Reunion

I was so excited that all the girls could get together at my house on Saturday. It was a much overdue reunion!  Jaime, Leah, Emily, Rachel and Rhonda all headed over on Saturday...with all the kids in tow.  It was the first time we've all been together with the kids.  We were sad that Rhonda's newest addition, Peter, couldn't make it because he wasn't feeling well.  Thankfully her little girl, Mary Lynn, was still able to come and play with Emma. 

 It's amazing that between us, we'll have five babies within less than a year of each other!  We are very blessed ladies!  Here a few pictures from our afternoon.  Considering how many little ones were there, I'd say the day went very smoothly.

The new moms and their sweet babies.

Emma and ML enjoying lunch together while their babies take a nap on the table.

Each mom switched babies here.  Although Brooks was alright with it, McKenna and Christian were less than pleased with this setup, so they all had to switch back.

 

McKenna has Mommy in a head lock.  She already knows how to get what she wants!

 

Emma and McKenna having some girl time.

Sweet Christian - I could just eat those thighs up!

Emma was so cute with McKenna.  She was sweet and gentle with her and kept offering her this toy carrot.

Rachel and Rhonda both had to leave before we ended up taking the group shots.  From left:  Leah with baby McKenna, Jaime with baby Christian, me with my Emma and baby boy in belly, and Emily with baby Brooks. 

Of course we had to get our traditional All Hands on Deck photo!  And it was even more special this time since Emma and the babies were able to be a part of the picture.  As a side note, it's much more challenging to take a photo like this when there are this many bodies involved.

Thank you!

Thank you to Mimi for sending your real stethoscope for Emma to play with.  This furthers her love for playing doctor and now she feels like the real deal!

A Great Surprise

On Saturday, Emma and I got ready and we headed out.  She kept asking where we were going, but all I would tell her was that it was a surprise.  A little before 11:00 we pulled into the parking lot.  Emma said, "Is this where we are going, Mommy?"  I replied, "Yes, we're here."  She said, "Is this the petting zoo?"  I was so shocked that she remembered that this was the zoo because I haven't taken her in probably a year.  How do kids have such a great memory?!

She was so excited to go see all of the animals and I was happy to have some one on one time with my girl.  She requested to start with the elephants, so that's what we did.  Here is one of the four elephants they have in the exhibit.

Here is the little elephant who is six years old which is the son of the elephant above. 

Emma was very thrilled that the rhinos came right up the gate to greet her.

In the play area they had drums which she played and played.  She was so intent on making her music that I couldn't even get her to look at the camera.

This is as close as she got to actually climbing on the rock playground.

She was much more comfortable in the cave where she could keep both feet on the ground.

How cute is that face?

Looking at the tortoises. 

While we were waiting to ride the train, we made a few friends and they took our picture.

Finally on the train! 

Watching the sea lion show.

The butterflies!  I think out of everything we saw, this was one of her favorites.  She is fascinated by them and she loved that there were at least a hundred different butterflies flying around her.

Emma walking through the butterfly garden.

And last, but certainly not least, we rode the Merry-Go-Round.  She named her elephant Ellie the Elephant and gave it a hug once we got off.

We finally headed back home a little after 3:30.  Can you believe we stayed for over 4.5 hours at the zoo?  I figured a meltdown would've occurred, but she was so good the whole time.  Thankfully it was overcast on Saturday or we would've never made it through the heat.  It even sprinkled a couple of times but it didn't even phase her.  Her only concern was which animal we were going to see next. 

Emma has been having trouble going to sleep at night the past several weeks.  What used to be an 8:30 bedtime now leads to her not falling asleep until 10:30.  On Friday night, she didn't go to sleep until nearly 11:00, so she didn't wake up until 9:00 on Saturday morning.  Therefore, one of my goals on Saturday was to wear her out.  I even decided to let her skip her nap in the hopes of her heading to bed at a decent time.

It worked - but I also wore myself out in the process!  We were drying her sheets and, as always, we didn't account for the time very well.  So while they were finishing up, we let Emma crawl in our bed to start winding down.  Before Josh knew it, she and I were both asleep and he couldn't help but snap this picture.  It captures the perfect end to our day! 

We had a great day.  As we were leaving the zoo, she said, "Mommy, this was such a great surprise for me today.  I hope we can come back tomorrow."

Pool Days

We met some friends at the pool and Emma was a little fish. She didn't want to get out!

But she was okay with getting out for a few minutes to enjoy a popsicle.

But then she wanted to get right back in.

Playing with our friend Andrew who was trying to give them bunny ears.

He finally succeeded without them realizing it.

Once a Diva, Always a Diva

A couple of weekends ago JD and Honey came for a visit.  We headed to the Science Center to watch Emma explore.  She loved it and we enjoyed following behind her as she trotted from exhibit to exhibit.

Dr. Emma checking up on the animal patients.

Getting behind the wheel for a quick drive.

This one she always gets a kick out of.  It's Tico's nutty forest and you put the "nuts" in the tree and then watch them shoot down one side or the other.  Fascinates her.

Daddy was helping her at first...

...but being Miss Independent, she insisted on doing it by herself. 

JD surprised her with a frog puppet which she thought was hilarious.

She stayed in the rocket ship for a while...I think the nifty space outfit contributed to her joy.

Once we got to the pirate ship, she wanted to dress the part for that as well.

The concentration and the huge grin in this picture make me smile.

Emma and Daddy playing with the shadow pictures.  They were "catching" coins.

Then we headed down to the aquarium to see the stingrays.

We found this bubble station which we have never ventured to before.  She was a huge fan of course.

She wanted to do it all by herself.

And she did it!  She got a couple of big bubbles.  She liked it until some of the soapy bubbles got on her shoe.  After that, she was over it - she doesn't like to be dirty or sticky.  Once a diva, always a diva.