Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Emily loved all of her gifts! Thanks everyone!

Christmas Begins!

Christmas Eve

Emily couldn't stop talking about going to church and seeing Mary on Christmas Eve.

Before we went, we needed to hear a few holiday tunes.

Cute holiday dress!

Soup

Emily loves soup.

Great spoon holding technique!

Last minute chores

Emily doing some last minute cleaning to ensure she's on Santa's good girl list. This kid loves to clean!

Static

Fleece + plastic sled = awesome hair!

Science!

With swimming lessons quickly approaching, we figured it was time to teach Emily about all the fun that happens in the water. Our first trip to the Academy of Sciences was a big hit!

 Emily learns about fish.

 And more fish! (I think there's an anaconda back there).

 And turtles (and more fish)!

 And frogs!

 Dad and Emily spending some quality time in front of the aquarium

 Mesmerizing!

 The highlight of the day? Seeing the octopus! Amy snuck a photograph (without the flash). Hopefully the octopus didn't mind.

Time for Celebration

Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if I’d married a worker bee. One who was content putting in 7-8 hours of mediocre effort every day and leaving it all at the office. He wouldn’t fly to Sweden/Chicago/Canada with only a few days’ notice, or host early morning & late night teleconferences with Asia, or get calls from an employee in crisis while we’re in the hospital with a newborn. But alas, this is not Matt. Matt's an ambitious one. I’ve known this about him probably since day 1, and I’m not complaining.

While at times I do imagine what it would be like if he weren’t so driven, most days I’m awed by what an amazing job he does at home and at work. Why just this morning he handled a s-c-r-e-a-m-i-n-g Emily who did not want her overflowing diaper to be changed. Then minutes later hopped out of the car as I was dropping him off, and blew me a kiss with a grin on his face. And today’s a big day because he’s now a V.P. at LUNAR. Yep, my hard-working husband was recently promoted to Vice President of Operations. And since he’s a bit modest about his new title, I thought I’d share it with our small online family because if you can’t brag about your husband on your very own blog – where can you?! Check out his new bio! http://www.lunar.com/leadership.html#peterson

Way to go, dude! Em and I are VERY proud of you!!

Halloween

We went to Aunt Beca's for brunch and pumpkin carving. Well Emily did some pumpkin painting.

 

 

 

 Aunt Beca and Glenn did the carving.

Mom made a bib for the holiday.

Em in her themed PJs!

Doing her best scary monster impression.

Finally in costume!

Happy Halloween!

Zoo Boo

The day before Halloween we went to the Zoo Boo! Em didn't want to put her costume on at first, but can you guess what she was? Her shirt has a hint on it...

(FYI: it was a complete shock that she agreed to hold Aunt Beca's hand for a little while - she never let's us hold her hand.)

We decided to show her someone, in hopes that it would inspire her to change...

And it worked!

She got a better view of things on Dad's shoulders.

Then she monkeyed around with Aunt Beca :)

Later we put her in her own little exhibit.

And she posed for a shot of her full costume.

Before heading back home after a VERY fun day!

Bernal Festival

A few Saturdays ago our neighborhood hosted their annual street fair. We wandered down, not sure what to expect since last year it was practically rained out (remember that Chris & Erica??), and we were pretty surprised by how lively it was with lots of vendors, food stands, rides, and even a few of the new Ford Focuses on display. Em loved all the colors.

There was a man making balloon animals, and he gave Em this pretty flower!

Of course we had to smell it!

She proudly carried it around.

As we strolled down the street.

Until she saw...

A pony ride!! We scoped it out and asked her repeatedly if she wanted to ride one. She answered with a resounding "Ye-ah" each time, so Matt paid the lady and sat her down in the saddle.

 

She did ok at first. A little unsure, but trusting with Dad by her side.

Then the ponies started walking...

And she made it about half a lap before her whimpers grew loud enough for Matt to lift her off.

After that she sat like a champ in Dad's arms for the rest of her "ride" :)