What a Toddler Can Do In 5 Minutes While Unsuspecting Parent is in Other Room

Baking with Mommy

2/25/09

One of my ongoing goals is to do more one-on-one activities with Emily, where she has my undivided attention. This may sound easy, but trying to find the time is really difficult. So I have to plan. On this particular afternoon, I thought it would be fun to bake some brownie mini-muffins together. She had a lot of fun...

Buddy Love

Buddy is loved more than mommy and daddy. Buddy gets cuddles and kisses. Buddy is talked about constantly. Buddy gets the blame for bad behavior. Buddy can kiss mommy and daddy when Emily doesn't want to. Buddy gets songs sang about him. Buddy is irreplaceable. Buddy can never get lost. Or we are in big trouble...

Valentine's In the Snow

Well I am so behind on blogging that it is ridiculous. So I will attempt to start...

2/14/09
This Valentines Day, we went up to Grandma and Grandpa's house up in Lake Arrowhead. It was a snow-filled weekend. After a fun breakfast out, we were able to load up Emily and meet some friends (Kari, Floyd and family) for a fun afternoon sledding and playing in the snow. Emily had a great time!

Makin' a snowball...learned that very quickly!
Hangin' with Lexie

Sledding is FUN!Covering Eyes now that it is run #2!

Emily's Funny Words

I thought it would be a good idea for me to record some of Emily's little word variations that she uses because they are so cute. I want to be able to remember them for when she gets older:

opeemeal for oatmeal
leggybugs for ladybugs
Ondonalds for McDonalds
Ahbar for granola bar
Cinderbella for Cinderella
ear booger for ear wax
mazagine for magazine
Skiggles for Skittles

I'm sure there are more but these are what I can think of right now. Will come back to add more later.

Give Away: Cuties California Mandarins

Hey- If anyone is interested, I am giving away 5 lb boxes of Cuties (clementines) on my other blog. Go to this link to enter the contest:

Valentines Day Giveaway

Funny Emily Comment

Today, we went to Babies R Us to buy some more toddler spoons. (Emily is super picky about what spoons she uses and we had lost most of her favorites) Emily was carrying the package, and handed it to the cashier. She said, "Here you go, lady." The cashier smiled and said, "Why thank you ma'am."

Emily, very loudly, replied, "I not a man. Daddy's a man!" It was super funny. The cashier started to explain that she didn't say man, but Emily didn't get it so we moved on.

Mommy and Me

Had to get a new camera because mine broke. So we were taking a few pics to try it out!

Christmas Morning at Home

This year we stayed home for Christmas. Oma, Uncle Mel and cousin Jill came over for breakfast. (more like lunch by the time it was ready)

Brian's mom gave me the recipe for their annual Christmas breakfast of famous German scones and I made them for the first time. It was a bit tricky but they turned out yummy. Oma ate around 10 of them, and claimed 5. Ha Ha

Emily had a great time opening her stocking and all of her gifts. We spread it out till the afternoon so she wasn't so overwhelmed.

All in all it was a great Christmas.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Early White Christmas

The weekend before Christmas, we went up to Lake Arrowhead to celebrate with Brian's parents. It was cold and snowy. We had a great time.

Baking with Grandma, and eating her fabulous sugar cookies!

Made my first snowman! The snow was really dry and powdery so it took forever, but I think it turned out pretty cool!
Sitting in the rocker with Buddy.

Hangin out with GG and Great Grandpa.
Opening presents! Merry Christmas.

Stormy Hawaiian Retreat

3 weeks after England, Brian planned a long weekend in Hawaii. Brian's mom kindly watched Emily again. We went with another couple, and it was really fun. When we arrived, on a Thursday afternoon, it was pouring rain. The island flooded. There was NO SUN at all. But we had a great time anyway.

On our first whole day, we drove to the north shore, and got to watch the Billabong Triple Crown Masters Contest. It was really fun. Pipeline was packed.

Since the weather wasn't ideal for hanging out on the beach, we did more sightseeing stuff. We even got to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was fun.

Briefly, on Sunday, the day we came home (to the same rainstorm, I might add) the sun did come out. We had this amazing view out on our hotel balcony. The rainbow is a nice touch.

England Adventure

So I am really behind on blog posting. Thought today was a perfect day to catch up. It is foggy and cold outside, Emily is napping, and there isn't much going on. One of my goals for the new year is to blog more often, since in a sense, this is my journal.

Anyway, I will start with November. I had the opportunity to go to England with Brian. Brian was going on a work trip, and I came along. I didn't really spend a lot of time with him, but I had a great adventure on my own! I spent a lot of time on the train, as we were staying in a random city called Basingstoke, where Brian's office was. So I toured the English countryside, saw some of London, went to the coolest city called Bath and got to see Windsor Castle. I had only 5 days, so I didn't get to see everything I wanted to, but I had a great time regardless.

Here are some of my favorite sites:

I can't remember which cathedral this was, (I saw a lot of cathedrals and abbeys) but it is an example of the amazing architecture that is everywhere there!

Big Ben and Parliament- So breathtaking

I stood on Waterloo Bridge and took this picture. You can see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the London Eye, and the river Thames.

This is a picture of the Roman Bathhouse in Bath. This dates from ancient Roman times. Amazing.
Got a little sunset view, along with the Roman Bathhouse, and the abbey behind it.

Went to the Jane Austen Museum, which I loved, and had tea in the Mr. Darcy tearoom upstairs. So much fun, even by myself.

Windsor Castle. The only place I really wished I had someone to tour it with me. It was really amazing to see.

Another shot of Windor Castle, with the only picture of me taken on the whole trip!