No Time!

Sorry I haven't posted any new pictures in a while. Emerson had a nasty chest cold for almost 5 weeks and then it just turned into a double middle ear infection and pink eye this week. She was nice enough to past the chest cold onto me! Last night Camryn woke up in the middle of the night and threw up and has now been coughing. So needless to say, no pictures have been posted and no packing has been getting done for Florida.

We'll have more pictures to post when we return from Florida after the New Year. Hope you all enjoy your holidays and stay healthy!

Happy Holidays! (Our Christmas Letter)

WOW! It’s that time of year again. So much has happened in the last year with our family. Where to begin? Here is a brief summary.....

January: We were still in our apartment getting ready to move into our house. Kelley went on strict bed rest.

February: We moved into our new house; Kelley was still on bed rest.

March: Getting settled in the new house. Kelley was still on bed rest.

April: Kelley turned 30! We had a surprise party for her….yes, she was still on bed rest.

May: 10th-Camryn Ruby was born.

June: Rich’s brother, Ben got married. Rich & Emerson were in the wedding.

July: Rich’s brother, Joe got married. Rich & Emerson were in the wedding.

August: Emerson was told by Kelley to stay out of the road (where the older kids were playing) and stay on the sidewalk with her pink/purple bike. In frustration Emerson said, “Mom, your driving me nuts!” And then proceeded to peddle off with her little pink helmet on down the sidewalk. (see next month)

September: Emerson turned 3.

October: Kelley started working part-time at the daycare at our local YMCA.

November: Camryn started talking (sorta) and teething and rolling around.

December: We head to Florida to spend the holidays with Rich’s parents and visit some friends along the way.

Merry Christmas!

This was too hilarious not to share! Click here for some holiday cheer! Enjoy!

Where's Emerson?

I have to share a funny story with you. This afternoon, Emerson was having quiet time in her room and Camryn fell asleep in her bouncy seat in the craft room. I decided to catch up on my email while bouncing Camryn. Camryn woke up and it was time for her bottle. I walked out of the office/craft room and the rug in the front entryway was rolled up. Nothing new...Emerson likes to pull my rugs all over the house so I didn't think anything of it. I stepped on the rug to get to the kitchen and there was something in the rug. I thought maybe Emerson has wrapped up her dolls or something inside of the rug. I was holding Camryn so I tried to unroll the rug with my feet, ya know, kinda kicking at the roll so it would unwind. All of a sudden, as I am kicking at the rug, I see a piece of Emerson's hair come out at the top of the roll! Emerson was in the rug!! I get down to help unroll the rug and there she is rubbing her eyes and her cheeks were all rosy. I asked her what she was doing. "Taking a nap, Mama." Yes, my daughter who has this beautiful bedroom and comfy bed, chose to roll herself up in a rug and take a nap!! I have no idea how long she had been in there, as I thought she was in her room with the door closed. It couldn't have been more than 30 minutes, but still! I felt horrible that I know she was in there. Just thought I would share the excitement we get daily from having a 3 year old.

NOTE: This picture is a reenactment. I couldn't let this experience go undocumented so I had Emerson "show me" what she did, so I could take a picture!

This picture of Camryn just about sums it all up!
Emerson being silly, but at least she is eating!!
Our girls
Reading books just tuckers Camryn right out!
Mommy & Daddy are taking Emerson to her first moving on Thanksgiving. We saw Bee Movie. Emerson thought it was so neat. Sitting down for 1 1/2 hours is a little much for a three year old so we had to get up a couple of times during the movie to walk around, but other than that, she had a great time!

No nap and Pink, Pink and More Pink!

Another day of "no naps". Monday's is usually the day that Emerson falls asleep on the couch. After a long, active weekend and swimming on Monday nights, I usually let her sleep for a little while.

Eating cake, or should I say frosting at Nana & Papa's house.
Camryn was very clingy for a few days (teething) so in order to get some dishes done, I put her chair in the kitchen with me and let her try Cherrios for the first time. She liked them!
If you don't know already, Emerson loves pink! Everything has to be pink! Here she is in her full regala on the way to the YMCA one morning. (Pink running suit, pink shoes, socks with pink flowers, pink jacket, pink hair tie, pink sunglasses (in November....I know.)

Go Spartans!

We went to the Michigan State v. Penn State football game this past weekend in East Lansing. Our old neighbors and Penn State alums made the drive from PA for the weekend to go to the game with us. It was chilly, but we had our propane heater & tent to keep us warm!

First Haircut

Today Emerson got her first haircut.....from Mommy! Being married to Rich, you all now how cheap....I mean frugal he is. Anything to save a buck. That's why for the past 7 years, I have been cutting Rich's hair. So, when it came time to cut Emerson's hair, I decided to give it a shot. It went pretty well. She squirmed and moved a lot, but what else do you expect from a 3 year old?

This is Emerson a couple of days ago after her bath.

This is Emerson getting her cape on.

Being silly with the cape.

Getting her hair cut.

After the hair cut. You can't really tell from this picture, but her hair is quite a bit shorter. I cut about 4-4 1/2 inches off!

Of course we had to save the hair from the first haircut!

Sisters & Friends

I've been trying to get some good pictures of Emerson and Camryn together.....hopefully for a Christmas picture. When one is smiling, the other isn't. If I knew anything about Photoshop, I would cut and paste them into one picture!

This is Camryn saying "I've had enough Mom!"

Here is Emerson with her friend, Avery. I met Avery's grandma a few years back at our local library. They have a program called Babytime for babies 0-18 months. They read stories, do songs and then have playtime. It's just as much for us adults as it is the kids. Anyway, a group of 6 of us met back when Emerson was about a year old and we are all great friends now. So, last night all the adults finally got together........without the kids!!! We went out to dinner and then to a comedy club. It was so nice to get out with other adults. My niece, Whitney and her friend, Megan, came over to watch our girls as well as Avery. Here are the girls in the pajamas watching what else but Dora the Explorer.

We are talking about getting Emerson's hair cut. Not short, but definitely get a couple of inches trimmed off. She doesn't like to have her hair combed and the knots and tears just aren't worth it. Emerson says she wants her hair cut, but I think it's more traumatic for me!

Happy Halloween!

I had to work at the Y today so Emerson got to wear her costume to the KidZone (daycare). That was at 8:00am this morning and she hasn't taken it off yet! We took groups of kids trick-or-treating around to different areas of the YMCA and they all got some goodies to bring home with them. Here are a couple of pictures that I took of Emerson all dressed up in her pink princess costume. Everything Emerson uses must be pink and she will only wear dresses. Fun but frustrating stage.

When I have to be at work at 8:00am, it's difficult to get us all out the door on time, so I tend to dress Camryn in her clothes for the next day at night, so all I have to do is change her diaper when I get her out of bed in the morning. We laid her down in Emerson's bed last night while Daddy helped Emerson brush her teeth and I was getting Emerson's clothes ready for the morning. I turned around and this is what I saw. And yes, those are my Care Bear sheets from 30 years ago!

No Nap

This is what no nap does to a tired girl. We transitioned a couple of weeks ago to the new "no nap" schedule for Emerson. She's always been a 10 hour sleeper. You put her to bed at 8, she'd be up at 6. You put her to bed at 9, she'd be up at 7. For a while, when we'd put her to bed, she'd be up until 10-10:30pm talking and singing in her room. I'd already be in bed, but Emerson would be singing "Old MacDonald" over and over. So, when we went in for her 3 year check-up, the doctor said that this is around the time that kids start to give up their afternoon nap. So we started putting Emerson to bed around 8-8:15pm and we never heard another peep out of her until morning. Well...then morning started arriving well before the rooster was singing. She'd wake up at 5am. We'd tell her to go back to bed...it was still night-night time. Then she'd get up at 6:15am. Go back to bed. Finally we got an alarm clock for her and covered up the minutes. We told her when the hour number said "7" she could come out of her room. We'd usually have to go in her room and remind her 1-2 times around 6:30am, but she'd stay in there until 7am. Now when she is waking up, she wants to play in her room until 7am. One day when I didn't have the energy, I said "yes" in a weak moment. Now it's becoming a habit. So, needless to say, she was up at 6:38am this morning and this is what happens when you don't get a nap and you are up too darn early in the morning.

I suppose I should go wake her up and get her ready for her swim lessons tonight. Maybe some day she'll get a hang of the new "no nap" schedule and actually sleep until 7am in the morning.

Emerson's jogger stroller she got for her birthday.
Emerson at Tumble Time at the YMCA.
This was at Harvest Fest in Rockford. This is our scarecrow that we made. It looks a little sad, I know. We changed its clothes and gave it a hat once we got home.
This is the VanOeveren family. My sister-in-law, Kim, took this picture. She does such a great job.

Emerson's new scooter she got for her 3rd birthday from Nana & Papa
At Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek, Michigan
Emerson attempting to feed the giraffe's at the zoo.
The giraffes all lined up waiting for their biscuits.
Gramma & Grampa Herrick with Camryn.

Herrick Family Pictures

I've created this blog in hopes that it will be easier for everyone to look at pictures and happenings in the Herrick house.

Here are a few recent pictures from when we went and picked pumpkins at the pumpkin patch.

Even though there are only 4 of us in the house, Emerson felt the need to get 10 pumpkins. There were more, but we narrowed it down to 10 :)