Big week

OK, so I know I haven't blogged in a long time. I'm sorry. I just haven't felt like it. Have you ever felt that way?

Here's what's happening with us, briefly: Chris still works at Technicolor, I still stay home with Emma, Emma is still growing like a weed, and Norbert is still fuzzy and cute.

Chris's college roommate came to visit recently for a few days. Emma loves "Uncle" Andy. She had so much fun when he was here.

I'm working on getting pictures of Emma with her friends so I can make a new Shutterfly book. Here are some of my favorites so far.

This week is a big week. We leave for Indiana early on Thursday morning. Thus Emma's doing a pre-make-up dance class Monday afternoon, since her normal class is on Thursday mornings. We have My Buddy and Me class on Tuesday morning. I need to do lots of laundry and pack early because I'm going to the New Kids on the Block concert with a friend on Wednesday night. So, big week and I'm a little stressed, but it will be fine.

That's all for now. More later.

Funny Emma quote of the day: (while playing, seemingly out of nowhere) "I love chicken parmesan!"

The new car

So here it is. Chris's new vehicle, the Land Rover LR3. It's beautiful, and fun to ride in. It's even more fun to drive, though I only test drove it once. So here it is...

And here's the cockpit (not just a driver's seat, look at all the dials and knobs and stuff)...

And here's Emma. She loves it.
That's all for now. More later with photos of Emma and her new bed.

Funny Emma quote of the day: "I have the wake-ups." (the hiccups)

The time has come

Chris' Explorer is on its last leg. So we are going car shopping today. Wish us luck!

We ordered Emma a big girl bed! It's a gorgeous, twin daybed with a trundle bed underneath. It's really pretty. I took a picture in the store with my cell phone of Emma sitting on the bed. She looks like, as Angie Gergely put it, a little peanut in the big bed. I got a great deal on the bed. For the bed and trundle (minus mattresses and stuff), I paid $299. And because I got it the day after Labor Day, they still had the sale going on that I didn't have to pay tax! Wow!

My cell phone takes nice pictures, don't you think? I was pleasantly surprised by the good quality.

Emma already picked out bedding for her new bed, even though we don't have the bed yet. We were at Wal-Mart and saw this cute patchwork quilt-looking comforter and matching throw pillow. She chose purple sheets. It will look nice. I can't wait to get the bed into her room and get it all made up for her. Oh, and the best part about the new comforter? It was originally $42 and I got it for $17!

That's all for now. More later.

Funny Emma quote of the day: "I want to watch dance cass [class] on the TEEvee."
(It took me a minute to figure out what she meant. She wanted to watch a dancing workout video.)

Great restaurant

We went big girl bed shopping yesterday morning, and while we didn't find one, we did find a great restaurant that is now tops on our list. It is Wood Ranch Bar and Grill. Chris wanted to go to a place where we could sit down and order, and we happened to drive past the place and thought we'd try it out.

We got in just before the lunch rush, which is always nice. The first thing was that the hostess gave us two white napkins folded up with adult silverware (a fork and a steak knife) and one red napkin folded up with kid silverware (a smaller, kid-sized fork and a spoon), along with the kid menu Emma could color on and 4 crayons.

She also asked if we would like a complimentary toddler plate. We didn't know what it was, exactly, but we said yes because who passes up a complimentary anything? They brought out a small plate with a small cup of Cheerios, two slices of fresh orange and one tiny banana. I've never seen bananas that small. It was a whole banana, but it was just the right size for a little one. I need to find out where to get those!

So that alone made Wood Ranch a great place, but the food was fantastic. I had grilled salmon and steamed broccoli (Emma ate a lot of my broccoli. She loves broccoli. It's crazy.). Chris had tri-tip and a loaded baked potato. Emma had grilled cheese and mashed potatoes. All of it was really, really good.

So, for all who live out here in Cali (I think Wood Ranch is in CA only), go to Wood Ranch. If any of you come out to visit us, we'll probably take you there. :)

That's all for now. More later.

Funny Emma quote of the day: (Holding up a large piece of broccoli) "That's a big tree!"

NKOTB mania

It's back, my friends. In a big way.

Tonight, for example, the New Kids on the Block were at the Best Buy in Burbank signing autographs for the 650 fans who pre-ordered their new CD from that store, which went on sale this morning at 10 a.m. I did not order the CD, so I didn't have a special pass to get to wait in the ridiculously long line to get their autograph, but I was in the store when they got there.

My friend, Jenn, and I had planned to go down there to get a glimpse this evening. To do so, we were going to meet Chris for dinner after work (since he works in Burbank) at Olive Garden, which is in the same shopping plaza as the Best Buy. Jenn couldn't make it, as her hubby's out of town and her 9-month-old seems to be teething and was inconsolable this afternoon.

Emma and I met Chris for dinner, then we got finished and Emma wanted desperately to ride home with Daddy. So Chris said it was fine for me to go ahead to Best Buy to see if I could see my guys. So I went over and found that I wasn't the only one who had the idea. I made friends with a few other ladies who were doing the same thing as me. We chatted and stood by the laptops pretending to shop so we could try to get a good view of the guys as they came in.

There was a little confusion as to where they were coming in, but when they did come through, it was pandemonium. Holy crap. You've never seen 30- and 40-year-old ladies pushing and shoving each other around like that unless it was the day after Thanksgiving at the mall. Craziness.

Since I'm short, I couldn't get very good photos, but I talked a nice Best Buy employee into getting up close and getting me some good photos. It was awesome. Here are some of the pics he got for me.
Here are all the photos from my time at Best Buy this evening. It was tons of fun. I felt like a teeny-bopper again, all squealy and giddy.

I can't wait to go to the concert in October!

That's all for now. More later.

Bingo!

OK, so I can't say much about my experience, but I can tell you that I did tape an episode of Bingo America. I don't know when it will air, but if/when I find out, I'll let you all know.

Richard Karn was very nice. Amy, you should know that I wore the long necklace I just bought from you, and we he came over near us before we started shooting, he commented on it. So yay for that! :) And for all you other readers, if/when you watch the show and you see my necklace, you can order similar or other beautiful jewelry from Amy Cornwell Designs.

That's all for now. More later.

The Lock and the Frantic Mommy

Let me preface this story by saying that Emma knows Daddy doesn't take any guff and that Mommy will take said guff longer than him. Today I decided to that I shouldn't take it as long as I normally do. Which is where our story begins. (Keep in mind that some of this is purely speculation on my part, but I'm pretty sure I'm spot on.)

As I put Emma down for a nap, I told her that she needs to stay in bed and that if she opened the door one time I would come in there and smack her hand. I kissed her and told her to have a good nap and closed the door.

I heard her through the monitor moving around and playing in her room for probably an hour, and then I heard it. She opened the door. I put down the footrest on my chair, which makes noise. I heard her scramble around and close the door as I made my way to her room, and as I put my hand on the knob and tried to turn it, I discovered it was locked.

I knocked loudly on the door and told Emma to unlock the door. She immediately started crying (because she knew that she shouldn't have locked the door). I pounded on the door some more (because, honestly, that's a scary feeling not being able to get to my child) and yelled for Emma to unlock the door. She kept saying, "Not right now." We went on like this for what seemed like forever, which was probably only about 3-5 minutes.

Finally, at Chris' suggestion, I tried to calmly talk her through unlocking the door. The first few times I asked her to please unlock the door, she said, "Not right now." Finally she unlocked the door, and I went into her room. I picked her up and hugged her and told her to never, ever do that again because it scared Mommy.

I put her back in her bed and told her it was time to take a nap. She napped without incident.

That's all for now. More later.

Game show

I can't go into details about my day today (for legal reasons), but I spent the day waiting in a freezing cold room with no windows and with 5 other women to film for a game show. There were 6 of us total, and they were filming 5 shows today. After arriving at 7:15 a.m. and waiting all day in the room - with no cell phones, since they took them away from us when we got there - I found out around 6:00 p.m. or so that I was not going to film today and will need to come back at 7:15 a.m. Wednesday morning to film then. Then I had to wait for another hour or so until I could leave the premises. UGH. Talk about frustrating.

Exciting news about the show, though. Richard Karn (Al Borland from "Home Improvement") is the new host, so I'll get to meet him! :)

So anyway, that was my day. I got up and left before Emma woke up, and I almost didn't make it home before she went to bed. But she got to spend a fun day with Daddy, and I hear they had a great time. I'm glad for that.

That's all for now. More later.

Call me crazy, but: Being sequestered in a room with only a few other people is probably a little taste of what it's like in hell.

Total failure

My intent to blog more has really not worked out well, has it? I can tell you exactly what the problem is: Facebook. I'm on there ALL the time, chatting with friends or playing Bingo or playing Scrabble against my friend Jamie (she beats me a LOT, but I've taken a few games, thank you very much) or sending plants or Muppets or whatever. There's so much to do, and I often lose myself in the monstrosity that is Facebook. I think it's a disease, akin to Olympics fever, which I also have.

Got my hair cut last Friday. I liked the layers, but the length wasn't working for me. Now it's just above my shoulders, and I really like it.

Emma had swim class again today. She's doing very well, and I'm very proud of her for becoming so comfortable with being in the water. She had picked up two diving rings and another diving toy and was walking over to the wall to put them on the side of the pool. One of her teachers asked her if she wanted the ring he had. She said, "No thank you. I have enough." It cracked him up. I actually didn't hear her reply, but he told me. So funny. My little comedienne.

Emma's been doing extremely well sleeping in her crib-turned-daybed with the bed rail. Oh, and if I haven't told you yet, I stopped nursing. She's doing well with that, too. When I was changing her diaper before her nap today, she said, "I don't need milk." I said no she didn't because she's a big girl and gave her a high five.

That's all for now. More later.

Call me crazy, but: There is absolutely no way a lot of those female gymnasts from China are 16. No way.

Addiction

So I have an addiction. It's bad. I'm addicted to watching the Olympics. It's causing me to lose sleep since I stay up so late glued to the TV watching the excitement. Who saw the 400 freestyle relay the other night? CRAZY exciting! And how about that USA men's gymnastics team? They did so great!

Emma officially has an agent now. And she will be receiving a permit to work in the entertainment industry soon. So we will hopefully be going on lots of auditions soon, and then you'll hopefully see my little girl on commercials! It's all a bit overwhelming, but our agent is great and answers any and all of my questions. Right now we're just working on getting everything all set up and in place so we can really get started.

Emma starts another swim class Tuesday afternoon. Should be fun.

That's all for now. More later.

Call me crazy, but: I think swimming is one of the most exciting events to watch at the Olympics.

Hello!

I don't have anything to talk about today, but I wanted to check in and say hello. Emma got a haircut the other day. We (the stylist and I) decided the best course of action to attempt to counteract her two serious cowlicks is to try to grow it out. So she trimmed it all over to help it get healthy, and now hopefully it will get growing. It looks cute on her. Trying to pull it back more to train the top part to start laying down instead of coming forward like a bad comb-over. Pulling it back makes Emma look older, I think.

We start another swim class next week. Should be fun, and it's always a good reason to go to the pool, even for a little bit.

A friend of mine went to Comic-Con, which was recently held in San Diego. She was on the train with her husband and son (Emma's friend, Soren), and it turned out the entire cast of Heroes was on the train, too! She got to see them all! She was so excited. What a lucky day! I would have died.

That's all for now. More later.

Call me crazy, but: It's a sad day when paying $4.09 for gas sounds cheap.

Musical selection

I thought I'd let you all know what kind of music Emma and I listen to in the car these days. I have one of those visor CD holders, and Emma knows what order they're in. It's really funny. We've got a fairly eclectic mix of music up there.

1. Flo Rida, 'Mail on Sunday' (Emma likes song #5, "Low". She calls the CD "Low Low Low".)
2. Avril Lavigne, 'The Best Damn Thing' (Emma loves the upbeat songs, especially #1, "Girlfriend". She calls this CD the pink one.)
3. Maroon 5, 'Songs about Jane' (Emma refers to this CD as "Mommy music".)
4. The Beatles, 'Love' (Emma loves The Beatles. She knows what songs are coming up next when we listen to the CD, which is crazy. Her favorite two songs are "Hey Jude" and "Here Comes the Sun" - where she still says "it's so nice" instead of "it's all right". She says she wants to hear Beatles when requesting this CD.)
5. The Best of '80s Pop, 'Party Songs' (You've gotta love '80s music. Emma's favorite is #2, "Love Shack" ... she likes the part where they say, "jukebox money". She calls the CD "Love Chack".)
6. Veggie Tales, 'Worship Songs' (It's Bob and Larry leading a kids' choir, which includes Junior Asparagus, through some popular worship songs. Emma loves the "Secret Place song". She calls the CD "Veggie Tales.")
7. Putumayo Kids presents 'New Orleans Playground' (Emma loves these. Sounds like we're at Mardi Gras when we play this CD. She calls this one the red one.)
8. Putumayo Kids presents 'Animal Playground' (This is a bunch of songs from around the world about animals. I think Emma's favorite is "L'Otorhinoceros", which is a French song about a rhinoceros. She calls this the green one.)
9. Sesame Street, 'Kids' Favorite Songs' (Emma loves this one. One of the funniest parts is in the song "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt" where Elmo says maybe he can say it without laughing and tries to say it, starts laughing and says, "Not!" LOL The CD was put out in 1997, apparently when that saying was still in fashion. When she wants to hear it, she asks for Big Bird, since he's the first voice you hear on the CD.)
10. Songs Kids Love to Sing, 'Toddler Songs' (This has a ton of fun kid songs. Emma's favorites are "The Wheels on the Bus" ["Wee Bus" as she calls it], "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" ["Itsy Spider"] and "Hokey Pokey" ["Pokey Pokey"]. This is the yellow one.)
11. Greg and Steve, 'Kids in Motion' (This includes one of the songs Emma loved at Gymboree, "The Freeze". When she freezes, she still puts her hands on her head, since that's what they taught the kids to do at Gymboree. We don't listen to this one as much anymore, now that we don't go to Gymboree.)
12. They Might be Giants, 'Here Come the ABCs' (My friend Jenn told me about this CD. I like it, but Emma doesn't watch the show on which they do these songs. I think it's on a Disney show. Needless to say, we don't listen to this CD much.)
13. Go Fish, 'Snazzy' (These are the guys we saw in concert at Grace. Emma loved them. She loves this CD. Plus she's so cute when she says "Snazzy" when she wants to hear it.)

That's all for now. More later.

Call me crazy, but: Could the contestants on American Gladiators BE any more annoying when they get all bragadocious before the events?

Emma unscripted

Emma is quite the chatterbox. You never know what she's going to say. Sometimes she's hilarious, and other times she's as sweet as can be. Here's a top five list of funny and/or adorable things she's said recently.

5. "I love you so much." Not as much funny as it is so incredibly sweet, but it's funny when she breaks it out. I was pushing her in a cart at Wal-Mart the other day, and she leaned forward and hugged me and said it. I almost cried right there, it was so sweet. I was all choked up as I said, "Emma, do you know it makes Mommy's day when you say that?" Precious moments.

4. "I don't want to." OK, so this isn't funny either, but she says it ALL THE TIME. After you've heard it enough, it starts to be funny that she can say it SO many times in SO many different ways.

3. "It's OK. Don't cry. I'm here." She said this to her yellow Care Bear, whom she had to leave in her car seat in the car while we went to Rubio's for lunch. I asked if he was crying because he missed her, and she said yes.

2. "I want some every day." She says this about any- and everything. Earlier this evening, for instance, it was bananas. She wants bananas every day. She says it all the time.

And the funniest thing Emma said recently is... drum roll, please...

1. "You're beautiful because you are wearing pants." She said this to Chris the other day. Who knows why, but we will never forget it. I'm going to use it in a card.

That's all for now. More later.

Call me crazy, but: Even a woman who likes girly chick flicks and other such movies can like a good Rocky story. I just watched Rocky Balboa (the newest one) tonight BY MYSELF, and it was excellent.

How we roll in California

I was driving to Wal-Mart the other day, and I was behind this van at a stoplight. I read what it had painted on it, and I just had to take a picture.

Funny, right? Fancy schmancy California people with their private jet cleaners. LOL

Emma and I have another meeting with an agent tomorrow afternoon. This agent is in Burbank, which is MUCH closer to us, and just happens to be where Chris works. Hopefully we'll be able to swing by his work and see him. Brighten his day a little with a cute little toddler running around his office. :)

I watched one of Emma's friends, Ashlyn, for a few hours this afternoon. The girls had a lot of fun playing together. They played a game, cooked in Emma's kitchen, had tea, bowled in the kitchen and had a dance party. And we watched The Little Mermaid. Good times.
That's all for now. More later.

Call me crazy, but: Shouldn't Pull Ups training pants have at least a LITTLE diaper-like urine retaining ability? I mean, who wants to clean up some other person's kid's pee from my carpet?

One down, one to go

Emma and I met with a super nice agent today. The agency was right down in Hollywood, just off of Highland. I basically drove right by the Kodak Theatre to get there. How Hollywood am I?? Anyway, the lady was really nice and really helpful, and she was great with Emma. Loved Emma's gorgeous blue eyes.
I told her we are meeting with other people, and she said it was important that we meet with as many people as we can to make sure we get the right fit for us, which is what my friend who has been helping me out said. But today's girl is high on my list. Emma really liked her, too.

So I'm glad today's meeting went better than the first one. I swear that first lady had no idea what she was talking about. And Emma didn't like her anyway. We have another meeting scheduled for this Wednesday, so I'll let you know how that goes. Hopefully we'll get some more calls from other agents so we can have lots from which to choose.

Happy day! I got the 30th anniversary edition DVD of School House Rock! at Costco today for only $9.99! I am so excited. It has EVERY song they did on there, including "Conjunction Junction" and "I'm Just a Bill". Bill is just the cutest little guy.

I loved it in middle school when we got to watch the School House Rock! videos. The two I mentioned before are my favorites, but I also remember "Lolly lolly lolly, get your adverbs here!" Yes, I am a nerd, and I know it. I love spelling and grammar. Give me something to proof-read, and I'm a happy camper.

That's all for now. More later.

Call my crazy, but: Does it mean I've turned into a true Californian if I didn't even look down Hollywood Blvd. when we drove by today because I've seen it before and I was on my way to a meeting?

Dorktown ...... Population: Me

Yes, you read it right. I have tickets to attend the October 8 concert of New Kids on the Block. That's right, baby, they're back. And I'm going to the show! My friend, Jenn, is going with me. She, too, was a huge NKOTB fan back in the day, and we are treating ourselves to a dorky evening out without children. We are beyond excited. Giddy with glee is more like it.

In other news, Emma and I have two meetings with potential agents in the next week. The first one is Saturday in Hollywood, and the other one is next Wednesday in Burbank. Exciting, right? I just know it has to do with the great photos Julie took when we were in Indiana. She did such a nice job with them. The lady from the Burbank agency commented on the great photos and asked who took them. Way to go, Julie!

I'll let you all know how those meetings go.

I am in the final stages of being chosen to be on Bingo America. Late last week they e-mailed me a 21-page packet of waivers and releases I had to sign and mail in. I guess they really want me on the show! The commercials I am in are still airing before and after Bingo America nightly. The show airs at 7:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. Central). If you have Game Show Network, check it out! I'm the one in the green shirt. Can't miss me. :)

That's all for now. More later.

Call me crazy, but: Is it weird that I will probably tear up a little when the New Kids first step on the stage when the show starts?

Swim class

Emma had her first swim lesson today. We were supposed to work on the basics - blowing bubbles in the water, kicking her feet, etc. - which she already does. So our goal was to get her comfortable enough to let me hold her waist and to kick her feet and move her arms at the same time. It's 0-depth entry at the pool, so I had her lay on her tummy at the very shallow part and practice kicking and moving her arms there. I told her she had to let me hold her and show me how she can swim one time in the deeper water (probably 1 1/2 feet or so) before we left. She did it for me one time, and I was so proud. :)

We have another class this Thursday, then classes next Tuesday and Thursday. The next session we do (2 days a week for 2 weeks) starts Aug. 12. I believe they're the same classes, but at least we can work on the same stuff every time in the same format, and maybe she'll get really comfortable with it. I'd love to have her get comfortable enough to float, but we'll see.

I got a new bathing suit yesterday. I'm very happy with it, for a change, but the whole trying-on process stinks. Who likes bathing suit shopping? It's awful. I probably tried on 15 suits altogether. UGH. But I ended up getting my suit at Macy's on sale. Still paid a pretty penny for it, but I COULD HAVE paid more. I'm sure a picture will be taken of me in the suit at some point, but I don't have one yet. I'd never have one, if it was up to me. Here is the suit. Mine is brown with blue hem accents. I love it. And I never, ever thought I'd say that about a bathing suit (or "babing suit," as Emma calls them).

That's all for now. More later.

Call me crazy, but: I think the only thing worse than bathing suit shopping is bra shopping. Am I right, ladies?

Movie recommendations

I have seen a few movies lately that I wanted to recommend to you all. I saw "Definitely, Maybe" with Abigail Breslin ("Little Miss Sunshine") and Ryan Reynolds ("Van Wilder"). It is SO cute. The basic gist is that Ryan Reynolds' character is getting a divorce, and his daughter (Breslin) wants to know how he met and fell in love with her mother, hoping that might help him remember why they got married and thus want to stay married. He tells her the story, but he changes the names so she has to figure out which one is her mom in the story. Very cute movie.

I got "The Illusionist" from Netflix a month or two ago, and I forgot to watch it until last night. It's with Edward Norton and Jessica Biel. It was great! It's similar to "The Prestige," which is a great movie, too. So definitely see "The Illusionist." And see "The Prestige" too, while you're at it. It's got Christian Bale in it. That's reason enough to check it out, in my opinion. :)

"Step Up 2: The Streets" comes out on DVD today. It's really good. The music is great, and the dancing is cool. It's much better than the first one, which I like as well.

That's all for now. More later.

Call me crazy, but: Are car alarms SO difficult to turn off in a timely manner?

I'm on TV!

Whoa! I was watching this evening's edition of Bingo America (as I am still addicted to playing every night), and what did I happen to spy just before the show started? Why, I saw a new Bingo America commercial that I happened to be on! NO WAY! The little part that had me on it was the last little clip before the show started, and it was me telling how I called my mom and told her I won $50.

I almost died. It was the coolest.

Then AFTER the show, there was another commercial, and there were several clips of me on it. I was holding up the huge, fake $50 check they had me hold up, then I talked a couple of times about how you need to go online and print Bingo cards. Again, I almost died.

So, seriously, people...watch a little bit of GSN sometime and see if you spot me! I'm totally there!

If the spots were available online - or if they do become available - I would/will totally put them on my blog so you can see them.

That's all for now. More later.

Call me crazy, but: I could really use a McDonald's iced coffee right now.

Dance class video

Here's the video of Emma at dance class the other day. So cute.

Florida and dance class

This morning Chris was still in bed and Emma had gone in there to see him. She yelled for me to come in there, and once in the room she told me to go to sleep. I laid down on my pillow. Then she said she was going to go bye-bye.

I said, "Where are you going, Emma?"

To which she replied, "I'm going to Florida and dance class."

"Who are you going to see in Florida?"

"I have people."

And she was off.

That's all for now. More later.

Call me crazy, but: Whoever thought of making mini pancakes that you can easily warm up in the microwave was a genius.

The swing

Getting back into the swing of things after vacation is always difficult. We got home on Tuesday evening, and tonight (Friday) was the first time I actually made dinner. I didn't even want to tonight, either; but Chris wasn't interested in getting back out, and honestly we don't need to be spending money on eating out every day, nor do we need to be eating that much more fast food. I've gained enough weight as it is. But I digress.

So here I am, trying to get back to blogging regularly.

Emma went to dance class yesterday (Thursday). It was the first class of the new session. She did so well. She didn't cry at all, and she participated like a big girl. I took lots of video - which hasn't been uploaded to Google Video yet but will be eventually - since I'm an idiot and couldn't figure out how to turn off the stupid flash even though the button was right in front of my face. Again I digress.

Got a letter yesterday from a high school friend. We exchanged addresses a few months ago and promised to send each other mail from time to time, as it's nice to receive any mail that's not a bill or junk mail these days. She wrote the letter on lined paper. It made me smile. I returned the favor and wrote her a letter on lined paper, and I even folded it like I used to fold notes in high school. For old times' sake. A little nostalgia is always fun.

That's all for now. More later.

Call me crazy, but: There should be a "do not call" list for junk mail.

Big trip excitement

Hi!

Emma and I got back yesterday evening from our big trip to Indiana. We had a great time, but we were ready to come home. A week is a long time. Here's what we did on our trip...

Wednesday, July 2: Got up early early early to get to the airport on time for our 9:15 a.m. flight. Made it in time. Non-stop flight to Indy, and Emma actually slept for an hour and a half on the plane. My dad picked us up at the airport. Emma was SO happy to see her Papaw. Had dinner at my parents' house then went over to the in-laws' for a while. Papaw gave Emma a bath when we got back to my parents' house. Emma loved it.

Thursday, July 3: Emma and I went with my mom to her hair appointment in the morning. Her stylist has her shop in her home, so her 2 1/2-year-old was there, and Mom wanted the girls to play. Emma was still tired and not quite used to being in a different place yet, so she just sat with me mostly. She did get out of there with a green bouncy ball, though. We went out to visit with my grandparents for a little while, and I got to see the new quilt my grandma is making for our next child if/when we have one. It looks amazing.

Friday, July 4: Big family 4th of July party at Chris' parents' house. We went over after Emma took a nap and spent the rest of the day there. Emma got to see all kinds of family, and she even got to play a little badminton with her Papaw. It was cute. We stayed for the fireworks, but she did NOT like them, so we had to leave early. Such is life. When we got back to my parents' house, she talked a mile a minute about the fireworks and how they were up in the sky and were pretty colors etc. It was hilarious.

Saturday, July 5: Aunt Cayla (Chris' sister) went with Emma and me to Mooresville to get Emma's picture taken. Julie did a great job with the photos. We went to the Bloomington Mall in the afternoon and had dinner at Red Lobster. Those cheese biscuits are so delicious. Emma and I went over to Rick and Terry's house (in-laws) after we got back from Bloomington. We ended up watching Cars and stayed there really late. It was fun.

Sunday, July 6: We went to church at First Christian Church (my old church), and Emma tried going in the nursery but didn't really have any fun, so she came back out in the service with us (with PAPAW, her main man). Right after church, Emma, Mom and I took off for Noblesville, where I was co-hosting an open house baby shower for my good friend Amy (the one who came out here for the sale at Extra). It went very well, though silly me forgot to take any pictures at the shower. Duh.

Monday, July 7: Drove back up to Noblesville to have lunch with Amy (Emma and Mom came, too). We ate at Chick Fil-A. Yum. Then we went over and visited the newspaper I used to work at. Emma was standing in the assistant editor's doorway, and he said, "Emma, you're getting so big!" To which she immediately replied, "No, I'm little." It was so funny. I had dinner at Steak N Shake with my cousin Jennifer that evening, while Emma stayed in with Mamaw and Papaw and had dinner. I haven't seen Jenn for a long time, so it was nice to catch up with her.

Tuesday, July 8: Mamaw and Papaw both had to go to work, so Emma and I hung out alone at the house and got all our stuff ready for the trip home. Mamaw Terry (Chris' mom) picked us up and took us to the airport. We finally made it home, which was SO nice.

That's the main gist of what happened on our trip. Emma also learned to ride a tricycle by herself, which was really cute. And she "fished" in the ditch next to Mom and Dad's house with a kiddie pole that had an attached fish. It was cute.

That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: Fake fish are a lot cleaner and less slippery than real ones.

Great video

Chris sent me a link to this video the other day. I loved it and wanted to share it with all of you. Enjoy!

Movie review: WALL-E

Chris and I had date night tonight while Emma played at Gymboree. We saw the new Pixar movie WALL-E. It was so cute! WALL-E is the cutest little robot guy. It seemed as if the movie was going to try to turn all after-school special about protecting the environment; but while they did use that as an underlying theme, they kept the tone lighter.

I don't want to get into it too much for those of you who want to see it. No one likes a spoiler, even for an animated movie. I really enjoyed WALL-E, and I highly recommend it to all of you.

We may try to take Emma to see it during a matinee sometime. That way it's more likely there will be kids there, plus it's cheaper in case she gets bored and restless and needs to leave. I really think she'll like the little robot.

Oh! Pixar had another animated short before the movie started called Presto. It was REALLY cute. Here is a little clip from it.


It looks like Emma's out of the woods now with the rash. It actually went away very quickly. I think she got lucky and didn't get it too badly. Whew! I'm glad we won't have to deal with it on our trip back to Indiana next week.

Speaking of our trip, while we're there, my friend from high school, Julie, is going to take some head shots of Emma. She recently started a new photography business, JVW Photography. Her photos are amazingly good. She is very talented. I'm hoping we can get some really good shots of Emma for me to send to agents. I will probably send another batch of them out to agents after we get back from our trip. Maybe we'll net some more agent meetings with professional looking pictures. Here's to hoping!

That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: Gotta love an animated robot who loves "Hello, Dolly!"

My audition

So Emma and I went to my audition today for Bingo America. We had to wait in a small room that was full of people. I tried my hardest to keep Emma occupied and happy, and it worked for a long time, but then it didn't. She got restless the longer we waited and began running around the room. One of the guys working there got a little fed up, I think, and he got all snippy with me and told me she couldn't run around like that. I, in turn, got a little snippy and said, "Then let me go next!" They said they'd make that happen. I apologized for having to bring Emma there, and I said we'd go wait in the hallway where she could run around. They said they'd come get me.

So while we were waiting in the hallway, Emma pooped in her diaper, so I had to change her. They still hadn't come to get us, so we then went back in the room. There was another Jaime there, and she had gone in next instead of me. Grr. So we waited in the tiny room again, and they let me get in there soon after. I had Emma in a chair watching Cars, and she was quiet and good. They called me in, so I told her bye and went in. Not long after I got in there, before we started anything, they came in and said she needed to see me. She was beside herself. So we tried having her in the room sitting by the wall watching me. Didn't help. She was upset. So we tried as much as we could to get her to calm down, but I had to take her out to calm her down. The casting people were SO nice about it. It was two ladies in there, and they were very cool about it.

So I calmed her down, then I remembered it had been over 2 hours since we'd been there and I was parked in 2-hour parking. They said we could move the car and they'd save my place, so we walked the mile or whatever back to the car and moved it. No ticket, wasn't towed. Sweet. I had a talk with Emma and told her I needed to go into the room and leave her out there with the nice people. She seemed to understand.

So we went back in there and I had to wait a few more times, and finally I got to go in. Emma was prepared this time, so she stayed out in the waiting room. I went in with a man named Andres. We introduced ourselves in front of the camera and told a little-known fact about ourselves that you wouldn't know by looking at us. Mine was that I played football in college. Chris came up with it. Funny. And I really did play football...powder puff intramural flag football, but football nonetheless.

Then after the introductions, we grabbed our buzzers and competed in the mock trivia contest. I answered many questions, and they told me to stop answering so Andres could answer some. LOL We finished and left. I thanked the ladies for being so understanding and apologized again for the trouble. They said it wasn't a problem.

When I got back out in the waiting room, Emma was on the floor with one of the girls working there erasing a dry erase board. She said, "Hi!" I was glad she was OK. She's so funny.

So we walked to the car with Andres, then we went home (3 hours after we arrived). Hopefully I'll get to be on the show. We'll see. I'll let you know!

That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: Waiting is SO MUCH longer with a toddler.

Funny Emma

I've compiled a short list of funny things Emma says. I know she won't say them like this for long, so I treasure each time she says them with her tiny, cute voice.

• "babing suit" = bathing suit (She even calls the super suit Mr. Incredible wears his babing suit. Only the red suit though. Not the old hobo suit [if you have seen the movie, you know to what I'm referring].)
  
• "sunscream" = sunscreen (She puts extra emphasis on the 'm' at the end, too... sunscreammmm.)
  
• "agedder" = together (She likes for us to all take a drink together at dinner. Then we have to say, "Ahhhh!" after drinking. Then she says, "We drink agedder!")
  
• "juss like eeyat" = just like that (She likes to imitate and/or reenact things, and after she does so, she says, "Juss like eeyat" and is so proud of herself. It's a riot.)
  

I noticed a small rash on her left palm after her nap today. At first I thought it was indentions from sleeping funny, but it was still there a while later, so I took her to the pediatrician, just to have it checked out. Turns out it's probably the foot-hand-mouth virus, which is apparently common in the summer.

Who knows where or how she got it. But since it's a virus, the only thing I can do is treat her symptoms, which is so frustrating. I feel so bad that I can't take away her pain. Hopefully it will go away quickly.

Oh! I have an audition Friday afternoon to be on Bingo America! Wish me luck! More details to come.

Did anyone see the new show "Wipeout"? I thought it was so funny. Watching people fall down is hilarious, and the commentators were mocking the contestants the whole time. I almost fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard. I highly recommend watching the show if you want a good laugh.

That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: Kids are carrier monkeys for germs. So gross.

It finally happened...

...Emma pooped in her swimming diaper at the pool. And didn't tell me.


So, as we're getting ready to go, I had her stand up so I could get her cover-up on and I smelled it. I asked her if she pooped, and she of course said no. So I looked, and it was all over the place in her diaper, front to back. Who knows how long it had been there, but it was long enough to liquefy a lot of it and get it everywhere. Gross.

So we walked home and I cleaned up the nastiness and immediately put her in the bathtub.

She sat on her little potty as I was filling up the bath, and she pottied! Hooray! Then as I was putting lotion on her after her bath she was standing on her changing table pad and started to tinkle. She stopped immediately and I asked if she needed to potty, and she said yes. So we rushed into the bathroom and she tinkled again on her little potty! Then she was on her way back into her room and decided she needed to pee again, so she did it a third time! Holy cow!

So that was our afternoon. Gross and exciting, all at the same time.

That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: It IS as bad as you think it is when your kid poops in the pool.

Wall writing and applemelon

I was in my bathroom this morning, and I heard something that sounded like something scraping on the wall. Emma came trucking in, carrying a pencil. I asked her if she wrote on the wall, and she said no. I asked if there was writing on the wall, and she said no. I asked if I went out in the hallway I would see pencil on the wall, and she said no. So we went out there, and lo and behold, there were pencil marks on the wall. Hmm.

I got it off the wall with an eraser that didn't leave smudges, which is good. I should have taken a picture of the first offense, but I didn't think to. I'm sure there will be a next time, so I'll do it then. *sigh*

I was hoping to get to Wal-Mart this morning then go to Trader Joe's. I pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot, and Emma was freaking out, saying she wanted to go to TRADER Joe's (the always puts the emphasis on the first word) to get applemelon (what she calls watermelon). So we turned around and headed toward Joe's, since I didn't really feel like fighting with her about it all through Wal-Mart.

So she got her precious applemelon, and the cashier guy gave her a TON of stickers. She was in toddler heaven.

That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: While some murals are artistic and lovely, others are unwanted and unwelcome.

A new leaf

OK, so I'm going to try something new. I'm going to try blogging more. Honestly, I enjoy blogging because I get to write a little. Yes, I was one of those nerds in school who liked writing and English and grammar. I was in Spell Bowl for four years in high school, for goodness sake. If that doesn't say N-E-R-D, I don't know what does. I think the only problem I'm going to run into with blogging more is that I'm going to have to come up with more "Always remembers" at the end of my blogs. If it gets too difficult, I may have to change my blog-end format. I'm open to any and all suggestions...

I've decided to grow out my hair to donate to Locks of Love. I have been growing it out because I missed it being long; but Chris and I were talking yesterday, and as he's already grown out his hair and donated it twice, I figure I could do the same. I think he's considering doing it again, but don't quote me on that. I just want mine to be long enough that when I get it cut to donate, it's still long enough to put in a ponytail. Can't live without the ponytail.

We tried out a new church today, NorthPark Community Church. Really liked the music and the preaching, and the atmosphere in service was very organic and relaxed. Conversely, it was a little crazy and seemingly disorganized with the children's area, so next week we're going to go to the information desk and see what the protocol is for all that. That was my only concern. But Emma didn't seem to have too much of a problem with it. We didn't get paged to come get her, so that counts for something, right?

The church is actually being held right now in a strip mall. They're building a new campus on the other side of town, behind the Wal-Mart we go to. Neither location (neither the current one nor the new one) is very far from our place, which is great. So part of the confusion and chaos today stemmed from the fact that the space inside the place is rather limited, plus it's apparently a VERY popular church.

That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: Hair can always grow back.........unless you're bald.

Heacock Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Roots - Family name history

The end of an era, the birth of a ballerina

As we were driving to free play at Gymboree last night, I told Emma we wouldn't be going to Gymboree as much anymore. I've suspended our account there, which is effective for three months; but I'm going to just cancel our account soon, I think. She seems to be outgrowing it. It's a great place for her to play, but she doesn't seem to get much out of her class, which is the whole point.
It's a little sad to end our time with Gymboree. It's been really great. That's how we met our good friends out here. But they're all in the same boat, too, and we're all kind of moving on from Gymboree now and doing different things. We still hang out during the week, though, which is nice.

Emma and her friend Emily are now signed up for a weekly tap/ballet combo dance class. They tried it out last Saturday. It was just the cutest thing, all those little ones in tutus. They started with their tap shoes on, taking their ballet shoes with them and putting them by the wall so they could change in the middle. Emma refused to put down her shoes, so she carried them the whole time. It was so funny. She was a little nervous (with a teacher she didn't know) and sad (mommy and daddy couldn't come in with her) for a while, but she lightened up and started participating. She loved the ballet, and she was really good at walking on her toes and doing pirouettes with her little hands above her head. She was such a cute tiny dancer.

A few of Emma's friends already attend dance class at a different dance studio, which we've tried out on a few occasions, but Emma didn't seem to like the class there. I'm glad we found her a place she likes.

That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: It's sad when things you like come to an end; but how exciting it is to begin new endeavors!

I almost forgot!

I told you to remind me to tell you about me being on Game Show Network ads for Bingo America. This is me finally remembering to talk about it.

Being the nerd that I am, I watch Bingo America every night on GSN and play along by printing out game cards from GSN.com. They play two games of Bingo per show, and then they have bonus numbers at the end. Every game card has three Bingo boards per game and two sets of two bonus numbers. You can print out a total of 10 game cards per day, so of course I print out 10.

Well, I matched bonus numbers one time and won $50. It took about 5-6 weeks to get the check in the mail, but it did actually come. After I received the check on Tuesday, I got a call from Angel over at GSN on Thursday asking if, as a recent winner, I was interested in talking about winning on camera for some ads they will use on GSN. They would give me a $50 gas card for my trouble of having to drive all the way down there.

I drove down to the GSN studios on Saturday morning. They were all set up outside under some trees in the parking lot, to make it look like they just stopped people on the street who were winners. It was really fun. I stood in front of the camera and the producer, John - who lives in Valencia about 3 minutes from me, it turns out - asked me questions about winning and playing along with Bingo America. Then at the end of the interview he had me repeat some taglines for Bingo America, GSN and GSN.com.

After I was all finished, John said I did great and will definitely make it onto some of the spots. So, apparently you can start looking for me on GSN on spots for Bingo America soon! Exciting, huh?

That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: You never win if you don't play.

First agent meeting

Emma and I had a meeting this afternoon with a potential agent for Emma. I don't know if it actually even qualifies as a meeting, as we were there for only about 5 minutes. She wanted to see if Emma would chat with her, and all Emma wanted to do was look around the room and get used to things.

The agent said she was very cute, but she's a little too young still. She said casting directors want a child who can come in and talk with them and pay attention and not need Mommy to be right there telling them what to do. I have a hard time believing that casting directors expect TWO AND A HALF YEAR OLDS to act like adults, but maybe that's just me. The agent said to give her a call again in 4 or 5 months when Emma's a little older. We'll see.

So after a few minutes, Emma was done being there. I could tell she didn't like the lady and wasn't comfortable there. She isn't like that with everyone. Actually, she's hardly like that at all. So instead of being disappointed in Emma for not "performing well" for the agent or being discouraged, I was glad to know she can tell me in her own way when she is comfortable or not with someone or something. Plus it was nice to get that first agent experience out of the way.

We haven't gotten any calls from any other agents, but that's not abnormal. I'm sure they all have hundreds, thousands of photos to go through, and it has only been a week since I sent them out.

That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: Sometimes toddlers know more than you think they do.

Breadstick conspiracy

Did you ever wonder why, at Olive Garden, when there are, say, four people the waiter brings out a basket of 5 breadsticks? I've always wondered if there was some kind of conspiracy behind the scenes, and the wait staff just wanted to watch people fight over the last stick. Or maybe it's a sociological experiment to see how people react in such a situation.

Well, I was given the opportunity to ask our waiter that very question today at Olive Garden. Amy and I were eating at Olive Garden in Burbank (I will tell you why later), and our waiter, Randy, gave us 3 breadsticks. When he finally came back and asked if we wanted more (since we finished them quickly), I asked him if they give an even number of people an odd number of breadsticks on purpose. Randy laughed and confirmed that, yes, they do it on purpose. The first time they bring out the breadsticks, they are to bring the same number of breadsticks as people at the table PLUS one. Then when they bring out subsequent baskets of breadsticks, they are to bring out as many as are at the table. So I was right. It's all a conspiracy. Just thought you should all be aware of it.

Now, on to why I was dining in Burbank and Amy Cornwell, my good friend from Indiana, was with me in the first place. The husband of a friend of mine works at the celebrity news television show Extra. After seeing Amy's jewelry and her affordable prices, he suggested to his wife that Amy come sell her jewelry at his office, where they often have people come in and sell their wares. So Amy and Dave flew out here on Saturday afternoon, and Amy and I went down to Extra today to do the sale.
We got to meet a lot of nice people, including Dayna Devon and Mark McGrath, the hosts of the show. We got to go in and meet them while they were in makeup. Amy had made a customized necklace for Dayna with her children's names on it, so she gave it to her back there. Dayna loved it and immediately came out to see what other items Amy was selling. It was so neat. She bought a few of the cute barrettes Amy makes for little girls.

Later we got to go onto the set where they were filming the show and take a few pictures with Dayna. I even got in one.
It was so much fun! Dayna was very sweet, as was Mark and everyone else we met. Amy made several sales and took several orders for customized jewelry. Plus I got some free stuff for knowing the right people. :) Sweet.

Plus, Dayna's costume person put some items aside that she will probably be purchasing for Dayna to wear on air, so Amy's jewelry could be on Extra soon! How neat is that?!

So that was our day. Here are the photos I took.

Remind me to tell you later about the ad spots I will be in for Bingo America on GSN starting as early as next week...

That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: Even famous people are short and have thin hair like me. It takes a lot of extensions and very high heels to look fabulous for some of them. What a comforting thought.

As Seen on TV

Big news! The Heacocks are going to be on TV! More specifically, we're going to be on an episode of the new A&E makeover reality show, "We Mean Business". I don't want to get into too many details for fear of breach of confidentiality, but I can tell you a little about our experience.

Basically the show is like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition but for small businesses. A local business was chosen, and a friend of a friend of mine was looking for parents and children to be at a certain place at a certain time to help out with filming. Emma and I were there, and we got to participate a little. Emma was a big ham for the cameras, and everyone thought she was adorable. Then the grand re-opening of the store was the next day, so all of us (Chris included) went and were filmed there too. It was fun.

Emma charmed all the designers and the crew. Someone asked me if she had an agent because she'd be good on commercials. So, we may be looking into that. She loved hamming it up for the camera, so I think she might like it. Plus she's adorable. :) So I think we're going to look into getting her an agent. Wish us luck!

That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: It's good being in the right place at the right time, but it hardly ever works out that way.

When plans go awry

So today was the big "Beyond the Gates" event at our church. Lots and lots of people volunteered to go out into the community and do service and outreach projects. The three of us signed up to go to a local retirement community to spend time with the residents there. I thought it would be a good way for us to participate, plus Emma could come, too.

I got an e-mail from the team leader a few days ago, who suggested maybe making some cookies or having candy to pass out to the people when we're there, or bring games or cards or something like that to play with the residents. I made two different kinds of peanut butter cookies yesterday (it took all morning), and while Emma was napping today I put them into little baggies and tied them with ribbon. I figured she could pass them out to people. Cute.

Everyone who participated met at the church at 3:00 so we could meet as teams and get directions and any other instructions we may need. We didn't feel that our group was extremely organized, but we figured it would all work out at the Sunrise Retirement Home, which is where we were headed. I grabbed a printed out sheet of directions that was sitting on the table next to a box that had a big stack of directions and put it with our stuff.

After a lot of confusion - it seemed - we finally took off to our destinations. We followed our directions to exactly where they said it was. We never saw a sign that said Sunrise, but we saw people with green shirts (the shirts for the event), so we figured that was where to go. It was a convalescent hospital. It was not what we thought we were looking for, but we had followed the directions, so we went in.

The residents were in wheelchairs and/or bedridden and/or using walkers, and most of them couldn't hear us. We didn't recognize any of the people in the group from our church. Something was terribly wrong. They gathered some residents in the "rec room", and we sang old hymns for a while, then the leader said to chat with people. We had been singing with and holding a songbook for a woman named Pamela, so we chatted with her a bit; but Emma needed juice so I went over to the diaper bag and got it with her. We got cornered by this lady named Sybille (from our church group, by the way) who just started talking my ear off. I finally got away from her and went back over to Chris. She followed us. She was talking about how I need to volunteer with Mops and Emma can become a Mopette (or whatever she said), and she asked if we went to a Sunday School class. I said we used to go to one, but now we didn't. She said we HAD to come to her class and get involved. Said it over and over and over, and then her husband came over and pretty much started to read Chris the riot act about how important it was to get involved with the church and we needed to come to their class immediately.

By this point I was so angry that 1) they were talking to us when they should have been talking to the residents of this convalescent home which we were there to do in the first place, and 2) that they were being such zealots about joining everything when they didn't even know us and had no business talking to us like that. So I took Emma's hand and we went over and talked to one of the ladies sitting near us in a wheelchair. Her name was Flora. Then we started singing again, and we decided we'd had enough, but there was still enough time to figure out where we were supposed to be and find it. So at the next chat break, we left. Just walked right out.

It's important to mention that I couldn't pass out any of my cookies I had made because some of them might have nut allergies or whatever.

So we drove BACK to the church, and I ran in to see if anyone knew where the place was we were supposed to go. A nice woman told me where it was, and when she said it, I knew exactly where it was. So we went over there and arrived with only about half an hour left before we were to come back to the church for the potluck and celebration. So we went inside and saw the group leader and told him what had happened - I had picked up the wrong sheet of directions, which just so happened to be sitting on our table - then we went and chatted with a few of the nice people there. The people were really sweet and could communicate back with us. They loved seeing Emma. A couple gave Emma some candy, which was really sweet, and she sat next to them on the couch. So we finally got to do what I had thought we were going to do in the first place, so the day wasn't totally a bust.

I didn't even take the cookies in this time because I figured it was too late.

We went back over to the church and had dinner and heard a little of the stories people were sharing of their experiences, but we just wanted to go home. Plus Emma needed to get a bath and go to bed soon. So we came home.

Didn't go as I had planned, but maybe it wasn't meant to. Who knows?

That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: Near the box does NOT mean in the box.

My personal stylist

A lot of times it's easier on days Emma needs a bath for the two of us to take a shower together. Saves time. She loves standing next to me and sharing the water. We both have a tendency to stand under the warm water and put our hands behind our backs and just stand there. Chris says it's really cute. Just take his word on it.

After we're finished showering, I turn off the flow of water to the shower and plug the drain and fill up the tub to let Emma play while I get ready. These days she has to have 4 plastic balls (like in a ball pit) - one red, one blue, one yellow and one green - and two Dixie bathroom cups in there with her to play with.

After I get clothes on, with my hair still wet, I get Emma out of the tub and lotion her up and get her clothes on. Then she HAS to get my hairbrush and a Q-tip and begins to "give me a haircut", i.e. brush my hair. Why the Q-tip, you ask? Beats me. She usually says, "Need earwax," or something to that effect when she gets in the drawer to get the Q-tip, which makes no sense to me because she's not cleaning out her or my ears, but whatever. It's still really funny.

So she brushes my hair with the brush - powering right through any tangles, no matter how much it hurts ... thank goodness I don't have a tender scalp - and the Q-tip, which feels similar to when I was in elementary school and had to get the periodic lice checks. Who didn't love the lice checks? You got to take time out of school to get your hair played with.

If she wants me to look down or up or left or right, she tells me which way to look AND puts both hands on my head and moves it the way she wants it, just like she's seen my stylist, Mimi, do when she comes with me to the salon. It cracks me up every time.

Oh, I was watching the Today Show this morning and found out that New Kids on the Block is going to be on the show on Friday putting on a concert! Holy flipping crap! Can I just tell you how incredibly excited I was to hear that and how stoked I am to see those guys again? I was a huge NKOTB fan back in the day. Loved Joey McIntyre. I'm recording the show. I WILL show it to Emma so she, too, can develop a love for the New Kids like her mommy.

That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: It's not the size of the stylist that matters, it's the quality of the 'do.

14 toddlers and 2 Mother's Day dinners

First of all, happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there! I hope you all had a wonderful day!

Today was a crazy day, to say the least. We were scheduled for nursery duty this morning at church, and we were almost really late because Chris and Emma had let me lay back down in bed and take a nap this morning and I almost overslept. Don't ask why they didn't come get me to have me get in the shower, because there's not a good reason why not. We did make it there, and we were only a few minutes late.

So it started out looking like it wasn't going to be too crowded, but they just kept coming. I had counted at one point and there were 11 kids, including Emma. THEN came the triplets. So 14 toddlers between 26 months and 3 years old, at least 4 of whom were inconsolable at one time or another. Between holding the criers, changing diapers, searching for the culprit of the stinky smell (which turned out to be our own darling Emma, by the way), taking kids to the potty and settling the whose-turn-is-it-with-a-particular-toy disputes, we had a hectic morning.

We stopped at McDonald's on the way home from church and picked up food, as I wasn't in the mood to wait to reheat leftovers, and I wanted to get Emma down for a nap as soon as possible. She loves taking apart her cheeseburger and putting the pieces back together over and over. It's pretty funny, but in all the fun she tends to forget to actually eat. We finished eating and got her down relatively quickly, which was nice.

We did our weekly video chats with both sets of grandparents after Emma woke up from her nap, and then we went to a restaurant called New Moon for dinner. It's very similar to PF Chang's, which I love.

We'd had our appetizer and had pretty much just started our entrees when one of the workers was moving a chair from the table next to us and lifted it over his head so as to not run into anyone by accident. He ended up hitting a light fixture hanging just over me to my left and broke a big chunk of it off. It crashed loudly to the floor and shattered in a million pieces. The guy immediately checked to make sure I was OK and Emma was OK (she thought it was an awesome show and was fine). It didn't hit me at all, but there was a broken shard of glass in my food.

So they took away all our food and replaced all our drinks, plates and silverware. We had new entrees in under 5 minutes. It was incredible. They kept coming over to check on us, and the guy that did it was so apologetic. I felt so bad for him, because it was just an accident. He felt awful. Throughout the rest of our time there, Emma kept talking about the light falling down and crashing and getting broken. It was so funny. Did they give us a free meal? No. You must have to actually get injured to warrant a free meal. But we were stars for the rest of our time there. We had so many people on their way out stop and comment on how beautiful and expressive Emma is. By the way, she was wearing the cutest little dress today. Here is a picture of it.
She wore a cropped white sweater over it and black Mary Jane Crocs. Adorable.

So all in all, it was an eventful, crazy day. But I got the cutest Mother's Day card from Chris and Emma. Here is the picture from the front of it. How cute is this??
That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: Sometimes it pays to have stuff fall on you.

Feet, glorious feet

I have a few product plugs here, hope you don't mind. :)

I have dry, cracked feet, and I have been looking for something to fix it forever. My aunt Carolyn gave me this lotion while Emma and I were in Florida with them, and it works really well. It's called Miracle Foot Repair. You can get it at Walgreen. The smell isn't the best, but the stuff works.

When I was at Walgreen looking for the lotion, and the nice girl who was helping me asked if I'd heard of the PedEgg. It looks like a cheese grater for your feet, so I was a little nervous about using it the first time. But I used it a few nights ago, and it works GREAT! Oh my gosh, I was so surprised and pleased. I highly recommend it.

That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: Feet aren't that gross, I guess.

In memoriam

Chris' grandmother, Emma's great-grandmother Mamaw Barb, passed away this afternoon after a long bout with cancer. She is in a much better place now, plus she's with her husband, but we'll still miss her. She was a really sweet woman.

May she rest in peace.