Friday, December 28, 2007

Godiva Girl...



Just like Mommy & Daddy! :)

Basketball girl...

Of all the presents that Emma was showered with this Christmas, her favorite by far is the basketball hoop that Grandpa Folkman bought for her. He had one rule: It had to stay at their house so that they can play basketball on Wednesday nights when he watches her. They been watching the basketball "guys" on TV for a couple of weeks, and Grandpa was very proud when she saw the hoop, she didn't need any instruction! She grabbed to ball, and CRAZY she went. Very fun. :) Here's a picture and a video of all the fun...



Here's an action video! :)

Merry Christmas!

We have had such a good time the last couple of weeks. What a wonderful season of the year. We've spent hours with family, and it has been so great to relax, celebrate and enjoy everyone's company.

On the 19th, we headed over to Spokane to visit Shane's sister and her family. It was so fun to visit, we played cards, went shopping and ate WAY too much food. Such a fun time. Emma love hanging out with all the cousins. She's used to being the only kid around, and I'll admit that by the time we left, Emma was ready for a little alone time. But it was so fun to play with everyone, and see how much everyone has grown.

Here's Hailey, she had stuffed her cheeks with two of those Yummy Lindor chocolates, she was a chocaholic!



Here's Anne, Emma and their cute kitty. Emma loved to follow her around.



The girls with matching jammies...

Monday, December 17, 2007

Leavenworth

We spent this last weekend in Leavenworth, and I can't put into words how fantastic it was. There was snow everywhere, but it wasn't snowing hard, so we never had to worry about chaining up the bug. There was even blue sky all day on Saturday, as we walked around Leavenworth sipping hot-chocolate. Our hotel, was a mountain retreat, and we had our own little cabin. Each time we left to eat or walk to the lodge, we had to get all bundled up, and it was so fun. Emma ran and ran through all the trails on the property, and just had a blast being outside in the cold. I think we've started a new family tradition, so anyone who wants to join us next year, Leavenworth is the place to be! Luke and Lindsey came with us, and it was so fun to spend time with them. They went skiing/ snowboarding on Saturday, and then we ate, played cards and talked late into the night. So fun! The entire time, I was wishing the whole family was there, since we were having such a good time.

My favorite little store in Leavenworth is the CheeseMonger's shop. It has a huge variety of cheeses that you can taste from all over the world, we bought some really delicious cheese to come home and snack on. So yummy. :)

Here are some photos and videos of our adventures...

Emma in the car, So ready to go. She was such a great little traveler.



Here is our little cabin, and Emma mid-flight.





A few more...







And here's a video of Emma watching Shane scrape off the snow/ice from the Bug. :)

Friday, December 14, 2007

Onion News Network

Someone at work sent this email to me, I hadn't heard of this network before, but I love it! Very interesting piece on childcare.

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/report_many_u_s_parents

Carrie :)

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

This never happens!



I can count the number of times that Emma has fallen asleep somewhere that is not her bed, on one hand. She ONLY sleeps in her bed, not even the car seat. She was up really early this morning, and then by 10:00, was exhausted, and fell asleep in this comfortable position on the couch while she was watching cars. Such a sleeping beauty... :)

Let it snow!

Yeah! We are taking a mini-family christmas vacation this weekend, to find some snow. We are headed to Leavenworth, WA. A cute little bavarian village, with snow and Christmas lights, and lots of shops. We are staying at a place I stayed for a work conference, with YUMMY!YUMMY! food--they have a private chef that creates a new menu for each day. :) Luke and Lindsey are coming with us, and it should be fun to play in the snow, swim in the heated pool, read books, nap and shop, shop, shop! We haven't had a break together for a while, so I'm looking forward to lots of quality downtime with Shane & Emma.

Friday, December 7, 2007

My family of Elves...

One of my mission companions had this posted on her blog, and I laughed so hard--it was adorable. So here we are, Shane Carrie & Emma, the Christmas elves...dancing away.

Click HERE, and wait for the fun... :)

Monday, December 3, 2007

The rains came down...and the floods came up!

So, this is video from behind our condos. We have a big area of grass, and then the Issaquah creek backs our property. Before today, it was literally a creek, as of this morning when we took our video, it was a full five feet higher than usual. Now a roaring river. The funny thing is that this week we just got a note from our mortgage lender, saying that we no longer need flood insurance, since we are not in a flood plain...hmmmmmm. Doesn't sound right to me. Another foot and we'd be under!

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Christmas Time!



After Thanksgiving and the fun, we started putting up our decorations yesterday. Tonight, we finished the tree, and Emma had so much fun with the lights. Last year, she wasn't so into the holidays, but its so cute this year seeing her get so excited about the lights, the tree and the decorations. I love reliving holidays through young innocent eyes, it really brings a new joy to this time of year!



Here's a video of Shane and Emma relaxing under the tree, enjoying the lights from below. :)


Emma's Cousins!

We went to Spokane last weekend and got to visit with Shane's sister and her family. They are Emma's only cousins, and we don't get to see them very often. Emma had so much fun! Here they are cuddled up watching a movie.


Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Thanksgiving Day!

I am absolutely addicted to cooking and the Food Network. Even though we are splitting Thanksgiving between my parents and Shane's parents, I still bought everything to make Thanksgiving dinner. So on Sunday, I'm going to cook us our own little Thanksgiving so I can try all these new recipes, and of course have leftovers.

I tried this last year, and it was so great! From Emeril Lagasse, Fresh Cranberry Compote, really easy to make and so much tastier than the can!

I'm going to try these from Martha Stewart's website... I am one that swore, I'd never love Martha, but I really am starting to! I learned on her show how to make homemade chicken stock, and I tried it yesterday! It actually turned out pretty good! I was surprised! :)

Anyway, here are a few recipes, all from Martha's site that I'm going to try.

Green Bean Casserole with Fried Shallots




Cornbread, Pecan & Wild Mushroom Stuffing



It just looks so yummy! I can't wait to try it all!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Hallelujah!



Emma's still been fighting the "food" battle for the last couple of weeks...she's finally been doing a little better. Last night, she had her first full dinner in a week and a half. I made some homemade chicken noodle soup with veggies and dumplings. She snarfed the noodles and carrots. It took a little coaxing, but she ate it! Every time she ate a carrot, we both clapped and shouted, "YEAH CARROTS!". I feel a bit odd for getting so excited about such a small thing, but it was such a relief to see her eat a full meal. Prayers were answered! :)

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Emma's two favorite things...

1. Horses. She loves her little rocking horse. She loves her horsey pajamas, and she loves "Jesse" from Toy Story 2. She's quite the little cowgirl. At the mall the other day, we let her ride one of the little carousels. While she was on, we kept saying, "hold on tight". She loved it...when it was time to get off, she was upset and cried on the rest of the way out of the mall. Since then, she's said at least a couple of times each day, "Mommy, I hold tight on horsies!" She'll never forget it, and we'll never be able to go to that mall again, without her knowing that it is there.



2. Drawing. Especially on her hands, thank goodness it hasn't translated to the walls yet.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Arghhh!

So... many of you know that I am in the process of working on my National Boards for teaching. I'm currently in the 2nd year. It is the most challenging process I've ever gone through. Much more intense than even my Masters degree. Scores were released this morning, and I was super close to certifying again, but didn't quite make it. I was more disappointed than you can believe, and now I have one more year to finish the process.

After waking Shane up before work and crying for a bit...he was so sweet and sent me flowers at work. I'm glad I have a sweet husband, and a goofy daughter to get me through a hard day!



Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Emma can Read!

Here is Emma reading her favorite book right now, "Polar Bear..." She loves to name all the animals as we go. Honestly, it gets a little annoying to read to her after the 10th time in one day. This was the first time she sat down and read it (kind of) on her own. I was so happy!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

HELP! My toddler won't eat...

Ok, any of you have any great ideas? Emma has decided that she no longer is interested in food. From what I read, this is somewhat normal for her age. Apparently, they realize that food is one of the only parts of their life that they can control. She is still drinking lots of milk, (which I'm lacing with liquid vitamins and fiber). But she'll only eat crunchy, starchy foods. Goldfish crackers, graham crackers, chips of all kinds, but nothing good for her at all. She'll sit at meals and have no desire at all to eat. I'm trying not to make it a battle, but it's totally stressing me out! I appreciate any advice or comments you might have for me... I'll try anything. She won't even eat olives any more... :(

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Stump Lake

Today after church and naps, we went for a drive up to the pass. We stopped and hiked around Lake Kacheeses ? (aka Stump Lake). It was a beautiful day. Emma loved running around on all the rocks. Emma was trying to throw rocks into the water, but missed most of the time. She was just happy to be throwing things. Shane helped her throw one, and it bonked me on the head. Emma basking in the sunshine! Our noble steed...Missing hubcap and all! It was such a nice afternoon to be out and about. While we were there, hangliders, took off from the mountain, floated above us for a while, and then landed right by us. It was very cool! As they were landing, Emma yelled at them, "Don't Crash! Don't Crash!"

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Emma's Cake

Emma's 2nd birthday is tomorrow, and I attempted my first "theme" cake. Emma LOVES Nemo right now, and so I searched online for some cute ideas. The toys are all from a bath tub squirt set, that she's getting for her birthday. Nothing fancy, but hopefully Emma will love it!


Pumpkin Patch...




Today went out to a local farm and picked pumpkins in the rain. We got to go for a hay ride, pick pumpkins and gourds, watch a pumpkin catapult, and see all the animals! There were horses, chickens, turkeys and Emma's fav...pigs. We had a blast, it was such a cute little farm. I love this time of year.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Yummy...



"Deceptively Delicious" By Jessica Seinfeld

I heard about this new book. It's all about using puree's in your kids food, and other foods to up your nutritional intake. Lots of great ideas. I have the book on reserve at the library...can't wait for it to come in. Butternut squash in your mac'n'cheese. Beets in your chocolate cake, and cauliflower in your cookies. Supposed to taste great, and be good for you all at once!

Congrats to Aunt Jen!

Shane's sister Jen got engaged this week, to her cutie-pie Josh! Congratulations, we are so happy for you. It'll be nice to have Uncle Josh around.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Emma as Nemo...

So Emma is going to be Nemo for Halloween. It came today in the mail from the Disney store (super great deal by the way). It even has a little fin on one side! We were trying it on and we took some video. Watching it afterwards, I realized how much she can say now. She has all of a sudden been able to say almost anything she wants. I thought some of you far away, might like to hear her talking. Pay no attention to the messy house or Emma's dirty face. We are still in the no-eating standoff, and I was getting her to eat some apple slices dipped in Hershey's sauce...

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Olives



So, Emma is in a phase right now that she hardly ever wants to eat. Every meal is a battle. She does, however, love olives for some reason. So finally, today after no good breakfast, no good lunch, I broke down and gave her a bowl full of olives (in my defense, it was a toddler size bowl). She lovingly placed each one on her fingers, and then ate them. She did follow it up with some Mac n' cheese and some peas. I'm now going to have to think of some new ways to make olives a more satisfying meal.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

The Wicked Witch of the West...

Don't you just love crazy tights? I wish I could wear stripes on my legs and look that great! :)

Emma at the park...





We have a favorite park in Issaquah. It's only a 10 minute walk from our new house, and it's right behind the old train depot. They've just put in all new toys, and there's a toddler area with little trains to play on. When we can distract Emma from the swings, she actually has a good time on the trains. But only if she can't see the swings. She's a swing addict!