Playdates

Here are some pictures from recent playdates and cousin Adrienne's Fancy Nancy birthday party. There are even a few of Jacob smiling! He has really started smiling, laughing, and talking to us quite regularly. It's just hard to tear yourself away from watching those smiles long enough to grab a camera :) (Vacation pics on their way soon!)

I don't like bugs

...but my daughter does. {sigh} Oh well.

I just spent some time in the backyard to photograph some very gross caterpillars. If you don't like bugs either you should probably not read this post. Don't worry, I don't intend to make bugs a regular topic :) While I was out there I also tried (unsuccessfully) to fix our pool pump and managed to get stung by ants, a fly by buzzing by something with wings, and had one of those HUGE spiders walk right in front of me. Sometimes I really don't like living in the "country".

So, about the caterpillars...they are also huge! And they've been eating our tomato plants. Now that I know they are the culprit, I've been trying to remove them so we can grow some tomatoes once again. Also, we planted pumpkins. I really want the pumpkins to grow...even more than I care about tomatoes. So I don't want the caterpillars to get the pumpkins too. The problem with all of this is that the caterpillars are really good at blending in with the plants and you don't notice them until they are so big that they stand out. And only if you're looking hard for them. By this time, they've eaten a good amount of leaves. I went out with gloves on a couple days ago to pick them off of the plants and Taylor accompanied me with her gloves too. I wish I had gotten some pictures of us. Mommy was such a wuss about it and Taylor actually wanted me to put them in her hands so that she could throw them in the grass. They make this weird clicking noise and emit a green substance when they're being messed with too. She doesn't care! I'm glad she's tougher than me. Next time I'll just send her out there to do my dirty work :) Here are some pictures of the gross green grubbies:

Can you see it? Right in the middle...good camouflage!

Now you see it? Ugh!

Here's two of them. One centered and one to the back left.

It's easy for them to hide in this mess.

Our pumpkin leaves.

More pumpkin plants, next to a random marigold.

Our Little Aggies

We've been to the first two A&M home games this season. The first with Taylor and Jacob and the second with Jacob and one of my best friends from college, Becky. We haven't made it past the 3rd quarter yet with the kiddos! Here's some pictures of our time in Aggieland...

2 months!

Jacob is two months old today! In some ways it seems like the past couple months have gone by so fast and in other ways I can't believe he's only been here two months. I feel like he's such a natural part of our family who's always been here but I'm still getting used to the routine of two kiddos :) At two months Jacob is a sweet, sweet boy and he gives us great smiles all the time. He's been to two Aggie games so far. He loves his baths but hates getting dried off and will scream until his pjs are on. He puts up with Taylor's loudness really well and likes to look at her and smile when she's in his face. I won't discuss his sleeping, so as to not jinx us, but I will say that he is not sleeping through the night regularly yet. He's a good eater and has started putting some time in between feedings. He definitely lets you know when he's hungry though. Jacob will take a pacifier but it's funny because he really doesn't want it all the time like Taylor did. He will spit it out and make a funny face when he doesn't want it. We're all having a great time with him and look forward to all the fun things he'll do and learn soon!

Fishing with Daddy

We packed up the family and went out to Grapeland Thursday. Eric's grandfather has a farm there that we love to go out to. We can fish, shoot, deer hunt, etc. This time we just went for some fishing. We had a great day!

Taylor caught a fish!

Fishing off the pier at the "new" house.

Taylor loved to hold each fish - but only the small ones!

Taylor & Daddy Jack

Jacob's 1st trip to Grapeland!

Imitating the large mouth bass :)

A new dress for Taylor

I made a new dress for Taylor today. Okay, it's almost done...I still have to hem it...and I really don't like hemming :) I found this tutorial online and thought it was so cute that I had to try it. I made a couple of changes (the straps mainly) though. Since it will be a fall dress I thought she needed a little more coverage. I'll try to post a picture of her actually in it soon. I'm sure it will be way cuter on her than on a hanger!

Eric's old dress shirt

cut it all up

the back of the shirt - which becomes the font of the dress

now it can button down the back

top of the pocket became the ruffle on the front

cuffs became the sleeves

Back of the dress - still need hemming

Top front

Tada!

The power of love

I have to type this quickly otherwise it will just be another thought I have that I feel compelled to share but then never do. Taylor and I have had some major power struggles lately which usually end with me being extremely frustrated and defeated and her enduring many time-outs, spankings, yellings, and the like. It's not uncommon for this to revolve around a nap time.

I have been trying to think of what I'm doing wrong, what I could try next, etc. I have been praying about this and it finally occurred to me that when I tell her that she should be "loving" to her friends, toys, and us, I should be doing the same...duh! I know.

Yesterday was an especially bad nap time that I won't even go into detail about. Today, after about 10 min. she came out complaining her nose hurt. Then proceeded to go back and forth between her room and me with various things to tell me. All the while I was repeating in my nicest mommy voice, "Get back in bed, please." Finally, I took her hand to take her back to bed and it was like she was possessed. She just started screaching all the way to her room and into her bed and then kept trying to get off her bed. Each time I just put her back without saying anything. The last time I picked her up I put her in my lap and hugged her and she calmed down immediately. I sat there in her bed and rocked her until she fell asleep and then was overcome by how long its been since I've done this. I sat there looking at her, remembering her features and thinking how lucky she is to have those gorgeous eyelashes!

I just want to say as a reminder to myself and to all my mommy friends that as frustrated as we get with them (especially as two year olds!), they just need to be loved.