Memorial Day Weekend 2013

Well, Memorial Day has come and gone. I can't believe how fast this year is going! I had to work a lot of Memorial Day weekend, so we didn't do anything too exciting.

On Saturday, it was absolutely gorgeous outside, so we spent the day outside as much as we could. We ran some errands around town, and then spent some time at the park with Emma. We put her in a baby swing and she loved it! I think she could swing away all day long. We also went down some slides with her, but she wasn't too into that. We also just spent some time sitting in the grass and hanging out. That little munchkin loves being outdoors. She is definitely a summer baby!!!

Emma and Dad on the slides- Emma's newest thing is waving

Nothing says style like a pacifier and sunglasses

Playing in the grass

Snack time

I worked all day on Sunday, and John and Emma spent time bumming at home. They also spent some time with John's parents running some errands around town. I also worked part of Memorial Day, so John and Emma went to Brookings to hang out with John's grandparents and aunts and uncles. 

I missed these two during those two days. It has been quite a while since I have spent basically two whole days away from them. It was kind of nice having the house to myself for a few hours, but I missed them! 

With all that working over the weekend, I had today off. I took full advantage of it too. It started off as a cloudy, cool day, but in the afternoon the sun came out and it got up to around 75 degrees. I decided it was time to get Emma's pool out. 

It was maybe a little chilly for a dip in the pool, but I filled the pool with luke-warm water and Emma had a blast. By the time she was done playing and got out she was pretty cold, but I think it was worth it. 

Little Bikini

This playing is serious stuff

So excited!!

Haha, this one was too funny not to post

We ended the day by visiting the zoo. With our membership, and the zoo being so close, it's just so easy to wander around the zoo for an hour or so. The weather was perfect, and there were hardly any people at the zoo, so it was a great experience!

Needless to say, Emma was pooped by the time we got back home. Basically, it was play with dad, bathtime, eat, go to bed. She is sacked out in her crib right now. 

Last but not least, a huge Thank You to all the military members who have served this country, past and present. It is because of these people, and their sacrifices, that we can enjoy our freedoms and have fun weekend like this!!

It was a great Memorial Day Weekend, and a great start to the summer. Let's hope summer doesn't go by too fast!!

Family Fun Weekend!

This last weekend was awesome, and went by way too fast. I think the weeks go by fast as well, but not nearly as quickly as the weekends!

On Saturday, John, Emma, and I went to the zoo. We have zoo passes, so I think we will spend a lot of time at the zoo this summer. The day was beautiful, it was warm and sunny, and a great day to spend outside.

We visited the petting zoo so that Emma would possibly touch an animal, and she touched her first animal....a cow. Haha, that makes me laugh pretty hard, out of all the animal at the zoo, she touches a plain old cow.

We spent a couple hours walking around the zoo, and of course Emma passed out in the stroller towards the end. We spent the rest of the day at home, hanging out outside and enjoying the weather. We also enjoyed a wonderful evening stroller ride.

Family day at the zoo

Emma's cow experience

Watching the penguins swimming 

Enjoying an afternoon snack at the zoo

My parents came to town on Sunday to see Emma. They spent much of the day playing with her and spending time with her. They also bought her some toys for her First Birthday. They got her a kiddie pool, outdoor toys (shovel, pail, and pool toys) and a little truck/scooter for her to scoot around on. She loves all her new toys!!

It was an awesome weekend, with good weather and great company. And now it's back to reality. Boo. Oh-well, we are enjoying this summer-like weather finally and we are hoping it is here to stay. Have a great week!!!

My First Mother's Day

This blog post is a little out of order since Mother's Day was before Emma turned 11 months, but here it is anyway.

Technically, I did have a Mother's Day last year, but Emma wasn't quite with us yet, and we didn't really celebrate at all.

This year Mother's Day was pretty fun! Emma made a little tile at daycare with her handprint on it. It is adorable and I love it.

John got me a beautiful mother's necklace that has Emma's birthstone in it, and I can add birthstones in the future as well. I love it, and it is exactly what I wanted.

We spend Mother's Day together, which is all I wanted. We ate lunch at Hy-Vee (after church) and then headed out to Barb's Greenhouses to pot our flowers. We had a great time, and got all our planters filled.

We also decorated some planters for the Grandmothers. We decorated the planters with butterflies made from Emma's footprints. Emma was a little weirded out with the whole process, but I think they turned out pretty well.

 Emma loved being out at the Greenhouse, and provided some good entertainment for all the customers. She also ate some sand in the sandbox. It was a great time had by all.

I had a wonderful Mother's Day, and the best part was just being able to spend it with my husband and daughter-who I am so grateful to have in my life. I feel so blessed!!

11 Months Old

Holy Smokes! Emma is 11 months old already.  She's almost one! I don't know what has happened to this last year.

Emma is now crawling all over the place like a champ. And of course she is getting into everything she shouldn't be. We are starting to give her more and more real food, and she loves it. She really enjoys feeding herself finger foods, and she likes trying the new flavors. She's also pulling herself up on furniture, so I am thinking walking isn't too far off in the distance!

Emma's likes:
-Breastmilk/Formula (We are finally towards the end of the breastmilk storage-we timed that pretty well
-Finger foods (Bananas, Apples, Crackers, Pineapple, and Toast have all be Emma-approved)
-Pureed foods (Still eating these like a champ as well)
-Crawling (still loving the ability to be able to move around the room and explore)
-Touching everything (She likes to "pat" different surfaces to see what they feel like)
-Talking (She is becoming the queen of babble)
-Bath time (Still loves her bath time)
-Rough-housing (pillow in the face, being thrown in the air, hanging upside-down, and being pushed around are some of Emma's favorite activities- they get the best giggles out of her)
-Being tickled (Feet and ribs are her most-ticklish places)
-Stroller rides (now that the weather is FINALLY nice, Emma loves her stroller rides. She sits and kicks her feet and looks around during the ride. It tends to be an easy way to calm her down and put her to sleep if need be)
-Bike rides (We broke down and bought a pull-behind trailer for Emma to ride in, so far we have only used it a couple times, but Emma seems to enjoy the ride)
-Daycare (She still is enjoying daycare. They are always doing activities and making super-cute crafts and she is really well taken care of)
-Emptying out cupboards/clearing off end tables (For some reason, she just loves emptying things out and clearing tables off-keeps her pretty entertained)
-Peek-a-boo (Still a favorite)
-Bedtime (When she's ready for bed, she's ready for bed. Normally we just feed her and lay her down, and she passes right out. Easy-peasy. Now, if she would always sleep through the night we would really have it made)
-Books (Loves books, and has finally figured out how to turn pages by herself and not just eat the books)
-Pacifiers (Those things are still around-but we are starting to limit them to bedtime only)
-Shopping (She enjoys shopping outings-she just hangs out in the cart and enjoys people watching)
-Car rides
-Being outdoors
-The park!

Dislikes:
-Headbands (Unfortunately, she no longer keeps a headband on. They are so damn cute, but as soon as I put one on, she has to immediately yank it off her head, or crab about it. I have so many cute headbands, and I can't even use them. Worst thing ever!!!)
-Getting dressed (I think this is just a case of Emma being impatient. While we are dressing her, she has to stay somewhat still and can't play with things like she wants to, so she gets sorta crabby-but she gets over it pretty fast)
-Being tired (She doesn't get super crabby too often-but she does not tolerate being tired very well)
-Socks (She doesn't hate socks, but given the choice-she loves to be barefoot)
-When Mom and Dad don't let her play with things she shouldn't (electrical cords, laptops, stairs...)
-Sunglasses (Won't keep them on)

I swear every time Emma reaches a new age, I think it is the most fun one. I do wish she would stop growing up so fast, but I do love the age she is at right now. She can entertain herself for short periods of time, which makes it easier to get things done around the house while still keeping an eye on her. She's also more fun to play with, because she interacts more. It's amazing to see how much she is growing and how smart she is getting.  Now I have to get started on planning her First Birthday Party!

On a side note, it's my dad's birthday today. So....Happy 52nd Birthday Dad!!!

 Happy 11 Months to my favorite little girl!!

A day at the park

So, Emma was born at the beginning of a very hot summer. She was too little and it was too hot to spend much time outside with her last summer. Then, during the fall I headed back to work, so that was a huge transition for us all in itself. Then winter came, and lasted way longer than it should of.

The other day I realized that I had never brought Emma to the park. Like ever. Never put her on a swing, never went down a slide with her.

I bet you can guess what we did yesterday when the weather was so nice. Yep. Off to the park we went. My mom was also in town to babysit Emma because John was out of town at a work conference and I had a nursing function on Thursday evening. But on Friday, it was a gorgeous day, and I decided that it was finally time to bring Emma to the park.

We headed to Terrace Park, which is pretty close to home, and checked out the swings. Emma had a good time with her first swinging experience. She was kinda tired during the whole thing, so she's a little expressionless in the pictures, plus she just tends to be that way with new experiences, it's like she's concentrating on the new event.

After the swings, we went down the slide a couple of times, and then we finished up our park adventure with a long stroller ride.

It was a beautiful spring day, and it was awesome to finally bring Emma to the park. I plan to make the trip many more times!