Thanksgiving in Mexico

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I last posted. Forgive me!

We had an amazing and very different Thanksgiving this year. John's parents retired last June and wanted to celebrate by taking us and John's sister's family to their favorite place, Cozumel. Initially, we were to go last May, but the swine flu stopped that trip very quickly when the government strongly suggested for people not to travel to Mexico. It all worked out and we were able to work it out for 3 busy families to find a date that would work for everyone. We left on the Saturday before Thanksgiving and returned on the Friday night after Thanksgiving.

We stayed at Fiesta Americana, which was very nice. The staff was very friendly and it was a great place to stay. The pools were great, although a little cold for my liking. This did not stop the kids. :) The beach was not "the beach" we were all expecting. We are used to Florida beaches where you walk from your beach chair right into the water. Because of all the coral reefs, our beach was built up above the water and sand was placed there. You had to walk down some steps to get into the water. The water was definitely made for snorkeling and not for playing in the waves. It worked out fine. The girls enjoyed playing in the sand and then getting wet in the pool. We all tried snorkeling (except for Brooklyn) and it was amazing. I had done it once before, but had forgotten how beautiful God created all those awesome little fish. Emma surprised us all and tried snorkeling and loved it! She would stick her head down in the water and then come up murmuring loudly (couldn't understand her because of her snorkel) about what she had seen. It was precious.

We did so much and took so many pictures. I have posted my favorites here, but here is the link to a site where you can see them all. Here are some of highlights of our trip:

*Snorkeling (for me, it was watching Emma snorkel. I was so proud of her for trying it and loved hearing her mumble about the fish through her snorkel)










*Lots of Mexican food (it was good, but I'm still not sure I want a quesadilla, guacamole, or a margarita for a while)

*Chakanub Park (We paid $5 for this picture and it was worth every penny to document an iguana sitting on Sam's head!)










*Swimming with the Dolphins (I have always wanted to do this, but the price has always deterred me. This place had great prices and we were able to take our girls with us for free. It was amazing!)






*Relaxing by the pool and watching the kiddos (and Dad's) play







*Hanging out with my in laws and the Hannon's and watching the cousins play.







*Jeep Tour around the island with our family of 4








*Thanksgiving dinner at Hard Rock Cafe (My second most non-traditional Thanksgiving meal. My first was when I was younger and my family went to NYC for Thanksgiving and we ate at a Japanese restaurant)







*Getting to be with my sweet family of 4 for a week without anyone having to go to work or school and me not having to clean the house. ;)









*Our rainy day that was spent in the lobby playing cards, reading magazines and playing with Wikki Stix.

We had a great time!! Thank you Brenda and Larry for treating us to this fun trip!!!

Halloween

Halloween seemed like a week long event this year. Brooklyn had a party on both Monday and Thursday at school. John's office put on an awesome Halloween party on Thursday night. The Walker's Halloween party on Friday night. Then actual Halloween on Saturday night. It was a fun week, full of dressing up!

Brooklyn was a fairy, but really wanted a name, so she became Thumbelina. Emma was a peacock. Brooklyn was tired of the fairy by October 31st, so she decided to pull from the dress up box and be Cinderella.

Halloween Day was a family filled day. We had pumpkin pancakes for breakfast and then carved our pumpkins. I should say that John carved the pumpkins with a little assistance from Brooklyn. Emma wanted no part in the slime!








The Roberts' came over to eat pizza with us and go trick or treating around our neighborhood. For some reason, the Arkansas Athletic Dept chose to have Homecoming on Halloween, so we came home to watch a little of the game. The girls (and Belle) had fun handing out candy to everyone. Belle loves Halloween night because we put up the baby gate and she sits at the door looking out and waiting anxiously for someone to pet her. It was a fun night with friends!









The Hannon's went to the Razorback game, but they came over before to see the girls in costume and for Isaac and Luke to show us their "Razorback costumes" for the game. Sweet cousins!

Emma's First Report Card

I can't believe that we have a child that is old enough to get a report card. Crazy. I say report card loosely because she does not actually get letter grades yet.

Emma got all E's, which according to the report card means Advanced/Proficiency above grade level. She is doing awesome and is so interested in what she is learning. They studied the solar system this past week and I have to admit that Emma taught me a few facts that I was unaware of about space. She has wanted to know how to read for so long and she is doing it! She knows about 100 sight words and is working on a new list now. I checked out a few Beginner Reader books from the library for her and she is reading them to us, along with quite a few Dr. Seuss books. It really is amazing how it must have just clicked with her one day. She loves to write and she is loving math. She counts EVERYTHING and is using some addition and subtraction at times too. She really is doing amazing and we are so proud of her!

She still has some days where she just does not want to go to school, but all in all she looks forward to going. She has made a few good friends in her class which is an answer to prayer.

Way to go Emma!

Fall Colors are Here

During this past week, I watched in amazement while the leaves turned colors over night in Northwest Arkansas. We had quite a bit of rain at the end of the week, but it made for a spectacular display of color on Saturday. The sun was out, 65 degrees, and the leaves were amazing.
The girls and I drove Hwy 112 just to look at scenery (and grab donuts for breakfast).

John went on a photography hike yesterday morning and shot some beautiful pictures. We all joined back up that afternoon and the girls were able to play at the park in the piles and piles of leaves. It was awesome! There is no doubt that God is one creative God!

Super Star

Last week, Emma was the Super Star and got to decorate a big yellow star with pictures of people that are special to her or pictures of places she has been, or pictures of anything that had significance in her life. They rotate through the whole class and each person gets a chance to tell what is special to them. She also had to write 3 sentences about herself and bring 3 special items to class on Friday to show her friends. Emma and I had fun picking out pictures and putting them on the star. When I asked what she wanted to bring to school she said, "Brooklyn, Belle and her blankie." I had to check with her teacher on bringing Belle, but she said, "Sure!" So, last Friday, our WHOLE family went to school to watch Emma present her star and to show off Brooklyn and Belle. Super cute!! At the end, the class could ask Emma questions. Most of them just wanted her to know that they also had a dog at home. :)

I was so glad that John was able to get off early and come for it. I know it meant so much to Emma to have him there. I am up in her class quite a bit, so I was no big deal. Here are some pictures from the big event.


Emma showing off the finished project! She had a picture of grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, E at the beach, us at Disney World, and E doing dance.












Brooklyn, John and Belle waiting in the hallway to go into the class.






Emma presenting her start to her class.
FYI-they learned about spiders on this day and they made spider hats. That is what is on everyone's head. :)





The whole fam!!!

Publish Post

Family Birthday

I promise this will be the last post about Brooklyn's birthday. We celebrated again with my family this past weekend and also celebrated my Dad's birthday which is on the 16th. My parents, along with my sister's family came up for the weekend. We had such a great time together. I'm always sad to see them leave.

Friday night we went to La Huerta for dinner and then hung out at our house. On Saturday morning, all the boys went to the Razorback game (Woo Pigs!) while the girls hung out at home and made an outing to Target. We all learned what it would be like to have a 5 year old, 3 year old and almost 2 year old at Target. Hard work keeping everyone happy and IN the cart!

We came back for naps and when Brooklyn woke up we worked on our "Potato Head" pumpkins.

Claire was totally in to our little play kitchen and I told my sister what a deal ours was a few years ago. We called the place and they had one for sale for even less than we paid for ours, so we went and got it. It is still in our garage and Claire will get to have it for either Christmas or her birthday. So fun! The girls LOVED having Claire here and they all played perfectly together. I love cousins!!

Saturday evening we opened Brooklyn and Papa's presents and then went to eat dinner at Panera. My Dad still cannot eat very much and soup sounded good so that was his choice. Brooklyn also loves soup, so it worked as a good choice for both. We came back home to enjoy some birthday/Halloween cupcakes.



I LOVE this picture of my sweet 79 year old Daddy and my sweet 3 year old Brooklyn. Next year we will be celebrating the big 8-0 for my Dad. Seriously, he must be the youngest looking and acting 79 year old ever!

What a fun weekend!!!

Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday, we went to a really fun Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze. It is just over the Arkansas/Missouri border. We had heard fun things about it and wanted to check it out for ourselves. The weather could not have been more perfect: sunny with a high of 70.

This farm had a hay ride, a cow train, tire swings, slides, corn shooting, animals, games, pumpkins, fresh from the tree apples, and a corn maze. We did not do the corn maze. The girls had very little interest in it and it was the most expensive thing there. We had a great time and spent about 3 hours playing. My only complaint about it was that I LOVE to hunt the vines for a pumpkin and cut it off. They had already cut them off the vine and you picked from a huge selection. All in all, a fun fall family outing. We will definitely try to make this a fall tradition. You should too.

Brooklyn's Princess Party

Emma was out of school last Friday, so we took advantage of that and had Brooklyn's party on Friday morning. She wanted a Disney Princess Party, so that is what we did. She invited a few little girlfriends and asked them to dress up too. It was super cute! We made crowns and played a few princess games. I had made some little tea sandwiches to eat along with goldfish and grapes. My biggest task was making Brooklyn's cake. I have admired the "Barbie Cake" from Rick's for so long and someone told me how easy it was to make, so I went out on a limb and gave it a shot. It did not turn out the way I had it in my head, but it turned out pretty decent for my first attempt at making a cake. I am now inspired to take a cake decorating class. John took so many GREAT pictures, but it so hard to post all of them on here. Check out my Facebook page if you want to see more!










I think Brooklyn had a great time at her party and has been asking for another party ever since. We celebrated again yesterday on her actual birthday. She wanted to ride the carousel at the mall and eat pizza, so that is what we did as a family.





John and I gave her a new bike and she loves it. Emma gave B the Three Musketeers Barbie, Corinne. It has become a tradition for us to get both girls new pj's on B's birthday since it is the beginning of cold weather.








B, we love you very much and feel so blessed that God gave us you to take care of on this Earth. What a blessing you are!

Happy 3rd Birthday Brooklyn!!

Today is Brooklyn's actual birthday and I CANNOT believe that my baby is 3. Where has the time gone? 3 years ago today at this moment (8:45AM), John and I were headed to my clinic because I had been laboring through the night. They sent us home because I had not progressed. I promised them that she would be here today. By about 4:00 PM, I was back at the hospital bent over in half because of contractions, begging for a room and an epidural. Apparently, I had made some progression through the day. I was dilated to a 7. She was born around 8:30PM, 7 days early and lucky enough to share a birthday with her Aunt "Mamy". Happy Birthday Amy!!!

I will blog about her fun Princess Party soon, but for now, enjoy the flashback over the past 3 years.........

Allison will be blogging about Brooklyn's birthday party soon, but I wanted to show the video (6 minutes) of pictures we had playing during the party. These are all pictures from 2-3 years old. She's a mess, but she's a mighty cute mess!

Craft Day

Wednesday and Friday are both days that Brooklyn and I spend hanging out at home. We go to "exercise class" both of those mornings at 8:30, but are back by 9:45.

Wednesday has been declared our craft day. Brooklyn's school does a letter and number a week, so I have tried to add to that on Wednesdays by doing a craft with the letter. Last week, was "B", so we painted Brooklyn's name. I wrote her name with white crayon and then she painted with watercolors over it. Once she started painting, her name showed up. I thought it was WAY more cool than she did, but oh well. She got to play with watercolors and she was happy.

Have I mentioned that I am loving my time with B? She is talking non-stop and saying the cutest things. Her little voice melts me.

Labor Day Weekend

John and I were able to get away for a weekend alone over Labor Day weekend. We went to Dallas to hang out together, shop and see some friends. The girls got to spend the weekend with Nana and GDad in Mountain Home and had a lot of fun too. It was a refreshing weekend for the two of us!

John and I started our road trip on Friday afternoon and arrived in Dallas right around 7:30. We drove straight to Chuy's to meet our friends Nathan and Melissa for dinner. We had a great meal and even better conversation. Although John works with Nathan's brother, we rarely get to see N8 and Mel. So fun! The only bad part about the night was that we did not get to see their little ones.
John had enough points built up from his work travels to get us a free room, so we stayed in a hotel on Friday night. We were able to sleep in a bit and casually get ready for our day. The best part was that I only had to get myself ready, not 2 other little girls. :) What a treat! We made our way to Bread Winners Cafe for breakfast. YUM! John and I split a huge omelet and were full until dinner that night. After breakfast, we shopped, shopped, and shopped some more. We also drove around Highland Park looking at houses. The houses were huge and beautiful, but the prettiest thing about that area are the trees. Big mature trees line the streets and it is quaint. We also shopped at two architectural salvage shops and they were fun. They had so many neat lights, hardware, plumbing fixtures, medicine cabinets, etc.....Our purchase was a phone niche for our house that hopefully we will get to build sometime in the near future. (our cute house is still for sale and the price has been lowered)

On Saturday evening, we headed to Arlington to visit my fun friends/roommates at Baylor. We went to Sydney and Chris' house first to visit and drop off our stuff. We spent the night with them on Saturday night. Syd's sweet parents kept all 4 of her kids so that John and I could stay with them at their house. So nice! We all met up with Holly and Doug at Moni's, which is an Italian place that we ate at last time we were in town. John had been dreaming of their rolls and alfredo sauce and wanted to go back. It was so good, but most of all AWESOME company. I love those sweet friends so much and love when we get to catch up in person. The best thing about our friendship is that we are able to pick up right where we left off. We headed back to the Chamber house and talked until really late. You might wonder about John in all of this Baylor reunion stuff. As most would suspect, he has made friends quickly with the spouses. Chris and John stayed up late watching YouTube videos and laughing. I'm not sure there was ever a lull in their conversation.


We woke up on Sunday morning, got dressed and headed to breakfast with Syd and Chris at La Madeline. John's one request for the weekend was to visit Fry's Electronics and that we did! It was so overwhelming to me, but a taste of heaven for John. We then drove 45 minutes to IKEA and spent the next few hours there. It was overwhelming as well, but so fun. We took a few pictures for our house wishlist, shopped, and ate lunch in their cafe. We spent about $30 at IKEA and $15 of that was spent on a treat for the girls. A new easel! One side is chalkboard, the other is white board and you can attach a paper roll too. $15, seriously??? The girls have loved it!

From there, we headed home and returned around 8:30 PM. We slept great in our quiet house and in our own bed. We went to meet John's parents around 11 the next morning to get the girls. It is always so fun to get away as a married couple, but also so great to be back as a family. The girls had a lot of fun. Besides putting Brooklyn to bed, I think it was fun for GDad, Nana and Grace too. They went down to the lake on Sunday and GDad snapped this cute picture of all the girls!

Skippyjon Jones

My friend, Jayme, told us about the Skippyjon Jones books about a month ago. She highly recommended the CD's that come with them at the library. I got online to check our library for the availability and I was able to reserve 3 of them and they all came with the CD's that read the story to you.

This series of books are the funniest children books I have read in a LONG time and we read a lot of books around here. The books are 100% better when read to you from the CD. The author reads it so well, accent and all. The stories are about a Siamese cat that wants to be a Chihuahua and they are hilarious! Emma and I just listened to one together and were both belly laughing.

We have already re-checked these books once and I'm sad that we will have to give them back in 4 days. I have a feeling they might be wrapped up under the tree this Christmas, so that we can always have them. Check them out!!

4 Weeks into School....

We have been doing this school thing for almost 4 weeks now and we are starting to get in the groove with the schedule. The things I dreaded about Emma starting school have been blessings (mostly) which is ironic. I love hearing Emma's take on school, new friends, her teacher, etc....I am completely in AWE of how much Emma has learned in just a few short weeks. Things (like days of the week and months) that I tried to teach her at home and I know they went over in preschool have clicked. How you might ask? Well, I'm convinced that Kindergarten is a musical. Seriously. I think everything they learn is put to song and it clicks for them. Here is a list of the funny things and blessings of kindergarten. This is going to be a long post, but I wanted to make sure that I documented these things for myself and the girls.

1. I dreaded, most of all, having to get up every morning and get E ready for school. It has been the biggest blessing. I still don't love when my alarm goes off, but I have loved getting up 30 minutes before everyone to read and spend time with the Lord. I love B getting up earlier in the morning, laying down earlier for a nap and thus going to bed peacefully at bedtime without much of a fight. What a change! A blessing.

2. Really not funny at all. Really. Emma came home on Friday telling us that her class (mainly 2 specific boys) had made their student teacher cry. Bless her heart. I have no idea what happened, but I felt so sad for her. Then for some unknown reason, it became very funny, but I hid my laughter from Emma. We love Mrs. Gardner and I actually feel like I click more with her than I do E's actual teacher.

3. Emma also told us on Friday night at dinner that a boy and girl in her class kissed on the lips at P.E. SERIOUSLY??? (A wiser, older Mom had once told me that her biggest rule for herself was not to react to anything her children say. She was to remain calm and cool as if it was no big deal. Not that she didn't talk to them about it, but she did not react. She always wanted her children to confide in her and she knew that if she reacted they would stop talking.) As soon as E said this, I thought, I must not react. I tried to stay calm, but asked a million questions. Apparently Emma and her little friend told on them. We are working with Emma on not tattle-telling, but honestly, I'm glad she told on these kiddos. Seriously, in kindergarten???? We went over again not to kiss until she was 30. :)

4. We love carpooling with our best friends!! Allyn and I have been best friends since first grade and now have the chance for our kids to go to school together and carpool. We take turns picking up after school and it is so fun! Every now and then, we get fun after school treats.








5. Eating lunch with Emma at school is really fun. I have been able to eat up there with her a couple of times. My Dad (Papa) came one day with Brooklyn and me up there. Today, was Grandparents Day and John's parents (GDad and Nana) plus John's Grandma (Granny Dill) ate lunch with Emma. They strongly encourage family to eat up at the school and it is fun to be there and get to talk to her friends and meet some of the teachers.










6. The funniest thing that has happened so far was also one of the more sad days for me. Last Thursday, Emma broke down and decided that she DID NOT want to go to school. John was out of town, so I took her to school. She was nearly in tears the whole way there. We prayed for her day and I tried to encourage her. When asked why she didn't want to go she said, "I have to work to hard." Another time she told me, "I want to stay home with you." I assured her it was almost the weekend and we would have plenty of time together. Once to the drop off line, she would not get out. Was not going to budge, so I went to park. I got her out of the car, but she wouldn't go in. Two sweet friends came over to try to walk with her, but she told them, "I am NOT going to school today!" I walked her in, hugged her, kissed her and handed her over to her teacher. I walked so fast out of the school. I was dying to get to my car so I could let my tears go. I prayed for her the whole way home and then emailed her teacher in hopes that she might reply before the end of the day. This was my email to her:

Ms. Norris,
I'm sorry to bother you and sorry about having to leave Emma with you crying this morning. It started last night with her not wanting to go to school. We were gone all last weekend and I think that is the problem. She didn't get her time at our house + my husband being gone this week. I just wanted to make sure that she recovered fairly quickly and was okay for you the rest of the day.
Thanks for all you do!
Allison Nelson

I went to work over at my sister in laws house and told her all about it, tearing up a bit while explaining. About an hour later, I got a reply to my email and again started crying because I was laughing so hard! I will preface the email by telling you that Emma had already told her teacher on Tuesday (when John left town) that her Daddy would be gone for 2 weeks. Her teacher asked me about it and I told her it was only for 2 days. This is her email back to me:

Mrs. Nelson,

Yes. She did recover quickly. However, knowing she was worried about dad being "on the airplane for two weeks" (smile!) I asked Mrs. Brown, our counselor, to visit with her. Mrs. Brown reported that they bonded, and Emma is excited to go at 2:30 to Mrs. Brown's treasure box. Thanks for checking on her.

Ms. Norris

My little kindergartner went to talk to the school counselor. HA! I love it! Emma had already met Mrs. Brown once before and talked about how nice she was and what a neat office she had, so I knew that she probably thought it was such a treat to get to go hang out with her for a bit. I really was so glad that they were sensitive to her feelings and let her talk about what was going on and her sudden feelings of not wanting to go to school. John got back that night and she was completely fine on Friday morning.
I should note that I emailed with Mrs. Brown and thanked her for chatting with E. I told her I thought she was just sad about John being gone. She emailed back and said, "That is funny because she never mentioned anything about her Dad being gone. All she said was that she missed her Mommy." Kids! You never know what they are thinking.

7. Weekends are really weekends. I have always loved weekends because John is home and we can all be together and do fun stuff. It has also always been a time that I can run a few errands without the girls. I can't explain how it is different now, but Fridays are truly TGIF for me and the weekend is treasured for a different reason. I get my whole family for the weekend. I could honestly care less if I'm by myself for one second. I have been soaking up my time with John, Emma and Brooklyn. Friday night is officially family movie night and this last Friday, John built an awesome tent for the girls.








8. I have loved my one of one time with Brooklyn. I have never been alone with Brooklyn for a consistent amount of time. I did not know what we would do with just each other at home. We have had a lot of fun running errands, eating special lunches, playing Barbies, learning letters and numbers, crafting, etc....She is talking up a storm and soaking everything in.

I am not going to lie and say that the past 4 weeks have been easy. They have not, but they have been good. It has been a good change in our routine. I also won't lie and say that I don't still miss Emma during the day. It is still weird for me to be at home while B naps and not have E nearby. It is still weird for me to watch her walk through those big school doors in the morning. It has been super hard to learn to "really" hand my child over to the Lord. I never knew what that meant until 4 weeks ago and it took me a while to realize that I was struggling with that very thing. I have had to learn (and I'm still doing it) to release a bit of control and trust God to carry her and to guide her decisions. Not that I am no longer her Mom, but that I can't be there every minute. God can. This is the one thing I have to pray for myself every morning. I have a feeling I will pray this for the rest of my life.

Jill Went up the Hill

As most of you know, B just started really talking about a month or two ago, so everything she says to me is so cute and funny. About 2 weeks ago, Brooklyn and I were at the grocery store and ran into a friend of mine. Her little girl, Jill, was with her and we introduced Brooklyn and Jill.

B and I strolled off and B looked up at me and said, "Who that girl?
I said, "Her name is Jill."
B asked, "That went up the hill?"

Hilarious and something I wanted to make sure that I remembered.

B's Prayer

Emma learned the "slugbug game" from her friend, Davis, and now whenever she sees a slugbug she gets so excited and keeps track of her points during the day. The whole game has caught on in our family. In fact, today, after dropping B off at her school, I passed a slugbug and without thinking said outloud to myself, "SLUGBUG!"

I explain all of this as a preface to Brooklyn's prayer this morning. B is really talking (Praise the Lord) and I am in complete awe of how cute her voice is and all the cute things she notices and points out to me now. I love it! She has been wanting to have her turn praying on the way to drop Emma off at school, before dinner, and going to her school. She always prays for all of us, her friends at school (specifically Alyssa whom she loves), her teachers, her school, etc....This morning as she was praying in the car this was the last sentence of her prayer:

(imagine all of this in the most precious 2 3/4 year old little girl voice)
And God, let Emma see a slugbug today. Amen.

PRECIOUS! And as John said, "Such a little prayer with such sweet intentions behind it." She wanted Emma to get her points for the day. :) Love it. Love her.