A few random Emma stories...

1. She thinks it's funny to play the little hand-held Tetras game now whenever she's going potty.  It IS pretty funny when I walk in and find her doing that, I must say! 
2. She has started helping me fold some laundry and put things away.  The other day, she called herself "the very best washcloth folder ever!"  It was hilarious!  The funniest thing was how serious she was when she said it!
3. Sometimes in the middle of the night, I go into Em's room to check and see if she needs to go potty.  One night, I reminded her "Emma, if you need to go potty, I want you to come to mommy's side of the bed and tell me."  Half-asleep, she replied, "Okay Mommy.  And if you think I need to go potty, you can come right here to get me."
4. Emma was playing in the bathtub the other night and Brett went in to check on her.  She was pouring water over herself.  Brett said, "Emma, don't be drinking that water."  Emma replied, "I'm not, Daddy.  I was baptizing myself."

And a couple milestones for Luke:

Luke will be 10 months old already on April 9th.  Sometimes I feel so bad that I haven't kept up with Luke's milestones very well or that I don't even have a baby book for him.  Poor little guy....by this point in Emma's life, I think I had at least 2 photo albums FULL with pics of her!!  Luke, on the other hand, has ZERO photo albums, and only a handful of pics that I've actually gotten developed (they are at least framed and out around our house).  Anyway, I thought I'd use this opportunity to blog about a few milestones before my scattered little brain forgets them completely!

• Dec 29th- started crawling...6.5 months old(while we were in San Antonio visiting my parents)
• Jan 3rd-crib mattress lowered to lowest level because he started pulling up to a standing position
• sometime around Jan 23rd he got his two front, bottom teeth in...broke thru at the same time
• Started saying "Dada" sometime early February (Brett was excited....says he's "two for two"....Emma's first "word" as well.  I tell him that "the books" and our doctor say he is just saying that sound, but he doesn't really associate it with Brett yet.  On the other hand, Luke just recently started saying "Mama" and I am sure that he knows that's me!  :O)  j/k 
• got 3rd tooth sometime in late February (top, left of center teeth)
• He has been "cruising" (walking alongside furniture) for at least a month now.
• He has started letting go of furniture and standing up by himself for just a few seconds at a time before he gently sits himself back down (as of about a week ago).
• 4th tooth (on bottom, to left of center teeth) about to break thru.  The only way anyone around here is getting any sleep these days is with the help of a little Tylenol and Orajel!

Well, the kids tell me that my time is up for now!  We're finally having some nice weather around here so I think we're heading to the park soon!  Until next time.....

Emma's Birthday Party

Well, better late than never, huh?  I actually have a little spare time right now and thought I'd post some pics from Emma's birthday party.  Emma turned 4 on March 2nd.  She is quite proud to be so big....telling strangers that she's 4 and still talking about her birthday party!!  It was a fun day!  :)

The birthday girl...before the chaos began.

The very excited birthday girl!! 

Friends beginning to arrive...

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The party was set up downstairs in our basement.  There were 12 girls total (and an adult at each center).  The girls simply went around to the 8 different centers.

1.) Princess hide'n'seek

2.) balloon jump station (trampoline)

3.) The game center (pin the lips on the frog & hopscotch....which I'm not sure anyone even played!) :)

4.) craft center (they made foam door hangers)

5.) fruit loop necklace making station

6.) Party favor hide'n'seek

7.) Decorate a party favor bag station

8.) the tattoo/face painting station. 

This is our babysitter, Laura.  It meant so much to us and Emma that she came to the birthday party!  The girls all loved her!

Hmmmm..... what a face!

Present opening time!

Brett was a huge help! Such a good daddy!! :)

Check out the look on Emma's face as we sang her happy birthday! I think this whole event was a bit overwhelming for her.  It was her first "real" birthday party (with friends, not just a small family gathering, like we've done in the past).

eating the yummy strawberry, princess Ariel cake (Em's choice, of course!)  No kidding, she is already talking about next year's birthday party and what cake she wants.  I remember a day when I used to look forward to birthdays that much! :O) 

Seems impossible that she could be 4 already!  It's been a great 4 years!  Emma continues to be such a JOY to us!!