the park & the puddles

my kids are water magnets.

if there's water, they will find it. guaranteed.

so, our park trip turned into puddle jumping.

i love this photo of these two...

and bro owns the park now.

and obviously loves it!

she still loves the park too. when do they outgrow the whole park thing? i hope never.

heaven forbid if you take the peel off of carson's banana. i'm am telling you...the. world. would. stop. spinning. the peel must stay on. the peel must stay on.

he slides on the BIG slide all by himself now. he grew too too fast.

daddy showed up at the end of our adventure.

and carson loved the hand jive thing emma had going on.

really loved it.

carson loves when his daddy comes home. he runs and jumps into his arms, just like it should be.

emma does too.

this was the last call before heading home...

On the eve of TWO!

i'm not real sure where the time has gone, but it's our last month before your big T-W-O! i just can't believe it, and would wind the clock backwards in a heartbeat if i could. you are just so much fun...

your vocabulary is exploding! you can repeat just about anything now, and you are even starting to put small sentences together. your first phrase was, "puppy where are you?" this has transpired into, "mommy, where are you?" i hear you say this over the monitor, early in the mornings when you are awake in your crib.

you are pretty smart. you know where we are now, as in close to HEB, the park, etc.


everything has possession now too. so, you let us know...."mommy's coat," "emma's cup," "daddy's shoes." you are scared to death of ducks, and rightfully so. i think you remember this trip on emma's birthday. i don't think i wrote about it then, but those ducks tried to snatch your cupcake...multiple times! why do ducks have to be so mean? yikes. you have learned to keep your distance :)

you also love to say all of our names now. "mommy, daddy, emma, and carson." so sweet.

you love your sister, and she loves you. you ask for her so many times a day when she's at school, and you love when it's time for preschool pick-up.

your curls....swoon. still amazing.

and you love baxter & spot now. baxter is your bear and spot is your dalmation puppy. so sweet. they are almost as big as you! eating is still one of your favorite pastimes. eating "smarties" is even more of a favorite.

you are cutting your bottom right corner tooth. after this little dude comes in, you will have 16 teeth...8 on top and 8 on bottom.

you have the best little laugh in the whole world...

and i'm so glad you're mine :) hugs and kisses to you, our little bro-bro. we love you dude!

p.s. you can say "dude" too! "hey dude" is just too cute!

sledding, fishing, sliding, & cowgirl boots

on the weekends, we like to go here. emma has coined it the mountain park, and i'm sure you can figure out why.

i thought sliding down the hills in boxes might be fun, but it didn't quite work the way we thought.

maybe some snow & a sled would help. emma wishes for snow all the time. and i'm thinking with our 70 degree days, we should just forget the snow and be thankful for our spring-like weather in january. so so weird.

bro enjoyed wandering about.

and miss emma loves it outside too. her pigtails are a favorite thing of mine.

brother & sister...fun times.

we brought emma's princess fishing pole.

we brought snacks too.

i love what you find in your pantry after christmas.

emma practiced her casting skills.

and successfully did it. all. by. herself.

if you have little ones, you know how important the whole "all by myself" thing truly is.

she did have an amazing teacher by her side :)

and was so proud of her newest accomplishment.

she even dressed herself that day. don't you love the purple tulle, peace sign leggings, and cowgirl boots.

if i call them cowboy boots, she will correct me every time.

what is that....girlie cowgirl? or maybe fancy meets country?

we were done with the fishing and with the ducks...

so we made our way towards the park.

the park is always a win. i love you carson.

and miss emma...i love you too.

Ramblings, Advice, Mischief, Mail, & Mom Points

I wanted to let y'all in on something. I haven't much been into blogging lately, but I'm trying so hard to get back into the swing of things. Did you notice how late my Christmas posts were? Well let's just keep it at really late, so I came to tell you why.

About 10 days before Christmas, at the very last minute, I caught a plane to go visit my sweet Pawpaw. He wasn't doing very well, and with both my Granny & Pawpaw so far away, it had been too long since our last visit.

Y'all know by now I'm a planner, right? Well let me just tell you that by the time we found the most economical way for me to get there (using those pesky airline miles that say when and where and how you can fly), I had one hour to pack, shower and get out the door.

Folks, I was in my pj's in the preschool carpool line when we figured all of this out. Well, I did it. I dumped my kids with my hubby. Left a dirty and unpicked up house. There was laundry to be done. Grocery shopping to do. Christmas ends to tie up. The list goes on. You know, when you leave, you kinda "do it all" to help out whoever is gracious enough to keep your little cutie pies? Well, not this time. I was in the air when I figured out that Emma was currently missing dance. There were no plans this time and no time for plans either.

It had been so long since I had flown by myself. I sorta flash-backed to my very first job out of college. I traveled quite a bit back then. And a lot by plane. It seemed so long ago. Almost weird if ya know what I mean. That life before little ones is sometimes so hard to put your finger on. Do y'all know what I mean?

Long story short... I saw my Pawpaw that night, but he passed away while we were there. It was truly one of the saddest things I have ever witnessed. I have surely been to my share of funerals, but to be present with it all happening, is still almost too much for me to wrap my little head around.

My sweet Pawpaw left all of the suffering that day. And that weekend, my Granny gave my little sister some advice while we were there...

"Make everyday together special. 58 years of marriage go by so fast."

So true. They had four kids, 10 grandkids, and 2 great-grandkids, and were married 58 years, but it just all goes by so fast. Rob and I talk about it all the time. Every year seems to pass a little quicker than the one before it. Is it just us, or do y'all agree?

So, do something for me and take my Granny's advice. Make everyday count. I think we should all give this one a go.

I came home from that quick trip out and wow. I had so much running around in my head. I was sad. I was sad that my daddy lost his daddy. Sad that my Granny lost her lifelong mate. I was sad that our life here is so short. And sad that everything can end, just so quickly. So that's why. That's why I haven't blogged.

I wish I had some photos to share, but most all of them were old school film.

I do have this one. It's of my little sister and Pawpaw. I love it.

And this one. It's both my Granny & Pawpaw with Baby Carson.

If you have an extra prayer or two, I am sure that my Granny and the rest of the family would really appreciate it. And to our Pawpaw, may you rest in peace and know that you are truly missed.

A couple of weeks later, I attempted to take one more photo of the kids, just before we took the tree down....fail.

This is the best I got. So moving on...

After the failed photo shoot, I did start taking the tree down and looked up to find this.

Carson had swiped an entire tube of m&m's from the pantry, opened it, and eaten the whole thing. i. am. not. kidding. They keep me hopping for sure.

Emma went back to preschool, following the Christmas hiatus. She is so sweet, and when I think of her leaving for kindergarten next year, I crumble. They have a mail station at preschool...it's where they write and receive mail. So, if you're an all star mom, you send mail everyday. And, if you not quite at that level (ahem...me), you send mail...well, when you remember. Last week, I got mail. Emma wrote to me! It was so sweet, so I thought I'd share. She even wrote "Emma" and "Mom" on the front....growing up too fast. Notice that she's still drawing Christmas. She was not at all impressed when it was all over.

On a sidenote, if you're reading and you're a family member and would like to send Miss Emma mail, please do. I would be ever so grateful and Emma would too! I keep telling myself that I'm going to sit down one night and create a pile of mail to send weekly, but, well...it's on that list that just hasn't happened yet.

I rung in the New Year by attempting a Pinterest idea. (If you haven't joined yet, you should. Email me if you need an invite...it's so addicting & inspiring all at the same time :) The kids were thrilled with marshmallows for breakfast and I thought they turned out super cute. It's uper easy & you'll get major mom points for this one.

Sorry y'all...I know I was all over the place for this one. If you're still with me...Carson would give you a fist bump...and a high five :)