YIKES!!!

I was wrapping presents at the table the other day and Lila was sitting there "helping" me. At some point she found something else she would rather do and was off. I promise it was less than five minutes later when she came back to the kitchen table and said, "Oh Mommy, I a mess!" This is never a good sign so I took a deep breath and turned to look at her. A little smurf was looking back at me handing me the blue permanent marker I was using to write my gift tags with. She had colored all over herself, lifted up her shirt to color on her tummy, pulled up her pants to draw all over the legs, the girl even sat down so she could color the bottoms of her feet blue. Now this could have just been a funny story to call and tell Daddy while Lila was in the bath tub but I know my daughter and her love of markers so I immediately knew she had colored on more than all her body parts.

She led me into the living room where it didn't take but a second to see our beautiful, custom leather chair that can now only be described as Lila so truthfully told "A MESS" I've tried everything rubbing alcohol, hair spray, nail polish remover, the magic eraser, suntan lotion, cooking oil, anything they listed on the internet to save our chair and nothing has removed the marker, the leather dye yes, but not the marker. Any suggestions out there? I guess our last option is to have someone come to the house to restore, redye, whatever they do short of a miracle to get the chair back to pre-Lila condition. I'm calling the guy soon so if you have any suggestions hurry up with them!! The poor chair has been a good chair and although Lila has fallen out of it once or twice it didn't deserve this retaliation from a two year old!!

Too bad I didn't get a picture of the smurf... I was just not finding the humor in the moment just then!

Hanging In There!

What a crazy past couple of weeks we've had! One by one we all have seemed to come down with something, so you guessed it... we've been back in lock down! Luckily those synagis shots have kept Emily's cold from turning into RSV for which we could not be more thankful! Our little friend Meredith from church is in the hospital right now with RSV and after talking to her mom yesterday I won't complain anymore about the high cost of synagis injections! They are worth every penny if they keep her safe from RSV. I am SO thankful that Emily is getting a little boost in helping her immune system fight off this nasty virus. Please keep Meredith in your prayers this week as she is having a tough time recovering.

Speaking of synagis injections.. Emily got her third dose yesterday and since the dosage is based on weight we stripped her down to weigh in and much to my delight she came in just under 14 lbs. We are still working with a nutritionist to make sure she takes in enough calories to gain weight without making her constipated or over feeding her and making the GERD worse. Poor Emily has such issues when it comes to eating. In speech therapy we are working on overcoming texture issues with oatmeal and veggies... it looks as though we still have a ways to go in this area but we'll get there sooner or later! Emily also seems to have found her voice, I'll have to try a post a video, she is so funny and quite expressive in her new sounds. She even raises her voice a bit to make her presence known! I love it!

Lila has found a new hobby these days... and no it doesn't have anything to do with markers... she has been banned from markers for a good long time! She has taken up collecting Christmas ornaments from the tree! It's really fun for me to redecorate the tree each night just putting back the ornaments she collected from the day. I even bought her a little tree of her very own and let her pick out all her own ornaments but she still seems to prefer all the breakable ones from our family tree. These next few weeks are going to be a lot of fun! At least she leaves the presents alone! Emily's physical therapist told me this week that she had just come from a session where the girl's got up at six that morning and opened all the presents under the tree before their mom got up... um, yah, I'd be a LITTLE upset if that happened here!

I decided to let the girls participate in our Christmas card this year. I guess it has been all the time on our hands stuck at home that caused this crazy lapse in judgement. We made a wreath for our cards, Lila's thumbprint the wreath and Emily's the berries. They didn't look right when I had them color copied so I've made my girls paint over fifty wreaths for our cards this year. I was afraid I would never get all the green paint off Lila's thumb and fingernail! Now the cards are almost done we are just still trying to capture the perfect family photo for the cards... with the way that is going we might get these cards out next December. Why is it so hard to get FOUR people to look at the camera and smile at the same time... Here are a few of the rejects... We're trying again tomorrow and hope to have better luck!





Emily is really being the stinker looking at everyone else and not the camera. Lila does it occasionally too but that Emily would really just rather look at her Daddy than the camera.... maybe she is wondering why there is a lot of fur on his face right now... now that's a whole other post for a another day!

The Spaceship Party!

Charlie decided on a space theme for his party this year. My sister always amazes me with her cute party decorations and this year she didn't disappoint! It was a space party so she made a huge rocket out of a cardboard box (I can't believe I didn't get a picture of it!), homemade rockets made out of all kinds of containers she saved from the trash, a moon cake, and little space satellites made out of ice cream cones... it was all so cute and Charlie said it was the best party he has ever had (which means the best of four?!?) It was a great party and I am so glad we were able to celebrate with him this year!










The Moon Cake








You have to look closely to see the rockets "flying" on fishing line over the party... so cute!







The bounce house was delivered early that morning so the kids had fun jumping before the party started, and yes... Lila is in her pajama top!






Lila really enjoyed her ice cream space satellite!





Kate with her rocket craft from the party















Emily made a quick appearance at the party but then had to go inside (RSV season is a real bummer). She hung out on the couch practicing more of that tummy time that she loves! ha!

Sesame Street Live

The girls and I went to San Antonio this weekend for Charlie's birthday party. Sesame Street Live was in town so we had to go see Elmo and friends while we were there. It was a fun concert and Lila had a great time dancing with her favorite friends!

Here's our gang posing before the concert with the Sesame Street Gang







Summer and Kate



Lila carries her flag pendant around the house and sings the "Elephant" song from Barney... I'm a little confused?!?!

Happy Birthday Charlie!

Today our little Charlie turns FOUR!!! I still remember getting up at the crack of dawn and driving to Abilene to sit and anxiously wait for news of his arrival. That first time I held him I was smitten for life! It's hard to believe four years have gone by already! Charlie is such a sweet boy and I love being his Aunt! He is a good big cousin (the only boy so far) and takes good care of all the girls! He loves to play chase with Lila and lay on the floor and talk sweetly to Emily! He has brought us all a lot of joy these past four years and I love him dearly!! Happy Birthday Charlie! I can't wait to see you this weekend!

Froggie Boots!

Ask any of my friends and they will confirm that I am a fan of bribery for good behavior. I know, it's not the best parenting method but with a two year old and seven and a half month old it's the best I can do at times! Today it was a trip to Target and our "prize" were these froggie boots! They really are cute and Lila has been hopping around all afternoon saying "ribbit" with each little hop. So our prize today has been cute and entertaining! She even took her nap (three hours) with her new froggie boots on! She doesn't want to take them off, which means we'll be making a froggie fashion statement the next few days!

My Cheetah Girls!

I usually don't like to dress the girls exactly alike because they each have their own distinct personality and are really not a whole lot alike, but today they both wore little cheetah outfits and everyone at Bible Study said they looked cute so we had to get some pictures when Daddy got home from work! They really did look pretty cute (if I can brag on them a little). Maybe I should dress them alike more often!

Look at me!!

Look what I can do!!!

I was just telling my friend Lindsey that I couldn't wait for Emily to be able to hold her own bottle... and look at her now!
She can only do it with an Avent bottle laying down and for about five minutes max... but it's a start! I wish she could hold her Dr. Brown bottles and at an incline since it helps with her reflux, but we'll work up to that! Such a big girl!

Out!!

Could this be my favorite part of the day???



I'm sure someday she'll get me back for posting this picture of her! I couldn't resist.. She's just so cute holding all her friends as she sleeps!

Outside Fun!

The weather has been perfect lately. Cool, crisp mornings and nice sunny afternoons with temp. in the low 70's. I love this time of year! Lila is an 'outside girl' so anytime she can get her 'inside mom' outside is a great treat! Today we had fun pushing our Barney friends up and down the sidewalk (I'm sure the neighbors are wondering...) and creating a masterpiece with our sidewalk chalk!





Check out our artwork! What a masterpiece! (Ha! Ha!)

Thanks Daddy for taking me on bike rides after work!

Halloween

This year for Halloween Lila was Elmo (no surprise there) and Emily was The Cookie Monster. We got together with our good friends from church and trick or treated at the Outlet Mall near our house. All the kids had a great time and got an impressive loot of candy!


The Sesame Street Sisters! (Thanks Cindy for the pic!)



Here's my cute little monster!









Here's a few of Lila's buddies.. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of Pierce in his little frog costume... He was sooo cute!!


Bryer, the lobster. (Her brother was a chef!)


Lila, Deacon,(the chef), and Mia (Snow White)



Lila and Michaela (a lady bug)


Wednesday was such a crazy day and neither one of our girls got in a good nap but did surprising well considering. Emily is always really good, she just hung out in her cookie jar and enjoyed all the people. Lila started off well but was dragging her candy bucket fifteen minutes into our trick or treating adventure. She did have two lollipops which kept her going until we were all tired and dispersed to hit up our neighbors for even more candy!

My Little Punkin!

I love this picture that Cindy took of Lila at the Pumpkin Farm... I even love the cookie all over her mouth!!

Pumpkin Farm

Here's a quick little trip down memory lane...
Lila's first experience with the Pumpkins...

She was a month old and was still in that new baby sleep coma... not happy to be awakened for a pumpkin picture!

And last year's trip. She was better about sitting with the pumpkins but was not into the pumpkin hat I kept insisting she wear because it was cold!! She was fearless when it came to feeding the animals and liked picking out her own pumpkin... so much so that she held on to it the whole way home!









And this year... Well lets just say Lila felt right at home at the Pumpkin Farm! She was a wild child keeping us all very busy! She kept running away from the group, feeding rocks to the animals, not posing for pictures, eating Deacon's lunch and not really her own, throwing hay on the hayride and could not make up her mind when picking out her pumpkin. I have to keep reminding myself that she is two and this comes with the territory! She's not being bad she's just being her curious, gregarious self! We braved the chill in the air, our wind blown picnic lunch, bumpy hayride and had a great time with good friends! Thanks Cindy, Lindsey and Jill (who will be welcoming baby Nicholas in two weeks) for helping me chase Lila all over the farm! Here are some pictures from our day...


Lila and Deacon feeding rocks to the goats! Poor goats.. I'm sure they're sick about now!



Emily was really pretty good!

She didn't even mind when her hat slipped down over her eyes!

The girls!


Michaela is going to be such a good big sister to Baby Nick!

Off to the hayride!!

I'm sure Cindy got better pictures so I'll post more when I get them!