Sleepover!

Last night Emma went for her first away-from-home sleepover. She was SO excited! She went to stay at the hotel less than two miles away with PapaGrammyCuz. Miranda and Emma planned to stay up ALL night! She packed her bag and picked out which babies to bring.

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They left the house around 7:00 last night because they had a big agenda of things to do! The first thing they did at the hotel was go swimming!

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Riding a cuz-submarine!

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Then it was pajama time! (And jumping on the bed time too!)

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Watching The Lion King and snacking...

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This morning Grammy and Emma went to the breakfast room and got some krispies and apple juice - all while still in her pajamas!

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After they all got home today, Emma asked to go to Pump It Up. She played for a very short while but soon became frustrated with the large number of kids there. Not to mention her missing couple of hours of sleep was beginning to rear it's head - BIG time! We soon left and met Daddy for lunch, before coming home for a much needed nap!

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All in all this sleepover was a huge success!

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Merry Christmas!

We wish you a very Merry Christmas today! Our day was a full one for sure.

Yesterday some friends brought Emma a couple of presents. She wanted to wait to open them, but she decided to unwrap them when we got home from church last night. Wow. It was a police uniform and a ton of accessories! She was so happy! She dressed up for a picture, and we all laughed because she was wearing shorts, and the coat is so long it covers them!


Well it was then getting late, and Emma had to get to bed so Santa could come. She set Tom up with all the necessary things to work the night shift.


What was funny is this morning we realized that Tom didn't even alert us when Santa came last night!!

Now, the day started a bit rough. Emma woke up early with a tummy ache, and then slept a bit more. When she woke up again she was sick a few times, but managed to unwrap this big Santa gift.


Emma needed to just rest and recover on the couch for a while, so while Daddy put the play kitchen together she began to feel better and get some energy back. She came to help put the decals on!

By this time we could tell she was feeling much better. She brought Tom over to see the kitchen and to fix him some lunch!

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Bunny got a gift from Santa too - a Tae Kwon Do outfit! So Emma ran to get hers on as well, and then showed Bunny some moves.

Zoe just loves to unwrap presents. What a helper she is! She has something under her chin here...

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Emma found a softball and mitt under the tree! She wanted to play catch right away. In fact, she wanted to play with everything as she opened it :)

My friend Meryl came by in the afternoon for a visit while she was in town. We played this Angry Birds game where you build a tower according to the card you draw, and then try to knock it down with the catapult and birds. It is hilarious! We laughed so hard!

Emma was completely wiped out when she went to bed tonight, and Ed and I are feeling that way as well. Good night all!

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O Come Let Us Adore Him!

Emma hollered "Look, they're all singing to Baby Jesus!"

The animals, and even the pilgrims and the natives!

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Lovely weather for a sleigh ride together!

Today Emma hooked up Santa and his sleigh in the kitchen. We don't have 8 or 9 reindeer lying around, so she used Tom to be in charge of the task. Plenty of seats for her babies to ride along too!

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Santa!

Today we saw Santa at the mall. Emma was not too thrilled about wearing tights, or getting her picture taken, but after she saw Santa she was very excited.

When Santa asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she said she didn't know. So, he told her that he would surprise her. Wow did that ever pique her interest!! Now she can't wait to see what he brings!

Santa's house is always so nicely decorated. We decided that this sleigh was too small for the real Santa :)

On an interesting note, this is our 1,000th blog post! Emma is 1,548 days old. Obviously we posted a little more in the beginning :)

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Bruce, the police dog

About a week ago, Emma introduced us to her friend Bruce. He's a police dog. Can you see him here in this picture?


How about in this one? Emma and Bruce posed for me today!


Bruce came over to our house one night and has lived with us ever since. Emma began feeding him and training him in his police dog duties! With this hat and sunglasses she says she's now a detective. She solves mysteries!

I have an uncle Bruce, so we wonder if that's where she got the idea from :)

Then Emma grabbed the camera and snapped a photo of her captain, Tom the horse. He looks just about as cool with the shades on!

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Nativity scene

Last night we went to church to see a Christmas play. They also had a living nativity scene outside with a pony, goats, sheep and two little donkeys. Emma pet the goats and sheep!

When we got home, she wanted to draw a picture but told me it was a surprise. She drew a little nativity scene!

That's Joseph, a sheep, baby Jesus, a goat and then Mary!
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Trimming the tree

This afternoon we began decorating the tree. Emma wanted to help string the lights. She started by waiting on one side and I would hand her the lights, but the next thing I knew she grabbed a chair and wanted to finish it herself! Then she started hanging candy canes and jingle bell ornaments.

I wanted to catch her by surprise and get a peeking picture, but she saw me :)

Then she took a picture of me doing the same!

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Zoo Lights

This afternoon we headed to the zoo to see Zoo Lights. We had not taken Emma to this before! Even though it was in the 30s, we bundled up and got there while it was still light outside. It still was pretty before dark!


Emma wore her warm cheetah hat and Cheetah joined us, of course.


The polar bears were quite comfortable with the temperature. "Hey, what do you mean it's cold?"

We popped inside to see the Predators of Serengeti and it was very warm in there! Emma (or is that Cheetah?) peeked through the Mongoose exhibit.

Unfortunately it was too cold for the real cheetahs to be out and about, but Emma still played in the Jeep that is part of their exhibit. The video monitor was the closest look we got :)

Then we stood in line for nearly an hour to ride the train. It moved along okay but boy was it crowded.

I told Emma this was a My Little Pony, and she wanted to pose with it!

We rode in the buffalo train car. It was a very pretty ride through the zoo and we got to see many of the zoo lights!

There were some entertainers while we stood in line for the train. After our ride, Emma wanted to come and try hula hooping. She was getting tired and cold and so her frustration was evident, but she kept trying and got a few rounds in!

On the way out we tried to get pictures in this big wreath. A little fuzzy but you get the idea!

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