Cider Mill

Today Emily and I met up with some friends from where I used to work at a Cider Mill in Northville.  She had a great time playing on the wooden train, the play structures and loved looking at the ducks.  Lately she just loves playing in little houses, today she got attached to the one pictured above, and pretty much stood at the door and wouldn't let other children in and out.  She is a little possessive  lately, but who does she have to share with?  The last picture the kids were looking at the ducks, you can see Emily is waving at them.  

Pretty in Pink

This is what Emily wore to church today, and she actually left her hair tie in. 

Hat

Here is grandma playing with Emily at our house last night.  Emily is doing the sign for hat (touching her head) because Grandma had a silly hat on her head.  They have a good time together.

Our Farm Girl

Here is a picture of our little farm girl Emily.  We live on 10 acres and it's sort of like a farm; Jim is planning such a large vegetable garden for next year, that it might turn into a farm .  I think this outfit is so cute, we got it from our cousin Diane.  

Hide & Seek

Now that Emily is walking she likes to walk around the circle layout in our house.  She hides behind things and we sorta play hide and seek.  The funny thing is she squeals so it's never really hard to find her.  Plus most of the time she is carrying a ball or two so it makes it easier to find her because the ball will sick out from behind the chair.  Here she is hiding behind the chair and did get the ball behind the chair in these pictures.  She is getting somewhat attached to these balls we have, sometime I'll post a picture with the purple one she likes too.

The Cutest Puppy Ever!

This week my cousin lent us a Halloween costume for Emily.  Of course we had to try it on to see if it fits, and it's perfect!  Emily was a little tired in the pictures because it was before her nap, so she was sucking her thumb, but they are still cute.  I thought it was funny when she walked over to show Lucy our dog the costume.  It was like look at me.  

Ball Game

Emily has this game she plays, she picks up two of her balls and walks around with them.  After a while she drops them and they bounce away.  Then she goes and picks them up again, walks around for a while and then drops them and they bounce away.  She always seems to pick up the big ball first and then the smaller one.  They are both pretty good size, she struggles to pick them both up and sometimes she drops them several times before she has them both in her clutches.  Sometimes they are in front of her face and I don't know how she can see.  When she drops them and they bounce away she gets excited, laughing, squealing and pointing at them.  It's fun to watch her.  I think she made this game up from her nephews, they like to play similar games with some balls they have at their house - they throw theirs down the stairs and watch them bounce.  :)

Hayride Fun

Last night we enjoyed a hayride at my parents house with some friends.  Emily may have enjoyed the water bottle more than the hayride, but it was still fun.  Above is a picture of Caleb and Joshua, my twin sister's kids.  Our driver was a little young (Blake), but he was a real sport.

Baby Hunter

Today our friends Abbe and Hunter came over for a visit.  Hunter is 10 weeks old, and here is Emily peeking in at him in his car seat.  He was so cute; it reminded me how quickly they change and grow.  

Taming the Crazy Morning Hair

These pictures do not capture the crazy morning hair Emily had today.  It stuck up all over like a porcupine.  The bottom picture is what I did with her hair today, which lasted about 30 minutes (a long time for Emily).  I welcome any tips on styling straight, thin toddler hair, it's so different than my thick curly hair.

Visit with Great Grandma

Today Emily and I went to visit my grandmother and took her a meal.  She lives alone, so it's hard to cook for just one.  Here is Emily standing next to her, Emily kept bringing her stuffed animals, I had just cleared grandma's lap before I snapped this picture.

Those Sunglasses are a Hoot!

Emily decided she wanted to wear her sunglasses tonight when she was getting to go for a walk with Jim.  Of course being the silly dad that he is, Jim put on his goggles which Emily thought was hilarious (top picture).  The sunglasses stayed on until she made it out the door and then they were off.  These pictures make me laugh, she was being so cute.

Puppy Love

We went to Jim's Aunt & Uncle's house today for a BBQ.  Emily enjoyed her first encounter with a 4 month old puppy Moxie.  They were so cute playing together.  During dinner Moxie was in her bed/carrier and Emily kept going over there and peeking in at her and saying "out."  Of course Moxie would wine when she saw Emily because she wanted to be out with all of the action.

Don't you just want to cuddle her in her PJ's!

Here is Emily after her bath in her PJ's smelling like baby lotion.  Doesn't it make you just want to snuggle with her?  What makes kids look so adorable in their PJ's?

MOPS

Today was our first day back to MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers), and it went great!  I was a little nervous leaving Emily in MOPPETS, but she was fine.  She did cry when I was leaving but only cried for 5 minutes and then enjoyed playing and being read to.  There are 9 toddlers in her room with 3 loving caregivers.  It looked like most of the 9 children are little girls, very close in age to Emily, two named Addison both with straight blonde hair similar to Emily's hair.  When I came to pick up Emily after our meeting she cried, why do kids do that?  The caregivers said she was a little angel.

This year's Theme is on Adventures in Mothering and built around a amusement park - enjoying the ride.  I am in charge of the ice breakers and today we filled out a few questions about our favorite amusement park ride and how it relates to our mothering style/being a mom and shared our answers with our table.   There are about 50 mom's and 65+ children.  It's quite the production, and I am so thankful for a meeting with mom's to focus on us, as they say "better mom's make a better world."  Plus Emily gets a little time away from me to play with other children her age which is good for both of us.

Enjoying the water

Here is Emily enjoying the biggest bath tub she has ever been in.  Lots of ducks and floating toys in our friends hot tub which was like bath water.  :)  Blake and Erik are on the right.  Emily was having a great time.

Here come the troops

Yesterday we took a last minute trip out to my sister's house.  It is 1.5 hours each way; seeing Emily doesn't like the car that much we don't get out there very often.  Now that she is walking she doesn't like to sit still for many pictures, but here are a few from yesterday.  Of course she liked to walk around the "circle" in my sister's house playing peek-a-boo and squealing as she came around the corner to greet one of her cousins.  Also, when the boys get close to her for pictures she always wants to kiss on Caleb (they have a special little bond).  

Fun at the Saline Fair

Can you believe it, camels at the Saline Fair?  Things have changed since we were kids.  We had a great time last night at the fair.  Emily enjoyed the animals, fair food and yes the tractor pull!  It was a little loud and smokey at the tractor pull so we didn't stay for long.  Today when I said tractor pull she put her hands over her ears.  Emily loves touching all of the animals, she isn't scared of any of them.  She lets them lick her and nibble on her fingers.  Good thing hand sanitizer was invented.  We met up with our friends Julie, Erik and Blake (he is in the first picture).

On the Potty

Emily started showing interest in the potty a few weeks ago so we got her potty out of the box.  We aren't trying to push her into potty training seeing she is only 15 months old, but I have to say that this week she has pooped in the potty twice!  Of course today she sat on the potty (above picture) for over 30 minutes and nothing happened.  I am just happy that she is interested and if works great, if not we'll wait a while.  All I can say is this is time consuming.  And yes she has slippers on and it's hot outside, but she wanted to wear them! 

Super Model

My hair is getting so long

Emily's hair is getting so long, that now it fits in a ponytail in the back.  I am not sure how to do straight hair, I am learning that it pretty much always sticks out and never lays down.  She doesn't usually like things in her hair these days, so I was surprised I got a few pictures before she tore out the head band and ponytail.