Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we traveled to St. Louis to be with Grammy and Poppa, Uncle Ben and Aunt Erin, and Great Grandma. We also got to see the Dalbey Family and Emma was able to play with Preston. It was a wonderful time with family and Emma enjoyed helping. She helped Poppa with dishes and helped Grammy with baking Julekaga and cookies. It was so fun to share so many traditions with Emma and new experiences. She was just wonderful in the car and while we were there. Thanks for a wonderful visit, Grammy and Poppa!

Helping Poppa wash the dishes. I can only hope she enjoys it this much in a few years!

Playing in the water

Emma in her Thanksgiving Dress

We got to celebrate Thanksgiving with Uncle Ben and Aunt Erin

Emma loved playing in the yard and swinging

Such a sweet little face!

Aunt Erin and Uncle Ben

Making Cookie Dough with Grammy

Greasing the Pan

Rolling the Dough

Cutting out the Cookies-first she did some ducks and then Christmas Cookies

Mmmmm...icing!

Yum, Yum...

Icing and decorating the cookies

And of course tasting the cookies!

Making Yulekaga with Grammy and passing on the Tradition

Emma chose to help by sticking her spatula in the dough.

We found out that Emma likes cardamom and raisins.

And pumpkin pie!!!

And Julekaga!!!!!!!!

Emma and Great Grandma

Another Week with Emma

This afternoon I had the most fun with Emma! I was making corn bread for dinner and she pulled at the chair and said please. I put her on a chair at the counter and she helped make bread for Daddy!!! She dumped in the ingredients, with a little help of course, and helped to stir. She was so excited and I was able to capture this precious smile at the end. It could not have been more fun for me to spend that time baking with my little girl!!!

Is she really big enough and old enough for this!?!

Look, Dad, just for you!

Stirring

First Cincinnati Chili experience...She LOVED it!

Emma has been obsessed with putting diapers on George and her Doll. She lays out a blanket very carefully and tries to put the diaper on all by herself.

She is so gentle and sweet with her babies!

Just reading the newspaper.

All done with the paper and time for some football...does Sunday afternoon get any better than this?

Emma's Week

I gave Emma her crayons to color in her highchair by herself for the first time. Look at her sweet face! She was SO excited by this that she just squealed and giggled for a few minutes.

She really enjoyed coloring all by herself!

Uncle Rich gave Emma this precious jumpsuit when he visited last week. It is so cute and Emma loves to feel the fabric. She just walked around feeling her tummy all day!

Thanks, Uncle Rich!

Thursday night Emma had her first sleepover! Mariela stayed with us and she and Emma had so much fun. This picture is of them watching tv and snuggling togther. They were so cute. Emma looks much bigger than Mariela, but in reality Mariela is much taller...Emma is just sitting up. She doesn't relax and just "hang out" very often.

It was a great week and we are looking forward to a good weekend with lots of down time with Daddy!

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.