Emmy's 1st Birthday!

 

     Well, we did it! We made it through the first year!  Having babies 13 months apart has been no small feat for me. You just do what you have to do and somehow we survived ;) I love having birthdays in the late spring/ early summer and hope that we will have good weather for all the years to come. To celebrate we had a fun little backyard party & picnic with all of Emmy & Nixon's friends. Zach, Parley, Dexter, Bennett, Andie, Blakely & Quinn made for a fun afternoon and of course their mamas made it fun for me.

     Since Emerson doesn't really have favorite things yet (other than her soother & blanky) I decided to just decorate as girly as possible with purple & pink. The kids loved the cupcakes (especially with the ratio of icing to cake!)The next day we had a family party with everyone in the Edmonton area and Emmy loved being the center of attention. I about died seeing her in her new purple tutu - seriously she could not have been cuter if she tried! We kept is simple with finger foods, salad and pizza from Costco. Then we enjoyed the piece de resistance. Her very own rosette cake! I saw the cake online and just HAD to try it. Surprisingly it wasn't hard to ice at all! And it was super yummy too.

 The kids loved playing with our new water table

and our very own mini bouncy house!

 Emmy wasn't quite sure what all the fuss was about, and definitely

didn't enjoy getting her hands dirty with icing ;) Nixon on the 

other hand, ate about three icing tops and no cupcakes! Haha 

 My masterpiece :)

Thanks for coming to celebrate 

See you next year! 

Nixon's Elmo Party!!!

In the past few months Nixon has shown a huge interest in Elmo. To the point that some may call it an obsession ;) Elmo movies, books, dolls, toys & even clothes. He has 3 Elmo shirts (see photos below) and 3 pairs of Elmo pajamas! Needless to say, I had no doubt as to what kind of party we were going to have to celebrate Nixon's 2nd birthday! After an exhausting 2 parties in 1 day last year, I decided to somewhat simplify and split things up. On his actual birthday, May 11th, we met a few friends at McDonald's  and ate, played in the Play Place & had cupcakes. It sure was nice not to have a mess to clean up after! Thanks everyone for meeting us and for spoiling Nixon with some great toys :)

The crew: Erin & Quinn, Kay & Bennett & Andie, Christa & Zach & Parley & Dexter, Julie & Blakely, and us.

 

It's been so cute to see Nixon figure out to blow - though he hasn't quite mastered how to direct it ;) He didn't mind having help from the other kids though.

 

I thought it was just so cute how well the boys kept their party hats on!

He got lots of fun cars/trucks, outside stuff, and of course Elmo toys.

On Saturday, May 12th, we had family members from both sides of Nick's family come over for a BBQ. I made an Elmo cake & a few more cupcakes and was really happy with how everything turned out. I really enjoy decorating these birthday cakes! It was nice to have a few kids at the BBQ party for Nixon to play with, and to help break down the pinata.  I ended up stuffing it with way too much candy and each kid had like 2 huge bags to take home! Ha ha oops.

Blake's birthday was a couple weeks before, so we sang to both of them

The pinata before.

 

Nick had to get in on the action because that darn pinata would not break!

 

I could have filled the whole thing with suckers and Nixon would have been happy as a clam.

  

Emmy was there too, just too small to do much other than smile & wrap people around her little finger ;)

A tricycle from Baba & Bampa (Nick's parents), a car from us, outside toys, a bouncy house(!), clothes and a ton of other gifts from everyone else. Lucky little boy! Happy 2nd Birthday, Nixon Shane, we love you SO much!

( PS. This was my 100th post! Crazy!)

Belated celebrations!

The start of the year is always chalk full of things to celebrate. My birthday on Feb 6th, Valentine's Day, Nick's birthday on March 29th, our Anniversary on April 7th, and Easter! Here's a recap in pictures.

 

For my 28th birthday we went out for a delicious fondue experience at
The Melting Pot. It was SO yummy and definitely somewhere I want to go to again!

Kay, me & Christa (with Albert, Nick & Melvin above)

After 5 years of whining, Nick finally got it right and spoiled me with
flowers and a couple small gifts on Valentine's day :) Thanks honey!

Chocolates, flowers, strawberries & 'Breaking Dawn' for me, 
a movie, caramilk & Oilers mug for Nick

Just before Nick's birthday dinner at his parent's house.
 Emmy & Nixon are in that "awesome" age for picture taking....
 oh joy.

Since it was Nick's 30th birthday I wanted to do something
really special. So with an Oilers theme in mind, I decorated the house,
 made a delicious cake & cupcakes and threw a fun party with
all our friends. Happy birthday Nicholas, I love you so much!

I was quite pleased with how well the cake batter dyed orange & blue,
 and yes I iced that Oilers logo all by myself, freehand! :)
First true cake decorating success.
Hopefully there are many more to come!

The masterpiece.

Parley, Nixon & Zachary just had to get in on blowing out the candles.

Yummy.

Ryan & Jill came up for Easter break, so on our 5th Wedding Anniversary,
 we enjoyed a nice double date eating out at Joey's and watching 'the Hunger Games'. And thanks to Tom & Laurie for joining us also, and hosting
an impromptu fondue party for dessert.

Family picture on Easter Sunday 2012.
Nixon is 23 months & Emmy is 10 months old.

The boys (Levi especially) were very excited to open the door
 and see what the Easter bunny had delivered for them!

And of course Emerson was more than happy to have
a basket to share with Mom & Dad ;)

Emmy-isms

It's crazy how much I LOVE getting her all dressed up!

I was never a huge fan of the newborn stage. I mean obviously I love cuddling a teeny sleeping baby but other than that, I felt the newborn stage brought me a lot of stress. Neither of my babies have nursed well so I've had to stress over them not growing enough, being too little, deciding when to switch to formula, etc. Add to that sleepless nights, C-section recovery, and major hormonal mood swings. Not a good combination. The past couple of weeks I've found myself randomly noticing something "SO CUTE" that Emmy is doing. Something I just have to take a picture of, things that I never want to forget. I realized that Nixon was about the same age when I did a blog post about specific things I loved about him. I guess I've discovered that for the most part, the 7-9 month stage is my favorite. So to celebrate her 9 month birthday, here are some of the things I love about Emmy right NOW:

She is getting more independent. She loves to roll around on the floor and "play" with Nixon. She loves his toys best (mostly his matchbox cars and the letter blocks to his train) but I make sure she gets lots of play time with her pink rattles, purse and fake diamond bracelet ;) She is also learning a few tricks of the trade from her mischevious brother!

Her new love is to pull the books off the bookshelf!

At around 7 1/2 months, Emerson started to move around, but still isn't totally mobile. She does this hilarious little army crawl with two arms (and sometimes one foot helps out) and when she's really excited she goes so fast it almost looks like she's twitching out. She is always smiling and I think it's because she's so happy to have realized that she can move! She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth multiple times a day but even though she's 9 months old now, she has yet to crawl properly. She is also getting really good at pulling herself up onto her knees.



She is learning how to use her voice and loves to babble. She has this unique little raspy voice, almost like she's whispering and says things like, dada, dsssh, bshh, tsuh, bababa, mumm mmm. It's fair to say that her first word was dada. Right now she is also really into blowing bubbles and making motorboat noises with her lips.

She is in the 100% range for height, weight and head circumference. She has currently graduated into the 12-18month clothing size and still has adorable thigh rolls, but her feet are still delicate and tiny and in the 6-9month shoe size. She is SO strong and diaper changes are getting more and more difficult. She is a wiggler and especially loves to splash in the tub!

She is usually a great eater and will give everything a try. Fruit is definitely her favorite, and when she's resisting a specific food, I sneak a little apple sauce in there and she eats like a dream. She loves to sit in the highchair and chew on Mum mums. She likes to tap her hand on the armrest and it makes it looks like she's being impatient for the next bite.


When I go to pick her up from her crib after sleeping, she is ALWAYS happy and greets me with a huge grin. She kicks her legs in excitement and snuggles right up to me when I pick her up. Her chubby cheeks are always so rosy after sleeping and I think they are even more soft and mushy, even more kissable. I can't get enough.

Emmy is a perfect little flirt. She has beautiful blue eyes that really light up when she smiles, and she usually has a big smile for anyone who will talk to her. But she holds out just often enough for those of us who see her regularly, that we still keep trying for those beautiful grins. Grandma Teressa is her best victim ;) She also loves to smile real big and shake her head 'no' when you ask her if she wants something. So cheeky ;)


Emerson also has a solemn side where she shows off her perfect little pout. It is honestly my favorite facial expression of hers and I have been trying to no avail to get a good picture of it. She pouts her plump red lips, her cheeks hang low and her jaw looks almost square. I think it is adorable, and Nick thinks it makes her look like and old person without their teeth. Haha!

This was the closest I could get to it,
but her solemn pout is even better than this!

When we squeeze her thighs or kiss her chin/neck she giggles and then lets out a throaty laugh. She is definitely ticklish! We sure love Emerson and have developed quite a few little nicknames for her. Emmy, Emmy-girl, baby girl, little lady, baby sister, Angel, Angel-face, little love, Emma (how Nixon pronounces it) and I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting. We are so blessed to have her as a part of our family and love how much more joy she brings into our home.

I love you, baby girl!