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Friday, July 29, 2011

Tomatoes, pumkins, and weeds... OH MY!

Rachel here. It's been difficult keeping up with the garden while we've been out of town. We're lucky enough to have a great friend who watered it on occasion for us, and was happy to be paid in squash and zucchini to puree for her wee tot. :) As we prepare to head out again this weekend, I decided to take a peek at the veggies to see what was up. I was MORE THAN thrilled to see that after 6 years of living here, we've finally been able to grow a damn pumpkin! And there are MANY to boot!The tomatoes are also coming in nicely. I was able to pick quite a few cherry tomatoes, and the larger ones should be turning red in the coming weeks.The loot we're taking to My Jen's house this weekend with us! :)Along with veggies we have tons of weeds and randomness. Here is our pile of tree limbs that Bryan will be cutting for tree blocks for the girls. If you remember this was the particular venture that earned me Lyme disease... from which I can happily say I haven't felt any pain in a couple of weeks! Hurray!
We also have some type of veggies attempting to grow onto the girls toys and randomness on the back patio. Bliss.This used to be the girls' garden... flash back to the Hoda and Kathie Lee adventures from the spring. This summer has been SO EXTREMELY HOT AND NASTY OUTSIDE that it's received ZERO attention. :(Can't wait to play catch up outside... once the temp "cools" down a bit!

Thursday, July 28, 2011

2 azziz old..

Rachel here. While I realize my sweet girl has been 2 for over a month now, we just had her 2 year appointment a little over a week ago. Her current stats are: weight... 28 lbs, height... 36.75 inches, and a big ole head. :) She's in 2T clothing and size 4 diapers. I've been collecting Reese's fall clothes for school and decided to pull out the 3T clothes for EG... sadly I think they'll fit her like a glove. :( She's just growing so quickly. When she first turned 2 and we asked her how old she was, she would say "I 2 azziz old and I going up!" It was the cutest thing I think I've ever heard a toddler say, so of course we asked her to say it 35,000 times... and now... nothing. She simply smiles at us. Stinker. The doc also gave us the go ahead on fluoride toothpaste... now I get to hold her down to brush her teeth with Toy Story toothpaste. :)

Emma Grace has quite the personality. Sometimes fantastic... sometimes horribly rotten. She gives the sweetest kisses, and to hear her say I love you could make you melt. While I'm sure Reese was a stinker at this age as well (she was a slapper... by the end of the day I wanted to cry... she had a mean slap to the cheek), Emma Grace has come into her own when it comes to the Terrible Two's. She's a hitter, pincher, screamer, and most horribly... a hair puller. While she loves to pinch me, Reese has become her number one target. Poor Reese... while she still has an occasional whiny spell... she's turning in to such a lovely child. It's definitely taught me to stick to my guns, follow through, and keep on keepin' on when it comes to parenting... no matter how frustrating it can be. Emma Grace will pull her hair, Reese will scream and cry... and just sit there... no retaliation. While I'm beyond grateful that Reese doesn't believe in an eye for an eye... I do. If Emma Grace pinches or pulls hair... I do it back to her. She used to be a biter, but a couple episodes of me biting her back worked like a charm. I can tell she's already begun to think twice before grabbing a handful of Reese's golden locks. On any given day you can find Emma Grace in timeout more often than not, but we're working on it. I love her so much it hurts... even through her naughty spells.

Emma Grace is a quirky little thing. She loves loves loves "Mary Poppins" and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" with all of her being. With the weather being completely unbearable most days, we watch them quite often. She says "oopsie daisy", loves to follow Reese around aimlessly, enjoys playing with baby dolls and Barbies, and rarely has laundry because she's naked a good 12 hours of the day. This has proven to be a blessing because she's begun potty training. We have her potty set up in the living room, a seat on the large potty downstairs, and a second potty in the bathroom upstairs. While we started rocky... a couple of accidents here and there... she's really begun taking it seriously and is so proud of herself when she goes. While Reese was an m&m girl, Emma Grace prefers marshmallows... and we start her sticker chart Monday. YAY! She, however, will not poop on the potty yet. There have been a couple of those wonderful accidents so far, but she's pretty good at hinting to us that she needs to go and requests a diaper to do the deed.

HOLY SHENANIGANS... she's turning into a kid.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Movin' On Up

For anyone who's interested in what we've been doing while not "vacationing"... take a peek at our other blog "Movin' On Up" at http://thepattisonsbuildahome.blogspot.com . Small bites...

No pictures...

Rachel here. The girls and I just returned from a trip to Tidewater to visit family and friends. Bryan was doing a 2ish week stint in Abingdon, so I thought I'd take a relaxing trip home. I should know by now that any trip away from home and the girls' belongings is anything but relaxing, but it was a great time nonetheless. I've been thinking a lot about many different things/aspects of my life, and something I wish I was doing was interacting more with the girls. I mean I'm interacting with them 24/7, but I wish I was doing it more. I'm constantly hovering over them with my camera... cherishing and documenting their every move in hopes they'll enjoy reflecting later in life... maybe I do it so I don't forget how sweet and/or naughty they are... I don't know. It doesn't matter... my goal was to put the camera down and get hands on. I only took pictures of the girls when we went to the bay with Callie and Fraser... so glad I did... the girls were awesome!
So here's to taking JUST ENOUGH pictures of the girls from now on... I need to learn to play more. :)

Eye/Pattison Family Fun Vacation

Hey friends! For this installment of the Eye/Pattison Family Fun Vacation, we ventured to Pigeon Forge, TN. The place to go for a good old fashion redneck adventure. We stayed in a wood to wood cabin, which was hilariously perfect for us all. First stop was Ripley's Aquarium, which we all LOVED!Mommy let me play in these giant water balls... they were AWESOME! I saw them when we came into town and knew I JUST HAD TO HAVE A GO. Luckily Mommy and Daddy agreed and Brett even joined in on the fun.
Can't go to Pigeon Forge without a trip to Dollywood! :)
Just another photo documenting Emma Grace's inability to behave herself while sitting next to me on a ride. The ride conductor had to stop the ride so the parentals could save me.
Until next year!

The 80's called...

Rachel here. In addition to traveling, we're working on the house... as usual. While Bryan was working on a BIG HILARIOUS project (more on that later), I was in charge of cleaning out the garage. I stumbled upon some of my old Barbie stuff, decided to pull the rest down from the attic, and all shenanigans resumed. The girls are beyond in love with my old stuff, and Bryan is beyond in love with not having to pay for any of it... it's a win win! Sadly enough, many of my Barbie clothes did not make the decent from the attic... who knew Ken's awesome pleather jackets didn't have a 20+ year shelf life?
You can tell me... you're jealous aren't you? ;)

Holy bejesus

Rachel here. I can't even believe that I've been MIA for over a month. Life caught up to me. We've been in and out of town for a variety of reasons and are beyond exhausted. While visiting with family and friends is ultimately worth it, it's easy for us to become overwhelmed. To be perfectly honest... we may need to learn to say "no" on occasion, which makes me sad... but SERIOUSLY... my sanity is fairly nonexistent right now. I'm slowly but surely going to catch you up on what we've been up to this last month starting with one of the most shocking things to have witnessed to date... BRETT EYE TURNED 4! I'm sorry what? 4 seems so old to me. 30 seems so old to me. When did we all become 30 and become parents of 4 year olds... and 2 year olds that can drink out of cups for that matter?Happy Birthday Brett... how 'bout you quit learning to read and stop growing... 'k... thanks. ;)