Thanksgiving

Who wants turkey?

Kaylee and cousin Rilee

Daddy and sissy

Uncle Don and Aunt Tammy

Kelly and Greg

Emma playing with the sit-n-spin

Mackenzie and Emma

Rilee teaching Emma how to play the piano

No turkey, just salad, definitely a salad girl

Baby Mac!

Colby and Emma watching tv

Greg playing Wii with Em

We went to Kelly's for Thanksgiving weekend, on Thursday we all had dinner at Aunt Tammy's. Kelly and I started shopping at 4:30 am on Friday. Apparently I picked the easy stuff to get because Kelly had people ripping things out of her hands, but she prevailed and got all of the items we needed. We had a great weekend and got home to my mom and brother waiting for us at our house.

Life immitating ummm Art?

Emma's interpretation.

Leaves

Today we raked the leaves, until of course Emma thought it was a game to go in the street and have mommy chase her. Good thing we live on a cul-d-sac, couldn't imagine a busy street with a fearless kid.

Shrek

Curled up watching Shrek


So some of you know in the 30 days or less that we were waiting for Emma we didn't have very long to contemplate names. I as most girls kept an ongoing list of girl and boy names if and when the time ever came. One that was in the top running for a long time was Fionna, well at least it was till my brother in law tipped Arch off where it came from originally. Sigh, that was the end of that, Arch refused to have kids make fun of her or comment that she was named after an ogre, even though she was a princess ogre. Emma Grace got the name she was supposed to have, when she is pushing buttons and we have to say "Emma Grace", it reminds me to ask God for Grace when dealing with an almost 2 year old. Plus she just is Emma through and through.

We have some old video tapes that were passed down from Kaylee and Colb, one of them is Shrek. The only place we still have a vcr is in our bedroom, and while Veggie Tales are great and wonderful with such good lessons, I sometimes need a break from "My hairbrush", "We are the pirates that don't do anything" and "bunny song". There have been nights (or days in my case) I lay trying to sleep and literally hear these songs playing over and over like a broken record keeping me awake until I feel like I may go crazy. Anyway, so when I am cleaning my bedroom or folding clothes in there I have been putting on Shrek for a break, now Emma asks for it by name. Luckily we ended up getting all three recently because yesterday was a very lazy day for Emma and I. Our plan was for all of us to go purchase our cabinets yesterday...... The best laid plans right? I worked till 8 am, when I got home I was ready to wake them both up till Arch informed me groggily, that they had both been up most of the night and he wasn't ready to get up. Hmmm ok, so I checked my email, surfed, etc and at 9am asked him what was I supposed to do now? (anyone who works graveyard will know, tons of caffeine and don't stop moving and you can stay awake for the day, but sit down in a dark quiet room... forget it) He says lay down, so I did and I was out, I didn't stir till 11am when I heard them both getting breakfast. I got up and informed him I wasn't going with him, I know my limits, no sleep would have been better than none at this point and no matter how hard I try I am usually cranky.

So Em and I stayed home, of course she asked for Shrek, which I was eternally grateful because I could curl up next to her and watch it too. After the first one we napped, then we got up and she asked for it again, cue Shrek 2. I tried to be a good mom after that, tried to play and do the multitasking thing laundry etc while making it fun for her after 15 minutes of this she wanted Shrek again, cue Shrek 3. My room is now spotless, so is hers, we break for dinner, I take her out of her highchair and what do I hear? Shrek pease? Ok one more, we have Shrek the halls too..... So yes my child watched tv all day yesterday. I am usually the one saying turn it off, she doesn't need to watch tv every day, but it was my friend yesterday. The best part was the cuddle and silly time. Emma doesn't like to sit still very often but for this she does and actually sucks up to you, then for the songs and silly parts she dances, sings and waves her arms. We had fun dancing on the bed together.

On another note, the cabinets will be delivered next Tuesday. After many, many hours at the store working with the employees (some nice, some not so nice) Arch got it completed. It didn't sound like an easy task by any means at one point during our phone calls I could hear a banging in the background and he stopped what he was saying to me to mutter "If that kid doesn't stop banging, I am going to go bang his head". Yeah, good thing me and Em stayed home, 6+ hours in one store yesterday would have been a nightmare, even more than it was just for him.

Dispatcher 6582.5

As you can see Emma is showing great promise as a future dispatcher, able to multitask with the best of them and have her feet up too! She loves going into the center and running around muting all the phones (turns the lights red) and typing on the keyboards when people will let her.

Pumpkin Day with our little buzzy bee

1/2 way thru

No I want to keep the chocolate !

3 little bees !!

Little devious smile

Playing with Aunt Vickie's witch

Aunt Vickie and Emma

We started out at Aunt Vickie's house, then went on to Uncle Scotts and extended family's. Emma caught on right away what she was supposed to do and even held her bucket all by herself all night. The first neighborhood we were in was very hilly and all the houses had about 1000 steps up to each house, I carried her up them so we could get to more than a couple houses. She was very cute even banging on the doors by herself at the end. She would take the candy if they offered her the bowl, more often than not going in for a 2nd piece. We couldn't get her to say Trick or treat but she could say bee. Coincidentally her cousin and cousin's friend were dressed as bee's too, totally unplanned but pretty cool !!

Self Dressing

Emma has really been into self dressing lately. I tried to get her dressed the other day and she threw a fit so I handed her her shirt and pants and put her down and this is how she ended up. She wants to put everything on like pants.

Today I laid my clothes out for work on the bed, shirt, pants and underwear. I was searching for my bra and turned around to pick up my underwear, they were gone and Emma was standing in the hall with both legs in one of the underwear legs with them pulled up to her waist. She had one of my socks on and was looking for the other one.... lol I ended up putting on a different pair because she wouldn't give them up. Arch said when he put her to bed tonight she insisted on wearing the socks. At least her feet will be warm.