S*L*U*S*H!

The first thing Emma wanted to do this morning was blow bubbles outside!!

Emma wanted to use the snow shovel when she saw me using it!

The snowman had already started melting. He lost his 2 eyes, nose, hat and an arm, and we only found one of his rock eyes to put back!!

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Next comes... the snowman!

Here's our goofy snowman. He's got personality! Talk about fun - we got to skip bathtime tonight to make him!


Posing with our barbecue/builder snowman!

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S*N*O*W!!

Well we had a delightful surprise this afternoon - a few inches of snow!!


Emma takes her first steps in the snow this winter!


Cheeeeeese! (It's hard when it's snowing in your face!)


It's never too snowy to play on (or under!) a slide!!


Even Mr. Potato Head (Snow Tato!) got in on the action!


Emma exploring the snow!

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Snowballs!

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Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas day! We sure had a lot of fun!

Look! Santa ate his cookies!


A very merry close-up!


Emma came down to find this rocking horse awaiting her (videos below)! Aw, pony hugs! We named him Tom in honor of the first pony she rode.


Bandaids and a pony - we could have stopped right then and there, and Emma would have been thrilled!

Christmas pup! Emma helps Zoe with her stocking.

Let's learn the whole alphabet!!

Emma just loved dancing with the sparkly tissue paper!!

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Video of Emma meeting Tom:

She slowly started to warm up to him...

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Finally Emma took Tom for a ride! And I do mean ride. Forget the rocking part, she scooted him all over the house!!.

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Christmas Eve

Before bathtime tonight Emma (along with Zoe's help!) opened up some new warm jammies and a bedtime book!


'Twas the night before Christmas,
and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring...
except for this little one eating Santa's cookies!!!

Busted!

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All I want for Christmas

Tonight we were asking Emma what she wanted for Christmas. She would say "hippo!" and "tractor!" When we tried to film it she wouldn't say hippo again. She mentioned it because we were singing the song "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas!"

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Life is a bowl of Cheerios

During her pouring experiments this morning, Emma discovered the wonder of adding milk to her cereal, and voila! A bowl of milk and Cheerios. This was the first time she combined them, and I think we have a new breakfast choice!

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Goggles

Or gagas, as Emma calls them! We were having some dress-up fun before bed tonight.
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Goggles for safety:

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Goggles for the outdoors:

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Catchya later guys, I heard the Village People were auditioning!

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Santa and Emma, 2009

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Ho ho ho!

Ho ho ho! That's what Emma has been saying all morning! Today we went to the mall for a picture with Santa. These snapshots are what I took with my camera (before she actually smiled), but I'll try and post the better picture!!

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Emma was so excited because Santa gave her TWO candy cane sticks. Later I noticed all the kids got two, but we still felt special!! She walked through the mall with a red, sticky face and a huge smile :)

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Shockingly fun

Oh the humidity! (I mean, where has it gone?!) I tried to get a couple of pictures showing Emma's constant static-charged hair! It's been a week full of lots of shocks for all of us, including the dog. Fleece doesn't help!!

ZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzAP!!

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Stage struck

Today Emma made her debut on stage. Sort of!

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The children at the bible study we attend put on a Christmas concert for their families. The two year olds were seated at the bottom of the stage and I had a hard time seeing and even getting into a position to film Emma. Then she kept sitting on her teacher's lap! So, this 30 second snippet of non-singing pretty much sums up her performance :)

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Emma and Zoe

We've had more fun decorating the tree and house today. Emma loved playing with this doggie ornament that has a picture of Baby Zoe in it!


Emma seems to think that Zoe is her reindeer dog or something!!

P.S. - Don't ask me where her pants are :)
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Lights!

Tonight we went to the Winter Wonderland at Portland International Raceway. They decorate the raceway with tons of Christmas lights, and give you a Christmas music CD to enjoy while you drive through! Emma's favorite by far was this Tunnel of Lights! After we went through the tunnel, she asked for "more more more!" (It's kind of like the end of the Space Mountain ride when you're going through hyperspace!) Her second favorite thing was probably all of the little candy canes they gave us...

(My pictures were all blurry, so this one is from their website!)

On Thursday one of our neighbors came over and asked if we had a tree yet. I said not yet! She asked if we'd want a free one? Sure! Their daughter was allergic to it, and oddly enough they received it from a friend whose daughter was also allergic to it. The tree was all set up and ready to go. (Hopefully we don't find any squirrels or bug colonies!) We finally got it in the house today and got the decorations out.

After a bath Emma got to help start decorating a little bit. I need to get another strand of lights on there, so we were just focusing on the bottom half.


Candy canes are easy to hang!


This is her style - find a little spot and set your ornaments down on the branches! I'll have to spread out a few of these :)

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Tires

Today we headed to Les Schwab to get a jump on mounting the snow tires. Last year we waited until it had already snowed and BOY that wasn't any fun! At least today it was *only* a 2 hour wait. I don't think we're getting another "Arctic Blast" anytime soon, but we're definitely just going the prepared route this year.

Emma is 4 1/2 tires high!


Hide and go seek!! Emma does incredibly well hanging out with a bunch of smelly tires. We sat in the far corner and she loved to watch the buses and cars go by on 99!

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Family gals

We were in need of an updated four generations picture! Here's my grandma and mom posing with us.


The gals from Thanksgiving weekend!

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