While she was sleeping...

...she slept with me.

Emma loves her own "space". She isn't shy about wanting hugs or kisses, but she does want them when she wants them. Which is hard on a Mommy who wants to smoother her with kisses and hugs. To show you how far i'll go to get kisses, i came up with a game where if i "kiss" her, she can wipe it off. But if i "smooch" her, well, you can't wipe off a smooch! Emma now wants to play my 'kissing game' so she can wipe them off.

Back to sleeping...

A few nights ago, Emma told me that she wanted to 'swwweep with Mama'. Me, bieng the sucker that i am, readily agreed. She hopped into the 'big girl bed' and instructed asked Robert to please bring her Pachi. Off went the light, and she and i settled into bed.

Emma: (fake cough, fake cough) I dink i hava cough...(fake cough)
Me: Are you sick like Dada? (smiling to myself)
Emma: No. (fake sniff, fake sniff) But now i gotta snuffy nose. Tissue, pwlease!
Me: Okay...

A few moments later:

Emma: Pachi fweels like dancin' Mama! (Pachi dancing all over the bed...)
Me: Emmie, it's time for Pachi and you to sleep.

A few more moments later:

Emma: Weesus woves me, dis i know. For da bible twelllls me soooo. Wittle ones to Him beflong, forrrr dey are weekkkk and He is stwrongg! Ohhhh, yesssss, Weesus wuffs meeeee....
Me: (whispering singing...) Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me! The bible tells me so.

And then, we whisper sing all of the songs that we sing before Emma's bedtime: Jesus Loves The Little Children, The B-I-B-L-E, He's Got The Whole World, Twinkle Twinkle, Lullaby, The Baby Bug Song, Taxi-Taxi, The Buzzy-Bee Song.

You may be wondering why you haven't heard of some of these children songs before...

It's because i made some of them up. :)

After singing, Emma finally gets herself and Pachi comfortable and falls asleep. I stay awake for a long time, just listening to her soft breathing, and praying over her. I am beyond grateful for this little child. I may be teaching her Spanish words and not to fart in public and laugh hysterically but she is also teaching me to slow down. Slow down and look at and smell the flowers, rocks, bees, trees, leaves, dirt, the sun, the moon and the stars. You know, the things that sometimes loose their magic as you get older? Seeing everything again through her eyes reminds me of the true beauty of the world around me.

I finally doze off, only to be waken by an arm across my leg and Pachi on my face. Emma has decided to take over the king size bed, it seems. So i do the only smart thing to do: i go upstairs and get Robert to sleep with her. Thankfully, he falls for my sad story, lol, and goes to sleep with her while i sneak into her room and sleep on her amazing mattress.

So, while co-sleeping didn't quite work out like i had envisioned it, it was a sweet time spent with my tot and her Pachi, for which i'm grateful. I have always prayed over Emma, and it was nice to be able to do it laying next to her hanging on to my side of the bed. And singing with her in the whisper voice is always something that we do before bed....it is a perfect way to end the day and i cherish hearing her little voice singing. I know that one day, she won't want me to sing her to sleep, so it's best that i sing as much as i can now.

Now if i could just stop her from growing up so fast...

From baby to little girl....

 

 

 

 

Black and White...

 

 

 

I rarely mess with black and white in photos. Not because i don't think that photos are amazing in black and white, but because i think that you need a strong photo to pull it off. I am in awe of photographers like Ansel Adams who have taken photos in black and white that literally take your breath away. His photography is amazing to look at and study...

These black and white photos of mine are not of that caliber. In fact, they are even close! But, i love them anyway.

And it doesn't hurt that the photos are of my favorite little tot.

A Happy Halloween....

Boo Bark...

 

 

 

 

....is truly yummy. It's my take off on Christmas Bark that really turned out well. It's easy peasy to make and even better, it's great to put into Boo-Bags for your neighbors.

All you need is:

~Almond Bark (you can use regular white bark, but i like the taste of Almond Bark better.)
~Pretzels (i should have added more to my Bark as i love the salty and sweet together)
~Harvest Corn (again, i like Harvest Corn better than regular Candy Corn)
~Roasted Peanuts (just a few....)
~Chocolate Chips (which i used because the bag was open...i wonder how that bag got open? Oh, yes, i did that....)
~Orange melts (the ones in the bag that you can easily melt)
~Halloween Sprinkles

And from there, it's pretty much melting the Almond Bark, spreading it out on wax paper and adding your stuff. Well, not "your" stuff, but the stuff you like. :)

Top if off with drizzling melted orange chocolate on it, and you're done! Let it set and then break apart into pieces.

Perfect for gift giving in Boo-Bags to neighbors or just eating by yourself.

Yesterday was Emma's Parade at school. I wanted her to be a Ballerina, she wanted to be a worm....so after lots of tears, i made her be she and i finally settled on being a kitty.

A worm.

Where does she get this?!?!?

ewwww...

A worm.

It was a fun day at her school though, and i was lucky to be asked to help in her class room. I have much respect for preschool teachers like Mrs. Sarah...she is truly a blessing with lots (AND LOTS!) of patience.

Another amazing day to be grateful for...

Pumpkin Muffins....

 

 

 

 

...Oh. My.

Pumpkin is one of my most favorite flavors. I have always had a 'thing' for pumpkin. Pumpkin's smell signals to me that Fall is indeed here and that my favorite time of the year is also here.

I have seen these pumpkin muffins on various sites. But i truly couldn't get passed the ingredient list to try them. Really, i remember thinking, how good could pumpkin muffins be with just a box of yellow cake mix, a can of pumpkin puree and a heaping teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice?

Let me tell you, they are AMAZING.

Alright, alright, i did add a few things into my muffins.

Like raisins.

Like pecans.

And like coconut flakes.

This pumpkin muffin is fit for a Mommy Queen, it's that yummy.

Although you can goggle this easy recipe, here it is:

Ingredients:
~1 box of yellow cake mix
~1 can (15 ox) of Pumpkin puree
~1 heaping tablespoon of Pumpkin Pie spice

Directions: Mix all ingredients together and bake according to the directions on the box. Add in your favorites, whether chocolate chips, raisins, whatever.

As a special treat for the baker, you should eat a bunch one while they are still warm with a big glass of milk.

Another reason this recipe is such a great one is that you can let a little one help stir the mix or add in whatever you choose to add in. Add a cute apron, and your little child will have a blast.

Clean up, however, for the Queen Mommy isn't so much a blast, but it is worth the smiles that you'll get from your child.

What i did today....

I wish that i had a long list of things that i had accomplished today. Lord knows, my to-do list is long and getting longer by the minute. But no, nothing really got done today.

Emma stayed home today from school because i'm a sucker for 'i stay wiff you, Mama" line Emma still has a cough. We played zoo with her many animals. We played Hide 'N Seek. We ate eggs with ketchup and toast. We giggled. We watched The Fresh Beat Band.

And in the back of my mind, i kept going over my to-do list.

As Emma cuddled up to me on the couch late this afternoon, i realized that these kind of moments are treasures.

More so than my to-do list.

That to-do list of mine will always be waiting for me.

But Emma, well, won't always be three and want/need to cuddle with me.

So, for today, it was okay that my to-do list was ignored.

It was okay.

More laugher, please....

 

An average adult laughs 12 times a day....

...but an average child laughs 75 times a day!

Just another reason for us as adults to learn to be more child-like!

(~Stolen from Sheila's status on FaceBook!)

Oh yes, one of 'those days'...

It's not been a good day.

In fact, it truly sucked eggs big time was one of my yuckiest.

I had a good day until i skipped in to pick up my darling tot from school. I love the little school she goes to. I love the director, Mrs. Cheryl. She has a heart for where she is at and what she is doing for her teachers and little students. I love her teacher, Mrs. Sarah. She's the kind of teacher you'd want your child to have: fun, involved and i can see that she truly loves children. Which must be hard to do some days when you teach a class of 3 year olds, btw....

When i went to pick up Emma yesterday from school, her teacher asked me what we did for discipline. I do the time out thing, in a corner, i told her. No chair, no sending her to her room, in the corner. I didn't want to ask the next question, but i then asked her why, and she said that today, Emma slapped/hit another TEACHER in the face. Ms. Sarah said that she didn't think it was to be mean, but i'm willing to bet that Emma wanted to just get the other teacher to leave her alone so she could continue to do whatever it was she wanted to do. And then, she tells me that Emma will ignore her (Ms. Sarah) at times when she asks her to do something. I asked her what she did when that happened, and she said that she would just point her in the direction that she needed Emma to go in and Emma would go.

Yes.

I did.

I cried the entire way home. And it's a long drive.

Why? Because i felt like a complete and utter failure as a Mom.

I don't want Emma to be "that" child. You know, the one who the teacher's have to wear protective gear around?

Emma was quiet as a church mouse in the car. As i put her in her car seat, i asked her what happened at school. She tells me about playing with another child. I asked her about hitting the other teacher. She then looks like a deer caught in the headlights and responds:

"We don't hit!"

Smart answer, but no treat earned.

I go on to explain that i am disappointed. That we NEVER HIT ANYONE, much less an adult. That hands are for gentle things, not hitting. That she is to listen to Mrs. Sarah with both of her ears and do exactly what Mrs. Sarah asks her to do.

Yep. I explained all of this at least 6 times to Emma.

I know that Emma still doesn't feel well and we've had stuff to do every single day this week. MOPS on Monday, followed by the grocery store. School on Tuesday, followed by errands. Mom's Together on Wednesday, followed by a visit to Robert's work. School on Thursday and then on Friday, i had plans for a play date with a friend of mine who has a daughter close to Emma's age. I'm not sure that my friend would want us around, for heaven's sake...

Yes.

I did.

I cried the entire way home. And it's a long drive.

Why? Because i felt like a complete and utter failure as a Mom.

I don't want Emma to be "that" child. You know, the one who the teacher's have to wear protective gear around?

And if i'm really honest, i want to be thought of as a good Mom. Which, apparently for me, means not having a child who hits teachers and ignores teachers. Because how could i be doing my job if she does those things?

My dear friend, Melissa, giggled at me and said, "Issy, Emma is three! She's three. She was having a bad day, too. Just wait till she's older...."

Melissa has three children so i know she's right and knows what she's talking about.

But still...

I want to call my Mom and ask her what she would have done to me if i had done what Emma had done. But...i can't do that. I have a feeling that she would have done something more than cry all the way home like i did and make Emma ride home in silence and then clean her room and help me clean the den when we did get home.

To top off my day, there was no emergency chocolate in my home. You know, the chocolate that you stash for days like this? Apparently i had forgotten to replish my stash.

Today will be spent at home. No running around. Maybe some time in the yard or maybe taking a walk around our neighborhood. No time spent in the car. No running around. Just a quiet day.

Because i need it.

~Isabel---->who failed at potty training and now has a child who belts teachers.

Because flowers....

 

 

 

 

...make us realize how amazing God's creations are.

And because they make us happy.

So happy that we love to go outside with no shoes and water our plants with no shoes on. You know, so the mud can squish between our toes?

Yep, that kinda happy!

The "Emma Butterfly Garden" only needs a few more bags of mulch and then we are done till early Spring.

Yes, of course i took photos of it!

I'm just too lazy to find my goofy camera cord.

:)