Happies

Well, you are looking at Happy #1. The new look to our blog. I'm a simple girl and all I really wanted was a little color to our blog. So, my lovely husband added a little "umph" to our blog and a new header with pictures of the girls.



I LOVE cupcake/muffin liners. I always get new ones for the holidays and special events. These are the ones I have been using for the summer. Emma and I make Weight Watcher Pumpkin Muffins around here every couple of weeks. They are good for you, easy, and SOOOOO yummy.






Brooklyn has this one crease/chubby roll on her leg that is irresistible. It makes me smile. I know she won't want to keep it forever, but I sure will be sad when it fades away. AND, to add to the fun it is one of her most ticklish places.





I love my cuddle time with Brooklyn in the morning while she drinks her milk. Emma is usually on the couch, but she really wanted to be in the picture with us.
The only down side to this fun routine is when we really need to get out the door in the morning and I can't sit with B, she is VERY sad. In sad, I mean very cranky.



I love when the girls entertain each other and get laughing together. This is just one example that happened outside on the trampoline this week. I was able to catch it on video.

Determination at its Best

Emma missed gymnastics a couple weeks ago because we were in Little Rock. You can make up a lesson during the week or go to Open Gym on Friday night. We decided to go to Open Gym this weekend. This is the first time that Brooklyn has been able to play down in the gym on all the stuff. The two of us are normally watching up in the observation area. She had a blast and I'm sure is going to be tons of fun on Wednesday when she has to go up top and not into the gym. She LOVED falling into the foam blocks (and stacking them), jumping on the trampoline and just running free.

Emma was trying so hard to do a back roll , but she can't quite get over by herself yet. You have to give the girl credit for trying!!! I am so glad John was filming because this was funny. (sorry that you have such a lovely view of my big rear at the end)

I love doggie ears!

Today was my first attempt to get Brooklyn's hair in dog ears (or pig tails, whatever you like to call them). It was too cute not to post! She actually kept them in for a full 3 1/2 hours until I took them out for her nap.









I could not help but think of Emma's first day with dog ears. She was 27 months old (her hair grew much slower than B's) and oh, so cute. It was fun to dig up this picture.
It is also scary because I rarely think Emma and I look alike, but this picture is totally me as a little girl.

Kids Will Put Anything in Their Mouth (aka It Wasn't Mine!)

I recently started a photography business. Specifically, I'm focusing on kids sports photography, but am willing to give anything a try. There's my plug, and the background needed for the following story.

A story entitled "Kids Will Put Anything in Their Mouth (aka It Wasn't Mine!)"

I went to take some pictures of a few T-ball games for the Cramer's. While standing around talking after the game, all the kids were climbing around underneath the bleachers. Parents would glance around long enough to see if their kid(s) were about to die, but we pretty much kept the conversation the main focus. While talking with the McGooden's, I hear Allison tell Brooklyn "Stop...don't put that in your mouth!"

Then...

"Oh gosh! STOP!"

I look over to see Brooklyn with a mouthful of brown stuff. Apparently, one of the parents (NOT ME!) took their big plug of Copenhagen and tossed it under the bleachers...where my 2 year old was playing. Brooklyn just stood there, mouth WIDE open whining, while Allison frantically dug out my daughter's first dip. We got a wet wipe and cleaned her off (externally and inside the mouth). When everything calmed back down, about 5 parents turned and look right at me.

"It wasn't mine!"

That night, Brooklyn was suspiciously wired at bedtime. I think she had her first buzz. Or she was having withdrawal. Here's some pictures.
Publish Post

Happies

I never thought Emma would stick her head under, but she is practically swimming by herself. She is so proud of herself. It does my heart good. We are at my sister's pool here and she is swimming to "T". My sister's husband.


There is nothing better than coming home, after being gone for a week, to these two.










Claire! I loved getting to hang out with her all week long. Emma figured out how to get her to laugh and did it over and over and over and over.........Brooklyn would just keep bringing her toys. It was sweet.







I love parallel parking! It is a secret about me that most of you probably don't know. Well, Allyn does b/c we learned together in driver's ed with Coach Russell.




Fayetteville Farmer's Market is a Saturday morning tradition for us. We do not make it every Saturday, but we try when we can. There is a little bit of everything there. I can't resist the pretty flowers. We also came home with some blackberries and REALLY good organic chocolate chip cookies (3 large cookies for $1.50).

Ice Cream in a Bag

My Mom tore out this recipe from the paper. We did not know if it would really make ice cream, but it did and it was good. It had a little bit of a salty taste to it, but we figured if we double bagged it next time, the salt might not seep in. Here is the recipe. Have fun!

1. Place 3 Tbs. of sugar, 1 Cup of half and half, 1/2 tsp. vanilla in a quart size zip lock bag. (this is where I would double bag)
2. Place bag in a gallon size bag. Layer ice and ice cream salt in the gallon bag. Seal.
3. Toss the bag back and forth for 10 minutes, and woala-ice cream!

Highlights

The girls and I were in Little Rock all week. Emma went to VBS at Immanuel, we did a lot of swimming, saw friends and hung out with my family.

Emma had a great time at VBS. It was a very large VBS, 1300 kids! Luckily, my sister was Emma's teacher, so she was excited to go each day to see her. I have no digital pics of VBS even though this was our main reason for going there for the week.

Another fun thing we did was make homeade ice cream in a bag. I am going to post this separately, so I can write out the recipe for everyone. It was so fun and so easy to do with little kids. And, quite tasty!

Here are some of the highlights!

Brooklyn and I met my roomate from college and long time friend, Lindsay downtown at the Peabody one morning. Her oldest boys were at VBS at another church so we took the youngest down to see the ducks. We randomly ran into the Ponder's there too. I love watching the ducks walk their red carpet into the fountain. They are so cute.



We got to go swimming with the Flints while we were both in town for the week. Emily was a friend in college and we have reconnected in the blogging world. She has 3 little girls (and hopefully a 4th little girl from China soon) and lives in Georgia. Ally and Emma are the same age and Annalyse and Brooklyn are the same. Haley Davis also met us there.




We spent 2 days swimming at my sister's pool. We love getting to swim there. I have good video of Emma swimming by herself that I need to figure out how to post. Claire is 6 months old now and so precious! (as you can see!)








My Dad's company is building a new office for themselves and they had their ground breaking while we were there. Emma was at VBS, but B and I went downtown for that. It was very hot, but fun to be able to be there for my Dad.



We also were able to meet the Loibner's (minus Peter) for lunch on Friday before we left town. We had not seen eachother in so long and it was fun to catch and let the kids play. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture!

Happies

This post is coming before the normal Monday "happies" because I will be out of town and unable to post pictures. The girls and I are headed to Little Rock for the week to visit my family. Emma is going to go to Vacation Bible School at my parent's church (also the church I grew up in) in the mornings. Brooklyn, my Mom and I will hang out while Emma is there. We are also hoping to see some friends that live in LR now. Our trips are usually so short that the only people we see are family.
These are some of the "happies" from my week:


Brooklyn has the BEST bed head after naps. It makes me smile. As Emma says, "Mom, her hair is CRAAAAZY!"










Rainy day quiet times are the best. Emma likes to make a "pilot" (aka-pallet of blankets) on the floor and watch a movie. I was caught up on some of my stuff that I normally do during nap time/quiet time so I watched with her.






There is nothing better than a brand new box of 64 crayons. I was more excited than Emma, but she loves them too. ($2.00 at Target this week)





This is my favorite wall in our house. It is the playroom wall and it has 16 clear acrylic frames and is filled with artwork that Emma and Brooklyn have done. It makes me happy every day!!





John and I were able to take Emma to see Wall-E today. We had a sitter come over to stay with Brooklyn. So, that is a "happie" within itself. A special day with Em, doing something that she loves. While we were watching the movie, I heard 3 funny kid statements yelled out.

#1-I need a new diaper!!!!!
#2-Dad, I tooted!!!
And this last one is from my dear, sweet one. I must preface by saying that she thinks you call "bras", boobs. So, Wall-E is going through the trash and finds an old, yucky bra.
Emma says loudly, "Look, a broken boob!"
Ah, the things that kids say. Always honest. You have to appreciate that.

On a not so happy note, Brooklyn has bit holes in all of her pacifiers. I just can't keep buying pacis, so I have a feeling this week in LR might be a week of no pacis. I know all my speech pathologist friends out there are saying, "You should have taken it away at 12 months anyway."
We took Emma's away when she was 22 months old (B is 21 months) only b/c she was putting the whole thing in her mouth. B is much more attached. You can say some prayers for us.

Happies

My friend, Amber, does a "Happies" blog each week. I look forward to reading it every Friday. I'm following her lead and going to start my own "Happies" blog each Monday. I am hoping this will make me more aware of the things (big and small) that bring me joy in my life.


Nescafe Ice Java-Chocolate Mocha. I mix this in my milk EVERY morning. It is my coffee. I have been addicted for about 2 1/2 years.









Changing to a new month on my cute calendar. Cary Collins lives in Little Rock and paints these. You can have one too!









I love the look of wheat grass and have always wanted to try to grow some in a container. I finally found the seed at a Feed Store in Springdale. Emma and I planted the seeds last Wednesday. 5 days later, we have major growth.





Opening this container and finding fresh blueberries and strawberries!







My sweet girls. We don't have many pictures of them standing side by side. This is also a good representation of Brooklyn always wanting to do what Emma is doing.








Putting new pictures on my "picture thing" in the kitchen.

Fourth of July Weekend

This July 4th weekend was a busy one for us. On Friday, we drove up to Branson for the day. We swam at the condo's pool for a little bit, ate lunch, then laid Brooklyn down for a nap. My parents watched B as she napped, while Allison and I took Emma to White Water. Emma has been taking swim lessons this summer, and has really progressed a lot...she can now stick her head under the water, and swim(ish) without floaties. White Water has three kids areas with lots of fun stuff. Emma spent most of her time at the big kids park, where she fearlessly did all the water slides. Over. And Over. And Over Again. It was really fun! We drove back home that night after eating with my parents at Fudruckers. When we got back, all our neighbors were beginning their annual festivities. We walked down to shoot a few fireworks off with the Archer's before going to bed.

Saturday morning, I got up about 4:45 AM and drove down to Lost Valley (near Ponca/Boxley) to take some pictures of Eden Falls. I recently purchased Tim Ernst's guide to all the known waterfalls in Arkansas, so I've been trying to hit the local ones when I get the chance. The hike is crazy easy and the falls are absolutely amazing. There are 3 falls (Cave, Middle, Lower), and I shot the lower 2 (I'm not going into a cave by myself). I picked up McDonald's for my girls on my way back into town.

Saturday night, the Hale's hosted a big shindig out at their farm. Tons of people, food, games, and fireworks. This is the first year Emma hasn't been totally fearful of fireworks. She actually held a sparkler without crying, which is a big step. Here are some pictures of the kids in attendance at the Hale's party. We had to leave before the big fireworks started, as the whole family was thoroughly exhausted.
















On a side note, I got locked inside my office building this morning before church. We apparently had a power outage at the office that lasted for quite a while. Interesting thing to know: at our office building, when the power is out, the external security still works, while the internal security system stops working. What does all that mean? I can open the external doors and go inside, but the doors won't open from the inside. Yes...I got locked inside a 4 story oven (no AC) for 30 minutes this morning. Thankfully, my boss lives 2 miles from the office and came to let me out. Good times.

What We Have Been Doing

Pictures have been piling up on our camera over the past few weeks. I just haven't had the time to get them onto the computer and into a blog. So, this is going to be a quick run down of our past few weeks. Lots of summer fun!

We went to the Shiloh Museum in Springdale last Saturday morning. John wanted to take pictures there and of course, he got some of the girls too.











Brooklyn and Emma are having fun playing dress up together.










We have done lots of swimming in the backyard. Emma has been figuring out new ways to go down the slide.








Emma has never been much on getting close and cuddling. Lately, she has wanted us to hold her and sit next to Brooklyn. Not sure why the change, but I like it.











John has been playing guitar to the girls before bed. It is pretty fun!










Our weekend trip to Mtn. Home to visit GDad and Nana. John and his Dad played golf on Sunday morning together. Nana called the clubhouse to see if she could get a cart to take the girls out in for the last 2 holes. They loved it!











Emma has been taking swim lessons the past 2 weeks. Ben, Davis and Emma shared a teacher and it was awesome. I never thought Emma would even touch her face to the water and she went WAY beyond that. She put her head under and took off swimming. I mean, she can't do it completely by herself, but she is almost there. I am so proud of her!

I just love this picture of Ben and Emma. This is a whole other post, but Ben's family is about to move to Colorado. We are so sad about it. (but excited for them, maybe :) )