Emma's new best friends

Melissa came down last week so that we could meet her beautiful twin daughters. Madison and Rheagan were born February 3rd, which is the day that I went into the hospital and began my bed rest, so I had only seen them in pictures. They are precious! Emma enjoyed meeting her new friends and was very sweet and gentle with them. It was also good preparation for meeting her new baby sister next week. :)

Outside Fun

Emma loves being outside. Whether she is riding her bike to the park, playing with her sand, blowing bubbles, or helping Daddy, it is her favorite place to be. Here are a few pictures from this week. I uploaded more to my Picasa gallery.

Movin' on up!

Our big girl is growing up. Today was Emma's first day in the Two Year Old Room at her school, also known as the red room. She was excited to be going back to school after the Christmas break, but she wasn't very excited about Mommy taking her picture.

One thing she was excited about was her new lunch bags and backpack. In fact, she was so excited that she wanted to take all three to school with her. I was relieved that we didn't have a fight when it was time to leave and she only took one lunch bag with her. She is so precious and such a sweet little girl, but she definitely has a mind of her own. I don't know where she got that from. :)

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!