Visit to Gran and Grandaddy

The girls, Franklin and I took a last minute trip to Greenville on Mother's Day and stayed for a few days. It was our first trip to Greenville since January and we were all excited. I was also so happy to get to spend Mother's Day with my mom this year...I'm so thankful for her! We got there on Sunday and the girls had a ball playing with Gran and Grandaddy and then my Grandmother came over and the girls were very excited to get to spend time with her. Emmie talks about "her" Grandmother all the time but she gets very upset if I try to explain to her that Grandmother is MY grandmother too. It's even funnier because she's perfectly fine with Gran being my mom and GG being Paul's mom but Grandmother belongs to Emmie alone apparently!

Apparently painting involves very dramatic arm motions.

The girls LOVE to look at the pictures on Gran's ipad.

While we were in Greenville, we all helped out in the yard (my mom isn't allowed to play in the dirt which is driving her crazy!). Emmie helped Grandaddy plant some veggies and then she and Ellie helped water the plants. I pulled up pansies and planted new flowers and also pulled weeds. For my troubles I got a lovely case of poison ivy. This is why my yard has lots of weeds...lol!

Definitely not a good picture of me but I needed proof of my manual labor!

On Monday afternoon my mom and I took the girls to get ice cream at Dillards. Dillards is a local produce shed (they have the best peaches in the summer!) and they have an ice cream shop attatched where they serve huge servings of ice cream. Yummm!

The girls had lots of fun playing with Gran and Grandaddy. Ellie loved for my dad to pick her up and run around with her. Then of course Emmie wanted him to do the same thing to her. Grandaddy got a good work out between the two girls!

Ellie wanted to look over the fence too but she thought it might be wise to wear a helmet...apparently she has some trust issues.

Love the monogram bloomers and the feet that are black from dirt (and really the helmet just makes the outfit...haha)!

Tuesday at lunch we took the girls to Chick-fiil-a. Emmie, who can always find a friend, made friends with a little boy on the playground and they had a great time playing. The girls were also excited to get a special treat of Chick-fil-a ice cream!

22 Months

 

I am 22 months! (and 8 days...Mommy was a little slack on this post! It's hard to find good help!)

• I wear a size 18-24mo or a 2t. I wear a size 6 shoe and a size 5 diaper.
• I finally have all my teeth (other than my 2 year old molars).
• I LOVE to eat. Strawberries are one of my favorite foods right now and one of the few fruits I'll eat. I also really love fish. I can eat a 6oz salmon fillet in 2 minutes flat. Something quirky about is that when someone starts fixing food in the kitchen I go sit at the kitchen table. I am willing to wait for 30 minutes just to be the first at the table!

• I'm talking so well now! I talk in good sentences and am pretty easy to understand.

• I have terrible 2 moments a few times a day but overall I'm still pretty easy going.
• I have FINALLY gotten to the point where I generally wake up happy in the mornings and after naps. I wake up happy and read my books and play in my bed for a bit and then I throw everything out and call for Mommy.
• This month we went to Gran and Grandaddy's house for a visit and it was so much fun! They were also able to come visit us for Daddy's birthday.

• This month I went to a farm and took a wagon ride behind a tractor.

• I love for Emmie to read to me.

• We went and picked strawberries a few times this month. I didn't really help with the picking but I LOVED eating them while everyone else picked!

• I'm such a goofball. I make Mommy and Daddy laugh a lot.
• I love to climb on things. At My Gym I spend most of my time climbing all the different ladders. I definitely keep Mommy on her toes!
• I love to play dress up.

• I went to Edventure this month. I LOVE the wind machine. My favorite exhibts were the grocery store and the library.

You can tell in this picture how much the Emmie and Ellie's faces look alike.

Saying no

I had a proud Mama moment today. We were at My Gym for Ellie's class and there is a little girl, who's probably close to 5, that always sits in the lobby with Emmie and they generally behave. Today there was another little girl, who was probably around 7, in the lobby as well.
My Gym sells Melissa and Doug toys and they always have toys sitting out but Emmie knows that she is not supposed to touch them. Well, the new little girl apparently didn't know the "you break the packaging you buy it" rule (and apparently neither did her mother who was sitting in the lobby as well) so she kept picking things up.
Earlier when the new girl was messing with some toys I had gone over and reminded Emmie not to mess with any of the toys. Later on in the class the older girl had picked up a foam bat and was swinging it around and then Emmie's friend started swinging it around too. I was standing about 7 or 8 feet away from Emmie and was watching her out of the corner of my eye. The girls soon offered Emmie a turn swinging the bat. Emmie thought for a second and shook her head. I was so proud of her. Then the older girl snidely said to Emmie "well if you want to just sit there and not have fun..." and Emmie once again shook her head no. She looked so sad and hurt but I was SO proud of her.
I called her over later and told her I saw her tell the kids she wouldn't play with the bat and I told her how proud I was for her of doing the right thing even when it was hard and you could tell how good it made her feel to know she'd made the right decision.
I have told her many times that just because someone else is doing something doesn't mean that she should do it and it's nice to know that she has listened and applied what I've told her. I know she won't always make the right decision and I know it helped that I was standing there but I know how hard it is to say no to peer pressure but I couldn't have been prouder of my sweet Emmie today.

*Update: tonight Emmie told Paul "You shouldn't say mean things about people. God doesn't like that. We should make God proud." (this was randomly said...Paul wasn't saying anything mean about anybody...just to clear that up :) ) Three year olds can be very humbling!

All the little girls

If you read my blog frequently you've heard about Clara, our babysitter, and you've probably heard about Mary Ruth too. Clara has been keeping the girls on Fridays while I work since Emmie was 3 months old.  We were thrilled when we found out last year that Clara was going to have a baby although I don't think any of us were sure of what that meant for her future babysitting for us. I was so glad that everything worked out and now Clara brings Mary Ruth with her on Fridays. I think it's really good for Ellie not to be the baby all the time and both girls are just over the moon in love with Mary Ruth (my girls are sooo baby crazy!). If you say anything about Clara around Ellie she quickly adds "and Roo!".

Apparently the a few weeks ago Clara noticed that the girls have shirts that match one that Mary Ruth has so she dressed them all alike. I LOVE the pictures she took!

I think this is such a cute picture!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my brother, Ben! We hope you have a great birthday! Emmie was a little sad that she had to sing to Uncle Ben on the video camera...she thought he should come to Columbia so she could sing to him in person!