Juliet Nina Merback

She is here!  July 29, 2010 at 12:43 pm.  7 lbs 10 oz, 20 in.  

Ashley and Juliet are both doing very well.  Things could not have gone more smoothly.  They should be home tomorrow, so more to come shortly.

Our Song..

My Mom and I always had a song.  "You Are My Sunshine" were her pet words for me and we sang it together all the time.  Everytime I hear it I think of her.  It's a tradition between us that I've always appreciated.  When Isaac was born, I began singing it with him.  I sang it with Georgie at first as well but spent a couple of years on the lookout (pretty passively, I'll admit) for another song that would be unique between she and I.  Because Georgie is a cheerful, cutsie little dreamer this one reminded me immensely of her when I first heard it.  

"Cuppycake"

You're my Honeybunch, Sugarplum

Pumpy-umpy-umpkin, You're my Sweetie PieYou're my Cuppycake, GumdropSnoogums-Boogums, You're the Apple of my EyeAnd I love you so and I want you to knowThat I'll always be right hereAnd I love to sing sweet songs to youBecause you are so dear




Up until today, "You Are My Sunshine" seemed perfect for Isaac and I.  But when I listened to "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds again this morning I changed my mind (it's been a while).  The first verse and chorus seemed so appropriate for my thoughts of him and of being his mother.  It is a love song but...we love each other, right?  And the first verse could definitely be about any kind of love;)  We listened to it together this evening and he agreed...this is our song;)

"The Luckiest"

I don't get many things right the first time

In fact, I am told that a lot

Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls

Brought me here

And where was I before the day

That I first saw your lovely face?

Now I see it everyday

And I know

That I am

I am

I am

The luckiest

I think I'll start this new baby off with "You Are My Sunshine", just like I did with Gigi and Isaac.  It seems to have become the tradition;)  As we get to know each other a little better each day or each year, I'm sure I'll stumble upon some musician with the perfect words and melody for US.  I can't wait;)  For now I'll just be here with my Cuppycake, waiting for my Sunshine, reminding myself that I am "The Luckiest".  Aren't I clever;)

Summer Crafting Fun

If your kids are crafters and you haven't already checked out:

Do it...NOW;) 

The kids and I are working our way through the age appropriate ones on this list.  We began our trek when we got home from Utah so we haven't made it very far yet. The craft we did today was such a hit that I had to blog about it.

Marshmallow Shooters! 

 All four of us (Isaacs friend, Brett, was over) were practically on the floor laughing

 at the stuff that was going on around here.  

The craft was pretty easy to do.  We bought the PVC pipe and connectors this morning, came home and I cut them with a handsaw in under 30 minutes (I won't tell you about all the mosquitos that I slapped while sawing...ewww  And did you know that hand sawing requires some core muscles...I don't have any!!  Theres' a baby squenched in the middle of them.)  The kids helped me sand the ends, we soaked them in soapy water for a bit, let them dry and then assembled them.  The kids were able to put them together almost entirely on their own.  After this, we busted out the mini-mallows and began firing.  

Georgie came up with the grand idea of shooting multiple marshmallows at the same time.   A machine gun if you will!!

As you can see from this pictures background there are no marshmallows scattered about my floor as one might expect.  The kids were quite diligent about eating up after themselves...ha!  And now I have three half eaten grilled cheeses strewn about my lunch table.  Marshmallows for lunch anyone!!

Introducing Puddles

Introducing Puddles

Our first Family Pet

Meet *Puddles, our new Hermit Crab

*Picture is not an actual representation of OUR pet;)

On Saturday I came home from the Gym to find Isaac and Georgie ecstatic about a pet FLY??! they had caught and built a Lego house for.  Something was wrong with its wings.  A few minutes later the fly was miraculously healed and disappeared.  They were quite distraught about it.  

"We finally had a pet, Mom.  Where will we find another one?"  almost in tears.  I suggested they check their piggy bank and see if they had enough money to buy a fish.  They did...why the heck not!  How much work could a fish be?  Plus, I figured a low maintenance pet could be a good experiment in resposiblitiy. (..and possibly a good first lesson on death:}  Lets hope not;0)   The following MOnday, after doing a little research about low maintenance house pets we headed to the pet store.  We had fish and hermit crabs on the brain.  My vote was for the crab because it seemed a little more "scientific" in its lifestyle. 

Once the kids compared the crabs to the fish they too wanted the Hermit Crab...

"Please MOmmy!!"

"Yes??  YAY!!!"

So, alas, we are pet owners!  Who knew that kids could get excited about a crab?  But I have to constantly be telling then to leave poor puddles alone!  After all, he is a hermit!!

Welcome to the Family, Puddles!

Park City 2010

Park City 2010

Man I love this place.

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe...with ratty lookin' kids;)  Cut us some slack...we're just finishing a long day at Lagoon!!

Gaga's tradition:  

A Scavenger hunt with prizes at the end!!

The girls, reunited!!  

The Will's....absolutely adorable;)

The boys on the lookout for Dinosaurs at the Ogden Dinosaur Museum.

 

As always, Georgie is off in her own little world, feeding dinosaurs or posing by the closest pink or purple thing.  She gets the "own little world" thing from me.  Not sure where the posing comes from!

After the Dino museum we took the kids to the Treehouse Museum, also in Ogden.  If you haven't been, GO!  It was an amazingly awesome imaginary adventure for kids.  We could have spent 5 more hours there.

The first ride at Lagoon found the kids a little wet.  And unnecessarily so.  The weather was PERFECT!

This cute little tushy we made play in ice cold snow run off up Mill Creek Canyon.  It was beautiful and reminiscent of my own childhood picnics up Little Cottonwood with my Gran and Grandpa.   The brown on her bum is mud...just to clarify.

Isaac felt like a hero jumping from stone to stone over running water.  He felt like a hero again when he decided he was tough enough to plunge his whole body into the ice water.  He loved it.

I love this photo.

Our pool day in Heber was a time to conquer fears.  After much coersion, encouragement, tears and then a brave example set by Reese, a girl!!, Isaac jumped off the 12 ft high dive!  What a brave boy!!

And Georgie did the low-but-high-for-her, dive as well as the long, windy, fast slide all by herself.

They grew up a little in Utah.  And that's what they keep doing every day, darnit!!

We also went to the Alpine slides and spent some time with Cousins.  But I didn't take out my camera.  I'm the worst!

Being in Utah is always a double edged sword.  We love it there so much, the weather, the mountains, the flowers, the food, the scenery, the cabin...it's almost more home to me than Houston.  I LOVE being there.  But it makes it that much harder to come back to our real home in Oklahoma.  Or even San Antonio for that matter!  But here we are, home again with the memories and Park City there to always return to.  Thanks Mom and Dad, for the cabin and the great vacation!

Vegas 2010

Vegas 2010

Aren't they sweet!  And there are two more comin' soon!!

The 4 year olds...man I love this age!

Here's Georgie giving Isaac a morale hug.  Boy did he need it.  

We/Jake tried to get Isaac up on skis but the poor little guy was so stressed out about it that it never happened. He hardly relaxed the entire day at the Lake until his ski misadventures were over and we told him that he didn't have to try again.  Now anytime the words boat or lake are mentioned he asks with a panic in his voice, "Do I have to ski"?  We're currently working on Isaacs self-defeating thoughts.  Any suggestions?

Lukey is like a ray of Sunshine.  Every family should have one!!

Surf's up! 

If you haven't tried surfing behind a boat, do.   Nothin' better for kids.

Games of "Chicken" at the pool became a favorite...regular "chicken" and "chicken basketball".

I LOVE Aunt J's laugh...so cute and all encompassing!  

Georgie took quite a liking to Jenny too;)  She loves girls!

I really like this one!

Mimi had Georgie swimming like a Fish before we left.    She's basically pool safe and completely independent!  My pregnant body has been loving that this summer...Pool= lounge time for mommy!!

Loving each other (they really do) 

in front of the Egyptian Goddess of protection;) at the Vegas history museum.

And don't forget the fire...all part of the trip!

We had a great time.  It was so great being with everyone that I EVEN had thoughts of living in Vegas one day;0  Despite the heat, I know we'd love it.  It will be a summer vacation talked about for years and years to come (mostly because of the fire;)...loving Mimi's pool, seeing Jake and Ash's new house for the first time, being pregnant in Vegas heat, and the nap time chat about girls and kissing I overheard between Isaac and Tanner.  Ask me later;)  soooo cute;)  Thanks for coming down for us, Rob, Sarah and Jen.  THanks for the boat Jake and Ash and for cheering on my kids.  Thanks for making it all happen Mimi and Popop!  We wish it could happen more often;(

xoxo