Finally Four

She's 4, she's in the bed with no pull-up and her belly full of strawberry cupcakes. I will probably be washing soiled sheets in the morning before leaving for work, but she is trying to be a big girl! Today we made cupcakes for her preschool class tomorrow. In the grocery store I let her pick out her own box of cake mix, and she went straight for the pink strawberry cake. Bleghhh! We put vanilla icing on top and she decorated each cupcake with sprinkles. Chucky has some major allergy issues happening and can't sleep (between watching basketball and baseball and racing), so that means neither one of us has slept well the past few nights. It's 8pm, I'm tired, good night.

Oh, yeah - happy birthday Emma! You light up my life. You are a handful, you are dramatic and you are sweet and funny. You are bossy, determined and silly. You are a lot like your mother!

Sounds like summer's comin'

Major League Baseball's opening night of the season was tonight, held at the new Washington National's ballpark. The first pitch was thrown out by the President of the United States, George W. Bush. People in the crowd actually booed. How rude. I booed them.

A family of ten

If you don't watch Jon & Kate Plus 8 you are missing a truly fascinating show. The couple has one set of twins and one set of sextuplets! The mother is super organized and in control. The dad does what the mom tells him to. After I watch the show, I feel so much more confident about being a mother of just two children. . . and two crazy animals. If they can take their kids to the Crayola factory, I can handle my two at Busch Gardens by myself, yes I can! It's on TLC, don't miss it.

Emma's 4th Birthday Party

I won't really be 4 until Monday, but I had my party on Saturday! click here to see all my photos!

First Movie

Emma went to the movie theater for the first time on Monday. We watched 'Horton Hears a Who'. She was scared at several times and asked to go home about seven times! I kept telling her it was almost over and that the movie was going to end well. The popcorn and the coca-cola kept her there, I think. The theater seat folds up unless there is weight on the edge of it, so when she sat back in her seat, it nearly dumped her in the floor. . . so she spent most of the movie on my lap. There were a lot of other kids in there and some chattering here and there, so her talking and fussing fit right in. She says she liked it, so I'm looking forward to taking her again . . . hopefully to another movie that appeals to us both a little better.

Outside!

Today the weather is gorgeous in Virginia. Emma is off on an adventure with Ghee, PopPop, Sue-sue and Chas. They took the ferry across to Surry, to a state park somewhere. I plopped Libby on a blanket outside and took some pictures. I used to do that a lot with Emma, and it is much easier to do with one child . . . and my brain is much clearer and open to the concept of doing something I want to do when Emma is not talking at me all day. Libby wouldn't leave the blanket because as soon as she touched the grass with her hand she made a terrible face and scooted back farther onto the safety of the blanket. See my entire photo shoot here!

Easter

We didn't get the traditional family Easter picture. By the time we were all in one place with someone availabld to take the picture Emma was already stuffing lunch in her face. By the end of the meal, Libby was asleep. The Easter bunny did visit our house, and Libby was so serious over hoarding all the plastic eggs she could trap between her legs, she never saw anything else in her basket. Chucky was still asleep on the couch when the girls came downstairs to see that the Easter bunny had been here - you can see him laying there in one of the pictures and it is timeless! Click here for more Easter morning pictures.

11 Months

I'm eleven months old! Here I am in our new playroom (no more dining room)! I have an eye infection. I don't eat baby food anymore, my favorite food is grilled cheese sandwiches. See all my teeth? I can eat anything these days! I talk and babble a lot! I can't even stay in big church anymore. I am not pulling up yet, but I can get up on my knees and hold on to mommy's leg so she'll pick me up. It works every time! I can put my hands over my eyes to play peek-a-boo! Every where I go people just talk about my red hair. Will I ever be noticed for anything else? Mommy can't believe I am almost a year old, she is happy and sad all at the same time.

Done with eggs

Several days out of Chucky's life has been devoted to putting together a playset for the kids, just in time for Emma's 4th birthday. He finished it today and Emma has been sliding for an hour now. We just returned from and Easter egg hunt where a grumpy Emma sort-of-participated in a hat parade and halfheartedly ran to get eggs. She told me this morning she was tired of running after eggs, so I guess I ignored all the signs that pointed to staying home. There were too many kids and not enough eggs. One of her friends got a toy from inside an egg and all Emma got was melted chocolate candy, so the grumpiness and whining got louder. Can you hear it?

Click here to see more pictures from today!

"No, Nannie, I won't wear the hat! And why is your hair blowing like you are a cover model?"

Where is the green spoon?

I'm not sure where to begin . . . but last night I gave the girls a bath together. There is a plastic green spoon amongst the bath toys that is a favorite of both girls and they fight over it every night. Libby was sitting in the tub playing with some cups while Emma stood up so I could wash her. Emma looked at me and asked seriously, "Mommy, where is the green spoon?" I glanced around the tub and didn't see it, so I told her maybe we left it in her room or downstairs somewhere . . .then I looked at her face. Her little mischevious grinning face. She turned around and showed me the green spoon sticking out of her butt cheeks! OH. MY. I turned around and faced the other way and shook with silent laughter. I turned around to face her and gave her the speech about "don't stick things in your butt cheeks . . . or anywhere else down there!" I don't think my parents ever had to give me that speech. It was priceless! I told Chucky about it later and his comment was, "I hope you put that spoon right in the dishwasher!"

Egg Hunt #1

Saturday we went to Susan's church in White Stone for an Easter egg hunt. They had way more than just a hunt . . . craft tables, snacks and drinks - it was really nice. It was also really crazy! It was indoors and there were a lot of people, and I was an annoying one with a stroller.


Sue-sue and Emma search for an egg.



Emma displays her "sand cross".


Chas visits with the Easter bunny.

Crawling Fat Baby

It's a little long, but it's my first attempt at taking video with my pocket camera, posting it to youtube, then linking it to the blog. If you are able to see it, it's a precious, chubby happy baby and will be worth all this work! Libby at 10.5 months:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6xsI4W1vUE

Is there a cure for this?

Expectation hangover, definition: the exhaustion of figuring out your life while tring to have the time of your life. - Christine Hassler in '20 Something Manifesto'

Playpen

"Why am I in here? Well at least I have my big sister with me. I just don't know why I have to be cooped up. Here's what I did today, I think I was pretty good: pulled the dust buster off the charger, pulled all the shoes out of the bin, unplugged the carbon monoxide detector (outlets are the perfect height for me but don't worry, mommy moved it and put it in an outlet cover), pulled out all the dog toys from the basket, pulled on the cat's skin, pulled a basket full of books onto my foot, had a big diaper explosion . . . mom says she needed to get something from the attic so I have to stay put for a minute . . . then she vacuumed . . . maybe I'll get out in time for lunch!"

Libby can say: mama, dada, dog, cat, more.
Libby can: wave, clap, and dance!

A Big Girls Afternoon Out

Emma and I left home around 1:30 Sunday afternoon and headed to Wal-Mart with Amy and Maggie. Our plan was to get our nails painted and come home. First we had to wait 30 minutes for an appointment, so we had a snack in Subway. Then we had to wait even longer to be seated. Emma wanted to sit next to Maggie, but Maggie was finished with her feet and fingers before they ever started on me. We waited a really long time and Emma had a few whiny moments but she was really patient . . . she was really excited! When she finally got a turn, she talked nonstop and everyone in the nail shop was watching and listening to the three year old getting her first pedicure/manicure. Pink with glitter!

When we got out of the nail shop, we had to pick up a few groceries and Emma wanted to get on the ice cream truck ride. That was out of order, she she and Maggie decided to spend their money on the candy dispensers. The first candy dispenser took Maggie's quarter and did not dipense any candy! She went right over to customer service and got her quarter back . . . and spent it on more candy. We finally arrived home at 4:30. Three hours, $45 later, and I didn't even get my fingernails done. I got a pedicure that no one will see! I do think Emma enjoyed feeling like a big girl for the afternoon . . . our next venture will be a movie!

Reading at the Record

I snapped this picture a few weeks ago and am just now getting around to uploading my pictures from my pocket camera. Emma and Chas are chilling at the Rappahannock Record office. Ghee and the mommies are working!

Come on, spring!

We are all ready for Spring and actually never wanted winter in the first place. Yesterday it was a little windy, and it was crazy trying to keep a baby that has just learned how to crawl on a blanket outside, but I was determined to go outside! Emma fell off her bike twice, wet her pants once and successfully picked one daffodil. She also gathered several pebbles - they had to be smooth and white, and put them in the bottom of the bud vase we used for the daffodil.

Easter is coming, along with birthdays for both girls. Spring is my favorite time of year - I get giddy when the warm weather arrives, things start blooming, and I can break out the spring clothing (it is also much easier to dress children when there are no socks or coats). It makes the birthday parties for the girls feel like even more of a celebration. Ya-hoo! Here we are savoring the above-60-degrees-day!


Emma, twirling and spinning:










Even Shelby is excited about Spring, she has someone outside to play with!

Libby Loves Lasagna

We stripped her down to a diaper and a bib, and let her go to town with lasagna. Check out her chubby arms!