Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Well, I think I'm going to give this a shot again...



Alrighty...we'll see how long this lasts but I'm feeling guilty about not documenting my children's lives so I'm going to try to start blogging again!  It is summer after all and I have nothing else to do, right?!

These photos are a little out of order but I don't remember how to fix it.  Oh well.  
After school got out June 7th (seriously, who has school a week into June?  AISD does.)  the kids and I drove to Dallas.  That story is after these Colorado pictures.  We came back on a Friday and that Sunday, Father's Day, we packed up our car again and drove to Durango, CO.  This time, Daddy came along!  We had such a great time in Colorado.  The whole drive, Emery kept asking when we were going to be in Colorado and when we were going to go hiking.  She loves the mountains almost as much as her daddy.  We enjoyed hiking, swimming, and lots of eating.  There's this fabulous little organic farm by the condo we stayed in that had a little grill  you could order food from and also had eggs and cheese for sale.  I had the best burger I have ever had there and David had a delicious steak salad.  They also had these adorable little goats named Polka and Dot.  Emery got to pet them and give them some sweet Emery kisses.  Here are some pics from the trip.

about to go on our first hike in Durango

our first hike got cut short by a little rain shower

We went to the little farm up the road when we had to stop hiking

kissing Polka and Dot

Smiling for a picture

trying to get both kids in a picture

worn out

our little hiker

hike take 2 - this time Emery was in the backpack

Emery enjoying being carried this time

We hiked to the river and put our feet in.

posing with daddy

This drive isn't too bad!

sweet boy




















Durango was so much fun and so relaxing.  We wished we could have stayed another week...stinkin' weddings.  David has one pretty much every weekend this summer.  

Like I said, these are out of order...As soon as school got out, I packed the kids up in the car and bravely drove to Dallas all by myself.  They were so good in the car...it took us 8 hours including stopping to eat, but we made it with very few tears.  Emery made me dance to her IceAge theme song on the Ipad like 15 times in a row until my arms were about to fall off but it kept me awake and kept a smile on her face.  The people driving by me must have thought I was crazy but I'll never see them again so I'm not too worried about it.  We got to Dallas safely and had such a great week with my sister, Sarah, and her family.  I wish we lived closer to my sisters and their kids.  I wish my kids could grow up around their cousins like we did.  We'll just have to make frequent trips!  We swam, went to splash pads, parks, and played in the baby pool at their house.  The week flew by way too quickly and then we had to head home.  I was sad to go but happy to get home to David.  The kids missed their daddy (in fact, Emery would yell, "Daaaaaadddyyy" when Miles would get home right along with her cousins) and I missed my hubby.  


Swimming at Sarah's in-law's house

at a splash pad

standing on his own!

swimming at the Durham's again

Sarah and Elle

Elle!

Swimming in the baby pool

Luke watching sister and Elle
sweet cousins


passed out when we hit the road to go home
celebrating my boy's 1st birthday!

We had such a good time in Dallas.  We just might have to go back for another week this summer!

The rest of these photos are recent photos that I have taken with my phone.  Emery is such a sweet girl who loves to play pretend these days.  She is constantly saying, "mommy, let's 'tend' you are the sister, I'll be the mommy, brother is the monster." or "you be the queen, I'll be the princess, brother is the king." or "I'll be Captain Hook, you be Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and Luke is the crocodile."  She usually follows one of those sentences with, "say okay."  Especially if I'm not listening and haven't responded. This happens like 100 times a day.  I am not good at playing "tend" people.  I teach math.  Let's sit down and do a puzzle or count the dots on dominos or something (which we did in Durango and turned out to be a pretty fun game!)  I have to stay busy with other games or snacks or playing outside so that I can stay sane.  I love that she has an imagination but I can only handle so much "tending."  

here's my sweet girl showing off her long hair

Daddy took her to the movies

Luke sporting his new Toms (Thanks Gigi and Grandpa!)

Playing with sister's necklaces...

He loves necklaces...


Today we went to a splash pad with some friends.  This is Jackay and her precious granddaughter, Logan.  Logan is younger than Luke by about a month I think but has way more teeth, is walking, and probably out-weighs him by 5 pounds!  She's so cute with all those rolls!  It was fun to see them today!
We got home from the park and Emery and I headed to Jump-N-Jive to have some fun with my cousin, Bryana, her daughters Lilly and Daisy, as well as my other cousin's daughter Kailey who is in town visiting.  The girls had a blast and Bryana and I got to catch up.  It's so nice having an older child to entertain the younger ones!  I didn't get any photos though...

When we got home Luke woke up from his nap and Emery was worn out and wanted to lay down on a pallet on the floor.  I gave Luke a little snack while I cooked dinner and they enjoyed a little Bubble Guppies episode.  Thank goodness for Nick Jr. and Disney Jr.    Emery thinks those shows are "movies."  She loves them all.  I'm just happy there's a show that sings about "mighty math power!"  Yes!  Makes this math teacher's heart so happy.  Every time they sing the song, she turns to me and asks if I have mighty math power.  I love it.

Shortly after taking these pictures, Emery realized Luke was sitting on her pallet and she pushed him off against the wall.  It pretty much ruined his night and he was cranky until he went to bed.  Poor guy. He loves Emery so much and just wants to be close to her all the time.  She just doesn't get it yet.  Pretty soon, he'll be big enough to keep up with her and I know they will be the best of friends.  Hopefully, he'll love playing "tend" as much as she does so momma can have a break!

Well, that's about it.  I think that pretty well catches you up on what we've been up to.  David's shooting weddings all summer and this momma is trying to keep these two cuties busy so that he can edit all day long!  Emery usually watches a movie in David's office with him in the evenings after Luke goes to bed.  David has two computers side by side on his desk and she calls one of them her "puter."  She knows how to pick movies on Netflix and everything on her own.  She is always assuring us that she's watching nice movies.  Tonight, they went to Hastings to rent a movie and right when they were checking out Emery asked David, "you like naughty movies, right daddy?"  That's awesome.  Now the Hastings guy thinks David is a perv.  That girl is hilarious.  Good night!



Sunday, August 28, 2011

What we've been up to...

Well, it's been a while...like usual! Here are some photos to catch you up on what we've been up to. These first few David took but the rest are from my phone. They aren't the best quality...

Here we are at our friend, Bonnie's birthday party. Emery had a lot of fun playing with Bonnie's niece and nephew's toys.

Here's Emery with our friend, Carla. Carla was trying to get her to make her funny face...

This is Emery's newest trick! David has taught her to do this face. We will count to three and then she'll do it. It is adorable because she tries to do 1-2-3 with her fingers like her daddy.

This is probably our only family picture of the summer!
The birthday girl! Happy birthday Bonnie #1 - she's #1 and I'm #2 - we both work at Amarillo High together.
Here are a bunch of pictures from my phone...
Emery standing up in her highchair. She does what she wants...I give up!

We watched Maddie a few times this summer. Here they are playing dress up! I can't believe how big they are getting!
Emery loves apples now - and she only wants to eat them like a big girl. She insisted on wearing this hat and shoes. She looks like a cute, little old lady, huh?!

Feeding the ducks at the park! We did this several times this summer. She loves to try to quack like a duck. She has added that animal sound to her collection!



Her hair is long enough for piggies now! It took a while but she will actually let me put them in now and will leave them alone!

We bought her a big girl potty and will start potty training soon. For now, she is teaching all of her babies!

This summer we loved sitting on the front porch after dinner and enjoying a yummy popsicle!


Who needs a pool when Grandma and Papa have ginormous dog bowls?! Emery loves running around naked and playing in the water.


A couple of weeks ago, Emery had to be sedated for her hearing and vision tests. These are just part of her protocol. She has had her hearing tested twice before in Houston while she was undergoing treatment. The audiologist said everything looks great and she has no hearing loss! She will have her vision tested again when she has scans in January. This first vision test just serves as a base line because everyone has their own "normal" response time. It's called a VER - can't remember what it stands for but basically it records how long it takes for her brain to receive the message that her eyes detected light from these super cool goggles. Emery did great with the sedation as always, but it took 6 people to hold her down for her IV. She is not a fan.

Here's our last picture for today! I watched our friends' little girl Saylor not too long ago and Niki and Maddie came over to play too. Here are the girls having fun in the bath! Nothing better than cute little girls playing in the bath!

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Weekend with Friends

A couple of weekends ago, we took a little road trip to Santa Fe with two other couples. The girls took one car and the boys were in another. It was really nice to have some girl time. We talked about our kids - we all have girls close in age. We talked, we cried, and of course did lots of laughing. I'm sure the guys were pretty happy they were in their own vehicle.

We rented a great house close to the square. We did some shopping and lots of eating. I forgot how great it is to eat out! We don't do it much because our daughter is awesome in restaurants. Here are a few photos of our weekend.

Here we are with Blake and Jennifer and Matt and Niki.

The boys.
Us girls.
David and I - we never have pictures of ourselves these days!

Well, this was our first time to go away on a little trip without Emery. I never would have agreed to it during the school year when I feel like I don't see her enough, but after having her to myself all summer, I was okay with it. Actually, it was really nice! We had a great time with great friends! I look forward to doing it again!