Summer--So Far, So Good

I know I have a few folks wanting vacation pictures, but they are slightly delayed due to my "crash after-cruise diet" I experienced earlier this week. I do believe in 36 hours, I lost whatever weight I gained on vacation. I think the culprit may have been something I ate, but I had eaten out every meal for 3 days before I got sick, so who knows?!?!? Anyway, images are finally uploaded from my memory card and are almost ready!

Here is one of us at dinner on our anniversary.



You will just have to wait on pins and needles for the rest! In the meantime, I definitely need to document a few things about the kiddos.

Ty is saying new things every day. He is definitely in the stage where adults need to watch what they say because it will be repeated! He also doesn't answer "No" to every single question--he will now say "okay" if it's something he wants. Here are some examples from today.

Me: Do you want to go swimming?
Ty: Okay. Come on, Mama! Let's go!

and later

Me: Do you want to go to the library?
Ty: Okay. Come on, Mama! Come on, Emma!

stopped at the intersection by the library

Ty: Hi, Li-ree-ree! (times 1000)
It makes me happy that anytime we're headed to downtown Temple, he starts saying li-ree-ree whether we're going there or not.

after handing his chosen books to the librarian for check-out

Ty: Thank you
Librarian: You're welcome (he hands Ty his Curious George books and Elmo movie)
Ty: (walking away with books) Bye-Bye, Li-ree-ree!
The librarians got a kick out of it!

The day I was sick and thought I was about to die on the couch, he brought me a half-dead june bug, and Emily proceeded to scream at the top of her lungs. I told him to throw it away (he loves throwing things away). After he obeyed, he came back to me and said, "Mama, bug is in there" about 20 or 30 times while pointing to the trash.

And I'll save the best for last. We LOVE to read Sandra Boynton books, and his current favorite is But Not the Hippopotamus (pronounced something like Hippo-pa-mo). After we read this book, he puts it in his crib along with a cuddly friend or two or three (and sometimes a baseball glove or bat). Then, I lay him on his pillow, give a kiss, and say "I love you, sweet dreams" and leave the room. SO whenever I talked to him while we were on vacation (we did a few phone calls and one video chat session), he would always tell me "I love you, sweet dreams" when he was getting off the phone. It could be 8:00 a.m., and he would still say "sweet dreams"--yes, it melted my heart every time.

And Emily, Emily, Emily. Who told that girl that she could get so big so fast? She had her first dentist appointment this afternoon, and she loved it. She giggled through a quick and painless teeth inspection and cleaning. She did not look pleased when the hygienist spoke to her about giving up the thumb. I feel so bad for her because I see her struggling to break the habit. She so wants to be a big girl, but she is scared to give up the comfort. It makes my heart hurt to see her torn like this.

So on a lighter note, I couldn't decide what to make for dinner, so I let the 4 year-old decide. She said she wanted macaroni, pizza, and string cheese on the side. And for dessert, she wanted coffee brownies (I have never made any such dessert, so I don't know where she came up with that one). I took her to Wal-Mart and asked her what kind of pizza she wanted, and she said barbeque chicken pizza with mozzarella cheese. As I was browsing the baking mixes for some type of mocha-brownie, she spotted the lemon bars and asked if she could change her mind about dessert. So she helped me put together the pizza and stir the macaroni. She ate every bit of her dinner and had seconds. I have noticed that when the kids help make something, they eat more of it.

After Ty went to bed, I let her stay up late to make the lemon bars. As we were sprinkling the powdered sugar, she looked at me and said, "Mom, how did you know I wanted powdered sugar?" I said, "I'm your mom, and I'm pretty smart." Then she said, "You're such a good mom." I wish every day could end like that! Anyway, I just needed to write that down for the history books, so I can remind her when she's a teen and suddenly decides I'm a terrible mom.

This post has dragged on too long without much of a point other than me trying to document some little things. I have a few pictures of the kids playing with shaving cream this morning. I am doing everything possible to prevent them from asking to go play outside (last week, we got 5 or 6 emails about rattlesnakes in our neighborhood), so I allowed them to make a mess in the kitchen for a little while. It was easy to clean up though!

I'm not sure, but I think that age 4 is too old to post "topless" pictures of little girls, so I "censored" a few of these!







If you are brave enough to try this, we just diluted a little shaving cream with maybe 1/4 or 1/3 c of water, added one drop of food coloring, and let them have at it. I had Emily practice making letters, and Ty just made a mess. It only took about 2 minutes to clean the kitchen, and I rinsed the kids off in the bath and then took them swimming!