It's hot!

I have a habit of saying that Emmy is so “stinking cute”. The other day she said “it’s stinking by God hot”. I told her that we didn’t need to use the Lord’s name in vain and she said, “but Mama, it’s more than just stinking hot”.

 

Now that Emmy is able to buckle her own seatbelt, she usually hops in the car through my door and then climbs back to her seat. The other day we got in the car after church and she stopped in the middle of the car and raised her dress over her head to let the vent cool her off. I couldn’t say much because I would love to do the same thing.

 

This weekend we were in the backyard and as she was swinging on the tire swing, she cried out “JAPANESE!” I asked her why she was saying that and she said, “Japanese is how you say ‘wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee’ in Chinese”. Obviously, we need to work on her foreign language skills.

 

But, she has learned how to write her name. She is having some trouble with the M’s but I think that is a tough letter to master. She’s so proud of herself!

 

Her imaginary friend Lucy has really been getting her in trouble lately. When John or I get on to her for something, she says that she didn’t do it, Lucy did it. Then we go into a whole other issue of her telling stories. Last night, she woke up in the middle of the night and when she came to our bed, she told me that Lucy kicked her out of bed. I told her we were going to have a big talk with Lucy this evening and she would have to spend some time in time out.

 

 

 

 

It's gone too far

Emmy Ruth and I try to do crafts every Friday night. It’s fun for both of us and I hope it’s helping her little mind to spin. We have made a lot of things, especially around the holidays, but this one is one of my favorites. It’s a flower picture made from toilet paper rolls. She is so proud of it and it hangs over her bed now. (You know, the bed in which she is sleeping these days. The one covered with pillows and stuffed animals and pillow pets and just general pinkness.)

 

The Girl also has a love for shoes. I am pretty sure that she got this from AunTee, along with her hair. When we to Jonesboro to visit with Tara and Lucas, she picked out a pair of sparkly Hello Kitty shoes to wear because she said that Auntee would just LOVE them. All day at school, however, the shoes were not so kind to her feet and they gave her some pretty bad blisters. She has vowed to never wear them again.

 

This morning as we were searching for shoes to wear, she saw the Hello Kitty shoes and said “oh no, no way am I wearing those. But wait! Let’s keep them and we can make a decoration out of them!”

 

Apparently she is OC’d—OverCrafted.

So proud!

I have been a bad mommy and not been consistent with Emmy Ruth sleeping in her bed. She will do well for a few days and then I get weak in the knees and put her back in our bed. Either I am just so tired that I can’t argue or she doesn’t feel well or I just miss the way she feels and smells when we cuddlebuggle, and I let her sleep with us. This week, however, she has not only slept in her bed all week, but she has gone to sleep on her own! I am so proud of her!

Emmy Tales

--Emmy asked me what Solomon’s last name is and when I told her “Jackson”, she replied, “oh like Michael!”

 

--“Mama, why doesn’t my butt jiggle like yours does?”

 

--We saw this really pretty blue car and Emmy told me “When Lucas and I get married and have a baby, we are going to have a car like that.” I asked her what she was going to be when she grew up so that she could have that car and she told me she was going to design jewelry.  Should be interesting.

 

We had such a fun weekend! Neall and Becca chaired FarmFest this year again and we headed over to enjoy the festival and hang with our super cool kiddos, Rose and Solomon. I love love love spending time with them. As much as I love Neall and Becca, I like spending time with the kids alone because they actually spend time with me!!! It’s lovely. I love that Rose is talking more and more and is such a princess. It’s quite funny since Becca really isn’t so girly; I am not sure where Rose gets it. She reminds me so much of Momma. There is nothing quite as precious as her taking my finger and leading me wherever she wants to go. She also has to have her fleece Disney princess pillow and blanket whenever she sleeps. It is so funny. One of Neall’s best lines at Disneyworld was “I know right now I really want some fleece” as it was 100 degrees and Rose was wrapped up in her blanket and lying on her pillow.

 

And Solomon. He is just Neall made over. I love his little mischievous smile and his fabulous imagination. He wanted me to play Star Wars and I tried really hard but he said I was doing it wrong. Then, we were sitting at the fountain at Farm Fest and I told him he could his feet in but not his body. “oops. I slipped” he said as he got right in there. He wanted to sleep with Emmy and I and of course we wanted him to sleep with us. He kept being silly and putting his head down at the bottom of the bed, under the covers, and Becca told him he couldn’t do that because Aunt Tara poots all night in her sleep. WHATEVER! John was never supposed to have told that. I love that Sol calls me TaWa. This picture cracks me up of Sol. LynnLynn made him this super cute outfit and he has on his cowboy boots and his Star Wars helmet and gun. I love a man with a sense of fashion and adventure.

 

 

Dear Emmy Ruth

Obviously, Emmy is not able to read or understand all the things I have on my heavy heart tonight. But, if I could write her a letter, it would say this:

My precious Emmy Ruth, I hope you know that when I call you Ruth, it's because I am being especially sentimental and fond of you. It's the most precious name I know, the name of my precious grandmother who loved me more than life. I love you that way. When I look at you, I sometimes have to catch my breath because you are just so beautiful. There are not a whole lot of traits of mine that I am proud of, but the few that I am, you got 'em. Sadly, I must admit there are a few you have that I wish we didn't have. I hope that you have all the happiness that I have had in my life, but I know realistically that there will be some heartache along the way; I pray that you have more grace and strength than I did when I was faced with tough times. I hope you get the grace and strength that Grandma Ruth had.

I very vividly remember Momma threatening to leave me when I didn't hurry. I was in the 8th grade or so, busy with too much hairspray and reapplying makeup for the fourth time that morning. She finally had had enough and drove off. I chased her down Crabb Lane screaming and she stopped. What was I thinking? I should have just said "the heck with it" and gone back in to the house. But what would I have done? There wasn't the DVR or the Oprahs and my friends would have all been at school. Of course, you are much younger, but this weekend, you would not come on so Daddy and I got in the car and backed up about three feet before you came screaming to get in the car with us. I know that one day you will learn to call my bluff. I hope you have the guts to do it well.

When I was in second grade, Mrs. Weeden was my teacher and everyone loved her. I would come home at night and cry that no one liked me at school. Momma went to talk to Mrs. Weeden and she laughed at her! She said "What? she is always surrounded by kids on the playground!" Last night when you told me that Kristina wouldn't let you play with Jillian at school, my heart broke and I remembered being that second grader. You cried that Kristina always stood beside Jillian and that it wasn't fair and she needed to let you take a turn to be Jillian's friend too. There were tears, real tears, that your best friend in the Koala room was no longer your bestie in the Penguin room. And my heart cried with you. You have said that you miss Layla, your other best friend, because she's been gone for a while. I don't have the heart to tell you that Layla moved to Oregon. Her mommy graduated dental school and got in with a practice and it was last minute and they packed up and her last day was while we were at DisneyWorld. I can't tell you that. I just can't.

I could tell you that I remember being that girl who wanted to be friends with Leigh and Nicki and Christy and Courtney and Teresa. I could tell you that I wished that someone had gotten out of the way and let me sit by one of them sometimes. And I could tell you that when I was in college, I thought I was a dumpy stump on a log that no one wanted to be around.

Instead, I will tell you that to this very day, if I don't talk to Leigh at least once a week by email, I threaten to drive to her house and check on her. I will tell you that I think I might still have scars from the mosquito bites I got when being a server at Nicki's wedding because it was outdoors at her parents, near the farm. I will tell you that I only talk to Christy twice a year, but when I do we laugh about everyone and everything and it's as if I saw her just yesterday. I will tell you when my precious Momma was living her last days in a hospital, Courtney came and sat with me. I will tell you that Teresa and I got in a lot of trouble along the way, but if there is no one else that would get here from Colorado if I needed her.

That one girl that was actually mean to me in Mrs. Weeden's class, she moved a year later and no one has heard from her, that I recall. I bet if I asked 10 people in our class if they remembered her, there might be 1 that did.

And, Emmy Ruth, I will tell you that for someone who felt so alone so often in college, I have a lot of friends that I would not trade for anything in this world. I have sorority sisters from my college campus and the entire country that I could call right now for a good chat. I have math friends that I would love to see-just to get our precious girls together. My roommate college even lives down the street from me now!

That's not even going into the others that I am friends with as I have become an adult. It is pretty good being a grown up but, baby, you have a lot of fun times ahead of you in the next few years. You are four! FOUR! How awesome is that??? Just think of all the learning you get to do now!!!!

So, please, sweet girl, don't think you aren't loved and don't think for a second that you don't have any friends. For every girl out there that you are wanting to sit beside at lunch, I bet there are two others who are thinking the same thing about sitting by you.

I love you so much,
Mama