Happy Halloween!

The story behind the peacock.Last Spring, I found this peacock costume online. I instantly fell in love with it and decided that is what Emma would be for Halloween this year. It was out of stock, so I put it on my wish list and would check on it from time to time. I eventually signed up for email notices on three different websites to let me know when it came in stock. Move ahead six months... I am checking the websites almost daily even though I haven't received an email - and it is in stock in Emma's size! I ordered it immediately. When it was delivered a few days later, I was pleased to see that it was as cute in person as online. I showed it to Emma and she declared it to be "pretty". Then I tried to get her to try it on and received an adament "NO" followed by some crying. I decided to give it a few days and tried again with the same result. Finally, Matt and I decided that we just needed to get it on her and she would see that it wasn't that bad. So we put on the pretty peacock costume and Emma wailed the entire time that it was on.It was sad and funny at the same time to see Emma so upset while in this precious peacock costume. Every few days I would show Emma the costume and she continued to say it was pretty but refuse to try it on. Finally with Halloween only days away, I was beginning to accept that Emma might be wearing her skeleton pajamas. Then while out shopping one day, I found a precious Alice in Wonderland dress that was half price at the Disney store. That would be much cuter than the skeleton pajamas if I couldn't have a peacock.
For Emma's school party, I took the dress and the skeleton and told them that she could wear either. She chose the skeleton. The Fall Festival at church was the same night, so we just kept the pajamas on for comfort.The icing is the best part!
Daddy can't catch me!
Then Halloween arrives and Matt wants to try the peacock. We put it on with a few tears, but she calmed down quickly. Emma was ready to go Trick or Treating for the first time. She loved walking from house to house and said "Thank you" to everyone that gave her candy.
I am so happy that she ended up wearing the peacock and that we all had such a fun Halloween! I did learn a valuable lesson about falling in love with a costume for Emma - don't do it!
I have more pictures in our picasa gallery, so be sure to check those out using the link on the right side of the page.

Emma's Artistic Side

So, I have been chastised for my lack of posting... I guess I have just been too busy living life with Emma (and Matt) to blog about the joy of life with Emma. I will try to catch up on what we have been doing recently in the next week. I am also uploading new photos to our Picasa web albums.

The Craft Table
Emma needed a place to express her creative side (instead of sitting on the floor), so we got a craft table for her. We found one that is big enough for Matt and I to sit with her, and we all love it. She enjoys using it to color, eat her snacks, and just hang out. The first day we had it, I asked her if she wanted to eat breakfast at her table. She instantly ran to the table and sat on one of the chairs. When she wants us to color with her, she points at one of the empty chairs and says "Down." Who can resist that? And I must say that washable crayons/markers/paint are some of the best inventions ever!

Little Stinker

So Emma said Mama before Dada. She would point to me and say Mama, so she knows what the word means. But recently she became very stingy with the use of Mama. Most of the time if I ask her who I am, her response is either "No" or she will point at Matt and say "Daddy". I'm not letting it bother me because I know she likes me better than Matt (I just want to see if he reads this.)

But this weekend while we were eating dinner at Chick-fil-A she pulled a new one on me. Emma was eating her fruit and I was eating my milk shake. (Good example of do as I say and not as I do. Heehee.) She looks up at me with her sweetest face and says "mama... Mama... MAMA" as she reaches for my milk shake. Such an inappropriate use of her cuteness. I held out and made her finish her fruit before she got a few bites of my ice cream. I was very proud of myself. I wonder how long she will keep this up.

Emma loves the Astros!

We went to an Astros game last night with a large group from church. Emma Ruth had fun cheering her favorite team to a great victory against the Cubs. Every win the Astros get this year is something to cheer about. :) Sitting in a chair like a big girl
Go Astros!

Emma Loves Popsicles

We had a picnic after church this week - complete with popsicles. This was the first time that we gave her one of these frozen treats and she enjoyed every bite.
Let me try some of that.
That's cold, but I like it.
All gone.
Bummer... Can I have another?

The Cutest Gardener Ever!

Emma loves being outside. The first thing she does when we get home in the afternoon is go to the backdoor and try to open it. I split my time outside between playing with her and getting the patio ready for Summer. This weekend she decided that she wanted to help me water the plants. Notice that she is completely soaked - she had also decided that she wanted to play in the water while I was trying to water the plants. The only bad part about our time outside is getting Emma to come inside. :)

I am going to try something new with my pictures. I am still going to paste a few of my favorite pictures, but I am going to try to keep up links to Picasa albums on the right side of the page with more pictures for those of you that just can't get enough Emma. :)

Sweet smile
These need a little more water.
I don't want to go inside!

Emma's first trip to Aggieland!

Last month, Emma and I went up to College Station for her first trip to Texas A&M. Becca and Taylor organized a reunion with a lot of our college friends. I think we had 8 kids in the group, so it was a little different than the last time we were all together. We were such party animals - on Friday night, we drank wine and played dominoes, Whoonu, and Snorta. If you have ever played Snorta, you know how much fun we were having. (Thanks for that Becky!)

We had so much fun taking Emma all over campus and taking pictures of her. Taking a nice long nap in the APO office. (I did that several times while I was in college... most likely while I should have been in class.) I got some really cute pictures of her under the Century Tree and under a lovely bike rack. In the Academic building and walking on the Drill Field. Such great memories.

Making lovely decorations for the APO officeKevin J Lueb! Whoop!!
Emma under the Century Tree
Is that a big seal or a little baby?
Simpson Drill Field

Emma was completely spoiled by her Aggie Aunties! It is crazy to see how much the campus and the city have changed when I was in school. It doesn't seem like the same town anymore - there are so many restaurants and shops that are new. We all decided that it is a good thing they weren't there before or we would have all been broke. Or at least more broke than we already were as college students.

It was a great time with great friends and I hope that we can make it a annual gathering. Becca and Taylor - Thanks so much for taking the time to plan and get us all together! The Whole Group

Emma Loves Dinner!

Surprise!

Last weekend we flew up to Dallas to surprise Matt's family. His parents and Greg and Melissa were in Dallas staying with family friends, the Sealocks. When we found out they were all going to be there, I called Debbie to see what she thought about having three more guests invade her home. She was excited and help us keep the secret from everyone else. The Sealocks are more family than friends, so it was a perfect opportunity for all of us to get together. It was such a fun trip. Emma got to meet a new friend, a precious little girl named Taryn. I don't know that Taryn thought much of Emma right now, since she is only 6 months old, but I am sure that they will be great friends the next time they get together. Here are a few pictures to show what a fabulous time we all had.

The Thompson Family
Melissa showing Emma the birdhouses
The Grown-Ups
The Kids
Ready to go!
Who's having more fun? Grandmas or Granddaughters?
The girls
The boys
Girls just having fun
On a side note, if you ever order pictures from Walgreens, they have a free 8x10 collage print thru Saturday, May 8th. I love their collage prints - they are easy to make and so adorable. Even if you haven't ever used Walgreens to order pictures, you should check it out. The coupon code is GOODTHOUGHTS.

Vocabulary

Emma Ruth is adding more words to her vocabulary, so I thought I would share some of her words. I am even including pronunciations for your amusement. She isn't the best about putting the consonants on the ends of words, but she is definitely making progress. Of course, she will still carry on an entire conversation in her own language. Maybe her toys and stuffed animals understand what she is saying, because she doesn't seem to mind that I don't.

All gone - pronounced Awe Gawn while waving both her hands at her side
Bag - pronounced Baah
Book - pronounced Buh
Dada - pronounced Dada
Dog - pronounced Daw-guh or Daw
Mama - pronounced Mama
Milk - pronounced Mi
More - pronounced Muhr
No - pronounced No
Nose - pronounced No
Uh-oh - pronounced Uh-oh

I have discovered that this expansion can have its downside. We are out of milk, so this morning I gave Emma some juice with her breakfast. She brought it back to me and said Mi Mi. Made me feel a little worse that I knew she wanted milk and we didn't have any. Note to self - buy milk on the way home. :)

Pretty Girls in Pretty Flowers

A few weeks ago we went to Chappell Hill with the Williams family on an adventure to find some bluebonnets. We ended up finding a large field of beautiful yellow wild flowers and some lovely bluebonnets next to a white wood fence. It was a fun day - even if we never did get Emma and Zoe to smile at the same time. Emma was not happy while we were in the yellow flowers. Then we changed her clothes and shoes to take pictures in the bluebonnets - and I learned a secret to making her smile. Her red shoes have squeakers in them. And she loves the squeakers. So from now on if you see a picture of her and she is wearing red sandals that don't match her clothes, you will know why. :) So without further ado, here are the long promised bluebonnet pictures... with some yellow flowers thrown in for diversity. I have to paste some of my favorites, but I am also attaching a slide show with even more.

Pretty Girls in More Pretty Flowers

Another Bad Hair Day

I know that Emma just wouldn't approve of me sharing all these pictures when her hair is less than perfect, but I just can't help myself because she is so cute! Caryn and I went up to the Woodlands a few weeks ago to take some bluebonnet pictures... so of course Emma's hair was a disaster when I picked her up from daycare. This picture is after trying both water and mom spit to get it to stay down. Nothing worked. As soon as I got my phone out to take a picture, Emma started scowling at me. Clearly she wasn't pleased with me taking a picture to share the beauty of her hairstyle. Luckily, I had a cute hat in her bag, so the bluebonnet pictures are adorable and the trip to the Woodlands wasn't a waste. Emma actually cooperated by keeping the hat on - which I think is further proof that she didn't want a record of this particular hairstyle.

Now I think I need to share a picture of Emma being her normal precious self. This was on the afternoon of Easter Sunday. She loved this ball and was having so much fun carrying it around. I will be sharing more pictures from Easter and bluebonnets soon. I took so many that I am having trouble sorting through them all. I am having so much fun taking pictures of her. The only problem is that as I am learning more about how to use my camera, I am taking hundreds of pictures. Literally. I can't imagine having a baby before digital cameras. I would be spending a fortune on developing the film.

Shameless plug for Relay for Life :)

I am walking in Relay for Life benefiting the American Cancer Society this weekend. The money I raise will help the American Cancer Society fund groundbreaking cancer research, provide up-to-date cancer information, advocate for all people to have access to screening and treatment, and offer free programs and services to improve the quality of life for people facing cancer.

Can you help me in my fight against cancer? Just go to my website http://main.acsevents.org/goto/jjbst and click the "donate" button.

First Easter Egg Hunt

Last weekend, Emma went to her first Easter egg hunt with her friend Zoe. The girls had so much fun. Emma didn't need any instruction on what to do when the hunt started. Not that she really cared what the eggs contained. In fact, they are still unopened in her basket on the dining table. Guess I should enjoy her not caring about candy while it lasts.