all dressed in white

emery was baptized on sunday morning. she wore the same gown brandon, ellis, and beckett all wore on their special day. sweet, huh? she smiled the whole time :) the kids thought it was quite an adventure. they go to sunday school instead of church normally. and we were all reminded why!! they ask that the entire family go up to the front of the church ...no big deal right??

here they are...in front of the entire congregation...right before beckett TOOK OFF RUNNING to the other side of the altar cracking himself up. the whole crowd was LOLs...and when he knew i was after him, he just kept running.

here is me...on my way back from going to get him...he ran well past where this picture shows. i was probably squeezing his little hand very hard right about now...

and the smiling cherub :) why wouldn't she be barefoot?!?

the biggest stress in my life right now

thanksgiving has come and gone. the halls are totally decked (in pink, purple, blue, green and red i might add), and emery was baptized today. with all of those items checked off my list, this is the biggest stress in my life right now:

her name is "sparkle". we have had her a couple of years now but the name sparkle is new this year. i think his name was "elf" last year. boooor-ing. so i guess santa sprung for a sex change for elf, and here she is. ellis actually wanted her name to be bella. omg. i did my best to steer her in another direction. i mean, there is a little boy who lives in our house too :)

if you don't have an elf on the shelf, you should. the elf comes with a cute book that basically tells little boys and girls that the elf is watching them...noticing the good and bad each day. every night, the elf heads to the north pole to report to santa. and when the kids wake up in the morning, the elf returns to a different spot in your house and the kids get to go find him/her....which is where is gets stressful for me. WHY IT IS SO HARD FOR ME TO REMEMBER TO MOVE HER? we have only had her out for like 6 nights. one night i completely forgot and two other mornings i remembered only because ellis said "ok beckett...let's go look for sparkle". i totally had to stall them and go put her in a new spot. ugh.

but tis' the season...let the stressful fun begin!

and yes- they do sell the above skirt for the elf in case your daughter wants a bella too :)

i am expecting a phone call any minute...

because i am convinced crewcuts will want ellis for their next catalog :)

my wonderfully talented friend who lives in my neighborhood took family photos for us on saturday. i *might* have peer pressured her into it!!! she doesn't have a business (yet)...too busy right now w/ her little ones. but she is SO GREAT. actually, i have only seen a teeny sneak peek...but i know i will love them :) no pressure jill!

and if you don't know what crewcuts is, it is jcrew for little people. seriously, the cutest clothes in existence. the only one in houston just opened a week ago. i have been 4 times already. not good!!!

how can i get me one of these?

we loaded all three kids up a couple of weekends ago and headed west.  only an hour and a half down I-10 to a little piece of heaven called eagle's nest (an AMAZING ranch owned by one of my bff's family).  i am actually surprised every time i am invited back because they have to get so annoyed by me going on and on about just how amazing it is while i am there :)

you know i am all about leaving the kids behind while i go and fully enjoy myself  (and believe me we have had crazy times at the ranch minus little ones) but it was SO much fun watching the kids go totally nuts over every single thing they did while there.  old school fun...the best kind.

five minutes after arrival...they are like animals let out into the wild for the first time...

you can't imagine how pretty it is...

this was emery's first trip to the ranch...she loved it :)

you travel everywhere by golf cart (there is like a fleet of them).  beckett is already in hog heaven.

you can fish in the little lake that they stock...or go by boat in the big lakes (the property borders the colorado river)...oh...and the boys hunt of course!

play a serious game of poker...

jump on the in-ground trampoline...

emery and taylor are 4 weeks apart...and their older sisters (ellis and avery) are 5 weeks apart.  perfect!!

i love babies in a bath together...

just being cute...

emery has shoe envy :)

i think this tree is a record breaker!?!  HUGE.

 mealtime...

they still snuck in some t.v. time.  that monstrosity behind them is the bar.  niiiice.

 smores.

in the summer, you can take a dip in the pool.  the pavilion is still under construction as you can see.  even when they add new things @ the ranch (and there is always something new), it looks as if it has been there always.

the game room....love all of the windows...

the bar again :)

the huge kitchen.  i could go on and on about the house.  it is so picture perfect...i think it sleeps 22 people or something (in just the main house)...then there is another house that sleeps 10 and a "barn" that sleeps a million more.  and they are about to build another house.  love it!

look at all of the swings!!!

just partying...

 ok...this about killed me.  we are in the golf cart:

me:  what is that over there?
rach: oh...that's just the potting shed.  was it not here last time you visited?
me: no.  i need to go take a closer look.  so what is a potting shed for?
rach: well...to do plants.  and we come here in the afternoons to drink wine.
me: of course.

isn't this what your potting shed looks like?

 the tree house.  the air-conditioned tree house.

 w/ walkie talkies :)

 how cool right?

 what happens in the tree house, stays in the tree house.  unless there is proof of it all over your face!

 why beckett?  why would you let them do this to you?  hilarious.

 fun times at the ranch!

as always...amazing!!!!  and these pictures don't even come CLOSE to doing it justice.

color-full

saw this painting at the nutcracker market and immediately grabbed it.  i knew i could find a place for it in my next house (if that ever actually happens!!)...and if i can't, it looks perfect in beckett's room.  the colors are fab :)

you can see in the bottom pic that he still resides in a crib at night...but not for long.  big changes are coming for his room.  2 single beds...for slumber parties you know!!  need to get headboards, bedding, all that fun stuff.  and i know we won't have any issues w/ the transition...he climbs in and out of his crib at will...and already sleeps in a big bed in austin.  he is so grown up...i guess this is the final step :(  no naps, no diapers, no crib!?!?  at least i have my emery :)

if anyone out there has been wondering if inflatable turkeys are sold for thanksgiving yard decor...

they are.

gobble gobble.

princess wishes

i took ellis to disney on ice last friday...princess wishes.  she. loved. it.  all of the princesses were there...skating their little hearts out.  i had heard ellis should also dress like a princess...best advice ever.  i think i would still be hearing about it from her if she didn't have a princess dress on like all the other little girls.

here she is...the belle of the ball :)

little brother got to stay with susu for a little bonding :)

she insisted on wearing these shoes.  THE ENTIRE TIME.  through the huge parking lot at reliant, all the way to the seats, during the show and back again.  oh the sacrifices girls will make for high fashion.

on the way home from the show, i could see that she was deep in thought...she said, "mommy, so any girls who are at disney world right now won't get to see the princesses because they are here, right?"  i nodded a yes.  she smiled...i imagine thinking to herself...sucks to be them :)

what a load of b.s.

brandon got home from work tonight and walked over to say hi to emery who was getting her bath.  she looked at him, smiled, and said "da da".  she babbles of course, but this was the first intentional thing she has said...so ridiculously cute :)  i quickly realized i needed to grab the camera...EVEN THOUGH i was hoping ma ma might be first?!?!  there has CLEARLY been some brain washing going on!! 

the video is less than one minute...and you know i would NEVER put something on here for you to watch if it wasn't worth it :)  i should also point out that beckett only calls emery, "emery catherine".  i have NO idea where he came up with it!! (hint: my mom's name is catherine) :)



lunch date

emery and two of her besties :)  caroline (on the right) and emery share a birthday...caroline has been crawling for over 2 months!!!  emery...not so much.  but she is advanced in other areas (i just have to figure out what those areas are!!!)  kidding.  believe me, i don't want her to do anything but sit there, look cute, and be happy.  i can only assume that someday emery and caroline will be fighting over jon douglas, the older by one week baby boy on the left :)  aren't they all adorable??

time for another lunch date babies!

just the way you are

her eyes, her eyes make the stars look like they're not shining
her hair, her hair falls perfectly without her trying (ha!!)

she's so beautiful
and i tell her everyday...

oh how i do love that song...and i know it is a guy singing about his significant other, but i think of my little babe every time it comes on the radio :)

she seriously loves swinging.  and ellis and beckett seriously love pushing her.

slightly dangerous...one little buckle across the lap...need to add baby swing to my list!

solution

i couldn't figure out what to do w/ all the BEAUTIFUL :) fall artwork my kids were coming home from school with.  i wanted to display it somewhere we could see it and appreciate it everyday (plus i knew it would all look really cute w/ my pumpkins).  i have no wall space in the kitchen (2 walls of windows)...and wasn't really ready to commit to framing & nailing even if i did have the space.  i came up w/ the above.  not rocket science but for sure a solution to my problem :)  everything is hung by ribbon...to make the art super easy to change out...lovely :)

"i got my ears pierced for a boy to love me"

ellis has been DYING to get her ears pierced.  i would say she brings the subject up every few weeks...but then quickly says she is too scared it will hurt and decides she will wait until she is 5.  i have never had an opinion on it...never encouraged it, but never discouraged it.  but i did tell her it would hurt :)  i wasn't sure what got the ball rolling last thursday...but she told me in the car on the way to school that when i picked her up that afternoon, she would be ready to get her ears pierced.  

she wasn't kidding.  when i picked her up she was on a mission.  she didn't want me to call anyone...she wanted it to be a surprise.  i told her we could go check things out and look @ the earrings (meaning see if she would go for something other than purple CZ!).  we arrive @ claire's (classy) only to find out there is just one lady working...bummer!...this means she couldn't have both holes done @ the same time.

guess who didn't care?  she picked out her jewels and was prepped.  it turned out that another worker showed up right when it was time.  they got their guns and counted to 3.  i thought there was some problem because ellis didn't even flinch.  i guess she knows it hurts to be beautiful :)

i know people have opinions on what an appropriate age for pierced ears is.  i just think if it makes her happy and does no harm, what's the big deal?? and it was 150% her idea...she is as girly as they come.

and let me tell you just how HAPPY they make her...loooooooooooves them!

how sweet right??  please tell me not trashy :)  she picked teeny tiny gold balls. i guess she will ask santa for diamonds??  totally kidding. 

when brandon got home from work that night, ellis told him, "i got my ears pierced for a boy to love me".  i whipped my head around...WHAT?!?!  that was the first i had heard of this information.  after further questioning, it seems there are 2 girls vying for a certain boys attention at school.  this other girl doesn't have her ears pierced so ellis figured this would give her some sort of edge.  wow.  we are in SO much trouble!!!!!