Snow, Water and Yo Gabba Gabba!!

Emma finally got her 1st snow. It did snow on Christmas day in Brinkley but Emma was still a bit scared of it all. Now she was suited up and even had baggies on her gloves to keep her hands dry. After an early shutdown of both the UofA and Montessori we made it home to find yummy snow on our deck! Don't worry guys I did NOT let Emma eat the snow from the ground in the backyard...even if it wasn't yellow we all know what was really under there! ;-D

Emma had already woken up and was spending some quiet time with her books when I got to school.

But snow on her house was all fair game!!

YUM!!

Mommy even made her a GIANT snowball to munch on. 

Cheese!!

As if that wasn't fun enough Emma was about to have a great weekend of surprises ahead of her... We didn't want to tell her what was happening so we just let her know little things right before they happened. 1st it was that we were going to Kansas City. She just kept saying "Emma's going to Kansas city for surprise". Once she got there we told her she was going to go swimming with Mommy. Michael had been under the weather since last Sunday so he just wanted to watch and he did get some good videos!  Enjoy!!!

CoCo Keys

She had no fear!! She now has several new bruises and some scratches but she loved it! :-) She had fun walking with her towel on too and after we took at shower she wanted a towel just like Mommy.

We were worried Emma would roll off the bed but she managed to stay put until 5 when she woke up talking and I climbed in bed with her. 

We let Emma catch a catnap in the car since it the show cut into her nap time. After she woke up we got her into her special outfit and she walked with her daddy to the elevator. Still not knowing what was about to happen.

Cheese

Showed her the Midland theater and told her that is were we were going!

We should have gotten her something but the lines were soooo long and the prices so high. I don't think she minded but she did enjoy looking at things. She was starting to get excited about what was about to happen.

She was not wanting to get her picture taken so this was our best shot. Michael's eyes are almost shut and I think I was just nearly finished smiling.

But we did get a little video of Emma getting her sillies out!

Yo Gabba Gabba Live

We all know how she is really afraid of stuffed characters (remember the Razorback fiasco?!?) and her favorite friends of Gabbaland were no exception!! She was terrified when the curtians opened up to giant characters. Thankfully it was so loud no one heard her screaming and by the end of the first song she was getting into it. 

We had one more terrifying scare when intermission ended and giant cheese, chicken leg and carrots came running out from behind me right toward Emma!! She screamed and tried to climb onto my head because apparently the higher you are the safer you are from things like that. Once they got on stage all was again right with the world. :-)  The ride home was good and uneventful! 

We are spending more and more time on the potty but she only actually uses it about 1 in 10 times but no matter what we have to drop everything to sit. This is causing me to be late to work but I just skip lunch and everything still gets taken care of. 

On Sunday we went with our fabulous realtor Cindy Switzer to look at some houses that are for sale in NWA. She sold us our current home and we just love her!!! Emma found out that many homes had children her age in residence and in a few houses she got to play! So house hunting wasn't that bad. We saw some things we liked but Michael isn't sure that building isn't the best idea. I am just along for the ride right now so maybe by the end of the year we will be somewhere new but still not far from where we currently are! ;-)

On other great news Emma has been singing a lot more and she really likes to watch videos of herself and look at pictures of herself so that makes some photo ops a little easier! ;-D

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Brinkley is doing great and I caught him warming up his nose in my house shoes the other night. 

That is all for now but more fun and exciting things are sure to be just around the corner for the Wheeler family!! ;-D

Be blessed, 

JGW

For the birds

I don't know how I forgot to mention this...Thanks to Jennifer for the reminder. I am a pretty observant person and sometimes I see things that I wish I hadn't. Don't worry this isn't one of those times exactly.

A few weeks after Emma arrived at Montessori they had some visiters move in! The Birds arrived and they are the first thing you see when you walk in the door to the EP and Primary  building. They are beautiful but as far as I can tell very quiet.

Fast forward 4 months and we will pick back up after Christmas break. I always look to see what the birds are doing with I drop Emma off and when I pick her up. Aparently not all parents are as into the birds as me, or even the employees for that matter because one day I walked in on...uh hum...dove sex!! It was just like this which I found on the Diamond Dove home page.

Mating

The male diamond dove usually begins the mating sequence by finding a nesting site and then repeatedly call (advertising call) for a female to join him and start building a nest. If he can persuade the female that he has an adequate nesting site then he will start carrying twigs and straw to the site while she arranges the material in a way that will withstand the weight of the parents and the babies  Nests are fragile affairs often made up of interwoven gasses and/or twigs.
Later, on the ground, the male will display his tail feathers like a fan, while touching his beak to the ground, and cooing at the same time in the presence of the female. After repeating this action the male will mount the now crouched female and using his wings for balance, mating will take place.  After mating the male will utter a long series of one note coos and the female will often freeze in place while these coos are being uttered.  I have not seen this series of coos documented in any of the literature however it seems to be a common practice with all our males.
But there are some other sequences that may also take place. Sometimes the male will puff up his feathers and strut around in the presence of the female, stop, puff his feathers up further, then repeat the cycle.
Sometimes separately or at the end of this display, the male will open his beak and the male will feed her with a rather violent pumping action (billing).  After this the male will mount the back of the female then dismount on one side and slap his wing downward with considerable force and an explosive sounding cry.  They will bill again and and then he will remount the remount the female and dismount on the opposite side.   Then this action will be repeated a third time and the male will dismount form the original side.  Then copulation may follow

I was lucky enough to see the highlighted part. I thought it looked funny then I started to think...you know it's been a while since these birds arrived, are they going to mate? I asked the staff and they weren't sure but felt like it should be happening soon if it was going to. (there are several different pairs of different birds)

Each day I asked about our little love birds who started spending more and more time in one particular nest. I decided the mommy was definitely with egg but with no way to know for sure I just had to wait.

But not too long!! By Jan 31st they were spotted...two little eggs!!

By Feb 4th we had two hatched babies

They have grown so quickly as this picture was taken just 11 days from their hatch date!

Now mommy and daddy leave the nest more frequently and I am sure that before you know it the babies will fly the nest. But now I have another question...where will these little babies live?? Will they stay with their parents or go to another home...

I am really far to inquisitive for my own good. :-)

Be blessed!
Jill

Emma LOVES school!!

I know I say it all the time but Emma really does love school! She loves her teachers and the freedom to choose her work and the fact that they rotate the work out so they don't get bored! 

 They might be braver than me by giving her the bubbles and the wand!

 

This sign actually makes me laugh!! I mean if this is the only spot open my gas guzzling self is there!  

  

I read a book not long ago that reminds me of Montessori so much and I couldn't help but laugh at that too while I read!! Where'd you go, Burnadette

Emma's class has also had several birthdays in the past two weeks...3 that I remember! They all get so excited but it makes Emma say that each day is "Her" birthday and I have to explain that her birthday is coming up but it's not today. Her Grandmother had a birthday on the 7th and while we couldn't get the facetime to work we did skype.

Forgot to post this one in the last post but Emma also LOVES to be tickled and kissed! Here she is laughing so hard but just kept saying "more kisses Daddy" 

 

 

Today I had a meeting with a student and he menioned I was part of his cabinet. I just smiled and didn't make too much of it but then he pulled out a piece of paper and there you have it. Jill Geisler is in the special circle of 8 individuals he turns to when he needs answers. :-) 

It's always nice to be needed!

Be blessed!

Jill

 

Happy Valenties Day!!

This year I got a little too into crafting! But thankfully Emma didn't mind. :-)
We took advantage of a girls night this past Saturday to make Emma's Valentines cards for her class and her family.  

For her class

Grandparents and our keepsake

The grandparent pack! ;-)

After I had all the hand and feet prints that I needs I got out a canvas for Emma and she made a beautiful creation!

Bath time was super fun!

On Friday night Poppy came for a visit since he was surveying for a pivot in Dardanelle. We had a great dinner at Cracker Barrel and the next morning Michael and Trevor went hunting in Huntsville. Dad Emma and I went to Susan's for some breakfast and fellowship with Nicole and Logan. Food was delicious and the conversation was even better. We agreed that we have to hang out more in the future!!

After breakfast we were off to swim lessons with Jack Jack. When we got to the locker room we saw that Jack wasn't dressed and it was almost a crisis...Leah had forgotten his swimsuit!?! Luckily they had a little speedo in the lobby that while it was too small by 5-7 lbs it worked for the day!

See he wears it well! 

rocking the swim diaper after we were done!

We came home to nap and Poppy made his way back down the hill back to NaNa. After nap we took the pups for a walk and practiced some big bad wolf shot put!

School has been great this week but Emma's sleep patters have not. :-( Looks like she might be getting a little cold but nothing terrible. She has been waking up, cry for a bit then go back to sleep. Last night was an exception because at 2:30 after crying for a bit (the third time that night) she stood up in her crib and kept repeating "I want to get up Daddy, I want to get up Daddy, I want to get up Daddy..." Michael had to take one for the team and go in there. She told him again she wanted to get up but he reminded her gently that it was time, she said she wanted to lay down with daddy, and he told her she sleeps in her bed, she wanted to go sit on the couch and he told her it wasn't time to get up again and he said he would rock her for a minute if she wanted. She did and after a little over a minute he laid her back down and she went to sleep.  We are hoping this isn't the start to some not so good sleep habits.

Update on potty time...it's non existent again. :-) Hopefully a little Bear and the Big Blue House "Potty Time" will help! I got the tip from my good friend Katie. I will keep you all posted on our success or lack there of.  Also speaking of Katie just realized that Emma will be 2 in less than a month so that means it's family photo time again. Katie has recently starting taking photos and I am going to see if she can capture some beautiful family moments when we go down for her little ones 2 year birthday! Check her out and if you are in Central AR give her a shout!

Brinkley is also still doing great! So happy and blessed by God for keeping the pain away from him while he does his treatments!!

And lastly of the new and exciting things going on with us. Elizabeth and I started a new Bible study this week!! A Woman of Wisdom by Dee Brestin is the study and we are looking forward to going deeper into God's word with this study on Proverbs.

That is all for now. Be blessed and see yall online soon!

Jill