Aunt Kacey should be proud...

Emily has a sudden infatuation with shoes. This past weekend she started coming to me or Kory with a matching pair of shoes in her hands pointing at her feet. She got several pairs of hand-me-down shoes from her daycare provider's daughter and they are finally her size. So she is obsessed with them. It's pretty fun. I think Kory and I are in for it!!!

Here is a cute video that Kory took of her with her fancy shoes and her talking purse. What a riot!!

First 16 months...

Here is a slide show of Emily's first 16 months of life!!! It's amazing to see how much she has grown. I tried to pick pictures that I have not posted before. Enjoy!

(by the way - I stole Smilebox from Kalli! Thanks Kals!!)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

No longer a baby...

I keep finding myself calling Emily "my daughter" instead of "my baby" and to be honest - it keeps catching me off-guard. Emme will ALWAYS be "my baby" no matter how old she gets. I watched the Oprah show today about that little girl Madeline McCann who was abducted in Portugal while her family was on vacation and all I can think about is my little girl. It just makes my heartache thinking about it. I really don't know how a parent can survive losing a child. There is another website that I somehow came across the other day - http://thespohrsaremultiplying.com/ - kind of ironic that this little girl's name was Madeline as well. I somehow came across this blog on April 9th - just randomly. This poor mother lost her baby girl on April 7th. I can't imagine. She was 16 months old - Em's exact age. I am not intending this blog to be depressing, it's just that somedays I think about how lucky I am to have such a wonderful little girl in my life. I am not sure what I did to be given such joy.

Emily - you are the sunshine in my life - and I am so thankful that you were given to me. I love you.

Here is a really fun video of Daddy chasing Emme down the hall and into her room. It gets dark for a minute, but then lights back up.

Our Trip to Texas

Emily and I left on April 11th for a trip to Texas to visit my sister and her family. We had a VERY early flight out of Madison. Emme did great!! I always worry when it's just her and I, but she's such a good traveller. She's been on 3 airline flights already! yay! We arrived Saturday morning, Cori and Jeff picked us up at the airport in a lovely rented minivan. It was perfect to fit all of us. Cori and Jeff had the 2 front seats, then Mikaiya (3 years old) and Braenna (1o months old) were in the next set of seats, and Emme (15 months old) and I were in the back row. I was able to help with the kiddos and it worked out really well. They picked us up at the airport and we drove straight down to San Antonio - with 1 stop at McDonald's for the kids to run around and burn off some energy.

We rented a house in San Antonio which worked out PERFECTLY!!! We each had our own rooms which was fabulous. We got up Sunday morning to the Easter Bunny!!! "She" managed to find us even though we were all far from home in San Antonio. Here is Emme in her pretty Easter dress (borrowed from Mikaiya when she was little):

After we opened Easter baskets we packed up and headed into Sea World. We had such a good time. Day 1 included the Dolphin Show (Viva) and lots of walking. Mikaiya went on some rides. Emily just loved it all. We saw the fish and the penguins. At one point we were walking along and some music started playing and Em stopped in her tracks and started shaking her butt - for those of you that have been blessed enough to see her dance (ha ha) then you know what I mean. Cori was laughing so hard at her. It was a riot.

Day 2 at Sea World included the Shamu show (Believe) and then another show with the Sesame Street characters. She LOVED that one. She was really into all the characters. We also got to spend time feeding the dolphins. It was so fun. They have this big tank and and you are right up against it. You get to pet their heads and give them fish. It was really fun. Hard for Em to do, but Mikaiya had a lot of fun with it.

Day 3 we packed up and headed back to Dallas - on the way we stopped at the San Antonio Riverwalk and went on a boat ride. It was soooo fun! We got the history tour of everything. The kids seemed to like it too.

The next few days we hung out at Cori and Jeff's house - just playing with the kids, running errands and playing outside a lot. Mom arrived Thursday morning and we were SOOO relieved. We could really use an extra set of hands. Casey came Thursday night. Mikaiya couldn't wait all day to see her Auntie CeCe. We did sidewalk chalk, wagon/bike rides, had tea parties, the girls took lots of baths together and lots of other fun stuff.

One bad thing was that Emily got this awful rash. It started about 1/2 way through our trip. It was not fun. By Friday she was miserable and itching like crazy, so I took her to the urgent care down there. The Dr was quite concerned, but we couldn't pinpoint what was causing it. They gave us prednisone and now it's all cleared up -- thankfully. I hope we can figure out what caused it in the first place though.

Anyways, we had a super time. Thanks to Cori and Jeff for having us for a whole 8 days. Thanks for all the Bud Light :) Thanks for letting Emme sleep in Braenna's crib. Just thanks for a really good time. Miss you all already!

Here's the link to the pictures: http://photos.walmart.com/share/p=711211240358127051/l=15530407/g=3242809/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Our First Craft Project

My friend at work showed me pictures of her 14 month old finger painting and I said WHAT??? Emme hasn't finger painted yet! I'm behind the 8 ball. ha ha So sure enough I went out and bought some washable (WASHABLE is the key word here!!!) finger paints and got her all ready with her "painting" bib that Aunt Kalli bought her. She didn't know what to do at first with the paint which is how she ended up with it on her lip. Then she figured out how it all worked. She had a blast painting!!! She made her first two pieces of art work and I am going to save them...well at least 1 of them :) So she can have it when she moves out of the house. Don't all parents give you a big box of crap when you get your own space as an adult? I know mine did :)

So then after she was all done - we put her paints up in her closet and she saw where we put them. So all last night she kept pointing up there like she wanted to paint some more. This morning when Kory got her ready for daycare-he said the first thing she did when she got out of the crib was walk over to her closet and point at the paints. What a smart little girl!!!

Oh - and she said "Ball" for the first time this weekend. YAHOO!!! Word 4, I think. Yay!

What a Busy Month!

Well it's now almost April, it's been a busy March. Emily is officially walking full-time now. She falls down a lot - but just gets right back up. No running yet though :)

She had her 15 month Dr visit on Monday and her height is 30" (38th percentile), her weight is 20.9 lbs (17th percentile) and her head circumference is a stunning 47.5 cm (90th percentile). The Dr is a little worried about her body to head ratio - since her head is so much larger than the rest of her body. It can be a sign of malnourishment - so we are on the duty of feeding her as much as possible. We're hoping she can gain some weight (and not head circumference!!) for her 18 month check-up.

Emily had a busy month. She has finally gotten to enjoy playing outside a little bit. The weather is starting to look like spring (sort of!!). She is still quite the chatter box. She always has a lot to say - but doesn't say a whole lot of words yet. She seems to understand a lot of words, but doesn't repeat them...or if she does - we don't know it.

She had a few sleepovers at Grandma Bonnie's and always enjoys those! She is starting to get into baby dolls which is really fun. She also likes to help in the kitchen - especially when making Taco Soup -- her new favorite!! Grammy and Grampa Walker came to visit last week - and she had fun playing with both of them. She got to taste her first Peep...gee thanks Grammy!!!

We just got back today from our first road trip without Daddy....at least long road trip! Emme and I went up to Minnesota to visit Auntie Ali and Morgan. It was lots of fun. Ali is about ready to have baby boy Hanson - so we wanted to sneak in a visit before his arrival. We had lots of fun playing with Morgan and even snuck away for a few hours to get a pedicure and go out to lunch -- thanks to Ali's cousin for babysitting the girls.

We also had some work done on the house. Thanks to Tony - we got new front steps!! YAY! They were so rotted out. He used that fake plastic wood that is supposed to last "forever" and it's white - so it matches nice with the house. He also took out our sliding door and replaced it. We now have a door that locks and we don't even get a breeze in the house when it's windy!! Thanks so much Tony - we really appreciate all your help!

Here is the photo link for March: http://photos.walmart.com/shareethumbnailshare/AlbumID=45392300/albumcount=1/p=804291238360391987/l=15447232/g=3242809/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB/pns/share/p=804291238360391987/l=15447232/g=3242809/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Here is Morgan and Emme in the bathtub:

Here is Emme eating her first peep!!

Squishy face!!

A New Cousin...

Emily has a new cousin!!! Owen Ranier Marquardt was born on March 18th. Proud parents are Aunt Kristen (Kory's youngest sister) and Parker. He was 7lbs 11oz and 20 inches long. They live in Billings, Montana -- so we are sending lots of hugs and kisses since we can't hold him in our arms.

Congratulations guys! He's adorable!!

Couldn't do a post without any Emme pics - here's a few new ones from this week:

Here's Em on her first ATV ride with daddy. She seemed to like it!!

Em's first owie. We were out playing in the driveway and she took a face plant. I felt really bad. her cheek was red for a few days, but now it's fine.

This is Em dressed up for daycare on Thursday. Somedays I just have to make sure I am getting my money's worth by putting Em in a difficult outfit :) hee hee

What a big girl!

We happened to take a pic of Em with her giraffe this week and thought how fun to post the two pictures together. The first thing that I noticed was the shape of her head!! We're soooo glad we got the helmet. Look at our cute little peanut!!!

We finally had a nice day outside, so Daddy put together Em's car that she got for her birthday. Thanks Cori & Jeff!!! She really seemed to like riding in it.

Here she is helping Daddy fill Mommy's tires up!

Em loves riding on her pony - and falling off :) She tries to get on and off all by herself and it's usually quite disasterous!!! Oh well. I guess that is how they learn.

Check out those teeth!! She now has 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom. It's hard to get a good view, so here she is smiling on her changing table.

We just booked our trip to Texas, so we are very excited about that!! Emme and I will fly out together on Easter Sunday morning and then we're going to Sea World for a few days in San Antonio with Cori, Jeff & the girls. Then Mom and Aunt CeCe fly down on Thursday - we all fly back together on Sunday. Should be fun!

We are still anxiously awaiting the arrival of Kory's sister's baby -- Hang in there Kristen!!! We can't wait for the big news.

You might be a redneck if....

You have a working TV infront of a non-working TV--especially during a Nascar race!!!



Our big screen stopped working today during the race and we ran downstairs and got our other TV moved upstairs. We didn't have anywhere to put the big screen. Too funny!

Look who's walking now....

Finally...at 14 months - Miss Emily decided to take her first steps!! Officially - March 1st, 2009.

Is it spring yet?

Well...it's still winter here in Madison. We are SOOOO sick of this weather and anxiously awaiting spring which is hopefully just around the corner.

We have had a busy month. We spent Valentine's Day weekend in Indiana for Kory's Dad's wedding. The next weekend we were up at the Dells for our annual Wilderness weekend. We had a blast!!

Emily woke up this morning not feeling so well. Poor thing! I took her to the Dr. today and they think it's just a virus, so that makes me feel better. I must report that they weighed her (granted she had clothes AND shoes on!!!) and she was 20.8 lbs!! Woohoo!! We hit the "20's". ha ha My not so big little girl :)

Emme is now standing all by herself. We're hoping she starts walking anytime soon (actually we're hoping she doesn't walk because we know how much more stuff she will be in to!!!). She blows kisses, waves, claps and even picks her nose! ha ha She says "Hi" to every person that walks by her and if they don't respond, she kind of looks at me as if I can do something about it!!! Too funny. She has quite the personality.

Here is the photo link for this month: http://photos.walmart.com/shareethumbnailshare/AlbumID=42136962/albumcount=1/p=251261235696705937/l=15366454/g=3242809/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB/pns/share/p=251261235696705937/l=15366454/g=3242809/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Can you help?

I am posting this on behalf of Kory's step-sister. Please help if you can....

Dear friends and family,

I am writing to ask for your help. As most of you know, I lost a very good friend of mine, Christine Folsom, to cancer in December. Although Christine battled uterine cancer for over a year, an infection took her very quickly and unexpectedly the day after my birthday.
Christine spent many years of her life in foster care and was adopted by a childless couple who have both passed away. Because of her own experience, it was her greatest joy to adopt two boys out of the foster care system as a single mom. Christine and I bonded over her daily adventures and trials with Marquan, age 10, and Darion, age 7. Those three were a very faith based, tight knit family. The boys were completely unprepared for Christine's death and within a matter of days they lost their mom, their home and their pet. The boys now live with Tony & Elida Lapetina, good friends of Christine's, but their cat had to go live with other friends (the Lapetina's dog was unwilling to share his space!).
Christine chose for the boys to attend Concordia Lutheran School, a small faith based school here in Racine. As I went to the school the day after Christine died to speak to the principal, staff came pouring out of their classrooms to ask about the boys. I was also asked to speak to each of the boys' classrooms and their classmates had many questions about how the boys were doing. They made dozens of cards and most of the school attended the funeral. This is the only remaining constant in their lives and clearly a loving learning environment for them.
My goal, and Christine's wish, is for them to continue at Concordia until they graduate 8th grade. However, the tuition runs over $6000/year for the both of them. Due to medical expenses running more than $1000/month for much of 2008, Christine was not able to leave a large estate for the boys. Tony and Elida are also committed to the boys continuing at Concordia, and while both work full-time (he at Juvenile Detention and she at Boston Store), they are on a budget with the boys and their own two daughters to raise.
Therefore, a small group of us is hosting a benefit mostacolli dinner on March 14th from 1-4pm at Infusino's. Tickets are $15 each and there will be a silent auction also. I am appealing for my friends and family to help me raise as much money as we can for Marquan and Darion's education. If you cannot attend the dinner, we are accepting straight donations also. We were able to set up a tax deductible account at Educators Credit Union utilizing the school's non-profit number. Checks should be written out to the Folsom Boys Education Fund and put the account number (129212) on the memo line. Your check can count as a receipt, although I will also get receipts for all checks I receive and deposit. My address is: 5702 Cambridge Lane, Racine, Wi 53406.
I know times are tight for all of us, but I'm asking for each of us to think about giving up one lunch out or a couple of beers or a couple days worth of Starbucks. Every dollar will benefit the future of Marquan and Darion.
Thank you all so much!
Love, Liz

New Emily Videos

We haven't posted videos in a while..so here are some new ones.
The first one is Emily and Aunt Kalli. The second one is showing how much she loves her walking toy.

Randy and Bernita get Hitched!!!

Kory, Emme and I drove down to Indiana on Saturday for Randy (Kory's dad) and Bernita's wedding. It was on Valentines Day (awe...how sweet!) in Watseka, Illinois. It's about a 4 hour drive from Madison.

We met Kalli and Nate who flew in from Portland and Kacey and Tony down there. Kacey and Kalli had already been helping Bernita a lot with the wedding. She appreciated them so much. They were her georgous bridesmaides :)

We got down there about an hour before pics started. So Kory showered and got ready while I helped curl the flower girl's hair. Kacey and Kalli did Bernita's hair and make-up and she looked absolutely stunning!!

I hung out with Nathan and Emily while everyone else went to the church for pictures. It was nice to just relax for an hour and half before going to the church. When we got there - we enjoyed the chocolate fountain...Yummy!!! Then headed in for the ceremony. Everyone looked beautiful. Kory was also a groomsman.

Emily was a little stinker during the ceremony, but Tony and Nathan helped me keep her corralled! ha ha It was funny. She is such a "star". She loves when people look at her and smile at her. She just glows and gets so excited. She is learning to say "Hi" to everyone and of course people think that is so cute. Uncle Richard even took her for a while and she didn't get mad or scared or anything. She's so good with people she doesn't know.

I didn't get to take a lot of pictures, but here are a few from my camera:

Here is Em with Aunt Kalli and Aunt Kacey

Here is Grandpa Randy with his oldest grandchild (Nate) and his youngest grandchild (Emme)-- although she won't be youngest for long!! Aunt Kristen is due in 5 weeks!!!

The bridal party



Bernita walking down the aisle

During the ceremony (I had to sit in back with Em, so my pics are from far away!!)

Here we are at the reception. Nate played his guitar while we ate. It was SOOOO cool! He rocks!!!

Kory had to join him on the drums!!!

Emme was rocking out with her aunts during the music played by her godfather :)

Here is the bridal party table

Emme says it's 8pm, I haven't had a nap and I've been a good girl all day. I want my mommy and I want to go home...NOW!

After we cleaned up the reception hall, we headed back to the hotel. We put the munchkin to bed and then we all went into Kacey and Tony's room. We continued the partying until after midnight. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. We decided to do some prank calling that night...sorry for those of you that received our drunken calls. It was quite amusing to all of us though!! You know we love you :)

Oh! I forgot one of the best parts - during the pre-ceremony pictures the Kalli, Kacey and Kory decided we couldn't have their Dad's wedding without their 2 siblings - Kristen and Kurt. So Kory drew these "lovely" pics of them. OMG! They were hysterical. So at the reception we hung them on a post by our table and even introduced them when Randy walked to each table to introduce everyone. It was so funny.

Randy & Bernita - thanks for having us. We had a great time and were so happy to be a part of your special day. We wish you many years of love and happiness!!!

The NAMM Show

While Teresa and Emily were stuck in WI, in -30 temperatures, I was in L.A. basking in the 86 degree weather. I went to the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show with my friend Scott Schroedl. It showcases all the new music instrument products. I spent 4 days looking at drums, guitars and music gear. I also got to hang out with a bunch of famous musicians. I got to see some really cool bands set up hotel lobby's and banquet rooms. It's crazy to walk into a Hilton hotel lobby and see walls of speakers and lights.






My friend Scott. I took drum lessons from him from 5th grade through my freshman year in high school.




I'm outside the Anaheim Convention Center about to go into the show.





Scott is standing in front all of the music books he's written and recorded on. He's even done an instructional DVD.



Here I am with the Diamond Guitar Amp girls. You gotta love booth candy! Scott had to stop by this booth everyday and look at guitar amps. Of course I couldn't let him go alone.


This is the Paiste Cymbal booth. Scott and I spent hours playing all of their cymbals.

I visited with Nicko McBrain (drummer for Iron Maiden).

We talked with Rikki Rockett (drummer for Poison). He has a company that makes custom drums.


These are Rikki's custom snare drums.

This is a kit from Drum Workshop (DW). That is about $8,000 worth of drums.


Here is Tim (a former student of Scott's) playing drums. Tim was playing a private show for Guitar Magazine. They just got done with a tour in Europe and they'll start touring the U.S. soon.

Big Girl Carseat

Our little munchkin is officially ready for her Big Girl Carseat. We bought two of the Britax Marathon carseats and put them in this weekend. She had to be 1 year old AND 20 lbs. We were so close on the 20 lbs, but needed to give her an extra month to gain some weight.

Here she is enjoying the ride facing forward: