Trcka Talk

Siblings and Enemies

2011-01-13T19:51:00.000-08:00

On December 16, 2010, an important moment occurred.

Ty showed us that he knew how to correctly pronounce his sister's name (sniff)...

For those of you who don't know, Ty's pronunciation of "Emily" has been "Enemy." Everyone who knows Ty knows this and gets a great laugh when they hear it. In fact, the teachers at their daycare all know about it (whether they teach/taught our children or not). I have witnessed more than one teacher get excited when she finally heard Ty say it (because she heard from someone else that it was the cutest thing). Lots of people tried to make him say it.

So back to 12/16/10...

Ty and Emily were eating breakfast, and Ty wanted to show Emily something. So he was saying "Wook, Enemy. Wook, Enemy. Wook, Enemy"...(repeat, repeat, repeat). I'm sure the moms out there have a child that will repeat themselves 5000 times if necessary until someone acknowledges them.

I started mimicking him. So I was saying "Wook, Enemy. Wook, Enemy. Wook, Enemy"...(repeat, repeat, repeat).

Ty looked me square in the eye and said, "NO, Mommy. It's Em-i-LEEEE." Just to make sure I had heard correctly, I asked him to say it again, and sure enough, "Emily" came out of his mouth.

So it's the end of an era (although when they are arguing, "Enemy" will slip out. But for the most part, he has learned how to pronounce her name, so I guess he is really growing up. At least he still calls her "his STister."

Y'all have a happy Friday and a nice weekend :-)

2010 Wrap-Up

2010-12-30T22:27:00.001-08:00

So I know I haven't been the best blogger in 2010. But since I spent all evening re-organizing my picture files, I decided to do a quick look over our family's memories from the past year! First, I will warn you that there are over 20 pictures in this post. And second, there are more of Emily than anyone else, but this is because she had a lot of big things happen this year (and I didn't even include her dance recital or soccer season)!

We started with a milestone--Emily lost her first tooth. She pulled it by herself when she was at daycare!

A few weeks later, we celebrated her 5th birthday with a Candyland party!

We were excited with the beginning of spring and planting our garden...this is the kids "helping" Dee. Notice they aren't even in the garden ;-)

And our family's first trip to The Happiest Place on Earth:

A successful Easter egg hunt with the cousins in Allen.

Ty turned 3, and we celebrated with a Peter Pan party!

It was time for Kindergarten Roundup, and someone was sure excited...

This was a big year for Miss Emily; here she is at her Pre-K Graduation.

As soon as school got out, Dee and I headed to Fredericksburg to celebrate 7 years of marriage.

We took a trip to see our Arkansas family, and we had fun with some Silly String...

and some poppers!

Emily broke the thumb-sucking habit, so we all went to Chuck E Cheese.

At church, we prayed over our "babies" the Sunday before their first day of kindergarten.

And here is my big girl...off to school! I guess I had a big milestone this day as well since I started teaching at a new school (middle school--eek)!

And with the start of school is the start of football; we got to meet our friends/rivals on the field after the Roo victory!

Did I mention the Roos (4A) were victorious over all of the other 3 KISD high schools (all 5A)?

Another year of Kangarette kids camp!

Aunt Amy, Carter, and baby Jackson came to visit. We were excited about watching the Longhorns play (they won this day); little did we know what the season had in store for UT fans...

Halloween with Woody and Jesse!

We kept the costumes around until Thanksgiving, so we could unite the entire Toy Story gang :-)

Speaking of Thanksgiving, Grammy and Pa rented a home on Lake Palestine where we all gathered for several days. This was definitely a highlight of our year.

I took lovely Christmas card pictures for my clients, but I had the worst time trying to get my own 2 to cooperate!

I got a new hair color (I know this is kind of a silly thing to remember, but there needed to be another picture of me in this post)!

We visited Santa at the mall, and no one cried...

We spent Christmas at home this year :-)

All in all, we were very blessed in 2010.

Happy New Year to our friends and family! Maybe 2011 will bring more blogging, and maybe I will find a way to be in more pictures...maybe but probably not ;-)

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you, Trcka Talk is updated!

2010-10-28T21:25:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been 6 months since my last post! It's not like I have ever been a weekly blogger, but YIKES, this has been a long time. At least I can manage a FB status a few times a week, so that everyone knows I'm still alive.

If you know me, you know there's one thing I hate, and it's being a football widow the week of Halloween. It is so tiring to have to bring the kids to all of their Halloween/fall activities by myself. And this is my busy season with portraits, too. I am happy to say that this has been the least stressful and most productive Halloween week so far since becoming a Mommy. I actually had fun with the kids at our church Funival (instead of feeling ragged, stressed, worried, and overwhelmed like usual).

Additionally, I have almost caught up on photography work, and I have only stayed up past midnight once. All of this during the week of Halloween seems impossible, but I have had a little help...A few weeks ago, everyone in our lifegroup shared what we needed prayers and support for. Honestly, I felt lame and maybe a little selfish asking for help surviving a silly thing like Halloween, but I shared my request anyway. I told them that this time of year wears me down and that I needed prayers to survive, and WOW, God has been faithful this week!

Tomorrow evening, the weekend starts, and I am not going to be bogged down with pictures or grading papers. YAY! So to celebrate, here are a few pics of my sweeties dressed up for Funival. They were Woody and Jesse this year. I know Jesse is supposed to have a red hat, but Emily wanted a pink hat. I think this may have been my last year to have any influence on her costume choice because I had a hard time brainwashing her into wanting to be Jesse...she may be getting too old and wise for my tricks!

Sometimes, I wonder how my kids feel about their homemade, glued together Halloween costumes. But I have fun putting them together, and I know they enjoyed wearing them. My mom used her seamstress skills to sew Emily's chaps and Ty's vest. I painted the squares on Ty's shirt and glued the embellishments on Emily's shirt. I also glued her chaps onto her jeans. It works!

Sewing Project

2010-04-25T20:09:00.000-07:00

So I finally decided to conquer my fear of the machine that taunts me every time I walk in my laundry room. No, it is not the washer or dryer. I store my sewing machine in my laundry room. I've been wanting to learn to sew since I was pregnant with Ty, but I'm super-intimidated by it. I've had my MIL and mom "help" (and by help, I mean do most of the work) me with a few projects before. But this time, I actually did it myself!

My mom made me thread my machine a zillion times, so I would remember and could do it when she's gone! Wanna see what I made?

I made the dress and tie. My mom and I decided that the dress would be cute with a kerchief, so my mom took one that I bought Emily last summer, and she figured out how to make it. I left the house to go run and errand, and by the time I got back, she had almost finished it!

I put this next picture here just because Ty's expression is so funny and so...Ty.

My favorite part was when Emily was watching me sew her dress. She said, "Mom, I can't believe I'm actually watching you sew!" And the part where she twirled and danced around in the dress I made her was pretty cool, too.

So how does Ty feel about the tie? Well, he insisted on wearing it with his Goofy t-shirt this afternoon. And he threw quite the fit when Dee wouldn't let him wear it to Wal-Mart!

Have a great week, everyone!

Happy Birthday to Ty!

2010-04-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

April 10, 2007--a picture of Emily and "Ty" in the bluebonnets.
Every day, I was asking myself "How am I going to make it to May?"

Sorry if it's tiny--this was the first day we had our new camera, and we must have had it set on small jpeg.

April 10, 2010--a picture of Emily and Ty in the bluebonnets.

Not only have the kids changed, but I also think Mom may have figured out those camera settings ;-)

April 12, 2007

Surprise! I didn't have to find out how I was going to make it until May!

Age 1--Sometime around April 12, 2008 (poor 2nd child).

Age 2--April 12, 2009 (Easter Sunday)

2 days before turning 3--April 10, 2010

Happy birthday, Ty! Mommy, Daddy, and Emily love you. We can't wait to celebrate with you later today :-)

Since the time you were a baby, I have always had this verse on my heart for you.

Joshua 1:9
Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.

I can't wait to see you grow and change this year!

Funny Emily Follow-Up

2010-03-30T16:00:00.001-07:00

We were on our way to dance, and I told Emily that we will go Easter dress shopping again after her class. She said, "We might not find a dress. So before you freak out, make sure you look at Target first."

If you don't get it, read yesterday's post. I love that girl!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Funny Emily

2010-03-29T19:45:00.000-07:00

Just in case you were wondering, Emily doesn't miss a beat. I took the kids shopping tonight to try to find Easter clothes. Yes, I know I'm pushing it, but we've been so busy, and I haven't loved anything I've seen online. So we were heading into the K-Town mall to go to Gap Kids/Baby Gap. Emily asked if we were going to eat at the mall, and I said it depends on whether or not we find Easter clothes at Gap.

Here's the rest of our conversation:

E: Why, mommy?

M: Because if we don't find anything here, we're going to go to Temple and look at Marshall's.

E: But what if we don't find anything there?

M: Then, we will go to Macy's. And if we don't find anything there...(I paused because I was trying to figure out what I would do in this scenario)

E: (filling in while I paused): You'll freak out!

Silly, silly girl. We struck out tonight, but tomorrow after dance class, we will try a few other stores, and hopefully, I won't be freaking out by then!

Dee is in the Paper--The Sequel

2010-03-13T06:57:00.000-08:00

Remember this article about Dee Trcka, the winning charm for the basketball team? We woke up this morning to find that he was written up in the paper again. This time, it brought tears to my eyes (it's okay--you can laugh at me). This Letter to the Editor was in the Killeen Daily Herald today. It is regarding Dee's freshman/JV White baseball team. He was in Lampasas at a tournament for the past 2 days.

The letter is about their exceptional behavior while eating pizza on Thursday. I have to be honest, his team doesn't win a lot of games due to lack of experience playing as children. But this is an important reminder (even to a super-competitive person like me) that participating in sports is about learning more than the fundamentals of a game.

Here is the text because I don't know how long KDH leaves these articles up, and I want to remember this.

Letters to the Editor
KHS baseball team had good manners
To the Editor:

My wife and I just finished lunch at Mr. Gatti’s in Lampasas.

While there, we were sharing the buffet line with the Killeen High baseball team (may have been freshman team).

Generally, being seated between a group of students and food can sometimes prove hazardous.

This was far from the case. We were met with excuse me, pardon me, yes ma’am, yes sir, and the all important words “Please and Thank you.”

After commenting to the coach about the team’s manners and returning to my table, my wife asked if I had also noticed that every member had their baseball caps off while inside eating.

We all know a coach has a lot of influence on their players, but I believe that this is a little deeper. The manners and politeness these young men displayed had to also come from caring teachers and parents.

We believe that when you see someone doing something right, you give credit for it.

Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2010 by Eddie and Janice Garner Lampasas

Sorry to embarrass you, babe. I love you!

Thoughts Continued

2010-02-23T10:32:00.000-08:00

Since I am stuck at school with no students, I guess I have the perfect opportunity to finish posting about Lent. I figured if I am going to give something up, I wanted it to be something challenging for me; I wanted it to be a true sacrifice. However, I didn't want to sacrifice for the sake of sacrificing. I wanted to choose to do something that would help me to be a more godly wife and mother. In other words, I could give up chocolate or Starbucks, but I didn't see how that would help me improve my heart.

In case you don't know, I am not a morning person. I hate waking up. I can't wake up. I am always rushing in the mornings because I have hit my snooze button over and over for an hour or longer. Since August of 2005 when Emily started daycare, I have always stayed in bed while Dee gets up 20-30 minutes before me. I rush to get dressed while he clothes, feeds, and gathers belongings for our children. The only thing I contribute is brushing Emily's hair. And then, he takes them to daycare. I have pretty much spent the past 5 years pouting every morning about the fact that I can't be a stay at home mom; therefore, I have felt justified in making Dee do everything. I know I really need to get over it already.

Just so I feel a tiny bit better about myself, I do think I was justified when the kids were babies, and I was up nursing a baby during the night and using any spare moments at work to pump. But those days have been over for almost 2 years now (Ty will be 3 in April).

So I decided that for Lent, I would refrain from hitting snooze. I will set my alarm clock to a time that will allow me to get myself and the kids ready with time to spare, and I will make myself wake up when it goes off. And on weekends, I have to get up when the kids get up. And when Ty says he's hungry at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, I have to get up and cook for him instead of telling him to go get a box of raisins from the snack drawer. It is HARD, people. It is so hard for me that I don't know if I can do it, so I am publicly stating my goal to keep myself accountable.

I can say that as painful as it is for me to rise earlier than normal, I have loved spending the extra minutes with my kids as I help them get ready for the day. I have also been able to get myself ready at a slower pace, taking time to think and pray about the day ahead. And for some *strange* reason, the entire day seems to run more smoothly. I am still not a morning person, and I don't think I will ever be. But at least I don't have to be a rushed, cranky, chaotic, pouty mommy every morning!

Thoughts on Lent

2010-02-22T08:30:00.000-08:00

For years, I have felt so proud to not be Catholic at this time of year. Watching friends “give up” something and eat fish on Fridays, I would dismiss it, thinking, “Jesus sacrificed his life for my sins, and he wants my whole life, not just a measly 40 days. So I don’t need to do that silly Lent thing!”

Last year, I read a very short blog post by Beverly Ross (y’all know this is Jenny Biz’s mom), and it got me thinking a little. Here is a link to her thoughts on Lent. Why not use the 40 days of Lent to do something special to better my relationship with God? I know we should sacrifice 365 days a year, but what’s wrong with putting an extra bit of focus right before Easter?

Dee’s family is Catholic, and when we spend Easter with them, we attend services together. Last Easter, I was completely moved by the “Renewal of Baptism” that the priest led us through. He spoke about the importance of moving past the 40 days of Lent with a new strength and commitment in our faith. Then, he asked the following series of questions, and the congregation replied "I do" to each question.

"Do you reject Satan?  

And all his works?  

And all his empty promises?  

Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth?  

Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father?

Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy (Catholic) church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?

God, the all-powerful Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has given us a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and forgiven all our sins. May he also keep us faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever."

Wow! I felt like those were such powerful promises to make that day. I, personally, leave out the word Catholic when I apply this to myself (since I’m not Catholic—duh ☺), but other than that, I think these renewal vows are something any Christian could say “I do” to. Obviously, I found it meaningful because I kept the copy of the words to refer to throughout the year.

So between Beverly’s quick thought that she posted last year and seeing for myself the expectation that Lent leads you to renew your comittment to God, I made the decision to try out the sacrifice for 2010. I am running out of time (and writing too much), so I will have to post more about what I decided to give up later.

By the way, I am writing about Lent to help keep me accountable! I soooooo wanted to give up this morning, but I didn’t ☺

Exciting Week

2010-02-07T13:18:00.001-08:00

I need to log on really quickly to document a special thing that happened this week. You already know if you saw my Facebook, but Emily lost her first baby tooth Wednesday, February 3, 2010. She pulled it by herself when she was at school. We discovered the tooth January 2, so it was almost a month from wiggly to tooth fairy. I have taken some really cute "missing tooth" pictures of her, and here is one of my favorites.

Well, even though I do like this picture, I also hate it because she looks WAY TOO BIG for a 4 year old. Yes, I can say that she's 4 for a few more weeks.

Two of a Kind

2010-01-29T06:46:00.000-08:00

There is a little girl at church, and she is the female version of Ty, only she's almost a year younger. Like Ty, she is one of those kids that can't help but make you laugh! Her mom can basically get a preview of what her daughter will be doing one year from now by watching Ty now. So this morning, Amanda posted some very cute pictures of her girls in princess dresses. As soon as I saw the first picture, y'all, I remembered something very similar from last summer. What do you think about the resemblance?

I just took a screenshot to snag both pictures from our blogs since I don't have the full-size files with me at work this morning, but click the links above to see bigger images.

Okay, I need to quit playing on the computer and get to work! Happy Friday!

Star Student Day 3 (just in time)

2010-01-20T20:31:00.001-08:00

I have been feeling yucky all day today, and I have had nothing to eat other than bread and crackers. But I am determined to get this post done!

Today, Emily had to select a book to share with her class. Last night, we chose her book, and she surprised me by not choosing Sleeping Beauty. She actually wanted to bring If You Take a Mouse to School, and she wanted to bring along her little mouse stuffed toy to go along with it. That was actually a gift from my Aunt Terri to Ty, but I let Emily "borrow" it!

The funny thing was when she woke up, she snuck 2 more books in the bag; my little bookworm couldn't choose just one! I discovered 2 American Girl books in her bag when I picked her up.

Enjoy some more photos of my little book-loving girl!

I took this picture of Emily in her Cinderella dress the first day I got my 85 mm f/1.8 lens. And this was when I was just learning about Photoshop, so I was using this image to try some new "tricks." Why don't I have this printed yet? I love it!

Emily and Ty Thanksgiving 2008 after our cousin PJ photoshoot.

*2009 Halloween, Little Einsteins June and Leo

Easter 2009 (Ty's 2nd Birthday)

Emily's 4th Birthday 2009

This picture was taken when I was trying to get some images to make her party invitations. I think I'll always remember that her 4th Birthday theme was My Little Ponies thanks to this pic!

Spring 2009 riding a pony at Life Group. What a big girl!

Star Student Day 2

2010-01-18T22:24:00.000-08:00

So today, Emily had to choose 4 items from home to take to class. I let her choose by herself except for one time when she asked, "Sooooo, what do you think, Mom?"

She chose:

Ballet Slippers

Apron (made by her Grammy)

TuTu (made by her Aunt Tara)

Bitty Baby

Here are some more Emily pictures. Remember, I put a * by the ones that she took to school for her display.

*This is Emily with her dance teacher Miss Callie (April 2008).

What a fun memory for our kids--we got to play on UT's football field in the 2008 playoffs, and our kids got to go on the field after the game. Interestingly, the quarterback that led Lake Travis to a 71-6 victory over us in the Regional Quarterfinals is the same guy (Garrett Gilbert) who had the unexpected duty of filling in for Colt McCoy a couple of weeks ago.

Here is Emily enjoying our cruise (summer 2008), and she is wearing the pink dress she selected in Cozumel.

*At a friend's party about a year ago, Emily rode a horse for the first time!

Did I tell you these pictures are not in any specific order? Here's another cruise picture. This was taken on the pirate dress-up day that was held in the kid's camp.

Last summer, we spent a few days at Great Wolf Lodge, and we can't wait to go again!

*Grammy, Aunt Amy, Aunt Joy, and Aunt Wedgey (my little sis aka Christy) accompanied us to the American Girl Boutique and Bistro the week of Thanksgiving 2008. Emily, Bitty Baby, and I posed outside before entering the store. I highly recommend this experience (get reservations at the Bistro) for anyone who wants their little girls to enjoy being little girls!!!

I'm proud of myself! I have actually posted 2 days about this. Wednesday will be an easy post; she just has to select a book to share with the class. So if I don't do pictures, it will take me about 5 seconds to post. But I'll try to do pictures!

Emily "Star Student"

2010-01-17T23:22:00.000-08:00

On Friday, I picked Emily up from school, and she was beyond excited. I was told that she was going to be this week's Star Student. Basically, that means that each day this week, they will do something special that will help the class get to know all about Emily. For today, I had to fill out some strips of paper about her, and I also had to ask her questions for "All About Me." Then, I had to select some photos of Emily to be displayed at school for the week.

Since I had to sit down and do the work, I figured I may as well blog about it to to help me remember what she said! Emily's answers are in quotes.

My favorite color is "pink."

My favorite book is "Sleeping Beauty."

My favorite movie is "Sleeping Beauty."

My favorite sport is "soccer."

When I grow up, I want to be a "princess."

I'm special because "my mommy misses me, and I love her."

I was born in the state of "Texas."

My favorite food is "macaroni and cheese."

I have a pet "used to be 2 doggies."

The person I admire is "Kylie" (her 6 y/o cousin).

My favorite school subject is "cooking."

My favorite place to eat is "Chick-fil-a and McDonald's."

My favorite animal is a "kitty."

And here are some pictures that I found while looking for some to send to school. I narrowed the field down to, oh, 50 or so, and then I let Emily choose 15 to bring to school. I think that it's interesting to see the ones she chose, so if I put a * by my description, it went to school. Some of them are repeats, and others are pictures that I have not gotten around to posting. And they are in no particular order!

*This was Spring 2009 in the Bluebonnets. She also chose a picture of herself at age 1 in the Bluebonnets, but I don't have that file on this computer.

And here we are at the dreadful W New Orleans Hotel before our family cruise July 2008.

This was taken while waiting in line to ride the Dragon Paddle Boats in Baltimore July 2009 when we visited my dear friend Angela (who actually lives in Virginia). She is eating the lollipop that she got at the aquarium.

Recently, we were in Houston for the big Trcka family Christmas (200+ people). Emily and her cousin Macey posed as we were getting ready to leave.

This is Emily this past Christmas morning; Santa brought her the American Girl Bitty Twins and a stroller!

Another picture from our fun day trip to Baltimore!

*The Terrifying Trio--Emily, Macey, and Kylie are pictured here with Papa (Dee's dad) July 2008.

My intent is to post every day this week with her daily activity and more pictures. We'll see if that happens or not :-)

Dee is in the Paper

2009-12-10T08:10:00.000-08:00

Hello, everyone (if you are still out there)! I know I haven't blogged in forever, and I'm not going to make up for it now either. I just wanted to post this article about our basketball team. Basically, Dee has been keeping the clock or book for several years, and they haven't lost a game that he has worked. The last time they lost at home was in 2005, and Dee just happened to miss that game. They also lost this past Saturday. Dee had worked the games in the gym Thursday, all day Friday, and all day Saturday. On Saturday, he left before the championship game because we had been invited to a Christmas party. And the Roos lost. Being at the party instead of the game saved his streak. And apparently, the paper felt that was the angle they needed for their story. And that's fine; however, I am superstitious when it comes to athletics, and I think his streak is in danger. Whenever something like that is publicized, I think it jinxes it. We'll find out in January at their next home game!

Check out the article here!

p.s. Photobucket must be mad at me for not blogging! Looks like I need to fix my profile pic!

First blog via iPhone!

2009-11-21T20:50:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to see how this works--blogging on the go, that is. So I figured I would share what we were up to tonight.

We always set up our tree about a week before decorating it. I like to do lots of fluffing beforehand! Tonight was extra exciting because we have a new (to us) tree--it fits perfectly--thanks ILs!

Well, I guess I need to get back to proofing Dee's paper. He just started grad school. Now let's see if this actually posts...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Halloween Through the Years

2009-10-31T21:33:00.000-07:00

Hello, blog buddies! You know it's football season when Melissa abandons her blog. I've been on the computer literally all day working on pictures (which is a good problem to have), but I made myself work on some for myself after dinner. I decided to print pictures of the kids from Halloween every year, so I had fun looking at some old pictures.

This is Emily when she was a baby...Miss Bumblebee herself!

Around Halloween is when my old point and shoot digital camera started to die, so I got no pictures of Emily as Tinkerbell. But I did find a picture that my mom emailed me when Emily spent a week with her. My mom made this costume while Emily stayed at her house! One day, the thumb-sucking will be just a memory, but not quite yet...

There was a new addition the following year. We had a Gus-Gus to go with our Cinderella! And there was a new DSLR camera hence the improved image quality!

And my mom made these costumes, too!

Last year was lots of fun with Pebbles and Bamm Bamm. MIL made Ty's costume, and I put Emily's together with glue, felt, and an old shirt.

And...one year later...Halloween 2009...pat, pat, pat, pat, now raise your arms...as high as you can...and say...BLAST OFF!

The Little Einsteins (not Charlie Brown and a ballerina as many people thought). And it would be more obvious (at least to the Playhouse Disney watchers out there) if Ty weren't refusing to wear his glasses ;-) Here's one before he decided they weren't for him.

I bought Ty's shirt and shorts, and my mom sewed the orange stripe on. I spray painted some sunglasses frames green. Emily's leotard was a free hand-me-down from cousin Kylie, and my mom and I mod-podged her old ballet slippers with red satin! I had lots of fun putting together their costumes this year!

What a Week!

2009-09-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

I love my husband. I love football. I love that he's a coach. I love that he is helping young men make a better future for themselves. But there are some days that I hate being a coach's wife. And last week, there were 7 such days. I honestly don't know how single moms do it. Here's the rundown. And sorry, English folks, there are lots of fragments...

Sunday night--Tagging clothes for the consignment sale plus packing the kids for school and soccer clothes, diapers, toys, and pajamas for going to MeMe's after school.

Monday--Running late to work because of all of the extra gear and then being re-routed because the road we take was closed due to a car accident. After work, drive 25 minutes to pick the kids up, grab them some fast food, take them to MeMe's, and head back to school for Open House. Did not get home until 9:45 p.m. Then, stayed up tagging. The one saving grace--soccer practice was cancelled, so MeMe and Papa didn't have to worry about running Emily there and back. I think we were in bed sometime before 1.

Tuesday--Pick kids up, run home and frantically try to squeeze 4 y/o girl into tights and a leotard (with a hole in it but the only clean one), head to dance, run to Target to pick up more safety pins and cardstock (for tagging), pick up Em from dance, rush home, feed kids, bath, and bed by myself. Then, more tagging until 2 a.m. but finally finished.

Wednesday--Very few clean clothes since I've been washing consignment stuff, but my saving grace was our principal declaring the week Spirit attire--YAY for jeans! Before work, dropped off clothes to a dear friend to take them to the sale. Ended up staying very late at work when a former student and athlete needed help with Linear Algebra. Spent 40 minutes and 4 pages of paper on 1 problem! Rushed to daycare, home to change for church, and went to church. We almost skipped church, but my house was so messy I didn't want to spend the evening there. Kids were in bed before 9, and we crashed.

Thursday--Students were released from school at 2:05, and teachers stayed until 4:30...I ran by IL's to drop off car seats, so they can pick up E & T and headed to Waco to the consignment presale. Uh-Oh, forgot laundry basket and forgot to clean out trunk...and haven't been to the ladies' room all afternoon. Must swing by my house first. YAY for shopping at the consignment sale. YAY for MIL bathing kids and putting them in PJs. Boo for the fact that I forgot that I need to make dessert for tomorrow's after-game party. I will have to make the dessert tonight because there will be no time to come home after work Friday. Thankfully, my mom saves the day with the perfect recipe. And Dee is with the JV team in Pflugerville. He actually didn't mind going to the store for me on his way home at 11. I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown at this point. I was packing the kids for school and for Friday's game. We need diapers, snacks, toys, football game outfits, and then pajamas for on the way home. Somewhere in here, Dee got home, and I made the cake. In bed after 1 a.m.

Friday--I remembered my things for work and the kids' things for after school. But I forgot my cake and my football tickets. Thankfully, Dee had taken the morning off to get a flu shot, and he brought them up to school. After school, I had exactly 1 hour to get to Belton to pick up the kids and have Emily back up to the school. She was participating in the annual drill team kids' camp, and she was going to be performing in the pre-game festivities. I changed her in her classroom when I went to pick her up and realized that the adjustable waist elastic in her jeans had slipped inside too far to pull it out. I was having visions of her pants falling down during the performance. I must find time to buy her a belt before 7:15. I got her to the drill team on time, and Ty and I headed to Target. We picked up Cool-Whip for the dessert, some stickers for during the game, some juice, and a belt. We headed to Chick-fil-A to pick up dinner. And we made it to the stadium by 6:45. I changed Ty into his game shirt, and I chugged my sweet tea. I found Emily and put a belt on her, and Ty ate his dinner while Emily did her performance. The football game went great--we scored with 7 sec left on the clock and won by 1 pt. We headed to the after-game party, and the dessert was a hit. We changed the kids into their PJs, and they rode home with Dee. We got home about 12:45. I was so tired, I went to bed without a shower. I never do that.

Saturday--I had a fun photoshoot, and then we were off to Emily's 1st soccer game. I forgot to buy her black socks to match her uniform (so she wore white--she was the only kid in white socks), and I forgot to bring her water to the game. I also forgot my camera. I also forgot my lawn chair but remembered Ty's. I was literally in tears as I was driving to the game. I was ready to pull Em out of soccer and dance, and I was ready to demand that Dee quit his job immediately. Somehow, I managed to not fly off the handle. After the game, I picked up Chick-fil-A (how could I survive football season without it?) and put the kids down for naps. They slept for FOUR HOURS. I guess this week was hard on them too!

I don't know why I wrote all of that down, and WOW for you if you read it. Maybe I will need to look back on it next year (or later on this season) to remind me that if I just take it one thing at a time, I will eventually make it through the week, and I will live to tell about it. Who knows, maybe another stressed Mommy will stumble upon this post and know that she's not alone!

This week coming up won't be bad at all (I PRAY). Dee helped so much yesterday (imagine what my house looked like after a week like that); he cleaned and even planned a week full of crock-pot dinners for this week. He ran to the store to pick up diapers and milk. And he listened to me whine without trying to give me advice. So here's to an easier week--maybe I will have time to get a few runs in this week. And I'm definitely excited about all of the season premieres...Aaahhh, the simple things! Let me end this post with some pics of Em's performance on Friday.

Here is little brother waiting on big sis' performance. I picked up these microphones at Target for $2.49, and the keep the kids occupied through the entire game. They love to cheer the Roos on in these mics.

Good luck kisses from Daddy!

Waiting to start....

Since I don't know the other little girls or their mommies, I had to make them "block heads" for this post!

That's my girl!

And how 'bout the yummy dessert I made? I needed something that I could make ahead, take with me to work and the game, and it would be good all day without being refrigerated. And it needed to be quick and easy. My mom gave me the recipe. You start by baking a chocolate cake from your favorite cake mix. When it's done, poke holes in the top with the back of a wooden spoon, and pour a jar of carmel sundae topping all over (do this while the cake is still hot). You can do this the night or morning before you will need the cake, and it can be stored at room temp. When it's time for dessert, spread a container of whipped topping over the cake and sprinkle with Heath toffee bits. I didn't have any leftovers! Yummy!

New and Exciting

2009-08-14T15:01:00.000-07:00

Can I just say that I know some of the most encouraging people ever? Many times, the confidence that you have had in me has been much greater than the confidence I have had in myself.

You may be a family member, old friend, new friend, FB friend, or blog lurker, but if you've said something nice about my work, told someone else something nice about my work, or asked me to work for you, I just want to say a big Texas "Thank you."

I am moving my photography-related posts to another blog. I've been trying to get it going since the spring, but it's time to just start with something, even if it's not exactly the way I want it yet. So feel free to check it out, follow, add me to your reader, etc.

Melissa Trcka Photography

One of the goals I have for myself it to work this biz Dave Ramsey style. Even if it means starting slowly, I do not want to borrow money. I am happy to say that I will soon have enough money for my own website. Then, clients will be able to view their images and order prints from me. When I reach that point, I will not be giving away digital files like I have been for my portfolio-building sessions. I just wanted to give all of my biggest supporters a heads-up that a change is coming. Don't worry because I'm not there yet, and I'll give plenty of warning before I transition.

Thanks again for giving me the "push" I needed!

A Major Milestone

2009-08-08T22:15:00.000-07:00

in every Texan's life is his or her first visit to the Alamo. Here is a picture of E, T, and me on this oh-so-important day in their lives.

I am up to my eyeballs in pictures (a very good thing) from our trips and from some adorable kiddos, so this is all ya get right now. Thanks, Grammy and Pa for inviting us to join you in San Antonio! By the way, Grammy, I stole this from your FB since my pics are still on the ole memory card.

A "Cold" Day In July

2009-07-18T21:21:00.000-07:00

What a fun time I had Friday evening! Thankfully, it was only 99 degrees when we arrived. I was so looking forward to this shoot because there's just something about a one year old boy with big brown eyes!

See, I told ya those eyes are big and brown! How can you resist?!?!?

Friday Funny

2009-07-10T08:22:00.000-07:00

The first time this happened, Dee got mad at me for taking pictures and made me promise not to post them. But...it happened again, and I made no such promise!

Since I don't think that Ty can zip the back of this by himself, I think we all know what happened here. It's the classic story of big sister having some fun with little brother.

I love that he was carrying his "As-To" bobblehead around. Earlier, he was marching around carrying some tools that Dee left out. Now, I am going to go change his clothes. I don't think we can wear this to Dallas this afternoon!

Fun for the 4th

2009-07-02T07:48:00.000-07:00

Since I wasn't on the ball enough this year to find 4th of July coordinating clothes for my kids, I decided to see if I could make something for Emily. I do not sew, but I am trying to learn, so I found some bandanas in the dollar spot at Target and use them to make the stars to embellish a white tank (which was only $2 at Target). I used that iron-on stuff (you like my technical terminology, right?) to iron on the stars, and we zig-zag stitched around them.

MIL had some leftover ribbon and rick-rack from another project, so she helped me cut off a too-short pair of jeans and embellish them. Dee's mom helped me with all of the sewing, but I think I am going to try something all by myself today while it's fresh on my mind.

My mom made tutus for Emily and my niece Claira, so she told me how she did it, and I made this tutu for Emily. I could have made it longer, but I knew it would be hot on Saturday, so I just wanted to give her something light and fun.

It was a no-sew project except making the waistband. And since the 6'' rolls of tulle were on sale for 1.99 at Hobby Lobby, it was very inexpensive. I got 3 - 25 yd rolls, one red, one white, one blue.

Here's what I did. I should have taken pics of each step, but I wasn't feeling THAT productive.

Cut elastic to fit around E's waist and sewed it together. I sewed this part without any help from MIL ;-)
Cut 27 - 20'' strips from each color of tulle. I cut them 20'' since I wanted the tutu about 10'' long. You would need more strips for a bigger waist and fewer strips for a smaller waist.
Took 3 strips of same color tulle, folded in half over the waistband, and tied in a knot....repeat x 26 going in the desired pattern. I tried to make my pattern like an American flag.
Weave a piece of ribbon through the waist, tie a bow, and burned the ends of the ribbon w/ a lighter.

Done! Cute, easy, and cheap--my kind of project!

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice...

2009-06-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

That's what little girls are made of!

1st 3 Days of Cruise

2009-06-21T15:48:00.000-07:00

Here she is--our home away from home for 7 days. The Ecstasy! Before you continue reading, it's only fair that I warn you that I wrote A LOT! It will not hurt my feelings if you skim or just look at the pictures, but I wanted to record the details, so I could remember later.

For those of you who don't know about our good fortune, Dee and I booked a 5 day cruise back in February. We were supposed to leave Monday 6/8 and stop in Progresso and Cozumel, but when the Swine Flu struck, cruise lines cancelled Mexican ports. Instead, they sent us to Jamaica and Grand Cayman, and along with the change in itinerary, they changed the 5 day cruise to a 7 day cruise at no additional charge. Thankfully, Grammy and Pa didn't mind keeping the kids a few extra days.

Since they added the 2 days to the beginning of our cruise, that put us leaving the day after the last day of school. So Thursday, my mom flew from Lubbock to Austin and met us at the airport. We then put Emily and Ty on a plane with her, and they all flew to Lubbock together where my dad was waiting. Dee and I watched the plane leave, and before we made it to Round Rock, they were already in Lubbock!

So on Friday, we were required to work until 8:30 p.m. When we were finally able to leave, we drove straight to Houston (Pearland), arriving around 12:30 a.m. We stayed with Dee's brother and his wife. We were exhausted by this time, but we knew we were 12 hours away from being on our ship, sweet ship.

My 2 observations about boarding were the following:
1. It is much more simple to go on a cruise without 2 little ones (I know; this one is obvious)
2. The Galveston cruise terminal is much more organized than the New Orleans terminal. When we left out of New Orleans, we got to skip lots of people and head to the VIP line since we had small children with us. We got through the regular line in Galveston about 3 times faster than the VIP line in NO. Go figure!

I don't know if everyone knows this, but one thing that Dee and I really enjoyed doing when we were dating/engaged/newly married is salt water fishing in and around Galveston. Since Dee's parents sold the boat and moved to Central Texas, we haven't been fishing in about 4 years. I really enjoyed seeing our old fishing spots from our ship. On the afternoon before our anniversary, it was fun to reminisce as we "cruised" through the ship channel. Enough of this cheesiness--the neatest part of our leaving port was the school of dolphins swimming ahead of our ship. There must have been around 100 (I tried counting and got as high as 19 before I realized there was no way I could count them all).

As we participated in the safety drill, set up our room, and got ready for our first dinner, we just kept saying "Wow--this is SO EASY without kids!"

Speaking of dinner, we went with the 8:15 seating for the week, and we were assigned a table full of women. Dee was the only man at the table! Thankfully, he grew up with 3 sisters and handled himself just fine.

Here is our towel friend who was waiting on us after dinner.

First Full Day at Sea/Sunday/6 Years of Wedded Bliss:

We had a pretty relaxing anniversary. I woke up and walked 2 miles on the top of the ship (yes, that's relaxing to me). Waking up on my own time, wearing my favorite pink tank top, being able to exercise without feeling rushed, looking out at the ocean...well, still the gulf at that point, listening to my ipod, and having some alone time--to me, that's bliss!

After that, we ate breakfast, and I headed to the pool with Twilight in my hand. Later, I met up with Dee to attend a wine seminar. We learned how different wines are made, and they taught us about pairing food with 5 different wines. They also taught us how to properly smell and sip the wine, and they didn't make us spit it out! It was really interesting. This is the Riesling we sampled (the only one Dee liked).

Dee was cracking me up because he was eating his fruit and cheese before he was "supposed to," so he didn't get the full effect of the pairings. Is anyone really surprised?

There's not much else to tell other than major relaxation--naps and reading by the pool. I am so glad we chose the late dinner. Had we chosen the 6:00 dinner, I would have had to leave the pool around 4 or 5. Instead, I got to continue basking when all of the early dinner people had to leave. This night was the 1st formal night, so we attended the Captain's Welcome Reception and even two-stepped on the dance floor before dinner.

Since it was our anniversary and we were all dressed up, we waited in line to have our pictures made. We were going to splurge on a $20.00 photo since it was a special occasion. We were so disappointed the next day when we saw that they had over-photoshopped most of the photos. Plenty of people were still buying them, but they did SO much skin smoothing that our faces were blurry, and our skin looked artificial. I guess other people didn't mind because the lines at the cash registers were very long. Thankfully, one of our table-mates (actually, a high school student who was on vacation with her mom) took some nice pictures of us with the point-and-shoot camera that we borrowed from school. Here is my favorite (with, of course, a touch of my Photoshop magic) if you missed my last post.

It was lobster dinner night--YUM! And our servers entertained us for the first time.

The ladies at our table informed the maitre d' that it was our anniversary, so just before dessert, they sang us an anniversary song and made us kiss every time they said "kiss." Embarrassing, but fun, and thanks, Hannah, for being our photojournalist!

Here we are after the silliness was over!

It may sound lame, but one of my favorite things to do is to run back to the room after dinner to see what kind of towel friend we have waiting for us. Little did I know, there was another surprise waiting for me...

Roses--thanks, sweetie!

I can't remember now if it was Sunday or Monday, but one of the shows was a country revue, and our cruise director played the fiddle. He is super-talented, and his version of The Devil Went Down to Georgia was the highlight of the show. I know most of my readers don't really care, but I want to remember it 6 months from now!

2nd Full Day at Sea/Monday:

Tuesday morning, I woke up to go running. I only ran for about 10 minutes before getting drenched by rain. Thankfully, the rain didn't last long enough to ruin my pool/Twilight time! Actually, Dee and I played Bingo that morning with the older peeps. Dee insisted that I needed to play at least once in my life. And there's not much else to report for Tuesday. If we had a to-do list, it would have looked something like this...

~~Eat lots of yummy food~~
~~Soak up the sun~~
~~Take a nap~~
~~Finish Twilight~~

Everything completed for once--that's why we look so happy at dinner!

Here is our head waiter entertaining us.

And here is his assistant. They were both great, especially watching out for Dee amongst all of the women. They kept his plate full and kept his Diet Cokes coming!

And here is our towel masterpiece! Every night, we stacked them on a shelf next to their "friends," so by the end of the week, we had a full zoo.

I borrowed a few pictures from Carnival's website to give you a small tour of our ship. I have to admit that although the Ecstasy's staff is first-rate, the ship's decor is dated (very 80s). In fact, Carnival will be gutting it and completely re-doing it this fall. I can't wait to see what she looks like when they are finished with her! Anyway, when you board the ship, this is the atrium where you enter.

We would have hung out in this piano bar every night. The pianist was great and could sing and play pretty much anything, but the smoke really got to us (it is one of the few places where smoking is allowed).

Important Places on the Top Decks:
1. The pool area where I spent most of my time lounging in a chair facing the water
2. The main pool area where the fun and activities happen where I didn't spend any time
3. The track where I exercised 3 times (pretty good for vacation)

The next 2 days were spent in Jamaica and Grand Cayman. I hope to post those pictures soon!

Summer--So Far, So Good

2009-06-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

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!

Has this ever happened to you?

2009-05-25T21:06:00.000-07:00

Dear Lady Who Sat at the Table Next to Us at The Cotton Patch,

I hope you enjoyed your lunch today. You probably didn’t notice the well-behaved preschoolers who were sitting at the table next to you. You didn’t notice them because they demonstrated fairly atypical preschool manners. They colored politely while waiting for their food. They said please, thank you, and yes ma’am to the server. They properly used their utensils and napkins to eat every last bite of their macaroni, green beans, and orange slices. As their mommy, I was extremely proud of them.

Let me explain why a 4 year old and a 2 year old can be enjoyable in a public place. It’s called discipline. When my husband or I (or any adult) give directions, they are expected to follow them. If they disobey, there are consequences. They are not always well-behaved in public, and they are punished on these occasions. Let me again say to you this is why you were able to eat without children running amuck. Sure, we probably were a little lucky today (and I recall a candy shop bribe), but I have to believe that part of their kindness was a result of the lessons we constantly try to teach in our family.

So the next time you see a mother firmly speaking to her daughter, feel free to mind your own business. When a 4 year old who has been told 3 times to sit on her bottom stands up on the stroller and falls and hurts herself, you can keep your mouth shut. I do not need you to give me condescending looks and comments. If I am scolding my crying child for not doing what she was told, I do not need you to inform me that she “just fell and hurt herself.” Logic tells us that if she had obeyed her mother, she would not have fallen. Therefore, she would not be hurt and crying. I chose to use this moment not to nurse her wounded pride but to ensure that she learned a lesson.

I realize that you must think it is cruel that my husband and I do not throw a pity party every time one of our children injures herself/himself as a result of their disobedience. I, however, believe that it would be a thousand times more cruel if we chose to indulge them every time they cry.

Sincerely,

Melissa
The Mean Mommy

p.s. Two minutes after we left Cotton Patch, my “injured” daughter was skipping happily to the candy shop!

Smell the Roses!

2009-05-03T13:28:00.000-07:00

I was teaching or should I say getting ready to show a video to my 5th period class on Friday (day after TAKS) when someone knocks at my door. Annoyed, I walked across the room to answer it. It was my husband which didn't surprise me. But he wouldn't come inside. In fact, he seemed to be hiding something, so I stepped outside, and he presented me with a HUGE bouquet of roses. I thought the colors (lavender and light green) were an odd choice, and I also wondered how much money he had spent since the bouquet was almost too large for me to carry. But I was still excited to receive them. Since it was not our anniversary or my birthday, I assumed this gift was part of the Love Dare Bible Study that we are participating in at church.

My students asked me to count the roses, and I lost track at 32. I couldn't remember which roses had been counted already! So when I got home, I began the task of finding a place for these flowers. As it turns out, there were 50. So what's a girl to do with 50 roses? Scroll on down and see!

Of course, I had to start with the kitchen table. This has kept me motivated to keep my kitchen clean this weekend. Pretty flowers look much prettier in a clean kitchen!

I try to keep fresh flowers in my red vase, and it's usually carnations because I'm cheap. But not this week!

I also spruced up my mantle with a few... (Wave "Hi" to me!)

Even the kids' bathroom got some love (placed out of reach,of course).

And since my Love Dare for the day was to clean our bathroom (we were supposed to do something out of the ordinary for our spouse, and yes, cleaning our bathroom is out of the ordinary for me--I always make Dee do it), I finished it off with the last of the roses.

So I later found out that a wedding had cancelled at the last minute--that explained the interesting color choice. The florist is the mother of one of the coaches, and she was selling the roses for a super deal. Dee figured he'd get me 50 roses since that's something truly out of the ordinary that we'd normally not have extra money to do. Way to go, Dee, thanks!!!

Who knows when I'll post again with the end of the school year coming. The AP Calculus exam is this Wednesday morning, so pray that my kids do well!

Happy Birthday to a Terrific Two Year Old

2009-04-12T18:25:00.000-07:00

Here is my sweet 7 lb 11 oz "preemie." You can read here about how he was born at 36.5 weeks.

I used to change his diaper on this ottoman.

Now he stands up and dances on it!

Here is is at age 1--notice the adorable "cankles."

And (drum roll) here is my big boy 2 year old!!!

Now to help everyone get to know a little bit more about Ty (and to help me remember when I'm old and gray), I present the ABCs of Ty! I'll mix in a few more pictures from today to mix it up.

Apples are best left out of reach because if Ty sees it, he takes a few bites and puts it back in the fruit bowl.
Baseball--'nuff said.
Cookie-lover. He even pretends to eat cookies in book illustrations.
Daddy can't deny Ty. He is definitely a miniature version of Dee (with the exception of the Tittle brown eyes).
Elmo, Elmo, Elmo--what is it about Elmo? Ty can't get enough!
Flirt...Watch out, ladies, because he knows how to turn on the charm! See...

Green beans don't stand a chance--he could eat these for B, L, and D.
Hugs--Ask for a bear hug, and he'll gladly oblige, complete with a growl and a laugh!
Indoors is NOT where he wants to be. He stands at the back door and begs to play outside (regardless of the weather).
Just adorable when he dances the moment he hears music.
Ky-Ky and Kay-Kay=his cousin Kylie and Aunt Kasey.
Ladder--he's a climber, and he did manage to climb halfway up a ladder in about 5 seconds.
Monkey--the first animal sound he learned how to make.

Neatness matters with him. He loves cleaning up and eating with utensils. He will throw a fit if he gets food on his clothes.
Oh, Toodles! He can quote good ole Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
Pat, pat, pat, pat...his favorite part of his favorite show--Little Einsteins.
Quincy--the one Einstein he can't name yet.
Rah-Rah=Rocket on LE.
Sa-Sa=Sally on Cars. BTW, he really doesn't watch that much TV. But he does watch DVRed Playhouse Disney while I cook dinner, and he knows the Cars characters more from books than the movie.

Take Me Out To the Ball Game--he is getting pretty good at singing this one!
Unbelievably blessed--well, that's how I feel about being Mommy to Ty.
Valuable--every time he says "I wov you too."
Wondering if there are any trucks or trains nearby? Just bring Ty with you because he will inform you...repeatedly.
Xcellent little brother. Watch out, would-be boyfriends of Emily. You'll have to deal with Ty when he's all grown up!

YAY!!! He loves to clap after he accomplishes something. Anything.
Zoe--he loves saying her name when he reads a Sesame Street book.

Happy Birthday Ty-Man! I love you!!!

Family Chores/Learning to Save

2009-04-01T20:31:00.000-07:00

I just thought I'd log on (procrastinate grading a quiz) and post something that's been working well for Miss Emily. A few months ago, I was wanting to teach her how to pitch in and help with keeping our house clean, but I wanted to find a job that she was capable of doing correctly (I didn't want to have to go behind her and re-do the chore). After talking to my elementary school teaching mom of 4 SIL, I decided Emily's job would be unloading the silverware from the dishwasher. SIL suggested this because it also helps with learning to sort. I must say that Emily is an expert silverware unloader. She's actually better than her Daddy about getting things in the right spot ;-) I just put away the sharp knives, and she takes care of the rest.

When my mom was visiting us in Feb, I was concerned when Emily started asking her "Will you buy me _______" (fill in the blank with various princess accessories). I decided to talk to Emily about saving money to buy her own princess items. So I bought her a ballerina piggy bank and started paying her an allowance for doing her chore. I just give her 5-10 nickels and dimes (she thinks it's a lot of money since it's a lot of coins), and she happily deposits them in the ballerina piggy. She knows she is saving up to buy her very own Princess Aurora ensemble from WDW one day (hopefully summer 2010).

Since I pay her on Saturday, she always saves one dime to put in the collection at church. At first, she fought me on this because she wanted to save all of her "monies," but it's now routine for her to "save one to give to Jesus." I think that her giving one of her own dimes is teaching her more than us giving her a dollar to put in the plate. But sometimes we do that, too.

Anyway, I thought maybe some other moms are wondering about age-appropriate chores and if/when to give an allowance, so that's my take. I'd love to hear from other moms on this topic!

Pray for me that I'll get my grades done in time for report cards!!!

Giveaway--Blog Makover

2009-03-25T20:08:00.000-07:00

Spring is here, and it's time to make everything fresh and pretty! Hop on over to Kristi's and comment to be entered to win a FREE blog makeover. She does fabulous work! I don't know about you, but I'm loving the pinky goodness of the "Cheeky" design!

Bye-Bye Spring Break--We Had Fun!

2009-03-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

Our spring break was fast, furious, and fun. We had a major home improvement project, but I'll get to that in a minute. First, I have to brag on myself. The first Saturday, I completed a 5K, my first one since college. I checked my results online, and I found that I was in the first 1/3 of my age group. I was excited about that especially since the weather was nasty, and the course was extremely hilly. Thankfully, I have been running on a big hill. If you've ever been to my house, you know the major hill I'm talking about. So I was prepared, and I actually passed about 20 people up on the last hill.

I love holidays, so I couldn't resist some fun for St. Patrick's Day. Since our kitchen was a construction zone, and the kids had nowhere to eat breakfast, the leprechauns set up a special breakfast surprise on the kids' little table. Those pesky dudes even turned our milk green. Em and Ty got a kick out of it!

These pictures turned out noisy (Canon Rebel owners, do not set ISO over 400 unless you want this problem, too), so I added some vintage and some grain to them to try to make it work.

This shows you what color we painted our wall. I thought it made a nice background for a photo of my green-wearin' girl!

The laminate floor was something we've been wanting for a while. But the problem I had was this--our furniture is dark, and our walls were beige. So with a dark brown floor, I was afraid that we'd look like a big, brown poopy cave. I knew we needed color on the walls, but it took me forever to figure out what color. I am so pleased with the "pollen grain" shade that we chose because it looks so nice with our dark furniture, and it compliments the accents I already have. And it doesn't clash with the green dining room either.

My hubby is super-talented, and I have to blush and say how stinkin' hot I think he is whenever he does projects involving power tools.

Is anyone else's TV constantly on basketball lately? I am also currently on a quest to hide the sub-woofer. Surround-sound wiring is nice for the small speakers, but why don't they rig a way to hide the biggest ~~eyesore~~ speaker?

I have also been playing with this niche, trying to get the right display. I have experimented with different colors, but I think I hit the nail on the head this time. I love the way the dark frames stand out against the blue. And the blue doesn't clash with anything in the pictures. I have to say I am really proud of how it turned out.

I finally got brave enough to sign one of my photos. I don't know why I felt so silly about doing this before!

Since moving into this house (where I have a formal dining room), I have always set a table for Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year, I decided to set the table for spring. Instead of using my china, I decided to use my Fiestaware, and it's probably my favorite tablescape I've done. Dee had to make so many crazy cuts to get this floor to flow into the dining room, but he did a beautiful job!

I have been trying to figure out a unique way to decorate my centerpiece, and thank you, Amanda, for inspiring me with your Dollar Tree flowers and jellybean arrangements.

My favorite thing about this tablescape is the bold colors of the Fiestaware along with the bold colors of the jellybeans. They are not your typical spring colors (and I usually LOVE spring decorating b/c it gives me an excuse to decorate with pink), but I wanted to try something different this year.

Emily loves these place cards. I just grabbed some of my neglected scrapbooking supplies and stuck them together in about 5 minutes. She goes around the table naming the person to whom the initial belongs!

Just when I thought I was done being impressed with the skills of my husband, he impressed me some more. He took the kids outside to plant our vegetable garden. It was so adorable to watch him show Ty how to plant seeds and water the garden. Be still my heart!

Wow! Was that long enough for you? We are totally exhausted, but we sure loved every minute of our break. Now it's time to focus our big AP exams in early May, and then we can count down to summer and our cruise (no kids, this time)!

Emily's Birthday Wrap-Up

2009-03-09T20:50:00.000-07:00

Miss Emily had a super-fun 4th birthday. My mom came for a visit (and to help out), so she absolutely enjoyed being spoiled by Grammy for a few days. Her actual birthday was Friday, so I took the afternoon off and brought cupcakes to her class. Then, we picked up Ty and cousin Kylie from school. Emily and Ty had so much fun playing with their cousin all afternoon, and at dinner time, we took Emily to the restaurant of her choice. She requested "The fettucini place" also known as Fazoli's followed by dessert at Maggie Moos. Dee was at a baseball tournament all evening, so I was really happy to have my mom to help me tote 3 kids around.

Saturday was the big par-tay, and we had a blast at Chuck E. Cheese. I have to admit that I was not too excited about a Saturday afternoon party at Chuckie's. It sounded crazy, hectic, disorganized, germy, etc. However, with Dee playing in a tourney all weekend, I needed a convenient location (so he could attend between games), and I also needed a location that would take care of food/set-up/clean-up for me (and still be reasonably priced). I was extremely happy with our decision, and I will have another party there in a heartbeat if my kids ask. The kids had a good time, our hostess kept everything organized, I hardly did anything, and it wasn't nearly as crazy as I had imagined it would be.

SO here's a funny story regarding my camera. I had decided beforehand that I was going to take more "snapshots" of the party, so that I could be more "in the moment" than "capturing the moment." I had made the decision to shoot in automatic and *gasp* use built-in flash. As luck would have it, as soon as I tried to pop that sucker (the flash) open, my camera showed an error. No matter what I did, I couldn't get my flash on. Now my only choice was to use manual exposure, but I was so thankful I knew what I was doing (or I wouldn't have had any pictures). Most turned out okay!

Here's a slide show I made with web-sized images. Mommies, I plan to share full-sized images probably next week.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Wanna win some cool stuff?

2009-03-06T09:23:00.000-08:00

YAY! I can post again. Blogger was acting all weird on me yesterday. But since I am able to post, I have a great tip for you. Read on to see how you can win some seriously cute stuff!

I love, love, love monograms. I always have, and my friend, Amanda, is giving away some adorable monogramed items on her new blog. You have until midnight to enter, so head on over right now! While you're there, check out some of her other cute ideas!

Clicky, Clicky

Wordless Wednesday--Yummy, Yummy Chubby Cheeks and Teeny, Tiny Feet

2009-03-04T00:03:00.000-08:00

It was someone's birthday...

2009-02-28T20:36:00.000-08:00

Well, I didn't get a chance to post birthday wishes for Emily yesterday, so here I am one day late. Yesterday, I became the mommy to a 4 year old. FOUR--why does that sound so old? We've had a great weekend, and we will post pictures of the festivities later. I will post "official" 4 y/o pictures of Emily after I take them. And that won't be until her black eye is gone. She crashed into the hard head of one of her friends at school over a week ago and still has a black eye!

Who knows what this year will bring! She says that she will stop sucking her thumb when she is 4, and she says she will learn to read when she is 4. We'll see!!!

I love you, Emily, and we had SO much fun celebrating with you this weekend!!!

My Little Ponies and My Big Horses

2009-02-17T19:43:00.000-08:00

Hello, trckatalk, how I've missed you! It's been such a crazy few weeks. And by crazy, I mean calm and organized. But in order for me to stay organized, I have been going nonstop, without any time for fun stuff like blogging.

This is what I have been up to:
Running--I have slowly built up my running distance from 60 seconds to 20 minutes.
Dieting--I tried doing the "eat healthy and exercise" thing all January and lost a whopping 2 lbs. I bit the bullet and started WW again and lost 4 lbs in one week. So WW it is!
Cooking--I have been cooking nightly and not going out to eat (except Valentine's Day, of course).
Lesson Planning--I have the rest of my school year planned and copies made for my Calculus and PreCalculus classes. Algebra is not done yet.
Grading--I have graded everything that has been assigned and turned in.
Organizing--I have cleaned out my kids closets, toys, and my closet.

Because of the previously-mentioned items, this is what I have not been up to:
Blogging
Painting my toenails
Browsing FB
Reading my photography books
Listing the above-mentioned cleaned out items on craigslist
Buying Emily birthday presents
Cleaning out my car
Watching 18 saved shows on my DVR (and that's just in my den, not the DVR in our bedroom)

This post should probably be 2-3 separate posts, but if I try to do that, I will NEVER get this post done. So here's the next topic: "The Cute Thing Emily Said Today."

E: Mommy, is it dark because Mr. Sun went to sleep?

Me: Yes, that's right.

E: The sun went to sleep, and the moon woke up.

Me: Yes, that's right.

E: Sometimes, I see the moon when Mr. Sun is still awake.

Me: Me, too.

E: I think when that happens, the moon is helping Mr. Sun put his pajamas on and brush his teeth.

Me: Yes, I think you're right.

I just love that girl!

Speaking of that funny little girl, here's my next topic. I took her for a little "Get a Picture for your BDay Invitation" photo shoot. We took her My Little Ponies to a local park, and I wanted to capture some pictures of her playing with them. These are some that I liked but didn't use on the invite.

I love how the pony's party hat is flying away in this one.

How many ponies can you hold at once?

The next day, she attended a birthday party which was horse-themed including horse rides in the back yard. This is her first time on a horse, and she loved it. She was not afraid at all! I was super-proud of her. And please notice the tutu and bare feet. Typical Emily.

I was not able to zoom out because I was using a prime lens, so there was no room for the horse's head in the frame. Note to self--get a wide fisheye lens the next time Emily rides horses. I wish!

And a little b&w for that old-timey feel.

I actually got to ride (by myself, without a grown-up leading the horse). The grown-ups didn't have to stay in the back yard. I looked like a total dork riding a horse around a subdivision, but it was fun. I loved hearing the clip-clop on the street!

I guess that about wraps it up. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

It's Movie Time!!!

2009-01-19T17:00:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been wanting to post video of the kids and their silly antics. But anytime I turn the video camera on, they stop what they are doing. So I tried a new tactic. I used the web cam on my iMac, so they could watch themselves as the video was recording. They both really enjoyed hamming it up, and it was actually much simpler for me since I didn't have to import from the camera to the computer.

First, let's begin with Em singing her trademark song...while ~~chewing~~ smacking gum. And if you watch to the end, she randomly asks to see what the dentist put on my teeth. And the answer to that is a temporary crown.

Here is another fave. It's called Mr. Golden Sun, and her teacher sings it with her class at school. And I made her take out the gum for this one.

Last but not least, this is Ty Man dancing. He loooooooves to boogie, that kid.

I hope you enjoyed/got a good laugh!

Wonderful News!!!

2009-01-13T17:47:00.000-08:00

If I have any readers left, you will be wondering what's gotten into Melissa. 2 posts in less than 24 hours, and it's finals week on top of it. This is not because of your prodding on FB, Angela :-) This is because we received wonderful news from the doctor today. And it has to do with Dee, so you can stop thinking that baby #3 is on the way.

Praise God--Dee is TOTALLY SARCOIDOSIS FREE!!!!!!!!!!!! He had a CT scan last week and a breathing test today. Then, he met with this pulmonologist. Dr. D was excited to report that Dee's lungs look totally normal. Dee has been off of steroids for a few months now, and we were just praying that he would make progress and not have to get back on them. But God is good--not only does he not have to get back on steroids, he can get off of his other meds as well!

Dr. D said that he wishes all of his patients could heal with only 13 months of steroids. Dee goes back in one year to make sure that nasty stuff is gone for good.

I have been itching to post all day, but blogger wouldn't let me sign on at work for some reason. So let's scream together--YIPPPPEEEEE!!!!

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-12T19:48:00.000-08:00

I know it's late, but at least I'm saying it. I had wanted to end the year with a post of my favorite photos that did not make it to the blog during 2008. Well, 12 days into 2009, I am finally ready ;-) You will see that many of these are from football season. I wonder why I never posted them...

Ty's one year old baseball glove shot on the KHS baseball field

Ty-Man and his cute baby belly playing blocks last May

Emily cruisin' on the "big boat" wearing the dress/jewelry she got in Mexico

Some pics from a late summer zoo trip

Emily and her Daddy before a football game. Emily had just performed the pre-game show with all of the little girls who attended Kangarette camp.

This is Ty's favorite thing to do after the game; he loves to move the yellow things (sorry, I don't know what they're called)!

These were taken at the Homecoming game. The kids had gotten restless, so we let them go play in the long jump pit during the 4th quarter.

Ty's pants are literally sand-blasted!

When the game was finally over, he had a blast running around on the field.

One chilly afternoon in the back yard, Em actually asked to have her pictures made!

This one cracks me up...Emily and Ty always fight over the lone pom-pom at our house. Recently, however, Ty has decided that a feather duster will work just as well!

I hope you enjoyed my little trip down memory lane. Here's to many more memorable moments in 2009!

Merry Christmas From The Trckas

2008-12-25T20:10:00.000-08:00

He did it!!!

2008-12-23T18:00:00.000-08:00

It's time to document a milestone! Ty said a "complete sentence" today. I know it was a complete sentence because I have a minor in English! He did this totally on his own, out of his own head, without being prompted by us. In fact, everyone else was pretty much asleep. We were all snuggled up in our bed watching Playhouse Disney...well, Emily and Ty were watching while Dee and I caught a few extra zzzzzs. Ty decided, as he usually does, that he was bored and wanted to get out of bed. Sooooo he sat up, looked at his sister, said "Bye-Bye, Emma," and got off the bed. "Emma" is his pronunciation of "Emily."

It was pretty cool. I am really pleased and have been wondering when this would happen and what he would say. Emily's first sentence involved Elmo, so it's always interesting to see what they've got in their minds to say when they can finally put together a complete thought!!!

I am hoping to post some Christmas-related greeting before the big day, but in case I don't have time, Merry Christmas, everyone!

Wordless Wednesday--Christmas Card Outtakes

2008-12-16T21:28:00.001-08:00

Camera Challenge (ETA Troubleshooting)

2008-12-13T20:55:00.000-08:00

Wanna take gorgeous pictures of your Christmas tree? Read on! I know that some of you readers are DSLR owners, so I am going to give you the steps to take these pictures. And no fair just reading and looking--you HAVE to try this on your own and post your results on your blog.

Look, our Elf on the Shelf finally arrived from the North Pole. Emily named him Gabriel, and he spent today in the Christmas tree. I wonder where he will be tomorrow?!?!

If you already know how to set manual settings, it's simple. Use a tripod, and use the following settings: F22, 6 second shutter speed, ISO 400, and tungsten white balance. Use the self-timer or a remote to take your picture.

If you don't know how to set manual settings, here's my DETAILED directions. I am describing the way I change settings on my camera, so yours may be a bit different. You may need to look at your manual for how to change settings.

First, gather your camera and a tripod. Don't have a tripod? Put your camera on a solid surface such as a table or shelf. I used to stack my ottoman storage cubes vertically in lieu of a tripod, but for these, I had hubby borrow one from work for me to play with.

Mount your camera on the tripod or set it on a solid surface. Turn the camera on!

Now, turn your dial to "M." You can do it--don't be scared!

Somewhere on the back of your camera, there should be a button that says "WB." On my Canon Rebel XTi, it is the down arrow button. Press this button, and arrow over until "tungsten light" is highlighted. Select it by pressing the select button which is the middle of the 4 arrow buttons on my camera.

Also on the back of the camera is a button called ISO. On mine, it's the up arrow. Press this button and and arrow over until "400" is highlighted. Select it by pressing your select button.

Now you will change the aperture to F22. This is how I do it on my camera. Right behind the shutter release (button that you use to take a picture), there is a little wheel you can turn. Turn it and hear it click-click-click. On the back of the camera, there is a button that says "AV." Now you will do 3 things at the same time:

Press and hold the "AV" button
Turn the wheel
Watch your display--You should see it changing F5.6, F6.3, F7.1, . . . , keep turning the wheel until you see F22 displayed. If the numbers are getting smaller, turn the wheel the opposite direction :D Congratulations--you just changed your aperture! Aren't you excited???

***Side Note***The first time I tried changing my aperture, I was trying to turn the wrong "wheel." One wheel on the top of your camera is the one you probably use all the time. It's the one with P, AV, M, a green square, and lots of pictures. You use this to select different modes to take a picture. This is NOT the wheel that you use to change aperture and shutter speed. I wish someone had told me that because I kept clicking that thing over and over, wondering why my shutter speed wasn't changing.

Now I will teach you how to change your shutter speed. On my camera, if you turn the wheel without pressing AV or any other button, it changes the shutter speed. You should see the numbers decreasing 1/30 to 1/25 to 1/20 to 1/15 and so on. These numbers mean 1/30 of a second, 1/25 of a second, etc. After you pass 1/5 and 1/4, the numbers will start to look different. You will see 0"3, 0"4, 0"5, etc. then 1", 2", and so on. Choose 6" (6 seconds). Your camera is going to take 6 seconds to take the picture. How cool is that? This is why you need a tripod. Unless you can hold your camera perfectly still for 6 seconds, your photo will be blurry.

Now, if you have a remote, you will want to use it because you don't want to shake your camera pressing the shutter release. This will cause blur. I don't have a remote, so I put my camera on the timer. Here's how I do it on mine: I press the button under AV. This button does not have any words, but it has a little picture squares and a little picture of a clock. Scroll over to "self timer" which should have a picture of a clock, and use your select button to select it.

Now your camera is ready. It's time to turn out all of the lights except the Christmas lights! Press the shutter release and wait while your camera counts down and then takes the picture. You can experiment with different shutter speeds. I tried some with 6, 8, and 10 seconds. To change the shutter speed, just click the wheel, remember?

***TROUBLESHOOTING: Since we all probably have different lenses and are standing at different distances away from our Christmas trees, my f22 aperture may be letting in more or less light than your f22 aperture. Since you know how to change the aperture now (hold AV button while turning the clicky-wheel), try using a lower number like f18 or f11 if your pictures are too dark at f22. That will let a little more light into the camera. But you need to keep the 6 second shutter speed if you want stars! Just try different apertures until you like the effect.

Here is my Christmas tree with f/1.8, and shutter speed 1/20. It's nice, but there are no stars.

And here is my tree with f22 and 6 second exposure.

Use your imagination and creativity! Think of your outside lights!!! It was too windy tonight for me to do this outside (the wind would cause the trees/lights to move which will make them blurry).

I would LOVE to see your pictures! If you have the capability of changing aperture and shutter speed, leave me a comment letting me know when you've posted yours. If you don't blog, post it on your facebook (MOM). The best part about taking these photos is that it needs to be done when it's dark, so your kids are sleeping, and you can concentrate without little ones around.

Do yourself a favor and try it. I know I was completely terrified the first time I tried messing with any settings on my camera. But it takes just a minute or two of changing settings, and the result will be a unique picture that you will treasure of Christmas 2008.

GO DO IT!!!!!!

***I am so thrilled that people are trying this! I've received questions via phone and email, so keep 'em coming. And my brother tried this on his camera which is not a DSLR (but still has some manual controls), and it worked. So if you have any camera that allows you to change some settings, go for it.

Another Funny Blog

2008-12-12T12:07:00.000-08:00

Over "Thanksgiving", my "brother" showed me a funny "blog". Do you know what it's called? The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks. I hope you get a "kick" out of it!

Adventures of the Trckas and the Hook Em Horns

2008-12-08T21:18:00.000-08:00

Emily was in rare form after our last playoff game of the season (we lost). I wanted to write these stories down, so I won't forget what she said. We made a lot of great memories at the football game. Our game was only the 2nd high school game that has ever been played at UT, so it was a pretty neat experience in spite of the fact that we didn't win.

Story #1
We stopped at the Round Rock outlets on the way home from our playoff game at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium (aka where the Longhorns play). This is an important fact for Story #3.
As we were getting in the car, Emily was not following my instructions for her to get in her car seat. So I pulled out the old “I’m afraid Santa is not going to be happy when he sees you not obeying your Mommy” routine.
She immediately got in her car seat, thought for a second, and said, “Mommy, he will be happy because I’m not being naughty. I’m being good for good mistakes.” If you don’t get it, think “he sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake…you better be good for goodness sake.” Then she added: “But Ty is being bad for bad mistakes.”

Story #2
As we drove home from Round Rock, Ty was happily playing with his Elmo cell phone when Emily decided she needed it. She asked me if she could play with his phone, and I told her yes but only when Ty is finished with it. Her reply “But Mommy, I need to call the principal because my calculus students are not obeying me, and they need to go to the office and get a spanking.”
I told her she would just have to wait until Ty was done, so she talked on a pretend phone for a while, and when Ty was done with his toy 15 minutes later, she made that report to the principal.

Story #3
She continued to talk on the Elmo phone all the way home. As we neared our house, I heard her saying “We’re on our way now. Okay? We’ll meet you in a little while. See you there. Okay. Bye.”
Then, she told me “Mommy, the Hook ‘em horns are waiting for us at our house.” Okay. Great. I wonder what she is picturing in her mind.
As soon as we got home and got out of the car, she hopped out, went to the front porch, and greeted her guests. She even held their hands and led them inside. The Hook ‘Em Horns were with her all night, and when we woke up on Sunday, they were still with us.
Dee and I cracked up because I asked her how many Hook ‘Em Horns were at our house, and she said 11. I know she just said “eleven” because it’s her favorite number, but it’s pretty funny that there are 11 players on the football field. On our way to church, I asked her if they were coming with us, and she said, “No, because their grandmother is in the hospital.” Random, I know. But it’s what she said.
Then, she whispered to me during the song service, “Mommy, the Hook ‘Em Horns are not here anymore. Sleeping Beauty is here now.” And Aurora stayed with us the rest of the day. Prince Phillip even showed up after her afternoon nap. Go figure.

I love my super-imaginative girl!

I know, I know, this post is useless without pictures. Do you really think I would get no pictures of my kiddos running around on the field that the Longhorns play on? Even if you're not a UT fan, you have to admit that it's pretty amazing for a 1 y/o and 3 y/o to get the chance to walk on the field. It's too bad we lost, but Emily and Ty sure had fun at the game.

Ty with Dee's parents. He sat on his Papa's lap for the majority of the football games this year.

Having fun watching football!

Coach 'em up!

So what would YOU do on a Big 12 football field if you were a 3 year old girlie girl? Why, dance, of course!

Most people never get a chance to take this picture!

It is kinda weird to see us all wearing maroon and running around taking pictures with Longhorns.

Ty would rather be free to run than stuck taking pictures with Daddy!

See--that's better.

Emily loved making shadows on the wall.

Then, one of the football players walked over to talk to his friends/family up in the stands. I love the look on her face--she is almost in awe of this huge football player.

It is so nice having my hubby home again. We finally got our Christmas lights up on Sunday. I didn't think we were ever going to get them done with Dee working late every day of the week. Pictures will be coming soon!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-12-03T06:53:00.001-08:00

Happy Belated Turkey Day!

2008-11-28T18:42:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving from Dee, Melissa, Emily, and Ty! We hope everyone had a great day with food, family, and fun!

Emily and Ty are dressed in support of the Roos! We play tomorrow in round 3 of the playoffs.

Very Funny Blog

2008-11-21T08:27:00.000-08:00

For the past few months, I have been reading probably the funniest blog that is on the 'net. It is called Cakewrecks. People send in pictures of PROFESSIONALLY decorated cakes that are awful. Sometimes, the decorations are just ugly. Sometimes, they are distasteful, and sometimes, the bakers make humorous grammar/spelling mistakes. When I first stumbled upon it, I ended up reading nearly all the archives. I was laughing so hard that I was in pain! The author has a great sense of humor, and I really enjoy her comments on the cakes. I also enjoy the readers' comments.

Today's post was about turkey cakes, so in the spirit of Thanksgiving, you should check them out!Turkey Cakes.

Whenever you need a good laugh, get comfy and read through the posts! To get you started on the right track, here are some of my faves!

Clicky, Clicky

I'd love to hear what you think! Have a great weekend!

Birthdays, New Stuff, and Elections...You WILL Laugh

2008-11-13T19:57:00.000-08:00

This post is a sort of hodgepodge of what's been happening lately with us. I hope it doesn't seem too chopped up!

BIRTHDAYS
We've been busy around here with birthdays. Dee's birthday was on election day. This is the cake I made for him. It's a playstation 3 controller. I feel bad for him because he never has time to play his PS3 during football season. He could, but he helps me out around the house and watches TV with me instead of playing video games. What a sweetie! So I thought if he can't play it, maybe he'd want to eat it!

I made my own fondant, colored it black, and covered the cake. I love using fondant on cakes. It's so much easier than you would think, and my recipe actually tastes good (I do put buttercream underneath too). Since it was dark and I had to use my on-camera flash, the photo doesn't do it justice (it looks sort of blotchy). In real life, it looked perfect--it was so cute I wanted to pick it up and start playing video games....

Emily is singing to her Dad here. Emily's favorite part of any birthday celebration is singing Happy Birthday! She also really likes the part where her Daddy let her blow out the candles and open his gifts.

My bday is exactly one week after Dee's. When we first got married, we used to alternate celebrating our birthdays together. For example, one year, we'd both celebrate on his, and the next year, we'd both celebrate on mine. It was really fun to open our gifts together and share a bday dessert. But after having kids, we lost track of which day we were supposed to celebrate on. And I also think it's more fun for the kids to have 2 separate "celebrations."

So for my bday, we had the day off. Dee had practice in the morning, and the kids went to school, so I enjoyed a blissful morning in my PJs.... All. By. My. Self. (YAY!) Dee and I went to lunch together at Olive Garden and picked up the kids after their naps. He made his awesome lasagna (Yes, we had Italian twice in one day), and he helped me take Emily to ballet. This was a blessing because I do not enjoy entertaining an 18 m/o while Emily attends her weekly dance lesson. After ballet, we headed home for cookie cake and candles. It was a really fun day.

NEW STUFF
I did a Southern Living at Home catalog party, and a few gals at work made some purchases. Then, Dee bought me some birthday presents on the sly which were added to the party. SOOOO I was able to get this (free) stuff with relatively little effort....

I think the olive jars look adorable on my piano--they make me happy.

ELECTION
So...are you ready to laugh??? If you are, please keep reading....

On election day, I picked Emily up from school. I checked her folder and found this artwork that she had done earlier in the day...her teacher recorded Emily's description of the drawing....

Click the picture to enlarge if you can't read the writing; trust me, it's worth it!

I just find it completely hilarious that she could have drawn anything, but on this particular day, politics were on her mind.
Apparently, her teacher thought this was so funny that she showed it to all of the other teachers and workers at the school. Thankfully, our kids go to a conservative Baptist school, so no one was upset by it ;-) I'm sure she's not the first Fox News watching, Bill O'Reilly lovin' 3 year old they've ever seen!

On a side note, don't you love how she writes the "E" in her name? And on another side note, after re-reading my post, I realized I used an excessive number of ellipsis. Sorry...if...it...was...annoying...

One Word Meme

2008-11-10T13:31:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the tag Becky and Rebecca! I need to post this already--I've been trying since last week, but unfortunately, last Thursday-Saturday, the stomach virus visited the Trcka household. Thankfully, the germs are gone and everyone’s tummy is back to normal. These were answered yesterday but are not getting posted until now.

TYPE ONLY ONE WORD FOR EACH ANSWER. OH MY HEAVENS...IT'S HARDER THAN YOU THINK!!!

1. Where is your cell phone? chair
2. Your significant other? football
3. Your hair? wet
4. Your mother? example
5. Your father? preacher
6. Your favorite thing? family
7. Your dream last night? forgotten
8. Your favorite drink? tea
9. Your dream/goal? Heaven
10. The room you're in? den
11. Your fear? rodents
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Texas
13. Where were you last night? Waco
14. What you're not? stupid
15. Muffins/donuts? muffins
16. One of your wish list items? lens
17. Where you grew up? Mesquite
18. The last thing you did? shower
19. What are you wearing? jeans
20. Your TV? flat
21. Your pet? Skittles
22. Your computer? necessity
23. Your life? crazy
24. Your mood? happy
25. Missing someone? husband
26. Favorite pastime? photography
27. Something you're not wearing? jewelry
28. Favorite Store? Target
29. Your summer? bliss
30. Your favorite color? pink
31. When is the last time you laughed? today
32. Last time you cried? October
33. Who will/would re-post this? Angela
34. Four places I go over and over? Work, daycare, church, Wal-Mart
35. Four people who e-mail me? Principal, Mom, Trisha, Dawn
36. Four of my favorite foods? Chocolate, shrimp, cantaloupe, enchiladas
37. Four places I would like to be right now? Mexico, date, sleeping, Arkansas
38. Four people I tag? If you haven't done this one yet, I tag YOU...you know who you are :-)

Meet the Flintstones

2008-11-02T16:38:00.000-08:00

Well, our Halloween week is over, and boy, was it exhausting. Now, onto Thanksgiving! I want to warn you in advance that there are lots of pictures below because as usual, I could not narrow my choices.

Emily and Ty were Pebbles and Bamm Bamm for Halloween. I came up with this idea this summer when Ty's hair turned really blond and when we saw how much he likes to hit things with bats, sticks, and even magic wands. The problem would be convincing Emily that she didn't want to be Princess Aurora but Pebbles Flintstone (from a show she's never seen) instead. Well, after lots of youtube Flintstone cartoons, I finally got her excited about the prospect of dressing up like Pebbles. I think her costume turned out really cute. I decorated her shirt, and my MIL made the bone bow. MIL also made Ty's Bamm Bamm costume, but I do have to give myself credit for putting the elastic in!

Pay close attention to Emily's hand in the following photo...

For the first time in his life, he refused to carry his baseball bat. He insisted on bringing his sister's Leap Pad book instead. Don't worry, all is well, he is back to his old bat-toting self now. In fact, the threw a tantrum this morning when I didn't let him take his bat to church.

Since she was such a good sport with not being a princess for Halloween (she dresses up like a princess every day anyway), I let her carry a princess bucket for her goodies.

Don't you LOVE this? What a sweet moment. And yes, I know, Bamm Bamm is losing his strap. And yes, they are also barefoot. Hey, I'm a football widow, I need to simplify my life as much as possible. So if authentic caveman attire means no shoes, that works for me!

We attended a party with our class at church, and we took the kids trick-or-treating together. This is one of Emily's friends dressed as Dorothy. She's following the gray asphalt road...Hee Hee!

The next set of pictures was taken Wednesday night before/during Funival at church. This is before we left, and Emily was SOOOO excited about Funival.

My 2 sweeties. I'm really glad I thought to bring the wagon. Random trivia--a wagon does fit in the trunk of a Camry.

Emily racing another little boy up a climbing wall. And she won (she keeps reminding me).

Ty decorating cookies or should I say licking icing...

And our friend "Dorothy" was decorating cookies, too.

Emily was definitely concentrating on the perfect design.

And Ty was enjoying the fruit of his labor.

What's a Funival without cotton candy???

I sure enjoyed sharing our Halloween adventures; I hope you enjoyed looking. It was lots of fun this year with Ty being old enough to participate!

By the way, I will be a football widow for a few more weeks. We're definitely in the playoffs! Go Roos!

Pumpkin Patch Preview

2008-10-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love alliteration? Dee didn't have to coach or scout last night, so we took the kids to the pumpkin patch. They were actually not too cooperative. But I still managed to capture a few cute ones. I have been editing on and off all morning whenever I can get the kids distracted. Here are 4 of my favorites for a preview in case it takes forever for me to finish the others :-)

The following is probably my favorite picture that I have of the two of them together. It's not a fantastic picture of either one individually, but I like the way they look together.

Hope you enjoyed! I just love fall, and speaking of fall, we will be headed out to a football game when the kids wake up from their naps. Go Roos!

All About Ty

2008-10-20T21:05:00.001-07:00

My baby boy turned 18 months old last week, so yesterday, I took some (actually, I filled my 2 gig memory card) pictures to document his half-birthday. The rest of the post is just a few of my faves. I don't have time for words--grades are due this week ;-) Enjoy!!!

A Meme

2008-10-15T10:52:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by my friend Becky to post on my blog the 6th picture in the 6th folder. I knew it would probably be interesting since I have a lot of pictures. I didn't actually have a 6th picture in my 6th folder. I only had 2. So this is the 4th picture in the 7th folder.

It was from 2005 when I was coaching cross country. I used to take pictures at the meets since the yearbook never came to our meets for photos. Anyway, I found this picture. A SENIOR guy was taking a nap at the Troy HS cross country meet. And he was sucking his thumb!!! I blurred his face since I don't think I'm supposed to post pics of students--this guy graduated a long time ago anyway.

I am suddenly worried about Emily and her thumb-sucking. I've been pretty relaxed about it, and I have the attitude that she'll stop when she's ready (or when other kids start to make fun of her). But now I am having visions of her being 18 years old and still doing it. Yikes!

Now I am going to tag Angela, Christy, and Dawn! Let's see what you ladies come up with!

Emily Says, Ty says

2008-10-07T07:43:00.000-07:00

I don't want my blog to become political, but I do have a funny story about politics. I hope you will find it humorous even if you disagree with my opinion on a certain candidate. Okay, that was the disclaimer. Now here's the story. This happened a few weeks ago, and I've been meaning to write it down.

We were eating lunch, and Dee was watching Fox News. Obama was giving a speech, and the newscasters were discussing it. Emily started repeating what she was hearing on the news, so she was saying "Obama, Obama, Obama, Obama" over and over again.

I decided to start teaching her about our political beliefs at a young age, so I said, "Emily, we don't like Obama."

She said, "Why don't we like him?"

I said, "He wants to take away all of our money. He wants to give our money to other people."

She said, "Oh, okay......like Zacchaeus."

I said, "Yes, Emily, like Zacchaeus. Very good." I was super-proud of her for making that connection, and Kudos to her Bible class teachers.

She said, "Mommy, Zacchaeus was nice after he saw Jesus, and he gave the money back."

I said, "If Mr. Obama takes all of our money away, I hope he will do the same thing."

She said, "Me, too."

Now every time he is on TV, she said "We don't like Obama--he wants to take all of our money."

The funny thing is that I remember my mom and dad telling me the same thing about Walter Mondale when he ran against Reagan. Only I didn't make the Bible story connection, and I was in grade school.

So what about Mr. Ty?

He can now say baseball (bee-ba), football (fu-ba), Handy Manny (Ha-Ma), Shoes (soos) along with the sign, Bible (ba-ba), and Cheese.

Look What I Learned!

2008-09-26T20:54:00.000-07:00

Ever since I have been working so hard this summer to learn the ins and outs of Photoshop, I have been wanting to do some edits to some pictures I took when Ty was 12 days old. I can't go back and re-take the picture now that I actually know how to use the camera, but I can make the pictures I did take look better. This was my favorite picture of the bunch (and there were a bunch). Notice my hand print where I smoothed out the blanket...above his head.

I took monthly pictures of Ty with the bball glove/ball to document his growth through his first year, but this is my favorite out of all 12 months. Here is my photo makeover on this shot....and notice--handprint gone!

In addition to making the blanket more smooth, I fixed the white balance, lightened the picture, smoothed his skin, and ever so slightly darkened the edges. I'm still not done. I want to remove some of the creases at the bottom of the blanket, and I want to remove the characters from his diaper. I was just so happy with the progress I had already made on the picture that I was itching to post it NOW!

He's about to turn 18 months, so it's almost time for another baseball shoot.

Thanks for letting me toot my own horn, but I'm proud of myself for figuring out some of this crazy Photoshop stuff. There's still so much that I need to learn though.

I am almost finished editing photos for a new cruise post. (I know my faithful readers will be waiting on pins and needles. HA!)

Miss Emily

2008-09-22T18:57:00.000-07:00

I am going to interrupt my slow progression of vacation posts to post some photos of Emily. I don't prefer her over Ty, but she's getting to the point that she enjoys having her picture made. She has hit many milestones lately. Of course, there's starting tap/ballet. But that's not the only thing.

Her school is now more "grown-up," and they have a color system for behavior, centers, and slightly more formal instruction. They still get to play and be kids, but their activities are more purposefully designed for learning. And they also go to chapel now. I am really proud of her because she stays on green every day.

If they stay on green all week, they get a prize out of the treasure box. It's all she ever talks about when we leave school..."Mommy, can I get something out of the treasure box today?"

"Not today, Emily, but if you stay on green all week, you can get something Friday."

We have this conversation daily...sometimes, more than once!

At home, she is my little helper. She can help put dishes away, she is actually getting better at cleaning up after herself, and then there's her favorite--helping me cook. We are dealing with the typical 3 year old attitude, but in general, she is a pleasant child.

Another funny thing--she has really caught onto football. She always talks about how the Kangaroos will beat the insert team mascot heres, depending on whoever we are playing. She even remembers their colors. For example, when she was putting on a green shirt, she said, "Mommy, this is green like the Eagles. We don't like the Eagles."

Enough writing...onto the pictures!

This is Em on her first day of dance.

This is Emily playing on her swing set. I've been wanting to try to shoot some sunflare, but this is not exactly how I invisioned it!

She knows in her heart that she is a princess.

She loves having her hair curled for church--I just wish I had the energy to do it more often.

Hope you enjoyed!

Our Vacation Post #6

2008-09-07T12:56:00.000-07:00

Okay, I finally had some downtime since the start of school to finish up some vacation stories. It's a good thing I already did the journaling as we went along because I would have definitely forgotten by now.

As an overall Trcka update, we are in full swing with school and football. The team is 1-1 so far. I am not enjoying my school year too much. Unfortunately, this is due to just one class. My other 4 classes are wonderful, even (surprisingly) one of my Algebra 1 classes. Yes, I got stuck with 2 sections of Algebra 1 this year, and one of those classes is the bane of my existence right now. It's been 6 years since I've had to deal w/ freshmen, and believe me, I did not miss it. I could have lived the rest of my life without teaching algebra 1 ever again. But here I am. Pray for me. Seriously.

Emily loves her new class at daycare. But I just have to update on her newest thing. She loves ABBA songs! Anytime we are in the car, she asks to hear Mamma Mia. And she started ballet/tap.

Ty is pretty much a mess right now. Last week, I had to sign 3 injury notes from his school. He plays so rough and has bumped his head on the wall, a table, and another child. His teacher says if another child is laying on the floor, he will tackle them. And Friday at the football game, he did a face-plant on the track and scraped up his nose pretty bad. But he just keeps truckin' along.

On to the Continuation of the Cruise...

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Today was our "Day at Sea." However, Hurricane Dolly had shaken up the Gulf pretty badly, and we had some pretty choppy seas as a result. I never thought I would get sea sick. Dee and I used to go fishing off the jetties in Galveston all the time, and when that boat was rocking, it never bothered me. But as the day progressed, I started feeling very nauseous. After breakfast, we took Emily to Camp Carnival (YAY!), and we were sort of wandering around the ship trying to figure out what to do with Ty. It was too windy and rainy to go swimming. We were just letting him look out the windows on the Promenade deck when Grammy came by with Carter.

Check out our cute little boys!

My mom and I took the boys to attend a presentation on the different shore excursions available. We found a round booth and used the strollers to block them in, so they could roam and play while we tried to decide what to do in Cozumel. Dee was also making good use of his time. He won nearly $200 playing black jack. Lucky boy! It was during this presentation that my nausea was getting really bad.

We also discovered the video arcade--free entertainment for Ty! You don't even have to put money in those machines. He just likes to drive. We had to pick Emily up for lunch, and this is what she looked like when I got there:

They had obviously been doing a pirate theme for the day. After lunch (the kids ate--I couldn't handle anything), we went back to our stateroom for naps. And I couldn't sleep because I felt so bad. Dee was even starting to feel bad at this point, and he basically grew up going out on boats. He's the last person I ever thought would get sea sick, but it was extremely rocky. He found some of those sea bands, and as soon as I put them on, I immediately felt better. It was a miracle. They never worked that well during pregnancy, so I didn't expect them to work so quickly. Then we were able to nap along with the kiddos. We decided naps would be much-needed since our main fun time was after 10 p.m. when we could get babysitting for both kids.

This was the formal night for dinner. I loved dressing the kids up, and I loved letting Emily get a chance to learn about manners in a formal setting. Here she is buttering her roll. This occupied her for quite a while.

We loved this dinner! We realized that you didn't have to pick just one appetizer, just done entree, just one dessert. I can still taste the lobster! And Dee had shrimp, steak, and lobster. They gave us this sun-dried tomato bread while we were waiting. I wish I had that recipe. I love how the servers all knew what we wanted to drink. And the women servers at my parent's table really loved Ty and Carter. They paid lots of attention to them.

I did not take these but stole them from my mom's facebook, and I photoshopped them. I hope you don't mind, Mom!

My baby sister Christy and her hubby Collin:

My parents:

My only bro Brandon and his wife Joy:

My younger sister Amy with her hubby Ben and their son Carter:

Who are these people? There's actually a picture of me being posted!

I really had been dreaming of taking sunset pictures of every family in their formal attire. But that's not going to happen when it's rainy, cloudy, and windy outside. Since the inside decks were crowded with people lining up for formal pictures from the ship photographers, we found ourselves a little spot to at least document that we were all dressed up. We did not get the best family photo of our lives.

For some reason, I decided to leave the red eyes in this photo. Why? It adds to the effect--just look how our kids are acting! I also left the reflection of my bro-in-law in the window because it reminds me how crazy it was trying to take pictures of everyone. Shortly after this photo was taken, Emily was dropped off at Camp Carnival for princess crown making.

When we got back to our room, this is what we found:

The kids really enjoyed playing with the towel animal--it was like a stuffed animal toy to them. After taking Emily to Camp, Dee, Ty, and I just relaxed and watched the news in our stateroom until we were able to take Ty to babysitting at 10. We just wanted to go look at the water and talk, but we couldn't find a good spot. My brother had told me about a deck that not a lot of people knew about that he and Joy had found, so we went looking for it. It was pitch black outside, but we could see there were some people laying down looking at what would have been stars if it weren't so cloudy. We walked to the other side of those weirdos and talked for a while. As we started to make our way back inside, I realized those weirdos were Brandon and Joy, and I realized that my mom and Amy were standing looking over the water as well. It was so dark that we hadn't even seen them.

Later, we all enjoyed the midnight buffet! Again, these are my mom's. They open up early for picture-taking, but Dee and I just showed up for the food part.

You can actually watch them do the ice sculptures the afternoon before, but I was feeling too sick for anything like that.

DESSERTS!!!

I have to say that aside from the cheese and fruit, I thought the buffet food was gross. I'm not a fan of sushi or of cold meat, but if you are, you might have enjoyed it. We couldn't even recognize what most of the food was. The desserts, however, were very recognizable and very delicious. We ended up sitting by an AP science teacher from south Texas, so Dee and I had a great conversation with her.

After the buffet, it was time to pick up the kids and time to go to sleep! Sometime during the night, I realized we were no longer moving and rocking, so I assumed we had arrived in Progresso, Mexico. After being in port for a day, I think the remnants of the storm moved off, and we didn't have sea sick problems when we set sail again.

Hopefully, my next installment doesn't take as long to post. You will get to hear all about our day in Progresso! I know, I know, I know--you must be super-excited ;-) Hopefully, it doesn't take a month for me to post because I have some adorable photos I need to show off!

Our Vacation Post #5

2008-08-15T12:13:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I know I am a slacker. But I have been trying to make my last week home with the kids a really special week. And at night, I have been neglecting my computer and watching the Olympics instead. I think the Macs are starting to get hurt feelings. But trust me, I will have plenty of downtime next week as I sit through lovely faculty meetings and training.

Monday, July 21, 2008

What a pleasant morning we had! It all began with a little dance act by Miss Emily and her new feather boa. I would have felt sorry for the housekeepers due to all of the feathers we left behind, but we were too frustrated with the hotel at this point.

We took the kids out for breakfast to Mother's which was right next door to our hotel. We got there just in time to get the early bird special, too. It is definitely a "greasy spoon" type of establishment, but that's how I like my breakfast. After breakfast, we returned to our room, dressed everyone for embarkation (I had purchased special outfits for the kids a YEAR ago), and found we had an hour to kill. So I did what any mom with a camera would do. I took the kids to the lobby for a pre-cruise photo shoot. As it turns out, I am glad I took these pictures because I didn't really get any other pictures of the kiddos on this day. As you can imagine, boarding a ship with 2 little ones does not leave free time (or hands) for picture-taking.

There was a really cool mirror coffee table in the lobby. I love these!

Funny story about Emily (so I don't forget it). There was a convention taking place at our hotel, and two of the attendees walked by Emily while I was taking pictures. One of the women made a comment about "all these little girls and their bows...it must be a Southern thing." So we started talking about mommies, daughters, and accessories. She walked over to Emily and said "What is your name, princess?"

Without missing a beat, Emily replied, "Briar Rose." For those of you not up-to-date on your Disney princess stories, Briar Rose is the name that the fairies give to Sleeping Beauty when they take her to hide in the woods. What shocked me is that the lady said to me "Did she say Briar Rose?" I couldn't believe she understood what Emily said! Well, as it turns out, her 6 year old daughter also loves the movie Sleeping Beauty. She got a kick out of Emily's response.

After the princess conversation, Emily decided to do a little catching up on periodicals.

And we can't forget Mr. Ty!

I have to say that the W redeemed themselves by comping our parking when we checked out. With all of the inconveniences we had the day we checked in, I didn't feel like the free, nasty room service quite made up for it. But refunding $90 worth of parking was quite nice. It has also kept me from writing a terrible review of the establishment.

Before heading to the terminal (we had some time to kill), I had Dee drive us around the French Quarter. He still hadn't seen Jackson Square or Bourbon Street. I didn't want to get out and go for a walk, but I felt that he at least needed to see it.

As we were waiting in a line of cars to park in the parking garage, Emily kept talking about the HUGE boat and a roller coaster. I was just kinda nodding and saying "yes, that's right" because I had no idea what roller coaster she was talking about. Then, as we started to ascend the spiral ramp up to the parking, she got giggly and excited. Apparently, she had seen this ramp while we were waiting in line or perhaps the day before when we drove to the terminal just to be sure we knew where to go. She thought the ramp was a roller coaster! For the rest of the time as we unloaded and waited to board, she kept talking about how the boat is going to be really huge. I loved how excited she was. It makes it worth all the hassle of bringing her ;-)

My biggest words of advice for people going on a cruise--TAKE YOUR CHILDREN--or at least borrow somebody else's while you stand in line. Put a baby doll in a stroller; trust me, it will save you time. We got to cut most of the long lines and go through VIP check-in. It was extremely fast and convenient.

We ate lunch as we waited to set sail. Then, we headed to our room for a little downtime before the safety drill. The safety drill was not a fun aspect of our trip. We hadn't expected it to be. But the kids did get nifty little bracelets to wear in case they were separated from us.

After the drill, we headed to the top deck as we took off down the Mississippi. It was extremely hot and windy. I was too nervous having the kids up there, so we didn't hang out very long. I also took no pictures because I was too busy holding my children to hold a camera. This was the theme of the day. I was a nervous wreck that the wind was just going to blow one of my little ones overboard. Just so you know that I was not over-reacting about the wind (okay, maybe a little), I stole this from my mom's facebook. This is my brother, his wife, my littlest sister, and her husband. It was VERY windy.

Dee and I spent the rest of the day counting down until 10 p.m. when Camp Carnival would open for the first time. We were dying to have the kids safely in the babysitting room while we explored more of the ship. Dinner was a fun affair. Everyone in our family was sitting at two tables, side by side. I enjoyed my shrimp, soup, and steak. I had something chocolate for dessert, and this was the only night that I didn't eat the molten chocolate cake. My kids ate macaroni and cheese with vanilla ice cream for dessert. If I had $22 to spend for each picture, I would show you the many cute photographs that the cruise photographer took of Ty eating every night. I kinda just let him make a mess because it kept him occupied. But we decided not to purchase them.

Before we knew it, it was time to get the kids in their PJs and take them to babysitting. We attended a show and walked around the ship. Dee won around $60 playing blackjack. When we picked up the kids, they were laying side-by-side on the floor sleeping. They were snuggled up on some blankets and pillows. It was just too cute! We decided this babysitting is a GREAT thing!

The question of the night was also answered. Hurricane Dolly was ahead of us, and we learned that we wouldn't have anything to worry about as far as our trip or ports of call being interrupted.

I've been tagged

2008-08-08T08:21:00.000-07:00

My friend Jennifer put this on her blog and tagged me to do the same. I know I am way behind on vacation blogging, but I've been trying to spend lots of time having fun with the kids before school starts. I figured I could do this post to make a quick update.

ABC’s

A. Attached or Single? Attached

B. Best Friend? My husband, Dee

C. Cake or Pie? Cake, cake, cake--chocolate cake with chocolate icing

D. Day of choice? Most definitely Saturday

E. Essential item? Well, it's so hard to choose between my computer, my camera, and my phone...so I guess I will go with my Blackberry since it has the capability of being any of the above-listed items.

F. Favorite color? Pink--and I liked pink before it was cool to like pink--I actually remember the exact moment. I was coloring with my neighbor's grandaughter, and it was the first time I saw a pink crayon. I was wowed--it was love at first sight!

G. Gummy bears or worms? Bears, but not a generic brand.

H. Home town? Mesquite, TX

I. Favorite indulgence? Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino from Starbucks

J. January or July? July--I love the heat, the summer, the fireworks, the cookouts...I could go on and on

K. Kids? A princess and a bulldozer whose names are Emily and Ty

L. Life isn’t complete without? My Heavenly Father! I have to honestly say that my first thought was my kids' belly laughs--I mean when they are really cracking up. But that wouldn't be possible without my first answer, now would it?

M. Marriage date? June 7, 2003

N. Number of brothers and sisters? Okay, here goes...I am the oldest...then I have 2 sisters and a brother, but not in that order. It goes Amy (married to Ben with 1 y/o son Carter), Brandon (married to Joy with 4 m/o Claira), and Christy aka Wedgey (married to Collin, no kids yet).

O. Oranges or Apples? Navel oranges, YUM, no seeds!

P. Phobias? pretty much any rodent, mice, rats, gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs...I would rather run into a rattlesnake than a rat, seriously

Q. Quotes? This probably makes me a huge dork, but it's from "Psalm of Life" by Longfellow

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

R. Reasons to smile? Reading to my kids, especially when I am reading Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton to Ty, and he kisses me every time it says kiss. Or if I'm reading You're My Little Lovebug by Heidi R. Weimer to Emily, and she knows when every kiss or tickle is coming because I have to do it the same way every time.

S. Season of choice? I'm a teacher, so that's easy--summer!

T. Tag 4 people: Christy , Angela , Joy , Dawn

U. Unknown fact about me? In light of the fact that today is 08.08.08, I will admit a sort of obsession of mine. I love cool dates, numbers, and palindromes. When I get an answer to a math problem that is a palindrome (same forward and backward such as 181 or 1001), I get so excited deep down inside. When I was a teen, I always wanted to name my daughter Hannah because it is spelled the same forward and backward, but it didn't sound right with my married name. So my friend Angela used that name for me :-)

My birthday is 11.11.77, and I love it! I love doubles! I also get a kick when the time is 11:11. Imagine how excited I was when I turned 11 on 11.11.88! And 22 on 11.11.99!!! And imagine how bummed I am that when I turn 33, 44, etc, the year won't be the same two numbers anymore :-(

Also, I love that my anniversary is June 7 or 06.07. Emily's due date was March 3, or 03.03, so I was kinda bummed out that she wasn't born on that date. And Ty was due May 6 which would have been a cool 05.06, but I was hoping for May 5, so he could be 05.05. He didn't cooperate and get a cool birthday either!

V. Vegetable? Sweet Potatoes

W. Worst habit? Picking and biting my fingernails...with 13+ years in piano lessons, I got used to short nails, and if they start to get too long, and I don't have a nail file, I have to (it's really a compulsion) right that second, get them shorter, somehow. I had WEEKLY manicures and a lot of encouragement from Lynn at Lynn's Nail and Lash in Killeen in order to achieve my goal of pretty hands for my wedding day. But I don't have time or money for that now, so the bad habit is back!

X. Xray or ultrasound? Ultrasound, does anyone actually choose xray for this one?

Y. Your favorite food? Fresh, gulf shrimp, I could eat it every day

Z. Zodiac sign - Scorpio--even though I don't really buy into horoscopes, I have been told by some who do that my personality is truly Scorpio-like

Update on Dee, Emily says, and Fish

2008-08-04T13:41:00.000-07:00

I need to document a few things, so I am going to interrupt my vacation posting for a moment. This has to be a record--I am doing 2 posts in less than an hour!

First of all, Dee saw the pulmonologist this morning, and he will be off of steroids in 3 months! He will be tapering down his dose for the remaining time. Then, in 6 months, they hope to have him off of his other medication. The steroids have caused some crazy things such as never-ending hunger and blood sugar craziness. Dee is extremely happy to be near the end of using them. Thanks to everyone who has prayed for Dee during this time. And thanks to God for answering those prayers!

Secondly, this is just a cute thing Emily said the other night. We were stopped at a traffic light, and a couple in a convertible pulled up next to us. Emily looked at the car for a few seconds and then she said "If they are going to the car wash, they need to put their lid on first." So true, so true. But I wonder what made her think of that.

Finally, I took the kids to the Waco zoo on Friday, and we were lingering in the aquarium because of the air conditioning. Ty was staring in wonder at the aquarium that took an entire wall. He looked, pointed, and said "fis" without being prompted. He has never said that word before, and he has never said a brand new word all by himself without us saying it first. He even said it again and made a fishy face with his mouth. Such a big boy!

Our Vacation Post #4

2008-08-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Well, here is one great thing about the W--the lighting! Their lobby is full of funky furnishings and is surrounded by windows. When I woke up Sunday morning, I was still livid (and hungry) from the night before. But when we left our hotel room and walked out of the elevators into the lobby, the beautiful natural light took my breath away. So while Dee got directions from the concierge, I took some pictures of Emily.

The concierge recommended Camellia Grill, and we loved it. This was my 3rd trip to New Orleans, so I wasn't too concerned with seeing any specific sights; Dee had never been. This restaurant is away from downtown and the French Quarter, so it gave Dee a chance to see the Garden District, and the kids got to see some street cars. In the Camellia Grill, you sit on stools at a counter, your waiter takes your order, yells to the cooks, and they are cooking right behind the counter, so you get to watch. Think of a Waffle House...only better. The waiters , who are dressed in bow ties, are very friendly and showy, and great with the kids. A high chair can actually be placed over the bar stool, so Ty was totally secure and just enjoyed watching the show. We only waited about 10 minutes for a seat because in New Orleans, people don't go out for breakfast at 9 a.m. on Sunday (they are still sleeping off the effects of the previous night's events).

Dee and I love aquariums. If we are visiting a city with an aquarium, we go there. We have been to aquariums in Dallas, Tampa, Vegas, San Antonio (at Sea World) and Galveston. So, of course, our next stop was the Aquarium of the Americas. It is a fabulous aquarium, but I have to honestly say that I think Moody Gardens in Galveston is just as good. They are actually very similar in their exhibits. So my point is, if you were going to travel to NOLA just for the aquarium, and I don't know anyone who would actually do that, I would just as soon go to Moody Gardens because it's closer.

I totally should have done some reading on taking photos at aquariums. The lighting is super-tricky, and I really had no idea what I was doing.

About this turtle, he started swimming and pooping soon after I took this picture. Emily got a kick out of watching Mr. Turtle relieve himself. In fact, if you ask her what she saw at the aquarium, she will probably tell you that she saw a turtle pooping.

I had to do some major convincing to get Emily to take a look at the alli-gay-lor. She was convinced she was going to get eaten. Now, if an alligator is mentioned, she asks me if it is behind the glass or not. If it is behind the glass, she is fine with it.

I didn't even see this little guy hiding until my 3 y/o pointed it out to me. Hello Mr. eel!

They also have a rain forest area. It's hot and humid in there (kinda like a rain forest would be). You can climb up stairs and walk across some bridges where you are above everything. I took Emily up there, and she really liked it. She actually asked me to take pictures of her, and then she made some strange faces.

As we walked down the stairs, there is a little cave to climb in. And here we are again with the strange facial expressions.

Emily was then granted a turn to pet a snake. She was so not afraid to touch him!

On a side note that has nothing to do with our trip--this picture is a perfect example of a DSLR camera not making the right choices in automatic. I used automatic because I had to take this picture quick and didn't have time to meter or change my settings. The fact that she was half in shade and half in sun threw everything off, especially the white balance. This is the picture straight off of the camera with no photoshop. I will need to fix the coloring in photoshop later. I just wanted to make this comment because I think trckatalk has many readers who are DSLR owners, and it can be extremely frustrating when the camera makes the wrong choices. But it happens to everyone!

The plants in the rain forest were beautiful.

After heading back inside, we found an amazing toddler play area. There was a huge aquarium on the wall, a pirate ship, and turtle and clam sculptures for the kids to play on. I gave Ty a break from the stroller while Dee took Emily to the touch areas. She got to touch a sting ray and a shark. Aside from the pooping turtle, this was her favorite part.

I do not like one child over the other. It's just that Emily is at the age that she will sit still for a photo, and Ty just wiggles and climbs all over. So therefore, you will now see Emily in a shark's mouth and Emily on a turtle (don't worry--neither are real).

Look how happy Ty is...

...to have a big sister who loves him so much!

As we left, Dee let the kids pick out a stuffed animal at the gift shop. Em chose a pink (of course) sea horse who she named Baby Aurora but later re-named Starwishes, and Ty chose a blue turtle who he dropped when we were walking through the Riverwalk to find a place to eat lunch. Fortunately, some nice people found it and tracked us down to tell us where it was. After lunch, it was back to the hotel for naps, and after naps, it was swimming in our hotel pool which is located on the roof of the parking garage. Ty impressed everyone with his skills. He can swim under water from me to Dee.

By this time, most of my family had arrived, so we met up for dinner. We ate at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and enjoyed a meal together. While we were waiting for a table, my mom took Emily into the little gift shops next door. It was a little princess' paradise with the feather boas, beads, and masks.

The funny thing is that NO ONE brought their camera! We walked to the restaurant from our hotel, so we didn't want to bring the camera. I thought surely my mom or my sisters would bring their cameras. They thought the same thing about me. So no pics of this meal.

After dinner, we took a walk down by the river. Then, it was time to head back to our hotels to get plenty of rest for the big day on Monday. Dee used a duvet to rig up a canopy around Ty's crib, so that we could stay up organizing what needed to go on the boat and what didn't. The funny thing is it actually worked, and he stayed fast asleep. Ty definitely had some strange sleeping situations on this trip.

Our Vacation Post #3

2008-07-31T18:19:00.001-07:00

Saturday, July 19, 2008

We had a delicious breakfast at our hotel. We had an easy trip from there to New Orleans; this should have been our warning that something bad was about to happen. Ty napped when we needed him to. Emily didn’t nap, but she can survive without one. We did have some getting lost issues in New Orleans because the GPS told us to exit too early. There were no exit numbers or street signs on the exit or the next several streets. So we had gone several blocks before we knew that we were going the wrong way. We eventually found the Louisiana Children’s Museum in spite of the messed up GPS, lack of street signs, and the rain!

I would definitely recommend this museum for any families traveling to NOLA. They had a toddler play area with things for them to climb on, ride-on toys, slides, etc. Dee took the following pictures of Ty having a blast. This is Ty in action--he is definitely a busy boy!

I look at this photo and think of my little brother when he was a kid.

And this face is Ty's signature look lately.

There was a little room decorated just like the room in Goodnight Moon. You may recognize the painting on the wall if your kids like that book as much as mine do. Ty was taking a little break in the rocking chair.

That about sums up the toddler area other than a huge library that took up an entire wall, surrounded by cushy bean bags for the kiddos to do some reading.

While Ty was playing there, Emily got to go to a pretend grocery store and “shop.” Some children were play shopping, and other children were pretending to be the cashiers. They had little metal grocery carts, working cash registers, and aprons for the children (pretending to be cashiers) to wear. Emily made me laugh with the items she chose to “purchase.” She bought 1 bottle of water, 1 gallon of milk, a crab, crab boil, a kid’s cuisine, a fish, a gallon of ice cream, eggs, cereal, and graham crackers. She paid pretend money to the girl that rang her up, and that little girl gave her pretend change. She told Emily her total was 21.83 and gave her 15.00 in pretend change. Wow! My little Em is a bargain shopper! It was funny because both the girl playing the cashier's role and Emily were calling each other ma'am. And since Dee had the camera, I don't have any pictures of this play area.

They had a bubble station where the kids could blow a huge bubble up around themselves. Emily said this was her favorite. This is her Daddy helping her form a big bubble all around her body. I couldn't back up far enough to get the actual bubble in the picture (it was very crowded at this activity), so she is standing in the middle of a large tire that has been sliced open. There is bubble solution in the tire, and a gray hula hoop-type thing is laying in the bubble solution in the open tire. There is a rope attached to the gray hula hoop, and her Daddy is pulling on the rope which raises the hoop which pulls the bubble solution around the child. Clear as mud, huh?

Then, they had a restaurant where the parents sit down and the children pretend to be waiters, hosts, cooks, and even bus boys. Emily gave us our menus, took our orders, and brought me a hot dog and a slice of melon. She brought her Dad 2 slices of pizza. She brought her brother a hamburger and ice cream cone (all plastic food). You can see what cramped quarters the little cooks were working in. Emily has actually squeezed herself in under a taller girl.

I believe this was sweet tea that she was pouring!

After serving us, she sat down and asked me to bring her some lunch.

She was looking over the menu.

Note to self: Teach Emily to drink pretend drinks without actually putting her mouth on a cup that has been played with by hundreds of children.

I guess we can call this Emily's signature look. I cringe any time I am trying to take a photo, and some well-meaning individual says SMILE because this is what you will get.

Although he can not verbalize his thoughts, I am pretty sure that Ty's favorite part were the many cars, boats, firetrucks, etc. scattered throughout. He jumps at any chance to "drive." I promise he was having more fun than what it looks like!

They had an area that was decorated just like Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. They had his door to walk into, the bench to change your shoes, the trolley, castle, tree, everything. Both kid enjoyed playing here for a while, and we loved playing with them in this area, too. In fact, we were so busy playing that no one took any pictures here.

Those are the main highlights of the children’s museum. This is also where our lovely family vacation takes a turn for the worse. We arrived at our hotel, the W New Orleans, and valet parked our car (required, $29/day). We unloaded all of our stuff and headed into the very crowded lobby where I tried to keep the kiddos interested in some Chex mix. Dee waited in a long line and was told that none of the rooms were ready (this is why the lobby was so crowded). They would not give an estimated time for this to be complete and said they could lock up our items while we go out for a while. Keep in mind, we had arrived an hour past "check-in time." Here we are, stuck, without a car, with 2 kids (one of whom has not had a nap), in New Orleans.

My thought was when you are paying over $30/day for parking if you include tips, why couldn't the valet give us a heads-up that we weren't going to be able to check in just yet before we gave up our car. It MIGHT have been helpful if he had suggested that we go out for ice cream or an early dinner first. Sure, we could have gotten our car back out of parking, but that would have meant more tipping of the valets. I sure hope that this is not why they didn't inform us of the situation when we pulled in.

We ventured out with Ty in the stroller and nap-less Emily walking. We found a mall, and both kids behaved wonderfully as we roamed around bored because it was a super-fancy mall with super-fancy stores and super-fancy marble floors. I didn’t really want to go in any stores being that I had been in a car for 3 hours and played at the museum for 2 hours. I was in my travel clothes, the kids were in their grungies, Emily’s hair was falling, and Ty had crumbs on his face. I had my bulging diaper bag, and no, I did not feel like going into Coach or Saks 5th Avenue in that condition. We walked around for 90 minutes before heading back to the hotel.

Our room was still not ready (nor was anyone else’s—the lobby was full of angry, waiting people). We waited 30 minutes in the lobby (the kids had been good for so long and were now starting to lose it), and Dee asked the receptionists “What are we supposed to do?” They gave us a comp for the restaurant, so we headed in there. Okay, lots of white linens and candles. Not so sure this is the place for us. With a screaming Ty, mad because we wouldn’t let him play with the knife, and not being waited on for 10 minutes, we left. Dee asked the concierge for the number to the Holiday Inn. Ironically, our room became available as Dee was on the phone about to book us a room there. It’s a good thing for the W because I was about to stop making my kids act right and just allow them to run wild in the fancy lobby. Maybe that would have made them get our room ready a little faster. So 2 ½ hours later, we are finally in our room!!!

So much for our plans for cleaning up and taking the kids out for seafood. We were not about to attempt eating out with the mood our children were in, so we decided to use our $100 comp to order room service. I knew it was going to be bad when our orders came to us with burned fries. For 3 grilled cheese sandwiches, a burger, a cup of French onion soup, 2 glasses of milk, and 2 cokes, it was $98.00. Let me just say it was so nasty, I couldn’t force myself to eat it. The kids’ grilled cheese sandwiches were good, but mine (made with some fancy cheeses and stuff) was horrible. I’ve never had bad French onion soup…until tonight. And my Dr. Pepper was watered down due to melting ice. Dee hated his hamburger as well.

So the bright side was that our kids thought eating in our room was way cool, and the lighting was beautiful for photos!

So just in case you've never noticed, Dee and Ty look kinda sorta similar!

Talk about some tired eyes!

This is what a $12.00 grilled cheese and fries plate looks like.

And this is what a tired but hungry 3 year old looks like.

And this is what the nastiest meal I've ever not eaten looks like.

Surely nothing else could go wrong. Well, when they brought us our bags (they wouldn't let us get them ourselves from the "secure area"), they didn’t bring our portable DVD player, so we had to listen to Emily whine because we had been promising a movie, but all of our movies were in the DVD player case. It took them over an hour to bring us our DVD player and almost 3 hours to bring our crib.

Did I mention that internet costs $14/day here, it's not even wireless, and we did all web browsing from a crummy wireless signal we picked up from somewhere else because we were not going to give this hotel one penny more than we have already given them. Note to self #2: Don't let husband book family hotels on hotels dot com anymore.

I promise we actually had fun on our vacation despite "The W," Dolly, and an oil spill. My next post should be more upbeat! And shorter!

Our Vacation Post #2

2008-07-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone will excuse me while I spend a few days recording the memories of our family vacation (since this is basically my virtual scrapbook).

Friday, July 18, 2008

We had such a great drive to Lafayette, LA. We had all week to get everything organized and ready, and we got on the road by 9:30 a.m. We stopped at the Visitor’s Center after crossing the LA border, and Emily saw an alligator warning sign. She became very afraid that an alli-gay-lor is going to try to eat her. She was NOT happy here (because of the alli-gay-lors) and had to be bribed to stand here long enough for Mommy to take a picture.

She was somewhat confused as to why we didn’t immediately get on a big boat when we were in Louisiana. I have been trying to explain to her for weeks about how we are going to stay in one hotel in Lafayette, then go to New Orleans and stay in another hotel 2 nights. Then, we will wake up and get on the big boat. I have tried every way I can think of to help illustrate this to her, but nothing has worked. Oh, well, I guess she’ll understand when it happens ☺

This is Dee with the kids at the LA welcome center. It was not exactly gorgeous lighting, but I had to record E & T's first steps in Sportsman's Paradise! Can I give the welcome center props for having a Family Restroom?

Our hotel, Courtyard by Marriot, was perfect. They had a pack-n-play, heated indoor pool, breakfast buffet (kids were free). They also referred us to a yummy restaurant, Lafayette's. We ate a delicious seafood dinner. I had blackened redfish covered in their award-winning crawfish etouffee sauce. It was served over garlic-parmesan roasted potatoes. YUM!

When we returned to the hotel after dinner, we took the kids for a quick swim to wear them out and proceeded to try to get everyone to sleep. This did not go well until we came up with the idea to put Ty to sleep in the pack-n-play in the bathroom. Surely we can not be the first family to put the baby or toddler to sleep in the bathroom when they can’t fall asleep in the hotel room with everyone else! It worked nicely, but we had to use the bathroom by the exercise room which fortunately, was not very far down the hall.

Now if only the rest of our little trip had been this smooth (I am closing with a teaser, so that you will be wondering day and night until my next post, what exactly happened once the Trckas got to New Orleans).

Our Vacation Post #1

2008-07-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

Well, many of my future posts are already typed up due to journaling while on the trip. However, the pictures are not edited yet to go with them. I will start with a post from the night before we left since there is no photo.

And yes, we did have to ride on a bus from Mobile, AL to New Orleans, LA...at noon...with the kids...who had not had lunch...not in a car seat...but thank you LORD they slept

Thursday, July 17, 2008

When I went to check on Emily around 10:45 p.m., I noticed a bunch of “stuff” on her bed. After taking a closer look, I realized that it was ALL of the clothes out of her drawers. Some were packed in her princess backpack, some were packed in her baby doll diaper bags, and the rest were just piled on top of her. Furthermore, she had removed her pajamas and was wearing her nice, dry clean only, silk dupioni dress that she wore to a wedding last fall.

I tried to take off the dress and put on her PJs without waking her, but I was unsuccessful. While I was changing her, Dee was putting her clothes up. She was very distressed and started to cry and become very annoyed. Here is the conversation that followed:

Me: Why are you crying?

E: Daddy, I need those clothes. Stop putting them up.

Me: Why do you need those clothes?

E: I need to take them to the ho-tay-ul (hotel). I will need something to wear when we are on bay-cation (vacation).

Me: Emily, I have already packed your clothes.

E (sobbing): No, you didn’t Mommy. Daddy, don’t put those up. We need to take them with us.

Me: Emily, don’t you remember the special red dress, red skirt, blue dress, blue skirt that we bought for you to wear on the big boat? I have packed all of it into your purple suitcase, and I promise you will have clothes to wear on our trip. We need to leave these at home.

Emily was so tired, she gave up the fight and went back to bed. I think it was pretty obvious that she was extremely excited about our trip! So were we. This is why I had packed her clothes on Monday, so the poor baby had probably forgotten by Thursday and was worried that she wouldn't have any clothes to wear on our trip.

More to come as I get pictures edited.

I am too tired to think of a title

2008-07-27T01:24:00.001-07:00

If you want to know why we got off of our ship at 11:00 a.m. Saturday and didn't get home until 2:05 a.m. Sunday, click here.

4th of July Finally

2008-07-17T13:14:00.001-07:00

Before we leave for our trip, I needed to get caught up on blogging. The main thing I needed to post were pictures from our time at Dee's sister's house over July 4. I had so much fun relaxing by the pool, shopping, and of course, taking pictures. Since I am posting a ridiculous amount of pictures, I will stop writing and let you look!

Mr. Ty had so much fun in the pool.

Here he is showing off what he learned in swimming lessons. He is holding onto the side all by himself.

My niece is such a ham anytime I get my camera out!

And this niece is too!

We went to the park across the street (literally 20 yds from the house) and popped poppers. Emily was concentrating very hard on this.

Ty was helping to sweep up everyone's mess.

With so many cousins around, someone is always looking after Ty.

The girls had so much fun on the swings.

Ty just had fun exploring the playground. But a scary thing--I was distracted for a minute taking the above swinging pictures, and I looked up and saw him standing at the top of the slide. He had climbed up there in no time. I did not stop to take a picture. I rushed to be there to spot him in case he fell. But he didn't--his cousin helped him slide down. But I have a serious climber on my hands. This is new territory for me as Emily did not climb too much.

Isn't she precious?

Dee and Ty had fun learning about basketball. I want to point something out that you may not notice otherwise. The blurry figure sitting and watching on the bench in the background is Dee's dad. I love that he is watching his son play with his grandson.

Unfortunately, after this lesson, he now tries to throw balls or other round objects into garbage cans, toilets, or any other open container.

This is the oldest cousin on Dee's side. She just got her permit!

My husband playing basketball--I HAD to document this.

I am in love with these pictures of my FIL with his dog Abigail.

And even more in love with this one!

These were all taken the next day when my nieces begged me to take more pictures of them (it did not take much convincing). So I dressed them all up and took them back to the park. I knew better than to tell the 3 girls to look at me and smile or say cheese. I just let them sit and talk while I "got the camera ready."

Then it was time for individuals. This is one of my favorites that I have of Emily ever!

As the girls were getting restless, but the lighting was still beautiful, I stole some flowers from SIL's kitchen table. This re-energized the bunch, and I love the results.

I have been dying to get a photo that shows of Em's long lashes. Finally!

Now it's time to go!

Thanks for looking. The next post will be vacation related :-)

Out on the Town

2008-07-13T17:34:00.000-07:00

Friday night, I got a much needed break from the usual. I got to go to Austin to celebrate my college roomie's 30th Bday. We had quite the night out on the town. Here is the bday girl, the old fart. If you knew her at HU, you would not believe how hot she looks now. A girl can say that about another girl, right? Our old khaki-wearing, chem lab living Darla was showing off her amazing legs and having a blast. I got onto her for not meeting me earlier (before the sun went down) because I needed to "shoot" her. She looked AMAZING. She was definitely not within Harding's dress code ;-) Somehow I managed to get this fab candid even though it was taken in some lounge/restaurant/bar place. I'm not sure the technical name for the establishment, but it was really dark in there.

Happy Birthday to an amazing woman, mommy, and friend.

And to all of the other mommies out there, I hope that you get to take a night off every so often. I have obviously been away from my kids overnight, and Dee and I have gone away together, but I have never left the kids overnight for just me to go do something purely frivolous. It was divine!!!

An Interesting Conversation

2008-07-09T16:57:00.001-07:00

I know I don't normally post this often, but I am trying to keep myself awake right now. I just took a Vicodin, and I am home w/ Ty who is pigging out on a hamburger, fries, and nilla wafers. The reason for the Vicodin is the lovely kidney stone that I was diagnosed with this afternoon. What a fun day! I am seriously about to fall asleep, so I am standing up and typing. Dee should be back with Emily soon. He took her to rent some movies in case I need some "babysitting" tomorrow.

So here's the conversation I had with Emily today. She was riding around on Ty's red ride-on car. She had a toy cell phone and a green maraca in the trunk of the car. The cell phone made sense to me, but I asked her why she needed this as I held up the maraca. Her reply was "Put that back, Mommy, there's blood in there."

*Insert mild panic attack by me wondering what kind of warped child I have raised*

Me: Why is there blood in there?

Emily: It's princess blood

Me: Where did you get it? (hoping for a non-violent answer)

Emily: (said very matter-of-factly) From Target--I got the princess blood at Target

I left it at that. She played with the princess blood all morning.

Then she proceeded to fill our entry way with pillows, blankets, books, and pajamas. I asked her why she was getting all of this stuff out of her room.

Emily: I am getting ready for my friends to spend the night with me.

Me: Oh, really. When are they going to be here?

Emily: In a few minutes. They are on the road right now.

On the road? Where did she learn that?

Me: Who is coming?

Emily: Kylie, Macey (both her cousins), Makenna (church friend), Emma, Izabella (daycare friends), Kelsey (baby at church), Kel-sell-ee (no idea), and Landry (baby at church)

She welcomed each and every friend to her home. Then she played with them for about 30 minutes. It was really cute. So any of those girls' mommies who may be reading this, your girls had a great time in our entryway this morning. Even the babies. Just thought you'd want to know ;-)

So this is Emily Monday night with all of her loot from Chuck E Cheese. She had over 300 tickets that her Daddy won for her. Well, let me give credit where credit is due--she probably won 15 of them herself. I thought she'd go for the magic wand or lipstick pen with pad of paper compact. But she wanted the Fun Dip. Nasty. I never liked it. It took about 10 minutes for me and the prize lady to convince her that she can have the Fun Dip AND lots of other stuff, too. The Fun Dip only cost about 40 tickets. The prize lady finally laid a bunch of girly prizes out and said pick what else you want until she had reached her limit. She got a ponytail holder, 2 rings, fake ear rings, and a bracelet. She wanted to wear all of it and eat her Fun Dip. I made her eat it outside.

And this is Emily's pedicure. When we were in Allen, my SILs and MIL and I took the 3 youngest girl cousins to get pedicures. The mommies got full spa pedicures including hot stones. The little girls got their toe nails painted. Emily and I got flowers on our big toes, so we could "match." She is very proud of her toes.

I am seriously about to drop. I think I hear my hubby pulling up. Yay! It seems that every post lately includes some type of health problem. I don't know what the deal is. We are normally a healthy family. Here's hoping that things get back to normal really soon!

Milestones

2008-07-07T22:01:00.000-07:00

We're back! I just needed to pat myself on the back for being gone for 10 days with my kiddos. We all survived and had a wonderful time. After getting a chest xray and a good report from Ty's doctor, we headed off to Arkansas. By we, I mean Emily, Ty, and me. By ourselves. In the car. From Temple, TX to Searcy, AR.

I normally try not to write fragments, but I wanted you to understand the drama in the above statement.

We stayed there for 7 days visiting with my 2 sisters and 1 brother, their spouses, and most importantly, my niece and nephew. And Grammy was there visiting as well! On our way home, we stopped in Allen at Dee's sister's house. Dee met up with us at that point, and we enjoyed being with his side of the family over the 4th weekend.

Did I mention I got to meet, hold, and squeeze my scrumptious new baby niece for the first time?

One major milestone that was met were my adorable children visiting the Harding campus. It was actually Emily's 2nd time on campus, but the 1st time, it was too cold for us to go out and explore. She was also 9 months old then. Emily and Ty did something very important while on campus. And no, I do not mean that they declared a major (although Emily did say that she was going to go to college to learn how to be a princess). They got to play on the "front lawn" and swing in the Harding swings. Em called them the "little white swings." Ty simply enjoyed the wide open spaces as well as the vast array of sticks and leaves that were perfect toys. I never realized until last week that my children are deprived of such joys being that we live in a relatively new subdivision where the trees are too young to drop sticks in the grass!

I should also mention that one afternoon we took Carter to McDonald's for the first time. This just so happened to be the McDonald's where I worked my senior year. Ah, the memories... He also took a bunch of steps to none other than his good ole Aunt Melissa! At that moment, it was the most he had taken in a row, but I am sure he has surpassed that by now.

So, like I said, we saw many milestones while we were in Searcy-Land. Wanna see some pics?

Here is the future princess-ology student enjoying the "little white swing."

And don't let stick boy fool you; he enjoyed swinging as well.

So this is my favorite picture in the world right now. LOVE him!

Grammy and baby Claira are enjoying some swing time, too!

It was not easy to take a picture of Grammy with a baby and 3 wiggly ones.

This was Emily's first ride in a golf cart. Her Mama's never even ridden in a golf cart. I am surprised that this phone isn't permanently fused to my bro's ear. He is the director of Uplift at Harding, so he has been eating, breathing, and sleeping Uplift for the past few weeks.

I couldn't decide which picture I liked best, so here are 2 of Ty and Carter on the swing.

The boys are playing in the toddler area of McDonald's. I should mention that my sister and I like to torture the boys by dressing them similarly. They were supposed to be born about 5 days apart, but it ended up being more like 5 weeks since Ty was early and Carter was late. They matched at least 3 times besides the similar clothes they are wearing here. They're going to kill us when they're older :-)

This is Carter staring at all of the big kids playing on the slides. Isn't he adorable?

There is so much more I could say about our trip. There are many more amazing photos. And I haven't even talked about our time with Dee's family yet. I wonder if I will be able to get caught up on everything before we leave for our cruise...

By the way, Ty does still have pneumonia. He is much better, and the chest xray showed a 40% reduction in the amount of "gunk" in his right lung. And that was in just one week. He no longer as any restrictions on activities, so my life is easier now that we can go swimming, go to the park, etc. We don't have to go back until after the cruise unless his symptoms worsen.

That's finally all, folks. Thanks for reading!

Things are better for Ty, worse for me...

2008-06-21T15:03:00.001-07:00

Ty is doing better; the doctor said there is an improvement, but he is still struggling to breathe. So we are continuing the breathing treatments/wrestling matches while Ty finishes his antibiotics and steroids. Thanks so much for all of the prayers. I know that they are working because today (after getting a good night's sleep for the first time all week), he has had a great day. We go back to the doc on Thursday.

On the other hand, I have been staying far, far away from him since I seem to have a stomach virus. I won't go into any more details because I don't want to gross anyone out.

Dee is such a super-hero husband at times like this--he made pancakes this morning, took the kids grocery shopping (he has never taken both by himself before), fed them lunch, got them down for really long naps, and cleaned the den, dining room, and kitchen. And he's managed to force me to drink Gatorade in the middle of all of this!

Needless to say, my trip to Arkansas to visit my siblings is now postponed. I was supposed to leave today. Hopefully, we will get to go at the end of next week. I'm going to go back to bed now, but I just wanted to update in case anyone was wondering how little man is doing.

One Great Week + One Awful Week = Lapse in Blogging

2008-06-19T07:39:00.000-07:00

I have been needing to update so badly, but I have had a crazy few weeks since school let out. Let me start by saying how wonderful last week was...

We take our kids out of daycare during the summer, but we had to pay until 6/15, so we kept using daycare even though school was out. This was a huge benefit to me since Dee had to go to a football clinic at the end of the week. I was able to be home ALL BY MYSELF and clean, organize, watch TV, just do whatever I wanted! Surprisingly, I spent little time on the computer, and I also spent no time napping. I just got my house back into shape, and I spent some time finding activities and games to keep us occupied this summer. I even made Emily some folders, one for each day of the week, and every day, we open that day's folder and do the activity or game or project I have printed off.

Emily has also been having swimming lessons with the coach of our high school swim team. She has been teaching kids to swim for ages, and she also happens to have a grandaughter Emily's age. She wanted to work with her grandchild but needed a pool, so I told her she could use our subdivision pool if she gives my kids lessons too--this is a really nice barter. First, she does the 2 girls together, and then I watch them in the baby pool while she does a 15 minute lesson with Ty. He screams through his lesson, but I am amazed--he can hold his breath in the water, and if you put him under, he knows how to reach for the side, pull himself up, and hold on. Emily is swimming like a little fish and is also trained to swim to the side, hold on, and she can walk down the side while holding on and go to the stairs. What they are learning could be lifesaving one day. I am thrilled with their progress!

So now for the awful part. Ty is sick AGAIN. On Sunday, he woke up wheezing and struggling to breathe, so we took him to the doctor. He hasn't been diagnosed with asthma, but when he gets a respiratory infection, it has a tendency to cause his bronchioles to be inflamed. The doctor discovered that he had an ear infection and prescribed antibiotics plus breathing treatments. After we got home, he continued to get worse, not better. He started running a fever, and it was hanging out right around 101.9. By Tuesday, the fever was gone, but his breathing was getting no better. He had also developed a cough. On Wednesday, his breathing was worse than it had been all week, so I took him back to the doctor, they did a chest x-ray, and sure enough, my little boy has been diagnosed with pneumonia! In June!

He is now taking pediatric prednisone in addition to the antibiotic and breathing treatments. He is also back on a bottle because when he had the fever, it was the only way we could get him to take fluids. It's weird because I've been rocking him to sleep (another bad habit we will have to break when he gets better) while giving him a bottle, and I've never done that before since I always nursed him at bedtime. Who would think that I would give my kid a bedtime bottle for the first time at 14 months? He is extremely high maintenance when he is sick (like a typical guy), so I have been babying him too much lately. But it's either that or listen to him whine. Emily has been such a trooper because we've been stuck inside, and I haven't been able to spend as much time with her as I would like.

I don't know if it's my imagination, but after 2 doses of the steroid, he seems to be doing much better now. In fact, he is actually entertaining himself right now. That's why I'm able to blog. Don't get me wrong, I love to cuddle my kids and make them feel better when they are sick, but Ty literally cries if I put him down or look at something other than him for 2 seconds. It had been rather exhausting, and it was not the way I wanted to spend our first week at home together. It doesn't help that he has 4 molars and 4 eye teeth coming in right now. He also has major diaper rash since the antibiotic has caused terrible diarrhea. I can't use wipes or even a wet cloth because he screams in pain. I have to put him in the tub and rinse him with warm water every time he poops which is 1-2 times an hour. Surely this little guy is due for a break!

We would appreciate any prayers on Ty's behalf. He goes back to the doctor on Friday to check his progress, and we will decide what to do from there. I hope there will be nothing to decide and that he will be recovering nicely.

I haven't taken any pics recently, but I have photoshopped a few. Here are 2 of my creations. The first one is Emily in her Halloween costume (Cinderella dress); she loves to wear it around the house. The 2nd one is Ty looking at me through a gazeebo.

If you read the whole thing, I thank you. I'll try not to be so long-winded next time!

Wow--Number 5!

2008-06-07T12:33:00.000-07:00

Today, Dee and I are celebrating 5 years of marriage. It's been a crazy (but good) 5 years. We have moved twice and had 2 children. Dee got a job coaching at the high school level, and I finally earned a head coaching position. Then I gave up coaching a year later. We've watched our parents go through a heart surgery, a head injury, and an autoimmune disorder. I suffered an ectopic pregnancy. Dee has been dealing with diabetes and sarcoidosis. All I can say is WOW. I am so glad that he is by my side every step of the way. Here's to another 5 years, and then another, and another, and...you get my drift :-)

These are some of my favorite wedding pictures. Keep in mind that we had film (gasp), not digital at our wedding. Five years ago, many photographers were not quite ready to make the leap to digital (for weddings anyway). These are scans I did a long time ago before I had a good scanner, so the quality is not the best. One thing that I am going to do this summer is have my negatives (our photographer gave them to us) scanned; then I will have high-quality digital images of my wedding photos.

These two kiddos have definitely changed a lot! And my little niece in the Cute Cousins post below attended the wedding in her Mommy's womb. I can't believe how fast little ones get big!

I have to say that our wedding day was absolutely gorgeous. I was taking a huge risk by having an outdoor wedding in June in Texas. How we ended up with no rain and with a lovely, 80 degree day, I will never know. Well, I do know how...I prayed a lot for great weather!

This is us on our Honeymoon. Since we had the whole summer off, we took a "road trip" to Florida. That way, we didn't have to return on a certain day; we could stay until we wanted or our money ran out :-) This is us at Disney World Animal Kingdom. It was our first time to visit WDW. Now we can't wait to take the kids.

Well, that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed my little trip down memory lane!

Cute Cousins

2008-06-02T09:23:00.001-07:00

It has been a busy week! I have been trying to wind everything down for the year, so I have had no spare time to show you these two precious girls. Our niece (Kasey's DD) spent Memorial Day with us, so I took advantage of that to practice some more with my new lens. It was nice (and actually easier) to photograph someone else's child for a change. We got to pick up our new computers (all of KISD got new MacBooks), so I've been trying to transfer and back up all of my stuff. I am finally getting around to posting these. I hope you enjoy!

p.s. I don't think I've posted on the blog to brag on myself. We got our TAKS scores back a few weeks ago, and ALL of my juniors passed. I know you may be thinking "Melissa, you teach Pre-Cal and Calculus--they should all pass." I would reply to you that I have many students who are in my class but don't necessarily belong there. For example, Mommy and Daddy think little Johnny is a genius and belongs in all of the hard classes even though Johnny can't solve x + 8 = 10. It was not a guarantee that they would all pass.

And regarding those who DO belong in my class--67% of my juniors got commended. I had one girl get all 60 questions correct, 2 miss only 1 question, and 4 miss only 2 questions!

Now if only my AP kids do so well on their AP exam...

Look How Our Garden Grows!

2008-05-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

Well, today, I have pictures of my babies...not my children but my babies. We have lots of yummy vegetables growing in our back yard. We thought we would lose some after getting golf ball sized hail a few weeks ago, but everything seems to have survived with the exception of our green beans. They may not make it. We have had so much squash this week that we have had to dump it on our neighbors already! One of our neighbors actually ate it before we did. Hopefully, we will soon have tomatoes and peppers, too (and maybe the green beans will bounce back). Here are some pictures I took of our squash!

We actually have had about 4x this amount of squash. This is what we haven't given away, eaten, or frozen. Next time, there will be pictures of my actual children!

Not a Baby Anymore--A Little Boy

2008-05-15T21:49:00.000-07:00

Well, words can't really do justice to how much my baby has turned into a little boy. He walks, says some words, drinks whole milk, and knows how to hold a cell phone up to his ear. In fact, tonight, he even tried to eat his risotto with a spoon. Did I mention that every time we sit down to dinner, he reminds us to pray--he puts his hands together and says "God," and he won't stop until we pray or sing "God our father, God our father, we thank you, we thank you, for our many blessings, for our many blessings, Amen, Amen" (to the tune of Frere Jacques).

Here are some highlights of my final attempts of doing his one year old portraits myself. I now have over 100 Ty is One images to sort through and edit in Photoshop! I chose these as my top 4 (from tonight).

Christy, you will appreciate that I shot in RAW, and the only adjustment I have made thus far is the WB. It wasn't so bad after all!

FWIW, I had 2 goals. First, I wanted to experiment with backlighting, and secondly, I wanted to capture his big, beautiful, brown eyes. And Jennifer, I really had a blast SHOOTING Ty :-)

P.S. In the 2nd pose, I can't decide if I should leave the dirt on the mouth or clone it out--it is an honest representation of his personality! :-)

Soap Box

2008-05-12T19:25:00.000-07:00

I don’t usually do this, but it’s been on my mind lately. I definitely respect other peoples’ parenting decisions unless they are being abusive. So please don’t take the following as a judgment against you if you have chosen something else for your child. I am just writing to educate because I feel that many parents don’t know about this topic.

Most people quote the guidelines for car seats as “less than one year and 20 pounds” for rear facing. At that point, they turn their child around to face forward. I wish that doctors and parenting literature would look at the data that exists and advise parents otherwise. A child (and anyone else in the car, for that matter) is much better protected in a side-impact or head-on collision if they are rear facing. Side-impact and head-on collisions are the deadliest type of crashes. Why aren’t more people told about this?

In my personal experience, most parents look forward to the day that they get to turn their one-year old around to forward facing. It’s almost treated like a milestone such as crawling or walking. If they only watched this video, they would probably change their minds. Did you watch it? Can you imagine your one-year old's head being thrown forward like that? Compare that one to this video of a RF child. The Extended Rear Facing article that I link to in my favorite links list says “…car seat milestones seem exciting. The truth is, they should be looked at with a certain sense of dread, not longing. Every step in car seat ‘advancement’ is actually a step down in your child's protection.”

I hope to keep Ty rear facing until he is 33 lbs (the RF limit of his seat). It is not the easiest thing to do because there are many times that I feel it would be so much easier or convenient to have him facing forward. What I mean is that it would be easier to give him snacks, drinks, and entertain him if he were FF. But HIS safety has to take priority over MY convenience.

With Emily, she didn’t reach 33 lbs until she was almost 3, but I turned her around at 18 months (27 lbs). The reason I did this is that she was wriggling out of her straps, and when we would arrive at our destination, I would find her upper body totally unsecured. I knew that RF was better, but not if the child is out of the harness! With her FF, I was able to reach back and pull the tighten-up strap thingie any time she tried to escape.

I also plan to keep my kiddos in their 5-point harnesses as long as possible. We will definitely not rush to be in a booster, even if that means she is riding to kindergarten in a 5-point harness convertible car seat. I read a sad story last week about a 4 year old who was killed in a 30 mph crash. They say she would have survived had she been in a convertible car seat rather than a booster. LEGALLY, she was okay in a booster, but unfortunately, the law only provides for the bare minimum of safety.

Texas has inadequate child restraint laws, IMO. Car crashes are the leading cause of death for children under age 14, but our law doesn’t do anything to reduce those statistics. Here it is, folks:
(a) A person commits an offense if the person operates a passenger vehicle, transports a child who is younger than five years of age and less than 36 inches in height, and does not keep the child secured during the operation of the vehicle in a child passenger safety seat system according to the instructions of the manufacturer of the safety seat system.
(b) An offense under this section is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $100 or more than $200.

That’s it! There are no laws about age/weight requirements for the type of safety seat, and the punishment is a mere $200. I guess the reason this is on my mind is that this past weekend, I saw a woman in Rising Star, TX put her infant (in an infant seat) in the front middle of her car (the car DID have a back seat) and take off without even buckling the seat in. Through the window, I could see that the seat was wobbling and not even straight. How can you put your little baby in such danger? Then, today at Sonic, I witnessed a child, probably age 2, in the back seat with NO child restraint!!! When I see negligent parents, I wonder what I should do, and I am often tempted to call the police. Maybe I should--what do you do in that situation?

I realize that when I was a baby, there were no such laws and no such things as car seats. Fortunately, we are here anyway. I do not fault my parents and any parents of my peers; they were doing the best they knew with the information they had at the time (not much). But now we do know more and have more safety resources. So I definitely think that we should use them!

I am now stepping off of my soap box. If you want more information about extended rear facing, the experts have written many informative articles, and they are linked on this website. If you haven't already, I encourage you to watch the crash test video footage of RF vs FF. It is linked earlier in my post, and it is also linked on the Extended RF website.

Again, my goal is to educate those who may not know that the typical guidelines are not the safest. I am not trying to slam anyone who turns their child FF at one year/20 lbs.

I will close with a picture of Ty, a 26 pound one-year old who will proudly remain RF. He doesn't mind being behind his peers on this milestone! BTW, I had not correctly positioned him until after I took the picture. I just don't want to be a bad example, so that is my disclaimer!

"I want YOU to be safe in the car!"

My New Toy

2008-05-02T08:33:00.000-07:00

My sweet hubby bought me a new lens for my camera. As soon as he brought the mail in, I left my dinner unfinished, grabbed Emily, and we went to practice. I plan on shooting Ty this evening, and of course, I'll be practicing all weekend. Then, I will play around with my faves in Photoshop. So you may see some of these again after I get a chance to edit.

I am going to share the first one that I took because it's funny. I've never used a lens w/ a wide-open aperture before, so the shutter speed that I normally use at this time of day was NOT correct. Additionally, it was only my 2nd time to try to shoot with manual exposure. I will embarrass myself and show you the picture!

Yes, there actually is a bench in the midst of all of this light...

Now this is what I was attempting to photograph...

...at least I learned something from the experience! I promise the rest are better and more interesting.

Warning: I am a camera-happy Mommy who is horrible at self-editing. Basically, there are a ton of pictures in this post, so get a drink and snack, sit back, relax, and enjoy!

I got her to agree to be photographed by promising to let her play on the playground nearby!

Here is Emily telling me about the movie Enchanted.

Below is Emily pretending to be Pocahontas--she came up with this all on her own. What you don't see photographed is me singing Can You Paint With All the Colors of the Wind--she insisted.

The next set are from our front yard. It was after 8:00 p.m., and I really got to see the greatness of my new lens. It worked beautifully in the low light--from now on I want to try to take all my kids pics at this time.

Grammy, this one is for you! Emily lay down in the grass and said, "Mommy, please take a picture of me sleeping in the grass because it will make Grammy feel better." So there ya go! I hope it worked :-)

I caught her playing with my froggies in the flower bed...

I just snapped this one real quick because she was looking at the camera for once. I think it turned out really cool!

Thanks for looking! Come back soon--maybe I'll post more this weekend.

Yummy Recipe That I May Never Make Again

2008-04-25T08:48:00.000-07:00

Last night, I made a delicious asparagus soup to go along with steak. I wanted something different than the usual salad and potato. I love asparagus soup because it’s a soup that you can eat in the spring and summer. It’s even good cold although I prefer warm. I had cold asparagus soup in Vegas at Mon Ami Gabi. We were sitting outside on a warm summer night, and it was actually very refreshing. So you may ask why I refuse to make this recipe again.

Well, the steak was needing to be flipped, the bread was done baking, and the soup was done simmering all at the same time. My kids were also both screaming at this exact moment in time. If you’re a mom, you can definitely relate to this scenario. I took a deep breath, tuned out the screaming, flipped the steaks, took the bread out, and poured the soup into the blender. Then, I asked Dee to give the children a snack. This temporarily silenced them.

As I started to blend the soup, boiling HOT asparagus soup came flying out of the top of the blender, landing on me and all down the side of the refrigerator. It was a quite painful burn, so I screamed. This really scared Emily who started crying because she thought I was hurt. Instead of doing something to relieve the burn, I had to go make sure E knew I was okay.

Dee helped me clean up, and after securing the top TIGHTLY to the blender, he finished blending the soup. Then, I set aside a small bowl for Emily and a smaller bowl for Ty, so it could cool before it was time to eat. Somewhere in that time, Ty ended up fussing, so Dee took him out of his booster and let him pull things out of my cabinets (I do have some unlocked cabinets for Ty to amuse himself when I’m busy cooking). While I was deglazing the pan I had used for the steaks, Emily started crying because of the smoke that came up when I poured liquid in the pan. She thought I burned myself again.

I turned to tell her everything was okay, and this is when the proverbial straw broke the camel’s back. Ty crawled over to the table, reached up, and turned a bowl of asparagus soup onto himself and his WHITE shirt!!!!!! Thankfully, it was not very hot at this point. He actually thought it was quite humorous. Dee and I, however, didn’t find it so funny. In fact, we just left the mess on the floor until after the kids went to bed. We took his messy clothes off of him, but it was just too much at that point to mop the floor. The thought actually crossed my mind that maybe I could just let him eat his soup off of the floor--it would keep him happy and be less to clean (it was *just* a thought--I didn't really do it).

Finally, we sat down to dinner, and I’m sure it was actually quite tasty. But after all that, nothing was going to be very yummy. Anyway, the recipe is easy and delicious--it really is an easy recipe even though it didn't seem easy at the time. It’s a great, unique way to get some vegetables into your diet. I just think I am too traumatized to make it again!

CREAMED ASPARAGUS SOUP (Serves 6 as a side dish)

Ingredients: 
2 tablespoons Butter
 1/2 cup diced Onion 
8-ounce Baking Potato, peeled and diced
 1 1/2 cups Milk 
1 1/2 cups Chicken Stock
 1 pound Asparagus, trimmed, tips removed and set aside
 Salt and Black Pepper

Sauté onion in butter in medium saucepan over medium heat for 5 minutes.
Cut asparagus stalks into 1-inch pieces and add to pan along with potatoes, milk and stock.  
Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
 Purée soup in blender or food processor (make sure the lid is on tight LOL and you may need to do 2 separate batches).
Return to saucepan, salt and pepper to taste, add asparagus tips, and heat until tips are tender.

Optional Topping:
Before making soup, mix 1/3 cup sour cream and ¼ tsp dried dill in small bowl, set aside until serving time. Serve soup with a dollop of this topping! 

What do you think?

2008-04-22T19:17:00.001-07:00

I saw this sweet picture of my brand new niece...

I couldn't help but think that baby looked familiar. Here's Ty on his first day of life...

What do you think? I think they definitely look like family. It's the double-chin, round face, dark hair, and pinchy-winchy squishy cheeks that they seem to have in common!

But then I saw another picture of Miss Claira-Bear...

It really reminded me of Miss Emily Dawn

These girls could pass for sisters if you just looked at baby pictures. Two beautiful girls!

Carter, I looked at your new baby pictures, but to me, you just looked too much like your Daddy to look like Claira. I'm not giving up, though. You two are bound to make a similar expression eventually :-)