first one and when I've been training my time was 51:00!

Here is Tina and I BEFORE...

And here were are AFTER!! I survived!

Shower for Dand and Baby Andrews

Last week the TLC girls had a little get together at Panchos (the best Mexican restaurant ever) to celebrate the eagerly awaited arrival of Baby Andrews. We can't wait to see if it's going to be a boy or a girl. It was such a great time for us girls to get to visit and laugh and eat and watch Dana open her presents for her little bundle of joy! We can't wait to see you baby Andrews!

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Nancy, Dana M, Brandy, Alison, Dana A, Hayley, Shalia, Debbie, Me, Teresa, & Jenny

Dodgeball Mania!

A few weeks ago, our church held the first annual dodgeball tournament.  It was open to all ages.  There ended up being 22 teams to play.  It was so exciting.  Many of the teams made shirts or wore crazy socks or head bands.  There were 2 dodgeball games being playing in the gym at one time with 5 minute rounds with 6 dodgeballs per team.  Can you just imagine the madness? The gym was packed by players and spectators.  Before the games began, the ring leader of the tourney forewarned all the spectators that if they were in the gym, there was a guarantee they would probably get hit--look out!  I was one of the referees and let me tell you...this was no easy task!  We had to put our mean faces on and call it like we saw it! It was so much fun and I look forward to the next tournament.  

Sarah, Tatum, me, Leslie and Marianne with our referee shirts and whistles!--So professional!

To view more pics from the dodgeball tournament go to www.judsonrecreation.com 

You are invited!

My church, Judson Baptist Church, is having our Open House this Sunday, February 8, 2009.  Instead of having 2 services like usual, we will be having one big service at 10:00 a.m.  It will be a great time for anyone to come and visit if you are looking for a church family.  

Also, from 2:00 p.m.-4:00p.m. everyone is welcome to come back and have refreshments and take a tour of our new addition to to our church building as well as other renovations that have been made.   It is a beautiful place that we can come to worship and now continue to grow our church family by utilizing the new facilities the Lord has provided and we would love for you to come and celebrate with the Judson family!

Here is a link to our church website: www.judsonbaptist.com

I hope to see you there!

I'm finally an Aunt!!!

...but just to clear things up, Ashlee or Laura Lee have not had kids in case I confused you.  Abigail "Ab

by" Grace Padot finally decided to grace the world with her presence on January 18, 2009 around 5:00 a.m.  She is so cute and I can't wait to see her in person.  She weighed 7 pounds and 6 ounces.  Wendy and Davey are going to be some of the best parents!

I've always cringed at the jokes about being called "Auntie Em" like from the Wizard of Oz, but little Abby is just so darn cute, I guess I will make the exception! 

Welcome home sweet Abby! ~1 4 3 ~Auntie Em

Girls Just Wanna Have fun!

Well, tonight was our second girl's night a.k.a Fat Friday with some girls from church and I must say I think we all had a fabulous time.  Thanks to Leslie for opening her home to all of us to come and hang out for a while.  We had such a great time and I was so glad to get to meet some new people.  I look forward to the next Girl's Night!

Here is a group pic of the gang!

Laine, Sara, Tatum, Emily, Marianne, Christine

Kathy, Me, Leslie, Heather, Kelly, Sara and Julie

Urgent Prayer Request

My best friend, Jessica Locklear,from college found out this week that her father was diagnosed with cancer this week in his back/spine. I don't know exactly what kind it is or anything like that, but please remember to pray for Ricky Locklear and his family. Bro. Rick is in excrutating pain. These people are like family to me and I know they would all appreciate your prayers.

Here are a few things you can pray specifically for:
*Pray for Bro. Rick while he is in so much pain.
*Pray for his family during this difficult time for rest, peace and endurance.
*Pray for the doctors and nurses that are taking care of him that God would give them the wisdom to know what to do and how to treat.

Project: Sweet Tea

This post is mainly for my sister Laura.  I've been wanting a Tea Maker for a while and don't know why I haven't just gone out and bought one, but thanks to Laura I am a proud owner of a Tea Maker.  

Now, there are two kinds of tea: 1) Sweet Souther Tea and 2) Nasty Tea (anything other than Sweet Souther Tea).   Now, normally it is scary business when I get in the kitchen and try to make mostly anything, but the one thing that I can make that is delicious is Sweet Tea!  

So I started out reading my directions for my Mr. Coffee Tea Maker to make sure I wouldn't blow it up on the first attempt.  I followed the directions just as it said and since I was trying new things I thought I would try using Splenda instead of real sugar.  I must admit I was a little nervous.  

A few minutes later, I had my first pitcher of Sweet Tea from the tea maker and I must say it was fabulous!  I look forward to the next glass! 

Taste Test:

Yummy Stuff! 

Thanks Laura!