My new MN friend, Mirabelle

We were so happy to get to see Melissa and Steven while in the midwest, and to meet their new baby girl, Mirabelle.  Emma and Mirabelle became fast friends and are already looking forward to their next playdate.

Christmas time at Grammy and Grampy D's

We were fortunate to be able to spend about 6 days in Madison over Christmas, and Emma got to see her aunt Deirdre, uncle Jeff and cousin Carter from CT.  She also enjoyed music lessions from her Grammy, and had fun trying to convince Grampy how good all her toys taste.  Grammy and Grampy also took us on a field trip to a European bakery to see a life size gingerbread house.  Carter went inside the house to enjoy some cookies, while Emma was wondering why everyone was taking so many pictures. 

Christmas morning

Emma wasn't quite sure what to think of all the gifts on Christmas morning.  She loved all her new gifts, and really enjoyed eating all the paper they were wrapped in as well.  Emma's 3 year old cousin Carter helped Emma pick out her gifts under the tree.

Artic Blast 2008

Portland got a record amount of snow this weekend.  We had drifts of snow in our driveway, and had to get reacquainted with our snow shovel again.  Emma liked to look at all the white stuff from a nice warm house, but didn't really like the way it felt on her hands.  We'll have to save snow angels and snowmen until next year.  

We also had a Christmas cookie cocktail party planned for Saturday night, and our die hard friends from the midwest and Canada didn't let a mere 8 inches of snow stop them from going out.  Luckily everyone had enough cookies earlier in the evening to provide the energy needed to dig each other out as everyone proceeded to get stuck in the snow on their way home.  Emma also has a new friend her own age to hang out with at these adult gatherings, Elias is the little guy near the fireplace.

Visiting Marge

Emma and I went to visit our neighbor Marge today, before we started getting the significant snowfall.  It was still pretty cold outside today though, so we got all bundled up to go next door.

Sleepy?...Not our Emma!

I thought the sleepy pj's might give our little one a hint as to what it was she was suppose to be doing when we put those clothes on.  This has not been the case.   Emma has learned to go to bed fairly easily, but she likes to wake up a few hours later.  After her midnight snack, she used to go straight back to bed, but somewhere along the line, she has learned that if she crys long and loud enough, mom and dad will give in, and let her sleep with them.   Emma, all 18 pounds of her, is also a little bit of a bed hog, so Ken and I rarely get much sleep after she jumps in with us.  We are hoping this is going to be a short lived phase!

Celine Dion Christmas 2008!

Just a couple of snapshots of Emma trying out for the baby Celine Dion Christmas special.  We were actually just trying to get a cute photo of her in a santa hat for our Christmas card this year...but Emma had other plans.  Apparently she does not agree with accessorizing with hats anymore.  Oh...and we are still working on getting a photo for our christmas card...It's looking more and more like we might be sending out a Valentine's Day greeting this year (or perhaps a birth announcement/"our little girl is turning 1" card).  Yep, parenthood certainly has not helped us in the procrastination department.