Happy Holidays (a little late!)

We just returned from spending the past week at my parents' house for Christmas. We had a wonderful holiday with our family. Some quick pics..

Here's Emma looking to see what Santa left in her stocking (no coal this year, thank goodness!)


And here she is with her favorite gift...American Girl doll Julie!


We took a little walk on Christmas Day...no white Christmas for us this year, as you can see.


We did have a great time, but the drive back was tiring and we got back just in time for yet another snowstorm. I am so over winter!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas too!

We got socked

We had two ice storms last week and last night we got hit with the snow. About five inches so far, with more forecast for today. We've been super-lazy this morning and Emma didn't even get dressed until after lunch. We finally bundled up and went outside to shovel a bit. Then I pulled Emma around on her sled.


We have a very hilly yard (something I'm all too aware of during mowing season.) But it's great for doing a little fun sledding. I probably pulled Emma up our little hills and pushed her down about 100 times, with her giggling all the way down.


Hopefully the snow will let up pretty soon and roads will be passable. We need to go to the grocery store and get a few errands in today. We can only be housebound for so long!

Somebody has a loose tooth...

...fortunately, it's not me (although I constantly have that dream where my teeth are falling out.) No, it's Emma, of course. For the past several months, she has asked me to wiggle various teeth to see if they're loose yet. Nearly all of her friends have lost baby teeth and she's dying to have one fall out too. Although I would tell her on occasion that maybe a tooth felt a little loose, I never really thought they were. Until this morning. She asked me to wiggle one her front teeth and it definitely is loose!

I'm actually a little sad...she's got such cute baby teeth and I can't believe her front permanent teeth are going to come in straight because she was such a thumbsucker during her infant and toddler years. My dentist has already told me braces are definitely in Emma's future.

Anyway, Emma is sooo excited. I'll post a pic when the blessed event actually occurs.

PS a friend of mine told me that the going rate for the tooth fairy now is $5...could that be possible?!

Five years as a family...

It was five years ago today that I was handed a bewildered little 8-month-old little baby and was told she was now my daughter. I can't believe how fast five years can fly by. I feel like the most blessed person on the planet that I get to share my life with this amazing little person. Can't wait to see what the next five years brings!

Blast from the past

Emma was getting ready for bed tonight when she said "Mommy, look what I found!" I went in the bathroom and this is what I saw...


I guess one of her old binkys was stashed away in a drawer. It was pretty cute and reminded me of a funny picture I had taken of Emma when she was two...


You would never know it from this picture, but Emma never really used a pacifier. They were just toys to play with. She was always a thumbsucker and will occasionally stick her left thumb in her mouth when she gets stressed out which, thankfully, isn't too often.

On ice once again

It was a totally icky day here, with a bit of sleet and cold rain. But it didn't matter to us because we were in the 6th row for the once-in-a-lifetime High School Musical on Ice spectacular (at least I HOPE it's once in a lifetime - hehe!) Seriously, it was a pretty cute show, especially considering we have seen both HS Musical movies like 1500 times, not to mention the countless hours spent listening to the soundtrack in the car.

Emma and her friend Jia had a blast...here they are with their "Ryan" style souvenir hats (if you haven't seen the movies, I'm sure that means nothing to you!)


And here's Emma chowing down on cotton candy, as she always ends up doing at this kinds of events...


We really did have a nice time...but more importantly, as we were leaving, they passed out flyers for the Disney PRINCESSES ON ICE show, coming here in March. So I'm sure this afternoon was not our last On Ice event (sigh!)