First Snow's a Blizzard

And who said we wouldn't have a white Christmas??  Though it seemed we were heading in that direction, we finally got our first real snow storm of the winter season, and just in the nick of time.  It's been declared a blizzard, and for sure it will be sticking around for Christmas.  It would be unlikely for 9 inches of snow to disappear in 5 days.

Most schools in Iowa have been cancelled today, and Molly has enjoyed her first snow day of her academic career.  Emma, not so much.  We were all excited to hit the fluffy white stuff this morning, but once we were out there, Emma figured out it wasn't so easy to move around, and that pretty much ended the fun for her. 

It Looked Like Fall

Since we are anticipating our first big snow storm of the season tonight, I thought it only appropriate that I post some pictures of our fall fun.  We had chances to play in the leaves and enjoy the beautiful fall weather.

And yes, we actually carved pumpkins.  Or pumpkin.  We had two, but one was rotten on the inside (gross!!).  So we just did one.  Molly did most of the work, Emma "helped", and it turned out pretty cute.

 Trick or Treating.  (Wow, was that really almost two months ago?!?)

 And here's our pumpkin when we got home from trick-or-treating.

This fall we also went to one of our favorite places, Center Grove Orchard.  Not a whole lot of pics from there, but this one was pretty adorable.

Disney on Ice

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we took Molly to Disney on Ice.  We would have taken Emma too, but we know she would have been done within 5 minutes, so my parents were nice enough to watch her for us.  We had so much fun!  I think David and I enjoyed the show just as much as Molly did.

This is pretty much how Molly looked the entire time.

It was a great show in that it wasn't just one story, but bit and pieces of lots of different ones.  Molly was excited that we got to see lots of different Princesses.  Her favorite was Ariel, even though she wasn't out for very long.

Swim Lessons

I have a few things that I need to catch up on, so this is from a little while ago.  Molly started her next round of swim lessons in October, and since I was signing her up, I thought I might as well sign Emma up, too.  Emma has really started enjoying the water, especially since she got used to the water park over the summer.  Molly was in the Pre-school 3 class, and Emma did the parent/child class.  It worked out well since they were at the same time.  I made David do the class with Emma, which allowed me to watch and enjoy.

Molly, of course, loved her class, and did well.  Emma, on the other hand, was her usual, short-attention-spanned self.  Each week it seemed like she lasted less and less time, and by her last class, her toe hit the water as she entered the pool and she said "all done!"  I never really understood why since she seemed ecstatic to go each week.  I guess I just have to get used to not ever really understanding her.

Please ignore the quality of these photos...they are pretty bad, even for me.  But I have no idea how to take pictures with the bad lighting/water combo.

Say "cheese"!

The girls got their pictures taken last week.  Emma for her 2 year pictures, and Molly, just because she's adorable.

All about my Emma

Emma had her 2 year check up the other day.  Not many surprises there.  She is 22 lbs 6 oz, which is the 5th percentile for weight.  She is 34.25 inches.  I'm not sure what percentage that is...I think average.  Since she is still in 18 month clothes, and barely able to keep pants up in that size as it is, I was not surprised that she is still so low on the charts.  But she is perfectly healthy, and as they say, great things come in small packages.

Emma did wonderfully at the Dr.s office, which is a testament to her friendly and outgoing nature.  She smiled with the Dr., said "hi" to all the nurses, told the Dr. all about the Duckies and the water in the book they gave her.  When it came time for her shot, she made a small little protest, then said "bye" to the nurse and happily waved as she walked out.  She then had to get her finger poked for a lead test, and didn't make a peep, just watched intently as the nurse collected the "bubbles" from her finger.  And of course there was more waving and saying "bye" as we walked out.  I think she melted the heart of every nurse she ran across.

A little about Emma these days:

* Incredibly friendly, not shy at all.  Loves to say "hi" to everyone multiple times, and thinks everyone should be her friend.
* Loves music.  She has a few favorite songs right now: "Single Ladies" by Beyonce, "MahnaMahna" from the Muppets, "Popcorn Popping", "Hey Baby" by No Doubt, "Whale" by Yellow Ostrich, and "Wise Man/Foolish Man."  "Jingle Bells" has also been added to her favorites during the last couple of weeks.
* Loves shoes.  She is constantly digging through our shoes and trying on everyone's.  It feels like that is what I pick up the most around here...shoes. 
* Loves cake/sugar.  Her first word was cookie, though now everything is cake.  She has like a physical reaction when she sees sugar and wants some, like a full body shake with pumping arms.
* For someone who is constantly moving, Emma loves going for walks and riding in the stroller.  It's the only time, except for in the car, that she is willing to sit still for more than 7 seconds.
* Her favorite things right now are Elmo, Thomas the Train, the movie Finding Nemo, Minnie Mouse, horses, playing the piano, coloring, puzzles, and picking on her big sister.
* We've had to cut off her feet on her footie pajamas and put them on backwards during bed time.  She has a terrible habit of stripping during nap/bed time, and once ended up playing in a poopy diaper.
* Emma loves to be helpful.  Her favorite "chore" is probably emptying the dishwasher.
* She is starting to help say prayers.  She's always been really good at folding her arms and kneeling for family prayer.  Her favorite part is the end when she exclaims "AMEN!"
* She puts EVERYTHING into her mouth.  It's really quite frustrating.  I've had numerous people tell me that she eats the crayons in nursery.  I'm actually surprised she's never choked on anything.
* She is one of those kids that needs to learn things at her own pace.  It's very different than what we're used to with Molly who had a desire to learn everything and anything as soon as possible.  But it just makes Emma more herself.  Her attention span is short, but you know that she's incredibly smart.  She just doesn't care.

My beautiful baby.

Best friends...most of the time.

Emma and her adorable pal Alex.  I watch him once a week, and they love to play together.

This is the grin I get any time Emma sees the camera is out.

How she looks after pretty much every meal. 

I was about to do my workout, and Emma joined right in.  Apparently this is how I look when I work out?  If only I was that adorable.

Oh, how I love this girl.

Happy Birthday, Emma!

My sweet little baby is no longer a baby...even though I still call her that.  On Thanksgiving day, she turned 2!  Even though she is starting to act like a two year old, I still can't wrap my mind around where the time has gone.  I love my sweet little girl!

Emma is a big fan of Elmo these days, so we went with the traditional cake pan for birthdays cake.  Emma adored her Elmo cake.

Getting in the birthday spirit during breakfast.  Soon after this we headed to Grandpa and Grandma's for Thanksgiving and birthday celebrations.

Emma opened presents at her own pace.  It took a little while to get interest in them, but suddenly she started saying "candy! candy!" (not sure what that was about) and then she got through them pretty quickly.

We were able to Skype with Grammy and Grampy while Emma opened her presents from them. 

"Emma Elmo cake!!"

This child has never shied away from sugar in any form, so she dug in pretty quickly.

Emma has her two year old check up on Tuesday, so we'll back soon with her current stats and an update on who she is as a two year old.