Baby names----we have about 3 1/2 weeks to figure it out!

Kirt & I had a wonderful dinner at Fearings & then I made him go see Mamma Mia with me. It was a great evening- although I'm not sure Kirt liked the movie as much as I did.

This morning I took Brooke & Sam to Slappy's Puppet Playhouse at the Galleria- they seemed to really like it. Brooke & Sam were discussing what we should name the new baby. Brooke says she wants to name her new cousin "Janet" and Sam insists on "Eden"- I don't where they came up with either of those names! But Sam STILL INSISTS that he KNOWS its going to be a boy and wants to name him "Cash". Which I like the name Cash (you would have to be super cool if your name was Cash), but Kirt quickly vetoed the idea!

So if you notice at the right I added a naming poll! I can't believe we still don't have this figured out!

Getting ready for preschool

My mom & I finally got Emerson's nap mat made for preschool! Poor little girl had to carry Sam's car & truck napmat last time she went! She was not happy to have Sam laying on her new napmat! True brother/sister love!

Happy Anniversary!

I awoke this morning to find a beautiful blue box with a big white ribbon! Gotta love finding a Tiffany's box at 6:30 in the morning! Kirt got me this perfect cross necklace for our 8th anniversary today! I'm not sure if I feel up to going out tonite, but his mom has been so kind to come over and babysit for the evening! Kirt was shocked that Sam had not told me what my gift was! He thought for sure Sam would tell me!

Can you believe we are STILL sick?

Ok so I don't even remember what it feels like to feel well these days! Emerson started out the illnesses with a stomach bug last Saturday night and then it went thru the whole family and NOW Emerson & I are both sick with cold and congestion! Nothing worse than a summer cold! Sam & Kirt are both well- poor guys are probably so sick of grilled cheese & Dora chicken noodle soup and pasta! We went to Sprouts last night and stocked up on some good fruits and veggies to boost our immunity! Thankfully Misha just called and Sam is going to have a fun playdate with Tyler & Jessie this afternoon so hopefully I can get some much needed rest & recover! Less than 1 month till baby Ruby! August 26th is the magic date!

Are you ready to Rodeo?

We took the kids to the rodeo on Saturday night. They had a great time! We got there early enough to be able to visit a few of the horses who were in the barrell races- the kids loved being able to watch them practice close-up. Sam says his favorite part was chasing the calf with the ribbon on its tail- poor little cow- hundreds of kids screaming and chasing after it!

Katie, Brooke, Max, Sam, Emerson, & Will

Emerson had her cute little cowgirl shirt on!

Sam & Will

Emer's new doll clothes & belly pictures

Emerson LOVES her new doll clothes that Great Grandma made! She plays with her babydolls all day long! The kids have had a stomach virus since last night so we have been home-bound today. Makes for a VERY long day! Also, explains the reason that Sam is not in any of the pictures from today! Emerson felt better by this afternoon and was ready to play!

34 weeks! Only 5 more weeks till my induction date! Yea! Notice the pictures are in black & white because my belly is SO pale!

Tie dying t-shirts the easy way!

Sam & I tie dyed t-shirts today! We did about a dozen t-shirts. We are going to the circus for Emerson's birthday and since I can't bring in goody bags for the kids I thought I would make everyone a t-shirt! I think I had more fun doing it than Sam did! Our grass is a lovely shade of colors now- better the grass than the carpet right?!

Homemade ice cream!

We made home-made cinnamon ice cream tonite and apple pie! We were actually celebrating Andy's 8th birthday- the kids were so excited! I think they fed him a whole box of dog treats plus ALOT of ice cream! He was one happy dog! Since Emerson doesn't talk a whole lot she motions for him to do tricks- for example she sits when she wants him to sit and then lays on the floor and then shakes her hands when she wants him to shake! Poor Andy has NO IDEA what she is doing he just stands patiently and waits for her to throw his treat down.

Brooke's birthday bash

The kids had such a good time celebrating Brooke's birthday! They loved the slide, waterballoons, and of course letting the bag of ladybugs out in the flowers!

Andrew updates!

I was SO excited to get to go and visit Andrew at home! He was born back in March at 29 weeks and just got to go home this past week! Tracey & I were both lucky enough to get to take care of him in the hospital. He is such a strong little boy and truly a miracle. For those of you that don't know, Andrew's mommy has been one of my best friends since we were 16 and we have worked together for a long time at the hospital! I didn't want to leave Andrew today- he was just smiling and so happy! I enjoyed my day while the kids were at preschool camp- it was just a 2 day summer camp- I definetly enjoyed every minute of it!

Visit with Grandpa & Grandma James

We went to visit my grandparents on Wednsday morning. We had such a good time. Grandma i such a good cook and had a great lunch made for us. Uncle Mark also came to visit on his way to work!

Family updates!

Well a little about everyone today! Emerson started preschool today at The Heights- it is just a summer program for 2 days this week! She cried real hard and big alligator tears when I dropped her off but they said she stopped crying real quickly and she took a two hour nap, played outside, went the the gym, and went to music class! Sounds like a busy day! Sam also went to school- he we has also been to the dentist this week and he is about to lose his 2nd tooth! Poor guy has really bad swimmers ear from all that swimming last week. He has been miserable and not sleeping well- which leads to me not sleeping well! Pregnancy and lack of sleep make for one cranky mommy! He is also doing VBS this week! He really likes going- it is in the evenings so Kirt and I have only had Emerson for dinner this week- we have discovered she would LOVE to be an only child- she is so happy to have all of the attention! Baby update- I went today for my regular appointment- she did a quick sono because I got hit in the stomach by accident this morning when Sam was running around and he slid into me. The baby looks great- measures perfectly- I am a little nervous that it is SO big already- she estimates it weighs 4 # 3 oz. and I still have about 7 weeks to go! I am set to be induced on August 26th (the day after Sam starts Kindergarten) That's about it on the updates- I am feeling okay, just tired and it is getting much harder to pick up Emerson and she is getting pretty fiesty these days! Her favorite words are "no" and "huh?" She is still attending speech theraphy once a week so we are hopefull that our verbal skills will start to increase!

Day 5- the Fourth of July

Day 4 at the beach

Day 3 at the beach

Day 3

Day 3 was very fun! We went to Galveston to see the submarine! The kids loved it! Then we headed back to the condo for some rest before Grandpa, Josh, & Kirt took Sam & Brooke to Schlitterbahn and the babies stayed back with us and played on the beach!

Day 2 at the beach

Day 1 slide show

First day at the beach

Well, we made it to the beach! It was a very uneventful car ride- we seperated the 4 kids so that they didn't get too tired of each other before we got here! The kids headed right to the beach! We were so lucky to get the same condo as last year which overlooks the pool on the bay side! Grandpa Gary & Grandma Karen are so nice to take us on vacation! It is not very crowded here, they are sold out but only one other person is in our building! Sam & Brooke headed right into the ocean with all of their clothes on! They were so excited to look for crabs & they even found 2! Then we headed to the pool- the pool is great it has a kiddie area with sprayers and then also a lazy river! After dinner we headed to the beach again- this time with Max (16 months) and Emerson (23 months). They are total opposites! Max headed right to the water and sat down and was covered in sand within 10 seconds~ Emerson on the other hand screamed when her feet hit the sand and wanted to be carried! She did get her feet wet once but she cried and cried! She did the same thing last year but we thought maybe she would like the beach this year. Everytime we would try to put her down she would lift her feet and refuse to stand up! Maybe she will do better today! We even told her to hold Max's hand and she reached for it then noticed it was covered with sand and pulled her hand away! I think we need to work on letting our little princess get dirty sometimes!

Tracey's Dancing Days

Brooke wanted to do the Dance Revolution game- you can tell you ended up doing it- Watch the guy next to Tracey- he said he had done it for 10 years!