Hurricane Emma!

We have a little reading nook in our master bedroom, with a chair and ottoman. Emma loves to take the small ottoman and tip it over and then sit on it, jump on it, use it to try to climb up on things she shouldn't be trying to climb on, etc, etc!!lol Here she is in action. BTW, I don't know why we buy her toys, one of her fave things to play with these days is a "Rolaids noisemaker"!!lolol Easy to make too for you crafty moms out there - take a container of Rolaids (Tums will work as well!lol), make sure it's about half empty and then give to baby to shake, shake, shake!lol

More pics from our visit with Jade and Sam!

Jade and Emma are playing house.

Emma and Rebecca are making a break for it!

Here are some more pics from our day with Sam and Jade yesterday. Would you believe in the 3 hours we were at Sam's house, I snapped over 80 pictures. The girls are obviously gorgeous yet from all the pics, I don't have any great photos...that really speaks to how bad a photographer I really am!!lol BTW, I have to mention that I LOVED Sam's house. Those of you who know me well know that I love architecture and love looking at houses. Sam and Bill's house is from the 1800s (mid 1800s I think Sam said) and Bill is a real craftsman who has been restoring it in his spare time. It is just so amazingly charming!! The whole neighbourhood is full of these old, gracious homes and is just fantastic! Anyhow, I digress...

A Visit with Samantha and Jade!

Carolyn and I loaded up the girls today and drove a little over an hour to Samantha's house. We hadn't seen her and Jade since our time in China so it was wonderful to get caught up with Samantha and see how much Jade has grown! We had a wonderful visit, Sam cooked us an amazing lunch (Emma is already asking for the chicken dish recipe!lol) and it went by way too fast!

Rebecca and Jade sharing some Cheerios.

You better get a move on Emma and Rebecca, Jade is beating you to the Cheerios!

Jade and Emma

Here they come...a triple threat...oops, I mean treat!lol

Growing Girl!

When we first got home in November, Emma was able to go in and out under the kitchen table without having to bend down. Now, it's taken her a good long while, but after hitting her head more times than I care to remember, she seems to finally be getting that she now needs to bend down to get in and out from under the table... don't even ask what her fascination is with being under the table... maybe she thinks it's her own little clubhouse under there!lol Oh, and notice her new sneakers...she seems quite proud of them and also just as interested in undoing the velcro as walking around in them!lol

Fish Face

Emma, can you show us your fish face? Emma's comprehension has noticeably increased in the last few weeks. She now seems to understand most of what we say to her...and of course we just ask her to do ever so important tasks like showing us her fish face!lol

Body Art!

With this Blog, we have a rule of not posting pictures that show too much, so no cute bath pics and such since you just never know who might be looking although we think this Blog is relatively private...a remaining paranoia from years ago when we wouldn't allow any pics of our kids on the Net!lol However, I thought I'd show you part of Emma after she was done with the crayons today... you get the picture - she coloured herself from top to toe, diaper included and I admit to getting into the game too... she didn't write EMMA on her legs, I did... she's precocious, but not that much!!lol Not a prissy little one our Emma!lol

She's at it again!

Apparently one evening of playing "blankie ghost" wasn't enough, she's at it again tonight... must be a lot more fun than it looks!lol

Get me some Lego!

We discovered very quickly after getting home with Emma that Emma and Lego do NOT go well together...and of course wouldn't you know that Thomas would have 1000s of the itty bittiest pieces of Lego which Emma seems to think she must try to eat. Anyhow, in an attempt to avoid Lego being a regular part of her diet, we made a large enclosure in which all Lego live and that's where Thomas plays with the Lego if Emma is in the room and if he takes it out when she's not there, puts it all back in the pen when he's done. Anyhow, in this pic, you can't really tell, but Thomas is in the pen and just before this pic, Emma was actually trying to get her feet in the holes in the gates to pull herself over the top... she didn't make it, but I'm sure she soon will... maybe if we let her eat a Lego she'll find she doesn't really like them??lolol

Where's Emma??

As you can see, Emma sure does love "blankie"... can you find her under there?? At least during this nap, she didn't take her shirt off. Taking her clothes off seems to be her new thing and most often than not, when we go in after her nap, she's topless!lol

Wonder why!

Gee Emma, I just can't imagine why you're falling and bumping into things tonight!!lol She spent half the evening walking around the kitchen and family room with her "blankie" over her head!lol

Bad Mommy!!lol

Emma somehow managed to fall backwards into the little bin of toys we keep in the kitchen... as you can see, good mommy that I am, I quickly grabbed the camera which was right there on the counter and snapped a pic before rescuing her!lol Thomas then decided to recreate the scene!lol

The many uses of Post-It Notes!

Who knew Post-Its had so many uses!!lol

Visiting with Rebecca

On Thursday, Emma and I popped in for a quick visit with Rebecca and Carolyn. The girls had fun running all over the house together. :-)

Double fisted drinkers!lol

The girls playing at Carolyn's house

Perfect Fit!

Really Mommy, it's my hat, not Thomas', see, it fits perfectly!

The world is green!

Emma grabbed a few pieces of plastic from my storage drawer and when she put the green cover in front of her face, she must have noticed that the world looked different because she spent 15 minutes walking all over the family room with the green cover in front of her face!lol

Gated community?

Perhaps we could just say that Emma resides in a gated community!! The large gate at the forefront is the one blocking access to the dining room and living room, rooms we'd rather keep Emma out of since there are too many things she could get into trouble with in those 2 rooms, not to mention very light coloured furniture and area rugs and a glass top table!lol Then there's the gate blocking access to the basement stairs since Emma still thinks she can just fling off whatever she's standing on and someone will always catch her and get her where she's going. And this weekend, we set up a gate at the entrace to the kitchen/family room area - to keep her IN!!lol When I'm working in the kitchen and she goes out of sight, odds are she's running down the hall and maneuvering her way upstairs to the top floor - she's a real going concern and you can't take your eyes off her, so now, she's gated until she learns how to go up and down the stairs like a pro or until she starts listening when we say NO, wonder which will come first!lol

Hanging out

Thomas and Emma have enjoyed hanging out with Nana and Poppa over the last week. Here are some pics of them with Emma this morning...Thomas wasn't in the mood for photos!lol Cuddling with Nana

Flying high with Poppa

Reading

Here are some pics of Thomas reading to Emma... they both love books - okay, Emma eats them as much as she looks at them, but all I said was that she loved books, nothing about reading them!lol She does love animal books and she's perfecting her animal sounds!lol

Shoes and now this...you've got to be kidding!

Poor Emma, no sooner does she have to wear shoes, now I pull out boots...will it never end??lol Today, I took Emma out and let her walk around outside for the first time. When we go out, it's usually just to head into the car or stroller and she always wear a one piece "footie" snowsuit, so this was the first time she went out and walked around a bit... she touched the snow with her hand and from her reaction, I'd say she's less than impressed by the white stuff!lol

New discovery!

Today, Emma opened and got into a box of Kleenex... who needs toys when you can pull out tissue after tissue from a box!!lol She tried to eat a tissue of course, but I talked her out of that one!

Hanging Out!

Here are pics of Emma stealing the remotes - good luck to all of us finding them when we want them!! Another pic of her dragging along her favourite "blankie". My parents have been visiting this week and they've been enjoying Emma and vice versa. My parents live 100s of miles away and this is the 2nd time Emma has met them. They spent 3 days here a few weeks after we got home and now this visit. It took her a couple of hours, but she was hanging out with them like they were here all the time. What's really odd is that Emma refuses to go to anyone but DH and I and our sitter and if anyone else does manage to hold her for more than 20 seconds, if DH or I leave the room, well, let's just say it's not a pretty picture. Emma insists that if anyone dares get close to her, Mommy or Daddy, and preferably both, have to be even closer!!lol Anyhow, after my parents had been here a couple of hours, my mother took her downstairs while I cooked and Emma played with her and my father, no sign of DH or I anywhere around... odd isn't it... this happened last time they visited as well...who knows why, my parents sure have been enjoying her hugs and giggles! :-)

Another one bites the dust...

Thomas lost another tooth this week... he's 7 and he's now lost a whopping 4 teeth over the last year, all on the bottom!lol

Fashion statement

Here's Emma's new fashion statement...like her anklet??lol

These shoes were made for walking...

I'd gotten Emma a pair of shoes a month or two ago, but after wearing them once and spending all of her time trying to get them off, we hadn't bothered again. Today, I pulled them out again. I thought now that she's got the walking thing down, it's time to add the shoes to the picture. Well, she's funny as can be. For the first 10 minutes or so, she kept walking as if she was going through a foot of snow, lifting her feet way up in the air with every step! She seems to like them now though since having discovered that you can kick things and they make all kinds of cool noise when you're wearing shoes... ah, my delicate little flower!lol

OUCH!

Emma got her first "booboo" other than the odd scratches and bruises yesterday... we took our eyes off her for one moment and next thing we know, she's jammed in between the bed and night stand and seems to have scraped her eye on something. She's such a tough cookie, she cried but not much. This morning her eye was red and swollen, but by afternoon, it was pretty normal in size, just with a scratch. Here's a picture of her with Rebecca today where you can see the damage... you can click on the picture to enlarge.
Given what a little daredevil she is, this is probably the first of many scares she'll be giving us!!

All together now!!

Getting these 5 busy little girls to pose for a picture is not as easy as it might sound!!lol Left to right: Keira, Kate, Emma, Rebecca and Sadie. :-)

Yangxi Girls

Emma and I got together with Carolyn, Dana, Jackie and Shelley who brought their beautiful Yangxi girls over for a visit today. It's almost 3 months to the day since we met our daughters and they're all doing great! It's incredible to see how much these little ones have grown... they're all so delightful! Rebecca

Emma

Keira

Kate

Sadie