MICHIGAN Trip!

We took a trip to Michigan in May for Emily's 2nd birthday. It was hot-hot-hot, so she had fun splashing around the pool.

Then she and Grandpa had an idea, so off they went.

  

Emily was a big helper in Grammy P's garden. She offered to water the plants every few hours!

The next day we went to a local petting farm. There were lots of animals, but Em wasn't too sure about any of them. So she stuck close by.

One night we went over to Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Luke's place for a delicious burrito dinner. But not before a quick jam session. Uncle Luke had a children's guitar, perfectly sized for Em! 

But the hit of the night was Em's cousin, Siena.

Don't they look like two peas in a pod!?

When Emily found a peony (one of Mommy and Daddy's favorite flowers), she let everyone smell it. 

 

Including Siena, who promptly snatched it up.

Em thought that was hilarious. 

 

Family photo time.

Candids are always the best.

Then the *big* day arrived!!!

Em asked why there was rice on her cupcake because she'd never had sprinkles before. Guess we don't give her enough sweets!

Needless to say, she loved 'em!

Present time!

 

We arrived in Kalamazoo for more celebrating - but Em had the most fun walking around the pond in their backyard. She sure is fond of water!

 Memorial Day was our 7 year anniversary (ahhh!), so since we were in town we decided to swing by Stetson Chapel and Rose Street Market. The market was all locked up, and so was the chapel but we found an unlocked back door and snuck in. Still looked just as pretty as we remembered it.

 

Time to say "good-bye" to Grandma.

 

But before we leave MI, one last sweet treat :) 

 

Epilogue: Since we've been back to CA (2 months now), Em still asks to ride a plane to Michigan almost daily. She LOVED it there. And since she was an amazing traveler we're looking forward to our next trip back, even with the added challenge of another little one in tow!

a few funny lines

Just jotting down some funny lines we regularly hear these days:

Emily loves to ask, "Mommy? what're you doing?" in a funny, quizzical voice. Over and over and over.

"I like cookies, popsicles, and medicine when Emily's sick. Emily's not sick."

"Hey, what's that noise?" Over and over and over.

"No talking!"

In the car today, when Emily and I were goofing around saying her silly made-up words, as I finished buckling her in, she said "Daddy, you're silly." We've said that to her in the past, but this was the first time she said it back to us out of the blue.

-M

Passing the time

Some of Em's favorite ways to spend her days are playing dress-up, arts & crafts, and reading under table forts.

  

 

 

 

Posts

We're a bit behind in our posting, but rest-assured they're coming! We're going to put them in actual date order, so you'll need to refer back a little bit over the next few days to see them.

123s

ABCs

2 Year Factoids & Funny Quotes

In honor of Emily's second birthday (which we celebrated in Michigan and will soon post about), here's a list of fun facts about Emily.

Emily started being afraid of raccoons, then monsters (but once she understood that Elmo is a monster, she's cool with it), then ghosts, especially pink ghosts (unless they are funny or happy), then crocodiles. We think that she's getting ghosts confused with shadows and we're explaing that she is in charge of moving the shadows.

Funny quote:
Emily (looking at Dad): Milk ready?
Dad: Let's go check... ok, the milk's ready. It's just right.
Emily: Not too hot, not too cold.

She likes to say "It's stuck" in a whiny voice. Twenty times a day

She's asserting her independence now with a lot of "Emmy do it" or "by self."

Her cereal of choice is Lucky Charms (real cool, Momma). She often asks for more Lucky Charms when the marshmellows are gone.

She likes to recruit anyone to chase her around the house by saying "Ima get you?" or "Get you, Daddy"

She can count from 1 to 13, then jumps to 16. She knows all of her colors.

She loves to grab your nose and pretend to eat it while giggling.

She loves to watch Lowly and Busytown on Netflix and knows the mystery song. She calls the Muppets puppets.

She loves to sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Where's Thumbkin, ABC's, Ring Around the Rosey, Wheels on the Bus

Shes knows and can repeat most of Humpty Dumpty, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Hey Diddle Diddle.

She puts her hand over her mouth when she pretends to think about saying something and says "ummm."

She can say full sentences (sans the word "the").

She quickly learns to repeat what others say. When we were in Michigan, Grandma said "careful Grandpa" on our way home from the airport, and Emily proceeded to tell Grandpa "careful Grandpa" whenever we all got in the car for the rest of the trip.

She always says "ok" when she means yes. "Ah-kay"

She often will say "too" or even correct herself after saying "too" and say "also" instead (e.g. "Emmy sees white car too- also.")

Her favorite song is Train Is Coming.

After drinking milk, Daddy likes to show her the bottle and count the number of ounces she's drunk. Tonight, she said "Don't want to count ounces" after Daddy asked.

When she's angry, she says "No talking!"

She can name many / most animals and fish.

We still can't tell handedness. She's more agile with her left while eating but will color pages with her right.

She's scared by most animals when up close. She's scared by loud noises. She's not scared of dogs and in fact finds them funny.

At her two year birthday she didn't want anyone to sing and repeated "no happy birthday" when she thought that song may break out.

She used to fein extreme happy realization with an emphatic "ohh!"

She can jump and somersault unassisted.

She uses a fork and spoon with pretty good accuracy.

She prefers blackberries of all berries.

She does one nap a day for two hours and sleeps a solid 11 hours at night.

She loves to wear dresses and her Salt Water sandals. She hates getting dirty, and she hates fuzz and crumbs.

She loves to clean the floors with the swiffer. She's scared of the vaccum.

Her favorite toys are her wooden train set, duplo legos, books, coloring and stickers.

When you ask her to smile, she closes her eyes tight.

She likes to look for bugs (and tries to command them to move to certain spots).


That's all we can think of tonight. More to come, of course.


-M & A

Engagement Party!

 

 

 The *happy* couple!!!