Children's Museum

I decided it was time to try the Children's Museum again. I was not impressed last year when I took Emma, but I thought maybe it had to do with her age. Well that turned out to be correct. Now that Emma is older and can participate in more things the museum is very enjoyable for the both us. She had such a blast in one area of the museum that we never made it to the upstairs part. I guess we can check that out when we go again.


Emma's first stop was the train table. Surprise, surprise!


Taking a seat on a large checker.


Looking through the red bubble.


Emma spent alot of time on this slide. Every time she went down she just giggled. =)


Watching the choo choo.


Hey, where did the train go?


Lets play dominos.


Cooking in the kitchen. Emma was making corn, chicken, and pizza stew. Does that sound yummy or what?!


Music time.


I'm out of here!

A Morning with Daddy

This morning I took some time to go shopping with my mom to find some newborn clothes and some matching sister outfits. Oh it was fun shopping for the girls, even though I did not have too much luck in the matching department. That just means another trip will need to be made. =)

Andy was in charge of Emma for a few hours and took her to story time at Barnes and Noble. Clifford The Big Red Dog was making an appearance so he thought Emma would get a kick out it. Andy said Emma loved to play on the stage, take all the crayons out of the basket (they had coloring time after the story), sing songs with the storyteller, and read stories. He mentioned that she could have stayed there all day. I guess we will need to go back for more story times.


Emma on stage taking in the fans.


Emma with Clifford.

2 1/2 Years Old!

Wow I cannot believe Emma is already 2 1/2. The time is flying by! My baby is a full on toddler and I am trying to call her my little or big girl instead of baby. I must say that is hard for me to do. I wanted to use this posting as a time to talk about what she is doing now in life so I do not forget these wonderful moments.

My Emma:

-You love to start your day by calling out to us in your sweet little voice.

-Throughout the day you like to do a role call of your parents, grandparents, and cousins.

-When the phone rings or you see me make a call you like to think it is dada and if I say not dada then you guess Gammie. If it is Gammie you like to shout out Papa. Whenever your dad is on the phone you always think it is your Yaya. You love it when your grandparent's are on the phone.

-Speaking of Papa, I think you inherited the car gene from him. You love cars, trucks, and buses. Whenever we see a bus we point it out to you and you get excited.

- You also love trains. You cannot get enough of them. I think you love making the sign for choo choo the most.

- Signing is something you love to do to communicate, even if you know how to say the word. We are trying to get you to say the word instead but you are most comfortable with signing.

- Communication as a whole is something we continue to work on with you. You now have therapy twice a week to help improve this area. We typically understand you when you communicate to us but we want the rest of the world to hear what you have to say. We just love to hear your sweet little voice and want to do what we can to hear it more throughout the day.

- Lately your favorite activity is going to the pool. Everyday when you wake up from your nap and even before you go down for your nap you are asking to go. It is so cute when I walk in to get you from your nap and the first thing you say to me is wawa for water. I always tell you we will go and then you ask from cookies, fish and water to bring to the pool.

-Speaking of cookies, I recently created a cookie monster out of you. You are obsessed with ginger snaps. You are always asking for them and it is hard telling you no.

-You love flowers and smelling them, especially with Gammie. You two spend time at her house looking and watering the flowers. You also love to lay in the grass with Gammie. It is your special time together.

-You have been born into a family of bakers. We love to bake many goodies and you are now interested in helping with the task. You love the big mixer we own and always want to help me bake when I have it out. I truly love teaching you how to bake. It is something very special to me b/c I did it my mom and my dad's mom.

-When it comes to helping you love to be mommy's little helper. I think your favorite thing is the laundry. You get a big kick out of putting the clothes into the dryer. Also, when I am shaking the wrinkles out you like to grab something and try to shake the wrinkles out too.

-Music is another love of yours. You love everything about music and can never get enough of it. I enjoy hearing you participate with the songs. You have such a sweet voice. Whenever you see your grandparent's on Skype you associate music with them. Your grandpa does a great job playing the piano for you.

-When you eat you like for us to give you a tour of foods on your plate and then you like to see what we are having and if it different you sometimes want our food, even if you don't like it. I am glad you are showing interest even if you don't try it.

-All your animals are referred to by their sounds and not names. You love to shout out their sounds.

-You still love Sesame Street and I think Abby is now your favorite. Sorry Elmo!

-You love wearing necklaces!! You think it fun to pick one out from your jewelry box. Most of your necklaces are pearl necklaces and it minds me of my grandmother. She always had to have on her pearls. Thank you for reminding me of her! She loved you dearly and now she gets to watch you grow from heaven.

-When daddy gets home from work you always get super excited and do a little dance. It is one of your favorite times of day. He loves coming home to his sweet girl!

-At night your have started to participate in prayers with us. You like to tell God you are thankful for the pool. It is so cute!

I am sure there are many more things I can say and I will probably jump back into this post to add more when things pop into my head. I just love you so much Emma and I thank God everyday for you. You are a fabulous little girl!!





Clowning around at Amy's Ice Cream.


Emma and her entourage.

Happy Birthday Andy!!

Andy has had tons of celebrating going on b/c not only was Father's Day this weekend but his birthday is today. We kicked off the birthday fun Saturday night with a dinner at PF Changs and then ice cream from Amy's Ice Cream (Andy's favorite). Then we had some birthday cake and dinner at my parent's house last night and a quiet night in tonight with Andy's favorite meal. Lucky guy!

Happy birthday to my amazing husband!!


The birthday boy enjoying his ice cream.


Andy with his cake. We never seem to have the right candles on hand so we had to improvise with a number 3 and three single candles.


Andy and Emma blowing out the candles. Little did we know that the candles we put on the cake were trick candles. Andy had many wishes that night b/c the candles did not want to stay blown out. It was too funny!!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to Andy, my dad, and my father-in-law!! We were able to celebrate the day with Andy and my dad. To celebrate, we cooked up some pancakes. Now these were no ordinary pancakes, they were Star Wars pancakes. I saw these molds in a Williams & Sonoma catalog and just thought they would be perfect for Father's Day. Andy was very surprised when he saw what was on his plate this morning. He was a big fan growing up and for some reason Star Wars never goes out of style.


The pancakes!


The wonderful father who deserved a morning off!!


Me and my awesome father. I found this old photo when cleaning out Emma's new room. I was so excited b/c I can still remember that Halloween party. I think I was in second grade in this photo.

Hello Third Trimester!

Well we are in the home stretch of this pregnancy. Only 11 weeks left to go (give or take a few days or weeks)! We had our 28 week appt. today (I will be 29 weeks tomorrow). Nothing too exciting going on. My glucose test came back great. Yippee!! On the other hand it appears this child is sucking all my iron so I have become anemic. So hello iron supplement and all the fun stuff that comes with it. Oh well, this is no surprise to me b/c I had this after Emma was born.

Other than that not much is happening. I am trying my best to work out everyday of the week. I feel this will help me with my natural delivery choice. I feel with Emma the reason I went so fast was because I was on my feet all day and worked out. So we will see if that happens again. The only difference is that I am not on my feet as much b/c I am not teaching anymore. I do carry Emma every where so maybe that will help. I do need to try and get her to walk more but I selfishly enjoy the cuddle time.

As far as Emma goes, her room is coming along. Her dresser will be here next week. All her bedding and curtains came right before we left for Colorado. And this weekend we will go pick out her paint so Andy can start that task. I cannot wait to put everything together. I know there are still some odds and ends we need like a mirror and lamp and some wall decorations. Soon we will have a big girl room. I only hope Emma takes to her big girl room.

Colorado 2010

We just got back from a lovely vacation in Colorado visiting my brother, sister-in-law, and my niece and nephew. It was our last vacation as a family of three, since I cannot fly after July 3rd. We tried to make the most of it and take advantage of the cooler weather. The first part of the vacation was wonderful but the second half was slightly different. Andy and Emma both got struck with some horrible stomach bug. It made part of the vacation a little rough. Thankfully both were feeling better by our last day that we were able to have one more outing.


Emma and Kate starting the vacation off with a stroller ride to the park. Had to take advantage of this since it is too hot here to go.


Emma and her swinging buddy.


I just love this pic. It is so sweet how Kate and Emma are holding hands.


Buddies!


Emma at her first soccer camp. My sister-in-law was hosting the event to raise money for her nonprofit, Read To Me.


Emma learning to kick the ball.


I will take two soccer balls please.


One day we packed up the girls and headed down to the zoo in Colorado Springs. It was just lovely! I think out of all the zoos we have been to this is my favorite. It is built into the side of a mountain and the attractions are fabulous.
This is Andy and Emma admiring the giraffes.


Riding the choo choo with Kate. Emma kept wanting more train. No surprise there!


On the carousal with daddy. I really do not think she likes carousals. Maybe b/c this one was very fast and long.


Emma running in and out of a tree trunk at the zoo.


Kate loving the tree trunk too.


Andy managing two girls. I think he was getting some practice. =)


On our last day we decided to do an indoor activity b/c it was cold and raining. We headed to the aquarium in downtown Denver and admired many different fish.


Emma checking out the tigers at the aquarium. We were surprised to see Tigers there.


Emma taking Kate and Nolan's car for a spin. Can you tell it is cold by the way she is bundled up!


Kate learning to ride her new bike that she got for her 3rd birthday. She is very thankful to Gammie and Papa.


Kate taking Emma for a spin.


The vehicles of choice.


On our last night we celebrated Kate's 3rd birthday. Hard to believe she will be three in less than a week. I can still remember getting the call that she was born and driving over to see her on her first day of life. You are one special girl Kate and we miss having you around, but we have a great excuse for visiting Colorado!!

Music Class

For the past 6 weeks, Emma has been participating in a music class. A friend of ours told us about the class and the benefits it has for children with speech issues. I am very glad we enrolled b/c it has been a blast watching Emma develop through music. We started the session off with Emma never leaving my lap, to her running around the room and dancing.

Our teacher, Ms. Edie was amazing and a big help in Emma's development. She has a deep love for music and children. She is extremely talented in singing and guitar playing. We were blessed to have had her and will miss her during our next session (she will be vacationing in New Mexico).

This session Emma has enjoyed playing many different instruments, learning songs and hand gestures to go with the songs, strumming Ms. Edie's guitar, and singing along to the songs. We are both looking forward to the upcoming summer season.


Emma dancing!



Dancing with scarfs.




Free play with the instruments. One of Emma's favorite activities.

Emma's New Chair

Emma's personalized chair arrived yesterday and I think she is in love with it!! Thank you Gammie and Papa!!