Chelsea Fair & Parade

Today was the last day of the Chelsea Fair, so we had to take advantage of the fair pass I bought and the beautiful weather.  Plus we met our friends the Cabble's at the fair and had a great time.  Although we went to the fair several times this week, we still did a few new things like milk the cow!  It was so cute, Emily was trying so hard to get the water to come out, especially after Blake was successful a few times.  Emily just loves animals, especially the ones that she can reach in and pet or hold.  

After the fair we went to watch the parade at a friend's house, they live on Main Street, so we had a great spot, and one of the huge blessings we utilized was having a house with a bathroom.  Emily used the bathroom 3 times!  The parade was almost 1.5 hours long, it was a great parade!  Emily is enjoying her only piece of candy I let her have after the parade was all over in the above picture.

Emily & Davis

Emily was so sweet, when I grabbed my camera to take a picture of her and Davis sitting on the stairs being so cute, Emily put her head on Davis' shoulder.  I wish she would have looked at me for the picture, then it would have been even better.  

Today Jennifer Harris Myers a friend from HS came over her son Davis who is a little bit younger than Emily.  Davis turns 2 in November.  Emily had a little trouble sharing at times, but then got better by the end and they didn't even need toys to play with, they were amusing each other being silly and playing copy cat.  It was very cute.  

We were going to go to the Chelsea Fair, but it was too rainy out, so we stayed in.

Chelsea Fair

I have never seen Emily as excited as last night at the Chelsea Fair.  We went down the big slide with Emily on my lap and it was VERY fast!  When we got to the bottom she was jumping up and down saying "woo hoo!" and "go again, and more more more (with baby sign)!"  It was so cute.   It cost so many tickets we decided to do the train instead, and you can see her pictured with Josie her friend who we met there (the Jackson's - Jaimie, Mark, Josie & baby Ruby).

Emily also loved petting all of the animals and holding this baby bunny (our cousin Daryl Keebleer's bunny).   Plus color's the clown was a hit, especially when they did the parachute with popcorn (candy)!  We had a great time!

Family Breakfast

My grandma's younger sister Aunt Irene, her husband Bill and their daughter Linda came into town this weekend.  We had a wonderful breakfast at my parents house on Tuesday morning so we could all get together.  My cousin Amy and her kids Lauren & Liam also joined my parents, and my sister Linda and her family.

In the first picture it's my grandma, her sister Irene, Uncle Bill and my cousin Amy.  The second picture is cousin Linda, Liam, Lauren, Mom & Dad with Steve, Joshua and Caleb in the back.  

After breakfast the cousins had lots of fun playing together, including ring around the rosie, piggy back rides, Lauren reading books, jumping like a frog, and lots of hugs & kisses.

Other Camping Fun

Here are a few other random camping fun moments.  Emily loves playing with Blake's little sister Megan, and of course Emily had to try out the ladder golf game too.  I may have to post a few more pictures later, I realized I missed a few key moments like our big group picture after our Saturday night church service.  And of course the adult versus kids baseball game, which later Jim pointed out I was the only woman playing.  I had a blast.  

Camping - First Smore

Saturday night Emily had her first smore!   I helped roast a marshmellow for her and Jim put it together for her.  Then she carried it around for about an hour, she pushed Claire on the bike while she held on to it and then she held it while she was on the bike.  Finally Jim decided he would finish it when she wasn't looking.  Guess what the next thing was that came out of her mouth, "where did my chocolate go?"  Notice how she is hanging on to it in these pictures while she is playing.

Camping - Kick Ball Game

One of the highlights of camping was the kick ball game on Saturday afternoon.  The little kids like Emily and Blake even joined in.  Emily was so cute, as you can see in the picture she put her hands on her chest "my turn next!"  When she kicked the ball it wasn't just once, she kicked it about three times running around the field.  Of course we let her, and then she ran the bases even though she had kicked the ball in the wrong direction (away from the pitcher Erik).  Emily and Blake stood on third base together and sometime just hung out in the field even taking a break sitting down on the grass.  This last picture I thought was cute of Jim giving Emily a little kiss in outfield.  :)

Homebuilder's Bible Study Group Camping Weekend - Friday Night

We are in this awesome bible study group that has a bunch of young families at our church.  The group goes camping every year, and it's been a little bit of a challenge getting Emily to sleep in a tent, but we still have had a great time.  Luckily we camp close to home and we were able to come up Friday night (Saturday morning ) around 1am seeing Emily was still awake screaming and being crazy in our tent.  But then we went back in the morning and had lots of fun.  

These pictures are from Friday night, Emily loved riding around on Blake's little tractor following on the big kids on their bikes.  Then she loved sitting around the campfire with the music (Matt on the guitar), eating snacks and enjoying playing with some glow brackets.

New Sunglasses

Emily loves sunglasses, hats, purses, bags, shoes and most girly things.  Last night we were leaving to go to Meijer and I put on my sunglasses.  Emily wanted to wear her sunglasses too, but I haven't seen them in weeks.  So I told her to remind me when we get to Meijer and we would get a new pair of sunglasses for her.  Sure enough, 15 minutes later we walk into Meijer and she says, "new sunglasses, where are the sunglasses?"  

So we tried on about 10 pair and she decided these sunglasses fit well, and she liked Pooh on the front.  When we got home she showed them to daddy, and had to wear them on her head like we do too!  She puts them on  her head her self with her hair back and everything.  Of course she wanted to wear them to bed, but luckily I talked her out of that saying she might accidently break them by rolling over them in the night.  The first thing she wanted this morning when she got up, was her sunglasses.  :)

In the second picture, Jim was telling Emily she looked like such a cute little girl in her sunglasses and she "No cute BIG girl!"  She gets that because we tell her she is a big girl now (i.e. peeing on the potty or drinking cows milk).

Kid Fest

Wednesday Emily and I went Kid Fest at Timbertown for some fun.  She was so excited to go in the Moon Bounce, but when they wouldn't let me go in too she didn't want to go in.  She did go in after a minute or so, and then she just stood there while all of the kids jumped around her and then she wanted out.  I guess she got scared, it was only her second time in one and the first time I went in with her.  She sure loves to jump, I thought she would have fun even without me, maybe next time.  

Emily liked to play on the play structure and go down all of the slides, it sure is hard to keep up with where she is at, at Timbertown.  

There were booths with crafts and activities and Emily made her first noodle necklace all by herself.  

Emily enjoyed going in her first fire truck and checking everything out too.

Grandpa Heiss

Last night we had a nice surprise visit with Grandpa Heiss.  He stopped in for dinner and got to spend some time with Emily.  Emily was talking his ear off, singing Happy Birthday to him, singing her ABC's and showed him all her new tricks he hasn't seen yet.  She showed grandpa how she plays ball, kicking it, throwing it and trying to play catch with him.  Emily showed grandpa her new dance moves (including her "wiggle wiggle") and how she jumps "real high!"  

Emily also showed how she rides her horse Mocha, feeds it apples, and bounces on it's back, the only issue is now she wants to ride it with "no hands."  We had to explain if she doesn't hang on then she can't ride the horse, and after we enforced the new rule, she quickly caught on and is back to hanging on to Mocha's ears.  Jim's dad explained how Emily's persistence comes from the Heiss's, I didn't argue because everyone knows I don't have a stubborn bone in my body.  ha ha

At dinner she was telling grandpa all the veggies came from the garden, even the rolls almost came from the garden.  Emily ate her half of an ear of corn in record time and stopped between bites to tell us "it's so yummy!"

The first picture is of 3 generations, Jim, his dad and Emily.  :)

New Friend Sarina

Monday it was so nice, my friend Marji from where I used to work came over to visit. Her daughter Sarina is a year old. What was nice is that she lives not to far from us, and typically all my friends from my old job live at least 30-40 minutes away. Plus Marji is going to come speak to my Principles of Marketing class, so we got to talk about different Marketing topics which was fun.

Here is a picture of Sarina and Emily playing at her doll house.

Swimming with Daddy

My dad called yesterday when I was making dinner, "it's the hottest day of the year, do you want to come swimming?"  I told him I was making dinner but that I would ask Jim if he wants to come after dinner.  A few minutes later the phone rings, Jim answers it this time and it's my dad, "it's the hottest day of the year, you better come swimming!"  I had to finish getting dinner (Chicken Broccoli Braid, Corn on the Cob & Melon) ready and I had bread (1 loaf of Banana bread & 2 loaves of Zucchini bread) coming out of the oven, so we went over around 6:30 or 7pm.

As you can see in the pictures, Emily and Jim were having a blast swimming.  I had so many pictures to chose from it was hard to pick only a few!  Emily has no fear so she loved the throwing her up in the air and bouncing on the floaties with her daddy.  She was walking around in the water by herself too.  What a beautiful night it was.

After swimming Emily cuddled with Grandpa "Pa Pa" in the hammock.  

In Our Sunday Best

Emily and I were in our Sunday best yesterday for church, we both wore dresses!  I usually wear pants because it's easier chasing a toddler.  But I figured it was a hot summer day, so it was time for a sun dress.  Emily picked out her fancy dress over the sun dress I had chosen.

When we got to church we sat with our friends the Cabble's and Blake and Emily played so nice together - I had to sneak a picture.  They were sitting on the floor in between the rows reading books.  

Lots of Hugs & Kisses

After lunch today we went over to my parents and Emily was so excited to see her cousins  Caleb and Joshua.  They got so many  hugs and kisses from Emily.  I think Emily missed them this week, she hasn't seen them since last Sunday and last week we spent most of the week with them.  It's going to be a bummer when the summer is over and they go back to school, but at least they are only an 1.5 hours away!

Emily was so cute saying "hold you Cabble" and she was the ring leader telling the boys what to do.  Amazing how they take orders from a 2 year old!

The Dexter Parade

We just can't stop having fun this summer!  This morning Emily and I went to the Dexter parade and sat with my cousin Diane and her kids Claire & Kevin.  Claire and Emily were so cute sharing their candy with each other, and Kevin was watching out for them getting both Emily and Claire a purple bead necklace.  Parades are always so much fun.