Lithographs

I was playing around with my photo software and noticed a "litho" option and used it on a couple of pics... interesting results. :-)

Dressing up!

Here's Emma wearing her first EVER pair of tights!!lol Other than for her photo session, I've never bothered putting Emma in skirts or dresses - she wore skirts in Florida, but that was easy, no tights required!lol I just don't think that winter and dresses mix well, not for us anyhow, but today it's gorgeous out and I knew she'd be fine on our walk with just tights and her "blankie" covering her legs in the stroller...no snowsuit needed anymore - yippee!!! Here's how clueless I am about fashion (you want to decorate your house, call me, wanna know what to wear - don't call me!!lol) - total tomboy here - that when I went to Carolyn's this week, I brought along a few spring dresses from Emma's closet to ask her what colour tights would work best with them!!lol Her Rebecca wears dresses probably as much if not more often than pants, so she's my expert!lol

Another fun day at the park!

Today was another gorgeous day and I met my friend Holly at the park. We had a lot of fun and I spent a lot of time on the swings - I think I like them now!

After all that running around, a good nap is needed on the way home!

Let's try this seesaw!

Good friends!

Let's go through the tunnel...Holly, can you read the graffiti??lol

Playdate

We had another fun playdate with Carolyn and Rebecca today. The girls hung out at Carolyn's house, went for a stroll and played at the park... they're just so cute together!

Playing at Carolyn's house... Emma, can you catch me??

Relaxing at the park

C'mon, going down slides is for babies, climbing them is where the challenge lies!

Holding hands while strolling!

Have a drink!

Emma loves water, she asks for it all the time and won't drink anything but water and her formula. She loves to drink from a glass, like the rest of the family does. She's 15 months going on 15 years!lol However, as you might see, she's a little unclear on the concept - she drinks but then doesn't seem to quite get that the glass has to remain upright... let's just say that our weekend was filled not just with wet shirts for Emma, but wet feet for the rest of us!lol

Seven and a half!

Thomas just had his half birthday, he's now 7 and a half. Here he is enjoying a cupcake in celebration. Later in the day, he lost one of his front teeth! This is tooth number 5, and the first on top.

More fave vacation pics - Thomas

Thomas enjoying some time at the pool

We went to this place called Wannado City and kids get to "experience" various professions - like being a doctor or policeman or miner or baker, etc. Anyhow, Thomas was a policeman and he put Emma and Gary in jail but here he's helping them make a break for it!lol

Thomas and Emma playing on the beach

Well, that's it for Florida pics. I have to say though, going on vacation with Miss Emma is not exactly relaxing!!lol We were thinking of going to Ireland in a couple of months but now we're rethinking that!!lol She was really easy to take everywhere when we were in China, but she wasn't really mobile yet - now, she's super mobile and wants to always be on the go, so it's a different story! Thomas loved our time away. It's the 3rd year we head to this hotel so he's quite at home and he finds the place really relaxing and let's face it, it's so nice to get out of the cold and not have to wear layers when you go out the door! He also discovered chess (they have one of those "life size" walk on chess boards). This was Emma's first experience with the pool and ocean, and she loved both. She wasn't afraid of anything. We had to keep her from chasing the waves in too far!!lol Unlike Thomas, Emma is an adventurous eater and we had trouble keeping her out of the calamari and clams - ah, those clams at Legal Sea Food - so yummy... can't get decent clams around here!lol

Some fave vacation pics - Emma

Just a cute Emma pic

Emma checking out the setting

Emma fell in a hole!

Emma seems to be a real magnet for the 10-12 year old girl crowd and there always seemed to be a little girl around trying to get her hands on her. Most of the time she wouldn't hear of it, but she did go with Alex from Missouri, pictured above, and spend a good part of her plane ride home today with another little girl, Hayley.

Looks like she's got the beach to herself!lol

It took a little while to get that whole walking in sand thing down...

Wave run!

Here's Thomas trying to stay ahead of some waves on shore.

Just hanging...

Thomas playing his new fave game: chess

Doesn't she just have a "don't mess with me " look!!lol

More Florida Fun!

Water baby!

Emma enjoying the waves.

Florida!

Just a quick couple of pics of the kids on the beach. Wireless access is a little spotty here, kind of like one of those telephone TV commercials with "can you hear me now"... you move a foot or two this way or that and you can connect... no connection from our room though. Anyhow, the weather is perfect, the kids are loving it and Emma is loving the water, can't keep her away from the pool or the ocean. She's eaten some sand and seems to like it!lol

Yummy!!

Usually when I make my famous banana chocolate chip muffins, I set some batter aside for Emma before adding the chocolate chips. Yesterday, I forgot so I ended up giving her a muffin with a couple of chocolate chips in it...I think this might be her first taste of chocolate - her birthday cake was chocolate, but I'm not sure any of that actually made it in her mouth!lol Not sure much of this did either, but she sure enjoyed it!

More grandparents!

Emma and Thomas reading with Anne, Gary's mother, and my father, Gerald, teaching Emma some more bad habits - like she didn't have enough already!!lol

Freedom!

We had a gorgeous weekend, weather wise, and Emma got her first taste of the real outdoors - running around all by herself all over the place! Up til now, an outing meant the stroller or the car, she'd never been able to just run around outside - it's pretty hard to do while it's -10 and you're wearing big boots you can't move in!lol Anyhow, this weekend she got to check out the neighbourhood, meet neighbours, pick rocks, throw a ball, play at the park. She loved it...it was so cool to see her excitement at this whole new outdoor discovery!lol She kept asking for "more, more, more"!! In these pics, Thomas is showing her the ropes!lol

Blowing kisses and fish face

Let's see if I can get this to work again, it's Emma blowing kisses and doing a fish face. Let's just say she's generally not overly cooperative in my new endeavour to videotape her!lol

Thomas and the Lions Den

Here's Thomas in the "Lions Den" from their school play this week - Daniel in the Lions Den. The kids were great and they all did a beautful job - they have such lovely voices!

Emma video

Okay, I'm trying to post video of Emma, thanks to Jackie and Janice for explaining how, but I can't quite seem to get it right... yeah, it's sideways, but don't know how to change that either!!lol This is Emma doing a little dance to Dontcha. :-)

Boy or Girl??

Yup, that's the question I was asked this morning at the grocery store. Is it a boy or a girl? And here's a picture of what Emma was wearing when the question was posed: a light pink jacket, a dark pink shirt, pants which are mauve with various pink and orange flowers on them, not to mention pink shoes and to top it all off, a pink daisy shaped barrette in her hair - I can understand why the woman was at a loss as to her gender!!!lol With her powers of observation though, she's really wasting her time working at a grocery store, she should be working with the FBI or CIA or something!lol

Modeling and exercising??

Today, I got some summery clothes for Emma since we'll soon be heading South for a few days... here she is modeling her new dress and cute shoes!

Okay, so even once the dress came off, she insisted on wearing her pretty shoes!lol She loves shoes - she definitely gets that from her momma!!lol

Looks like she's working on her squats... well, at least someone in this house is exercising!lol