Leaving Cookies for Santa

On Christmas Eve we made special snowman cookies for Santa and left some apples for the reindeer. Emerson was really into picking out the cookies and counting out 9 apples for all the reindeer. When we asked her if she was readay to go down and put them by the tree, she really thought Santa was going to be there and we had to explain that he only comes after you go to sleep. We wrote him a note telling him that she had been a very good girl this year and she asked him to bring her a kitchen. We read Christmas books by the tree and sang Christmas songs before bed. Boy did Nick and I have fun...we felt like kids again!

Merry Christmas Eve!

I know it's technically Christmas day, but at the Mills house it's Christmas Eve today (Nick had to work last night and didn't get home until 10:30 this morning, so we pushed everything back a day). Emerson is very excited that Santa is coming tonight! She keeps saying "Santa coming over...bring presents for emerson!" We made snowman cookies dipped in sprinkles and a gingerbread house. Emerson really wasn't into decorating the house...just eating the frosting. It has been a fun day so far and looking forward to Our Christmas morning tomorrow! Hope everyone is having a very Merry Christmas filled with lots of love and happiness!

Curious George

Emerson and I went to meet Curious George at the library last week. She was so excited when he came out and kept saying, "George came to see me!" It was very cute. We went to get our picture taken and she was a little afraid to be so close to him, but I guess they all are at this age.

Christmas in Colorado

The three of us headed to Colorado for a much needed vacation and to celebrate an early Christmas with all our family in Colorado. Nick has to work Christmas Eve so there was no way to get there this year. We had a great trip relaxing, spending time with family and friends, and playing in the snow in the mountains. My mom wanted to create a Christmas morning for emerson so we pretended that Santa came and she got to open all her presents from mimi,pa,malorie,and tyler. The first thing she noticed was all the Dora wrapping paper. I think they could have just wrapped an empty box and that would have been just as exciting. The funny thing about her obsession with Dora is that she doesn't watch t.v. and has only learned about Dora through books and seeing her her at the stores. You wouldn't believe how much Dora stuff there is everywhere!
The three of us headed up to the mountains for some cabin time in the snow. Nick and I thought it would be so much fun to play in the snow with her, but she didn't like it very much. I think it was because with the many layers she had on, she could barely move. She did enjoy meeting a buffalo and a bear while we were outside, but then after about ten minutes she kept saying "inside...lets go...all done!"
We also went to see Santa while we were there and she did exactly what I thought she would do...cry and want nothing to do with him. My dad said, "like mother, like daughter." All in all we had a great trip. It was hard to leave and emerson talks about her family and adventures everyday.

Painting with Daddy

We have also been busy around the house organizing and making emerson a play table and chairs. Nick is really handy and built her a table from scratch...the chairs are still to come. He also made her a book shelf for all her toys. Emerson got to help daddy paint and some accidentally ended up on her nose and his. I will take pictures of the finished product soon and get them posted.
We are excited because Nick is off for thanksgiving this year! We are going to have some friends over for dinner, so it should be fun. I have to admit we aren't going to make a turkey...not because we don't know how, but because corned beef sounds much better. Hope you all have a happy thanksgiving!

First Haircut!

Nick and I finally decided that emerson needed to get her haircut. I don't know if it's a hard decision for everyone, but for us it was until one day we both kept looking at her and saying, "she really needs a haircut." As can be seen in the pictures, her hair is very long when wet and then when it dries it curls up, but lately it hasn't been curling (no humidity) and looking like a rat tail/mullet. She did very good why it was being chopped off. I was a little nervous because she just kept cutting and cutting, but we all really like it. I think Nick is going to miss saying, "emerson you have a sweet mullet!" I only have pictures of before and during and will post new ones very soon!

Happy Birthday to Nick!

We had a great time celebrating Nick's birthday today. We had our traditional Krispie Creme cake (anyone who knows Nick, knows he loves doughnuts). This was emerson's first encounter with Krispie Creme and she loved them...but who doesn't? Nick and I are going out this weekend to celebrate his special day.

*and yes...nick looks a little tired. He had been up since sunday morning and it was monday afternoon! I don't know how he does it.

Trick-or-Treat

I wasn't sure how much fun emerson would have trick-or-treating, but she had a blast! I was very happy that she remembered to say thank you at every house. It took us about an hour to go to 12 houses and by then she was beat. Thankfully she picked some good choices that Nick and i will enjoy eating. I let her try a skittle but she spit it out. I wasn't planning on letting her eat any of it, but decided that if Nick and I are eating something and she wants to try it, we'll let her.

Halloween Party with Friends

Today was our Halloween party with playgroup. Everyone was super cute, but it was impossible to get them to sit still to take a group picture. I did manage to get one of Emerson and jack. I think Emerson was the only one to keep her costume on the whole party. I was fully prepared for her to want it off minutes after we got there, but I guess she must have enjoyed everyone saying how cute she was. I decided to make rice krispie treats for the party, which many of you may know are super easy to make, but I didn't realize how hard the cut-outs were. You have to push down super hard to get the shape out and then they stick to the cutter when your trying to get them out. It took me an hour to do 20. I was going to do them for nick to take to work too, but decided that they will have to be thankful for squares. Tomorrow we will go trick-or-treating...hoping she will get some good candy for me!

October Fun!

Sorry again for the delayed post. We have been having lots of fall fun this month. We have been to three pumpkin patches and emerson would go everyday if we had the time. We also made a trip to Colorado. We had a blast with Mimi, Pa, and Mal. We were on our own during the day so all day I would here "Mimi, Pa, Mal Mal...come home?" We had two first on our trip...one was she fell asleep in the stroller after our flight on the way out and the other was she fell asleep on the plane on the way back to columbus. I know many of you may think that these are silly firsts, but to nick and I it was complete shock. For the past 20 months emerson has never fallen asleep in the stroller or on a plane (and she has been on 9 airplane trips), so I was pretty shocked and excited. We spent time with both our "gg's" (great-grandmas), whom she thought were very entertaining, and our aunt lacey. I think sometimes emerson gets confused when she is around lacey because she looks so much like her daddy. Anyway...I could go on and on, but won't write a novel this time.

Big Mistake...

I decided that it was time to clean up the tornado that went off in my car. I really can't tell you how my car gets so dirty or how it collects so many random things...oh wait, yes I can, her name is Emerson. It took me about 20 minutes to just empty all the contents in my car before I could vacuum up all the Cheerios, goldfish, rocks, leaves, oh yeah and pine cones. After cleaning the inside, which felt great, I walked into the garage and looked at the huge pile I had created and realized that I had to clean that up too. It took me 1 1/2 hours and I was beat when I was done. I thought it would be a good idea to take it to the car wash after emerson's nap and I also thought she would think that was a fun time, but boy was I wrong. As soon as the water started she said, "stop car wash." I tried talking her through the whole experience by showing her the soap and bubbles, but she wanted nothing to do with it. I looked at her little hands and they were shaking. I wanted to jump in the back, but I kept thinking we would be done it a minute and really it did only take two minutes. But that may have been the longest two minutes of emerson's life.
We went for our weekly zoo visit yesterday and had a great time! They have decorated for fall, so emerson is constantly pointing out all the pumpkins. Our new favorite animal is the kangaroo. You can literally be a foot away from them, kinda crazy. We also went down my the river and fed the ducks. Emerson was more excited about all the boats and kept asking to see more.

Happy Fall!

Fall is officially here with the great weather and new activities. We have started our singing class again, which we love, and we have started gymnastics. Our class is a little chaotic because there are so many kids, but emerson loves it. She was a little scared when I put her in the foam pit,but then she didn't want to get out. She hangs on the bars for a long time and is started to get the hang of the balance beam. It will be interesting to see what she is able to do in a couple of months. Nick and I seem to be amazed by our little girl everyday and our so thankful for her. I have started to call her my sweet girl because she really is just so caring and sweet. We were driving home today and she said "love you mommy!" Of course that just melted my heart. We are looking forward to pumpkin patches and playing in the leaves soon.