One More

I almost forgot this little gem from last night....

Emmie was helping me "wash" the dishes last night. I usually give her a dry wash cloth and then bubbles for her to play with to keep her busy and happy. So we were washing plates and she was listing off which ones were "mommy's pate," "daddy's pate," and "Emmie's Pate" (the little one). There happened to be an extra dinner plate that Chad had used for lunch that was in the stash and she wanted to know who it belonged too. I told her daddy had used it for lunch. She looked at the plate and announced "Daddy's pate very sad." Not exactly sure why, but I guess she thought it might have felt left out. =o) She then proceeded to wrap her arms around it and said, "I give it hug" and comforted the plate with an "awww...it's ok." =o)

Ice Cream and Emmie-isms

The other day we were eating dinner at a resturant. This particular resturant gives you a scoop of ice cream at the end of your meal as a dessert. Emmie, being well aware of this fact and having decided she was done with her dinner, persisted to ask us every minute or so for "ice keam." Now, explaining to a two year old that you have to wait for someone to get you ice cream (when Mommy and Daddy are usually the ones to get up a get things when they are requested by said two-year-old) is a difficult task. After several minutes of asking and being told that she would get ice cream but that we had to ask for it first (I think the waitress was specifically avoiding our table thinking that we were telling her she couldn't have any and didn't want to ask us in front of Emmie about ice cream) she got serious. She put her little hands, palms down, on the table and leaned forward and in, looking right in her Daddy's eyes, she very deliberately and slowly said "Iiice Keeeam." As if to say, "Obviously you're not getting this, I would like some ice cream and maybe if I say it slowly enough you'll understand that." After we finished laughing, I took Emmie to get some pie and the waitress finally came over to ask about ice cream while we were gone (hence the reason I think she was waiting). So Emmie got her ice cream and enjoyed every bit of it...or at least the part of it that didn't end up on her face and hands. =o)

Emmie has a habit, when we tell her we're going some place, to ask us, "Mommy coming?""Daddy coming?" etc to find out who's going. She'll even ask if she can bring something along by asking "juice coming?" or "book coming?" The cutest is when she asks, "Emmie coming?" to find out if she gets to come too.

A couple nights ago, we were done eating and I was starting to clean up the kitchen as Emmie finished eating. Chad's phone rang so he went jogging out of the room to get it and I hear this little voice pipe up, "Chad! Come Back!" "Come Back, Chad!" "Where'd Chad go?" She makes me laugh so hard!

What did you do on Saturday?

I woke up way too early, picked up Stephanie (see second picture), drove to downtown Baltimore, and proceeded to run and walk 13.1 miles around the city in 2 hours and 47 minutes. All this to get a really cool medal and shirt and so that I could say I've done a half-marathon (the free massage afterwards was great too.).
Chad and Matt brought the kids down after the race to pick us up. All in all it was a really awesome day and I'm looking forward to doing another one. =o)





The Wogging Mamas...Steph was my training partner, we did our long runs together. Congrats to her for doing the half 7 months after Jack was born.



On another note, here's another picture of Emmie from the fair. It was on the other camera and I forgot about it. On our second night at the fair she was much more interested in petting the animals. This calf is less than a month old.

More Fair Pictures

Riding the Slide again..and again...and again...=o)



Abby riding the slide too....



The three little amigas (Emmie, Abby, and Kaylah)



Our little country girl



Jack's first time at the fair...he was demonstrating how big you have to open your mouth in order to eat a Hemp's pulled pork sandwich...ok, maybe he was just tired. =o)

September Pictures

Our little swimmer...she actually kept the goggles on for about 10 minutes. =o)



Sitting on the tractor with Poppy



Her favorite part of the fair the John Deere Combine Slide



Nothing runs like a Deere...



There was a beautiful sunset on Sunday night....so I had to get artistic =o)

August Pictures

The Birthday Girls



Opening Gifts....



On her actual birthday opening gifts from Mommy and Daddy



Trying on Chad's basketball shorts....



Our little gansta' =o)

July Pictures

Swimming with Kelsey



SPLASH!!





Now you see Kaylah....




Now you don't.....(yes, she was still sitting next to Emmie)

We had a very rainy 4th of July but it was still fun =o)

Summer Videos

The newest addition to the gymnastic's world. =o)

Outside fun =o)

Summer News Edition

Hello to all of those who have been seeing the same post for the last three months on my blog. It's been a very busy summer, hence the lack of posting. But I'll try and give you a quick rundown of everything and maybe post a few pictures later tonight or tomorrow.

1. I started selling Premier Designs Jewelry at the beginning of July. It gives me a chance to work some and a little extra spending money is always fun to play with. Now that I'm done with the initial start-up phase I'll probably be scaling back to 2 or 3 shows a month so that life stays simple.

2. In the middle of July my Grandma became sick and my mom flew out to help her. Two weeks later on August 1st, she passed away at the age of 83. She had lived an active life up until the very end and we were thankful that her time of suffering was short. I was also very thankful that Chad, Emmie, and I had made the trip up to visit over Memorial Day before we knew anything was wrong. We had a very special time with her and made many happy memories.

3. Emmie turned 2 on August 8th. We had a birthday party for her and Kaylah (her cousin) with friends on a rainy Saturday afternoon. Emmie is growing quickly and her vocabulary and word comprehension is coming a long very quickly. It's cute watching her and her friend Abby (also 2) get together because they have conversations with each other now. They like to sing their ABC's together. I'll post pictures from the party soon.

5. Chad's softball season ended with his team winning 1st place in their division and placing 4th in the end of the season tournament (half of which Chad had to miss so we could go to a wedding).

4. We traveled up to Canada for my Grandma's memorial service the second week in August. The trip and service went well. Emmie had a wonderful time playing with her cousin Kaylie and spending the night with Grandma and Granddad while Chad and I went out to spend some time with my cousins and sister. It was nice being able to see my extended family, most of whom I haven't seen since our wedding. I just wish it could have been under happier circumstances.

5. Labor Day weekend went by quickly with a Key's baseball game with our friends Sarah, Nathan, and Lauren, a family reunion, and two fantasy football drafts.

September is already flying by.... We're looking forward to next week and the Great Frederick Fair. If you're in the area you should really try and get to it. Great food, Lots of fun things to see and do. I'll try and get pictures up of that too. =o)

A Quick Shopping Trip

So yesterday I realized I had not returned a DVD we had borrowed from the library. It was due last week and the fine is $1 a day when they're overdue. So since I had to go out and return it and spend $6 on absolutely nothing I figured I would stop at CVS and get some things for free to make me feel better. Here's what I got (Don't worry, I won't do this every week, I just got some good deals this week):

Transaction #1:

$8.00 8 Soyjoy Bars
$7.99 12-count Cetirizin-D (cvs brand zyrtec)
$3.49 Listerine Smart Rinse 250 ml
$3.49 Huggies baby wash

$22.97 Subtotal
- $4.00 $4 off a $20 Purchase CVS Coupon
- $2.00 Two Buy 2 Get 1 Free soyjoy coupons
- $1.00 Huggies baby wash coupon
- $3.00 Cetirizin-D CVS coupon

$12.97 Subtotal after coupons
-$11.99 Extra care bucks (CVS's version of instant rebates)

$0.98 Out of pocket (cash spent)

$13.49 Extra care bucks earned to use in the next transaction (so I "made" $0.52)

Transaction #2

$8.97 3 tubes colgate toothpaste
$6.98 2 huggies baby wash
$4.99 CVS brand itch relief gel (darn mesquitoes)

$20.94 subtotal
-$4.00 CVS $4/$20 purchase coupon
-$4.50 3 $1.50/1 colgate coupons
-$2.00 2 $1.00/1 huggies baby wash coupons

$10.44 subtotal after coupons
-$10.00 ECBs from last transaction

$0.56 OOP cash total ($0.44 plus $0.12 tax)

$10.00 ECBs earned for next trip

So I started out with $11.99 ECBs and spent $1.54 cash, a total of $13.53. At the end of the trip I had 3 tubes of colgate toothpaste, 3 bottles of huggies baby wash, 1 bottle itch relief gel, 1 bottle of listerine smart rinse, 1 12-count box of Cetirizin-D, and 8 soyjoy snack bars and $13.49 in ECB's. Do the math and I spent $0.04 to get $52.23 worth of stuff (plus have "money" left over for next week). Yeah, that made me feel better. =o)

Memorial Weekend Trip

Over Memorial Day weekend we had the chance to drive to visit my Grandma in Canada. We left at 9am Wednesday morning and arrived in Kingsville, ONT that evening at 7pm. Emmie did great and we only had to stop 3 times (lunch, coffee, and dinner). To any parent of a young child contemplating a long road trip, may I suggest the handy-dandy portable DVD player. That kept Emmie occupied the majority of the way there.

Thursday was spent helping around the house. We were thankful that God had us visiting earlier in the week when one of my Grandmother's neighbors knocked on the door, about to pass out. We helped her out until the ambulance arrived to take her to the hospital (she returned home the next day feeling better). It probably would have been very stressful for my Grandma if we had not been there, as she is now 83 years old and lives by herself. That evening we were able to visit with my Aunt and Uncle who drove over to visit us. It was fun catching up with them and all the news of the family.

Friday we took Grandma out shopping and to the new A&W for dinner. What a blessing to watch her spryly climb in and out of the truck. She was thankful to not be the one driving for a change. I'm very thankful she's still in such good health. After we got home from dinner Emmie helped Chad put together a cabinent for her Great-Grandma.




She's pretty handy with the tools....takes after her Daddy.




We left mid-morning to begin the journey home but not before lots of hugs and kisses were exchanged and pictures taken.






On the way home we had lunch with my sister Allison and my niece Kaylie. Emmie and Kaylie had a great time playing in the McDonald's playplace together. Chad also got a quick tour of downtown Detroit thanks to construction and his wife's inability to read signs/unfamiliarity with area.

We drove to Cleveland and checked into our hotel. If you're traveling with small children, I highly recommend Embassy Suites (as long as they are reasonably priced, like ours was). Not only do you have two rooms so the kids can go to sleep in one room and you can stay awake for awhile in the other, if you want, but they have an awesome breakfast buffet included in the price of the room. Anyway, after we got checked in we headed to downtown Cleveland and went to an Indians game. We found out when we got there that it was sold out and standing room only so Chad braved the streets (it wasn't bad at all really) and bought tickets from a scalper. We ended up with really good seats and had a great time. I found a new favorite hot dog at that game too. We came away with 3 Grady Sizemore bobblehead dolls.....so for all you Cleveland fans out there, I'm accepting offers on at least 2 of them. =o)

We made it home by about 3 on Sunday afternoon. It was a very enjoyable trip and it was wonderful to see my Grandma again.

Newest Member of Our Family

Meet Camry. After several months of thinking and praying, we decided the day after we returned from Canada to trade in the truck and get a car. We ended up with a 2009 Silver Toyota Camry. It gets better gas mileage than the truck and will have better trade in value in the future. We haven't named it yet....any suggestions?

Outdoor fun

Emmie's new "dirt" box that Mimi got for her. When she wants to play in it she asks for "dirt."
(For those of you who want a picture of me too, here you go. =o))




"This is really cool, but I'm not quite sure what to do with it all."




Looking at the ants ("eents") that were crawling up the side.




She likes to jump rope now too. Check out the cool, sparkly flip-flops.




We like to swing in the backyard when the weather is nice out.

Cuteness Update

As the summer begins, I figured it was time for a picture/news update.

Emmie and Daddy taking a "nap" in the playpen (that she can now climb out of).

Emmie kept herself busy one morning by moving most of her toys onto the mat from her play pen. Notice how neatly they are arranged. She was saying "cheese" for me when I took this picture.

The only time she will let me put ponytails in her hair. Actually, I didn't even put these in, Chad was in charge of bath this night. (Another "cheese" shot)

Say Hello To My Little Friend....

I have a new little friend. His name is Action Scrubber. It only took me 5 minutes to scrub out my tub on Friday. I think it's love.......

In other news, Emmie learned a new trick about a week ago. Since Emmie's crib is in our room (we only have one bedroom) it has become the custom that I'll move her into a playpen in the living room around 1 or 2 am when she starts to move around in her crib, not really waking up but just making enough noise trying to get comfortable that it wakes us up. She usually goes right back to sleep in her play pen. So the other morning we were woken up around 6 am when the door to the bedroom opened and a little voice said, "Mommy?, Mommy?" Yes, our daughter can climb out of her playpen now. I don't think she can make it out of her pack and play or her crib yet, but every morning since the first time she got out of the playpen there has been a little body wondering into our room around 6 am wanting us to get out of bed and come play.

Progress Report

Here's what's happening with us....

1. Emmie was blessed to receive Chad's allergy to tree pollen, etc. This has come to light over the past week as we seriously considered buying stock in kleenex due to our usage to wipe Emmie's runny nose. We took her to the doctor on Monday hoping he would be able to give us a perscription and not just say in was a cold and to come back in a week to get it checked again. Multiple doctors visits are not fun on the wallet when you have personal comp insurance. Fortunately, he did give us a perscription and she's doing slightly better today.

2. I learned to make sure a pharmacy actually has the medicine to fill your perscription before you leave when dropping it off. I dropped the script off at Wal-mart on Monday night and decided to go back in the morning when they said it would take an hour to get it filled. When I went back in the morning, I was told that they didn't have the medicine to fill it and due to computer system failure it would take another day or two to get it filled. And the problem with telling me this last night would have been?..... So I resigned myself to getting it filled at CVS, thinking it was probably going to cost me an arm and a leg (again personal comp doesn't do much for perscription coverage). I was pleasantly suprised to find out it would only be $5 and take 10 minutes to get filled. I was so pleased in fact that I actually sprung for the grape flavoring at an additional $3 just to make sure it wouldn't be torture to get Emmie to take it.

3. Speaking of CVS, may I just say I love the sales/EBC deals at that store. This past week I purchased:

1 4-count bic soleil razor cartridges
1 24.7 face scrub
3 Colgate 360 toothbrushes
3 Tubes Aquafresh toothbrushes
3 5-count boxes CVS lotratridine (claritin)
1 Gillette Venus Breeze Razor
3 Adidas deoderants
1 24-count Zyrtec-D

I spent $4.02 in cash, $42.97 in coupons, $55.31 in ExtraCareBucks, and got $70.28 in ECBs back (I actually only have $31.94 in ECBs to spend next week because some of this $70.28 I already spent in the $55.31 total). Total retail price of all the products I purchased $102.30. Net profit (products received and ECB's made minus cash spent and cost of newspaper for coupons): $106.89!! How fun is that?

4. Training for the marathon is coming along. Our relay team kind of fell apart but there are still two of us interested in running so we're going to train for the 1/2 marathon instead. =o) Call me crazy but at least it's making me exercise. =o) I'm up to running 2 and a 1/2 miles, 4 times a week. Hopefully by the end of the month that will be closer to 3 or 4 miles. That leaves me 4.5 months to add 9-10 more miles to my endurance level. I'll keep you updated on how it's going. =o)

5. Speaking of running.....it's time for me to go and do that now. Have a wonderful day (week, month, however long it takes for me to post again....=o))

Hiking

This past weekend we went hiking up Sugarloaf "Mountain" with our friends. Chad got the best workout because he had Emmie on his back. =o) If you don't have a stairmaster, I recommend this hike instead. It's short but the majority of it is climbing uphill/stairs.


Up at the top...a great view. =o)



Dan contemplating the meaning of life.



Emmie being cute



Emmie enjoyed hiking around at the top with Daddy and Aunt Tiffy. She was quite the adventurer but she hasn't grasped the concept of height and sheer drops.



Another shot of the view

A fun trip on a sunny afternoon and we finally got to use the backpack I bought at the babyfair last year. =o)

I Got Tagged...

...which mean everyone gets to read 7 strange things about me. If I can come up with that many. Everyone can thank my sister for this pleasure. =o)

Here are the rules.
1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Random Facts:

1. I played soccer in college. I think most of you know this already but I still find it ironic due to the fact that I had never played organized/competative soccer before. Sometimes it pays to go to a really small college.

2. I know how to keep score for baseball/softball games. I mean more than just keeping track of runs scored. If you were to look at my scorebook, you would be able to tell who scored what run and who got what put-out, etc. It's fun when I get to write F7 in the opposing batter's boxes, that means Chad was the one who got them out. =o)

3. I love getting bargins, but I don't really like going to garage sales. I think it's the having to get up and do something on a Saturday morning that I don't like. I would rather just stay home and relax until noon and then do stuff.

4. I've been in over half of the States in the USA. Only 23 more to go....New England road trip anyone?

5. I was in Philadelphia (the birthplace of a nation) and Charlottetown, PEI (birthplace of the confederation) in the same year.

6. I really like to bake and am looking forward to entering stuff in the county fair this year. =o) Yike! I'm becoming a redneck!

7. Hi, my name is Joanna and I'm a hallmark addict. I'm OC about picking out the right card for people. Sometimes going to more than one store in order to find it. I love keepsake ornaments too.

I tag JN, JP, AD, EC, C, JC, and SM too keep this up (if they feel like it) =o).

Fun on a Rainy Day

This splashing in puddles thing is cool. =o)




I love her boots! They have little kitty faces on the toes.




This is a pretty common look for Emmie nowadays. Anytime something happens that she doesn't like, she makes this face and says, "no!" She is a very expressive child and we love her. =o)

Easter Pictures

Emmie getting a little help from Daddy to reach the eggs he put up high.

Emmie "winking" at the camera

Peek-a boo