A Christmas Wish

Some of you are aware of our gifts we gave Drew's parents for Christmas, others of you are not. Well, unfortunately we were scrambling too much to settle Emma down to get any REALLY good pictures of the pigs, but below is what we did get. And yes, I did say pigs.

Let me just give you a little background. Drew's mom said a while back that she has always wanted a pig for Christmas, but no one has ever gotten her one. So, my lovely husband takes it upon himself to fulfill her Christmas wish. Now, I want to get something straight. I have nothing against pigs, nor did I not want his mom to have a pig (or two for that matter). But I was hesitant to be the ones actually INVOLVED in the pig-getting.

I knew Drew wanted to get a pig for his mom, and I was aware he was looking on craigslist nearly every night. He even talked about it, but I think I tuned him out until a few weeks before Christmas when I heard him talking to his dad on the phone. He was telling him we might just go get the pig and keep it HERE for a couple days, and then drive down with it on Christmas. Ummmm.................no. He said we could keep it in the basement with some straw and promised he would take care of the poop picking up, etc.

This is my husband. He has the VERY best of intentions, very optimistic, and such a sweet man. But he has these outlandish ideas sometimes, and I think this one just might top them all. Well, I gently let this sweet-hearted man know that as sweet as his intentions were, this was simply a BAD idea. We comprimised by going to a farm a few days before Christmas to get the pigs (now the plan was to get 2 pigs) and take them to his parents the same day. Oh, ya... with our daughter.

I was thinking, "this won't be so bad. Emma will get to see some pigs, and she might actually like it." Wrong. She immediately started to cry as we entered the cramped pig quarters. But I wonder if it was not the sound of the 15 or so pigs, but that HORRENDOUS odor that made her cry. 15 pigs in a small, heated space? Possibly the worst odor I have ever had to smell.

As the pigs were lifted by their hind legs and given to Drew to put in the dog crate, Emma became worried again. But it wasn't until I started to buckle her in to her carseat and the pigs started moving around and snorting and squeeling directly behind Emma that the real fun began. Emma and I waited in the car with the pigs while Drew chatted with the farmer. The stench was so bad that I had the window open and a blanket over Emma for the hour drive. We ended up stopping at a gas station to get an air freshener to hang above the pigs. We made it, but I won't ever do THAT again.
Here are the pics that we DID get of that day....

Santa

We went to this great little nursery to see (a free) santa just before Christmas. Emma always likes to get a little shopping in wherever she can... Yet again, I put the pictures in reverse order, so this is the "happy emma" with Santa. After seeing him the first time and moving into another area of the nursery, as I was looking around Drew followed her as she wondered back to santa, saying "oh, oh, oh" (which is emma-speak for "ho ho ho".
SO, here is her first approach and encounter with Mr. Claus...

Funny, right? They had live reindeer too, so Em got up close for a pic. Great day together.

December happenings...

Ahhh... I have finally taken a deep breath after the holidays, so here is another post for ya.

We all went downtown before Christmas for the Carolling competition, which was one of those sweet family outings that went as smoothly as it could and we just had a great time together. Emma kept pointing at the Macy's star, as she had just recently been able to pronounce "star" and was very excited about it.

We voted on our favorite street carolers, and then stayed for the final stage performances. As Drew and I took in the carolling, Emma charmed the onlookers. She was playing peek-a-boo with everyone and became a little concerned when the "reindeer" character disappeared off stage calling it "kitty". So, here are some pics (albeit a little jumbled in order), for you to enjoy. (Her CURLS! - very curly after her bath! I can get them in an itty-bitty pony tail, but she looks like George Washington!)
Emma and I got to go to a children's performance of the Nutcracker with a group of moms we belong to before Christmas as well. I nearly had tears in my eyes watching her take it all in. I didn't think she would make it longer than 10 minutes, but she sat and stood (and danced) through the entire 1 hour performance! It was one of those moments when she brings me so much joy, it feels as though my heart just cannot contain it, and there is an actual ache in my chest that happens. I will never forget it.
Oh, and dressing her up! SO much fun. Someone Drew has worked for gave us this outfit - so sweet!
Hmmm... well, Em has taken to LOVING wearing sunglasses around the house, outside, in the store, wherever. She will seriously keep the things on for 45 minutes if I don't ask her if she would like to take them off. Drew has noticed her depth perception decrease as a result! She now calls them "glassies". She'll take any pair she can get her little hands on.

And back to the Caroling adventure. I adore these pictures of Drew and Emma together. Emma loves her daddy...

We are checking out the Macy's star...again!

awe......!

More

Thought I'd throw in a few more...

Remember her "I'm gonna get you" look from the last post? This is her running away from Drew getting HER...
Hmm.. a little blury - Emma getting some books to read. Her faves right now? "I Love my Kitten," "Dr. Seuss's ABC's," "The EYE book," "Moo Baa LA LA LA"

old school

Her hat... this adorable page-boy hat. But we bought it in army green (on sale when she was tiny) and she usually looks like a boy. She gets called a boy at least once a day if we're out and about anyway, so I rarely put it on her... but it is just so cute. I can't wait for her curls to get a little longer. She looks so old! Yikes.

I had fun taking these pics. I shut her bedroom door, because she runs away from me usually when I have the camera. I got a few good ones. Some times I could just eat her up. And yes, there are times she makes me so tired - I could just crawl in bed and let her tear up the house.

This one below I had just told her to be careful, because the heater is very HOT. She takes me pretty seirously - thank goodness.
We all chase eachother around the house - this is Emma's "I'm gonna get you" look! Watch out!

Late November

Our tree.... not too sad. Emma enjoys pulling ornamnets off, but mostly asks for one she calls "bo", which is the ferry boat ornament... This is Emma's typical- "I just took a bath, you can't MAKE me go to bed" - look. She runs from us if we ask her for something with her tongue usually hanging out one side of her mouth and her eyes wide.
This was at my parents' house over Thanksgiving. I went to the store for some diapers, and Drew said she was a little worried about me...She has a scarf of mine on her head.
With grandpa Gusto at the breakfast table... giggling and wiggling!
Reading before bed with Grandma:)

Late November "fun"

Ahhhh... the Christmas tree cutting trip to the mountains again. It always proves to be a bit of an adventure. This year was no different. Except of course, that it was. RAIN, rain and more RAIN. I acquired a snow suit from a friend, a coat from a friend, bought snow boots and we were ready to play in the snow...but after a 2 hour drive and increasingly heavy rain, we pulled over on the side of the road and climbed that little hill behind us to look for a tree. Emma's face was dripping wet, I was holding her (she's WAY to heavy now) and her boots were falling off as we were gettin soaked. Emma and I were headed back down the hill to the car while Myra and Drew found us a sad little tree. Here is Em, back at the car enjoying "stacking" our shoes as I try to remove the layers upon layers of clothing I had on her....
Sorry for the side shot. It is simply - Coffee. MY coffee. My much needed coffee.
We "stopped by" Drew's parents house and Emma met her new cousin Savannah... She wasn't too happy about Mama or Daddy holding another baby.
She sure likes Papa. Even gave him a kiss after about an hour of warming up to him...

Discoveries

"How" is Emma-speak for Howard. At first she just said "Ki-y" (Kitty), then "How", now it's sometimes "Hi, How". She loves the cat. I think Howard is happy that there is glass between the two of them.
Emma played at her friend, Naomi's a couple weeks ago and discovered baby dolls! So, we went out and found one for Emma. At first she thought the baby's binkie was for HER, but now she takes good care of her little one. She wants to rock it in her rocking chair, and I found her holding the baby's hand after falling asleep in the car...how sweet is that! I drug out this Tu-Tu from an old dog costume we used to have. I often find her trying to put it on her head, so I helped her out a little here. She runs around the house with her tongue out the side of her mouth -- a typical Emma face -- She knows she's cute. Man, we're in for it!
Naomi had a butterfly birthday party a few weeks ago, and Emma looked like such a big girl dressing up in wings and sitting at a real little kid table!! She is concentrating on something here at the table. I think she is trying to figure out the crayons... I can't wait to color with her!
I'll post some more soon -- She has been a busy girl lately! I can't get a THING done these days. She is constantly undoing whatever I "do". Pulling books down, unfolding laundry, pulling out toys I have just put away, unwinding toilet paper, basically making me tired. But she is cracking me up and I hope I can capture this time of her life in my head and never forget it.

Monkey Madness!

She IS a monkey. She had no idea what was going on, but she was happy to be with both mommy and daddy. We took her to about 5 houses, and she didn't realize she had a loot until the very end. The last picture is Emma discovering she had some goods on her.

Drew and I went to the fabric store the week before and had picked out a pattern for a skunk and bought fuzzy fabric and everything...lesson #1,001: ask yourself, "am I REALLY going to make this?" before spending $25 at a craft store. Really, you have to take a hard look at yourself and your time-frame, and your sanity.

To make a short story long, we ended up with this monkey suit made from Emma's brown jogging suit, some fuzzy fabric, some felt for the ears, a few safety pins, a cut up towel for the tail, some more safety pins and some make-up for her nose. Done in 10 minutes!! Lesson learned.

This last picture is classic Surprized -delighted- excited Emma. She looks scared, I know - but she isn't.

Emma in October!

Emma's lovin' Lu Lu again... She can now climb up in the rocking chair and "wock, wock". And I can now get a little "Pebbles" pom pom in her hair.

She is taking after her daddy with all the book looking. I hope she keeps it up. She loves her books. One of her first words was "tory" - that's "story" to you and me. One of her favorites is Go Dog Go by Dr. Seuss... on one page it says "stop dogs, stop. The light is red", and she puts her hand up in the air like the bird is doing on the page and says "sta!". She will go and get the book if we say any of the lines in the book. I sound like such a proud mom - I can't help it - I guess I am!!

We went to a farm called Bob's corn in Snohomish that Drew and I visited pre-Emma for some pumpkins. Again, the timing wasn't perfect. I think I am getting better at trying to relax and not get so anxious when she gets so tired and fussy and just take it for what it is, but it is still a far cry from our care-free -go anywhere, any time- life we used to have. (Some of you are probably saying - uh, ya- tell us what we don't know"). It took a while to drive out there and she was definately tired and a bit grumpy when she couldn't do what she wanted to, but she had fun sitting in the pumpkins, the wheel barrow and riding the sadle in the barn! Cowgirl up!