Here Come the Holidays!

As always, things have been busy busy around here! Hopefully I can remember all we've done!! The day I've waited 10 long years for finally came on Friday November 11. My 11-11-11 birthday and I was so excited!!! I knew we were having people over, but I didn't know all the details (or my presents!). My friend Amy was able to come down for the weekend from Chicago and we had a great time. That morning we went to Barnes and Nobles for story time, and Emma enjoys reading her own stories instead of listening to someone else reading to her. She loves going to see all the books, just not sitting and hearing someone else's stories! The party that night was so much fun and I am so thankful to all my friends and family that were able to celebrate with me!
Two quick weeks passed and it's turkey time! Elizabeth and Patrick and the kids came in town Tuesday evening. Elle came home with us for a sleepover and we headed over to Grandmommy's house first thing Wednesday morning and stayed alll day-somehow I was able to get Emma down for a little nap and we had pizza for dinner. All 26 of us!
Thursday was a blur of turkey, 'taters, sweets and family. We headed up to King for part one and there was enough food to feed 4 families-it just kept coming and coming! The weather couldn't have been more perfect and Emma had fun running around with Marley outside. Off to Gradmommy's we went, after Matt ripped his jeans playing batchie(??) ball, for round 2 and we got there just as they were about to say the blessing. Perfect timing! I didn't over do it at Nana's, so I was ready for some more turkey-Matt had to take a break for awhile. But you can only stay away from Bojangles turkeys for so long. If you've never had one, you MUST give them a try-they are so yummy!!
Saturday we took Emma to see Aurthur Christmas and she loved having popcorn and standing for most of the movie. After the movie, we picked out our huge tree and headed to dinner for Papa's birthday. Emma and Marley had SO much fun playing together. We've started a new family tradition of having new Christmas jammies for the kids the night we put up our tree. Hopefully we can continue this for many years!
Another tradition we started is our new Elf on the Shelf. She appeared Saturday afternoon and as luck would have it, CBS had an Elf on the Shelf special and we watched it hoping Emma would understand how it works. Before the movie, she wanted to hold the Elf, after the movie she would get close and then say "Don't touch!!" In case you aren't familiar, the Elf comes and lives at your house and reports back to Santa at night to tell how the children were and if you touch the Elf, they lose their magic. You also must come up with a name for your Elf. Emma decided to name hers "Doodle" and she keeps forgetting her name and calls her different things all day.
We had a little almost oops incident when we were looking at Doodle and she fell over when Emma turned her head-thankfully Emma didn't see her fall and I was able to get her readjusted without Emma seeing. Hopefully that won't happen again!!

 Tickle fest with Pop Pop!

 Playing with Anna on Thankgsiving

 I really wanted her to wear the piggie tails and she did NOT like it!!

 Check out our new tree!

 Jammies!

Meet Doodle

"Emma"dotes

Emma is growing up too fast and I wish there was a way to slow it down! But, since there is not, I have to try my best to catch all the cute things she says/does to document for her (and me) to look back on one day and laugh. I know they call them the terrible two's, but what about the trying, tiring three's?? Within the last few weeks my sweet, always listening, even-tempered child has turned into a maniac. Now, I know I shouldn't complain because it's really not THAT bad, but it is testing my patience for sure! She is trying to figure out her boundaries and seeing what she can and can't get away with. And that imagination, it is running wild and it is hilarious to listen to her play. She sings, calls "Grandad Dog", runs and hides, screams (Tylenol please!), and asks the same thing over and over and over. Today we had our first experience with Daddy saying no to something (which I heard) and she runs and asks me instead. There she is with those boundaries! That was just my little tangent-here are the Emma stories we all love!

We were getting ready for the day and Luke was dressed in Emma's room on the floor. I made his bottle, but had to let Bella out to eat first. When I came back, I found Emma in her room feeding Luke his bottle! She said "He was crying, 'cuz he was hungry so I got him his bottle. Mommy, can you hold it so I can get a burp cloth?" I almost cried!

I started decorating for Christmas while Emma was napping and when she got up and saw everything, she inhaled a deep breath and said "It's wonderful!!"

Luke and Emma were laying on our bed and Luke was hungry and fussing. Emma wanted to help him feel better, so she started singing a song. He didn't stop crying and she said" What's wrong? You don't like that song, I'll sing another one!" And she started singing a different song for him

Matt and Emma went to go pick up dinner and Emma told him "Fast Daddy! Christmas music!"

She calls our bed the "big-a-bed"

Every time she sees Santa on tv, she gets SO excited and starts hollering "SANTA!!! IT'S SANTA!!"

Any toy she sees now that she likes, she says she wants it for Christmas. I think we have most of the toys at Target and Toys R Us on her wish list now

More Halloween Fun

I just got emails with pictures from the school carnival and the Fall Fest at Rob's office and thought I would share! I also don't think I said what Emma's costume was-her original costume was supposed to be Little Red Riding Hood. She wore that one to school; it was VERY cold the day of Rob's work fest and I wanted Luke to wear something warmer. I searched around the attic and found Emma's old monkey costume and then came across one of Elle's old costumes. I'm not sure if it's a butterfly or some sort of bug, so we call it a Buggy costume. It is a lot warmer than the LRRH, and she picked that one to wear Trick or Treating-smart girl!

Trick or Treat!!

Halloween is the perfect holiday in this house! Emma has inherited her mother's super sweet tooth and loves all candy! She had a little taste of it at her school carnival and then at a fall fest at Rob's work. Our house has been stocked with candy for a week or so prior to Halloween. We live in a neighborhood with no kids and zero trick or treaters, so we knew we wouldn't be staying home. Although Emma is almost three, this was going to be her first "official" Halloween. She was about 9 months her first Halloween and we were just going to take her around with Elle, but it was rainy and cold so we axed that plan and stayed at Dad's and helped hand out candy. Last year, we were out of town for a long weekend and she literally slept through all of Halloween. This year we knew would be different!  It wasn't supposed to rain and we were always asking what to say to get the candy! Since Mom's house is so close to Dad's, we decided to trick or treat in their neighborhoods. Katelyn met at our house and Papa came by to see the costumes. Then we headed out to meet Christine and Elle at Mom and Rob's. I knew it was going to be cold and Luke was going to be in the wagon, so I loaded it up with tons of blankets and we were ready to roll! Emma was sleepy and took a little bit for her to get going, but once someone gave her a sucker her night turned around! The girls had a great time running from one house to the next and Emma came home with a LOT of candy!!

 Papa "hiding" behind Batman

 Emma after getting woken up from her cat nap.

 Loaded up and ready to go!