Changing Diapers

Lately Emily has wanted to change Elm0's diaper. Elm0 isn't a doll though . . . he's a big chair. She gets her wipes case, a diaper (sometimes 2 or 3) and some old rubber pants that I had in a basket. Here is what she does:

If you ever need a good laugh . . . just come over and spend a little time with us : )

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!

We have enjoyed our day together today. Emily gave me a sweet card this morning and after church we went to lunch together.

I have to share this picture. Emily loves climbing on our bed and saying she is going to sleep. She pulls the covers up and lays back on the pillows and says, "night night". Of course she only stays still for about 3 seconds. Joe was catching a quick snooze and I asked Emily to close her eyes for affect:

Teacher Gifts

It hit me on Tuesday that this was Emily's last week of school so I better hurry up and figure out what I was going to give as "teacher gifts". I had these grand visions a couple of months ago to make them all tote bags with their initials on them . . . and then I got all pregnant and tired and it never happened. So Wednesday morning Emily and I went in search of the insulated traveler coffee mugs that you can insert pictures, etc into. I wanted to avoid going to 50 different stores for the main reason that I didn't want to get Emily in and out of a car seat a ton of times. Oh the days when we were growing up where you could just throw all your kids wherever you wanted to in the car and go. Anyway, I thought I had lucked out by calling a store that morning who said they had them. So we went to the store and all they had were little plastic coffee cups . . . not what I wanted. So 2 hours later with a 2 year old that whined about needing to be carried everywhere (instead of her normal walking . . . what is up with that!!!), I finally found them . . . but they only had 2 in stock. So Joe got the other one for me at a store near his work. I called the store near Joe's work and asked if they had any of the cups in stock. She tried to get the person in the "craft" section to pick up the phone but he never picked up. She got back on the phone and said she was sure we had some but didn't know for sure because the cups were ALL THE WAY ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORE. Oh my word . . . before I realized it, I said, "well mam . . . I'm all the way on the other side of town so do you think you could go check for me before I drive all the way over there". Wow . . . I was near my wits end at that point from all the whining. But the way she said it just made me blurt that out. She put me on hold again and came back and said they had a shelf full of them. I don't know if she was lying to me or mistaken in what I was asking about, because when Joe went to buy them they only had 2. Must be standard protocol for these stores to only carry 2 of each item.

Anyway, long story short (sorry for the long paragraph), here are the teacher gifts Emily will give them next week. I purchased some fabric and embroidered their first name initial on there and inserted the fabric. I know they aren't as professional looking as the cups you would buy in a fancy gift shop . . . but I think they will work out just fine. Voila:


I love the new font that I used for the cups. I bought it the other day on line. Here it is on a shirt I embroidered for Emily. Excuse her expression. I was interrupting her morning show:
The other day when I picked Emily up the teacher said she had to sit in time out twice because she kept taking toys and books away from the other children. So Joe and I have been reminding her every chance we get that she needs to share and never take a toy away from someone else. We were hoping it would settle into her brain and she would be nice again at school. Well this morning I asked her if she had any dreams last night. I don't even know if she knows what that means but she said, "Yes. I dream about Julia and Korrigan. I share my books with them." Yea! Her teacher said today that she had a good day.

Speaking of Korrigan . . . his mom has been telling me all year that he has a crush on Emily. The teacher tells me that he constantly wants to hold her hand and if she cries about something he comes over to give her a hug. He also wants to sit next to her at lunch time. The teacher told me that she comes up to her and says, "No Korrigan hug". Anyway, his mom told me this morning that her husband was talking to Korrigan about school and all the kids. When he got to Emily, Korrigan smiled and said, "Emily has pretty eyes and pretty ears." I got a big kick out of that! Here is their school picture. I thought this turned out pretty good for 2 year olds. Korrigan is the little boy in the yellow shirt right in the middle:

In other news, I found out yesterday that I failed my 1 hr glucose test so I get to go back tomorrow morning for the glorious 3 hour test . . . AAAAHHHH!!! I had to do this with my last pregnancy and sitting in a waiting room for 3 hours is not fun . . . so since a friend is going to keep Emily for me in the morning, I'm going to start a journal of my pregnancy for this 2nd baby. With Emily I started a journal the week I found out I got pregnant . . . with this poor baby I'm 16 weeks pregnant and haven't even bought the journal. So hopefully my 3 hours tomorrow will be spent productively.

Well this blog entry is especially long so I'll stop for now to give your eyeballs a rest : )

Trip to the Zoo

Yesterday on the spur of the moment we decided to go to the zoo. Emily had been cooped up all week running a fever and seemed better yesterday morning. I had just bought a season pass to the zoo which allows for 2 adults to go so we all got in for "free" yesterday. I think the threat of rain kept some people home because it really wasn't that crowded. We had a fun time and as we were getting on the interstate to head back home the bottom fell out so it also looks like we left at just the right time:

They had a new parakeet exhibit that's only been open a few weeks. You could buy a stick of bird seed for a dollar and the birds would come land and eat right off the stick. It was pretty cool to watch the birds eat. We didn't have any cash of course so we enjoyed watching the other people feed the birds:
This was a nice unexpected treat. It seems one of the birds caught him a snack that wasn't provided by the zoo : ) Can you tell what that is . . . yep . . . a mouse . . .


Emily saw the other kids putting their heads in the hole and walked right up there and did it before we realized what she was doing. I quickly grabbed my camera:We finished our day with a train ride and headed home. It was a fun day:

Outfits

I made an outfit for a little boy who is turning 2 this month. His birthday party is going to be a transportation theme so his mom wanted him to wear something special for the party:
I also FINALLY finished this pillowcase dress for Emily. I've had this pattern and fabric since before Christmas and finally got around to finishing it. These will be great for the summer. I love these dresses! You can take an actual pillowcase and make it into a dress or buy fabric:

Feeling Sickly

Emily has been "puny" this week. So there hasn't been much to post about. She is fine in the mornings but by the afternoons and evenings her fever has gotten higher and she just wants you to hold her and she falls apart over the smallest things. The doctor said she's just got a head cold virus so we'll see. Here's what we've been doing all this week to keep the peace:
She is smart enough now to know that she could watch Sesame Street any time of day because she knows I have them on our DVR. I used to could tell her that it wasn't time for Sesame Street . . . but that ain't workin' anymore . . . my girl is too smart. So because she wasn't feeling good we've been watching Nemo, Little Mermaid, and Sesame Street . . . alot . . . I hope I haven't damaged her brain cells : )

Speaking of damaged brain cells . . . I have been doing some goofy things lately. When it's time to pay bills I always enter them in Quicken and then go on line to our bank and pay them. I've done this twice a month for YEARS now. But last month when we got our power bill and gas bill I noticed that they were both really high . . . at first I just thought . . . oh well we must have used more energy last month . . . then I realized that we had been charged a small late fee and had a previous balance. So I looked in Quicken and saw that I had paid both of the bills last month . . . but goofy me never went on line and actually PAID them. I didn't even realize my mistake. Glad to know that they don't shut off your power and gas for missing one month.

But that's not all . . . I got our bank statement in the mail the other day and realized that our check to GA taxes for 2008 only went thru for $100.50 but we owed them $150.00. So I looked at the copy of the check and the check was for the right amount . . . but on the written part of the check I put "One hundred and 50/100" . . . so of course that is what the bank honors. I didn't realize this mistake until April 29 . . . after tax day. I called our accountant and he called the appropriate people and we had been charged a whopping .72 cents in interest for our $49.50 balance due. So I mailed them a check yesterday for $50.22. Let's hope that's the end of that. I'm surprised I didn't catch it and 5 years later have the department of revenue put a lien on our house for all the interest that added up for our small $49.50 balance : ) They like to do stuff like that to the "little people" of the world . . . and that's all I'll say about that.

Fun with Friends

This morning Emily and I met Jill and Olivia at the Aquarium. It was a PERFECT day to go. This was the smallest crowd I've seen since visiting there. We also ran into Lewis and his friends! We went to the big wall exhibit first and there were only 2 other people in there . . . which is amazing since usually you can barely find a place to sit down. Of course Emily and Olivia only wanted to stay in there for about 20 seconds : )


Here is our short stop at the Beluga Whale exhibit and then off to run to see "more fish":
This is the first time I've seen the octopus out. He's usually hiding in the corner:
Olivia and Emily decided they needed a short rest from all that running:We ate lunch at a picnic table in between the coke museum and the aquarium. Olivia and Emily had more fun chasing all the pigeons than seeing the fish!
After lunch we walked across the street to a playground. I'm not looking forward to school being out because I'm sure this summer this place will be covered with kids:

It was a great day and we enjoyed it! Thanks Jill and Olivia!!!