"I a big boy, member!?"

driving the lawn mower at Bebe's

My baby is three!  Of course, if you asked him, he would say, "fours" and hold up 2 fingers.  We don't correct him. 1, because it's cute and 2, because we want to still say he's only 2 for the rest of the year so we don't have to buy him a pass for the parks!!! So don't ruin this for us people!

He has thoroughly enjoyed all of his birthday celebrations and loved people singing happy birthday to him.  After he had cake at his Auntie K & Uncle Mikey's house he turned to Kristi and said "I'm ready for my present." Turkey!


We took care of our neighbor's dog for a week and were also granted access to their pool.  We got to see how the other half lived, and now we want a pool more than ever!  The kids were like fish.  In the pool every chance they could.  And Eli is ready for swim lessons.  He has no fear.  He swims with his face down in the water and his eyes open.

the brown bean and whitey riding in the wagon at Bebe's

In June we spent some time in OKC, Scott and I got 2 nights out in a row for his 20 year high school reunion.  It was a lot of fun. But we are definitely too old and too out of practice for that kind of behavior! On the second night, when we were heading for the door, Eli was right behind us with his little roller bag saying he needed his trains to go to daddy's house. He started crying when Scott told him he was staying.  It was very sad!  As we were driving to our party Terri called a couple of minutes after we had left and said everything was perfect and all were happy.  When I hung up I said to Scott, "the sad part is, I had not even thought twice about the fact that we left Eli crying."  Poor Eli! He definitely gets the second child treatment sometimes! And yes, Gigi, I can feel you cringing!

Evi is loving summer and having all the girls in neighborhood at her disposal.  She is having a great time with them.  Any plans we make are usually wined about because she will be missing out on opportunities to play with the girls! The down side to always playing with tweens is that she is picking up on sarcasm and thinks it's alright to speak that way to us.  It's everything we have not to laugh when she cops an attitude.  If it wasn't so scary, it'd be cute.

Evi's sleepover friend, Savanah

She had her first friend sleep over at our house recently.  Luckily the friend, Savanah, lives across the street.  Evi still woke up at 4:30 and I had to put her back to bed, but she made it through the night with her friend.  Which is amazing, because she never does for us!  And has been difficult every night since!  She knows how to work her daddy when I'm gone so that she can watch TV in our bed to go to sleep! 

the neighbor kids at our house for fireworks

Passing Time...

It's been too long!  While we haven't done anything in particular, life has been busy!
 
We've had visitors: my girlfriend Maria and her family, my family (twice!) and Uncle Randy.  There have been lots of visits to Disney (I'm getting my moneys worth out of that!), Busch Gardens and the beach.  The kids love the beach.  And it's free, so we love it too!

Eli is getting so big so fast!  He still has his crazy hair since I won't do more than trim it.  And the old people down here seem to love it!  Evi is almost done with kindergarten and I know summer is going to fly by!

We have officially "seen" an alligator in the pond directly behind our house.  While it wasn't very big, it paced back and forth watching our small children (it's potential snack) play.  So, now up with the fence!!  Plus it's been depressing seeing our neighbors in their pool when we don't have one.  It's going to be a long summer without one! 
Scotty's business is legal, and we now have magnets on the car for advertising, but the phone still has not magically rung.  And boy do I wish it would!  I know it's going to be slow going, but I am so ready for a second income!  I do have a great sense of pride that I could provide for my family and buy us a house, but I'm over it now...bring in the money honey!!! :-) 

mothers' day...each of us with our babies

Below these posts are links to see the photo books I did for the kids this year.  I usually put them in their Easter Basket, but I was a little behind this year.  Anyway, it's all the pictures from the previous year since we never actually print any out.  It's an easy way to make sure they both will have copies of pictures.  But you can preview them.



Conversations with Evi:
Evi had to do a class project about what she wanted to be when she grew up.  She said she wanted to be a flight attendant like her mom...
Daddy: "you don't want to be what I am when you grow up?"
EVI: "I DON'T WANT TO WORK THAT HARD!"
part of me thinks I should be offended, but upon further questioning she said to Scott
"YOU FIX TOILETS AND THINGS, THAT'S GROSS!   I DON'T WANT TO DO THAT!"


EVI: "WHAT'S 'OLD SCHOOL' MEAN?"
Mom: "Well, it's the way things used to be done.  Like the way mommy & daddy did things when we were little would be 'old school'."
EVI: "SO, WHEN I'M IN 1ST GRADE NEXT YEAR I CAN SAY THE THINGS I DID IN KINDERGARTEN WERE 'OLD SCHOOL'?"
Mom: "Yep, I guess you can!"

Photo Book

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Photo Book

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Snaggle Tooth!

-1 tooth

It's the beginning of the end of Evi's babiness!  When those big teeth come in, it's just all so final.  They are no longer babies at that point.  And Evi has now lost 2 teeth!! Both bottom ones.  The first one fell out when she rode her bike up the driveway after school.  I was backing the truck in and saw her spit into her hand and look at it.  I put it in park, asked if she'd just lost her tooth.  When she said yes, I was sooo excited that we ran inside to tell Scott and take pictures of her hole.  About 10 minutes later, I was walking past the back door and realized I had left the truck running in the garage, still sticking half way out!

the crooked tooth

After that, the other loose tooth on the bottom moved to the center of the hole, and she ran around with a tooth at a 45* angle for a couple of weeks.  It was ridiculous!
The fact that she turns 7 this year is just eating at me.  Every time it's mentioned, it's like someone is stabbing me in the chest.  6 was fine, but 7 seems so old!  I'm not ready!   

The humid climates of Houston and Tampa don't seem to agree with Evi.  She's had a smokers cough since we lived in Houston, and it has not gone away with our move.  Everyone just thinks she's highly contagious and I'm a horrible person for having her in public.  I just smile and say we keep telling her to quit smoking.

Eli does his best to play with all the big kids and takes in everything they do and say.  So "butt" is his favorite word right now.  Evi gets very upset that her friends say things that she doesn't, like "butt", "poop" and "hate".  One night she cried because she couldn't stop thinking all the words that her friends say that she's not allowed to say! I, of course, envisioned curse words, but no, my sweet child was distraught over butt & poop.

with the "princess"

My famdamnily finally came to visit, and it was a whirlwind!  We spent 2 days at Disney, which also happened to be 2 of the coldest days in Florida this winter and a day at Busch Gardens.  We pulled out every piece of winter gear we had (and pretty much wore it all) and bought gloves and hats for a day at Disney.  But it was still fun!  Mila was the perfect age for meeting the princesses and fairies.  And when Mila shook Buzz Lightyear's hand, Eli could not be outdone. He finally got over his fear enough to fist bump Buzz and cling tightly to his sister for the picture with him.


Evi had her first school dance.  A "father-daughter" dance.  She was so excited.  Scott said they did the chicken dance together, and the didn't see her the rest of the night.  She was off dancing with her little friends.  But she had a blast!

this picture says it all

Words with Eli
boingboing = slinky
Obo = bobo

Conversations with Evi
Mom: "when your big teeth come in you won't be my baby girl any more, you'll be a big kid!"
EVI: "MOM, I'LL ALWAYS BE YOUR BABY GIRL"  (and yes, tears did flow, from me)

A little Late

Tea Cups

Tough to be a bug

January was an uneventful month, thank goodness!!  No ambulance rides this time.  Although, the bills for all that excitement started coming this month.  Let's just say I am VERY grateful for insurance!

Tea Cups

Eli is talking up a storm now.  He sounds like a mini-Evi.  Same phrases and same attitude!  She can't stand it when he repeats after me when I'm getting on to her.   It drives her nuts!  And he refers to her as "Honey" a lot, which evidently he gets from me, but I had not noticed I used that word so much until he started calling her that.  And that REALLY gets her going.  I keep trying to get her to stop reacting to him so much, that he is going to drive her nuts for the rest of her life because she reacts sooo easily, and at 2, he already enjoys it!

McQueen & "Tater"

We have already enjoyed Disney a couple of times this year.  The kids love it.  Eli wants nothing to do with the characters.  Even standing next to a CARS display was scary for him.  Their favorite ride right now is the Buzz Light Year ride.





Eli was sick for a week with an intestinal problem(which he gladly shared with both Scott & I).  Right on the heels of the croup epidemic.  It set us back in the pooping on the potty department, but we're working on it.  He now calls it "turtles" instead of "turds", which I like much better.  I was always referring to him having "a turtle head sticking out" when we'd catch him in the act and run him to the bathroom. Guess he caught on!

AARRRGGGHHH!!!

Evi thoroughly enjoyed the Gasparilla festival we have in Tampa.  Like a Mardi Gras parade where they throw beads.  The first weekend is solely for families, so no monkey business.  Eli slept through most of the parade. But he was all about being a pirate.
We are now officially Floridians!  We have a screened in back porch (if only it had a pool) with some decent furniture, a tv and a palm tree (okay, so it's a tacky light up palm tree, but I like it!).   I  think we use it more than our living room right now.  The kids think all meals including breakfast are to be eaten out there and love watching cartoons out there too.  Scott screened it in himself, and did a good job! 

Adventures of December

Where to begin for the month of December...I think maybe I'll backtrack on this one.
Christmas was great!  Santa brought us Disney passes (YAY!), and I did not go overboard on gifts this year.  I think because we had just moved, I'm still in purge mode and don't want to add anymore clutter.  Plus, my kids have PLENTY!  But it was good just the same.  Eli totally enjoyed opening presents.  He had a hard time leaving any wrapped present alone.
We had 3 visits for  pictures with the jolly old man.  And the third time was the charm.  Eli walked right up and let Santa pick him up.  When asked if he wanted to go take pictures for the second time Eli said ""NO!" But when I told him "Santa brings you presents", he couldn't put on his shoes fast enough.  But still just sat in front of him for that one.  And this was the first year that Evi didn't cry!

pretty boy Eli

ChaCha dressed up as Santa and came to the door at my mom's.  When we opened the door, before Charlie even spoke, Eli said, "ChaCha's Christmas!" ... Turkey!
We also have one of those Damn Elf on a Shelf.  And I say "Damn" with the utmost affection because Evi has enjoyed that damn Elf, which she named Kelf, so much.  He "magically" moves each night in order to keep an eye on the kids to report back to Santa, and she loved looking for him first thing.  Problem was, Kelf's magic provider didn't always get good service in the house, and he would spend multiple days in one place.  

Christmas Morning

Christmas Eve in Florida!

On a sad note, Evi's kitty, Flower died this month.  We found out this summer, when she shrank to a tiny 3.5lbs that she probably had kidney disease, and would not last long.  But after we moved, she gained 1.2lbs in just 6 weeks, and we were beginning to think maybe it was all just stress related.  Then she lost her reflexes in her back legs for a couple of days.   She could walk, it was like her back end was drunk.  After an emergency trip to a vet, she was better. (no thanks to the vet for that improvement) Then we noticed she wasn't eating her food, and was hiding under Evi's bed all day.  Needless to say, we knew it was near the end.  The only time she didn't cry was when I held her, or she was in bed next to us.  It was very sad.  Scott told Evi that Flower was sick and had gone to the vet so that I could be there too to tell her.  One thing led to another, and we ended not telling her for like a week.  We were busy, and it was never a good time!  Cut me some slack here!

pooped

But finally I told her.  She didn't even cry!! She was too worried about getting outside to play.  But she has been sad about it.  Although, she has already asked if this means she gets to get a new kitty.  So don't worry grandparents, when you go, she'll just be ready to pick your replacement!  But really I'm glad.  She is too young to have to really understand the finality of death, and I hope she doesn't really have to for a long time!

Afro-buddy!

So...the same afternoon that she is informed that her cat has gone belly up after a "trip to the doctor,"  Eli ends up getting taken to an ER for croupe and she is abondoned by both her parents for a night.  I'm pretty sure she was a little worried Eli might not make it back either!

The ER experience was, well, honestly I don't know what to say it was.  Eli had had a cold and cough, and I had just taken him in to ready clinic the day before for an earache, and he had seemed to be doing better.  Then around 3pm I noticed his cough changed.  Scott and Evi left to visit family around 4:45 and by 5:15, he had gone down hill so fast I loaded him up and took to an urgent care near our house.  They, in turn, sent me to an ER.  At this point, Scott had left Evi with his mom and sister and met us there.  After a steroid shot and 3 rounds of breathing treatments, he hadn't improved all that much.  So Eli and I were loaded into an ambulance and driven to a children's hospital, which he loved every minute of. The saddest part was just before, when we had to help hold him still in order for an IV to be put into is poor little arm.  It was the hardest part of the whole night.  It was the only time I allowed myself to be emotional.  He just kept crying "carry you!"  which is what he says when he wants to be held.  It was hard.  But for the whole rest of the time, I just kept thinking about how many other people were in that hospital because their children were dying of horrible diseases...I could handle a little battle with croup, and be greatfull for it. 
He's doing better, and has shared his cold with us all and then some!  Luckily no more trips to the ER though!
Conversations with EVI:
EVI:  "I HAVE THE BEST GRANDMA, I TELL THEM BOTH THAT"
Mommy:  " That's pretty smart of you Evi."
EVI: "DON'T YOU MEAN THAT'S PRETTY SWEET OF ME?"