Too Cute For Words

These are just too funny! Emmy is all smiles, I swear...I couldn't pick just one, so I put them all! Enjoy!

Ok, well, of couse, she isn't smiling in this one...





















Play time in her exersaucer gets her so excited!







You can't see her face here, but Emmy is smiling. This is the "I am so excited I am screeching" pose, where she smiles, gets so excited, stands up on her feet, falls back against the back rest of the exersaucer, sits back down and screeches...and clasps her hands together, then they usually go back in her mouth!!!




I'm a cutie and I know it!

Emmy Turns Six Months

Yea, Emerson is six months old today! Yeah, we know, it has gone by super fast! She is truly an incredibly easy baby. She rarely ever cries, I think I can probably count on my hands the number of times she has really had a good cry, and I think 8 of those were because she did something silly like got her foot caught in her crib, or I scratched her with my ring or something like that! Easy breezy kid for sure! I remember saying how Bryden was spoiling us because she was such an easy baby, but truly, Emerson is even easier. She is so laid back, and go with the flow, she is soooooo smiley and so happy. All it takes is eye contact and you get a huge smile from her! She loves to screech and holler really loudly, and it makes us all laugh. Jim was home watching the girls the other night, and he said that Bryden and Emmy were "talking" back and forth. Bryden would screech, and then Emmy, and back and forth for several minutes! So funny! She is not much of a napper, more like a power napper, though sometimes in the afternoon she takes a long nap. She likes it best to cuddle on or with someone to fall asleep, if we try to move her, most times she wakes up and is ready to go again. She sleeps about 12 hours at night, straight on through, and has been since she was 11 weeks old. She has the most gorgeous blue eyes, they are so radiant and shimmering with excitement all the time, and she has the cutest ears, though I don't think she will think so as she goes through her middle school and teen years, but hopefully she will appreciate them one day. She gets them from her Daddy, and I hope she turns out just as amazing of a person as her Daddy is. She loves her big sister and will smile and giggle any time Bryden is with her. She is always kicking her feet and wants to move...if you put her down in one place, watch out, she won't be there long, she will roll, or scoot, or arch her back, almost like she's crawling on her back, to move around the room! We can tell how much she adores us all by the way she gazes into our eyes and just grins when we smile at her. The simple pleasure in life, and she is full of them! Happy half birthday Emerson, we love you so much and love what you have brought to our family! We still are amazed that we have "kids" now, plural, not just one, but two beautiful, smart, fun loving and precious little girls...how lucky we are! Enjoy the pics, these are of Emmy eating avocados today, yum yum!

Growing Garden

Our garden has taken off and is coming to fruition! We are successful gardening virgins, yipee! We have picked several savory cucumbers and small tomatoes (though neither Jim or I like tomatoes, but Bryden LOVES them...she may hate them after this summer! Ha! I am going to try my hand at making homemade spaghetti sauce and salsa with most of our larger tomatoes...and the neighbors will be getting lots of freebies!). We have picked lots of white and purple beans and are going to plant more purple beans, we really like them (they taste like green beans). We have two watermelons started and two budding. Three green peppers are in the works and lots of basil! Our climbers are growing out of control (cucs, watermelons and canteloupe) and I had to build a structure for them to climb (which I might add I am very proud of my handy work!). We are so stoked from our success that we are going to add on in the fall and try some broccoli, then add more fruits and veggies next year! We want to do corn and try strawberries! There is only one tomato that is about ready in the pics, we had already picked them today. Enjoy the pics!

This is our garden two months ago...

And this is it now! Whoa, I know!

Large tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes (Bryden's favorite! She picks them off the vine and eats them right away. What she doesn't eat right then, we leave on the counter, and by the end of the day, they are gone!)

Our only sunflower that took...the head is finally starting to come out! It measures about 6 feet tall!

Green Peppers...these take forever to grow!

White Beans

Large and small tomatoes - the large will hopefully be red in about a week, and the small will be ready in a few more days, but they are constantly growing and making more

Cucumber - once these get started, they grow pretty quick. We have two kind, long, narrower ones (English Cucs at the grocery I think) and then the regular kind you usually see. They will be like 5 inches one day, and the next will be 8 inches and ready to eat...we love to snack on these throughout the day.

The start of a watermelon

And a pic of all the climbers taking over

Fun Friday

A couple weeks ago, Bryden had her first sleep over at a friends house. It went really well, so tonight we invited her friend Rachael to have a sleep over at our house. They had tons of fun playing endless dress up (the neighbor brought over some hand me down dress up clothes later in the evening...on to round 12 at that point!), running through the sprinklers, playing on the swing set, and then Jim finished the night off with a fireworks show...which the girls loved. Here are some cute pics of them enjoying their time together, and of Emmy just hanging out outside this afternoon (Soooooo funny!!!).






Check out my awesome photography skills...I was trying forever to get this shot, and finally got my settings right, it looks like a waterfall!

Cashed in for the night!

Maine

We went to Maine for a week and a half to visit with Jim's friends and family, and we had a great time. Apparently, we brought the nice weather as well...we had gorgeous, cool days with no humidity, it was awesome! We had a really nice time with Memere and Pepere and all of Jim's family, as well as the Collard family...thanks everyone, we wish we could have stayed longer! We also got to visit with my Dad's family a bit in Pennsylvania, they are our pit stop since they are about half way to Maine, we stop and visit and crash there for the night to rejuvenate for the rest of the trip...and it was needed! We decided to take the Johnny Napp Party Bus (aka, a medium sized camper) this trip. There are pros and cons to taking it, but it sure made the trip longer! We are glad to be home, and sleeping in our own beds, but had a blast as well! Click on the pics in the Smilebox to enlarge them, and there are a couple pics below the Smilebox as well! Enjoy!

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Bryden, Emerson and Jonathan (cousin) - our PA folk!











Aunt Malinda and Emmy













We had to make a pit stop for Bryden, but there was no where to park the camper, so we went to the back of a deserted parking lot and made use of the grass space...this is me dying of laughter while trying to hold Bryden so she could go!

Yeah, so, in my family, if we ride in a camper, there is always some sort of malfunction, and the party bus didn't disappoint! Luckily, it was nothing major, but several minor problems to contend with along the way...here are some pics of Bryden helping Daddy solve one of those problems!

Independence Day

Happy July 4th...and thanks to all our military, in past and present, who serve our country and allow us the freedom's we enjoy each day! We went up to Wintergreen with Nanne and Grampa for the weekend and had a great time! The weather was perfect Friday and Saturday and they had a lot of cool stuff going on, especially for kids! Bryden and I got to do some trampoline jumping (B did a flip!!!), Daddy rode the mechanical bull (we are both paying for our endeavors today!), Bryden played in the jump arounds and got to make ice cream, we all enjoyed the craft fair, and of course, an AWESOME fireworks show. We will definitely go up there again for the fourth! Enjoy the pics, there are definitely some precious ones (click on the pictures to zoom in and get a better look)! I will get some video up sometime...

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