I've been a slacker lately

I've been taking plenty of pictures, but I am still fighting with Windows 8 so it's easier to just not blog.  Not a good excuse, but it's true.  I can't figure out how to crop pictures on this computer.  If I rotate or crop a picture, it doesn't save my changes to the pictures right and then it uploads them sideways in blogger, ugh!  Rant over!

 

This little girl puts a smile on my face and keeps me laughing.  She's just too cute and so full of personality!  She enjoyed sitting in her chair and watching the boys cut the grass this weekend.  She really enjoyed the cookie too!

 

For some reason Emmy seems to think the grill tongs are a necklace.  She is always clamping them around her neck.  It looks life threatening, but it's not a tight clamp on her neck.  PROMISE!

 

We headed to the mall one day this week so Bryce and his friend Thomas could play.  We had planned to go to the park but it ended up raining the night before and the playground was too wet.  They were just as happy at the mall.

 

 

Thomas came over on Friday to play with Bryce while his mom went to his sister's school for field day.  They had a great time.

 

 

I'm not sure who loves the race track more, Bryce or Macy.  Every time Bryce shoots a car on the track, Macy chases it!  It's gotten to be pretty funny, but I find Macy sitting by the track whining when we're not playing, ha!

 

Emmy loves to sit in a lap.  She hopped in Jason's lap this morning and got a front row seat for the race car show!

 

 

Happy Sunday! 

a fun night out and a new blog design

Last night the girls in my small group went to Spirited Art.  I don't have a single artistic bone in my body and I was convinced I would come home with a canvas full of paint blobs.  Luckily, they had a stencil for us to trace our crabs on before painting.  The painting was hard enough, ha! 

 

 

I'm no Picasso, but it turned out pretty well.

 

I finally broke down and spent the last of my Christmas money on a new blog design.  Thankfully, Leslie at Sweet Baby Blogs is very reasonably priced and didn't break the bank.  She was quick, easy to work with, and VERY affordable (unlike some designers who have really jacked up their prices).  I love how it turned out!

 



T-Ball Opening Day

Saturday was opening day for Bryce's little league.  We got there at 10:00 so he could meet up with his team and parade out on the field when his team was called.  I just can't believe the height difference between Bryce and his teammates.  He is always asking me why he's so much smaller than the other kids.  I just tell him Mama and Dada are short so he's short!

As the teams ran out on the field they high fived four local mascots.  The first was Nutzy the flying squirrel from our local baseball team.  Bryce likes him from a distance, but is scared to death of him.  We were glad to find out that Bryce (he's #11) handled it well.  I guess having his team with him helped. 

After opening ceremonies we headed to lunch and then Bryce and Jason had to be back at the field for team pictures.  Once that was over, they came home and got me and Emmy so we could go back to his game at 3:00.  We had quite a full day.  He did a great job in his first game.  Here he is on 3rd base!

Bryce played in the outfield in the first inning and was lucky enough to get a ground ball all the way out there!  He got to play first base in the second inning so he was busy the whole time.  He was so cute.  He would run to first base after the ball was hit, but he would just stare at the base so he rarely knew when the ball was being thrown to him.

Luckily the coaches stay out on the field so he had lots of help while he played.

Poor Bryce is so short and they couldn't get the tee low enough this week so he was having to swing a little high, but he did just fine.

They were so cute all lined up at the end of the game to high five the other team.

Snack after the game.

Bryce is really enjoying t-ball and doing a great job!  I hope he continues to love it and not dread it like he did soccer.

loving this weather

We went from winter to summer in a matter of days!  Monday was just beautiful.  The kids enjoyed having lunch outside on Nana and Pap's patio.  Neither of them would smile so I got lovely eating faces.

Today we went to a local outdoor mall for a Mommy and Me event.  Bryce was not a fan of taking a picture with the glasses he made, but he was still a good sport.

Emmy was as happy as she could be eating her lollipop.

Chase and Taylor came over when we got home and we had a picnic lunch and then swam in Bryce's little pool.  Emmy walked around and stole everyone's leftovers while they swam.

Bryce has definitely gotten brave in the water.  He enjoyed running and jumping into the pool.

After she stole all the food she stole the drinks.  This was the third juice box she finished off.

I was so ready for winter to be over, but I wasn't really ready for 90 degree weather so soon.  Thankfully the temperature is going to drop a little next week.

Emmy at 14 months

I'm a few days late on this.  Emmy turned 14 months on Saturday.

I feel like I was a slacker on the last monthly post so this past month I've been jotting down things Emmy is doing (mostly what she's saying) so I would have a better list this month!

She has a growing vocabulary and can say (uh-oh, wow, woah, please, cheese, ball, balloon, book, boot, mama, dada, bye-bye, tickle tickle (cutest thing ever), night night, baby, "doh" for hello, and lots of animal sounds (cow, dog, sheep, elephant, monkey, snake and duck).  No is probably her favorite word, but she uses it when she means yes too.  If she says no and I think she means yes, I say yes and then she says yes.  It's so cute!  She attempts some words, but mostly just says the beginning sound of words. 

She is completely off bottles and it was an easy transition.  She's happy and it didn't affect her sleeping schedule any!  She has 6 teeth and 2 more top teeth coming in.  She is a walking trick now.  If she falls or stumbles she hops right back up rather than crawling.  She's starting to blow kisses to people and can give a high five.  She can point to her head, ears, nose, mouth, tongue and belly when asked and covers her eyes to play peek-a-boo. 

She is wearing size 3 diapers and size 3 or 4 shoe.  Her clothes are all over the place right now.  I'm trying to switch over season and sizes and I'm having such a hard time.  She can wear the 12 month clothes that run big and 12-18 months, but most of our spring stuff is 18 month.  She goes to bed around 7:30 and sleep to 7-7:30.  She still takes a morning and an afternoon nap which vary in length every day.

She continues to be such a happy, loving, go with the flow kind of girl.  She has moments when I think she's going to have a temper, but we're working on managing that now and think it will get much better when she can say more words and communicate with us rather than crying/screaming!  We're loving watching her change and grow each day. 

we partied all weekend

We started our weekend of fun at church to celebrate Aiden's 4th birthday!  The kids had tons of fun riding their bikes and playing basketball.

The three amigos (Aiden, Bryce, and Chase)

Taylor just loves that Emmy is getting older and can play with her!

We continued our weekend of fun at a 25th anniversary celebration for Jason's work.  The event was held at The Jefferson hotel in Richmond and was so nice.  We enjoyed a cocktail hour, sit down dinner, casino party, dessert and door prizes.  We ended up staying at the hotel because Jason's company contributed to the room rates, making it very reasonable.  We had breakfast at the hotel this morning before coming back to reality!   

Jason has always been a Duck Commander fan so this outfit and beard are not technically because of the new Duck Dynasty craze.  Everyone knows Jason is an avid hunter so when the president of his company suggested he wear a camo tux to the party, he had to deliver.  Unfortunately for me, he was able to find one in time!  It was funny how many people asked to have their picture with him, ha!

The 25th anniversary celebration continued today for families at a local park.  After seeing all the animals, we had a great lunch catered by Carytown Burgers and Fries....yum!!   

Emmy enjoyed sneaking a bit of Bryce's capri sun.  Bryce was most excited about the desserts.  He was a nice brother and shared them with Emmy!

After lunch we took a tram ride around the park and it put Emmy right to sleep.

This weekend was perfect.  The weather was great, we had fun as a family, and Jason and I got some time together.  I'm a happy girl tonight!

spring break fun

Bryce has been loving spring break and being able to see Chase and Taylor more during the week.  We had a fun morning with them at the Children's Museum yesterday.  Not sure what Bryce was doing in this picture, but at least they were all in it!

 

 

Emmy wasn't quite tall enough for the picture, ha!

 

Picking apples is always a favorite.

 

Sweet little Emmy girl.

I don't want to jinx it, but I think spring may have finally arrivde in Virginia today.  We had beautiful weather today and the forecast for the next week is looking fabulous!  We took advantage of the nice weather and spent all afternoon outside.  Bryce and Jason planted some cucumber and broccoli seeds for me today and Jason started getting the yard ready for his garden.

 



 

Bryce has gotten so much better at riding his bike.  When Emmy woke up from her nap we took her for a wagon ride and Bryce tagged along on his bike!

 

Bryce's first t-ball game is next Saturday and his last practice is tomorrow so we practiced a little today.  Jason is working on him swinging harder and following through with his swing so he had him practice hitting his punching bag. 

 

An afternoon outside isn't complete without a ride in the jeep.  Bryce drove Emmy down to the mailbox to check the mail today.

 

 

Today was such a great day and we have a super fun weekend planned too!

 

a taste of spring

There is hope that spring may really be around the corner!  We took advantage of this warm day and went to the park.  Bryce spent the night with MeMa and PaPa last night so when he came home to get a fishing pole for the park, Emmy and I joined them.  We picked up Subway for lunch and then met Kelly and the kids and their friends who are in town. 

 

 

 After lunch the kids enjoyed flying kites for a while.

 

Everyone wanted a turn sliding with Emmy.  She absolutely loved it!

 

We were so glad to be able to see Chase and Taylor during the week since the boys are on spring break this week.  We also enjoyed catching up with some of their friends who are in town.

 

Bryce just loves his little sister!

 

After the park we headed to Sweet Frog for frozen yogurt.  I've been needing a day like today!!