Being my silly self!

Here's Emma' new look when I ask her for a smile for the camera - teeth Emma, I want to see teeth, not your tongue! And then we have Emma hanging off the bar at the park...she's such a monkey!

Fun at the zoo!

Last week, we were lucky enough to have Gary's cousin, Anita - okay, in reality Gary's father's cousin - stay with us for a couple of days. I asked Anita what she'd like to see and she said "the zoo" so off we went with Emma, Thomas and Thomas' friend Gabriel. We spent a few lovely hours at the zoo and saw some wonderful animals. Anita, come back anytime!

More photog pics

Here are a few pics added to the voting after Gary and I looked at the pictures again. It's so hard to narrow it down to just a few pictures! BTW, someone was asking why she seems to be holding her hands in so many pics...well, at first she was freaking out and we distracted her by singing "if you're happy and you know it clap your hands" so she did a variety of clapping and clasping and stomping her way through the song!lol A lot of the pics we can't use because her limbs are blurred in movement!lol

Thomas and Emma

Today, I took the kids to the photographer's to try to get some good pics of them, both together and alone. I really thought it would be a disaster since Miss Emma was in quite the mood and for our first few shots, she held true to her grumpy form and screamed and cried, but then we managed to distract her and she did great! I think it helped that we did the shoot outside - lots of distractions and not quite as aware of what was going on as she would be in a studio. About 30 minutes and 300 pictures later, here's what I've narrowed it down to and I'd love to hear if ya'll have any faves because I could use some help narrowing it down to one pic each of Thomas, Emma and the 2 of them together. :-)

Thomas

Here are the Thomas pics - any favourite stand out?

Emma

Here's what I've narrowed it down to for Emma pics... any faves?? Thomas said I should have chosen a different dress since this one acted as camouflage and we almost lost her in the greenery!lol

No more pictures!!!

You can't really tell what she's doing here so let me explain. I guess Emma has decided that I've taken enough pictures. Now when I ask her to look at the camera and smile, she thinks it's really actually much better to twirl around a million miles an hour and see if mommy can really get a picture that's not totally blurry...look at her hair, it's not quite catching up with the rest of her...needless to say, most of our pics these days are candids or big posed blurs!!lol

Our little peanut!

Did you really want me to change into my bathing suit before jumping into the pool...oops...I'll try to remember next time!!

When we traveled to China in Oct/Nov 05 to get Emma, we spent the first week in her native province, Guangdong, which is in southern China and is a very hot part of the country, even in the fall. Well, at the end of last summer, I hit the sales and got Emma a few summer things for our time in Guangzhou... well, as you can see, she's just wearing them now and they fit perfectly...needless to say, they weren't too useful 7 months ago in China!!lol She's growing really well, but she's still a little peanut!lol

Saturday

Just another Saturday...Emma is splashing around in our wading pool and Thomas finally lost his other front tooth!

Future Model?lol

Here's Emma modelling her new dress!lol

Fun at the park!

Look Mama, can I go get it... why Emma, what do you want - umm... a squirrel?? Who needs toys and play equipment when you can just chase a squirrel all around the park!!lol

Just for Mark - not a baby anywhere in this post!!

Mark is one of the dads from our China travel group. Poor Mark, all these blogs ever contain are baby pictures... he's tried to post car stuff, but we girls don't get very excited about that! So Mark, this one's for you - after 8 long years, we are no longer a minivan family - we got rid of the minivan this week and replaced it with this - okay, a Honda Pilot isn't exactly exciting, but at least it's not a minivan!! Hopefully we're working our way, ever so slowly, to that cool convertible sports car - a SUV with a sunroof is a start, right!lol

Hanging some more!

Well, Rebecca might be little, but she sure is mighty!!lol Actually, they were just getting into a really cute cuddling pose, but that of course I didn't get a picture of!!

Well, that whole resting together didn't work, let's take separate breaks!lol

Just hanging out!

Carolyn and Rebecca popped by for a quick visit today. Here are the girls taking a little break and then, back up and looking for trouble!lol

Summer in the city!

Here's Emma, testing out the pool water before hopping in...she LOVES water!! It's been sizzling hot here for the last few days so this is a lovely way to cool down. Sure wish our yard was big enough for a "real" pool!lol

Tippy toe girl!

Here's Emma showing off her pretty summer dress - it was a HOT day here today. Then she's showing off her ballet moves...she loves to walk on her tip toes and twirl around!lol

Karate Kid!

Thomas got his blue belt in karate this week, we're so proud of him!

I love shoes!

Last week Carolyn posted a picture of Rebecca wearing her high heels - Emma apparently also likes larger shoes but you'd think she'd find a better match for her outfit than daddy's old worn out slippers!!lol BTW, she does have a love for shoes like her mommy...she says the word "shoes" very clearly and excitedly and likes to pull out various shoes from her closet to just play with and admire them!lol

And we wonder why there's always a mountain of laundry!!

I think we'll be drowning in a mountain of laundry this summer!!! As I've mentioned before, Emma is definitely not afraid of getting into the thick of things and getting her hands dirty (not to mention the rest of her too!!lol)... here are a few changes of outfit from today and this doesn't include her PJs or the pants and t-shirt she wore this morning when it was still nippy out! Maybe it's a good thing her mommy is a good shopper!!lol

Here is Miss Emma waiting for her friends Rebecca, Keira and Kate.

After a little wet play at the sand and water table, it was time for a change of clothing.

After even more play at the water table, time for another change!!lol

Cutie girl!

Just a couple of cute Emma pics. She's very proud of her new pink sandals...in the first pic, I asked her to sit and smile so I could take her picture - waddaya know, she did!lol

Make a mess - not us!!

Today, Mark Shelley, Meg and Kate, Kevin, Dana and Keira and Carolyn, Gino and Rebecca came for a visit. As you can see, the sand and water table was a big hit with the girls... get dirty, not our precious little girls - never!!llol

WARNING: Janice, the pictures shown below could cause you severe distress!!lol

Kate and Emma - all clean again!!

See, we didn't get dirty at all... we dare you to find a speck of dirt on either of us!!