Emma turns 3!

We celebrated a big day in the life of our little girl on January 10. She couldn't wait for her birthday to come, and would talk about how it's right after God's birthday (Christmas)! I can't say that I'm too sad to kiss the "2's" good-bye....but we've really enjoyed watching her grow and develop and learn so many new things!

Tim said he wanted to take her out for breakfast, just the Daddy and the birthday girl. Lindsay had a basketball game that morning, so breakfast was only a quick stop at the donut shop.

Emma REALLY enjoyed her donut!

After the basketball game we met up with Pappy and Grandma at Friendly's (Emma's favorite restaurant) for lunch. We returned home for a small party of cake and presents.

Note to Grammie from Emma: Thank you for the sunglasses and play-doh. I like the sunglasses because I can't break them no matter how hard I try. And the play-doh is really pretty when I mix all the colors together. Love, Emma

Family Time

The day after Christmas, we packed up the car and headed out for Michigan. We were in the car for about 2 days with 2 kids, but that's nothing compared to my brother's family who traveled about 4 days with 6 kids. We all met up in Grand Rapids to spend some time with the grandparents and family members.

Our girls love to visit Pop Pop and Grammie, who always have a continuous supply of ice cream. We had a lot of good family time, playing games, going out to eat, and just hanging out.

We took the girls to the local Children's Museum to hang out with their cousins. We all had so much fun!

The cousins squished together in the VW bug.

Emma and Gustie playing bank.

The cousins lined up: (left to right) Emma, Piper, Lindsay, Gustie, Stormie, Aurora, Sammy, and baby Cherokee.

After the museum we got some hot dogs in a downtown restaurant. Stormie and Lindsay look cute together with the same missing tooth!

We really enjoyed all the time we could spend together with family we rarely get to see. According to Grammie, we're all getting together here in PA in March. Did you catch that Angela and Anne??

December

Here it is, the middle of January, and I'm trying to catch up on some highlights of last month. I think I blinked, and December came and went. Here are some pictures to help me remember what happened:

Tim makes Christmas cut-out cookies with the girls every year. They have lots of fun and get really messy. I had the stomach flu that day, so I stayed out of the kitchen... until the next day to clean-up. I also helped the girls do some extra decorating for their cookies the day after.


Emma enjoyed decorating, undecorating, licking the decorations, and then re-decorating the cookies. Don't worry, I didn't have her share them with anyone.

The highlight of the Christmas season comes down to Christmas morning. Our usual routine is getting up early, reading the Christmas story and opening stockings. We have cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then tear into the gifts. I think that as parents we love it more than the kids!

We give the girls new Christmas jammies to wear Christmas Eve. They usually wear them most of Christmas day, too!

One of their favorite gifts was the Cherry Blossom Market playtent. They've spent lots of time pretending to shop and sell things in their little play store.

We had a very blessed Christmas! After some time at our place in the morning, we go over to Pappy and Grandma's house for Christmas dinner and presents. Does it get any better than that?