Happy Halloween!

Our Little Duck!!!

Emma had a very fun and exciting Halloween as a Duck. She has been so excited about her costume as she saw it in her closet for the past month. She would point to it every time the closet opened and say "Duck". Her excitement when we actually took it out of the closet for Halloween was so fun. She was so very excited and loved wearing the costume. She was also very excited about her "pumpkin purse" and all of the pumpkins we got to see. I think the best part though was showing her the pictures this morning and hearing her squeals and excited babbling. We had so much fun enjoying Halloween through her eyes and joining in her fun. Here are the highlights of the day!

Trick-or-Treat Skyping with Grammy and Poppa.

She adores Will and he is so very sweet to her.

She Quacked all night and was as cute as could be!

Love this face!

Sweet friends!

This is a lot of fun!

Amy and I spent a lot of Halloween years together and it is fun to see our kids continue that tradition.

All the kids!

Where did Emma go? All I see is a duck!

In the middle of all the chaos of pictures with the Saxby's, Emma found the soccer ball and went off to play.

Trick-or-Treat, Aunt Amy!

Emma putting her candy in her "purse".

Emma had fun Trick-or-Treating at Aunt Amy and Uncle Dan's house.

Our last stop was for a party at the Reitano's. Josh is the pastor of New City and Emma just adores him.

The first thing Emma wanted to do this morning is put her costume back on. The fun continues!

Here is the excitement of getting dressed to Trick-or-Treat.

I'm a Big Girl Now

We went to Emma's friend Sam's birthday party this weekend and Emma was just one of the kids. She enjoyed her time playing with her friends and watching Sam open presents.

Emma's first dinner of PIZZA. Of course, she was a big fan!

Sitting at the "kid" table with all of her friends! She looked so old!

Emma and her best friend Bel. If you look closely at Emma's hair, you can see the curls by her ear.

Talking with her friends during dinner.

The Cabin

This past weekend we were blessed with the opportunity to visit Uncle Ben and Aunt Sue at their cabin in Weikert, PA, in the center of the state. It is a very remote little town and sits along Penn's Creek. We had a great time being spoiled with amazing food and down time to just rest and spend time together. It rained all of Friday and half of Saturday which kept us from enjoying the outdoors, but it forced us to nap and enjoy the fire. On Saturday afternoon the rain stopped and the rest of the trip was beautiful. The leaves were just spectacular as well as everything else. The only un-spectacular part of the weekend was that the pack n play Aunt Sue borrowed had such a strong mildew smell that Emma smelled like a bowling shoe all weekend. I guess if that is the only thing that wasn't perfect than life is pretty good. I cannot explain how much fun we had and how great it was just to be able to relax and enjoy God's creation and our family. Here are some highlights from the trip.

There were leaves everywhere for Emma to play with and give as gifts. :)

Emma was very excited to see the pumpkins.

So happy to play in the leaves!

We tried quite hard to get Emma to stay still for some pictures.

Sue-Sue and Emma watched the squirrels out the window all weekend. Emma just loves squirrels and was so excited to watch them. Uncle Ben even went out in the pouring rain and put out some bird seed to attract them.

Sue-Sue and Ben-Ben read lots of books with Emma. Thank you for the new books, Sue-Sue.

The rain broke on Saturday afternoon and we were able to go for a hike with Sue-Sue and use the new baby jogger. Emma very much enjoyed the scenery (and her snack). It was amazing how high the creek was from all of the rain and we had some very soggy parts in our hike.

At the cabin there is this bear skin rug hanging from the loft. Emma was just not sure about Mr. Bear or the mounted bear and elk heads. She would wave to them with a very unsure look on her face and look at all of us to assure her. After being fearful of them all day Friday, Mike finally took her up to pet the bear and that did it. From that point on she just would wave to them and smile and say hi.

Emma had such fun with Ben-Ben and Sue-Sue. She had plenty of cuddle time and play time with each of them. This picture was taken on a swing down on Penn's Creek. It was so pretty that morning.

On Sunday morning we went for a hike. It was BEAUTIFUL. The weather was just awesome and it was so peaceful and gorgeous along the creek and through the town. Emma enjoyed seeing the squirrels and farm animals and ate her lunch along the way.

On our hike we saw horses and cows. Some of the horses even came up to the fence to see Emma. She just loved it.

Emma made smores with Sue-Sue in the fireplace.

Here is the first taste!

She liked it!

We stopped at Aunt Abby, Uncle Andrew, and Sam's both on the way to the cabin and on the way home. Emma and Sam had some play time and the adults had the chance to catch up and spend some time together. Thanks for letting us crash at your house!!!

Fall Fun

Last weekend we went to the Pumpkin Farm and the Apple Orchard. We had lots of fun. Emma enjoyed all of the pumpkins and the animals. We went with our friends Tim and Claire and their daughter Margot who is 4 1/2 months old. It was lots of fun!

I love how excited Emma is in this picture. To be fair, it was her nap time and it was VERY cold.

Emma picked out a pumpkin. She was very proud.

Emma picked out a "baby" pumpkin which she carries all around. She just giggled and held it up for us to see while we drove home.

Update on Emma Kate

So, it has been a month since we have updated the blog. There is so much to update that I cannot even remember most of it. Our new church launched this week and Mike and I have been consumed in helping make that happen. All the while, Emma has again changed so much and is just so much fun. Here are some highlights from the past month.

Emma has begun to explore her creative and artistic side with coloring. She really enjoys it and has moved from coloring for 30 seconds to about 5 minutes.

Emma loves her drum set and even plays with it the way it is meant to be used. She plays with it every day. Perhaps she has her daddy's love of music. In addition to that, she really enjoys doing the hand motions for The Wheels on the Bus, Climb, Climb Up Sunshine Mountain, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, I'm a Little Teapot and If You're Happy and You Know It. It is very sweet. She walks around all day stomping her feet and will make the motions and then sign please for us to sing the song to her.

Bath time is still a favorite part of the day. As you can see in this picture, Emma's eyes are getting much darker like her Daddy's. Look at those eyelashes...also from Daddy!

Emma got her first pair of "real" shoes. Her feet are SO fat that she needs "extra wide" shoes. She is so proud of her shoes and even tries to say shoes, although it sounds more like shhs. She likes the noise her shoes make when she runs on the hard wood floors and when she stomps her feet. I guess that makes it worth it. And, they are super cute!

Emma has continued in her love of veggies. She swipes random veggies from the fridge when I turn my back and chows down as is evidence by the picture. You would think she is eating a candy bar. She is so intense and makes the MMMMMMmmmmm sound the whole time.

She sits on the counter while I am cooking. She just watches and uses her kitchen toys to practice the things I am doing. Her favorite is when I say I am going to make dinner, she pulls out her frying pan and a spatula and begins to "stir" something around. So cute!

For her birthday Emma received two tea sets. In this set, the tea pot sings and talks. Emma has learned how to pour herself tea and how to pretend that she is drinking and eating the cake treats. She just makes MMMMmmm sounds and pretend drinking and eating sounds. Very fun!

I came around the corner and she was "having tea" and repeating what the tea pot was saying!

At her 1 year appointment, she was in the 95th percentile across the board. She is a big girl and growing up way too fast. What I do not have pictures of right now is her loving on her baby and taking care of her. She wraps the baby in blankets, feeds her a bottle, feeds her from a spoon and pushes her around in the stroller. She is so gentle and tender with the baby and it is just precious to watch her take care of the baby. She is just so much fun and I just cannot explain how much we are enjoying every moment with her! I am continually amazed just how much I love her.