September 27, 2008
Emma’s 2 years old now. She was so excited over having her birthday. She was wanting to open presents all afternoon and we had to tape a couple back together. We ended up with a lot of people here and it was nice, other then one incident that put a damper on the party that I feel horrible about… all I will say about it is Grandpa Kevin is in a lot of trouble!
Emma enjoyed having everyone around and having three little girls to play with. They played very well together, having a little tea party out on the deck. Cassie of course came with the coolest present ever! She brought Emma a little salon vanity and chair. The girls all loved that, taking turns fixing hair… only problem with that was Emma didn’t want to open any presents after getting that. All the little girls wanted to help and crowded around her, tearing into the presents. When we finally got things settled a bit, Emma opened her presents and enjoyed each of them. She likes the Hello Kitty ATM bank that Grandma Marla gave her and of course the Tricycle Grandma Shari and Grandpa Kevin gave her. She really enjoyed the table and chairs that Grandpa Lee made for her… all in all, she was spoiled and loving every bit of it.
Emma is so funny now that she can talk more. Today Grandpa Kevin gave her a pop and she was so proud of herself having her own pop (even though Grandpa didn’t let her have the whole can). She showed me the can and laughed and said “daddy” I asked “is that Daddy’s kind of pop? What kind does daddy drink?” Thinking she would say Mountain Dew. She thought about it for a little bit and had a light bulb go off as she said “Beer!”
Emma loved the cake and we have the back of it picked apart a bit. She would use the pony as a spoon and dig it into the cake then eat it. Of course she is a mess, not as bad as last year though. She was going to spend the night with me and was great until she realized that mommy and daddy went home without her. She was busy “fixing” my hair when all the sudden she said “HOME” and put stuff away and cried “daddy”. I took her home to her daddy and she was so happy. It makes me sad that she won’t stay the night with me after spending so much time during Grandpa Ron’s illness with me… but I understand why she won’t. She is afraid she will be left for a lot of days again. She is getting better about mom and dad being out of her sight but she still is a bit clingy. She probably will have trouble with Jordan going hunting for 10 days. She misses him so much when he is in school for 5 days. Brianna and Emma are going to go to Grandma Marla’s for a few days while Jordan is gone… after Emma’s 2 year check up on Tuesday.

a couple weeks early but Emma's 2 year old pictures

September 12, 2008
Today we went for Emma’s 2 year old pictures. We decided that we should get them early so we would have them for her 2nd birthday party to give out to grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to get her pictures taken but after she got to see the first she was all set to pose. I would sing Happy Birthday to her and she would get so excited. The rest of the afternoon we listened to her sing Happy birthday to herself. Mostly we would hear “happy” then some singing and “Emma” …. “happy”… “me”. It was so cute.
While getting her picture taken by the time we got to the Bronco dress she was getting a bit tired and would lay down on the set and say “night night” It was so funny. I kept telling the lady she has to be ready, Emma doesn’t pose for long, and she proved me right. We were so lucky that we got as good of pictures as we did, she was always moving off the mark and dancing around. I love the hats and the blue one was a bit big on her so it was always sliding down into her eyes. There is one picture that she is pulling it way down over her face. I love that picture.
She was such a good girl for as long a day as she had. She didn’t ask for anything all day except for “thirsty” and of course “baby”… not a doll but a real one. She enjoys them so much. We didn’t get home until a quarter to 11 tonight so it wasn’t surprising that she was ready for bed by the time we got back to town. What a sweet angel she is.

September 11, 2008

Apples, apples, apples… 6 boxes of them, one happy little girl and a content dog who also loves to eat apples… that is what I had yesterday when I was making pies to freeze.



Yesterday we made 6 pies (five to freeze, one to eat). I was in the middle of it when Brianna and Emma came over. I left the kitchen to download yet Another free embroidery design (my new passion). Brianna went out to the kitchen first and called me out there. There was my little Emmalyne looking so happy as she was enjoying the flour and butter mixture she was making all by herself…. Tara down under eating the flour that fell to the floor. I looked, I laughed, I ran and grabbed the camera! Then I put Brianna to peeling the apples and Emma and I made the crusts. I love the patience of being a grandma, I am sure I would have sent my own kids off to play long before Emma lost interest and moved on to other things herself. She did get to make a mini pie for herself. I had to laugh because I was making a big pie and gave her a clump of dough for her bottom crust. She would watch me and copy whatever I was doing. I helped roll it out more for her so we could put it in her little pie plate that came with the rolling pin I had bought for her. We filled it with the apples and such, then I gave her some dough for the top crust. I rolled out the one for my pie and put it on the pie. I turned to help her with her top crust and she had already put it on the pie and was trying to push it out so it would cover all the pie. I laughed and we fixed it and baked it. I sent it home with her so I am sure she will share it with Mommy and make Daddy jealous since he is away to school this week.



All in all, this was the most fun I had making pies…

September 8, 2008

Just under 3 weeks until Emma is 2 years old. I look at her in amazement thinking “how did this little baby who slept all the time, not knowing much about the world around her grow into such a brilliant young child who has such a smart way about her and the world around her.” She is talking more and more all the time. She makes me laugh when she starts talking like an adult though. Last weekend Cassie and Emma spent Saturday night with me. They were watching Dunston Checks In back in her bedroom. A friend picked up a TV with a VCR and I added a DVD player in that back bedroom. Anyway, Emma was looking through the movies wanting to find one to watch on last Sunday. She said she was looking for Dunston and I reminded her that Dunston was in the bedroom where Cassie and she watched it. She said “Oh My God… Yes” like she couldn’t believe that she forgot that! She actually sounded just like Brianna when she is reminded of something. It was so cute.
Emma is a daddy’s girl big time. She tells Brianna “MY daddy!” and will argue with Brianna when she claims Daddy for her. She also gets mad at Daddy when he picks on her and calls out “Mommy… MOMMMY” so she can get help.
We took Emma to Flintstone Village. She loved it, especially the train ride and the little car ride around the park. She had a good time but didn’t have the patience to watch the Movie. It was a good time.
I have a new hobby. I bought an embroidery sewing machine and have been having a good time embroidering things for Emma. I am suppose to be doing some shirts for a craft fair but I am really bad about saying “oh man, that is cute… it has to be Emma’s” and end up putting Emma’s name on it. I made her a cute Halloween shirt last night… yes with her name embroidered on it too. I bet Cassie, Jarrod and Jordan are glad that they didn’t have those home embroidery machines when they were small. I am sure their graduation gowns would have had their names on it and maybe a little Precious moments graduate! Brianna told me she is afraid to leave anything at my house now… she might come back and it have her name on it. I decided that it could be a way to keep her from leaving things here… but it won’t say her name, it would say “please take me home!”
We plan on taking Emma to Rapid City for her 2 year old pictures and to pick out what theme she wants for her birthday party. I am kind of worried about her thinking she will get a pony like Emilee did. I told Jarrod if he wanted to be the favorite in her life, all he would have to do is buy her a pony. He laughed and said he has enough to spend his money on. It is ok, we haven’t anywhere to keep a pony unless I embroider a large dog costume and we try to pass it off as a large dog! Hey that may be an Idea… can you imagine how excited she would get over that “Pooh pooh”? My pooper scooper wouldn’t be big enough!