Sweet, sweet family

Saturday night, we were lucky enough to have Baby Rose and Solly Bear spend the night with us. There is absolutely nothing in the world that makes me think of Momma more than being with these three together. I can’t even imagine how much she would love these kids. I remember her saying once that she didn’t like to “play” and be on the floor doing kiddy stuff… I have a suspicion that would be completely different now and we wouldn’t be able to keep her from being on the floor playing with these kids.

 

Rose is just as cute as she can be and Emmy Ruth is just in love with her. She was a little sad when Becca and Neall left her, so Emmy tried to cheer her up. I love this picture of her putting her little hand on rose’s shoulder, she was trying to be so delicate and gentle with her. She is showing Rose her Cinderella doll and some of Barbie’s things. Sol and Emmy and I had a talk about keeping the little things away from Rose so that she didn’t swallow them and they did a great job of taking care of her. I got a little scared when she pulled out her baby doll’s stroller… I thought she might try to put Rose in it!!!

 

Saturday night we made pizza. This was so sweet since I can’t tell you how many pizzas Neall and I made with Daddy when we were kids. I can remember him being silly and throwing the pizza dough in the air. Always one to follow the instructions, he would put the dough in a Tupperware bowl, cover it with a dishtowel and then put it in the cabinet above the microwave for the allotted amount of time. I tried to get pictures of Emmy and Sol putting the ingredients on the pizza but my pictures are blurry.

 

When Emmy would ask Sol something and he didn’t answer immediately, she would say “Sol, I am talking to you!”. Oops, there is something else I must say way too much.

 

Sunday morning, Rose was ready for her momma and I was afraid she might starve since she wouldn’t eat anything I had for her, so Becca came to pick her up while the rest of the crew was still asleep. When they woke up and Emmy realized Rose was gone, I told her that she went home. She thought for a second and then said, “did she crawl home?”. After a big breakfast, we got in Emmy’s above ground pool in the backyard. I asked them to stand against the wall so I could get a photo of them side by side and this was the best I was able to get from the wiggleworms. Some of the funnier things in the pool were:

                -When John was lying under water with his head out, Emmy said, “look! That’s what the hippos at the zoo do!”

                -I am so used to the planes flying overhead that I really don’t even notice them. Sol was amazed at each and every one. Now I have him (like I have Emmy and Lucas doing) saying “Thank you, FedEx!” whenever one flies over.

                -John was crawling in the water with Solomon on his back and of course Sol was Spiderman. Emmy of course wanted to do the same thing but she told me that she wasn’t red and blue like Solomon but she was a pink and yellow Spiderman.

 

 

 

Father's Day

Earlier this week, I asked Emmy Ruth what she wanted to get Daddy for Father's Day. Without a bit of hesitation, she said, "soap". I am not sure why she wanted to get him soap, but she did. I brought it up again later and she said again that she wanted to get him soap. So she did. Aunt Becca called Friday afternoon and seemed to be a little concerned when I told her we were at the Family Dollar getting John's Father's Day gift...

There really is no way for me to describe what a good father John has become. He has learned to sit patiently as Emmy picks out his princess outfit, he's helped her makeup pizza at home just like my dad did with me, he spends hours with her doing whatever she wants, he has introduced her to Scooby Doo instead of these new fangled cartoons, he is the one she wants when she is sick (sometimes she picks me but it is usually her daddy), he is absolutely the daddy every little girl deserves. I could not be more proud of him.

Saturday we went to Wynne to celebrate Father's Day with Daddy, LynnLynn and the Jacksons. I love seeing what a great dad Neall is. How lucky the two of us are to have had such a wonderful father. There aren't many kids that can brag about a dad the way that we can. Emmy isn't the only daddy's girl around this joint, you know...

Roll with the punches...

We are having a few issues with a very whiney and tattling girl. I think it might drive me crazy!! This morning she was whining about WHO EVEN KNOWS WHAT and after a few minutes in the corner, she was darn near hysterical. I tried to tell her about "rolling with the punches" and we even came up with our own little dance for it. I said, "See? It wasn't exactly what you wanted but we rolled with the punches and we're still cool, right?" And the tears started again... "I am not cool! I am cute!" I forgot that boys are cool and girls are cute.

And now she is crying because she can't wear her fireman's jacket with nothing under it to the grocery store.

Just this morning...

This morning as I was getting ready, I had Emmy work on a birthday card for her Aunt Cathy. I knew I had misjudged the amount of personal freedom to give her when she walked in the bathroom holding the inside of a blue marker in her tiny blue hands. She told me she didn’t want to go to school with blue hands and I told her to just tell her friends she was turning into a Smurf. “What’s a smuf?”

 

Today is Show and Tell day so Emmy took her Caboodle that Aunt Becca gave her for her birthday. (I know her teachers are thrilled that she has a box with makeup, nailpolish and fifty tiny Dora rings.) When we were leaving, I asked her to carry it and she said “My daddy is a good carrier; he can carry anything”. I told her that he was a good carrier and she was lucky to have such a good daddy. Then, she said, “He’s a good cooker too”. I agreed. She proceeded to tell me all the wonderful things about her daddy the whole way out of the house and into the car. She must know Father’s Day is next weekend.

 

Ahhh summer....

We have big plans this weekend of being outside the whole time! Emmy's sandbox should get lots of action and we hope to lay down a new patio. Fingers crossed!!!

Emmy's funny for today is that any time she sees Snoopy or any of the Peanuts gang, she always says "Look, Charlie Brown Christmas!" She thinks that is their name!

She's my girl

As I try to go through so very many things and get rid of them, I really want to instill in Emmy Ruth the importance of not keeping all this stuff. So, I told her the other night that she needed to go through her toys and find some things we could give to some kids that might not have as many toys as she does.

So far, there are three things in this pile. And I am pretty sure that one of them is a Transformer that Lucas left over here.

Fun Times

It's not often I brag about Momma's culinary skills, but this is one thing I remember her cooking for me and Neall. Mickey Mouse pancakes. :) Emmy loves pancakes and wants them all the time. I thought I would try it and she immediately knew it was Mickey Mouse and was delighted!!!

This morning, I was getting dressed in my closet and Emmy Ruth was hanging out with me. (I have a lot of boxes because I am going through things to get rid of!) She found a pair of pink heels and had to put them on immediately, then she saw the pink boa that I had on my mirror and grabbed it. She is going to be a great model. Then she found a picture we took the week she came home and ski hat.

Our sweet friend Ian had his fifth birthday party today at My Big Backyard. It was so much fun! Before we left, we wanted to go to see the koi fish pond and on the walk there, Emmy and Lucas wore themselves out. They had run and run and run so on the way there, Emmy laid down on a bench and I didn't think she was going to make it much further. She said her legs were almost tired but her feet were really tired.

What an amazing girl she is. I can't believe how lucky we are to have her in our lives. She keeps us laughing and thinking and imagining. It's absolutely amazing.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day... here it is again. It is such a strange day in that I am so grateful to have Emmy Ruth in my life and to have had such an amazing mother but so bittersweet to remember that she is not here to see this. I can't say that I miss Momma any more today than I do any other day. There are still times now that I will move my arm a certain way and my bracelet catches just so that I remember how she gestured while wearing her sterling jewelry. Or that I will say something and think, Wow... that was so... MOM. Or, that last night, Betty White was on Saturday Night Live and I remember how that twenty years ago, Momma and I talked about how she reminded us of Grandma Ruth; back then, they were both here. Never, ever, ever will it be fair that they aren't now. But, never, ever, ever will it be fair that I am lucky enough to have the people in my life that love us so much, even if they don't have to--they want to love us.


Just today we had these little gems:

--I was putting on my makeup and told Emmy that was my mascara. There were two tubes and she said "This is myscara and this yourscara".

--I heard her telling John that they needed to hide from me and, oh so witty he is, John said, "oh let's go in the backyard, she'll never find us there". A few seconds later, I called out 'searching' for them and she exclaimed, "oh the dragon! She talks!". Cute kid.
--There was a spider statue at the zoo and Emmy said again that Princesses didn't like spiders. I told her when she was a baby, she loved spiders. She looked at me, with hands on hips, and said she was not a baby anymore and that she didn't like spiders!
--She told me she wanted holes in her ears so that she could wear my earrings. Whoa... kid... slow it down a bit!


This morning, John let me sleep in (we decided that me going to church wasn't a good idea since I get so emotional at church anyway and today's sermon was sure to be about mothers) and then we headed to the zoo. Emmy had some money in her piggy bank so she got to buy something at the gift shop and chose a pink panda bear. "Pink is my favorite color."
Carrying Pandy "up top" (on her shoulders).I love this picture that John got of us. She might say she got her blonde hair from AunTee but maybe she'll think she got her curls from me after seeing this. Pandy was safely secured in the boat as well.










The Buddha picture, of course...She has taken so many pictures in her life, that she started posing Pandy....

C'mon Daddy...

Emmy and John were playing in the yard and got really dirty so when they came in, I immediately put her in the bathtub. She asked John if he would take a bath with her and, against his better judgment, he agreed but wore his swimming trunks.

And she talked him into it the next day.

The next day, she said, "C'mon, Daddy, it's time for our bath".

A lovely weekend!

This weekend was amazingly...simple. We just played all day Saturday at home, did a little cleaning, I tried to convince Emmy that her job was to dust mop the hardwood floors. She actually fell for it a little better than John, but not much. It rained all day Saturday so we didn't get out much but just enjoyed chilling out at home. That night, I met some friends downtown for a wonderful birthday dinner. I often forget what it is like to not have to carry crayons in my purse to entertain my dinner companions. It was lovely to have such great company!!!

Sunday morning we woke up and were so thankful that it wasn't raining, we did what anyone would do... head to the zoo! The first thing Emmy said was "can I call Aunt Becca???" So, we did just that and they were going too!!!! We do love seeing the Jacksons and of course, the Meyer family. As we were leaving, AunTee sent me a text message and asked if we wanted to go to the zoo with them. I thought we might do a second round at the zoo, but after an Indian lunch, we decided to head home for naps. When we were eating lunch, Emmy saw my papadan and said, "I want some of that big cracker!" It's pretty mild so I didn't think anything of it but one bite, and she was wiping her tongue with her napkin. She was not amused!

After our naps, we hopped up to get ice cream--pink of course. Of all the toys this child has, she insisted on carrying my computer mouse around the house and calling it her dog, "Scott". Then she had her unicorn carry her around the house. Some kids have their daddies pretend to be horses, but of course, Emmy Ruth is always asking Daddy to be a unicorn so she can ride on his back.

Emmy's other latest adorable thing is her dinner blessing. She always says it really loudly but ends with "CHEERS!" and we all have to toast. Seeing her toast with milk is pretty precious.

Emmy Tales

--Today she was playing outside with Daddy and when a plane went over, she said, "oh look! a falling star". She told John her wish was for a pink helmet so that she could put it on and ride her skateboard over to AunTee's and give her a hug, eat some dinner and then come on back to Mommy and Daddy.

--John told her to tell the puppies goodnight and that she loved them and she said, "let's just leave it at like".

--"oh Lordy!" is coming out every time she drops something.

--She told her baby doll that she couldn't eat her pizza, it was for her.

--I brushed her teeth with my toothpaste and she was not happy. She told me "That was not delicious!"

Rose's Bacon

Rose really liked the bacon that we had for breakfast Saturday morning. Really. Liked. It.
Becca decided Rose had eaten enough bacon.

Rose disagreed. The look on Becca's face pretty much looks like the sound Rose made when she took it away. I like a girl that gets what she wants.

A camping we went!!!

This weekend, we went camping with some of our favorite folks. Friday night, Neall, Becca, Sol and Baby Rose met the Salinases at Heber and we showed up eventually. I can't figure out why it takes us so long to get anywhere! The kids had so much fun. There were bicycle races and rock throwing and "kickity kickball" and lots of running and laughing. The Jacksons headed home Saturday and the rest of us stayed until Sunday afternoon. I am disapponted that my camera is having shutter issues so I didn't get many pictures when we were all together. After the Jacksons headed home, the second set of Jacksons, Papa Richie and LynnLynn, came to visit.

Aunt Becca is a great race starter. Emmy loves her new fairy wings.

John even got in on the race. And the kickity kickball.

Just kids by an anchor.
Emmy said beforehand that she wanted a pink fishing pole and of course she had one. She didn't catch anything but had fun trying. I literally caught a fish the first time I threw out my line. The look on Emmy's face was perfect--she was so proud of me!!! I have to say that was the first time I have ever seen her PROUD of me!!! She kept saying she wanted a pink fish so the rainbow trout was absolutely perfect for her. She told us all she was going to catch a "biiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggg fish" (in her best monster voice) the next time we go fishing.

I wonder what they are talking about. They were both really concerned about our fish getting away so they stayed close to watch them.

On Sunday, the kids and AunTee walked to a little park while we packed up the fishing gear. When we arrived, we went to the little creek behind the playground and took our feet in the cold, cold, cold water. As we were getting our shoes back on, Emmy tried one more time and tumbled into the water. Her face was priceless... as she looked up and said, "I ..am.. cold.. EVERYWHERE!" AunTee let her wear her sweatshirt back to the campsite so she didn't have a cold, soggy ride back!

Obviously, she was pooped on the drive back to Memphis.
We are so thankful for such good times with good friends and family!!!!

Fun times!!!

We got to go see the Wonder Pets!, the Backyardigans, Dora and KaiLan on stage last Saturday. Emmy kept saying, "Everyone is going to be there". I shutter as I imagine her saying this as she wants to go to parties as a teenager. They had the best time! The Backyardigans was a Robin Hood variation where the mayor stole everyone's soap and locked it up. She couldn't stop talking about how he wouldn't let them take a bath. I didn't expect that to be her favorite, at all! The kids wore their Wonder Pets shirts with capes and had fun riding "up top" downtown.

After that, we headed to Wynne. Aunt Becca and Uncle Neallio went to Chicago so we got to hang with Sol and Baby Rose. To make it even more fun, we all spent the night with Joy and Julia and had a super duper slumber party. Obviously, it's really cool to live out of the city so that you can wear your Princess nightgown, Spiderman PJs and diaper in the yard!

In today's episode of "Life with Emmy Ruth"...

I took the suggestion of another mother and tried to bribe Emmy to sleep in her bed. So, last night, I told her if she slept in her bed, the Sleeping Fairy would visit. Earlier in the day, we ran into Dollar General for cat food and she found a Sleeping Beauty ball she wanted. I told her that we could get it for the Sleeping Fairy to give her for sleeping in her bed. Last night, she did sleep in her bed. For about 2.5 hours and then came to our bed. But, still it's a start so the Sleeping Fairy came and brought her the ball and a lovely note.

John had an appointment with the World's Best Dentist today so on our way to Wynne, we were talking about what the Sleeping Fairy might bring tonight and Emmy cried out, "but I slept in my bed last night! I already got my toy! I don't want another toy! I want to sleep in your bed!"

Failure of massive proportions.

On the way home, she was watching Snow White (which she calls Snow Wipe) and it was almost over when we pulled in the driveway. I got in the backseat with her as we finished watching it. When the prince kissed Snow White (Snow Wipe), I asked her who her prince was... Of course she said "Daddy". Then she told me she was Snow Wipe and I could be the seven dwarfs. I tried to confirm that I was to be all seven of them and she told me "no, you can be this one... Dopey".

An evening with the old folks

As we sat in the backyard this afternoon in our adirondack chairs while Emmy Ruth played on her swing set, I remarked to John how this was just the life... how great it is.

Emmy brought over her pretend baby and asked me to watch her, which of course I did. The first time she called me Grandma for her baby, it was slightly amusing. However, this time she took off and called back, "Take care of my baby, Grandma and Papaw". I almost fell out of my chair at John's face at being a grandfather so early!

EGGS!

On Sunday, Papaw Jim said something to Emmy about eggs coming from chickens and she got so tickled that she was laughing hysterically. She thought he was trying to pull something over on her, he is known to be quite the prankster, but she was doubled over laughing at him, saying “No they don’t! They come from my kitchen!!!”

 

We stopped at the store this morning and when I pulled out my own bag from my purse, the cashier said, “oh you have your own green bag”. Emmy quickly corrected him that no, it was a blue bag. I tried to tell her about how we were using our own bags to try to help the environment and that was called “being green”.

 

 As she was sitting on the counter, he went on to tell her that although it was a blue bag, saying it was green was an allusion to something else. I asked Emmy if she knew what that meant and of course she did.

 

Up from the grave HE AROSE!

What an amazing day we had! How lucky we are to have our Lord and then to be blessed with so many friends and family that love us. We started out the morning with the Jacksons. It is quite comical to me to remember all the Easter mornings that Momma made us stand in the front yard to take pictures and we were appalled and now we are doing the same thing to our kids. I love it! After the photo session, we went to visit some residents at a local retirement community. I am so thankful for a sister in law with such a great idea for Easter Sunday. We are so blessed. Then, we headed to church and I was so glad that we sang my favorite hymn of all, "Up from the Grave He Arose". I try to hold it together but of course cry each and every time I hear it. Thankfully, I was able to sneak out and get Emmy and Sol without making too much of a scene. And on to the pictures...

Solomon is such a good big brother and stopped Rose from eating this egg!

Emmy asked me to take a picture of her in front of this tree in Neall and Becca's neighbor's yard. Her shoes are on the wrong feet. :)

We went to Nana's for lunch and had a good Easter egg hunt. When we pulled up, Emmy said, "Oh, Nana is the best grandmother ever". What a precious child she is... and how lucky she is that she has so many people that aren't related to her by blood but that love her so dearly.

After lunch, we went back to Neall and Becca's and met Papa Richie and Lynn Lynn, as well as Uncle ET. How lucky we are to have family that we love so much and that are so good to us. The kids had a big time playing outside and nothing is as adorable as seeing them run around like

little madmen.

Amazing grace... how sweet it is.