To Dorothy Adam

Dear Dorothy:

Thank you for my new dress. I wore it to church today and everyone said I was so pretty. It reminds me of Aunt Aly and Scotland when I wear it. 

Love, Emmy 

,

Breakfast Surprise

What my sweet husband and thoughtful son were doing while they let me sleep in...

It's a Pink Lemonade Affair

Uncle Dave and Sissy

Dorothy and Sissy

Food Table: Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Fruit Salad (On Aly's Pewter Bowl), Celery and Carrot Sticks, Broccoli Salad, Potato Salad, Sweet Potato Chips

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes: Made From Pink Lemonade Concentrate, Grape Fruit Slice and Yellow Straw for dramatic effect

Lemonade Table with Candy Rock Sticks

Centerpieces: Balloons and Framed Pictures of Emmy's First Year

Welcome Table

Outfit From Scotland

You can kind of see Emmy's Play Kitchen on the Right that Blake and I made from an Old Entertainment Center we Found in Nibley.  Complete with Sink, Burners, Refrigerator and Oven, Pantry, Chalkboard

It's all fun and games until your daughter tries to put out her birthday candles with her fingers.  It was in slow motion, I was standing 2 feet away on her right side and Blake was standing 2 feet away on her left side.  We both saw it happened and thought the other was going to stop her.  She was hurt a little, but she was more at her breaking point of limited afternoon nap, party exhaustion, and just plain being done. 

Opening Presents

Aly Will Be Jealous

Grandma Cook's marble game. I remember playing this for hours and hours as a child.  Brody loves it.

First Attempt

Feeding herself with a spork. Mashed taters.

A Level Playing Field

To be continued...

Ironically They Were Reading a Book About Makeup

And So It Begins

You get a text...free raspberries...you pick, three batches later and I am geared up and ready to go for the canning season!

The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo

I went to bath Sissy tonight after being up since 3am to go to work, gasped, and then didn't know whether to yell at Blake or laugh hysterically.  

Ironman

"Mom look its my arc reactor". I seriously love this kid.

Does More Than Spin Webs

Spider-Man also waters flower beds in muck boots

For Uncle Dave

I swear it was Brody's idea.  Balloons, confetti, silly string, a sign and of course, a trap (the crepe paper across the door).  Brody thought that Dave would have to use his karate weapons to get through the trap and was a little disappointed when Dave just said he tore it down.  Happy birthday uncle Dave!!

Remember to Pull This Out When He's Dating

4 Kids+2 Grandbabies=FAMILY

Grammy's Mother's Day present

Wholesome Recreational Activity

I have pretty much worked like every Saturday since coming back from maternity leave in January.  Yes, sometimes it sucks rocks but that way I can justify technically being away from my kidlets one day a week (since Grammy and Poppy or Blake can tend them).  We had planned to go to the sand dunes for Blake's birthday but the planets weren't in alignment and it didn't work out so instead we headed up to Grandma's Grove.  This property is the Saunders family and there were like 12 children who all had like 12 children each who each had like 7 children who each had 5 children and so the posterity is absolutely massive.  We were sure we were going to have to compete with others being on the property on a saturday but much to our surprise we were only ones there.  We fished, had lunch, blew bubbles, 4 wheeled.  I was teaching Brody how to ride up a hill on his new "gas down" 4 wheeler and almost got ran over and ended up tweaking my back pulling up the 4 wheeler to straighten it half way up the hill.  I caught myself saying about 12 times "this is so much better work."  And it was.

She's My Girlfriend

It started out like Barbie and Ken, "Hey Wanna Come Ride My Gas Down 4 Wheeler?" Four hours of playing later it turned into G.I. Joe mud wrestling fight. What more could two kids want??

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

Since mommy works Saturday and Sunday she put in a request for the Easter bunny to come on a Friday...we had made a rule that whatever Brody put in his basket went to Emme and whatever Emma found and put in her basket went to Brody. That lasted about 47 seconds and Brody did NOT want to play that way.

Everyone Participated

Daddy refereed, Brody painted, Sissy ate the newspaper

She likes it! Emme likes it!

Avocado mixed with breastmilk. It's a hit. I started her on rice cereal about two weeks ago but today she wanted nothing to do with it. So I mashed an avocado I had sitting on the counter. Turns out she loves it. Fed it to her three times today. Yummy.

Daddy Thought It Was Hilarious

Mommy...not so much.

I'm a Big Boy Now

It's difficult for me to relinquish control sometimes as a mother. Case in point, I have to make Brody's bed every morning. The bed just has to look a certain way or it just bugs me the rest of the day. A few mornings ago Brody ASKED me if he could make his bed. Insert frowny face here. Seriously, my little boy who was just pooping in diapers and not speaking is making his own bed without wanting help from his mother. In other news he is learning German and has all the states and capitals memorized. Ahhhhhh!

Benefits of a Contractor During the Winter

6 inches of fresh new snow in the valley, who knows how much in the mountains...and he's off with the Hill Brothers. Snowmobiling on a Monday...I'd say that's living the dream. (Notice also the icicle "peppermint forest" as Brody and I call it in the bottom right hand corner)

Luckiest Mom In The World

This is why...

Benefit of 9 A.M. Church

Nap time. Little Sister and Daddy sure do have a special relationship.

3 Months Old

Where has the time gone??? I can't believe our little Emma is already three months old today. What I love about Little Sister...
1. She is so mild mannered and easy going
2. Sissy is all smiles, will smile every time I go into her room and wake her up from naps
3. Speaking of naps, she is a fabulous sleeper. She started to sleeping through the night the night before she turned 6 weeks old and is now sleeping from about 930 to 7 in the morning. It's amazing how your life as a mother is so much more enjoyable when your children sleep through the night.
4. She loves to talk. Mostly we talk about our day and how she is feeling and what she wants to do. Emma and my Dad talk about politics and the weather.
5. She is all about pooping her pants. Yes, I really do love this about her. The child has a blow out every single time she poops. Seriously, I can run into her changing table mere seconds after I hear the duty and it has still blown out. Thank heavens for Zout cleaner and automatic washing machines.
6. Her snuggles, she loves to nuzzle into me while I am feeding her, she loves the blankets up on her cheeks, she loves to lay on her Dad and watch shows with him.

We are so blessed to have her in our family and I feel unworthy to be her mother.

Do As I Say Not As I Do

I was just deleting the 87 pictures that my budding 4 year old photographer took of himself yesterday on the iPad and I found this shot. Blake must have taken this picture this morning before he left to go to work. Let me explain. Brody had a sleepover at Grammy and Poppy's house on New Years Eve. I got up and started the day at 7 am like I usually do, feeding Emma, pumping the extra milk off, except today I didn't have a four year old to feed, dress, entertain, etc... So when Sissy went down for her nap at 0830, guess what...mamma joined her. Now we don't co sleep AT ALL (I consider my bed a very sacred spot) but once in 3 months for an extra hour and a half of sleep was totally worth it.