2017

This year has been one of the best yet.

January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

Artists

Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year! Natalie and Max ran into our room at 6:00 am to report that Santa had come before they ran back out to the living room to start going through their stockings. Santa brought the big kids each their own easel, and they each got an extra roll of paper for their easels as one of their stocking stuffers. As we were rolling out of bed and grabbing a sleeping Emma to join the fun, we heard Max find his roll of easel paper as he announced with much disappointment, "Oh man! Santa brought me wrapping paper!"

 

Natalie wrote "Santa came!" on her easel right away, but it's hard to see in the picture.

 

Ten Months

Emma is ten months old today! She suddenly seems so big, and I'm begging time to please slow down because I think I could relive her babyhood over and over and over again.

How many months in a row can I gush about how sweet she is? She has us wrapped around her little finger, for sure. Lately she has been going by more names than just "Emma". The big kids and I also call her Em, Miss Em, Emmy, and Em Em.

She has two teeth with a third starting to poke through. She is getting braver with her walking every day, but she still prefers to crawl. She refuses her pacifier these days, which has made naps a little harder. She gets really excited when Chris comes home from work, she waves bye bye, and she absolutely hates getting dressed. 

She eats just about anything we put in front of her. Her new word is "mmm yum yum," which actually sounds like "mmm mum mum". She says it almost every time she eats. I had just given her a puff before I took this picture, so here is her "mmmm" face:

She loves to play with the big kids and will probably be a pretty tough girl because of it. Today Max told me that he loved Emma all the way up to the moon, and I'm pretty sure the rest of us do too.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas Baking

We've been baking (and eating) up a storm!

Christmas story time

The kids got to wear their jammies to a fun Christmas party at story time yesterday. Usually Natalie is at preschool Wednesday mornings, but she has been really excited to get to go to story time again over Christmas break. 

Walking!

Emma has been taking steps for a few days now! She is getting a little better each day. Here she is in action:

We had been guessing that she would walk around nine and a half months, right before Christmas, and here she is right on schedule!

First Movie

I took Natalie and Max to their first movie at the theater this afternoon. We saw The Star, which may now be one of my favorite movies. It was so good! The kids were so excited and had a great time!

Christmas-y

We're getting into the Christmas spirit around here! We drove around looking at lights last night, and I think the plan is to go again tomorrow night. One house in town has a fancy display set to music that the kids are excited to see again. The Christmas craft-making is in full gear. We have been getting lots of homemade presents and cards, and our tree is full of beautiful ornaments crafted from paper, popsicle sticks, salt dough, and Fruit Loops.

Mini Bike

Natalie and Max adore their oldest cousins. They got to spend some time together at Grandpa Mike's farm on Saturday, and Aedan even helped them ride the mini bike. 

Santa

The kids got to see Santa yesterday morning at the donut shop. Emma was too distracted by his big beard to be afraid of him, so she actually sat on his lap! Natalie and Max both told him that they wanted surprises for Christmas. 

Library

 Natalie spent our entire library trip reading in this chair. When did she get so big?

Bye Bye

Emma started waving a couple weeks ago, and we think it's the cutest thing. I think we gush more as third-time parents than we did the first time around! She usually says, "dada" for "bye bye," but today it sounds a little closer to the real thing.