Emerson's Christmas Musical 2009

emerson with one of her teachers...she just loves her!




first one in her class walking in


taking pictures before we left. this would have been perfect in Carter's belly wasn't showing









Nick and I couldn't have been more proud of emerson at her musical! We were speechless at the end because she did such a great job. She had been practicing 6 songs at school since november. The week leading up the the big night she was so excited and kept asking if it was 'today.' when we got to school i took her to her room and she said, "mommy don't leave." after she got distracted i ran out and found nick and carter saving seats. i was very nervous for her and didn't know if she was going to be able to stand up there with all of those people looking at her, but she did it and did an amazing job! when we found her after it was over, she was so proud of herself and couldn't stop smiling. It was one of those amazing 'firsts' that we will never forget.

the rest of november

matching christmas jams!


making a chocolate pie with daddy on thanksgiving


"i love chocolate!"


so messy...i never know how or where to begin to clean him up


and he now screams at dinner!


oh carter! what are you getting into now?


bathing beauties


they just love each other so much!


we spend a lot of time in our pj's if we have no where to go

pop comes to the rescue!!!

doing princess sticker book with pop


get you, get you pop


at first carter didn't know what to think of pop...i think it's because it's like looking in the mirror for him...they look so much alike!

Nick left for scotland on saturday and will be gone for 2 weeks. he is doing an international rotation over there to learn how medicine is practiced in the UK. He will also get to spend lots of time with his mom, which is a bonus! Nick called his dad a month before he left and asked if he could come help while he was gone and he booked a flight the next day...yay! He has been so helpful with the kids! Both emerson and carter got sick the day nick left...go figure. we have had fevers, diarrhea, and rashes. I am hopeful that today was the last day of the fevers because pop leave tomorrow and I have 10 days left until nick is back.

climbing monkey

carter is climbing up on everything! he is now climbing up all 13 stairs...scary! He started doing this just shy of turning 8 months. we keep asking emerson, "where did we get this boy?" and she says, "I think we got him at the zoo!" and i can't stop him from climbing up emerson's chair. we have had a couple of falls but it doesn't seem to stop him. he cries for a second and then climbs some more. i think he may be walking soon...double scary! he takes some steps while pushing a car (will have to take a picture). He is unbelievably strong and confident!

Cinderella and her little mouse gus...and her best friend tinker-bell

carter's update

carter's feet after peddling backwards in the car...opps forgot his shoes


emerson pushed carter around the block and he loved riding in the car


who would have thought he would have figured out how to move the car?


very messy eater!


"what are you doing buddy?"... "playing with the dollhouse mommmy"


what are you doing emerson? I want to ride too!




carter buddy is everywhere and into everything! he has been crawling since the end of august and is now pulling himself up on things and has taken a few steps while holding on to things. He got his two bottom front teeth at the beginning of the month and we are hopping to take a break from new teeth for awhile. he loves exploring and following emerson around. he would much rather play with her toys than his, can you blame him? I have been doing the same music class with carter that I did with emerson and he loves it. He smiles the whole time and loves crawling to all the little girls and touching their face. He is such a sweet boy and thankful will still cuddle with us a little. We've started letting him explore at the park and he loves crawling through the tunnels and going down the slides on his belly. It's a lot of work watching them at the park, but sooo much fun!

emerson's update

emerson is doing great and growing up too fast! She loves preschool, which is such a great feeling for nick and i. since we don't have family here she has never been dropped off some where without us so nick and i were a little nervous on how she would do. she was a little nervous the first day but no tears! she is excited to go and is so happy when i pick her up. i have been the helper twice so far and it is such a great school. they have big muscle time (outside or in a gym), free play, snack time, craft time, circle time (read a book or talk about special topic), and then some more free play. She is just starting to play with the other kids...our little observer. The first month i would ask her, "did you play with anyone today?" and she would say, "mommy, i just played by myself." The teachers love her, another great feeling as a parent. I picked her up last week and the teacher said, "i love her, i love her, i love her! she is such a sweet girl."
gymnastics has been a big hit this year. emerson can do a somersault, hang onto the rigs while doing straddle-pike, walk on the beam by herself, and when she jumps she gets both feet off the ground. In our singing class emerson sings right along with the teacher...so cute/funny to watch. She is the only kid in the class singing out loud so all the other moms and kids look at her with smiles. I think that preschool has really been good for emerson's inner strength. she is more confident and willing to voice her opinion.
emerson is definitely a two-year old! One minute she is super happy and with the blink of an eye she is having a melt-down. The melt-downs are hard because she either is so upset about something that she can't communicate or she wants something she can't have. we were at target the other day and she wanted some princess thing and I told her we weren't buying anything today and she started crying/whining saying, "i just want it mom, please!" I finally had to leave because it kept getting worse and then as soon as we got in the car, she snapped out of it and was fine...very frustrating, but nothing i can do about it.
emerson is very into doing puzzles right now and can do the united states puzzle...50 pieces and she knows all the names. she has also learned how to spell mississippi! She also loves all the princess right now. we read about all of them and just started to do a movie night with her. we have watched Cinderella and little mermaid. she was more scared of Cinderella because the sisters are so mean. she is going to be Cinderella for Halloween and is very excited! she wanted carter to be gus (the mouse from the movie) so that is what he will be. emerson still loves being around carter and now calls him "narder" or "gus-gus". she gets a little frustrated with him a times because he follows her around and tries to take everything she has.

Fall Fun!

I think fall may be my favorite time of year! The colors in ohio are so beautiful and there are so many fun activities to do! We went to a barn with our playgroup to see the cows and horses. Emerson was facinated to see them so close, but she was a little hesitant to get to close to the fence. We went to the farm again a couple of weeks ago and had a great time. Emerson wanted nothing to do with the goats this year so nick ended up feeding them...yuck! She was able to go down the slide this year by herself and was so proud when she made it down. Carter enjoyed watching everything going on around him, but really wanted to get out and crawl around, but it was too muddy.
We went to pick pumpkins and emerson was so excited. She ran around trying to find the perfect one. She enjoyed helping carter pick his, but wanted nothing to do with taking pictures. It is so hard to get a good picture of the two of them! We have been spending as much time as we can outside before the weather turns.