Emma Update

I have been such a slack blogger, and lately these kiddos are growing and changing at the speed of light! Here is an update on Little Miss Emma.

So, Miss Emma, here is what you've been doing:

*Lots of playing and crafting and make believe. You love to do any sort of art activity (mainly stamps and markers), you are a fiend about being outside, digging in the dirt, riding your bike/trike, and going to the playground. You also LOVE bubbles. Lately, you have been busting out that imagination like whoa. Whether you are running around in panties and dress up shoes telling me that you're Jasmine (Aladdin), or being a mom to the stuffed bunny, you love to make believe. Your latest thing is telling me that there is a rat in your hair in the mornings, and you want me to get him out so you can play with him. Ha!

*You love a few select Disney movies, most especially Lion King and Aladdin. You will make up your own "Circle of Life" lyrics and it is so cute! You also know most of the words to "A Whole New World" and sing that, too. We have a Disney Princess Sing Along DVD in the car and you pretty much melt me into a puddle when you sing the songs on it. That sweet little voice is precious.

*You are not all sunshine and rainbows though. Your little attitude is really coming out. Lately we have had some battles with talking back, not listening, and stomping your foot and yelling, "NO!" Lots of fun in time out. Then, you tell me you are ready to come out and listen after 12 seconds. Ha! We are always working on "Listen and Obey."

*You are still a picky eater. You could take it or leave it with meat. You love fruit and still eat the Plum Organics pouches. Of course you love junk food. You have surprised me by eating some salad off my plate some nights. Dr. Cabrera says it's fine. I guess that since your brother is such a good eater, it bothers me that you won't eat or try veggies!

*You still sleep great. We've started letting you stay up later. You're still taking an afternoon nap for about 2 hours, sometimes more. I hope this lasts awhile!

*You say the funniest things! Your vocabulary is phenomenal. You say things like, "Actually, that is a giraffe mommy." You just are very smart and ready to learn. We got some books to work on writing and identifying letters and numbers. You are very excited to have "school." I wish we could get you in some MDO or school type thing, but I don't think that's in the budget right now. You are very interested in school and teachers. You absolutely LOVE books and request at least 5 when you nap or go to bed. Going to the library is one of your favorite activities!

*You are still working on being potty trained at night. You will wake up and say your pull up is dry, but it has a tee tee in it. Then you say, "That's okay, I'll work on it again!" So cute.

*You are quite the drama queen when Harrison touches something of yours or when you get hurt. You immediately demand your binky and go sulk for about 10 minutes. Speaking of the binky, just ugh! I would let you have it till you were done with it, but so many people are on me to just get rid of it! You only have it at nap and night, and we have put the smackdown on having it during the day. I really dread taking it away, as it's your comfort to fall asleep, but I guess I'm more worried about how you will cope.

*You are an amazing, funny, beautiful little girl who is growing so fast! I am so proud of you for all you do!

Orange Beach Trip 2012

We recently got back from our second annual Macon-Edwards OBA Beach Trip! It was an absolute blast, and I'm so grateful that my brother in law has a condo down there! Can't beat a free and nice place to stay! My sis already covered some epic disasters in her beach post, and she is relying on me to provide some good stuff! I'll try!

And, sorry in advance for the eleventy billion photos, but this is my "lifebook" and the grand-parentals will lurve them some baby photos!

Playing with my tele-photo lens

Storm rolling in

Off our balcony-the marina

Look at that precious almost 15 month old!

Sweet cousins-and Emma's evil genius face!

Sissy and "Boodee" as Emma still calls him

My sweet girls! Eating rainbow lollies on the balcony.

Playing in Scarlet's "good girl bed," an inflatable bed she slept on.

One day we went to the Track to ride rides and play games!

Sarah is amazed by the games!

Haha, this cracks me up so hard! Sarah, promise you will put this in her senior yearbook picture ad!

Buddy watching the action-in his dirty a$$ stroller-why do the wheels have to touch the canopy? Gross!

Train ride together-Harrison was actually big enough to ride the train!

Sweet boys!

Sharing a slushie-that ended well. NOT.

Our ticket loot-about 1100 tickets!

We did lots of swimming, playing in the sand, going to the beach a la Clark W Griswold,  naps, sleeping in, eating great food, and just generally enjoying spending lots of time with some of our favorite people! Thank you sissy and brother for the wonderful memories!

Orange Beach on Dwellable

Hello, everyone!

Here are my sweet babies right before Harrison's THIRD haircut. 

Also, I straightened Emma's hair that morning just for kicks-it's cute!

And, notice the giant, awesome bow my sissy gave Emma for her birthday!

 

Sweet Babies!

Carebears Comin' from Somewhere up in the Sky........

Hopefully you are now humming the Carebears theme song from the 80's. Not the new one, the original one!

We love some Carebears around here. Mainly thanks to a cheer bear that Emma stole from my parent's house about a year ago. Ever since, I pick them up when I see them in Goodwill or consignment stores. I also frequent ebay looking for low priced small Carebears to add to the collection. I actually found three brand new ones with tags for $3 at a nicer consignment store. Then my butthole dog ate two of them. And I almost choked him.

Moving on. We love Carebears. So, when I asked Emma what she wanted to do for her third birthday, she said Carebears!! Natch. So I got to planning. And talking. And discussing with my multi-talented MIL (decorator extraordinaire!)

The party came together pretty quickly after only about a week of prep! See below for details! And sorry in advance for the photo bombing. But maybe you want a Carebears party one day.............

The favor bags-I found a birthday website that had Carebears party favors so I got whistles, notepads, and blowers. The other stuff is from Michael's dollar spot or Party City. We only had 5 children, so it wasn't expensive!

The cute lunch plates and napkins from the same site. And that silverware was 0.97 a pack at Walmart! It matched perfectly!

The cute birthday bow wreath I found on Pinterest! So easy and cute!

The lunch table-minus the burgers and dogs!

Another Pinterest find-cut lemon slices, dye in food coloring overnight, freeze, and use as "ice cubes" in a drink.

The appetizer station! Mom's yummy black bean and corn salsa, veggie tray, and fruit kabobs! Rainbow, of course!

Rainbow crayon art-floating around on Twitter, blogs, and Pinterest. So easy and fun!

Cute door hangings that FeFe and GiGi made!

Excuse my mirror flash-a photog I am not. 

Oh here's a pretty little model posing by the bears.

Prezzies!!

Front room decor-we got 2 dozen primary colored balloons for pops throughout the house. The treat bags I showed you earlier were lining the front walk in rainbow colors with matching balloons tied on!

The precious and creative birthday banner my MIL made.

Some of the boys: Dad, Jason, Gerry, Hays

I love this picture of Sitchy with Emma. So cute!

Even though I'm not looking and Emma looks pained, this is sweet.

Scarlet and Margaret Anne

A shirt I found on Etsy for Emma. It was like $10 and is personalized!

Notice Emma is wearing her Carebears pillowcase dress-also found on Etsy for $15!!

Haha, her surprised face!

This is not a great picture of the cupcakes, but it's the only one I could find. See below.

I found this image on Google, printed it off, and took it to Edgar's-the best bakery in Birmingham! They were amazing and looked JUST LIKE the picture! I ordered the cupcake toppers online for like $8.

Cute birthday hats-also found with the party favors and plates/napkins.

Sweet friends sugar loading together.

Dark pic but still sweet of my birthday girl.

OH! And Sarah has something to tell y'all.............baaahahahaha!