Happy Mother's Day to me!

I feel really blessed. This morning (ok... so it was early afternoon), I was laying in bed with Emma and we were playing an animal game. I make the noises and she guesses which animal it is. Her head was about 2 inches from my face. Here's what went down:

Emma: "Mommy, why do you have freckles all over your face?"

Me: "Well babe, because God made me different and special in my own little way."

Emma: "I wish I could be just like you"

So cute. I will never forget that moment! Of course I didn't tell her that all my life my freckles had given me trouble. And that growing up, people made fun of those dots... those moments are all a blur now and what a blessing to have children who think they are pretty!!! And to top it all off, I have a husband who tells me I look better without make-up. How lucky can I be? My dad used to tell my mom that same thing and I will never forget the first time Dan said it to me. It was a special moment.

I sure hope I can teach my girls the difference between real love and the not so real stuff they may think is real along the way. I read this on Facebook the other day and thought it was good:

"Find a guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot, who calls you back when you hang up on him... wait for the guy who kisses your forehead, who holds your hand in front of his friends, who thinks you're just as pretty without makeup on. The one who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares and how lucky he is to have YOU... The one who turns to his friends and says, "thats her."

I can't wait to talk to my girls about all of this stuff. Ok, actually I already do. They think it's silly but I want them to know it's ok to wait and find the right guy to marry. I struggled with a couple of my exes.... do I break-up or do I just marry because I love them and accept all of the other not so good stuff? Well, I hope and pray I stay healthy so I can walk my girls through all of this. There has to be love of course but there needs to be so much more.

Megan said the other day that we were "really lucky" to have a house and a pool. I had to correct her and explain that luck had nothing to do with it. Here we go.... this is when the kids go "mmmmmmoooooommmmm.... can you please stop?" 30 minutes later Claire had memorized the 4 things (Jennifer's version) that you need to do in order to get a house and have a good marriage. Here's what she repeats and it's so darn cute: 1.) you must get a good education 2.) you must get a good job 3.) you must work hard 4.)you must find a husband that has all your same morals & values.

She has a hard time saying number 4. She doesn't really like talking about boys and is getting really shy. But, she knows what it means.

Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful Mamo & Nana. I think my kids are the luckiest girls to have both of those ladies in their lives. Talk about unconditional love. I can only imagine how I will feel when one of my girls gives birth. Wow!

We went to Tommy Bahama's for lunch today and here are a few pics:







And since it was mommy's day and my girls wanted to go on the jumpy, we went on the jumpy. I wanted to go shopping in the market area but that quickly went out the window when Claire pleaded with me with those precious blue eyes and that freckly little face. We waited in line for an hour. I had to run to the Gap to get Claire some shorts.... but by all means!!!

Claire had the flips down pat!





Megan practiced her beautiful stradle.





Emmie was a little scared at first but she did great!

My Family is Weird!

I mean "weird" in our own sweet, perfect, little ways... :)

Emma is OBSESSED with not getting dirty. If I spill water on her shirt when I brush her teeth she freaks out (of course she never spills anything on herself). We go to a sandbox and she jumps in and then comes running out because she doesn't like the feel of dirt on her toes. She had a nose bleed in bed and after I washed her sheets they still had a couple small spots on them. Sheets are clean - just a little stain or two... no big deal right? Nope, she she can't go to bed so we have to change her sheets/pillowcases. Oh my.... I'm going to have to buy her new sheets. She got her ears pierced and every time I put alcohol on them she flips out if any of it drops on her shirt. Any bump, bruise, scrape is a traumatic experience for her. Emma, I love you...

On a completely different note, Emm said to me "Mommy, when you are not here I will make a margarita by myself and drink it. I will sneak it..." ummmmm... should i be worried?

Here are a few super sweet pics from her 4th bday party:









Emma right before getting her Ears Pier'd


And after



Megan saw a plastic Harmonica in Justice one day and threw a huge temper tantrum for because I told her I wasn't buying it. They don't normally ask for much in stores because they know I won't buy it. My typical response is "let's put that on our list for santa..." So, I was shocked with this harmonica tantrum. I asked her in the car when we left Justice if she would be interested in a real harmonica. She loved the idea. I ended up finding this guy who teaches at Kingwood Music School. He drives from Humble once a week to teach her. She can play twinkle twinkle little star and she is so proud. I hope she continues to have something that only she is good at. I guess I'm always worried about her feeling "lost in the middle" as she grows up. But maybe they are so close in age it doesn't matter...?

Megan is proud that she is in Gold level gymnastics with Claire. She has this awesome natural technique and is in tumbling class with 8, 9 and 10 year old girls and can hang with the best of em. She's so happy and proud of herself while she's there.

Love, love this of Meg's sweet little hands:


And, I don't think I posted this christmas picture of Megan... I just love it



Big sister Claire is thriving in school. We've gotten 3 report cards and she has gotten all E's on everything. Probably the norm for kindegarteners because they don't really grade just yet, but hey... I'm reading this Birth Order book by Kevin Leman and she is such a typical first born. She has high expectations of herself. Not the compliant one though... she is definitely the opposite of that. If I ask her to do anything there is usually a struggle. But she does love order and she loves to please. She asked her dad the other night when he put her to bed... "Daddy, how can I be smarter? What do I need to do...?" Ummmmmmm.... she must not be my child. That's all I have to say about that.

The girl has lost about 10 teeth in the last week...! j/k but it seems that it has happened all at once. I think she has lost 6 teeth total... here... let's look at the progression:
Besties May 09


Oct 09



Feb 10



Mar 10


Ok, I'm missing some pictures... I have been looking for the past hour for her missing teeth pictures. A little detour but we'll work on that next week... :)

Claire's 1st Valentine - he basically threw the card at her and ran across the room back to his seat. This was no ordinary valentine. He drew he and Claire on a piece of construction paper and wrote sweet little nothings... Cooper is so sweet. All we have to do is say "Cooper" and Claire's response is a "What?!?" She will never respond to anything we ask her when his name is mentioned. So funny!
So sad my camera was acting up that day - all I got were fuzzy pictures!







Until next time "Happy Easter!"

So much going on, so little time to post...

But, I have to upload these pics for my girls... I love this pic with Aunt Grace & Uncle Maxie although the light was really bright. I don't have too many of them with all 3 of the girls and Dan so this one is extra special to me. I am so happy to be a part of their family and it means a lot that they have welcomed me with open arms.
Time is really flying by... we had a great, stress free Christmas this year. I decided to forgo putting up a Christmas tree and you wouldn't believe how much stress this took off of me. I was so dreading having to decorate the tree by myself. The kids say they help, but when you have 90% breakable ornaments, there's not a whole lot of helping... it's mainly me stressing they don't break the ornaments and me cleaning up their mess. This year, I'm going to find a nice fake one so I don't have to worry about getting a real one every year and lighting the darn thing. My kids did not skip a beat. I started a countdown to Christmas and they woke up each morning (10 days before Christmas) and were able to open a bag filled with surprises. Ummmmm.... warning.... if you do this do not ever put candy in their bags. They wanted to eat it right away which led to sugar filled gremlins at 8:30 in the morn. No thanks, not this year. My cute little bags that they had so much fun with...




Little Emmie had her 1st Christmas program at school on stage. She was so not liking her outfit but it was soooo cute.
Before the program:


During the program:



She was scared poor thing and there were a couple times I thought she was going to put her thumb in her mouth... my sweet baby is growing up. The girl toots like you wouldn't believe. And she laughs about it. Anytime you tickle her you can count on what sounds like a gun show. She told Mamo the other day "Mamo, smell my stinky feet (as she's stinking her feet in mamo's face)." I'm not sure where she gets this from! cough cough...

She's getting a bit more brave. She doesn't cry when I drop her off at school anymore and she is starting to go on more roller coaster rides. We took her to Itz yesterday and she went on all the rides. Well, I had to practically drag her on one, but hey - she needed a little push. She loved it and went on it several times later. She will thank me later I am certain.

Since this blog is my scrapbook for my girls, here are some pictures for Claire from her Kindegarten Christmas party & other random lunch shots:
One of her buds Kayden whom she had her 1st sleepover with a couple weeks ago. BTW - she is loving her independence from me. Loves, loves, loves it... should I be worried?


Her friend Brian who sits by her everyday at lunch. He is also the sweetest boy ever. We have so much fun when I go visit and have lunch with them. Brian was sticking his carrot in her ketchup the other day and they were totally teasing each other. It was pretty stinkin cute!


The class:





Sweet Kiley:




Meg has started having her friend Ella come over for Movie nights and we took Ella to ITZ with us yesterday when claire stayed with Eliza for her 2nd sleepover. The girls had a ball at ITZ. Here's a cute pic of them having movie night. Megan loves Ella and I love her mommy. Such sweet ladies.



Here are pics from our last cousin visit. What a great time... mani's/pedi's, marshmellow guns, chuck e cheese, movies, shopping, etc thus makes for a super tired aunty. But, I wouldn't trade a second of it. My girls adore their cousins. We are so very blessed.










And last but not least, the FIRST YEAR EVER that Emmie did not cry going to Santa. Matter of fact, she went back and gave him a hug after the pictures were all said and done... it was priceless!

RPR Christmas Party 09

My one time a year I get to dress up. So much fun. Party was held again this year at Grappino di Nino's.... I ate way too much and then wanted to go back to the hotel to sleep.... geez, I'm getting old. But how can I pass on any of the food? The servers walk around shoving appetizers in my mouth! :) Ok, not really but.... we had a great time. We are so very thankful Dan works for RPR. We are thankful for Bob and all he and the rest of RPR built and thankful they brought Dan on. So thankful that in this economy Dan has job security. That is so hard to find it seems now days...
One of the few pictures I have of Bob (to the right):


Sweet, sweet couple I met for the first time:


Dan's partner in crime at work, my girls just adore Ashley:

November ='s All About Meggie Month

Even though poor daddy's birthday is squeezed in there too. It seems Meg has been on countdown starting November 1st and skips over daddys (21st) until finally the 24th is here. Then, the morning after her birthday she wakes up and her first question to me is "Mommy, how many days until my birthday?" Girls, they are so funny! When, I told her 364 days - you should have seen the look on her face. November is always such a busy month with 2 birthdays and Thanksgiving. We always do Thanksgiving at our house so that makes it even trickier. Meg had her party this year at Pump it Up -the day after Thanksgiving. I think we'll plan next year to do it the first weekend in December.

Our cousins were down this year for Meg's birthday and Thanksgiving which was so nice. Meggie loved that they were able to go with her to Build a Bear (her very first trip), out to eat and her birthday party too. I love when they are down. There is such a sweet, comfortable, contagious love between the cousins. They are lifted when they are around each other. ummmmmmm.... until about the 4th or 5th day... then it's a great time to seperate! :) But really, we are so blessed to have Madi & McKenna and so blessed that Jason takes the time to come and see us so often. What a wonderful brother I have.

This pic is priceless... Meg's 1st trip to Build a Bear which she has been waiting so long for. She's holding in her hands the Moose's heart. She's giving it lots of love before she stuffs it in her moose. She named the moose Triscuit.


Slide show of pics from Meg's party at Pump it Up:


Great pic of my mom, Aunt Kathy & Aunt Patti on Thanksgiving:


I sure do love my sweet girls....