T & E

I haven't had motivation or desire to update this, but I don't want to forget the fun days and silly words that are shared between our sweet kiddos.  I also don't take pictures often, so I need to be better at that.  I know one day, Ty & Em will love looking back and reading these stories.  

  

Double stack!

Play time - that's a big apple carton filled with different things - rice, oatmeal, cereal, raisins, water, pasta -  we pretended to make cake... Em ate all the raisins. 

Eating breakfast around their little table.  

Ty & Emery are taking swim lessons and both are learning and having fun in the water.  They can hold their breath for 4-5 seconds under water, climb out of the pool (a big pool, not the one pictured above- hehe), kick their feet and swing their arms (a little) and blow bubbles.  Ty goes crazy in the water- he absolutely loves it.  Emery has had a harder time enjoying the lessons, but she still is learning.  We will be keeping up the swim drills throughout the summer at our pool so they can improve and remember what they've learned.

Ty is a funny boy.  He has to wear red shirts so he can be like Dragon Warrior from Kung Fu Panda.  His favorite shoes are his cowboy boots... he wears them everywhere.  To officially be Dragon Warrior, he has to have his boots on.  He also wears his gun and holster a lot. When you tell him something, like stating a fact, he will say, "Yep, I know."  Lately he has been saying, "Mom, I'm getting big!!" "Don't be mad!" "Calm down!" "I smell something." And when he wakes up in the morning or from a nap he says, "I had a good nap!" Usually because I ask if he had a good night sleep or good nap.  He loves trains, and he calls the tracks "tracks train".  He says some words funny, like fix it is "fis- ick", stroller is "dosser", dinosaur is "dosser", warrior is "wee-er",  I can't is "I don't can", and I'm sure there's a bunch more- I just can't think of them.  He likes to be funny and make us laugh.  I love him!

 Emery is talking a bunch, and it is just now becoming understandable.  The words she says now at 18 months is mommy, daddy, doggy, ball, eat, please, thank you, hi, bye, baby, drink, bear, kitty, book, feet, nose, eyes, legs, beep, boots, shoes, poopy, up, outside, bow, light and probably a few more. She says "Uh-uh" the most!  Ty gets upset a lot because she'll say it when he is trying to ask something.. so she says "Uh-uh" and he says "YES!" And she replies with "Uh-uh" again, and it goes back and forth until he gets mad and goes over and pushes, hits, or yells at her, or all 3.  And sometimes she cries about it, but sometimes she gets up and walks away with a smirk.  It's hard for me not to laugh sometimes, but I know I won't be laughing when it is still happening when they're teenagers.  She is a stubborn little girl.  But she is also so so sweet.  She loves her baby and blanket.  She loves getting kisses and tickles.  She loves getting bows in her hair, wearing bracelets and rings, and carrying a purse around.  She often pretends to make some kind of food and feed it to me. It's fun to have a girl! She is such a beautiful little thing- I can't stand it sometimes!

It's funny how you think you'll never forget this or that when you're in the moment, but it is easily forgotten when you're going day to day, doing the same things over and over, staying busy with teaching, feeding, and nurturing your kids.

Tractor at Aunt Tyanne's house! Ty didn't want to leave.

Easter & Nascar

We had a great Easter weekend with festivities in our neighborhood, at Yaya's house, and in our own backyard.  By the last egg hunt, Ty & Em got that there was candy in the eggs!  Ty was happy with just a handful of eggs, and wanted to eat the candy immediately.  He was totally obsessed with candy the whole weekend!!  He didn't want to play at the bounce house at Yaya's, or play with any of his friends... he just wanted candy!!!  

My parents, 2 brothers- Matt, John & Ashley + Blakely, and my uncle Brent all came into town to go to the Nascar races here.  We went out to eat, played at the park, hung out, and of course, went to Nascar.  Pax & I went to the Saturday race, while Mom watched the kids.  It was my first Nascar race.  It was SO loud, but a lot of fun.
Saturday morning, Mom & I went to garage sales in our neighborhood looking for good finds, but also looking for ugly hick-wear for the race that night!  We had tons of fun and found some pretty awesome stuff!

 Brent & Matt had fund dressing up, and making up hick names for each other.  Matt was Darrel.  He introduced his name with a southern accent like this, "Hi, my name is Darrel.  It's like barrel, but with a D!"   I don't remember Brent's name... something like Bobby Joe or something.

 John & Ash!

 Those cars go SO fast!  It's pretty awesome.  There were no wrecks and hardly any other problems the whole race.  It would get old, but there were definitely exciting parts.  The racer Ash & I were going for almost won, but lost the lead in the last 30 laps!  Darn it!
I had SO much fun having my family come to visit.  The kids loved it too! I hope people can come more often!

Ty is funny.  Something quick about him is that he loves the color orange.  He always has to have orange plates, bowls, cups... and he notices orange toys and things.  He also loves to pretend he is dragon warrior from Kung Fu Panda, or he says he's Beauty and the Beast. He doesn't say "I'm the beast"... he's "Beauty and the Beast."  Silly kid.

Emery loves dolls, animals, and pink things.  She is so cute.  I painted her nails pink today- she loves it.

 Eating lunch outside today.

 

No Smoking

I just wanted to congratulate my Dad on 1 year of no smoking!! He quit cold turkey on April 10th, 2011 and hasn't smoked a cigarette since. This is a huge accomplishment and our whole family is so proud of him. Way to go Dad!!

My Dad (Pop) came to Dallas this weekend for Easter and we all got to hang out with him. I am sure Abby will be updating the blog soon with pictures of our Easter festivities at YaYa's.

Love you POP!!

long time no see

The kids have been eating their lunches outside as often as we can.  The weather has been so nice, so they love to be out there every second they can.

(pic above taken with our new iPad 3!!!! Yay!  It is SO clear!  )

messy eaters

Ty thought it was hilarious at how messy they were getting.  He LOVES making a mess.  One day I made play dough, and told him to have fun playing with it.  After a little while I looked over and it was a disaster.  I said, "Whoa Ty you're making a huge mess... that's okay though!" And he just smiled big and kept throwing it everywhere!  He always gets a kick out of destroying the house with toys all over the place.  Emery is right there behind him.  She'll walk up to our alphabet magnets on the fridge and just start taking them down and throwing them behind her.  I am always stepping on or over them constantly.  

Today, the kids and I went to visit Paxton at work and eat lunch at the cafeteria there.  We got a little tour of the office, met his co-workers, then finally ate.  While I was in line, with Emery on my hip, dishing up my (delicious) loaded salad, Ross Perot walked up behind me, kissed Emery on the head, and said, "Well, we have some special visitors today!"  I turned and smiled and said something like, "Yeah uh huh." Then he said, "Well looks like she's not so sure about me" (or something along those lines - since she doesn't like  strangers).  To which I replied, "Yeah she doesn't do well with new faces."  Then he walked away.  Right after that, a friend of mine came up to me and said, "You just met Ross Perot!"  I said, "Are you serious?! I didn't even know that was him! Oops!"  Sheesh!  I felt stupid!

A few weeks ago, Paxton went to the doctor for his mole on his back.  I know it's kind of disgusting to talk about, but lots of people have em!  Anyway, I'm so glad he did, because the Dr. removed the mole and sent it to a lab to test it for cancer.  It turned out it had Stage 0 melanoma.  The cancer was removed with the mole, but he has another appointment to double check it is ALL gone!  I'm just so glad we caught it before it progressed and got worse!

Ty is a crazy person! He bullies Emery, and enjoys it!  One day, Ty was in his room sitting on the floor playing, and whenever Emery would walk in he would Roar at her.  Now, his roar is really loud.  It would scare me too!!  So after the 3rd time of him roaring at her, and her running away from him, crying, I went in there right after she had run out and he was busting up laughing.  I tried not to laugh, and told him to stop that- it scares her!  He will also just push her around, flatten her out and lay on her as she's crying, fighting to get away.  Sometimes, when I'm trying to tell him to stop doing something, he'll respond back and say, "No YOU calm down" and try to turn it on me.  Terrible Twos!!!  I feel like I'm always talking about the bad things, but he is a really sweet little guy.  Yesterday, I made some hair bows for Paxton's boss's baby.  I put them in a little gift bag, which Ty saw and demanded to see what was in it.  I showed him the bows and he said, 'Ooooo, so cute.  I love it! Pretty bows!"  Hehe.  Also, a few days ago, he was pretending to talk to Emery and he said, "Come on sweet girl.  Let's go sweet baby girl", which are things I say to her.  He can be so sweet!  Almost always after we have all gotten ready to go out, or go to church, he'll say, "Dad you look cool! And Mom you look pretty.  Emery looks SO cute.  And I cool."  He likes when I call him goof ball.  He also LOVES to sing.  He knows the words to Twinkle Twinkle, ABCs, You Are My Sunshine, I love to see the Temple, I am a Child of God, Popcorn Popping & Itsy Bitsy Spider. I'm probably missing a few.  He is good at playing by himself and using his imagination.  He loves dinosaurs, guns, swords, lions, tigers, and any other animal that roars or growls. 

Emery is a really fun little girl.  She loves to get tickled, and absolutely loves reading books.  She always has little toys in both hands at all times.  She loves music and loves to dance to it.  She loves to climb onto things, and throw things and make a mess.  She is starting to say more words, but most of her talking is still unclear.  Ty actually imitates her talking(which annoys me so much), rather than her imitating his.  When I try to tell her No to something, she looks at me and keeps doing it, knowing that I'm telling her No.  She just doesn't care one bit.  I have to physically remove her from situations.  Like right now, she is sitting on my lap, trying to hit the keyboard, but I'm swatting her little fingers and arms away and saying no, and she just smiles and laughs. She will attempt again every couple of minutes.  Little rascal.  She is a sweet little girl with no fear of anything(except Ty's roars).  

We are looking forward to General Conference this weekend, and Easter the next weekend.  Paxton is always busy with work or church callings, and I stay busy with kids and little projects around the house.  Always keeping busy.

Big Cheese

 Emery is the big cheese I'm referring to.  She has become quite the poser for pictures!  Anytime she sees me pull out the camera she gives this lovely smile!!!

 Ty & Emery dressed in their new Sunday best!!  A Christmas gift from Yaya!

 ... Aaaaand another "cheese" picture!!  I just LOVE her!

 When we get Ty dressed for the day, complete with gelled hair, he will stand in front of the mirror and look at himself forever.  He loves the way he looks! :)
He is really into Kung Fu Panda, and he always calls himself the Dragon Warrior whenever he gets ready for the day.  He has to have his shoes on though.  That completes his outfit and truly makes him the Dragon warrior.

Today, Ty & Em were quietly and happily playing in Emery's room with the door shut.  I didn't want to bother them since they don't play this well too often!  Awhile later, Ty comes out and asks for me to come here.... and this is what I came upon!  They emptied out all the drawers in the changing table... diapers, burp cloths, sheets, and blankets!  I got the camera to snap a shot.  Emery noticed and quickly gave a huge cheese!  My favorite is when she is smiling so big, her nose is scrunched up and her eyes are squinting, so she can barely see out of them!  

She has also become a mischievous little girl.  When she is done eating, she will throw whatever leftover food onto the floor.  She knows that she shouldn't be doing it, since I tell her No whenever she does.  One time I was away from the table, but walked up behind her right when she was about to throw some food.  I watched her throw it on the ground, give one of her big cheesy smiles, then chuckle.
She seems to be the type that doesn't care about the rules I set in the house.  She's going to do what she wants, and she's going to look me straight in the eye while doing it.  Ty is the opposite and will do what I ask, if I tell him the consequence of not following what I say.  Who knows though. Maybe Emery is still too young to get the consequence thing still.... Yet either way, I know she is definitely a stubborn one.

We'll still keep her!  :)

Big boy

This is the first night for Ty sleeping in his "big boy bed"!

He was SOOOOO excited that we took down the rail and made his bed open!! He and Emery were playing in it all night, jumping and reading and laughing, having fun. But when it finally got to bedtime, he threw a shirt little fit, but we calmed him down and got him tucked into bed.

Once we left his room, we watched him on the monitor. He didn't even get out of his bed at all! He laid there for a bit, sat up, reached over to grab a toy dragon, played with that for a bit, laid back down and went to sleep! Sweet!

Let's hope it lasts!

And I haven't even dealt with naps yet...

Next up, potty training!