Interviews

Here is the result of a recent interview of Jackson:

1. Me: Jackson, who are your best friends?
J: I like Aiden & Luke.  Sometimes Frankie is grumpy at me.  
(He said this same thing at dinner last night with my parents and he hasn't seen her in a couple of months, so it must have really made an impression on him!) 


2. What's your favorite color?
Blue
Why do you like blue?
Because dark blue & white are my favorite.

3. What is your favorite food?
Chocolate.
Are you sure? (he doesn't eat it that often, nor does he ask for it)
Uh-huh.  
What's your favorite thing to eat?
I like chocolate and chicken.

4.  What's your favorite animal?
snake
Snakes are cool.  why do you like them so much?
because they slither on the ground

5. What game do you like the best?
Um, hopscotch
{Where does he come up with this stuff?}

6. Who's your favorite movie character?
Shrek
What do you like about Shrek?
He has a dragon and that is awesome.

7.  Where do you live?
On Rhythm Lane
What city do you live in?
Texas
Baby, Texas is the state you live in.  What is the name of our city?
You say it.  

8.  Where do Gabby & PaPa live?
Um, the airport, but not that kind of airport.  
(They live in LaPorte)

9. If Emme was an animal, what kind of animal would she be?
A hippo.
Why? 
Because she likes to swim.

10. If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be?
A mice.
Why?
Because they help the crocodiles with their teeth.  And they don't get hurt.  Is that so crazy? 

And Emme's interview:

1.  What's your favorite color?
Red.
Why do you like red?
Because my panties are red.  
{Um, what???}

2.  Emme, who's your best friend?
Chick-fila!
No, Emme who do you like to play with?
Kate.  Call her and let's go to chickfila. 

3.  What song do you like to sing?
Patty Cake.
We rarely sing that, so I have no idea where she got that.

4.  What do you like to eat?
Waffles.
This is true...she says she wants waffles every time you ask what she wants to eat.

5.  What kind of animal would you be?
Crocodile.  No.  A snake.
And then she got down on the ground & started crawling around saying "sssss"

Then she proceeded to have a meltdown and our interview was cut short.

Hailey & Aubrey

This past Saturday we went to San Antonio to help my brother & his fiance move into their new place.  When the kids had enough of the moving, we went to visit Tiffany & JC.  Jackson & Emme love to play with Hailey & we all couldn't wait to meet Miss Aubrey.  And boy, did she NOT disappoint!  She is precious and such a good baby!  Even with a 6 week old baby, Tiff & JC graciously let us stay with them!  Not only that, but JC made a yummy steak dinner!

 Princess Emerson & Princess Hailey

 Sleeping Beauty - Aubrey

Then Monday, Tiffany & the girls came to Houston while JC was at a coaching convention.  We had so much fun and learned how big of a handful 4 kids are in public, but all in all they were so good and enjoyed being with each other! 

Swimming in the backyard right before the rain . . .

Tuesday morning we went to story time at the library where they read books about caterpillars becoming butterflies.  The kids played a butterfly game & made a butterfly craft and afterwards we went to the dinky little splash pad next to the library.  

 

He's such a boy!

 Our babies

Jackson {LOVED} holding Aubrey & just wanted to kiss her all the time.  So cute!

Thanks for coming to see us, girlies!  We loved having you.  I can't wait to see them again next week when I go to San Antonio for my soon-to-be-sister-in-law's bachelorette party!

Circus 2011

Apparently, the circus has become an annual event in our house.  We have been the last 2 years and on July 23rd, my parents got us tickets, which made it the 3rd year for us.  Jackson {ADORES} the circus and Emme likes seeing the animals, but is still a bit squirmy.  Sadly, my camera battery died not long after it started, so I only have a few pictures worth sharing:    

 Yaya & the Chicken

 Jackson loves him some cotton candy!

We had a great time!  There were some pretty amazing acts, including the motorcycles in the ball cage - my fav - and the guys that did trampoline jumps & flips while.wearing.stilts and they landed it every time.  Crazy!  And my dad didn't even complain about the crowd - that's love only the grandkids get! 

Thanks, Yaya & Pops for the fun evening!

Mark & Natalie's Wedding - Part 1

Aaron's cousin, Mark got married a couple of weeks ago & Aaron was asked to be an usher, so we traveled to Longview for the joyous event!  Mark & Natalie have been dating for 6 years so of course, we were thrilled they were finally making it official. The drive was not too bad, about 4 hours and we didn't make the rehearsal (but how much rehearsing does an usher need?), but we made the rehearsal dinner.  It was at a Mexican restaurant called Papacita's (not to be confused with Pappasito's).  Wendi Mc, are you familiar with this place?  Anyway, the kids were *ahem* turkeys to say the least!  Running around, squealing...you would have thought it was there first time in public.  I was trying to wrangle them as Aaron leisurely chatted with family & friends of the family.  NOT. FUN . . . at least for me.  I was really happy to see Aaron's Grandaddy, Uncle Gary & Aunt Janis, Uncle Rory & Aunt Anita, but I was so annoyed by the time we left.  I did get to escape for a bit and go to a lingerie shower for Natalie.    

 Emme lounging underneath a chair at the dinner

 Jackson's dang Sperry's kept coming untied.  He insisted Grandaddy tie them.

 Now, Gary must tie them . . . what's wrong with this child?

 Emme was entertained by some bubble wrap.  Grandmas would be proud!

Back at the hotel, I slept with the kids since Emme still flops around a lot.  I was afraid she's fall out.  Here's how they slept . . .

The next morning, we took the kids to a park after breakfast thinking they could run & get a bunch of energy out.  Emme spent a fair amount of time at the park like this:

crying because she wanted to be held the whole time.  Aaron & I didn't want to hold her nor did we want to give in to her tantrum, but it was embarrassing in front of Grandaddy & Anita & Rory.  Rory is a retired Air Force Colonel, so I told him to use some of his military expertise on this wild child.  Eventually, she calmed down and started playing... 

 Grandaddy & Anita

Grandaddy, Anita & Rory

Part II:  the wedding & reception to come later . . . stay tuned.  Because I know you can hardly wait!  :)

Potty Training Fail

On Wednesday, I thought we'd see if Miss Priss could be potty trained.  Since I have her in the advanced class at school, I think I should at least try.  She only just turned 2 and I waited until Jackson was 2 1/2, but I figured since I was off in the summer, we'd give it a whirl!  We let her pick out new panties - Tinkerbell & Flowers - and she seemed excited.  So here was our morning . . .yes, I said morning . . .that's as much as I could take.

8:00 - she wakes up, we take the diaper off and put on super fun Tinkerbell panties

8:20 - first accident at which time she says I spilled water, Momma.

9:20 - another accident, this time she realizes it is tee-tee

9:30 - starts to have another accident, but we get some of it in the potty.  Yea!  She gets a happy dance & a gummi bear and is smiling ear to ear!

9:30 - also at this time, Leyla decides well, if she can pee on the carpet, so can I.  Leyla is our dog.  :/

9:46 - another accident

9:55 - tells me she needs to go poo-poo.  We go in the bathroom, she sits down and then she says to close the door.  I close it.  Then she says she needs a crocodile from the hallway, so she gets up opens the door a crack, picks up an imaginary crocodile off the carpet and then sits back down.  I close the door back.  We repeat this for about 5 mins until she says she is finished.  I tell her that she told me she needed to poo-poo and she hasn't gone poo-poo.  She says she's finished and takes off bare-bottomed to the living room.  I put her panties back on her.

10:04 - she says poo-poo again, but when we get to the bathroom, she has already had an accident . . . both kinds.

11:21 - another accident, pretty small amount

11:39 - a tiny accident

11:50 - an almost full bladder accident in her booster at the kitchen table while eating lunch (do you know how hard it is to get those webbed straps out, especially when they are wet?)

12:20 - Napa time.  I've never been so happy to put this child in a diaper!

2:05 - I have to wake the kids up early so I can go pick my Nana up from the airport.  Emme's DIAPER has leaked and I still have to clean up pee.  Ugh!

Between each of these accidents, we had many false alarms and sat in the bathroom for long periods of time - or at least I tried to keep her sitting in there.  I tried singing songs, reading books . . . nothing kept her there long enough and as soon as we'd give up, she'd have another accident.  Because of the frequency and the small amounts of urine each time, it appears that Emme doesn't have the bladder control just yet.  I don't know.  I DO know that I was truly frustrated and will wait a bit longer to try again.  This whole thing reminded me of this post I read on Paige's blog.  Emme's "progress" sounds a lot like Kylie's, so I will come to the same conclusion as Paige . . . we will wait.

In Culinary Heaven!

I am one {LUCKY} girl!  I get served plates & plates of yummy cuisine such as that above on an almost daily basis.  I know you're jealous!

Emme always specifies that the coffee is hot and insists that I blow on it!  My favorite from today was the octopus twirled around a whisk and presented as an octopus ice cream cone. . . such imagination!

I hope everyone gets as pampered by your munchkins as I do by mine!

Good News!

Emerson's cardiology appointment went well this morning after lots of poking & prodding.  Not actual poking, but enough to make Emme MAD!  She had an EKG and and ECHO - and really gave them a chance to see how her heart works by screaming the whole time through both of the tests!  Dr. Thompson reviewed the results of both tests and confirmed what Dr. Pielop suspected to be an innocent murmur or Still's murmur.  Yea!  No follow ups, no restrictions, just a healthy little girl!     

We thank God that He gave us such healthy kiddos!   

Happy 4th & a prayer request

 Hope everyone had a fantastic 4th!  We were very laid back - had a little lunch with Aaron's parents, went to Sam's, browsed for new furniture at a couple of stores, and the only fireworks we saw were in Boston on the TV. 

Please pray that this little girl's cardiology appointment goes well tomorrow.  We are expecting it to be a Still's murmur, but would still appreciate a little prayer!

See.  She's not {always} stoic in pictures!