Emerson's first purchase

Emerson has been really into money lately. I have been waiting for the appropriate moment to make a teachable experience out of money. That moment finally came this past weekend. We had a huge garage sale. Emerson picked out some toys to sell (more like mommy picked them out). I told her that the money she made from her toys sales she could take and use to buy a new toy. She really liked that idea.

The garage sale came and went. And was a huge success. I decided that instead of giving her the actual profits from her toys it would be easier to just do a nice round number. So, I gave her $10. We took that money to Target. In her purse. Which she held tightly the entire time.

We cruised up and down the toy aisles. She pointed out many things that she wanted. Most of which were way too expensive. (What can I say, she has mommy's taste). Anyways, after about 20 minutes of looking and debating and looking and debating, Emerson selected a new baby doll. The exact same baby that she already knows and loves. Just a different color. I am not lying.

I tried telling her that it was the same baby she already had but she was adamant. Fine. No arguing from me. There are much worse things that she could want. So, we walked to the register and Emerson made her very first purchase. All by herself. We opened the new baby as soon as we got into the car and Emy named her baby Ally.

The cutest thing about the entire experience was that when we were walking back to the car with her purchase, Emerson kept telling me how excited baby Ally was to finally have a mommy and that she was so tired of sitting on that shelf all alone:)

Without further adieu, meet baby Ally.

Emerson Before and After

For several months Emerson has been telling me that she wanted "short hair like mommy's" for summer. So, we have been planning to get a big haircut after her dance recital was over. In my mind, I have been super excited about the change but a little worried with how Emerson would react to not having her long blonde locks anymore. Afterall, she did constantly twirl and play with her hair in addition to looking in the mirror and saying that she loved her long hair like rapunzels.

Anyways, we went to the hair place on Thursday and when the girl was finished cutting her hair, Emy looked in the mirror and said, "I LOVE my short hair, mommy!". I was so thankful that it was a success and not traumatizing. Every day since her hair cut, she has told us several times that she loves her short hair. She also tells all her friends that they need to get haircuts like hers. It is pretty cute.

Before
After!

And her "official" dance picture from this year:)

Emerson's First Dance Recital

It took me a long time to fall asleep Friday night. I laid in bed worrying about how Emerson would do at her first dance recital the next morning. I was not worried about her messing up the routine or anything like that, I was concerned with how she would react to being on stage in front of so many people. And how I would react to her reaction.

While I did want her to do well, I am not a crazy pageant mom. I did not drill her on the routine for months. I did not put her hair in rollers and mess with putting mascara on her tiny eye lashes. It was nothing like that. Basically, (as I told many of you earlier) I was going to consider anything other than standing on stage, crying a success.

We woke up Saturday morning as usual. Steve took Ashton to my in-laws house so that Emy and I could concentrate on getting ready. We did light make up. Put hair into a ballerina bun with only minor complaints about the bobby pins. Got to use hairspray (a favorite of emy's). Most importantly Emerson finally got to wear the coveted recital costume that had been hanging in mommy's closet for several months.

We got to the church and there was a lot of hustle and bustle with all the girls being dropped off. I took some pre-show pictures of Emy and with Emy (only to accidentally delete them later- still makes me sick to think about!). She was excited all morning. Then I had to sign her in and drop her at the door. And she hesitated. I almost broke down in tears right there. I knew it was going to be a long morning. Almost 3 hours in a room with 50+ other girls, no food and no mommy. Yikes.

Her class performed their ballet routine 4th and their tap routine somewhere towards the end- 18th I think. Anyways, after the 3rd group finished their routine, the lights went out and Emerson's class walked on stage. I had to swallow back the lump in my throat. Nothing had happened yet and I was almost in tears. The lights came up and she did AMAZING! Not only were there no tears but she smiled! And danced! And did so great! I could not have been more proud.







Emerson's sweet little friend Hayden, came and watched the entire show just so he could give her flowers and a hug when it was over. So cute:)
This is what kind of picture I got after the show. She was completely SPENT. Seriously, I haven't seen a breakdown from exhaustion like that in a long time.
Anyways, I can't explain all the thoughts and emotions that I experienced Saturday. Seeing your little girl be so brave and get on stage in front of hundreds of strangers and show off something that she learned is indescribable. The pride is overwhelming. Seeing the pride in her eyes is even more overwhelming.

We have since recovered from the lack of sleep (By the way, Ashton did amazing considering his schedule was completely messed up) and over-stimulation and are ready for the summer. I am not sure if Emerson will want to take dance again next year. I have a feeling she will but I will leave that decision up to her.

Serious cuteness

In my humble opinion, Ashton could not get much cuter. Oh my word, I am just head over heels for this little guy.

We took some cars to TCU the other day and this is what I walked away with...capturing my little boy really discover cars for the first time. My heart melts.

Ashton is 8 months old

Well, he actually turned 8 months a week ago. Oops.

Anyways, at 8 months he has added clapping to his list of accomplishments. If you start clapping and saying, "Yay Ashton" he will start smiling and clapping and look at you with wide eyes as if thinking, "I don't know what I did but this is fun!". It is so cute.

He really, really wants to crawl. He will get onto all fours and just rock. If he sees toys far off he will go from sitting to all fours and then the will reach out with one arm for it. I would not be surprised if we are only days away from mobility. I am not ready for that.

Still no teeth.

He loves to eat. As long as their is food in front of him, he will not stop. The other evening he had his bottle and his serving of baby food. Then we left him in the high chair while we ate dinner and cleaned up. In the same sitting he polished off a ton of "puffs", a quarter of an avacado and half a sippy of water. I seriously thought he would throw up. Emerson did too. She kept saying, "Ashy stop eating. You are gonna frow up."

We are pretty much in a daily routine now. He takes two naps. One around 9am and it is usually a little over an hour. Then there is another nap around 1pm and its length fluctuates. Good days it is 1.5 to 2 hours. Bad days it is 30 minutes. The short naps make for long evenings!

And just because this post is entirely about Ashton, here is his reaction to playing in the baby pool for the first time.
Think he liked it? As sad as his reaction was, it was also pretty funny. Don't worry, we didn't leave him in there. I ended up holding him while Emerson played in it with her babies.

Emerson lately

I haven't written anything about what Emerson is up to lately. Since I am playing catch-up, I thought this would be a good time.
As Emerson is getting closer to 4 she is getting so much more mature. It never ceases to amaze me.

Emy is going through another growth spurt. She is eating us out of house and home as well as being back to her traditional long afternoon naps.

Her first dance recital is coming up in a couple weeks. It will be the true test of if she really likes dance or not. So far, I have not been able to get a true reading. Her opinion changes daily. I am also interested to see how she does on stage in front of a huge audience. I am expecting tears. Anything better than that I will consider a success.

Emerson is more in love with Ashton every day. She is constantly asking to play with him. And the thing about it is that she plays appropriately. Meaning she plays at his level and not hers. She plays peek-a-boo and his musical toys. And he absolutely loves it.

Every night when Emy kisses Ash good night, she says the same thing, "Night night Ashy. I love you. I will be here when you wake up so we can play." Sigh. Melt my heart.

We have been talking to Emerson about the swim lessons that she is going to take this summer. You see, she hates having water in her face or eyes. I mean hates it. To the point of screaming in the bath. Anyways, lately when she cries in the bath we have been saying, "Emy what are you going to do when you take swim lessons this summer? You will have to put your face in the water then." Her response every single time? "No I won't. I will just wear a mask." She is in for a shock when she finds out this is not true.

I recorded the royal wedding on Friday and told Emerson that she could watch it after school. She could not get over the fact that it was a real prince and princess. Her eyes were glued to the tv and she kept saying, "The princess is soooo pretty, mommy".

She is really into kicking the soccer ball with daddy. I know Steve has a lot to do with this but she loves it so much. Soccer might be in her near future.

Emerson talks about what she wants for her birthday (that is 6 months away) almost everyday. The latest thing on her list of wants is money. To clarify, I asked her what she would do with the money. She told me that she would buy toys but that she wanted to ask for money so that she could buy the toys. Great, let the shopping addiction begin. At the age of 3.

We have recently discovered that in addition to her cantaloupe allergy, she cannot eat watermelon. Not sure if it is a full blown allergy or just an intolerance to it. Either way, it is out of the diet.

Well, that is all that comes to mind at the time being. Sorry for the randomness...just wanted to make sure that I get these bits and pieces down before I forget them:)

When daddy is in charge...

This is what Emerson ends up wearing. Please notice all the details and take this in. Tshirt from China that is a size too small. Check. Plaid shorts that are a size too big. Check. Cowboy boots. Check. Clippies in hair that don't match either. Check.


Yes, my child looks like she could be homeless. This is what happens when daddy is in charge. Good thing she loves "Daddy days". I guess I can overlook the homeless clothing because having fun with daddy is all that matters.

Easter Recap

I am obviously playing catch up on the blog since I have not posted anything in a couple weeks. That being said, I will start with our Easter recap. Let's just say that Easter did not go the way I had hoped.

Saturday, Emerson and Steve dyed Easter eggs. Emy was so excited.

She can't wait to see the finished product!
Ooooo, pretty!
Patiently waiting on the rest.
Look at my pretty egg.
Finished eggs. Emerson was very pleased with herself. After naptime we took the eggs one step farther and glittered them. She thoroughly enjoyed that part too.
Saturday night, I woke up to the sound of Steve in the bathroom. Throwing up. Awesome. He came back to bed and told me it was just something he ate and that he was fine. Wrong. Steve woke up Easter morning still feeling terrible and had a fever.

He sequestered himself to our bedroom for the day and we tried to go on with Easter without him. Thank goodness my grandmother was here to help with the kiddos. I made the executive decision not to take the kids to church. I hated not going but I just could not handle the thought of spreading germs to others or someone else getting sick while we were at church.

When I told Emerson that we could not go to church because daddy was sick her biggest concern was that she was not going to get to wear her Easter clothes. I told her not to worry, that she would still get to wear her pretty dress while we hunted eggs later that morning.

Here are the kiddos for their Easter 2011 picture.
After the "official" pictures were taken we went out back to see what the Easter bunny had left. Here is Ashton checking out his Easter basket. (wearing the same bunny ears that sister did on her first Easter).
Emy hunting eggs with her new basket that is almost as big as she is.
Watching sister hunt for eggs. Mainly because she was squealing with joy at every egg she found. Even when she found Ashton's eggs. She would scream, "Ashy, I found an egg for you...look!" It was really cute.
Emerson checking out the contents of her egg.
Ashton checking out his egg.
Tasting his egg.
One of the two times that Steve came out of the bedroom on Easter. He didn't want to miss the egg hunt. He stayed on the opposite side of the yard from us. It was really side.
We finished off the day with a traditional Easter dinner. It was definitely not the same without Steve. We missed him but he stayed in bed and slept and was much better on Monday. Thank goodness.