A Porch, The Bucketheads, & A Kangaroo

Once again, we've been certainly keeping busy the past couple of weeks... but not too busy to take some pictures for the fan club!

1) Our new front porch was finished up the week before last and we've been enjoying some beautiful summer evenings hanging out there. It's a great place to read, surf the web and greet our neighbors! We love it!

If you look closely, you'll see my prize-winning weeds to the right of the window air conditioner. I worked really hard to nurture those and my husband was kind enough to pull them this week for me! (Thanks!)


To finish the look and make the porch a tad more enjoyable (and usable) we went shopping for some nicely padded chairs and tables. Well, the tables aren't padded but you get my point! We still need to get a few little things to finish it off, but we have furniture!


We love our new porch. Emily has really taken to helping water the plants and we love being able to sit out there when it's raining. Great family bonding -- in the shade!


For Father's Day, we were invited to Aunt Shell and Aunt Laura's house for a pool party and supper. As always it was a hit! We even got to meet their new synchronized swimming team, the Bodacious Bucketheads! They still have a LOT of work to do on their routine but they might sign up for the kiddie pool olympics in the near future!


We were able to get our pictures taken with them, but they weren't prepared to do waterproof autographs just yet!


Last Wednesday, a friend of mine invited us to the zoo for ADOPT Day. It's when families that sponsor an animal at the zoo get some special privileges at the zoo and get to do some behind the scenes things that you don't normally get to do. (Thanks, Terri!)

We were able to go behind the scenes at the aquarium and got to see their choral reef project and then they took us to the other end of the building and we got to see the holding tank for the nurse shark and got to see the upper level of the aquarium when the fish are fed and the divers get in and out. This is a picture of the top of the huge aquarium that we normally stand and look at. There were fish, sharks and rays swimming beneath us while we were on the tour.




We got to enjoy a free ride on the carousel. I have a cute video to upload another day, but here's a sneak peak!



The kangaroo walkabout was open later than normal too so we were able to walk through that and see some kangaroos up close and personal. By this time, Tom and Emily were feeling a little wiped out and weren't too highly impressed that they were that close to the kangaroos.


We also got to walk inside the koala habitat with the koalas. It felt like we were on exhibit because there were people on the other side of the glass looking at us. We weren't allowed to touch them or take pictures of them but they sure were soft and cuddly looking!

We shared a $900 bowl of Dip'n Dots. (Okay, it wasn't really that expensive but they sure seem like it.) This was Em's first taste. She wasn't too impressed with her first spoonful but once we explained what it was and she got past the idea of eating little frozen balls she became a big fan.

There were a lot of other things to do that night too. Baby Beco (the new baby elephant) was on display. We could have met with the gorilla and tiger keepers and toured behind the scenes in their facilities. The boat and train rides were also free. There were inflatable games/rides there for family night, etc., etc.

Thanks for inviting us Terri! Our family had a great time! We loved the short lines and all the extra things we don't normally get to do at the zoo!

A Bit Distracted Lately

I apologize to our fan club... we've been a bit distracted lately.

Two weeks ago Emily started to get a little tickle in her throat. I got an early call from her babysitter saying that she was really warm (cheeks like tomatoes) and was extra tired and had a cough. Whatever she had - she shared with me a few days later. That weekend I tried fixing her supper while she was watching TV... but,s when supper was finally ready and dished out on our plates, this is what I found...



If I'm remembering correctly, she slept here from about 6pm until 8:30pm. I fed her a little supper, let her play for a while until Tom came home from his church meeting and then she went right back to sleep around 9:30 or so and slept until morning.

Last week, Em had her 3rd set of botox injections at children's hospital. I started preparing her for them that morning and told her that she was going to be seeing the doctor and that she was going to get 2 shots. She would also need to hold really still and if she did it would go faster. My mom went with us to help hold Em down so I could talk to her and attempt to comfort her. If you remember this post you'll recall that our last visit to children's didn't go over so well. I made a point to let the nurse know our concerns and asked that Dr. B. please make sure she spend some extra time with Em before she just starts working with her and that it traumatized Em for over a month afterwards. The nurse made the note in Em's record and I figured that would be the end of that. Surprise! Within 2 hours of my chat with the nurse, I received a call from Dr. B. at home. She was very genuine and apologized for any problems our previous visit caused and that she must have been having a bad day, etc., etc. I was very surprised she called and it really felt like she understood what happened and would try to see that it doesn't happen again. Our next appointment for a follow-up is in a couple of weeks... we'll see how it goes!

On the way home from children's I set up an appointment for Em to see her pediatrician because she was still having "issues"... runny nose, cough, ear aches and a new dark circles under her eyes with goop thrown in for good measure. Once again, I prepped her for the appointment and assured her there would be no shots this time... the doctor was simply going to help her eyes, ears, nose, throat, etc. to feel better. Emily was a champ. The only struggle we had was the death grip she put on her carseat while I was trying to get her out of the car. I carried her inside to the elevator and from there something changed and she was an angel. When I signed her in, I let them know that she had a bit of "White Coat Syndrome" and they picked up the clue and let all the folks know that would be dealing with her. She ACTUALLY ALLOWED THEM to weigh her, take her temperature, listen to her heart, look in her ears, nose, eyes and throat. She was the picture of the perfect patient. I have no idea what changed, but I keep bragging about it in front of her hoping for a little positive reinforcement. (A mom can hope, right?) The final diagnosis... Emily was dealing with allergies and had a mild "smoldering ear infection" that would easily be cleared up with a little Zyrtec and Amoxycillin. So far, they've worked wonders!

Last week, Tom spent quite a few days/evenings at the house on the church property getting it ready for our new worship leader and his family to move in. I was able to chip in partway through the week to do some trimming and painting. I helped out over the weekend and again some more this week.

We were greeted by this lovely face on Saturday morning when we went to start painting the living room... I believe this is Keith's artwork. (The white parts of the eyes are actually open port holes from the living room to one of the bedrooms... with the bottoms of water bottles painted for the pupils!)


Amidst the doctor appointments, sickies, painting and work, Tom and I decided to tackle putting together Em's new playset on Wednesday. Armed with the instruction book, some chalk and a plethora of power tools, we set to task.



We started around 9:30 A.M., took a lunch break at the G&R and then kept working and I think we wrapped up around 9:30 P.M. We had a good time working on the project and are marriage is still intact. Bonus points for that, eh?

Tonight we finally had some quality time to spend on the playset and Miss Em seems to be a big fan already.

Oh yeah, and on top of all that other stuff we've been adding a new porch onto the front of our house. Well, "we" haven't but we've hired someone to do it for us. Playset construction is about as advanced as we get! This week, Emily's been thrilled with "new roof!" and "mine steps!"

Flash Forward

... I had reverse deja vu a couple of weeks ago.

It was a typical Saturday morning and Emily had put in a special request for oatmeal for breakfast. When it was ready I called her to the table and she walked in with her cell phone to her ear. (It's a plastic Hannah Montana phone that looks and sounds like the real McCoy.)

The problem: She wouldn't stop "talking" on it to eat her breakfast.

Yes, folks, I had to threaten and then actually take her cell phone away so she would eat.

And I thought we would at least make it to 12 or 13 before we would have this problem...

Dear Emily

Dear Emily,

The word truck does not start with an "f". (ahem)

Love,
Mom

Birthday Post - Should've been posted a couple weeks ago

Tom wasn't able to be with us on the night of Emily's birthday this year... he had a church meeting and besides, we had already celebrated her birthday at least twice beforehand. We had supper at my parents' house and when we got home, we were greeted by the following note on the front door:



So we made a mad dash to the bathroom and the mirror held this message for us:


She took off around the corner for her bedroom and found this note in her bed/tent:


She was a little stumped on this one... but once I told her we had to go up steps to get to our bedroom she took off for the door to the stairs. Here's what she found waiting for her:


Something this girl knows about it is milk! It didn't take her long to take off for the refrigerator and right there on the front was this sticky note:


On Daddy's "Big Butt Chair" was a pile of blankets and hidden underneath them was this:


...and it was attached to this CD:

To some kids this might be anti-climatic... not for Emily! Just the picture alone would have sufficed! She jumped up and down and squealed with delight. It wasn't until I put it in the CD player and played a few of her favorite songs that she realized what it was. She was pumped. And at about that time... Daddy came home from his meeting and got to enjoy the fun before Miss E had to scoot off to bed.

He's one of the best daddy's ever. (I have to say that because my dad's in that category too!) This little scavenger hunt for his daughter's 3rd birthday is just one of the many reasons I love him.

Bobblehead Baby

This video deserves a blog entry all by itself...

This happened in the grocery store this afternoon. Of course she fell asleep right about as we were just about wrapping up our shopping. She bobbed for a little bit and I cradled her head for about 10 minutes. I pulled the cart into a quiet aisle and just had to catch it on video for you to see. I couldn't bear to record more than 30 seconds without feeling like a negligent mom... but you get the idea!

Triumph! ... and other things

It's Memorial Day Weekend and let's just say that after Friday's Adventure with Emily, it's been, um.... Interesting. Challenging. And, a hoot.

By the way, Friday night was a Warren Barfield concert sponsored by our church and store. We were all 3 supposed to be there, but Em and I bailed out after her day on Friday. Here's what we missed:

And, these are our friends Jessica and Keith Howard. Keith is the new worship leader at our church. Come on. Click on this picture and then try to tell me you don't want to come to our church and meet this guy... well, AND worship God with him.

On Saturday, we really had a laid back day. I wanted Em to try to sleep as late as she could and then spend the rest of the day as low-key as possible. She still had a dry, persistent cough which made me think it couldn't be a cold, but what else could it be? We spent the bulk of the day inside watching her favorite episodes of Gina D's Kid's Club, The Wiggles, Charlie and Lola, and other such highly educational jibberish... because I would never use my Chloroformic TV to sedate my daughter so she doesn't run all over the house and cough up a lung! That would just be messy!

Later in the evening, we busted out of the house and took Em for a haircut (her 2nd in 3 years and has never had more than 1/2 inch taken each time), supper and shopping with the intent of finding a swingset (nowadays called a playset) that we didn't need to take another mortgage out on the house for. Have you seen the prices on those things? They can be downright expensive!

The lesson we learned that night? Start shopping for playsets/swingsets in February or the one you really want will be out of stock in a 5-county area. We kept coming back to the same set over the 3 or so weeks we've been looking and when we checked on it, it's no longer available -- ANYWHERE. We found another set at Toys'R'Us that we liked (and could afford) and while they were out of stock, they were at least offering rainchecks for them... but get this... the raincheck would simply lock in the sale price. The service desk had no idea if they would be getting them in stock again and if, when. We bailed and opted to go home and do some more research online. (We eventually scored through Wal-Mart's online store and shipping wasn't as expensive as we expected.)

The evening was a bit rough on Emily. She was clearly tired on the way home and we thought she'd zonk out before we made it home. Nope. She ended up going to bed a little before 8pm but tossed, turned, cried, pouted, wailed, etc. until well after 9:30. Not sure what the issue was, but she slept pretty well once she fell asleep.

Sunday was a rough one on me (mom). Emily and I were butting heads from about the minute she got up until late in the afternoon. Let me just tell ya this, folks. That, my friends, is exhausting. I won't go into all the details, but I was certainly ready for a nap after we got done with church and got back from lunch.

This morning, Em slept about an hour past her normal 6am wake-up. She was pleasant. I was pleasant. And, we worked on puzzles in her room for a while together before daddy-o came downstairs. She still has her cough and this morning it was accompanied by a runny nose. It's now confirmed by Dr. Mom that this is likely a strange cold and not an allergy of some sort.

I should be carrying my phone around with me more often now that Emily's chattering is going a mile-a-minute. She's been saying the funniest things and cracks me up every single day -- too many times to count.

This morning we were eating breakfast and she informed me she needed to poop. (Gross. I know... but when you're potty training, topics like these come up all the time and at the most inappropriate times.) I started to get up from the table to go help her and in a very calm, matter-of-fact manner, she held up a hand in the "Stop! In the name of love..." position and informed me, "No. Mommy, right right. Self." (Add in the hand motions, tone of voice and facial expressions and I was just told: "No, Mommy. Don't trouble yourself. You stay right here at the table, I've got this one covered by myself... I'll call you if I need help.")

And, what did my little girl do but march herself to the bathroom, drop her drawers, download and then come back out and proudly proclaim her new achievement. She was sooo darn proud of her accomplishment that she kept telling us about it over and over. Ahhhhh. My baby's growing up. She earned herself 5 stickers for her potty chart this morning instead of the typical 1 she gets each time she goes potty for me.

I started this post this morning. We had some ideas, but really wasn't sure what we were going to end up doing today. We found out last night that Ryan had just bought his first car and we thought it would be fun to head down to see it. I know nothing about cars, but his is pretty nice. It has the required 4 wheels, seats, a steering wheel, oh, and brakes, and he assures me there are no holes under the floormats for Fred Flintstone's fancy footwork. Seriously though, it's a very pretty car (kind of a dark teal green) and I think he said it's a '94 Mitsubishi 3000GT (I think????). Anyway, it seems to be the kind of car every teenage boy would want to have. I can just picture he and Dyl trolling around town now.

Here's Ryan and his new car. And for a bonus... click on the picture to enlarge it and take a gander at how I'll look in 20 years when I'm yelling at kids to get off my lawn. Sheesh, I have no idea what that look is all about. I hope I don't look that way often!


And, to keep our faithful followers happy, here's what Emily (in red) was doing while we were gawking at Ryan's new car. Madilyn (Ryan's sister, on the right) came over for a quick hello and before we knew it, Emily was hanging out with her friends and playing in the yard. I'm so glad she makes friends easily and isn't painfully shy.

And get this kids... Em fell asleep on the way home from Columbus this afternoon. That was shortly before 3pm. At around 4ish we carried her into the house and laid her down and she slept until shortly before 8pm. That's a 4 hour nap, folks! Yeah. I can't wait to see what happens at bedtime tonight. (But man, does she act like she's feeling better!) I think we'll delay bedtime a bit.

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend and remembered why we get the day off! It's more than just cookouts and shopping! We take so much for granted.

Be Blessed!
-j

No, you ARE in the right place

I had a little downtime this evening and decided it was time to change up the look of the blog again!

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It's been an awesome day, but it's been one heckuva day at that.

I tried to quietly sneak down to the shower this morning because if Emily hears me, then she's awake for the rest of the morning and won't go back to sleep. Well, at 5:45 A.M. (even though I was tiptoeing and making sure I only stepped on the stairs and floorboards that didn't squeak) she heard me and made her way to the gate at her doorway.

I tried to quietly console her and remind her that it was really too early for her to be up and that she should try to lay (lie?) back down. She wasn't happy about it, but she didn't throw a fit either. From the bathroom/shower that is right next door to her bedroom, I could hear that she was sulking and wimpering/crying for about 10 minutes... then the tides turned and she stopped crying but I heard her saying, "Mommy, messy... messy, messy....".

I figured she had calmed herself down and was starting to take all the clothes out of her dresser (which she frequently does). I figured wrong.

When I came out of the bathroom I was expecting to look into her room and see her sitting on the floor playing with her piles of clothes. Boy, did I figure wrong! I was greeted by a blood-covered toddler who kept telling me she was messy. And by covered, I mean covered... face, neck, chest, hands, pj's, feet, even quite a bit in her hair and a trail that ran from her neck to the waistband of her pajamas bottoms!

I hadn't heard any loud bangs or thuds or even loud wails of pain while I was in the shower so I was pretty sure she hadn't injured herself. She wasn't freaked out or anything... just kept telling me that she was messy. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that she had a thicker drop of blood at her nose and that was most likely the culprit.

As any good mother would do, I made sure she was okay and then made my way to my camera to capture the moment. No, don't worry. I haven't posted the pictures below... it really was quite gross and is certainly not for the faint of heart (or stomach!). I did email a couple to my mom and she recommended that I photoshop them the next time so the blood yellow or green and not quite so scary... so now Emily has alien blood??? Hehehe.

Luckily I had gotten up early this morning to ice cupcakes for her belated birthday party at the sitter's and I was reminded yesterday that we didn't have speech therapy first-thing this morning because her therapist was taking the day off. Thank goodness, because now we big time needed the bath of all baths!

After the bath, things seemed to be back to normal until shortly before noon. I got a message from the sitter that Em was coughing to the point of almost gagging, was really warm, kept saying her tummy hurt. She wanted to wait it out to see if maybe some rest and some lunch helped her feel better. We were supposed to have physical therapy this afternoon at 2 and around 1:30 we decided that maybe it would be best to cancel and for me to pick her up early and take her home for some rest.

I got there around 2 and she was a little warm but was outside playing with the rest of the kids and seemed to be acting okay. I've worked from home this afternoon while Miss Em watched a couple of her favorite shows and rested a bit. She's still pretty warm and has a slight cough, but is otherwise ok.

The night is winding down and I'm aiming to have Miss Em in bed early tonight.

Good night, y'all!

A Walk In The Park

Who am I kidding? It wasn't a walk in the park, it was a picnic followed by frolicking and running in the park!

The weather was really nice on Tuesday evening and we decided it might be nice to get out for some fresh air. We had a friend come over to give us an estimate on a slight upgrade to our kitchen and then after he left we packed up the family and went out hunting and foraging for some food. Tom tracked down a really nice herd of Italian subs and was able to snag one for himself and he also spotted a flock of ham and cheese nearby and went in for the kill for Emily. Meanwhile, I found a nice bush of pizza berries and picked a box full. Our family meandered its way over to the grazing lands (others might call it a picnic shelter at the local park).

The youngling showed sheer excitement at the prospect of running around like a crazy woman after she devoured her supper. (Okay, who are we kidding? She was excited... she nibbled on her chips, downed her milk and barely touched the ham and cheese.)

We mosied over to the playground and Em was ready to tackle the giant jungle beast. With a little guidance and 2 nervous parental units, she climbed, slid, swinged (swang? hehehe) jumped and fell with the best of them.

This is what happens when you ask a youngling to pose for you... nice, huh?

Looks like a Macauley Culkin pose from "Home Alone"!

Or, it might have been her true expression

once she spotted the elusive green-shirted goober.

As usual, she was alllll smiles on the swings!

From high atop her swinging fortress,

she spotted the awesome train set.

Surprisingly, she didn't put up a fight to

get out of the swing when it was time to

move on... the train was summoning her.

She was happy to explore and peek

out the windows at Daddy's camera.

The green-shirted goober was

spotted again hiding in the wild.

And, here's what happens when you ask Emily to

pose with the elusive green-shirted goober.

This awesome blog entry was brought to you by the letter seven and the number purple.

The Pre-Birthday Party

This past Saturday, we celebrated Emily's upcoming 3rd birthday again. Here are some things we learned that day...

Birthday Party Rule #27: Ham sandwiches

taste best when absorbed through the head.

Birthday Party Rule #46: Even though you can't always

get the cake you know your child will be pumped about, a

cake with bright colors, sprinkles and candles will still

be fun and enjoyable.

Birthday Party Rule #78: Practice singing

"Happy Birthday" ahead of time and blowing

out candles... it leads to success and less spit

on the cake... and a kid that acts like she's

been doing this her whole life.

Birthday Party Rule #93:

Be sure to test the icing before and after

serving your guests... every single year.

Birthday Party Rule #94: Don't let small

children watch you sample the icing. It's

a scary thing to break Martha Stewart's rules.

Birthday Party Rule #107: Apply your

lipstick prior to the start of the party...

or at least consult a mirror or a friend for help.

Pink icing may be used as a substitute in a pinch.

Birthday Party Rule #126: Accessorize,

accessorize, accessorize. Matching

birthday presents earn you bonus points.

Birthday Party Rule #144: Demonstrate and

share your birthday presents with your guests.

Birthday Day Party Rule #169:

Make sure your guests look

as fashionable as you.

Birthday Party Rule #104: Share your

birthday presents with your guests and

seek your mother's embrace if you

need to cry when they want to play with

your favorite new puppy dog toy...

We're happy to be able to share these fabulous tips with you. We hope you've learned something that you can use for your next birthday party!

Take care and be blessed!

Frolicking in the Sunshine

Wow, the weather has actually been nice enough the past couple of days to dry up the soggy ground and give us some sun to play in last night. You don't have to ask Emily twice if she wants to go play outside. And, don't mention it if you don't play on following through... she'll hold you to it!

Last night's highlights involved running up and down the hill in the backyard. Rolling down the aforementioned hill and kicking a ball back and forth with Daddy.


Somewhere in there I found a slug in the grass beside me and let Emily pet it and hold it. She thought it was a little sticky, but thought it was pretty neat. She even proceeded to pretend to feed and water it after we put it back down in the grass.

The evening wrapped up with Emily getting to swing really high in her little swing. At this point in the season, she's still using a toddler swing and loves to go as high and fast as we can get it to go.

It really was a great evening for playing outside... grass clippings, dirt, slugs and all!

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Fast forward to this morning and you'd find Emily and I in the car on our way to the babysitter's. About 5 minutes into the drive I hear Emily say, "Awwww, Hi! It's toot (cute)." I look in the rear view mirror and see her picking up a little spider-looking critter of some sort from the armrest of her carseat. Mind you: I'm driving, she's sitting directly behind me and we're going 65mph (honest, Dad!) on the highway.

Once we pull onto the off ramp, I'm thrilled to see the traffic light turn red. I pull to a stop and crane my body around in my best contortionist form and ask her to put her friend in an old receipt that I had laying around. As I glanced down at what she just shared with me, my skin did a bit of a crawl... it wasn't a spider. No... it was a nasty, disgusting tick that was just waiting to launch into the breakfast buffet at the Smorgasbord de Emaliya.

{And, NO, I did not actually get my handy, dandy camera and take pictures of our slug and tick buddies... that's just gross! I mean, who would do that... other than the people that actually photographed these beauties... and maybe my cousin Todd, or my friend Josh, or..... }

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Note to self: Have a talk soon w/ Little Miss about good creatures to pick up and creatures that are better to look at from a distance...

Guess the theme...

See if you can find the connection between the stories... it's a toughie!

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Emily was being her helpful, tidy self this afternoon and offered to take the phone from the couch and put it back on the cradle for me. In the process she decided that Daddy was on the phone and had a whole conversation with "him". It went a little something like this:

"Hi Daddy. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah... bring ice cream home. Byyyyeeeee."

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The other morning I allowed Emily to pick out what shirt she would like to wear to Nannie & Papa's. As soon as she was dressed she looked in her mirror and with a big adorable smile, she twirled around, smoothed out her shirt and proudly stated, "ice cream, shirt, no". (Get this... at 7am, this girl is already thinking about ice cream!)

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About a month ago, we ate in the back room of Max & Erma's and Emily noticed the giant ice cream cone that hangs between the rooms. While she still hasn't eaten ice cream there yet, when we mention Max & Erma's now, the first thing out of her mouth is "B-i-i-i-i-i-i-g ice cream!"

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Emily has her 3rd birthday coming up next week. We're planing her party now and have been talking about food for the party. For some odd reason, she has shown very little interest in the actual food we'll be serving and the only big request she's made and worried about is that we have chocolate ice cream.

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Hmmmmm. What could today's theme be.....