ROOOAAAD TRRRIIIPPP!!!

We took Emmy's first road trip to the land of the t-sips this weekend for the official end of our wedding careers (Well at least we think it an end...However, we will still be extremely excited to be in your wedding if you're a friend and not married and we've forgotten about you =) ) Blake was honored to be a groomsman in his good friend Brian's wedding. Brian and Blake have been friends for a VERY long time. They grew up together in Sugar Land before Brian moved to Dallas, but later roomed together at A&M. We decided to make it a college roomie weekend and also got to have a catch-up brunch with my former roomie Carissa.

We got a good start on Friday night with the rehearsal and dinner. After the rehersal we dropped Emmy off with Boppa and Lanny (who were AWESOME and helped watch Emmy all weekend) while we attended the rehearsal dinner. Now, Emmy usually goes to bed no later than 8, so when we got home at 10 we assumed we were good-to-go. Wrong! Child was bouncing up and down on the bed, laughing and talking. We finally got her down in the pack and play right after this...

...(If you can't read the clock it says 11:14)...only to have her wake up about two hours later screaming. The only thing that would make her stop crying is to sleep basically on my head while she wacked me in the face with her pacifier periodically. Poor baby is so stopped up she snores like a grown man. Let's just say I was not going to do a lot of sleeping.

After our nice restful sleep we got up early for a little sight-seeing light. Since it was 850 degrees outside, so we did as much as we could inside. This means we ate A LOT. We started with the Sweetish Hill Bakery for breakfast, and of course sugar cookies.

The we headed over to the Capitol. Betsy had taken a picture during her bridal session I wanted to recreate with the Bemmers. Success!!!!


We had this great idea to put Emmy on the middle of the seal in the rotunda of the Capitol while Blake ran upstairs and took the shot from above. That's Emmy the ant on the star. Brilliant idea Kristen.

The wierd thing is that once we put her down there, literally 10 people started taking pictures of her, including the state trooper guarding the place. One lady asked me if she could hold her. REALLY!!! NO...you may not hold my baby strange sweaty lady I don't know. Seriously???

After lunch at Hula Hut we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the big day. The wedding was gorgeous, and we headed over to the reception for dinner and dancing!

Emmy hit the floor to Tina Turner (She's a big Rollin on the River fan) and slow danced with her Daddy. Yes, Emmy was a BIG super bow-head for the wedding and she's probably going to hate me for these pictures later, but when you have a really poufy dress, you need a big bow. That, and I ran out of time to go buy a smaller one, and this one matched.

We captured a SUPER peepaw face in this one...

She was a trooper and made it until about 10 (because we all know she's not going to sleep before then!) when Boppa and Lannie took her home.

All I have to say about the rest of the night is this...

Fun roadtrip weekend, gorgeous wedding, fun time with fam, BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL bed in my own house...

Seven Month Photo Shoot

Last month flew by SO fast, I couldn't believe it was time to be taking pictures again. She wasn't her usual perky self for some reason, but we still got a few. We even managed to capture one of her standing up by herself. In most of the pictures, she was doing some form of patty cake. She's all about that right now!

You Won't Believe It Until You See It!

If you have been reading our blog you know that our darling little girl does not have an affinity for crawling. She rather loathes it...its usually one attempt followed by an extended try at standing up, holding onto something and falling on her small butt. Well, after picking her up from day care today and letting her sleep for 30 minutes due to the sheer exhaustion of playing with all of her new friends in the water on splash day, she did something rather remarkable. It was incredible really.

On a side note, I have picked Emmy up from day care twice now, and twice she is playing with the same little girl when I get there, and twice as I pick Emmy up off the floor that same little girl starts crying uncontrollable. Its sad, very sad, but cute as well I guess. I'm not sure if she's crying because she wants someone to pick her up, or, if its because her friend is leaving for the day. The fact that they are together makes me think the latter.

But back to the main point of the post...Emmy took her first step...seven months old, not really able to crawl, and now taking a step. I was not able to catch the blessed moment on film but I did get a couple of quick videos of her standing on her own right after it happened. And Ann, I can promise you, it did happen...What's next for the little one you ask? Tomorrow we begin potty training...kidding...

Water Babies

This actually happened a while ago, but is too good not to put up! We almost gave the people at Protrait Innovations a heart attack when 24 parents and 12 kiddos under the age of 1 showed up to all take a picture together! Betsy took a water aerobics class at the Y while she was pregnant and the class turned into a little mom's group. It's been a year since they all met each other, so they decided to commemorate with a group picture. Since they are the water aerobics class, they call themselves the water babies (that's why they're all in swimsuits.) We've been adopted as part of the group, so we were invited to be part of the occasion!

When there was only one or two kids at the store, the Portrait Innovations people looked ok, but when we started to fill the entire lobby, they started getting a LITTLE peeved. Sassy might be a good word for how the dude was acting after about twenty minutes of "I you're happy and you know it " sung in stereo, a few screaming kids, and moms running in the picture every ten seconds to save someone from falling, poking someone in the eye, or wandering off.

Amazing managed to take a picture of all 12 babies where no one was throwing a massive fit, toddled off, or fell over and hit their head. It's too cute!

Here's a few of the outtakes. They're a lot funnier =) The CD won't let me rotate them, so just turn your head sideways =)

Rolling Right Along...7 months and 60 years!

No, we didn't go bonkers and rent out a hall for Emmy's 7th cupcake picture.

This time Emmy shared her monthday cupcakes with Boppa! We celebrated his 60th birthday with a big party on Saturday night! It was an adult's only party but we snuck Emmy in the back door for a few minutes until the babysitters could arrive (they were all invited!)

Unfortunately, we were too busy drinking margaritas and dancing to take many pictures, but here's a few that we did get. Hopefully someone will send us some! Hint hint =)

Did someone say naked sparkling? It must be the 4th of July!

Hope your 4th turned out better than my very patriotic red velvet cupcakes....

Stay away from the whipped icing people. It's disaster in a plastic can. These were later crumbled into Bluebell for a nice save. We spent the day up at the Lake at my mom's cousin Stacie's gorgeous house. There were a ton of people there inlcuding lots of little kids and tons of teenagers and more cousins than you can count. Mom and Dad rented a jet ski and we took turns blasting around the lake. Guess you can add this to our list of stupid things to do with a six month old...

You can stop calling CPS now...no babies were harmed during the taking of this picture...Emmy did about 65 out there, jumping wakes and doing handstands... :) I made VERY slow turns (think 5 mph) but watch out on the straightaways becasue I hit the big 47!!! For those of you who know my driving skills you will be glad to know that jetskiing involves no stopping so we were all pretty safe =)

Emmy had her own swimming digs that she shared with her fourth (?) cousin Lucy.

We also solved the great mystery of why Emmy won't seem to eat her veggies anymore.

Hmmm, might it be that they just don't taste as good as sand tarts? OR coconut creme pie????

Emmy's Great-great-great- Aunt Ada Beth made her this beautiful quilt! What a spoiled little girl!

For a nice white trash ending, we topped off the day with a little naked sparkling!

Before you get too excited, the rest of us kept our clothes on. Thank goodness. These sparklers cost a big buck and we know why. L_A_M_E!!! Since when are sparklers metal? I don't remeber that. The fact that we did them in the 90 degree heat at 8:30 didn't help either. It gets dark too late for infant sparkling. They had a burn time of about .73 seconds and it was super windy, so we had to light them in the garage and then do a REALLY quick patriotic run to the flag two houses down the street to nab this awesome picture. You were required to sing "I'm proud to be an American" while you ran. You can see, Laura and Sean run faster than we do. All five of Blake's sparked out during the run.


If you were thinking of the song "Redneck Woman" while looking at this picture, it's okay. maybe we can add "I'll stand barefooted with lake hair, in my own front yard, with a naked sparkler box eating baby on my hip..." As usual, Emmy would've rather just had the box...

So we leave you with this little bit of Patriotism... pink and green clash slightly with red, but who cares! Watermelon and the 4th of July don't! Emmy says Happy birthday America!

Where Have We Gone...

Two week hiatus! Two week hiatus! It may as well been four weeks with the amount of things happening around here. In fact, over the last weekend, Collin, Betsy, Kristen and I took a kid free trip to Mexico. You heard it here first...no Caroline...no Bemmers...just the adults in Mexico. Emmy had an extended sleepover at GiGi and Pop's house, which she loved. She got to know some of her cousins better, as well as a great Aunt and Uncle and of course her very own Aunt and Uncle. She even had time to play with the dogs. She absolutely loves dogs! Of course, we won't mention all of the "fun" food items she gets when she goes for a vacay at the grandparents...Diet Coke, donut holes, mexican food...wait, those remind me of someone's very favorite foods and drink...I won't name names...

While sad, Kristen and I were able to get in Collin and Betsy's ride and go to the airport for our first trip away. By the way, great collaborative effort not to have Tim take us to the airport with the Bemmers in tow, that could have been a little hairy...Kristen only bawled once, very much the trooper. An hour and 50 minutes later we were in the Cancun airport. 45 minutes after that we were in our suites at the Valentin Imperial Maya. 20 minutes after that I had a drink and was sitting on a raft floating in the pool. Mexico really can be great.

If any of you are interested in going to Mexico, now may be the time. Low prices, basically deserted and great weather...well at least most of the time...we had a blast! From the rollin surf and boogey boardin to the Texas Hold'em to the relaxin by the pool, it was a vacation that the four of us all enjoyed.



Kristen and I were even able to scratch something else off the life to do list. Sunday morning we got up, 5:30 am to be exact, and boarded a bus for XCarat. There we did something that I know my baby has been wanting to do for some time, swim with the Dolphins...Now, the weather was not ideal, overcast, raining on and off...but the Dolphins were plentiful! Kristen and I had our pictures taken with a dolphon kissing each of us, petting the dolphin and holding its fins. We evern had the chance to be pushed through the water by a pair of dolphins. "Pushed through the water by dolphins?" you may be asking...think the original Jaws, when the girl is being attacked by the great white and she is being tossed through the water by the buoy only to be eaten shortly there after. Just like that, without the blood and guts portion at the end...We wanted all the pics and the video, but at $25 bucks per pic we could only afford a pair, so feast your eyes on $50 worth of picture amazement and wonder.


We did make it back to the states, and we did get our Bemmers back. She has quite the personality now, but that is the subject of another post on another day. Before we left she had been trying desperately to crawl and stand up on her own. Well, she's still working on the crawling but standing up is no longer a problem, and sitting down all day is not an option.

Since we came home from Mexico she also has started talking more and more. Daddy is ecstatic with the new progress...I think everyone will recognize what she is saying...

6 Months!

It's the big 6 month picture shoot! I started to think that maybe I needed to do something special for the 6 month one because everybody does. Then I realized that most people aren't obsessive and don't go take pictures every month. We did these at 4:30 Sunday after a LOOOONG weekend full of driving all over the place and no naps, so she did pretty well. The photographer was just "eh". Think I'm back to Portrait Innovations. She was in open mouth mode. She was channeling her cousin abby's signature pose... =)

Our 100th Post!

So Blake and I have been talking about our hundreth post for about a week now and planned out a cool Top 10 list with our favorite pictures of the few years with witty captions and timelines..... yeah, we're WAY too tired to do a cool Top 10 list with witty captions.... besides we all know what #1 would be anyway...

Here's out #1 on her 1/2 year birthday! I thought mini-cupcakes would be fun since she's so big now (and this cupcake thing is getting expensive). Mini Cupcake juuuuust fit into mini-hands... I can't wait for the panicked call from daycare tomorrow about the smurf poo.....