Swimming, Play Dates, Dentist, and 4th Pictures

LOVES swimming lessons

Well, the last three days have been quite busy for the wee one! It has shown somewhat in some of her behavior, i.e. we need some just mommy and Emily time at home without going so many places each day. Don't get me wrong. Emily has been having the time of her life each and every day of summer break so far. It is just a bit much to do so many things on the same day.

Since you last read our blog Emily has started swimming lessons, went to her first official cleaning at the dentist, had a play date with her bud Belen, fun at church, and a play date with her friend Kylie.

Swimming is going pretty good so far. She has had two lessons with her private instructor and will have four more before the next session starts. Parents have to watch from the big viewing window, but I can tell from Emily's body language, and the looks on the instructor's face, that Emily isn't always listening to every word that is being said. Although, one would think Emily didn't hear a word the instructor said, but when I ask her in the car on the way home, she knows what to do. Today was her second lesson, and the teacher was very shocked that Emily can already hold her breath for 5 seconds in the water!! Way to go BABE! The entire time I am watching her, she has the HUGEST smile on her face, and doesn't ever want to get out. But her teacher and I point to all of the other kids waiting for the next lesson, and then she will willingly exit the pool. My daughter is a fish! She is jumping off the side to her teacher, putting her head in the water, holding her breath, learning how to hold her arms, how to kick, and how to get in and out of the pool. All of that so far in two lessons! Sure did pay off signing up for private lessons!

On Tuesday, Emily and Belen had a play date at our church event for kids and then back at our house. These two play so well together, and Emily truly does love "Her" Belen and "Her" Titi.

Emily's first dental cleaning went well. She didn't actually get in the big chair, but Dr. Peter examined her teeth and counted them on my lap. He said she has 20 teeth and they looked perfect with no cavities. Next time, in January, she will have to get in the big chair. Dr. Peter said he is OK with tears if I am.

Today Emily had a play date with Kylie after swimming lessons, and she had a blast. They even ended up breaking a wheel on one of Emily's toy strollers. It was really funny though. An 18 year old and a 4 year old racing a toy stroller with the 4 year old in it and the wheel breaks. So then we have the two of them using duct tape to fix it! Too funny! There was a lot of hide and go seek as well. You just have to laugh when a 4 year old is hiding, and laughing so loud you know where they are, OR they tell you where they are going to hide! :-)

Well, grandpa is done tearing down the outdoor building, and James helped him haul it all away! So now we wait for the swing set, and then the rest of the summer will be swing/slide filled.

I did a mini 4th of July picture session with Miss Emily, and I must say, WOW...what a difference a year makes! She looks so much older than last year's picture in the big tutu, and it was way easier last year to get her to stay still for the camera!

Tomorrow we are off to pick berries with Kira and Kayla, and then after nap visiting with Aunt Pam, Uncle Bruce, and OF COURSE their dog ELLA!!!! Emily can't wait!

Love,
Kathy

Learning to float on the floatie toy

Saying their prayer

Muscle Girl

Balloon game at church

Big Girl July 2011

July 2011

July 4th 2010

The 18 year old overseeing the 4 year old



Best Buds





Water and Family Fun...

Well, the last three days have been fun filled for Miss Emily! She has helped with yard work, played in a bucket of water for hours, helped grandpa with the big building tear down, went to a family bar-b-que and tried her very first S'more. She also managed to trip and fall at the bar-b-que and get her first big scrape on her shin, and there wasn't even any tears!! Way to go babe!

Auntie JuJu and Mommy did approximately seven hours of yard work on Saturday, getting ready for summer, and most of all getting ready for Emily's new swing set that will eventually go out back. Emily started out helping a little, but once Mommy gave her a mop bucket with some water, that was it. MY GIRL LOVES WATER!!! At first she just played in the water with some toys. Then that progressed to standing in the bucket, which proceeded to her wanting to sit in it, so on came the swimsuit! Need I say more?? As you can see from the pictures, Emily fits inside the bucket, and LOVED every minute of it. This kept her busy for over an hour while we kept an eye on her and continued our yard work.

That smile just melts her grandpa's heart

Sunday we went to a family bar-b-que as kind of a goodbye to my nephew James. He and his girlfriend Cierra will be leaving for Alaska in a month for James to go to Air Traffic Controller school. We wish them all the best and safe travels. It will take them about 5 days to drive there pulling their 14ft. U-haul.

Mommy's precious silly girl

Only my 4 1/2 year old can fit in a mop bucket

LOVE this picture...my sweet girl

Watching uncle Brian roast a hot dog

Grandma and Emily looking at the pond

You'll be missed James and Cierra

First bite of a S'more

Emily loves her Makena!

Grandpa hard at work

Very intently watching grandpa working

In her kitty undies after she just dunked her head

Does the yard look like a four year old was there?? :-)

Emily had a blast with her cousin Makena as usual, as well as everyone else. She was the hit of the party again, and everyone kept commenting on how much she has grown since last summer's annual bar-b-que. She did such a good job being safe around the big campfire and had a roasted hot dog and her first S'more, which she loved by the way!

Today she had a BLAST watching grandpa tear down the building in our backyard. She wasn't sure at first, since change and anything different from her "normal" routines are hard for her. We just had her watch each step, talk to grandpa and mommy, answered any questions she had, and she did wonderful! After awhile she got tired of just observing, so then she wanted to help. She helped carry some bricks and wood over to the big pile. Any of you who know her know she LOVED carrying the "baby" pieces, aka the little pieces.

Once she asked for the water again, I knew she wanted to get wet again and sure enough, she had a grand time playing in the water. At first she just sat in her princess chair and played with toys in the water. Then she moved to putting her feet in over the edge of the bucket. This progressed to standing in the bucket, which was followed by sitting in the bucket in her clothes. She asked to take her clothes off. So, with mommy and grandpa chuckling, we stripped her down to her kitty cat panties, and she was happy as a clam. That lasted for a few minutes, then she asked for her swimsuit. She was completely happy to play in her bucket again, while grandpa and mommy were thoroughly entertained!

Tonight after dinner, we did some more gluing practice. She did GREAT!! We are really working on using little amounts of glue and getting control over the glue bottle. Maybe in the fall her teacher will be AMAZED that Emily's art projects don't have PUDDLES of glue on them! We also worked some more on tracing her name! Her best yet tonight, and she wants to give it to  her Titi tomorrow. For those of you who don't know, that is her Auntie Lisa. Titi is auntie in Spanish! Also, when we were writing her name on her art project tonight, as we wrote each letter together she said the name of the letter BY HERSELF!!!!! HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you tell I am a PROUD Mommy!!!

Well, tomorrow is her first swimming lesson. I can't wait to see how she does listening to her teacher. When I put her to bed tonight, she said she was "so bappy" for tomorrow to "wim in a pool."

Oh yeah...one more new thing I must brag about. On Saturday, as we were going in and out of the house, a fly happened to get in. Well, while JuJu and I were making dinner, we hear Emily's first 7...yes I said 7, word sentence coming from the other room. Here is what we heard with a very serious tone in her voice..."Mommy, there is a bug in my house." The emphasis was very much on the my house part! Julyn and I looked at each other and both said at the same time, "Did you hear what I heard?" Emily's language is coming along so fantastic. I am so proud!

Enjoy the pictures of the bathing beauty!
Love,
Kathy

What a bathing beauty!!

Day at the Park

Summer break is off and running! We spent two hours at the park this morning, and Emily had a blast swinging, sliding, climbing, and most of all laughing!

Swinging girl

Other fun activities today were blowing bubbles outside after nap time, as well as having lots of fun with sidewalk chalk on the back patio. We practiced more cutting and name writing. Right now Emily is practicing tracing over her name written correctly with a crayon. She was so proud of the two sheets of tracing she did, she put one for mommy on our fridge and saved one for Auntie JuJu.

Emily enjoys the park so very much that it is my hope I can get her a swing set this summer for our backyard. She will be out there everyday if I can get it done.

Enjoy the pictures from the park!

Love,

Fun Mommy

Wheeeeee

Big girl on the bridge

Check out that big girl ponytail

SO BIG!!

Look at me Mommy

BIG SMILE!!

Could that smile get any bigger

This girl loves a fun slide!!

First Day of Summer Vacation

Emily's cutting, gluing, and name writing

Well, today Emily and Mommy spent the entire day at home playing together. It was a great day over all! We began our day with some Nick Jr. in Mommy's bed. Emily loves to watch the "Baby PB" aka little TV in Mommy's bedroom in the mornings.

We had a fun breakfast together, and then moved on to some fun cutting and gluing practice. After that, we did lots of puzzles together. Puzzles on the alphabet, colors, a school bus, and numbers. Following the puzzle fun we played with magnet letters, and then lots and lots of beads. This is when Grandpa came over for a surprise visit. Emily LOVES her Grandpa and they had fun together.

After Grandpa left it was nail painting time. Emily picked green and purple for her toes. The girl knows what she likes! Too cute!

The rest of our day was filled with coloring, practicing writing Emily's name, taking naps, playing kitchen, playing dress-up, and listening to a lot of fun music.

Enjoy our photos from day one of summer break!
Love,
Kathy

Block fun with Grandpa

Watch Grandpa...

Let's build together Grandpa

Pretty, pretty toes in her Cinderella shoes

Dancing like Cinderella

Hi Mommy

Mommy's sweet Princess

Father's Day with Grandpa



Grandpa and Emily, Father's Day 2011



SO AMAZING!!!

Petting a cute goat

Polar bear having his own shaved ice

Sweet baby

Stunning lions

Grandpa, I need some asisstance please

Can anybody say HUGE??

Gorgeous

Such beautiful creatures

Loved this baby goat!

A fun day was had by all today! We started out our adventure with grandpa, grandma, and Makena coming to our house so Emily could give grandpa his gift and card. He LOVED his new mouse pad with a picture of him and Emily in Hawaii. He also got a kick out of the picture she painted for him. We all then headed over to the zoo. It couldn't have been any better weather for picture taking and for all of the animals to be doing their thing. Not too cold, just a bit overcast, was perfect for the day.  We all had a great time, especially Emily. What a difference a year makes. We did this same outing last Father's Day, and she was scared of just about every animal. Today she was very interested in each and every animal, and seemed to be genuinely excited to see them all. After a great day at the zoo, we headed to PF Chang's Chinese restaurant for a lovely and oh so yummy lunch! We all had a wonderful day and I wish all of the dads, uncles, and grandpas out there a Happy Father's Day! Enjoy the pictures!

Love,
Kathy

All tuckered out after a fun day