All I want for Christmas ...

Is my two front teeth.

Sorry, I might have used that one already.  I happened to be sitting at the computer, looking at pics, and I found some really good shots showing Emmy's teeth.  I think I already posted regarding her accident but here's the speed reading verson.  Annual Northpark Mall day, post-Santa, pre-trains, trip and fall and broken teeth.  I kind of thought it would be neat to have all three pics in the same place to compare.  Never mind the messy face adn boogery nose!!  That's just how Emmy rolls!!  :-)

BEFORE



BROKEN

FIXED

Now, this Santa needs to wash some dishes and get some sleep (and have a cookie and finish my beer)!! Merry Christmas to all and to tall a good night!

My Favorite People

My 4 favorite people, posing, picture perfect!!

Merry Christmas!!

All I Want for Christmas ...

... is my two front teeth!!

She kind of resembles a vampire, don't you think?

This will be Emmy's song this year after what happened Friday.  After our visit with Santa, we were headed to the food court (I still can't get used to the fact that Northpark has a "food court") when Emily tripped and fell and landed on her teeth!!  She chipped her two front teeth!!  OUCH!  So the next few hours were spent calling the doc and a couple dentists and instead of lunch and the train display we headed to the pediatric dentist. We are very thankful they were still open since we found that most do not have office hours on Fridays. Her nerves are exposed in one of the teeth so we are going to have them rebuilt ... I guess they do that with the tooth-colored filling material?  She will have to be sedated so we are going back on Wednesday morning to have it done. She had a real hard time eating and drinking due to sensitivity AND I think her gums were a little bruised from the whole ordeal. We gave her Motrin and used a little Orajel and she was able to eat some spaghetti Friday night (with her hands - OH the mess!).  It was the first thing she had eaten since breakfast that morning. She seems to be doing fine now, other than a little cold she is coming down with, and has been able to drink through a straw and eat with her side teeth. She's a smart, spunky little girl. She keeps saying, "I'm not going to fall and broke my teeth again. No!" and it makes me laugh and feel bad for her at the same time.  :-(

Poor Megan didn't really understand why we didn't get to finish our day of fun at Northpark. Hopefully we will make it back down there to see the trains before Christmas!

Santa!!

We had our annual day at Northpark to visit Santa on Friday. He's been the Santa at NP for about 30 years now and our trip has become something of a tradition for us. We had been coaching the girls for over a week that they were visiting the Jolly Old Man and I think it worked! We got smiles from the girls. Matthew wasn't too sure but that was probably because James and I were jumping around like idiots behind the photographer.

Megan asked him for a Barbie Charm School Princess and Emmy asked for new Play Doh!! They are too cute ... And we have one more shopping trip to make.

6 Months Old!!

Oh 6 months is such an adorable age. It is much more adorable when your kid is sleeping, and lucky for Matthew he has FINALLY figured that one out. I decided I was going to cut him off from the midnight bottle that he didn't really seem to need but drank because it was there.  The night I decided I was going to hold my ground and stay up with him and rock him and try to convince him that he didn't need it is the very same night he slept through!!  And he did so for the next 8 nights.  We had two hiccups since then and he's back to sleeping again. I could get used to this. It only took 6 MONTHS!!  The best part is the level of interaction they have at this age. He loves to hand out smiles, squeals and laughs and he is working on some raspberries. He is trying SO HARD to crawl but isn't quite there. I think I have about a week before he's really on the move because he is close. He gets up on all fours and rocks and lurches but hasn't figured out how to move the hands and knees together. Guess he needs a little lesson in teamwork. Maybe we should watch the Wonder Pets!  So far, he hasn't met a food he won't eat. He has only had baby food so far but he loves his green veggies and ate some turkey. He definitely loves his bottles more than his solid foods but we rarely waste anything we feed him. He's a chunker, for sure, and he is so unbelievably cute. (I may be a bit biased.) 

Here are his latest stats from his 6 month appointment. Thought I better get these in before I lose his report card like I apparently lost his 4 month info.  I took his picture a couple days after his appointment on Turkey Day! He's wearing the same Thanksgiving shirt Megan wore at her first Thanksgiving, only Megan was almost 1 by that time. It is a size 18 months. It was a little big but not too much. He is growing like a weed and is running out of clothes as fast as I can buy them.

Matthew:

19 lbs 5.5 oz     75-90%

27.3 inches        75-90%

18 inch head            97%

 Just for fun, I thought I would look up the girls' stats from their 6 month visits.  I also found their "official" 6 month pictures in their chairs to see how they measure up. Keep in mind that Emmy's adjusted age was less than 4 months. Based on her due date, she should have only been 3 months 3 weeks old on her 6 month "birthday". I like to brag about my little preemie just a little. It's fun to see their pics all together like this. They all have one number/percentage in common ... my beautiful big headed children!!

Megan:

17 lbs 6 oz     75-90%

26.8 inches            95%

17.5 inch head       97%

Emily:

14 lbs. 14 oz     25-50%

24.5 inches             25%

17.1 inch head        90%

Hooray for Halloween Week!!

The girls had a great Halloween.  Half because they love to dress up and half because the love candy. I'm really not sure which wins out there.  I may have to do an experiment and make them choose between a princess dress or some Skittles.  I may update you later with an answer. Luckily this year we had some OK weather for Halloween night but the school parade was on a very wet, cold, windy day so they had to do the abridged version and stay inside. 

Yeah, you would think this was some crazy Homeless Princess costume but this is just what Emmy wanted to wear on this particular day.  The girl has some questionable fashion sense, at times.



Megan, AKA Rapunzel, during the school costume parade.

Emily, AKA Ariel, during the school parade.

I kept calling her name and she kept looking around for me.

Silly little girl never did see me!!

Friday night before Halloween, the school/church hosted Trunk or Treat night. We went last year and the girls had a blast so we knew we had to go again this year. We saw teachers and classmates, and best of all, we got CANDY!!!  Yes, it was chilly and mean mommy made them wear shirts under their princess dresses.

Saturday we finally decided to carve a pumpkin. I had the brilliant idea to try one of those kits where you can carve a princess face into the pumpkin.  Poor James was charged with execution and our poor Ariel didn't really turn out. The girls had fun though and that's all that counts, right?

Actual Halloween night. They are so ready to go hit the sidewalks for some candy but, if you didn't notice the view out the windows behind them, it's not even dark yet. They were ready, none the less.

Emily scored some Nerds.  No Em, I'm sorry, I don't know where your Nerds went.

Back at home with a tired Bubby. He was hungry and didn't quite "get" why we were out walking around in the dark, past his bedtime. He sure was a cute little Tigger though, wasn't he?

The Great State Fair of Texas!

One of the best things about October is the State Fair of Texas! I used to go when I was a kid and have some fond memories of riding rides until I almost puked.  :)   I have a greater appreciation of all things Fair now knowing how much everything costs!  GEEZ!  The rides are crazy expensive. The food is crazy expensive. It is even crazy expensive to get in the gates!  They get you by charging "coupons" for everything so it's not like spending real money.  You really have no idea how much you've spent until you get home and look in your wallet and try to remember just how much cash you took with you in the first place.  The girls had a blast, as we knew they would. Megan was tall enough for any little kid ride she wanted to go on and there were a good number of rides that Em just squeaked by over the height limit. 

I wish I had a picture of these cars. They all say "Budweiser" on the back of them, in true NASCAR fashion. It's a kids ride ... sponsored by Beer.

Love it.

Sure they rode every ride they wanted.  They also got to play some games to win some crappy prizes. Here they are fishing for frogs. The games were even more expensive than the rides, which is just crazy. We paid $5 to play one game. But we played. They get you there too by charging credits on a game card like Dave and Busters.  You have no real idea how much you're spending unless you stop to think about it. It's kind of like currency conversion.  You never have more than a rough estimate in your head as you are forking over your money.

A friend has a picture of her daughter in front of this one every year they've gone to the Fair and I thought that was a neat idea. This is the sign at the Carousel. It is an old fashioned carousel and the horses don't even have seat belts!  *gasp*

Finally something FREE!  Well, admission to the petting zoo was free but you had to buy the food for the animals. The girls LOVED feeding and petting the animals. Bubby didn't go into the zoo with us.  It was nice to not have to worry about having him in there.  Grammy and Grandma were with us so they kept him outside while we took the girls in.

See! Bubby was there!

After rides and games and lunch and animals we were back for more rides before we left. The girls weren't big enough to ride this one unaccompanied so James hopped in with them.  I think he had fun!

Another of the fantastic things about the fair is the food! They have deep fried everything and I haven't had the chance to sample much of it because I was pregnant (and diabetic) last year.  I was skeptical of a few of the old favorites but let me tell you, fried oreos are THE BOMB!  I really thought they sounded gross but it basically tasted like a chocolate funnel cake.  Seriously.  I am already looking forward to next year so I can have them again!  We also tried the fried cheesecake, which was just gross.  Chicken fried bacon was good but I will spend my coupons on something else next time.  What will they come up with next year?  This year was fried bubblegum, which we stayed away from. Bubblegum flavored marshmallows, fried?  Yuck!  Then again, I thought that about the Oreos, didn't I?

September with the Starkes

Vacation was over and it was time to get back into the swing of things. Even though it was still 837* outside, it was time to get ready for Fall around here.  That means college football and back to school!  WHOOP on both counts!  :-)  The girls got all geeked out for the first Aggie game of the year.  Emmy calls that her "gig em dress" and Moo's is her "gig em shirt".  I haven't been able to convince them to wear these outfits very often but they are so stinkin' cute when they do. We taught them to say "Gig Em" and give the thumbs up so every time we were watching any sporting event (yes, even post season Texas Rangers Baseball) they would shout, "Gig Em!!" at the TV.  We had to remind them that the red, white and blue baseball team on TV was the Rangers so they also learned to say, "Go RANGERS!" and "Go Hamilton/Cruz/NaPoLi!!!". It was fun to watch because they would just say what we told them to. 

Reminder ... watch the bad language now ...

This year, the first day of school was a little more exciting than last year.  Megan seemed ready to take the plunge. Not a tear was shed by her.  Emmy was a little more apprehensive and cried a little but tried so hard to keep a stiff upper lip. She did much better in the following weeks. I think they were just happy to be out of the house away from boring old mommy and that stinky boy baby.  Yep, Emmy started school with a big carpet burn on her forehead. I was sure we were going to be turned into CPS for beating our child but all is well.  The girls like to drag each other around on the floor and sometimes they get the carpet burns. You never know they're there until the next morning when there is a HUGE scab.  Silly girls!  Emmy's class is the Zebras and her teachers made them these great little shirts to wear. 

Here is Megan by her basket where her backpack goes. Her class is the Frogs this year and they have shirts too (really cute ones actually) but the teachers didn't have them in time for the first day of school so Moo got to wear a dress.  She was so excited. She has become this little princess girly girl who always wants to wear dresses.  I have NO IDEA where she gets that but she's awful cute.

Also in September, Bubby turned 4 months old.  I promise he had a doc appointment and was weighed and measured and all that good stuff but I can not, for the life of me, find his report card!!  He was just about 16 lbs 15 oz (because I know I thought he was 17 lbs and he was just under).  He was a little shorter than he was heavy, percentage wise, but they figured he would stretch out (and he has but that's a whole different post. Later.).  I had a little help from the sisters for his 4 month photo shoot.  At least they're not dressing him up in TuTus. Yet.  He started on Rice Cereal a little before his 4 month appointment and took to it easily. I think it took about 3 tries before he started snarfing it down.  He LOVES to eat.  We started him with peas a little before 5 months and he didn't even blink.  New taste?  Bring it MOM! He gets two "meals" a day now and has yet to meet a food he dislikes.  I think the greens are his favorite.  I have NO IDEA where he gets that!  Just like his big sister's dress obsession!  

I will leave you with this little side note about our little Emily.  She is definitely the artist of the family.  While Megan creates art quickly and abundantly, little Miss Emily takes her time. When Moo paints 3 little ceramic statues, Emmy will usually just work on the one until it's "perfect".  Give her some markers and a big picture or coloring book and she is content for over 30-45 minutes.  It really is incredible.  Now, I'm not saying she's Monet or Picasso or anything but she certainly loves her arts and crafts time.  She's an expressive little girl, which is starting to make even the most mundane daily tasks a little more ... well, we'll say interesting. I think it all has to do with the way she entered the world ... on her own time and full of drama!! 

Kevin and Lucy's Wedding

Here are some pics of the wedding. Kevin was James' Best Man at our wedding so when we heard they were getting married, it was kind of a no-brainer.  We made it work with the help of Grandma and Grammy so James and I could enjoy a night out on the island.  Well, at least I think we enjoyed it.  Things are still a little blurry from that night.  ;-)

The happy couple! Beachfront at the groom's brother's house.



At the beach.  Without the kids. 

WAHOO!



The Waltzes. One of the many reasons we miss Pearland so much!



Me and Shannon!

It had been WAY too long.



James, Kevin, and Craig.

Craig and his wife, Andi, hosted us at their house last 4th of July. We hadn't seen them since.



The Abels!

Another reason we miss Houston!

Awww ... my old PPC girls!

We have a few stories we shouldn't tell the kids ...



We had a blast and can't wait to head to Galveston again. I know the girls want to go back. We thought about going for Thankgiving but it might be too much and I don't think the weather would be warm enough for much beach/pool time, which is why they want to go back.  The wedding reception was at the Hotel Galvez, which is on the seawall. As often as James and I have been to Galveston, we have never seen the inside. It is a beautiful hotel and we hope to stay there some day. That probably won't happen any time soon because a condo is much easier with small kids. 

oh someday ... we'll be back ...

Catching Up - Galveston Vacation

I am going to try to play catch up a little.  I will start with our family vacation since that's the last post I attempted to do from my iPad that didn't let me upload pics. I think that's where I left off way back in August!

*************************

A dear friend got married in Galveston in August. We figured that was a perfect reason to pack up our circus and head down to the beach. We rented a condo on East Beach and it was fantastic. We are ready to buy a place down there!! Here are some pics of our adventure!

We arrived in the afternoon and headed down to the beach for about an hour. We ordered pizza for dinner so it was an easy night.the girls were SOOOO excited to share a room. We were lucky to find a unit with two twin beds in the second bedroom. No bunk beds. It took them a while to settle down but they did finally sleep.

Bubby ready for the beach!

Bubby's set up. It was hot and he had a fan but we couldn't stay forever!



The next day we went to The Strand to do a little shopping and visit the candy store for some ice cream. The girls had a great time (especially with the sweets).

... like kids in a candy store ...

We LOVE LaKing's on The Strand!!



Saturday morning, we went to the Aquarium at Moody Gardens. We have been there a few times but we knew the girls would enjoy it again. After we got our fill of the fishes, we headed back to The Strand for lunch and another trip to LaKing's for more ice cream.

Uh James, the sign says not to throw anything in.

That includes our middle child.

Nope, she didn't get tossed to the sharks!

It will be fun the next time we visit Moody Gardens to see where they measure up with the penguins.



I really need one of these at home.

Saturday night, Grammy and her friends, and Grandma came to babysit the kiddos so we could attend the wedding. We laughed that there were 4 grandmas for 3 kids Soweto figured they would be ok.