Monceaux.org

We had a fun time celebrating Emma Grace's birthday this weekend. Her
party was Saturday, and she had a GREAT time. She got lots of stuff. She mostly only opened presents from her guest, because we would still be there opening all of Grammy's present. She got Snap on Clothes baby dolls, Cabbage Patch baby, Winnie the Pooh movie, a Little Mommy doll, ABC blocks, a LeapFrog mini piano, a dress, a necklace, Sit n Spin, another Little Mommy doll, LOTS of clothes, money and a saving bond. She was so excited when we arrived at the party. I decorated the outside of the building with pinwheel flowers and balloons. Then we went inside and she was so excited. She didn't know where to go. I decorated the tables with water cans, metal buckets with flowers on them, flower and butterfly confetti, curled ribbon, number 2's, flower die cuts, and ladybug die cuts. In the metal buckets, I put shredded green tissue paper and put butterfly, dragonflies and flowers sticking up out of the buckets. Last year, we had a picture of Emma Grace from every month up to her birthday. I did that again and hung them from the blades of the fans. (No, we didn't turn the fans on) I also put groups of balloons in different areas floating from the ceiling. The kids loved playing with those, especially Sarah. She was so much fun to watch. Emma Grace was to busy playing with her Snap on Clothes dolls, but she joined Sarah after a while. Valarie also joined in on the balloon fun.

After the party was over, it was clean up time. We took the balloons out to let them go, and Emma Grace thought that was fun. At first, she would say "Oh, no… stop boon" or she would wave and tell them bye. Bless her heart she was EXHAUSTED after the party. She didn't even want to stop and eat during the party. She went to bed early that night, but woke up before midnight crying her heart out. She never cries like this. I thought maybe she didn't feel well, but I knew she had eaten much all day. We decided to give her a bottle and she downed it and started screaming when she was finished. Wes fixed her another one, and she downed it. She was fine after the second bottle and played her little heart out with her new babies. Wes decided to fix her some Mac 'n Cheese. He couldn't get it in her mouth fast enough. If he tried to take a bite, she was opening her mouth following the spoon to his. We know who got that bite. Tammy was still here and I told her that I couldn't stay awake any longer, since it was 2am and I had gotten up at 8 and didn't go to bed until 3:30 the night before. Needless to say I was EXHAUSTED. Tammy decided she would put Emma Grace in her room with the gate up, and Tammy would lie on the floor. Emma Grace walked all over her, told her to "ake up", and played till she fell asleep.

I had to wake Emma Grace up around 1 on her birthday. Bless her heart; birthday party just tired her out. We were going to open the rest of her gifts, but I found out the team I hosted at the state tournament last year in Winnsboro was playing in Alexandria. Emma Grace opened one gift, and said "new clothes". We left at 5 for their 6:00 game. We got there around 7, and they were winning 12-0 in the 4th inning. We only got to watch one inning b/c they called it after 5 innings. Mr. Roger and Ms. Anna (their daughter plays on the team and they fell in love with Emma Grace last year) were so excited to see us. We talked with them for a while. They couldn't believe how much Emma Grace had grown. There were four girls from last year's team. They recognized Emma Grace. We didn't get to talk to them much because their coach is very strict, which is good if you want to keep the girls focused. It just amazes me that it the same coach that coached when I was playing. I will not say how long ago that has been, but I will say this it has been over 10 years. That is a long time to coach a bunch of teenage girls especially this day and time. He had much grayer/whiter hair and I certainly understand why. I just hated that we didn't get down there in time enough to visit more. If they continue to win, we might go back down.

Well, I better go see what there is to cook for supper. Until next time…..

We have been very busy this past month with ball pictures and getting ready for Emma Grace's birthday. Wes went to Pittsburgh last month. Originally, he was to be there for a week, but he was only there for three days. We were supposed to go the Peach Festival, but the a/c went out on Wednesday of that week and we were not able to finish up all the stuff for it. Tammy came over to help me, but we couldn't stay in the house. Thank goodness it was fixed in a day. Instead of the Peach Festival, we sat up a booth at the all-star tournament in Winnsboro and did quite well. We took all the younger girls pics except for three teams. One of those teams wanted us to do it, but they lost out before we could take their picture. Wes finished those up this weekend and I will mail them in the morning. I FINALLY finished Emma Grace's birthday invitations. That was a chore, but it was worth it. Grammy and I went to Vicksburg on Saturday to finish up shopping for presents and decorations. Grammy spent WAY TOO MUCH money. I will just say this Emma Grace will not need another pair of pj's til she is 10. She told me she stood up for four days out of week at the ballpark and she could spend her money any way she wanted to spend it. She said she wanted to spend it on Emma Grace. On Sunday, Tammy and Abby came to visit. Abby is going to Dallas on Thursday with her mom, so she will not be able to come to Emma Grace's party on Saturday. She wanted to bring Emma Grace her presents. They went with us to take pictures for the 4th of July cards, which I am currently working on. I am also trying to get all the party stuff together. Looks like a busy week ahead. I am hoping Wes can put up some photos soon. Emma Grace has certainly been entertaining us lately. If she loses her pacifier, she calls out "paapaa, r u". It is so cute. She loves Tammy's dog Shooter. She calls him "Shooo Shooo". She was excited to see Abby yesterday. She hugged and hugged her. She will probably not be happy when they head home today. Tammy is coming back later on in the week to help with the party.

We head to Houston at the end of this month. We will leave on the 27th and head to Biloxi to see Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Then, if Auntie Kim will have us, we will make our way to New Orleans to see her and then Houston. We are thinking about taking Emma Grace to Kemah, which is south of Houston. It has eating places, shopping, rides and is on the water. We are also looking at going to see the Braves play. We never made it last year, so I want to take Emma Grace this year. She LOVES to play ball. She will get one of her many bats and one of her many balls and say come. She will give you the ball and you pitch it to her. When it hits the bats, she lays the bat down and runs. She will do this over and over. She knows how to hold the bat, so it looks like we have a ballplayer on our hands. I cannot wait for her to play. It is going to be so much fun.

Well, I guess I better get busy making 4th of July cards. Hopefully, Wes can put some photos up soon. Updates should come more frequent now that we shouldn't be as busy as we have been, but who knows. Until next time…… Take care….