Emily

I wrote a blog a few months ago about my "other" sister, Maggie. Well, she is my dog. I do have a real sister too, her name is Emily and she is pretty freakin cool. She lives in New York City and works for Saks Fifth Ave. She has her own blog too, http://emilyinahaystack.blogspot.com.

A month or so ago we bought each other necklaces. There was a little note inside the box that said "Sister, make a wish, put on your necklace, and remind yourself that you are my friend, teacher, comedian, therapist, and fashion consultant! Thank you for being there, willingly and lovingly. I love you!" I couldn't have said it better myself.

She's a pretty great Aunt too.

These pictures make me melt.

I am so proud of my sister and her bravery to move to a new, big city by herself and accomplish her dream. She works incredibly hard and is great at what she does. Hurry up and move home for cryin out loud.

Independence

Friday night we went to Thomas's school carnival. He enjoyed the bouncy house, as noted in the previous post, tried some cotton candy, and grew up way too fast all in one night.

He noticed that the bigger kids were playing on the big slide and he wanted a turn. Brett was a little apprehensive about him doing it, so I decided to go down with him for the first time. He climbed up the little bitty steps with easy while I struggled. He plopped down slid right to the bottom pretty much without me. Fearless, independent, getting too big. I can't handle it. My baby doesn't need me to slide down the big scary slide with him. Nope. *Tears*

Here he is at the top.

Notice the big grin on his face. We couldn't get him off of it.

Every time he went up the steps/ladder he held up the line. I felt bad for the bigger kids so I took him off of it. Here is the response I got from him.

We attempted to distract him with some cotton candy, but he was no fool. He wanted back on the slide. He didn't even try the cotton candy either, so I got it all. Good thing it wasn't a funnel cake or else he wouldn't have even gotten a chance to try it.

Crazy kid, who doesn't like cotton candy??

It's a good thing....

That it wasn't a beauty contest we went to tonight but just a carnival at Thomas's school. Thomas had a big time smashing his face against the netting of the mini bouncy house.

By far my favorite:

If it was a beauty contest I still think my kid would've won.

Wednesday night routines

We look forward to Wednesday nights in our household. My parents, Grandma and PawPaw, come over and visit. This tradition started right after Thomas was born and has been going strong ever since. This week their weekly visit got moved to Tuesday night.

They finally got to see Major's new hairdo.

He seems to really like his new cut and we are actually loving it too.

We were trying to decide whether or not to go get some ice cream. Thomas hopped in the car and offered to drive us.

We chose to wait for the Ice Cream Man to come around instead.

After much deliberation Thomas finally picked out what he wanted.

And dug right in.

Then offered me a bite.

No thanks, I'd rather get a picture instead.

Brett got in one too.

We might just have to make the Ice Cream Man a nightly routine :)

Lately

Lately, we've been blowing lots of bubbles. I didn't even realize that Thomas could say the word "bubbles" until I started blowing some and he came running over yelling "BUBBLES!". We've already gone through 2 bubble makers and 12 small bottles of bubbles in one short week.

We've been witnessing lots of tantrums. It amazes me how he can go from this:

To this in a matter of seconds:

We drove up to Hartselle on Saturday to visit some friends. It's been since before Christmas since we've seen them, which is way too long. I found out that their dog, Snowflake, had puppies. I said "it's been that long since we've seen you that Snowflake was able to get pregnant and deliver the cutest puppies ever, that's not possible???" Ann reminded me that dog's gestation period is only 6-8 weeks or something along those lines. Duh.

Thomas got the pleasure of terrorizing those sweet puppies.

Thomas and Anna became best buds real quick. He's into cougars.



We've been climbing trees and loving it.

Spring has also sprung in our yard. Our monster of an azalea bush has finally started to bloom. We've got pink ones, purple ones, white ones, and some that are a mixture.

And finally, we've discovered the joy of matchbox cars. Thomas will play with them till dusk and we have to force him inside. It's so funny to watch him play with the cars too, he will pick each one up, say a little something in his own language to it, throw it down, and move on to the next. He is even pushing them around like they are real cars and making the engine noise with his mouth. I think boys are just born with the ability to make crazy noises with their mouth.

Well, that's all I got for now. Surely, with the big weekends we have ahead of us, we'll get something a little more interesting on here.

Centerfold

Not everyone can say that their Mom is a centerfold, but I can. A local magazine, B Metro, did an article on certain teachers that have touched the lives of their students. Several of my Mom's students nominated her and she was chosen to be featured.

Letters about my Mom were submitted, a photoshoot was done, and the article was written. Finally, this month the issue came out. My Mom worried so much about the picture, but I think it turned out great. Tonight there was a reception for the teachers and students that were featured in the article. Luckily, I was able to attend and got to witness the additional interviews that were being done on each teacher and student.

I watched 4 of the students that my Mom taught 20 years ago get put on the spot and answer questions about how my Mom affected their lives. I will admit I got a little misty eyed. It made me so proud to hear how highly these people thought of my Mom and she touched their lives. I know she's wonderful and a genius, but others do too. My Mom taught these students for one year and in that one year they realized how amazingly smart she is. It took me approximately 21 years to come to that same conclusion. Sad, I know, but don't most kids think they know everything and that their parents know nothing?

This honor was well deserved and I know that my Mom is an incredible teacher. She's always one of the first ones to arrive and the last one to leave the school everyday. She truly cares about each child she has in her class. She has a gift. Now, if she could just figure out what she wants to be when she grows up:)

Another Birthday to Celebrate

My wonderful Grandma would've been 85 years old today. She was an incredible woman in so many ways. At the same time, she could be very frustrating but I loved her all the same.

One of the things I miss most in this world is our Sunday lunches at her house. We'd cram 12+ people around one dinner table with about 15 different dishes of food and just laugh and catch up, talk about inappropriate things, and just enjoy each other's company.

She would start preparing food the night before and continue cooking right up until lunch time. On many occasions she even forgot that she cooked something and had left it in the microwave.

When I was little she would walk all of us grandkids down the street after lunch to this pond and let us feed the ducks. I really wish I had a picture of all of us walking down the street with bags of bread in hand.

Grandma worked at "the shop" as the book keeper, bill collector, personal chef, accountant, etc. In her teeny tiny office she had a wall of pictures, mostly of the grandchildren, but she also had some pictures of customers' kids, second cousins, third cousins, and some I didn't even recognize. There was also a picture of Jesus that she would acknowledge every time she walked past it. When the shop closed we all just assumed she took the pictures down and did give it another thought. Life went on and Grandma lost her 3 year battle to cancer in 2008. My Mom and Uncle had the honor of cleaning out her house after she passed away. When they got to her room and shut the door, they saw this:

She had transferred almost all of those pictures to the back of her bedroom door and none of us knew it. It brought me to tears when I saw this for the first time.

My awkward phase made it onto the door and even a picture of Thomas that I added after he was born.

Rose Cannova was many things: a great chef, devoted wife, cunning business woman, smooth talker, a mother, and most importantly to me, a Grandma.

Happy Birthday Grandma! I love you.

Part III: Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday always starts off in such a rush. I didn't even get any good shots of Thomas digging into his Easter basket. He went straight for the new sippy cups he got.

We made it just in time for church and then I spent half of mass out in the foyer with Thomas. He can only make it through half of church without melting down. There were about 30 other babies/toddlers in there too, so we aren't the only ones.

After church we headed to my parents house and ate lunch with my mom's side of the family. It's always a good time when they are around and there are plenty of laughs.

Here is our family portrait. Not the best picture in the world, but it's all I got.

My parents gave Thomas a potty seat for Easter. Thomas thought it looked better on his head. Someone should tell him that it isn't the best look for him.

Just a few outside pictures in his new outfit. He actually sat himself on that rock. There was no posing.

I hope everyone had as blessed and wonderful Easter weekend as we did.

Part II: Saturday

Day 2 of Easter weekend was spent dying Easter eggs. Again, I wasn't expecting too much interest out of Thomas. Boy, was I wrong.

We handed him an egg and it's like he immediately knew what to do with it. Such a natural.

I think he liked some colors more than the others.

We went inside to let the egg dye do it's job and he stood at the window pointed at the cups. He could not wait to get back to them.

So careful not to break one.

Thomas asked for one of these from the Easter bunny. Easter bunny said no.

After we were done dying eggs we headed over to a little lake near our house to feed the ducks. Thomas loves ducks. He also loves his Aunt Emily. They were so cute together all weekend.

The baby ducks were so darn adorable. If I didn't already know the trouble of keeping a farm bird at home, I would've taken one home with me.

We headed over to the park too. Thomas is always down for some time on the slide.

Here is his battle wound of the day. Oh there was blood and tears, but he was still tough.

Finally, to top the day off, Emily and I made an Easter cake. The poor rabbit, it has a huge head and itty bitty ears. He sure did taste good though.