Little Big Girl

Three years ago today, our lives were changed forever when our first child was born. Emily Jane arrived in the world during a driving rainstorm, in a hospital in Walnut Creek, California, three hours before midnight on New Year's Eve.

She had pneumonia at birth, and spent her first two weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit. All of our worries turned to happiness as she recovered and came home a healthy, happy baby.

She celebrated her first birthday in Seattle, with a bunny cake made by Nana. She was always the most cheerful, sweet baby, with a quick smile and giggle.

By her second birthday, she was already a big sister and her world was expanding quickly. She still had that smile and we could barely keep up with her busy feet.Her butterfly cake that year was made by Mama, and decorated by Mom.We could hardly believe that two years had gone by so quickly!Today our little girl turned three years old, and we can't believe how fast the time has gone by. She is growing so fast, clothes that fit her last summer are now way too small, and things she struggled with a few months ago she has now mastered. She is trying all the time to be big, but she still needs her cuddle time too.We are so proud to have the honor of being her parents. Happy Birthday little big girl!

Birthday Party!

Today was Emily's third birthday party! Her cousins came over, as well as Uncle David, Nana, Grandpa N., and Grandma & Grandpa L. First she got to open all her presents.

She liked all her gifts, but was especially thrilled to get her own digital camera! Emily's friend Sylvie was the inspiration for this gift. Emily took a lot of photos during the party.Nana made a special cake in the shape of a pig. Emily had requested this cake from a book of cakes for kids. She loved it!She got to blow out her candles, which she has been practicing for awhile.Kate and her sweet tooth loved the cake also.After Emily got her piece, Uncle David passed out cake to everyone. Mama made a pumpkin pie too, which was also delicious.Grandpa and Grandma enjoyed their cake too!After cake it was time for the adults to chat, and the kids to work off their sugar high in the playroom. They got kind of crazy!Emily had picked out a "Bob the Builder" pinata for her party. She got to whack it with her hockey stick.  Fun!All the kids enjoyed the pinata candy.After the pinata, everyone played with Emily's new toys. What a great time!

Turkeys!

Another exciting moment!  The kids saw the turkeys!

They gathered by the window...

and watched the turkeys walk up the driveway.
Thought we could have turkey for dinner, but Connor just sat on the walkway outside and watched them fly off.  
Emily emphatically communicated that Jack (the cat) would have been a better choice to go after the turkeys.  

Shoveling Help

Last night we had some freezing rain, and today there was a coating of ice on the deck, so Chris decided to shovel it off. The girls went out with her and they decided that they wanted to help too.

They have their own little snow shovels so that they can do the job right.They're starting to look kinda like Mainers!

Play-Dough

Tonight Chris went to a party with some old friends, and Brenda stayed home with the girls. We decided to get out the play-dough that Melinda gave the girls for Christmas.

Just like with the painting yesterday, there was some confusion at first.Emily quickly got the hang of it, and helped Mom make a flower.Everyone knows that the best thing about play-dough is how good it smells!Kate kept trying to roll little pieces of the dough into balls....over and over and over. Maybe she was thinking about making cookies?Finally, Emily made something she called a "pig". For some reason, it required using ALL of the play-dough, even the stuff that Kate was using. Obviously, this didn't go over well with Kate.In order to stop a fight from happening, Mom distracted the girls by getting out some stamps and an ink pad. This activity required that Emily remove her clothes (just in case the ink was staining), which she was happy to do.Kate didn't really have time to master the stamping activity, because....Emily immediately began stamping herself. This required Mom to stop everything and throw them in the tub, once again. Another bath night!Luckily, Mom had time to clean everything up before Mama came home!

Pint-Size Picassos

Today we busted out the paints that the girls got from Santa for Christmas. We set up an area in the basement and had them put on their aprons from Melinda. We weren't really sure how it would go...

...and we had to provide a little direction at first.......but pretty soon they got the hang of it and starting making a masterpiece!

Unfortunately, their painting ended up being too big to hang on the refrigerator.

Santa brought the girls "spill-proof" paint cups and brushes with big chunky handles. We definitely recommend these items for any toddler painting event, as they make things go a lot smoother.

Eventually the kids began painting themselves, and that's when we had to wrap it up and throw them in the bathtub. The painting party was definitely a success!

Newspaper walk

Everyday (except Christmas Day--no paper!) Brenda or Chris walk to the road to get the newspaper. As you can see it's a bit of a walk.

This morning it was 3 degrees. Brenda and Emily got bundled up and made the walk with Connor.
It's also pretty icy out as it warmed up and rained on Christmas Eve.

Stockings...

We waited until after dinner to open our Christmas stockings, which were hung on the bannister with care.

Emily and Kate really don't understand the whole Christmas stocking thing.  Emily has only one use for stockings...

Kate's loves chocolate...here she is with a Ghirardelli chocolate peanut butter square. Mmmmm.

Visiting Grandparents

After opening our presents from Santa, we hit the road to visit some of the girls' grandparents. First we went to Grandma and Grandpa L.'s house on China Lake.

The girls helped Grandma and Grandpa open their presents from Brenda and Chris.We got them each a set of "creepers", for walking on the ice. They will need them when their lake freezes over!Mom and Mama got presents too, but the girls could hardly wait to rip into their gifts:  Beanbag chairs! They were thrilled.In a classic example of the difference in their personalities, Emily repeatedly launched herself into her beanbag chair from all angles, while Kate sat quietly in hers and concentrated on giving a bottle to a baby doll.After the gift exchange, we sat down for a nice brunch, and enjoyed the view from their sun porch.The girls really enjoy spending time with their grandparents. Living close to family is the #1 reason why we moved to Maine.This is the view from Grandma & Grandpa's sun room. The lake is getting pretty solid, but it's not quite ready to walk on yet. Ice fishing season starts January 1st!Our next visit was to Grandpa N.'s house. He lives just a mile or so down the road from Grandma and Grandpa L. He just got back from a long trip to Hawaii, but he still had time to put up a beautiful Christmas tree.Uncle David, Uncle Seth, Aunt Sara, and the girls' cousins were all visiting Grandpa too.The cousins each received a fancy Nintendo gadget for Christmas...they were all so engrossed in it, the adults almost forgot they were there!Emily got Alana to show her some things on her Nintendo. Pretty fun stuff!Grandpa had lots of tasty snacks, and he handed out lots of presents. We had a great time visiting with him.Here is Grandpa N. with his three grown children. Today was a busy day of visiting, but our girls did great. They seem to be really enjoying the holiday season.