Pure Joy

This is our christmas card this year. I LOVE IT.

Solely for Emalyn's expression.

Most of you have gotten it already, so I finally decided I needed to post it for those of you I wasn't able to send one to.

We were having such a fun time picking out our Christmas tree, and the second the camera came out, so did Emalyn's change of expression. She's gonna love this documentation when she's 16, I'm sure!

I suppose this also is an announcement for our next kid!

Yes, we are preg-o....well, I AM. Due 6/26/10. Cam's birthday is the 23rd that month, so we'll see if we end up with 2 birthday's on one day...the first baby stayed in a little long, so knowing my luck, this kid won't be born until July 4th!! What a party they'll have!

Here's another from that day. She's just a sweet little thing...

***

Wishing you safest travels and mounds of peace and joy this week and next! Merry Christmas, all!!

Pretties

So Emalyn loves sparkles. Glitter. Shiny Shoes. Shiny metal spoons.

And of course, jewelry.

Since she's been able to grab at them, I have used the word "pretty," in some way to describe the earring, necklace, whatever it may be in her clutches. Since we all know how kids love to grab and pull at that kind of thing (and HARD, mind you.) I taught her to kiss the pretties. So looking at a long, dangly necklace, she will start with "mmmmmm-"grab the said piece of jewelry, and "muah, muah, muah" until her heart's content.

It truly has kept her from pulling my earring out and shredding my earlobe to pieces. Promise.

Now that she speaks, the word pretty comes out fairly well, and we use it to describe many things, like: Her drawings or coloring. Her dresses. Ribbons. Christmas lights. Anything that lends itself to being "pi-tty." (As she would say).

This morning as we were driving to daycare, she was looking out her window and says...."oooh, pi-tty! Pi-tty." And points towards her window with her mittened little hand.

I thought, the sun's coming up , you can't really see any Christmas lights, what could be pretty right now? I glanced a best I could while driving and saw nothing of significance...until I saw the direction of her eyes.

The child was pointing at the sunrise. I kid you not. We had just passed over some lower ground where there are often patches of fog and above is a clear shot of the sky-no buildings, houses, or trees.

My kid saw the sun and its beauty and called it "pi-tty." In return, I got to stop and thank God for His beauty that I just drove right past. And it was Pi-tty.

My effort will be to stop and take a little more of His beauty in, especially during this Christmas season. I seem to miss so much.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Daddy's Favorite Team

Bozo the Clown...?

I love these kinds of images of kids. Pasta face!

Emma Krumbees

The local apple orchard near the Twin Cities is Emma Krumbees. Apparently we are still learning their availability, because we went and all the festivities had ended! lol

We still had fun as you can see....


up the two ladders....

to get to the top of the slide....


this one was a fast one!

My kid loves living in the fast lane. I'm not going to even THINK about what her teen years will behold. *deep breath* :)

I brought home an empty copy paper box from work because we needed something to hold some things that were going to storage. I set it down by the front door and thought nothing of it.

But, oh, did little miss have other ideas.

She LOVED it. And as you can see, daddy got quite a workout pushing her back and forth in it. if I remember right, my mom "taught" her this fun escapade becuase when we were in Australia this summer, she would push her in the laundry basket.

Later that night, she wanted to be just like Mommy and try on leather gloves.

She's a ham this one.

On Our Way Out

To walk the dog. Such a fascinating life we lead! :)

Like I said,

This is how they normally have been turning out. Blasted flash :)!!

FLASH!

Emalyn has been doing this a lot lately....she gets such a kick out of the flash. She usually covers her eyes and that is how our photos turn out-or I should say, how they don't turn out.....Such a funny kid!

Feedin' time...

Team Gala and Bumble Bees!

Here is a photo of the whole team from the walk....so much fun! Cameron, Emmy and i are smack dab in the middle...

Below, you will see my little nina dressed up for the trick or Treating event at my husband's place of employment. This photo is one of the closest I have seen her look like I did back at that age....really kind of freaking me out! We tried to teach her to say, "Bzzzzzzzz" but she lets out more of a, "BBllddbblddbbllld." Still cute, however. :)

After the event, she was sitting on some shairs with her two little pals that we walked the base with. She, in her passion for figuring things out, was able to open a reeces peanut butter cup. And lo:

Let's just say she likes herself some chocolate!

Thanks Mikki for capturing these photos! Mine were not as clear....THANKS!

Playing!!

Back when it was still nice outside....and NOT snowing.


We figured out that it was oh, so fun(!) to create a little cubbie inside the cushions for the patio chairs....


Really. She loved it and we played for an hour.

back in time

I just realized how completely behind I am on getting photos on here...sorry!

I believe we left off with the Walk for the Alzheimer's Association. That was our big Saturday even the last weekend in September. Can I just say, what fun!!

Emalyn had a good time too.

Let me explain the shirts....As I have referenced before, I am on the Gala Committee. This is the first year the Gala Committee got together and created their own team to participate (and market the Gala, of course) in the walk. So, as you can see these shirts were made to look like formal attire, to get one's mind tuned in to the Gala on April 24, 2010.

So, mark your calendar!! See you at the Marriott City Center!

Flashback

During my escapades in blogland, I found Rollip which allows you to take your normal photos and change them to polaroids if you wish.....so fun! Can't remember whose blog I found this, so if you promoted it, let me know and I will give you credit!

Playing with Daddy

She does this all the time now....pretend snoring. not so fun when you are trying to put her to sleep for real!!

Photo Op

One of the best ones taken of Emmy & me. Ever.

Sicky Sicky.

She's got the flu.

We've actually gotten through the worst and now she seems better.

She is walking around....the fever is gone....and no more puke!

FOUR times vomit on her mommy. Yes, people...and that fourth one?!!? Straight down the front of my shirt. (This was last night.)

The fifth time my husband actually got it. And it was milk. I think that smells the worst...(This occurred this morning when we thought she was getting better. I didn't want to try the milk yet, but he did...serves him right :)!!)

And my kid positively does not like Pedialyte. She's been guzzling the water though, so dehydration wasn't too much of a concern. But, oh, we've been watching her like a hawk!

Still deciding if she will be well enough for daycare tomorrow. We'll see!

Catch up.

A co worker brought in tomatoes and green beans to share and Emmy tried the beans raw....she held onto it more than she actually ate it as the photo shows! :) (9-4)

The photo doesn't capture it, but that pumpkin was huge! This was at the zoo in the farm animal exhibits. They grow corn and misc. veggies at that exhibit. I know it seems like we always go to the zoo, but she loves it there! (9-6)

This was on the way out in the morning to daycare (9-8). She is finally starting to actually "pose" and smile when you tell her to. She used to when she was younger, but now that she can move and discover, she'd rather be doing that than make a nice photo...

Have a good weekend!

Taking a Walk

Tonight Emmy and I went for a short relaxing walk after dinner. Emalyn kept trying to locate a noisy crow that was cawing overhead. Every time that thing made a peep, she'd get startled and jump then point and stare intently to try to find the thing. Like I said before, she wants to give it kisses (anything animal related, she wasn'ts to give it kisses). Personally, I'd rather kiss it with a bb gun!! :)

One of my favorite toddler items are these Crocs. You may be able to convince me that they are ugly for adults, however, look at these freaking adorable things....love!

As always, we are on the MOVE! ALL THE TIME! I laughed so hard when I saw this...milk gut, I like to say.



Two nights ago we went to the park to eat supper and walk near a small lake and play on the swing set. This shot is dark, but I liked it. Again, she was NOT wanting to sit down and eat. So since Cameron and I are desperate to keep her full to sleep a full night (which she isn't beuase she is getting another molar...) we followed her around spooning and stuffing veggies and bread in her mouth.

She saw the zucchini bread Cam made earlier this week....about the only thing she was really wanting that night!

Emmy in Wonderland

This group of photos made me smile when I saw them.

She just looks so tiny and faaaaaaaaaar away.

Getting ready to sit....

Aaaaahhhhh. Nice.

Photoshoot

"squirrels"

"after squirrels"

"preserving memories"

"excited"

Helping Daddy

While my mom was taking are of Emalyn, she found that Emmy LOVES to be a helper.
Finally, I was able to catch her on video, assisting daddy with the laundry. It actually is hilarious as the second she sees us go in to the laundry room with clothes to be washed, she is right there behind you trying to pick up a load of clothes on her own.

I love this age, when they mimic you as best they can. It comes out so sweet.

Waterbabies

We've started to take swim lessons at a community pool on Saturday mornings. Cameron was a swimmer in high school and I've always enjoyed time in the pool, so we want Emalyn to be very un-afraid of the water.

She's already willing to "jump" in the water as long as we're there to catch her, and we sing lots of songs that include blowing bubbles and teach kicking and reaching/pulling with her arms. She still is working on going under water as she's never liked water in her face, but we can tell slowly, she is minding it less and less.

We have a lot of fun....that's all I could ask for!

Picnic

Tonight we had a really nice time at an all church picnic. A member of the congregation owns a farm with lots of land to run and play....and work, I'm sure!

Emmy walked and wandered and checked out every corner of the place....as you can see she was movin'.

Here we were approaching the cows. And suddenly, we stopped.

As you can see, she wasn't so sure about those cows. And when they started to bellow, well, she was even less sure. We got up close, but not enough for her to feel comfortable to touch them...in due time, I'm sure since she is such an animal lover.

Thankfully, there were some chickens that she didn't mind walking right up to. More her size, I guess!

We really did have a beautiful evening. I think Emalyn would agree the hayride was the best part! Well, she was pretty excited to hang out with her friends Carly and Clara! (This is Clara, she's 4 months younger than Emalyn.)

Here is Emmy after church this morning. One of her favorite things to do it pick up the rocks from the rock bed and throw them, of course. We're working on keeping the rocks with their other rock friends.

Off to another week! Enjoy!