Why toddlers should not use shorthand...

Here's yet another glimpse into the joy that is raising my daughter... Just when I thought that my self-purchased magnet would be my only Mother's Day gift, Emma came running out to me in the living room late tonight. She had been watching a movie in my room while I was folding laundry in the living room. She ran up and excitedly exclaimed, "Mommy! I love you very much and I did NOT poop on your bed!" Then she ran off. Wha...???? I dropped the shirt I was folding and ran after her to investigate whatever she had "not" done, since that is usually what she HAS done. Turns out that what she meant to tell me was that she had had to use the bathroom while she was watching the movie. So she had climbed down from the bed and went to use the toilet. Haha. I guess the message lost something in the delivery!

Happy Mother's Day!

I had a good Mother's Day today with my little Gracie girl. Emma made me a handprint card at school and she also gave me a photo magnet with a picture of the two of us. Actually, I ordered the magnet a couple weeks ago since I had a coupon for a free one and so that she would be able to "give" me something today. Then we met Grandma & Al, Tim, Jenny, Katie, Lucy, & Bubby, Kenny, Todd, Karen, Kayla, & TJ at the Eagle's Club for breakfast. They do an annual Mother's Day breakfast that we have been attending for the past couple years. $5 for a full breakfast and no crowds like the regular restaurants! Plus they have a small playground in the back, which the younger kids love. Then we came home to take a nap (Emma refused, of course), watch a movie, and play some Hi-Ho-Cherrio. It was a nice, relaxing day. I am so lucky to have Emma as my daughter and I am so glad I am her mom. She makes everything more fun and is such a blessing in my life. I love that little girl.

Emma & Sophia

Emma & I went out to meet our friends Erin & Sophia this morning so the girls could play. We were supposed to be attending a Crayola "Extravaganza" at the local Toys R Us store but the "extravaganza" left quite a bit to be desired. It consisted of a single table with a couple of markers and some paper to draw on. So we wandered the aisles for a while, checking out all the princess toys, and then decided to leave before the girls destroyed all the merchandise. We headed across the street to Chick-Fil-A to feed the kids and let them play. The food isn't the best there, but they have an indoor playground, which is nice when the weather is this hot. A whole gaggle of junior soccer players showed up soon after though, and they were quite a bit larger and rougher than our delicate little angels. Haha. Actually, Emma & Sophia both do quite well, generally speaking, at holding their own in a group of kids, but these really were big, active kids. So we hung out outside for a while, where the girls enjoyed running back and forth and reading their new books that came with the kids meals. It was a low key, but enjoyable, morning. It's nice to get out of the house on the weekends and are we lucky to have founds friends we both enjoy hanging out with.

Kayla's School Picture

Must be school picture time. We got Mikayla's this week too! I wish I had some coming for Emma, but I think she was home sick (again) on her picture day. :( So I'll have to settle for posting all the other kids' pictures. Good thing they are all so darn cute. Can't believe how fast everyone is growing up though. Mikayla looks like quite the young lady in this photo...

Mr. Handsome!

How freaking adorable is my nephew?!?! TJ started preschool not too long ago and is doing well with it. He loves his class and his teachers and all the new things he is learning. They have even done school pictures already! They turned out pretty cute, huh?

Lil' Lowrider...

Not too much happening around here, just the same old work week. I took Emma for a walk yesterday evening and, halfway around the block, she decided she wanted her tricycle flipped over from the regular trike to the Big Wheel type. She actually does really well riding it in either mode, especially since the packaging states that it is designed for ages 2 - 5 as a trike and ages 5 - 7 as a big wheel. She's so funny though as she zooms around because she leans sooo far back to get enough leverage to pedal. Especially whenever she starts off. In fact, when Emma leaned back and I got a glimpse of her, guess what popped into my head? The Lowrider song by War (or ZZ Top)! Hahaha! So, for the rest of our walk, the lyric "all... my ... friends... have a low rider" kept running through my head. She's so cute.

School Houses and Chili!

The girls~ Emma, Sophia, Samantha, & Hayden ~ with this week's project at Lowe's!
My brother & his family... Tim, Tim Jr. (aka "Bubby"), Jenny, Katie, and Lucy.

Happy to be at the Chili Cook-Off!
Chili tasting can wear a kid out!
I think this might have been Emma's favorite part of the day. She LOVED the fact that she could create her own snowcone flavor and had control over all the syrups! End result??? A disgustingly sweet concoction, but she enjoyed herself!

My beautiful nieces, Lucy & Katie.

Aunt Jenny, Uncle Tim, and Emma.
Lucy on the Titanic Slide.

Even Katie's not too cool to love the giant slides!

Tim's face-plant as he ended another turn on the tiger slide!

Lucy finally got Emma down one of the inflatable slides! Emma was NOT happy when she got off!!!

Tim & Emma, happy to be heading off on a train ride!


We had another fun Saturday this weekend! First Emma & I met our friends at Lowe's to build the weekly craft project. This week it was a little school house. It turned out really cute, especially since one side of the roof is hinged so the kids can actually open the school and store "treasures" inside. Emma's favorite part was that this project had STICKERS to decorate it. She loves stickers and really liked putting on all the windows and wall stickers.
Then we met up with Tim, Jenny, Katie, Lucy, and Tim to head to the annual chili cook-off. It was really nice a couple of years ago when it was held at the park around the corner from Tim and Jen's house since we could park there and walk to the park. Plus there was a lot of shade. This year, however, the venue was changed to the National Orange Show grounds. Not as convenient, and we had to pay for parking, but it was still a lot of fun. There was nowhere near as much shade and I got a pretty good sunburn too. Emma wasn't as into the chili this year ~ she said its too spicy ~ but her tasting cup came in handy anyway. Some of the booths would have toppings (cheese, onions, etc) for their chili so, everytime we hit one of these booths, we would get Emma just a cup full of cheese, which she loved. Carnival type atmospheres can always make the most basic food taste delicious too so we had to have hot dogs, nachos, and snowcones throughout the day. There were a few giant inflatable slides set up too, which the Ames kids enjoyed but Emma is still not a fan of. She really liked the train ride though. All in all, we had a wonderful day hanging out with our friends and family!

On a side note, I swear I was at all these events too! At some point I'll remember to ask Katie or Lucy or somebody to take a picture of my daughter and myself together to prove I'm actually there...