Emmy-tude

Oh she’s a hoot! Here are a couple of her latest and greatest sayings…

--Last night I asked if she wanted to watch Scooby Doo before bed and she said “no, I think a quick game of Candyland should do the trick”.

--This morning, I was trying to put her shoes on and she wasn’t being very helpful and she finally just said “ok, now watch and learn”.

--We were shopping at TJ Maxx and came upon this picture of the Last Supper. Emmy said, “Mom, are these pilgrims?”. Lucas said, “no, Emmy, I think they are superheroes”.

--We put up the nativity scene and I was talking about Mary and Joseph, Baby Jesus, and the shepherds and angel. Later on, Emmy found a snapshot that was in some of Grandma Jackson’s photo albums; it was a baby in a bathtub on the porch of a house, I am sure it was Daddy. She came running in and asked if that was a picture of Baby Jesus. John told her that yes, we had the only snapshot of Jesus.

I am loving that we have Santa Claus to hold over her head to get her to act correctly. She thinks I have Santa Claus’s phone number on speed-dial on my phone. Works like a charm!

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I worked on cleaning out her closet and trying to rearrange her room to give her more play space. When we were lying in bed the other night saying our prayers, she said she was thankful for her new “castle room”. Ahhh…be still my beating heart!!!!!!! And yes, she is sleeping in her own room! All it took was a unicorn Pillow Pet!

Pumpkin Patch

Seriously... how do I love thee? Let me count the ways....

These children are just precious. I can't stand it!


Sol loved the sub that was there....

And he's quite the gymnast.

Such a handsome boy.

And Emmy Ruth running. And Running. And Running.

Sweet Rose.
This was the closest I could get of the kids in front of the measuring sign.

Rose wasn't much more cooperative.

Neall was a little more helpful. So was Laura.

The kids all loved the haymaze... especially Rose. She's obviously a genius since she figured her way out each time.

Emmy carrying a pumpkin.

Jumping in the cotton.

Sol was so excited when he saw this gun.... Neall was a little excited too. :)

Boys and Girls

Yesterday was Veteran’s Day, so I was off work and took advantage of it by picking up Lucas at school. I loved it that when I got there, the teacher said, “Oh you must be his Thia”. Yep, the one and only.

 

After a trip to Old McDonald’s, we picked up The Other Tara and went shopping. Lucas was not impressed. They love each other so much but Lucas and Emmy Ruth are definitely all boy and all girl, respectively. Here are my favorite quotes of the day…

 

Lucas:    “Man, I was pooting like a banchee.”

                “Go backards, {at Target}, back to the Star Wars movies.”

Emmy:  “Lucas, will you kiss me?”

                “Can we go home now so I can paint my nails?”

 

Halloween

Emmy Ruth has been saying for weeks she was going to be "big Snow White" for Halloween. It took us a while but we finally realized that meant she wanted to wear the fancy Snow White dress and not the simple one she had. My friend Leigh gave her the dress for her birthday and she has loved it! I thought she would want something different for Halloween but she insisted on wearing it. Of course, that meant I had to be the Wicked Queen.

My Lu is 4!

I can't believe Lucas is already four years old!!! He is so totally into Star Wars so he had to have a super Star Wars party. There were asteroid stomps (on bubble wrap), light saber battles (with balloons) and lots of games and tunnels. It was so much fun and we are so thankful to have Lu in our lives! Emmy Ruth tells us all the time that she is going to marry Lucas. :)

John entertaining the kiddos... A silly AunTee...There were light saber battles... And of course presents to be opened followed by the required picture of all the kids...

Daddy taught Emmy Ruth how to play pool... An amazing Star Wars cake for an amazing boy...

Elvis?

I have an Elvis postcard tucked in our bathroom and a few weeks ago, Emmy started asking about him. So, after me trying to sing a few songs, we downloaded one of the albums from iTunes. I must say that she was not thoroughly impressed but we are working on that.

 

Last night when we were reading our library book “The Twelve Dancing Princesses”, I mentioned the eldest one and Emmy said, “Elvis! He is in our bathroom!”.

 

Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy????????

A decade or so ago when Nancy Kerrigan was attacked by Tonya Harding, the clip that played over and over was of Nancy on the ground, holding her knee screaming "why? why?". That is stuck in my mind as I hear that question over and over and over and over.

Watching Mulan, she asked John a thousand questions about why they did this or that.

Why do we have to wear panties to school?

On the way to school, why is the sun up? Why is her school to the left and not the right?

When driving the other day, I almost couldn't figure out what she meant when she asked why that truck was carrying that other truck. I finally found the street sign and explained that if someone parked in the grass, his or her car would be towed. Why? Because there is a law against that. Why? Because cars go on the street and parking lots. Why? Because Mama was apparently a very difficult child to raise and she is now earning it all back.

The perfect gift

For Father's Day, Emmy wanted to get John soap.

For Neall's birthday, Emmy wanted to get him the latest Kendra Wilkinson book. She said it would be perfect for him. He does love to read.

For my birthday, Emmy told John she wanted to get me scissors.

Aunt Becca's birthday is coming up and Emmy told me tonight she wanted to get her toliet paper.

I can hardly wait to see what our Christmas list looks like.

I let Bill out in the back yard to do her thing when I go downstairs to  do my thing (get dressed). This morning when I went to  let her back in, I noticed something moving in the pool. (Yes. it is still up. On one hand, this is awful as it is October, but on the other hand, we were actually in the pool about two weeks ago, so it’s not been up unused THAT long. And I don’t have the time to nag Burton on it right now.) I thought it looked like a squirrel and you know how I am pretty sure my demise will come from rabies so I didn’t want to get too close. I stood on the Adirondack chair to see the little rabid beast swimming in our pool! Emmy was having a rough morning so to kind of snap her out if it, I asked if she wanted to see something funny, there’s a squirrel swimming in your pool! Of course she did.

 

So, we go out, and I don’t see it. I thought it might be against the side of the pool closest to us and I am not about to get right on top of it and look in so holding ER, I climb up the ladder for the slide and we stand on the top of the slide to look. No swimming squirrel. But one at the bottom of the pool. I said, oh he must have gotten out, but of course she sees it and says “I SEE IT! It’s DEAD!”

 

In the kitchen, she says, “I’m gonna invite Jillian over to see my dead squirrel!”

 

At the orchard

We were very late getting to the orchard but that was ok since The
Girl pretty much had free reign of the place. And she had a blast.

She's still not a morning person, screaming "mornings are not fun"
yesterday as we headed out the door!!!!

Disney on Ice

Of course, I have no pictures but we went to see Disney on Ice tonight with the Jacksons. Emmy and I with Neall, Becca, Solomon, Baby Rose and Maggie Grace. When we were walking to the Forum from the parking lot, Emmy announced, "We are a family!" It is just the little things she says sometimes that just take my breath away. Of course we are a family but having her little precious voice around to say it is pretty sweet.

The kids all loved it. I wondered at first if Sol and Emmy would ever speak again because during the first act, they sat like stone with their mouths open, staring. Emmy of course loved the princesses and Maggie Grace clapped with delight. Solomon's favorite part was when Toy Story came out at the end. Rose liked the food. She (of course) was sitting in Becca's lap and eating nachos. I thought it was so sweet that she kept putting a chip on my leg until I realized she was licking the cheese off of it and then giving it to me. Then she had popcorn. And a soda. And french fries with ranch dipping sauce.

Cooper Young Fest

The Shepherds came over to go to the Cooper Young Festival with us again this year and we were so happy to see them. It was so very, very hot so we didn’t stay out in it as much as we might have otherwise. Joy took these adorable pictures of the girls and put them on her blog, so I borrowed them. I just love to see these girls playing together. I would have given anything to have heard the conversations they had in the stroller together. They chit-chatted the whole time!

Of course, Emmy had to wear her fairy wings and skirt.

I really don’t know what to think of Emmy with that crazy rolling her eyes look!

Sweet, sweet smiles.
Then she saw her... WonderWoman. We tried to go see her and Emmy just didn't have the nerve but when her daddy was with her she finally was able to do it.

Her Own Style

Emmy has been very outspoken about picking out her own clothes on
occasion lately. We had a rough time last Sunday getting ready for
church because she was very opposed to every dress I picked out for her.
She finally (after many tears) decided on this dress.... it's a size 5
and shouldn't be this long. But, we made due and went on to church. I
told her when we got out, we would go to Macy's so that she could pick
out a dress that she would want to wear next week to church. We went in
the Macy's entrance near the cosmetics and fragrances that leads
directly to jewelry and I don't guess we have ever used that entrance
before. She was AMAZED.

She stopped at a jewelry counter, placed her hands on the glass and
said, "OH MY GOSH. You aren't going to believe this stuff". I am afraid
that we are in for big trouble with this girl and her shopping. She did
pick out a pink and black polka dot dress to wear to church this week.
Fingers crossed all goes well with getting ready!

In other silly funny things she has done lately:

--She grabs my face (or John's) and says, "oh suga, suga, suga! Aren't
you so cute?"

--Tells me (or John) that "you're just the best mama (daddy) ever; I
think I am gonna keep you!"

--She loves to play teacher. This is one of those things that Momma
would have just LOVED. I used to play school all the time and I remember
hearing about me putting Grandma Ruth in the corner when I was about
Emmy's age. The other day, we were playing with Lucas and AunTee and she
would "read" the book and then ask "Children, who can tell me what was
in the story I just read?" If we answered correctly, she would have
everyone clap. Unfortunately, the teacher does pick on me a little, she
gave all the other students a sticker, except me! I hope to win her over
soon.

Noses

Me:        You’ve got such a cute nose.

Emmy:  Thank you.

Me:        You know you have your daddy’s nose.

Emmy:  No I don’t.  {laughing at that silly mama} He has his own nose!

 

Good times with a silly goose.

 

Did she really say that?

I know I am going to forget all these funny little things she says....

John was giving Emmy way too many hugs and kisses and she said, "alright, alright, I get it, you love me!"

I am really pushing her to learn her letters and she just told me, "we're not doing letters tonight, hon".

Emmy has had these little tiny bumps on her arms since she was born. The other day, we were at Pancho's with John's sister and I asked her to look at them and see what she thought I should do. Emmy said, "Actually, I don't need you sea witches' help!"

WonderWoman 1980 and 2010

Emmy Ruth wore my WonderWoman dance costume to Sol's birthday party. There are some times that I am so thankful Momma kept so many things!

WE LOVE SOLOMON!!!

I can't believe our little Superhero is already three!!! Sol had a great superhero party and we are so glad he invited us. We are so thankful for our sweet family! I wasn't quick enough to get a picture of him in his Spiderman outfit--he changed quickly into Buzz!He loved the Wall-E that we got him. It was fabulous to see him so excited because of something we got him.
Supergirl.

Supergirl getting pizza from Captain America.

Pinata!!

Super Julia

Here, WonderWoman is counting out all her loot from the pinata with Uncle ET.Super Sol!!!!!!
Nothing like birthday hugs between Buzz Lightyear and WonderWoman.

I thought (and I think Sol does too) this was a climbing wall. I was corrected that it is a castle. Super Julia, Supergirl and WonderWoman love the castle.

I love this of SuperJulia and WonderWoman counting all the things they got from the pinata.

Captain America and three Buzz Lightyears!

Pucker up!

Family!

Daddy's sister, who we always knew as Aunt Mutt, had three kids, the youngest is Andy, who is a year older than me. We have been keeping in touch some on Facebook and a few months ago, he called to tell me about his daughter, Riley. He asked that I "friend" her on Facebook, which I did. When he called a few weeks ago and said that Riley was asking questions about his family, we decided to take a quick trip to Little Rock to meet her. I am so glad we did! Riley is a sweet, beautiful girl.

On the way there, Emmy was the school teacher to John and I... the entire way. She kept calling us "hon" and "sweetheart" and telling us to be quiet and still. She would say a word and then say "now, say it with me" and repeat it slowly and enunciated. Once she said "In English, we say 'rollercoaster', in Spanish, we say 'aqua'". The whole way there, I kept telling Emmy that if she was good, we would go swimming! We arrived at the hotel, checked in, carried our things up and jumped in our swimsuits and rushed downstairs only for the pool to be closed! It was just like Clark W. Griswold. Of course, I went to the front desk, we got our money back and headed to another hotel. We ended up at the DoubleTree which was better for our evening, location wise. We were able to walk to the Rivermarket to meet Riley and Andy and then walk back to the hotel to look at old pictures I brought and then walk back to meet Riley's mom and eat dinner. After we checked in at the new, more expensive hotel, we got in the pool and twenty minutes later, Emmy said she was ready to go inside.


After meeting Riley and Andy (Emmy has only meet him once and that was at Grandma Jackson's funeral when she was very little), Emmy kept calling them "our new friends" and she insisted on holding Riley's hand when we were walking. Very, Very Sweet.

Gotta Have It!

We have had our first "gotta have" incident around here. Skechers has a new shoe out called Twinkle Toes that has sparkles on the toes. Emmy had to have some. I have held out and thought about getting the generic ones, but this is really one of the first things she has specifically asked for by name. I had to get my license renewed yesterday and told her that if she was really good, we would get her Twinkle Toes afterwards.

Little did I know that I was able to use a kiosk there and we were out in ten minutes. She didn't have to work too hard for the Twinkle Toes.

We headed to Sears and got some Twinkle Toes on sale for $29. EGADS! But she loves, loves, loves them. They are pink and shiny and everything she loves.

Lucas loves his Skechers and thinks that they help him run faster. I told Emmy that Lucas would be so happy to know she had some Skechers and she said that she didn't have Skechers... she had Twinkle Toes. "Where is the box? It says Twinkle Toes, see?"

Happy Birthday to Me!

This morning, Emmy Ruth had me put her socks on her. I know she can do it herself but I was feeling somewhat lovey.... I asked her to promise me she would always need me. She said of course she would... "You're a great sock putter oner. And you're a great washer!" I couldn't ask for a better birthday thought!

And for a best birthday card ever... Yesterday, I got my passing score for the Regulation part of my exam!!! Only three more to go!

Other little things

Emmy has really gotten into Barbie dolls lately so I rented a Barbie Mermaid movie for her. She loved it and immediately began telling us she was going to be surfer when she grew up. She has been running around the house doing her surfer moves!! John’s dad had an old guitar that he fixed up for her and she loves playing it. She cracks me up when she has John accompany her on the piano so she can play her guitar and sing.

 

She thinks that McDonalds is Old McDonald’s.

 

We continue to have a rough time in the mornings. She gets up so early (6am) and the earlier we try to put her in bed, the more she fights it and the later it is when she actually goes to sleep. The other day she was in our bed (we are not consistently starting out in her bed in the evenings but even when we do, she wakes in our bed!) and I was trying to gently wake her. She woke up crying that we had moved her book while she slept. I told her she didn’t bring it in our room and it was still in her room so I carried her in there to kind of chill out. I went to put on my makeup and she got up, turned off the light and slammed the bedroom door!!! I thought she would be lying on the bed when I got there but she was sound asleep again. I fully expected lots of slamming of doors but I thought I had a few years before it started. Peggy (Gigi) said she took her girls’ doors off the hinges when they slammed them. I am afraid that is going to be coming around a lot sooner than later for us.

It is already the middle of August!

After searching and searching, I finally found a church that I like. Since I was still looking for so long, I didn't want to take Emmy Ruth until I was really sure about a place. When I finally decided on the church I like, I took Emmy. She was pretty adament that she didn't want to go to the children's church so I took her with me to the service. She did pretty well but I did learn that when selecting a baby to take to church, always find a baby doll with a soft face as those hard ones make lots of noise on the wooden pews!

She was so sweet when we were in church. While we were singing hymns, I was holding her on my hip and she sang in the sweetest, sweetest little voice. She would look at me and smile and then kiss my cheek and just sing along in her own words. When the pastor made a reference to John, Emmy exclaimed, "My daddy is John!" Of course, everyone thought she was just beautiful and wanted to say helo to her.

I told her the next week we were going to church the next week and she said, "but we went last week!!!"

We have so many things going on and keeping busy. Emmy loves her friends at school and she is starting to get used to the new routine. Her classroom is a lot more structured and not quite as much playtime for the kids.

Emmy has these other little phrases that I can't seem to break her from saying: "how many times do I have to tell you?" or "I told you!" or "I said ...".