Emma's New Room

Here's pictures from Emma's new room! We are still in the trying to find the right fit for everything and haven't attempted to put up her castle mural or picture frames but it's looking great so far!

A view of her new ceiling with pink fan:



Emma in her bed:



Dresser and TV wall:



Closet view: (mirrored doors to be installed soon)

What's in a name?

Last week Garrett finally said "mama". It made my whole week! He could say Eat, Dada, nightnight, ball? but wouldn't even try mama. He's 11 months old and has finally said it. After that one time though I kept trying he wouldn't say it but once or twice. Today he finaly started saying it a little more. Man, it is so nice to hear. It melts this Mama's heart. Now, I do know in about a month when he's whineing and saying it, I'll wish I hadn't taught it to him. But for now I'm in heaven with his funny faced "mama" :)

Veggie Tales does help

Yesterday I laid Garrett down for a nap as soon as we got home from lunch. Emma wanted to play outside before her nap. It was a beautiful day and the kids and I weren't going to the youth area-wide devo with Matt that night so I said ok. She was playing outside and I sat down in the door way to the deck. Emma asked "Mommy why are you sitting there?" I told her "So I can know you're safe" She then says "Mommy don't worry God can take care of me" Then proceeds to sing "God is bigger than the boogie man . . . he's watching out for you and meeeeee" Too Cute! So, I guess watching and listening to Veggie Tales has really paid off for our little girl. She knows God is watching out for her and will keep her safe.

1st haircut

Garrett got his 1st haircut tonight. It was finally too long (I'm pretty sure tanya was making fun of him behind our backs). I used Matt's clippers and did a fairly decent job getting the tiny mulett and long hair covering his ears trimed and somewhat even. I left the top kinda long so I could brush it to the side. We'll see how it loks in the morning and how it works tomorrow I might trim it too. I'll post pictures soon.

If you give a 3 year old . . .

a sticky man, it will end up stuck to your ceiling. Emma got this sticky man in her valentine bag at daycare. They were the hit of the party. She has been haveing so much fun throwing him on the wall and watching him climb back down. Well, the other day she threw him stright up and he has been stuck to our ceiling for 2 whole days now. I guess I should take him down but now I'm curious to how long he'd stay up there. I will keep you updated if Emma forgets and lets him stay up there. :)

Monkey Boy

Our son is a Monkey boy! He climbs all over everything! And if you try to block him, he is smart enough to go around or push something out f the way to get to what he wants. He doesn't forget what he wanted to do just because you move him away even if you offer him other things to do. He will push your hand away and almost fight you to reach something he really wants. Then if somehow you have managed to keep him off or away from something he will sit down, pout, and cry with his head bowed down in frusteration . . . . he's barely 11 months old! Man we have along road ahead of us.

Thanks for the jungle gym Me-me and Po-po!



Though when he does it the right way he does look pretty cute!

Thanks Jesse

Aunt Jesse sent me a box with my birthday presents in it. and of course it had presents for the kids. Emma got 4 outfits for her Build-a-bear Cassie. Garrett got a turtle and an outfit. What he loved best was the wrapping paper! Thanks Jesse!

Big sister helps out

Big Sister loves helping brother out. . . . he loves this kind of help the best! Ice Cream!

Baby Madigan 2

Baby Madigan came to our house today. Garrett was much nicer than last time. :) He liked having a little friend over. He kept crawling around her and "talking" to her. Emma tried to "mother" her by bringing her toys, talking to her, handing her a passy, and loving on her.


This is what happened after I told Emma not to give Madigan hard toy because she might hit herself in the head. So apparently that was code for put all the soft toys around Madigan.

She rides

The other day was so beautiful outside so we walked across the road to let her ride her bike and Garrett to have a wagon ride.




Go Girl!

He's Walking

Garrett walks . . .

(you may have to turn sideways to view it) :)

Kids Updates

A few weeks ago Emma wanted to wear her PJ shorts under her PJ pants with her nightgown. Tanya and I though she was just weird. Last night I found out why. She was supposed to go pick out some pants to wear under her nightgown (since she's not great at sleeping under the blanket all night) She picked out her shorts again. So I asked her "why do you want to wear those? they won't keep your legs warm" She replied "I want to wear them like daddy does. He wears shorts under his PJ pants. . . . . . yeah that's right she wanted to wear "shorts" like daddy. so I tried to explain that daddys were boy panties. but I'm not sure it all sank in since they don't look like Isaacs. :) too cute!

She was watching Garrett in the tub the other night and she comments "Garrett has a bottom like Isaac" :o I said "Yes he does, they are both boys" . . . seperate baths may be right around the corner. HAHA

Garrett has been sick all week but is doing a lot better now. He has 7 teeth. He took his first step wednesday! He finally said Mama last night!!!! he also has said night-night.

Fire Fear

well we found out the hard way today that you can add "fire alarm" to the list of Emma's big fears. One of her classmates pulled the fire alarm at school today and 30 minutes later when I went to her room todrop something off she was still crying. She was still scared of the loud noise and her teacher going a tad crazy. She wanted to come with mommy to nap. So I let her come to my room and she went right down for a nap and even slept for a little over an hour. Poor thing. Her teacher said several of the kids who don't normally sleep, slept today. I told her teacher we may have to scare them all everyday so they'll sleep! :)

Spreading Diversity

In our house we strive to spread diversity. Mostly by the type of music we listen to. Though lately if it's not small children singing sily songs we don't listen to it. Mommy got the Wicked soundtrack for Christmas so we've been listening to that as well. Now my 3 year old litle girl can belt out Jesus Loves Me and today asks me to listen to "popular" off my soundtrack. I am SO proud! She is quite the talent. Sometime I'll try to get her on camera so you too can listen to her lovely singing. :)

He did it!

Tonight I had Garrett duty while Matt went to church with Emma. I was playing with Garrett, trying to get him to work on standing up and he . . . . took his 1st steps! yes you heard me right! His 1st steps! yippee! Soon he'll be running after Isaac and Emma and I'll need 3 leashes. :)

The sound of love

I was upstairs checking my email when I hear one of the most beautiful sounds a mommy can hear.

Our Big Girl

Our little girl is 3 going on 16

Boo yankees, Go Hogs, and now . . . oh lay oh lay oh lay

We took the kids to their 1st Harding basketball game this weekend. It was a good time. We went up and ate at the Rines house. Which was fun until our lovely children wrote with markers on Mr. Rine's chair upstairs. You know alone they are the sweetest kids ever, but put them together and give them a moment alone and suddenly they can come up with the most insane ideas! Gotta love 3 year olds! :) After that event and the punishment that followed we went to the basketball game. Tanya met us there and sat with us. It was fun. Emma had fun going up and down the stairs to see her Daddy who was sitting with "the big kids" (youth group) Tanya even took her down to the floor during halftime where she ran out then came back and stood with Tan and watched the other kids play freeze tag and simon says.

Dancing at Harding???




Garrett gets excited at the game:

Birthday Cake

Tanya came by tonight with my birthday cake! It was beautiful and soooo tasty! And of course the usual presents for Emma. Thanks Tanya!

Bed Bugs

This morning around 1:30 am Emma let out a cry and started to jump out of bed. I sat up straight and said "baby what's wrong?" I though she was just falling out of bed and would get right back in. She said "the bug was getting me" and she was crying. I felt around on the bed and felt nothing. I told her "baby it was a bad dream. come back to bed with mommy." She slowly climbed back into bed and clung to me with fear for over 45 minutes. I had to get up and go to the bathroom. When I came back to bed she vacuum sealed herself to me all night long. Every time she rolled over she backed herself up until she was touching me. I talked to her after she woke up about it and she was still convinced there had been a real bug in bed. I think I finally convinced her It was a bad dream and there wasn't a real bug. . . . .well at least she went down for a nap in the bed this afternoon without saying anything about it. :)

Happy Birthday to Me

Tomorrow is my birthday. I will be . . . .ummm . . . never mind. But on the bright side, Matthew gave me my present early b/c he couldn't keep it in any longer. He got me the Wicked book. (the soundtrack I love) and . . . wait for it . . . . wait for it . . . . TICKETS FOR THE SHOW! It's in May and in Dallas. I am soooo excited!!!! Thank you sweetie!!!

Then . . . he gave me two gift cards to take Emma and myself to Sears and go shopping for much needed tops! So, we got to have girls night out tonight. It was great. We went to McDonalds then to Sears. It was getting close to closing time and I get call from Matt saying a certain little man was looking at my recliner and crying. He put me on speaker and when Garrett heard my voice he started looking around more and crying harder. So I knew it was time to pack it in . . . .plus it was almost 8:30 and Emma didn't have a nap today at all. It was a good night. Thanks again Matthew!

Friends at the Park

Today we went to the park with Abby, Izzy, Marci, Isaac, and Kellie. It was chilly when the wind was blowing but otherwise it was a beautiful day. The kids had a blast playing together and the mommies had fun talking to each other.

Mondo baby and petite princess:


10 months old and 2 years old!


Playing with sticks:



Proudly displaying the "soup" they made for "dinner" :)












Garrett has discovered the slide . . . . and he likes it!

Sibling love

Oh how sweet is the love of a big sister and her little brother. Emma has been getting better at hearing Garrett cry and going to him and getting him to laugh before Mommy even gets there. She's a sweetie.

Garrett's baby

Garrett has grown fond of this little baby doll of Emma. He loves hugging the baby and carrying the baby with him. He gets fighting mad if Emma tries to take the baby away. And so far it seems to only be this one baby doll. He doesn't really care about the other baby dolls she has. It's very cute. He's working on being a good daddy someday. :)

Hair Cut

Emma got her first professional hair cut today. I have never cut the back of her hair but it was getting way too tangled every day. So, I bit the bullet and took her in. She did a great job letting the lady wash her hair. She had fun watching the monkey on her cape to make sure he didn't run away. (the way the lady got her to keep looking down while she cut). Then she ever tolerated the blow dryer. It was a big day for her. Her hair will be much easier to manage this way.





Before the cut:



After the cut:

Snow day

You've gotta love an Arkansas snow day! There's barely any snow on the ground and most of it's melted by 10:30am. Either way Emma and Garrett had a ball playing in the snow on the back deck. This was Garrett's first snow. Here's a few pictures of their adventures.