Our Little Princess Has Turned TWO!

Our Little Emily turned the ripe old age of TWO yesterday! And what a blessing this little princess has been to our lives in the past two years! Just a few minutes ago, I was sweeping and mopping up all of the debris from her birthday party last night and there was tons of GLITTER!! And as I was sweeping the dust into the pan, the glitter caught my attention and I was just pondering and thinking about how Emily has really put the glitter into our lives over the past two years! She is such a bright and intelligent little 2 year old with so much spark and personality!

She LOVES to read and play with (take care of) her baby dolls! She can do both of those things for hours on end! She has such a nurturing spirit already, it is really amazing to see it unfold a little bit more with each passing day! And along with that she LOVES to take care of her little sister too! Last night after she was in her bed, she heard Haley crying (because Haley has a harder time falling asleep) and Emily was talking to Haley from her bed and saying, "Haley No No No" very sweetly. She is such a gentle and loving little girl with a heart of gold!

Some of Emily's Accomplishments over the past SIX MONTHS have been:

~ That her vocabulary has really expanded, she knows so many animals, shapes and colors. Whenever we read books together and I ask her what things are she amazes me with what she comprehends!

~She is also known as "The Queen of One Word Sentences". (Aka: Come, Sit, Up, Down, etc). But just recently within the last 2 weeks or so she has started to put 2 words together. Her first 2 word sentence was "Haley Sad". It was pretty cute! We were at the table having lunch and I was about to wipe Haley and get her down, and Haley never likes to get wiped off, so she was fussing! Emily went right over to her and then looked at me and sad "Haley Sad." I am glad that I have her around to keep me on my toes!

~Another thing that has been a HUGE milestone for Emily is that she has mastered the Nursery at church! It took her SEVERAL months to do it! Since we changed wards just after she started nursery, then after one week they changed her class and then after another week I changed her class and now finally she is in a great class with great teachers (Tyler C., Van K., and Brad C.)who she loves and her love her and we are all very happy with nursery now!

~One last cute thing about Emily (for now) is that she LOVES her baby dolls! And the other day when her baby doll was sad she was trying to calm her and get her to go to sleep by singing her the "Daughter, I love you" song. Which was especially cute, because that is the song that I sing to her and Haley both before nap time every day! She was just over in the corner swaying back and forth with her baby singing "Daughter, Daughter".

Emily is so happy and so much fun and we are excited to watch her learn and grow as she experiences her 3rd year here on Earth!! We love you Emily Marie! Thanks for joining our family when you did!

Standing By Her Dresser to see how much she has grown!

The 1st book we read to her after she came home from the hospital!

She LOVES to read!

Love this Cheesy Grin!

Our Little Nurturer!

Ready to GO! I love this expression!

"On Second thought, maybe I will relax for a minute!"

Both Girls were ready to GO!

Ahh, but sharing the bear, makes the picture taking fun!

Haley looks like she is patiently waiting to bolt!

Good Times!

Love My Girl!

Too funny to Pass Up!

I LOVE these 2!!

Families are Forever!

Christmas Day Has Come Again!

I think Micah and I were just as excited for Christmas Morning to come as our girls were...especially Miss Emily! They slept in until after NINE!! Micah and I got up, got dressed, Micah made breakfast, I uploaded some pictures, and finally around 9:05am we heard the first whimper!! So, up I ran to get the girls...of course it took a little longer than expected as I had to change diapers and take pics and videos of my girls first Christmas morning together!! But then Daddy came up to help bring the girls down and they discovered that SANTA CAME!! They were so excited. We got a video of the whole thing, but it is way too long to upload here!
Emily ran around from toy to toy checking out each one carefully, while Haley sat in the middle of the floor with one of the toys from her stocking! She was definitely living the excitement of Christmas morning through Emily!
The girls checked out their stockings and then we went to the table to having yummy pancakes that Micah made for us! He even made snowman pancakes for the girls, which they LOVED!
After breakfast was finished and cleaned up then we went back to the living room to open our gifts! Emily was into it for a little while (but since it took about 2 hours to open everything) then she lost interest, but thoroughly enjoyed playing with her new kitchen! And Haley enjoyed crawling over to some of our snowmen decorations and trying to eat them!
The rest of the day was spent relaxing and watching the girls play! One of our family's traditions that we started the Christmas of 2008 was that we stay home on Christmas and relax and enjoy each other and let the girls enjoy their gifts! This is definitely a tradition that may not work for a lot of families, but one that works well for our family! We also were blessed with a dusting of snow on Christmas which also made the day a bit more magical! But since it was merely a dusting and it was FREEZING COLD outside, we decided to stay in where it was warm and not take the girls out to play in it!
Christmas Time is a wonderful time of the year~And we love every aspect of Christmas from ribbons, packages, bows and snowmen to the Manger scene with Mary, Joseph and sweet baby Jesus that reminds our family of the true reason and purpose for celebrating! That wonderful night in Bethlehem when Mary brought forth her first born Son and laid him in a manger and how that sweet moment in time has lead to an eternal change in our lives! We love Christmas Time and are so grateful for the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Merry Christmas!!

Emily, just waking up on Christmas Morning!

Happy Haley, Ready for Action!

Emily was so excited to say "Good Morning" To Haley!

Daddy and Haley on Christmas Morning!

Our Happy 9 1/2 Month old!!

Emily, Checking Out her new stuffed animal!

Emily LOVED her Bee Pillow from Mimi and Dooders!

Micah got some new jeans!

Haley decided to give the Sit and Spin a go while Emily tried out the Talking Cookie Jar!

Emily giving her baby a bath in her new kitchen sink!

Posing with her baby, new food and new kitchen!

Eating our Christmas Dinner together!

We found another present for them in the car!!

Sharing is a Good Thing!

Emily LOVES her baby, with clothes or without!

Haley, Sporting her new hat!

A First for us, Stockings on Christmas Night just before bed!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

Christmas Eve Was So Much Fun!

Just when you think Christmas Time couldn't be any more spectacular, you have kids!! Having Emily and Haley has helped Micah and I get more into the Christmas Season on all kinds of fronts. More traditions, more time focusing on the birth of Christ, more preparations for Santa to come, Amazing Pictures of Kids with Santa (and other relatives too!!).

This year, as has been our tradition for the past 3 years we did all of our running around in the 2 days before Christmas! We went to My Dad and Step Mom's house on the 23rd for some yummy Christmas soup and a nice visit. Then on Christmas Eve we left the house early and made a few small deliveries and then headed to Mema's house for a while. (Mema had surgery this year, so she wasn't up and at em like she usually is, but she definitely enjoyed the our visit! Emily and Haley can always brighten her day, that is for sure:)

Lastly, we were off to Mimi and Dooders house for the Annual Christmas Eve Lunch, Present Exchanging Mayhem, and lots of play time and catch up time! Even though most of my brothers and sisters live pretty close by we still don't get the chance to get together too often. So the holidays are definitely nice for that! And as always, Emily and Haley enjoy playing with tons of cousins!!

And then we came home that afternoon, had a great nap time, participated in a few traditional Christmas Activities for our family (Emily got to set out milk and cookies for Santa this year, she was very excited!!) and then we put the girls down for the night and went to work helping Santa to prepare all of the girls toys and their stockings! It was a very magical experience, one I am glad that Micah and I got to be a part of!!

I am not sure who Emily liked better Santa or Brody?

I liked how she was contemplating giving him a high 5!

Gracie is always so willing to give Haley hugs and Haley is always so ready to receive them!

"Now how did my shoe get over there?"

These 2 crack me up!

I love this little reindeer!

TROUBLE!

Haley was excited when we brought out the gifts!

Emily is such a good little present opener!

I love this pose!

But I love this one even better!

She LOVED this doll!

And Haley has really become fond of her phone too!

Haley was even getting into the present opening thing too!

And as all big sisters do, she had to try out Haley's phone for herself!

Colton's Blocks were a HUGE hit too!

Dooders, checking out his Thrift Store tie!

Another Good Thrift Store Find!

Haley enjoyed being snuggly with her Aunt Ellie.....she was SO TIRED!

Haley enjoying a few kisses from Dooders!

Another Precious Shot!

Stockings were filled with love and care!

And Good Old St. Nick sure did come here!

Full Shot of our tree and all of its present glory!