More Pictures

Finally, the sun was shining! We bundled up and took the girls outside. Here is Emerson on her bike....enjoying every cold minute of it!

Here is Camryn all bundled up. I'm not sure if she enjoyed this little adventure or not!

Camryn loves this book she got from her GGP (Great-Grampa). It's a hard coated cardboard book that she can't really chew on. She can look at this for a good 15-20 minutes.
Here is Camryn reading again. Yes, the book is upside down, but she doesn't know the difference!!

Do Speghetti-O's get any better than this???

One afternoon, I went to change Camryn's diaper and put her down for her nap. I came out less than 4 minutes later.......and this is what my kitchen looked like! You'd think it had just been ransacked by a burgular.......but no! It was Emerson! And she was nowhere to be found. She was quietly playing in her room as if nothing happened :)

Daddy's proud little girl. Brainwashing at it's best! Go Spartans!

The girls and I were getting ready to go out one morning, and I went to pick up Camryn to bring her out to the van, and Emerson had her stock-piled with all the necessities....the paci and the babies. (I'm not sure if there is a baby in our house that has its clothes on them.)

One tired Daddy and Emerson. How cute is this????

Our other little Spartan Cutie!!

Long time no see!

Finally have a chance to post a few pictures. I must admit....two kids are definitely keeping me busy, plus Rich's crazy work schedule. I haven't had much time to post anything, let alone take any pictures!!

We finally got back Camryn's 9 month pictures from Target the other day. We didn't get many re-prints. I figured that we'll do both girls pictures when Camryn turns 1 and get lots of poses then. The girls are doing great. Camryn is rolling everywhere....not crawling yet. She's just so laid back that she doesn't really have any interest in crawling yet. She's gotten up on her hands and knees a couple of times, but just flops back down on her belly and rolls over to whatever she needs. She clapped for the 1st time yesterday. I was practicing with her a little bit during the day and at dinner, she clapped!!

Emerson is at such a great age. She has her moments (but don't we all??) but for the most part, she is so fun! Today, I was putting something away, and she says " What are you doing with that sweetie?" Later, she called me "honey". Those little ears are definitely listening to everything they hear. Emerson is finally potty trained and using the potty all by herself!! I was beginning to think it was never going to happen, but one day we took her to a preschool openhouse, had the teacher explain to Emerson the rules of going to school (going to the potty) and showed Emerson the bathroom. The next day we started potty training....no more diapers, just panties from now on. She's only had a couple of accidents the first few days, but other than that, it seems like she's been doing it forever! We've been going to some preschool openhouses and checking out what they have available in our area and have finally picked a school. Emerson loved it there. Sign-up are ina couple weeks, so hopefully we can get into our first choice. She would be going MWF from 12:30-3:00pm. She talks about school all the time and is really looking forward to it....(and so am I!!)

We're Back!

We made it back from our trip. I've learned to call it "our trip" vs. "our vacation", because by no means was it a vacation, at least not for me. The week we left, Emerson had pink eye and a double middle ear infection. That was on Monday. On Wednesday, I went to the urgent care center and was diagnosed with a sinus infection. I felt horrible with a temperature over 103 degrees. Nothing like packing when you feel horrible. We ended up leaving a day later than planned. We had a good time...the weather was great. They were hitting record highs (mid-80's.) in Florida. Thank you global warming...but then that came to bite us in the rear when our second to last day there is was in the 40's!! Camryn ended up getting sick from Christmas Eve until the 27th or so. The poor girl couldn't keep her bottle down. Now she just has that nasty cough that Emerson and I had.

Grampa and Gramma got Camryn & Emerson matching Hawaiian dresses while they were on vacation in Hawaii in October. They are so darn cute.

I was finally able to get a decent picture of the girls in their outfits they got for Christmas out on the lanai. Camryn is such a happy girl!

After we left Florida, we went to visit with our friends in Alabama. They got married on the same day we did and we met each other on our honeymoon's in Aruba. Whenever we make the trip to Florida, we always make sure to stop and see them. They have 3 boys....4 (Braley), 3 (Charlie) and 18 months (AJ). The Dad's took the kids to the park to play and the Mom's & Camryn went shopping at the mall. Talk about a great day!!

Grampa & Gramma got gift certificates for us to go bowling while we were visiting. We took Emerson for the first time. She enjoyed it the first few frames, but after that she wasn't interested anymore. So Mommy finished up her game using the bumpers. From being on bed rest, my muscles are still getting used to things if I haven't done them in a while. After bowling, I had muscles hurting that I didn't know existed!

Sorry for the scary red eyes! I forgot to fix them before I loaded all the pictures. This is a shot of Camryn's teeth. We left for Florida with only 3 teeth and came home with 6! And there are more in the works!

I gave Camryn a bath the other day and while I was getting her dressed, I told Emerson to get her clothes off and get ready to get into the tub. After I got Camryn dressed, I couldn't find Emerson. This is where she was hiding. Must be nice to be small....and a contortionist.

This is another picture for the "No Nap" series. Emerson kept going and going all day while in Florida. Once she sat down, which wasn't often, she would just CRASH! Needless to say, once she went down at night, she slept like a rock.

In The Villages, they have two different Town Squares, where they have music and dancing every night. This is Daddy & Emerson breaking it down to some music.

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!