Sunday

Sunday found the Wearden clan on a day trip to Eastland!

As Pappy--Mike's geat grandfather, Rhonda's Dad's dad--'s health has been deteriorating, we wanted to go see him while we had the opportunity. So Sunday, we loaded up the car and headed east.

For the first half of the trip, the kids generally slept--we got McDonald's breakfast, which I haven't had in who knows how long...is it just me, or does the southern style chicken biscuit have the faint taste of pickles? Ah, well, anyways...

We made a stop over in Abilene to change the babies and congratulate Jarrod and Julia on getting pregnant--YAY! for babies!--and travel the last leg of the trip, the hour to Eastland.

The kids start freaking out, poor things. They are tired of being in the car, they want to be held...

We go out to lunch with Rhonda's Aunt Ann and Uncle Butch, to this little Italian restraunt by the name of Valentinos. It was like nothing I have ever tasted, one might say--Mike got the alfredo canolli, and I got the pasta sampler with the lasagna, canolli, and manicotti. Emerald ordered cheese raviolis with no sauce, but she didn't touch it.

Afterwards, we went back to gigi and pappy's and had a nice visit. For the most part, one of us was chasing Emerald, who gleefully rampaged throughout the house, and the other kept an eye on the Gabe, but we still managed to socialize a bit.

Finally!

Emerald ate corn!

I know most people are like, "so what? Big deal--kids love corn"

Not my little girl.

It was the one thing she just would not touch whenever we offered it to her. She didn't outright hate it, she just showed zero interest in it.

The parenting books all told me to just keep offering it, and don't make a big deal if she doesn't eat it. It said it could take up to 15 times of seeing the food before they might try it, and don't give up hope.

Well, out of nowhere last night, she eats her entire serving of steamed corn! I was so proud of her!!



As an aside--I know a lot of people argue that if my family hadn't made such a big deal out of it when I was growing up, I would probably love mayonnaise, or even tolerate it today. So you know, mayonnaise is the very devil of creations, and since it is literally one of the worst foods you can put inside your body, I will stick by my "My mommy doesn't make me eat mayonnaise!". Blech :-&

Summer Days

The children and I are making the most of our clean, spacious backyard and beautiful weather lately--nearly every day now, we spend time out in the sunshine =)

At first, our sojourns outside were tedious--I would have to get out the stroller, strap Gabriel into it (who was usually very fussy by that point), get Emerald all dressed and ready to go, strap her in and set her up with a snack, a book, and a drink so that she would not crawl out while I searched for my phone and camera and keys...and even then, we were confined to how patient the kids were willing to be.

Trips outside to color with chalk were not much better, because Gabriel was still confined to the stroller that I had to manuever outside while wrangling Emerald and the chalk bucket, but I constanty worried that Emerald was going to run off into the street.

The backyard originally was a very poor place for us to spend time. There was stuff left there by the previous tenents that were frankly not safe for children, and it was just a little unpleasant to be in.

A few weeks ago, the land lord got a landscaper to take out some of the more unruly bushes, and upon seeing the disaster that was our backyard, ordered maintaince to clean it up. They truly went above and beyond, turning our dingy patch of grass into a sanctuary.

With generous donations from family members, including a patio set complete with umbrella-ed table and four chairs, as well as a fisher price slide, the transformation was complete. I can take a towel out there and let Gabriel lay, staring up at the sky or marvelling at the tufts of grass he tears out with his chubby fists. Emerald can color freely out there without fear of retribution--I mean, what is the worst she can do? The rain will wash away any stray marks, and she has a fresh template every day.

She slides, she plays with big bouncy balls, she chases the dog and dies laughing when she is covered in slobbery Pepper kisses. And she jokes and plays and there is none of the tension where I am afraid she is somewhere doing something she is not supposed to be. Where she is constantly on guard to not do anything that will get her in trouble, but vertibly itching to explore.

I love our time in the backyard--it opens up a whole new realm of possibilities and helps me keep calm when I feel the weight of two children and insurmountable housework will do me in.

~Andie~

Entertaining!

Michael and I are entertaining tonight! I got up early, and set boneless ribs in the crockpot to slow cook all day in jack daniel's barbeque sauce (mmm, mmm!)--the truly impressive part of this story is that I got FIVE WHOLE POUNDS of ribs for just under $5. Seriously. I don't think anyone is as impressed as I am with that transaction, but I was ecstatic.

Anyways, we are making cheesy mashed potatoes and mac and cheese to go with it, plus making a batch of brownies for dessert. This is going to be so much fun!

S-D Company Picinic

I apologize for not having written in so long--re-adjusting to our former lives, pre-vacation, has been more difficult than I had reackoned, including frequent updates on the small details of our lives! I promise to try harder, however. =)

This past Monday was the annual company picinic for Scoggin-Dickey, which Michael works at now--have I forgotten to mention that? We are so very thankful that he does, because it means that he no longer works the late, late hours he did before.

Either way, it was held at Joyland, the Disney Land of the great plains ; )
The kids, Michael and I, as well as Gram and Pawpaw attended.

We went the year before, since Ken works there as well, but I was pregnant with Gabriel at the time, and Emerald was too young to really enjoy any of the rides--not so this time!

Dinner was pretty good--it was fried catfish and fried chicken, with peach and cherry cobblers and giant cakes for dessert. We were all very surprised when Emerald chowed down on the fried catfish, but it didn't manage to hold her attention for very long. I met some very nice co-workers of Michael's.

Post-dinner, it was time to head on into the park to enjoy some good ol' fashioned carnival rides. Oh, boy.

Her and I went on this antique car ride, where the cars go around in a tight circle, and you get to haphazardly swerve the steering wheel and hold down numerous obnoxious sounding horn buttons until the ride is over. Next to the merry-go-round and behind the obscenely loud roller coaster, Emerald walked away all smiles, and Mama walked away all severe migraines.

After that, Daddy took her on the Merry-Go-Round. She had SO much fun--she was wavin at us on the side-lines, and grimacing everytime the horsey went up...Michael said that near the end, she was yelling "GO GO GO!" to the horse!

Once again Mama's turn to accompany her on a ride, we set up on a little pod car track, which looks pretty straight forward--all rides for kids this age go in circles. What we did not account for was the rocketing speed or wild pivoting the pod cars did--Emerald squealed with glee, and Mama was the proud owner of a migraine and nausea.

Don't even say it--I know, I am a serious wimp, and NO, I am NOT pregnant.

Finally, back to Daddy, he takes her on the helicopter ride, which adds the third demension of up and down to the ride--it goes in circles, and you can raise and lower your personal helicopter by yanking on the bar in front of you.

After that, I (being the big sissy I am) desperately wanted to go home, so we loaded up the kids and treked back to the house. Patrick brought me some advil and Michael got me a route 44 ice water from Sonic, and let me sit in the dark in my bath and let the meds kick in. I fell into a very deep sleep and woke up Tuesday morning right as rain!