BBQ, Birthday Cupcakes, Mosquitos and Emergency Room Visits!

Memorial weekend was a busy one for the Horton family. On Saturday JC and Grandpa Dick started smoking ribs at about 8 am for an 11 am BBQ. It was very fun. Friends and family were there to enjoy ribs and beer butt chicken, in addition to other good food! I even got a wonderful birthday surprise...when Mom & Janell showed up, Jill, Madison & Brayden were with!! Nobody can ever keep a secret in our family, but they kept this one! After filling up on food a few of the kids, even the ones without swim suits, jumped in the VERY COLD pool for a little dip! We wrapped up about 4:00, so JC and I got on our suits to fulfill the promise we made to Emma...it was a chilly promise kept!




Some of our friends couldn't make it to the BBQ at 11, so they showed up at 5! We warmed up the meat and brought the food back out and had another BBQ!!! And of course the food was just as amazing the 2nd time around. The second shift finally left shortly after 10, so it was a very long day, but very fun! Sunday wasn't as busy of a day, but we spent part of it doctoring up our mosquito bites from the BBQ...they sure were biting!





Monday we spent at Saylorville Lake with some friends that are in business with us. Emma had so much fun! She has been getting into soccer a lot more lately, and there were three brothers at the picnic who are amazing athletes. The three of them kicked the ball around with Emma and she loved it. We were at the picnic until about 6:00, so Emma slept like a baby that night! Unfortunately JC and I spent three hours in the emergency room. Emma had wanted a piggy back ride, so as I was pulling her onto my back I lost my balance and fell. I ended up landing on my knee and got a really bad sprain. I spent a week with an immobilizer on my leg, and two days on crutches. It may have ended on a bad note, but all in all, we had a great holiday weekend!

When Elmo Grows Up

Friday night JC, Emma, Grandpa Dick, Grandma Connie and I went to Sesame Street Live: When Elmo Grows Up. This was the third year we took Emma. She's kind of outgrown Elmo, but when we asked if she wanted to go she was still very excited. We had already gone just the three of us, and last year we took Grandma Barb, so this year we asked Grandma & Grandpa Horton to go with us. It was a very fun night.


The show was terrific. Even at our age, JC and I thought it was a great production.



Daddy & Emma at intermission.


Grandma, Grandpa and Emma pose with Grover after the show.


Can you tell that Emma had a rainbow snow cone and I had a cherry slush? Even my teeth and Emma's lips were stained with color. They were delicious though!

Night Away From Home

Last night we headed to Cedar Rapids to spend the night in a hotel. We had a lot of fun. Emma has wanted to go swimming ever since the snow melted! We made plans to go and meet my college roommate's baby boy in Urbana today, so we thought we'd treat Emma to a night of swimming. When we got there Emma was hardly even in the room before she had all her clothes coming off to put her swimming suit on!! Then the little turkey wouldn't go in the pool any further than the steps!

I slept with Emma that night. By 5 am, Emma was lying perpendicular to me, at times with her feet pushing in to my back...other times with her feet ON ME!!! I told JC I was never sleeping in the same bed with her again. My back is killing me tonight!! This morning, before we headed for Mindy's & Matt's house, JC took Emma swimming again, but only after she promised she would actually swim! And she did...JC had her jumping into his arms from the edge of the pool and everything. Hopefully she'll get more used to the water now that we have aquatic center passes for this summer!!


We got to meet Jensen today. He's such a little cutie. Emma loves babies, so she had fun talking to him and swinging him in his swing. We also took a walk and went to a couple of garage sales, in which Emma came home with lots of "new" summer clothes. We had a great visit, I got my baby fill for the weekend, we had some lunch, then headed for home! Overall we had a great day!