Hello, Gorgeous :)

So, I snapped this picture of Emilia on her birthday in this cute hat my mom got for her. The picture was cute as the original, but, there are so many options with digital pictures... I uploaded it, cropped it and touched up the little scab Emilia had under her lip and asked my friend and co-worker Kristy to work her magic by getting rid of the tag and then making the picture black and white except for the pink hat.

Here's the original.

Here's the glamour shot!

It's a gorgeous picture, right? Well - the guy at the Walgreens photo lab must have thought so too - because 5 minutes after I sent it through Snapfish to be picked up at Walgreens - I got a call from the Walgreens photo lab guy asking me if "the Internet order I just submitted of a little girl was taken by a professional photographer?" I laughed, catching on to what he was accusing me of and just said, "No. It was taken by me." He stammered for a second and then mumbled something about how "there should be no problem then" and "it would be ready for me to pick up in 15 minutes or so." Yeah, that's what I thought! Props to me and Kristy for our MAD photo taking / editing skillz!

2 Year Check Up!

We had Emilia's 2 year check up tonight. She is now smart enough to know that what happens at the doctor isn't all fun. The first thing she needed to do when we got there was step on the scale...no more naked baby, laying down on the scale to get weighed. It took some SERIOUS coaxing and the nurse hiding around the corner to finally get her to step up and get weighed.


Here are her stats:

Weight - 24.75 lbs (25th percentile)

Height - 34" (50th percentile)

Head - 18.75" (50th percentile)

She is doing great all around. Very advanced with her words and right on par with all of the other developmental milestones they look for. While we waited for the doctor, Emilia gave her baby a little check up.

Say ahhhhh, baby...

After we were done, we decided to skip trying to figure out what to make for dinner on the 93 degree night and headed to Burger Jones! I am not exaggerating...I devoured the most delicious burger I have ever had in my life - the Green Chile Cheeseburger! Amazing!! As you can see...when she wasn't concerned with making sure her band aid was covered with her shorts and out of sight, Emilia really enjoyed herself too... Ha ha ha!

Mmmmmmmm!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy :)
I love you!
xoxo, Emilia.

GREAT NEWS!!!

We are THRILLED to be able to anounce that Jeff received a job offer for a position as the Transportation Engineer for the City of Richfield today! After 6 months of searching and waiting to see what the future had in store for us, we are FINALLY here!!

Jeff and Emilia stopped by my office this afternoon with 2 glasses of champagne in hand to surprise me with the GREAT NEWS! You better BELIEVE I had a sip!!

Prayers have truly been answered!! We sincerely thank all of our friends and family for your support, compassion, thoughts and prayers over these last 6 months. It has been a long haul, and we are so happy to be seeing the BRIGHT NEW OPPORTUNITY Jeff has been given!!

God is GOOD!

Happy Birthday, Miss Emilia!

Our Little Miss Emilia officially turned two years old today! I took the day off from work so we could spend it together as a family and make it extra special for her. The day was gorgeous so we spent most of our time outside, busy with activities including playing at her water table, swinging on her new swingset, filling up her new pool and trying out the slide, eating lunch outside, laying with her and tickling her back until she was asleep at naptime, visiting a new park, coming home to round 2 in the pool and getting Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner :)

It was a great day and a good opportunity for us to reflect on the last two years. Every parents says it, but you just don't know what they mean until you experience it first hand. Children grow SO very fast, right before your eyes... It's such a feeling of mixed emotions...you are so happy and proud to see them learn, take on and accomplish new things, but at the same time, you want it all to slow down so they can be your baby just a little bit longer. As I read her books before bed and softly sang her Happy Birthday, I looked at my beautiful little blessing and thanked God for our amazing gift. Happy Birthday, Baby Girl. You are SO LOVED!

Look WHOOOO's TWO!

Emilia's celebrated her 2nd Birthday with a FUN FILLED, owl themed, Guess WHOOOO's TWO, party at the park. She was surrounded by a great group of friends, yummy treats and a generous pile of gifts.

Here's a link to a bunch of pics!

Birthday Party at Nana and Papa's!

On Saturday morning, we celebrated Emilia's birthday with Nana, Papa and Auntie Jill. Nana had a fun morning planned putting one of Emilia's birthday gifts to use right away...a cute little apron "Made With Love by Nana" with pockets loaded with all the necessities...her own set of keys, a rolling pin, cookie cutters and a whistle! Emilia rolled up her sleves and really put some muscle behind rolling out the dough for the cookies. She snuck a few tastes of the dough after seeing Papa and Mommy try it out but we distracted her from eating anymore by getting her involved with the sprinkles :) Her attention span for the project lasted for one pan worth of cut outs and then she was on to something else.

Watering the flowers with her new watering can.

These boots are made for walkin'!

Emilia and Nana in their boots!

Emilia opened her gifts outside in the warm sun. Among her favorite gifts were the pink cowgirl boots that Nana was considering holding onto until Christmas. Emilia was SURE happy to have them to wear now!! She also received some CUTE new outfits with "pretties" to match, fun books and a kit to made bricks in the sand.

Before we left, we enjoyed a nice lunch outside complete with cupcakes and ice cream for dessert! Thanks for making Emilia's birthday so special, Nana and Papa!

Emilia showing us how old she is! TWO!

Happy 40th Anniversary!

Tonight, we had a surprise Anniversary Party for Pam and Larry! Jill planned a fabulous night and everyone had a great time celebrating. Cheers to 40 years!!

Here's a picture of the happy couple...Then and Now...

And a few other fun shots from the evening...

Boo!

Little Miss Fat Lip

I got home tonight to find Jeff and Emilia sitting on the deck enjoying a fruit chiller. It was far from warm out, so I wondered why she was having a popsicle before dinner on a cool, gloomy day? A closer look revealed that the reason for the treat was a slight mishap that occurred about 10 minutes earlier. Emilia “bonked” her lip on a toy bin that she just could NOT get into fast enough. Jeff assessed the lip, gave her a cold wash cloth to stop the bleeding and then opened up the freezer for a popsicle remembering the “doctors orders” on a recent episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8. I can’t say I was thrilled that he was taking advice from a TV show...but Emilia seemed to be happy and unbothered by her ever growing lip which – this morning - closely resembles the purple color of last nights popsicle...

Fruity

We let Emilia build her very own fruit pizza tonight. We baked some sugar cookies, cut up some yummy fruit and handed it over with some pink, cream cheese frosting and a kiddie knife. With a little help, she figured out how to frost the cookie and top it with colorful fruit :)

This looks GREAT!

I better clean off this knife...

Ready for a bite. I'll eat all the fruit off first...

She finished all the fruit on her plate and the cookie remained. Then she requested "more fruit." What a girl - you give her a treat and she wants the healthy stuff :) So funny.

Addie's Park

We spent a fun evening over at Mike, Erin and Addie's tonight. We had a yummy dinner and tested out all the fun stuff at "Addie's Park". The girls were the typical entertainers they always are. Emilia was especially happy to have a friend her size to do "tummies" with...

Addie showed us what a BIG girl she is swinging on the BIG GIRL swing!! Can you believe it!? Already a little daredevil and only 18 months!

Our, almost 2 year old, played it safe and stuck to the baby swing :) She wouldn't even CONSIDER the big girl swing that Addie has mastered both in the traditional swing method and in the on the tummy method.

The girls ate dinner together at a picnic table just their size. Can you guess what their favorite part of the meal was!?!? The fruit pizza for dessert! Bailey was happy to help clean up any mess that fell from the table :)

Pretty in Pink Toes

Now that sandal season is here, toes are out and about a lot more! Emilia, being the complete girly girl she is, has noticed the pedicured toes I have. Last night, she was touching the polish on my big toe and I asked her if she would like her toes painted pretty? She exclaimed, "YES!" so we went upstairs to pick out the perfect color. I asked her what color she wanted...she of course requested..."Pink!" So out to the deck we went for an "Express Pedi" for the Miss. I kept her sandals on so I didn't risk tickling her feet too much and went as FAST as I could - anticipating her losing interest and squirming away. She sat perfectly still as I swiped the pretty polish onto each of her cute little toes. She walked around for the rest of the night staring down at her new fancy feet and loving it :) I love it too!