Ten on Camping

1. Mackenize and I got sick during our camping trip. Wasn't horrible, just made the weekend a bit uncomfortable. Mackenzie had a little trouble sleeping because of it. She ended up sleeping on my chest or right next to me most of the night Thursday night, two different times Friday night and once for a bit on Saturday night. Emma was all over the bed, which is how she sleeps at home, I woke up more than once with her feet in my side or her practically laying on top of me. One time she woke up and saw Mackenzie and said "Hi Mackenize, hi my sister." and another she heard me blowing my nose and started laughing loudly then went right back to sleep. (Michael took this before we woke up, he slept on the futon. While not the most comfortable, he was child-free at least.)


2. Random cute pictures from this weekend.

Emma looking quite serious.


Claire hanging out on the bench.


She's really into climbing. She kept getting up on the griddle.


Mackenzie after climbing up on the slide all by herself. Again, more climbing.


Emma loved all the crap there was to eat this weekend. Especially the chips.

3. Our annual picture in front of our cabin. I think it'll be cool to have an album of just these pictures and be able to see how our family has grown and changed year to year.

4. Down by the lake.

Another family shot.

Michael and his brother Marty.

Charlie (Michael's parent's friend who along with his wife Sue go camping with us every year)pointing out something to Mackenzie. I really don't know what it was. I should've asked. It was really cute.

Abby, Claire and Marty

Mommy with her baby girl.


A rare picture of just me and Michael.




5. Mackenzie's been doing this crouch thing for a while now. Michael calls it her catcher stance.

6. At the playground. It was right across from our cabins so the girls played there a lot. That's pretty much all Emma wanted to do. As soon as she woke she'd say "Mommy, Daddy, it's daytime. Can I go to the playground now?"

Claire and Mackenzie

Mackenzie's crazy hair

Emma can go on the big swings, but still likes the baby swings. Especially if someone else is using them. :)

Everytime she goes down a slide on her back her hair looks like this.


7. My Brunswick stew. I finally made it. 2 1/2 years after having it while visiting family in Virginia I made it. (Hi Kelly, Hi Shirley) It was really good. Although I will say, cooking it in my crockpot like I did the other week is much easier than in a kettle over an open fire.

Mackenzie really liked it. Emma, didn't eat any. I wasn't surprised, she didn't like when I madeit the first time in the crockpot. Which, by the way, was my trial run. To make sure it would turn out okay.

8. I made 3 attempts to get a picture of Grandma with her girls and this was the best. It kind of looks 3D, like Mackenzie's jumping out of the picture.


9. Daddy and his girls. Check out Emma's face. Her "say cheese" look.

10. And while not really camping related, here's some Mackenzie updates. She's walking all the time now. I think I only saw her crawl once or twice today and not at all yesterday. She's getting much faster and better and walking over and around things on the floor like blankets and toys. Which is good, because the family room floor is rarely clear of all objects. She's done with baby food. Gave that up last week. It was like one day she woke up and thought, I think I'll eat table food today. Because prior to that she was really fighting the table food, didn't want it. She's probably only about 50/50 when it comes to getting it in her mouth but so far she'll eat anything we give her. She won't take formula in a sippy cup. She threw it on the floor when I tried yesterday, little stinker. We'll see how whole milk goes in a couple weeks. I've got my secret weapon though - Nesquick. It worked with Emma and was doctor suggested. She still hates waking up in her crib. I really wish she'd wake up and just play or talk or lay there or something liked Emma does but nope. She cries and screams until you get her out. This weekend (see, it is camping related!) she learned to give a kiss and to share her cup. If you ask her to give you a kiss she'll open her mouth and lean in until she makes contact somewhere on your face or head. She had her cup (of water, not formula) and after taking a drink she pushed it to my mouth and after I pretended to drink it she pulled it back and drank it. We did this over and over again, very cute.

Ten on Tuesday - Virginia edition

1. It was hot. Really hot. 100 degrees every day (and I'm rounding. 99 might as well be 100). So we went shopping. Twice. On Monday and Friday. In Durham NC, 1 1/2 hours away. Although it took us closer to two hours b/c we had some difficulties following directions. Both times. The mall was awesome. It's a huge 2-story indoor mall, plus a really nice outdoor mall. Emma loved the fountains. Especially throwing the pennies in. I thought for sure she'd try to jump in but she didn't.


2. We did brave the heat twice. Once on Thursday to see Alpacas. Isn't this one so stinkin' cute!



3. And once to go to the pool. We went swimming in 100 degree heat. Although while in the water it wasn't actually too bad. Once you got out though it was horribly hot. I didn't take any pictures while we were actually in the pool, but here's Emma making a funny face while eating grapes. I realize it probably isn't that funny to you but it makes me chuckle. And also Mackenzie after she woke up from her nap. Being held in the pool wore her out. That, and the fact we were there at nap time.




4. Emma got her first Build-a-Bear, courtesy of my sister, during our first trip to the mall. While she really likes her bear, Patches, she wasn't in to the whole process. She was actually frightened by the stuffing machine.


5. We went to see my Grandma. She had no clue who I was.I saw her in the hall the day before we took the girls to see her and she just said "Who is that pretty young girl." When we told her I was her granddaughter Erin she just told me she loved me. Even though she didn't know us, I'm glad we got to see her.



6. The family reunion was Sunday, the day after we arrived. It was fun to see all our family, many we haven't seen in years. My cousin Kelly, who I was really close to in high school, was there with her two kids. And she'd brought a slip-n-slide. I didn't take Emma's bathing suit, but Kelly gave me a swim diaper so Emma didn't have to miss out on the water fun. She played in the swim diaper and tank top. Didn't bother her a bit to not be in her bathing suit. While she didn't actually slip nor slide, she did splash around in the pool at the end of the slide and drink the water shooting up on the side.



7. I love this picture of Mackenzie. She was sitting in my mom's lap. It's like she just peeked over her shoulder at me to see what I was doing. Just to make sure I was there.


8. Emma threw up in the car on the way home. All I can say is I hope that never happens again. Oh, and thank goodness we happened to be close to a Walmart. Because if it'd happened much sooner or later we'd been stuck in a car full of vomit. Ugh.

9. On our Monday jaunt to the mall we stopped at Duke. Well, we didn't actually stop. We just drove through part of the campus.

10. I've got a slide show of more pictures over on the left if you'd like to see them.

...and we're back!

We got back home Saturday evening. So good to be home. To sleep in my own bed. To not be sleeping in the same room as the girls because I don't do so well with that. I'm working on a recap with lots of photos but until then, here are two of my favorites from this past week.

 
 

And we're off!

Heading out to Virginia tomorrow morning. Well, technically this morning, since it's after midnight. I've got all the toys/food/necessities packed. The girls clothes are in their suitcase, just need to go over it again in the morning. Working on mine. I'm going to get up early so I'm ready when my mom and sister get here. I'm determined to be ready and not be late!

So, let me tell ya about our evening. We attending a graduation party tonight during which Emma fell in the pool. I actually remained remarkably calm -which I still can't believe. (I contribute this to the fact that I knew Michael was right there and that she'd be okay.) We knew it was going to happen inevitably as she was fascinated by the pool. All night long, either one of us, one of the high school kids or one of the parents there was saying, "Emma, move back. Don't get so close. Be careful." Someone was by her at all times because of this, so when she fell in (she was crouched down and bent over to look at something) Michael was right there. There was a collective gasp as he dove (literally) on to the ground and reached over and grabbed her. She went under but only for a few seconds. She cried for a few minutes while we stripped her to her diaper and dried her off. Then she said, and I quote, "Mommy, can I go play game?" referring to the volleyball net. Obviously, not too scarred. The rest of the evening she kept saying "I fell in the water. Daddy rescued me. It was scary." She rode home in her diaper (a dry one!) and shoes. Oh our crazy kid. She has no fear whatsoever.

ETA: So I way trying to fall asleep last night but I kept thinking about this. How much worse it could have been. How thankful I am someone was always by her. How you just can't take your eyes off your children for a second. That I'm glad we know Emma so well. We knew she'd end up in that pool. It's just her. She'd find a way in, even if it was an accident. We'd actually been talking earlier in the evening about a 3-yr old who drowned recently not to far from us. Pools can be so dangerous. I know this. I'm almost paranoid about it. And that's why we watched her like a hawk last night. We shook our heads and laughed about it later, but at the time it was scary. We're very blessed, that's for sure.

I leave you with a couple pictures of Mackenzie I took tonight before we walked to get ice cream. (We needed some after the whole graduation party/pool incident!)I realize they're very similar but just so darn cute that I couldn't pick just one.

 
 

Have a great week and I'll be back posting in a week or so.

A Camping We Will Go

So we're heading out shortly for our annual camping trip. Too bad it's going to be cold and rainy. Last year, it snowed the day we left, so I guess rain is a slight improvement. And for those who think I'm crazy for going camping 3 weeks before having a baby, know this: We have a cabin, I'm taking lots of magazines, books and scrapbook supplies and I plan on doing a lot of sitting and eating. :) Michael gets to chase Emma this year!

Yesterday was Michael's last football game. I think we might have a little female football player in the making!

 
 

And I'm curious - do these look like apples to you? No? Exactly. They're pumpkins. Yet Emma insists on calling them apples. No idea why. For the record, she still calls apples apples, not pumpkins. Sunday after church we stopped and got our pumpkins and cornstalks so now it feels as though fall is officially here.

 
 

 
 

Colorado is really flat

So, the first thing I noticed about Colorado is how flat everything is. Except for the giagantic mountains of course. But really, it's flat. Wasn't expecting that. I can't believe I've been home two weeks already. The last two weeks has flown by and I thought I should post about my trip before too much more time went by.

Now, I did have a hard time leaving. And I was homesick. In fact, I started crying when we turned on to the airport's road and was sobbing by the time I was in line to check in. Hardest thing I've ever done leaving Emma. Leaving Michael, well...Ha ha! :) (Just kidding honey!) I'd never been away from her except for one night. And even that wasn't even a whole night!

I had a fantastic time. It was great to see Ashlie. And Lee, Tabitha and Ethan. I hadn't seen Ashlie and Ethan since January 2005. Waaay too long. When Ashlie picked me up at the airport, it was like those 2 1/2 years hadn't happened. We slipped right back into our friendship. So nice to have a friendship like that. Wish she lived closer.

Here are Ashlie and I at On the Border. It's a Mexican Applebees. Seriously. And we didn't plan the matching shirts. Or that we'd match the restaurant. Oh, and in case I didn't mention it, she's pregnant too. Due September 20th.
 

Here's me at 26 weeks.
 

All the houses on the flat land. She's in Colorado Springs and I swear as far as you can see it's new houses. Crazy.
 

Friday we went to Woodland Village to walk around. It's up in the mountains and it was a beautiful ride there. On the way, we passed Santa Claus Land, a kiddie amusement park. Granted, I could only see the ferris wheel sticking up above the trees on the side of the mountain, but that's what it was.
 

So, we hear Sonic commercials ALL the time. But, the closest Sonic is 2 hours away. Annoying, isn't it. But in Colorado Springs, Sonics are everywhere. Oh, to be able to have a yummy Sonic slush whenever I want!


The one tourist-y thing I wanted to do was visit Garden of the Gods. We decided to do that the Saturday before I left. And after a week of beautiful weather, it decided to rain that day. Of course. So instead of walking through, we drove. Still was cool to see all the rock formations. We went to the gift shop afterward and they had this giant buffalo you could take pictures with. So of course we did.

Ashlie and her family.


The Kissing Camels.


And our version of the Kissing Camels. :)