The Rainforest Cafe

One of Emily's favorite places is The Rainforest Cafe (or "cafle" as she calls it). When we were trying to potty train, letting her earn stickers toward a trip there was what finally did the trick. Since then, we have learned that The Rainforest Cafe makes a great incentive for all sorts of things! Last weekend, we had a garage sale, and we told Emily that if she would help keep Jacob entertained, we would take her to the Rainforest Cafe. We didn't get a chance to go last weekend, so we went this weekend instead.

If you've ever been there before, the food itself isn't that great and is definitely overpriced. We have discovered that it's much cheaper to just go and have dessert! If you haven't been there before, the animals are all animated and it really is a neat experience.

The giant fish tanks. Emily likes them because they have "Nemo" and "Dory" fish.

The monkeys - Emily loves monkeys but didn't want to take her picture with this one because there is water underneath with a great big crocodile that comes up out of the water.

The elephant - one of my personal favorites!

Fall Field Days!

Emily had her Fall Field Days at preschool on Thursday. They do this every year and I think pretty much have the same events over and over, so it's like a well-oiled machine. They have so many fun things for the kids to do, and they all have such a great time! I was able to take the morning off from work so that I could go with her. I love being able to participate in these school activities and it also gives me a chance to get to know the other parents.

The picture below is of her entire class. The kids were freezing. It wasn't "cold" by other people's standards, but it was cold by Texas standards, especially since we went from being in the high 70s/low 80s to the 60s that day because a cold front came through.


The obstacle course - the kids love this and wanted to go through several times. I love it because the pieces pull out easily so no parents have to go in when kids get "stuck" inside!

"Face painting" - Last year they actually had people painting designs. This year, they decided to use the tattoos. It was much quicker and easier, but not as easy to get off at the end of the day! Emily got a butterfly on her hand and a butterfly on her face.

"Fishing for goldfish" - Last year, they gave out a lot of candy, and this year, they gave out prizes and snack type items like goldfish.

The Hayless Hayride. They have a "Hayless" hayride because so many kids have allergies. Emily's teacher and I were riding on the back and there was nothing across the back of the trailer. We hit a big bump and both of us almost flew out because we weren't prepared!

The pumpkin patch - they have a mini pumpkin patch for the kids and they each get to go out and pick a pumpkin. Then, they have this spot where they can stop and pose for pictures. (This is also where they took their class picture above)

The Pumpkin Roll - Each class is in charge of a station and the parents take turns manning that station. The pumpkin roll was the event that Emily's class was in charge of. The three and four year olds get it, and were pretty much able to do it on their own. By the end of the day, when I was helping out, we had the two year old classes. They were tired because it had been such a long morning already and they weren't getting it. Getting down on the floor and rolling a pumpkin with two year olds is definitely a work out!

Quirks!

Andrea and Jalynn both tagged me to come up with six quirks. It took me some time, but I was proud of myself. I didn't even have to ask Jason for help. I'm sure he can come up with several more if I do ask him!

Here they are:
1. I like to prepare for things. I don't do well with things that are last minute. Even though I might procrastinate doing things, I'm OK with that because I at least was prepared. It was funny because we had an inservice for work earlier this year where we did personality typings and that was one of the big characteristics for my personality type. It really throws me off (and even stresses me out) when people just show up at my house or call at the last minute and want to come over or when people call and want me to do something at the last minute!

2. I like some strange food combinations. When I'm at Wendy's, if I decide to be "bad" for the day, I love to get a kid's meal with a Frosty and dip the french fries in the frosty. I have since converted Emily to this bad habit. I love Red Vines and Twizzlers. Sometimes it's fun to drink through them like a straw :) I love to take a banana and a jar of peanut butter and put a dab of peanut butter on the banana as I'm eating it.


3. When I was a kid and we'd go on family vacations, I would lay upside and read or sleep for the entire trip.


4. I have "Hair issues" I really don't like facial hair (even when it's just short and stubbly) and I have issues with baldness, too. It's ironic, I guess, because my dad has had minimal hair for a long time, but when I was in the dating stage, it was something I had a really hard time with. I guess it's a good thing that Jason has a full head of hair :)

5. I have issues with food textures. There are two main things that I really hate. I don't mind the taste of onions when they're cooked, but I can't stand the texture - they're too slimey. Of course, I hate them raw, too... I've been that way since I was very young....just ask my mom. She would try to sneak them into recipes and I would find and pick every single one out. I also can't stand coconut. Not REAL coconut straight from an actual shell (my dad used to get those when we were kids and I would eat it just fine)....that shredded, funky stuff. I HATE it! When I was a kid, I wanted nothing to do with those pink snowball twinkie things because they were covered in coconut!

6. When something interests me, I get a bit obsessive about it. The internet becomes my worst enemy because it is such a wealth of information and I research whatever it may be to death (just check out my coupon addiction!)

Now for my tags: Marci, Shannon, and Lacey (everyone else who hasn't done it yet is more than welcome to share their quirks, too!)

Where did the weekend go?

It's Sunday night and once again I find myself asking, "Where did the weekend go?" This weekend was a pretty busy one for us. Saturday morning was our community garage sale. We decided at the last minute to participate, and so Jason and I scrambled for a few hours Friday night after the kids were in bed to get everything together. It was a beautiful day, but we were kind of disappointed because we had a lot more traffic at the one that we had in the spring.

Jason took Emily to her soccer game and my dad and brother came over to help with the garage sale. Jason said that Emily had a great game and really got into it this week. I think the cooler weather really helped!

Jacob had his first day of nursery today. He went right in and headed straight for the toys. When I picked him up, they said he had a great day and didn't cry at all. What a relief! It was one of those bittersweet moments for me. It was really nice for me to actually be able to listen to the lessons for a change without having to entertain (or chase down) a busy toddler, but it was also a reality check and made me realize that my little boy is growing up!

Things have FINALLY started to "cool off" here. For those of you who are from outside of Texas and experiencing true fall already, you probably won't understand that we get excited about temperatures in the 70s and low 80s around here!

The joys of living in Texas!

If you haven't been to Texas or lived in Texas, you don't know what bugs are. There are all sorts of bugs for all sorts of seasons and most of them are HUGE. We had lived in Texas for about 3 years and never experienced the fated "weevil."

This summer, we had an Enrichment class at church about food storage and the person presenting talked about weevils and how to prevent them. We had lived in Texas for three years at that point and I had never found weevils in anything. Ironically, a few days later, I had my first encounter. I opened up a package of Rice a Roni and was thoroughly disgusted to see the little guys crawling all over in the box.

In our class (and from reading online), I learned that the eggs are already in a lot of products and if you freeze things (rice and grains) for 48 hours after you buy them, it should kill the eggs and prevent them from hatching. After my little experience, I started freezing everything, but one day I came home in a rush and forgot all about freezing my bag of rice. I hadn't thought about it since then.

Tonight, I opened up the bag to make dinner and there were the little guys again. Talk about killing your appetite - YUCK! The black and white drawing above doesn't do them justice, but the "real" pictures I found online were too disgusting to post.

Most of the time we really love living here, but it's times like these that life in Texas isn't all that!

My big boy!

Jacob hit the 18 month mark on Friday. We were supposed to have his 18 month check-up, but they called me to reschedule because the doctor was going to be out on an emergency. The next time we could reschedule (mainly because I already have the day off of work) is November 4th. He would have started in nursery this week, but we were out of town, so next Sunday will be the big day for him. I think he will love it!

Jacob is growing up so fast, and it's amazing to me how fast the time goes by! He really is a big boy and is wearing 2T clothes now. Even though he's big (I figure he probably weighs close to if not as much as Emily at this point), he's solid, not fat. Even though he's big in size, he has such a sweet, mellow personality and is really like a big teddy bear. I thought I'd share a few things about my big boy!

*He is becoming SO independent! When we are leaving the house in the mornings or walking in the parking lot, I always try to hold his hand, but he doesn't like that! He wants to walk on his own. Sometimes, he will just sit down if I try to walk with him holding his hand. Yesterday, I thought he was still in Melinda's house, but he got out and managed to walk out into the street. I was trying to load up the car, but thankfully big sister was keeping a watchful eye and ran out to get him. Lately, he has also decided that he wants to feed himself.....using a regular spoon and fork. Meal times take a little bit longer (and are quite a bit messier), but I am glad he wants to be so independent. It took forever for us to get Emily to use a fork and spoon on her own! He also loves drinking out of regular cups. The down side of this is that any cup that is left sitting around is fair game for him. He had a great time going around drinking out of cups at the birthday party and baby blessing this weekend!

*He has been so excited about all of the Halloween decorations, and has had a language explosion recently as a result. He loves to go around and point to all of the different things and say, "See!" "See!"

*He was so intrigued by his new little cousin! Whenever someone was holding baby Krystyna, he would be over there looking at her and trying to climb up next to the person holding her and he would say "See!" or sign "baby"

*He loves to give kisses....unfortunately, he hasn't quite mastered closing his mouth before he gives them, so they are usually pretty wet and sticky!

*Lately he has been very interested in books. He will bring me one book after another in the evenings and will climb up on my lap so that I can read them to him. I've always loved reading and I'm so glad that both of my kids have developed a love for books.

*For his age, he is pretty good at sharing. I guess that's one of the benefits of going to daycare. He is also really good about "putting things back" or throwing things away and is so proud of himself when he does it. He will walk around clapping his hands with a big grin on his face.

*He is such an easygoing guy, but loves to have a good time, too. You should see him in a sandbox! It days days to get all of the sand out of the little crevices.

*His smile is infectious and so is his little laugh!

We sure love you Jacob and our family wouldn't be complete without you!

So Blessed!

This weekend was a busy weekend. We drove out to Austin for a birthday party AND baby blessing! Our niece Juliana (my sister Melinda's oldest daughter) turned two and her new baby Krystyna was blessed today. Even though it went by super fast, it was fun to see all of the cousins together. I was so proud of the kids. They held up suprisingly and considering that they usually don't sleep well away from home, I'm happy to say that they slept for almost ten hours last night. The one "snafu" was that the air conditioner in our hotel room kept flipping over to "heat" for some reason (I woke up sweating at 3 a.m. to find that it was almost 80 degrees!). At least I got the room for half the price!

Here are some pictures of the "highlights":

Juliana with her birthday cake: she is really in to Elmo right now and was so excited to have an Elmo cake!

Emily loves birthday parties and she was so excited to get to go to Juliana's birthday party, but she was also very excited to get to see and hold Krystyna. She has been talking about it for weeks now. Before we left on Saturday night, she said, "Aunt Melinda, you have a beautiful baby!"

Aunt Jamie with baby Krystyna!

Uncle Reed with baby Krystyna. He's great with all of the Jacob and all of the nieces, but doesn't really "do" diapers yet. His time will come! :)

Opening the birthday presents!

Proud Grandma!

Proud Mom: Melinda holding baby Krystyna

Double the trouble: Jacob and Juliana are exactly six months apart. I thought this picture of the two of them together was so cute! When I was done taking the picture, I asked Juliana if she wanted to get down and she said, "No." They just kept sitting there like this. This was the first time the two of them have been together in several months and it was fun to see them actually interacting. It will be fun to watch the two of them grow up together!

The four cousins! Here's a picture of the four cousins together: Jacob and Juliana in the chair and Emily and Krystyna on the floor.

The lady of the hour - little Krystyna. She was just so precious and everyone fought for a chance to hold her. It was a strange experience for me. I'm used to big babies and I'm not sure I've ever held one that small (if I have, it's been awhile). She was so easygoing, though, and didn't fuss very much at all even though she didn't get to sleep much and everyone kept passing her around. We can't wait to get to know her better!

The Happy Family: Phil, Melinda, Juliana, and Krystyna - what a great family picture!

The proud grandparents! At this point, the kids were all starting to melt down. We were glad we got them to all sit still long enough for one more picture!

My Top 10

Marci tagged me in her blog to list the top ten things that I can't live without. It actually took me awhile to think of ten things (some things came to me more easily than others), but I think I came up with a good list that really encompasses my ten things!

My family, of course!

My friends ~ I have been blessed with great friends throughout the years who have been there for me through so many things. I posted a few of my favorite "friend" pictures.

My crockpot ~ My family might never eat without one :)

My cell phone ~ I got the most awesome cell phone ever for Christmas last year. It has a touch screen (which took some getting used to), full internet access, a GPS (which has helped me out more times than I can remember), and a full keyboard for texting!

COMPUTER ~ I love using the computer to blog and keep in touch with family and friends through e-mail (Plus find all of the bargains!)

CHOCOLATE ~ I love all kinds - plain Hershey's bars, Reese's peantu butter cups, dark chocolate....pretty much the only thing I don't like is anything with coconut.
BOOKS ~ I've always loved reading! There are too many favorites to pick just one.

COUPONS (and CVS Extra Care bucks, of course!)~ Anyone who knows me would have figured this one out :)

Diet Coke ~ I can't remember exactly I learned to love Diet Coke....probably in college!

TV ~ There are so many TV shows to love! I'm hooked on Bones, House, Grey's Anatomy, Criminal Minds, all of the Law & Order shows, The Biggest Loser, and even though I should probably be ashamed of myself, recently I just can't help watching Lipstick Jungle. Of course, I end up falling asleep half the time watching them. Thank goodness for DVR! (I can't watch shows in "real" time anymore because I'm so used to fast forwarding through things)

I actually had a lot of fun doing this. I'm going to tag a few people to come up with their own lists: Jenna, Shannon, Marcey, Wendy, and Andrea I can't wait to read your lists! :)

Soccer!

I have been meaning to post the pictures from Emily's first soccer game, but hadn't had a chance to get them off of Jason's work camera. As I was going through the pictures, I realized that we didn't really have any "action" shots where you could see her face, but here are some pictures, at least.

The place where Emily was taking ballet is located right next to the soccer fields and every week when she would go for ballet, she would see the kids out there playing or practicing soccer and she would tell me that she wanted to play. We missed the deadline to sign up and play in the spring, so I told her that we could sign up for the fall.

I think she was surprised to find out that soccer is HARD WORK! Their first practice, they spent the full hour out there running and working hard. It was definitely an adjustment for her! They play their games at 11 on Saturdays and in Texas, even though it's October, it is still VERY hot, especially at that time of day. I don't think she's crazy about the idea of running around in the heat, and earlier this week, I was wondering if soccer is really the "thing" for her.

I ended up talking with one of the other moms at her practice earlier this week. All of the other girls on the team have played before and most of them played on the same team together in the spring. The other mom was telling me that all of the girls had a hard time adjusting the first time around and that her daughter cried at every game and practice (at least Emily hasn't done that!) for the first several weeks, but she loves it now. The coach is wonderful and very calm and patient with the girls. She said that it took his older daughter about 3 seasons before she got "into" it and it took his younger one, who is on Emily's team, awhile to come around, too.

There is a little girl from Emily's preschool class on her team, which I think is great. I didn't even know until the first game when I looked over and saw that she had a bag from the same school and I asked the mom if she went there and she said yes, and told me her teacher's name, and I realized that it was the same teacher. My mom usually drops Emily off at school, so I don't get to meet a lot of the parents until I start going to school activities like field trips and parties, and this parent works, also, so didn't really know the parents. If nothing else, Emily is making some friends there and loves that. At this point, I think it's more about having friends and having fun. Hopefully the "fun" part will come and if it doesn't, we can keep trying to find "her thing." In the meantime, at least she keeps wanting to go back every week!

This picture shows the first "drama" of the game! One of the girls got knocked down. Emily was not the one who knocked her down, but ran to check on her, even though she is from the other team.

FLASHBACK!

Sometimes I don't realize how quickly the kids grow up until I sit there and look at pictures. Time sure flies. This first picture was taken almost exactly two years ago when we took Emily out to Dewberry Farm. The second picture is the one we took today. She is growing up so fast!

Fun at the Farm!

Today Emily's preschool class went on a field trip to a place called Dewberry Farm. If you live in this area, have kids, and have never been, I totally recommend it. We took Emily for the first time when she was 2 and she had a blast.

I took the day off work today to go with Emily. It was nice because we had the entire place to ourselves! They have tons of activities, and one of the "favorites" is a ride on the corn train (pictured above).

They have a "human hamster wheel." They had to limit it to four kids at a time, but all of the kids loved it and kept wanting to go again and again.

The kids also got to take a hayride out to the pumpkin patch. On the way there, they learned all about pumpkins. I learned some things, too. I never realized that pumpkins produced flowers, but now I can tell the difference between a "male" pumpkin flower and a "female" one! It was fun to watch the kids pick out their own pumpkins (they only let them pick small ones which was a bit of a disappointment). A lot of the kids didn't understand why the pumpkins were so dirty! Straight off the vine is a little bit different from what you find in a grocery store!

They have a playground area with a huge "Hay Mountain" that the kids all loved. They also have a huge roller slide (when we went last time, I went down with Emily....I learned my lesson and didn't repeat that again this time!). They also have a huge fort with slides and bridges and look out areas.

The duck races was another popular activity. Each kid got to pick a duck out of a very dirty looking barrel of water and then they used a water pump to propel their duck to victory. The kids were bummed that they only got to do this once.

The kids had a great time feeding the goats! They also got to feed a donkey.

There were plenty of spots along the way to take silly pictures!

We got to listen to some singing chickens and even learned about chickens and their eggs. You can tell I'm not a farm girl because I had no idea that white chickens lay white eggs and brown chickens lay brown eggs! I also didn't know that they have to eat about 12 pounds of chicken feed to produce a dozen eggs!

They had a petting zoo area which was also a big hit. There were chicks, chickens, turkeys, pigs, goats, pigs, rabbits, and hroses.


We did have one mishap on the trip. There was a pond with ducks and geese. Emily kept wanting to get close to the geese and the geese weren't very fond of her. I kept telling her to stay away because geese can be very mean, but she had to find out for herself. One of them bit her right by her eye, so her face is pretty red and puffy right now!

Since Jacob is "the baby" I find that I end up having to spend a lot of time with him, and I don't get to spend as much time one on one time as I would like with Emily. This was a great opportunity for us and I really enjoyed it. I'm going to try to take a day each month to spend some one on one time with each kid. Next month, we get election day off since so many schools will be used as voting sites, and Emily has school that full day, so I'll get to spend the day with just Jacob. Emily has lots of different activities coming up at school (Fall Field Days, Thanksgiving Feast, and Christmas party), so I figure I'll have plenty of opportunities to take some time to spend with her, too.