Back to school

Back to school! Emma's first day back to preschool, September 2008.

Fishing Trip - Summer 2008

Today, we took Emma fishing. We rented a rowboat and went out on a local lake, where Emma caught:

the First fish

the Biggest fish

the Most fish

the Last fish

She was very proud of herself, and wasn't a bit shy with the fish... although she thought the nightcrawlers were gross. We spent a few hours on the lake, and rowed back to shore just a few minutes before a big thunderstorm hit. And Emma was exhausted -- she fell asleep on the trip back to the dock.

Not sure why these are showing up at the wrong angle...

More classic Emma lines

Classic line of the day

Emma (to the dog): "Charlie, come play with me. If you play with me I promise I will be gentle. But if you do *not* play with me, I will not be gentle."

This morning I asked her if she would like to have some Cheerios. She got a very thoughtful look on her face, and then said "Yes, I would, in fact."

Earlier today, she said "Mama, I know this is a lot of work to do, but we have to clean up my toys so we can have a party."

Nichole asked her what the dog was doing now. Emma said "He's out in the living room, eating a boring catalog."

Right now she is trying to get the basset hound to attend her tea party, and he is quite ambivalent about it, to say the least. She just said "Come on basset, we're going to have a tea party. I'll lead the way! Come on... concentration!" Then she trotted off, happily singing some made-up nonsense song.

Then she got in a fight with her brother, and told her mama about it. "Mama, he won't say he is sorry. I am going to go make him sorry." Then she stomped into the living room where she attacked him and demanded he apologize, and then told him "No more TV, and no more video games for you."

Emma, at her school picnic

Emma as a pirate

Last week was "Pirate Week" here at our house... which means Emma was doing pirate activities all week: Dressing up as a pirate, walking the plank, playing on her playstructure (the "pirate ship"), and drawing and coloring pirate-themed pictures.

This is Emma's self-portrait as a pirate. The top part in black is her pirate hat. The bottom part is her pirate ship! You can tell it is because she is standing on the deck, as evidenced by the legs. Also, she wrote her own name without any help.

Practicing her golf swing - May 2008

Emma the Ballerina

Emma had her first dance recital the other day. I wish you could see the video of it... it's very sweet, and there are a couple of laugh-out-loud moments.

Emma at Carnival Cuts

Crashed!

Tonight, Emma was going to take a bath, but laid down on the couch for "just a minute". She fell asleep almost immediately -- could be because she has mostly quit taking naps, but still needs one occasionally.

At the 2007 Zoo Boo

 

Abbi and Daddy on a hayride at the pumpkin patch

 

Emma as a Halloween pumpkin

 

Abbi and Emma at the pumpkin patch

 

Emma's Three-Year Photos

Blowing out Mama's birthday cake

Emma on her new swing set

Whoosh... da nomby whoosh!

For the last several weeks, Emma has been saying a phrase that sounded like "Whoosh... da nomby whoosh!" She says it when she is being particularly silly, and says it in a loud, declarative voice. Now, normally we understand nearly every single word she says. She speaks very clearly and has a huge vocabulary. But this little phrase stumped us completely. Even when she said it slowly, we couldn't follow it and thought it was a made-up phrase that just sounded good to her ear.

However, today the mystery was solved. Apparently at school they have a book called "Whoosh Around the Mulberry Bush" which comes with an audio CD, and this is what she has been saying. The people at daycare said it is an odd voice, and they could totally understand why she thought it was "Whoosh... da nomby whoosh!" They also said it was sort of creepy.

So today, I bid on a copy of the book on eBay, just so we could hear it for ourselves. I don't know if I'll try to correct her on the phrase, though; I sort of like "Whoosh... da nomby whoosh!". It's become one of our favorite catch-phrases when we're all being silly.

Building Emma's playhouse

Not the best photo, but here's the playhouse we are building for Emma in the back yard. So far, we are through step #64 of 99 steps. (And it's obvious they combined some steps to keep the total number under 100.) Still to do: We have to put up the bridge/tunnel, add the swings, and add the slide. So far, it has taken us about 12 hours of work, including 3 hours or more just sorting and labeling parts. We bought it at Sam's Club and they say it should take 16 hours or so for ''two skilled builders'' to put it together. I guess that means it should take us twice as long!

When it's finished it should look roughly like the photos below, taken from the manufacturer's web site. I'll be sure to post some ''real'' photos once we get it completed. I'm hoping to have it finished this week. Thanks to Tom next door and Uncle Dennis for their help. We couldn't have gotten this far without you!

I'm a little teapot...

Today at the 4th of July parade, Emma spontaneously broke into a rendition of "I'm a Little Teapot." The high point of the parade today was picking up candy; she scurried around picking it up when it was thrown to her, and even shared some of what she picked up with the little boys standing next to us. The best part was when she picked up two suckers, saw that one was broken, and offered the broken sucker to one of the little boys... all the while carefully protecting the 'good' sucker behind her back to hide it from him and keep it for herself!

She also got very excited when she was watching her brother play. She wanted to follow him down the street!

Picking Raspberries

Today we went raspberry picking. Of course, Emma ate about half of the ones she picked, and picked a lot of green, unripened berries, but she had fun and we came away with about 5 quarts of berries for jam.

Ladybug Raincoat

Emma has a ladybug raincoat, ladybug boots, and even a ladybug umbrella. She wants to wear the coat and boots whenever it rains. We're even thinking of having a ladybug-themed birthday party!

The Reading Room

We've been really working on potty training, but Emma has been a bit resistant to the idea. She manages to go occasionally at daycare, but is reluctant at best at home. However, she does enjoy flipping through a catalog or two while she gives it a try.

At the park

Emma's yellow balloon

Emma at a restaurant 5-24-07

Best friends

A birthday kiss for Daddy

Tonight we went to an Irish pub for dinner and drinks, to celebrate my 40th birthday. Emma sat between me and her Grandma, and was definitely the life of the party. She ate, made conversation, helped me blow out the candle on my sundae, and then gave Grandma and me kisses too. Plus, she talked to Grandma in the car non-stop both to the restaurant and back home. She kept talking about the ocean, the beach, and a thousand other things, including a ''cotton candy kayak'' she wants (she has seen kayaks that are blue and look like the color of cotton-candy-flavored lollipops).
See the similarity?



For me, it was a great birthday -- I got "flamingoed" (see the other picture of Emma hugging one) and had a terrific dinner with Nichole, Jordan, Emma and my Mom. If Abbi could have been there too, it would have been perfect.

Emma certainly seemed to have a good time, that's for sure. Then, when we put her down for the night, she gave me hugs, and sang "Happy Birthday to you... Happy Birthday to Daddy... Happy Birthday to you." It was very sweet, and we were a bit surprised that she kept it fairly close to the actual lyrics of the song!