Portraits

Seriously, can you even contain yourself!? She looks like a doll. And can I please just nibble on those little arms!? I could not be more pleased with how her school portraits came out. Don't worry Grammy and Oma, your very own copies of these photos will be arriving soon.

Outings

Cameron took Emalyn to the Zoo on this morning....he learned on this trip that the earlier you go, the more animals are actually awake and out and about. Here you see Emmy holding the bear's band. She's such a good friend!

And, onto the real life bears. Obviously these bears were behind glass....Cameron got a good shot with no glare...they were fishing for salmon. The female on the rocks and the male in the water doing all the work!

This is how excited Emalyn was to see the snow monkeys. She LOVED them apparently. And here we have a good shot of some of her teeth....can you find them? Why, oh, why do they have to be coming in all at the same time....oi!

By the sliding glass window in the living room....as always now!


The reason Cameron and Emmy went to the Zoo without me is due to the fact that I am on the Alzhemer's Association's Gala Creative/Decor Committee. Below you can see the ballroom with our wonderful centerpieces...our theme was titled "MOVE Towards a Brighter Tomorrow" thus the reason we wanted to have our centerpieces "move."


A photo of us with the MC, local news anchor Diana Pierce. (Cameron had a crush on her back when he was 12....so we HAD to get a photo!) She is a very beautiful, poised, and well-spoken lady!

Eleven Months

Dear Emalyn,

ELEVEN down, one more to go to the big numero UNO.

You speed crawl. You scream high pitched blood-curdling shrieks. You prefer mommy and daddy’s food to your own. You arch your back and yell when you think you should have something your way. You LOVE the smokestack from your wooden train (which is missing right now, by the way. So if you would, please be like Quincy and pull it out mysteriously in a fit of play). Is that awful? I just asked you, my kid, to be like the dog….as long as all the train’s pieces are all intact, I suppose!

I’m planning your first birthday party, "Bugs and Blooms." It will be revealed the closer we get to the BIG DAY. I really like how things are going so far….we shall see how it all turns out!!

You have four teeth that you like to G-R-I-N-D. *I Cringe.* It is so loud Daddy and I can actually hear it across the room. We have a hard time handling it because it is like fingernails to a chalkboard, but we end up laughing about it. Ugh, I shiver to imagine the bone-on-bone sound as I write this….

Are you too young to be watching America’s Funniest Home Videos? Yes, I do know the answer to that is “yes.” However, you laugh at the people; especially the babies. I love to hear you laugh at it, like you truly understand why that show is funny. And you laugh at somewhat appropriate times. It precedes Extreme Home Makeover on Sunday nights, one of Mommy’s favorite shows. It may not be what I am supposed to do, but you really laugh. And you won’t get ADD from it, you’ll be just fine! We play enough outside now that the weather is so much warmer…MODERATION, I say!!

You will meet your uncle (mommy’s only brother/sibling) in May. He is a busy guy and couldn’t make it before now since he lives so far. I am sure you will like him, everyone always does.

So, mommy’s countdown begins. You’re big birthday will be here before I know it. I’m excited!

Love, your momma

Getting Bigger!

On Sunday (4-19), Emalyn wore this cute little turtleneck with a jean jumper to church. When we got home, I just changed her into some pants, jeans-as you can see-and decided to call it good. I just couldn't get over how much older she looked.....definitely toddler, don't you think?

Ride 'em cowgirl!! YEEEE-HAAAAWWW!! (Oh how I wish I got a better shot of Quincy's face....poor guy.) He loves the attention!

My sweet little Miss. (4-21)

Self Feeding!!?!? (Sort Of)

Can she be doing this already? I should have gotten a video of her since she is finally able to drink from the sippy cup since perfecting that technique took three times as long as this!!

Mid-April

We like to take photos before we leave in the morning of Emmy's adorable outfits. This sweet little cardigan outfit (4-14) lasted all off 5 minutes because by the time we got to school, wouldn't you know it, she had a blow out. NICE.

Here Emmy is dressed for school photos (4-15). Emmy's Oma Weiss knitted this dress...I am glad it finally fits her when the weather is kind of cool and not too warm. It is so pretty! We'll see how portraits went and get to pick photos on Thursday, 4/30!

Emalyn turns 1 next month (!)....I had to capture one of the sweet feedings we have together. Don't you just love those chubby little fingers? (4-17)

Looking outside has become one of Emalyn's favorite past times. We moved the furniture around to access the other sliding glass doors that lead from the living room to the screened in porch. She has a bunch of books that sit there as well and she likes to sit there "reading" her books! (4-18)

On Saturday (4-18) Cameron had to work and Emmy & I got bored. So we decided to go outside and sit in the cool spring day. I learned that Emayn will NOT go off the blanket....ooooh no. Will NOT touch the grass in any way! This is a photo taken by yours truly....Poor Emmy didn't care for me squeezing us together so we'd both be in the shot, hence the contorted face! :)

Like I said, she will NOT leave the blanket....YET!
SAY CHEESE!

And of course, the ever handsome Q. He loved that we just sat on the blanket and relaxed for a good 45 minutes watching leaves, birds, golfers and airplanes. Ah, the life!

He lives!

Happy Resurrection Day! Aren't we so privileged to know our Savior? His love, so clearly shown to us through His death and even more so His promise, shown in His coming back to life. One day, people, one day we will be with Him in paradise. Oh how I itch with anticipation....

Bronwyn was sweet enough to make our family....in eggs :) I thought it was so cute! Thanks B!



The immediate family. Emmy just woke up from the long car ride- rubber duckie is helping her adjust.






Emalyn is also getting quite good a balancing on her knees to peer into bins or reach up and grab things off tables, chairs, etc.

She's getting so BIG!!

Past Couple Days

So....is it weird that I bought my LITTLE GIRL a train? (4-6) It was a cool one because that little red button behind the smokestack causes a little light to turn on in the front of the first car...it also chugs and makes a "whoo-whoo" sound. I figure since I like it, and I am a girl, then it is okay. Not to mention, I am the mommy....my call!! :)













More ZOO! As I mentioned, we decided to go to the zoo Good Friday (4-10). Here I am with Emmy....

















Here is Cam with Emmy.....













And because we ran into some church friends, here is a family shot in the aquarium portion of the zoo. The only thing I am bummed about is that we didn't get a shot of all of us together! Oh, and do you like the color choice we made for the day...totally unplanned.


















And here is Emmy. Just because. (4-11)

April News

Emalyn last week before we left for daycare (4-2). She started a new daycare last week....we are super happy with it so far, and Emalyn even has a nickname by her teacher, "la gorda." It is indeed a spanish immersion daycare. The teachers there are Peruvian and Ecuadorian. We are SO, SO happy we found this as we have a very strong desire to have Emalyn be bilingual.


















Emalyn has really gotten a handle on crawling...and I think is really desiring to walk. This is now the scene in the house (4-5).













This last weekend, I had a friend from IL come visit (4-4). Here she is with Emmy as we were starting to get bathtime ready. We had a really nice time and Cameron took care of Emalyn while we got to go out for a couple hours and chat....boy, I needed that! She was so sweet to buy Emalyn her very first birthday gifts and I can't wait to get those outfits on her!! (Oh, and the ball in the b ackground was also a really fun toy we got.) Thanks Amanda for your thoughtfulness, it was so great to see you!

More Zoo

So you all will probably be so tired of the zoo, or at least our visiting the zoo, because we have pretty much made it a habit to go twice a month. We love it. Emmy loves it. Enough said.

Family photo while on the tropics trail follows-I am proud to say I took it myself, however, wish I had captured some more of Emalyn's neck/face.













And as you can see, Emalyn actually DOES indeed like to point out things that move and watches the animals pretty intently. I love this shot.












And finally, we braved the outside in 35 degree weather because there were farm babies. The big 'ole stud behind us really isn't a baby as he is 3,000 lbs (no joke). But, we had to take a photo because of how ridiculously large he was. Oh, and "he" is Lantz, the cloned stud.













Emalyn was able to pet some goats and listen to the babies bleat....they sound like a regular goat only on fast forward, super high-pitched. Very funny and VERY cute. We'll be going again Good Friday as Cameron and I have off the afternoon (and all the farm babies are still around, and it is supposed to be warmer...50 degrees!)