Birthday dinner

On Sunday night, we joined up with Grandma & Grandpa H and Aunt Laura at Stoney River to celebrate Grandma's and Aunt Laura's upcoming birthdays. (Happy birthday tomorrow, Aunt Laura!) We all had delicious food, ate way too much, and had lots of fun.

The birthday girls and their pretty Boston cream cake, which Emma deemed "YUMMY!":

As usual, Emma made herself at home by climbing around on the booth and coloring on everything in reach (including the tablecloth and the menu...oops!):Family pose:

Emma's first concert

We headed out to Lawrenceville on Friday night for the annual Shawn Mullins concert on the courthouse square. Emma has never seen him (or anyone) live in concert, although she did hear him live twice before she was born! Before we got out of the car, Daddy let Emma practice driving.We had arrived extra early so that we could make sure to get a good spot on the lawn. Once we got settled, we brought out our sandwiches and chips and had a family picnic. Emma loved sitting on the blanket and eating her pb&j. She also liked sitting in Mommy's chair.
We weren't sure how she would do, having several hours to pass before the show, but she did just fine. She colored for a bit, and then she learned that it was more entertaining to make either Mommy or Daddy go on walks around the grounds. Just before the show started, we got some light rain. Emma didn't seem to mind too much, as long as she had her jacket on.The first set was all acoustic, just Shawn. It was good, but Emma is more interested in lively music you can dance to, so she pretty much just chilled out and looked at all of the people around us. They said it was a record attendance, so she certainly had alot of people to watch! For the second set, he brought out a band and did some more dance-able stuff. When they finally got to Emma's favorite song -- See That Train -- her eyes lit up, and she said, "Train song!" We danced around, and when it was over, she kept saying, "More train song!" Seriously, there have been mornings that we spend the entire 40 minute drive to Miss Sarah's house with "the train song" on repeat. That's how much she loves the train song!

We finally got back to the car around 10:30, and she fell asleep as soon as she hit the car seat. But she was a trooper until then, just hanging out with us and enjoying the show. A lady nearby even commented on how well-behaved she was. She asked me, "Is she always this good?" And I said, "Yes, she really is!"

Tonight we get to meet up with Grandma & Grandpa Hill and Aunt Laura to celebrate Grandma's and Laura's birthdays at Stoney River. Yummy!

Ice cream outing

Well, we did get up in time to head out to Ikea on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, we forgot about the construction traffic on the downtown connector. A drive that should have taken about 45 minutes to get there took 2 hours and 15 minutes!!! Honestly, we would have gotten off the interstate and gone home after an hour, but there was literally nowhere to exit until just before the Ikea exit, so we forged ahead. Emma was a trooper, given that we arrived at the store when she is usually going down for a nap. She made it for another hour and a half before she finally crashed and fell asleep on my shoulder. Her patience was well-rewarded as she got a play table and chairs, some new plates, and some wall hangings out of the deal.

Daddy and Uncle Mike are out at a concert tonight, so Emma & I decided to do something fun on our own. Instead of the usual yogurt or fruit for her afternoon snack, we went to Brusters and shared a dino sundae. It was between that and the dirt sundae, which is covered in oreos with a gummy worm crawling on top. Emma was smart enough to choose the sundae that has not only ice cream, but a gigantic cookie on top too -- look at how big that cookie is!
She wasn't feeling very photogenic today, so I had to sneak pictures while she was busy with the ice cream. That's why the last one is kinda fuzzy. Still a great end-of-the-bowl photo!

Tumblin' tumbleweed

Emma says: "Why wear your own shoes when you can clomp around in Mommy's instead?"
Emma had her first day of tumbling class this morning. She was a little confused on the way there...I had told her we were going to "class," and she thought I said, "glasses." So she kept saying "gasses" and looking for her sunglasses! Once we got inside with the other kids, she quickly forgot about the sunglasses (thank goodness!).

She did great. I thought she might clam up and cling to me, but she ran around like all of the other kids. The class is open to kids at least 18 months old, but she is the only one in her class under 2. They had about 8 stations set up around the room. The teacher show us what to do at each station, and then the kids had about 20 minutes to go around and do all of the activities. About half of them involved jumping, which you loyal blog readers know is at the top of Emma's list of things to learn. We did the best we could, and Miss Stephanie showed us some things we can work on at home that might help Emma catch on to the whole idea. She did get to do some somersaults, which she loved, and she got to swing from a suspended pole, which she wasn't crazy about. The balance beam (a soft one on the floor) was a big hit, and she liked the froggy hopscotch, even though she walked it instead of hopping. I think by the end of August, she is going to be a jumping fool!

After class, we met Grandpa & Grandma H for lunch. As you can see below on her face, she had ketchup with her grilled cheese and french fries!
Tonight we are meeting Grandpa & Grandma K for dinner. Tomorrow we are hoping to make a trip down to Ikea. It all depends if we can drag ourselves out of bed early enough to get down there before it gets crowded. Sleeping in sounds awfully nice!

Getting up early for a good cause

We all woke up very early on Saturday morning for the race. I thought Emma would sleep on the way down, but she stayed awake for the whole ride. We arrived at about 6:30 for registration. We happened to spot a couple of people from the local NBC station who were running in the race (Ted Hall and Chris Holcomb, for those of you who live around here)...that was our big celebrity sighting for the day.

We met up with our team members before the race and chatted until it was time to line up at the start line. I think there were about 12 of us running/walking for Rich's dad's team. Tim ran the 5K course, and Emma & I walked the 2K with the stroller. We met up at the end, where Emma got a very cool ribbon for finishing the race. She got a little antsy while we were waiting around to start, but once we started walking, she seemed to enjoy herself. She especially liked seeing the dogs that some people had brought along on the 2K!

Click here to see all of the pictures from Saturday morning.


This morning, Emma was up extra early, so we decided to head up to the neighborhood park while it was still somewhat cool outside. With some practice, Emma was able to climb the stairs, cross over the bridge, and sit down to go down the slide all by herself! We got some of it on video:

You can click here to see the rest of the pictures from this morning.

J is for jump

Emma has been trying so hard to jump for weeks now. She just can't quite figure out how to get her feet off the ground. It's so entertaining to watch her try!

We have some Peachtree Road Race pictures to share that Great Uncle Don took and Grandpa H sent our way. For those of you who have never experienced it, this is a pretty typical view of the road during the race:Grandma & Aunt Martha at the water station before the race:Putting our best smiles on for the camera at the top of a really long hill:
Grandpa flirting with the cute water ladies:
Last but not least, we have to give a big CONGRATULATIONS to Tim for his promotion to Unit Manager last week. We're so proud of you, Daddy!

Tweety bird

We have a few videos to share with you today. First is Emma's newest animal sound. She has learned that a bird says "tweet." It's so cute when she says it, that we just had to record it. Unfortunately, she lost interest by the time I got to the next animal sound, so the second half of the video is sort of boring. If you listen carefully at the beginning, you'll hear her talking about her sippy cup. She was pretty proud of herself for coming up with that on her own today. I did have to help her out a little bit because when she first pointed it out, she called it a "sleepy cup!"

The second one shows off her counting skills. She was playing with her newly aquired phone toy (way cooler than a brand new toy because it's a hand-me-down from the ultra-cool Caroline & Daniel), and it was the perfect opportunity to count the numbers. Even though I pointed to the numbers on the phone keys, you'll see that she wasn't really looking at them. She gets a little stuck around 6 usually, but she's pretty good at the rest of the numbers, up to eleven. Or, as Emma says, "lemmen."

She loves to count from 1-5 on her fingers, too, but she was starting to get annoyed with Mommy recording her every move, so we didn't get that far. Maybe next time!

Emma will be participating in her very first road race this weekend. We are doing the Southeastern Brain Tumor Foundation's Race For Research at Atlantic Station. Tim is running in the 5K, and Emma and I are going to do the 2K walk with the stroller. We'll be sure to take plenty of pictures!

Party girl

Our July 4th started very early (got up at 4:00am!) with the Peachtree Road Race. Those pictures will come separately in a later post. Emma had lots of fun playing with Aunt Laura while we were out.

After we all had a much-needed afternoon nap, we set out for a cookout and some fireworks in a friends' neighborhood.

Just before we left:
Emma and Daddy playing on the blanket:
Emma's buddy Asher and his daddy Rich:
Jonah takes a break from eating some corn on the cob to say hello:On the top left, you can see Emma's favorite friend of the night...Rich's dog Rufus. While we were sitting on Paul's porch waiting for the fireworks to begin, she spent the whole time keeping an eye on Rufus and calling to him when he ran off of the porch!The fireworks were a big hit. They were really big fireworks for being in someone's backyard (although, the guy who set them up used to do pyrotechnics for a living, if that tells you anything). Emma wasn't scared at all. She kept chanting "More 'works! More 'works!" She was a trooper and stayed up until we went home at 10:00 that night.

I figured she'd sleep in the next morning, so I saved all of the packing and last minute tasks for Saturday morning. Unfortunately, she decided to wake up at an uncharacteristic 6:00am! We headed out for Charlotte later than morning, along with Grandma & Grandpa H.

We spent the afternoon and evening celebrating Great Aunt Dee Dee's birthday with family and friends. Emma was totally in awe of Caroline, who is 9. Caroline was sweet enough to play with her, and Emma had a blast.
Eventually, Emma found the room with a bunch of the kids' toys, where Wyatt had been hiding out all night. I let her bug him for a little while, and then we moved elsewhere, so that he could go back to playing in peace! The birthday girl blowing out her birthday cake:
Emma managed to hang on until we had birthday cake around 8:30pm, her second night in a row staying up way past her bedtime. I put her down just before 9:00, and she slept like a rock until 7:30 this morning. Thank goodness because we both needed some good quality sleep!

Tonight, Emma & Daddy spent some time together watching baseball in the big chair. Emma is very into imitating everything lately, so she made sure to prop her legs up and cross them just like Daddy!

Ketchup girl

No new pictures because our camera batteries died the other day, but here is Emma enjoying lunch a couple of weeks ago. I learned that I can get her to eat any type of meat if I let her douse it in ketchup. Otherwise, she's not much of a meat eater. On this particular day it was fish sticks, but it works just as well with chicken nuggets. She gets very excited when she sees the red Heinz bottle come out of the fridge. "Chechup! Chechup!"

We have a busy weekend coming up. Aunt Laura is coming over tonight to stay with Emma in the morning, while Mommy & Daddy run in the Peachtree Road Race once again. Grandpa H is also running, and Grandma H, Great Aunt Martha, and Great Uncle Don will be volunteering at the water station on cardiac hill. It's a family affair! Tomorrow evening, Emma gets to hang out with her buddies Asher & Jonah at a cookout where we she should get to take in her first 4th of July fireworks show. (We'll see if that's an exciting or a frightening experience!) Then Saturday morning, it's off to Charlotte with Mom and Grandma & Grandpa H to celebrate Great Aunt Dee Dee's birthday (which shall remain numberless). It will be interesting to find out how Emma does on a 4 hour car trip.

As long as we remember to put new batteries in the camera, we should have lots of good pictures after all is said and done. Everyone have a happy & safe holiday weekend!