Pumpkin Patch 2007

We went to the pumpkin patch in mayflower this weekend with Isaac and Cauy. It was more expensive than hidden valley but turned out to be a fun day for all of us. Here are a couple of pictures to highlight our fun time.

The swingers club

Not that kind of swingers chad! Mary control your husband! .. . . . :)

Emma has officially joined the "I-can-swing-by-myself" club. While at the pumpkin patch saturday there was a swing set. As always mommy was tried of all the pushing so she tried to get emma to try by herself. This time it finally sunk in. She started going and with a bunch of encouragement kept it going. She was SOOO proud of herself . . . . so was mommy. Another childhood milestone we can check off the list!

Halloween 2007

Here's Garrett (fireman), Emma (super girl), and Isaac (steelers player) at the teen party we had at our house tonight. They love it when the "big kids" come over.

Crying wolf

We all know the story of the boy who cried wolf. Well, Garrett has adapted this lesson. Today in the car he would say "sissy, sissy, sissy, sissy, sissy" and keep going untill Emma finally would said "what?" or say something else. He'd then smile at her and laugh. Then he'd begin again. This went on all the way to kroger and back. It was very annoying to me and to Emma. I tired to explain if he kept doing that she wasn't going to answer him when he really needed her to. But I'm pretty sure he heard "blah, blah, sissy, blah" Oh the fun games of siblings. He can't help it he just loves his sissy soooooo much he wants her attention all of the time!

closet adventures

I went into Emma's room to check on her and Garrett the other day and they were in her closet with the light turned off. I turned on my nightshot thing on my camera and this is what I got. Garrett was sitting on the babies to keep the ghosts away and Emma was taking care fo her babies. (or so this is what Emma told me they were doing in there) Emma loves to play in her closet. Garrett is begining to learn of the fun in it.

Unclean Unclean

Yes, not 18 hours after we left the Doctor's office with only a raging double ear infection but nothing else wrong, Garrett woke up with a swollen middle finger and a swollen eye. It didn't look like pink eye so I went in to work. I had a couple of different people look at him, including one of our kid's parents who is a nurse, and they all said basically it looks like a bad bug bite or allergic reaction and to keep a eye on it. Well I gave him some Benadryl at 9am. After his nap he woke up and his eye was pretty much swollen shut. I was real nervous about it so I took him right to Children's Hospital to be seen. After becoming the talk of the ER, (two other doctors came over after hearing about him just to see) they pretty much said it was an allergic reaction but they weren't sure what to. They gave him a prescription for Zantec and Benadryl for the next three days saying "Watch it. Come in if he gets worse." Lovely, I could have done that at home. It is nice to know that he isn't contagious though. He still looks like a leper child but the swelling has already gone down some tonight. He has a bad reaction to mosquito bites anyway and usually whelps up big and bad. I think both spots were bites that were just too close to something so it swelled up a bunch. We'll just have to wait and see I guess.

Here's a picture of his eye and finger after a dose of each drug so his swelling has gone down some already.




Poor baby!

My kids are amazing

Most kids are terrible when they have ear infections, in fact that's part of what tips most parents off that they might have one. My kids on the otehr hand mght be a little more grumpy but otherwise be fine. Garrett has a cough last week. I treated with OTC meds and it's helped enough I don't need them to ensure he will sleep all night now. I thought he had allergies because of his runny nose but the claritin hasn't done too much help. Then he sounded wheezy so I did updraft for a few days. Yesterday he was digging in his ears on the car ride home. He hasn't had a temp. He hasn't been wking up in the night. He hasn't "acted sick" very much at all. He's been kinda cranky but I've also cut donw on his passy usage. He also has had some Runny BM's the last couple of days. Well since he dug in his ears and we want to go see Granny this weekend I took him into the Dr just in case today. He has a bad double ear infection. Bad enough each time the Dr looked into an ear she said "ohh yeah that's bad" Poor baby. She said he prob had a virus last week (with the cough) and it got into his ears and upset his stomach. So, he's now on meds . . . . and still cranky (may that was the passy thing after all) The worst pat for him will be the few days of no Milk. My two kids cna put away 4 gallons of milk a week if we'd let them. :) we like milk around here! So, the passy may return utnill the milk can come back full swing. :

finally said it

Garrett finally said "Ganny" and "bi da-dy" over the phone so Granny could hear it and finally believe us!

I feel pretty

Garrett walked out of his sisters room with a pink hat on and said "I petty" (I am pretty for those of you who don't speak 18 month old). It might be time for some "male bonding" with that one! :)

Playing in the sink

Tonight Emma wanted to play in the water. Actually, first she wanted to help with the dishes. (when does it go from "please let me help you iwth the dishes" to me yelling "if you don't start doing the dishes right now you are grounded" ?) At first I told her "No Mommys too worn out" she cried a little. I tought about it. Which would be more tireing 1. supervising them getting wet in the sink or 2. chaseing them all over the house ?? Then I said "ok baby. we can do it" I pulled up the stepladder and started filling the sink. Then, I hear a "I play" from the corner of the room. So, I pull up another chair and fill the other side of the sink. They had the most fun playing in the sink. They got all wet adn the floor had to be covered with towels. But who cares? It's the fact they had fun and played nice with each otehr that really matters. If you want I can pull out my "daycare teacher" reasonings too. They learned about volume and gravity tonight. ;)

Having fun at the sink


All wet!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Friday was Emma's school's Pumpkin Patch Field Trip. We all met at school, loaded up, and drove out to the Farm. It was the PreK3's and PreK 4's. Emma and Isaac were pretty cute.

Posing for a picture


What do you mean we're not siblings?


Petting Wilber (just for Jesse - apparenlty guine pig and pig are the same thing)


"feeding" the donkey and ponys (no tanya we didn't steal you one)


In the hay maze


In the corn maze



On the hayride

Mommy and Emma


So proud of her pumpkins

Boys and their shoes

Ok, I know it's usually girls and shoes but apparently the Watsons had a shoe fetish around this age because this is the picture of the shoes we just got from them. These are the ones that will fit now and this winter. There was a whole box of shoes that were a little too tight to keep. Plus they said they finaly just stopped putting stuff into the bags for fear they'd scare us away.

The Firetrucks!

Last night the kids, Aunt Tanya, and I went to the kroger on McCainto see the NLR Fire Dept. demos. (Thanks Patrick for the heads up) It was fun for the kids. They go a balloon each (sorry Kellie), got a free hot dog, chips, and cookie. Emma got her face painted and got to do a "fireman run" where she had to crawl through a tunner, carry a hose, bang a sledgehammer, drag a "victim", and spray the fire hose. It was fun to watch her do it. It also went great with the Thematic unit of Fire Safety she's working on at school this week!

Mommy time

I love the quiet snuggly moments with my kids. The other night we are all kinda tired but not ready for bed yet. We laid down in Emma's room and watched Beauty and The Beast. Both kids snuggled up to Mommy and laid there for quite some time. It was great for Mommy! . . . . . and Daddy was nearby and was able to capture the moment on camera.so mommy was in the picture for once, instead of always being the one behind it. :)

Shopping Cart baby

We needed to go to Trarget after lunch Sunday to get emma's super girl outfit. That is right about the time Garrett usually passes out at home. This is was his make shift bed for about 10 minutes.

Dance Fever

Here's some shots of Emma dancing to High School Musical. Yes, she and I were watching it the other night. :)

thankful 5

I've seen this on friends blogs and thought it was a good idea. I have been very stressed lately trying to organize my thoughts and actions around the tons of things I have deadlines for and have to do in the next 3 months. not to mention the just daily living things. So this morning (5:50AM) I am going to list 5 things I am thankful for in a hope to remind myself of why I do all these crazy things.

1. My kids. Even when they are getting on my last nerve and I am dreaming of a one way ticket to spmeplace else. They truely are my life. I can't imagine life without thema dn I feel truely blessed to be entrusted with two of God's angels for a short while.

2. My mom. I love being able to call her 2 times (or more) a day to ask 500 questions, tell her what "her" grandchildren hav edone now, or to just chat. I love having a close relationship with her.

3. Tanya. Need I say more? :) I love haveing such a close relationship with my "little" sister. She's fun to be around. She's even fun to argue with at times. She's funny, careing, crazy, and kind. Not to mention helpful with both kids!

4. My husband. He's a work in progress (like all husbands are) but when he helps with the kids and some of the housework it really helps me recharge memtally adn physically.

5. My job. Not every minute of every day by any means. But this is the first job I actually wanted to stay at after 4 months on the job. I have been here since Garrett was 6 months old and I still love coming in to work each day. (ok maybe not at 5:50am but once i get there I do) I love my boss (Rachel) and my friends/co-workers (Brandis!) I love my kids (yes I have favorites - canaan, cauy-boy, kinley)

This is by no mean an exhastive list of thinks I am thankful for. I think I will try to make it a weekly list and try not to use the same thing/person for a long time so I can further look at all the wonderful things and people God has placed in my life. Just doing these first 5 has brightened my spirits this morning and will help me not be as stressed with what life throws at me today. I hope you have a blessed and wonderful day today!

Elephant Sanctuary

The other day Mrs. kellie, Isaac, Isaac's Me-me, Emma, Garrett, and I went to the Elephant Sanctuary here in Arkansas. I know . . .. I didn't know there was one either! They are only open to the public the 1st saturday of the month. So, we loaded up in Mrs. Kellie's van this morning and set out. It wasn't too long of a drive. We met Isaac's Me-me and added her to van load. We actually got there early and had to wait in the van for 20 minutes. Thankfully Mrs. Kellie has a cool van that was just like being in a jungle gym. :) We finally got in and paid $5/person. We folowed the path, stopped to throw rocks in the pond full of geese, and ended up in a big open area with a couple of elephant pens around us. Not too exciting by my account. But emma loved it. She said "we need to go back again" Isaac's Me-me and Kellie asked one of the volunteers lots of questions so us grown-ups learned alot.

The kids played in the gravel a bunch.


They liked the "baby" elephant especially when he was trying to stick he back leg out of the pen and when he was trying to break a "stick" (log) with his tusks/trunk.


As we were leaving we looked over and saw a couple of donkeys behind a fence. Garrett looked up and started yelling "neigh,neigh" and running toward the pen. He ran right up till he was super close then had second thoughts and started backing up and hid behind mommy's leg. Isaac and Emma fed him some hay through the gate.



It may not have been much to look at but it was a fun afternoon. Thank you Isaac's Me-me for letting us know about his and for going with us!

secret picture taking

I went to clear some old pictures off my camera and found several (10-15) pictures of the floor, keyboard, TV screen, and this one . . . . Hummm . . . apparently Emma knows how to turn on the camera and take pictures. I guess I should put new batteries in her digital camera so she'll leave mine alone! Haha!