Camping over Memorial Day

Terry and I had been talking about wanting to go camping recently when we realized we had to go...now or (a) it would be too hot (b) I would be too pregnant or (c) we would have a newborn.  We threw the idea out to my brother and sister and they were all on board.  Hopefully this can be an annual tradition now - we had a blast!

We camped at Jordan Lake in Durham so the kids got to swim in the lake Sunday night and again Monday morning. Emerson is a fish and loves the water so I hope we can keep her around the water more this summer. It makes it extra fun when you have a dad like Terry who can endlessly and tirelessly twirl you around in the water.

One of the highlights of the trip for Emerson came in the lake when she was swimming with Terry and told him she needed to go to the bathroom. He told her she could pee in the water - because let's be honest, that is actually completely disgusting...but we all do it.  She couldn't believe she was allowed to do this and you could tell as she finally started to go because she started smiling then giggling and then ended up in the deepest belly laugh. She says it was one of her favorite parts of the trip 'when (she) pee-peed on the fish,' and later told me, "I hope that fish took a shower!"
It was so fun to watch Em and Caleb run around the campsite together, eating packet meals, roasting s'mores and shining their little flashlights around the woods. Neither one of them batted an eyelash at the darkness, sleeping in a tent, or being outside. 

Caleb and I were the first ones up out of our tents Monday morning and I took him to 'water the plants' as he said. Here was another highlight of the trip for the kids - yes, again about peeing. As Caleb started to pee a cricket hopped out from under him and he almost fell over laughing that he had peed on a cricket.  He and Em laughed about it all morning and Emerson is still talking about it!  Here are the bedheads counting out their morning breakfast loot -

Here's to next year's trip with a new family member for us, and though we had an airbed in our tent, we might try to make it even fancier next year - think along these lines.  But I am still sticking with packet meals for dinner - how can meat and potatoes taste so good when you camp anyway??

Daddy-Daughter Weekend

So a couple of weekends ago I had the pleasure of having a daddy-daughter weekend while Ellen was away for some continuing education classes in Nashville. It was a blast and exhausting at the same time. This would be the longest I had ever had her by myself (3 nights) so I wanted to make sure we stayed busy and I documented it with pictures (sorry for the poor phone quality). We tackled a lot...

It was a special time for us and I relished the opportunity to get to spend some great one-on-one time. I will keep this short because I know my favorite thing about blogs are the pictures. Just like a man huh? - with Ellen you get great insight, incredible wisdom and sweet little stories. Me, you get pictures!

Thursday we had dinner at Chipotle, probably the worst self portrait ever.

A great one of her through the front door of her doll house.

We went to the park for World Day, where they had vendors and booths from all over the world (she dressed herself by the way, so cute).

Enjoying a massive fried cheese stick…from Mexico.

Then we when to Ikea after her nap to get another bookshelf for her growing collection of books and I thought it would be fun for her to play in the kids area. Of course we had to partake in a cinnamon roll! We shared it and she was eating it so fast so I started eating fast also because I didn’t want her to eat too much so she took a bunch at the end and stuffed her face. I thought it was hilarious.

Sunday after church went up to my brother’s house and to hang out with the cousins and Grandma and Poppy (they came it town just to see everybody). Em and Joseph - they could be brother and sister.

Doing a puzzle with Sam.

Jen made some popcorn with coconut oil, which I was really skeptical of by the way.  I have to admit it was pretty amazing. My mom, Jen and I killed a huge bowl of it standing right at the kitchen island.   

Finally Sunday night before heading home we went to eat at a Taco place in Birkdale. It was fun  & they had these games the kids could play right there on the table. 

Overall the weekend was pretty exhausting but it was really great and the highlight was some point at Ikea Emerson said to me "Dad I really like hanging out with you!" That's when I realized - wow I am hooked... 

Terry Michael Jerome Bruce

Introductions

Emerson wanted to introduce you all to the newest addition to our family (don't worry - still in-utero, it hasn't been that long since I blogged)!

Here is her baby brother!

We are so excited, and let's be honest, I'm a little nervous, about this baby boy!  I know what I need to know about raising little girls and feel a bit intimidated about raising a boy...but then again, I guess I didn't know anything about raising a little girl before I had one!  This guy is already turning out to be a true Bruce baby, when we went for our ultrasound, his weight was 'supposed' to be 3.5 ounces, and he is already measuring in at 9 ounces.  And no, that is not a typo.  And no, they did not change my due date.  Just a BIG baby.  What a nice way to ease me into motherhood little 6 lb 5 ounce Emerson was...now here's the real deal!

That little girl has got some big personality and the biggest heart.  Below this picture of my hipster daughter wearing her daddy's sunglasses and Saturday post-nap play clothes (we think a baby brother will fit in just fine at our house!) are some quotes I sent to family this week in an email from some adorable things she said this past weekend that have melted our hearts.  Enjoy!

Sunday morning while eating breakfast Emerson told me out of the blue, "I want to play with my cousins today."  That morning,  Chris and Jen were running late for church and decided at the last minute to come to Elevation instead - we got to have lunch with everyone and had such a fun time!  At lunch, in the bathroom, little Em was sitting on the potty and said, "Mom, I told God thank you for letting me play with my cousins."

While we were setting up breakfast for the band, she asked me, "Mom, what does God say to me?"  I asked her what she meant, and she said, "What does God say to me when I am in heaven?"  I told her He said He loves her and is so glad that she loves Him too!

Later, walking through the basement of the church, you could hear Pastor Steven through the intercom preaching, she stopped and said excitedly: "Who is that?  Is that God talking to me?!"  

Sometimes at night, she asks me to 'sing shh' to her like when she was a baby - she asked for this last night and while I was doing it, she said "God tells me 'shhh' sometimes too."  I said, "He does?  When does He say that?"  She told me, "He tells me 'shh' when my heart is feeling worried."

This morning eating breakfast together, she said, "Mom, tell me I am amazing."  I had no problem telling her how amazing she is :)

New life through Easter

Easter was a little bit of a whirlwind for us this year since we had been travelling.  We got back to Emerson in Durham in time for dinner on Saturday night and then hauled back to Charlotte and tucked in bed around 11:00 before a quick sleep and quick wake up.  Terry and I both volunteer at church, which we have loved being a part of; it just means an earlier start.  Terry volunteers and leads in two areas - Connections and something called 'Next Level.'  He helps people who are new get connected at/in the church and praying with people after services.  He is made for this in my mind, and I love to see him being a part of this.  I do something called Band Hospitality which just means that I make breakfast for the band.  Our band at Elevation is incredibly talented, and it's an honor to get to serve them.  Thanks to Pinterest, I haven't even run out of new breakfast ideas.  Thankfully Emerson loves being at church and is comfortable and familiar with all the people she is with and easily hangs out there with us for several hours on the weekends.  Easter service was again amazing as it was last year.  It isn't posted yet as I write this blog, but hopefully when it posts for you, the service will be up on the website so you can check it out.  

One part of the Pinterest inspired breakfast, photo tweeted by one of the band members:

After church, we just hung out outside enjoying the fresh air as a family.  Emerson read the Sunday paper, mowed the lawn with a lawn mower she picked up from Caleb's house, and found a roly poly with her dad, which she thought was very cool.  She has a Scholastic video with a little show called "Bugs, Bugs, Bugs," which she loves.  It has a roly poly in it and she always laughs at it with Terry; so they were excited to find a real one and see how it rolled into a little ball!

No joke, when she picked up the comics, she said, "Here's the one for kids."  

We didn't talk a ton about Easter this year for several reasons - we weren't together the week before, and how do you broach death on a cross with a 2 year old?  We did read Easter books about Jesus, and if you ask Emerson why we celebrate Easter, she will tell you it's because we are celebrating that Jesus is in heaven - which we are, so at least we have laid the foundation in the right place!  Again, thanks to Pinterest, Emerson got to eat her Easter dinner out of Easter eggs (while in her pjs), which she thought was so great that we have been packing her lunch that way the rest of the week so far.  

Hope you all had a good Easter, and this little girl... 

wanted to tell you in light of celebrating new life at Easter...

Surprise!  Family of four in October, here we come!  Now you know why I let my ironing pile grow for several weeks.  I had been exhausted beyond reason but am back to the land of the living and we are all as excited as Emerson is in this picture!

Spring Break

I know you are going to be surprised that this is going to be another cell phone upload update...and that it is again long overdue.  Hopefully the exorbitant amount of pictures I'm about to post will make up for all of that.  Before I get into 'spring break,' I should back up a weekend to when Emerson and I took a girls' trip to Georgia to visit Kristi and Carver.  I didn't take my camera with me, but it was such a fun quick trip and you can read all about it here.  No really, you should, they had so much fun!

Last week was my mom's spring break from school - she is a 1st grade teacher extraordinaire.  It was also Beth's youngest daughter's spring break, and they took the week to go to the beach - I felt a little jealous but was so excited for them to have a week away, we all know she works so hard to help us raise our little girl so well and want her to have all the breaks and respite she deserves!  I am really sad to say that after an entire week with her Grammy, I don't have a single picture of them together from the week!  Mom came to our house  to keep Emerson Monday & Tuesday and while she was here, she did what she always does - plays maid!  I promise my house is clean, but she loves to clean, so I had inadvertently (maybe) been storing up a huge pile of ironing for her, and she totally knocked it out.  Gary Chapman might need to add a 6th Love Language, and it would be ironing...and it might be mine.  As in, iron for me to show me love, clearly not that I iron to show you love! :)  Thanks mom!  Meanwhile, she played and played and played with Emerson who chose her Grammy over her mommy the entire week.  That was okay with me though because that's how I want their relationship to be; I love how they love each other.  Wednesday, they went to Winston and then Friday traveled a little further to Durham to spend the night at Adam & Ashley's with Caleb.  Meanwhile, back home, Terry and I traveled Thursday-Saturday to Asheville for our 5 year anniversary trip.  How in the world 5 years has come and gone is beyond me - 5 amazing years!  We had the best time and are so thankful for all the people who love our girl so well to have let us go on our trip and feel so restful and confident that she was so well taken care of and having a blast without us!  Here's a photo tour of her week via my phone and pics sent to me from Grammy & Laura's phones:

While Grammy was here, we walked to Rita's and Emerson enjoyed 3 sample cups full of italian ice

Her hair had gotten absurdly long, so when they got to Winston, mom took her to get her hair cut with our beloved Ashley who cuts our hair - her little hair cut is so cute to me!  There was always a chipmunk, bunny, mouse, or other creature sharing a meal with Emerson at mom's house!

Emerson worked hard to help mom plant some new flowers in her planters by the front door and water them in true Emerson fashion - half naked.  She prefers this way because she loves to have her little body sprayed with the hose!  Hope this isn't inappropriate...do I need to make this blog private??

Every good gardener deserves a popsicle for their hard day's work!

Or maybe they just get ice cream because they are at their Grammy's house.  See all the little creatures again?  The chipmunk is the infamous "Chippy" who likes to live in her armpit, as she and Caleb sang about in a previous video post.

The two silly cousins before bed one night - I am told they had an absolute blast together and played hard together Friday & Saturday!

Eating a muffin the size of her head for breakfast one morning

Meanwhile, we, the parents, were still off enjoying this (ah, Asheville, how I love you...)

And when we got back to pick Em up in Durham, after a delicious dinner at Adam's house, the kids had a quick pajama egg hunt before we hopped in the car

More on Easter coming up later this week!  Thanks Grammy, Laura, Adam, Ashley & Rocky-Pop for playing with and loving on our little girl.  Especially you Grammy, we all love you and are so thankful for you and ALL you did for all of us this past week!

Sleepovers and Cousins

Long time since I've been here on the blog, just here for a quick video upload.  Emerson and I had a whirlwind weekend in Winston while Terry was at the beach on a guys' weekend.  We went and spent the night with Aunt 'Betta' at her parents' house which I feel mostly certain I haven't done since highschool, and I decided that grown ups should have more sleepovers at friends houses, we had a great time.  Emerson especially who was quite smitten with Rebecca's dad, Wayne, who all children call Wee-Wah, unless of course you can't say your 'w' in which case (as is Emerson's), you call him Lee-Lah. At bedtime, she asked me where Lee-Lah was and when I told her he was in the den, she paused a minute and then just said, "I like him."  Sweet girl.  We had dinner and Emerson spent her first whole night in a big bed (which she does at nap already), went out for a yummy breakfast, took her to play on the playground at our elementary school, had a great lunch, and dyed Easter eggs.  This was Emerson's first egg dyeing experience, and she did great!  Somehow it is possible that neither Rebecca or I had our cameras with us this weekend, so these are all off of Rebecca's cell phone.  

(We have been working on our 'regular' smile for the camera - I think this one is her best to date! 

I do adore her cheesy little grin!)

That afternoon, my mom was keeping Caleb, so we went to her house as a surprise and spent the afternoon with them.  While it was a great surprise for my mom, Caleb & Em, and while my mom might argue, it was best for my heart and soul to just get to spend a day at home with my mama!  Em and Caleb do have such a great time playing together these days which is so fun to watch.  We got to have an anatomy lesson at bathtime during which Caleb suggested that maybe Emerson would grow a penis later because "his mom says his will grow," - which still has me laughing.  Later we took the kids to the playground at my mom's school and to play in her classroom; had a relaxing dinner around the house and then sadly had to hit the road back to Charlotte.  Emerson loves to play with this little chipmunk at my mom's house, "Chippy," and several times ago when we were at mom's house, Emerson hid Chippy in her armpit, which is now her favorite joke on earth.  She and Caleb had a great time jumping and dancing to their made up "Chippy in my armpit" song which you'll see in this video.  Listen to Caleb turn the song into something about "his butt" halfway through the clip - he is so 100% boy right now and it is hilarious how he wants to turn all conversation in this direction - little boys will be little boys!  And let's be honest, Emerson probably would have joined in had she realized what was going on! 

A picture is worth...

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” 
― C.S. Lewis