Playtime

We haven't been up to too much this week, but I did take some pictures of the kids yesterday playing in the back yard with Tinky. Liam was digging "nests" for the animals of our yard (you know, helpless little squirrels and such). And whatever Liam does, Emma does. Or at least she tries!

Emma saying "cheeeeee!" (aka "cheese")

sweet little girl

And this picture is a from last Sunday night when my good friend, Jill and her daughter, Michaela, had a slumber party with us! Jill really saved the day; let me tell you how. Liam had a medical procedure early Monday morning (we left the house at 5:30) and with Brendan in the field on a training exercise, I wasn't sure what to do with my little Emmy. So Jill and Michaela agreed to come for a sleepover party on Sunday night so that Emma could stay sleeping in her crib while Liam and I snuck out of the house in the morning. With no family nearby, it sure it nice to have friends like Jill. I can't thank you enough, Jill! And for anyone wondering about Liam - everything went well and he is doing just fine. It was a rough day for both of us, but it is over now, thank the Lord.

Waiting for Daddy

Here are a few pictures from bedtime last night. Brendan had another late night and Liam and Emma wanted to wait up to see him before getting tucked in to bed. (Ok, truth be told, it was really Brendan who wanted the kiddos to stay up to say goodnight!)

This is my new favorite picture. I call it "monkey see, monkey do," Emma being the monkey. Everything that Liam did yesterday, she would try to copy. This was her very first attempt at pretending to be a velociraptor. I love it!

The Zoo

It was 67 degrees in El Paso today, so it was a great day to go to the zoo! The weather was beautiful, which made up for the fact that half of the animals seemed to be hiding and many of the exhibits were under construction. This summer, our zoo is supposed to be getting a HUGE new addition of African animals. Liam has been anticipating this for years already, and we could see today that progress is finally being made in that area. We can't wait for the new animals to get here. But in the meantime, we still loved seeing all our old favorites today....


Checking out the Asian elephants!


Emma hasn't been to the zoo since she was very tiny. Today was the first time she actually enjoyed seeing the animals. It was so fun to watch her discovering them. We will have to bring her back again soon.



Daddy showing Emma an exotic bird.




It is so hard to get a good picture of both kids together. If only Liam didn't look like he was picking his nose, I might have put this one in a frame, hehe. :)


Big brother and little sister.


My handsome boy!


Our last stop is almost always the sea lions. Emma loved them and said "bye" to them when we left (her newest trick!). She just wouldn't hold still for a picture. Liam loves them, too. Here he is, posing with one of them.

"Extreme Makeover, Home Edition" comes to El Paso!

What a fun afternoon we had today! "Extreme Makeover, Home Edition" is in El Paso this week giving someone a beautiful new home and we decided to go out to take a look! You can't park anywhere near the house, but they have shuttle buses running back and forth from a nearby church from 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. each day. The climactic "Move That Bus!" day is tomorrow, but we thought that would be too hard on the kids, so we went today instead. I really don't feel like we missed out on a thing, though, because we saw quite a lot of action! I was expecting to go out and see the new house, take some pictures, and come back home. But much to our surprise, as soon as we go out to the site, they were preparing to shoot the big scene when the furniture arrives. If you've ever seen the show, you'll know that it's pandemonium with Ty throwing lamp shades, rugs, tables...you name it...from the back of a furniture van to the throngs of community volunteers who have assembled to help. It was great fun to watch. Ty was running around being his crazy self and trying to get the crowd all fired up and excited. I have been a Ty fan since his Trading Spaces glory days (haha!), so I was so excited to get to see him in person! Liam knew who he was, too, from "Extreme Makeover, Home Edition," so he was excited to see everything that was going on. Not only did we get to see all the celebrities, but we also saw my friend, Bev, who has been there volunteering all week. I think she could tell us what she's been up to, but then she'd have to shoot us. ;) Shhhh...it's top secret! From what I heard today, the show should air on ABC on March 15th, but as they say, check your local listings. The woman who is getting the new home is named Maria Ruiz. Who knows, could The McSheas have even snuck on camera during the exciting furniture arrival scene? Probably not, but you won't know for sure unless you tune in! Here are some pictures:

Just about as soon as we got off the bus, we walked right past Paul DiMeo! He's one of the big stars! He was posing for pictures, but stopped before we got there to get back to work.


Liam's getting to be a big boy, but Brendan was still able to hoist him up on his shoulders so he could see better.


TY!! Oh-my-gosh. Ty. Did I mention I saw TY?!


Eduardo Xol and Paige Hemmis.


I think this guy is the director. He seemed to be telling everyone what to do, so that's a pretty good guess, right?


Beverly! It's me! Your groupie is here!


Eduardo up close and personal signing autographs! If Ty wasn't going to come over to our section of the crowd, I must say Eduardo was an acceptable substitute, ha! He was working the crowd speaking Spanish, telling everyone to come back tomorrow for the big reveal.


I guess this is kind of like how I could never leave a Broadway show without buying the t-shirt. I couldn't resist!


Emma had no clue what was going on, but she had snacks, so she was happy! What a little trooper!


Mommy and Liam waiting for the shuttle bus back to the car.


Liam had a great time!

Check out my facebook page for more photos..

Taking down the tree and baby dolls

Emma has been growing so fast and every day she is doing more things that make us laugh. This is such a great age! She got a baby doll for Christmas (thanks, Julie!) that she just loves. She carries her around the house, kisses her, covers her with "blankets," makes me kiss her...you get the idea. It's amazing how much of a little mother she is to this baby! So today, she introduced her two favorite things...telephone, meet baby. Baby, meet telephone. I was a little surprised she was willing to share either one of them!


Then the big task of today was taking down the Christmas tree. It's only January 11th so I think I'm way ahead of the game. Right? (Everyone nod your heads together, please.) I caught Emma and daddy taking this break together after getting the tree back in its box. They were just sitting there chatting. About what, I don't know. It was so cute.

And a couple more of dad and his two favorite kiddos.

My little helper

Just a few pictures from yesterday morning...Emma took it upon herself to help me unload the dishwasher. Too bad she had the wrong drawer, but she had the right idea! I can already tell she's going to be my little helper girl!