HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We hope you have a frightfully wonderful day!

Love,

Daphne (from Scooby Doo!) & the Silly Witch

Pumpkin Patch

We visited the pumpkin patch at the local Episcopal church again this year. I'm not sure if we hit it a little late, or if the pumpkin batch wasn't so great (hey, that rhymed!) this year...they were light on their inventory and the good ones were few and far between. We managed to get a nice sized one for carving though, and will set it out by the front door with our store-bought ones.

This picture of Emerson cracks me up!

Who's your Mummy?

She's Good!

We heard from our doctor this morning and everything from the echo looks normal and fine. According to Scott, Kirby apparently has the "good Forbes genes"! :-) Obviously, we're thrilled and thankful!

Sentimental Sunday

This week's Sentimental Sunday post has me looking back on Emerson, and specifically her heart condition and our stay at Texas Children's Hospital (TCH) from New Year's Eve Day 2002 in to the new year of 2003.

On Friday, we took Kirby to TCH for an echocardiogram. Given Emerson's heart defects, I had a fetal echo while pregnant with Kirby and we've listened to her closely since her birth. As you all know, she's a healthy, active little one and we've never had reason to worry. When we unexpectedly found my heart valve defects last Fall, our pediatrician thought it would be best to check out Kirby as well, to see if she joins the "Mommy and Emerson Bum Valve Club".

Before we look back, Kirby did great! Scott went back with her and she watched Shrek while the echo was performed. Afterwards, we took the girls to the Avalon Diner on Westheimer for dinner. Every one should experience an Avalon Diner chocolate shake...though I suppose after having her ticker looked at, drenching it in saturated fat may not have been the best idea!

We should hear something about the echo this week and I'll let everyone know.

So, here's our little Emerson at TCH on New Year's Eve 2002....

That's me sleeping in the background. I didn't leave the hospital once in the 7 days we were there. In fact, I think I only left our room and the floor two or three times. Scott and I felt so scared and helpless. She was just so small...our first baby...it wasn't supposed to be like that. God is GOOD though!! After a rough start, she is our smart, active girl...wonderful in every way. In fact, if her heart issues ever do arise in conversation, most people are shocked...I mean, come on...we've all seen her energy, exuberance and can attest to her volume!!

She is due for another echo and clinic visit in early 2010. While we know she's healthy and doing well, we always wonder when and if they will want to repair anything. We'll worry about that later though. We thank God for blessing us with such a wonderful and amazing daughter and trust in His plan for her!

Sentimental Sunday

I thought it might be a cute idea to revisit old pictures each week. I hope you'll enjoy taking a look back with me. It's fun (and amazing!) to see how the girls have grown. For my first sentimental post, I thought I'd look back and see what it was we were doing around this same time in years past.

This first picture couldn't be more fitting...did anyone happen to catch that AWESOME game between Texas and Mizzou last night? Here's Emerson at around 11 months checking out a Longhorn game at MeMe and PopPop's....HOOK 'EM HORNS!

Here she is painting pumpkins with friend, Ashley Jones in October of 2004. I remember we spent the afternoon at their house, and later, we took pictures in the neighbor's pumpkin patch. Ashley looks so little in this picture too...can you believe she's about to turn 7!?

Look at our sweet girls in October 2005~ Emerson at almost 3 & Kirby at 1 month. They look so cute and innocent, don't they?

From 2006, here's Emerson at almost 4 years old having fun at Bounce City. And look at little Kirby, already a year old, digging in to her dinner! I think everyone has those "messy eating" pics.

Here's our little Clan cutting up at a local pumpkin patch last October. We'll be heading to the same one next week, so watch out for new pics soon!

Leapin' Lizards!

Super Leapin' Lizards that is! After a few weeks of delay due to Ike, our Fall soccer season is under way. Emerson, 5 of her team mates from last year, and one sweet new girl are all fired up!

We are thrilled to be with our friends from last year...the girls play so well together and get along great. We have a fantastic, friendly group of parents and it's made it all the more enjoyable. I think Scott and I look forward to Saturdays just as much as Emerson. The girls are going to ROCK this season!

Super Leapin' Lizard action shots coming soon...so stay tuned!!

Our Family "Hurrication"

As I stated, our power went off at 8:00 p.m. on Friday...well before the brunt of the storm. Sunday afternoon, we decided to pack up the truck and head to my parent's house in New Ulm. While air conditioning was the most welcome treat, I think Scott and I were more anxious to get to the TV and see what was going on in the rest of Houston, Galveston, and surrounding areas. We were pretty much glued to the TV for the first several hours after arriving.

So, we knew our house was fine. We were re-energized. The girls were certainly out of school for several days, and Scott was off of work for a few days too. What else to do but make the best of the situation!

First thing....our precious little Kirby turned 3 years old on Monday, September 15th!! Nana made a birthday cake and she was able to open her presents from my parents. Kirby's favorite gift was an old-fashioned red tricycle. She just loves it!

The next day, we decided to take a trip to the Blue Bell Creamery in Brenham. The girls and I have been several times, but Scott had never been. Blue Bell proved that day that they don't just have the BEST ICE CREAM IN THE COUNTRY...but also big hearts. The tours were free and they gave us extra free ice cream tokens. It was a pretty busy day for them with all the hurricane evacuees/refugees...and though a small gesture, a pretty stand up thing to do none the less. We had a great time!

We also managed to slip up to Austin to visit with MeMe and PopPop and attend the Texas/Rice football game. It was big stuff, as it was the girls first ever Longhorn game, and they got to sit in a suite! (Sometimes I wonder if they'll start expecting too much....!) They had a fabulous time and were very well behaved. And of course, the Horns won! Emerson has already asked when she can go to another game, and Kirby has perfected her Hook Em Horns sign. Thanks MeMe and PopPop...we had a blast and love you!

While in Austin, we were also able to attend cousin Jade's 5th birthday party at The Hoppin' House. We always have a great time with cousins Jade and Trevin and we were so happy we could be there. Kirby and Trevin loved playing in the ball pit and Emerson's favorite was climbing the rope ladder and jumping into the red foam blocks. Sadly, we didn't get a picture of all 4 cousins together. Bummer!

The rest of our hurrication at Nana and PaPa's was spent playing outside, visiting Katy Mills Mall, helping NaNa in her yard, and relaxing. We had lots of good quality time with them and can't thank them enough for letting us crash for 10 days. We love you both so much!!

Hurricane Ike

I suppose I would be remiss to not include a post about Ike. Ah, Ike, Ike, Ike....

Emerson was off of school and Scott was off of work the Friday that Ike was to hit. We spent most of the day securing the outside of the house, replacing batteries, monitoring the weather...and eating the "hurricane food" stash. And before Scott can jump in with an objection...FINE!...I was the one eating all the Oreos!

We settled the girls in for the evening, made cups of coffee, and had just settled on the couch to watch the weather reports around 8:00 p.m. when our power went off. 8:00 p.m.!? We were a tad ticked off to say the least. Around 10:00, we hunkered down in our "shelter" (the dining room) and listened to the radio play-by-play of the storm coming in.

The girls did great...slept right through it. Scott snored off and on. Trapper was a tad nervous and glued to my side the entire night. Me...I didn't sleep a wink...AT ALL. For me, that night was the scariest, noisiest night I have ever endured. The sound of the wind whipping around the house, hitting the glass, and the swaying of the trees was incredible. I don't think I'll ever forget it, and I certainly do not need to ever go through it again.

Thankfully, we made it through just fine. We had large limbs and debris in our yard, but no real damage. I figure we lost two trees with Rita...we had our turn! Several neighbors lost large trees and fences. The damage and destruction in Kingwood was substantial. To this day, there are still debris piles, hanging branches, fallen down trees, left over tree trunks, downed fences, and blue tarps on roofs. Still, we feel very blessed that our good friends and loved ones made it through just fine.