Yogurt Baby

There is a little girl in San Antonio named Ainslee who is only a couple weeks older than Emerson. Her mom Cara is very brave and lets her eat all on her own. I resist Emerson feeding herself messy foods most of the time, but tonight I gave into the yogurt. It doesn't bother me at all if she is eating non-messy foods, but I really don't like all of the mess of some foods. But I was determined that I could do it.

Emerson loved feeding herself the yogurt. She liked it so much that she almost the entire container and I was able to eat my dinner all by myself. Lately Emerson will eat a little of what is on her plate--chicken, cheese, baby cheetos, black beans, etc, then she wants out of her high chair and in my lap.

Once she finished eating we walked straight to the tub for her bath. It was a very enjoyable dinner and we will definitely do it again. Thanks Cara!

King Tut

On Thursday, May 14, 2009, Ryan and I made the drive over to Dallas to see the King Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art.

I remember mom and dad taking the 3 of us girls to see the Ramsey's exhibit in Fort Worth when I was young and how much I enjoyed it.

Ryan and I dropped Emerson off at Pioneer Drive that morning and drove to the Metroplex. We stopped in Fort Worth to have an early lunch. Ryan really wanted a hamburger so we stopped at Pappa's Burgers.



We found the museum without any trouble thanks for our handy, dandy GPS. How did I ever survive with out and my i-phone? I will never know.

We were there in plenty of time so we started out by watching the 3-D Egypt movie. It was a great way to start the afternoon and to get us in the mood for all things Egypt.





We had to wait in line for almost 40 minutes to get into the exhibit. Ryan was not happy about the wait, and I tried to explain to him that long lines were part of life.



The items in the exhibit were exquisite. Most were not from King Tut, but I try not to dwell on that part. I loved all of the jewelry and gold boxes from the tombs. There was one box that was from King Tut's tomb that was about the size of a small foot stool. It was adorned in gold and depicted King Tut and his wife in friendly, playful poses all over it. You could tell how much they were in love just from this one box.



Ryan picked out a fun t-shirt, fridge magnet, and really cool King Tut box from the gift shop. We left the museum exhausted but full of lots of new knowledge about Egypt.

Mother's Day 2009

Happy Mother's Day to all of the special women in my life. To my mom for her infinite wisdom, guidance, and unconditional love. To my grandma for putting so much spark into everything that she does and showing us all how to live life to the fullest.

Today we celebrated all the moms in our family with a special brunch at my grandparent's house. The food was wonderful and we all ate way too much bacon. We had 3 different kinds of waffles and grandma made biscuits and milk gravy. I even got to help with the gravy and think I might be able to make it on my own. I know that Brad will love this since milk gravy is his favorite food next to a giant ribeye.

Everyone that knows me, knows that I love being a mom. I truly feel that God gave me a calling to be called mom. I am not a perfect mom--far from it, but I love my children with all my heart and I strive to show them God's love everyday.

I am a different kind of mom. I am a mom who has buried a child. I am thankful that not many moms bear that title. It is not a "cool" club to belong to. I hold my children extra tight and give into 5 more hugs before bed because we are not guaranteed anything on this earth. I hold my baby more than I should and think about my precious babies every second of the day. I still wake up several times a night to make sure that Emerson is OK even though she sleeps 2.5 feet from my bed.

I remember what it felt like 9 years ago when I became a mom. I was so happy to finally be a part of one of my favorite celebrations. My mom is an amazing woman and has always been an inspiration to me. When we were small she stayed home with us then she finished her bachelor's degree in 3 1/2 years. How she did this with 3 small children I will never know. My mom is an amazing teacher, phenomenal Grammy, fantastic mom, and my best friend. She is a woman to look up to. I remember thinking that day that I had big shoes to fill if I wanted to hold a candle to my mom.




Rachael & Ryan, Spring 2001





May 2006





Spring 2009

Soccer with Miriam

Ryan was so excited that Miriam and Aunt Amy joined his usual cheering section of his mom & dad, little sister, Grammy, and Grandma & Grandpa. It was a lot of fun having them with us. There is definitely a learning curve between soccer with Uncle Mina and Upward Soccer. Miriam was very vocal about the action on the field. She was calling all kinds of things out to Ryan for him to do. We had to tell her that he would have no idea what she was talking about. Ryan scored a goal and was thrilled.

The game ended in a tie but we didn't care. We were just happy to all be together. We went out for an early lunch at Arby's, our usual after game restaurant.

The Big Science Birthday Party!

On May 9, 2009, we had Ryan's birthday party at my mom's house. We had the best time and Ryan rates this the best birthday party ever! He really wanted a science party (or skating party) and I spent the last few months trying to come up with really great ideas that wouldn't do me in. I tend to go a little overboard on Ryan's parties (I know, you are surprised) but I was determined not to do "too much."

Friday night my mom, Amy, and I pre-assembled beaker name badges to have the kids wear when they first go to the party. We also made a great jell-o mold with red jell-o and giant bugs in it. It turned out so cool.





When the kids arrived we had them write their name on the name badge. Then we gave them their own scientist bag with safety glasses, a bug collector case, and bug tongs. We sent everyone out on a bug hunt while we waited on everyone to arrive. I was amazed at the bugs they brought back. I also learned that Becka Schmidt is such a good bug catcher!









Next, we made green slime from corn starch and green water. The kids really enjoyed measuring things and mixing together the ingredients. We had a few zip loc bags tear, but all in all we kept the mess under control. It also helped that everyone wore their own lab coat.







All of the kids were STARVING by 5:30 so we took a break for chili dogs and chips. The kids ate their food in 3 seconds flat and were ready for more action. I had to beg to get to eat one chili dog! The kids loved the bright green and blue cupcakes and Ryan loved all of the gifts! He was extremely blessed.







I have learned the way to a kid's heart--BINGO. Who knew? We played Christmas bingo at Emerson's 1st birthday and tonight we played Nature Bingo. The big kids were so kid to help the little ones out. We offered a choice of two prizes for the winner of each round--bubbles or an extra Diet Coke to shoot off with Mentos. It was nice to take a little break and sit down for a couple of minutes before MENTOS TIME!



The big event of the party was Diet (H-E-B) coke and Mento's. It started out nice and calm, but once the first bottle shot out the kids were wired! They were all screaming and carrying on. We let each kiddo take a turn with their 16.9 ounce bottles and 4 mentos. Once all of the kids had a turn we decided to get creative. I thought it would be fun to shoot two off at a time. I love good intentions; they always get me in trouble. I handed Kyle Kahl one bottle and Kallan Christopher another. I don't know what happened to Kyle's bottle but the pin came out and it shot straight up. Kallan got caught up in the moment and pulled the other pin out and shot his bottle straight at my Jeep. The weather was so nice that I had all 4 windows down. It never occured to me that I might want to consider moving it before we started with the mentos. It is amazing that the Mentos managed to shoot diet coke through the entire vehicle and out the other side. Now that's force! Not 2 minutes later Kason Christopher was asking me what to do with his that he had just shot off when I managed to fumble a ready to go launcher off the hood of the Jeep directly on to Cody Christopher and myself. I laughed until I cried. I told Cody that I would have been better off telling Kason to pour his bottle out on my feet.









We ended the night by trying out the wind tube. Mom had gotten it at a workshop and hadn't gotten to try it out on a bunch of kids herself. She asked all of the kids who was full of the most hot air. Of course, they all immediately chimed, "Ryan" in unison. I wasn't surprised and had warned mom the night before. Ryan had to try to blow up the tube using the fewest puffs. He puffed about 10 times and realized that it wasn't filling up. We had the kids take turns doing the same thing. They all thought it was hilarious. Then it's my mom's turn to show them how it's done. She opens up the opening of the tube really wide and blows about 3 times and fills the entire tube up. The kids were amazed!











I can't write an entire post without talking about Emerson. I am so proud of my little 16 month girl. She took two naps today and was so well behaved. She spent the evening playing with her daddy, Brittney, Chad, Chris Ferguson, and anyone that would have her. I can't thank everyone enough for entertaining her so that I could focus on the other 13 kids at the party.







We actually finished the party 30 minutes ahead of schedule and everyone was ready to go home. I think that everyone was beyond exhausted--I know that I was. Amy was so awesome and had cleaned everything up while the party was going on so I was able to get out of their before 8:00. Ryan was croaking off to go to Target to spend his gift cards so we headed to town. Emerson fell asleep before we left Quail Country and didn't wake up until we were back home almost an hour and a half. Ryan still had a lot of energy, but I told him we had to go home before I fell asleep walking through Target.

Happy Birthday Ryan

Happy Birthday Ryan Bradley! I can't believe that today Ryan turned 9 years old. Where have the last 9 years gone? It truly feels like yesterday that I was holding this tiny little boy who was black & blue from his wild entry into this world. Ryan was born at 9:59 pm on May 7, 2000, at Abilene Regional Medical Center. He weighed 8 pound 11.7 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. He had so much dark brown hair and two black eyes and a huge bruise on his forehead. Thankfully all of these went away within the first month, except for the spot on his forehead that still shows up when he gets really mad. Here is a picture of my dad and Ryan. This is the day that Ryan stole his heart. From this day forward, Ryan became the center of the universe (until Miriam arrived and they had to share, of course!)





Here is Ryan today--lean, tall, dark hair, super smart, and stubborn as his mama. I am very proud of him and can't believe what a big kid he has become. Ryan woke up at 6:30 so that he could open his presents from his daddy and me. He received two lego Star Wars sets, and a 8 new t-shirts for this summer. Five of them were "DJ" shirts so he was beyond excited. For those of you who aren't familiar with "DJ" shirts, they are really trendy t-shirts with rock star graphics. He picked out the red one to wear to school today since red is his favorite color. He had a great day at school and we took him to Mr. Gatti's for his birthday dinner. It was great that Brad was off and we all went as a family.

May 6, Dinner at Grandma's

This week has been completely crazy. I feel like I am so far behind that I don't stand a chance of ever getting caught up.

Grandma & Grandpa had us all over for dinner again at their house. It was really nice that Brad was off tonight because he got to come. Mom made us really yummy chicken fajitas and we had such a good time visiting. I can't remember the last big family event that Brad got to attend in its entirety.

Not Me Monday!

I have been following Mckmama for quite a few months now. I laugh my tail end off at all of the Not Me posts and thought I would give it a try.

I did not turn 32 this last week. I did not eat multiple deserts every day because I am strictly following a diet and I did not celebrate my birthday for 5+ days now.

I did not let Emerson go 5 days without a bath since we did not stay out late almost every night.

I did not let Sam the Kitten purr in my ear for an hour while I was trying to go so sleep because I was too tired to get up and throw him out.

I did not sing my A,B,Cs over and over especially when Emerson was not around.

I did not miss Ryan's soccer game because it was raining and cold on Saturday morning.

I did not arrive at work at 9:00 every day last week because I am always on time.

I did NOT give in and buy Ryan another ridiculous toy at Kohl's last night.

I did not try out Diet Coke & Mentos tonight in anticipation of Ryan's birthday party.

I did not seriously contemplate putting duct tape (sure it comes in pink) on Emerson's diapers.

I did not do the happy dance in the bathroom tonight because Emerson went on the potty before her bath. Sorry Brittney, there is no video of that one. :)

Emerson did not eat her first handful of dirt tonight at mom's house. I totally did not think to myself, "Well, it's about time."

I am definitely not attending a wedding tomorrow (Tuesday) at 5 pm. Did I mention that it was NOT on a Tuesday at 5 pm.

I am not sad that Ryan is turning 9 years old on Thursday.