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Christmas 2009

I don't know who was more excited about Christmas this year: Me or Emily.

Having a child brings the spunk back into Christmas. Not that the holiday wasn't enjoyable when it was just adult Matt and my adult self, because it was. We certainly had many great Christmases together. But having a child brings you waaaaay back - back to the days of wonder. Telling the story of Santa, letters and cookies/carrots for Santa and his reindeer, reading Twas the Night Before Christmas on the night before Christmas, the joy of finding a lit Christmas tree in the morning surrounded by toys and stockings stuffed to the brims. Christmas music and lots of food and sugary goodness. My mind is happy, my waist - not so much!

Now, I realize the true meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus. And me being a nonbeliever of Jesus, I'm fully aware I am mooching on a religious holiday here. And part of me feels really bad about this every year. I, technically, shouldn't be celebrating the holiday based on my beliefs. But dang it! I'm going to continue to mooch because celebrating Christmas is damn fun! :) I might just have to change the name to Christimas to make it legit.

Here are some more photos fer ya. Enjoy!


http://www.flickr.com/photos/37571877@N07/sets/72157622966537353/

Holiday "Train" ing

Emi and Peyton watching the train go around the tree - it's becoming an annual tradition! Peyton is at the controls while Emi cheers him on. :)

Here is the twosome last year:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikK0kOKZJBNa0ovdzP1v0GqwJj67LqJSv4Ew8vwhhxlztS_kJyTAwAJpv3_eHzT9FTzVQLZMuzdq34C621u_XgV8loJ5R4dboZ4oY-i8N-LgcxvA1v_wpGcuhO0P25jakSuNIV4DY_ZVw/s1600-h/IMG_6692%5B1%5D.jpg

I think it's funny Em is again sporting her diaper in this year's photo. The girl loves to be naked! (or "monkey" as she says)

Happy Holidays to all!

Sun Peaks, Canada

Last week we took our annual ski vacation up to Canada. Normally we head to Whistler, but with the Olympics hub-bub this coming February, we figured it'd be too busy. So we ventured to Sun Peaks instead - about an hour or so East of Whistler. Smaller village but amazing conditions - better than I've ever seen at Whistler.

Here's the view of outside our lodge:

The view right outside our condo - amazing!

Matt ended up having a couple days of great runs, but unfortunately, he banged up his shoulder pretty good on the third day. He might have even dislocated it. Poor guy was in massive pain the last leg of the trip. :(

On top of that, Em was very sick the entire week, so it put a wrench in our outdoor play plans. As did the negative temps the first couple days. Em and Mama were pretty much confined to the condo. Boooooooo!

Our sick little kiddo caught a stomach virus.

Watching the skiers go down the hill. (we were located right next to a ski run)

Here's a shot of Em and I sledding down the hill.


This is what her face looked like after sledding:

Let it be known - Em HATED the snow. I figured this would be the case being she hates playing in super cold weather anyway. But I thought for some reason she'd take to the white stuff because it's fluffy and fun. But the mere sight of it would literally make her quiver in fear. I'm not even kidding. She stayed as far away from it as possible.
She didn't want it on her boots, on her hands. Nothin'. She would instantly cry if it got on her in any way. Ummm, hello drama queen! I love her, but OMG! I've never heard of a kiddo hating snow this much. It was hard not to laugh.

Here's a shot of us making her walk in it.

Check the sheer look of terror on her face!
Like we were making her walk barefoot on hot coals! :)

Em and Papa inside the WARM lodge. Hee hee.

Trying to enthusiastically introduce her again to snow in the comfort of our own condo. This is just too funny to me. Our sweet little girl is afraid of snow.

All in all, it was a nice getaway. Any vacation is a good vacation because we have Papa around. We booked a babysitter two nights so we could go out to dinner with our friends. That was the highlight of the trip for me! I'll definitely do Sun Peaks again, but only if I have a healthy baby and one who likes snow!!

Reading and Santa

This is what I found after Em was in her room for about 40 minutes the other morning.
She fell asleep whilst reading her books. I LOVE THIS GIRL!

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Today we went to visit Santa.

This entire week we've been talking about Santa. We've read books about him, we've looked at pictures of Emily and Santa from last year. (She loves looking at this photo!) She says "ho, ho, ho!" when asked what Santa says. Simply put - she's enamored by the guy.

We arrived at the waiting area for Santa pictures and Em was all smiles. She couldn't wait to meet him. She kept saying with her hands in the air, "Where's An? Where's An?" Twenty minutes passed and we were on our way into the cabin to see Santa. When we got inside, she was wide-eyed with wonder. She waved at Santa and flashed him her signature gummy smile. We said hello for a few minutes, she played with his jingle bells, all was well.

Then I put her on his lap.
And it went something like this:

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/photos/2007/12/bad_santa_photos_21.php

I would post Em's actual photo, but I didn't buy the digital file. Nor did I take pictures with my camera because I was too busy trying to make her smile. (fat chance!)

I couldn't help but laugh. :) Rotten mom I am.

After we were done, she collected her tears and her composure. As we left the cabin, she was happy as a clam again saying, "Bye Bye An! Bye Bye An!" like the horror show inside the cabin never happened.

Afterward, I took her to Starbucks for a hot (warm) chocolate. She wanted to look at the Santa pictures the entire time, so at least that meant she wouldn't have nightmares tonight. Then we went to Land of Nod for playtime.
Okay. So Mama felt a little guilty for leaving her little crying babe on Santa's lap. :)

Happy holidays, everyone!

Turkey Day 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!
Friends, family and wonderful conversation made our gathering especially memorable this year.
Roasted buttered turkey, homemade green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, stuffing, cream corn casserole, rolls, salad, pies and chocolate cake rounded us all out!

Emi gushing over her new Elmo doll - thanks Grammy!

Look Who's 18 Months Old!

Wowzas! The girl is a year-and-a-half today!

Emily has blossomed so much in last few months. It's unbelievable to think she started walking three months ago and now she's doing this:

Running everywhere & taking one nap a day
Using her words, including "please" and "thank you" (I think she has near 50 words now)
Making animal noises
Finishing sentences of her favorite books and songs
Nurturing her favorite baby doll
Lip syncing to music
Eating with a fork and spoon (although she still prefers her hands)
Accepting the concept of sharing
Motioning "itsy bitsy spider", "Pat-a-cake" and a few other favorite songs.

Her gummy smile can charm the socks off anyone! She loves listening to Mama read. We probably read 20 books a day! LOVES music. Oh - and she adores Elmo and actually says "Elmo's World." She gets her Elmo on for 30 minutes in the morning. Every kid has to watch morning cartoons, right?!


Areas of improvement:
Patience - waiting for something she wants is not a concept she's stoked about.

Dealing better with "frustration" - she gets flustered VERY easily and stomps her feet/cries.

Introducing more potty stuff! Santa will be bringing Em some cute potty vids and books this year. She knows what her potty is and what it's for, but she's not quite ready to use it.
We're shooting for full potty trainage by age 2.

Em doesn't have any teeth. It's amazing really. This is making life a little tough for her. She's been going through the symptoms of "teething" for nearly 8 months now with nothing popping through. Her gums are visibly white, but there are no teeth bumps. We'll probably visit a dentist in the next few months to see what is going on. But I'm thinking she'll be near 2 before she gets her first tooth!

Trick Or Treat...

...give Emi something good to eat!

Em's first trick or treating experience was a success! She followed the big kids up to the doors. It didn't take her long to figure out what was going on. By the 2nd house, she was holding up her bag for goodies!

Unfortunately, Em biffed it on the cement about 20 minutes into the trip, scraping her chin. The sugar high was wearing off, too, so we decided to call it a night. She was exhausted, passing out immediately in the car. A great evening - a big thank you to Doug, Susan, Dani, Denise, Trace and Sierra for making this such a memorable night!

Happy Halloween!

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