Wednesday, April 24, 2013

logan's first crush

a couple of months ago we got sister missionaries in our ward. i was so excited! i love sister missionaries and apparently i'm not the only one in our family who does. logan instantly loved the sisters and was especially smitten with sister hatch. he couldn't wait to see her at church and show her one of his toys. one morning logan and emma were busy "cooking" in the kitchen (ie - pulling out everything from one of the cupboards). 
logan told me they were cooking dinner for the sister missionaries and told me i was sister hatch. i felt quite honored that logan had asked me to play her! 
in case you're wondering, they made soup (i forget what else) and it was delicious! 
 we were so sad that we only got to have sister hatch in our ward for 6 weeks before she got transferred to another area (seriously sad, she was amazing). but we'll always remember her as logan's first crush! and he's already proven that he has great taste in girls :)

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

emma's princess party!

a couple of days after emma's actual birthday we had a small party with our families. we kept things pretty simple, well at least the party decor. dave had the idea of making homemade donuts which was really fun, although time consuming and messy. but they were so good and all the effort was totally worth it! i'm so grateful for dave. i usually come up with most of the ideas for the parties we do, but he is the one that helps make it all happen. as we were working away late the night before, i told him that some of my favorite memories of these parties is doing all the prep work with him. it's so fun to work on things together. the next morning he pampered the birthday girl by painting her nails and toes in preparation for her party. seriously, this guy rocks (he's also amazing at doing her hair)!
be prepared for a lot of pictures (but really, who's surprised by that?!). hopefully i can let the pictures speak for themselves...mostly :)
when logan heard we were doing a princess party he said he wanted to be a knight, so he could protect the princess. i wasn't able to find a full knight costume, but my friend stephanie pulled through and provided me with a helmet and sword, which logan thought rocked! thanks steph!
notice emma having a meltdown in the background. we quickly remedied that by opening presents! she actually didn't really care about the presents themselves (in the moment at least) and barely looked at the actual item she had just unwrapped, but she had a great time ripping them open! 
we had to laugh at all the identical envelopes
 
tutorial for her cute crown 
 
 
she loved being sung happy birthday to! 
and i could pretty much just eat her, she is so cute (that really is a strange expression, by the way)
 
my attempts at a cute picture with her = fail
she would not put down her juice, so here's our best family photo
wasted after partying hard!
happy 2nd birthday emma!

emma: 2 years old!

[blowing out the candles on her birthday donut on her actual birthday]
the following statements are totally cliche, but totally true: 
i can't believe this little girl turned 2 last week.
the time has flown by.
we can't imagine our family without her.
two years old seems a little bittersweet, because it means my baby isn't quite a baby anymore...she is a toddler. good thing she is a darn cute and fun toddler (and has held onto some of her baby chub that i just can't get enough of). emma is honestly pure joy! that is not to say she doesn't have plenty of sass, because she does (boy does she). but overall, she is just a happy and joyful little thing, most often with a big smile on her face and laughing. i find myself constantly smiling because of her and kissing those cute cheeks!
here are some things i don't want to forget about her at this age:
she is girly! it is so fun to see the distinctive differences between girls and boys. she loves accessories (always wants to wear my necklaces), her tutu, carrying things around in purses and baskets.

[new birthday "nuck" and "brace" (necklace and bracelet)] 
she loves to twirl  and dance
she is little miss independent. we hear "i do it!" a lot. and then i love watching her beam with pride and says "i did it!" once she does whatever she was determined to do. 
she has selective hearing - seriously! she's often not the best listener
she loves cars and trucks

she loves to brush and play with hair (it can be a little painful)
she loves taking baths and brushing her teeth
she wants to pick out her own hair clips (and i just grin and bear it when she doesn't match)

wants to wear her green fleece pants and green shirt (from her hulk costume) everyday (as demonstrated in this post)
she is talking more and more, which is so exciting! 
she loves to point out trucks, trains, cars, dogs, whatever she can as we're driving
she is so loud. if we don't respond to something she says immediately, she just says it louder and louder until we finally respond. dave is constantly saying, "wow, i wonder where she got her loudness from?!" he's so funny :)
she remains a little tornado and a total dumper - she is into everything and leaves a trail of destruction behind her!
she loves her lovie, binkie and "tweet", a little stuffed bird
she loves to watch "hop," the rabbit that lives in our backyard
she sings along to her bedtime song
she has the cutest little trot
her favorite word is NO! and she says it constantly, in answer to pretty much whatever we ask. it's lovely ;)
she is getting good at walking (slowly) down stairs, if she can hold the railing (we don't have stairs at our house, so she likes to practice whenever she seems some)
she is really into pockets. she loves putting things in the back pocket of my pants (and practically pulling down my pants in the process. i am wearing elastic waistband pants these days, so it's not too hard) and putting things in dave's shirt pockets.
she will run and get the stool out of the bathroom whenever she needs a little help reaching something.
she says hi to people wherever we go. i love how friendly she is! 
she knows her name, but if you ask her what it is she will say "2!" while holding up 1 finger.

[she just answered our question of how old she is. "2!" while holding up 1 finger]
she loves to help in the kitchen. she'll run and grab the stool and say, "i dump!" she loves to dump in the ingredients. 
she loves her brother and whatever he is interested in. it is probably the highlight of motherhood for me to see logan and emma play and laugh together.
when one of the kids is unkind to the other i have them say sorry and give their sibling a hug. if logan needs to apologize to emma, she will wait with her arms outstretched for her hug.

[her first time in timeout, march 1). i wish i could have taken a picture of her face. she was crying so hard, but did't try to get out of the corner once. it was sad, pathetic and hilarious, all at the same time]
she is the happiest little girl unless she is hungry. she reminds us of a character on a snickers commercial, she's not herself when she's hungry!
she'll laugh if she agrees with something you say (ie "emma, you're pretty, funny" etc.)
when you thank her for doing something, she'll say thank you (sank ooo) back. 
we hear "i choose" a lot. she's got an opinion on a lot of things and she isn't afraid to share it! 
she loves to wear shoes...anyones shoes
"wuv woo" it melts my heart to hear her say "love you." when dave puts her down for bed at night they say it back and forth to each other (said with some force i might add) even after he has shut the door and started walking down the hall. 
 
one of my favorite things about her is that everything she does is done enthusiastically. i love that trait and can't wait to watch her continue to grow and live life with zeal (although i won't mind one bit if time would slow down a bit so she doesn't grow up so fast)!
we love you emma!

two year stats (the girl is proportional :) - 
head: 49.5 cm, 95 percentile
35.25 inches, 90th percentile
32.6 pounds, 97the percentile
my favorite part is that logan weighed 33 pounds! .4 pound difference between the 2 of them! ha!
 
[first haircut, january 26]