Lots of Snow!

Emily talked me into going outside today.  It was so cold and windy sounding I decided I no longer wanted to try and squeeze into my sweatpants and so I wore Jim's Carhart overalls.  I am sure I was a sight for sore eyes, but they fit over my growing belly and I was cozy warm!  I tried to roll up the pant legs at the bottom, but they kept coming unrolled, so I pretty much kept stepping on the bottoms and boy are the snow covered.

It was well worth bundling up, Emily had a blast, and it was good to get fresh air.  We are both pooped, Emily is taking a nap, I might lay down for a little bit.  Sometimes the snow was so deep I had to carry Emily.  Whew!

Close up of Emily, check out the snow on her eyelashes!  It was snowing when we were outside.

Peek a boo!

There she is!

Emily had to climb up to her slide, no matter how much snow was on the ramp!

Yeah!  I love my slide!

I'm stuck!  Too much snow at the end of the slide.

Emily didn't want her picture taken here, but I had to show how much snow we have, and we are getting more snow right now!  Another 2-4 inches for today.

Enjoy the snow and cold!

Family Night

We had a treat last night, dinner at our friends house.  Jen & John Myers had us over to their house in Grass Lake for BBQ Pork Loin, twice baked potatoes, green beans, bread and of course some fun snacks.  The kids had a great time playing in the basement after dinner.  

Emily being her usual "no fear" self on the slide.

Sidney White (Anne & Mike's daughter - she is almost 3.5, and will be a big sister in March) on the slide

Davis Myers (2) and his little sister Quin (4 months) is not pictured!  UGH!

Follow the leader

On a side note, the reason Emily has several stickers on her shirt is because yesterday I had my glucose test.  The Chelsea lab was very nice and Emily got 4 stickers and 1 stuffed animal!  She loved it.  

Fresh Fish Dinner

We had a special surprise treat last Sunday for dinner.  My cousin Brian was over and he had been ice fishing on a nearby lake in Chelsea.  Brian ended up cleaning up some of his Blue Gills which I fried up for dinner.  They were the best fish I had ever had.  Emily devoured them, I think she ate like 4 fish all by herself!  In fact she filled up on fish and that is all she ate for dinner.

Jim asked Emily to show me what she was eating, so that is why we have this silly picture of her showing us the fish in her mouth.

Yum, fresh fish!

All done!

Date Night at the Blue Tractor

Last Saturday we celebrated Valentine's Day.  I planned a surprise date night, and we went to a newer restaurant in Ann Arbor that Jim has been wanting to try.  We went to the Blue Tractor and had some pulled pork and barbecued ribs.  Yum!  Jim also enjoyed some of their home brew beers, one was Chocolate Wheat, I can't remember the other one he tried.  

I have bought Jim a t-shirt from this restaurant because he has his blue Ford tractor that he rebuild that was his grandfather's.  It was neat to look at the decor in the restaurant which is made of tractor parts, the lights hanging over the bar are tractor headlines as one example.  We had a great time, but of course we really missed Emily too.

Big Drum at Music Class

Emily just loves our weekly music class.  Sometimes when she gets up in the morning she asks if we are going to music class.  The other thing she asks for lately is to go to church.  Last Sunday we were leaving the early service and some people were coming to Sunday School, she said that she wanted to go to church again!  On Monday I asked what she wanted to do and she said go to church!  I am so glad she loves to go to church.  Now Emily knows the days of the week and sometimes she says "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Church!"  We typically ask her what we do on Sunday and she says church, so sometimes she skips saying Sunday and just says Church!  

This was last weeks music class, Emily's favorite instrument right now is the big drum!  Here she is playing the big  drum with her buddy Blake.  Blake's little sister Megan is across from them playing a smaller drum in the blue.  It always amazes me how at such a young age the children are playing musical instruments and can follow along!

Fun with Josie

Tuesday we met with our friends at the Treehouse.  I was bummed because my friend Jaimie was going back to work in January after an extended maternity leave with her second child Ruby.  This week she had off, so we met at the Treehouse and the girls had a blast!

Here is Josie & Emily having a snack.

Josie having fun on the slide.

Josie & Emily going down the big slide.

Visit with Great Grandma Weidmayer

On Monday we decided to go visit Great Grandma.  We took her a couple of chocolate cookies for Valentine's Day and visited for a while.  I can't believe how big Emily is looking standing next to Grandma.  

After our visit we went and surprised Jim at work for a late Valentine's Day lunch.  Boy was he surprised with our visit!  We had lunch in the cafeteria and it was really quite good.  Then Emily said hi to some of his co-workers and boss.  I am bummed I forgot to take a picture of us doing lunch with him.  We'll have to do it again before the baby comes!

Snow Much Fun!

Yesterday afternoon it was really quite nice out, sunny and in the 30's.  So Emily and I went out and played with the melting snow.  It was nice to get out of the house seeing she didn't nap yesterday and we needed a change of scenery.  I thought Emily might like to build a snowman, but basically I ending up building it.  It's not the biggest and best, but kneeling on the ground at 26 weeks packing snow is not the easiest thing to do.  Emily liked putting the eyes and nose on it the best, he looks a little cold like he needs a hat and scarf but we didn't have any we wanted to part with.

Valentine's Day Present

After church we got in our comfy clothes and Emily opened up her Valentine's day present.  We got her a lady bug game, and although it says 3+ she is pretty good at it.  It's so much fun now that she can play games and do older things.

Valentine's Balloons at Church

Happy Valentine's Day!  After church yesterday Emily had a ball running around with the balloons they had set up for a celebration later in the day.  

Blake chased Emily, she was pretty speedy and would not give up the balloons!

Fun at the Treehouse with Chase

Last week I was so glad my friend from college Shanan called and they drove down and met us at the Treehouse.  We hadn't been there in ages, and Emily had a blast!  Not once did I have to climb up and go down the slide, she did everything by herself!  Plus she stopped to take a break and ate 100% of her lunch!  Yeah!  I thought with all of the distractions I wouldn't be able to get her to eat.

Here is a picture of Emily and Chase coming down the slides.  Chase is just a little older than Emily and turns 3 in March.

My big girl wasn't scare even though she came flying down the slide!

I think it's somewhere we'll  be going more often, Emily had a ball and got lots of energy out while I got to relax and chit chat with my friend.  What a perfect outing.  

Serious Artist

We went to story time at the library this week.  Emily was most excited about the craft, before we went she said we were going to make valentine's.  We actually made a valentine wreath, which she was very serious about.  I am still amazed at her creativity and attention to detail at this young age.  She got stickers to put on her wreath, and she had the idea of sticking them in the center of the hearts she had glued on the wreath, not on the wreath itself.  Then of course she was excited about getting the stamp on her arm (actually arms because she always asks to have a stamp on each arm).

Snow Day

On Wednesday we got about 8 inches of snow, the first real snow day this winter.  Most of the schools were closed, and Emily was excited to play in the "lots" of snow we received.  We decided to venture out after Jim got home from work around 4:30pm.  I've had a cold and being 6 months pregnant, I wasn't in any hurry to go outside with Emily to "make snow angels."

Jim thought he would take Emily for a ride in the sled.

We took a break to make snow angels, here I am 6 months pregnant making a snow angel.

Emily decided she didn't really want to lay down in the snow.

Then Emily decided she would pull the sled! We ended up walking to our neighbors next door to see their bunny Chocolate Chip.  I should have taken a picture of that, the bunny was so cute and soft.  Unfortunately I probably should not have pet the bunny because I think it didn't help my allergies or asthma.  I might be allergic to bunnies, it wouldn't surprise me.

After walking in the deep snow for a while on the way home she decided it might not be so bad to have dad pull her in the sled.  

It was a nice brisk walk through the deep snow, it was surely my exercise for the day.  In fact by the time we got home both Jim and I were out of breath and ready to go inside for dinner.

Go Colts

Emily was pretty excited about watching the Super Bowl with us, she got all practiced up to call Uncle Dave and say "Go Colts!"  When we called Aunt Sarah to say "Go Saints" she would only say "Go Colts!"  I think she was teasing Aunt Sarah.  Emily liked watching the Super Bowl for about 15 minutes and then got board with the football game.

Lots of Fun at Boyne Mountain

We did a lot of fun activities at Boyne, 

-Julie and I got pedicures on Thursday evening

-storytime with Fritz the Dog, cookies & milk on Thursday & Saturday nights

-Horse drawn carriage ride on Friday night

-Swimming in the indoor/outdoor pool

-Went to Avalanche Bay the water park - Emily went down some of the big slides with daddy!

-Erik & Jim went skiing

-Candy store treats

-all home cooked meals in our room using our full kitchen

-lots of fun times hanging out with our friends

Here is a picture of the ski hill from our room, amazing!

Blake & Emily at the candy store.

Storytime in our room on our bed

Avalanche Bay water park

Emily and Megan having fun

Emily pulling Blake & Megan on the sleds (they took turns)

Emily splashing me in the pool

Bundled up for the horse drawn carriage ride

Wow look at those big horses!

Emily feel asleep on the couch when we got home, she was so tired!  Emily never sleeps on the couch, she was all bummed up watching TV while I made her dinner and I came upstairs to tell her dinner was ready and this is what I found!