Monday, August 29, 2011

Chatterbox

Currently, our little family is borrowing a house in Downtown Denver near the Zoo, a huge golf course, and (the best part!) City Park. A few mornings a week we get out of the house after breakfast and go for a walk around the neighborhood and through the park. It’s a wonderful place to push a stroller, and has a great playground for both little and big kids. I think it’s the main thing we’re going to miss about this area when we move!

Lets go already!

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Looking at plants with Daddy

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The playground (in the distance!)

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Happy Girl!

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Her favorite thing is to find the most perfect piece of bark in the whole place.

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On the way home, she wanted to hold Daddy’s hand. Very sweet!

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This next picture was too cute to pass up, so I had to post it. (Just for the record, though, it’s completely the reason we’re joining a gym this week. Sorry to all of you that have to see how large my rear end has gotten lately… Yikes!) Anyway, Emily likes to walk with us along the path like this and point at all the geese. She loves the park! Getting her back in the stroller though is sometimes a little tough.

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On a different note, I read an article recently that said a child Emily’s age should be able to say about 7 words. Um, I think we can check that milestone off the list! Rob and I counted as many words as we could think of that she says, and we stopped when we got to 50. She’s always been a chatterbox, but it seems like she picks up at least a couple new words each day now. Just so I can remember, I want to list some of the things she says most often:

Bye-bye (she says bye-bye to everyone and everything! Tonight she said, “Bye-bye bubbles!”as we left the bathroom after her bath. Haha. :), hello and hi, sit, stand up, mama, daddy, blanket, book, ball, blocks, up, down, more, please and thank you (she will sometimes say these appropriately on her own) milk, cracker, noodles, apples, cheese (her favorite), hot, walk, outside, SHOES! (another favorite), socks, pants, shirt, hat. She says the names and makes the sounds of a few animals: puppy is her all-time favorite, and she also knows kitty, cow, pig, duck, chicken, birdie, and elephant (complete with arm motion for the trunk. I love it. :). She names body parts: head, nose, eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, chin, hair, arms, hands fingers, tummy, knees, feet, toes.

She’s catching on to new things really quickly, also. If we point to something and tell her what it is, she’ll usually repeat it. Today in the grocery store I found a magazine I had been looking for, and like a total dork I said, “Yesssssssss!”. The next thing we know, Emily’s in the shopping cart going “Yesss! Yessss!” complete with the silly arm motion! She’s dorky just like her Mama it seems. She also loves to read books with us now, and sings songs and makes the hand motions like we do- her favorite song is The Itsy Bitsy Spider! I think I sing that one 27 times a day. :)

Our little social butterfly has been to the church nursery twice now and they say she does great! She smiles and waves at everyone wherever we go, and loves the attention she gets back. I don’t think we have a shy kid, that’s for sure! I’m really enjoying watching her grow and learn, even if I think she’s getting to big too fast. Being a Mama is the best thing I’ve ever done. I have a friend who’s pregnant with twin girls and I am so, SO excited for her and her husband!! Little girls are absolutely wonderful, even if I do want to pull my hair out sometimes. I can’t imagine our life without our sweet Emmie, and I thank God every day that he gives me with her.

Life is Good. (And tomorrow, to the gym!!!)

Friday, August 12, 2011

Parade!

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go to our very first parade as a family! It was in Castle Rock with our friends Dan and Kamala, and their daughter Brinton. Fun!

Look at all the people!

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The girls

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Loudest police car ever.

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Fire trucks

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Big tractors like Grandpa drives!

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Spirit fingers! (The cheerleaders were passing us)

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With Uncle Dan

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Clap clap clap!

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Their Liberty Bell

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Cheese!

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We had a great time and can’t wait to do it again. We love Denver! :)

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Absent.

Yes, it’s true, I’ve been gone a LONG time! But not without good reason. Ok, a lot of good reasons, not the least of which being the sweet-faced, happy, little tiny tornado that lives in our house and leaves a path of destruction wherever she goes. I swear this kid can mess up a room in under a minute, and it takes me a half hour to clean it up! 15 months old and good at it, as her Grandpa would say.

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She’s gotten so big in the last couple of months, it’s just amazing! She loves to dance to any sort of music she hears (TV commercials, cell phones ringing, her Daddy doing a beat box- [yes we both about died laughing at that one!]) and she knows so many words I can’t even keep track anymore. She can tell you what noises are made my a puppy, cat, bird, chicken, cow, monkey and elephant (complete with arm motion for the trunk!), loves lights and light switches, and is a pro at drinking from a straw and our water bottles. (We are learning to love backwash.) She has a serious obsession with shoes, and constantly wants to be wearing them. Today she actually managed to take off the flip flop I was wearing, put it on her own foot and walk around the house. I got some cute video and will see if I can load it up here soon. She’s a riot! :)

Another major reason for the break in blogging is our big move. Surprise, we live in Denver now! Yep, we just up and moved away from Seattle around the middle of July and have decided to make Denver our home for a while. So far it’s been great, but really, REALLY hot. I’m talking over 90* every single day since we arrived. I’ll tell you one thing, this Washington State girl is NOT a fan of the heat. I never thought I’d miss the constantly gloomy and drab “Seattle Gray Sky”, but boy what I wouldn’t give for just one day of relief from this heat! All I know is, tomorrow we’re getting an air conditioner. PLEASE.

I don’t have much else to report really. We’re living in a temporary spot until we can find a home we will be happy with for a few years, so most of our things are still in boxes. That part sucks, but it will really make moving to the next home so much easier. I’ll try and post pictures here and there when I can, but I’m thinking this poor old blog will have to take a backseat for another month or two until we get settled and back into some sort of routine. Before we left for Denver we spent a week in Spokane visiting my family. It was great fun! Here are a few pictures:

Lunchtime with Grandma and Grandpa

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Grandpa told her to “squish up the watermelon really good!”

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So she did. :)

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Happy 4th of July!

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All dressed up in our red, white and blue! (And you can see how Emily is eying Grandma’s necklace, and I’m holding her hand so she doesn’t reach out and grab it right off her neck! She loves jewelry!)

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Splashing in the pool with Daddy.

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Learning to kick the soccer ball!

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Cousin Hayden on a tractor ride.

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Emmie and Ryan

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Rachel with the babies

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Good job Ryan!

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“Look, Grandpa has buttons!”

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Hugs from cousin Hayden.

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Cheese!

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Coloring with Grandma

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Playing with a train that was mine when I was little. I’m not sure which one had more fun! :)

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Choo! Choo!

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Surprise Grandpa! Happy Birthday!

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New grill for the Grill Master.

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What a great trip! We had a wonderful time and I can’t wait to go back. 

So, I promise not to be gone forever, but it’ll probably be a while before I get to post again. Don’t forget about us! We’ll return to your regularly scheduled posting soon. Take care, everyone!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Babies Don’t Keep.

This kid is a walking (and now running!) machine.

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Up and down the hallway is her favorite thing, stopping to talk a second to the baby gate. I watch her with both joy at her achievements, and sadness that she’s gotten so big already. What happened to the past 14 months?

I need a hug.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

What we’ve been up to lately…

Too many things to talk about really, so here are some recent pictures instead!

Up close!

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Lounging with Daddy

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Laundry Basket Rides!

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Reading is Emily’s favorite lately. And she loves her little rocking chair!

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For you, Mom. :) (She was pointing out the flowers on her dress all day! She loved it.)

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I love her smile! Someone told me the other day as we were leaving Costco that we were in BIG TROUBLE when she gets older. Ha!

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Other things we’ve been working on lately: walking, climbing, talking A LOT, saying “NO” all.the.time, occasionally sleeping through the night… and of course, right as I typed that last one she woke up. One of these days I’ll learn not to jinx myself! Sigh. Time to go snuggle a restless baby.

More to come soon!