Good Bye June

This is me with Lydia Jane Stimmel. She is precious, she is exactly 6 months younger than Henry. I am excited watch her this fall when school starts.

This is big sister Lillian Brooke Stimmel.

Emrie had a play date Tuesday with Lilly. We took a walk with the kids and played in the pool in the backyard. The girls had a great time together!

Good news! For 3 days now Henry has finally eaten some baby food carrots! He has a ton of yukky faces when you try to feed him anything off of a spoon. So I am very happy to at least have one food he will actually eat-that's a start!

Emrie Ann has a new friend, and I hope this friend disappears or at least is never around us in a public place. Heather, that is awful you say! It is imaginary friend, which I am all for I had a few myself. Her name choice for this friend is the problem, Poop. I love her little creative mind, she certainly makes us laugh.

Praise God for the cool evening breeze.

Henrys 1st Hair Cut!

Uh, Dad what is going on?

Um, Mom why do you have sharp pointy things pointed to my head?

Oh, Okay it is to get rid of my old man comb over! I'll just nibble on my finger while you work!

Yay! Mommy and Daddy get a night out tonight! Aunt Beth will be watching the kids while we dine at the Cheesecake Factory and watch Toy Story 3 at the Imax in 3D! Daddy really deserves a restful evening after his day of power washing the exterior of our house!

Praise God for my family-they are great babysitters!

Friday at Ash Cave!

We went with Aunt Beth and Jeremiah to Ash Cave today. It was a perfect day for a walk back to the waterfall, the temperature was perfect in the shade of all the trees. I think it is pretty funny that Emrie brought along her doctor kit, she was certain we would need to take care of Aunt Beth and Jeremiah. Jeremiah did have a most ungraceful tumble but no medical care was needed. Beth and I being our Mothers children got quite a laugh out of his misfortune.

Emrie started out dry but by the end she was pretty well soaked. She enjoyed every minute of the time splashing around in the cool water from the falls. Henry enjoyed watching too! Although I think he did get a little fussy when he realized that mommy had him in a pink sling.

Isn't this just great, cousin time!

Praise God for days like these!

Thursday Story time at the park!

A cloudy warm summer day to take the kids to the park for story time. Emrie was so excited to see Lilly there, they sat beside each other while listening to the beach themed stories. After stories and fun songs they had craft time were they made sun visor hats. A couple wind gusts blew a plate of stickers on the shelter house floor-this made Emrie concerned and ready to head home. She told me in such a grown up manner "Mom, I am a little bit afraid of the wind."So we headed home.

Henry stood free standing for about 2 seconds today, I think he surprised even himself!

Praise God for the breezes!

Summer Days

This was a rare moment at the beach house when both kids were napping at the same time.

Henry is back to sleeping! Vacation was rough on his sleeping pattern(mine too) but we are back to normal and I am so glad!! The kids seem to be happy to be back home and have been busy playing with their toys, I think they missed them. Emrie talks about the alligator AKA elevator at the hotel, jumping the waves at the beach and swimming in the pool quite often, she may be to the point were these memories will stick with her forever-that is really cool! Today I had the empty suitcases on my bedroom floor ready to be put away but she filled it back up, I think she is ready to go again-I am too!

Praise God for the Hot Sunshine!

Oh My, Vacation!

So it has been awhile, hasn't it? The craziness of preparing for vacation kept me a little busier than usual. I couldn't even make myself make a list of what all to pack, because even the thought of sitting down to list all necessary items seemed like to great of a task. So in the end I just went with the idea that all clothing must fit in ONE medium suitcase. It worked, Emrie and Henry have small clothes so that was a great help! We filled our sedan trunk to the max with a bag for diapers, a bag for beach towels, a bag for shoes and flip flops, a bag of medicine, sippy cups, bottles, and formula and a bag of toys. Pack n Play, umbrella stroller, and bike for Emrie were also packed in nice in tight.We finally hit the road Thursday around 10 am. The kids traveled very well. I was a little nervous about Emrie and her needing to use the potty so often but she did great, only a few meltdowns over needing to peeeeeeeee! Henry did rather well, at one point we were in stopped traffic on the highway when he became hungry so I mixed a bottle up for him and he was content to feed it to himself.

Friday we got back on the road around 9 when Beth called to say that Jeremiah tested positive for whooping cough, UGH:-( So I had to find a pharmacy that was close to the hotel we would be staying at that evening so the kids pediatrician could call us in antibiotics for the whole family. Whooping cough is very contagious and can be quite dangerous for little ones so everyone in the house had to be treated. Beth, Jim, Mom, and Dad all had to take azithromycin, preventing and treating is all the same. So okay now we were one big happy Zpac family!

Saturday we made it to our most favorite vacation spot. Our beach house feels like home to us we have been there 5 years now and just love it! Emrie was so happy to be on "'cation" with her Mama, Papa, and Aunt Beth, Uncle Jim, and Jeremiah. The weather was hot, most days highs in the upper 90's.

Monday Emrie came down with a virus with a high temperature that left her feeling pretty lousy. She snuggled with Mama and Mommy most of the day. She even "spit" on mommy twice, oh and did I mention it went right down my top? So by later in the afternoon she was feeling well enough to boss Papa around and of course he gladly marched to her beat. She requested crackers to eat and when he came over with plain saltines she wanted peanut butter on them, so of course she got crackers with peanut butter. Daddy and Papa gave her crushed ice and Popsicle tasty treats.

Tuesday she was feeling much better and able to be out swimming and playing again! We spent the majority of our time swimming, playing in the sand and taking walks.

Friday morning Henry woke with a fever and felt bad all day long. So out came the Tylenol and Motrin once again! In the evening he was very fussy and by bedtime he was not easily soothed so I bounced and rocked and paced and nursed nearly all night long, all the while dreading that we would be leaving first thing in the morning. By morning Henry seemed to be feeling a little better, we said good bye to our beach house and then hit the road.

We were happy to make it home Sunday afternoon!

Praise God for the time spent relaxing and enjoying our wonderful family!

A Monday in June

Henry has been so very funny the past couple days, he loves to make noise and does a lot of clicking with his tongue. He pulls himself up, stands and cruises along anything he can. He has forgotten to hold on a couple of times and falls straight over. I knew when I blogged about him sleeping all night long I would jinx myself, but I am okay with 10-4 stretch it is the every two hours waking that kills me!

This is a look we see quite often. It is usually when she has done something bad or when she is talking about something sad. Today though she did do something very bad-Henry was crawling around her new strider bike and she did not want him there so she kicked him right in the stomach. I could not believe my eyes!! Where did she learn such a awful thing? It wasn't to hard and Henry did not even cry, but she did get a spanking and a good talking to from Mommy AND Daddy!

Then there are moments like these in the day when you think how these two kids couldn't be any sweeter! Henry loves his big sister and she loves him, and they giggle at all the silly things the other does.

Today I let Emrie do one of my favorite activities my mom let me do when I was young. I filled up a tupperware cake container with water for a pool for Barbie. She loved it and splashed and had so much fun, and I discovered why my mom always sent me out to the front porch.

Praise God that Greg was able to replace and finish the roof on our garage! Yay, no more leaks!

1st Official Days of Summer Vacation!

Emrie is swaying, bouncing and shushing her beloved paws. She is also wearing her too cute swimsuit!

I love this picture of Henry! He looks so much like Papa Emery! I am almost afraid to write this but here it goes...HENRY HAS BEEN SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT, HIP HIP HOORAY! I don't know what has led to this sudden change in sleeping pattern but I am loving it!

Emrie went to the salon and got a big girl hair cut. (4 inches off) She was so quiet and sat so still, she did a great job. She has a concerned look on her face in this picture, but I can assure you once she got out of the chair she was so very proud of her new do! When it was all finished she decided she needed a hair cut every day!

Papa Mike got Emrie Ann this Strider Bike, it is pink and so very awesome! She has played with it lots! The night she got it when it was time to head upstairs for bed she tried to carry it up the steps to go to bed with her. If we had let her she probably would have wanted it tucked into her bed with her!

This was at Jeremiah's 10th Birthday Bowling Party! She had lots of fun watching the big kids play and eating pizza, chips, and of course cake!

Praise God for such fun summer times!

Tuesday :-)

She looks all grown-up in this picture!

My, what big teeth you have!

Yay, yay, yay! Henry slept the WHOLE night last night!! Maybe we are in the beginning of a new phase with him. I think my swaddling days are almost over, his little blankets are nearly to small to wrap around his growing body. It is bitter sweet, those blankets used to wrap around him many times, and now his feet hang out. I put Henry in his crib for a nap today and he went right off to sleep after only a few minutes of half hearted crying. I peek in occasionally to look at him sleeping with his little butt high in the air. My heart is flooded with love for him and his big sister, I am blessed beyond measure!

Emrie Ann had such a fun and busy day yesterday, we took her to the Memorial Day parade to watch the band. During the cemetery service they fired shots that scared her and made her cry. We spent the afternoon with Papa Mike at Nornie and Poppys house for a family cook-out. Aunt Cheryl brought her some ponies and Betty Spaghetti to play with and she had a great time with that! Aunt Ea played outside with Emrie while she road her bike and played with the watering cans. Emrie couldn't even stay awake to make it home.

We went for a walk with the Martins when it cooled down in the evening and then played at "Emries School" playground until it was nearly dark. What fun! This is what summer is all about!!

Praise God for Greg's job and the break that is about to begin!