21 Months

This month was full of fun celebrations for us. We started off with Bradley's Birthday. Since it was on a weekday, we stayed in town for dinner. I will give you one guess of where he wanted to eat. You got it. Golden Phoenix. We had fun, and he enjoyed the food. I guess that is all that matters.





The next celebration was Valentine's Day. Emmy CLEANED up! She brought home so many sweets and treats that I don't think she could ever eat them all.  We made these cute bags for all of her friends. I got the idea from a post I saw on Pinterest, and then we made it our own.  She has two girls and six boys in her class, so we decided that "when in Rome" we would do as the boys do.



We went to a restaurant in Ganado for dinner with family. Both the food and the company were excellent. We got a lot of laughs from the very modern and trendy decor in the back room they seated us in.  I really want to post a picture, but I would be so embarrassed if they saw this post...it's that mean.

The next day, Emmy and I went to Mrs. Wagner's house after school. Emmy had so much fun running around "talking" to Buttons and Rio. Mary Beth couldn't stop laughing when Emmy said, "No, No Rio!" When he jumped up on the window outside. Faith graciously allowed Emmy to play with some of her American Girl Dolls, and Emmy was enthralled. I foresee many trips to Houston when she is old enough to start wanting to get into those kinds of collections.





The next week was Nana's birthday! We took her to a restaurant in Sugarland called Floyd's. It was a Cajun Seafood/Texas Steakhouse. We had a big group, and we were having so much fun. The food was absolutely delicious. Because of poor planning on their part, they ran out of baked potatoes before I could get mine. Everyone already had their food when they learned of this little "problem." I nicely ordered another side that never showed up. When our waiter came back, I asked him to cancel my side and bring me a piece of cheesecake instead. He apologized and did it with a smile. And just like that, they were back in my good graces. :)





After dinner, we went shopping so Nana could get some new clothes. Bradley and Emmy made their own fun at Kohl's.


 Emmy had her first Sunday afternoon play date that Sunday. After church, we invited Layla to come over and play. The girls played together so well. They got out every doll that Emmy currently owns. They watched a Tinkerbell Fairy movie. They ate a snack. Before we knew it, it was time to go to play practice, and our play date was over.





We also got to visited by a lot of family and friends.



We go to visit with Jackson.



We got to see Shalaine and Kevin.



 We went to Life Church in Houston to see April, Oliver, Mike, Steve and Kathy.



And we hung out with family in town visiting.

I am really trying to enjoy all of the sweet moments that she has been having lately.  It had dawned on me that she really is growing up quickly, and I do not know how much longer she is going to want me to hold her or pick her up.  I keep telling myself to just enjoy it now!

Even little divas need sleep.




Playing with the dish towels at Nana's house.


Sending pictures to Rah Rah so she knows that we miss her.


When I was taking the pictures that are at the bottom of the post, she did not want to cooperate with picture time. Surprise. Surprise.  She told me with attitude, "I want candy."  Since I really wanted to get the picture, I decided that I would give in.  I went and got a packet of Smarties from the kitchen.  I gave her one piece and asked her to smile.  She said no and pointed toward the rest of the candy.  I told her that she couldn't have anymore candy until she smiled for the picture.  Without missing a beat, she said, "No, No Mommy!  Not nice!" and burst into tears.  Life is definitely never boring with Emmy!

She likes: Going on walks in the stroller, playing with her baby dolls, , her "Mon Mon" (sock monkey), her new Duck and Goose books (Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin is still her favorite though), riding in her car, all the puppies, drinking out of "big people cups", giving hugs and kisses, having her way, showing off her belly button, dancing, playing with her baby dolls, being outside, bath time, Shoes (anyone’s will do), parroting our every move and word, "singing", CLIMBING ON EVERYTHING (still), twirling around in circles (as fast as she possibly can), talking on Facetime with Rah Rah, and visiting at Nana's house.
 She dislikes: Being told no, having to share her string cheese, not getting to eat more than one applesauce, waking up in the morning for school (she would still stay asleep through our whole morning routine if I let her), getting into her car seat, having to throw away her breakfast bar if she doesn’t finish before we get to daycare, sitting in the cart at the store buckled in, and having to help clean up/put away toys (she thinks they should stay out all the time).

She eats: Just about anything, but she does have favorites: chicken nuggets, PIZZA (her current favorite), apple breakfast bars, ice cream, Smarties (from Wanda at church), pizza bites, CHICKEN, animal crackers, fruit grain bars, eggs, STRING CHEESE, apple slices, and APPLE SAUCE. She would eat pizza and chicken nuggets at every meal if I let her.

She Says: Daddy, Mama, WahWah (water), Papa, Nana, Rah, Bea, GiGi, Puff, Ball, Dog, Baby, Hug, Kiss, Bite, Yeah, No, Mine, More, Hi, Bye, Night, Nose, Eyes, MonMon (monkey), Juice, Milk, Book, Shoes, Up, Hey, Duck, Nice. She can pretty much repeat anything we say now, and I am not sure whether that is a good thing or not (LOL). She is getting better about saying please (peas) and sometimes thank you (tank you), but I still remind her.  She can identify body parts.  She can count pretty reliably up to about five but sometimes she surprises us and counts to eight.  She still skips the beginning numbers if we prompt her to start counting.  We say, one, two, and she starts with three. One of her favorite phrases is still, “No No.” So everything is “No No Sasha” or “No No Daddy.”
Teeth: 13 teeth!  All of a sudden she wants to smile with her mouth open, so I am finally getting to see some of those pearly whites in pictures! :)

20 Months!!

Just in case she wasn't already, she has officially entered the terrible twos. 
 Four months early. Lucky. Us.




My daughter is destined to be an Oscar Award winning actress. Almost daily we have meltdowns of epic proportions. During said meltdowns, my little actress will throw herself to the floor, usually face down, and flail and thrash around while "crying." This usually lasts approximately 15-60 seconds depending on whether or not she gets what she wants. She turns on the fake tears and hides her face. This is a move that I feel she shouldn't know yet. I don't think I learned that move until my late teens...and even then I probably wasn't nearly as convincing as she is now.






She can be a little mean at times. (There is an understatement if I’ve ever heard one.) At the 20s & 30s mixer at church this month, she was going wild playing with the other kids. I think that it is awesome that she is finally starting to be old enough to join in “the fun” that is running around the Sunday School building like a wild banshee. It really warms my heart (insert eye roll). So when the other kids decided to play a new game called Attack Youth Pastor Jake, she was the first to volunteer as tribute. It started off with all of the kids jumping on him and trying to make him fall, but this lighthearted fun quickly escalated when the children picked up weapons. In the picture below you can see some kids are using pieces of the bowling set, but not my baby. She can’t be all mainstream and use the same kind of toy. No she needed to think of something new and original. So she found a platter in the kid’s kitchen and used it to bash him across the knees. So very proud.








We attended Henry’s 1st Birthday Party this month. This was the best party we have been to in ages. Lauren’s attention to detail made everything really fun and cohesive. Since he was born, she has been taking pictures of him every month with a big stuffed frog, so of course his party theme was frogs. The kids colored little wooden frogs. They went on a frog hunt in the back yard. Even the adults got to join in the fun. All of the food, games, and favors were perfectly planned, and Henry was a champ. He was probably the most fun baby I have ever watched smash a cake, and he was generous enough to want to share it with his dad!








We also made a trip to Marble Falls this month to see some of the Barnes Family. While we were there, we got to see some of Brad’s cousins that live in Colorado. We also got to meet Brodie for the first time. We fed the ducks with Pappy Barnes at the park. And we visited with Grandma and GrandBob in Cedar Park. We had a lot of fun visiting with everyone as always, and hopefully we will get to make more visits down there this year since Brad isn’t working every other weekend.



















Such a busy month is enough to tire some people out!



She likes: Going on walks in the stroller, playing with her baby dolls, , her "Mon Mon" (sock monkey), her new Duck and Goose books, riding in her car, all the puppies, drinking out of "big people cups", giving hugs and kisses, having her way, showing off her belly button, dancing, preparing "meals" with the dishes and food she got for her little kitchen, being outside, bath time, Shoes (anyone’s will do), parroting our every move and word, "singing", CLIMBING ON EVERYTHING, twirling around in circles (as fast as she possibly can), sliding down slides (not crazy about swings), feeding the ducks (she was so incredibly excited the entire time we did this), talking on Facetime with Rah Rah, and staying the night at Nana’s house. This makes her feel like such a big girl.

She dislikes: Being told no, only getting one string cheese at a time, not getting to eat more than one applesauce (she will reduce to tears every time being forced to talk to people at church or the store, waking up in the morning for school, getting into her car seat, having to throw away her breakfast bar if she doesn’t finish before we get to daycare, sitting in the cart at the store buckled in, and having to help clean up/put away toys (she thinks they should stay out all the time).

She eats: Just about anything, but she does have favorites: chicken nuggets, PIZZA (her current favorite), apple breakfast bars, ice cream, Smarties (from Wanda at church), pizza bites, CHICKEN, animal crackers, fruit grain bars, eggs, STRING CHEESE, apple slices, pineapple, and APPLE SAUCE. She would eat pizza and chicken nuggets at every meal if I let her.

She Says: Daddy, Mama, WahWah (water), Papa, Nana, Rah, Bea, GiGi, Puff, Ball, Dog, Baby, Hug, Kiss, Bite, Yeah, No, Mine, More, Hi, Bye, Night, Nose, Eyes, MonMon (monkey), Juice, Milk, Book, Shoes, Up, Hey, Duck, Nice. She is getting really good at repeating things that we tell her. She is also getting better about saying please and sometimes thank you, but I have to remind her. She can identify and say nose, eyes, ears, teeth, eyebrow, cheek, chin, mouth, teeth, hair, toes, feet, and arms. If we start counting, she will say one, two, THREE. Her new phrase of choice is “No No.” So everything is “No No Sasha” or “No No Daddy.” Lord help us if she starts telling everyone no!

Teeth: Definitely has 11 teeth, but has been super crank and chewing on everything so I anticipate more in the immediate future.

19 Months

Emmy had a busy month of December.


She went to College Station for Aunt B' graduation. WHOOP!  She did a great job of sitting in the auditorium for the most part, but after Brittany's name was called, my dad took her outside to play.  While she was with him, he let her do pretty much whatever she wanted and she got to "take a ride" on one of the A&M golf carts.  Of course by the time we all made it outside for pictures, she was fast asleep and refused to wake up.  Great memories.


The next day, we went to Mom and Dad's house for Britt's party, and Emmy had a good time playing and soaking up attention from everyone there.  She got to play with Ollie and Halle and loved it.


She had her Christmas party at school on the Thursday before we got out.  Unfortunately, I couldn't go because of the time in the morning that they had it, so there aren't any pictures.  Santa did come to see them, so maybe she wasn't as mean to him as she was at Sonic.


We had three different Christmas events to attend this year, but you can read more about those in separate posts.  Emmy made away with a really good haul, and she loves all her new babies and toys.


After Christmas, it was Mommy and Emmy time for the rest of month 18 for Emmy because I didn't go back to the school until the 7th of January.  We watched movies, cleaned, had dance parties, made stuff, took pictures, played, and just relaxed and had fun.  I love getting to have that kind of quality time with her, and I consider the time off to be one of the best parts of my job. 


She likes: Her new yellow convertible!, Playing with her baby dolls, carrying around blankets and covering people, her "Mon Mon" (sock monkey), books (especially Duck and Goose), pictures (there is a picture at Mom's house of Kari as a baby that she is especially fond of carrying around), riding in her car, going for walks, the puppies, drinking out of a straw from "big people cups", giving hugs, giving mouth kisses (not just to Mommy and Daddy), having her way, belly buttons (and she will lift your shirt to see it), dancing, preparing "meals" with the dishes and food she got for her little kitchen,  being outside (when we will take her), baths (the water must run the whole time and we fight when she has to get out), boots, trying on any pair of grown-up shoes that she can and modeling them, trying to repeat everything we say, "singing",  her doll car seat, CLIMBING ON EVERYTHING, twirling around in circles, identifying body parts, and coloring with markers and crayons.

She dislikes: Being told no, only getting one string cheese at a time, not getting to eat more than one applesauce (she will reduce to tears every time), being picked up by people she doesn't know well, waking up in the morning for school, sitting in the cart at the store buckled in, brushing her teeth, and having to help clean up/put away toys (she thinks they should stay out all the time).

She eats: Just about anything, but she does have favorites: chicken nuggets, pizza, blueberry breakfast bars, ice cream, smarties (only occasionally), pizza bites, CHICKEN,  carrot slices, Ritz crackers, animal crackers, fruit grain bars, eggs, STRING CHEESE, apple slices, pineapple, and APPLE SAUCE.  She would live off of cheese and applesauce if I let her.

She Says: Daddy, Mama, WahWah (water), Papa, Nana, Rah, Bea, GiGi, Puff, Ball, Dog, Baby, Hug, Kiss, Bite, Yeah, No, Mine, More, Hi, Bye, Night, Nose, Eyes, MonMon (monkey), Juice, Milk, Book, Shoes, Up, Hey, Duck, Nice.  She is getting really good at repeating things that we tell her. She is also getting better about saying please and sometimes thank you, but I have to remind her.  She can identify and say nose, eyes, ears, teeth, eyebrow, cheek, chin, mouth, teeth, hair, toes, feet, and arms.  If we start counting, she will say one, two, THREE.  She can pretty much parrot anything, but we still have trouble with "L" sounds.  Marlee was Ma-EEE when she came to visit.  Lily is Yily.  When I tell her something she loves to tell me "I know" like she's already a teenager or something.  It's cute for a little while.

Teeth: I need to verify because she has had her fingers in her mouth chewing, but I think she has 11 teeth now.  Two top molars all the way decended and one bottom molar.

Rives Christmas

Christmas Day was full of twists and spins for us this year.  To start off, we didn't get home until the wee hours of the morning. Once we arrived, I still had to go home and wrap presents for my sisters and parents that I had neglected to wrap before leaving for Beaumont two days before.  I finally got the presents wrapped and we went to bed.

We did not wake up until after 11:00 A.M.  I was freaking out because my family had not called us or anything.  I thought something must have been wrong with my phone.  Nope.  They were still asleep too.  They stayed up extra late putting Emmy's new car together, so they were sleeping in.  We lazed around at our house for a little while longer and let Emmy open a couple of her presents.  Around 1:00, we headed over to my parent's house in our pajamas to open presents and eat a late breakfast.











Emmy loved opening presents this year.  All of the bright paper and being able to rip into it delighted her.  When it was time for her to get her big present, we were all really excited.  When she saw her yellow car, she didn't even know what to do she was so excited.  She jumped in and wanted to drive it right away.





We watched movies and hung out all afternoon just enjoying the day.  The wind started blowing really hard, and we struggled to take a family picture before we ate dinner.










When we came back in the house, the power had gone out.  Luckily, dinner was already done, so we didn't need electricity to continue cooking.  We lit candles and had flashlights illuminating the room.  It was a little stuffy inside, so we had the doors open with just the screen door shut.  This made me a little nervous because you never know who might be out in the middle of a storm looking for a place to go.  All of a sudden, there was a knock on the door.

Nathan and Katie showed up!  They were out of power at their house as well and had loaded up the girls to go for a drive.  They came in and ate dinner with us. Just as we were finishing up dinner, the power came back on.  It was definitely a memorable Christmas!

Nelson Christmas

This Christmas Eve was bittersweet for the Nelson Clan.  Every year for as long as I can remember, we have spent Christmas Eve at my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Steve's house.  Since my uncle retired, they will probably be selling their house in Channelview and moving permenently to the Toledo Bend area.  We had a lot of fun, ate a lot of good food, and made lots of memories.  We also (of course) had to set up a small photoshoot for the babies since we want to have Christmas pictures of the three of them every year.  I apologize in advance if the volume of pictures that I post after this exceedes yoru interest in our Christmas celebration. :)

My little Hipster Baby! 


Happy Halle Cheesing it up for the camera!


If I had to make a caption for this picture, it would say, "So what do you think they will do with us next, Halle?"


Emmy and Ollie!


The Three Musketeers!  I hope that they will be as close as we all were growing up.  Cousins are the best friends!


Our handsome little man!


Mike with the girls!  Caption: "He thinks he's such a ladies man doesn't he Emmy?"