Showing posts with label spiritual messages. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spiritual messages. Show all posts

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Of Princesses, Gentlemen, Dogs and Other Cute Little Creatures

October seems to have just flown by. This post is packed with pictures of the wonderful moments this months has been filled with. Here my two little munchkins. Oh, how I love seeing them being nice to each other, hugging, snuggling, and giving love. This must be how Heavenly Father feels when we are serving and showing love one to another in this world. It's the best feeling of warmth and happiness ever! 



Emerson building towers and knocking them down, one of favorite toys lately:


He also loves playing with Ophelia's "Sister Baby", a doll. Emerson holds her, rocks her, hugs and gives kisses to her, super cute! He also loves playing with Ophelia's little people house and the little Dora figurine...I think maybe it's time we got him some boy "little people" things :) I guess that's what happens when you have a big sister to live with!


Yet another haircut time for Emerson! I swear we have to cut his hair every two months..it grows so fast! We did the lollipop trick at home this time, but it didn't work as well as it does at a salon...Maybe it was the buzzer that made him uneasy, but after a few buzzes, Emerson started getting jittery, trying to move his head, taking the sucker out of his mouth. It ended up full of hair. Yuck! I licked it to clean it and gagged having all the hair in my mouth it was awful!


PJ was being a perfectionist and kept trying to fix little spots on his head. Well, we ended up with a screaming, sticky, itchy, hairy toddler. We put him straight in the tub and gave him a bath... I think Emerson is going to run for his life next time he happens to see a buzzer close to his head. Maybe we'll go back to the barber shop again next time...


New hairdo! Aaaawwww!


And here's the big sister, who stayed by Emerson's side the whole time the parents were trying to cut his hair (not kill him, as it may have seemed to the neighbors):


Here is Ophelia decked out in stickers. Kind of a waste of stickers, but it sure kept her quietly occupied for at least an hour in her room! This would be a great road trip activity.


The three cousins got their own kiddie table this time for dinner. They had a blast! Chomping away, giggling, and kicking each other under the table. Enjoy, kids! This will be a first of many-many-many-many kids tables for you!


Each Friday Ophelia gets to go to a "Girlies Playgroup" with her friends Carlie, Lily, and Heidi. We rotate each week whose house the girls go to. They have so much fun together. Ophelia looks forward to this more than to go to school each week. At Heidi's home there are a lot of pets. Ophelia got to hold a guinea pig the last time. She loves animals:


I snapped a few pictures the last time we went to Oatmeal. I LOVE this picture of Grandma and Ophelia:


Emerson exploring the outdoors, throwing rocks:


The other week Emerson got a few fire ant bites from playing in our backyard. He was pretty upset when it first happened and he still remembers about it. Once in a while he'll point to his ankle and say: "Ant. Bite." Pretty traumatic! I guess if you live in Texas you gotta learn early in life that the outdoors are WILD in Texas! For instance, Ophelia and Grandma had to sweep for snakes before she could climb on top of these rocks. A few weeks ago, Grandpa killed a huge rattle snake right next to the house...yikes!


Snuggling with Grandpa:


For the first time since our move here, we went to a pumpkin patch, Sweet Berry Farms. In the spring, early summer, one can go there to pick strawberries and other berries, for which we'll definitely be back! The drive was about an hour, but it was totally worth it, the kids had a blast! Here they are on a giant trampoline pillow thingy:


Emerson couldn't really steady himself to stand up on the thing, so he got a little upset:



We fed some goats. One of them had it's head stuck in the fence, trying to reach for people with food! One of the workers had to come and figure out a graceful way to pull the head back in again, it took a few minutes, but the goat was saved. Quite an experience for the kids to see the whole thing though!




Pumpkins! Emerson loves pumpkins for some reason. He wants to hug them and this time he was also rolling them and trying to lift them up:



Emerson looks so cute and plump and petite next to the pumpkins, and here is Ophelia, BOOM:


My friend Aubrey took these two with a nice camera of hers. Turned out adorable:



And here is the day that Ophelia was so excited about, when she gets to dress up as anything she wanted and go trick or treating. This year she first picked ]Curious George, then Olivia, the pig, and finally, her final answer was Belle. What a huge ordeal it is to find the right costume that's comfortable (not itchy), then, of course, Belle needed accessories, a rose (that was basically only wanted by Ophelia for the first five minutes, then she was done with it), and the shoes...that we never found, so had to resort to her normal sandals. Oh, and the lip gloss was essential too! Of course, how could I have forgotten!



Emerson was freaked out the first time I tried putting on Ophelia's old doggie costume. The second time went better and he smiled at his reflection in the mirror when he saw that he was a dog.


This is at the Ward Trunk or Treat. And Emerson's first crush, Avi. She is just a month younger than him, she is in the same nursery class, and Emerson just adores her. At the activity, he saw Avi dance, and danced next to her for a few moments, and there has not been a day since then when he wouldn't mention "Avi. Dance!" to me at some point during the day. He really thinks about her every day and remembers her dancing! So sweet :)


Hugging Avi:


I don't think that Avi shares Emerson's affection...yet. She is playing hard to get :)
Here is Ophelia dancing away:


Costume contest: Ophelia is at a hard age right now when she get easily upset if she doesn't win, or isn't the first. It surely is part of a child's egocentric world, but sometimes it just breaks my heart to see her try hard and not win. But that's my problem. I know that it's a valuable lesson for her to learn. There were tons of really cute costumes there this year!


Emerson's first ever trick-o-treating. When the first piece of candy was dropped in his bucket, he set it down and took the candy out to look and see what was put into his bucket. Then after he caught onto what was going on, he just went from trunk to trunk saying "please! please!"


Today I went to Ophelia's first school party, the fall festival. It was cute to see all her classroom friends and her classroom. The room moms did a great job with the activity, planning the games and activities for the kids. Here are all of the kids:


Digging in the rice treasure box, finding treasures:


Decorating cookies and, yes, eating some frosting :)


Painting a Halloween jar:


I took the kids to the City Hall today for some more trick-or-treating. Ophelia didn't want to wear Belle costume again, so we put on her Rapunzel dress from last year. I had to talk her into it, actually, because she said earlier in the day that she didn't want to be a princess, but I had to explain that there's no way we are going to get another costume this year, on the 31st of October! I changed it up for Emerson too, and he was a little Gentleman:



There were lots of fun things to check out at the City Hall, like a tractor:


Silly photo booth:


Touring a police car:


Babushka, this one is for you. Look what happened to your little Grandson:


It's been a fun month! Christmas is coming into the shopping scene already...too soon!

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Awa!

"Awa! Awa! Awa!" is all I hear these days, because that's what Emerson calls Ophelia and he wants to play and be around her all the time! Sister and Brother love is so special and so neat to see. Here is Ophelia reading Emerson's favorite book to him:


I love that Emerson barely fits into Ophelia's tiny lap and she has trouble seeing the book around his big head! He has absolutely no reservations backing up into her lap when they're watching TV, reading books, or at story time at the library. Absolutely melts my heart to see them being kind and loving to each other. This must be what our Father in Heaven feels for us looking down on how we treat our earthly brothers and sisters.

Another month and then some passed before I am sitting down and catching up on our summer life. But here is what we've been up to lately...

Until the mosquitoes got really bad and the temperatures unbearable, we played in our backyard. Slip'n'slide!




Father's Day 2013. We had Grandpa and Grandma over here and had a nice dinner. Emerson has been all about Grandpa lately. He runs to him when Grandpa first come in and snuggles up to him whenever he gets a chance. So sweet :)


This is one of our new kid-friendly dinner ideas - octopus pasta. Angel hair pasta poked through a turkey dog and boiled. Fun and easy to make, and most importantly the kids eat it! The kids have not been very good eaters lately, so this saved the day.


The only thing that the kids DO eat any time of day is fruit! Emerson loves it all. Here he is working on an apple:

Also, there are two little mice living in my tupperware cupboard lately:


We have been having some lovely family get-togethers. The kids love playing together. They giggle, laugh, run around, and get so excited being around each other. Love it!




Ophelia has not been going to dance classes in the summer, but she still loves dancing. Here is a little impromptu freestyle dance from her:


We have been going to lots of splash parks and pools this summer and that has allowed us to be outside and not be scorched by the hot Texas sun. Since PJ has been on vacation, he has been joining us, so I have an extra hand to snap a picture or two:


Emerson has been getting so brave and fearless...of anything. It's not a good thing when we're talking about him running around a pool or running in the pool. I've caught him dozens of times just taking a step into the pool with no regard as to whether there will be a step or shallow water in the pool or NOT!!! Also I've pulled him out of the water a dozen of times, when he was completely submerged under and freaked out...The trouble is that the little stinker will not wear any sort of floaties or vests either. Is that normal for boys not to learn from their past experiences??? I'm learning that with this guy, it is :)


I have signed up Ophelia for her first ever swim class this summer. She has mainly learned how to go down into the water all the way and hold her breath. Also they've been working on their kicks. She has loved her class! Her confidence in the water has definitely increased and she loves showing off how she can go under water. At least with her, I have no trouble having her wearing her floaties when swimming in the deep waters.


Here they are doing their class "cheer" at the end of a lesson:


One of the splash parks that we went to has a little "dinosaur dig" area. The kids had a good time exploring it:



I did have 3 relaxing days this summer :) Grandma and Grandma came to stay for two night at our home while PJ and I escaped to San Antonio. Oh, it was sooooo nice! So nice to talk to each other uninterrupted, to eat a meal at a restaurant without being rushed out by some fussy kids, to truly enjoy being with your eternal companion, focusing only on each other. Ahhh! This is what we have to look forward to in...16 or 17 years :)


We got into some crazy downpoor on our way there, but that didn't stop us from having fun. We stayed at a Bed and breakfast in the King William district, ate out all we wanted, went to the temple, shopped at the mercado, watched a movie in a movie theatre, took a boat ride on the riverwalk. It was a blast! Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa! When we came back home the house was spotless, kids still alive, and Grandma and Grandma all packed and ready leave :) They were ready for their break, that's for sure!