Casa de Tow

stay-at-home Mama manual. . .

2012-02-20T11:09:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day. Wait, Valentine's Day??? Didn't we just have Christmas??? My credit card says we just had Christmas and is still suffering the aftermath of what the girls deemed "the best Christmas EVER ever ever ever ever ever. . ." Put in your own echoing effect on the "ever" part.

So now we start the Valentine's Day preparations for class parties. I, being a stay-at-home Mama, signed up for both the girls' parties. I think it's in the instruction manual you get when you decide to be a stay-at-home Mama. Something about signing up for all class parties. Baking is somewhere on page 43 of the manual and there's an entire chapter on how to make sweats look good.

What you don't know about class parties that is not in the manual is that most of the moms dread being in charge of games. At what age does one of the students say that your game is stupid and they are not playing? I was praying that that age was not 7-year-olds and 8-year-olds in Mrs. Kennedy's 2nd grade class. Can you guess who was put in charge of games??? The easiest of all jobs during a party is plates, napkins, silverware, etc. That's the job that when the person in charge ask you to get, you jump up and down screaming "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!" (on the inside of course) and say, "I can do that." Then you add to be nice, "Are you sure you don't need me to do something else?" Then you fall to your knees and pray that she says no, pray she says no, PRAY SHE SAYS NO!!! (this is on the inside as well). She will say no and that everything is covered. Whew. . .that was a close one.

Next, you could be in charge of food. This could be as easy as store bought cookies in coordinating colors of the holiday or as difficult as in you impulse bought that stupid magazine in the check out line that said "anyone can make this!!" and you attempted to make those stupid festive cupcakes that made you go back to the store not one, not two but three *&%(#*#@ times for more ^%#&@* ingredients because it was not working!!!!!! As I said, easy or hard, your choice. The kids will eat anything. Really.

Drinks is another job. This was covered in the manual too. There was even a coupon for Capri Suns in the manual. It doesn't have an expiration date. Seriously, use it.

Sometimes there are goody bags for the kids. Another easy job, just a little more costly depending on how many kids are in the class and how many items you have to get. But, an easy job nontheless that takes zero time and effort and you aren't still stewing about those stupid cupcakes from that stupid magazine. This is an excellent option for those with baking difficulties.

So, we've discussed partyware, food, drink and goody bags. What's left you ask? The games. A class party is typically 45 minutes to an hour long. You take into account the amount of time for eating and goody bag distribution and that really takes up like four and half minutes. Maybe five. So the mom in charge of games needs to keep 17 to 20 kids' attention for 41 to 56 minutes. . .I'm thinking of a four-letter curse word that rhymes with "fit" right now.

It's kind of funny because I mildly stress over this about two weeks to a month before the party. Dustin will agree because "mildly" is accurate. A little research on the computer is involved, but all in all, it is just a normal two weeks to a month of a little bit of writing down ideas. I won't find out until the week before the party what job I have or if I'm in charge of games, but I'm a firm believer in planning ahead. No one ever died from planning ahead (that's on page 6 on Preparing for Your Bundle of Joy as well as page 73 on Be the Life of the Party!). The night before the party, I will be going over all the games one more time and asking Dustin what he thinks. He always says "everything looks great Babe" and then walks out of the room quickly, hitting himself in the head for not realizing I'm in "party mode" and he actually forgot and walked into the kitchen during the final phase. He tends to stay out of the way so that he doesn't have to play one of the games to see if it makes sense to him. Ladies, let me pull you to the side and explain something. Your husband will not understand the game at the level and EXCITEMENT you need him to understand the game. You might as well let him walk on by and move on to the child that the game is intended for. She will show you the excitement you need or she will give you her "WHAT?!?" face if she doesn't understand. This is why you organize and prepare early. The "WHAT?!?" face less than 24 hours before the party will make you become a firm believer in planning ahead. . .and make you need a drink.

So, it's party day. You are ready, you are prepared heck you are even in coodinating colors of the particular holiday. You are amazing! Ok, as much as I want to wear coordinating colors, I just can't. Black goes with everything and apparently fills up my closet, but if you want to be festive, by all means, festive yourself up (there's the "Soccer Mom" look in the manual, but as you can tell, I ignored that part. . .obviously). So, you panic a little thinking are the kids going to understand my game??? Will they like the game??? Will they throw things at me??? Fill in the appropriate scenario of what 16 children might do. . .and then times it by 100 because you always think it is worse than what it actually is. :-)

Back to the handing out jobs, my friend was in charge of the party and she walked up to my truck during Pre-k drop off with this look. Our daughters are in the same 2nd grade class and same Pre-k class. She looked at me and said, "So, there's two jobs left for the party." I look at her and say, "What's that?" She looks at me. . .I'm building up the suspense aren't I? She looks at me and says, "Plates/napkins and games. What do you want to do?" But here is the kicker! There's one thing that is underlined, highlighted and in bold in your manual. You can't ignore it. You can and will ignore a lot of stuff in the Stay-at-home Mama Manual but this one bit of information you must follow. My friend added the sentence that will make you agree to do the hardest job of the two. She said, "You and Kristi are the last ones I've talked to. I'll give her what you don't choose." KRISTI IS A TEACHER!!!! AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER!!!! Yep, you just lost. You were playing paper, rocks, scissors and you threw the nuclear bomb to be funny and they threw the cockroach. . .the cockroach survives anything. Yep, you just lost. You can't give the game to the teacher that has her own class party and signed up for her child's party. Read it, it's in the manual. So, I said I do the games. My friend did a happy dance in the parking lot. No cars were around, but she still did it. :-)

Valentine's Day parties are easier than Christmas parties because you have to allow time to open up Valentine's Day cards. So add four and half minutes of eating with 10 minutes and that leaves me with about about 30 minutes to entertain 16 children for Emma's party. Last year I was in charge of the games for Emma's class for the Valentine's Day party too. Emma loves Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Emma will be 25-years-old and still love Pin the Tail on the Donkey. So last year I turned Pin the Tail on the Donkey to Pin the Conversation on the Heart. Here's the blog entry from last February on the game idea:

I intended to have the kiddos play "pin the converersation on the heart" but then Emma was like, "What's a conversation?" and she was giving me that weird look so the game's name turned into "pin the words on the heart." As I was trying to think of games, Emma's only request was "pin the tail on the donkey." So, my smart brain as Emma calls it, came up with a giant pink heart out of poster board and then I laminated scrapbook paper and the kiddos' names with conversation heart sayings. My favorite was "Hug Me Edmundo" and a very close second was "U Rock Emma." Ergo "pin the conversation on the heart" or "words on the heart." Needless to say, seeing their names with funny sayings, adding a blindfold with some spinning and saying "take off" lead to a fun afternoon.

Emma at her 1st grade Valentine's Party with her "conversation" to pin on the heart.

So my smart brain yet again prevailed according to Emma with a Valentine's Day Word Scramble. The kids were put into four different groups of four and were given index cards with letters on them and they had to unscramble the letters to make the Valentine's themed words. There were 14 rounds and the words started out with three letters and went up to nine letters. After each round, the group that spelled the word right and screamed it out as loud as they could got prizes. When in doubt, have prizes. Candy, pencils, etc., kids will play games if a prize is involved. And make sure you do a little math and figure out how many pieces of candy you will need per round per kid. And then have about 30 extra Hershey Kisses so when two teams scream out FLOWER at the top of their lungs, you will have enough. Being prepared is sometimes just too awesome. And it helps to scream. Not you when you are panicking, but for the kids. Screaming makes the game 10 times better. :-) I made four sets of each word and mixed the index cards up the exact same and put them in each snack size bags. Then each snack size bag labeled 1 - 14 went into four different pink paper lunch sacks (yes, we own pink paper lunch sacks for field trip days. Have you met my oldest? We don't do normal.). I made a cheat sheet on an index card for each Mom who was giving their group the mixed up word because I tested Dustin on the hardest scrambled word and he said, "Is it Valentine?" I looked at him and said, "Valentine??? There's no V on an index card!" He then said, "Everything looks great Babe." and walked quickly out of the kitchen and slapped his head wondering how he forgot to stay out of the kitchen.

I also did an M&M candy count and filled up a bottle with M&Ms. The kids had to guess how many M&Ms there were and the closest one got it. The kid's face that won (his name is Moses) with a guess of 400 M&Ms was priceless. Then his face was even better when I opened up the envelope and showed him the number of M&Ms in the bottle. . .814 M&Ms. . .you are welcome Moses' Mom. He will be in a sugar coma by the weekend. And a little side note. There's approximately 410 M&Ms in each larger size bag. Little FYI. And don't count while Dustin and the refrigerator repair man are fixing the fridge and repeating the model numbers like 17 times. It will piss you off. It really really will.

So after two weeks of mildly stressing over Emma's party, it was a huge success! Emma wants the word scramble to be incorporated in every class party she has. The game took 30 minutes, kids were screaming and really getting into the game to try and when the prizes. Mission accomplished. Ohh and it was educational. . .yep, read that chapter too. And one more thing. When being so prepared such as I, it always helps to charge your camera battery the night before. That part I overlooked and managed to get two pictures of Emma's party before my camera died. So no pictures of the most amazing Valentine's Day party ever of the daugher who deemed it the most amazing. There goes my Mother of the Year Award.

Ellie Bellie decorating her Valentine's Day bag. When they laid all the hundreds of stickers out on the table, that kid was in heaven.

Cookie decorating. . .best party ever according to Ellie. :-)

James and Ellie. James is one of Ellie's boyfriends. Yes, I said ONE OF HER BOYFRIENDS. James' twin brother Casey has won Ellie's heart too and she just can't choose between them. These are the same boys that took her on a date to the pharmacy for snow cones and that day has yet to be topped by any other event since September. The boys are seniors at the high school and James comes over and helps with the afternoon Pre-k class. I'm sure Ellie gets a ton of work done. :-)

Picture #1 of Emma eating at the party.

Picture #2 of Emma eating at the party.

So my camera is charged, the girls are home after school, let's get a Valentine's Day picture. What do you say girls?

Ok, look at the camera and smile at the same time. One good smile with eyes open and I will leave you alone. . .

get together like you like each other. . .

one picture. . .that's all I want. . .

ok, we got the smile, now look at the camera. . .

Emma said something funny to Ellie and Ellie just about took Emma off the porch with her laughter.

Emma holding her hurt armpit from holding Ellie so that she didn't fall off the porch. Apparently you can hurt your armpit. Emma tends to hurt everything.

Finally. Happy Valentine's Day. :-)

Tooth Land. . .

2012-02-16T18:59:00.000-08:00

So tooth number eight came out. This kid is draining Molly the Tooth Fairy's wallet with all her teeth. I'm so glad Molly started out at $2 or she'd be broke by now. Like always, Emma left another detailed note for Molly to answer. And like always, Molly left Emma speechless with her witty responses and impressively accurate details that make it seem like she really does know Emma. Crazy I tell you, crazy. . .

Emma's note from Molly

I'm pretty sure an orthodontist is going to make a fortune off of us with this kid. Did I mention Dustin just happened to forget to tell me that his side of the family doesn't get two of their teeth??? The top lateral incisors apparently. But both girls did get my hair and their Daddy's hiney, so I guess a couple years in braces and a good payment plan is a fair trade.

Emma asked who Molly's friends were and if she liked any boys. The other questions were favorite color and where she lives. This happened Wednesday night and Thursday for lunch was bbq chicken leg day at school for Emma. That's Emma's favorite and her Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Thompson. They make a pretty big deal about it each month and probably help boost the sales of bbq chicken on that particular day. Emma forgot her lunch in the truck back in Kindergarten and Mrs. Thompson knew it was my day to go to town, so there was no getting me back before lunch time. So it was a case of tough love and telling Emma that bbq chicken leg day will change her life because it is the best. And what do you know??? It really is the best according to Mrs. Thompson and Emma. :-) So of course, Molly just had to tell Emma what Tooth Land's cafeteria was having for lunch the next day. . .bbq chicken legs. . .what a coincedence. You should have seen Emma's face that next morning. Priceless.

Ellie's 5-year-old pics. . .

2012-02-16T18:20:00.000-08:00

I actually got these pictures taken before 2012, ok two days before 2012, but nontheless, I got her 5-year-old pictures done. Then there was the issue with no computer for over a month and me losing my mind a little each day, and possibly taking it out on my husband. I believe him calling me a "2-year-old" and having a "tantrum" might have been in the conversation. I showed him I was not a "2-year-old" possibly by giving him "the finger" but it's been so long ago, neither one of us remembers. . .yah, ok.

So here's my yearly attempt at taking my own version of professional pictures and not having to pay a fortune for someone else to tell Ellie to put "Mr. Fingers" over the other "Mr. Fingers" and sit up straight. I'm pretty sure if Ellie knew what "the finger" meant, there's a chance that photographer would receive it. Hey, I'm being honest. She got both my and Dustin's stuborness. We have only ourselves to blame. :-)

Christmas, part trois. . .

2012-01-27T14:06:00.000-08:00

Closer to Valentine's Day, but we just got our computer back. Being a stay-at-home Mom with already no cable (we don't even get local channels) and no computer. It's a wonder I survived the last month and a half. It was touch and go on a daily basis, but thanks to the local library ladies, I was able to get in my Pinterest addictions once a week. That site is horrible. You look for 10 minutes and then you realize it's time to go pick up the girls from school. Did I really miss lunch???

Here's Christmas in a nutshell. We bought, we wrapped, we opened and we swore to never spend that much money again. . .until next Christmas. :-) For the first time in five years, Ellie was able to participate in the Christmas Eve traditions. Poor girl has fallen asleep on the way home from Dustin's Mema's house every year because we leave so late. This year both girls got "reindeer food" at school, so I think they would have snuck in some coffee to stay awake long enough to sprinkle it outside for Santa's reindeer.

Who knew the power of oats and glitter?

Well of course it needs to be sprinkled on the roof. . .that's where Santa parks his sleigh.

I look at these pictures now and think that if Emma really would have launched that reindeer food up on the roof, we could have spent Christmas Eve in the ER for broken arms and legs falling out of my truck. That would have been so miserable. . .I mean memorable. Way to go Dustin for hanging on to those kids. I'm pretty sure he was already envisioning that scenerio too.

Santa's little helpers

Santa's little helpers throwing glitter at me. . .awesom.

Mmmmmm. . .oats and glitter.

This is a first for Ellie too with the always falling asleep. Emma always puts her arm around nothing when we take the picture after she makes the plate for Santa. Much like pictures Dustin takes when he's on his motorcycle rallies and I'm at home watching the girls and sleeping in a nice comfy bed and enjoying indoor plumbing. I know, I'm so sad.

Santa stopped by a few weeks before and mentioned he wanted bagels. Emma freaked out on the way home that night because we didn't have bagels. We did have sour dough bread though, so the night was not a total loss.

And cheeseballs. Who doesn't want cheeseballs, sour dough bread and milk? Put your hand down Nana.

The girls had to check them for freshness.

Yep, them be some good cheeseballs.

And the milk, is it good?

Milk, check.

Top all that off with some cookies and viola' a Christmas snack fit for a king. I hope Santa knows where we keep the Tums.

Emma, 7-years-old and Ellie, 5-years-old.

In an orderly fashion, slowly walk down the hall single file to see what Santa brought you. I can only imagine these two during a fire drill at school.

Emma is so dramatic, but not in a teenager I hate the world way. She is truly shocked and awed at everything big or small. :-)

Here's her "holy crap I got fake nails" face in the background.

Emma's bacon and egg earrings. Her fashion motto, "more is more."

Ellie wanted fish earrings.

And the pièce de résistance for our children. . .old school roller skates like we had in the 80s. I'm not going to lie, Santa wasn't sure AT ALL about these things, but Mrs. Claus told him to trust her. He was still not a believer when he left those skates under the tree, but the high pitched screaming (from Emma) and the covering of her face with excitement (from Ellie) sealed the deal for Santa. Those roller skates have been glued to those girls feet since Christmas Day. I remember skating around the house when I got roller blades for Christmas. Then I remember rolling down one of the hills behind our house. Not rolling on the roller blades mind you, but rolling like I was on fire because I tripped and just kept falling. Yep, the girls will love these. . .in the comfort of their own home.

Santa's leftovers.

Up and down the hallway, up and down the hallway. Maybe I can get some new carpet if they wear out the carpet? :-)

Here were the biggies on the girls' Christmas list. If you have a son, none of this will make sense. Just skip the rest of these pictures because these girl toys will be confusing. Hence, Ellie wanting a salon chair for her dolls.

The beginning of the many excited faces of Emma.

What does every 8-year-old girl want for their doll? A wheel chair!! And crutches with bonus arm and foot casts! This was first on Emma's Christmas list.

This was a pre-sneeze face. You can see her in the process of sneezing. She actually does love the shirt despite the facial expression.

This is Ellie's over the top excited face. :-)

Blank t-shirts!!!

Another "I can't believe it!" face. Barbie make-up artist.

Dustin on Christmas. I think we got each other a 27-ton hydraulic log splitter and a trailer for Christmas this year. Something says that yes, I will be warm from the split logs, but I think I might have got the raw in of that deal. . .

"OMG!! Little Mermaid walkie talkies that look like seashells and have a pearl bracelet! That wasn't even on my list!" Ellie then proceeded to pretend pass out on the floor because she could not take all the excitement.

Five identically wrapped presents to the girls were new outfits for their dolls Taylor and Eric. Did I mention FIVE presents that were the exact same size and each time they opened one it was an OMG moment. I love kids at this age. :-)

Ellie loves Eric's new outfit.

Dustin gave me total credit for this one and told Emma this poncho was from Mama. Emma has wanted a poncho for maybe the last six years. She had two when she was maybe 2-years-old. Why two ponchos you ask? Well, it was obviously from Nana and Nana buys duplicates of everything. If you like a particular shirt, buy three of them in different colors. The same goes for Papa. How many different colors do they make short sleeve solid color polos? Alot. They make alot of them and Dad has one in every color. Well, I finally found the poncho of all ponchos that had a little bit a fringe, was not made of fleece and had a turtle neck. Yep, best Christmas ever.

Emma got Project Runway make-up artist and good to know that it came with 10 tree-free pencils that are better for the environment. I'm just wondering what the "pencils" are made out of if it's not a tree?

Ahhhh, be still my heart. The force is strong with this one. . .when it comes to taking over the ironing in a few years. :-) I'm not sure which is worse, early mornings or ironing. Emma saw a mini iron and iron on set at JoAnn's one day and had gone on and on and on and on and on and on and on about it for the last two months. Little did she know it was purchased probably a few days after she first laid eyes on it. We got her some blank t-shirts so she could design her own shirt by herself. Favorite part of the gift is the fact it says for ages 12 and over. She tells me over and over and over and over and over how big she is and she will pay attention (with me in the same room) while she's using the iron. :-)

I love this. Emma watching it snow outside. It's the little things in life that make this little girl happy.

Both the girls watching it snow wondering when they'll get to go outside and play in it.

Now this is a good Papa. Even Dustin was impressed Dad made it through an entire Barbie movie. This was Barbie: Princess Charm School. Some of the Barbie movies will just rip out your heart slowly and painfully, but some of them aren't too bad. Dustin thinks they are all the first option but endures the pain for the happiness of his girls. And he knows the pain stops at 8:30 p.m. and he gets to enjoy a few uninterrupted moments of Call of Duty: Black Ops. Talk about ripping out my hear slowly and painfully watching him play that. . .

Ellie couldn't even tear her eyes away from the Barbie movie because it was that good! And did you know that the sequel to Barbie in a Mermaid Tale 2 is coming out in 2012?!? The previews of Barbie: Princess Charm School told her that. Yeah.

Every year we play something on Christmas. Let us not forget the past two years of Pictionary in which Dad and I wore the winners and Dustin and Mom were the losers. Does it matter that we barely won? No. We're on a Tripley kick from when Jess and Aaron were in town, so this year the smell of dry erase markers were no where, just inches upon inches of snow accumulating and Mom telling Dad that this is going to be the last hand. That snow was really coming down. Fast.

The object of the game is to have alot of these. This was my hand. I will not be going to Vegas any time soon.

Finally the girls scream with anticipation because we venture out in to the snow. Actually it was more like, "I'm so hot in all these shirts and jackets Mama." I'm big in layering when playing in the snow.

Ellie running away from Daddy's snowballs. Somebody got Daddy in the hiney (you can tell I have kids because I use the word "hiney") already.

I love Ellie's face in this one. :-)

Emma playing in the snow.

This is my favorite.

Daddy is telling the girls to throw a snowball at Mama. Does he not remember the 27-ton hydraulic log splitter and trailer we got each other for Christmas???

Do you see that snowball right in the center of the picture??? Apparently he does not remember the 27-ton hydraulic log splitter and trailer. He'll remember what it's like to sleep on the couch though.

Ellie eating snow and Emma smiling.

Ellie smiling and Emma eating snow.

Yah, this one is going to hurt. You can see it in his eyes and the way he is forming that snow ball that the recepient of that will have a bruise. . .

Here's where I got out of the way at the last moment and snapped a picture of the wall.

Emma and Daddy

Ellie Bellie

Emmernoodle

Geez girls, I know I feed you.

my sweet Ellie

Emma defacing private property.

Look at her rebellious ways. Her snowball totally ruined Dustin's "R" in his sign. She just laughed and laughed. Which kind of made me laugh and laugh until Dustin started making another snowball. . .

"Explicitive deleted Dustin!!" Explicitive deleted was not heard by the small ears.

I'm not going to lie. Looking through my zoom lens at this face of determination was a little scary.

Emma and me

Emma hasn't learn to pack down the snow for her snowballs and she ended up throwing one at me and basically coated herself. One day her Daddy will teach her the ways of making a snowball that freaking hurts when it hits you and that will leave a bruise.

The predator quietly sneaks up on its prey, a mother and a daughter. The mother wipes the daughter's face clean of snow. Let's see how this unfolds.

The prey unsuspectingly ignore the approaching predator and does not see the snowball in its hand. . .

until it is too late! Ohhh, the agony. . .

What is this? It is unheard of! The prey has become the predator and turned on its own mother and is now attacking her and the predator!

Game over. The former predator got a snowball in the face from the former prey and now it is melting down inside her coat. Indeed, game over.

Poor Taylor. Aunt Ellie is taking her to the mall to make her feel better about her broken foot and being in a wheel chair. That's sweet Aunt Ellie.

Eric and Aunt Emma headed to the mall to meet up with Aunt Ellie and Taylor.

Eric is pushing her cousin Taylor at the mall. Sweet girls.

Now they are just having fun walking around the mall. How Emma didn't run over a finger is a wonder to me?

Mama and Taylor

Mama and Eric

Ellie said, "Mama, take a picture of us and we can use this for our Christmas Card!" I couldn't stop laughing! Don't be surprised if you get this in the mail next year. :-)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas, part deux. . .

2011-12-29T21:49:00.000-08:00

So here is the part deux. I think in any other state, speaking a little bit of french here and there wouldn't sound as weird as it does with a Texan accent. I digress. Jess and her entourage aka Aaron, Jack and Luke came to town for Christmas with Mom and Dad. Jess gets up early. Jess enjoys her morning time. Jess is insane. I am none of those. So starting BEFORE 8:00 a.m. during the Christmas Break in which no one had to be up for anything, my sister started texting me. "Wakey wakey" was among a few of them. I think I responded around 10:45 a.m. when I called her and mumbled the words "what do you want?" I'm not sure if those actual words made it into my phone and out of hers, but I am not a morning person.

The menu this year was a first of many. We always have "snackers" as Dad has deemed "appetizers" the night before the kids open their presents and Grandma comes over for lunch. The following day, we have the traditional deep fried turkey (maybe that's a Texas thing), broccoli and cheese casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, bread, etc. was replaced with enchiladas and tacos. Seriously?!? Mom not spending all morning cooking and then we cleaning up afterwards? Why didn't we start this trend so many years ago? The guys were a little bummed about not drinking by 10:00 a.m., but indeed were thankful to not be freezing outside as they are every year.

Ellie, Aunt Jessie and Aunt Jessie's iPad. If you are looking for Ellie, find Aunt Jessie's iPad.

"Ellie you blinked. Open your eyes."

"Ok, now you both blinked. Open your eyes."

"Nevermind."

Luke wants his two front teeth for Christmas. . .but will settle for an xbox.

Belly bumping. It's all the rage. Like it's cousin "chest bumping" as seen by men showing one another a form of congratulations, belly bumping is the same. Now timing the belly bumping can be tricky. One jumps too soon, the other one gets belly bumped in the face.

One doesn't jump at all and goes for the high five, the other gets high fived in the face.

Or on the downward fall of the belly bump. Belly bumping can be dangerous. Adult supervision is suggested. And adult supervising should have a camera.

Where's Ellie? Ohh, switching off with Luke on the iPad.

Does anyone else find this as funny as Dustin and I did that the soap dispenser is called "simple human" and there's Dustin? I really wish he had on a beer shirt. That would have been priceless.

It is mandatory you receive underwear AND/OR socks for Christmas from Mom. It's the law. Even the grandkids get socks and underwear. In fact, no one buys socks and underwear all year long because we know Mom will get us underwear and socks. The one year she doesn't, that is going to be one sad Christmas. The packaging on this underwear is awesome.

Dustin wants an AR-15. So Dad bought him one. . .to light his wood burning stove. That was wrong. But so funny.

Aaron got a rifle. . .that will light his fire place. Again, wrong but funny.

This is how too big of gifts get wrapped up. "In Jessica's closet" has been the storage place for many Christmas presents.

Ok, so apparently signals were crossed and I thought Jess was doing a present to Papa from the boys with the drink coasters, but instead she did a "World's Best Papa" coffee mug with pictures of ALL the grandkids. She'll tell you a different story, but my blog, my version of the story. Alas, I made Dad a desk calender with pictures of JUST the girls. Yah. It was Jessica buying the damn 10' tall Christmas tree the day after I totaled Mom's Honda Accord and here comes the favorite child with a new Christmas tree for her wonderful parents she just loves so much. Makes you want to throw up too, doesn't it?

Here's the coffee mug. Way to go Jess.

We did communicate well on buying Dad the movies he wanted. One out of two ain't bad.

Mom and. . .Jess

"Ohhh Dad, you are so funny! Ha ha ha, ha ha ha!" says Jess, while Steph sits in the corner playing with the hairball. That's how she laughs. I swear.

Oh wait, Jess admits that she was supposed to only have pictures of the boys and she apologizes profusely and admits she has always wanted to be like me. Sorry, day dreaming again. . .

Papa and Nana. . .and that mug.

Charlie's Angels

Mom couldn't get her lighter to work. Moment ruined.

Ahhhh, Christmas morning is here at last. Ok, Christmas morning at Nana and Papa's is here at last.

Did all four kids just look at the camera and smile with their eyes open, not once but twice? It is a Christmas miracle!

Silly picture.

Here's where Jess said to lick the person next to you and Ellie and Luke were all about it. Not so much for Jack and Emma.

Another Gibson tradition. As soon as we learned to read, Dad has had us read from the Bible every Christmas morning. I can't remember if Emma read last year, but her and Jack split the verses and continued the tradition for probably its 26th or 27th year.

Jack and Emma

Who wants to open up presents?

Who wants to drink coffee and eat some breakfast? Dustin is in the background working on his second cup probably.

Both Ellie and Luke are each going through an identity crisis. Luke informed me that he is Luke Skywalker. Ellie is going by Shimmer this week. It's one of the names of the "flairies" in Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale. She also changes between Anastasia, Isabella and Buttercup. I stick with "Babydoll" if I've forgotten her name.

What to get Luke for Christmas??? That is a challenge. Now Jack, that's pretty easy. Anything video game or iTunes. Or Lego related. You can never go wrong with Legos. Now for Luke. I figured after his shark life jacket he wore in and out of the water this past summer that a "man mouth shirt" would be idea for this child. And it was. His elbows make the mouth and he gets to run around chomping on people. Who doesn't love that???

Emma made a present for her Nana and me during her sewing lessons with Mrs. Francis (seriously, the sewing teacher is named Mrs. Francis, that is so perfect). Emma got our favorite colors and sewed us each a bag that snaps shut with a metal tape measure. She sewed the tape measure inside the bag. Emma made me a red and black bag to hold all my glasses because I'm constantly misplacing them. Ahhhh, how sweet. :-)

Emma picked out blue and white for Nana's bag. You pull the little tabs and the bag snaps open and then when you release the tabs, they close. Emma thought that was the coolest thing.

Ahhh, the disadvantages of not being able to read. Ellie was looking at the box and trying to figure out what it was. All the while, Emma is just screaming. . .very loudly.

Ok, Wii remotes, now she's got it figured out!

Jack and Luke and their xbox. I think their Dad will enjoy this gift as well.

Now it's time to scream loudly. Barbie panties. Yes, they are that awesome.

Ellie is a dinosaur because her new crocs that have the lining on the inside have a dinosaur on the top of them. Ellie is the happiest kid. She has sandal crocies, regular crocs and now a "winter" pair of crocs. Her wardrobe is complete.

What does every 7-year-old want for Christmas? Sewing classes for the month of January. It's like Barbie underwear. It's that awesome.

Ellie hugging Papa and telling him thank you for all the Christmas gifts.

Jack hugging Nana and telling her thank you for all the Christmas gifts.

Luke tackling Nana and thanking her for Christmas. . .

Emma still opening Christmas. I think she still had three presents to go at this point.

Yuck. I sympathize with Ellie trying on individual toe socks. I liked funky socks back in high school and Grandma got me a pair of crochet socks. There was to toe line, just a ball at the top where the knitter started the socks. Those socks were the most uncomfortable socks EVER. I feel Ellie's pain in this picture.

Ellie just hanging out on the stairs, playing with Nana's iPhone.

"It's so comfortable laying her Mama."

Ellie in front of the fireplace, playing with Nana's iPhone.

Emma and me. Those kids stayed in their pajamas all day long. Emma declared it the BEST DAY EVER!! She declares pretty much five days out of the week "best day ever."

Luke and Jess

Ugh. . .Emma and her toe socks. My feet hurt just looking at this.

Aunt Jessie

Ellie laying on Papa, playing Aunt Jessie's iPhone. . .upside down.

Ellie curled up in a ball with Papa's help, playing Aunt Jessie's iPhone.

Nana taking a little rest. It's been a crazy couple of days.

She said it got too quiet and opened her eyes to see Aaron and Dustin putting the bottle of margarita on her. I'm pretty sure this is going to be Mom and Dad's Christmas card next year.

And we can't have Christmas without Betty the Tooth Fairy stopping by to collect a tooth. This kid is already losing teeth?!? She turned five. . .a week ago?!?

Ellie got a baggie for her tooth.

It said "Ellie toot" until we told her she was forgetting a letter.

Molly is the Tooth Fairy that visits our house when Emma has lost her teeth. But we were at Nana and Papa's house one night when Emma lost hers. She was losing her mind because Molly wouldn't know she was there and not at the house. The things this kid stresses over. Emma has always wrote Molly a letter (much like her Mama did when she was a kid), so we explained to Emma that we left a note for Molly just in case Emma lost her tooth while away from home. Emma went to bed the night with a note for Molly and her tooth and awoke to a note from Betty the Tooth Fairy and $2. Betty takes care of the teeth in Nana and Papa's area. Who knew? So needless to say, Emma wrote a note for Ellie and they left it for Betty. Crisis averted yet again. . .

Christmas, part un. . .

2011-12-27T21:26:00.000-08:00

We usually have a few thousand rounds of Christmas, or so it seems by the time the big day actually arrives. With Dustin and Ellie both having December 11th birthdays, they are opening birthday gifts usually up until Christmas Eve. And then begins the madness of more presents for Christmas Day. I really don't know how divorced families do it going to Mom and David's house for lunch and then Dad and Helen's house for dinner and in between, we need to go to Aunt Linda's to see her kids and step kids. . .yikes. That's too much and it seems too expensive in the end. So here's part un because I'm going through a french thing apparently followed by part deux and hopefully done by part cinq. Don't hold your breath though.

My neice Adyson in her new hat and scarf. Scarves are definitely in this season, even for 2-year-olds.

The girls with their great grandparents (Dustin's side), Granny and Pas.

Ahhh, it isn't Christmas without the giant tub of cheese balls Uncle Wes and Aunt Katy started probably three years ago. This was Adyson (and 2-month-old Aubrie's) first introduction to the cheese ball tradition. Katy said when they checked out at Sam's with three tubs of cheese balls, the cashier just said, "So you like cheese balls, huh?"

You can see Ellie saying, "Ohhhh, I love Rio!!" as she puts her hands to cover her mouth. That's Ellie's OMG face and go to move for anything she likes. Emma just looks like a grandma that doesn't have her teeth in yet. That apparently is Emma's go to move for anything she likes followed with high pitched screaming. Dustin is trying hard to stop the ear piercing screaming.

The look on their faces are priceless. And yes, it is a fashionable scarf for Emma.

Barbie in a Mermaid Tale Merliah doll. Not to be confused with Barbie Fairytopia: Mermaidia. Merliah has a fake tail and Elina trades her wings for a tail to save Mermaidia. Really? Who could get the two confused? Mattel is seriously making a fortune off of us with their Barbie products.

Wes and camo. That's really being redundant. It's not a Tow Christmas without a little camo. . .ok, a lot of camo.

Trae and a scope for his rifle. And his subscription to Field & Stream. Another Tow Christmas tradition.

Underwear. Yep, that's another Tow family tradition.

And the pièce de résistance (maybe this is why I was french earlier) would be Pas' 30-06 with a scope. I think it's not even Christmas if there isn't a gun unwrapped.

And my gift card to Starbucks. Yah, I'm not sure where Dustin found me. I get a gift card to Starbucks every year. I think it probably embarrasses Dustin.

Darrell and Terry got an assortment of different chocolates nicely arranged in a box, there was even a guide to finding each chocolate and what each chocolate contained. Darrell got the words, "That's nice," before he tripped on the rug and managed to move every chocolate from its original location.

This is the lovely assortment of chocolates. He did manage not to drop any on the floor and that was pretty impressive. Emma was given the job of matching the chocolate to the picture. She was busy for a while.

I almost forgot about the ammo. How could I have been so thoughtless in remebering traditions? Ammo is sometimes a stocking stuffer, so it is not necessarily unwrapped. Nevertheless, you can never go wrong with giving ammo.

I like Papaw's face as Ellie is being sneaky to put gift wrapping ribbon on his head.

I love Ellie's face because she thinks she is being so "trickery" as she calls her stealth like moves. :-)

And what's not Christmas without a little visit from Santa himself a week before Christmas. We left Meme and Papaw's house to hurry home before Santa came by to say hello to the girls and give them a few gifts. Santa has a Wisconsin accent, so this is always a treat for me and Dustin as well. :-)

Finally, a great photo with Santa. Only took five years. But I understand, I don't think I smiled until I was at least Emma's age when it came to telling some strange guy in red outfit what I wanted for Christmas.

Emma with Santa. She looks so grown up in this picture.

Dustin talked to Santa a few days before he came to visit. He asked if we had a little something he could give the girls to open up. I planned for such an event and was good to go. Then Santa starts pulling more and more and more things out of his bag for Emma and Ellie. Santa and his wife Mrs. Claus went a little overboard with our kids. :-)

Ellie's explaining how Elvis Scott (our Elf on a Shelf) brought back a letter from Santa for the girls. Ellie was all about Santa this year. It was awesome!

One last hug for the big guy before he left. Santa was going to stop at our friends Pat and Toni's house before he headed back to the North Pole, so he offered to take them their Christmas card and cinnamon rolls from us. This is where I add the WINK WINK. Pat and Toni along with a few other families here in town have somewhat adopted us as their own kids. We really have great neighbors and friends who take care of us and perhaps dress as Santa once a year to put a smile on our girls' faces.

Santa had in his bag of goodies, matching pajamas for Emma & Taylor and Ellie & Eric. Santa also told the girls that the American Girl doll was started from pictures of Emma and Ellie. He said not to tell anybody, but Mrs. Claus got a picture of Emma and Ellie and she used those pictures to make the American Girl dolls. You should have seen their faces. Emma was speechless (which never happens) and Ellie did her OMG face with hands to mouth. After Santa said goodnight to the girls and left, Emma was dying to call someone and tell them. Ellie was freaking out because Santa said to not tell anyone. The girls talked to Nana and I told Nana what Santa said about the girls being the reason for the dolls. Ellie was almost in tears because I told the secret. I had to call Nana back and Ellie said, "Please don't tell anyone Nana." Apparently Ellie is good at keeping secrets. Way better than her sister.

reindeer running amuck. . .

2011-12-27T19:52:00.000-08:00

Martha Stewart Jr. aka Emma wanted to make a Christmas card for her teachers to go along with the stockings that she made each of them in her sewing class. Of course, every teacher wants a reindeer foot print from one of their students along with cookies. . .at least my 7-year-old thinks this to be true. I promise, Starbucks will be part of your gift at the end of the year. :-) So this meant Ellie wanted to do the same for her teachers. Again, Starbucks will happen for you as well. Maybe a restaurant gift card. If it were me teaching 177 days a year, I think I would need something a lot stronger than Starbucks.

Here's Emma's card to her teacher Mrs. Kennedy. If I would have been better prepared, the finger print light bulbs wrapped up in Rudolph's antlers would have been traditional Christmas colors instead of different shades of blue.

Ellie has three teachers, so they each got a card and cookies from Ellie too. Ellie had to do every part of the card with absolutely no help. I feel for her teachers.

Mrs. Francis said Emma worked so hard on her teacher's stockings. Emma surprised Mrs. Francis with a purple stocking and a Starbucks giftcard that said, "Thank you sew much!" Ha ha ha.

I'm sew proud of myself (ha ha ha) because Ellie had to go to the morning Pre-k since school was dismissed early on Friday. I'll be honest, back when Emma was in Pre-k, Emma didn't make it to school on the days they swapped and had to go in the morning. I know, that's horrible. She missed two days of school because I just couldn't stand the thought of waking up to an alarm. Yep, three years later and not much has changed. I would like to point out that both girls are dressed, hair brushed and curled with Christmas bows and teeth brushed. We were actually early to school. . .or at least earlier. I even had a shower before we left. I was pretty speechless that morning.

I signed up for Ellie's Christmas party at school. Twenty-two 4- and 5-year-olds for one hour. . .teachers really don't get paid enough. They really really don't get paid enough.

Ellie's class was really good. They were so excited about decorating cupcakes and cookie, playing Pin the Nose on Rudolph and making reindeer hats. Granted there were about 12 parents there to help out. :-)

Ellie said she was being a "pee ca say" with her cookie decorating skills. Emma's been teaching Ellie about famous artists. "Picasso" is one of Emma's favorites. :-)

Santa's little reindeer.

This is my favorite. Ellie and her reindeer friends, Haley and Aubrey.

what every 5-year-old wants. . .

2011-12-20T19:43:00.000-08:00

There are three things every 5-year-old wants. Ok, so there are three things in particular that my 5-year-old wants. Actually if we are going to be honest, there are more than three things my 5-year-old wants, but out of the list, here is the top three. . .that her Mama picked. I know, that totally takes me out of the running for Mom of the Year. I'm such a horrible parent. :-) So, drum roll please. . .in no particular order:

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

I seriously think this fabulous concoction puts me back into the running for Mom of the Year.

This really does need two pictures because of its awesomeness.

Ellie wanted me to make ice cream cone cupcakes (with blue icing) for her class for her birthday. I love this kid. Emma chose powdered donuts and milk when she was in Pre-k. I love my children. No four tier cake or monkey cupcakes made out of fondant. Did I mention that I love my kids?

And you can't go wrong with blue icing that stains your tongue, your teeth and your fingers. You're welcome Pre-k parents. And a very appropriate Birthday Girl shirt if I do say so myself.

Ellie and her best friend Aubrey

We had a really busy five days before school let out for the Christmas Break. Monday was ice cream cone cupcakes. Tuesday was Polar Express Day at school for Ellie's class. For those that don't know the Polar Express story that I'm pretty sure Ellie has deemed "The Christmas Surprise from Hell" (no, she doesn't know that word), look to the right and click on 2010 for blog entries. It's either going to be in November or December and you can see how much fun our surprise for the girls was. Who knew a kid could throw up 17 times on a train ride to the "North Pole" and on the way home in the car from the "North Pole" aka Lubbock, Texas? That would be my very carsick kid Ellie. Wednesday was Ellie's birthday party. Thursday was Emma's art project that I helped out with at school and then Friday was Jaelyn's birthday party and Christmas shopping. Yah, I'm a little tired just typing about it.

So it's Polar Express Day at school and the kiddos were told to wear their pajamas, bring a blanket and a pillow. They were going to watch Polar Express during their class and I kept asking Ellie if she wanted her carsickness medicine. She gave me that look and said, "Mama, we aren't going on the real train. We're just watching the movie. I'll be ok this time."

Chuck E. Cheese Birthday Party

This goes back to the list for every 5-year-old wants. A Chuck E. Cheese Birthday Party. Yep, every body has to have one of these. Actually, this was Wednesday night, so the horrible kids weren't there. That's Friday and Saturday.

Ellie the Birthday Girl awaiting patiently for her inflatable crown and medallion. She saw it online when I was pricing how much a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party would cost. Apparently #4 and #5 for the wants of a 5-year-old include and inflatable crown and medallion. Who knew?

Dustin and I were really proud of Ellie for going to the front with everyone looking at her. She tends to be the shy one even with people she knows.

But did I mention there was an inflatable crown involved?

And a medallion? Yah, who wouldn't want to stand in front of a large crowd for those? Nana, put your hand down.

Ellie and her crown. That thing stayed on her head the entire night. Even for the drive home.

Chuck E. Cheese and Ellie. . .every 5-year-old's dream come true.

Here is the picture of the kids singing Happy Birthday to Ellie. . .

Here's the picture right after they sang the last note of the song and Chuck E. Cheese threw about 100 tickets in the air.

sheer pandemonium

Emma, "The Creature" as Ellie referred to him last year, and Ellie

This contraption is called the Ticket Blaster. They give your child goggles, lock them in this plexi-glass wind tunnel and turn on the wind machine to have tickets fly every where at 50 mph.

It took about three or four minutes before our "party assistant" could lock Ellie in there, so needless to say all the screaming from the children while Ellie's being locked in a small space did not help her.

Thirty seconds of tickets flying all around you, children screaming for you to grab the tickets and banging on the plexi-glass. . .well, it only took a few minutes for Ellie to quit crying once she finally got out of the Ticket Blaster. :-)

Ellie and Joy aka Ka-Joy. Ellie runs Joy and her sister Kapri's names together and calls them Pri and Ka-Joy.

Emma spending every last token on the ID maker.

This is really funny because my girls love to do hair. They love the oversized doll heads that have long hair for them to play with. The kind that come with no body and it's just a head and shoulders. Jess thinks that is one of the most scary toys out there. A doll head with no body just staring at you. She has boys and this is one of the scary toys. . .

Anything Barbie makes the list too. This is probably #1 on Ellie's list, Barbie A Fairy Secret. And if you have ever seen Ellie talk about this movie, you have to put your finger to your lips when you are saying "A Fairy Secret." It's the law. Ellie got this DVD for Aubrey for her birthday and has wanted this FOREVER. Aubrey (and her wonderful Mama) returned the favor and got it for Ellie and she was so excited. The next morning when we watched it before school, Ellie said if we finished it before I had to take her to school, she could give the movie back to Aubrey. Ellie thought Aubrey was letting her borrow her movie! Silly girl. :-)

Best face all night. Add this to the list along with anything Barbie related. . .

An AMERICAN GIRL DOLL!!! I need to add "JUST LIKE EMMA'S!!" I do love Roland's face in the background.

Every 5-year-old needs a karaoke machine. . .preferably Barbie.

Our house is covered with Barbie paraphernalia. What's one more Barbie item? Dustin would say, "One too many Barbie items," but he was all for a karaoke machine for Ellie because she loves her microphone and sings along to everything. She loved Emma's Barbie (of course) keyboard with microphone until it finally died. That was a sad day at Casa de Tow. We mourned for a few minutes while it just sat in the trash can.

Barbie Karaoke Machine with one microphone. . .crap, should have got another microphone because I so didn't see the fighting that would happen with having only one microphone. There goes Mother of Year again. . .crap.

One of my favorite pictures. So what does the girl that got ice cream cone cupcakes, a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party and a karaoke machine do during said birthday party? Talk to Uncle Danny while doing her doll's hair.

Did I mention she even got an inflatable crown and medallion too?

And her Mama got a sticker.

This is Emma's stack of IDs from her favorite game at Chuck E. Cheese. She made about 20 of them. All those games and she loves the one that takes a picture of you and then puts it on a card of the machine's choosing. :-)

Her favorite you ask? Why the Crime Scene Investigator of course. I think that's very ironic since Emma can't stand the sight of blood. It makes her throw up. I don't think she knows what CSI means!

Ellie and Eric getting ready for bed. Yep, Ellie chose Eric for the name. I asked if it was short for Erica like Ellie is short for Noelle. Ok, Ellie really isn't short for Noelle, but you get where I am going with this. Ellie changes her name every few weeks and so far she has wanted to be called Erica, Anastasia, Isabella and Buttercup. She even mentioned that last one to of her Pre-k teachers and was so happy when Ms. Jerri-Lynn indulged Ellie by calling her Buttercup for the day. I asked Ellie about Eric's name and she said, "I just comed (still working on past tense words) up with it. And Sam is a boy's name." Huh? Ellie is going to be that Mom that names her kid Bradley. . .whether it's a boy or girl. :-)

the awesomeness of Ellie. . .

2011-12-14T21:35:00.000-08:00

The awesomeness of five is. . .well. . .awesome. Being 5-years-old is amazing to Ellie and it's like she's a totally different girl. She's always had little jobs around the house, but it's like everything is clicking. I think her brain is telling her, "If I do stuff without Mama telling me, she will be very happy." So the body follows the brain and in turn, Mama is very happy. Now how do we send this message to Daddy? Ellie is really trying to please me and help out whenever she can. I don't know if this is a phase, but please let this phase last more than a few weeks.

I know I'm lucky, blessed and thankful for my children. I know, I go to Wal-Mart a few times a month and I see what else is out there. Yikes. I have two amazing girls that love each other, love their parents and really strive everyday to be good kids. It makes parenting pretty easy when the biggest battle of the day is who gets carried to bed last. Like Papa always says, life is good. Well, life got even better on Sunday when half of Casa de Tow celebrated their birthdays. Dustin turned 33 and Ellie turned five. Poor Dustin, he was forced to celebrate his birthday lunch at Red Lobster. I know he was holding out for McDonald's like most 5-year-olds tend to choose, but alas seafood (ironically, chicken for Ellie) was the winner.

So now, 1829 days of being with my little Noelle Cambryn aka Ellie Bellie, I have learned a few things. 1) You cannot talk that kid into anything she does not want to do. I do not have any fears of peer pressure with that one (as of being in Pre-k). 2) Man is that kid stubborn. You take Dustin's stubborness, add the little bit of stubborness that I have (okay, maybe a little more than a little bit) and voila' you have our little bull in a china closet named Ellie. 3) She is the perfect sister for Emma. Sweet Emma doesn't have a mean bone in her body, but her sister brings out her competitive side. I know Jess feels the same way about me. She might use the term "pain in my (enter body part of your choice here)" but she really needs me to give her that push. Just like Ellie does for Emma. 4) I would be lost without my Ellie. I see her growing up every day right before my eyes and I just can't believe I was lucky enough to get her. 5) I am so thankful for the last 1829 days. Even through the 960+ days of diapers and the 365+ days of breastfeeding. I'm glad we are here at day 1829 (in 49 minutes it will be 1830 days). I can't wait to see what is in store for the next 366 days (don't forget Leap Year). Mama loves you Ellie. Happy birthday baby doll. :-)

Red Lobster birthday lunch.

What does every big sister specifically pick out for their little sister for her birthday?

Why glasses of course!

Needless to say, Ellie loved her new glasses. Emma was dying over all the different glasses she tried on when she was picking out Ellie's. Only my children. . .

So this is what you get for dinner when you have Red Lobster for lunch. Yah for everyone not eating with us that night.

We had spaghetti and I didn't have any bread to make cheesey garlic bread and didn't have enough time to make biscuits from scratch. So the girls got cheesey garlic snowmen to go with their spaghetti. Again, many of you are thankful you did not have to turn down that offer. Here's Emma's self portrait plate she painted. Notice the glasses?

Daddy and Ellie. . .ohhh and Emma sneaking into the picture in the background.

Ahhh, Daddy and Ellie the birthday boy and girl. I love this one of them. :-)

Daddy and his girls

Ellie, Daddy and Mama in her classy pajamas. I know, I know, you don't even have to say how awesome wine glass pajamas are. Ironically, I don't even like wine. . .

Mmmm. . .

I love how the plate actually resembles Emma in a weird way.

And what do you get when you turn 5-years-old for dessert???

You get the amazing Cherry Chocolate Bordeaux ice cream from Blue Bunny in the teeny tiny ice cream cones Mama bought by mistake. I am impressed I had candles, sprinkles and whip cream on hand.

My birthday girl making a wish. Please let it be for roller skates for Christmas and not that dang 4-wheeler someone told her about at school. Please let it be roller skates for Christmas. . .

mermaids and mohawks. . .

2011-11-06T20:57:00.000-08:00

You'll notice that the beginning and the end are exactly the same in this entry. We here at the Casa de Tow love us some Halloween. It starts the outdoor decorating that we love and are a little bit known for in our small town. You make a family of PVC pipe skeletons and individual tombstones and people recognize you. I hope that "ohhh so that's your house" is not the way we are known though.

Emma starts planning for Halloween months in advance. That child is coming up with costumes and ideas and thanks to the "got2be" hair products used this year, hair style will be a major factor in future Halloweens. Yeah! I was definitely known as "that mom that did that kind of hair to her daughter on a school night." Really? Just because it's a school night does not mean we should hold back our festiveness. That's why we are prepared and practice a month in advance to see how long it takes to get our daughter's hair back to normal. I do love an organized rebel!

Ellie, two hours before Trick or Treating begins. Ok, so Ellie doesn't get as excited as Emma and me.

Ok, so she really doesn't get excited about Halloween and falls asleep under Daddy's legs while he plays his PS3. I'm telling you Pre-k is not like it used to be. That coloring in the lines would kill a lesser man.

This rocker don't eat bat heads before a performance. Emma the Rock Star eats chicken nuggets. With a fork too. Ohhh, watch out for this bad girl.

Emma with her skeleton "Anita Newbody"

Ellie aka Merliah with Mama's "Myra Maines" skeleton

Emma had to lean over so she wouldn't poke somebody in the eye. . .or ear. . .or face. . .or shoulder. . .

It's like I superimposed Emma's head with that mohawk!

Emma's best friend Lexi

The Rock Star and the Vampire

Bumble Bee and Merliah aka Xane and Ellie

Only in our town would the teachers make sure that the kiddos knew where they lived (if they didn't already know) so they could stop by and get candy. :-) This is Emma's science teacher's house but she was out Trick or Treating with her kids before her students came by. Her husband was able to remember Emma came by with that hair.

Scooby and Merliah

We always go to Ms. Katie's house and now that she's Ellie's teacher, we have a good excuse. Ohh and Ellie's boyfriends live here too. Yah, that was pluralized on boyfriends. James and Casey were so sweet to her, Ellie can't choose.

We found Jaelyn the pretty kitty.

Emma could stop traffic with that hair.

And she did. Three hours later and that hair is still standing tall.

I read in a magazine that a dentist said it is better to let the kids eat as much candy on Halloween night than to drag it out for a month with a piece or two each day. So we check the candy and let the girls go nuts. Obviously you can see what candy does to one and what effect it has on the other. I think of "JAVA JAVA JAVA!" when I see Emma's face in this picture!

Bless the neighbor of ours that handed out caramel apple suckers. There were only two and I got them both. Probably the only candy I eat all year long because it's too sweet and has that same comatose effect on me as it does on Ellie in the picture above.

Great Halloween! By hour four since I did the mohawk and repeated trips of getting in and out of the truck, Emma's taller spikes had had enough. She's already got a Mad Scientist idea forming for next year and I'm envisioning Don King's hair!

This is Ellie the next morning after dropping off Emma at school. I wake Ellie up five minutes before we leave, put her in her Snuggy and carry her to the car. She fell asleep as soon as we got home when I deposited her on the couch before making her breakfast. I brought her milk and yogurt by the fire so she could warm up, but there was no waking this baby up. I put her breakfast in the fridge for later (what I assumed to be 8:30 a.m. at the latest) and carried Ellie to her bed. I covered her up and figured by the time I made it back to the kitchen and made my chai tea latte for breakfast, she'd jump into the kitchen and scare me as she loves to do and be ready to eat. My daughter scared me alright. After taking a shower, I open the curtain to find Ellie sitting on the toilet. She yawned while saying "Morning Mama" and asked if she could have breakfast. The little girl slept past 10:00 a.m. I told her she had school in less than two hours and she said, "I think I'm going to take a nap in Pre-k today Mama."

going back to nature. . .

2011-11-06T20:11:00.000-08:00

Our friends invited us to a fall festival where Mark grew up. It was a little over an hour away from our house, but we managed to drive up and down and around and around that I feel like I was back in the mountains. . .thanks Mark. Before we left town, Mark asked, "What speed are ya'll comfortable with?" I responded with, "The speed that doesn't get us a ticket." I've got Christmas and and two birthdays two weeks before Christmas to pay for. . .and it's illegal to speed, that too. :-)

We made it to Allison, Texas and I realized I've got to start borrowing some of Ellie's car sickness medicine if I'm not the one driving. The kids got to run around and find deer antlers and turkey feathers and roast hotdogs over a fire. I think this was a "dear diary" entry for Emma on one of her best days ever. And did I mention the hay ride? We had an awesome time and told Mark and Robin we were definitely doing this next year, whether they invited us back or not!

The adventures of Pete & Punko. . .Robin and I are so proud.

Aubrey and Ellie, they are a little inseparable this year.

Casa de Tow

Kellen and Emma

Ellie's antler that she insisted on taking home. I'm thinking Dustin's dream of an antler chandelier is in the works.

We went on a hay ride pulled by a tractor. My city girls were amazed! :-)

Aubrey and Robin

Dustin and sweet Kaybree. . .

Apparently sweet Kaybree didn't see that Dustin was the one holding her!

Yep, that's a sweet picture of us.

Awwww. . .I did make Mark take another picture because I had a nice double chin going on. Life is too short for bad pictures.

Kaybree Ann

Emma the turkey and Kellen the deer

Emma had to wear my earrings (from Prom 11 years ago). I've got a pretty good glimpse of the future of my jewelry being found in my oldest child's jewelry box.

This is nature. . .ohhhhhh. . .ahhhhhhh.

Elliot if you've ever seen Open Season.

Emma loved all this nature and brought home five turkey feathers. She was a little disappointed she didn't find an antler but had to think twice about the bones she found while running in the field. SHE HAD TO THINK TWICE ABOUT THEM???

Ellie and Aubrey holding hands during the bouncy hay ride.

Me and my girls

We went through this huge field and this tree was out in the middle and all bent over from the wind over the years. I know, shocker that the wind here could do that. Both Dustin and I thought it would be so neat to get married under that tree.

And then the kids got to run through the field. Emma and Kellen took off in the front. Ellie is right there with them. Dustin and Mark got out and started running with the kids and asked if I wanted to run. I said that no one was chasing me, so there's no need for me to be running. :-)

my Ellie

Aubrey: "Why are they running when they could just ride?" Ellie: "I know, they are silly."

"Here Ellie, you can have a turkey feather because you didn't find any. No don't grab that one, or that one. How about the short broke one in the middle? Why are you crying? I said you could pick one."

best friends

you'd be ghoulish to miss this party. . .

2011-11-06T19:30:00.000-08:00

Emma was invited to her friend's Halloween costume party. Every day became a countdown until the day of Audree's party. Emma had her sewing class that Saturday, but we had to hurry home to get ready for the party and commence. . .the making of the liberty mohawk. Sort of odd having "sewing class" and "liberty mohawk" in the same sentence. But, we are kind of an odd bunch to say the least. :-)

After each spike, Emma would run to the bathroom, do a little bit of shrieking and then run back screaming, "THIS IS SO AWESOME!" and then I would continue. An hour later, I have created a Rock Star with hair spray, black eye liner, silver eye shadow and mascara. . .I'm an evil genius I tell you! Here's where I do an evil witch cackle, but Jess is way better at that. That didn't come out right, but she can really do a great witch cackle. I'm totally having her do that for my ringtone next Halloween!

The apple do not fall far from this tree.

10" spike on the front and. . .

11 1/2" in the middle. Only 20" off from the world record, but she has dreams people!

Have you ever seen a sweeter Rock Star? Did I mention she sews too?

Not sure what Ellie is doing, but Emma apparently poked her Daddy in the eye.

Dustin with hair!!! This has not happened in years!

The party you'd be "ghoulish" to miss out on. Here's some of Emma's buddies.

I kept telling Wyatt I couldn't see his smile. He just laughed inside his mask. I love 2nd graders. They still think adults are funny. :-)

The gnome is running away! So the legends are true. . .

I took one more picture as more kiddos started showing up. I never got a, "Mama, you can leave now." Emma made sure to say that she loved me and I told her to have fun and be good. It also helped that the party was at one of the city cops houses. I love this small town. :-)

Even my crockpot briskit with green beans as a side didn't cheer up Ellie. Side note: A 4-year-old will not understand why her 7-year-old sister is invited to a party and she is can't go. When the 4-year-old is invited to a party, the 7-year-old is invited too. So confusing, I know. The J.O.Y. Carnival was that night, so Ellie inhaled her dinner and put on her costume to go have some fun without Emma.

Merliah the Mermaid (if you have a little girl, you should know every character from every Barbie movie. . .or is that just our family?) showing me how she swims.

Daddy and Ellie

LET'S GO!!!

We have learned that you hit any type of function during their last 45 minutes. There are no lines and people are giving away stuff so they can clean up their area and go home. Ellie was in heaven and had the best 45 minutes of her life. She threw a football, won cupcakes on the cake walk. . .life is good for this little girl. :-)

And this is what we picked up at 10:30 p.m. from the costume party. I said, "Emma, what happened to your hair?" thinking that maybe the hair spray didn't live up to my expectations. "Mama, all the kids started touching my hair and then pulling it apart. IT WAS AWESOME! BEST NIGHT EVER!!!" I sat in the bathroom while Emma took a shower because she was still talking about her party. She said, "Mama, I would have been so sad to miss Audree's party. It was that much fun."

"boo"tiful creations. . .

2011-11-02T19:42:00.000-07:00

Have you ever looked in a holiday magazine and thought, "I can make that." Ok, then that's exactly what I think every time I look in one of those stupid magazines.

This is a witch's broom stick. Yah. Dustin said it looked more like a witch's handheld sweeper that is attached to the dust pan.

I didn't have any refrigerated biscuits or bread sticks and I forgot to put Bisquick on the list from our last breakfast/pancake night. So, I made the dough from scratch and let the girls layer it on the mummy dogs.

Yah. That's a mummy dog. I really hate Martha Stewart.

Witch's cauldron made from chocolate. Explicitive deleted, explicitive deleted, deleted.

Dustin just added his favorite Cherry Chocolate Bourdeaux to cover up the cauldron and called it done.

You can't go wrong with this kid when it comes to chocolate. :-)

Emma will eat anything, just don't interrupt her during movie night.

Emma picked out the spider cupcakes for me to take up to her class for Halloween. Finally, something that turned out just like the magazine.

I was so happy with these gross little things. :-)

Ellie picked out the worms in the dirt.

She said that a few kids wouldn't eat the cupcakes at first because they thought the "crushed oreo dirt" was actually dirt. And here I thought 4-year-olds would eat anything. Ellie said that it wasn't dirt because what's outside doesn't look like this. I said that if it actually rained, dirt would actually look like this. Ellie gave me a funny look like I was crazy. I know, rain. . .funny concept.

"Night of Ps" for our church. . .painting pumpkins and pizza. Really? Is there anything better than that to some 7-year-olds and 4-year-olds? I think not.

I think Lexi is becoming a permanent fixture in our house this year. :-)

The two mature 7-year-olds, carrying their pumpkins and walking in an orderly fashion into the high school cafeteria.

And the two 4-year-olds, playing chase and trying to step on their shadows. This should be fun trying to paint the pumpkin and not ourselves. :-)

Ellie and Jaelyn

Vincent Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso

Wait, that's Jaelyn and Ellie.

Claude Monet and Salvador Dali

Nope, that's the two mature ones.

give me a P, give me an A. . .

2011-11-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

WARNING: If you are not a fan of the color purple, avert your eyes. Seriously, there is a lot of purple in these photos. :-) Small towns in the state of Texas love their high school football and they love school spirit. I'm guilty of it too. It was hard at first because my high school rival wore purple. I had no clothing the color purple when we moved here mind you five years after graduating high school. I "commandeered" a sweatshirt from my high school when I played sports back then and wore it most mornings when it was cold and I dropped off Emma at school. Every morning I wore that sweatshirt, the Varsity basketball coach dropping off his daughter would say, "We have to get you another sweatshirt." He coached at my high school rival right after I graduated. Needless to say, he wasn't a Raider fan. :-) So, I broke down and made a trip to the t-shirt shop here in town and fixed my sweatshirt problem and that horrible color now was a permanent fixture in my color palette. Years later, obviously black is a constant in my wardrobe and shall ever be, but I am surprised how much purple has made it in my closet. Who knew how well the color purple looked on me? How ironic. :-)

Homecoming 2011

Kuddos to Mama for making the girls' mums last year and not putting the year on it so it can be reused year after year. Even I surprise myself with my cheapness. . .I mean craftiness.

Homecoming 2011

You'll notice the different colored pom poms. Emma had a set and Ellie did not. No one had pom poms. Let me repeat, NO ONE HAD POM POMS to buy. So when in a dilemma, look on youtube.com for a how to video on making pom poms. Yep, that white pom poms are made from trash bags. I like to call that one crafty. It didn't help that you could see the warning label on some of the strips that said to keep these bags away from children due to the choking hazard. Nice.

my sweet girls

Ellie and her best friend Aubrey

Emma's buddies Audree and Spencer always find us at the football games.

This is the girls' Friday outfit. . .every Friday outfit during football season. Remember, small town. Ok, so I broke down and bought new pom poms online for the girls. The Varsity cheerleaders have pom poms that light up and Emma about lost her mind wanting me to find those. Sparkly metallic gold and purple ones sufficed and I was the awesomest Mama when the UPS man dropped those off at my door. If only sparkly metallic gold and purple pom poms solved all the problems of the world. :-)

My little Panther Cheerleaders. I love this picture! The girls had to go to cheerleader camp the Saturday before and learned cheers to cheer at the Friday night football game. This was the only reason Ellie agreed to go to Pre-k because she new she'd be old enough to go to camp like Emma has for the last three years. Was I worried the Monday after the football game that Ellie wouldn't want to go back to school? Yes, yes I was.

Aubrey and Ellie waiting for the "big cheerleaders" to take all the girls on the track to cheer for their Panther football team.

Ellie and her other bestie Jaelyn

I fed the girls and got them ready for the game. I got Ellie's tennis shoes and pom poms and set them by her uniform. I hear, "Mama, I don't want my pom poms and can I wear different shoes?" Fifty little identical cheerleaders with pom poms and you can pick out Ellie by her rainbow shoes. What can I say, my girls aren't ones for following a trend. :-)

Emma and those glasses. Silly girl. :-)

Ohhh, this is Whitley. We love Whitley. Whitley's Mama is one of Ellie's teachers and she comes and says hi to the kiddos in Ellie's class. Whitley is awesome and amazing and wonderful. This is what I hear every afternoon I pick up Ellie and Whitley has visited her class. :-)

Emma trying out some jump splits. She kept making the hand motions and mouthing, "GET. . .YOUR. . .CAMERA. . .READY. . .MAMA." She enunciated each word. . .slowly. . .so. . I. . .could. . .understand. . .her. Silly girl, Mama can read lips. Yep, Dustin I can even read yours when you mumble about going into town for grocery shopping on Saturdays.

GO! FIGHT! WIN!!

Future Panther Cheerleader (in the year 2025)

Future Panther Cheerleader (in the year 2022)

This was the high kick right before the high kick that knocked Emma off her feet and down on the track. Who knew cheerleading was so violent? She did hop back up and mouth, "I'M. . .OK. . .MAMA." That's one tough cheerleader.

Emma and her best buddy Casey

And don't even get me started on these footballs. Every time the Panthers make a touch down, the cheerleaders throw mini footballs into the stands. Disappointment after disappointment happens when the girls don't catch a football. Of course they don't realize the cheerleaders are throwing the footballs way up high in the stands to the parents, but it still breaks my girls' hearts. The cheerleader I am, keeps telling the girls to keep trying to catch one and not to worry about it. :-) Leave it to the awesome Whitley for giving both Emma and Ellie footballs and then Ellie catching another one. Seriously, between Ellie's date with James and Casey a few weeks ago and now their footballs, I don't think there's anything Santa can bring for Christmas that will top this. :-)

Aubrie Reece. . .

2011-11-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

October started with a new member to the family. I had to borrow Emma's camera because my suitcase as Dustin calls it a.k.a my purse just couldn't fit my camera in it with all the stuff in there. Anywho, Dustin's sister Tacie had her second daughter Aubrie Reece. And what a cutie she is especially with all the hair that can be formed into a mohawk. I do love a mohawk! My girls came out with no hair and a mini version of almost 80-year-old Pas' (Dustin's grandpa) nose. Funny because Dustin and I both said when Emma was born, "She's beautiful. . .and that's Pa's nose." Emma turned out to be the most beautiful girl (yah, I'm biased), so when Ellie was born and again there was Pa's nose, we both agreed that we would have another beautiful daughter. :-) Congratulations Trae and Tacie on your beautiful baby girl!

Uncle Dust and Aubrie Reece. Uncle Dust said he would have a dozen kids if they stayed this size. I had to inform Uncle Dust that he's not the one up every three hours to nurse and leaking milk all day long. He said he didn't care and I think I punched him in the arm and then he said he did care. And then he rubbed his arm. :-)

Big Sister Adyson with her "big sister gift" My Little Pony that came with a binkie. I figured if Adyson's Mama had a new baby, Adyson might want to carry around a baby of her own too. :-)

Emma and Ellie with their little cousin.

Look at that hair! Awesome!

Did I have baby fever holding a new born? Yah, the answer would be no. I looked at my potty-trained 4- and 7-year-old that sleep through the night and no longer breast feed and was at that moment was very happy with my life. :-)

Demonstrating how to touch or as Ellie calls it "petting the baby." Ellie loves babies. Loves to hug them and squeeze them, pet them and love them and even call them George. Christmas should be fun this year!

let them eat cake. . .

2011-10-25T20:15:00.000-07:00

Yep, it happened. Dustin's old lady finally hit the big 3-0. The plan was to do NOTHING for my 30th birthday. I hate surprises. I told my friends at the pool this summer that if Dustin came to them to start planning a surprise party, to say no, repeatedly. I kidded around one afternoon and told Dustin what I said to them and laughed. He had a strange look on his face and then went back to the kitchen. Hmmm. . .that was weird, but I always get strange looks from my husband. It comes with the territory when you marry me. Two hours later, Dustin comes to the living room and says, "You know how you said you didn't want anything planned for your birthday?" Me says, "Yeeessss?" He says, "Well. . .I've already planned something." Men, they really don't listen. And I'm not a wife to give hints or is one for subtleties. I tried that for the first five years of our marriage and it didn't work.

I say, "Babe!" Which is the way we address each other when we're starting to get mad. And if Dustin adds a breath before he says babe, I just need to not say another word. Yep, took me about eight years to learn that one. :-) Anywho, Dustin tells me how he is surprising me with a trip to Austin and then go float down the river with Jess and Aaron. Ok, I'll be honest. I didn't think that it was going to be something like that. But that is an awesome 30th!!! We had so much fun in Austin two summers ago that he was planning another great trip and not going to tell me a thing. He was going to pack three suitcases so I wouldn't gripe aka bitch and moan (who me? I know) about not having my hair straightner, shoes, 14 shirts, etc. What a husband. What a wonderful husband.

Well, as awesome as the plan was, the plan didn't happen. We heard that because there was no rain this past summer, floating down the rivers near New Braunfels were not happening. But in all honesty, the silly little saying about "it's the thought that counts" really did make this a great birthday. My wonderful husband, despite all my effort to not have a special birthday, went behind my back and planned a bar hopping on 6th Street, drinking while floating down a river special 30th birthday for his wife. Awwww, I know, I'm kind of tearing up too. His and her tattoos would have probably just made the weekend, but alas, we'll never know. :-)

Anywho, my 30th was spent with my three most favorite people in the world. . .make that four because Mom came over after I dropped Ellie off at school to put contact paper in my kitchen cabinets. Emma, like every morning after her alarms goes off, climbed into bed with me before getting ready for school and said, "Happy birthday Mama. Are we going to get to eat cake?" I'm not sure if the birthday wishes even made it completely out before the cake question was asked to be honest. I said probably not and Emma said, "Why not?" And that's when I thought, why not indeed? How often do you turn 30? If I said that outloud, Emma would have answered, "You turn 30 one time Mama. I can only turn 7-years-old once because I'm going to turn 8-years-old in March. How many more days til my birthday? Can I have a horse?" This is an every morning thing. That kid gets in her 45 minutes of talking before she can't talk freely at school.

One thing about 30, it is way better than 29. I had a boot on from falling while running (no, I was not being chased, I was actually exercising. . .that'll learn me), we had to buy new washer and dryer because ours broke, etc. It seemed like everything that could go wrong did. And that trend lasted for six months. The silver lining was Dustin wrecking the Tahoe. Who knew? This birthday, everyone is healthy, happy and we have a money leftover after all the bills were paid for the month. I'm calling that a great birthday. It really was one of the best birthdays I've ever had. We had our friends Mark, Robin and their kids come over after dinner for cake and ice cream. The adults talked, the kids played, now that's a good night. :-) And as for the cake, it was the best cake I ever ate. Why not indeed.

My four layered strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting. In between each layer was cream cheese frosting. I went all out and even bought. . .dare I say. . .not the generic brand. Oh yah, for my 30th, I get Betty Crocker.

The cake totally looks better in the dark, but I just couldn't will myself to buy three cans of frosting. Two was a little excessive, but three would have just done me in.

My sweet girls.

This is a typical Ellie picture. Always the silly one.

A ham for the camera, that's Emma.

Yep, that's us. Smart of Dustin to be the camera man and not be labeled as one of the weird ones in this family.

And as for my birthday present, I got my cartilage peirced again. Isn't this what everyone does for their 30th?!?

Emma took these pictures. She kept giggling and saying that my hair made it look like I had wild ear hair. Then she would swipe the hair back with her fingers and hit the piercing. I would silently scream and Emma would say, "Sorry Mama." It only took 17 tries before she got a good photo. My ear was a little sore after that photo session. :-)

the elegant Ellie. . .

2011-10-25T19:17:00.000-07:00

Along with earrings, Pre-k also means a year of dance. Tap and ballet to be exact with a spring recital with not one but two fru fru costumes. Which means my little bull in a china closet is going to be in tights and a leotard and will be doing plies (sounds like PLEA-AYS) and pas de bourrees (sounds like PA-DA-BOO-RAYS). Ellie loves Ms. Jennifer and her assistant Ms. Casey and especially loves the hand stamps she gets every week after class. I really think she's in it for the stamps, but Ellie enjoys herself and that's what matters. :-)

my tiny dancer

Mama is too cheap to buy a bag for her tap and ballet shoes, so we improvised and turned one of the free Dilla Dude Game bags backwards and wrote Ellie's name. And voila, a dance bag is made.

Excellent plie. . .or is that the pas da bourree??? Wait, I think she was being an airplane in this picture.

we got spirit, yes we do. . .

2011-10-24T13:10:00.001-07:00

Who broke out into the cheer after reading the title of this entry? Ok, maybe just me, but I didn't do the motions to the cheer. I swear. Anywho, Thursdays tend to be "Spirit Days" at school and boy do my children have spirt. Ok, maybe just Emma really has spirit and it carries over enough to cover the rest of the family. Really, the spirit days give Emma a justifiable reason to get to wear her favorite glasses. If she could, Emma would wear those every day to school.

Twin Day with Emma and Lexi. Even down to the their Nikes, bottle cap necklaces and matching piggy tails, these girls were twins. If only they knew they could actually dress the same every day if they just called each other the night before. :-)

Can you tell Emma got up maybe 20 minutes ago? We aren't known as morning people.

No, that's not a 5th grader standing next to Ellie's best friend Aubrey. That's Ellie. This looks like me with any of my friends back when I was in school. Actually even any of my friends now if we take a picture together. :-) Aubrey's Mama just whipped these little dresses up the night before for Twin Day at school. . .yah, I was a little jealous too!

Matching french braided piggy tails, man did my fingers get a work out that morning. I whipped up Ellie's brown hair bow before afternoon Pre-k. . .yah, that's still not a dress, I know.

Best friends!

They just looked so darn cute even when they ran into school together holding hands. I did tell Ellie eventhough Aubrey was her "twin" for the day, Aubrey could play with other kids. Ellie just looked at me like, "I know that." And then I almost became Mom and said, "Well, it just makes me feel better saying it out loud."

Mismatched Day was in between Twin Day and Career Day. Emma asked what mismatched meant and I said that it was the way she dressed Monday through Thursday. Honestly, if Emma didn't have a mask on, this would be a typical Tuesday outfit for her. :-)

Emma the Veterinarian

Let me set up the story: Thursday morning after we drop Emma off at school. Me: "Ellie what do you want to be for career day?" Ellie: "What Emma is." Me: "But you don't like dogs and pretty much all animals." Ellie: silent. . . Me: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Ellie: "A mermaid." Me: slapping my head. "I don't think you can dress up as a mermaid for school." Ellie: "Why not?"

Two hours later. Me: "What about a doctor? You can wear the stethoscope." Ellie: "What's a steth-mo-pope?" Me: "The thing you stick in your ears and then you talk into the circle and it makes you giggle because it tickles your ears." Ellie: Giggling because she remembers how it tickles her ears. "Ohhhh, ok." And so, Dr. Ellie, M.D. was born.

But she still wants to be a mermaid when she grows up.

Ohhh dear Lord. Yep, it's Nerd Day. Emma has been waiting for the chance to have an excuse to wear her favorite glasses and to have Mama buy those zebra print suspenders she's had her eye on at Claire's at the mall. Honestly, this is a typical Wednesday outfit for Emma.

Zebra print suspenders to help keep Emma's pants up. :-)

She does make a pretty adorable nerd. :-)

Ellie has found a new love. And it is wearing two different shoes. I have only myself to blame because I wore two different colored socks (and occassionally shoes) to school every day from Kindergarten to 6th grade. Yes, I did have friends.

Ellie ready for Nerd Day. I thought her shirt was pretty approriate. :-)

Me: "Ok girls, next week is favorite teacher for Spirit Day. Who do. . ." I didn't get the rest of the sentence out before two screaming children were yelling at the top of the lungs, "MRS. BARKER! MRS. BARKER! MS. KATIE! MS. KATIE!" Once I regained hearing, I said I could make 4th grade rocks and Pre-k rocks shirts for the following Thursday. Cheap and easy, just my style. Well, I don't really think I do easy as my style. . .

Mrs. Barker is ready for "Favorite Teacher Day." And yes, the real Mrs. Barker does wear glasses. Emma was so happy! Mrs. Barker couldn't believe someone would dress like her and pick her as their favorite teacher. She was Emma's teacher for 1st grade and moved to 4th grade this year. We were very excited to hear Emma would get her twice! :-)

The Pre-k teachers wear alot of "Pre-k Rocks" shirts and all three teachers have kids in high school on the Varsity football team or a Varsity cheerleader.

Ms. Katie is the Mama to the twins James and Casey, so her game day shirts have this on the back. I thought this came out so cute. I am amazing with an iron and iron ons. I think pretty much everyone can be amazing with an iron and iron ons. When Ms. Katie saw the shirt and I had Ellie turn around, she almost started crying. She ended up taking Ellie home with her and had her take pictures with the boys. These are Ms. Katie's pictures.

I was dying when I saw these!

Casey, Ellie and James

Ms. Katie said Ellie was a trooper because she took about 50 pictures! Lol!

This is the one that Ellie thought was the most awesomest picture ever. I love it! :-)

And then the boys took Ellie on a date to the Pharmacy to get a sno-cone and candy. Let me tell you, three weeks later, my child is still talking about that perfect day. Christmas can't even top her date with "the boys." Ellie had dance class that evening and she talked non-stop for 45 minutes on the way to dance class about it. :-)

summer at a glance. . .

2011-10-24T11:20:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know it's almost Halloween, but I'm going to put up summer pictures starting with the day after school got out for the summer. It pretty much started with Dad's birthday present to himself that he forgot to tell Mom about. Both Jess and I got a call from Mom asking what we shipped to her house by mistake. The box apparently was a monster of a box. Funny how as parents, your birthday presents and generally anything for yourself, sometimes tends to be more for your children. Case in point, Papa's birthday present was definitely enjoyed by his children and grandchildren!

Daddy and Ellie

Jack and Emma standing on. . .the GRANDSTAND HYDROPLANE. . PLANE. . .PLANE. . .that's said in my announcer's voice with echoing added for effect. Totally worked.

Ellie, Dustin and Luke enjoying Papa's birthday present.

Look Mom, no hands!!

Nana and Nana Jr. Emma's love of visors could only come from her Nana.

Ellie's getting a little braver. I'm sure in a few years, a long list of medical bills will start out with Ellie saying, "Hey guys, watch this!"

This Grandstand Hydroplane tubing is tough work. Emma passed out pretty easily by that afternoon. :-)

All that's missing is a drink in my hand and a sign that says "Lifeguard on Duty." The slide was the second part of Dad's birthday present. Again, the children and grandchildren thouroughly enjoyed this too. :-)

Apparently it was skins vs. shirts in Wii tennis.

Round 2 in the middle of the summer. I took about 100 pictures but cut it down (you're welcome). The kids this time were more daring.

This means "Go faster Papa!"

Switching spots. . .

Go faster Papa!

Jack, Emma & Luke

Great one of Dad.

This is as close to everyone looking this way, with your eyes open and smiling at the same time.

I don't know why I was hesitant to let my 4-year-old tube by herself with her sister and cousins. Ok, I won't lie, I figured Emma would get hurt. :-)

Note to self: Do not ALL stand up at the same time while pulling back on the ropes to help you stand. The tube will start to go up and you will start to fall back.

When your brother-in-law looks at you and grins, hold on for dear life because he is about to push you into the water.

Yep, we are the cool people.

Jess' face is PRICELESS.

Jack, Uncle Aaron and Emma

Emma looks so big in this picture. She grew up so much this past summer.

Aaron says, "You havin' fun Jack? Jack?" See the head floating in the upper right corner? That's Jack.

Jack and his Dad

Packed up and ready to go to Camp Jessie. This is Emma's "excited" pose. Silly girl.

While Emma was gone, Ellie and I had some "Mama time" and Ellie got to paint my toenails. From the base coat to the dots, stripes and sparkles, Ellie did it all. I think Ellie wants Emma to stay at Aunt Jessie's for a while.

Ellie got Dustin's beer boxes that were sitting by the back door ready to go outside to the dumpster. She cut a hole for a face and arm holes and then taped them together.

My child actually said, "I made this so when Daddy punches me, it won't hurt." Nice. Her and Dustin play "UFC" and Ellie's coming up with her own line of protective gear.

That'll learn Daddy to mess with Ellie!

July 4th Parade. Ellie got to ride in the parade with Daddy and throw candy since he's with the volunteer fire department.

She practiced the night before throwing candy far so nobody would get run over by the fire trucks. So thoughtful of my girl!

If it's got wheels, it goes in the parade.

Ellie and her best buddy Jaelyn found each other and were on the hunt for candy.

sweet girls

Ellie and I met Jess, Emma and the boys at Great Wolf Lodge a day early. Camp Director Jessie of Camp Jessie said Camper Emma was getting a little home sick. Apparently Emma was stuck to Aunt Jessie's hip and would even sit right next to her and follow her around because she was missing her Mama. She did good not crying on the phone anytime she talked to me because between you and me, I was packed and ready to go the day after she left. :-)

Great Wolf Lodge. . .best vacation ever!!!

Three nights in one room with two adults and four kids with wands and swords. . .so maybe we didn't think that one through.

We had a balcony with a view of the outdoor pool area. I was looking for Jess with my zoom lens on my camera and I found them! I also looked like a peeping Tom as I scanned the water park area looking for her. :-)

Ahhh nothing like the fire alarms going off at 4:00 a.m. and then everybody waiting outside 30 minutes to get back to bed. Wait, the alarm going off at 5:00 a.m. to start the process over was not fun either. I grabbed my camera (go figure?) and the girls Nintendo DSs because I wasn't sure how long we'd be out there. Jack got his monkey and baby monkey and Luke grabbed Jess. Ok, we're good. Wait, no one grabbed my wallet!?!

Grapevine Fire Department.

The big surprise for this vacation was going to the American Girl store in Dallas. Of course, Emma and her doll Taylor would be in matching outfits, but I had Ellie put her baby Little Sara in a pretty outfit. Normally, Little Sara, like Ellie, is in her underwear the majority of the time.

Ellie and Little Sara enjoying a tea party.

Taylor wanted to stop and relax and read a book for a moment.

This is what I heard between the high pitched screaming, "MAMA!!!! IT'S THE HORSE WITH THE STABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Yep, we even went to the American Girl Bistro for lunch. Too bad Daddy didn't make it on this vacation. I know he was really upset about missing this. :-)

The waitress even set up a pretend meal for Taylor and Little Sara. I was kind of losing my mind right along with the girls too. Jess and the boys passed on this and opted to go to the Nike outlet at the Grapevine Mills Mall. I know, I don't know why they did that either?!?

I kept telling Ellie that Little Sara was kind of freaking me out, but she said it didn't hurt Little Sara to turn her head completely backwards like this. Don't lie, how many people are expecting green pea soup to come flying out of Little Sara's mouth?

Leaving the American Girl Store. . .three hours later.

This looks like the start of a commercial for American Girl. Not sure if the child would normally have pink tipped hair and a few tattoos. But we are talking about my kids.

Best Girls Vacation EVER!!! Right Ellie? Ellie?

Best Mama/daughters Vacation EVER!!! Right Emma? Emma?

The last nine miles home, we got to watch the sun set. How perfect was this trip?

We are a crafty family. It's in our blood. Moms that sew, aunts and grandmas that paint. . .really their are some pretty amazing women in my family (you're pretty awesome too Uncle Danny, don't worry I won't leave you out).

So the girls and I make a trip to Hobby Lobby each summer for shirts and fabric paint.

my little Picaso

(I would say "my little Van Gogh" but I'm pretty fond of Emma's ears)

This child can be called "my little Van Gogh" because as many times as she's slammed her fingers in doors, she's determined to lose a piece of her body. :-)

That's a self portrait of Ellie with the green legs and arms.

I think Emma was worried the paint would all dry up if we didn't use every last drop of it on this particular shirt. I can barely fold this shirt to put in her draw because there is so much paint in her ocean scene! :-)

The last sleep over before school starts. Does summer have to end???

Emma's buddies, Lexi and Riley, dressing up for their fashion show they had for Dustin and I in the living room. Ellie went for the shoes first and picked an outfit last while the big girls were deciding on costumes. Ellie just picked what ever wasn't taken but I'm pretty sure she went into a different room to put her shoes on so no one would try and get them. All the girls were in love with those shoes! Lol! You could hear them offering Ellie their costumes for her shoes. Ellie just kept saying, "No thank you." We were rolling in the living room! Smart girl, you always go for the shoes first.

piercings 101. . .

2011-09-07T11:29:00.000-07:00

When you're in Pre-k, you get to do two things in our house. You get signed up for ballet and tap dance classes and you get to have your ears pierced if the said Pre-k-er chooses to. Ellie jumped at option A and B and here we are. Signed up and ready to sport our new black leotard with attached skirt for class this week as well as some new Hello Kitty pierced earrings. This girl is obviously using the "less is more" fashion statement that her older sister (green glasses and all) doesn't abide by. :-)

Ellie all ready to get her ears pierced. Emma has been informing her all day how the needle will poke her in the ear. . .and Mama has been giving Emma the "evil eye" all day and whispering "stop that!" to Emma all day.

This is Ellie's "what was I thinking?" face.

No tears?!? No screaming?!?

Hello Kitty starter earrings. Emma was a little jealous Ellie got that option. . .and so it begins.

My sweet big girl.

Future Panther Cheerleader

I don't know the name of this cheerleading jump but we've seen it alot around the house. :-)

Still looking good with the earrings. I thought we created a monster with Emma when she got her ears pierced because she stopped at every mirror to look at her "beautiful ears." :-)

177 days until summer. . .

2011-08-23T07:15:00.000-07:00

"First day of school, first day of school, first day of school!!!!" If you've seen Finding Nemo, then you understand this is what I've heard for the last two years of Emma's first days of school. However, my oldest was sleeping so hard that she slept right on through her alarm. I finally had to clap really loud because yelling, "EMMA!" wasn't working. She popped up out of bed and said, "Hey Mama."

Ellie on the other hand was sound asleep and no amount of clapping was waking her up. Ohh summer, how we miss you already. Dustin took the day off so he could take Ellie to afternoon Pre-k on the motorcycle. . .yes, we are those parents. So alarm goes off at 7:00 a.m., we don't get out of bed until 7:10 a.m., breakfast ate, hair brushed and curled, teeth brushed, clothes on and we are ready to head to school. Wait, that was a little too easy. I think we could maybe sleep in til' 7:30 a.m. and make it before the tardy bell. This is where I get looks from both Dustin and Mom and they say, "Steph, just get up early so you're not rushed. Is it so hard to wake up early?" They probably said that at the same time too. . .creepy.

Anywho, we made it to school with SOOOOOO MUCH time to spare. All of my friends were shocked, but then they saw Dustin and realized the reason for my early arrival. :-) Emma was a big girl this year and gave hugs and kisses and did our routine blowing hugs and kisses by the Principal's office and then waded her way through the sea of parents and Kindergarteners to her 2nd grade classroom. When did she get so big and independent? Actually it took a little bit of convincing, but my 12-step program child was able to do it the first day and only looked back a few times to wave. That's my girl.

The night before, Ellie is putting on chapstick and lotion before bed and I ask if she excited or nervous about anything for her first day of school. She says she's excited but has this sad look. I say, "What's wrong babydoll?" And my daughter almost breaks my heart when she says, "I'm just sad because I'm going to miss all the fun I have with Mama." I hadn't cried yet and barely managed to tell her that we will still have fun in the morning before school starts. Talk about ripping out my heart. :-)

But alas, the first day of school is upon us and Ellie wakes up and is ready to go to Pre-k. It didn't matter that school didn't start until 12:00 p.m., she was ready. Who cares if she's got mismatched clothes on, croc flip flops, no back pack and didn't brush my teeth. Let's do this! On a side note, I'm about 99% sure she did brush her teeth, but then again she's 4-years-old, so some monkey breath from sleeping all night might not have been scrubbed away completely. The three remaining Tows enjoy a little movie in the morning with some Keurig coffee (yah, it's totally worth every penny and so wonderful!) and listen to Ellie ask every 15 minutes if it was time for school yet. You would think it would get on my nerves, but I was just so happy she was wanting to go to school. :-) Nothing stresses a parent out more then knowing their child is miserable at school.

Like Emma, breakfast was ate, hair brushed and curled, teeth brushed (again), clothes on and we are ready to go. . .with time to spare yet again! This is the craziest thing. Being early twice in one day. Who knew? I'm all for arriving right on time, but "Dustin time" means we show up 15 minutes early. Surly he knows that 3 out of 4 Tows in the Casa de Tow are women, right? Ellie arrives in style to school and goes on in without crying. She hugs her buddy Aubrey and acts like this is what you do, like she's been doing this for years. Ellie sits at the Pre-k table awaiting lunch time without a sad face. Children are melting down left and right and Ellie is just quietly. . .sitting. . .and waiting. . .for the. . .next. . .instructions. I had to space that sentence out because I have never been so proud of my little girl!

The pictures were taken, hugs and kisses were given and finally the Pre-k parents slowly left the cafeteria. We gave one more hug and kiss and I did our blowing hugs and kisses routine and then the remaining two Tows left. I didn't cry, but it was tough. I went to a little shop to look at a new cheerleading uniform for Ellie for the football season and I kept waiting to say, "Hands behind your back." But I didn't have to. Dustin got on the treadmill and I went for a walk and I kept looking around for my little girl to be riding her bike beside me and for me to say, "Look both ways." But I didn't have to. It is tough dropping off Ellie and coming home to a quiet house. It was tough when I did it with Emma, but I got through it. . .because I had Ellie.

I am so thankful that I can stay home with my girls. Dustin provides for us more than he knows and I thank him for it. Not as much as I should, but thanks babe. I was and still am so lucky to stay home with Emma until she went to Pre-k and now doing the same with Ellie. Thank you Ellie for a wonderful four and half years, Mama has loved every minute. Ok, maybe not the all the diapers, odd rashes and other various illnesses that lead to you throwing up on me or the 3:00 a.m. ER visits, but those moments, as horrible as they seemed at the time, made me look forward to the more cherished moments. :-) Mama loves you.

Breakfast of champions. . ."shrek cereal" aka strawberry mini wheats and Eggo cereal with maple syrup in every bite. Yah, kind of makes me want to gag too.

Emma the 2nd grader and Ellie the Pre-k. . .er

my sweet girls

Seriously, who's going to mess with this girl? Emma picked this outfit out two months ago. She loved that it matched her shoes. Emma even threw her tie over her shoulder at lunch like Papa does so she wouldn't get food on it! That's my girl. :-)

I figured Emma's back pack would have rhinestones, beads and be so bright you'd have to cover your eyes, but she went with subtle this year. I'm afraid her colors will do the talking this year because there is not a color or pair of earrings or head band that Emma does not like. :-)

"New school shoes" that are going to stay white for I bet two months. Oxyclean, don't fail me now.

Where did the time go?

Yep, you guessed it. Emma gets on the new stuff and Ellie gets treated like the red-headed step child who gets put in the corner to play with the hair ball. Wow, now that's an analogy if I ever heard one. This is Ellie completely dressed, with a smile on her face before 8:00 a.m. That doesn't happen too often with any of the Tow women.

I'm a sucker for walk away pictures.

Yep, Pre-k I hope you're ready for her because Ellie's ready for you. :-)

Tow tradition is that you get dropped off at school for your first days of Pre-k and Kindergarten.

Ellie is in love with her back pack because it has a chest latch. I have a feeling this girl is going to be into purses in about 10 years.

Ellie said, "Mama, take a picture of this. It opens up too! This is so cool!" I have a feeling the first time the latch latches on to Ellie's little finger, she might be having me cut it off. :-)

I had new pair of short and shirt outfit picked out for Ellie for her first day. She had picked out new shoes that light up and was planning on wearing that. Then an hour before school started, Ellie decides this should be the shirt and her denim shorts with some crocs. This shirt just screams, "I'm going to be a big helper" to the Pre-k teachers. I told Nana that there's an excellent chance Ellie's going to wear her pink crocs everyday and going to need some fur-lined crocs for the winter for Christmas. :-) She hasn't gotten into crazy shoes like her sister. . .yet.

The highly anticipated horse back pack with matching lunch box (not shown). This has been like a growth on Ellie's back for two weeks.

I love Ellie's face. :-)

Ellie and Daddy headed to school.

Taking this picture almost did me in. Ellie's a foot taller than all her friends and only three inches shorter than Emma, so sometimes I don't see her as a little 4-year-old. But this moment of her on the back of Daddy's motorcycle headed to her first day of Pre-k had tears forming in my eyes. She just looked so little.

"Hey Mama."

Aubrey and "Aubrey's Little Mama" Ellie. Ellie doesn't realize that even though Aubrey comes up to her shoulders and is only five months younger, she still doesn't need any help getting into chairs! Lol!

That's my girl. :-)

Ellie is headed to go through the lunch line. Thank you cafeteria for having chicken nuggets on the first day of school!

I'm sure Ellie's thinking "Mama, I'm going to be ok. You can go now if you want. Really Mama, I'll be fine."

Ellie ran to me and I got a picture of her in mid hug after her first day of school. She did great, can't wait to go back and kept her clothes on the whole time. . .I won't lie, we were a little worried about the last one. :-)

Emma looks so grown up in this one. :-) First day of 2nd grade, done.

Emma, Ellie and my friend's daughter Brayleigh.

The girls think of her as their big sister. :-)

Immediately after putting up school stuff, changing and eating a snack, crafting commences. It was nice not picking up little pieces of tiny paper in the living room and Ellie's room today.

Ellie immediately put on her dress up clothes and played like she was finally getting to finish her day. It was like, "Ok, school is done now I can get back to my usual day."

I love this one. In her own world.

camping continued. . .

2011-08-03T17:49:00.000-07:00

Grammatically incorrect signs are riDQulous.

You can tell when you've made it to the mountains, there are no more straight roads.

Everyone looks a little car sick. Surely it's not Daddy's driving?

Ugh, more twisting and turning?

Day 1: First rule of camping, nothing must match. . .check.

Rule no. 2: Always hold someone's hand that's bigger than you when you are by a lake.

Rule no. 3: Find Uncle Wes and Aunt Katy. . .they always have the best snacks!

Stream fishing, now this is what Dustin was looking forward to the most.

I don't think he remembered what it was like fishing with the girls last year. :-)

This is me at the top of the hill we climb down to get to the stream. We got to the bottom and Dustin said, "I don't think I remembered to lock the truck." My response was, "Seriously?!? We have to lock the truck when we're camping?"

It was a pretty good hike back up to the top.

But it was worth all the good pictures I got!

So the girls caught more moss and Daddys than fish, but they had a good time. . .

so did Daddy.

Daddy and Emma (Ellie had already given up and joined me walking around in the water with our rain boots).

Emma had now joined Ellie and I and left Daddy to go stream fishing. . .with their pink fishing rod. Better than the Barbie one they have at Nana and Papa's!

The mighty fisherman. . .with his pink fishing rod. Ok, I'll stop being mean. Dustin actually started using it whenever he fished because it was a pretty good rod. :-)

Sitting down, in the shade, fishing in a stocked pond. Now this is fishing according to my children.

Ellie got one!! Daddy helped her get it out of the water and it's lying on the ground awaiting it's future home in a storage size Ziploc bag. I love Ellie's "holy crap" face!

This is her "I got one Mama!" face.

This is her "I'm not going to touch it, but I am so excited" face.

This just makes me laugh. She kept talking to it and pushing on the fish's mouth so it could respond to her. I was rolling and Dustin finally told her to put it in his fish bag.

She couldn't quit smiling!

This is one happy girl. :-)

This is one determined girl.

Giving me her serious face.

Obviously the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree.

It started getting a little cold by 6:00 p.m. so the girls helped Daddy get a fire going.

Rule no. 4: Don't get too close while throwing random things into the fire.

Me taking a picture of Emma taking a picture of the fire.

The Tow Family

The fishermen

A fishing we will go. . .

Even Adyson is off to catch some fish.

Revert to Rule no. 3: Uncle Wes and Aunt Katy always have the best snacks. "Girls, come with Mama!"

The girls and I explored so Daddy could fish in peace. Who knew we talked so much that it actually did scare the fish away?

I love this one!

We found walking sticks and hiked for about 45 minutes until all the trees looked familiar and I realized that I can't climb trees or out run any bears.

Rule no. 5: You can craft no matter where you are. There's always a place for pencils, markers, glue sticks and three pairs of scissors.

Who wants charbroiled burgers?

Cajun burgers anyone?

A plumber, a firefighter and a volunteer firefighter have a grease fire. . .no this isn't the start of a joke, it's Trae, Wes and Dustin handling the flames. Lol!

Who wants cheese?

Mmmm. . .smores. A must have for camping. Perhaps Rule no. 6?

Emma dissects her food. Sandwiches, hamburgers, smores.

Apparently I'm the only one who's adjusted to the really really bright flash on my camera.

Ellie broke out her camera and had fun taking pictures of Uncle Wes until Aunt Katy started to see spots and said, "As his manager I've got to say no more pictures!" Lol!

Our home for five days.

It would have been a good picture. . .if Emma had opened her eyes. :-)

Same here.

Colorado or bust. . .

2011-08-03T14:07:00.000-07:00

The Tow Family Camping Trip. Mummy bags, tents, rainboots, bikes and coolers. What fun? I'm sorry, that's supposed to read "What fun!" Last year was Sipapu and it rained. . .and rained and rained some more. The girls and I spent the camping trip in the Taos Burger King and Wal-Mart. At one point, I looked over at Dust in the middle of the night with rain dripping on my forehead through the tent and said, "You know if we left now, we could be home by 4:00 a.m."

Ok, so not the best experience. When Emma was 4-months-old , we went "camping" for the first time as a family. We stayed in a motel at night to sleep, but spent the rest of the time in the campground Dustin's parents were at. Emma somehow got Rotavirus and went through 64 diapers in four day. You would think we would forget, but for those parents who wonder if their baby has the Rotavirus or not obviously does not. There is now question about the smell and the massive amount of diapers you go through. That was a memorable camping experience.

So you'd think we learned from our past, but Dustin wanted to try the tent camping one more time. If we wanted to go with the rest of the family, we had to stay in a tent because every thing else was full. So, we looked at our camping paraphernalia and apparently hadn't gone to Academy near enough. That was according to Dustin of course. We made weekly trips to Academy and then after it looked like our den was a small town bait and tackle shop, we were ready. Funny how only one Tow fishes in our family, but we've got a lot of fishing crap?!?

Trying to save money, I thought we could take the HHR. . .but no. Granted my queen size cot (really it's maybe the size of an XL twin) barely fit it the back when I picked it up at Mom's because yet again, most places can't find our town on the map to ship items to. Plus we had to take two bikes, fire wood and most of Academy with us 500 miles away and that was just in the back of the truck. Good Lord we looked like the Clampetts go to Colorado. The neat thing about living in a small town is that you can pack everything up the night before and no one will mess with it. They might even see you're taking a trip and offer a few bungie cords to help hold everything down. . .yep, we had those bungie cords too. . .gottem' at Academy. :-)

Thursday rolls around, I'm packing everything but the kitchen sink but ironically enough hand soap, a scrubber sponge and dish soap! I pick up Emma from tennis camp, put her in the shower because the poor girl looks like a wet cat from sweating so much that afternoon in 105 degree weather, and finish packing before Dustin gets home from work. I had the smart idea to start the vacation off on the right foot and we drive half way the night before and stay in a hotel with a pool. Doesn't everyone want to go camping with me? Everything is loaded up and tied down and we pull out of the drive way and say good bye to the heat and hello to hoodies and sweats. We make it down the block before Dust doesn't see the car at the intersection and slams on the brakes. He never stops at that yield sign and it drives me nuts. I say, "I'm only going to say this once because I know you hate people telling you how to drive, but you can't drive like a FedEx man the whole way to Colorado." Dust gives me that look and then the Tom Tom in her British voice says, "Turn left ahead." Man, this is going to be a long trip. :-)

Apparently these clouds are called rain clouds. It's been so long since we've seen rain, we weren't quite sure what the droplets of water on the windshield was.

And boy did it come down. Dustin said, "Ok, who did good on thinking it was a good idea to put a tarp on?" :-)

This is the hotel in Trinidad. This is a queen size bed the girls shared. I mean this is Ellie's bed that Emma rested her lower body on but was pushed over to rest her head on the nightstand. Dustin says that he is Emma and that I am Ellie.

Yep, everyone has a camera. "Papa"razzi would be so proud of his little granddaughters.

One kept saying, "Ohh look at this, got that picture." And the other would be, "Got this mountain over here!"

my heart belongs to Texas. . .

2011-08-03T13:41:00.000-07:00

Well, after it's all said and done, Colorado is a nice place to visit, but I sure wouldn't want to live there. :-) Dustin's sister-in-law and I were ready to book for next year (as long as we got the camper they rented with it's own toilet and shower! Yay!) because of the weather and the Jeeping. Dustin and I realized that next year, he'll go stream fishing early in the morning where it's quiet and peaceful and no one saying, "Daddy, can you put more green stuff on my hook? Daddy? Daddy?" The girls will fish in the STOCKED pond and jump and squeal with delight when they catch a fish. And Mama will have a bathroom all to herself and she can take two showers a day. . .yep, life will be good then!

We realized we are not a camping family. Really? Really? Yah, I know, I'm totally shocked too. I told Dustin that we can either buy a camper or we can buy mountain toys once the Harley is paid off. He said mountain toys. Yah, I know, I'm totally shocked again. The girls and I realized that a tent is not for us and we don't want the word "community" attached to the word bathroom when we go on vacation. Dust found a lot of solo activities that do involve the words tent and community bathroom. All in all, we made it through another Tow Family Camping Trip and we came back to the heat, the wind and no rain. . .it's good to be home. :-)

I've let the girls paint my toenails. It usually takes about 2 1/2 hours because they have to let the layers dry. It's very Picasso if Picasso ever did pedicures. I think I need to get one once we get back home. :-)
This is all the crap that's in the floor. When we left it was 44 degrees hence the purple hoodie. The camera, hello, it's me we're talking about. All my magazines and spirals, well that goes everywhere with me. The Ziploc bags are for Ellie gives when she loses her lunch on a car trip. She got sick five times on this trip which considering the mountains was pretty good for her. Poor girl, she got her Aunt Tacie and Aunt Jessie's carsickness combined.

Because of all the crap in the floor, this is how I stretch my 6' tall body. I looked like an old person when we got out of the truck to eat. No offense to the old people who read this. :-)

Nine hours in a truck. . .even Starbucks won't make this man happy. :-(

AMARILLO!!! Only three and half more hours!!

After the listening to Tangled for the fifth time on this vacation, it was an executive decision for Emma to put some earphones on.

Central time zone, no mountains, no zig zagging up and down roads. . .wahoo!!

God Bless Texas

"Girls we can either stop for dinner or ya'll can have cheese balls so we can get home. Your decision."

Seriously? Who wouldn't want to go camping with us? Look at our camping footwear. I think I embarrass Dustin alot. Maybe I am lucky I made it back home. Lol!

a jeeping we will go. . .

2011-08-03T11:53:00.001-07:00

The last day started out as, "Seriously, if you're ready to go so am I." This was said in my head. Then after seeing all the fun mountain toys for the last four days, I asked Dustin what if we rented something and had a little fun. I know, I know, we were having fun. . .in a tent. . .in the mountains. . .where I can't breathe if I walk up a small hill. . .silly Steph. So the decision was either open to the elements in a Polaris RZR with a 4-year-old, a 7-year-old and a 29-year-old or in a Jeep with air conditioning. Slap on some car sickness medicine and let's hit the trails! Of course comfortably with air conditioning and an adaptor to charge the girls DSs and DVD player. :-)

We had a blast! Seven hours in a Jeep going up and down trails was apparently the highlight of the trip and we can't wait to go back. Actually, Dustin is already looking into how much concrete is for his new shop that will house his new "mountain Jeep" he's already looking for. And I thought I planned ahead. :-)

Seven hours in a Jeep. . .this should be fun, right?

Everyone always takes good "before" pictures. Lol!

My goal for this day was to get some great Christmas card pictures. Check.

Ok, I'm happy. Christmas cards are done.

Dustin, a Jeep and the mountains. . .what more could he want in life. His wife to stay home next time, yah, that's a possibility. :-)

Silly girls

Emma and Ellie

and the really cold melted snow water!

Trae, Tacie and Adyson

Mama and Adyson (and baby girl no. 2)

Meme, Papaw and the granddaughters

The Tows

Yep, we stole some of Colorado.

Even I was there.

Snow in July!

Apparently to a 7-year-old, anytime you see snow, you can eat it. Both Dustin and I caught her right before she got it to her mouth. . .yuck!

At this point, I've taken probably 100 pictures since we left the campground where we rented the Jeep. Ellie has hit her limit for smiles for the day. :-)

I think even Emma has too.

Yep, even I put some of Ellie's car sickness medicine on just in case. Dustin used to work for FedEx and you know how horrible those drivers are. You can only imagine traveling with one of those people. Sorry Dust, but you know it's true. :-)

Ahhhh a sweet one of us. Yah, I'm a little shocked too.

Dad said Emma was levitating over the mountain. Lol!

Who says white guys can't jump? I couldn't get Dustin's whole body in the picture.

There we go.

I switch out lens and turn around and my children are up the hill. Emma's screaming, "Hi Mama!!"

Big sister is on the way to help little sister make it over the mighty rocks.

Big sister gives up and walks back to the top and little sister yells for Mama. I'm not going to lie, Mama says, "Crap," and then starts to head up the hill to rescue little sister. Did I mention that Mama can't breathe in Colorado? And this is not just a tiny little hill.

I'm pretty sure I said some things in my head when I took this picture looking at Dustin with his hands in the air. I swear if he would have pointed at his watch, he wouldn't have made it back to Texas. :-) FYI: I have my zoom lens (aka the pervert looking lens) so we are way up there.

Finally Daddy comes to rescue the children by jogging up the hill and then jogging back down. Seriously, if I wasn't breathing so hard, I would have decked him. . .but that would have wasted alot of energy.

I thought this was funny because they limited you to ONLY 14 days of camping.

The Ghost Town aka Animas Forks

Daddy took off with the girls while Mama made lunch.

Lunch time.

PB & J on "Papa bread" with cheese balls and vanilla pudding with some cherry pie filling. And a big glass of milk to wash it all down. I think there was some pickles involved but the girls are getting into the habit of dunking everything in milk, so I don't want to think about it.

There's no way I could have lived back then, no way.

Another Christmas card picture!

Great background.

my Ellie

my Emma (with those green glasses)

I always think it's funny what parents make their children take pictures in front of. I chose this two story house that I'm not sure how was still standing. I actually told the girls to lean into the window and Emma looked at me like I was nuts. I think she thought these buildings were a "tetanus shot waiting to happen."

The girls and I

Emma's picture

Definitely Ellie's picture.

Emma saw a cave and wanted to explore it. I don't know if she wanted to see a Colorado bear, but Daddy and Ellie waited in the Jeep and I got my camera and off we went.

We didn't find a Colorado bear but we did find a Colorado beer. It was just deep enough for people to sit it and drink beer. Nice!

I kept looking over the edge of the road and taking a picture and saying, "Inevitable death."

The clouds were following us. The girls couldn't believe we were as high as the clouds. :-)

The Celtic music playing from the girls' movie was the perfect background music for the view. Everything was so green. We haven't seen green in a long time back in Texas.

12,800 feet

Mama needs some air.

This is Dustin's way of life. He said it wasn't far enough from civilization though. He'd like it a bit further up into the mountains.

Hour six and the girls are still doing good! Lol!

The streams flowing down the mountains.

I entitled this picture, "Just because we're camping doesn't mean we can't be a lady."

take me out to the ball game. . .

2011-07-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

What's the summer without a little Dilla Dude baseball? What? They're not the Dillas anymore? They are the Sox? Ugh, their colors are yellow and brown? Ok, despite my lack of love for the colors, it's still baseball and it's still fun. . .and the drinking and nachos with canned cheese and jalapenos are worth it, right. . .ohh yah! Bring on the Tums and bring on the fun. :-)

I'm a sucker for walk away pictures.

Just to clear the rumor, alot of the time diet drinks are just as good as the real thing. . .Diet Mountain Dew is not one of them. I repeat, Diet Mountain Dew taste horrible. I think Ellie was trying to kill the taste with a cupcake.

Ugh, yellow and brown. And the yellows don't even match. Ugh.

The "Sock" had to sign the baseball the girls caught looking out his hat so he could see. That guy definitely didn't get paid enough.

I couldn't hear the conversation, but I'm pretty sure it had to do with the new Barbie movie coming out or what crafty thing they should make when they get home. I tried explaining the rules of baseball and I got alot of confused looks.

So instead, they realized if they smile for the camera, Mama will leave them alone. :-)

So there was a player on the Visitor's team that had an awesome red mohawk. Ellie kept saying she liked his hair and kept saying, "That's awesome." That's her favorite adjective for everything. She and I moved over behind their dugout so she could get a better look at his "awesome" hair.

The camera kept focusing on the net, but you get the idea of No. 8's awesome mohawk. I told her to tell him that she liked his hair the next time he turned around. Ellie looked at me and gave me one of those "really Mama, I can't do that" looks. Well, No. 8 did turn around, looked at Ellie, smiled at her and then winked at her. . .I thought Ellie was just going to fall off the dugout from embarrassment! She got all red!

Watch out world.

3 balls, 2 strikes, 1 out left in the bottom of the 9th inning. Now this is the way to rally back and go into extra innings. . .

Or maybe strike out, lose the game and get off the field so all the little kids can run the bases.

:-)

The Tow girls