The day we picked up Emily from the police station.

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon. Everybody in the family was home. A rarity at this point in our lives, as I was working for a hotel and Josh was working for the prison. We had pretty un-predictable schedules that we tried to work out to keep the kids with one of us as much as possible. Emily was outside playing in our incredibly small “yard” which consisted of concrete and a clothes hanger. She decided that she wanted to go to the park.

Only she didn’t tell us that she wanted to go to the park.


She just went.


By the way, we lived a good half a mile from the park.


Across at least one fairly busy intersection and several non-busy roads, but roads nonetheless.


I don’t remember who went to check on her, her father or I, but she was gone. This wasn’t completely unusual, as she had made several friends in the neighborhood and would wonder off to their house without telling us. (Thank goodness she tells us everywhere she goes now, almost to a point it drives me crazy!) So Josh heads over to have her come home and she is not at any of her normal homes away from home.

Panic begins to set in.

The only problem here is that Jacob is an infant, asleep upstairs in our apartment and someone has to stay close to home because he has been asleep for a while and could wake up any minute. So Josh takes off in the car to search for her and we grab a couple of friends that live near by and they take off in their cars to look as well. While I worried my self silly about her whereabouts.

Meanwhile, in the land of Emily she is hopping fences and having a grand old time. A concerned citizen sees her out roaming around, and realize that this poor child is probably not in the right area, as she doesn’t recognize my adorable child. So she calls the police (yes, I said police). Once the police show up they try to talk to her, only Emily decided to be afraid of the police and runs. from. him. Oh yes, she did. And she outran him! She would not have anything to do with him. Finally they get the help of a nice lady to help get her in the back of the police car. And they take her down to the station.

During this time we are freaking out! We cannot find her- of course not, she is with the cops! So we finally break down and call 911 and tell them that we have lost our daughter. She has been missing for about 30 minutes and we have been searching, but are unable to find her. They ask to describe her, and when Josh does they tell him to come on down, they think they have her at the police station. So down Josh goes.

He walks into the campus police station and there she sits, happy as a clam. Drinking a grape juice box and coloring in a police safety-coloring book.

She was three years old. And we had to pick our daughter up from the police station. I sincerely hope it is the last time that it happens. Emily still remembers this happening. She still remembers having the grape juice box. I still remember it was a juice box from Wal-Mart.
She also knows to tell me where she is- at all times.

Emily has a rough night

A picture of my upside down cutie, because she is turning our world upside down.

Yesterday when I arrived home Jacob was watching Scooby Doo on TV, Emily was playing with Chelsa in the play room and Josh was preparing dinner. We sent Chelsa home and began to sit down for dinner. As we were setting the table and getting drinks for everybody Josh asked Emily to feed the dogs.

She didn’t. She sat in front of the TV watching a commercial.

Josh called her again.

She didn’t come again.

Josh hollered to her to turn the TV off and feed the dogs.

She didn’t come. Again.

So he went into the living room, turned off the TV and told her once again to feed the dogs. So, off she stomped into the kitchen to get the food and water dishes from outside. She THREW the water dish into the sink. And stomped off to get the dog food.

At this point Josh calmly picked up the extra folding chair we have in the dining area in case we end up with guests and put it in the corner of the living room. He gently guided her to the chair and sat her in it. He brought her dinner plate and water to her to eat in the corner while we ate as a family at the table.

Once she was done she was instructed to take a bath. She did, and for the first time in months without complaining. After she was done with her bath she dressed herself and waited on the couch to talk with her father. They had a nice little chat about her behavior and the need of TV. After receiving punishment of no TV after school until school is out she was promptly sent to bed. She was quite upset about it because it was only 7:10 and Jacob was allowed to stay up until his regular bed time of 7:30.

She still thinks he punishment is unfair, but the TV has become an issue for her once again. It seems as though every 6 months or so, we have to take the TV away from her for an extended period of time. This time she is allowed to watch on the weekends and Friday nights if we are watching something as a family.
So, do you think we were too harsh? I think for the first time we handled her well. It is difficult with her right now- at the age of 8 she is becoming more difficult and moody- but still immature and child like. She is still a child- that is beginning to grow up.

Some Jacob for your Tuesday.

Here is my cook cat Jacob this morning before I left for work. He was waiting for Daddy to finish cooking the bacon.

What a week

I am out of town this week, away on "business"- I was in the airport when the shootings happened on Monday. I first heard about it on a TV in the Houston airport. I think it is horrific- but I have been unable to read, listen to or watch much of the coverage because it all seems a little too over the top.

I read this from Suburban Turmoil ~ I think it says what I am thinking in a way I never could have.

WARNING! This is gross!

On Tuesday night Jacob made a friend. There was a little boy running around the neighborhood that I had not ever seen before, but was about Jacobs’s age. They played in the garage with Jacobs’s pirates and had a grand old time. I was sorry when I had to send him away because it was time for Jacob to come into the house for a bath and bed.
Last night I drove up and the little boy was outside playing again with the older kids in the neighborhood. When I picked up Jacob I told him to go on and play with his new little friend. They played nicely outside with the pirates for a little bit and then asked to come inside. They came in and played in the trashed out play room for a while. Then Jacobs new friend had to use the restroom. We the poor boy was in there for 12 minutes. I only know this exact time because I was watching the clock for Chelsa who had to be home at 7:00. While he was in there I went and knocked on the door twice to ask if everything was ok. I was worried that he was out of toilet paper or that, oh I don’t know- was confused. When he finally came out I could smell the restroom from across the house. He had shut the door when he came out, so I slowly opened the door and was shocked at what I found. To begin the stench was nearly unbearable. I had to gasp and step back. The sink was filled with a brownish colored water. I was almost to scared to unplug the drain, but I needed to know what I was dealing with. I pushed down the plug and the water slowly drained, I was left with poop in the sink. POOP IN THE SINK! Who does this!?! There was poop on the side of the toilet bowl, on the inside, and poop wiped on the floor. There was pee on the floor and the rug was wet. So I set off to clean up some other kids poop. And as I did it I thought of Amy. Not because I often associate her with poop, but I know over the years she has cleaned up both of my kids poop at one point or another. So first I must officially apologize to her for my kids leaving poop where it doesn’t belong and thank her for cleaning it up and second, how gross is it to clean up someone else’s kids poop? IT. IS. GROSS!

For Amy

It was a wonderful weekend with my parents. They drove into town this weekend for the holiday. They arrived late on Thursday, so we did not see them until Friday. The kids got to see their Memaw Friday morning when she came to visit them in their classrooms, a favorite of both of my children. I was let off work early on Friday for the holiday and we waited until they got out of school and headed to the mall. With the cash she had received from Memaw she had enough for the make-up kit she had been eyeing for weeks- and saving her money for.

Saturday was so cold and damp. Yuck. I had a flat tire which my father so graciously changed for me in the sleet. I am forever thankful for that! Because it was so cold and wet we decided to hit the movies. We saw Meet the Robinsons. It was an enjoyable flick- and the kids really liked it. My favorite part was the old school Mickey cartoon they showed before the movie started.

Easter Sunday was crazy with sugar. I only allowed Jacob a small amount of chocolate before church, but they received eggs in Sunday school and they were HOPPED UP!

It was a nice weekend. I enjoyed seeing my folks, even though my mom only saw Josh for about 30 seconds all weekend and my dad a while more, due to the loss of my new contact down the bathroom sink. I know Josh is looking forward to our future travels coming up. Only 8 weeks until our trip to Lubbock and a month more until the trip to Kentucky that has been 9 years in the making.

Bluebonnets

This is the first year since we have lived in Texas that we took the kids pictures in the bluebonnets. It was like 50 degrees on Easter Sunday, but we were running out of time before they were going to dissapear. So here you go:

Fun times at home

Josh and I have decided that we are going to attempt to take the kids on a trip to Disney World this fall. I have had the itch to go back since last fall and with his new part-time job- we are going to save all of his money for our trips to Lubbock (May), Kentucky (July) and Disney World (November). We have already told the kids about the trip- sort of an insurance policy to make sure we get the money saved up- they will hold us to it. And of course, we don’t want to disappoint. Last night I was sitting in the living room with Emily and Jacob after dinner had been eaten and baths had been taken. We were watching a program we had recorded on Disney World. They were profiling the Tower of Terror at Disney MGM’s Studios. Emily turned to me and asked, “Are we going on that ride?” I told her yes- even Jacob is tall enough to ride this one already! She turned back to the TV and said, “Sweeet!” It was priceless. Then they began to profile the Rockin Rollercoaster starring Areosmith and Jacob said, “I can’t ride that, I am not big enough, but if I do get big enough, I’m going to ride it!” He seems to have no fear- of the stuff on TV and the maps I have from previous trips. We will see how brave he is when we are right up on it.