Cousins, Cousins Everywhere!

We traveled to Destin this week to visit with family. In attendance were Emma, Sara, Susan, Grana and Grandaddy, Aunt Cheryl, cousins Everett and Jenny and Everett's wife Jenn and their son Aidan. I'm sure the punctuation is not correct in that sentence but trying to list everyone and their family title was tough.

This picture of "the cousins" was taken in July of 2005. I'm holding a 2 month old Emma and Everett is holding a 2 year old Aidan. This is a picture of a picture...before the digital camera revolution took place in the our house. Anyway...I tried to find a picture of me and Everett when we were little, but I guess Mama and Daddy have those at their house.

Here we are 3 years later with the addition of Sara...who didn't want to wait around for the pictures to be taken.

Bubble blowing was enjoyed by everyone. Even Grandaddy and Aunt Cheryl got into the action.

Emma finally slowed down long enough to sit in Aunt Cheryl's lap and have a bubble blowing lesson.

Sara blew so hard that she bent the bubble wand backwards! (Or it could have been like that already.)

I hope Aidan enjoyed our visit. I did hear him say, "These girls are getting in my way." Poor guy!

I think Everett, Jenny, Beth and I used to play with these blocks. The price tag on the little barrel they came in said $1.39. You can't get any toy for that price anymore!

Jenny and Sara enjoyed throwing the blocks at the barrel.

Emma showed off her jump rope expertise.

Here's a jump rope lesson!


A new taste treat: popcorn!

Sara and Jenn shared some time gazing at the beautiful waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Sara kept saying, "Where's the boat? There it is!"

Our time together was too short...although it was very loud! Maybe it will be quieter next year and we will really be able to catch up!

Day 3 on the Potty Training Trail

I have a super picture of Emma on her "Princess Potty," but after much thought I decided against posting it here. It's really cute though! You'll just have to imagine Emma sitting on her potty.

We've started potty training...again...and it seems to be going much better this round. Emma doesn't scream when you mention the word "panties" anymore! She's actually asking to wear her panties even when she's going to nap or to sleep for the night. We've had our share of accidents (and I know there will be more to come) but we've also made it to the potty on time and celebrated with clapping, M&M's, and stickers on the Princess Potty Chart. It's actually training the whole family! I'm hoping it will be easier for Sara since she's been watching and clapping with us!

Here are some of the conversations concerning the potty that we've had at our house during the last few weeks.

Trying to convince Emma that panties are a good thing.

Mommy: "Mommy likes panties. So does Grandma, Grana, Aunt Beth and Lolli."
Emma: "Does Uncle Brandon like panties too?"

Telling Mommy an accident has occurred.
Emma: "I have a problem with my panties!"

This conversation took place at the supper table. At this point in time, we were trying to get across the point that big girls don't wear diapers. Emma started making meow noises and then...
Emma: "I'm a kitty."
Daddy: "You're not a kitty. Kitties don't wear diapers."
Emma: "Kitties wear panties?"

Mommy: "Emma, do you need to go potty?"
Emma: "No thanks, Mommy. I'm too busy."

We'll keep moving down the Potty Training Trail in hopes of getting to the Diaper-free Depot soon!

Back to Normal!

Thanks for all the blog comments and emails about Sara. I'm happy to annouce that she is almost back to her old self. We're just waiting for her appetite to return. It was like God flipped a little switch inside of her Tuesday night and she woke up Wednesday like nothing was ever wrong with her. Our little Energizer Bunny is back in full effect!

Now that we are all feeling good and Bible School is over, here are some pictures from the last few weeks.

This picture was taken Father's Day morning. Sara was pretending to play the piano...I think.

Emma went to her first "big kid" birthday party. Our friend Phillip turned 4 recently and had a great party at Rock It Lanes.

Emma enjoyed riding the little carousel with her friends Ethan and Veronica. The twins had an extra seat and asked Emma to ride with them. Thanks!

Obviously this was before Sara got sick...the girl can put away some chocolate pudding!

The girls have been dancing with each other a lot lately. Sara leads and Emma hums the music. It's too sweet!

We also spent a few days at Grana and Grandaddy's house before our Bible School week started. The girls had a great time playing in the yard. They watered a lot of plants with the water from the bucket (they also watered each other a little too) and enjoyed the bubbles from the bubble machine.

Poor Little Sara

Emma doesn't understand why Sara isn't herself today. I thought it was so sweet that she joined her on the "sick couch" (notice all the towels?). I guess I blogged too soon about Sara's recovery. She got sick again last night at 11:30 and after getting everything (and everybody cleaned up) we put her back to bed at midnight. Something woke me up at 1am and I ran to Sara's room. I'll save the details but I was able to get Sara to her changing table so Marcus didn't have to change her sheets again. She went back to sleep after yet another bath and slept until 6am. She woke up and I was thrilled when she wanted to drink her juice! She drank it down in one gulp only to have it come back onto the kitchen floor...hope you aren't eating as you read this! I called our pediatrician only to find out they are remodeling the office and won't be in until June 23rd! Just our luck! I called another pediatrician in town and it seems like there is a stomach virus going around that Sara probably picked up at VBS. I have to give her a teaspoon of water every 15 minutes, which we are all really enjoying (major sarcasm alert). She doesn't seem to have a fever now and she's kept down her 10 teaspoons of water so things are looking up! I better go and administer her next dose of H2O!

Father's Day Weekend

Happy Belated Father's Day!

I had good intentions of writing a special Father's Day post but life certainly got in the way this weekend. When Marcus picked Sara up from Sunday School she had been moved to the bitty baby room because she had fallen asleep. By the time we got her home she had a slight fever. As you can imagine, we had a long night last night but things are looking up. Sara has started eating and drinking again and the Tylenol has finally started working on that fever. For some reason, Blogger and I aren't getting along right now so I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow.

Happy Belated Anniversary Marcus! I love you!

Outrigger Island

Aloha! We're sorry we haven't updated our blog lately. We've been busy enjoying Outrigger Island Vacation Bible School!

Mommy worked in the arts and crafts room while the girls got the enjoy VBS with their friends. I took their picture in our art room before our last day of VBS on Friday.

Each morning the day would begin at the Worship Rally. I'm not sure who transformed our sanctuary into a tropical paradise but the did a great job!
How about that volcano! I heard about the volcano all week long and made sure to go and see it Friday morning.
Emma's class participated in the Penny War! Each child got to walk up and place their pennies in either the boys bucket or the girls bucket. The girls ended up winning for the week! Go girls!
Here is a sampling off all the art work that Emma and Sara did during the week. Pretty neat, isn't it!

Mahalo!

My ABC's

As you may or may not know, I'm not the most tech-savvy, hip person around. So when Jen put my name by "tag" (along with Jennifer and Madeline) on her ABC blog, I really didn't understand what it meant! Then yesterday afternoon I read Jennifer's blog and she mentioned she had been tagged by Jen and her ABC list followed...well then the light finally went on. Confused? It really doesn't matter how I figured it out but here are Susan's ABC's.

Our regularly scheduled Emma and Sara pics and stories will resume soon.

A-attached or single: attached to Marcus

B-best friend(s): Marcus, Mama, Daddy and Beth

C-cake or pie: That's a tough one...I'll have to say cake by a nose.

D-day of choice: Friday...Marcus is off on Friday afternoons and the weekend lays ahead of us with endless possibilities! (Well maybe not endless, but it sounded good.)

E-essential item: Hmm. It's a tie between baby wipes and a bag of pretzels to keep in my purse. Those pretzels are a lifesaver when I'm trying to shop with some uncooperative little girls.

F-favorite color: Pink...very Elle Woods (Legally Blonde) of me, isn't it?

G-gummie worms or bears: Bears but they have to be the ones that come in the gold package from Germany. They are the best.

H-hometown: Fort Walton Beach, Florida

I-indulgences: Chocolate and that new Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino® blended coffee with Chocolate Whipped Cream. Sooo good with sooo many calories!

J-January or July: No question...January. For a native Floridian, I am not fond of warm weather.

K-kids: Emma deLaura (3) and Sara Grace (2)

L-life is incomplete without: God, Family and Friends

M-marriage date: June 15, 2002

N-number of Siblings: 1 Elizabeth Jo

O-oranges or apples: Apples...golden delicious from North Carolina.

P-phobias or fears: Where to I start...snakes, lizards, tornadoes, aloe plants...

Q-quote: Like Jennifer, I'll take one from my grandmother: "Whatever blows your skirt up."

R-reason to smile: There are so many! Seeing Marcus tickling the girls always makes me smile.

S-season: Fall...the smell in the air, the anticipation of cool weather and Christmas!

T-tags: Still not clear on this one because the people I know have already done this.

U-unknown fact about me: When I was in high school Willie Nelson kissed me on my cheek. I also saw Jamie Deen (Paula's oldest son) in the France pavilion at EPCOT last fall. I followed him into the pastry shop to take his picture, but I chickened out.

V-vegetable: Ohana Green Beans! Yummy!

W-worst habit: There are so many! One that comes to mind right now is that I pick at my fingernails when I get nervous.

X-x-ray or ultrasound: I don't think I've had an x-ray since I had pneumonia when I was little. So it would have to be ultrasounds. The ultrasound tech at my doctor's office always called our babies peanuts or gummy bears.

Y-your favorite food: Any type of steak except prime rib. I love flank steak and fillet Mignon! Yum!

Z-Zodiac sign: Aries, but I don't put any stock into that kind of stuff.

Memorial Day Fun

We had a nice, relaxing Memorial Day. After naps, we enjoyed some frozen apple juice pops and some sprinkler time. Sara ate her juice pop like corn on the cob.
Emma really enjoyed herself and wanted another juice pop when she was finished.
I thought this was the cutest picture! This is another classic Sara look.
This is Emma's beauty shot!
Sprinkler time!

Sprinkler Fun

I found a great deal on a kiddie sprinkler last year at Target. Since then it has sat in our laundry room but now...drum roll...we finally took it out for a spin! Before that, we had to fuel up for fun! (I think I should trademark that phrase if someone else hasn't done it already.) We had a balanced snack of grapes, pretzels and ice water. You can also see the Croc-wannabe shoes we got the girls last night (you can see Sara's right foot). Sara's arches are so high we can't get her feet into the water shoes that Emma wore last year. So now Emma has a pink pair and Sara has a turquoise pair of new shoes. It was so nice to just hose them off and leave them on the deck when it was all said and done (the shoes, not the children), but I'm getting ahead of myself...
Emma was a little timid about the sprinkler at first and would only run around it or through it while holding her Daddy's hand. By the time we turned it off she was running right up to it and trying to catch water in her hands.
Here is our brave girl!

CAUTION: Semi-topless baby ahead!

(Daddy will not be thrilled that this was included in our blog entry!)

Sara loved the sprinkler and walked right up to it the first time. She and her sister are so different when it comes to new experiences...much like Beth and me! Anyway...Sara was quite mystified when the sprinkler turned off. She ran right up to it, picked it up, shook it really well and then threw it down. Not sure which side of the family that little trait comes from.

The girls enjoyed the sprinkler more than the pool we bought them. My guess is that they felt like they were in control because they could run in and out of the sprinkler at will. Little harder to do with the baby pool. Just a little child psychology thrown in for good measure. We hope you are having a great Memorial Day Weekend too!

Party Time!

We had a Mickey Mouse/ Winnie the Pooh birthday party for the girls this year. The theme made for a rather crowded cake top. The girls ate the cake very nicely so we don't have any "cake on the face" pics this year.

Emma and Sara weren't too interested in opening the presents. Guess we'll say the same thing we did last year...maybe next year! Emma was quite excited with some of the ribbon and tissue paper though. This magic wand was a hit!

Both of the girls have enjoyed the double easel Grandma and Grandpa gave them. We've put it in the kitchen so I can see them while I'm cooking. It's great because one side is a chalk board and the other is a wipe-off board that is magnetic. Now they aren't playing with their magnets on the refrigerator while I'm busy opening and closing it.

NOTICE: We aren't letting Sara do this anymore!

Thank goodness she forgot about going down the slide face first. She loved it though! For some reason the slide is a lot more interesting when it is in the living room than when it is in the backyard. We'll probably be moving it back in soon! Grana and Grandaddy picked a winner!

Too bad this pic isn't focused...Emma wasn't thrilled to put on her new Cinderella dress, but it grew on her. She even went down the slide with it on!

We tried out two of the girls presents yesterday. They look so cute in the Minnie Mouse swimsuits Daddy found and they love the water table that MawMaw and PawPaw gave them. Emma pretends to cook while Sara throws things into it and squeals. You can see that she threw in her sister's pink sippy cup!

Sara is into destruction so Aunt Beth gave her a construction kit. It even came with a stop sign! The little tape measure make sounds like hammering a nail or sawing some lumber.

Emma loves the rocking animals that are on our church playground so she (and Sara) have loved having a blue dog of their own.

Some of our party participants: Sara, Aunt Beth, Mom, Papa (Susan's grandparents) and Emma.

Emma, Grandaddy, Aunt Beth, Sara and Grana. (Susan's parents and sister)

PawPaw, MawMaw, Sara, Grandpa (put her shirt down!), Emma and Grandma. (Marcus' grandparents and parents)

We know we don't throw the most exciting, well organized parties in the world but we do have the cutest birthday twins! Thanks to everyone for making the girls birthday a blast! See ya next year!

Birthday Re-cap!

I know the days not even over yet, but I've been inundated with requests for birthday pictures...well, maybe not inundated, but a few people have asked!Our day started out with special birthday number pancakes! Sara ate two and Emma ate four! A record for both girls!

Yum! Yum!

After a hamburger and french fry supper, we had fun eating chocolate cupcakes with white frosting. Emma and Daddy almost looked like twins!

Of all people, I would have thought that Sara would have jumped on top of this cupcake. Oh, but no! She picked at it with her fingers until I got her a fork and then she was able to eat a little of it. The girls just isn't that big on sweets! Too bad her Mommy is!

We'll upload more pictures as time allows...or should I say, as the girls allow!