Super Saturday!!

Emilia had a BUSY little social calendar today!

We started out the morning with some fun at Edinborough with Savannah and her mom, Jess. We met Jess and Savannah through our MeetUp group. Jess is just great - so easy to talk to and Savannah is just as cute and curious as you would expect any 1 year old to be. The girls had a ton of fun burning off some energy before lunch and nap time.

Next up, the big event...Redford's 1st Birthday Party! It was a great party complete with yummy kid food and a ball pit for the kids to bounce around in. Emilia had a blast playing with all of Redford's cool toys. Redford was the perfect little party guy. He showed us his daring side by diving head first into and out of his ball pit and this his messy side by gobbleing up his very first cupcake!

This ball pit is so much fun!

On our drive home, I checked my voicemail to hear a call from Erin inviting us over for some pizza and play! We were all equipped for more fun, so on to their house we went! It's so fun now that both girls are walking. The age gap seems to be nearly closed and the girls are becoming great friends.

Fishin' with Addie

Clubbin'

Just a typical night at our house...

Fancy Friday

It's no debate...Emilia has a better wardrobe than most people we know :) Everything you put on her looks cute and the real problem isn't trying to find something to wear...it's trying to make sure she rotates through her expansive wardrobe before she out grows everything! This little number was a fun surprise from Emilia's Nana. Pam went to her favorite consignment shop to find some new pieces for herself and came home with nothing for herself and a whole bag for Emilia. Thanks, Nana!

Ellie Marie

My coworker and friend Kristen became a mommy on January 19th to a beautiful baby girl, Ellie Marie. It has been so much fun working with Kristen and sharing her pregnancy quirks from this perspective! She was a great little pregger and seeing her growing little bump everyday made us anticipate "Baby Girl M's" arrival that much more!

The SWW girls went out to Kristen's house last night and got to finally meet the little bundle. She looks exactly like Kristen and is just as sweet as can be. Thankfully, Ellie (and Kristen) were totally tolerant of all the pictures we were taking!

Kristen looks just fabulous too. Pregnancy treated her very well and we all agreed that you could hardly tell she had just had a baby! What a lucky little Mama!

We miss you already, Kristen but hope, for your sake, that your time at home with Ellie goes slow :)

The Great Benson Adventure!

We had a fantastic family filled time with Grandma Beth, on her own turf, in Benson over this past weekend. The fun was kicked off with lunch in the "social area" of Grandma's apartment where we filled the tables with conversation and kids happily eating and dropping crumbs all over the floor.



After lunch, we checked into the hotel, put a few of the kids down for naps and relaxed around the pool while Jacob and Juliana tested out the water. It was great to not have anywhere to be but right there, catching up on all that was going on in everyone's life. Diane asked me and Karen all kinds of "mommy" questions as she prepares to be come a Grandma! Her enthusiasm is just great...you can already see how crazy she'll be about the little one Chris and Carole have on the way and I can't imagine it any other way. If you're a Grandma, you have to be CrAzY!




Once the 3 toddlers, Ben, Jeremiah and Emilia, were up from their naps, we all got our suits on and filled up the pool! We sang a few songs together, encouraged jumps from the side of the pool and just enjoyed the delightment that everyone had in watching them giggle as they were thrown up into the air! Each of the kids took a ride in the floatie and Emilia even enjoyed a little time in the hot tub :)

Papa tickling Emilia's toes :)

A quick snack before dinner.

After swimming, we prepared for our picnic in the hallway. Towels were laid out and the kids plates were filled with dinner. They gobbled up their food and got back to the business of running up and down the hallway. We all hoped no body was in the rooms around us trying to sleep. For a little bit, I convinced the kids to be "quiet little mice" and run on their tip toes and not make a peep. That lasted, like I said, only for a little bit. Then they were back to trying to be the loudest stompers, squealers and growlers :)

Cats!

Bubbles!

It was hard to slow them down, but we were able to line them up and get this cute shot in height order!

And then once the PJ's were on - we just HAD to get one more pic of the cozy little cuties!

Before bed, Ben and Emilia gave hugs to eachother and then to everyone in the room. Talk about melt your heart... It still makes my heart warm to think of it right now!

After the kids were asleep - the adults enjoyed a "best out of 5" round of Catch Phrase. Pam decided to divide out the teams as "mature" and "kids". We thought we would sweep the "matures" but their knowledge of things like where moss grows on trees and old tv shows got us in the end! After our game, we enjoyed a great conversation on grammer and hit the sack!

Morning was there before long and with it was more swimming and running and fun. One last meal together in Grandma's GREAT NEW APARTMENT, a quick attempt at Ring Around the Rosie and the weekend was over. We can't wait until the next time! Get planning, Nana! :)

Ben making sure Emilia gets all cleaned up after lunch.

Ring Around the Rosie

19 people in Grandma's apartment and room to spare!

Bikini Babe

We are SO looking forward to warm weather again! I can't imaging anything better than filling up the frog pool on the backyard and letting Emilia splash and play while I sit on a towel and soak up the sun... It's still a LONG way off, but it's never too soon to start trying on swim suits, just to make sure you're ready, right!?

Maybe a few more situps and my tummy will be flat...

Back to business - in a bikini!

Counting!

Earlier this week, on the drive home after picking up Emilia from daycare, I was listening to my little chatterbox entertain herself in the backseat. Suddenly, I swore I heard her counting!! I immediately asked her, "Emilia, are you counting!" to which she giggled and said, "three, four..." I called Jeff and told him, "I think Emilia knows how to count! She just counted to 6!" I put the phone on speaker and handed it back to her to see if we could get her to count for daddy. She gave us a couple numbers, but was mostly just giggling because of the reactions she was getting from us.

Tonight, Jeff was just starting her bath and I was cleaning up in the kitchen. The foam letters and numbers were dumped into the tub and AGAIN, our little smarty pants started to count - this time, all the way to 10!! Right after she finished, Jeff shouted, "Sarah! She's counting! You better get the camera!" I got there a quickly as I could and got her to count to 8 before she got bored with all the smarty stuff. Amazing!! It's so fun to watch her mind grow and to witness the joy it brings her to to see us so very proud :)

Elmo's Green Thumb!

One of Emilia's very best pals is Elmo. What toddler doesn't love this furry 3 1/2 year old monster? Since nothing beats seeing your favorite stars on stage, we decided it would be fun to take a trip downtown to see Sesame Street Live's performance of Elmo's Green Thumb

The show proved to be everything it was cracked up to be. Silly Elmo and all of his friends, fun songs and Emilia completely enthralled in it all!

We had really been talking it up, asking her all day, "Are you excited to see, Elmo?" to which she would always reply, "Yeah!!!" She knew exactly who the funny red guy was as soon as he hit the stage and everytime he would leave, she would look back at us and say, "Elmo?" Emilia was a just great at the show - the fun songs and colorful stage kept her attention right up until the end. This morning, when we went in to get her up, the first thing she said to us was, "Fun!". Jeff asked her if she had been dreaming about Elmo and, of course, she replied..."Yeah!"

We came equipped with Emilia's stuffed Elmo so she could have him close by during all the excitement!

If you're happy and you know it...

Can you give me a smile?

Come on...just a little one?

How about if I tickle you?

There's our happy girl!

Friday Night Fun!

Erin and Addie came over on Friday night for an impromptu pizza party! We got to see Addie’s new walking skills and Emilia got to introduce Addie to her playhouse and rocking horse! Addie is already almost as tall as Emilia, which is not surprising given how tall Mike and Erin are...but, geez...Emilia is 5.5 months older! It sure didn’t take long for Addie to catch up!


Once Addie warmed up, she and Emilia had fun playing and giving us some cute photo opps.

Giddy up, cowgirls!

How sweet it is to have a friend like you!

19 Months!

Emilia turned 19 months today! I can't believe our baby is OVER a year and a half! I still wonder how I became the mom that, when asked how old my baby is, can't help but respond in months. I remember before I was a mom, I thought this was so weird - "Why don't they just say, 'She's one.' or 'He's a year and a half.'" Now that I'm a mother and I see what an extreme difference there is in each month...I can't help myself! There are so many new developmental milestones to admire. I think that it will stop after Emilia turns two... After that point it gets a little over the top... I'm certainly glad that as adults, we don't report our age in months...it would sound really strange to say that I'm 333 months old :)


On our ride home from daycare today, I decided to capture Emilia saying the names of some of her friends at daycare. This is something that really took off over this last month. She is able to articulate names so well! And hearing her exchange goodbyes as we leave daycare each day by saying "bye, bye ______!" is just so stinkin' cute!

Disclaimer: Do not be alarmed that I was taking this video while driving. My eyes were on the road and I was driving slowly in a straight line. You have every right, however, to be alarmed at how horribly I lined up her car seat straps! Geez - it's falling off her shoulder! I'm going to blame that one on her puffy coat and the freezing cold temperature that had me rushing to just get her strapped in so I could shut the doors and start the heat up again!

Playing Catch Up

Oops - I was a little behind on blog posts and just posted the following...

Check them out!

But No Elephants
New Home Owner
Home for Christmas
New Years Eve

Pretty's

Emilia received a special surprise in her stocking at the hotel on Christmas morning...a tube of "pretty's" for her hair.

We are still working on getting her to accept the inevitable...but, as you can see, it's going to take some time :)

Jeff's 30th Birthday!

We celebrated Jeff's 30th Birthday on Saturday! As we reach milestones like a 30th birthday, we look back at where we've come from. It's hard to believe that this September will mark 10 YEARS of me knowing Jeff! That's one third of his LIFE! Anyway - we decided to celebrate with a last minute mini getaway!

Nana volunteered to come stay with Emilia while Jeff and I enjoyed a little time just the two of us :) We had planned to snowshoe during the day at the Frontenac State Park but the snow conditions weren't good so we decided to check out the National Eagle Center in Wabasha instead. It was so cool to see the eagles up close, watch them eat lunch (rabbit) and hear all about them! We were even to view some eagles flying over the river in search of their lunch!

We stayed at the River Road Inn thanks to a recommendation from my friend Heather who honeymooned there after her October wedding. We felt treated from the moment we arrived. It was just the perfect, relaxing getaway!

We dined at a great little restauarant, Vinifera. We were seated in a cozy little area where we enjoyed our wine and yummy food followed a birthday dessert of Banana Foster. After we thought we were done with treats - we were given one more surprise treat...the meal had been taken care of by my mom and dad! Thanks for the fun surprise!

We had a great time getting away, but it is always, of course, so good to get home - especically when the sweetest little thing of all is waiting there for you :)

But No Elephants!

Emilia spotted her Halloween costume hanging in her closet the other night. She insisted I put in on her by repeating, "El-eph, el-eph" until I said, "Do you want to put on your elephant costume" to which she exclaimed, "Yeah!" She wanted all of the components too - we couldn't get the full effect without the hat, body and cuffs! She marched out of her room as soon as we were finished getting everything situated and squeezed into her house!

And if you think an elephant inside a house is absurd...how about an elephant riding a lion!?!

All of this fun reminded me of one of my FAVORITE books as a child - pictured to the left. I'm SURE my mom still has this book tucked away in a bin at home and I can't wait to crack it open and re-live the fun little story - this time, through Emilia's eyes :)

Twirl & Curtsy

We have a little dancer on our hands - it's just in the genes! As you may know...I was quite the dancer at a young age (ha ha), Emilia's aunt Jill was a dancer AND my cousins Megan and Hilary are AMAZING dancers! Let's hope she takes after them!

New Home Owner

Emilia LOVES her Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa...actually, we’re all pretty excited about it! My Mom and Dad wanted to see her reaction to the house, so we came back to the Cities and set it up before the weekend was over.

She stepped right in during construction to make sure everything was going together alright. Once construction was complete, she got in there, started a load of laundry, washed her hands and put some muffins in the oven!



Thanks for the great gift and all the sweet little extras that allow her to really experience the excitement of being a new home owner!

Fun Friends

During our time off over the holiday's, we were able to get Emilia together with some friends that we usually just talk to through email, facebooks or blogs. It was so much fun it makes us wish we were closer so we could have fun get togethers more often!

Our first fun play date was at our house with Makenna. Her mom, Lisa, is good friends with my good friend, Susan, and that's how we met :) Lisa and I share a love for blogging and babies! Makenna and Emilia share a love for getting dressed in cute outfits by their mom's and fun toys! The highlight for Emilia - helping Makenna get "snapped" into her carseat and having a real baby to give a bottle to!

Hugs & Kisses

Our next play date was in Marshfield with Addison and Paige. Their mom, Tonya, and I went to high school together and ended up having baby girls just 2 weeks apart! We ran into eachother at a wedding during the summer our girls were born and have been keeping in touch with emails here and there since then. Nothing is better then actually getting together though! We were so thankful to have been able to go over to their house!


Addison is a big sister now and has a big girl bed that she and Emilia had a blast "monkeying around" on. We all enjoyed listening to "marshmallow" on Addison's new MP3 player but their little laughs were the sweetest music to our ears...

Paige is just beautiful and was so laid back while we were there. Jeff and I both agreed that we forgot how tiny babies start out! We both got to hold Paige for a bit while reassuring OUR slightly jealous baby girl that we still loved her and she is still our one and only (for now).

Addison, Paige & Emilia