Angel Wheeler

Look Who’s Three!

My dearest Emma Kate,

Last night you went to bed as a two-year old and today you woke as a three-year old! But not technically. You actually have until 2:47 this afternoon until you can officially say you’re three. You are the absolute most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me. I love you so much.

You are smart, beautiful, and funny. I am easily entertained by your antics, whether it is the funny things you say or the silly eyes you make, you always can make me smile.

You enjoy coloring and painting. Of course you love your books as you always have, and your cat Rocky Muffin. You are super smart, knowing and recognizing all your letters and your numbers to ten. You have begun to know how to make the letter E, and then you just scribble some m’s like mountain tops and a dot for the A. You love all things princess related and we celebrated this past Saturday by having a Princess dress up party. Three of your friends joined us and we had the best time. Everyone had at least one wardrobe change. We played Hide the Slipper and Pin the Kiss on the Frog. Then we decorated foam crowns to wear. I had a lot of fun making you a cupcake princess dress and seeing your sweet face full of excitement. You were so good and well-behaved and truly acted like a princess should.

The funniest part of the story is that you are convinced since we already had a birthday party that today you are four years old. You insist that, “I’ve already been three!” You are trying to convince me to have a farm party for your fourth birthday. I hate to break it to you, but birthdays only come once a year. You need to not rush things anymore than they already are. It seems like yesterday that you were that bright-eyed, alert newborn baby.

You will always be my baby, no matter how old you get. I thank God for you everyday and for the time I have to spend with you watching you grow. You are my blessing, one I am ever grateful for.

I love you so much my sweets.

Happy Birthday!

XOXO,

Mommy

Now THAT's how you decorate a cupcake. — Now THAT’s how you decorate a cupcake.

mommy and her little princess. I love this picture of us. — Mommy and her favorite princess. I love this picture of us.

The Latest Emmaisms—Edition 3

So, occasionally I like to blog about the funny things that come out of my daughter’s mouth. Today, I’m keeping it short and sweet with the latest three funnies.

1) She’s learned how to covet. Something she often says is “I wish I had ____________(fill in the blank)”. The other day while looking at Pinterest with me, she said “I wish I had that dress. In my dreams.” Maybe she’s realizing she doesn’t get everything she wishes for.

2) The sun was shining last Saturday, so we headed out for a hike in the woods. Although most of the snow had melted in town, we discovered a lot of snow, mud, and puddles on the trail while heading up. Needless to say, I hadn’t dressed her in the best shoes for trekking through the aforementioned conditions, she was simply wearing a pair of “sneaks” as she calls them. She was doing a great job hiking however; no complaining, no stopping, no slowing down when she fell in the snow. Her daddy was bringing up the rear and commented, “Emma, you’re a trooper.” She replied, “No I’m not! I’m a hiker!”

3) She spent some time with her young male cousin recently during all the holiday visits. Today, while going potty, she informed me that “Maxx pees out of his belly button. Silly Maxx!”

Oh the fun of it.

You can read her other cute sayings here and here.

Two Year Old Snowman

Today is the first official snow of 2015 here in my corner of New Mexico. Official snow in my book anyway. There might have been a previous flurry or two, in which I consider that officially unofficial.

EK wanted to go build a snowman, but she didn’t want to wear all those clothes. “They’re too tight. They’re too tight,” she complained. Also, the fact that they didn’t match produced a few tears, but after wearing them for a bit, she got used to the discomfort and fashion taboo-edness and didn’t want to come inside for forever.

It was a day of christening the Snowman Kit that EK bought for her daddy Christmas 2013.

Her snowman when she was still two, but just barely.

As JDub and EK packed on the snow forming a buddha-like belly for the snowman, I grew a bit nostalgic. Today is January 13. In 15 days, my baby will turn three. Two weeks and one day. It’s not that I don’t know she’s about to turn three. We’re in the throes of princess party planning, but sometimes the realness of a situation just hits you, you know?

I sat and thought of last year, of the snowman we built. It seems like an eternity ago, and it seems like yesterday. The thought struck me that this snowman will more than likely be the last snowman she will build as a two-year old. The first and the last.

Last year’s snowman, when she was still one, but barely. December 21, 2013

Even she knows how quickly time flies. Recently, while holding up her little fingers just so, she said, “I’m two and I’m going to be three. I’ve already been one.” She’s already been one. That’s over and done. And in a few days, she will be able to say she’s already been two.

Excuse me while I blubber for a moment and go hold my girl, while she’s still two.

Anticipating Christmas Morning

It’s the dead, dark middle of the night. I lay here wide awake in eager anticipation of the morning. The house is slumbering, the only sounds are the ticking of the clocks and the occasional roar of the heater coming on. Visions of sugar plums, I imagine, are floating. J-Dub just went to bed a little while ago after staying up doing what dads do on Christmas Eve: screwing screws and fumbling through instructions entitled “some assembly required” when what that really means is, “assemble these million parts of nonsense with as few cuss words as possible”. After all, it is Christmas and there’s no cussin’ on Christmas. That’s probably a written rule somewhere.

Christmas present is different to me from Christmas pasts. I now anticipate the morning, not to receive, but to see that little face light up with the giving. The wonder. The magic. The joy of it all through the eyes of child.

I snuck out of bed and tiptoed into the dark to see what EK will see when she stumbles in bleary-eyed in the morning. There is a massive dollhouse; one that I never imagined would be that big. (I’ve got to get better at reading the fine print). And somewhere is the Beauty and the Beast movie, her own personal request to Santa Claus himself when she hesitantly sat upon his knee and whispered her desire.

Here’s a little before/after. The kids these days call this a Transformation Tuesday I believe, but I’m not sure whether I’m coming or going, much less what day it is for all that.

Last year’s Santa pic to this year. She actually sat on his lap this year, but still wearing the same look of uncertainty on her face.

Oh it’s fun really, isn’t it? I need to remind myself of that often. Having a little family of my own. Creating and making our own traditions and memories. I don’t want Christmas to be an elaborate affair. A few gifts, with the emphasis on the true meaning. This year, I followed this little mantra of gift giving: something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read.

We began a Jesse tree for advent, working through the Bible stories leading to the coming of Jesus on that holy night. I was sewing the ornaments with a little felt and embroidery thread. We were gathering around a little tree in EK’s room reading the stores each night, but as in typical fashion, that kind of fizzled out. I think I made it through the burning bush. There’s always next year, right?

I’ve got promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep.

We went and enjoyed the second annual cutting of the tree this year. I walked the forest along with my family trying to find the “perfect” Christmas tree. During the inspection of each tree, I composed a whole blog post in my mind about how “choosing a Christmas tree is like choosing a spouse” but as in typical fashion, I never got that posted. But it’s a no-brainer. You get it. There is no perfect tree, just as there is no perfect mate. But the moral of the story is: pick one you can live with. Learn to love their quirks and eventually they’ll die.

Um, maybe that’s not the best moral, but it’s the truth.

Well I’ll sign off now and try to get some shut-eye before dawn rolls in.

Have a merry Christmas!!

A Few More Emmaisms

I’ve got this almost 3-year-old, going on almost 30-year-old.

She says some of the funniest things. I posted about them last here. One of my faithful readers and commenters, Donna, coined them Emmaisms and I thought that sure sounded catchy.

Today I put on my 80’s playlist to get myself moving to clean the house after the holiday storm that rushed through here a few days back. Trying to get back in my groove. I began singing rather loudly to Journey. You know how you do whenever Journey comes on. It doesn’t matter where you are, or what you’re doing. When Journey plays, you sing. It was a little bit of Separate Ways. I was belting it out pouring her some milk.

Someday love will find you, break those chains that bind you. One night will remind you…….

Emma looked at me and said,

“Mom, let them sing by themselves.”

She lives in a fantasy world most of the time. Princesses and fairies. She takes turns wearing her dress up clothes with the matching shoes and hair. Yes, hair. If she’s Elsa, she has to have a braid. Cinderella, a bun. Belle, a half bun. It is exhausting how many times she changes clothes and hair styles in a day. The other day she just wanted to be Emma.

“I don’t want to be a mermaid. I just want to be a human from America.”

Good enough for me, kid.

Don’t make the mistake that these little kids don’t learn how to make excuses at a very young age. Whenever she doesn’t want to do something that she’s been told, she collapses into a limp noodle in my arms and exclaims,

“But I don’t have any feet!”

She’s my little homebody. She never wants to go anywhere, not even the playground. Or the store. She says she’ll just stay home by herself. The other morning, she looked at me with all the seriousness in the world and said,

“Mom, I’m not leaving today. I’m just going to stay home and be naked.”

On that naked note, Material Girl is playing now and the house isn’t cleaning itself.

Have a great Tuesday!

Doggie Went A-Courtin’ is LIVE

For the past few weeks, I’ve been doing a big thing. I’ve been working on publishing a children’s ebook.

Any of y’all remember when I wrote a little picture book called “Doggie Went A-Courtin'”? Way, way back in maybe 2009? I entered it into a contest and it placed in the top twelve and then went on to win 4th after all my friends, fans, and neighbors voted online day after day after day? Anyone remember? It’s been a while.

Well, after that contest I tried to get it published, but it’s never gone anywhere with traditional publishers. So after Kindle made it possible for children authors to publish ebooks a couple of months ago, I went for it. I’ve worked with an excellent illustrator who practically worked for peanuts and delivered a super product.

Here it is, in all it’s twelve pages of glory.

Its a cute little adaptation on Froggie Went A-Courtin’using a few down home animals.

There’s a couple of catches.

1) It’s only available on Kindle, so you either have to have a Kindle or a free Kindle app downloaded on something smart.

2) It has no reviews and in order for books to do really well out there in the e-world, they need reviews. If you like it, please leave a nice review. If you don’t like it, I’d rather you not leave a review, just go on and scrub your potty or something.

On Saturday, November 22, it will be free!! Grab it up then before the price returns to $2.99.

So buy it, give it a great review, and then finally, spread the word. Share on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or any other social media, send a pigeon, a smoke signal or write it on a bathroom stall next to someone’s number for a good time. It’s all good.

Oh and of course, if you find errors, such as in formatting, please let me know so I can fix it up. This has been a huge learning curve and I know just enough to be dangerous, you know.

Thanks friends.

Angel

1st Snow of the Season & Ice Cream

I’ve lived in this New Mexico mountain village for almost two years now. That equals almost 2 winters, and so far they have been very mild and not worse than anything I would have experienced back home. However, the weather folk are predicting this winter to have below average temperatures and above average moisture thanks to El Nino.

This morning we awoke to our first snowfall. There is something magical about waking to snow, even when you are no longer a child, but especially when you are.

Normally, the first thing EK wants to do after awakening is put on a princess dress. That is if she didn’t sleep in one the night before. But this morning, after seeing the snow, she started pulling off her pajamas and said, “I need to wear a hat and mittens and a scarf.”

Her daddy, who loves the snow too, dressed her and off they went.

I braved the weather in my housecoat for all of twenty seconds to get a few pictures.

Of course, catching snowflakes on your tongue is required.

Then we got a big bowl full of snow for making snow ice-cream by adding a can of sweetened condensed milk and a splash of vanilla.

The snowflakes are big, the fire is crackling, and life is good.

October Photo Dump

Anne of Green Gables said, “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”

Me too, Anne.

The colors here are breathtaking. The air is crisp and cool. The smell of fireplaces fill the air.

October is my favorite time of year.

I don’t have too much to say, I just wanted to share some pictures.

We like to walk down by the river and crunch leaves.

Our cat, who thinks she’s a dog, walks beside us.

We throw rocks in the creek.

EK has a cheesy smile these days.

But it’s cute.

It’s the month of costumes. We were asked to dress up as a super hero to help out our library for an event. Ek was batgirl and her little friend was Wonder Woman.

For Halloween, she was Snow White. She had so much fun getting candy.

In three months, she’ll be three years old.

Her hair is nearly to her waist.

Lately I find myself remembering.

Today I looked at pictures and couldn’t help wondering where the time has gone.

I know these days too are fleeting.

Like the changing of the leaves.

All About EK

I’ve got two reasons for this post.

1) my kid is darling

2) I occasionally run into ‘online’ friends face to face who say they miss seeing my kid on Facebook.

Okay three reasons

3) I need to document the cute, funny, wise, serious things she says and does, and the baby book isn’t cutting it.

So for starters, here’s a pic or two.

She wants to be Snow White for Halloween. Her costume came in and of course I let her try it on.

The problem is, I’m not sure if I snapped a picture of Snow White or Elvis.

I love this picture of her. Even though her eyes are closed. Even though she’s itching her cheek and her dress is dirty. Even though my thumb is in the picture and I didn’t have enough sense to crop it before I posted it. I still love this picture. This is beside our house in a “field” of wildflowers. But we call it the Bear Forest.

She has so many funny things that she says. People tell me I won’t remember and heck, I know that’s true.

This week, I took a piece of paper and pen and decided to write down some of the stuff she says. Some of these, I’ll have to set the scene, and it may be they turn out to be a “you had to be there” moment. But I was, so trust me, it was cute when it happened. Or I wouldn’t have written it down.

Scene 1:

She loves to play with my phone and I’m one of those moms that let her. She calls people, texts people, and I’m sure annoys the crap out of people. She will blow up your phone with emojis. String after string of them.

After sending a text, she said, “I sent daddy a text. He got it in his pocket.”

Scene 2:

She’s a thinker. Always trying to put things in their proper category.

“Why did an old lady live in a shoe? She’s supposed to live in a house!”

Scene 3:

We had some friends come and visit for a couple of days and they happened to have some movies with them. One of them was Beauty and the Beast. EK had never seen it, but she knows all about the princesses, I can assure you. We watched that movie and of course when they left, they took it with them. The other day (months later) she was sitting on the potty….

Her: I wish I had the Belle movie.
Me: Maybe you can get it for Christmas. Maybe you could ask Santa Claus for it?
Her: Maybe Santa will go grab that movie from Suzanne.

Scene 4:

Don’t forget we have a teenager in the house, and with that comes that horrid teenage music. Actually, there’s one song I kind of like. It’s catchy, even though not really appropriate. EK has heard it enough to be caught singing……

“I’m on the bass, on the bass. No trouble” (google it if you don’t know)

Scene 5:

Speaking of singing,

“What are little girls made of?
Spice and onions and sugar”

I’d say that’s right.

Looking Out My Front Door

I live in a very cool place. Not braggin’ or anything, just stating facts. I have come to really love it here, and why not? I am in the midst of the Creator’s glory. Truly. Mountains, streams, wildflowers, and trees. One of the perks of living in a very cool place is that sometimes I look out my front door and see cool stuff. And sometimes, I see not very cool stuff, like bear trash. Among the cool stuff are two big bucks that came to say hi the other day. If I knew anything at all, I’d be able to tell you what kind of point system these dudes were on. But whatever. Sidenote: I may or may not have a thing for yellow vehicles. So do the deer. Not gonna lie, I was a little bit leery of being this close, with my little EK by my side and all. Those are really some big antlers and I’m not real sure if they would charge, but of course the vision of being gored by deer entered my mind. A reel of every episode of “When Animals Attack” shortly followed. Our cat was very curious too. You can see her photo bomb in the lower right corner of the second picture. Speaking of very cool things: I have a black cat and it’s October!!! October means Halloween! Does anyone else think that’s awesome besides me? No? Well I think it’s very cool. The leaves here are in an array of colors and taking a picture of a black cat in fall leaves is currently on my bucket list. Y’all remember this cat? Isn’t she a beauty? I have come to adore her. It is definitely a ‘she’. And her name is Rocky Muffin. But sometimes EK says, “I changed her into a boy” so then we call ‘him’ Bagheera. As I don’t have a ton of cat experiences, I really have nothing to compare this cat to…..except a dog, and let me tell you, she is just like a dog to the point of jumping in the car to go for rides and following us on our walks. Yesterday, I tried to get some cool pics of ol’ Baggy, but didn’t really succeed. It just so happens, unlike a dog, she doesn’t know how to sit or stay. It’s still a lot green here, mostly because we have some cool season grass, which unlike normal grass, stays green until Spring, then it dies. So there’s more summer than autumn in my pictures. But whatever. I’m not giving up yet, so be on the lookout for more pics of this cat. Maybe shoved in a jack o’ lantern? Maybe being gored by a buck? The possibilities are endless.