Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Abby Graduates!!!!

It's hard to believe that my littlest sister has now graduated high school, but she has! We traveled to MN to help prepare for her grad party and watch her graduate. We were all pretty exhausted by Saturday evening. But, it was well worth the work! Here are some pics from the trip. 

The morning we left.

Grandpa is an expert nail cutter!

Cousin Wyatt & Emma playing with tractors!


Emma was pretty fearful of the puppies.
But, with Wyatt and Grandpa's help, she warmed up to them eventually.

Drawing pictures. 



It was hilarious watching them play together with this cow. 


These 2 got along pretty darn well. My mom took a bunch of great pictures of them walking around the yard holding hands and of Wyatt feeding Emma pretzels. It's adorable. Those will be on another post though.   :)


Strutting her stuff in some slippers. 

Dancing with the graduate!

Cuddle time with Auntie Cara.
 Cara decided to wrap Emma up in a blanket. What a queen!





She's smiling better in this one..... 

.... but, they are all looking in this one. :) 

Beautiful. 

Thank you Grandma Udey for the beautiful dress to wear!

Here she goes!

Singing "You Raise Me Up" at graduation!

She's done!!!!
 Congrats Abby! We are so proud of you!!

Saturday, May 19, 2012

"Mom, I Would Like to Grow Up This Week"

That is what I think Emma was trying to tell me this last week. I feel like it's been a big week in our house. Here's why:

1. Emma is getting her first molar. Yikes. It's not a pleasant experience for either one of us at the moment. We'll see what it looks like when it pushes all the way through!

2. Emma decided to extend her bedtime by about 45 minutes to an hour! I know. Crazy! She was just doing so well when we were out and about and even at home. We had nothing to do with this, but we do enjoy spending a little more time with our precious girl. 

3. Emma is working on feeding herself with a spoon! I normally let her play with her spoon just so she is familiar with it. I do this so SOMEDAY she'll start using it. That someday was this week!


This definitely makes meal time a bit messier when we work on it, but it's totally worth it. We've tried applesauce, chocolate pudding, and cottage cheese so far. She's loving it!

4. With all the messes we make from learning to eat with a spoon, I'm teaching Emma a few basic cleaning up rules. She has helped pick up dirty clothes around the house as she pushes the laundry baskets from one side of the house to the other, successfully unloaded an entire load of laundry from the dryer, and a few other things. This particular day, she happen to have her cup upside down and a little water leaked onto the floor. She INSISTED that it be wiped up; so I let her do it herself! 
What a great helper!

  

5. This one is for fun, but Emma is becoming more and more independent as a 'big girl'. She tends to play a lot on her own in the house and outside. This is super nice for me! I tend to get a little more done or just sit and watch her. :)  She was loving playing in the dirt and throwing rocks this day. She kept bringing me different rocks and saying, "Ohhhhh!" & "Ahhhhh". 





6. Last, Emma is now in a big bed! With our next little girl on the way, oh, in about 75ish days, we thought Emma should get used to a big girl bed. 

We even waved bye-bye to the crib when it was completely taken apart. 

Of course, Emma wanted to help. 

If she only knew what she was doing......

I think she's pretty happy about her big bed!!!
Don't worry we added some body pillows at the end and
along the wall for some more protection. 

The first night went pretty well; we didn't hear a peep from her! I went to check on her at about 7:30 am and she was sleeping in the middle of her floor! I'm not sure how she got there or how long she was sleeping there. She looked SOOOOO precious though. She then walked right out of her room at about 8:30 and joined us for breakfast! 
Nap time went better. She napped for 2 hours and stayed in bed the whole time. When she woke up she just came out to the living room and joined us for the afternoon. We'll see how it goes; I think there are a few adjustments we'll need to make, but I feel like it went much better for the first night than I thought it would!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Tea Time

My parents hit some great garage sales in Minnesota, and we reaped the benefit! Emma happens to LOVE the tea set, plates, and all the play food. 







My friend, Michelle, had some errands to run yesterday. So, her little man spent some time here with Emma and me! 


I think they did a great job sharing toys if you can't tell from this picture.

Snack time! 

"Hello Mom!"

Laughing away. 





Emma loves dancing.





Look at my cool mohawk!






Sad to say this tent will not stay in our home for long. It's for cousin Wyatt for his birthday. But, I think Emma has enjoyed it while it's been here. 



Friday, May 11, 2012

Lots of Play

Off to school already!?!!?

All grown up! 

Someone is getting tall! 

After all this growing, I need a drink!


Every time Emma gets up from sleeping she takes a super big drink like this!



As promised, a belly picture! When I look back at the picture I took of myself the day I went in to deliver Emma, I feel like I'm already that big! This little girl is growing and kicking like crazy. I really, really don't remember Emma moving this much! Maybe she'll be a calm child on the outside? We'll see soon enough :) 



A fast, new breakfast treat! Check it out on the Recipe page!  





Outside time! During the day, we've been spending most of our afternoons in the back yard. Whenever Jay mows, we play outside and do LOTS of waving to daddy as he makes a million rounds on the lawn mower. I love seeing how excited Emma gets just about every single time he comes around. 




The 2 people I love the most!!!!

 Today, our goal is to not leave the house/yard until our hang out tonight. I try and do this every once in a while. I feel like sometimes we are on the go all the time, running errands here or there, or going to garage sales. I want Emma and her sister to be able to just hang out at home and be content. Sometimes I think it might be harder on the momma, but we are doing it! 

These are the days Emma spends a lot of time in her diaper,
but she insisted on wearing her vest for a while today.

Well, that's a new way to ride the train.
Once again, I asked her to smile for the camera. Goof.

"Look Mom, a new seat!"