Pretties and Piggies

I am very much enjoying my days with Bella. We haven't had much alone time in her 20 months of life, and now we are overflowing with it. My house may never be clean, but boy, we sure have fun together. She is quickly filling the role of best bud! This week was filled with playing dress-up and putting on pretties. She finally has enough hair that we were able to do piggies. Add in one dance lesson for momma, and life just couldn't get any sweeter!

I Miss You Thomas

Where does the time go? My second born child, and only son, started kindergarten. He is no longer my sweet baby, but a smart, loving, hilarious boy. He makes me laugh every single day. I am amazed by his crazy cartwheels, and his abundant arm farts. He cracks me up! I thought I would cry when I left him with his teacher on that first day, but surprisingly enough, I was more proud than sad. Then, I became excited. I would only have one child to take to the store, and this became my vow. Never again will I go to the store with more than one child in tow. So, in keeping with my new vow, Bella and I headed to the store after dropping off the other two on that second day. Walking into the store, I realized that there would be no rush! Bella is still quite content to ride in the shopping cart without throwing fits or trying to escape. We strolled through the store and my legs began to lead me to the toy department. I rarely venture there with all three kids because frankly, I'm not into self-torture. As I walked through the toys, I found myself in the middle of the Thomas the Tank Engine aisle. My tears started to flow. My sweet toddler, the one who LOVED Thomas and all of his buddies, was no more. Now we have a closet with a large container of wooden trains that my "big boy" doesn't think twice about. I did love that stage, and I know it will never return. Thomas, I do miss you, and you will forever hold a very special place in my heart. And by the way, Thomas, have you met A.J.'s new friend Megatron?

MIA

So, I've been gone for quite a while, and not that many people read this...but I've decided that I need to document and record more memories. One day, I am going to want to look back and see what my life was like at that particular moment in time, even if no one else ever looks. So, here I am and I am vowing to post atleast once a week...more if I get the chance!

This Is What Love Looks Like

I Want To Eat Her

On February 6, 2009, a beautiful new soul joined our family. She is precious and sweet and good enough to eat! Bella Rose was born early on a Friday morning and weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz., and was 19 3/4 inches long. I feel so blessed to be her mother.

Nutcracker 2008

Emma was in the Nutcracker this year. She was a mouse and a party child. She loves to dance and sacrificed a bunch this holiday season to be a part of the Nutcracker. We are so proud of her. See if you can find her in the picture!

Six Years of Sparkle

Six years of sparkle is the best way for me to describe my life since Emma has been in it. My sweet baby girl turned six years old today, and over those last six years, she has taught me many things. Most of all, she has taught me how much it hurts to love someone so much.....and I mean that is a good way. My six favorite things about Emma:

1. She has an amazing ability to make me laugh about silly things.

2. If there are no friends around, she will make one, even if it is with a wall.

3. She is super passionate about almost everything....I would say intense, but passionate fits her better.

4. She loves shoes...almost more than toys :)

5. She has a kind soul....one of her teachers said she was the classroom "Mother Earth".

6. She "skips" through life. Emma rarely walks anywhere...you can always catch her skipping, dancing, or stumbling her way around.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my beautiful six year old!

Grandma Got Runover By A Reindeer.......

That all too familiar yet annoying song came on the radio yesterday, and I realized this is the first year that I actually thought Emma would listen to the song and laugh at it's humor!

"Emma!....Listen!....This song is about a grandma that got runover by a reindeer!!! It's so funny, listen!" I say as I turn up the radio.

A few moments pass.....

"Mom...........I don't think that is very funny.....a grandma getting runover by a reindeer. I don't want my grandma's to get runover by reindeer," Emma replies.

Huh......guess it's not so humorous after all.......

Joining Our Family In February:

Miss Bella Rose will be joining our family on February 6, 2009!

"Time marches on and pretty soon you realize time is marchin' across your face"

In honor of my 31st birthday, here are 31 facts about me that you may or may not have known. ENJOY!

1. I was born November 8, 1977 in Dallas, Texas.
2. I was named after Elke Sommer, a 1960s actress and Playboy pin-up girl.
3. My favorite childhood memory is going to Galveston and playing on the beach.
4. I played volleyball in highschool, but sat the bench most of the time.
5. I played the viola for ten years and was actually pretty good.
6. I graduated college with a minor Earth Science because teachers have to choose a specialty area and I thought Earth Science would be easy.
7. My two all-time favorite movies are While You Were Sleeping with Sandra Bullock, and The Family Man, with Nicholas Cage.
8. I didn't spend the night away from home until I was in highschool because I had incredible anxiety issues.
9. I LOVE apple pie!
10. I HATE roaches, not just hate, but actually FEAR.
11. Even when I was a child, I felt my purpose in life was to have children.
12. With all the ups and downs that Aaron and I have had, I still feel like we were made for each other.
13. My favorite color is PINK.
14. I love PINK roses.
15. I was actually relieved when I had a c-section with my first child. I am terrified of having a baby the "normal" way.
16. My greatest fear is that one of my children will die.
17. I wish I knew how to sew really well.
18. I think my best quality is that I empathize well with people.
19. Guns scare me even though my husband owns a ton of them.
20. My worst quality is that I am way too emotional and cry for everything.
21. I cry atleast once a day over something silly like a commercial or a song.
22. My favorite food is good old Southern cooking....chicken and dumplings, chicken fried steak, sweet tea....
23. I suffered through postpartum depression after my first child and thought I would die.
24. Having postpartum depression made me a stronger person.
25. I love to mow the lawn and do yard work.
26. My DAD is the only person that completly gets my sense of humor.
27. Domino's pizza and Pepsi together have a special meaning to me. (and Aaron)
28. I had a dog named Rhoda when I was young and she was the best dog in the world.
29. I love to cook, but I'm AWFUL at it.
30. Sometimes I feel like a bad mother because I'm so tired most of the time and don't have the energy to entertain my kids at every moment of the day.
31. My DREAM for my future is that Aaron and I are old and married and live on a bunch of land. Our grandchildren will come stay with us every summer and Aaron will teach them to fish and we will swim in the pond and ride horses and pick wild flowers.
Happy Birthday to me!

Dogs Can Babysit Too, You Know.......

"But I wanna stay wis you!" A.J. wails as I try to get him out the door to go to preschool.

"Why? Why don't you want to go to school?" I reply.

"I just wanna stay home wis you momma...." the whine continues.

"But I won't be home A.J., I have stuff to do, and you need to go to school," I argue.

"I wanna stay with the dogs...." he cries.

"The dogs can't watch you, A.J." I reason with him.

"The dogs have eyes, " A.J. reasons back.

How do you argue with that?

Too much beer......

The changes in my body over the last six months suggest that maybe I should switch to light beer!

Halloween

I must say that our Halloween was great! Even though the kids didn't get nearly as much candy as I would have thought they would, we got plenty. We only went up and down two streets in our neighborhood, and then the kids wanted to quit. They were more interested in handing out the candy! I remember when I was little, my brother and I would have hit an entire neighborhood and maybe more, but I must have been older than my kids are now. We had a bunch of fun carving pumpkins! A.J. wanted a "sick" pumpkin and Emma wanted a happy one.

Boy Day = Battle Scar

AJ fell off a porch swing

All patched up!

One crazy day!!!!!

Hormones, shmormones.....

I heard somewhere once that when you have children, your heart no longer belongs to you. You can no longer control it, reason with it, or even trust it some of the time because it will tell you such things as, "Go ahead and buy her one more toy because you know she NEEDS it!" I found myself in a mess of saddness today. No real reason for it, just the realization that my children are growing up, and there is no stopping it. Maybe it is the pregnancy hormones, but I just cried and cried while taking A.J to school. Don't get me wrong, I am so excited to meet the people my kids will become, but I am so in love with the children they are right now, and I dearly miss the babies they once were. Stupid hormones..........

The men in my life

Aren't they handsome?

The BIG Questions......

I have joined the BLOG craze!!!!! I sent out this email and got a number of people telling me I should start a blog, so here it goes. My first attempt at blogging.......



I have kind of always thought (silly it will sound, I know) that when you die, God gives you the answers to a few questions you may have had during your life. They can be any question you could possibly want to know the answer to, from the "why are we here?" to the "who really took my purple pencil in third grade?" My questions have changed throughout the years. When I was little, one question may have been, "why didn't I have a sister?" and as I got older I was really quizzed by things like, "What really happened to JonBenet?" As of today, no matter how much I ponder, "why did that certain thing happen to me?", or "how would this or that have changed my life?" , I only have one question..........."WHERE IN THIS WORLD ARE EMMA'S PINK SPARKLY SHOES?????" Were these shoes tired of going to the amazing world of Kindergarten? Were they so fond of the park that they took off in the middle of the night and now live there? Is any of this possible????? I have searched my house, all of our cars (even Aaron's work car), I also went through the trash tonight! These shoes have gone to a better place, I can only conclude. How could any place be better than my lovely daughter's five year old feet? These are the same feet that love to balance on curbs, walk in the dirt to school, splash in any puddle available, and dance around the kitchen. Shame on you shoes for disappointing my sweet Emma this morning and making her wear brown athletic shoes with her sweet white dress with pink flowers. You would have completed the look so well, but you decided to leave, so I guess you can just stay gone!!!! And BEWARE...anyone with a daughter out there, if a pair of size 12 pink sparkle shoes come knocking at your door, nicely explain that you don't want their kind around your house and tell them to leave!....and if that happens, will you kindly let me know??? Then, I will know what happened to the shoes and that is one more question to God I can cross off my list.