Merry Mary

Merry Mary was in town this past week.  We were happy to have her visit with us for the day.  We had a couple of friends over for lunch (no pictures, of course... too much chaos with children going insane at the time).  We did enjoy some alone time with her and baby Laura.  

Mary appropriately refers to this car as the "sin wagon" since it really brings out the worst in children.  Laura could not get enough of the car, and would try to pull Emma out, crying and squealing while at it.  Emma did amazingly well, though, but I believe this was so ONLY because Laura is younger than her and she thinks she is her mommy and must take care of her (otherwise she would have gone completely insane as well).  We had to eventually put the car away and out of sight.  Life went much better after that :)

Next time we see each other, we'll both have little boys in our arms, in addition to our girl toddlers.  Can't wait!

 

Dinner Cruise

Last Monday we had a "Dinner Cruise" with a couple Morrises.  Uncle JoJo is "sitting" a friend's boat indefinitely, and thus we get to enjoy the benefits of it.  Memma had chicken fingers, tuna salad, deviled eggs, fruit and cinnamon rolls for dessert.  

We rode on the Savannah River for almost three hours.  It made it for a late summer night for Emma, but it was well worth it.  She woke up the next day talking about the boat, her cousins, and the water.

Lovely Lisa

Lovely Lisa, my dear college friend who lives in Arkansas, came to visit us last week for a couple of days.  Last time I'd seen her was exactly two years ago when we were expecting Emma.  We had a great time living life together -- she accompanied Emma and I to kindermusik one day, then helped with the yard sale on Saturday.  She also ran errands with me, went to a couple's party with Byron and I, went to the Kroc to work out and swim, and had a movie night.  Didn't take any good pictures, only this last one at the airport when we dropped her off.  

Yard Sale

We hosted a seven-family yard sale last weekend at our home.  We had a couple of boxes of stuff we'd accumulated through the months, but not enough to make it into a good sale.  So we invited a few friends to join us.  We all made enough money each to make us happy.  But most importantly, we had a lot of fun watching our "trash" get taken away while enjoying each others' company.

Elizabeth & Margaret -- two of Byron's cousins set up their own shop.

The rest of us, minus Melissa who was probably feeding her two-month baby at the time of the picture.

Is it time to potty train?

Emma's good friend Julia and her parents are moving to Atlanta.  Julia's mom delivered an extra potty this morning she had no use for.  I placed it in the living room while I prepared lunch, wondering what I should do with it until I began potty training Emma in a few months after her brother was born.

Well, as soon as lunch was over, Emma headed to the potty and began messing around with it.  I then thought it would be cool to put it in the bathroom next to mommy and daddy's potty and have her play with it.  Before I knew it, my child was removing her shorts and diaper off.  She then proceeded to sit on her potty for the following 45 minutes or so. 

I have not educated myself on potty training, so I had no idea what to do.  After what seemed to be a long time, nothing was happening, but she refused to get off the potty.  I then recalled a picture I have from when I was being potty trained -- I had a bottle of juice.  Emma never drinks juice, so I thought this would be an easy way to get fluids in her system and hopefully hurry the potty-process up.  She was delighted with her watered-down grape juice.

 We eventually brought in reinforcements -- Bunny, books, music, etc.  Here she is "reading" through her Toddlerobics book she loves and can more or less repeat certain parts of it.

She did eventually go potty, of which she was very proud of.  All this just in time for nap time.  As soon as she woke from her nap, she asked to go potty again.  She sat on her potty a total of 4 different times today.  She only did potty in it that first time.  I can safely say we sat on that toilet for well over 2 hours today.

On a separate note, but related to "milestones" worth recording, here are a few we want to be able to remember:

-  Mommy and Daddy apparently smooch a lot, because Emma, out of nowhere, will take two animal cracker fish, have them face each other at the mouth, and make kissing sounds.  We did not teach her this.

-  She knows what "dos" (two) represents.  Randomly, she will take two things and say:  "dos peces," "dos beans," "dos sticks," "dos hot dogs," etc.

Happy Father's Day!

We got back from Savannah in time to pick Emma up and bring her back home to enjoy some Father's Day celebration.  Emma and I gave Daddy the book Bringing Up Boys by Dr. James Dobson (I gave him Bringing Up Girls by same author two years ago when expecting Emma for Father's Day).

Emma made her cards for Daddy at the Kroc earlier that week.

But if you were to ask Byron what his favorite part of his day was, he would tell you it was watching Emma enjoy her little gift we brought her from Savannah -- a tin Dora lunch box that had fish on it.  (And yes, I have a double jointed arm -- it's creepy).

 

We also gave her a Savannah map, of which she was thrilled over (Dora carries a map in her backpack).

Anniversary in Savannah

We spent our six year anniversary in Savannah over the weekend.  Emma enjoyed her time with Memma and Poppa while Mommy and Daddy enjoyed some time alone with each other.  It was a great weekend, and would be happy to return there any time.

At the riverwalk. 

Can't tell from the picture, but this bar's logo was a Saint Bernard with a keg.  This one's for you, Mom!

On Saturday night, we treated ourselves BIG time by enjoying dinner at one of the most expensive places we will ever go out to eat -- Ruth's Chris.  This has been one of Byron's dream restaurants to go to, and finally got to enjoy their famous steak.  We forgot to take a picture of our steak dinner, so our dessert picture will have to do.

On Sunday morning, for the second time that weekend, we went out for coffee.  Byron and I have been studying through the book of Exodus together, so instead of going to church, we had our Bible Study over a cup of coffee.  What I loved about this shop was their Horchata Latte -- that's right -- Horchata Latte!  Why haven't the Mexicans come up with this delicacy?

Picture at Ellis Square with our hotel in the background.

In the car on our way to Savannah on Friday, we tried to recall everything we've done over the past six years on our anniversary.  So for memory sake, I am recording them now:

1st anniversary:  Trip to Cancun 

2nd anniversary:  Dinner at Trotters (in Merida)

3rd anniversary:  Boston Cream Pie at Boston's Restaurant

4th anniversary:  Apart -- I was in Merida and Byron was in the States.  

5th anniversary:  Tattooed Moose in Charleston, SC (later that fall we went to Charleston and Hilton Head with the Kelleys)

6th anniversary:  Savannah, GA

Books

Few things bring me as much joy as watching my little girl enjoy her books.  Coming from a line of teachers, reading was always an important part of our upbringing.  The desire to pass that along to our children is strong, for which Byron and I have tried to be very purposeful in instilling this with Emma.

I am not as good as I would like to be at this, but I try to set a certain amount of time each day to sit and read to Emma.  It finally took flight about 2 months ago when all of the sudden Emma could not be read to enough.  We started going to the public library about once a week, during which I let her choose some books, fill up our bag, read a few there if we are not in a hurry, check out some for myself (I normally have them waiting for me on hold), check them out and head out.

Emma enjoys coming home and flipping through them on her own.  After our library visit this week, while I was busy in the kitchen getting ready for supper, I began wondering where Emma had gone.  I looked into the living room to find my child content with her Bunny and Pom, comfortably sitting on the sofa, "reading" through her selection.  

National Doughnut Day

Yesterday was National Doughnut Day, which doesn't mean much at all other than you get a free Krispy Kreme doughnut that day.  I've claimed my free doughnut three out of the four years we've been living in Augusta.

This year I decided to be social and ask my neighbor friend and her newborn baby to join us (no picture of them -- sorry :(  we were too busy chatting). 

Emma was a little hesitant at first about the doughnut, but as soon as she took her first bite into that fresh, warm pastry, there was no turning back.  (ps -- notice the foam shape she is holding in her right hand while she eats with the other hand).

Shapes

 Emma's favorite thing to carry around these days are these little foam shapes she got while doing a little craft at the Kroc Center (gym where I go to).  She loves to hold them all at the same time in her hands and take them everywhere.  She also loves to place them in her pockets (if she has any for that day) and pull them out at her convenience.  They will keep her busy at the table, and just about anywhere.

She knows her shapes quite well.  She can recognize in both English and Spanish the heart, square, circle, oval and triangle.  She can also verbalize all of them in English, and most of them in Spanish (though not all).

Out on a date

Byron's parents gave us a date night on Friday night while at the beach.  We enjoyed dinner at Page's Okra Grill in Mout Pleasant, then dessert and coffee in Charleston.  

We had gone to Page's Okra Grill with our friends the Kellys last fall for our anniversary trip, and tried their breakfast then.  We enjoyed it so much, Byron and I decided we wanted to try their dinner.  It was INCREDIBLE!  Highly recommend their southern-style food.  I indulged myself with a hamburger, topped with pulled pork, bacon strips and fried onion rings, with a side of french fries.

Byron had a smoked prime rib, with a loaded baked potato and a side salad.

At the front of the restaurant.

Then out for dessert in Charleston, where we enjoyed a triple-berry cobbler and some delicious coffee drinks.  A night to remember!

Morris family vacation 2013

We enjoyed our yearly Morris family vacation last week at Isle of Palms, SC at a beautiful home right on the beach.  It was great having so much family (and helping hands!) around all day long.  One of my favorite parts of our trip was witnessing Emma's vocabulary explode with beach-related words:  playa, ocean, star fish, shell, concha, bucket, etc.

On our last day there, with the help of Mommy, Dada and Aunt Bec, we were able to catch about a dozen baby fish that were dragged in with the waves.  Needless to say, this was probably the most excited we saw her all week -- she could not find enough people to show off her PEZ.

A few pictures of our trip --

 

With all 16 Morrises at the beach on Monday morning (and me with my early third trimester belly -- 27 weeks to be exact).

All five of us working hard on the sink shelling 7 lbs of shrimp for our Shrimp & Grits dinner.

Emma would normally start her dinners indoors with Mommy and Daddy, but would eventually want to join "the girls" outside in the balcony.