Welch Family Journal

Monday, November 26, 2007

Thanksgiving



We were blessed to be able to go to Granny and Big Daddys for Thanksgiving this year. We had a ton of good food and a ton of great family moments. :)

The chef's getting dinner ready:



Part of the table filled with family.



Garrett and Emma chowing down.
(sidenote: Me-me asked Garrett if she could have a bite of his cracker at church on Sunday and he said (loudly) NO! and turned away and ate it. . . . moral of the story . . . . don't get between my son and his food, no matter who you are)



"Cheese mommy"



Me-me coloring with the kids. My kids LOVE to color and read books.

violent tendencies

We caught Garrett holding up teddy grahams, pointing to their toes or head saying "toe" or "head" then eating the corresponding part and laughing a deep laugh. Should I be worried to fall asleep with him in the house? :)
At least he knows some body parts. :)

Friday, November 23, 2007

Christmas Tree 2007

Yes, we put up our tree two weeks ago! I started looking at the calendar and saw we wouldn't be home most of December so we went ahead and put up the tree and decorated it. The kids had fun. This was the first year I let Garrett attempt it. We have a Charile Brown tree and I was thinking about getting a bigger, fuller one untill Garrett pulled the tree over twice that same day. :) So we will keep the scrawny one this year as a "trainer" tree. Maybe next year we'll gett a nicer one.





Emma also enjoyed haveing her own pink small one for her room.




Black Friday

Yes, I was one of the crazies who got up at 4:30 AM and went bargin shopping today. I was not crazy enough to stand outside in the 30 degree weather waiting for a store to open but I did go in and shop early. It was chaos at the toy store but not so bad at wal-mart. I got almost all my shopping done in one day. That's so nice! No kids with me, another so nice part. I can wrap them all after the kids go to bed and leave them here so I don't hav eto transport them again. Yet another nice part. only bad part was I am ready to go to bed and the kids slept late so they are no where near ready for a nap! Oh well.

Emma's weekend at Grannys

Last weeekend we went to cousin Hannah's 3rd birthday. I had to work mon-wed this week so Garrett and I came home Sunday. Emma stayed in Texarkana by herself. This was a big thing because she and Garrett are very attached to their mommy and don't usually stray too far from her. She did really good. I left sunday. Monday she spent the day with Granny and Big Daddy. They ate lunch at the hospital with Tanya, went shopping getting her shoes and an outfit, and got to make a Thanksgiving craft. Tuesday she spent the day with me-me and po-po (who are known to give in to her easily) who took her out shopping and got two new pairs of shoes and alight up princess shirt. Wednesday she got to "help" granny cook. I was a tad worried she wouldn't want to come home! I also admit for all the times I tell the kids I'm gonna sell them or throw them out I really missed my girl. So did Garrett. He kept asking for her and expecting her to be wherever we were. It was all worth it when I opened the door and she came running full speed around the corner and jumped into my arms! Loved that!

Funnies from this week:
Emma and Granny were counting red cars while they were driving. Granny said "what abput that one" (pointing to a car) Emma said "that one's burgandy but we can count it" too funny.

She was eating lunch with tanya and Granny and said "popular is playing in my head all by it's self" (popular is her favorite song from the Wicked soundtrack)

We asked Emma what was her favorite part of the weekend . . . Eating lunch with Tanya was her answer. Too Funny!

I'm Thankful

As we stood around the table yesterday for our Thanksgiving meal, Big Daddy asked each of us to say one thing we were thankful for. It was the usual, family, health, friends, etc. Emma was number 4 in line and I wasn't sure she would understand what to do or what would come out of her mouth. We said "emma' she looked up and said "granny" and looked back at the table. . . . I mean really out of the mouths of babes. It made this mommys heart melt (and Grannys I'd assume)

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Addition at 3 1/2

The other night I told Emma she had to eat 4 more big bites of her dinner before she could get up from the table. She replies back "how about if I eat two then two more. that makes 4" Sweet! my almost 4 year old can add! well maybe not but she sounded real smart at that moment :) She's actually really good at looking at something and telling how many are there without having to really stop and count each item . . . as long as it's like 5 or less to begin with.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Fall leaves

Tonight we all went outside and raked leaves. Ok so Matt did more raking and leaf blowing than the rest of us put together but it was still fun for the kids. Matt got the leaves into a big pile then let them run through it to help push the pile closer to the road. Here in Sherwood, if you pile the leaves up on the side of the road the leaf vacume truck will come by and suck them all up. No bagging required. :)

Out of the mouths of babes

I try to understand things emma tells me. She's very good at explaining things . . . most of the time. Sometimes we just can't understand each other and I usually say something to the effect of "Babe we're just aren't understanding each other. Let's talk about something else" A few days ago she then said "I know what's wrong! We're not speaking the same english!" . . . Cute.

Last night I was upstairs talking to Matt and Tanya was downstairs playing with the kids. SHe came upstairs and told this story about emma. Apparently emma wanted Garrett to do something (Have i mentioned she's bossy) and he wouldn't do it. She kept ulling him and he kept resisting. Finally she folded her arms, looked mad at him, and said "No, No, Garrett. . . Does this look like a happy face? . . . No it doesn't!" I busted up laughing when Tan told me about it. I say that to her a bunch.

When we went to texarkana I was telling her to stay by me in the mall so she wouldn't get left. She says "It's ok if you leave me mommy. I'll just call you on the internet to come get me"

And the clincher. She was asking about a movie where someone had died. She was starting to ask those questions every parent dreads about death, dying, heaven, and all that. She said something to the efect of "after I die, I'll come back adn do something" I decided to try to topic there and said "Once you die, you don't come back here. You stay in heaven If you follow God's teachings" She thought a minute and said "will you be there to?" I paused a moment adn said "I'm sure trying baby" I know she's only 3 (almost 4) and didn't understand most of what we talked about but I thought I'd lay the groundwork now. Though if you ask Emma or Isaac where the Devil is, they'll tell you under the road. They are actually concerned about the people digging so much for the new Wal-mart since the Devil is down there. That one I've left alone because I know they are way too young to understand that one! :)

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

to paint or not to paint

I have a 3 (almost 4) year old little girl who likes to have her toenails and fingernails ainted. I have a 19 month old little boy who likes to do whatever his big sister does. My question to all you who may read this blog is do I let him paint a toe or finger when I'm doing sisters and not worry about it till he gets older or start the boy/girl thing now and refuse to paint a toe or nail even when he's crying to be like sissy?

Monday, November 05, 2007

Race for a Cure 2007


We went to Texarkana for the Race for a Cure walk. Somehow we missed the start of the race. We were there in plenty of time. BUt when we went over to where the race started there weren't any people lined up adn some people were already walking. So we just went for it. Apprently we missed it by alot because the cheerleaders would say a acheer as we went by (with the double stroller) then pack up and walk behind us! Oh well it was still for a good cause wether or not if we came in first. ;)

Playing on the trailerbed.


Ready for the Race

After the Race
Aunt Tanya and Emma

Then it was back to Grannys house to play with Emma's new pink scooter her cousin Hannah G. gave her. That weekend we were blessed to receive that scooter, 3 huge bags of clothes, and other accessories from her cousin as hand-me-downs. It was awsome! Emma loved the scooter, Dora swimming suit, and inter tube the best. Garrett loved the talking Dora book the best. I told the kids that was sent for him. :)


Garrett pulling his puppy in the new wagon.

We loved it so much we sat in it in the bath tub!


On the way home Sunday we stopped by Maumell Trailer Park and spent time with Me-me and Po-po who were on their way back from a trip. We got to roast hotdogs and marshmellows. We walked down close to the river and saw a bunch of ducks. Garrett liked them but soon wanted to go back and check on Po-po at the trailer. (he likes his Po-po) They love Mommy and Emma so much they had brough down Dunkin Donuts from Branson! A bunch of them!



HU Homecoming 2007

This past weekend was Homecoming at Harding. We took the kids down for The Pied Piper show in the late morning. Matt was a Piper for one tour so we always try to take the kids. Emma is a bit shy about it all but ends up loving it and repeating parts of it for weeks afterwards. Garrett loved it. They really liked the couple of times the old pipers (daddy) went up on stage to help out.


Then we went to the pony rides, petting zoo, and blow up jumping things. and met up with TANYA! (the highlight of my trip) The kids had fun. They loved the animals. In fact somehow Garrett sotted the "neighs" all the way across a parking lot and lawn area when we were getting out of the car. Once he got to ride the onys he didn't want to do anything else. Emma liked the pony ride but loved getting to feed the cow, pig, goat, rabbits. Then cried when we had to go and she had to put the puppy down she was holding.





Next was off to nap/rest at Tanyas apartment. Matt and I were introduced to "The Office" TV show. It was very dry humor but it cracked matt and myself up. Then we went out to Coltons for dinner. FInally we went to campus adn went to the musical 'Wizard of OZ' It was ok. There were parts that were awsome (the big wizard head, wicked and lion king references) then some parts that were just drug out too long (jitterbug scene) Emma ended up falling asleep before it was over. Thank you to Mandy for watching Garrett so we could go see the show. Even if it was just an ok show the day was great one spent with family.


cute emma saying: As I was putting her carseat into Tanyas car so she could ride with her. Emma says "I like riding with the people I love" how cute it that?!

Sunday, November 04, 2007

pumpkin painting 2007





In our house we never carved pumpkins. We alwasy painted faces on them, accessorized them and sat them in a fall display on our front poch. This is one tradition I have been doing with Emma and now Garrett. The kids loved painting their pumpkins. Right now they aren't too good at painting faces so I let them just let them paint all over it. Daddy wanted to paint a pair of red sox on it but the brush was too spread out and messy so it looked like a red blob. Good try anyway Daddy!