Saturday, March 31, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Everything's coming up green!
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Motivation
It's amazing what you can do when there are spring thunderstorms with a threat of hail.
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Thursday, March 15, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
January/February 2012
Well, your dear old dad has gone and done it again. I've done a pretty good job of ignoring your letter for the past 2 1/2 months. Here we are, halfway through March and I haven't written a thing about what the two of you have been up to since the beginning of the year. BAD Daddy! I'll go sit in the corner now.
So...10 weeks ago, we started a new year. And a couple of weeks into that new year, something really special happened: your father turned 40 and Your Aunt Sarah, Uncle Britton, and cousin Sabrina came to visit us!
It was so nice to have them all here, and the two of you loved playing with Sabrina. The weather cooperated for the most part, and we were able to take all of you to the zoo. We really need to get you all together more often. Emily, you haven't stopped talking about "baby?" since they left, and we finally having you saying "Bweena."
Something else really fun that happened was that you both got to go on a real train. Two of them, in fact! The Amtrak anniversary train was in town, so we went down the the train station to check it out. What we didn't know that they they have a steam engine they're in the process of restoring down there, too, so you both got to take a look at that, too! Even though we didn't actually go for a ride on the trains, both of you had a great time, and especially Emily, since you've been so into Thomas the Tank Engine lately.
In February, Rachel, you and I went to a hockey game with one of your friends. It was the first time either of us had been to a hockey game in San Antonio. You were more concerned about whether you were going to get ice cream than you were with the game. Probably more exciting than the game was the drive home. We drove through a really big thunderstorm with huge hail falling on the car. Thankfully, I wasn't driving.
We also went to the Rodeo again this year. For the first time, Rachel, you made it through the whole thing. Emily, you did not, but you were a trooper. We went on some of the rides before we went in to see the rodeo, and we managed to pick a great night to go because it was only 1 ticket per ride the whole time.
Something else exciting that happened in February was that Rachel got accepted into the Gifted and Talented program at school! We always knew that you were very smart, and now we have the test results to prove it. I'm sure that this will only add to the sass we've been seeing lately with you being Miss Know-it-all. But I hope not.
Speaking of sass, Emily, you've become quite the little pistol. It looks like you left the most terrible part of the terrible twos for the last half of your second year. It seems like every decision has been a fight with you over the past month, with us having to find new ways every week to get you to do what we want you to do. I hope that this eases up a little bit as we slide into summer because there have been a few times over the past weeks that I've been ready to put you on Ebay.
Despite all of that, we are still amazed at how quickly you both are growing up. We can't wait to see what the next months will bring, as we get closer and closer to both of you being in school come August.
We love you both very much.
Love,
Daddy
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Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Building a Garden
Our back yard has a pretty good slope to it, which means that anytime it rains, any dirt that isn't packed down gets washed away. That's why we haven't attempted to make a little garden at this house yet. But I had a gift card from Home Depot (thanks, Mom and Dad!) and a hair up my butt to give the girls something to do this summer, so I decided we'd build a garden.
It was a lot bigger project than I planned, but I want it to stay put for a while so I took the time to actually plan (imagine that!)
It's been a couple of weeks in the making, but I think we're finally ready to plant.
With some assistance from my little helpers, we moved a yard of dirt into the 8' x 4' x 2' raised bed (it's only 12" up on the shallow side).
Now we just need to plant some seeds and watch them grow!
To celebrate, we went and got ice cream!
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sunday, January 08, 2012
What does not kill you make you stronger...
Mom: "Emily, don't eat that crayon!"
Rachel: "Nana, it's ok...it's non-toxic."
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Saturday, January 07, 2012
Friday, January 06, 2012
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
I think she needs more numbers
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Sunday, January 01, 2012
December 2011
Dear girls,
Santa Claus has come and gone, and we're going screaming into the new year, literally. The two of you are at the age where you antagonize each other (and us) and I don't think there's been a single day during this break where at least one of you wasn't crying about something.
And that makes me sound like a mean and angry father, which I'm not. There have been a lot of great things that happened this month, and the two of you also continue to surprise us with everything you know and do, including how well you get along (sometimes).
Emily, in the past month, your speech went from barely understandable to WOW! There have been times over the past couple of weeks where I did a double take because the words that you spoke came out of your mouth so clearly that I had to check to see that it was you who had actually spoken them. You've gone from your toddler abbreviations of words, like "Pahk" for Sparky to actually saying two syllables, "Pah-chee." We were laughing when you started doing this because it seemed like everything you said sounded like "butt cheeks" which you've been saying for a while now, thanks to your mother and sister. You have monkeys on your pajamas: "Mah-chee" Your blanket has become a blankie: "bahn-chee." You get the point.
Rachel, you were focused like a laser on Christmas. You were doing everything you could to make sure that Santa knew that you wanted an iPod this year for Christmas. You wrote a letter, drew a picture, and you made sure to tell Santa when we went to visit him.
Secondary only to Christmas and the iPod was staying up to ring in the new year. It seemed like you'd asked at least once a day, every day, for the past two weeks if you could stay up until midnight. You have an acute understanding now that there is something special about that transition from 11:59 PM to 12:00 AM on the last day of the year.
On Christmas morning, both of you actually slept in. But once you got up, it was on. Santa had left a few things unwrapped, and once Nana and Grandpa got here, we started with the unwrapping. Both of you had quite a pile, and Rachel, you tore into your things like a wild woman. The very first thing you opened was your new phone. Except it's doesn't work like a phone. Santa left you a note saying that he'd run out of iPods this year, but that you could still play games and take pictures with this phone just like you can on an iPod. You didn't seem to mind at all, and you really enjoyed playing with it.
Emily, you opened about three things and decided you were done. You wanted to play with the things you'd already opened and didn't want to both with the rest of it. When you finally did get everything open, you had racked up three new train toys, since you'd really grown to love watching Thomas and Friends over the past month or so. In fact, every time you come out to the living room in the morning you ask us for "Choo-choo train," meaning that you want to watch Thomas.
When New Year's Eve rolled around, we had a small party with just the four of us and Nana and Grandpa. They left around 9, but Rachel, you continued to play games on the Wii right up until midnight. I was really surprised that you lasted the entire night, but you still had energy left when it hit. You even got to learn a little bit about time zones becuase we watched it change to 2012 in New York and hour before it was 2012 here.
Overall, 2011 was a really great year for both of you. As wel roll into 2012, there are going to be lots of changes for both of you. We can't wait to see how you handle them because we love to watch you both learn and grow.
Your Mommy and I love you both very much.
Love,
Daddy
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
That's why the field is so slippery
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