July 24, 2011: Mama

Mama. The sweetest word we can ever hear from our babies-- possibly second only to "I love you".  After months of endless repetition and hearing "da-da" a million times, I finally heard him mutter the beautiful sound: muh-ma.  I almost missed it and had it not been for Emma's keen ear (don't let her fool you-- she hears everything) I would have!  We were eating a late dinner at Chuy's which is one of THE loudest restaurants when Mason decided that he had let me suffer long enough.  I was busy trying to squeeze in a little adult conversation while Emma was entertaining Mason.  All of a sudden Emma said, "MOM! He just said your name!" I half acknowledged what she said and went on talking with Duane when I heard it for myself.  I practically leapt across the table, grabbed his yummy cheeks, and gave him a million kisses.  He thought the whole thing was very amusing and continued to say "muh-ma" just to see how I would react.  I immediately snapped a few pictures of the moments just after his BIG word reveal.  In case, you were wondering what he was eating... Mason received lots of snacks after his job well done.  I am soaking in every precious "muh-ma" now and figure that I might as well enjoy it before I get to the point where every time I hear "MAMA" I want to run and hide! :)

MOMent Challenges #1-4

Earlier this summer I found a great blog called MomLife Today that I have been following via Facebook. It has been a great resource of encouragement, inspiration, and challenge. They issued what they are calling weekly "Summer Fun MOMent Challenges" which are challenging moms to be intentional about spending quality time with our kids.  Two key words there: intentional and quality! Intentional meaning that we have planned the event/activity and we have set aside specific time to spend with our kid(s).  Quality meaning that the event/activity is creating a special "mom" moment/memory for our child-- so a grocery shopping trip to HEB unfortunately was not going to cut it by these standards :)

I accepted the challenge and I've been going strong for 4 weeks! It has been a lot of fun for me to "plan" these activities and Emma has really enjoyed them. I use the term "plan" loosely because every week there is a theme and they give you a fairly long list of activities you can pick from.

Week #1 Challenge-- Get MUDDY or WET!

While Emma took her nap that day I filled 80+ water balloons. It took quite a while to fill that many balloons!  It was worth it though because when she woke up-- IT WAS ON! Granted we didn't get soaking wet but Emma thought it was TOO COOL :) She still talks about being able to throw water balloons at mommy!

Week #2 Challenge: 4th of July Celebration

There were several choices this particular week so we did a couple-- 1) create fireworks using window markers, and 2) use face paint to paint fireworks on each other! I have always been cautious to buy the window markers/crayons because I felt that if I left Emma color on anything but paper she would indeed color on everything but paper!  I suppose this might have been true of 2 year old Emma but I had to realize that she is almost 4 year old Emma-- so much more mature :) -- and it was time to get over my fears.  I am so glad I did!  Window markers and crayons are AWESOME! It was so fun drawing fireworks, flags, and all things patriotic on our back door windows.  We "face painted" on our arms and Emma LOVED being able to cover me with paint.  She held nothing back and I was soon covered with all sorts of objects, none of which were fireworks :)



Week #3 Challenge: PLAY with your child

We were given free reign this week, although, they did provide a list if we were stumped.  This week fell in conjunction with our road trip to Ohio so we had 19 HOURS to play with each other on the way up and back!  Most of the time we did arts and crafts together.  Here is a sampling of her many creations and one of mine! :)

Week #4 Challenge: Create Your Own MOMent

They made us stretch a little and come up with our own idea of something to do.  A mom in my neighborhood has an at-home business called The Tipsy Brush.  She teaches classes to help any one learn to paint by breaking down paintings into simple parts.  This summer she branched out and began offering kids classes as well as "mommy and me" classes.  I signed Emma and myself up for one of these classes this week.  We had a great time and she created a masterpiece which is now adorning her bedroom wall. Fun times and a great souvenir to remember our morning! Check out our little Picasso's work of art:

Can't wait to see what week #5 holds...

It was THE Greatest Show on Earth

I get asked all the time about the "perks" of owning a Chick-fil-A and while there are many like working for a business that serves the community, making my own hours, and closed on Sundays, let's be honest-- VIP events/experiences are close to the top of the list! One of those opportunities came in conjunction with Chick-fil-A Houston's title sponsorship of the Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey's Circus.  Feld Entertainment that puts on the circus from a financial standpoint held a VIP mixer for all of their sponsors and it was quite an event! From VIP parking to a HUGE goody bag to meeting the Ringmaster himself-- it was an AWESOME night and made me love the circus even more! 

So, the night started with the VIP mixer at 5 pm where Emma had the opportunity to meet REAL circus clowns and performers up close and personal.  She, of course, was a little overwhelmed by the whole experience but she finally warmed up! The highlight of the mixer was meeting the Ringmaster and Mickey Mouse.  Mickey was not affiliated with the circus but was there promoting Disney on Ice. We also had a great Chick-fil-A dinner :)

  

   

Then it was off to experience the circus-- The Botanical Animal House, Pre-Access Show, and the Circus itself! These are all events that everyone gets to participate in and make the circus come alive. It really gives you a big bang for your buck! As always, I am so thankful for Emma's great friends-- the Ellis clan-- for making the whole experience that much better :)

The Pre-Access Show was fantastic! It was a mini-circus before the circus but the kids were able to be on the stage and VERY close the performers-- SO COOL! Emma loved this part so much we could have left after the pre-show and she would have been perfectly content! By the way, where is Mason in all this fun... he had a "lost-in-space, overwhelmed" look about him the whole time :) It was a lot for a 10 month old to take in!

The circus was set to begin at 7:30 pm and we were already worn out but in the best possible way.  We happily grabbed over-priced refreshments and headed to our amazing seats! Both kiddos were rockstars throughout the whole circus performance, even intermission, and by 10 pm confetti was flying and it was all over! Emma says her favorite part of the circus was the elephant performance, Duane enjoyed the caged motorcyclists, and I liked the side-show acts by the clowns.  The circus truly has AMAZING performers and they did put on the Greatest Show on Earth last night! BRAVO!

Mason's First Haircut

My kids have always had fabulous hair! They get that from mommy, right? :) BUT fabulous hair equals first haircuts around 9 months! Keeping with tradition (and necessity), Mason's first haircut was yesterday, July 18th.  We took him to Snip-Its in the Woodlands.  To be honest, my intention was to get it done at Sweet-N-Sassy because the multi-tasker in me wanted to kill two birds with one stone and get Emma's haircut as well.  For those who live out of town, Sweet-N-Sassy is just like it sounds-- a salon for little girls where Emma has always had her haircut.  Much to Daddy's relief, Sweet-N-Sassy was completely booked and yesterday was our only free night, so Snip-Its it was-- for both kids! A few snips here, a trim there, and a once around with a baby electric trimmer to remove any "fuzz" and VIOLA! Mason went from "Hippie Baby" to "Sharp Dressed Man" in 10 minutes!  So, check out my handsome baby's makeover...

Priceless Moments

     

The photo above is by far my favorite photo of our time in Columbus, Ohio and truly what the trip was all about-- Emma spending time with her Great Grandma Lenox.  Of course, Mason too, but he is so little he won't remember it at all-- another trip will be his memory maker.  Emma was a big help as she drenched GG Lenox's flowers with water-- probably too much water! Emma kept insisting that they all needed a BIG drink and she made good on that assertion. I hope Emma is able to keep this memory with her or at least look at the photo and remember this moment.  I have many memories of visiting Grandma's houses.  We always got to be Grandma's little helpers when we went to visit.  Whether it was dusting figurines at Grandma Gloria's house, hanging laundry on the clothes line, or baking with Grandma Villano, there were always day-to-day tasks to help with.  Those are the memories that stick with me, not because they were "chores" but because those moments allowed me to become part of Grandma's day-to-day activities and live like Grandma did-- and Grandma's life seemed so much different than mine :)  This short memory-maker made all 19 hours in the car worth it.


Caitlyn (left), Emma, and Mason with Great Grandma Lenox