We had a great 4th of July – I am just now getting around to putting up any pictures, though. I’ve just been so exhausted lately. Being off last week was great! I was afraid this week was really going to drag, but it’s actually moving rather fast. We have another b’day party Saturday (and the following Saturday come to think of it), but otherwise I am hoping for a calm weekend. Emma had so much fun Saturday at the block party for July 4th !!Jamie & Steven & the kids spent the night with us – so Emma had two fun days playing with her cousins and the adults had a good time visiting – a good time until 2:00am to be exact!!

I hope everyone is having a good 4th of July so far! We’ve been running around a bit today already! This morning we went to my parents’ house to pick up some fireworks we had there and visit a while…then it was back to the house to clean up and get food ready for this evening and Michael had to make a run back to the grocery store. We’re having our annual July 4th cul-de-sac party this evening. Our neighbor is great about organizing this every year – and Halloween parties as well! Steven & Jamie are coming tonight, too so the kids will have a great time hanging out together. We’ve got the slip-n-slide and pool ready – watermelon (one for the kids and one for the adults that has a little punch to it!). Our street is so much fun – everyone is always out together doing stuff!

So…Happy 4th of July to all!!

WARNING – Ramblings about my week ahead:

I took PTO this week – Friday would have been my regular Friday off, but since the office was going to be closed for Independence Day my Friday off got moved to Thursday – so I would have only been in the office three days this week anyway. So, I decided to use some PTO for those three days as well! Michael is only going to be off Friday so it’s just me and Emma hanging out.

I’m catching up on my laundry, which was way overdue…and a couple other errands I need to get off the list. Monday I had a dentist appointment – just my 6 month checkup. Doctor was very impressed with how my pearly whites were looking, but scolded me a little b/c I haven’t been wearing my mouth guard at night. Talk of orthodontics or a crown in the future was enough to persuade me (I grind my teeth at night). I also made Emma’s first appointment when I made my next 6 month appointment. She’ll be three then – a lot of kids have gone before that age, but every time I’ve asked my dentist before she’s told me it wasn’t necessary yet. I’m anxious to see how she’ll do – I think mostly they’ll just look at her teeth and count them – don’t think they’ll actually do any cleaning or polishing at her age.

Yesterday I had to take the car to the dealership so I was afoot all day – so Emma and I rode up to The Woodlands with the neighbor and her son to play in the fountain – kinda like a splash pad for the kids – and then out to lunch. We got the kids nice & tired before heading home which meant Emma was primed for a nap as soon as we walked in. Michael was actually home by that time b/c he was sick. He’s been fighting severe congestion/cough and all that yucky stuff for a while and yesterday he was just feeling so awful he decided to take the afternoon off. He slept all afternoon and got some more meds so hopefully they are helping him. He felt good enough to go back to work today, so we’ll see how he is this afternoon.

Today I’ve gotta get the truck inspected. My dad is coming over for lunch (mother went up to visit my Grannie for a couple days) and I think I’ll take the truck while he is here so Emma doesn’t have to sit in a waiting room with me. Emma loves playing with her Geddo so they’ll have fun while I’m gone. Tomorrow we (neighbors & I) are taking the kids to toddler time at the library then I have to be back for the Home Depot installers – we bought a storm door and they are finally putting it up tomorrow. Yay! Friday Michael will be off for the 4th so I’m not sure what we’re gonna do then – but Saturday is our annual 4th of July Street Party. My neighbor is great about planning get togethers for our street – we’re all about the same age and all our kids are about the same age, too  so our kids are all big buds.

I’m enjoying my time off for sure, but I don’t think I would ever want to be a SAHM full time – part time wouldn’t be too bad I don’t think, though!! Be nice to have permenant four day weekends, huh!?!? Wonder what real SAHM’s do all week??

Have I told you how much Emma loves her shark tent? It’s so funny. It’s a really cute tent shaped like a shark – hence why it’s called her “shark tent”!

My neighbor was out shopping & called me to tell me what she had found, thought Emma would like it & asked if I wanted to get it – so I thought sure. Why not? So glad I did b/c Emma LOVES it! As a matter of fact she has slept in it a couple of nights & even napped in it during the day a couple of times. When I told my parents she had a tent thought bought her a cute sleeping bag (Emma just calls it her “Bag”) to use in it – works out perfectly!

This is one evening she wanted to spend the night in her tent – I think she was already asleep at this point, though usually she wants it zipped up!

She even got my mother in on the action – yes, that is my mother inside the tent with her!!

(click for the full effect…)

To the two most important men in my life and in my little girl’s life! And to all the other daddies out there…Happy Father’s Day!

We had such a great time today – it was so HOT, but it was fun to get out in the sun & play! We went down to Kemah today and met Steven, Jamie & Katelynn for lunch. We ate at the Flying Dutchman then took the girls out to play in the water. Such a relief from the heat, too! I welcomed all the times they splashed us!! They girls had snow cones & took a ride (a couple actually – they didn’t want to get off) on the carousel, too!

After we got home & rested a bit, we walked down to the neighbor’s house, too and Emma played outside with Gus for a while, too. Needless to say she had a fun & full day! I think she is going to sleep so well tonight!

but sure miss my little wake up call in the mornings crawling in the bed with us!!

And it never fails when she spends the night on a Saturday night with my parents, Michael and I end up sleeping late and missing church, too. At least I know Emma went to church this morning with my parents.

Michael and I had a great time last night. We went to see The Hangover last night. I have to admit I really did not have high expectations about it – even though several people said they really liked it and thought it was hysterical. So many comedies today end up disappointing me b/c they are just more stupid than funny. The Hangover, though was not one of those – it was truly very funny!!

After the movie we headed home & realized it was still pretty early – we made it to the house and decided to go out for a while instead – so, we kept driving and headed back out to a local hangout; however, on the way we decided that since we weren’t really dressed to go out and knew if we went in to change we wouldn’t make it out again that we would hang out the rest of the night at home and Michael would play bartender! So, we turned around and headed back home – Michael fixed us up some yummy drinks and we snuggled down on the couch together to watch another movie. We settled on National Treasure & realized that Justin Bartha was in both movies we had watched tonight. (Nope I didn’t know his name – I had to look him up!)

All in all it was a great evening together – out for a while then nice & cozy at home!

Michael is still snoozing this morning – I’ve been up since about 8:45 (even without Emma crawling in the bed in the mornings I still wake up relatively early). So, I’m settled on the couch with my coffee & the laptop watching TNT movies in the morning!! (We rearranged the living room yesterday – I really like the new layout so much better for couching & watching TV.)

(They are already working on The Hangover 2???)

Our neighbor found this for Emma today!! She’s having a blast!!

(do ya know what movie the title quote is from…)

That’s Emma’s new line at night when I’m tucking her in. We go to bed, say our prayers, gives hugs & kisses to daddy, then I sing her a song and give hugs & kisses, “night night”, I love you’s – it’s a whole long orchastrated thing! Only now after all that she tells me, “I need you. Lay down with me” when I’m trying to walk out the door. It’s hard to resist honestly cuz it’s so sweet and being the cuddler that I am anyway, I take advantage of any cuddle moments I can get! So, I usually go back for a tight squeeze or two, say night night again and make it out the door just a few moments later than planned. No worries.

She has recently, though started climbing out of bed several times before finally going to sleep at night. I’ve always been thankful for how easily she goes down for naps and to bed at night, so I can’t really complain about this & really I’m not. It usually doesn’t last longer than thirty minutes – but she gets up a few times and wants hugs & kisses or to go potty or most recently for me to rock her. Again, being the cuddler that I am I don’t mind snuggling my baby girl in the rocking chair a while. A couple times she has stated that she wanted to lay down in my bed, so I’ve let her lay down there while Michael and I are up in the living room – she falls asleep quickly and I put her back into her own bed. This isn’t really a bad thing unless we’re ready to go to bed at the same time – and though I wouldn’t have a problem with her sleeping with us, she moves around way to much for our little Queen sized bed.

She has been wanting me to hold her a lot more these days, too  – and in restaurants telling me she is sleepy and wanting me to hold her and saying, “I want to lay on your shoulder,” (when she is tired and we’re out I hold her and say, “Lay your head on my shoulder…”). I don’t think of her as being more needy really – she is trying to stay up when she is tired, though and she is always wanting me to hold her and hug on her (don’t really mind the hugging part).

Riding the trolley in San Antonio – I am not really sure what she was Ooohhing about!

June is here…can you believe it?

Our week of vacation is over and we’re back at work today. Had to happen sometime!

We did have a great week off, though – even through the sad part – it was nice to not be gone the entire time so we were able to be at home a few days and relax. Saturday night before we left Kadie had her 30th B’day/Guitar Hero party. We had such a great time and it was so fun to dress up, too – everyone was asked to dress “rock”. I was happy Michael got into it like he did – he normally hates to do any kind of costume.

We didn’t head out of town until Monday morning. Emma had stayed with my parents Sunday after we grilled at their house with my sister and her husband so Michael and I were packed and back at their house early Monday morning to pick them all up. We hit the road a little after 9:00 and made it to San Antonio in record time. Our hotel was on the outskirts of town, away from the River Walk, but close to Sea World which was the point of the trip anyway. So we took our time Monday – checked in – relaxed a while – then went downtown to the market and riverwalk. The next two days we spent at Sea World. It was a perfect time to go. It was overcast so the weather was cool and it wasn’t crowded at all. Right after a holiday weekend and kids were still in school. There were lots of year end field trips going on, but we didn’t have to wait in line for anything really. And since we had two day passes we didn’t have to cram everything into one day – when we got tired the first day we went back to the hotel a while, swam, went out for a nice dinner then just saw the rest on day two! Very relaxing way to vacation!

Emma got to feed the dolphins…

And rode her first “ferris wheel”…

And see Shamu of course…

Shamu’s Happy Harbor…

All the other pics here uploaded here…

My favorite part was the ski show! Yes b/c it was a good show, but mostly b/c Emma really got into it! I wish I had a video of her watching them. She was dancing the entire time – shaking her baby booty and twisting her shoulders!! It was hysterical!! Cute is what it was!

We came back to Houston Thursday. It was nice coming home knowing we didn’t have to get everything else done that night to get ready for work the next day. We still had four more days. Which was needed, especially b/c of how sick Oreo was. Thursday night Michael had to make the sad decision about Oreo & Friday morning we had to say goodbye. We had hoped Oreo would go on his own, but it wasn’t right to let him continue on when his quality of life was so bad. He hadn’t walked in a few days – we were so thankful to our wonderful neighbors who took care of him while we were gone. He was started to go downhill just before we left. He was just much worse when we got home. We decided to get out of the house the rest of Friday so we went to lunch and took Emma to the Children’s Museum in The Woodlands.

Saturday and Sunday were full days, too. Saturday Emma and I went to a baby shower and she stayed with my parents afterwards while Michael and I went to see Kevin Fowler. We met up with my niece and her date, Ashley and Michael’s cousin and his friends. The concert was great and it was fun to go out again. Sunday when my parents brought Emma home we grilled out in the backyard. Michael cooked ribs & chicken & corn and I made Crash Hot Potatoes. Yum!

So, now it’s back to work – back to our regular routine! Emma definitely needed to get back on a schedule honestly. She didn’t stay up late too much really, but at her age a bit more structure and routine is definitely a good thing!

We had to say goodbye to our friend today. Oreo was a very good dog & we’re going to miss him a lot. It was very hard on Michael and harder b/c he had to make the decision for Oreo, but knew it was time and the right thing to do for him.

We’ll miss you Oreo…