My Little Picaso's

We got the watercolors out this morning and it was really fun. It is always less trouble than I think it will be. Emma started painting while Brooklyn was eating breakfast and B was watching very closely. B has done many art projects at school, but I have never actually painted with her. (I know, bad Mom) She finished eating, but I left her in her highchair. I taped down some paper to her tray and loaded her paintbrush. (and reloaded and reloaded and reloaded many times) As you can see, she was so happy. Her picture turned out pretty darn good. Emma made about 10 pictures and had a lot of fun too.

The girls are officially sharing a room now. I'm sure there will be more blogs to come on that. We switched them this past weekend and so far it has gone well. All that to say, we now have a playroom and my vision for a wall full of their artwork can begin forming. These pictures will add to the display.

Claire's First Visit North

We got the privelege of having my sister and Claire come stay with us for a few days this week. They needed a change of scenery and we wanted visitors! Claire did great on her first road trip north. She slept like a champ and my sister owes it to the miracle blanket (for all of you expectant parents out there). Brooklyn and Emma really enjoyed having her here, but they didn't understand why she had to sleep so much.
My sister also brought her two dogs with her. As much as Brooklyn enjoyed Claire, I have to say that the dogs were her favorite part. Belle does not pay as much attention to her as Molly and Maggie do. This picture of our dogs was taken a few years ago, but I love it. I thought I would post it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Ready for Summer

Emma came up to me this morning and asked if we could swim in the blue pool in the backyard. (that means our little plastic baby pool) I tried to explain that it was 51 degrees outside and it was way to cold. She just said, "I want it to be hot, so we can swim."
I told her she could put on her swim suit and swim in my bathtub with Brooklyn. She thought that was a pretty good idea as long as I didn't have to "wash" her. I have to admit, it was pretty fun. Not only for Emma, Brooklyn and me, but also Belle.

Thank you Sydney, Ryley and Lucy!

We love our "Best Bunnies" t-shirts. Thank you for thinking of us all the way in Texas. We can't wait to play with you girls sometime soon!
Love,
Emma and Brooklyn

Jon and Kate Plus 8

Do any Mom's out there watch this show? You must give it a try. If you have a DVR or Tivo, record it and watch while you are folding laundry at night. It makes my job as a Mom seem a bit easier after watching this woman with 7 year old twin girls (not for sure on the age) and sextuplets that are 3. Can you imagine?
As I was laying in bed on Monday night sick and watching the first episode, I was wondering what she does when her kids get sick and pass it on to each other. Sure enough, the next episode was ALL of them getting the stomach flu. It took 2 weeks to get everyone well. My "woe as me" attitude got a little bit better.
I think Jon and Kate's marriage is very healthy and the way they interact is great. I think they are Christians from a few things that have been said. Kate is so organized. Wouldn't you have to be? The show reiterates to me that God gives you only what you can handle. Obviously, he knew that I was not up to the task. (never speak to soon, right?)

Update

My last blog ended with me thinking that Emma was on the verge of pink eye. She woke up Sunday morning perfectly fine. She is still a little congested, but no eye stuff. Brooklyn woke up with fever. By the middle of the day, she was forming eye goop. Brooklyn went to bed at 6:00 on Sunday night and woke at 8:15 Monday morning with her eyes completely sealed shut. Tears actually came to my eyes when I walked in her room. It was horrible. I thought about documenting with a picture, but trust me, you did not want to see that! I was able to get B into the doctor at 9:45. John graciously stayed home on Monday to help me out since I wasn't feeling good. I love our doctor so much. We actually drive much further to see him, but it is worth it to me. He knows us and that is nice. He walked into the room and looked at me and said, " Do you have pink eye?" I said "probably". He gave me some drops! He said that a lot of the time ear infections cause pink eye. The same bacteria or something like that. Sure enough, B had really bad double ear infections. I told him that she had been sleeping at night really well. She is now on meds that will hopefully clear her eyes and ears.








I went down hill fast yesterday. I made myself an appointment this morning. Emma went to school, so B and I went to the doctor. Good times taking your 17 month old to the doctor with you. I have another sinus infection. At least they can give me an antibiotic for that. Hopefully we are on the mends! I took the girls outside for a little while today and that actually did me some good.
Thank you for your emails and phone calls to check on me!

Just the Bad

Okay, I retract my blog from yesterday. Having sick kids stinks! Day 1 was kind of sweet and cuddly and today has been painful and whiny. Brooklyn is actually a bit better and over her fever. I thought Emma was over her fever, but still very congested. It came back around 5:30 this evening along with goopy eyes. I feel pink eye coming by morning, if not before. Brooklyn napped for only 45 minutes today, so I put both of them in bed at 6:15. That might be a record, but I figured with "springing forward" tonight that it was really 7:15. They were exhausted. I am too.

Emma did wake up a bit ago and was yelling, "I want Brooklyn!" How sweet is that? I went in there and she said that she wanted B to sleep in her room. She didn't want to be alone. I told her that as soon as the two of them could get better that we would move them in together for good.

All you medical people out there, what do I do if Emma has pink eye and I can't get to the doctor until Monday? She is already complaining about her eyes and they are just goopy and watery. I have a feeling they might be glued shut the next time she wakes up. So sad. Sickness stinks! Did I mention that my throat is killing me and I have a slightly runny nose? Also, have I mentioned how many times I have washed my hands or put sanitizer on today? Sorry for the complaining. John is not here, so you guys are my sounding board.

The Good and the Bad

Let me preface this blog with the statement that no Mom would ever wish sickness upon their children, BUT there are some good things about kiddos being sick.


The Good:
1. They cuddle with me.
2. They take naps.
3. They are still, instead of constantly in motion.

The Bad:
1. They hurt!
2. They whine.
3. They can't do much for themselves.
4. They look pitiful and feel horrible!
5. You can't go anywhere.

I had a feeling last night that both Brooklyn and Emma were on the verge of getting something. Emma is rarely ever sick, so she has really been thrown off with the congestion. She had a hard time sleeping last night and just keeps screaming that her nose hurts. Brooklyn is snotty, which has been kind of normal for her this season. BUT, to top it off, they both have fever. To top it off more, we were supposed to go to Little Rock this weekend to see my family and the Tokar's. That is not going to happen now. Sad! Both of my girls are napping right now which hasn't happened in a few months. Emma is past the napping stage. I should probably make use of this time and do some project that is lying around, but I just want to nap too.

Snow Day Part 2: Sledding and Movies

After a long night, the girls and I slept in until 8:45. It was nice! We ate breakfast and then I called Amy (my sister in law) to see what they were up to for the day. I was hoping they were going to go play in the snow and we could join them. They were heading over to the hill at Lake Fayetteville to sled, so we joined them. Most of the snow had melted by the time we got there, but the grass was still slick so we got to go a few times before packing up. This was B's first time to sled and she LOVED it. I hated that John was not here to play with us. It would have been much more fun!

We left there and went to the Hannon's for lunch and for the kids to play on their little hill in their front yard. It still had snow on it, so they got to sled some more. After lunch, we headed back home for B to take a nap. Grace came with us and watched Annie with Emma and me.

We love that we live so close to this part of our family. Since we have been married, we have never lived more than a minute from the Hannon's. (John's sisters family) They are building a BEAUTIFUL new house right now and are going to be moving about 3 minutes away from us. Can you believe the nerve of them to move so far? It has been really fun getting to watch the kids grow up together. Their ages are not the same, but they still all play together so well. Such a blessing. Now, if we could get my sister's family to move here, that would be icing on the cake.

Snow Day Part 1: Slumber Party

John is out of town for the week, so with the scare of all the snow, we decided to pack up and go to the Elleman's house for the night. I figured we wouldn't get much sleep, but it would be a good memory. I was right.
We didn't get over there until almost 8:00. I laid Brooklyn down and she went to sleep fairly well. Emma, Davis, and Carley helped Aaron make cookies. Allyn and I sat back and took pictures. It took quite a while to get Davis and Emma asleep, but finally they crashed. About 2 hours later, Brooklyn woke up. I was in the room with her and once she realized that, it was over. She just wanted to play. I tried for over an hour to get her back to sleep and at 1:30 AM, I packed us up. B was disturbing the whole house and I was tired. (this is strange b/c she normally sleeps great in new places)
The snow was just starting to come down and I figured if we were going to try to get home, now was the time. I got Emma out of bed and we headed home. It was snowing really hard at that point. We went slow and made it safely. The good part of all of this, was that the girls slept until 8:45 this morning. (I did too!)
Allyn and I have been best friends since 1st grade and we lived about 2 blocks from each other growing up. We spent MANY snow days together. It was fun to make a snow memory with our kids!
Part 2 of our snow day is on my brother in laws camera. Once he sends me those, I will post our fun sledding/movie day with our cousins!

Happy 31st Birthday John!

Happy Birthday John! All of your girls love you very much!

Allison, Emma, Brooklyn, and Belle

Follow Up

They did great last night! Brooklyn woke up once and I went in to get her pretty quickly. Emma never even flinched when B was crying. I got B back to sleep quickly and they both slept until 7:15. B woke up first, which is unusual, but it was fine. It was an earlier morning than normal, but not to early.

Brooklyn does have a little cold and I think that is what woke her up last night. She is back in her room for a few nights. Once she is better, we will move her back in.

Kate, you asked about the nap situation. Brooklyn will nap in her crib and Emma will have her "quiet time" in the soon to be playroom.

It was fun going in there this morning to both of their little faces. I think it will be even more fun when Brooklyn is old enough to wake up talking with Em. I know the bedtime routine will not always be as smooth as it was last night, but they proved that it is possible for them to be quiet. I don't want them to be too quiet. The fun in sharing a room with your sister is getting to talk on your way to sleep.

Sharing a Room with Sister

John and I knew all along that we wanted to move Emma and Brooklyn into the same room at some point. We like the idea of sisters sharing rooms and we also really want to use B's room as a playroom. I thought we would probably do it when B was closer to 18 months, but the time has come earlier than expected. Emma has really wanted B to be in there, so we thought we would try it while she was willing. We set the pack n' play up in Em's room for the night. We are not committed enough to actually take apart B's crib and move it in and rearrange. Emma was really excited and B didn't know what was going on, but went with it. We put them both to bed about 20 minutes ago and haven't heard a peep since. Surely, this can't be that easy?? We will let you know in the morning!

My Gangster and Princess

Brooklyn is starting to want to dress up more and more. She found John's hat and immediately put it on backwards. As for Emma, this is pretty much how she looks on the days we are at home.

Third Time is a Charm

Today was a great day at our house. Emma went back to the dentist for the 3rd attempt of having her cavity filled.

Let me start with the fact that she did great a year and a half ago getting her teeth cleaned for the first time. I think she thought it was fun. So, when we FIRST went to get her tooth filled she went with no drugs or anything. She wigged as soon as they wanted her to lay down. I don't know how she knew they were doing something beside cleaning her teeth. The SECOND time we took her back with vallum knowing that with a little "relax drug" she would do fine. Wigged again. By wigged, I mean flipped out completely. 3 adults were trying to hold her down and she got up. Major adrenaline. It was one of the worst days of my life. One of those days as a parent that you know you are doing this for the best well being of your child, but it just sucks. I hated every minute of that day. She was so scared the whole time! So, today we went back for our THIRD try with some demerol and something else. She sat right down and never complained about the "piggy nose" ( the gas, which she was totally against the last time). She did so great and was so brave. I have never been so proud of a little person in my life. Her reward, that we brought with us, was a new Belle dress from Beauty and the Beast. She put it on at the dentist office and showed everyone there!

For all of you that prayed for Emma (and me) today, thank you! Your emails, phone calls, text messages, etc......were so sweet!

The After Shot

Well, it is finished! We have new wood floors. It was quite a mess when we got back to town, but it was so worth it. John's parents took the girls this weekend, so were able to get a lot cleaned up and put things back in place. We are still missing our kitchen table. It is out in the garage waiting to be repainted. The rain and cold kept me from working on that this weekend. Here a few pictures.

Quirkiness Abounds

I've been tagged by Josh to list 6 quirky things about myself. Apparently, Josh's list is very orifice-focused. Here's a shot at my quirks.

I must have the toilet paper a specific way: rolling over the top, not dropping below when rolled. It was the only request I made of Allison when we got married. It drives me nuts to use public restrooms for this very reason.

My computer's desktop (work and home) are VERY clean...very few icons are on it. However, my actual desks (work and home) are crazy messy.

I don't like to talk in bathrooms. My current boss is known for holding conversations while in the bathroom, either on the phone or with the other stall-mates. I don't like even having to share the bathroom with others, let alone talk to them. Perhaps this is due to my need for anonymity...in case something embarrassing happens, the others don't know who did it.

I hate meeting new people. For being such an extrovert (read: chatty cathy), I rarely enjoy meeting new people, especially when there's a ton of people to meet. Like a business meeting I just got back from. I forced myself to meet 15 new people, tried to remember their names the rest of the week, and tried not to meet anyone else on purpose.

I'm ALWAYS a backseat driver...even when I'm driving. I don't do well in the passenger, middle, or way back of any vehicle (save buses). I'll even give myself backseat-driver advice/emotions when I'm driving and the only one in the car.

I hold full conversations with myself...out loud. Not only do I ask the questions out loud, I'll answer myself. And I'll make jokes to myself and laugh at them. In fact, I'm the funniest and most brilliant conversationalist I've ever met. And I'm apparently mental.


I'll tag Lafe (who truly defines quirky), Blake, the Kelley's, the Nate/Sarah McGooden, and the Miller's.

For those that know me, I'm sure there are other quirks you've noticed. Feel free to leave them in the comments. Blake, don't be an idiot...I know where you sleep.

Happy Valentine's Day

I LOVE Valentine's day! I don't know why, but I always have. I believe in showing love every day of the year, but there is something great about making things extra special on Vday.

John was out of town this week, so the girls and I went to Little Rock. We got back yesterday to new floors (I will post pictures when we are settled back in and clean!) and lots of dust! After spending a few hours cleaning our kitchen last night, I made blueberry muffins for the girls to eat before school. When Emma woke up, we realized that we really don't have a place to eat, so I told her I would fix her breakfast in bed. I broke out a bed tray that John and I got as a wedding gift and have maybe used twice in 8 years. It might be Emma's new favorite thing. It was really fun serving her breakfast in bed. We shot a couple of pictures before school in their Valentine attire. Take note of the dusty floors in the back. Yes, I spent my Mother's Day Out cleaning like a mad woman. We have a long way to go, but it is livable for now. John got home around 4:30. We enjoyed a family picnic on the our new floor, eating heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's. Then, Emma and I decorated cookies for John and Brooklyn. (and ourselves!) It was a fun Vday!
Oh, and did I mention that my husband rocks? Since he was going to be gone all week, he wrote me Valentine's to open each day. I'm a sucker for those kind of things. I love him!
The girls are going to Mountain Home this weekend with John's parents. John and I get to celebrate Vday and my birthday this weekend with no kiddos. It will be a fun weekend and lots of work to get things back together. I'm looking forward to being just us for a brief time.
Happy Valentine's everyone!

The Before Shot

Our carpet is 10 years old and has lived through 2 families with 3 boys each and for the past 3 years, our family of four and a dog that likes to shed. What I am trying to say is that our carpet is nasty. Stanley Steamer has been here multiple times and it helps for a short time. The carpet in the bedrooms are not to bad, but the living room is just gross.
We are taking the plunge and are having wood floors put in the living room, dining room and hallways this week. I am so excited, BUT the preparation really stinks! For the past few days, we have been slowly moving everything out of the living room and dining room and into the kitchen or other bedrooms. Not to mention, that we are going to have to move out of the house for 3 days. I know it will all be worth it very soon. I am in no way complaining about this. I have begged for wood floors for the past 2 years and I am so thankful that it is actually going to happen.
Here is our living room right now and I will post the after shot whenever I can dig my way back to the computer. I know you will be eagerly awaiting the after shot! Ha!

B Loves Spagettio's

Most of all, Brooklyn loves to try to feed Spaghettio's to herself!

Voting Fun

I always gain more pride for our town of Johnson when it is voting day. I love going to the little city hall and voting with all the locals. It makes me feel like I live in a small country town, even though it is essentially part of the Fayetteville/Springdale area.

The joys of small town voting is speed. I left my house (with 2 children), voted and got back home within 15 minutes. Record time for me going anywhere with my girls.

Within that brief time of voting, Emma made good enough friends with one of the old ladies working that she was able to enjoy a cookie from the workers stash. (and snag one for B as well) As we were walking out the door, I heard a few people say, "Bye Emma!"

As many of you know, she is not a shy girl and has never met a stranger. I love it! She is the total opposite of me at this age and the exact same as John. She IS a Nelson, but apparently looks a lot like me.

A Very Gender-Balanced Day

Today was very gender-balanced for me. Living a life with 4 girls (wife, 2 daughters, and female dog) makes like pretty...um...pink and frilly. The day started off on the manly foot: a trip to National Home Center & Lowe's. I spent the next 3 hours installing new doorknobs on all the doors in our house. Now, that may not sound manly to you, but in MY book, that counts. Big time. You see, I'm the least handy person, possibly ever. Todd and Josh can attest to this information. They're my go-to guys when I need info or help on doing anything remotely manly (except electronics, it's my only saving grace).


After replacing the doorknobs, I grabbed my camera gear (and my two beloved lenses) and went to grab some quick shots of the sunset. I found a nice spot that gave me some great sunset shots along with cow silhouettes, which is always a bonus! A couple of the shots turned out pretty cool. My favorite is this one to the left...cows are cool.


Now, the tipping point.


After dinner and putting Brooklyn to bed, Allison told Emma that we were ALL going to play one of her favorite games: Pretty Pretty Princess. If you're unfamiliar with the board game, it's essentially Trivial Pursuit. But where there aren't tough questions, and instead of winning little colored pie pieces, you win different pieces of jewelry. Travis is quite aware of this game. I am no longer a Pretty Pretty Princess virgin...I even won a game! Here's a pic of me and Emma after the first game (that Allison won). See how manly I look?


But the fun doesn't stop there, folks! After Emma went to bed, Allison told me she had DVR'd something fun. And by fun, she meant "it's girly". We spent the next 2 hours watching "Girls Just Want to Have Fun". The best thing about the movie was seeing Sarah Jessica Parker actually being cute. I mean, that girl's face has gone down hill since that movie. It's amazing what makeup can do...she sports a mole larger than De Niro!

So that was my day. Balanced nicely between manliness and girliness.

Snow Day

Emma and I went to play in the snow while B was taking her nap this morning. I realize that I am a bad Mom for not taking B to play too, but she really just doesn't have a good water proof jacket. That was the main reason we waited to go until nap time. The coat Emma wore is a 2T coat that I bought cheap one year before a big snow. It actually fit her pretty well besides the sleeves being to short. Here is our little snowman that we made and Belle enjoying her snow day too.

4 Years and 15 Months

I postponed Emma's 4 year check up a month, so that I could take her and Brooklyn at the same time. I knew going in that they were both going to have to get shots this time, so I told John to put it on his calendar. I needed back up! Of course, that was the day that John came down with the fever, so he was off the hook. I was not as worried about Brooklyn because she is not as aware about what is coming. Emma is a different story. I knew she wouldn't enjoy the shots, but I was just praying that she would not throw a drama queen fit for to long after the shots. I admit that I bribed her with a milkshake and a new game. (it was one that John and I got her for Christmas, but decided to save b/c she got to much on Christmas) She actually did really great! The nurses were awesome. We got there right before lunch so they were not very busy. One of the nurses actually came in to hold Brooklyn for me while I held Emma's hand. It was over quick and Emma was a champ. My tender hearted B took a little while to recover, but she did.

Both girls are completely healthy. Such a blessing and something I take for granted way to often. Thank you Jesus!
Here are their stats:
Emma: 41" tall and 36 pounds (can't remember the %)
Brooklyn: 29 1/2" tall and 21 pounds (somewhere b/t 25-50%)

Pitiful, but so cute!

Overdue Post

I should have written this on January 22nd, but I just haven't had the time to do it. My sweet husband deserves 10 gold stars for his role as "Daddy" and "Hubby" over the weekend of January 18th. I got whatever fever virus and then some that John had a few days before. My illness came in the middle of the night with fever, congestion, headache, aches, etc.......Like John said, fever stinks! I was completely laid up in bed on Saturday, was up a bit more on Sunday and a little better on Monday, but so thankful that John got MLK Day off. John was awesome and did so much! He took care of the girls every need and even mine. I have to say, I was pitiful. I would not have been able to function without his help. Thank you LOVE!
The saddest part of the weekend was that I was supposed to go to LR alone to see my sweet little niece that I haven't seen since the day she was born and I didn't get to go. Boo hoo! All of us are going next weekend and I can't wait!

Sharing Sucks

Brooklyn is old enough now (15 months) to want to do everything her big sister does. More specifically, she wants to touch anything Emma is touching. Which creates a sharing problem. Most of the time, it's actually pretty funny to watch them fight. They fight like girls.



Of course, we try to teach them how to share...if any parent says they've figured this out, they're lying. Sharing goes against the Total Depravity of mankind.

Sickness Seriously Sucks

It's been a fun week of sickness here at the Nelson house! I spent Tuesday through Thursday laid up in bed with a fever and the chills. I rarely get sick, and I have forgotten how dastardly a fever can be. It's amazing that one could feel so friggin' cold when you're body temp is 102. I literally slept in pants, socks, slippers, shirt, fleece pullover, and skull cap for 2 straight days. And if you have leg hair and sleep in socks, they're not good bedfellows...the hairs get bent a certain way if socks are worn too long, making the aftershock of sock removal quite painful. I did get to catch up on some movies I missed at the theater, though.

• Stardust: good flick. Willow meets The Princess Bride meets Big Fish.
• Die Hard 4: great flick. Bruce Willis is a stud.
• Pirates of the Caribbean 3: boring movie, but good ending.
• Shoot Em' Up: great flick. Lots of bullets and violence. I love Clive Owen.

Friday night, Allison came down with the fever, congestion, and lost her voice. She's slowly recovering, but is still without much energy. While she was laid up in bed catching up on her hundreds of DVR'd Oprah's, I hung out with the girls. We played around the house all day then went to McDonald's to burn some more energy and just get out of the house (the winter sucks). Brooklyn has some lovely green snot, so she's not allowed in the nursery at church...a much wanted and needed 2 hours that was unattainable. DRAT! More playing.

We were completely out of groceries, so I got the task of going to Wal-Mart and picking up some essentials to get us through. You'd think that working for 3 food companies in my career would make grocery shopping pretty easy, wouldn't you? It doesn't. I got groceries last night around 10:30 PM...thankfully it wasn't very crowded!

Today, I'm just surviving. Here's a video of what life is like at my house: pink and lots of dancing.
Emma will be our classically trained ballet dancer. Brooklyn will be our breakdancer. She tries to bust out a backspin and headspin.

Ballet Lessons

We signed Emma up for ballet lessons at church. It is a 10 week session of learning basic ballet moves and having some fun dancing. As you all know, Emma is not shy and loves to perform. The Mom's and girls sat in a circle the first night and were to go around introducing themselves and telling why they wanted to take dance. Most of the Moms introduced their girls, but mine wanted to do it herself.

Emma: "Hi, I am Emma Nelson. I have always been dancing!"

I had flashbacks to the movie, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, when Sarah Jessica Parker introduces herself to her class. It was great. Emma has loved it so far. She can do first, second and third position and has had fun dancing to silly songs with friends.

The First Week: A Review

Friday marked the end of my first week with Kellogg. I don't really find it fun to enter a completely new environment with all new people and so many unknowns. I like my comfort zones. However, after spending a week with my new co-workers, I don't think I have much to worry about...they're flat out wacky! And that's good for me.

I now have a Jeep Liberty, and that's pretty sweet! Though everyone tells me you should stop naming your cars in high school, I get very attached to my vehicles and have an inescapable need to name them (Harvey the Corsica, Geri the Uplander, Homer the Odyssey, etc). So, despite the retorts of friends and strangers, I am naming my Jeep, Jerry the Jeep. Not to be confused with Geri the Uplander (named as an abbreviation for geriatrics), Jerry is more for gramatical alliteration. Those are big words, I don't expect the haters to understand them.

I got the full tour of the office and got to meet most of the 60 employees in the office. Jumping from an office of 4 to 60 is quite difficult, especially with my penchant for forgetting people's names. Thankfully, every cube and office has a name plate...

I was also hazed and initiated at 4:30 PM on Monday. There is a small room with 2 foosball tables and a fan (it gets hot when the competition heats up!). They play with weird rules: no spinning and 4 balls at a time. First...I suck at foosball. Secondly, I suck worse when I can't spin. I lead me and my boss to a humiliating loss the first day. And in this room of competitive glory, the losers get a nice heaping of razzing. Usually, it takes the form of a skunk picture being placed on your door. I'm going to love this job!

So all in all, the first week was pretty great. I can't wait to dig in a start contributing more (both to work and to the foosball games).

A Trip to the Zoo

What to do on a warm January day? Pack up and head to the zoo! We loaded up the girls this morning and headed over to Tulsa to visit the zoo and enjoy the warm winter day. Though a bit windy, it was 70 degrees and sunny in Tulsa, and the animals were loving it!

I got a new lens for my camera this week, and got to put it to the test at the zoo. I'm pretty darned pleased with its performance thus far. However, the lens itself weighs 3 pounds, and got pretty heavy very quickly. Check out the pictures from our trip here.

Hope everyone got to get out and enjoy the great day!

Christmas 2007

I know I am late in posting this, but we have been traveling so much that I really haven't had time. We went to Mountain Home with John's family for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The Hannon's were there too and it is always fun to hang out with them for longer than just a dinner. The picture that I regret not taking was all 4 kids (We kept B in the pack n play!) sleeping in sleeping bags in Nana and GDad's room. It was pretty cute! We all got to much stuff! Emma's big gift from us was a Cinderella castle with all the princesses and princes included. We saw it while we were at Disney World and we ended up calling the store back to get it for her for Christmas. It has been a big hit. Santa brought Emma a new ballerina outfit for her dance lessons that she is starting on Monday at church. Brooklyn got some new books from Santa which she loves and we got her pull telephone that came back this year. John and I both had one when we were little. She also got some other little things. All the family was good to us. We always come home with too much stuff! John surprised me with a Kitchen Aid mixer! I was really surprised. I have wanted one since we got married, but just haven't wanted to fork over the money for it. It is pretty and silver! I bought John a back massager thing that sits in a chair. I know that sounds lame, but I promise he asked for it!

We came home for a few days and then traveled to Little Rock to do Christmas with my family. Again, we got a lot of fun things and to much of it! Emma's big gift was the Leap Frog Click Start Computer. She has really caught on to it and likes it a lot. She also got a fun Animal Hospital that both girls are enjoying. B got a little animal train that makes animal noises and moves. She LOVES it! While we were in LR, we got to get together with 4 other couples from our college days. We all hung out without kids and it was so fun. It had been way to long since we had all been together.

I came home briefly and then went back to LR with Emma for the birth of little Claire Bear. See the next post.

I couldn't decide on pictures, so I made a collage or our holiday. Happy New Year!

Claire Louise Gammill

My sister had her sweet little girl last night, January 2! It all worked out for Emma and I to drive to Little Rock to be there for Claire's birth. I was able to get last minute babysitters for Brooklyn during the day.

Cathy was a rock star. They started inducing her at noon and she was dilated to 1cm when she checked in. By 5:00 she was at 10cm. Very fast labor! My little Claire Bear is super cute. I can't wait to go down and stay longer.

She is a little thing: 5 lbs., 15oz and 17 inches long. I thought my 2 girls were small, but Claire beat them. She has a head full of dark hair. Here she is: