Christmas

We had the best Christmas, it was so great to be able to see all the family. Now that Julie and Marc are in Chicago and NY, we aren't able to be together as often as we used to. Emmy still doesn't quite understand Santa (although she knows he says ho, ho, ho) but was really into opening presents. We ate lots, drank lots but burned off all the calories by running after that little monkey. That kid LOVES to run, especially with her new buddy - Lucy. She also LOVES the stairs and count now officially count to 10!

A tricycle!





A new baby cradle!



Merry Christmas!



My Mom and I have been looking for a fake make-up set forever, they are hard to find! My Mom finally found one so surprised both of us. As soon as Emmy opened it up, she could have cared a less about any other presents. She was putting on lipstick, painting her nails and playing with her blowdryer the rest of the weekend.







Emmy and Lucy are officially buddies for life. They followed each other around and Emmy figured out where her treats are kept so Lucy was very happy. One night Lucy would not stop kissing Emmy and she could not stop giggling, it was too cute. Emmy kept saying "look at me" wanting Lucy to kiss her more :)







Getting into trouble with Uncle Marc







The whole fam damily. A Christmas miracle, right Brother?! :)

I Love You!

Emmy continues to amaze me everyday with the new words she learns and how quickly she is growing into a little girl. Tonight she said "I Love Lou Mama" and it was the greatest thing I have heard come out of her mouth. She is the sweetest, smartest little girl who I love more than I could have ever thought possible. She also counted to 8 by herself, she is just as smart as she is cute!

Emmy's Entourage

Minus her 5 babies of course. They already went "night night".

Sick House

We've all had colds... again. I have just accepted the fact that Emmy is going to have a constant runny nose until the spring. I on the other hand got it as well and completely lost my voice! Time could not have been worse since I had a big new business meeting on Friday that we have been preparing for, for months. Anyway, we laid low this weekend which felt more like summer than December! It was 85 degrees and sunny on Sunday so Josh decided to wash our cars. I tired to keep Emmy out of his way, but how do you keep a toddler out of a puddle? You can't. So, I said go for it and let her, jump, splash and sit in the water!







After months of trying, she is finally getting some air when she jumps! Although, I don't even think she is realizing it yet :)

No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed!

My Favorite Time of Year

Christmas is one of my favorite times of year! I love all of the decorations, music, Christmas shopping, wrapping, etc. The holidays keep going by faster and faster so we are trying to enjoy them as much as we can. This past weekend we got our tree and went to Mark and Anna's for a Christmas party.



Helping Dad pick out the tree



Ava was very festive in her Santa outfit!



I think she took as many ornaments off the tree as she put them on :)

Our Little Diva

Our mornings have been getting increasingly difficult. Getting Emmy and myself fed, ready and out the door by 8am is normally hard enough but now that she dictates what she will and will not wear and wants to do EVERYTHING herself, we took difficult to a whole new level. She is clearly not capable of putting on and tying her own shoes and does not understand why she can't wear crocks when it is 45 degrees out (I finally had to hide them this morning). Yesterday morning she refused to even put shoes and socks on so I got myself ready and packed up the car. When I got back in the house she walked out of her room wearing this. The funniest part about it was she was so serious, as if she was saying "Fine you want me to get ready for school? Well, I decided this is what I am going to wear". As difficult as the mornings are, they are some of the best moments :)




The hat was way too small for her so at least I was able to convince her to wear her winter hat instead :)

Yo Gabba Gabba!

We took Emmy to see Yo Gabba Gabba Sunday night. Personally, I'd much prefer watching Sesame Street but I got free tickets so had to go! We've now taken her to Sesame Street Live, Disney and Ice and now Yo Gabba Gabba all at the same venue and Yo Gabba was by far the loudest. She was a little scared at first but was dancing soon enough. It was a great show, super interactive with lots of music and dancing, right up our little monkey's alley :) Josh got the husband/Daddy of the year award because he went with us despite the fact the Chargers game was on. What would we do without DVR....

Thanksgiving Part 2

Emmy had so much fun with Dylan and Elijah I kept saying we have to get her a big brother :) She followed them around, imitated everything they did but also held her own if they tried to take a toy. We heard "No Dylan" and "Emmy's turn" a lot over the weekend. We played outside for hours and hours, ate and drank and had so much fun just hanging with my parents, Zach and Amy. We took so many great pictures, it was hard not to post them all!

Happy Thanksgiving Part 1 - 10K RACE

We were lucky enough to have family come and visit us for Thanksgiving this year! My parents, Lucy, and Josh's Brother, wife and kids all came to visit this past weekend. Everyone stayed with us so we had a full house :)

I have wanted to run in an organized race for a while and found one Thanksgiving morning so convinced Josh and Zach to run with me. I don't run very much so a 10k was going to be a challenge. I wanted to make sure I could make it so the weekend before Thanksgiving ran 6 miles on a treadmill. Bad idea - I was sore and did something to my foot so didn't think I could even run in the race. I felt so bad that I roped Josh and Zach into leaving the house at 6:30am so volunteered to at least drive them. It was 37 degrees when we left the house, of course record lows. By the time I got there I thought screw it, I at least have to give it a try! Well, we all finished, including me, in less than 58 minutes (Josh and Zach around 56 mins and me around 57). It was such an awesome way to start the day, with a challenge that helped feed others that day. I hobbled around the rest of the weekend because my foot hurt so bad but it was worth it!

Curtains

It has been a project of mine for a while but I finally finished sewing new curtains for Emmy's room and our extra bedroom! Next up, our room...

Rainy Weekend

We enjoyed a few nice, lazy, rainy days this past weekend. All Emmy wanted to do was literally run around the house and make a mess of all her toys. She imitates EVERYTHING we do, including Josh's "lazy man" push-ups.



What a mess!