Emmalyn turns 2!

Emmalyn is now two years old!!

Her morning was spent on the ipad, as usual.  

Such a happy girl in the morning!

All dressed up for her birthday

We had Maxwell's swimming lesson.  She was in quite a mood... playing with my jewelry, being silly....  all personality!

so silly

We resorted to giving her Peter's phone (which isn't normal) because she was being so silly!

Rocking her pretty dress with those boots Ashlee gave us in Seattle.  She LOVES them.

Her "cheese" face.  Love her curly hair!

We did a little cake just with our family.

Video - Singing happy birthday to Emmalyn and her cute trying to blow out the candles.  (She blows with an "f" sounds which doesn't generate very much airflow.)

She loved her cake!  (We gave her two slices of different types of cake.)

Video - Emmalyn's Birthday Interview.  Such a great "real life" view into life with Emmalyn

Emmalyn Ann is sure fun at 2 years old! I hope she stays so fun.

She knows a little more than half her alphabet

She counts to 9 and then skips to 13

She loves to sing

Loves the movie "Frozen"

She likes to call you "butt head" when she's mad at you.  We are trying to get her to stop saying that and ask her instead to say "silly goose"

She has a little lisp - - - "yeth"

As mentioned above, loves wearing boots!

She wants her hair in piggy tails but pulls it out during the day either in the car or during nap time

She is fearless!  Certainly not timid like her bother.  She is such a tough girl - rarely cries when she falls or gets hurt.

She likes to get into things and climbs all the time on everything.

She likes to eat pizza, yogurt, applesauce, and cottage cheese.

She eats her bowl of cereal and milk every morning while she watches her ipad just like Maxwell.

She wants to do whatever Maxwell does - - loves him so much!

She loves her bedtime routine

Emmalyn loves reading books, going to kindermusik, and singing in the car.

She's an expert at pop music (since she's in the car so much with Brittany)

She wants to be outside all the time.

She can take off her shoes and socks and then can put her shoes and socks back on.

She wants to sit on her little potty but never actually goes potty.

She knows a few sight words.

She can jump.

She can sing her abc's

She still likes pretending to be a puppy dog

She wants to read books when she's in the car

I was trying to think about what her favorite toy is but she doesn't really care about specific toys.

She can't ride her bike or her push herself forward bike yet but can go backwards

She likes to say "follow me" or "come here" while gesturing with her hand to come with her (palm up and open close fingers)

She says "no" (all the time, if you ask Maxwell :))

She's quick to throw tantrums and also quick to get out of it, she likes to thrash when throwing her fits.

She's only taking one nap now.

She's mean if she doesn't get what she wants.

She sort of listens...  ugh

Emmalyn likes sitting in her chairs.

Emmalyn loves Brittany and her family but hasn't really wanted to go to Brittany's lately when I go to work.

She loves accessories - especially glasses..

And finally, she loves taking baths and showers.  She will ask "bath today?" or  "bath tonight"?

Second week of April 2016

Big, exciting news...  We got a new tree for the backyard!!!  It's in a different spot than the old, dead one and hopefully will provide a little privacy from our backdoor neighbor's massive balcony.

I did a little challenge at work with my team across the country.  I challenged them to go geocaching with their family and so of course I had to do it too.  We've never done it and it was a fun challenge!

Maxwell look at the GPS on the phone

We found it buried in the branches of a pine tree

We left behind a treat for the next person to come looking for this cache.

Family pic

It was a nice, windy day so we flew kites at the park with Brittany's family.

It ended up getting REALLY windy where the kids had to really fight the wind.

Emmalyn and I flew her first kite.

Look at that hair go in the wind!

No running needed in order to get the kites up, just someone to hold it up in the air and let it go - - it was that windy!

Spring brings not only wind but rain too!  Another day we had fun outside splashing in the puddles after the rain.

Mr. Chris came over to splash a little too.

The kids had a blast jumping.  :)  I think jumping in puddles is really a lot of fun, too.

Maxwell had his second visit to his eye doctor.  He did a great job - - the doctor commented on how great he was to work with.  

His eyes had changed a little but not enough to get new glasses. We got another prescription but the doctor said to use it only if Max's glasses broke and we needed to get new ones, otherwise the old ones were fine.

Because of his doctor's visit, Maxwell went late to school.  We stopped and got Subway for lunch and ate it together at his table.

We had a fun morning together!

I stayed a little and watched Maxwell engage with the other kids in the class.

The kids are great at walking down the halls, keeping quiet and their hands to themselves.  I love his preschool!

This girl loves her spaghetti.

Video - On her 2nd birthday eve, enjoyed hearing this cutie speak and watch her do a great job eating.  Love her little voice!

Maxwell wrote this series of notes in the car one day.  I thought it was so sweet!

April 2016 - Finally! A Garden!!

Maxwell had his bike a thon at school.  He was really excited to bring his bike to school.

I had a meeting and couldn't be there to watch  this year.  :(

I took my team at work out to do some geocaching and challenged my team across the country to do the same.  It was fun to get out of the office - - a few of them were serious about it and kept looking until they found it.

Emmalyn and her best buddy Landen.  He goes to preschool a few days a week but when he's home, they have so much fun together at Brittany's.

Loving her time at the park.  She just seems so big in this picture.

Love the genuine smiles and giggles that come when she's in the swing.

I noticed that her feet actually hit the foot rest on the high chair.  It seems like just yesterday that she was in it and her legs would never be that long!

Each time we brush her teeth, she wants to get a drink out of the sink after she's done.

I get some serious handy woman points!!!  Some of the sealant was peeling off in the shower upstairs and our master shower so I googled it and figured out how to reseal it.  I can't tell you how proud of myself I was because this is the type of thing that is outside my comfort zone (even though it ended up being easy).

All the old stuff peel off and ready to be replaced!

Video - Emmalyn is great at jumping!

Maxwell having fun playing with the parachute at Kindermusik.

We stopped to get the airheads slurpee!  Have to support my brands.

It's rain boot season!

Ready to play in the rain

Even though it was rainy and gloomy, Peter and I decided to bite the bullet and finally put the garden together.  I've wanted it forever but it just hasn't happened.  There seemed to always be some other priority...  We are doing a 4x4 raised bed garden.  Peter put together the bed and I did most everything else.

Weed barrier down!

Here's all the dirt we bought to go into the garden.  

It was a lot of work getting that dirt in there!!

Maxwell enjoying the treat that my friend Michelle brought the kids.

They were both happy, of course!

I planted a new strawberry plant in addition to my garden.

All done!!!! :)  Hopefully this will keep out the bunnies.  I planted two types of tomatoes (I wanted to do Sweet 100's but when I got home realized that I had grabbed a roma plant instead), snap peas, cucumbers, zucchini, green bell peppers, serrano peppers, and cilantro.  My hope is that I can grow everything I need to make homemade salsa.  :)

Dear little plants, please grow and help me have a great garden!