I told you.....

Just 3 days ago I said I would be busting out the belly band.......well, I busted it out today. Ahhhh, not more tight pants. Now I just keep having to pull them up before they fall off.

18 month check-up

Emmry had her 18 month check-up today.

Her stats:

22.7 lbs (21%)

32.75 " tall (78%)

 

She had her last shots today until she gets ready for Kindergarten! She did great. Cried of course, but once I gave her the sucker she was happy again.

I got in trouble from Dr. Pham. Her weight and everything is fine except she is getting all her weight from carbs. He says I'm feeding her too many carbs and dairy and not enough veggies. Ok true, I know that. But it's not like I'm not tried to give her veggies. I even put carrots into some bran muffins the other day because I know she will eat the muffins and therefore I figure she is at least getting a little bit of vegetables. She does fine with fruits. Select fruits, but at least they are fruits. She will not eat meat! No meat at all. I'm actually ok with that. I'm just going to focus on the veggies for right now and deal with the meats later.

Now Miss Emmry,

You heard the Dr.. EAT YOUR VEGGIES! Please, please, oh pretty please. You don't want to see the Dr. get mad at me again now do you?!

Thanks Princess.

xoxoxo,

Mom

We're Famous!

I don't think I mentioned earlier that we are now famous! Famous in Vistancia that is.

The end of February (Feb. 28th to be exact) I got an email from Vistancia asking if they could put our last years western night picture on the cover of our local Vistancia magazine. The Vistancia Village Magazine is sent out each month with updates, questions/answers people have, concerns, and a calendar with the events going on. Well, we let them do it. I was wondering how they would get the magazine printed and out that fast seeing that March 1st was in just 2 days, but they did. I got the mail on Friday, March 2nd and there we were.....front and center, famous for all to see.

 I think the boys look good. Emmry (5 months old) and I on the other hand need some help.

Anyway, fast forward 1 year and here we are.....

March 24th, 2012
Vistancia's Western Night

We love that our community does lots of fun family activities. Next up is the Easter Eggstravaganza! All the activities they do are either free or cost $2-3 per person which is a great. Plus on the large activities like this one, Easter, Christmas, Halloween, etc. they have a photo area set up with props to take free family photos! Christmas they would have a Santa and Easter I think they are going to have "Giggles" the Easter bunny to pose with....oohhh lala. Then they just email the photo(s) too us a few days after the event. We can do whatever we want with them! Perfect!

20 weeks

I have been HORRIBLE about documenting this pregnancy. I'm feeling guilty and started today to play catch-up on writing down somethings and also took my first belly picture!

20 weeks down. I'm half way there already! The time has gone by really fast! I am thinking that any day now I will be busting out the belly band because my pants/shorts are getting a bit snug now.

But for the record....my first belly shot. 20 weeks along.

Wildlife World Zoo

We wrapped up our spring break week with a trip to the Wildlife World Zoo in Glendale.

Today's weather was perfect. Overcast, but nice enough for shorts and flip flops.

This is in the aquarium part of the zoo.

Tage was a scaredy cat and wouldn't touch the sting rays. This is when we bribed him and told him he could go on the flume ride if he touches one. Well, he didn't ever touch one. He attempted to put his fingers in the water but as they would get close he would freak out and pull his hand away. Oh well. We were nice and still let him go on the ride. So that was his highlight of the day......going down the log flume ride....alone. I didn't get a picture, it happened too fast. Basically, it is a log water ride that goes up 3 stories high and then splashes down fast getting wet as you hit the bottom. He thought it was fun and wanted to go again, but for $6.00 per person we told him no.

Emmry seemed to love the petting zoo. Heck.....who wouldn't?! For a girl who loves animals and for them to come to her instead of running or flying away, she was loving it!

Both kids seemed to like feeding the giraffes. Emmry even thought it was fun to touch his tongue. Gross!

One of Emmry's flip flops accidentally fell down on a ledge between us and the giraffes. I couldn't quite reach it so Ty snuck in and hopped a fence to get a shovel to push it over to us where we could reach it. For a moment there I thought that she would be shoe-less the rest of the time. Thank heavens for Ty who saved the day. (plus those were brand new flip flops! It was her first time wearing them!)

Overall, it was a fun family outing to the zoo. A pricey one, ($36/adult and $28/child over 2) but a good one. I just tell Ty that we are creating memories with that money and that seems to ease the pain of the bill.

Spring Training

It's that time of year again.......time for some spring training baseball!!!

The whole month of March is game after game. From the East valley to the West valley there are 5 locations teams use for their home practice fields I can think of off the top of my head. The closest ones to us are the Peoria Stadium and the Surprise Stadium. The Peoria Stadium is the home field of the San Diego Padres and the Seattle Mariners. And the Surprise Stadium is home of the Texas Rangers and the Kansas City Royals. Many people come in town to watch the spring training games and it actually gets quite busy around those areas! Ty's parents came down this past week for a visit and went to 3 games! Tage and Emmry and I joined in on 2 of them and Ty came to 1.

Emmry likes to clap whenever everybody else did

It was great timing they came into town because it was Tage's spring break from school so he got to spend a lot of time with them! Tage got spoiled by grandpa having him play catch with him every waking moment and doing whatever he wanted to do.

Now that they are gone I can tell that he is "bored."

Oh my!

Miss America is 18 months today.

Where or where has the time gone?!

I love you my princess.

xoxoxo,

Mom

Serger

Remember how I said Ty owed me big time for driving home from Utah alone?

Well this is what I got....

A serger! SO, SO super excited to use it! It looks confusing, but I'm sure once I learn how to thread it then it will be a piece of cake.

Now if you would please excuse me, I'm off to my sewing corner. Thank you.

Good ol' St. Patties Day

Patrick our leprechaun was quite thoughtful (lazy) this year and didn't make a mess of any room of the house. But he did leave a scrumptious cake for us to enjoy!

 Tage didn't get really into St. Patrick's Day this year. He didn't even want to wear green! Guess that just shows he is growing up.

The boys thought it would be a good idea to watch a movie out on the back porch. But by the time they got everything set up and situated the wind picked up and it got a bit chilly. Emmry stayed out for a few minutes wrapped up in Dad's blanket before I put her to bed. I didn't ever go out and sit in the cold, I stayed inside and watched a movie of my own.

1st Swim

We kicked off the weekend and in prep for spring break next week with our 1st swim of the year today!

The pool was heated so it wasn't so bad. Although once we got out it was a bit chilly.

Tage jumped right in and I swear I saw his fins pop out from hiding. Emmry on the other hand was hesitant and liked the edge of the pool and then became comfortable with the first 1-2 steps.

Once I got home I began to think of people I knew who taught swim lessons so I could put Emmry in them. I talked with my friend Leslie and she recommended a lady she loves and has her girls in with names Bonnie. Anyway, I called Bonnie and am on her waiting list. Yep, she has a waiting list already! I'm hopeful to get Emmry in the last 2 weeks of May. Once I hung up with Bonnie I realized I didn't even ask how much she charges or what method of teaching she uses so I called Leslie and asked her. So it's $50 for 2 weeks. Oops, I didn't ask if it was everyday.....and I think they are 30 minute lessons......man I'm scatter brained today. But get this. Oh my, oh my, oh my. She uses the drop in method! EEK! I don't think I can do that! But I do know for positive that I sure as heck can't watch it! As of now she is still on the waiting list. I have heard good things about the drop in method. Those 5 seconds with them struggling before they are picked up have got to be the longest 5 seconds of my life I can tell you that already. But I guess it's true, if a child falls into the pool they are going to be shocked, freaked out and scared. There is no dinkin' around wasting my time and money with blowing bubbles. It's all about survival and safety here.

 

Wish me luck! I'm sure I will need it!

"O"

Emmry has been making this funny "O" face the last few days. It's the funniest thing. She does it for everything....when she is excited, playing with her toys, watching a movie, sees a bird, throws a rock, goes down the slide....well, you get the picture......

Today she was pushing around her new bus toy that sings a cute songs and makes fun bus sounds. She is really loving it!

Snickerdoodle Cookies

Emmry has never really helped me make anything. She has been in the kitchen in her highchair watching me but today I put her on the counter and she was in charge of the sugar dippin'!

I had to keep giving her dough balls fast enough and taking away the "dipped" ones before she would squish them too much in her hand, but I could tell she loved "helping" me, which made me happy too.

Big Bro./Little Sis.

Emmry likes to wait outside for Tage to come home from school. She copies everything he does and eats her snack with him. It is super cute. I just hope Tage realizes that his little sister looks up to him so much and he will make good choices in his life.

Green bags ready!

Tomorrow is GIRLS DAY!!! WICKED here I come!!!

I got the green bags ready with cheesy gifts and cheesy notes on them that all tie into the story of Wicked.

I just might not be able to sleep tonight.......

WICKED is just 2 days away!!!!!

I'm a dork, I know. A few of my friends and I are going to see the show WICKED at the Gammage Theatre in Tempe on Saturday and I wanted to make it a little more fun so I put together a little gift for each of them.

The WICKED music CD and a green necklace pendant (yes, I made the pendants. SUPER easy. Just scrapbook paper and some special glue)

Anyway, I can' wait!!!!!! This will be my 3rd time seeing the show!!!!

Emmry's Morning Do

I think I will just let the pictures speak for themselves......

She makes me smile EVERYDAY! I love her to a million pieces and can't get enough of her EVERYDAY!

Mom's shoes

Just a classic picture of a little child wearing their Mom/Dad shoes.

 Simply classic. Love you Em.

Pinewood Derby

For some reason we weren't able to make it to last years pinewood derby, so tonight was Tage's first!

A big learning year with lots of what to-do and not to-do's for next years. Can't say he won first place, but at least he wasn't dead last.

Overnight

One day she could barely touch the handle, the next day she opened the door!

Emmry opened the pantry door today. Oh my, she is getting so big right before my eyes!

Air out those piggie toes!

Time to bust out the flip flops! Spring is here and its warm enough to let those little toes wiggle free!

Emmry loves her flip flops. She would walk around the house stomping and just staring at her feet. Oh so super cute!

Quick trip to Utah

Left on Friday the 24th around 4:00pm and back home last night at 6:00pm. Whew.

Friday-Saturday

drove through the night to get to Utah around 3:00am. Saturday wasn't too busy until the afternoon when we had Tage and Bridger's (his cousin just a year older than Tage) combined birthday bash. We did it at the church cultral hall where we wouldn't have to worry about haveing people to crammed at someones house since we were having both sides of each family.

I planned the obstacle course which turned out pretty good. What made it a little hard for me to organize was it had to be challenging enough for the older kids, but easy enough for the little ones too.

This is how it all played out:

*Break up into 2 teams with equal amount of players and equal amount of age differences.

*Toss 2 balls into a bucket about 5 feet away.

*Balance beam with a book on your head.

*Push an orange around 3 cones with your nose.

*Stack 4 large marshmellows on top of each other.

*Suck through a straw to pick up 4 small marshmellows and drop them into a cup.

*Walk about 10 feet balancing a golf ball on a plastic spoon and then back.

*Make one basket in the basketball hoop.

*Touch the wall and then run back to tag your next team mate to go.

*First team to have all their players done with the course wins.

After that was over the kids didn't want to do it again so they just played basketball. Rachelle (Bridger's Mom) did the cake and ice cream and the boys opened their presents. That was it! It was simple, but it seemed like everyone had a good time.

Sunday

Tage's 9th birthday!!! Holy Cow! He's NINE!

Tage was with his other Mom all day so we didn't get to send him through the spankin' machine on his birthday, but of course we made up for it later.

Monday

Busy, busy day! Tyson's sister, Terah, got married.

In the morning I helped Judy, Kristi, Rachelle and Donna (Ty's Mom, sisters, and grandma) decorate the place the wedding/reception was held at. It took a long time, but it turned out really nice.

Then we had to rush home to get ready to be back for pictures in a couple hours.

The wedding was small and nice. Terah was running a bit late and forgot Kevin's wedding ring so they ended up using her Uncles wedding ring for the moment. I'm sure she felt horrible and embarrased, but it sure makes it for a funny story to tell!

Tuesday

Drive home.

A few weeks before our planned Utah trip, Ty was informed that he had to be in Colorado for meetings all day Tuesday, the 28th. Time out. Now to back up a bit. I had been telling Tyson to buy plane tickets for us to go up this past weekend since Christmas. It was a quick turn around and I didn't want to drive! So with him having to be in Colorado I thought for sure we would all fly up then he flies to Colorado and we fly home. Easy peesy. Wrong. Long story short I lost and we drove.....a rental car.....(why spend the 200 bucks on a rental car and not a plane ticket, don't ask me!) But oh boy did he know I was not happy about it and that he owed me big time for having to drive home alone!

So, back to Tuesday.....

I dropped Ty off at the airport at 5:30am and then just kept driving on towards home. Both kids fell back asleep after we dropped off Dad and slept till about Spanish Fork. We had breakfast at IHop and then continued on our way. Once again, both kids fell asleep. Yay! This wasn't too bad I thought to myself, I can do this. Well, hit Fillmore/Beaver area they woke up and Emmry was a bit cranky so I turned on Spirit (her favorite movie at the moment). We crossed the pass from I-15 to Hwy 89 toward Panguitch. Just as we got into Panguitch Emmry threw up. Lovely. So I had to pull over and clean her up, and the car seat as best I could. (Of course I reminded Ty that this sucked and that he owes me for driving home alone) But to bring in a positive note, Emmry was in awe with the snow and played around for a bit while I cleaned up the car seat. At least she wasn't clingy and whiny. We drove the last 6 hours home with a lovely new car smell called barf. I don't recommend it. Good thing it was a rental.

Emmry seemed fine after she threw up so I figured she just got car sick. Tage did pretty good with helping out in the back seat. There was times he got frustrated with me because I was asking him "too much" to help out with Emmry and he would get mad at me saying, "why do I have to do everything?!?!" Um, hello....I'm driving and I can't. Duh.

6:21pm we pulled into our driveway. We made it.....I made it! I survived the long drive home alone with 2 kids and in one day! Yay! But no, I don't want to do it again.