February Fun Times

February has been a fun month, although we are all very ready for spring to arrive. Very sick of cold, snow and bad road conditions.

Kory attempted to take a few days off and we decided to stay around Madison and have a little family "staycation". We started off by picking Em up from school on a Thursday afternoon and went over to the Madison Holiday Inn West to Crawdaddy Cove Waterpark. We don't have any pictures because we literally spent the entire time in the water! Emily loved swimming in the pool and going down the waterslides. Daddy loved it because we were the ONLY people in the entire pool area...I am not exaggerating! Daddy's idea of a vacation :)

Then on Friday morning we headed to the mall to Build-a-Bear. Em hasn't done it before, so we wanted to make it a special family occassion. She loved it!

Here is Em wishing on the heart before she puts it inside the monkey

Here she is giving her monkey a bath after it got stuffed

Here's Em picking out her Monkey's outfit - it's a boy, by the way :)

Em is loving her snuggly monkey!

After Build-a-Bear, or in our case, Build-a-Monkey we went to the food court and had lunch. After lunch Daddy took Em to pick out an ice cream cone....well of course she picked Blue Moon!!!

 
Our staycation ended somewhat abruptly at about 11pm on Friday night. Kory got a call from his driver and good friend, Dan who was running his semi that night. Somehow a piece of ice came off an overpass or a plow truck or something and came flying through Dan's windshield. It was a very scary call to get - but thankgoodness Dan was okay. Kory jumped out of bed and managed to get the parts and tools needed and drove down to Chicago and replaced the windshield. Kory didn't get home until about noon on Saturday.

Saturday night we had a babysitter and went out to dinner with our friends Derek and Kelley. We had a great time. We shared our babysitter that night and they left their 2 kids here too. We got home to their 4 year old little guy not feeling so well. Ended up he had a temp of 104 and Kelley called us the next day to say Elliott had strep throat and scarlet fever...thought for sure Em would catch it - but she hasn't as of yet!!

Sunday we hung out around the house and just had a nice relaxing day. On Monday, Kory was supposed to have the night off but Dan still wasn't feeling all that well with the glass pieces in his eyes so Kory drove. Emily and I both had the day off so we had a mommy/daughter day and went to the madison's children's museum. We both loved it!!!

Her favorite thing by far was painting on the windows. I think we spent about an hour in this area.

Here she is pushing buttons to make lego world move - it was very cool!

It was Valentine's Day weekend so their art craft at the museum was card making - she loved it!

That was the end to our fun staycation. Eventhough Daddy wasn't able to be with us the whole time - we still enjoyed our time together and more than anything -we are thankful Dan wasn't hurt during the ice vs windshield incident!!

A few more pics from the month of February:

Playing at our mall play area - they finally put one in on our side of town!

Our puzzle Queen! This is a 100 pc puzzle and she is pretty darn good at it!

We are working on teaching her to write her name. I wrote Emily in blue and she tried to follow it in brown. I thought she did really good for her first try!

We were trying to boycott winter by riding our bike on the driveway - but she lasted all of 10 minutes!!

Finally thought I would post a sneak peek to Em's dance class recital dance. She's in the black leotard and skirt. My niece Braenna is also in the dance if you count from Emily - Braenna is #5.

Here's to hoping March brings us some warm weatheand sunshine!!!!

Made it through January!

Winter is not one of my favorite times of the year. The only good things about winter are football and the extra relaxation because our schedule is much less busy!

We barely made it through January 2011. We just got hit by a horrendous blizzard this past weekend. We got 16+ inches of snow in 24 hours and Emily had her first "snow day" as her daycare center was closed.

We've been doing a lot of artwork the last few weeks....it's the only thing that keeps her entertained while we are cooped up in the house.

We've been watching a lot of football...rooting on our Bears...and when they lost now we are rooting on the Packers :) Thanks to Cori & Jeff to having us at their house every weekend!!

I took Emily swimming at the athletic club a few times. She's becoming quite the fish! Mikaiya and Braenna even joined us!

Here's a few shots of all the snow from today:

 

Oh...and incase you didn't already know...Emme is her father's daughter!

Making sure she gets allllllll the ice cream!

As I'm yelling at her - Daddy is praising her for her good ice cream-drinking skills!

Our adorable alphabet singer!!!

Emily 3 year Checkup

We had Emily's 3 year check up on Jan 3rd. The Dr was very happy with her progress and she seems to be meeting all her milestones with flying colors. She was 36.5" which is the 30th percentile and she was 27lbs 6oz which is the 16th percentile. She somehow grew 4 inches this year and gained all of 2 lbs. She is small for her age, but the Dr is not concerned. He said she's growing fine and to continue making sure she eats fruits, veggies and meat.

Sometimes, I think back to being pregnant...

Me - 9 months pregnant

...and I think about how difficult my pregnancy was due to a lot of things going on in my life at that time. Yet, deep down, I knew I would be ok. I knew we would be ok. I knew that having a baby was going to make our lives better.

Sometimes, I think back to the day you were born....

Emily Kaslyn Marion - 12/26/07

...and I remember that special day with a big smile on my face. I was surrounded by a lot of love that day and you were brought into this world with so much happiness....and nervousness all at the same time. I love sharing your birth story with other soon-to-be mom's.

Sometimes, I think back to your 1st birthday...

1st birthday party at our house

...and I remember how quickly the first year went by. I remember learning how to be a good mother. I remember the difficult decision daddy and I had debating on whether to get you a helmet or not (we did, good decision!). I remember waiting for you to start walking and talking.

Sometimes, I think back to your 2nd birthday...

2nd birthday party at Rossario's for spaghetti on the board

...and I remember thinking you were growing up too fast. A lot was accomplished that year including walking and talking. You really started to develop a personality and show how your temper comes from Daddy but your independence and stubborness comes from Mommy. We were learning how to discipline our sweet little girl.

And now...here we are at your 3rd birthday...

3rd Birthday party at Bouncy Town USA

...I think a lot about how different my life is now. How your priorities naturally change and being a mother is now the most important thing in the world. You think about the things you've given up to become a mother, and realize, none of that really mattered anyways.

Emily, We are so proud of the little girl you have become. You are smart, funny, caring, appreciative...all the things we hoped for in a daughter. You can be a little spit-fire, but we like to think that will be a positive trait as you grow into a young woman. You have so many people in your life who love you and who will be there for you, no matter what. We can't wait to see what the next year holds for all of us.

Happy 3rd Birthday Miss Em!!!

Barney!!!!!!!!!!

We took Em to see Barney for her 3rd birthday present from mommy & daddy. We didn't tell her until the day before because we knew it would be difficult to explain. Try telling a 3 year old that you're going to see a concert..huh? what's a concert? Like...live in person? huh? Sitting next to me? No....ummmm...like up on stage in front of you? oh....Barney sit next to me? Um no. So yeah...that conversation was interesting. Pretty sure she had no idea what to expect...but she loved it!!!

Here we were getting ready for the show to start!

Do you think she liked it???

Doing one of the "dance moves"

Pretty sure this one was the itsy bitsy spider

Dancing in the aisle

While we were in the Dells we stayed at the Polynesian hotel and waterpark. She loved the quiet and small atmosphere. It was perfect for our little buggy!

We even got a video of Emily dancing during Barney. It starts out a little slow and dark, but keep watching. OMG! You will be laughing hysterically by the end. I have no idea where she got these dance moves from......

Christmas Day 2010

Christmas Day was really special this year because we got to stay home in our jammies all day :) We had Tom and Bonnie (Kory's mom and stepdad) over for a delicious prime rib meal. I am not a big prime rib fan, but Kory, Bonnie and Tom all said it was one of the best one's they've ever had. Yay!! Anyways, Christmas day was super fun and I am glad we got to relax and spend it with Bonnie & Tom!!!

We woke up Christmas morning to the "TV being covered up" as Em put it :)

First she took the sheet of her baby station. It has a basinett, sink and high chair for her dollies.

Then it was Daddy's turn..he opened his refractometer...huh? Yeah...that's what I said! He was obviously excited though.

Next was on to the doll house. It was a riot because she uncovered the sheet and stood infront of it for a few seconds and then said "Where are all the kids?". LOL! So then she had to find the package with the people in it!

Here's Emme and Daddy arranging the furniture. Santa did good on the doll house!

Here's Emmers emptying her stocking. She had fun going through all the little things Santa got her. Hello Kitty was big this year!

Our cat Bea also enjoyed the doll house. You should have seen Em's face when she saw Bea in the house...that didn't last long!!! Emily is not exactly an animal lover!

 Later in the morning, Bonnie and Tom came by.

Emily helping G open a present from her.

Em and G looking at her special book together. Emily did a photo book of 2010 photos of herself :)

This was one of her favorite gifts. She kept calling it a "ten-o" and I said, "No Emily, it's a tent". It took me about 3 days to figure out she was saying "tunnel". So yes...she's right. It's a tent with a tunnel attached! Whoops mommy!!

So happy with her new doll from G. Just don't call it a baby doll. It's a "little gurl" doll. She walks around asking here here "little gurl" is...LOL!

Snug as a bug, in a rug....errr...tent.

We hope everyone had as nice of a holiday as we did. This year was extra special that my sister and her family were here. Emily loves having cousins close by to play with. It was also extra special to see the smile and surprise on Em's face with all the presents. She was very thankful and had a great time opening her presents.
Hugs to all!!!