Lizzie is married!

Congratulations to Lizzie and Khanh! Here are a few photos from their beautiful wedding last weekend!







And here's a photo of their wedding cake I made. To say that I am breathing a huge sigh of relief now that it's done is a HUGE understatement.


Yay! What a fun night! Welcome to the family, Khanh.

Trick or treat

I think most people have already seen these photos on Facebook, but just to document them here, I give you our trick-or-treating photos:

Ariel and Sebastian...

Earlier in the day we went to Lifetime (our gym) for a big Halloween party. Miller won a prize there for his crab costume which I thought was a bit ironic for several reasons:

1) The ratio of time I spent on Emmylou's costume compared to his was about 100:1.
2) The ratio of money I spent on Emmylou's costume compared to his was about 4:1.
3) His costume is actually a lobster costume.
4) His costume is actually made for a dog, not a human being.

Whatever, isn't he the cutest crustacean evers??!

We had LOTS of lazy candy-givers on our street. Come on, don't these people want to hear "fwick-uh-fweet" all night? Truth be told, (sadly) Emmylou was actually pronouncing the "t" in those words by the end of the night. *sniffle*
Here's Lou's stash which she traded (minus 10 pieces) to the Switch Witch last night for a Snow White dress-up dress.

And here's a photo of Emily and I dressed up as Little and Big Edie from Grey Gardens. We went out to a Halloween party and were happily surprised by how many people knew who we were!

Of course we highly recommend that you check out the movie that came out this past year if you haven't seen it. :)

Happy Halloween!

Miller is 14 months old

Dear Miller,

Hi, remember me? It's your mommy here with a long overdue update on your life! So, let's get started...

You are so, so, SO busy these days! (Which means I'm so, so busy, too, and why you haven't received an update lately.) You hardly ever walk anymore-- you run. You get into everything. Keeping up with you is about as easy as chasing a tornado and the only thing you might like better than running around is being held, then being put down. Then being held, then being put down. Then being held...

Daddy keeps calling you a Mama's boy and I'm completely fine with that. You're definitely having some separation issues at the moment and you do break out into a full cry if I even leave the room for a second or think about stepping over the baby gate away from you and heading down the hall. Luckily you're still pretty easily distracted so leaving you at the gym or with a babysitter hasn't been a problem as long as I find you a truck or car to play with then sneak out.

You continue to absolutely torture me with your picky-ness. For God's sake, child, would you please eat something?! The only things I can guarantee you'll eat are Craisins, graham crackers and yogurt and I think you might be happy eating those three things for every meal for the rest of your life. Refried beans are the only non-sweet thing you'll even think about eating. I continue to try giving you tons of different things every day in hopes that you'll find something else you just absolutely must eat daily but I usually just end up exasperated. Surely this will improve soon, right?

You are starting to communicate more but unlike your sister you aren't too interested in using much sign language. You still point at things constantly and wave 'hi' and 'bye' but you don't really use 'more' unless I ask you to. Mostly you communicate by saying 'uh-oh' a million times per day, especially when you throw anything and everything on the floor (repeatedly). You're also using this new screech/scream you like to make when things don't quite go your way. Yes, the full-blown tantrums are on the horizon- I see them coming.

In happier news, when she's not nearly suffocating you or trying to pick you up and relocate you out of her way, your sister is really enjoying playing with you. You guys laugh and laugh and have some real back-and-forth games you like to play. Y'all still love flopping around on the bed and you can't get enough of her or anyone else chasing you. You also love it when Daddy throws you around and tickles you, of course, because he's really good at that. Your favorite toys are bristle blocks, cars and trucks, balls and puzzles. You also LOVE books.

As for your soft side, you still love to give hugs and will come up and hug everyone's legs, especially mine. Anything soft and squishy you find you immediately put on the floor and then lay your little head down on it to test it out. Really, it is so sweet. Whenever you go to sleep we put your Ugly Doll Jeero in bed with you and you've started holding its little arm as you drink your milk and go to sleep. We'll have to see if it receives Babo-like status from you soon.

You are a sweet, sweet boy, Miller. You just might have a hint of Daddy's temper too, but it's exciting watching you grow and seeing you have your own ideas and expectations. I just wish those ideas included eating more than dairy products and cookies.

Love you, Little Man!
Mommy

Emmylou's costume revealed!

I've been swearing to Gary that I'd update the blog but I've been a little preoccupied the last few nights finishing Emmylou's costume. It had to be finished by last night because her class had their costume parade this morning. So, here she is before we left the house (ta-da!):

Then, at school her class paraded into the chapel for their little performance:



I really like how her teacher is carrying her wig in their drink caddy.

All was well until Emmylou saw her friend Annie's bride costume. When we got home this afternoon she informed me that she was going to be a bride for Halloween. I said "Oh, really? Next year?" And she said, "no, in four days."

Right....

Pumpkins, Part 2

We met up with the Rileys, of course :)
Miller definitely thought the best part was pretending to drive the church's golf cart that had a bunch of stinky bags of trash in it.

Pumpkin time again...

We've been pretty busy lately getting ready for Halloween, Daddy's 40th birthday and Lizzie's wedding but we've still had a little time to stop and smell the pumpkins.

We went out to Sweet Berry Farm again a couple of weeks ago with Grammie.







Check out this FAIL we saw!

More pumpkins to come...

New vocabulary

Emmylou's been picking up a few phrases from Gary lately. The other day she grabbed the gate that keeps Miller out of the hallway and told me "let's put this bad boy up." Then last night at Guero's Gary gave her some hot sauce and she told me he really hooked her up. Geesh!

Personal training

When push-ups aren't hard enough by themselves, just ask a 35 pound toddler to lay on your back to take it up a notch.


And don't forget the jumping jacks...

Bruiser

Here's what happens when you squat in the driveway, lose your balance and end up doing a somersault on the concrete:

And here's Miller looking a bit happier and more carefree recently:


He loves to put on hats and he spends most of his days walking around with a golf club in his hand. I seriously could eat him up.

Couple of firsts...

Miller finally gets to ride in the car facing forward...


and Emmylou had her first full day of preschool in the 3's class!


Here's her photo from last year's first day of school:

They've both gotten so big! *sniffle*

Alright, alright...

We took Miller to Top Notch tonight for his birthday dinner. It's one of Gary's favorite spots since parts of Dazed and Confused were filmed there. Miller chowed down on his cheeseburger and fries and also enjoyed his cupcake from Hey Cupcake!, but his favorite thing was... (please don't call CPS) Diet Coke. I guess that's not so surprising because I just looked back at Emmylou's first birthday and her favorite thing was also the drink.

























Thanks, Em, for shooting most of the photos!!

Miracle Alert: Miller ate some veggies!

I tricked him.

Today at Central Market I found the most brilliant product: Stonyfield Farms YoBaby 3 in 1 Meals. It's yogurt with both a fruit and a veggie mixed in. Tonight he ate the kind with pears and green beans (no, I didn't taste it myself)-- the whole thing. Since Miller's been refusing to eat anything except yogurt, graham crackers and peaches lately, this has me breathing a little sigh of relief.

Tomorrow we'll give the kind with apples and sweet potatoes a try. I know he's going to love it!

Mush! Mush!

Emmylou's already putting Miller to work now that he can walk!


Luckily he doesn't seem to mind it too much.

Time for a "sock party"

We celebrated Gary's uncle's 65th birthday party in San Antonio Saturday night with a sock hop, or what Emmylou kept calling a "sock party."

On Friday I took her to Lucy in Disguise so we could rent her a poodle skirt costume. Here's the one we picked out:

So fun! Happy Birthday, Uncle Fred!

How Do I Say This Delicately?