I finally had a weekend off. It has been 7 weeks since I had a full weekend off (and that was when Steve and Emy were out of town- so even longer since the 4 of us were together AND I had a weekend off). Anyways, this weekend the opportunity presented itself for me to have the entire weekend off. No shoots. No editing. Nothing.
I jumped at the chance. The weather was great. The kids were great. Steve was great. It was blissful.
Saturday morning we headed to the Dallas Arboretum. I am there fairly frequently but Steve and the kids have never been. The timing was perfect since the always beautiful arboretum still had two special exhibits going on- the pumpkin village and the Chihuly glass exhibit.
The kids (and Steve and I) had a blast! It wasn't that crowded and it was the perfect amount of exploration and playing for everyone.
Everything was perfect until we decided to stop at the outdoor cafe on our way out for a quick bit of lunch. I guess the birds around the cafe are used to getting fed because they kept landing on our chairs and table looking for scraps and it was scaring the daylights out of Emy and Ash. Literally, blood curdling screams every time bird landed near. Steve and I were cracking up though. Bad parents:)
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Family day at the arboretum
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Spring Soccer recap
Well, I am going to try to get this blog up to date one post at a time. Since fall soccer just started, I might as well post the SPRING soccer recap. Yes, I am an entire season behind on blogging. Oops.
Emerson soccer team is named the Doodlebugs and they have the coolest rainbow tie-dye jerseys. All the other little girl teams are jealous. (I have no proof of this but I would be!) Since Emerson loves rainbows, this works out well! She is number 14:)
To say that Emerson loves soccer would be an understatement. She LOVES it. The first couple practices and games, she was a little timid but she has grown to love it more with each passing game.
During the games, she really does give it her all. She actually runs the entire game, which I think is impressive for her age. When she practices and plays, a part of her I have never seen before comes out. She is aggressive and strong. We are so proud of her!
Thursday, September 6, 2012
2012 First day of Preschool
Ah, the first day of school. It is the glorious day that our kids get back into their routine and mommy gets a break!
The kids are both at UCC again and we are still very happy there. I am having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that this will be Emerson's last year there. That is an entirely different post though.
Anyways, we took some pics at home before school and then a few at school for traditions sake.
This is Ashton's classroom this year. No classroom pictures from Emy because she is a big kid and gets dropped off outside:(
And I got to be in a picture! Thanks Kat:)
Sunday, July 22, 2012
A beginning and an end
My heart is full tonight. Full of emotion. Happy and sad. Overwhelming emotion at all the changes around us right now. You see, our family is moving. We are moving. My in-laws are moving. My kids are growing. My business is growing. Things are changing. And it feels like they are changing at a rapid pace right now.
I will get into our family's move in another post. There is a lot to talk about there and this post is going to be long enough on its own:)
First the happy news. Emerson. Is. Finally. Swimming!!!! In typical Emerson fashion, she had to wait until she was ready and then it is like a switched was flipped on overnight and here we are with a little girl who LOVES to swim. LOVES IT.
Tonight at the pool she would jump and swim to daddy and demand to do it over and over and over and over again. Just like I did when I was a kid. And the pride in my heart just overflowed. It makes me teary just thinking about it. I was truly worried that her fear of the water could turn into a life long fear. But now I know it won't. Instead she is just beginning her life long love affair with water. And my heart is happy.
Her brother on the other hand, he already loves the water and seems to think he can swim. Looks like I need to get that boy in some swim lessons:)
And my heart is sad tonight too. My in-laws have sold their house here in Fort Worth. They will have another one someday but for now we are back to being on our own. We have always been on our own but with them having a home here it always felt like a little part of them was here with us. And when they would come visit it was almost always an extended stay. My kids always felt like it was their second home. They had their own room and beds there. To nap or spend the night.
We have so many memories in that home. They originally bought it for Emerson. "Emy's Digs" they nicknamed it. And Emy did fill it with so much love and laughter. We had Steve's 30th birthday bash there, TCU tailgates and Ashton's baby shower there too. We watched TCU win the Rose Bowl there. We swam in the pool countless times. Emy got her first bike and learned to ride there. We hunted for Easter eggs inside and out. Emerson learned to swim there.
Ashton always loved it there just as much as his sister. He loved to sit on the swing out front and watch the cars go by. Whenever we pulled up to their house he would shout "GaGa" (his name for Karen). And as soon as I got him out of the car he would run for the door...Normally to be greeted by someone waiting there with open arms.
Tonight when we went to swim the house was empty. The movers have already come and gone. The kids bolted in the front door only to stop in their tracks. Emy said, "It looks funny in here". They then proceeded to run around screaming and making sounds echo in the emptiness.
We swam and had a blast and my heart was full of pride for Emerson's accomplishments but was also heavy. This is probably the last night we do this as a family here. As we were leaving, I could not help but take a picture of the (now) blue door. It is the end of an era. But, as Karen said, "the beginning of something better. With God, the next chapter is always better." And I know she is right.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Soccer!
Emy had her first soccer practice today. This is a day that I have been both excited for and nervous about for a long time. I have been so excited for her to try a team sport (something I never did) with all the stuff that comes with it- physical activity, team spirit, following a coach, coordination- all of it. I have been nervous because Emy is Emy. She flips out every time she so much as bumps her knee. She is a daydreamer. She would sit in front of the TV all day if I let her and she absolutely has to be right all the time. I was nervous because I did not know how all this would come together.
We tried and tried and succeeded in getting her onto an existing team where she has several friends from school. I thought this would be a good start for her and she would be able to ease into things a little better that way. Steve took her shopping for her gear last night. They had a good time and Emerson came home so excited about starting.
After rest time today I was getting her dressed and she could barely contain her excitement. It made my heart happy that she was truly ready for this adventure and that it was not something that Steve or I had pushed her into. On the way to practice, I gave her a pep talk. I explained that she was to listen to what the coach said and do whatever he asked. That she was to be kind to her new friends but to make sure to participate too. And most importantly I explained that if she fell down, she needed to be brave and get right back up.
We got to practice before anyone else and I think this was good for us. It gave Emy a chance to warm up to the area and run around with Ashton. Tonight was actually an optional practice with the real practice day being on Sundays so only half the girls came. None of which were Emy's friends.
When the coach was ready to start he called all the girls over and asked them to sit on their ball while they talked. They did introductions and talked about some "rules". The rest of practice was spent playing some cute games that basically got the girls to practice kicking the ball as much as possible.
Let me just stop right here and say how wrong I was about Emerson. She was totally in the mix the entire practice. She was running and kicking and going after her ball with such enthusiasm. Every time she would take a quick water break, she would not stay long citing that she "had to go" as if she did not want to miss anything the others were doing.
She listened to her coach. She talked to the other girls. She ran the entire time. She kicked the ball and made a real effort. And when she fell, I was able to get her back into practice.
I am one proud mama tonight. And my soccer-playing husband is just beside himself.
(yes, I now know that shin-guards go inside the socks. that is what happens when the soccer player of the house was not home to get emy dressed)
