Idaho + Fam Reunion

I have over 400 pictures of my trip to Idaho...  The kids and I were there for 5 weeks, and had lots of fun... as you can see from the pictures.  We had a family reunion, which is where half of my pics came from!!  My family is so fun!!  We loved being there and seeing everyone.  I don't even want to explain everything that went on.. you can tell from the pics! These are all pretty much in chronological order!! Enjoy!!

 

18 month little Emery

I realized I forgot to record Emery's 18 month stats... She was 18 months on April 20th, although these measurements were taken on May 1st.

Height: 34 inches 96%
Weight: 26 lbs, 14.4 oz. 82%
Head circum: 18.75 inches 78%

She is teething now, so she has just been a beast these last few days... Drool, snot, whining, red swollen gums, and more snot. All her canines are trying to come out... It always takes too long.

Last week we finished up our swim lessons, and by the end Ty & Emery loved it! They can both jump in the water and swim underwater for 7-10 seconds! They love it! I was so happy with the lessons, and I hope I can keep it up with them in the summer.

Hair cuts and cuties!

 Ty's hair is totally awesome! It's blond and soft and it grows really fast.  I love it long.  I never want to cut it, but it gets in his eyes, and it is just too hot for him in the summer time.  The long hair just fits him though.  It fits his personality.  But, I finally gave in and got it cut short.  I took comfort in knowing it will be this long again in 3-4 months. :)

My sweet Ty

He loves his trains

Hair - before

Hair - After, but not all gelled and cool lookin'

 Emery's hair is getting so long I love it!  I am able to pull ALL of it back in a high pony tail, if she'll let me.  Lately, she hasn't been wanting me to touch her hair.  So annoying, since it's long enough that I can do fun things with it.

 These were all taken one day while they were happily playing in Ty's room!!  They each sat by themselves with their own toys, doin their own thing, which rarely happens.  I had to take pictures.  So when i got the camera out, they stood up and had to pose!

Memorial Day/Half Marathon

Memorial Day was a memorable day for me this year!  A few girl friends and I ran a half marathon! This was my 3rd and final half marathon!  I say 'final' and I hope I mean it.  My last half I said I'd never run one again, and I did.  But seriously, this time I mean it.  This course made me never want to do one again.  It was super hard!  Hill after hill after dang hill!  And where we trained, there were NO hills.  So my body just wasn't ready for that.  The first 5-6 miles were okay.. not too hilly and I kept a good (probably too fast) pace.  Then the big hills came out and I slowed down... a lot!  I stopped so often I was getting frustrated with myself, but I just couldn't muster up any more energy to keep going.  Running is such a mental game.  I tried to find ways out of finishing the half, but I knew I would regret it.  So i kept going.  At about mile 10, two awesome ladies were there cheering me on with big signs.  Camille & Amanda ran with me up the next hill, encouraging me, and making me feel great!!  It was so nice to have them there cheering me on.  It's amazing how much a familiar face and genuine cheers will do for you!  I finally got to the last stretch and I could see the Finish line!!  Whoohoo!!  About 100 feet before the finish line, Paxton pulled out with the kids in the stroller.  He started running with me, and then suggested I push the stroller to the end.  I laughed and said, "Ha, No way!!  You do it!"  I was using all the energy I had to just RUN to the Finish line.  I definitely could not push a 40 lb stroller too!!  So, I finally finished in 2 hours and 16 minutes.  I had a goal of doing it under 2 hours, since my other 2 races I finished just minutes over 2 hours, but that did not happen.  I think I need a flatter course for that goal.  But like I said, I'm not running another one, so I guess it will never happen.   I'm glad I did it, but I'm glad it's over!!  

me, April, Amy, Lisa

our cheerleaders - Camille & Amanda

That evening we had a Memorial Day Block Party BBQ in front of our house.  My neighbor and I hosted this event and we had a ton of fun!  We had grills, picnic tables, lawn chairs, kiddie pools, and a bounce house.  We blocked off a little section of the street with our cars and let the kids play! We were able to chat with a few of our neighbors and eat some yummy food! We are so blessed with wonderful neighbors!!  Many are our age with 1 or 2 little kids.  We always have so much fun together! That was definitely the first of many block parties.  

Future

Just wanted to record what just happened in our living room.

Ty was playing and pretending by himself with his gun and a little cowboy toy. I heard him say in a mean voice,
"You take my future! Now I'm going to kill you!"

Wow, where did he learn that? Only thing I can think is The Incredibles. And it wouldn't be the first time he has quoted from movies. He sure has a learning mind... I guess I just need to make sure he is learning more worth while things.

I went in and sat in a chair by him. He came up and said, in the same mean voice, "He took my future!" and pointed to the floor behind him. I said, "Who, where?" He pointed to the floor. I asked, That's your future? He said yes. I went on to explain what future means, and once I finished, he looked really confused. Not sure that it sunk in. Haha. Funny kid.

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!!