Momma would have loved that

So often people mention that Momma would have loved seeing Emmy and Solomon. And so often, I tear up when they say it. I always hate that I do that because I know it makes people uncomfortable with me crying in front of them and I am afraid that they will stop saying those things. But, I so hope that they don't: when they say things, it means that they remember Momma and She Would Have Loved This.

Emmy has started potty training. I am not sure how well it's going to go, or how quickly, but it's a start. She has a potty in the bathroom and another in the living room because I heard that you should keep one out so that kids are comfortable with it. So this morning, I got up and was just picking up things here and there and saw what I thought was the insert to the potty seat. No little collection insert missing on either potty and it dawned on me that it was the bowl that goes to the orange juicer. Nice.

Other pictures from our fun weekend. We went to Incredible Pizza with my office and had a big time and then as always, the monsters had a great time playing Sunday after church.

We put both kids in the crib thinking that they MIGHT take a nap as they were both exhausted. And as we all know, they didn't. They are really much too smart for us.I love that Solomon has started crinkling up his little nose like that. Stinking adorable.

Seventeen months

And here we are again, already another month gone by with the sweetest girl. She does the funniest thing ever--when you ask her where her belly is, she tickles her tummy and in that tiny voice says "tickle, tickle, tickle". John and I crack up every time she does it.
Last week, John and I both got really sad for a minute when I mentioned that funny little laugh she had when she was a baby. I got so sad that we will never hear that again. But, then, she came and tickled me so I couldn't help but laugh at this latest thing.

Every day she seems to get taller and thinner and that hair gets a little longer and curlier. Emmy still takes every bow out of her hair moments after I put it in there!Everything is "ooohh" and "aaaah". No matter how many times she has seen it. And "oww". If it's hot, she says "oww", if she is hungry, she says "oww", I told her the story of the Little Boy that Cried Wolf but it hasn't really sunk in yet. My favorite thing Emmy does is when I pick her up at the baby sitter's. There is a sliding door as I go in to the playroom but it's tinted so she can see me coming but I can't see her. As I open the door, she comes running to me and screaming with delight. If only everyone was so happy to see me! I only hope that she keeps being this happy to see me for a long, long time!

The Zoo!

On Independence Day, Emmy and I went to the zoo with Neall, Becca and Sol, Mr. Stephen and Mrs. Debbie, Laura Ruth and a friend. It was really fun to spend time with them and Emmy always enjoys the zoo.

Of course, we had to get the picture of Emmy and the Buddha.

You can click here to see other pictures with the Buddha.

We caught the seal show...
Solomon slept through most of it...
And I had to have this one of Emmy eating grapes--check out the hair, sticking straight up on top! The Doctors Jackson are such the Renaissance family. Emmy is eating grapes that grew in their yard. At our house, we are thrilled the ivy weeds have finally grown over the trellis. And they have grapes to feed the little children.

A Coke and a Smile

Of all the wonderful things I can tell you about Momma, a cook she was not. She loved her sodas and we loved ours as kids. I can remember getting up in the mornings to a can of coke sitting on the kitchen table for us. Momma had to have her Diet Coke within moments of her eyelids popping open, or there was going to be hell to pay.

I say this only to say that after being an avid Coke drinking for thirty plus years, I have been caffeine free for approximately thirty hours.

I would just about cut off my right pinky toe for a Cherry Vanilla Coke from Sonic right now.

What can I get 'ya?

Always the hostess, Emmy entertained Lucas in her playhouse last night and then gave him a quick push around the back yard.

Here is a picture of the house in all it's glory. We are waiting until we mow the yard (this week, I promise!) before we stake it down and get it in it's permanent position.

A house she can call her own...

Emmy got a fabulous new playhouse a few weeks ago from her Papa Richie but we haven't quite had the time to put it together yet. I begged and bribed and finally got John's friend Victor to assemble it for us (he's a carpenter by trade). Emmy is such a lucky girl. I don't have pictures of her playing in the finsihed product yet, since it was dark by the time it was complete last night.

Here she is supervising the work...Peeking in on Uncle Vic to make sure he knows whose house this really is...

After the walls were up, I decided to take a picture of all the pieces that were left after John organized them...Apparently it is really exhausting to be the foregirl of such a massive construction project so Emmy took a dip in the pool while it was filling with water.

The End.

After the debacle with the moving truck on Saturday, I took off yesterday so that John and I could get the furniture. At one point, John looked at me and said, "really, Tara, can I just go back to work? This vacation sucks!" All in all, yesterday went well. My husband is an absolute saint (I will remind myself to reread this the next time he is getting on my nerves) for being so good to me. I also think he is quite the HeMan since he moved that piano practically by himself. He lifted the end and I would push but the bulk of the work was all him. Very impressive. I took Emmy to MiMi's this morning even though he was home so that he can stay in bed and recover today.

The recliner is perfect in it's new spot, the patio furniture is getting a new patio this weekend, and the piano is trying to find where it will live. We had planned to put it in Emmy's room but of course, it was just a hair too big to fit down the hallway. Now, it is in the dining room and the china cabinet is in the middle of the room. I will figure that out tonight.

But, this makes it so worthwhile. The picture is awful, I took it with my phone, but Emmy immediately starting playing the piano when she got home last night. It was pretty adorable.

Waste not, Want not

I am not sure why I kept these, of all the Home Interior items that we had at home, but for some reason I did. Before Emmy arrived, I painted this flower on the wall in her room with a 'ruler' on the stem to keep up with how tall she is getting. A few weeks ago, I took these bronzed butterflies that hung with pride at 309 Crabb Lane (I drew a box around them in the older picture so that they would be easy to recognize!) and spraypainted them silver and added them to Emmy's flower. It makes me giggle every time I see them.

The Day That Was Today

The plan for today was to get the furniture from Momma and Daddy's house that I was bringing back to Wynne. What a day that was going to be. I planned it all in advance, with the schedule to be John, his friend Victor, Emmy and I driving to Wynne to get the UHaul. Victor and John would drive it back to Memphis and Emmy and I would come back in our car. At 445 yesterday afternoon, UHaul called to tell me that there was no Uhaul available in Wynne and the closest was in Newport. I think that had I just said "okay" that would have been the end of it. I just kind of stayed on the phone, waiting for a better solution. Finally, we decided that I would pick up a vehicle here in Memphis and drive it roundtrip. Because I would have to pay for gas and mileage for a roundtrip instead of one way, I was going to get a $100 discount.

We have been participating in the Angel Food Ministries (which I highly recommend, by the way) and I neeeded to pick up our food at 11. Because of the change in scheduling, I asked my friend Theresa to keep Emmy for me for a couple of hours so that we could go to Wynne and back. I dropped Emmy off at her house and went to pick up the Angel Food. But, there was a delay with the truck and they said the pickup time was between 130 and 230 now. Still not deterred, I called my friend Natalie and asked her to pick it up for me; we dropped off the forms at her house, went to get Victor and headed to get the UHaul. I was a little testy at the UHaul place because of the mixups and the manager was very nice and we finally got out of there. The truck was empty so we stopped for gas and Taco Bell and headed on our way.

Approximatley 1.3 miles past West Memphis, the truck died. We knew it was the transmission since, well, we aren't stupid. I called the emergency number and they went through their steps but I was beyond livid. I apologized to the agent, telling her I knew it wasn't her fault, but for the LOVE OF GOD! John called our friends Aaron and Rebecca that live in West Memphis for the major need of the moment: beer. They arrived promptly with water for me and beer for the men. Good friends. After several calls back to the UHaul folks consisting of me saying "how in the {edited} are we getting home???" and them saying "you have to stay with the vehicle", the mechanic arrived an hour and a half later. He agreed that the transmission was shot and that we needed a towtruck: amazing. But, he said that the truck was our responsiblity until it was on the tow truck and that we had to wait. I left with Aaron and Rebecca to get our car in Memphis and John and Victor waited for the towtruck.

But wait... there is more... there was an awful wreck on I40. We left the scene of our issue to get stuck in traffic. It took us an hour and a half to get to an exit TO TURN AROUND to go back to Memphis. The interstate was completley closed and we got back on the service road and ran on to.... John and Victor! After three hours, we decided that we didn't care if the darn truck blew up on itself and they got in with us and came home.

Now, I still have to go get a UHaul (and this should be pretty cheap by now for me since I am getting lots of UHaul VIP points) and get our things. However, what was a pretty crummy day has turned into a pretty good one. I am so thankful for friends like Natalie and Theresa for being there when I needed them. I am thankful for Victor who was willing to help us and then was the comedy that kept us laughing during the entire scene of the side of the interstate today. I am thinking that maybe if our truck hadn't broken down, we might have been in that horrible wreck. I am so thankful for Aaron and Rebecca for refusing to leave us on the side of the interstate and then agreeing to come over for a thank you barbeque with their kids. All of the monsters had a great time in the back yard playing and I just saw them running and thought, "yep, this is where I am supposed to be".

Today might have sucked in the beginning but tonight was pretty darn fabulous.

The ABC's of It All

For a while, I have been really worried about Emmy's vocabulary skills. Everyone tells me I am nuts, but as a mom, you really worry a lot! I have no doubt that she is brilliant and I know that her phsyical skills are amazing for her age. But, she is not talking as much as I feel like she should be talking. Every day, we listen to KidsStuff on Sirius as we do our long drives and I make an effort to point things out to Emmy constantly... see the firestation? see the trees? let's walk to the car... From the day she was born, we have attempted to read at least one book a day. Of course, there are days that we miss, but we make an effort.

Last night, we were reading Dr. Suess's A, B, C's book and Emmy finally had enough. Not once, not twice, but three times, she stuck her fingers in her ears and started shaking her head. I think it was her way of saying "Get off my back Mama! I will talk when I am good and ready!"

The Erosion of the Man Cave

When we got our house, the agreement between me and John was that I could do whatever I wanted in the house but the basement was his and his alone. It was perfect for us, until recently. Now, John's basement is split in half with an adorable playroom on one side. This can't be conducive to the "man cave" feel that is desired when the "man cave" is in design.

I thought this was just something that John was suffering but last night, Emmy and I visited the Salinas family. They have a small building in the back yard that has been Jorge's "man cave" since they moved in their house. Last night, Tara and I watched as Emmy and Lucas played hoops in there, played on the Sit and Spin and kicked out some jams on the keyboard.

Amazingly, neither John nor Jorge seem too upset with the loss of the space to do whatever it is that men like to do without women, but I do feel a little sorry for them.

Finally, someone to help with the windows

Emmy has started the cutest thing to date. She takes any type of aerosal can or spray bottle and makes a "shh-shh" sound with it, like it is spraying. It's pretty adorable. Here she is cleaning the front door for Mama.

Runs in the family

Apparently, I liked to sleep in chairs too.

Fit for a Princess

Today we discovered that the chicken nuggets in Burger King's Kid's Meal are shaped like crowns. Apparently it was really good because she fell asleep in her highchair.

TBurton Designs

http://www.tburtondesigns.blogspot.com/

Yard sale

Wow. That was fun! As a family and friendship network, we had already gone through all of the things we wanted so selling the things we didn't want, really wasn't that emotional for me. I am really looking forward to getting this chapter closed in my life. So, yesterday we had the big yard sale and were very lucky. There was someone that actually bought my band jacket. So, if you see a guy with dark hair wearing a Wynne band jacket with a sailor collar and "Tara, Flute, '93" on the front, thank him for supporting our efforts.

Momma bought this gift for Daddy one year (have I mentioned that it is really hard to find things for him??) and we had a contest that whoever could guess what it was could have it. This lady was the closest... she guessed a cup holder. Actually, you put it in your cup holder in your car and it's a table for your take out food.

I would really like to meet the woman that sold my mother all of the Home Interior items she had.... The best part of the day was an older lady that came at the end and we gave her several Bibles and a briefcase of Vacation Bible School lessons that she could use at her church. She keep saying that it was such a blessing and I think that would have made Momma really proud. It was a long day, but as I have said so many times, thank God for Tara, Neall and Becca. I don't know what I would do without any of them.

Sixteen Months

Oh, Emmy, you little rascal. She is just hysterical. While we were at the beach, she cracked everyone up by running through the condo just screaming. Nothing was wrong, she thought it was hysterical but would just run screaming at the top of her lungs. Then, on the car ride home, she would do the same thing and just crack up laughing when we told her to hush! Emmy definitely loves the boys! I think she needs to learn that people need their own personal space sometimes, but she thinks that Lucas is hers for the loving!

The Girl might look just like her daddy but she's her mama's girl for sure. This month, she has discovered her love for, I am sorry, I meant to say obsession for shoes. If your shoes are anywhere around, she tries to put them on your feet and then takes them back off and does it again. I was trying to go through her closet and get things out that she no longer wears and get everything organized (this is quite a feat) and she spent a lot of that time getting her shoes out of the closet. Lovely.

Her uncle Teddy gave her a Cabbage Patch Doll for Christmas and I am not sure why we haven't opened it yet, but I got it out tonight. She was beside herself with joy. She sat for the longest time feeding "Lucy" her bottle. We are going to try to actually name a doll as opposed to calling it "baby" this time.

We are still having a little trouble getting Emmy to sleep in her own bed. Once she is asleep, of course, all is fine, but when I lie in there with her to get her to sleep, I often fall asleep myself! It's so much easier to put her in our bed. While most kids love to read books, Emmy is not having it. She is much too eager to be up and about. I try to tell myself that she is just very quantitative and will be more of the mathematician or engineer than the librarian or history buff.

Every day with Emmy is a miracle. We are so lucky to have such a beautiful and sweet girl. The last sixteen months have passed by so quickly but at the same time, we can't remember a time without her.

Staying home

I am on vacation the rest of this week and I had great plans to get so many things done at the house. Now it is 11:17 and so far I have gotten the kitty liter changed. That's it. Any one that stays at home and gets anything done is miracle worker.

Sandy shorts and lots of pictures

We got home last night from our trip to Gulf Shores. Everyone had a great time--especially Emmy Ruth. She loved the ocean!! She thought it was so very exciting. Of course we had to make sure to show Razorback love even if we were in the state of Roll Tide and War Eagle.

There were so many memorable moments during our visit, but the best for me was when we first went to the beach. Emmy immediatley walked to the sand and picked up a shell. Tara and I both look towards each other and said, "yep, she's got her YiaYia in her". It was a pretty special moment. We have, of course, saved Emmy's first shell, a broken blacken shell. I almost could feel Momma there with us as we enjoyed our fabulous trip. We ate at the Oyster House and when the kids got their picture made in the cutout there, I felt like she was there smiling. The beach is so special to us all.

Swingset--with slide!!!

Emmy got a swingset for her birthday from Aunt Cathy and Uncle Ted. This weekend, her daddy and grandpa put it together so it was waiting when she got home from Auntie B's and Neallios.

First, it's important to discuss slide safety with Dadoo.

We don't stand on the slide.

We don't slide down with the dog, Luke.We don't slide on our tummy.

And we don't walk back up the slide.
But we do say goodbye to the dog before we slide down.

And we have fun on the slide!!!

Have Dadoo ready to catch you!!!Get ready to do it again!Try out the swing.

And most importantly, thanking Dadoo!!!

Nothing better in the world...

...than this face, than this smile, than the giggle that goes with this picture. Many, many thanks to my friend Teresa. I never am not amazed at her work.

The nose--courtesy of her daddy.
The curls--all from her mama.
The priss--just like YiaYia.
The laugh--so much like Grandma Ruth.
The 'always on the go'--she gets that from Grandma Diann.

And Emmy puts them all together in the sweetest little package.

Broken hearted but oh so very blessed

Today was the third installment of cleaning out the house where I grew up so it can be sold to some other family. Some other family that will move in there thinking "this is a good starter home". I am sure that is what Momma and Daddy thought when they moved into 309 Crabb Lane. And then life happened. It happened a lot. Neall and I grew up there, they remodeled and it was suitable for our family. I remember looking at houses once when we were in high school and they decided to stay at our house. Then, we went to college and as Momma always said, her entire paycheck went to Neall and I. After we were moved out, they made adjustments to make it perfect for them. There were hardwood floors installed and new windows. There were gardening beds with cinder blocks on which to sit while tending to onions and strawberries. There was a deck that got a new look with big wide steps on the side instead of the small ones on the ends, new concrete poured for a patio and a side yard that became a flower bed. Momma's gardening technique was not so scientific--she just kind of threw things out there and they grew. There were frogs, lots of frogs, and the little statues of a girl and boy that reminded her of Neall and me.

And we got all of our memories out of there so that some other young family can create their own.

I brought home lots of things. Way more than I should have, but I just can't let go yet. There were so many things of Grandma Ruth's too. As I hung my "school days" bus frame with all of the school pictures of me from kindergarten to twelfth grade, I thought of Emmy and how I am going to have to use every single opportunity to tell her about her Yia Yia. Even if it is just her Yia Yia's baby picture in her play room, it's a chance to bring her up to Emmy. There was a picture that Aunt Ruby painted for me when I was little. It made me cry to think that here she is, on this earth, but Alzheimer's had made her as distant to me and Emmy as Grandma Ruth. It is so unfair for one little girl to have so few family members, but oh, how lucky is she to have the ones she has!

Not every little girl has an Auntie B and Uncle Neallio that want her. I don't have to ask them to keep her, but they WANT to have her stay with them. Mrs. Debbie came and picked Emmy and Solomon up today so that we could all work on the house and she WANTED to have Emmy with them. She loves her. Tara could not love Emmy any more than she does. LynnLynn sends Emmy adorable outfits with her name perfectly presented on them. Papa Richie loves her and snickers at her rantings and her ability to tell you exactly what a grizzly bear says. Momma's best friends love her--the aunts. She has Joy, she has Natalie, she has so many people that LOVE her.

She is a lucky girl. And we are a lucky family.