Must be more specific.

I was preparing potatoes for dinner and as I peeled them, I out the
peelings in a bowl. Emmy wanted to help so I asked her to throw those
away.

After cleaning up, I went to throw something else away and found my
bowl, full of peelings, in the trash can!!!

I like Stuff

I really like stuff. I don’t like the way stuff looks a lot of times, but I have so many things, I have to get past that. In a perfect world, I would have little clutter with all my stuff put up properly. But for now, I have a lot of stuff…. like the half empty box of gift enclosure cards that bear “Ruth Daniels” on them or the postcard from Momma that reads “to my favorite daughter”… things that I just can’t get rid of. I also have the blankets that were made by Grandma Jackson and the boxes upon boxes upon boxes of photographs.  Poor Emmy has so many toys in her room (and the living room) that she couldn’t decide what to paly with if she was forced to make a decision. I didn’t really buy all these toys; most were hand me downs or gifts, there were lots that were mine when I was a kid, and the ones I did buy, I got at yard sales. And then the things I bought on sale… such a good sale that I bought three of them!

 

I admit… I am a hoarder.

 

It all slapped me in the face when Emmy Ruth has recently started carrying four or five things at one time and saying she wants to take “my stuff with us”. Or she says “I need my stuff”. How many times have I said, “I might need this stuff”? Momma kept things that were special of Grandma’s and now here I am doing the same thing with Grandma and Momma’s things. Good heavens, what am I doing to this child of mine? Seeing a blanket isn’t going to tell her how special they were to me.

 

So, now I have boxes of stuff in the living room that are going in a yard sale and the leftovers promptly being taken to Goodwill. My biggest problem now is keeping Emmy Ruth from taking things out of the boxes as I put them in there!!!

That Girl...

I am not saying I miss changing diapers, I just find it slightly odd that Emmy will stand up and announce, “I have to go potty” and walk into the bathroom, shut the door, and come out when she is finished. Granted, she is usually underwear-less, but she refuses to have our help in the bathroom.

 

Every day when we drop John off at work, she gets a kiss and I call out from the front seat, “call me if you need me”. This week, Emmy has told her daddy to call her as he gives her a hug goodbye.

 

I am so very proud of all the things she is learning!! I really think she is getting into the groove at her new school. She has made lots of new friends, and they all know me as “Emmy’s mom”. It’s still so strange to hear. As kids walk out with their parents and I pass them in the hallway, they point and say “there’s Emmy’s mom”. I can’t help but smile. Me. A MOM! I am way too young to be a grown up—much less a mom!  As we were reading our Strawberry Shortcake book, Emmy Ruth counted up to 15 strawberries. I was so proud of her. Last week when she sang her ABCs absolutely perfectly, I started cheering before she finished the “and now I know my ABCs…” and she told me she wasn’t finished yet and to stop cheering too early. Oops. I was just so proud.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

Me:        Emmy, do you know how much I love you?

ER:          Yes, ma’am. {ok, sometimes she says the ma’am and sometimes she doesn’t, but for this illustration, let assume she did say it}

Me:        How much?

ER:          Two.

 

Two is a lot of lovin’.

A visit from old friends.

I wasn’t sure if it would happen, but our friends Amanda and James were in town with their kids and stopped by the house last night to visit. It is always so good to see old friends and their beautiful kids.  There was a lot of soccer played in the front yard (until the rain came), Emmy threw the ball under the car a dozen times, and four kids in Emmy’s tiny room makes for a disaster… thank goodness, she doesn’t sleep in there….

 

But, if we ever hear that these four are hanging out together when they are older, we decided we will all be a little terrified. Yikes! I don’t think the world could take a round two of Kauts, Salinas, and Burton!

 

Emmy Rice

On Saturday, John’s family came to town and for some reason, I thought we should go shopping at Wolfchase Galleria. We never, I repeat NEVER, go out that way, so I am not sure what got into me. Saying it was crowded was a bit of an understatement and we were miserable. There were so many people there that they couldn’t get the place cooled off. Thank heavens for the carousel. Emmy loved it and while she was riding the train afterwards, I went to get the car to pick everyone up curbside. As they all piled in, John’s nephew said, ‘Oh Emmy just ran off’. I turn around, terrified that she has run into traffic and can’t find them anywhere. She ran back into the mall and was halfway on to the moving carousel when John caught her. He said that people were trying to help him catch her and she would psyche them out and get past them. By the time he got her and got back out to the car, he was a basket case and alternated between calling her Emmy Rice for Jerry Rice or Emmy Smith for Emmet Smith. I think he was slightly and secretively a little proud of her mad skills.

 

Saturday night, we headed to the drive in to see GForce with the Salinas family. I am not sure why we continued to watch a movie about hamsters while the kids played with cars on the pavement. But, we did. I took off to get popcorn and was assaulted by a wire coat hanger on the way back. Obviously it was dark, and I was walking back with a large of popcorn and the next thing I knew I was skidding across the ground on my right side. My arm, foot and knee hurt but most of all, I was mortified when this lovely man said, “ma’am, let me help you up”. Ma’am?! Get away from me!, I wanted to scream, but I got up with my half bucket of popcorn and the kids promptly spilled the rest. And I got a tetanus shot Monday afternoon, since I am pretty sure I got my last one when I was in first grade.

 

Then Sunday we got up and went to Wynne to celebrate Uncle Neallio and Papa Richie’s birthdays. Baby Rose was just precious and we didn’t even get to see Sol, he was asleep the whole time!

Like you, mama!

Lately, Emmy Ruth likes to add “like you, mama” or “like you, daddy” after things. I must admit to getting a little blushed when she sees Cinderella and says “Like you, mama!” or the headless models at the mall, I always thought it was because I was so thin like they are. This morning as we were driving, Emmy saw the bus with the Grizzlies players on the side and said, “like you, daddy” and we all got a big kick out of John being a large basketball player. Not nearly as amusing was when Emmy asked what something was and I told her it was an old building and she replied “like you, mama!” Cute kid.

 

Emmy-isms

Here are a few of Emmy’s latest comments:

 

“I want an ice”—a popsicle, we hear this about every hour on the hour. We bought one box of Dora popsicles and I have just kept refilling it with the cheap popsicles and she wants them all the time. I figure this is better than ice cream.

 

“Mama, did you poopy?”—any time I change clothes, she automatically assumes that I have had an accident. And no, I haven’t. Yet.

 

“Daddy, do you have a boogie nose?”—the girl has had a cold every six weeks, so she thinks about boogies a lot.

 

“I don’t want to go to school, I want to go to AunTees”—she loves her AunTee. A lot. I am seriously considering staging an intervention as she really, really talks about her.

 

“I can go see JORGE! he isn’t sick”—last week, AunTee had a cold so I told Emmy she couldn’t visit her and she tried in vain just to get into their house.

 

“Like Baby Rose”—any time we see a baby.

Trolley and Gibson

Since we were downtown, we rode the trolley, which was great fun. in one picture, you can almost hear Emmy saying, “where is that trolley????”.

 

After the show, we went into the Gibson store so that John could show Emmy and Lucas the guitars that he makes. Emmy was obviously impressed.

Dora LIVE!

AunTee and I decided that if those Dora LIVE! tickets had been $1,000, they still would have been worth it. The kids had so very much fun. It was amazing to see them just so enthralled is something. I am somewhat of a sap and I literally started crying at the end when she and Lucas danced in the aisle. It was so amazingly precious. And I can’t believe that I am lucky enough to be her mom and do this with her.

 

Wow.

Emmy Ruth has this lovely habit of getting in my “tupperware” and playing with all the bowls and lids. I am not sure where she found this though and I am really not sure why it was on her princess vanity this morning when I woke up.

That's a good daddy

She hasn't let go of him all night and is now patting his bald head.
Pretty adorable.

Rose Ryan

My beautiful niece Rose Ryan arrived yesterday afternoon at a whopping six pounds and thirteen ounces. She is just amazing. I can’t wait to see all the things that she and Solomon do together to Neall!!! It’s going to be a beautiful thing.

 

I couldn’t be more proud of my brother and his family.

 

 

It was water.

Last night, Emmy got popsicle on my side of the bed. I told her that she could start making messes on her daddy’s side of the bed. And, yes, she is back to sleeping in our bed. This morning, around 1 am, she woke up and snuggled extra close to me and I noticed her undies were wet.

 

“Emmy, did you have an accident?”

 

“No, it’s just water.”

 

But, at least it was on Daddy’s side.

John

Emmy Ruth is in this funky little phase where she calls her daddy “John”. The other night, he was Wii bowling with some friends and she would say “good job, John”. His face would literally drop with disappointment. She says “John, get me outta here” when he gets her out from the car as well. He is not amused.

 

The other night, she was asking me what everyone’s name was. I told her mine was Tara and Lulu’s was Lucas Anthony. She asked about AunTee and was slightly confused that her name was Tara as well. But, she really got confused when I told her JORGE’s name was Jorge.

 

Dollar Tree Jewelry

It's amazing how happy and content a dollar jewelry set made her.

Oh, Dora. And 29 months.

Saturday, Dora was at the Children's Museum promoting her upcoming show
at the Orpheum. And of course, we went to meet her. We were so lucky to
get there at the perfect time, just long enough of a wait in line to
build up some anticipation but not long enough to get too cranky; we
were in the first dozen. As soon as we saw her, I looked back at the
line and it was snaked through the entire museum! We left quickly after
that since the place was so packed. As we stood in line, Emmy Ruth's
little body was just quivering with excitement. She would not wait to
get up there! She would say "I want to hold her!" and "I want to go
there!" It was adorable. Of course, when it was her turn, she was
star-struck and could do nothing and was completely silent. But, I told
Dora we would see her at The Orpheum and she promised to bring Boots and
Swiper.

I wanted to dress Emmy Ruth as Dora and John was completely against it.
He went so far as to tell me that he wasn't going if I did. (Of course,
I did it and he went anyway.) I am still a little confused that of all
the things I have done, THIS is what he is drawing the line regarding??

Emmy Ruth has gotten accustomed to her new school, we think. Every
morning, she cries when I drop her off, but only for a few moments. She
is doing such a good job with potty training and we are so proud of her.
Of course, she still has accidents, but she's doing great. We still
can't get her to keep her clothes on though. As soon as we walk in the
door, she strips naked. Every single day.

We are working on learning colors and numbers and she does love to read
to us. She's such a sweet, sweet girl and we are so lucky that she is a
here. She's a very stubborn child too, but I attribute that to her
father.

Beach pictures

John spent the best part of the trip chasing Emmy Ruth along the beach. I had to take pictures so I couldn’t help him.

 

Beach pictures

The kids really liked rolling around in the sand. A lot.

 

Gulf Shores Mini Golf

Lucas is a golfing fanatic so we had to play miniature golf while we were at the beach. Emmy continued to throw the balls in the water traps, by the time we got finished, there were only two balls left for all of us to play, and she took John’s club at one point, leaving him to play with hers. I think this picture might be the only hole she actually played. And Lucas won, of course! He always beats us.