Sweet Lily

Dear sweet Lily happy 2nd birthday. I still can't believe it's been 2 years. I know I say this about Emilee too but it seems like just yesterday you were born. You were the sweetest, easiest baby I have ever been around. You were/are such a cuddler and I could hold you all day long. As a baby you were so laid back, I use to say I could count on one hand how many times you cried in the past month. You were just happy to be around. You were always a good sleeper and eater, there really wasn't much that you wouldn't eat. At around 10 months a new personality came out. You became very strong willed and you knew exactly what you wanted and you'd make sure you'd get it. You were a bit of a handful. There were some days when I missed my sweet laid back baby. But sweet Lily you have turned in to the funniest 2 year old. You act silly and you can always make people laugh. You have the absolute sweetest little voice. You still have your attitude and can throw one mean fit, but you get over it pretty quick and are back to being your goofy self. Lily you have added something to my life that I never new was missing until you were born 2 years ago. You have been a great addition to our family. You adore your older sister as she does you. My hope for the two of you is that you will always be close. Always love each other and be there for each other. I love you sweet lily. Happy birthday baby.

Priceless moments with a 4 year old

Conversations with 4 year olds can drive you crazy sometimes, but tonight it was just funny.

Em: Mommy did you and Daddy buy me?

Me: No sweetie Mommy grew you in my belly, remember like I did Lily.

Em: Well how did you get me out?

Me: (This is where I'm thankful for C-sections) The Dr. cut you out of my tummy. You started off really tiny then grew and grew until it was your birthday.

Em: But Mommy when did I grow?

Me: You grew everyday and you still are growing.

Em: But Mommy I don't want to be a giant.

Me: Don't worry honey I don't think you'll grow up to be a giant. Good night.

Feeling rather blah

So for the past few days my ankle has been hurting. It's really weird though, it doesn't hurt when I step on it but when I dangle my foot off the bed or when I'm stepping. So it's not me putting pressure on it that hurts it's letting it hang that hurts. Told you, weird. It doesn't hurt all the time, just random times throughout the day. To top that off I've been feeling real queezy lately. It also comes and goes. I know I'm sure you're all thinking I'm pregnant. Well I'm not and thank God for that, I have way more than I can handle with the two I have. So quezzy, hurt ankle, headache and sore everything else. Go figure. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow. Atleast I'm praying I do.

I'll try and do another catch up post tomorrow, with pictures of course.

It's me, It's really me

So I've been a horrible blogger lately. School completely overwhelmed me this semester. But it's officially over and I'm out until Jan. 19th!! YEAH. There is so much I haven't gotten to blog about this semester like Em going to school, starting tap lessons, quitting tap lessons, going to Shreveport, killing all of our fish, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. I'm thinking if I update once a day it won't be so much.

I'm going to start in the middle (mainly because these are the pictures I have uploaded). Casey and I went down to Shreveport for his Squadron Annual. The hotel/casino that we stayed at was really nice. I've never been to a casino so I wasn't too sure what to expect. I did however

find out that I'm cheap and losing my money is not fun. Maybe when I'm a millionaire I'll change my mind.

So we left the girls at home with Granny and my Mom and head down for a trip alone for 4 days. It was really nice to have some adult time without having to get woken up by the kids or the dogs in the morning. I took naps, watched shows

other than cartoons, stayed out till 3 am. All that fun kid-less stuff.

Casey was up for several awards and boy did he rack them in. The one we really wanted he didn't get. Don't get me started on the person who did get it. Let's just say he's not a recruiter anymore because of his prescription drug problem. Nice. But the awards Casey brought home were pretty cool, and I'm so proud of him.

These are the people in Casey's flight

Casey winning the Chief's award. The Chief Master Sergeant picks one person a year to give his award to. He said some

really great stuff about Casey.

Casey got a bronze medal f

or the number of people that he sent off to basic training.

He also got his second silver badge. We were hoping for Gold but he got second place on that. Still proud of him though.

All the awards he ended up winning of the trip.

Casey I'm so proud of you. You are an awesome person and I'm so proud that you could win all these awards and work 2 jobs. You the best husband, friend and father anyone could ever ask for. I love you!!!

Lily's doctor appointments

As many of you know Lily got RSV last Christmas. It lasted for the entire RSV season and she finally started feeling better the beginning of February. Well it was around that time that I noticed that you could feel her lymph nodes in her neck. You should only be able to feel lymph nodes when you're sick and they should go away shortly after you start feeling better. Well we we went in for her 15 month check up they were still there and she wasn't sick. So the doctor told me to keep watching them to see if they multiply or get bigger. So I watched and at her 18 month appointment they were still there and I think there were a few more on her right side. The Dr. told me to watch them for two more months because they really weren't that big.

Well it's been 2 more months and they're still there and one has gotten bigger. Now me being the blog stocker that I am I've read way too many sad sick baby stories. So I was freaking out a little last week. We went in on Monday to see the doctor again and she ordered blood tests and sent us to get a sonogram. She did her blood work on monday while we were in the office and Lily was amazing!!! The appointment took all of 5 minutes but we had to wait in the little tiny room for an hour before the dr. ever came in. It was a rough hour. So I was really nervous to take her to get blood taken. But she did great. I was expecting lots of screaming and crying but she was perfect. She didn't cry or move or anything. I was shocked.

So our sonogram was scheduled for today and it didn't go as smoothly as the blood draw. She freaked out as soon as we walked in the room and it was really hard to get her to lay still. Now taking a sonogram of a child's neck is alot harder than you'd think. She had to be still while she was crying and sniffling. It was sad. She eventually calmed down, well until we had to do her other side. But the ladies were great and they had us in and out in no time. We should get the results back in a few days.

I know I'm probably completely over-reacting but I'd rather over-react than not react at all and have it be something serious. I haven't heard back about her blood work which I'm assuming is a good thing. I'll call tomorrow and check on it. Just thought I'd update the blog world on what we've been up to.

Proud parents

In my last post I forgot to tell everyone that we are the new proud parents of 40 baby fish. Yes that is a 4 and a 0. Two of our fish were pregnant AGAIN!!! Secretly I was hoping some of the bigger fish would eat the babies like they had the times before, but no such luck. I'm not really sure what to do with all these fish. After all our tank is only suppose to have a max of 5. I think we're a little over the limit. Damn fish.

Trying to get back in the swing of things

Well blogging has officially been pushed to the back burner again. It's so sad because I have so much to blog about just no time to do it. I started back to school and I'm already having test 2 and 3 this week. So needless to say we hit the ground running. It's been a lot harder for me to get back in the groove of things this semester, I'm just tired of studying. I'm taking 13 hrs. this semester which already seems overwhelming. Three of those hours are English, which I kick myself daily for since I've already taken once; I was just too good to go to class. Look where that got me! So if there's anyone out there that wants to do it for me that would be great. It's online so just pretend you're me. :) The rest of my hours are respiratory classes, which are really interesting but they're getting much harder. The one I'm most scared of is Mechanical Ventilation. There are so many things about mechanical ventilation that just seem foreign to me. Hopefully this class will clear it up and not make me even more confused.

Emilee started Pre-K and she's loving it. I really wanted her in school this year so she'd been ready for Kindergarten next year. There are so many teachers out there that worry about her birthday and her being too young so I wanted to give it a try this year. I thought this would be a good way to prepare her for next year.

She also started tap lessons thanks to Aunt Becky and Nonnie. She really seems to enjoy it. The parents aren't aloud in the room, which I completely agree with, so I'm not real sure what they do. But she doesn't cry when we go and she's always proud of her tap sticker she gets. It was really cute this week because I could hear them in there tapping away. Once a semester the parents are aloud to sit in and watch and I can't wait!! While I wait for her I watch the older girls ballet. Man is it amazing. First of all I have no idea what the instructor says to the girls because I don't know any ballet words, but they all understand and look so graceful doing it. Second, I would give anything to have the instructors legs, her muscles are awesome.

I have pictures but I'm too lazy tonight to upload them. Maybe Tuesday. I have a test on Tuesday so today and tomorrow I'll be studying for that. Wish me luck, I'm shooting for all A's again.

Measuring up

I had Em's 4 year check up today. Everything went really well. She's 38.6 lbs (78th %) and 42.75 in. (95th %). I can't tell you how thankful I am that my baby might actually get some height. I always hated being short and now I really do since I can't seem to lose weight like I'd like to. Anyways back to Em. She was perfect at the Dr's. The Dr. heard a slight heart murmur but said it was nothing to be worried about. So after the exam came the shots. To all you moms that hate taking your babies in to get shots just wait until they're 4 and they understand what's going on. Not to mention she's alot stronger than she was the last time she got shots. NOT FUN. The moment the lady walked in Emilee started crying, it completely broke my heart. The lady was awesome though. We got through our 3 shots and she got 3 princess stickers because she was so good. We also stopped on the way home and got her an Icee.

This evening she took off her band-aids which for Emilee is great. Usually they stay on until they fall off by themselves or I can rip them off really fast in the bath. So she was getting ready for bed and told me that she was wonderful for taking off her band-aids. Then she told me that I was wonderful and Lily was wonderful. I asked her about daddy and she said "well ya he's boy wonderful". She cracks me up.

Another year down

Well it's official I now have a 4 year old. Honestly it didn't upset me near as much as I was expecting it to. We had Emilee's party at the swimming pool on base and aside from the gail force winds it was nice. It was actually kinda odd that we had the whole pool to ourselves on a Saturday, that's just not normal. But it was nice. We ordered pizza, I made a fruit basket and pink lemonade. Simple. I think the kids had fun, but then again what kid doesn't like swimming?
We have some of the most amazing neighbors ever and I'm so glad that we've all become such good friends. We had 14 kids and most of them were from our street. Emilee got alot of great stuff. Just to name a few... Casey and I got her a new bicycle she got a tutu and tap shoes, a digital camera, a leapster, a piano and lots of other fun stuff. She's spoiled. I love my little girl to pieces and I still can't believe how fast time is going by. I think since I've had kids time just goes faster and faster. I love you so much Em and I'm glad you enjoyed your birthday. You mean to world to us, we love you baby. And thanks to everyone who helped me out at her birthday. I couldn't have done it without any of you.

Lily and the Chipmunks

I was flipping through the channels today and somehow the tv landed on Alvin and the Chipmunks. The movie not the cartoon. We weren't really watching it, Lily would mainly just pay attention when they'd start to sing. Well we had just finished a book and a part of the movie came on where they are raiding the cabinets. I think it's Simon who finds the bag of cheese balls and nocks them over spilling them into a bowl. He then does a cannon ball into the bowl. Well apparently this was the funniest thing Lily has ever seen because she died laughing. I record the movie so I could show Casey when he got home. I've done it about 5 times now and she laughs every single time. It's priceless. At the end she says "where did he go?". It's really cute, you just have to excuse my unfixed hair, no make up and pj's. It was a lazy day around our house.

Two more days

I still can't believe my baby is going to be 4 in two days, seriously am I old enough to have a 4 year old? Sometimes I forget that I'm almost 28 :(. Don't even get me started on my birthday.
This week my mom has been down and it's been such a big help. I can go run errands and not have to tote around two kids. I've gotten all the stuff organized to take with us the day her party. Goody bags are made and all that's left to do is the fruit basket and pick up the cookie cakes. I'm so excited about her party and I hope it turns out ok.
Granny and Casey's mom are coming down tomorrow which is awesome because thats 4 more hands to help. Thanks Mom, Jan and Granny for coming early to help me make Em's party perfect. You guys rock!!

The fish are taking over!!!

For Easter we got the girls a fish tank. Casey still hates it but I think it's pretty relaxing to sit there and watch the fish. The girls still love it. Feeding time is a major event at our house. We started off with 5 fish and 2 frogs. We lost a few fish and replaced the 2 frogs but this is what our tank is up to now.

1 frog (Volcano is his name, Glasses died last week)
2 shrimp (candies and chubo, don't ask where she gets the names I have no idea)
15 fish. (3 have names but all the others look so much alike it's hard to name them. Plus who can remember 15 fish names?)

That's not a typo that 1-5. We have a baby making fish tank. I know the one that keeps having the babies but I don't know who the daddy is. We only have 2 left out of the original 5. We added a fish to kill all the snails that we acquired and all the rest are babies. I found new babies in the tank this morning and I have no idea who the mom is this time. I have no idea what to do. I love our fish tank and our fish, but enough is enough. Can you get fish spade and neutered??? :)

My baby's not a baby anymore

I can't believe this Saturday Emilee will be 4, it just doesn't seem possible to me. Where has all the time gone??? I'm not as upset about this birthday as I was her 2nd. I actually cried that morning. I swear just yesterday I was pregnant with her and now she's going to pre-k.
Emilee is such a sweet girl, ya she has her moments but for the most part she's amazing. If you would have told me right after she was born that she would be this easy of a child I would have laughed at you. She was a horrible baby. Cried all the time, hated food and was just a pill. But then 18 months came along and poof she was great. We could take her any where and do anything with her and she's was perfect. The time I realized Emilee had matured is when we went out to eat at Mac's. It was kinda late when we got there and then there was a wait, we finally got seated and had to wait some more for our food. The whole time Emilee was amazing!!!! She was so patient and polite.
Emilee is the best big sister I could have ever hoped for. We were a little worried about how she would react when Lily got here but there was never a jealous moment. She's so sweet to Lily even when Lily doesn't deserve it. She truly loves her baby sister. Now I just hope this lasts when they're teenagers. They are getting to the age where they really like to play with each other. It's really cute. Emilee will set up a whole tea party and Lily will sit there for all of 10 seconds and then start taking all Em's cups. Emilee gets a little frustrated but is never mean to her.
I could go on forever about how much this sweet girl means to me. I couldn't have asked for a better little girl. She's such a joy to be around and I cherish every moment we get. I love you Emilee Taylor and you'll always be my baby.

Casey Ryan

I'm so proud of my husband. He does so much for us I don't think I could ever thank him enough. Casey has been a recruiter for 2 years now and I think is finally getting in a groove. There's alot of stuff to go through in order to enlist people in the Air Force.

Yesterday Casey had his fit test and annual evaluation. Of course he blew everyone out of the water during the fit test, that's just Casey. He's 29 can out run anyone and eat anything and not ever gain weight, without having to work out. Must be nice. I look at food and gain 10 lbs.

Well when you do your annual evaluation you get the form that your flight chief, superintendent and commander fill out. At first I just glanced over looking at the checked off boxes but then Casey told me to read the whole thing. His flight chief and superintendent wrote some really great things about him.

Msgt Miller wrote that he was a true mentor, has stellar appearance and is a team player. He also wrote that he's the flight's top recruiter and has out performed 6 other recruiters. His last sentence was the most important.
Ready for next step; only missing stripes... has outperformed more seasoned Tech's and Master's-- promote to Tech now. (For you non military people this is awesome.) TSgt is the next rank up and would mean more money!!! Now the odds of this actually happening aren't too good but it's still great to think his flight chief thinks so highly of him.

Ok so his Superintendent is his flight chief's boss (am I losing you??) and she wrote:
Casey's enlistment success was key to the squadron vaulting 14 positions in the national competition moving up to #3. He is a superstar recruiter; exceeds all expectations... will excel as a career recruiter---promote to TSgt immediately.

How great is that? Now remember, odds are against us that this could actually happen, but this is so flattering none the less. Casey is an awesome worker and doesn't always get the recognition he deserves. So here's to you baby!! I'm so proud of you. I love you!

Yes I'm fully aware that I'm a dork!!

I can already here it from Katie on how big of a dork I am. But in honor of our 10 yr. reunion coming up next month I made a playlist of songs. Since I got my new car and I have XM for 3 months I've been hooked on the 90's on 9 station, it plays so many songs that we use to listen to in high school.
I loved high school and it's fun to go back through pictures and remember all the stupid crazy things we did. If I had to pick a favorite year it would probably be my senior year. I'm sure that's the case for alot of people. But our senior year we were all so close.

Some of my favorite high school memories:

Parties- it's hard to just pick one since there was several every single weekend. But halloween at Marks and all the parties at my house would probably be top on my list. (Jeni owes me big time for all of those. She always promised to stay and help clean up but would disappear at the end of the night).

Soccer games

Men in Black and the stupid dance that went with it. Jessica and Shannon I expect you to bust it out at our reunion so get practicing.

Listening to the Grease soundtrack and the remix one Shanny had. I think we had that whole cd memorized. Ya we were cool.

Slumber party at Shannon's for the first day of school. (Not sure it was the smartest way to start our senior year, but it sure was fun)

Katie always having cups that were bigger than her.

Making signs at Wendy's for the Martin/Mansfield game and then going to roll all the mansfield people. The best was Kristen Jones' house. And yes Katie you were there, I'll get my pictures out to prove it. Twizzlers

Eating popcorn and peanut butter-chocolate chip cookies with Jessica and watching Hope Floats for the 10,000th time.

Taking a picture in my car with Jessica while listening to Sister Hazel. Jess I know you remember what I'm talking about.

All for you by Sister Hazel. This obsession started my junior year after a party at Blake Hays' house. To this day it is still my absolute favorite song.

The upper gym lobby. This was probably the only time in my life that I ever got some where early. Some how I managed to get to school at 7 just so I could socialize before the first bell. Atleast I had my priorities straight.

Playing darts with Katy.

Watching all the guys sing Road goes on Forever at Prom. Looking back it was kinda silly, but it was still fun.

Our graduation party at Courtney Marnell's. There are no words to describe how much fun we had there.

Our senior trip. All of it was fun but the thing that sticks out most in my mind is Katie packing Jeni's suitcase the morning we had to go home. Katie was always such a good mom. And this memory makes me laugh out loud every time.

Matt Craft's apartment and the fact that Jessica and I spent an entire day cleaning it from top to bottom. Jess I don't think he ever took us out to Chili's for payment.

Mine and Jeni's apartment. I'm a really hard person to live with (shocking, I know) so Jeni and I really only got along the first and the last month out of our lease. The crazy lady underneath us would bang on the ceiling if we were to load. She would also throw trash up on our balcony. Classy.

Jessica. Everytime we were together we did the stupidest things and thought they were hilarious. We still do and everyone still thinks we're crazy. Zima, windshield wipers, taking the picture in the middle of the night in cancun and hearing Jeni and Katie getting mad at us. (just to name a few)

There are so many more memories but I don't want to bore the people who weren't there. Plus I'm kinda forgetting some of them. I guess I need to bust out my planners.

If I was in the 21st century I would have a scanner and be able to upload some of these pictures, but I don't. And it would be so hard to just pick a few.

Family pictures

My friend Wendy took our first set of family pictures last weekend. It was so good getting to see her and for the chance to have her take our pictures. She's been taking pictures for about 2 years and she's awesome!! Since she has kids close to the age of ours I think it really helped Emilee feel at ease. Thanks again Wendy I absolutely love them!!! Check out her blog it's giggles n grins.

Not your ordinary bed

This is not a picture of just any bed, this is the cutest bed in the world. Emilee slept in this morning till around 8:30 she came out and watched some cartoons with Lily and ate some breakfast. It wasn't until around 9 I walked into her room to check on Lily and this is what I found. She came in and told me that when she woke up she made her bed all by herself. How cute is that?!! Granny is teaching her well. Part of me really wanted to fix it to make it perfect but then realized that it was perfect. She did it and that made it perfect.

Still unpacking

Well this is my first week back at the house by myself. We're so use to always having Granny here with us, and when she's not it takes about a week to get adjusted. The first week is by far the hardest for me.

We got back home on Sunday from DFW. We had so much fun, too much actually because now I miss it even more. Thanks to Granny and my mom we came home with suitcases full of clean and ironed clothes. So you think unpacking the rest would be a breeze. Well I hate unpacking. It's such a pain. Alot of our shower stuff, swim stuff and shoes still need to be unpacked and I just can't bring myself to do it. Laziness I guess.

I did however get up and dust, vacuum and windex the house this morning all before 9 am. It's always good motivation when you know people are coming over. Especially when it happens to be your neighbor with the perfectly spotless house.

I still need to upload all our pictures from our week in DFW and I'm still waiting on a cd of pictures that my mom took. So as soon as I get around to that I'll post again. Until then I guess I need to go unpack. BLAH.

Our weekend and Hawaiian Falls

The girls and I came up to DFW for a week. I figured since this will be my last summer without a job I needed to take advantage of it. We've been here 4 days and we've been so busy. Saturday I had a shower for Katie in the afternoon and after naps we went out to Southlake to see Mimi, Vernon and Stacey. The girls had so much fun out there. We went by Mimi and Vernon's house to see it because I hadn't ever gotten the chance to see it. Then we went by Stacey and Greg's model home. It was the most amazing thing ever and I can't wait to see their's finished. After that we went to Stacey's to swim and eat pizza. The girls were so good and they had a blast. Needless to say they crashed when we got home.

Sunday we got up and went to Casey's parents house to swim. Casey's aunt and cousins were in town so it was nice to get to see them. And of course I didn't take pictures because that's what a good mom would have done. We left there and went back to my moms for a nap. After nap time we went out to Becky's to go swimming at their country club. It was a little hot but there was so much for the girls to do and they loved it.

Emilee and Becky

Lily at the splash pad

Monday we got up and met Katie and Brooks, Jess and Reed, Jeni and Jackson at Hawaiian Falls. Lily and I had never been and I fell in love with that place. The splash area was completely covered so my albino baby didn't get too much sun. Mom took Em all over the rest of the park while I got to catch up with the girls. It was so nice. I wish we could all get together more often.

Brooks and Jackson playing

Jackson and his wheels

Time for a lunch break

Sweet Reed

Grapes and cheetos yum...

Brooks with one of Em's diving toys

Em, Reed and half of Lily

Reed was facinated with the bucket

Out of 10 pictures this was the best. It's hard with that many kids.

Thanks girls for driving all that way so we could hang out, I had such a good time. Thanks mom for going with me and helping me with Emilee. It sure did make the day more enjoyable.

Our weekend in a nutshell

We had so much fun this weekend. For us only being in DFW for 3 days we really crammed alot in and got to see alot of people. Saturday we had a family reunion out in Denton and aside from the heat it was really nice. I got to see alot of my family I hadn't seen in forever. The girls were good for the most part. Ok, let me re-phrase that. Lily was good for the most part, Emilee was good the whole time. Although she did take about a 2.5 hr. nap while we were out there. Sunday when we got up I loaded up the car and Lily and I went to Casey's parents house for a little bit before we left to go back home. My mom is keeping Em this week and I'm already missing her like crazy.

Yesterday when we got home we walked into the most beautifully cleaned house. The yard was mowed, the garage was re-organized and cleaned out and our closet was cleaned up. I had flowers waiting for me on the table and Granny got some candy. I have the most amazing husband ever. I was completely impressed. Although he better be careful I might start going out of town more often.

Two more weeks and we going home again. The girls and I will be staying an entire week so I hope to get alot done while we're up there.

Sorry this post has no pictures but I'm waiting for my mom to get me some. I know it's not a very good excuse. Hope everyone has a wonderful 4th if I don't blog again before that.

Bad blogger

I've been awful about blogging lately. It might be the fact that I was taking two summer school classing and raising two kids, but hey I'm not making excuses. Now that my respiratory class is officially over I can breath again, well atleast until August. So I hope to get better about blogging. I have so many pictures to share from the last month. I'm at home in DFW for a family reunion so when I get home next week I'll be sure to share all the pictures. Hope everyone has a great weekend, and don't get too hot out there. (I swear it's atleast 1,000 degrees outside today)

Fun at the park

Yesterday Casey and I took the girls to the park and met up with our neighbors.  The kids had alot of fun and the weather was perfect.  Lily is still a little unsure of the whole park thing, she's more of a home body.  She did finally warm up to the swings and we did that forever.  Alan (our neighbor) brought some bread for the kids to feed the ducks and turtles and they thought that was pretty fun.  Lily wasn't too sure of the ducks.  She liked them from a distance but then they started swarming her and she freaked out.  All in all it was a good day for the park.  When we got home I had the wise idea of blowing up the pool for all the kids and we barely got the thing blown up and the clouds rolled in.  The water was freezing but the girls were troopers and swam even though their lips were blue.  No more than 1 minute after our other neighbors left it down poured and was pretty much like that for the rest of the day.  Atleast we got some time outside before the storm.

Feeding the ducks

I swear Emilee and Lily are my children even though they look just like Casey.

Boo Lily

Lily taking a break from swinging to text.

Happy girl

Em helping Lily up the stairs.  She's such a good big sister.

Pull-up update

Well last night went really well.  Em only had one accident, which she was really upset about.  We put her to bed and she got up once before we went to bed to go potty then I tried to get her to go again before we went to bed, but she didn't need to.  So around 1:20 she came in crying saying she had an accident.  We changed the sheets and pj's and put her back to bed.  Around 4:30 I got her up and took her potty again just to avoid another accident.  And she woke up dry this morning.  I'm so proud of her and she's really proud of herself.  Casey and I told her that if she keeps waking up dry we'll take just her out to the fireplace.  That's was she calls the Japanese steakhouse we have here.  She loves it and is constantly asking to go eat there.  So I'll keep ya updated on her progress.  YEAH Emilee!!!

Life without pull-ups

Well tonight I decided to stop using pull-ups on Emilee.  I think pull-ups are a complete waste of money while trying to potty train, but night-time was different.  When Em potty trained during the day we went the cold turkey route and just started using panties.  It worked really well.  For some reason I just didn't want to deal with the whole night-time issue.  Until now...  She's way to old to be in a pull up, even if it is at night.  So we'll see how she does, it might be a long night.  But I have a feeling it'll only take a few nights and we'll be pull up free.  Keep your fingers crossed that I don't have to change the sheets too many times tonight.

And just because I think they're too cute.  Here's pictures of my babies.

New week New class

Well I started back to school again today.  It was a nice week off, although it really wasn't long enough.  I decided to tough it out and take a mini-mester to get my Psychology out of the way.  So far I really like it.  My teacher is different.  She's very blunt, but in a good way.  I wish more teachers were strict about attendance and cell phones like she is.  Today was talked about childhood development and about they way you raise your kids.  I felt pretty good leaving there today.  I don't think I've screwed my kids up too bad, there are a few things I think I could work on but all in all I fit right in.  And I know it's just my teacher's opinion on this stuff but I still felt good.  

Well I better get back to reading.  My homework was to read 4 chapters, and believe me they're not short.  I'm beginning to wonder what I got myself into.  Wish me luck.

Major meltdown

Ok when I say major I mean MAJOR.  

Emilee has been trying not to take naps lately, some days it works other days (like yesterday) it didn't work.  Most of the time she'll atleast go in and lay down for about an hour and other days you'll have to go in and wake her up because if it was up to her she'd probably sleep the afternoon away.  Emilee has always been my really good napper.  So I'm sad to see napping with her come to an end.  

But yesterday she NEEDED a nap.  She laid down probably about 30 minutes when she got up I let her lay down with me while I finished watching one of my shows.  She seemed ok.  We had to take Casey his clothes for his 2nd job at Outback (isn't he great!) and she fell asleep in the car.  My case in point that she still needs a nap everyday.  We went down to our neighbors for dinner and she acted great, it wasn't until we got home that the Evil Em came out.  I mistakenly fed the fish without asking her if she wanted to help and boy was that the wrong thing to do.  She then started screaming crying at me so I told her it was time for bed and turned her tv show off.  This marks the next big melt down.  She then goes screaming through the house for Granny, I guess to tell on me.  I put her pull-up on and told her Granny was outside but she couldn't go out there until she stopped crying.  She stopped and we found Granny outside.  I told her to tell Gran goodnight and she started screaming no at me.  To make matters worse our neighbors were outside, I can only imagine what they were thinking.   I brought her inside popped her on her mouth and told her that that's not how we talk to people and it was definitely time for bed.  Still screaming she climbed in bed, I told her I loved her even though she was being ugly and left.  

I was very shocked last night because Emilee never acts like that.  Sure we have fits every now and then but NOTHING like that.  This morning she got up and I went in the living room to tell her good morning and she looked at me and said "Mommy I'm really sorry for being so ugly to you lasterday (this is how she says yesterday)."  My heart melted.  I was not expecting that at all.  I was so proud of her for not only remembering but actually saying it.   I took her to get donuts this morning before preschool and so far today she's been great.  We'll see how she is tonight.

Through the fits and the whining the crying and the clinging, I love my girls and it's hard to remember my life before them.

Potty training

I think we are really close to potting training with Lily.  Lately we've been finding her in the bathroom trying to put her potty seat up on the potty.  By time we get in there she's already wet her diaper but we put her up there anyways.  This morning she came and got us twice to go sit on the potty.  She comes and finds you and then pulls you in there with her.  She hasn't actually gone for me yet, I think maybe she has for Granny but hey it's a start. It's actually really cute.  And she looks so cute sitting up there because she's so little.  I think we'll probably start working with her that way she'll be out of diapers faster.  Now if we could just get Emilee out of Pull-ups at night we'd be almost diaper free!!!!

And just because it wouldn't be a fun post without a picture.  Here is Lily with her first cute ponytail.  Poor baby still doesn't have hardly enough hair for one, but we did it.

Lots of stuff

Here are the pictures from our backyard.  It's still not finished but it's definitely a start.

Before

After

Em found dirt and she was very proud of it.

These others are pictures I've taken of the girls the past few months.

Playing dressup

Look at that belly

This is how Em wanted to pose for the camera

No words

Playing in the sand box