Merry Christmas!

As expected, we had such a great Christmas this year. It all started with a surprisingly easy drive up to my parents house Wednesday night. My sister was already here and Josh and my brother drove up Thursday and we have all been here ever since. It was so much fun watching Emmy Christmas morning. She was so spoiled with presents but of course was mostly entertained with all of the wrapping, ribbons and boxes.

Here come the pics...

Heading to the park. How cute are those boots? Thank you Summur!

Just cruising

Our family tradition, Christmas Vacation

Merry Christmas!

Pretty girl in her Christmas dress. I keep saying she is not much of a dress girl and she proved me right! She was in it for almost an hour and fussed most of the time. She sure did look pretty :)

Dancing with Uncle Marc

Cool kicks from Auntie Julie!

Her new favorite walker

Christmas in Pine Mountain

This past weekend we took a trip up north to visit Josh's family for an early Christmas. It took a few car rides, shuttle and plane ride but after 8 hours we finally made it. It takes the same amount of time to drive as it does to fly (and then drive) after now doing both, I am not sure which one is easier...

We had lots of fun catching up with the family and introducing Emmy to all of her cousins. There were 10 kids under the age of 5 and we had a white elephant gift exchange with 30+ people so you can imagine the fun chaos. Saturday night Emmy was so over stimulated and hyper we thought we'd never get her calmed down! She was spoiled and showered with gifts (which really came in handy during the plane ride home - thank you everyone!).

A few highlights from the weekend:

Josh re-living his glory days playing soccer



Hanging out with Grandma. So southern California with a jacket and no shoes.



Let the white elephant games begin!



Hanging with Dad and Uncle Zach



After some harmless bribery a picture of the cousins. Yes, big bird made it in almost every picture!



This was our white elephant gift we brought, a blue frog wearing gold pants and sunglasses that dances to MC hammer. The best part of this story is that we actually owned this dancing frog, we didn't even have to go out and buy it. All week long Emmy had a love hate relationship with it. At first she cried then she tried to beat it up until she actually went looking for it. By the end of the weekend I think she had grown to love the little guy. It was kind of sad to leave him behind. Well, at least we know he has a great home with her cousins and I am sure Aunt Amy would be more than willing to give it back :)



Trying to get a last minute picture with cousin Julia and Aunt Genesis. I realize Genesis is not her aunt but Josh's cousin but since she is his cousin on both family sides (his mom and her sister married his dad and his brother) she is pretty close to being his sister! I have always thought they looked alike so it is no surprise that Julia and Emmy do as well. It will be fun watching them grow up together. Is Genesis ready for number two??!!

Big Kisses from Emmy!

It is just a matter of time...

Can you imagine how quick she will be when we give her a toy to push that actually has wheels?!

FINAL Hip Update

We have not been putting Emmy in the harness for the past few months, despite the fact the doctor advised us to. We decided that she was fine as is and that we'd risk seeing what happens later in life (the worst case scenario was that she'd have arthritis in her 50s, won't we all?!). It drove Josh nuts but I couldn't help but kept worry about her having issues in a few years. What if she wanted to be a dancer or athlete but she had hip problems? Something that could have been taken care of before she could remember? So, I made a follow-up appointment. We had x-rays done this morning and her hips are perfect!! We are supposed to go in every year until she is 5 but they look great. Emmy even got to pick out a stuffed animal. She picked a moose wearing a scarf, I think we'll name him Milton.

Counting, counting, counting is so much fun

This is the song I listened to most of the weekend. One of Emmy's favorite toys is a rolling turtle her cousins gave her. Each button has a number and a shape so when you press one it lights up and says the number and shape. The jackpot is the middle button that plays this really annoying number song. Well, after all these months Emmy figured this out and proceeded to push only the green button over and over and then sing along! It was the cutest thing EVER. I caught the tail end of it as she finally decided she'd had enough of the counting song but I was able to catch the button push and singing. Even big bird was involved in the music, he was her drum stick as she wacked her against the garage door.

THE STOCKING IN FINALLY DONE!

After more than a month of blood sweat and tears, Emmy's Christmas stocking is finished! The pictures don't really do it justice because you can't see every last friggen sequin I sewed on. I showed it to her this morning and she got really excited so that made it all worth it. Wait until she is older and understands what it is for and what goes in it and then she will get REALLY excited!





Josh's grandma made us our stockings a few years ago. I was really intimidated by them because the detail is unbelievable. So, I studied them closely before I started on Emmy's and realized they were made from a kit. I think I may have uncovered some sort of family secret because I casually mentioned it to Josh and he was shocked (sorry Artvera!). Considering mine is 100% from my imagination I think it turned out okay even next to our fancy stockings :)