Mother's Day Out

I'm sure all of you know that we put the girls in a Mother's Day Out program this summer. It is two days a week (Monday and Wednesday). I was a little unsure at first because I hate to turn loose of the money, especially on things that are not completely necessary. But WOW how worth it! It is so amazing how much I can accomplish in a few hours alone. It's really a great balance for me. I always had the desire to be at home with my kids, especially when they are small. But I found that I needed a little more "me" time than I was getting. I know there are super moms out there that can do it without any complaint or problem, but I never claimed to be super mom (sorry girls). It really has been wonderful. I learned that I can get pretty much all my "work" done (grocery shop, clean house, laundry, bills, a few meals, errands, yard work, church work, etc. etc.) on the two days they are at "school", which means when they are at home we can have lots more quality time together. It was just a couple of weeks before the program started when Emily had been asking me all day to read a book to her. I kept putting her off all morning as I ran around trying to get everything done. Finally Emily had the saddest little face and said, I wish you didn't have to work all the time. Boy, was that an eye opener. Anyway I do really like this new arrangement. They get to have fun, learn and play with other kids while I "work", then they get to come home and play with me!


An added bonus is we are getting a sneak peak into what life may be like when Emily is really in school. She is sure enough a clown and creative with the things she tells. She has told me her teachers names (there are two) are "doo doo" and "dah dah". I have no idea where she came up with that because she does know their real names. I find myself checking with the teachers for the reality behind many of the stories I hear on a daily basis about school.




Hooray for Mother's Day out and the two saints affectionately named "Doo Doo" and "Dah Dah"!!!

Best Daddy!

How fun to have a whole day dedicated to showering 'daddy' with love!

We had a little breakfast before church and Emily got to give Will the special tie she made for him to wear to church. Yea, Daddy for being so great and actually wearing it to church! You probably can't see in the picture but the tie says "Best Daddy".

Yes, I know that Father's Day was last month! But I do what I can, you know? For the record we did celebrate on time, just posted the proof late :)

Swimming lessons

This picture just about sums it up. A picture is worth a thousand words, right?




Truth be told she did okay, except when it came to putting her head in the water. She has it in her mind that if your head goes in the water you will drown. There is not much convincing her otherwise. She wasn't that way last year. But this year the fear is very real. She also does not trust jumping into the pool (when someone is there to catch her) because she thinks she may go under. We will just keep trying.

Can I call you that?

This is just a short cute Emily story from a few weeks ago. We had been playing outside and she said she needed to go to the potty. It was one of those times she really wanted help (that normally she does not need or want). So I went inside to help her out and when we were all done she gave me HUGE hug (it was really sweet). But then she said "I love you, owner". What?!?!?! I thought surely I misheard her. I'm sure I had a strange look on my face, because she squinted her eyes at me and said, "Can I call you that?" I said "call me what"? Yep, I was right the first time she said it again "owner". I said "no, i would really rather you not call me that". She said "please I want to call you my owner". I said, "I really prefer Mommy". She said it a few more times that evening, but luckily has not mentioned it since. Hopefully next time it pops into her head we won't be in public. Can you imagine what bystanders would think if they heard Emily calling me "owner"?? I just don't know where she comes up with this stuff.

Cookies for the Firemen

Lately we have been talking quite a bit about 9-1-1 and emergencies and police and firemen. Emily has a pretty decent understanding of it and I think maybe, just maybe if she needed to she could call 911 and relay what she needed to for help. So, a few days ago we were driving into town and passed a fire truck heading in the direction of our house. Will looked in the rear-view mirror to see lot of black smoke just to the south/east of us. Emily caught on to the whole situation and said she wanted to go help the firemen. And boy was she determined and passionate about needing to help them. Will and I did the best we knew how to explain why she really couldn't go help them fight the fire. She wasn't real happy about it. So Will says, Emily if you want to help the firemen you can do something nice for them like make some cookies. So....
We did! She helped me make some chocolate chip cookies. Then I told her to hurry and put on her shoes so we could go deliver the cookies to the fire station. Well she came out of her room wearing tall black leathery boots (that she has never worn before). Of course you can see that went REALLY well with he rest of her outfit! Of course I told her she couldn't wear those boots that she needed to go put on her brown sandals. No, apparently she HAD to wear these boots because they are her FIREMEN boots :) She said firemen where tall black boots. Well she had a point. So I ended up giving in hoping the firemen would not think ill of me.
They were so nice to her at the fire station! They let her in to look around at the trucks and equipment. They even let her sit in the truck and turned on the lights. It was really fun!
She is already wanting to take some cookies to the police as well. Maybe we will have to figure out how to make some donuts :)

Little Bunny FuFu

About two weeks ago we were all outside playing and working. Side note- Will bought MORE grass!! I think he has a problem. Anyway, Will and I had been laying grass and Emily and Payton were playing outside and in the sprinkler. I decided to go check on the garden and I found this little baby rabbit hiding under a big zucchini leaf! It didn't move at all. So I picked it up and let the girls hold it for a few minutes. It was so cute!

Who is that stringy-haired kid? Good grief what mother would let her kid play outside like that :)
Emily thinks she is the "bunny whisperer".
You can really see here how tiny the thing was. Payton (our niece) really enjoyed it!

I'm sure you are all wondering what it's name is and where we keep this new pet. Well the answer is....it DOES NOT HAVE A NAME OTHER THAN WILD CUTE BUNNY and it was PUT BACK IN THE GARDEN WHERE IT CAME FROM :)

Happy Birthday Emily

We had LOTS of fun celebrating Emily's birthday! I can't believe how fast it has all gone by. Just two years away from school. I know it is going to seem like tomorrow. She is such a sweet (mostly) little girl. There is a lot going on in that little head of hers. She really does a great job at keeping things interesting around here. I vaguely remember the days before children when Will and I had to pay for entertainment!

We couldn't get the pool this year at Cherry Park (I waited too late to call). So we had a very simple, small party here at the house. It was mostly family and a few close friends. We had ice cream cone cakes and hot dogs. The kids all had fun playing outside and we had fun watching :)

Meet Michael

I know it has been a long time since my last post. Things have been busy as usual around here! But I plan to add several posts today of some of the recent happenings around the Hicks's house in the past couple of months.

Meet Michael- NO! We don't have another kid, just a turtle!


Will found him on the road back in May. We were on our way to visit Granny and Grandad and will swerved just before we pulled into their driveway. I looked at him like he was crazy and said, "why did you do that?". He said you didn't see it? Then he got out of the car, picked something up out of the road and got back in the car with his fist closed. Of course Emily is in the back seat saying what is it daddy? Let me see, let me see!

So he tells her she can see it when we get inside...BUT WE ARE NOT KEEPING IT. Sure, that sounds like a great plan. Stop and pick up some living creature, show it to your two year old daughter and expect her not to keep it. I just smiled. So we got inside and in his hand was the tiniest turtle I have ever seen! It was just barely bigger than a quarter. Emily feel in love.

Well, as you probably guessed we still have that turtle now known as "Michael". And this is his new house. For the first couple of weeks he stayed in a little Pyrex dish that had some dirt and grass. I guess he upgraded a bit. Will is still adamant that it is my fault we now have a turtle and a big hobby of keeping up with a live terrarium habitat for him and his roommates (had to get some lizards from Petsmart). I admit I did ask Emily as she was holding him at Granny and Grandads what his name was. Maybe that didn't help. But WHO PICKED up the TURTLE???