Tis the Season 2010

Emma celebrated her second birthday this month. November 12 was the big day. We had a small party with family and Emma was able to feast on some cake. Emma received some cool gifts that she plays with all the time. Two of her favorites are her "Mini-Kitchen" and her "Table". Emma eats, colors and watches tv from her new table. She also bakes cakes and does dishes from her kitchen. She also has tea parties with Elmo, Minnie Mouse, Tigger, and anyone else she can find (including dad) with the tea set she was given.

Not long after her birthday, we celebrated the Thanksgiving Holiday with over 2o family members at the house. Four generations of Andrea's side of the family were represented at the dinner table this year. At times it was a challenge, but overall it was a good time. We had a blast hosting Andrea's grandparents for the week.

We will be heading back to Lodi for the Christmas Holiday again this year. Hopefully everything will go well. It is always fun going back home for the week.

Merry Christmas. May God Bless you and your family. Here are some pic's of the fun...

Andrea and Emma checking out the Kitchen.

Emma excited for some new clothes.

The Curious George cake that Andrea made from scratch.

Grandma Jill reading to Emma and Megan.

Four generations of tree decorating.

Dad's first tea party.

Emma's Summer Vacation

August 23 will bring an end to Emma's summer vacation so I decided to post some pic's of her busy 2010 break. They are in no particular order.

With the Las Vegas Summers being so hot, Andrea and Emma joined "My Gym". They go to a few classes a week and Emma loves it. Here she is swinging on the bar. It is a bunch of fun watching her play during her class.

Fourth of July weekend we drove from Las Vegas to Pasa Robles. The following day we drove into Pebble Beach and had lunch. From there we headed east to Fresno for a family wedding. Following the wedding we finally made it into Lodi to see family and relax. This is Emma's first experience with a sparkler.

Emma had a great time swimming at Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Grams' house.

Emma loved the wedding. Her favorite parts were dancing and eating cake.

Lunch at Pebble Beach.

Emma was to busy staring at golfers on the first tee to smile for the camera.

Our best attempt at using the 10 second delayed capture on our camera. Not bad.

Her first time in the Pacific Ocean. Her reply... "Daddy, Cold."

We took her to the Las Vegas Children's Museum.

One of her last times in the pool before we moved.

Andrea took Emma to Swimming lessons over the summer. One of the things they taught was for her to hold her breath before going into the water. Here Emma is being dunked my mom. Emma loved her swim lessons.

One of the highlights of the summer was taking Emma to the Phoenix Children's Museum. I think it is the coolest place on earth for kids (excluding theme parks). We all had a blast. Big thanks to Melissa and Nancy McCallister for taking us.

One of the many cool interactive things for the kids to play with.

While in Scottsdale, Emma got some chill time in at the Pool. She is holding her water gun in case anyone sneaks up on her, she could shoot water at them.

Summer Vacation got off to a rough start. Emma got sick and had soars on her hands, feet and mouth. It didn't stop her from hanging out at the District one night.

Another cool thing we did was go to the Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage. Grandma Jill joined us for a very fun day with the dolphins, etc.

We were able to get very close to the dolphins.

Emma really enjoyed watching the dolphins.

It was a busy Summer for the family. We all had a great time.

Easter, Disneyland and Mothers Day

We have had a busy couple of months. Easter, Disneyland, Dad's birthday and Mothers Day were all events the past few months.

We had a great time in Southern California. The entire family went to Disneyland and California Adventure. We also stopped by Huntington Beach on our way home. I was not looking forward to taking Emma on this trip but she had a blast. She went on eight or nine rides and loved most of the characters. She also enjoyed the shows, ice cream and cotton candy.

Easter was low key. Emma and her cousin Megan hunted Easter Eggs inside due to the wind. Emma couldn't figure out the concept of hunting the eggs. She found one egg and sat on the ground and played with it while Megan collected the remaining eggs.

Andrea and Emma did a fantastic job celebrating Dad's birthday. It was an entire week long celebration.

Mothers Day was also a bunch of fun but we didn't do much. Andrea ran in a 5k in Del Mar Saturday morning and drove back that afternoon. Emma and Dad cooked breakfast Mothers Day morning and let mom go shopping later in the day.

Emma and Mom on Mothers Day

Easter Sunday with Emma and Megan

Emma's first trip to the beach

Emma and Aunt Alyssa riding the tea cups at California Adventure.

Emma with Grandma and Grandpa Holden waiting to see Mickey Mouse Playhouse

Emma and Cousin D.J. playing in the mist outside California Soaring

Emma displaying her acrobatics by standing on a toy stroller

Emma and Dad on A Bugs Life ride

Emma's Easter Dress

The biggest smile I have ever seen from the baby that never smiles

Starting off the New Year...

Here are a few pic's from January and February. It has been a low key start to 2010 with a few exceptions. Emma had her first (and we hope only) ride in the Ambulance to the hospital. After 5 hours of observation the end result was a diagnosis of RSV.

Emma is a huge fan of the park and we try to go often. We love watching her run around and climb all over the place. She also loves when mom reads her books and has started to flip thru them herself.

The weather is starting to turn here in Las Vegas so I am sure we will be posting more outdoor pic's on the next post. With a bit of luck, maybe even a family trip to Spring Training in Arizona as well as a trip to San Diego.

Grandma Glenda made a short visit in February.

Emma enjoying quiet time reading her book in the corner.

At 15 months, Emma discovered a new chew toy for teething.

This is a toy she got for Christmas and she loves it.

Chilling at the park, playing with a leaf.

Crawling all over the place at the park.

Having a good time on the slide.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!!

We had a great time visiting family in Lodi again this year for Christmas. We had a chance to spend almost two weeks in Nor Cal giving everyone plenty of time to visit with Emma.

One of Emma's favorite things to do now is go to the park. She loves the swing and going down the slide (with a little help of course). She also loves to play in bouncy sets. We took her to a really cool place near Sacramento that had the big bounce houses set up and she had a blast!

Emma also had a chance to attend her very first Rebel game against Louisville. Although she didn't make it the entire game, she had a really good time and loved the noise of the crowd and clapped her hand to the U-N-L-V chants. It was a lot of fun.

Finally, on a very sad note, we had to put our dog Ashworth down just after arriving back from our trip to Lodi. Without question, he was the best dog ever! It still breaks my heart to hear Emma walk around the house asking for the "doggie". I think she misses her dog as much as daddy does.

Here are some of the latest pic's. Talk to you in a few months.

Aunt Tracy on New Years Day 2010

Uncle Ryan teaching Emma how to use the laptop.

Emma playing in the Bouncy House thing. She loved it!

Emma rocking her new look and keeping her snack close by.

Emma and Ashworth

Family Picture. Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009

Emma's 1st Rebel Game with Dad (and mom went too!!!)

She loves her Rebels!!!