Emma-tainment

Emma is staying home from camp this week since we're leaving for AR on Thursday morning. We had a little extra time this afternoon after lunch and this is what she wanted to do with it. Truly her father's daughter. Enjoy.

New (school) Year's Resolution

I have been able to surf the internet more often lately. This is, in part, due to summer vacation and the fabulous camp/daycare to which I send my children to maintain their routine and my sanity. With my more leisure days, I have made a few re/discoveries: I have really funny family and friends. Reading your blogs and websites puts a smile on my face. I rediscovered The Dooce (whom I have replaced on my blog list in the side-bar). I have forgotten one of the purposes of my blog.

When I started blogging, I had two purposes: to keep family who are far away apprised of the happenings at the Mauk Ranch and to comment/observe/bitch/whine about life in general. While much of my life does concern my children, they are not 100% who I am. (Please don't put me in the same category as Ayelet Waldman. My children are a priority and I love them dearly but, they don't DEFINE me. I digress.) I have opinions and thoughts and observations outside my family life and I've been neglecting "myself", for lack of a better word.

To that end - I, Reagan Mauk, resolve to post more often and in a more varied manner. That is all.

Thanks for the laugh, Lindsay!

My sister-in-law, Lindsay, just blogged about this website called "Sh*t My Dad Says". Click here to read Lindsay's post about it. The basic situation is that this guy moved back in with his dad when he was 27. He posts things his dad has said and they are all really funny. I added the website to my list in the side-bar. Some of it's pretty crass but it's all REALLY funny. Andy and I both got a kick out of it. Check it out but make sure little ears and little read-able eyes are occupied or asleep.

Fun times...

Here are a few fun pics from the last week or so. These pictures are pictures of Emma from her birthday celebration. It was not just a birth-day because it lasted an entire weekend. This is Emma and her friends, Ansley and Kaitlyn. They are opening presents the morning after the sleepover. All still have bed-head even though Ansley and Emma had already put on their clothes.Here's the birthday girl with her birthday brownie cake. She's the only 6-year old in the world who doesn't like birthday cake. But you can't go wrong with a good brownie.
Here she is blowing out all 6 candles! Action shot!
And, the final product. Enjoying the birthday spoils.
Jackson enjoyed the brownie just as well. Besides the obvious resemblance between the two of them, they also inherited some well-known Robie/Snider/Jackson traits. Both were able to get brownie & frosting on their noses within seconds of digging into the brownie.

Dining Out...With Children

Jackson has entered the stage during which it is IMPOSSIBLE to eat out at any restaurant without a play-place. He will not sit still for more than 10 minutes. I realize that this 10 minutes far outstrips anything E was able to accomplish at this age, but it is still aggravating. He sat in a booster seat for the first time tonight (instead of the institutional, wooden high-chair) and enjoyed the 2.7 minutes of novelty and then was just as wiggly as ever.

He also is just as entranced by movies as his sister. So, tonight, I did it. I took the DVD player with us to dinner. In addition, I packed the child-size headphones and my iPod with earbuds just in case (read: when) Emma became jealous. We were at Chili's with both of our children plugged into electronic devices. They were quiet, still and Andy and I got to eat our dinner without threatening spankings and/or yelling at one or both of the children.

I was THAT parent tonight, and I'm totally OK with it.

Tooth Fairy Remix

Emma lost another tooth yesterday. They were both loose so it's not a total shock but I didn't think it would come out that soon! So last night, we put it in the "tooth box" but I never saw where she put it. I assumed (I know, my fault) she would leave it on her dresser. When the TF finally went in to perform the swap, the box was nowhere to be found. 30 minutes later - still no tooth box. The gods stepped in and E woke up thirsty and in need of some itch relief. After both treatments, I feigned surprise and told her we had forgotten to put out her tooth for the TF. She looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Mama, it's under my pillow. Duh."
Right - the only place I didn't look.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

At almost this exact moment (3:58pm) 6 years ago today, Emma Kathryn Mauk joined us. And nothing has ever been the same. Love you, big girl.

Toothless-ish

Emma lost her first tooth. Here are the pics.

Sympathy in Action

Jackson has discovered the Toy Story movies. We watched TS 1 & 2 to prepare Emma for Toy Story 3 with Aunt Tara, so J got his introduction to Buzz and Woody. Since then, we've watched part of one or the other movie almost every day to allow J his Buzz/Woody fix.

Last night, we were watching TS 2 during the part of the movie where Jessie explains why she's so bitter about Woody having an owner. That beautiful song by Sarah McLaughlin plays and you get the heart-rending montage showing Jessie's life with Emily. It is truly sad: I've cried a few times myself. When the song was over, Andy looked over and Emma was crying - hard. Big, crocodile tears falling down her face. Andy asked her what was wrong and she said, "Why didn't Emily play with Jessie anymore? Why did she give Jessie away?" It was a really touching. She snuffled and gasped for a few more minutes and said, "There are some toys in my shelves that I haven't played with in a long time. Do you think they're sad, too?"

It was pretty tough to watch. I started to tear up too. I was saddened and amazed all at the same time. I think Andy even teared up a little bit. E is really growing up. That's the first time she's ever shown an emotional reaction to a movie like that. She felt bad for Jessie and transferred that emotion to her own life. How cool is that? Not that it made her cry, but the mental process behind it. My little girl is sensitive and smart. What a blessing.

Message Received

The other day, J and I were playing on the floor. I had on shorts because I had just worked out. Jackson plopped down in my lap and then shot up like he'd been stung screaming, "Ow, Mama!" I thought maybe he HAD been stung or had pinched his leg on my shoe when he sat down. I was searching around my lap to figure out what had hurt him. Meanwhile, he leaned over and rubbed his hand up and and down my shin. With a look of horror on his face, he pulled his hand away and said, "Owie, Mama. Your legs, owie."

Thank you, son. Message received: Mama needs to shave.

Streamlining

This summer has been about streamlining. Hence the new look for the blog. I wanted something simpler with less fuss. I'm sure I'll change it again eventually; it's like my seating charts at school - I get bored easily.

Here's a short schedule of our summer events, so far:
June
* I "streamlined" my classroom and threw a whole bunch of junk out while I packed up for summer.*Kids spent 2 weeks in AR while Andy took his prelims and we went to Cancun, Mexico for our 10th anniversary. (Yeah - I know, we've been married for 10 years. Weird.)

Mexico pictures here!

*Emma started summer camp at Florida State University Schools summer program. She's loving life and comes home with a new story or adventure every day.
*Emma's bottom 2 teeth are really loose - the Tooth Fairy better get in gear!
*I met Katie in Panama City for the Eclipse movie release. Loved it! Already seen it twice more. And, I may go again.
*ANDY FOUND OUT HE PASSED HIS PRELIMINARY EXAMS!!!!

July
*E and I went to watch the fireworks while Andy stayed home with J. We were still trying to get the kids back into their routine after being in a different time zone (and different expectation zone - the GPs set later bedtimes than the 'rents.)
*E & J back into their rountine: glad to be back at school and camp.
*MK GAVE BIRTH TO BABY LUCY!
*YARD SALE! Again, streamlining. Need I say more? Although, I do have to pause here to give MUCHO GRACIAS to my friend Kat for suffering in the heat with me all day. Also a huge YOU'RE A LIFESAVER to my friend Hillary for taking E & K skating for the day. And, last but never least, LOVE YOU to Andy for being the J-man's beck-and-call guy all day. The YS wasn't really worth all the trouble it took to put it together but we did make some money - and it's money we didn't have before so I guess it's not all bad.

I also posted some pics and videos from the Spring soccer season. Emma looks good in her uniform - she's #12. Take a peek if you have time.

The rest of the summer is pretty low-key.
We're headed back to AR at the very end of July/beginning of August. We'll be there for about 10 days. We'll be in HS first, to see the Mauks. Then we're heading over to LR on Aug. 2 or 3 to see the LR people. I, of course, will make a trip to OK somewhere in there to see MK and Luce. I may try to go to Tulsa via F'ville to see some friends there. Hope everyone is well. Enjoy the Cancun pics and start saving your pennies so you can go with us next time!