Thursday

Emrie and Henry after a trip around the block Wednesday evening. It started to rain so I pulled the stroller up onto the porch. Wow, it was heavy!

Emrie and Asher playing together today.

Emrie has been able to play with Asher the past couple days and has really enjoyed that. They are fun to watch together. Asher always has some match box cars to play with and always has one to share with Emrie too. Their daddies were great buddies growing up and it is nice to the next generation play together. Henry and Anna are a few months apart but seem to like each other as well. Anna toddles around saying "thank you" and pointing out Henry's nose.

Well in some sort of attempt to get a smidgen of a routine back, the kids were in bed by 9:30 tonight. When school starts up again Greg's 5:30 alarm will be so unwelcome. We will all be heading to bed much earlier. Our tree in the back yard is dropping some leaves already and that is a sure sign fall is on its way.

Praise God for childhood friendships.

Emrie Scores!

Daddy coaching Emrie Ann.

Henry Irons

Henry is in training to be an excellent husband some day!

Praise God for Greg he is a great daddy and a wonderful husband!

Monday

The dining room is painted! A simple painting project turned into a time consuming one, but that seems to be the way it always goes!

Emrie Ann ate such a large breakfast today, it seems like some days she eats such a tiny amount and others she eats like a horse. I guess it probably all balances out, she had french toast, 4 sausage links and a bunch of grapes that she "picked off the tree branches".

Henry ate better today as well, it makes me feel so relieved when he eats well. I know I shouldn't worry excessively about how much he takes in, but I can't help but wonder why some days he enjoys the baby food and others not so much.

Today we took a trip to Lowes and on the way there Emrie needed to go potty so when we arrived I took her straight back to the restrooms, but she got all weirded out and wouldn't go back. So we shopped around a little more until she started doing a little pee dance and then I insisted that she go use the potty, then it dawned on me why she would be so afraid to use the potty there. The last time we were there the automatic sensor flusher went off when she was still going potty and it frightened her. After making her sit on the potty with a bit of force she went and then hopped off of in a Big hurry! I think we conquered a fear!

This evening while Greg and I were painting the dining room Henry was in the Pack 'n Play he let out big cry and Emrie had a extremely guilty look...she bit him. As Greg and I were punishing her she just sat there and smiled, oh boy, she sure makes it hard sometimes.

Henry Michael woke up 4 times through the night last night, a cold, new teeth I don't know why but I am hoping for a more restful night tonight!

Praise God for the way he provides.

Sunday Songbird!

Emrie Ann singing on the way to church Sunday morning. Even with her cold and little horse voice she is still a songbird.

The song she is singing is Jump for Joy! The chorus is:

You've been so good, so good. Lord, You've been so good. You've been so good, so good. Oh, You've been so good to me!

Praise God for Sunday Mornings!

Hot Friday

Spent the afternoon swimming at Mama and Papa's, the water was cool but it felt quite nice on this 95 degree day. Emrie spent most of her time going up and down the ladder while Henry splashed in his crab.

Both of the kids have had colds for the past couple days and this picture shows that Henry doesn't feel his normal perky smiley self. No fevers luckily just snotty noses and a occasional cough. Henry isn't eating well, he refused all baby food today, hopefully tomorrow his appetite comes back. Emrie Ann has a horse little voice, but that doesn't stop her from all of her normal squealing and singing.

Praise God for a nice refreshing day in the pool!

Lots of hard work!

It seems like there is a crunch going on right now. I have a list a mile long of odd and ends that need to be done around the house and so little time before the school year begins. Greg is working hard at scraping the house, this is our main focus right now and I know I have said this before but it is seriously tedious work scraping all the old paint off! Greg is so very particular about his work(as always)which is time consuming but in the end the results I know will be Great!

Yesterday Beth, Jim and Jeremiah went and picked up 6 contractor trash bags full of sweet corn for us to husk, un-silk, cut, and freeze. It is hard work but every Sunday we enjoy fresh sweet corn at Mama and Papas house for dinner.

Mama is multi-tasking here with Emrie Ann. Looks a little dangerous!

The kids didn't mind all the work, it is lots of fun to be out in the yard and play all evening long.

Jeremiah and Emrie Ann spent lots of time playing in the water splashing and spraying each other. Henry spent lots of time on mommys hip and even took a little snooze in his stroller while the corn work went on!

Praise God for our able bodies to do all of these jobs!

Monday

The weekend just flew by! It was so great to spend time with our family from Missouri. Emrie Ann got to meet cousins Lilly and Sophia, that were right around her age. They had lots of fun playing together. They did all the things little girls that age do-sing, dress up, and boss each other around. Henry got to meet his cousin Reagan who is 5 months older than him and the boys had a pretty good time as well.

Daddy and Mommy got to go to Greg G's 30th B-day party Saturday evening while Aunt Ea watched Emrie and Henry. Emrie was so anxious all day waiting for Aunt Ea to get there and when she finally did Emrie said "You can go now." She was eager for us to leave so the fun times could begin with her Ea. They had a great time playing in the back yard and then going to the school playground.

Sunday evening the kids spent most of their time in Nornie and Poppys backyard. Uncle Aaron pulled them around in the wagon and they all seemed to enjoy that.

It began to storm as we were heading home and Emrie was nervous and concerned about all the lighting and thunder. She got to sleep with mommy and daddy were she felt nice safe and cozy, lets just hope it doesn't storm many more nights this week!

I am giving my scraping arm a rest before I head back outside to scrap some more-My what a tall house we have! The kids are napping and I hope to get a lot accomplished...we'll see!

Praise God for sweet family fellowship.

Mid July Already?

Emrie enjoying some sweet tea at Mama and Papas!

Henry taking a snooze.

A feeling of yukky-ness came over me today, summer is flying by so quickly. I want to shout "Slow Down!" Isn't it funny depending on who you talk to everyone is either wanting time to speed up or slow down? It is a good thing that God's time is perfect, and I can find contentment in that!

Greg and Papa Mike worked on the house today, they are making progress! The back is nearly all scrapped only 3 more sides to go!

I took a walk with the kids earlier and when we went by the school Lilly, her mommy and Lydia where there. It was to hot to play on the playground for any amount of time so we went into

Ms. Kristen's room. Emrie looked like a ping pong ball bouncing from one fun toy to another. The kids are napping now and while I know I could do some dusting or clean windows, I have made the choice to sit down, blog and relax!

Praise God for Hot Sunny Days and his perfect timing!

Monday

Emrie splashing in the Slip 'n Slide!

Henry chillin' out Sunday evening while we roasted hot dogs!

Today was Henry's 9 month check, hard to believe in a few days he will be 9 months old. He weighed 19lbs and was 27 1/4 inches long. Henry was in the 25th percentile in his weight and height and only in the 10th for his head size(no reason for concern, Dr Gibson said he just isn't going to have a large head). He is finally beginning to eat all sorts of yummy baby food. Dr. Gibson looked at all his teeth and said "That boy could almost eat a steak!" He wasn't due for any shots today, so that made the appointment all around a pleasant trip. Daddy and Emrie came along and then we spent some time running around shopping at Lowes and Menards (kids least favorite places!) Lunch was yummy at Roosters, Emrie and Henry were both so tired, Henry slept through much of it and Emrie kept laying her heavy head on the table.

We took a walk this evening and now Henry is in bed at an early 9 o'clock and Emrie will be following very shortly! Mommy has been sleepy all afternoon and evening-hitting the sack sounds terrific!

Praise God for a excellent healthy baby check-up!

Sunday Fun

We enjoyed being a Mama and Papa's all day long. Slip 'n Sliding today was fun and this evening we had a fire to roast hot dogs for dinner over, yum! Now we are home and it is time for bed, Yay!

Thursday

Emrie and Henry playing kitchen today.

Henry feeding himself his night time bottle, after mommy pinched his arm in the snap on the seat...bad mommy:-(

So often this overwhelming feeling of pure happiness just washes over me, my blessings are to numerous to list. I just experienced this rush of joy when putting Henry and Emrie to bed tonight, not just because they are finally in bed at ten o'clock. They both went to sleep so sweet and peacefully tonight, it doesn't happen often but it sure feels great when it does!! After smothering Henry with his good night kisses I laid him down in bed and he rolled over to rub his face in his blankie and he was out. Emrie used one last delay tactic by requesting a drink in bed and when I delivered it to her she said "Thank you mommy. Sweet dreams!" I mean really how can some moments be so perfectly serene and other moments be so absolutely chaotic?

Today I fixed tuna for lunch, Emrie and I enjoy eating it on crackers with a little bit of pickle. Each time Emrie would ask for more she called in Tun nuts. As I was changing Henrys diaper this evening she said "That is nasty!" She doesn't miss much and is turning out to be quite a little mocking bird!

Praise God for summer days spent with daddy.

Wednesday

Emrie at Lilly's house for a play date.

Henry had a fun time at the play date too!

Wow, what a hot day! We spent most of the day indoors where it was nice and cool. The girls played puzzles, play dough, hungry hungry hippos, and about a million other things. Emrie bounced from one thing to another at Lilly's house, Lilly has lots and lots of toys and Emrie enjoyed every minute of our time there. Henry enjoyed himself too. Lilly sat beside him at lunch and she made him giggle, he really liked her entertainment.

This evening Emrie was changing into her jammies and of course she has to change panties as well and so she was walking around naked with her new panties hanging from her crack. Oh my, where does she get such silly ideas from? She keeps me laughing!

Praise God for friendships.

Tuesday

It is 10 til 11 pm I just put Emrie to bed, my back is so tired tonight! The kids actually slept in a little this morning that was nice, and I was able to arrange naps this afternoon so that both kids would be asleep at the same time. I probably should have taken that opportunity to work around the house some but instead I crawled into bed with Emrie Ann and we slept for 2 hours! I love our sweet snuggle moments.

Henry was not to excited to eat any carrots today, I sensed that something was up, and it was, tooth #7 popped through today. He was a smidgen fussier than normal, hopefully he is able to rest well through the night without any teething discomfort.

Emrie was riding her hobby horse this evening trying to get her daddy to do something when she told him "Daddy your teasin' me. Stop that, for crying out loud!" Yes, I have said that many times when she is in the middle of a senseless temper tantrum, guess she really is listening!

It is bedtime for Mommy now, my wake up call from Henry will come soon enough....I wonder what ever happened to the sleeping through the night phase.

Praise God for our central air conditioning it has been a hot, hot day!

Happy 4th!

Emrie with Mama and Papa, she had a meltdown over the our neighbors small firework display. Mama and Papa took her inside to soothe her worries and talk up the big fireworks to come!

My guys!

Jeremiah digging into the home made ice cream, hot fudge and brownies, Yum!

Henry on the walk to the fireworks, he looks excited but he slept through the whole show!

Emrie doesn't look so excited here! Aunt Beth is covering her ears, when it was all done she thought the whole thing was pretty awesome!

We had a super great day! Family time was terrific, Mama, Papa, Aunt Beth, Uncle Jim, Jeremiah, Aunt Ea and Uncle Aaron came to our house for a cook out and backyard fun! We enjoyed foot long coney dogs, baked beans, pasta salad, and potato salad for dinner, it was yumm-o!

Praise God for Independence Day!

Saturday Sun

Kids asleep in the car, holding hands.

"Today is a beautiful day, Mom!" Emrie said, and I couldn't agree more! I took the the kids to the Hubbards house for a 4th of July church picnic. They had the huge slip 'n slide again, many people young and old were lathering up in soap and sliding down, but not me! Emrie didn't want any part of it either, she thought the were muddy and needed towels. Henry clapped his hands and watched as the kids squealed all the way down. Aunt Karen thinks one day he will be sliding with the rest! Greg and Papa Mike continue to work on the house scrapping off paint the sun is hot on them I am sure-what a big job*sigh*.

The kids fell fast asleep on the way home, holding hands as they usually do. What sweet moments.

Praise God for this beautiful day!

Friday

Emrie Ann stopping for just a second to say "Cheese!"

Henry after his dinner tonight.

Today the kids and I went with Aunt Beth and Jeremiah to Lancaster for lunch and some shopping. The fever that Emrie had before going to bed last night was gone when she awoke this morning so praise God for that. Henry ate just a wee bit of cereal this morning and still wasn't into it to much, can't say that I blame him. He did eat another jar of carrots so he will probably be turning orange any day now! I don't know that Dr. Gibson will be thrilled with a breast milk and carrots diet but ahh well we are making slow progress. Henry is becoming more and more steady when standing around furniture,I am waiting for the day when he discovers that he doesn't need that support anymore. That thought makes me a bit nervous though, 2 kids running in 2 different directions, oh boy!

We took a walk tonight to see Uncle Aaron's art work at the Logan Pool.

Praise God for a nice relaxing walk.

Thursday

*Yawn* I didn't get much sleep last night, it was one of those nights where I bounced from room to room. So tonight I am hoping for some great quantity and quality sleep. Emrie started today off with a time out until she would take a bath, she sat on her bed for 45 minutes! Then we went to story time at the park and played there for a little while. Daddy worked hard all day scrapping paint off the house-What a big job!

Chad and Kristy came over this evening for dinner. Emrie was excited to have them over and they got her a Zhu Zhu pet hamster. It is totally cute and Emrie has had lots of fun playing and giggling over it. She hasn't named it yet, so it should be interesting to see what name she picks for this cute little critter!

Emrie and Kristy playing with the Zhu Zhu pet.

Look at those eyes!

Praise God for a fun evening with friends!