Shopping with Emma

Gotta love shoes!

Twilight party...

I had a great time last night at the Twilight party, we watched it in the mini-theater at a friend's clubhouse, and had the cutest and yummiest snacks ever! Lot's of "bloody" treats, and lots of laughs. Thanks for Amy for planning and Dayna for hosting. Very fun!

I made caramel apples...which took longer than I remember it taking in the past. The whole evening turned out fun. Good to laugh and be with the girls for a while. Thanks to Shane for having a daddy/daughter night with Emma so I could go.
Here's the apples, and then here's the note I attached to them! They turned out cute. :)

More Zoey Pictures

Waiting in the lobby for the good news...Emma was really good even though we were there for a while.

Grandma holding baby Zoey for the first time...only about an hour old!

The next day in the hospital. Grandma with her two girls... :)

Zoey!

My brother Pete and his wife Becca welcomed their first daughter to the world last night. Her name is ZOEY, and she really is so adorable already. Emma can't stop talking about her. She weighed 7 lbs 13 oz, and is 20 1/2 inches long, and it looks like she has red hair. So cute!

Happy Birthday, Shane!

My sweetie turned 29 yesterday. We had such a fun time. He got to go out to breakfast with his family in the morning, and then we went to a nice dinner with Emma at Jak's (our favorite little steakhouse here in Issaquah). After my night class, we went to see "Race to Witch Mountain"...which let me just say, was not my choice, but it was his birthday and there weren't many options out there, and I let him choose. It was fun, but cheesy to the max, and was mainly chosen since it had the Rock in it, and there were really no movies starting at the time we could go. Anyway, I hope he had a great day.

Since he's a St. Patrick's day baby, I tried to make rainbow angel food cake with whipped cream (for the clouds), and golden coins for the pot of gold. It was a good attempt, but didn't turn out that "cute". But, it was yummy and more healthy than normal since it was angel food instead of regular cake.

He got a new jacket to wear in the rain, camping stuff for this summer, painting stuff so he can turn into Bob Ross on his days off, and movies to chill with. It was fun to have him take the day off so we could play. :)

Emma's 1st haircut

I don't know how Emma got to be 3 1/2 with no haircuts, but we finally did it. Her hair was getting CRAZY, and was frustrating because it was always fro-like and messy, if I didn't pull it back. We cut off about 4 inches, and her hair is the thick, beautiful hair that I have always dreamed of. I am a little sad that her baby curls are gone. She still has a really pretty wave, but the curlies are gone... oh well, it looks so much better now.

Shane's menu...

These are the yummy things Shane cooked for us today. He got them from a Weight Watchers cookbook that a friend of our loaned to us. Both were very delicious. I thought I'd share the recipe, since they were yummy and man-friendly. :)

Home-teaching and Banana-blueberry Bread!

Two things. First of all, I'm grateful for home teaching. Shane visits a family that has a cool tradition, that he has decided to adopt. He home teaches a big family and every Sunday, the dad takes charge of dinner for the evening. Sunday is Mom's day off. So last week, Shane announced that we were going to try it, and he was going to take charge of meals on Sunday. What a great idea! Last week we had tacos--he did a great job, he even did the dishes. I kind of forgot about it until tonight. I asked him what he wanted for dinner tomorrow and he responded with, "Don't worry, I got it, remember?" My new favorite day of the week is Sunday (like it wasn't already!).

Second, I was gone for a big chunk of the day at a friend's baby shower. Emma was with me for a long time, and he showed up to pick her up, because he knew she'd be tired. (Plus, our plan was to walk home in the stroller, since he had the car and was going to be helping his dad--but it was of course, raining). He came to get her, because he didn't want us walking home in the rain. So I come home later, Emma's asleep taking a nap, the kitchen is clean, and I notice the oven timer is on. I asked him if he was baking something (jokingly of course), and he casually said, "yes." I open the oven and he was making BANANA BREAD! Not just banana bread, but he made banana-blueberry bread. It was so yummy! He's been bugging me about the brown bananas on the counter for a while, but I've been busy and haven't been able to make bread. So he decided to try it on his own. Later he told me, it was really fun to make it. I'm grateful for all the little things he does to make me a happy girl. :)

And...today its snowing.

From sunny day, to snow. Crazy weather. We got to have a 2 hour late start this morning for school, so I got to sleep in a little.

We've all been battling colds, and Emma woke up this morning early as I was heading for work. She crawled into bed and looked at me to say something, and nothing came out. She got a really worried look on her face and barely squeeked out, "Mom, my voice is broken! It's not working! I need a drink of water to fix it!"

Last night my parents were over visiting, and she was talking to my Mom about her feet. My mom asked her where she got her feet. She said, "We got them at the store and then glued them on."

I don't know where she thinks these things up, but I love them all. It's so fun to hear the things that come out of her little mind.

"Is it ok if I drink my juice in the sun?"

Unfortunately, living in Seattle, the sun shines on only rare occasions in the fall/winter & spring. Today, we had a beautiful sunny day after church. Right before nap, Emma was looking out the window and asked, "Is it ok if I drink my juice in the sun?" I love that it's such a novelty, that she feels the need to ask permission. She sat right in front of the window, and basked in the warmth of the sunny rays shining in. She then continued with...

"Look Mom, there's two Emmas. One here (points to herself), and one there (the shadow). Mom, say hi to the other Emma...(after my "hi") ...Oh, hi Mom."

I know not many other people are interested in the little things Emma says, but 30 years from now I want to remember as much as I can about the little conversations we had when she was tiny.

Guess how much I paid for gas yesterday!

$1.68 a gallon! Can you believe it? I love Safeway and their fuel discounts. :)

For Uncle Jake & Aunt AJ

She finally warmed up to the ears...she won't take them off, and I just put her down for her nap with them on. Thanks! :)

Sunday Morning Drive

Since we have 1:00 church now, we got up on Sunday morning, and went for a drive to the pass. Of course, it was cold, lots of snow, and just beautiful. We read scriptures on the way up, and it was a great way to start a Sunday (versus, our usual, laying in bed, big breakfast, and still just barely making it on time to church).

Give Emma a high-five!

I'm been hesitant about posting this, because I didn't want to jinx it, but Emma is officially a big girl, and is completely potty trained! It took us a while, but she's got it down. For the last two weeks, we've had no accidents (even at night), and I haven't had to worry too much when we go to the store, since she is now in full initiation mode. She tells me when its time, and takes care of business on her own. If you see her soon, tell her she's a big girl and give her a high-five.

Low Point from our potty-training ordeal: I started to make up songs about poopin' in the potty, and realized that I was singing one to "Tell me the stories of Jesus". I realized I had to rethink and pay attention to my singing..I felt a little blasphemous.
High Point: The other day at Costco, I did a little dance and song with her in the pull-ups aisle, because we don't have to buy them anymore. Woo-hoo for you, Emma!

Other Emma developments:

She is learning to dress herself, which takes 10 times longer than normal, but she loves to do it so much. I love her little voice and attitude, when she says, "Mom, I can do it MYSELF!"

On the weekends when she wanders into our room, she crawls into bed with us, and I've been trying (even though she always requests Little Einsteins first thing in the morning) to keep the TV off. The other day, she climbed in to bed, layed down on my pillow and said, "Let's just talk to each other, ok Mom". How much sweeter could you get?

She is still a super-picky eater, but did you know that the Little Einsteins love apples and raisins. Leo eats them all the time! That is how I got Emma to FINALLY eat an apple slice the other day. It was only a slice, but it felt like we had climbed Mt. Everest. :)

P.S...one more thing I'm lovin' about Emma right now! We've been going for lots of walks and Emma comes with us in the stroller. She's quiet for the first few minutes, but then will start to sing songs. Sometimes it's primary songs and sometimes it's songs she makes up, (we have that in common), but I feel that its a pretty good sign of a happy child, that when she is alone with her thoughts, she choses to sing. It's the sweetest sound in the world.