This is How She Bowls

Emma's friend, Sam, had a bowling party when he turned five. Turns out that Emma takes after her mom...not great at bowling, but sometimes can bowl a strike out of nowhere.   It was her first time though, so maybe after some practice, she can be a good bowler like her daddy.

When she used this handy dandy bowling assistant, her ball reached the pins much faster...and with better aim.

Emma and the girls watching to see how many pins her ball would hit.  All the kids were so cute together - they would cheer for each other and clap when they knocked down a bunch of pins. 

Emma with the birthday boy!

Posing for a picture.

Nobody has ever looked so cute in bowling shoes!

Christmas 2013

Here is a window into our Christmas 2013. 

Santa thought the children were very good this year...Emma's toys are in her pink chair and James' are next to hers.

One of her favorite things that she got was the bracelet loom and the Ariel mermaid singing doll behind her.

James quite enjoyed this new toy.

All new baby stuff...highchair, pack n play and stroller.  A mini mommy's dream.  Thank you, Mimi and Papa!

Emma showing James how to open presents.

He opened this one almost all by himself...his very own handy man work bench.

It didn't take long for him to really get into opening presents.

Everybody's fave gift...the cozy coupe!

Emma was such a nice big sister and pushed James around.

And then James gave sister a turn and he pushed her!

Rewind

Time for a rewind...to Christmas.  This tax busy season has pushed me way behind, so pretend it's Christmas time again.

Here are some of the Christmas card out takes...

And here is the picture that we ended up using...it was the only one that worked...and I had to crop it.

Thank you to my mom for making their Christmas outfits!  I love them!!

The Last Hoorah

Day 5 - Tuesday, December 10

Our last day at Disney was spent at the Magic Kingdom!

We ran into lots of characters that day...

..Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland

Piglet and Pooh

Nose rub with Piglet

Pooh giving Emma a kiss on the nose.

Dancing with Pooh while Eeyore signs her book.

We all jumped in with Pooh and Eeyore

Me and Emma riding Dumbo

Waiting in line and looking cute in her ears.

One of our many Thunder Mountain rides.  Josh took a video from the seat in front of us.  I will never forget that little laugh of hers as she enjoys the ride...

Telling Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters that she was about to be five.

Waiting to meet Merida.  This was so nice because they had an area for the kids to color while we waited in line.  Of course she drew James a picture and had Merida sign it for him.  Always thinking of her little buddy!

Merida, Daddy and Emma

After numerous rides on Thunder Mountain we ventured over to Splash Mountain.  She LOVED it!!  We all three rode together the first time, then I took her the next time and then Josh took her two more times.  We rode it until they shut the park down.

Me and Emma on Splash Mountain {last row}

Josh and Emma on Splash Mountain {last row}

That was the end of our Disney adventure.  BUT here are a couple of additional pictures that I missed from Day 1...

On the ferry ride over to the park on Day 1

The first thing we rode when we got there was of course the beloved carousel.

Followed by a group ride on Dumbo.

A few pictures of Emma the Princess in the making at the Boutique.  The girl who did her hair was also named Emma, so she thought that was pretty cool.

Puckering up her lips for makeup application.

The big reveal after hair, makeup and nails were complete.

Finished product = Magical Princess

Day 6 - Wednesday, December 11

Before Josh and Emma left for the airport on Wednesday (I had to stay behind for work through Friday), we did a couple of things at the hotel that afternoon.

They offered a ladybug release.  Here she is with all of the ladybugs we were going to let go and feed.

She is very gently feeding them some sugar water.  We also fed the ducks but we didn't take a picture.  Her favorite was a duck with a red head...she cleverly named it Reddy.  Just the other day, she randomly said to me, "Mommy, I miss Reddy."

Headed home.  Minnie was a very safe traveler.   

Emma was so excited to go home and see her little buddy.  Since we brought James home from the hospital, the two of them had never been apart over night before.  She talked about him all the time.  Sometimes while we were eating, she'd get a sad face and hold up whatever item of food she was eating and say, "Awww this reminds me of my James."  He likes everything though, so it really worked with anything she was eating.