oh, no!

The mama's sick!

It's not all that bad--probably just sinuses or a cold or something. I have a migraine, and am feeling really very drained and poorly in general.

I am going to go make some orange juice and take a baby benadryl--its going to be a loooong day.

Our Day in the Sun

It has been so beautiful outside lately, the kids and I decided to spend the day out in the backyard. We had such a great time!

Emerald is such an explorer--she played on the slide, in the potted plants, and with the water hose. We tossed the ball, and she had a snack--she ran out some good energy, playing with Pepper and chalking on the sidewalk.

Gabriel was sitting in the stroller looking around for a bit, but he looked so bored that I laid a towel down in the grass and laid him down on it.

You would not believe how much fun this little boy had in such a simple thing.

He stared up at the sky, something that must have seemed crushingly big to him, and so blindingly bright.
He rolled out onto his tummy and the grass--oh, the grass!--pulling out clumps of it and bringing it to his face to smell, to feel, to experience. I watched him marvel at every wad of earth and blades of grass he nabbed in his chuby little fist...it was so magical, sharing this with him.

The only downside of the day was the rash Gabriel got on his forehead from where he rubbed the grass on his face, but it cleared up with just a bit of benadryl cream.

All in all, wonderful time, our day in the sun =)

~Andie~

Pappy's 90th

The reason we found ourselves in Eastland last month, which led to our three-week trip to Oma and Grumpa's was Pappy's--Michael's Great Grandfather--90th birthday party!


It was really very nice--held in a country club that had animal heads decorating every wall. Emerald proudly named every one "Goat!"


We had to leave very early--six thirty!--to get there on time. We rode with Grannymom and Daddad for part of the trip, then Emerald went and rode with Steve and Melisa. During the last 10 minutes of the trip, she gets sick all over herself and the carseat, poor dear. We aren't certain if it was car sickness or the terrible diaper rash that seemed to be hurting her so, but she was distraught until we got her all situated.


We enjoyed a nice chicken strips lunch and then met my dad so that we could go back with him to Tyler. We met a lot of very nice people, and wish Michael could have been there, but all in all, a lovely party!

Forgot to Mention

Poor Remy found himself beneath the basket of the stroller as we sat out on the porch. Pitiful thing sat outside the door mewing to get back in, and is still shaken. Silly boy!

Our Pajama Day!

The children and I woke up much earlier than we intended, so we decided to have an impromtu pajama day! Emerald and I had a big stack of blueberry waffles for breakfast, and spent a quiet morning reading books, watching our shows, and enjoying being slobs in our jammies.

Unfortunately, Mama has had a migraine on and off all week, intermittent with nausea, so it didn't take long for us to decide that a trip outside was in order.

We got a big bottle of water, chalk, a few Gabriel toys, and headed out on the front porch to color.

Emerald and I played a game where we saw what different sounds things made when they hit the ground--pine cones, sticks, water bottles, chalk, and pecans. Then we saw how far we could throw the pinecones and pecans into the yard. She had such a good time.

Gabriel pretty much sat there playing with the water bottle--he liked to listen to the crackle.

Now we are inside watching Emerald's new favorite show--Pocoyo. She is cracking up, and Gabriel is loving watching the bright colors. Solid parenting, I know, but we are all so very sleepy.

Kids are going to their grandparents tonight, so hurrah for 9 o'clock bedtime and sleeping in late!

~Andie~

Itty Bitty Green Thumb

This particular picture was actually taken at the zoo (Emerald's fair skin needed some serious coverage--this hat was the only one that could provide that), but it is the only one I got of Emerald in her big ol' hat.

My mom--Oma to the kids--has a garden growing out back of her house. She has mint, strawberries, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, and all kinds of peppers. She wanted Emerald to be able to help her out in the garden, pulling weeds, watering, stuff like that, but knew I am way protective.

So, she bought her these little Dora the Explorer gardening gloves and this obscenely large hat (it is big enough that I can personally wear it, but it is...less than flattering on me).

You wouldn't believe how proud Emerald is of this hat =)

~Andie

More pictures from the Children's Park

Playing on the Playground

I wrote an earlier post about how Oma and I took the children to a playground in town, and had a jack in the box lunch--this is the same story, only hopefully expanded upon.

Oma has Sundays and Mondays off every week. That way, she gets to go to church. The first Sunday we were there, we got all dressed up and went to Oma's church, which was really nice--it's alot bigger than our home town church, but it still has that really intimate, close-knit feeling.

That Monday (the next day), Oma wants to show me some baby clothes shops--including snug as a bug, which sounds cute but is ridiculously expensive ($3o for a onesie). We went to Mommy and Me, a resale shop, and bought a jean skirt for Emerald and jean shorts for Gabriel.

We picked up some diapers and snack-y stuff, then stopped by Jack in the Box for lunch. We sat on the bench under the pavillion at the park Oma and Grumpa like to ride their bikes at and had a little picinic lunch.

The squirrels were so brave, they would come within snatching distance and let you throw bits of food to them. Emerald thought that was really funny. After she was done eating, we were still working on it, so she sat in the dirt next to us and proceeded to smear it EVERYWHERE. She was too filthy to do anything, so I gave her a hobo bath--holding her under the water fountain stream.

We did all the traditional "park" stuff--played on the swings and slides and tossing rocks.

Naturally, the kids were pooped after this, so we took them home and let them sleep the rest of the afternoon.

~A

The Children's Park

More stories from our vacation!

One day after Oma (my mother) got off of work, Amber suggested a really cute park she had heard of--The Children's Park of Tyler.

We had figured it would be a park that was geared toward younger children. It actually turned out to be a memorial park for deceased children. While beautiful, it was not really intended for a toddler playing around on, so we used the gorgeous back drop for photo opportunities!

There were lovely waterfalls and streams that held little goldfish inside, as well as well maintained gardens, and a statue of two adorable stone bears. The kids actually had a very good time--Emerald splashing in the water and chasing fish, and Gabriel laying in the grass =)

~Andie

Friday Morning

Gabriel slept last night about as well as you would expect a 4 month-old to...that despises you and wishes you to suffer greatly for some grievous wrong you did to him.

I am trying to figure it out--he was acting really very hungry and would eat whatever I offered him, but he was so tired, he would fall asleep half way through and expect me to sit there with the bottle waiting for him to wake up and finish. I'd take it away and he would fuss and kick and we would be back where we started.

I don't honestly believe he needed to eat--he enjoyed two baby food meals during the day yesterday, as well as oatmeal formula.

I've deduced that he felt a little like he didn't get enough attention yesterday, and was trying to force it out of me while I slept.

Let's hope tonight goes better!

~Andie

Trip to the Zoo

There is in Tyler a surprisingly nice zoo--it makes me a little annoyed that Lubbock doesn't have a good zoo, but I figure it is because Tyler is such a humid and rainy place, plants grow much more abudently than they do out here.

Well, Aunt Amber (my sister) has a zoo pass that allows her to get in for free, as well as getting myself in cheaper. We drove out there one very hot day (though that is a little unneccessary to say--almost every day we were out there hit triple digits) that Amber had off from work.

Upon arrival, we realize that we left without the stroller. Amber is unwilling to drive back the 20 minutes to retrieve it (which I don't completely blame her for), so we are stuck trying to figure out how we are going to wrangle two large children through the zoo. We decide to rent a stroller.

They only come in single seaters, they are a bit expensive, and they are rigidly upright, which is not ideal for Gabriel.

Unfortunately, Emerald can walk, and has her own source of shade (the gigantic hat my mother bought her for gardening), and Gabriel has neither benefit. He also gets way overheated cuddled up next to sweaty Mama or Amber. So, we strap him into the stroller and head for the gift shop--he is leaning precariously all over the place.

Noticing our dilemma, Aunt Amber decides to buy souvenirs at the beginning of our trip--two long limbed stuffed monkeys in the vibrant shades of neon green and pink--which we drape around Gabriel to hold him upright. He is a boy in heaven, chewing on those monkey friends, and we set out.

There was a petting zoo with goats as we walk in, but we don't deem it a good idea to let the Rampage out amid skittish animals, though she called "goat" as we passed. Clever girl!

After a bit, we stop and get some food--the eating area is really very cool. It has giraffes and elephants and other herbivore animals from the plains wandering around so you can watch them while you eat. Emerald thought they were really very cool--she had just seen Madagascar for the first time, and no doubt associated every giraffe with Melman.

About that time, Gabriel became very very hot. I was growing concerned about his health, though in retrospect, I was probably over-reacting. Anyways, I insisted that we wait inside for a while--we head to the penguin house because it is air-conditioned and they are going to feed the penguins soon in this big afternoon show.

The weirdest thing--there is a large glass wall on the opposite side of the penguins than we are, and it opens back up to see the giraffes, etc. Well, Amber told me that the zoo keeper had informed her that every day during the penguin feeding time, this particular ostrich heads over to watch the show. Sure enough, a half hour before the feeding began, this wide-eyed ostrich sets up camp right outside the penguin exhibit so it can get a front row seat to the show! It was so funny, this weird little osrich. I guess it would get boring in the zoo for the animals--they'd have to figure out something to pass the time.

Emerald had a great time in that exhibit. At one point, she kissed a random little boy on the back and ran off--what a weird little girl!

I was feeling much better at this point, so we continue on in the heat, which the path is luckily shaded.

Surprisingly enough, Emerald's favorite exhibit was the reptile house. She loved this one white snake, and she sat with her face pressed right up to the glass and watched them, yelling to everybody that came in to come and see the funny little snakes. She cried when we left there.

Finally, we took them to the bird walk through, which is a big enclosure where there are a bunch of free range pet-store birds--cockatiels and parakeets, stuff like that. You can buy birdseed covered sticks, and the birds will land right on them and eat.

What we didn't take into consideration was that Amber's bird, Dennis, had bitten the crap out of Emerald earlier that day, which had sent her into a hyperventillating panic attack.

Emerald freaked out, ran up to a random stranger (though, when you are a two-year old, no one is a stranger--sigh) and demanded to be picked up and removed from the frightful place. When random stranger would not take her out, she ran around the enclosure yelling at the birds to "go go go go go!"

All in all, very fun trip--we bought McDonalds for Emerald on the way home, and she had just a wonderful day!

Home Again!!

The kids and I have been gone for a very long three weeks--we had a blast, and loved seeing the Wagner/Mason side of the family, but it is very nice to be back home.

Specifically, it is nice to be back with Michael and an internet connection--sorry I didn't do a better job of keeping the blog updated while I was gone!

The next few posts will try to be a recap of what I missed telling you from being limited to a five-text post.

So, watch out Lubbock--The Rampage is back in town!

Emerald now knows all the hand motion to itsy-bitsy spider! It is so sweet, and I'm amazed at how smart she is!!

Gabriel had a really rough day and we had trouble bonding, but as he fell asleep and he stroked my face so tenderly, all my trouble today was forgotten.

I am so in love with these kids!!

Gabriel's got thrush again, and from what I hear, it is really very painful. He squalled, in his pitifully broken voice, all night. Super.

Hilarity ensued today as Emerald chose her nickname for her Aunt Amber (Andie's sister)--

Tits.

Whenever she is asked who Amber is, she gleefully calls to her. Whenever she desires affection and cuddlings, with her beautiful big brown eyes full of love and her hands grasping at air, she with confidence names her aunt.

I, needless to say, am rolling with breathless laughter while I try and correct this misconception.

Ah, the innocence of childhood.

Great Ganny bought Gabriel some Soothie bottles, and the change was almost shockingly fast--he has less gas, eats more comfortably and fills up more quickly. He is really doing much better with them!

Tonight, my parents church is holding a fourth of July party, and we're taking the kids for hot dogs, homemade ice cream, and a lot of fun! I'll try and post pictures where I can :)