Sister Act

Caroline here. I heart my sister sooooooo much. Every time I come back to Mommy's house, the first question I ask is "Where's Emily?" And guess what? Emily hearts me just as much as I heart her. She laughs and smiles every time she sees me. We are the best of buddies :)

C'Mon Irene.....Go Away!

Hurricane Irene was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The worst part for our family was a raging case of cabin fever from being in a house together for 48 hours straight. We lost power on Saturday night right after we went to bed and it was back on by noon Sunday. Here are some pics I took during our weekend: Just getting started....Saturday 4 PM
Sky getting darker....Saturday 6 PM

Winds really got going....Saturday 6 PM

Frog holding onto our window screen for dear life

Next day....beautiful weather and many trees down

Valero gas station sign blown out

Street light broken, but other than that...not much damage!

Shaken, Not Disturbed

As everyone in....well, the world, knows...Virginia had a great big earthquake on Tuesday. It registered a 5.9 on the Richter scale, just a mere 10th of a point away from "major earthquake" status. It was the biggest one in Virginia since 1897. But enough facts that you could get from any news station. Here is my personal account of that day:

The kids and I had just dropped off Caroline's hellian friend Lauren at her house and were in the CVS buying orange tic-tacs to replace the ones we had eaten from Timmy's stash, amongst other items. Suddenly, the floor starts swaying. I think to myself "Hmmmm.....that feels like a huge semi barreling down Rt. 301....I hope it stops at the light." I seriously thought it was just a big truck that was about to run through the intersection and get in a huge accident. Then it gets bigger and there is more swaying. And now all the customers are just staring at each other with big saucer eyes, like "Seriously?? That can't be.....an earthquake?!" And it goes on for about half a minute and then stops. The lady in line in front of me freaks out and starts yelling about the quake and how she needs to call the sheriff's office. Her kid starts freaking out too, because her mom is freaking out, and now the rest of us just want her to shut up. The manager just shrugs his shoulders and says to me, "I lived in San Francisco for five years. That was nothing." I smile, nod, pay for my stuff, and head out. Caroline immediately has a bad headache (stress related?) and we head home. The whole amount of damage at home: candle holder fell off a shelf, several of Caroline's toys fell off the bookcase in her room, and some pictures are crooked. We spent about 27 seconds cleaning up and about 4.5 more hours watching the news and trying to reach Timmy by cell phone.

We Don't Play with our Food...

but Emily doesnt know this rule, and she likes to play with food. Especially the kind that looks like a little playground ball. Which, in this case, would be a tomato from the garden. And what does Emily do with everything? Well, yes, it went straight in her mouth. And the previously unblemished surface of this perfect tomato now has six teeth punctures. But she was so cute doing it that I couldn't get mad! And just like with an apple that has a bruise, I cut the "bad" part off and turned the rest into a great addition to my hamburger.

How can you get mad at this face???

Emily: Nine Months Old

Wow, time flies! Already three-fourths of our way through the first year! I have almost no stats on this girl--we don't do our well baby check until September 2nd. Until then, this is what I know:
Weight: 18 1/2 pounds
What I Can Do: wave hi/bye, shake my head "no", say "da" to the appropriate person, scream "ba ba ba" for no particular reason, push toys across the floor, stand up and stay steady when holding onto Mommy's hand, hit two cups together, knock down towers, get up to about 23 mph in my walker, "pet" the cats, brush my teeth, eat regular food (cut into tiny pieces), drink from a sippy cup

What I Like: waking up in the morning; Twinkle, Twinkle Litte Star; pretty much all music; my walker and Exersaucer; mommy; yogurt and all fruits; Gerber puffs and wagon wheels, any flavor; people talking to me; using my walker in the wide open halls of KGMS

What I Don't Like: clothes that go over my head; laying down for diaper changes; going down for most naps, though I give in pretty quickly; babysitters; my feet on the grass; hot car seats

Emily's First Shoes

I took all three kids up to school yesterday to help me in my classroom, and everyone was a big help. Garrett watched Emily as she tore up and down the hallway in her walker and Caroline helped Ms. Tracy organize lab coats. After we got home, I realized that Emily had torn some skin off the end of her middle toe from so much walking. It was dirty and looked really painful. So we set off for Target this morning to see if we could find some shoes. I didn't want anything that was cute for the sake of fashion--those ones with ties and bows and stiff bottoms are not comfortable for a growing foot. Caroline and Garrett spotted some cute ones right away--they are made by MiniStar and are all leather. They almost have the feel and flexibility of a ballet slipper. They were perfect! We agreed on the flower pattern because Caroline said "it matches most of the baby's clothes".

We toook her outside in her walker for the first time! She loved it and her little blister was protected!

Emily waving as she sped by!

Bathing Beauty

Emily has gotten very excited about her bathtime ever since she has graduated to the "big girl" tub. Here she is below, grinning like a fool as the water fills up.

Oooooohhhh, look at that Mom! All my favorite toys are floating in the water!

Notice the dark shadow on the bath mat below her. Someone did a little tinkle on the floor while waiting for her bath! That's what I get for letting her get naked while I'm filling up the water!

Hmmmm, out of all my bath squeezie toys, the blowfish is my favorite. Very chewable.

Timmy's Birthday

We decided to have a cookout for Timmy's birthday, which was really just an excuse to get a bunch of friends and family over to the house for some good grub. Despite a forecast that promised I would not see a drop of rain til midnight (wrong!), and a sudden midday shower that drenched our freshly-washed and arranged lounge chairs, we still had a decent turnout and a fabulous time. KGMS finest and their significant others chilling under the canopy!

Babies galore! We had 6 kids under the age of 5 playing with every toy that my kids own!

My cupcake extravaganza! Crab cupcakes on pedestal and teddy grahams at the beach on the blue cupcakes in the circle.

Up close of crabby cupcakes!

Lily doing a magic act with the rings

Brooklyn did not like having all the kids invade her "personal space"!

Grandma and Emily

Lily wanted to go in the pool sooooo bad. Her dad finally gave in. In this pic, she has on her water wings and the outfit she came to the party in (black tank top, white capris). Luckily, her momma Jackie packed extra clothes.

My two jumped in with Lily, then decided that the rain from earlier in the day had made the pool water too cold.

Sheri's two children were in love with my cupcakes. Logan wasn't so excited about the cake part, but he ate everyone's gummy drops from their crab decorations!

Lily, Kristina, and Caroline disappeared and were found playing Barbie and Littlest Pet Shop.

Timmy opened some birthday presents...

then we headed outside to make s'mores.

Another year older and wiser! Happy 34th Timmy!

Otani's for Timmy's Birthday Dinner

Timmy was determined to get us all out for some Japanese hibachi dinner, and since it's almost his birthday, we let the birthday boy pick the dinner spot. We went to Otani in Fredericksburg because I have been there before and knew that it was spectacular. The kids and I had teriyaki chicken and Timmy had filet minon and shrimp. Soooo delicious!

Somebody liked when the chef did the whole "fire ball across the hot grill" act.

Aaaahhh! My onion rings have become a volcano!

After dinner, we walked around downtown Fredericksburg. Caroline saw this cut out outside of a bar and jumped right behind for a photo op.