Mini Misemers Memories

2009-08-01T17:14:00.002-05:00

Below are some pictures of Sophie's 7th birthday. I can't believe we have a seven year old! Every year gets more exciting, but I get a little bit sad. It's so true that time flies, and I am all too aware of it. Of course, time goes slowly on a day like today- Saturday, no plans, raining out. Most days, though, fly by. I love having children and watching them grow up, learning, having fun. I am always aware of how blessed I am to have them, even when I need a break from them- you Moms know what I mean! Sophie is so sensitive, smart, and energetic. She is really good with her little brother. I am lucky to have such a great kid.
So, for the party: Sophie decided the AirHogs minor league baseball game was so fun last time we went, that she wanted to have her party there. We invited just 5 girls, and four were able to come. It was the smallest party she's had, but one of the best! You can do more with fewer kids. We started out at home and had pizza, cake, and gifts. I made matching t-shirts for everyone. They are at the age where they like to dress alike, and aren't embarassed. So it was a great idea- they got lots of attention and it was so easy to keep up with everyone!
Something I love about Sophie is that she always shows lots of enthusiasm at gift time. Whether it's Christmas or birthday, no matter the gift, she acts like she won the lottery with each opened package. This is with no prompting from me. She goes and hugs each giver. I love that she makes each gift giver feel special.
There was one gift she was a bit more excited to get and it was a surprise. I wrapped in a box a paper announcing that she would be attending the Miley Cyrus concert in October. She read that and SCREAMED!!!! so loud the whole neighborhood could hear it. There was no doubt she was excited about that!
This year as she is older, she's into money and gift cards (credit cards as she calls them). She got some bills and enjoyed flashing them around, fanning herself, and throwing them up in the air. Quite the drama queen!
I think some of the girls were skeptical about going to a baseball game, but they all agreed it was a ton of fun. John went up to the announcer and had them announce her birthday and post it on the screen. They all got balls from a staff worker because they were wearing matching shirts. It was so cute to see them walking the parking lot holding hands in a row. Birthday Party Success!!

Sophie's 7th Birthday Party

2009-08-01T17:12:00.001-05:00

Memorial Weekend in New Mexico

2009-06-26T18:11:00.005-05:00

2009-06-17T13:37:00.004-05:00

Girl's Day Out with Christina!

Easter Fun 2009

2009-06-17T13:37:00.001-05:00

Spring

2009-06-17T13:12:00.002-05:00

2009-04-02T22:25:00.002-05:00

Forgive me for not posting in so long. We've been doing some stuff, but I've had some computer issues and just been busy. I will try to keep updated with all the spring activities. I still have some more things to post soon. And bear with me as I try to change the header. Needing something more "springy".

2009-04-02T22:23:00.001-05:00

Spring Break

2009-04-02T22:08:00.003-05:00

For Spring Break we headed to the Houston area to stay with Aunt Kelly, Uncle Matt, Abby and Ethan. We visited a cool nature center and saw some HUGE alligators! There were lots of birds, too. It was a beautiful day for the hike. Sophie loved it. She was really excited to touch a tarantual, corn snake, and baby alligator. I would have thought she'd be a little squeemish, but I couldn't tear her away from the snake! She proclaimed it to be the Best Day of Her Life. From touching some reptiles? Really? Maybe also because she had our full attention. Jake was back home taking a nap and missed all the scaley fun.

Jake's First Real Hair Cut

2009-04-02T21:54:00.003-05:00

Ready to get started. He didn't like the idea of tissue around his collar.

Oh, got a little water in his eyes. Still doing good... The poor stylist that I threatened. DO NOT CUT IT OFF. JUST SHAPE IT. She was very nice and understanding. John and Pa look on, wondering why we are paying for a hair "cut" when I won't let her actually cut it.

Uh-oh. Getting tired of this. Pouty face.

Almost done! They have Easter eggs here! Good distraction.

2009-04-02T21:40:00.000-05:00

Rainy Day Fun

2009-04-02T21:35:00.002-05:00

It was cold and rainy outside, so Sophie and Jake made up an indoor baseball game. Apparently the pink beach hat was the only one she could find for Jake.

Jake Drinks Coffee

2009-04-02T21:30:00.003-05:00

Am I a bad Mom for giving it to him?

2009-04-02T21:26:00.001-05:00

Like Father, Like Son

2008-12-16T21:12:00.002-06:00

Jake's never been interested in television until he discovered he's got one in his room. Thank you, Barney!! (and Reta for giving us all those videos)

2008-12-16T21:02:00.003-06:00

Trying to get a good pose for Christmas cards I haven't ordered (yet)!

Christmas Tea Party

2008-12-16T20:54:00.004-06:00

Sophie and her friend, Allison, accompanied me to a Christmas Tea Party. They had such a great time! My friend's daughters were so sweet to find some dolls for them to play with and serve them seconds and thirds of the goodies. It was so fun that when I told them it was time to go so Allison could make it to her dance class, she replied, "Could you just call my mom and tell her I'm going to stay here instead?Because I don't really like dance anyway".

2008-12-16T20:48:00.002-06:00

A little sibling love- both kid napping in Jake's crib. So cute!

Meals on Wheels

2008-12-14T22:25:00.003-06:00

I started volunteering for Meals On Wheels. So of course, the kids go with me. It's been fun and interesting. Sophie's been around her 87 year old great-grandmother a lot, so elderly people aren't new. But some of their problems are. I do have to say- my grandmother is able and her mind is sharper than mine is. So of course, Sophie had some questions about some of these people. There is a man, Mr. C., who can't speak. So he nicely mumbles, and for whatever reason we have to pass his meal through the window of his room. He's hooked up to some stuff, but he scoots over to the window and he's got on a grungy shirt. As soon as we get in the car, she asks why he's wearing a dirty shirt. So I explain that it's kinda like Jake. When you get older, sometimes you can't take care of yourself as well, like a baby. Some people drool or get food on their shirt like babies, some can't make food for themselves. Some even wear diapers like babies. She's like, ok, ok. Ok. Then- "WHAT?? DIAPERS??". I just can't wait until she asks Mamaw if she wears diapers!

2008-12-14T22:15:00.000-06:00

2008-12-14T21:27:00.004-06:00

Sophie's been into Little House on the Prarie for a few months now. She's very much into role-playing, which is in part why she's been watching Little House. She easily takes on the bad attitudes of the tween characters on Disney Channel. We cut that off, and all that's left is Laura Ingalls. So she dug out some old smocked dresses, an apron, and I braid her hair. She goes around carrying a basket to gather eggs or vegetables. She sweeps, she has friends who die from consumption or "the fever", whatever that is. The neighbors must be intrigued by the girl who sometimes flits down the sidewalk wearing a bonnet and plucking weeds from their yard to place in her basket. When she does that, she wears a hat and her garden dress, which is an old dress of mine. It was lovingly made by my Aunt Helen when I was a flower girl in her daughter's wedding in 1978. It's got 5 tiers of yellow cotton trimmed in lace to the floor. I'll try to post a picture of it when I catch her. It's a sight, let me tell you! Anyway, I decided to jump at the chance to make some bread and work on math fractions, both of which were needed in our household. And the Ingalls just happen to do their own baking.

Sophie and friends at Justice for a "birthday makeover"

2008-12-14T20:03:00.001-06:00

Halloween

2008-11-05T11:32:00.003-06:00

The kids were Tinkerbell and Peter Pan for Halloween. We went to a Fall Fest at church, and then for Halloween stayed home to pass out candy. Sophie's favorite part of her costume was wearing makeup and Jake loved his hat. They made the perfect pair. Cuties!! Oh, and Sophie was very excited to win a cake in the cake walk at church. She didn't even care that it was a lemon bundt cake or that about 30 other kids won a cake, too.

Krispy Kreme!!

2008-11-05T11:24:00.006-06:00

Jake's took his first trip to sugar-coated heaven. Oh, yeah, Krispy Kreme!! We stopped by after church one day. He loved it. Sophie picked out a cute pumpkin donught and Jake, well, he took anything he could get. Nothing like a sugar high on a Sunday! Sophie likes it, but Jake takes after my side of the family. KK has been known to eat a whole box of warm ones before she made it home!!

Race For Education

2008-11-05T11:18:00.002-06:00

Sophie completed 12 laps for her school's fundraiser, Race For Education. She might have done a few more, but she was too tempted by the break stands set up for water and orange slices. I think she took a break twice per lap! Thanks to all of you who contributed!

Fall At The Dallas Arboretum

2008-11-05T11:13:00.002-06:00

Hummingbirds

2008-09-21T22:51:00.006-05:00

It was hard to get good pics with 2 kids and 2 dogs running around!

Hummers- guzzling the gas

2008-09-21T22:30:00.004-05:00

Not that kind of hummer! I had seen some hummingbirds a couple of times and finally got a feeder up. It didn't take long for these little guys to find the feeder. I thought it would be fun for the kids to watch. They aren't so interested. I, however, love to watch birds. I miss all the beautiful birds (and trees) we had at our old house. Cardinals, woodpeckers, finches, doves... And once I even had a carrier pigeon visit for a few days. That was cool! He finally "flew the coop" and headed home after his nerves finally couldn't take any more of the friendly cats. So I'm a closet little old lady who likes to birdwatch and talk about the weather. I've even got several field guides for birds. I'm trying to get Sophie interested, and she looks sometimes, but ya know, all she has to say about it is- oh, they're small. And they are! Sometimes I mistake them zooming in for those big dragonflies going about. We can hear their little wings beating as they buzz around and their little beep-beep call. One of them sits in the equally small tree to watch over the feeder, making sure none of the other hummers get too greedy. They do guzzle the sugar water! And they fight over it, too!

They won't be around much longer, but here are some tips if you want your own Hummers: use tap water and plain white refined sugar, one part sugar to 4 parts water. Refill with fresh syrup every couple of days. Don't use red food dye. I bought a cheap feeder at Wal-mart for under $5. That's it! Have fun!

It's the Great Pumpkin, uh.....

2008-09-21T22:23:00.003-05:00

We planted a pumpkin seed a while ago but a little too late in the season. Does this look like it will produce a nice, orange pumpkin in about a month? I don't think so. Maybe a Christmas pumpkin. So if you come by in December and there's a pumpkin under the tree- you'll know. It's the Great Christmas Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

Good-bye Summer Fun

2008-09-21T22:14:00.006-05:00

Sprayin'

Chewin' a shoe! :(

Swingin'

Slidin'

Golfin'

2008-09-17T23:11:00.004-05:00

Sophie's Quote of the Week
Setup: John picks Sophie up from school. She sees a set of toy golf clubs in his truck that he'd picked up for Jake that day. She sees another box in the back and asks about it. John tells her it's a new toilet seat for her bathroom. Sophie says, quite seriously," How come Jake got a toy and I got a toilet seat?"

Quotes from Sophie

2008-09-08T11:50:00.002-05:00

I'm going to do a new thing- Sophie's Quotes for the Week.
Setup- John has become a much better handyman in recent
years than when we first me. On Saturday he's trying to fix
a lawn chair. He's having a little bit of a tough time, and then
cuts his finger (he has sensitive hands ha ha). "Ouch!!!" he says.
Sophie says, "Dad, maybe you should do something else.
You're just not cut out to be a builder".
You know he loved that!

Gardening

2008-09-08T11:45:00.004-05:00

Jake enjoying a little gardening.

2008-09-08T11:43:00.000-05:00

2008-09-08T11:40:00.000-05:00

Howdy, Folks.

Just playin' my harmonica.

2008-09-08T11:37:00.000-05:00

Kids Do the Darnest Things....

2008-08-27T21:48:00.005-05:00

So today I have a guy come paint my front door. I get a call as I'm coming out of the shower that he's a few minutes away. The kids are both in the bathroom with me and I'm scrambling for clothes when the doorbell rings. "Ugh! Where's my bra? Where is it?" So I throw on a t-shirt and shorts. "Forget the bra, I'll get it later". I run to the door, open it, and there's the painter. He's about my age and I'm wondering- did I go to high school with him? (and am I covering my bra-less chest sufficiently?) This is a recurrent question for me since I'm living in my hometown. Everyone looks familiar. So he's talking, talking, telling me about the paint, the door. And the whole time I feel Sophie standing behind me- tap, tap, tapping on my back. She's not saying anything, just tapping. I'm ignoring her and the guy is talking, looking at the door, looking at me, looking at Sophie. So finally he says he's going to get his tools and will be right back. I shut the door, turn around, and AHHH! Horror! Sophie is standing there grinning with my glasses on and my GIANT BRA hanging around her neck!! "Ha, ha, Mom. I was standing here that whole time and that guy saw me! Ha Ha!"
My mom thought this was just sooo funny. I, however, was mad. I sent her to her room and told her to never show anyone, especially a man, especially a strange man, her bra, my bra, any bra, EVER! I saw the wheels working so I threw in the answer to the question I knew was coming. "Don't show it to any man except your husband".
Side note- the guy never mentioned the bra, I never apologized for the bra. But he was here for two hours and I know his whole life story. He was very nice and he talked the whole time. Desperate for conversation or a little too comfortable after witnessing the undergarments? Ha!

Things To Do On a Hot Day.....

2008-07-13T14:46:00.002-05:00

swim naked in the back yard.

New Stuff!

2008-07-13T14:42:00.001-05:00

To celebrate Sophie getting well, Pa took us to Chili's and then shopping. Sophie got an early birthday gift and Jake got some new crocs.

Harry

2008-07-13T14:40:00.000-05:00

HARRY

2008-07-13T14:27:00.002-05:00

John says my heart is bigger than my brain. I guess he's right, because we added a new member to our family. I like things in 2's. It's more fun! Two cookies, two shoes, two dollars, two kids, two cats, two dogs.....We went to the Ft. Worth Animal Shelter and adopted "Harry". Someone (MOM!) sends me emails of sweet little dogs needing homes. I am always able to pass them by without much thought. But this time I took the link in the email to www.petfinder.com and was linked up with some pet pics. I scrolled through without much thought and then ooooh- there he was. Pictured with his brother, Scruffy, was Harry the dog. I kept thinking about him for days. So one day when we had cabin fever (Sophie was very sick for 3 days) we went to check him out. You're thinking, yeah, right. John couldn't even resist. And he's the one whose heart can be three sizes too small like the Grinch at times. Which, in his defense, can be a good thing. Like when my brain is three sizes too small.
I felt bad leaving brother Scruffy behind. But a very nice lady and her son adopted Scruffy the very same day. I hope their little doggy hearts aren't too sad about being split up. So far Harry is very loveable and easy going. What's not quite so easy going is his pee-pee and poopie accidents on our carpet. On those days he's "my" dog, "my" idea, "my" mess to clean up. But he's a cutie!

Matt, Kelly, and twins made suprise trip to Dallas for July 4th, Matt's birthday!

2008-07-13T14:24:00.002-05:00

July 4th Party at The Mitchell's

2008-07-13T13:50:00.002-05:00

Midlothian Hot Air Balloon Festival

2008-07-13T13:48:00.000-05:00

2008-07-13T13:35:00.000-05:00

Girly things that Jake likes...purses, high heels, dolls with long hair.....

Summer Trips

2008-07-13T13:23:00.004-05:00

In June we went up to Arkansas, and then on to Missouri for a Misemer family reunion.

We got to do a little shopping while Daddy worked. Jake got his first Stride Rite shoes. He was very proud!

John found a new stroller for the working dad. Jake hitched a ride on the way up to the hotel room.

2008-07-13T13:19:00.002-05:00

For everyone who comments on how tan our family is.......
For whatever reason, kids just like to be naked,
and it makes for cute pictures.

Catching up with Christmas in July!

2008-07-13T12:39:00.000-05:00

2008-06-29T21:56:00.002-05:00

Ok, bear with me. I'm still trying to figure this blogging stuff out. I'm thoroughly impressed by all my friend's blogs. Mine's a bit of a mess. I've put things in out of order. I've missed a whole year of blogging. So here are some pics I've assembled that are somewhat recent. Still working on it....maybe I'll publish some old Christmas pictures next. Then I can get a fresh start when I get caught up!

2008-06-29T21:55:00.001-05:00

2008-06-29T21:41:00.000-05:00

2008-06-29T21:25:00.002-05:00

We took a weekend trip to Sea World San Antonio at the beginning of June.

It was a lot of fun! One of our favorite places to go.

Jake's First Birthday- back in MARCH!!

2008-06-29T18:14:00.002-05:00

2008-06-15T18:40:00.001-05:00

Trip to the Dallas Arboretum with Nathan Stewart.

2007-07-10T17:30:00.000-05:00

Sophie posing in Aunt Kelly's

beautiful atrium.

Aunt Sandra and Jake.

Aunt Kelly! Babies Abigail and Ethan are coming soon!

2007-07-10T16:58:00.000-05:00

We went to Galveston for Memorial Day Weekend.

Cuties at the beach!

Our yearly picture at Murdoch's Bath House on the Strand. I went here as a kid and I'm sure I begged my parents to buy a hermit crab. Sophie carries on the tradition. No hermit crabs this year but we will eventually give in.

Sophie enjoyed her sand spa treatment!

Jake took his first long nap. He was comfortable in the back of the car with the ocean breeze lulling him to sleep.

2007-07-10T16:56:00.000-05:00

"Show Day" at the Little Gym. Sophie and her friend Tatum were happy to show off their medals.

2007-07-08T12:41:00.000-05:00

We visited the Star Wars exhibit in Ft. Worth. Sophie loves to watch the Star Wars movies with her dad.

2007-07-08T12:34:00.000-05:00

Jake was dedicated at First Baptist Church Dallas on Father's Day. He was really good and Dad didn't even mind that Jake was wearing his "dress". Big Sister was proud.

Giving In

2007-06-29T08:40:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'm giving in. I wasn't interested in having a blog simply because I don't think I'm interesting. Who would want to read the details of our lives?
However, I find myself glued to the details of lives of others, several whom I've never met. I am a victim of the reality show generation. For the first time we have satellite TV in our home. As I predicted, I struggle with peeling my eyes away from the tube to watch "Housewives of Orange County" (outrageous!) and "Animal Cops Houston" (can I adopt that poor dog?) and midnight episodes of "Deadliest Catch" (now I know why the Alaskan King Crab I love so much is so pricey!).
So I figure with having children and having family that lives long distances, I might be a good candidate for a blog after all. Here it is- the blog of the "Mini-Misemers". Days in the life of Sophie and Jake, with possible random posts from our pets...........