The Encore

You knew her when she was just a simple acappella blues nursery rhyme singer....well, now, three months later, (courtesy of mom and dad) she's packing the six-string. With her guitar in tow, Emma now travels the country as Emma K. - Country Singer. Concert tickets are available by contacting Haynes Booking Agency...or TicketMaster (well...maybe not that last one.)

Here's her encore performance. Sit back. Relax. And enjoy.
(This actually was the first thing she sang within five minutes of having this out of the box this morning.)

See What We Can Do

I am swallowing my pride and posting the above video. It is just too cute (of Emma). Not so much of me, but Emma insisted I play along as we had a "mini-parade" through the house. It is just one of the many times I will embarrass myself for the fun-sake of my kids, I'm sure. :) She recently got this red microphone from Carsen and it plays music. She was having a ball...

And below, Caleb finally started talking!!! Hope you enjoy his newest words... I forgot how fun it is to watch little babies talk. He is very proud of himself and acts as if he truly believes he is interjecting vital points into any conversation.

Eight Months Old!!!

"Hi everyone! I gave Mommy a workout trying to snap this photo...I am such a busy little bee these days and just want to crawl around, stand up, etc. Basically anything but sit still somewhere.

"I am growing like a weed and am in 12 month clothes!!! Mommy can't believe it. I also just got my 5th tooth the other day and am expecting my 6th one any day now. Some of my new favorite toys this month are the Christmas tree and shiny ornaments. We also have a singing Frosty the Snowman that Emma got for Christmas last year and I have pretty much taken it over. I LOVE him...I finally rolled over to my right side for the first time this week because I was wanting to hold him so bad and Frosty happened to be on my right side. I know my physical therapist is going to be so proud of me. Oh, I also love playing in my sister's room too...she always has the coolest things to play with (like purses, dolls, and play-kitchen food, ha)!

"I look forward to seeing many of you again over the Christmas holiday! For some, we will be meeting each other for the first time...can't wait! I love each of you and hope you have a Merry Christmas! Until next month!" ---Caleb

It's Christmastime in the City

Caleb is pulling up on everything...here he was standing up looking out the window.

Another masterpiece...Emma wanted to learn how to draw Lucy (her cat). I showed her once, and presto!!! This is what she did. Amazing!

Cheese!!!!!

Caleb has been crawling into Emma's room a lot lately. Bless him...he always ends up playing with a girlie toy... today's find was a pink purse.

Emma had another interaction with Tom the Talking Tomcat (on Alli's phone) this week. She loved him so much she wanted her picture taken with him. :)

Our two best presents are under the tree.


Daddy is in hog-heaven in this picture...he LOVES to have his head scratched, and he found someone who will do it! Emma was playing along...we'll see how long it lasts.

Well, here we are, 13 days into our Jesse Tree devotionals. They have been going great. Emma loves coloring her page each morning that corresponds to the devotion we do before bedtime. She enjoys putting her pages up on the ribbon each night too. Things she has learned:
1. The stump represents Jesse, and the branch is Jesus.
2. Joseph wore the coat.
3. Jesus is our Lamb.
It will be neat to see what the kids absorb each year as we continue the tradition as they get older.

"All the Time!!!"

Read this before you check out the above video:
Aunt Alli has a "Talking Tomcat" app on her fancy-smancy phone. When you look at the screen, you see a little cartoon cat...you can say something, and the Tomcat records what you say, but repeats it back to you in a funny, high-pitched voice. Emma LOVED it, as you will see. She said, "I like her...All the time!!!" This was a new phrase we had never heard before. She was absolutely beside herself. Adam would like me to clarify...He was talking in a funny voice in hopes that the cat would repeat back what he said in a normal voice. (he doesn't talk that goofy all the time, thank goodness!)
So, if anyone would like to buy her (or her Mommy or Daddy) one of these fancy-smancy phones so Emma can see the talking Tomcat again, feel free to do so. ;) ha

Ready for Christmas

We got our house decorated for Christmas this past week. Emma was ready for bed the night we put up the tree, but we let her get out and help put a few branches on. We had Chris Tomlin's new album playing while we were decorating, and (above) all of a sudden, she stopped decorating and started "praising God." Music moves her heart so much, and she loves to sing/hear songs about God. It almost moves me to tears to watch. It is precious.

Daddy showed her how to "fluff" the branches.

This makes the 3rd year that Emma has got to put the star on the tree...Adam and I said that we'd have to be fair this year and let Caleb have a turn. So...we tried, but the little stinker would NOT touch the star for anything! He'll crawl anywhere to touch anything in the hopes of putting it in his mouth, but the one thing we wanted him to touch, he wouldn't.

Guess who is pulling up and STANDING now!?!?!? Yep...our lil' C!

Now for a few of our Christmas decorations...

I decided to start a few new Haynes Christmas traditions this year...the first is the box above. It was a fun little craft project to work on. There are 25 small drawers, and Emma gets to open a drawer and get a little present each day. It helps her get excited and watch the days to know how many more there are til Christmas. The contents of the boxes will change over the years, I'm sure, but this year she either gets a pistashio, a candy corn, or 4 cheerios. On Christmas Day, she'll get all 3. :) This has also helped her know/learn her numbers~the visual has been good for her learning. Today she said, "I open the 5!" and knew right where it was.

Our tree.

Oh the drama!!! This past week, I noticed the most awful sight when I got Caleb up in the morning....his middle toe was bright red, and all the circulation had been cut off because there had been a hair wrapped around his toe ALL night. I immediately got it off, and after a few hours it was back to normal color, but now, even 4 days later, you can still see where the hair was. It was very scary. Poor kid!!!

Ho! Ho! Ho!!! If you scroll back through the blog a few years, you'll probably find a picture of Emma that looks similar to this one. I'm not quite sure what it is about our Santa hat, but both kids LOVE wearing it. Caleb was beaming the whole time I was snapping pics...


Another of our newest traditions: The Jesse Tree. The idea comes from Isaiah 11:1 where it says "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse." Starting December 1, we do a special family devotional each day and there is an ornament for the tree that goes with each one (example- the story about the fall of man's ornament is an apple with a snake). The devotionals walk through the journey of God preparing the way for Jesus through various prophecies in the Bible. Since some of the devotionals in the "official" book I bought were a little too old for Emma, Adam and I decided to write devotions for most of the days that talk about major stories in the Bible (Jonah, Noah, Moses, Ruth, Abraham, etc). Since I'm still trying to find/make some of the ornaments, we are just doing coloring pages this year and hanging them on a ribbon on the wall. I'll post pics once we get quite a few up there. So far, it's been a success!

Let the injuries begin...now that Caleb can stand up, he can also fall down. It's funny, he'll be in his crib at naptime, and all of a sudden, I hear, Bang!!!! (then...pause long enough to react and get a breath) then "Waaaaaaahhhh!" then after a few minutes, he does it again.

Funny story: Emma learned a new saying this week. She fell down on the floor one day and Adam said, "oh, you're okay...you're a tough old bird!" So, you guessed it...she now goes around saying "I'm a tough old bird!!!"over and over. Talk about funny. Hearing a 2 year old say that is absolutely one of the funniest things I've heard in a long time.

Gobble Gobble- Thanksgiving 2010

For Thanksgiving, Adam's sister (aka Aunt Manda), and her family (Uncle Brent, Luke, Noah, and Ella) came out to visit. It was the first time they'd been out to visit us in TX and we all had a blast together. I know there's tons of photos, and you'll probably feel like you were here with us after looking at all of them, but I just couldn't narrow it down any more than this. Above: Luke and Caleb had a special bond, I think. Their adoration for each other was mutual. :)

Emma with her Aunt Manda.

Uncle Brent with Ella.

Daddy and Caleb on Thanksgiving.

Before our meal, we each passed around our "blessings box" and told three things we were thankful for this Thanksgiving, and dropped a popcorn kernel in the box as we said what it was. Emma was funny...one of her "thankfuls" was "Jesus" and then when it was her turn again, she said "God."

The turkey. It turned out great and there were lots of leftovers.

Our family on Thanksgiving Day.

The Highfils on Turkey Day.

The cousins.

At the dinner table.

The boys.



On Friday, we took a "field trip" and walked to Taco Bell for lunch.


Emma and Ella had a lot of fun together, as you can imagine!

The girls.




On Saturday, we went to Lawton, had lunch at Chick-Fil-A and then went to the Wichita Mountains. We saw longhorns, prairie dogs, deer, elk...but the buffalo were hiding that day.



Miss "Sure Foot." Sadly, Emma climbs rocks just like her Momma. She has to be careful of every little step she takes and conquers a tiny little hill like it is Mt. Everest. What can I say, she gets it naturally. She found a "treasure" along the way...(the big stick that Adam is holding in this picture). I just knew she'd fall and gouge her eye out.

Check out her posing!!! She is quite the character.

Sunday before church. We color coordinated in hopes of getting some good pics all together.



Could this picture be any sweeter?!?!?





We are so thankful that our family came out to visit for Thanksgiving! What a fun time we had together! I know Emma is counting down the days to see everyone again at Christmas. :)