Brooklynisms....

Brooklyn has been saying the funniest things lately. I know I won't remember them in years to come, so I must write them down!

A few weeks ago, Brooklyn and I stayed at home and cleaned the house. She helped take all the animals off their beds for me and then I changed their sheets. She also wiped down some door knobs and dusted her kitchen. She worked hard! I told her when we were finished and wrapping things up to eat some lunch, "Brooklyn, thanks for helping me today. We worked really hard." She replied (insert very tired sigh), "I know. I feel like Cinderella."
She has a hard life. :)

I was helping Brooklyn go potty just the other morning and this was our conversation:
Brooklyn: Where does our potty go when we flush?
Me: Down into the ground.
Brooklyn: Like down to Satan?

I love 3 year olds and the things they say. Don't always love their behavior, but they sure are funny.

Emma Learns to Ride Her Bike

We finally took the training wheels off Emma's bike. We had tried riding it a few times, but she was nervous. I gave her a "controlled" fall (meaning I held the handle bars and lowered her down to the ground), and she immediately hated riding her bike. Yeah...I've got serious Dad skills.

I searched the internet and spoke with Brett Harkey about how to teach her how to ride her bike and gain confidence. Brett's idea seemed plausible, so last weekend I took Emma to the old driving range near Lewis & Clark. They have a ton of grass, and a few little short hills. I held the bike for her halfway up the hill, then let her coast down it, learning how to balance. I reminded her to use her feet to keep from falling. She coasted down and used her feet to not fall when she slowed down!! She was SOOOO stoked! We kept doing that over and over, going higher and higher up the hill. She started pedaling at the end of the hill, and was riding all over that driving range! It was awesome! We called Mommy, and she beamed the news over the phone. She eagerly wanted to ride on the road, so we got in the car to head home.

On our way to all of this, Emma found her camera in my car. On our way home, she said she wanted to go on a "photo adventure" with me. So we stopped at the railroad tracks in Johnson and went exploring with our cameras. It was so fun! I'd take a shot, and she'd try a similar shot, then show me and ask me if that's what I was trying to do. There are some pictures from the adventure (her's & mine) below.

When we got home, the fam went outside to see Emma show off her new riding skills. Here's the video. Please disregard my fatness and moobs. It was a pretty perfect day!

Emma's First Art Show

Emma's art class is divided into three sessions a school year and she just finished the second session (her first session to take). At the end of each session, the teacher holds an art show at a local restaurant where all the students work is displayed. They can price their art to sell as well.
This all took place last Friday night and it was really neat. I LOVED seeing all the other students art. The ages range from 3 years old to adult and there was some amazing stuff. Emma was so proud to see her art hanging on the wall and loved showing it to those who asked what belonged to her. They even had biography pages with a picture next to their pieces. So professional! These pictures are from my phone so they are not great. I will have to add the pictures from John's camera later.

Congratulations Emma! We are so proud of you and the way you are using your creativity that God gave you!

Happy Birthday John!!!

Today is John's birthday and we have spent the whole weekend celebrating him!! John's parents were going to be in Branson this weekend, so they invited us to come up and spend some time with them and they also offered to keep the girls on Saturday night, so we could go out for John's birthday. We drove up on Saturday morning because Emma had her first Art Show on Friday night that we did not want to miss (blog to come on that!) and came back home this afternoon.

We drove up in time to eat lunch at Fudruckers! It is our favorite burger place and we eat there almost every time now since the one in Fayetteville closed down. Then we went up the street to Dixie Stampede stables and looked at all the horses. Sadly, I did not take any pictures. John and his parents went out to College of the Ozarks to take pictures that afternoon and I took the girls swimming at the indoor pool. They were so excited and had a great time! Check out John's photoblog for his cool pictures from the weekend!

John wanted to go to Joe's Crab Shack for some dinner, so we went to Branson Landing. Sadly, all the stores closed around 8:00, so when we finished dinner we couldn't shop like we had planned. John wanted to go to "the funnel cake" place for dessert and when we got there, it was closed for the season. Sad :(. John chose Krispy Kreme instead, so we had a late night donut, then headed home to watch a movie.

John and his Dad got up early to go take more pictures this morning. When he got back, we ate GDad's famous cheesy eggs and headed back to the pool! Daddy came this time, which is always more fun! We packed up after that and headed home around 1:00. The girls were dying to give John his birthday present, so they took him outside while I got it ready. We surprised him with Rock Band 2 for the xbox and I'm pretty sure the girls were as excited as John was to get it. Kuddos to the girls because they knew about Rock Band and never let the surprise slip to John.

I got busy making John's birthday cake when we got home. His favorite cake is boxed yellow cake with chocolate icing. My friend, Elizabeth, introduced us to poked holes in the cake with the icing over the top many years ago and now John won't allow me to just spread the icing on anymore. The holes help the icing drizzle down into the cake. Yummy. The cake is not pretty and it does kind of kill me not to make him a pretty double decker cake for his birthday, but this is exactly what he wants every year! We are about to go end his special day by eating at Catfish Hole! The diet will resume tomorrow! :) Happy 33rd Birthday John!!! You have finally caught up with me.

My Valentines

I love Valentine's Day! Not sure why except that I love anything with a heart on it and my birthday is three days before, so it has always been a fun week for me with those two combined. This is the second year that John's parents have taken our girls and the three cousins for the weekend of Valentine's Day. It was such a treat!

We spent most of the weekend eating out and watching movies. John and I celebrated my birthday and Valentine's Day with Amy and Sam at Bonefish Grill on Friday night. YUMMO!!! I have been craving the Bang Bang Tacos that I got ever since! It is rare that we get to hang with Amy and Sam without all the kids, so that was a treat as well.
We spent Saturday working on some stuff around the house and running a few errands together. On Saturday night, we ate Italian food out at Noodles and saw Valentine's Day. It was a good flick and very funny!
John got up on Sunday morning to go take pictures at one of his favorite areas of Arkansas, which also happens to be near our spot to pick up the kiddos. He took care of all of that and I spent the morning getting ready for the week and going to the grocery store. I'm not going to lie. It was nice to have some quiet time at home alone on Sunday.

The kids had a great time! Nana and GDad took them to the park, cooked them yummy food and let them decorate Valentine cookies. Thank you so much Nana and GDad for loving our girls and giving us some time alone!
I thought this was a cute picture of all the cousins with GDad.









John and I had a great time together, but we were so ready to see these 2 little Valentine's on Sunday afternoon. They're the best and our house is not near as fun without them here. This picture of Brooklyn was taken before her Valentine party at school. It makes me smile!

Publish Post

More Winter Fun!

We were all bracing in NWA for what everyone thought might be another Ice Storm from 2009. Don't get me wrong, I love a good snow, but I REALLY did not want our electricity go out again. We lucked out this year and our electricity stayed around! We did get about 1/2-1" of ice and about 6-7" of snow. It was beautiful and amazing sledding weather! On Saturday, we hopped in John's jeep (4WD) and went sledding with some friends at a local school. Most of these pictures are courtesy of Brooke Robinson who sat at the bottom of the hill taking amazing photographs of our kids playing! My girls had a blast and so did I! John was with us too although he never made it in a picture. :)


Molly and Emma getting some air!





Despite my expression, I was having
a blast!






These 3 (Molly, Emma,
and Elle) are so fun
together!






My sweet baby girl
LOVES the snow!

Brooklyn's 1st Visit to the Dentist

Brooklyn visited the dentist (Dr. Rhodes) for the first time today and did AMAZING! Emma (although traumatized at age 3 at the dentist) really made the dentist sound fun for B. Brooklyn woke up excited this morning talking about going to the dentist and getting a new toothbrush. They needed 4 xrays and she did great until the 4th and then the gag reflex kicked in. It scared her. We will try for that one next time. She was awesome laying there getting her teeth brushed, flossed, poked, and painted. Way to go B!


Emma had an appointment too and she also did great. You never know with her. They both were cavity free, which is one of the few appointments for Emma that she has not had a cavity.

Emma's First Masterpiece

This is the masterpiece that Emma brought to the car after art last week. I looked at her in shock because I was so overly impressed. Doubting her talent a bit, I asked her, "Did you really paint this?" She smiled and said, "Yes!"
I don't mean to brag and I really am blogging this for our own scrapbook, but seriously. My 6 year old did this. Emma explained that they got to pick a picture from an old calendar. She chose the beach because we had gone there for Thanksgiving. She told me that her teacher helped her pencil in the drawing, but she did the painting herself. I asked her about the shading and she said that her teacher helped her with that. I went in yesterday to her class and told her teacher how impressed I was with her painting. I also wanted to feel her out a bit about how much Emma actually did of the painting and how much Mrs. Nadine did for her. Mrs. Nadine said, "She did it! Isn't it awesome?!!" She went on to say that she coached her along and taught her how to look at the picture and mimic it. Amazing! I took this picture on my phone, but I'm going to have John start to photograph her work so we can watch it progress over time. I hope she sticks with it and keeps on loving it!

Fun Weekend

Brooklyn was sick all last week, so we were happy that on Friday she felt better and we could get out of the house and enjoy the weekend. Both of the girls had separate birthday parties to go to on Friday night, so John and I divided and conquered.

On Saturday, I worked the Bridal Event with my sister in law and niece. It was a long day of standing on our feet, but the three of us had a great time together. The day makes for great people watching and great fashion tips. John had the girls for the day and he planned a fun day for them. They met Finley and his kids for donuts at Rick's first thing. They ate and then went to the Cake Walk to watch them make the cakes.







John took the girls to Barnes and Noble and the Pet Store and then back home for lunch and naps/quiet time. After they rested for a bit, he took them to Lewis and Clark (an outdoors store in NWA) to climb the very large climbing wall. Emma had done this before a few years ago and Brooklyn had never done it. I love that you can go and do this for free! I'm a little sad that I missed out on watching the girls do this, but luckily John took video! (I tried to upload the video, but the file wa to big) Emma climbed to the VERY top and rang the bell and Brooklyn went about 1/4 of the way up. Emma was about to give up at one point, but he reminded her of the Happy Meal he had promised and she did it. So proud of her!!! I met up with them at McDonald's for dinner and we celebrated her achievement. ;)










John had Monday off for MLK, as did Emma. With a little warmer temperatures, we hit the trail with bikes and scooters. We rode down to the pond at the hospital to feed the ducks. Belle was with us and she was going crazy. She loves to chase birds and when we say the word in the backyard, she runs like crazy around the yard. It is a fun game. We decided to take her off the leash to see what she would do. FREEDOM! She ran like crazy around the pond and into it many times. This was probably cruel of us to do to the ducks, but we knew she wouldn't get them. Belle will go into water until it hits her belly and then she's out. It was fun! We left there and rode to the park and then headed home for lunch. We ended our day by taking the girls to see the Chipmunks at the theater. It was a hit!

Photoblog

As most of you know, John has taken up photography in a pretty serious way. I love seeing him have a hobby that he enjoys and to be honest, I LOVE that he loves to take pictures of our family. His favorite thing to shoot is landscapes and anything that gets him outside in nature.

He took on a 365 day Photoblog Challenge for the year of 2010 and he has taken some great shots. You can look back at some of his pictures from January and also follow him through the rest of the year.
http://www.photoblog.com/jtnelso/

This is one of his shots from today when we took Belle for a stroll and encountered some ducks along the way. Poor ducks. Happy Belle!

Funny Stuff

Emma and I have had two very funny conversations lately that I wanted to make sure I documented.

This one took place back in December when we were on our way to Elle's birthday party.
Emma: What school does Elle go to?
Me: Butterfield Elementary
Emma: Mom, I go to Young Elementary. Our schools have the same last name!!

This was our discussion just the other day:
Me: Em, I made you an appointment to go to the doctor and talk to him about your tummy.
Em: Ok. Mom, what makes doctors know everything?
Me: They go to school for a really, really, really, really, really long time so they can learn how to take care of people.
Em: You mean, like, they go to school on Sundays?

Winter Fun 2010

The snow started coming down on January 3rd and from then on out it stayed snowy. The temperatures here in NWA were crazy cold. We were in the negatives a few days with wind chills hitting -20's. Brrr.......
Springdale was scheduled to have Monday the 4th off from school, but who knew that the snow and icy roads (that could not melt) would keep us out for an extra week. Emma was ready to get back to school and I was ready for the routine to get back, but I'm thankful we had that time. Things are busy and "on the go" already and I'm glad I didn't wish that week away. We did crafts, watched movies, played with our new toys and games, made a snowman and had some fun sledding too!

Christmas in Little Rock

On Christmas afternoon, we packed up and headed to Little Rock. The roads were fairly clear on 540 and perfect once we got to I40. We had to take 2 cars because John had to be back at work on Monday and the girls and I wanted to stay a bit since Emma was out of school. It was a good thing we had 2 cars because we had a lot of luggage and gifts, plus Belle.

We got to Little Rock around 5:00 and we had Christmas with my parents and my sister's family. It was fun to watch the girls pass out gifts to everyone and to watch them give Claire her gifts. They were so excited for her to have her own grocery cart! The girls were spoiled with gifts. They got a few new games, a Build a Bear (which ended up being GG and Mom building the bear!), puzzles and ZuZu pets. Actually Brooklyn already had a ZuZu pet from her birthday, but my parents got her a bag and blanket for it. Emma received a ZuZu pet and the bag and blanket. (we found out the next day that you should not put the ZuZu pets near your hair and turn it on. The picture describes what happened. Oops!)

They both got a Barbie plate set that included a bowl, glass and plate. They loved it all!

For some reason, we did not get a lot of pictures while opening gifts, but John did get a few of the girls of my family. I'm not sure how my Dad and Terral did not make it in any of these. I guess John enjoys taking pics of girls more. :)



I love this one of my Mom and sister.






Claire Bear and Cathy! Love it.





Brooklyn, Emma and Claire. How I love these little girls and how I love how much they love each other!

On Saturday, we lounged around and played with new toys. On Sunday, we did a lot of the same thing. We went out for BBQ at lunch and then John had to head back. The rest of us headed over to my sister's house around 4:00, so we could celebrate Claire's 2nd birthday! My camera did not make it over to their house for some reason, so I have no pictures. It was a cupcake party for the family. All of Terral's family and our family were there (minus John) and we had a great time celebrating a sweet little girl.

On Monday we ventured to Emma's favorite Little Rock hotspot, The Wonder Place. I wish I could open one in Northwest Arkansas. It is such a great idea and really lets their imaginations come to life. This was the first time we had been since Brooklyn was under 1, so it was brand new to her. She loved it and has been asking to go back.
















My parents hung out with the girls on Monday night while I was the 7th wheel at dinner with some friends from college. It was great to catch up with them in person and laugh like old times.

The girls and I packed up on Tuesday morning and headed back home. It was a great visit! I wish it wasn't 3 hours away, so we could all play more often!

Christmas Morning

Ah, Christmas morning. Cozy inside and a blanket of snow outside. Perfect!

Going to bed, we told the girls a million times not to come out of the bedroom, but to yell for us and we would come get them. Emma apparently did not hear any of that and came to our room at 7:15 to wake us up. I freaked, but then realized that she had not seen a thing because she saw the dining room window first and everything was covered in snow. I lead her back to her room with her eyes closed and John and I got the camera ready. Before going out to the living room, we all hung out on B's bed and read Luke 2 and told Jesus Happy Birthday!

Emma went to bed very concerned that Santa would not know which chair was hers and which was Brooklyn's, so I put their little pillows that my Mom had made when they were born in each chair. Santa gave them a new PetShop House to play with together! He also brought new Doodles, slippers and a PetShop Pet for the new house. Their stockings were full of fresh Playdoh, new toothbrushes, fun Band-aids, toe nail polish in crazy colors and a few little chocolate treats!














The girls were so excited about their PetShop house and practically forgot their were also presents under the tree too. They each got 3 gifts from Mom and Dad this year representing Jesus' 3 gifts from the Wise Men.
Emma received a Curious George shirt, a Barbie 3 Musketeers game for the Wii, and a Make Your Own Pop Up Book. Brooklyn picked a new Mickey Mouse puzzle out for her at the Dollar Store. She had not asked for any of these things so I was a little nervous, but she loved it all. She has made both Pop Up books (will have to post those later) and has enjoyed playing her Wii game. (so has John!)
Brooklyn got a Disney Princess necklace, a Cinderella shirt and some food items for her to feed her baby doll. Emma picked out a Princess and the Frog wand from the Dollar Store. She had asked for food for her baby many times, so I knew she would love that. She had seen a Princess necklace at a store back in November and the sweet girl never stopped talking about this necklace. I couldn't find it at the store when I went back, but I found it online. We spent $12 on it and that included the tax and shipping. I could not wait to give it to her! She was so excited! These were her words as I was putting it on her and asking her if she liked it, "It is all I have ever wanted." I could have squeezed her to death at that moment.
















What the girls really wanted for Christmas (along with their Daddy) was a kitten. A real one. I like to visit kittens and play with them, but I would take 5 dogs over a kitten any day. It was a running joke that John was going to surprise us all with a kitten and many threats by me to leave him if he did. :) I thought it would be fun to give the three of them a little surprise. Yes, it would have thrilled them had this thing been real, but the girls loved this just as much. I'm not so sure about John.

John and I have never done big things for each other for Christmas, so it was low key for us. I re-wrapped the xbox game that he bought as his Christmas present back in November! He got some new socks, iTunes card, a frame for one of his photographs and don't forget the new cat. :)
He renewed my Real Simple subscription, gave me the Pioneer Woman's Cookbook that I asked for (and I love it. Read it cover to cover it was so entertaining!), and I got a certificate from him to take the girls profile pictures and turn them into silhouettes! Woohoo!

After presents, I put our Happy Birthday Jesus Monkey Bread in the oven and started making our other food. The girls and John continued to play with all the new stuff. We ate really cheesy eggs and bacon, then sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and chowed down on some Monkey Bread. Yum!
The girls could not wait to go play in the snow, so after breakfast we bundled them (and John) up and they went to play for a bit. The wind was blowing so much that it was bitterly cold and they did not last long. They came back in for hot chocolate and played some more with their toys.

It was a great morning and so fun to be at our house with our family of 4. It was laid back and we enjoyed moving at our own pace.

Once we learned that the roads to Little Rock were clear, I started packing us up. We packed lunches for the car, piled everyone (including Belle and many presents) in and headed south to see my family. More to come on our Christmas in Little Rock.