The best laid plans....

Today was supposed to be Emma's birthday celebration. I had reservations to take Emma and two of her friends to stay one night at the Great Wolf Lodge so they could play at the indoor water park there. But then this morning, we woke up to the biggest snowstorm of the winter here...nearly six inches! The snow was at its peak when we were supposed to head out to the hotel, which is about 15 miles from here. There were accidents everywhere and I did not want to take the chance, especially with such precious cargo. Fortunately, I was able to change our reservation to March 14th, so we still get to go. The girls were all disappointed, but took it in stride.

So we stayed pretty close to home most of the day. Eventually the snow stopped and I spent about a half-hour shoveling out the driveway, with my little helper...


After digging out, we made a run to the grocery store and I let Emma pick out any restaurant to eat dinner. As I feared, she chose the world's worst Chinese buffet, which is her very favorite place to eat. Tons of deep fried food that has sat under heat lamps for hours...what's not to love? Well, she was in heaven.

Now we're watching the Spiderwick Chronicles movie, which is Emma's current obsession...we have read all the of books and she wanted to see the movie. I find the movie really intense...but Emma says it doesn't scare her. Hopefully she won't have nightmares tonight!

I'm seven!

As Emma explained to me this morning, seven is a BIG birthday. Because when you're six, you're still a little girl, but when you're seven, you're just a regular girl. I'm afraid she's right - WAH!

My little gap girl

Well, Emma has FINALLY lost one of her top teeth. This tooth has been loose for six months - and I am totally not exaggerating. Some children, when they get a loose tooth, wiggle and twist it until it falls out. Emma is not one of those children. She would run away in terror if I even suggested she wiggle it or if I asked to take a look at it. "It will come out when it's ready," she would say.

It was hanging by a thread this week when, as she was chewing a piece of chicken, it fell out. Emma was actually very excited!


Her other top front tooth is also loose now. So, according to my calcuations, it should be coming out around Halloween (or Christmas, if Emma has her way!)

Emma and D.J.

This weekend we met my parents in St. Louis for a short weekend getaway. They had in tow my niece and Emma's cousin D.J. Emma and D.J. have the same birthday, so it was also a bit of an early birthday celebration. D.J. will be 16 next Tuesday and Emma will be 7, but even though they are 9 years apart, they still love hanging out.

The hotel had a pool and the two girls had fun splashing around together...





We had such a nice time...D.J. is such a wonderful girl (really, she's a young lady now!) We are so lucky to have her in our family.

Back at last

I can't believe it's been two weeks since I posted anything. I guess it's been a combination of things...we've been busy, we've been sick and I haven't had anything interesting to say (I know...that has ever stopped me before.) I've also been in a terrible photography slump. I mean, I can't seem to take a decent photo these days. My lighting is wrong and the focus is off...and I know it's me, not my camera. It's probably due in small part to the fact that the sun hasn't been out forever and there's not much natural light to work with (I hate using the flash.) But I suspect most of it is me and my lack of inspiration.

Anyway, we're still here...trying to survive the winter blahs. I always look forward to spring, but never more so than this year. We're just counting the days...

Tomorrow we're heading to St. Louis for a day to meet up with my parents and Emma's cousin DJ. Both of the girls were born on February 24, so we're celebrating their birthdays - a little early.

Here's one unexceptional photo of Emma...maybe the sun will actually come out this weekend and I can snap a decent picture!