Messy Day

This morning I took the kids over to my neighbor's house for a "messy" play date. My neighbor Misty is super nice and very creative with her kids. She invited us to come over so the kids could play in their backyard with water, mud, flour, cornmeal, marshmallows, froot loops and bubbles! I thought they would love it. Emma Mae actually did. She got in there and made a mess with Misty's boys. Jake, on the other hand, wanted to stay inside and play with toys or just hang out in the hammock in the backyard. Seems he doesn't like to get dirty anymore. I suppose I should be thankful for that.






Misty has two beautiful boys. Maybe Emma will marry one of them someday...



By the end of the morning, Emma and Nicholas had stripped down to their underwear and were busy covering each other in cornmeal and flour. Emma Mae had to come home and go directly into the bathtub. Jake, however, came home perfectly clean.

Sea World round two

Last Friday we took the kids to Sea World again. My parents bought Emma a season pass for her birthday since you have to start paying at age 3. The kids had a ball. They loved the silly man at the dolphin show. We sat in the wet zone this time and definitely got nice and wet.






These two look like trouble.


Penguin chick. I want one.


Emma loves beluga whales. I want this girl's job.

Spring is springing in our backyard!

On a completely unrelated note, I'm working my way through Pioneer Woman's new cookbook. And I've got the weight gain to prove it. God bless her, I hope she makes something of herself someday. I started with these knock you naked brownies. It turned out to be a recipe my mama gave me years ago but it was nice to remember it. They should be called you will not want to see yourself naked after you eat this pan of brownies. Delish.




Next, was this strawberry cream cheese cake. Yum. We actually had to give half of this away to our neighbors so we wouldn't eat it all in one night. We have no self control over here. And I'm totally looking forward to making the next thing on my list!

Big 3!

Emma Mae turned three on March 12th and I'm just now getting around to posting about it. We had a small family party for her two days before her birthday because we had plans to be on the road to Amarillo on her actual birthday. Her class at mother's day out had a little party for her as well so she was really confused about when her birthday actually started and when it was officially over.

She wanted a Hello Kitty party. I managed to make some Hello Kitty sugar cookies for her class party thanks to my sweet neighbor who ordered some Hello Kitty cookie cutters as a gift for her. They came out pretty cute.



For the family party, I kind of struck out. Target was out of all of their Hello Kitty party supplies. I managed to find one Hello Kitty gift bag and a Hello Kitty balloon at the grocery store. So I just did everything else in pink. I don't think Emma even noticed.



Both my parents and my sister and her family were able to come for the party. We had our second annual round of playing Taboo at Emma's birthday parties. The boys slaughtered the girls but it was fun all the same. And on a bright note, I can tell you that for the last two days Emma Mae has not had a single temper tantrum and has even been heard saying "yes, ma'am" to me. Could it be we're turning a corner??

Monkeys in a wheelbarrow

A list

1.) The kids and I hitched a ride with my sister and her kids to Amarillo last week. We spent our spring break in Amarillo at my parents house. And while I'm glad we went, my hope, theory, presumption that Emma Mae would outgrow the terrible two tantrums when she turned three proved false. She spent the first two days of our three days in Amarillo in a MOOD. She had an hour and a half long tantrum over the fact that I wouldn't give her milk. Now, ya'll know it wasn't really about the milk or I would have just given into her demands. It was really about the fact that I told her no and she did not like it. As she tries to remind me every single day I am not in charge because she is in charge of herself and she does not like it when I tell her what to do.

I totally forgot my pledge after our Christmas trip to Amarillo never to take Emma anywhere again until she is grown up. Trust me, I will not be forgetting that again.

2.) I did have fun getting my toes done up with my sister and my niece. I did enjoy eating at Taco Villa multiple times. I did enjoy taking Katie to the movies. I did enjoy listening to my dad and my nephew play music together. I did enjoy seeing my parents again and spending time with my family. What I did not enjoy was dealing with a strong willed now three year old. Is that bad? I think that might be bad. She is exhausting. Also, I do not enjoy sharing a bed with Emma. It is like sleeping with an alligator in the midst of taking down its prey. The thrashing, the twisting, the turning-no wonder she's cranky all the time-she can't be well rested!

3.) I bought Pioneer Woman's new cookbook. I think I love it. Looks like I'll have to put off trying to take off the extra five pounds I gained over the winter. And by the time I get through making everything I want to make I'll probably have five more pounds to take off. But that's okay! I'm okay with that!

4.) Is anyone out there reading Game of Thrones? I'm totally addicted. I have given up watching television to read at night. I'm halfway through book four and can't wait to see what happens next.

5.) Also can't wait for The Hunger Games movie to come out. Great books. Read them before you read Game of Thrones.

The newest member of our food chain

On Tuesday the kids and I finally made it to the pet store. Everyone was in a good mood and happy and no fits were thrown. We left the pet store with a new pet! Because what I really need is something else to take care of around here. His name is Striper and he's an adorable little hamster. The kids were beside themselves with joy. They sat and watched him for a long time. Jake kept brushing wood chips out of Striper's wheel to "take care of him." So cute.




It wasn't long before Zoe, our cat, took a turn watching Striper. I think she just wants to be friends don't you?



Then all three of them watched him. I wonder if Striper feels paranoid? He has brought much happiness around here for the past two days. I hope we have many more days ahead with our little rodent.

Going on three

Emma Mae has six more days as a two year old. I am praising God. Because my theory is that when she turns three we will see the end of the terrible two tantrums. Jake never went through the terrible two's. He was a perfect little angel two year old. Turns out, he was just biding his time, waiting for me to let down my guard. He hit us with the terrible three's. But, I swear the day he turned four he went back to being my sweet boy again. Thus, my theory about the terrible tantrums lasting for exactly one year. I cannot wait.

Saturday, I took the kids to Target and promised them we could go to the pet store afterwards if they were good. They were very good in the store so we headed out to get in the car to go to Petco. Emma refused to get in her car seat. She threw the biggest fit about it. It seriously took me ten minutes to get her buckled in. She had acquired the strength of ten warriors and fought me tooth and nail. Well. After that, you know I could not take her to the pet store. That would have been bad parenting. I felt bad for Jake because he was being perfectly reasonable but I had to tell the children we would no longer be going to see the puppies and kitties. Emma acted like I had cut off her arm or something. What ensued was the biggest, baddest, most awful temper tantrum ever witnessed in the state of Texas. She screamed the entire way home. She was yelling "MAMA! I want to go to the pet store! MAMA! You are making me very CR-AAANK-YYY! MAMA! YOU HEAR ME MAMA?"

Why, yes I do hear you Emma. The people in the car next to us hear you as a matter of fact. I calmly informed her that we were not going to the pet store because she was yelling and being ugly. To which she replied, "MAMA! I NOT YELLING ANYMORE!!" Ya'll. She so was.

We came home and she was still yelling and kicking my car seat. So I took her to her room and told her she was in time out until she could calm down. Then I tried to shut her door. That's when she acquired super human speed and beat me to the door and threw it open again. So I had to peel her off the door, toss her in her room, shut the door quickly and stand there and hold the door closed. I almost felt bad. Then I heard her screaming "MAMA! You do NOT tell me what to do! I WILL NOT stay in my room forever and ever and ever." It was a doozy. The whole thing lasted about thirty minutes but it felt like an eternity. So, needless to say I am counting down the days until three gets here. Three? Don't let me down, okay? I need you to be the year of the calm Emma Mae. Also, the year she lets me put clips and bows in her hair. Thank you. LM

Family fun day

Yesterday, Mike took the kids to the Y after breakfast for a little indoor swim time. Which meant that I got a little me time. I couldn't decide if I wanted to squander all my time sitting on the couch reading book three of Game of Thrones or clean the house. In the end, I chose to play the piano (which I never do anymore) for twenty minutes and then I cleaned the house while listening to some music. It was a very nice two hours.

When Mike and the kids got home we got everyone dressed and headed out to use our latest coupon. This one was to the Austin zoo. The weather was ridiculously perfect (85 degrees in March) and we had a really good time.


We had almost as much fun as this guy was having in his bathtub.




Jake was a little concerned the lions would try to eat his stuffed zebra.




After the zoo we headed over to Torchy's tacos for lunch. Yummy. Nothing like a shrimp taco to top off your day. This is also the face Jake makes at me every night when he comes to kiss me goodnight. It's alarming. Love my little family!

Toy Story

Let me start off this post by saying that we have way too many toys in our house. It's almost embarrassing to me that we have allowed our kids to live in such excess. They just build up until you have this mountain of toys that could never be fully played with. Birthdays and Christmas's come and go and the toys march on.

With that being said, I find myself laughing daily about the sad state of affairs I find some of these toys in. I wonder how happy they are living with us. Take Dora for instance:


Dora. What's up girl? Bad hair day? You look like you could use a trip to the spa. Come to think of it, you look a lot like me. Maybe we should go together.



I found these two horses on a little ledge inside Jake's closet. Maybe they're in time out.


These pool toys were in our pantry hanging out with the cookbooks.


Spiderman hangs out on our back door more often than not.


I like how orderly these toys are. Nice row formation and grouping of like kinds. Toy segregation anyone?


I found this on the kitchen table when I got out of the shower a few days ago. Interesting. I wonder if this is how all those Easter Island statues got built. Some mama's left their kids alone for an hour while they bathed in a nearby stream and BAM! They come back and find weird stone statues all over the place.


I don't even want to think about what this guy did to get hanged from the mini blinds. Bad elephant!


This is what I found in the kids sink last night. They built a water zoo. Otherwise known as an aquarium. Unfortunately, there was a little bitty dolphin in there somewhere that I didn't see and when I let the water out to drain it slid down the drain never to be seen or heard from again. It was tragic. I'm not sure if Jake will ever forgive me. I might have to help him punish some of his bad toys to get back in his good graces.

One wedding and two funerals

The kids have been talking a lot lately about the fact that some day Mike and I are going to be dead. They are very matter of fact about this. They don't seem terribly upset about it although they do say they will both be sad when we die. Which is comforting I guess. Neither one of us is knocking at heaven's door just yet so I'm not sure where this conversation is coming from. I just try to be very matter of fact about it and agree with them that yes, everyone dies someday. I also tell them that when we die we get to go see Jesus in heaven and they think that's pretty cool.

A few days ago we were over at a neighbors house playing when Jake looked at the mama over there and said "my mom and dad are gonna die someday." She was all "oh, okay." Are they overly concerned with death at five and two? I vividly remember being scared of my parents dying when I was in elementary school. My mom and dad were about ten years older than most of my friends parents and I guess I thought that meant they might not be long for the earth. I prayed for God to let them live until I got out of high school at least. Don't worry, they are both doing fine all these years later. But I do remember it being a legitimate concern of mine. Could I have passed this morbid line of thought down to my own children? After all, my mama and I were both 39 when we had our last child. How do you handle your children's questions about death? Or am I the only one whose kids think about it?

At this very moment they are watching Bambi for the first time. Perhaps that wasn't the best choice of things to do this morning. Should make for some interesting conversation later. On the bright side when I tell them that mommy and daddy shouldn't be dying anytime soon, Jake brings up the point that even if we don't die he and Emma will be leaving home in a few years leaving me and Mike alone and sad. So, that's cheerful.

Speaking of interesting conversations, Jake broke Emma's heart a couple days ago. He told her that he no longer wanted to marry her because she's his sister. While Emma was crying, I was praising God that we dodged that particular bullet. Then, Jake told Emma that he was going to marry his cousin Alia instead. I suggested he marry one of the girl's in his class at school but he wants to marry his cousin. Guess I should be thankful that at least he is stepping out to a further branch of our genetic tree. Maybe someday he'll climb off of our tree and marry some nice girl in another orchard.

I also suggested to Emma Mae that she marry her best buddy at school. His name is Bryson. She always talks about how wonderful and silly this kid is. But when I told her she should marry him she just looked at me and burst into tears. After further questioning, she told me she could not marry Bryson because he threw up in class one day. And she does NOT want to marry a boy who throws up. So, I'm glad that Emma Mae is already setting the bar pretty high for these boys. If you throw up, do not talk to my daughter.

It's a wonderful life

Friday night I was sitting on the couch reading my latest addiction (Game of Thrones) while Mike was cooking some of his amazing chilli for dinner. I looked up to see Jake lying on the floor contentedly playing his Leapster game and Emma Mae sitting on our ottoman looking at her own book. I was just amazed at how beautiful they are. Then Mike came over and sat down to play Angry Birds. And Brady came over to pant all over me.

You ever have one of those moments where the sunlight is hitting everything just right and everything is so achingly beautiful and the world just seems very clear and very, well, right? It was one of those moments. No one was talking to me or even paying attention to me (except the dog) but I just realized how in love I am with the whole lot of them. Three days later and I still remember it crystal clear. That is a feat for me! I wanted to get up and grab my camera to capture everyone the way they were in that moment. But I knew as soon as I moved the moment would be over. So I just looked and watched and tried my best to commit it to memory.

At the time, I had music playing in the background and it just happened to be one of my favorite songs. And it described the way I was feeling so perfectly. So lest I forget these wonderful feelings tomorrow when the kids spill water colors all over the carpet or eat crackers all over my clean floor or I find a doggy fur ball the size of a cat in the corner somewhere, let me quote Sir Elton John who said it so eloquently, "I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind, that I put down in words. How wonderful life is while you're in the world."