Daddy daughter weekend at the cabin

Nate and Emmie went to the cabin over the weekend for a little daddy daughter bonding time. They always have a great time there, and mommy appreciates the quiet one on one time with Hayden!

Emmie loves her little sis!

Emmie and Hayden love to snuggle in mommy and daddy's bed when they wake up every morning!

Hayden's first pedicure

Dance graduation

Emmie has been taking dance, tap and gymnastics at Little Gym for several months now, and today was awards day - she got her very first medal, and she did such a great job! Mommy was so proud to see her come out of her shell finally, and it was so much fun to watch her confidence in herself and how much more she is willing to do than we first started. Here are a few pics, and at the bottom are a couple videos - the first is her on the awards stand with her teacher Sandy talking about her improvement, and the second one is part of her little dance routine - sorry it's sideways, I can't figure out how to flip it!

Movie night!

Friday night was mommy/daughter movie night - Emily and I took Jordyn and Emmie to see Hotel for Dogs. They loved the idea of going to the theater, but the movie itself was a bit old for them - they were really only interested in the scenes with the dogs - go figure! :) The rest of the movie was a little boring for them, but they both did great, and we all ate our weight in popcorn and candy, so it was a fun night!

Can you tell who this is?!

Hayden is 3 months old

Our little baby is getting big quickly! Hayden is developing such a little personality, smiles all the time, and is giggling now, too! She's become very aware of her surroundings, and loves to watch big sister's every move. She is still sleeping like a champ through the night - 8+ hours at a time, BUT, now that she knows there is a fun world around her, she refuses to nap! We are amazed at how a 3 month old can keep herself awake for such long periods of time, but she does it.

Hayden and Emmie continue to look more and more alike, in fact, it's hard to really put a finger on what exactly is different about Hayden than Emmie as a baby!

Emmie at 3 months:
http://www2.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=37595309/PictureID=1090031119/a=25835724_25835724/t_=25835724

Hayden at 3 months:

Screaming baby!

Oh boy, Hayden's new talent is screaming - LOUDLY!! She pretty much screams for everything, when she's happy, sad, hungry and tired, she just loves to hear her voice! :) And unfortunately, it's not the most enjoyable sound!

Hayden rolled over - 3 months and 1 day old!

Much different than her big sister was, Hayden loves to move, and just rolled over this week for the first time - 3 months and 1 day! I actually got the second time on video, so here it is! (Sorry about the lack of a diaper or pants on her :)



We also started putting her in the jumperoo last week, and I thought it was a little early to be doing that, but she's proven us wrong - she loves it, and can really get it going!

Random pics

Emmie has decided lately that she likes to play "baby" - obviously an attempt at getting some of the attention away from the real baby!! :) She decided she should go on the changing table, too!
















Cute little chickie!




















Emmie trying out her new roller skates and all the gear!



















Goofball girl



















Getting crazy with Lola and Jackson!

Blue-eyed girls!

My mom put together these two pics to show the increasing similarities between the girls - look at those pretty blue eyes!

Dad's First Post

mom's been having all the fun posting to the blog so I wanted a turn. I just wanted to say it's been awesome to watch these two kids so far as they grow up. Emmie is just too dang smart for her own good and really knows how to give daddy the "manipulation eyes". If anyone needs any training or work on your closing skills for a career in sales - Emmie can teach you her patented method of spinning a phrase 300 ways from Sunday until you get what you want. She constantly amazes me. Recently I was told "Dad - you have to start putting a trash bag back in the garbage can when you take out the trash". I was so impressed with her ability to mimic her mother.

Hayden has just turned into the cutest baby. Of course we don't really "know" her yet and I am so excited to find out what her personality will be like, but for now she just loves to smile and make the cutest noises. She can really carry on a "coo-nversation". get it? like the "coo" noise that baby's mak.... ah forget it, bad joke. She too has those big blue eyes that are going to make dad's life wonderfully miserable and I think someone spilled Miracle-Gro on her eye lashes because they go on for miles. She is strong and active and you can tell she already wants to get up and get things. Her sister on the other hand came equipped with the ambition of a snail when it came to moving, so this time around is a bit different for us with a kid that wants to move!

I am so glad Hayden is over her acid reflux/collic issues (knock on wood). Before the last few months, I never knew why parents made such a fuss over kids with collic... I always thought to myself "how bad could it be to have a funny swirl in their hair ???? Sure, you'll need more hair gel and maybe have to style it in a way that doesn't make it stick up, but then again Dennis The Menace turned his into an iconic symbol of the 50's so it it's not always bad?". Now I know better.

Hayden is growing so fast!

I just had a few random pics and videos of Hayden over the past month or so, so I thought I'd post them. She has turned into such a happy, easy-going baby who is sleeping like a champ - we've had a few 11 hour nights, which has been great!!

We've just started putting her in the Bumbo seat and she is doing great - she is so strong, and loves to sit in it for long periods of time! Nate also put her in the Jumperoo - a bit early, I think, but she seemed to like it!

She has also been talking like crazy - the cutest little sounds and coos...

Chef Emmie

Emmie's favorite thing to do these days is to mix, stir, cook, and bake anything and everything in sight!!

We were all brave souls and tasted her first real concoction - 'cake' made out of oatmeal, orange juice, flour, sugar, butterscotch chips and cinnamon, topped with giant marshmallows! Surprisingly enough, the flavor wasn't all that bad, though the texture was less than desirable. :) She was so proud, though, that we had to taste it!!



















She also helped make breakfast out at Whidbey - french toast!

Visit to Whidbey

We visited Whidbey this weekend, where we spent alot of time just relaxing and hanging out. Grandma Betty and grandad built a new playroom for the girls so we spent alot of time playing in the 'secret' room - well, Emmie did, and Hayden watched!

Daddy and his girls




















Watching the boats go by













Happy baby!

New Year's Eve with the McPherrens

The McPherren clan came over for a fun and chaotic New Year's Eve slumber party. We (well, mostly Brenna!) made fondue and had a great time stuffing ourselves with delicious meat, bread, veggies and cheese dip, followed up yummy fruit, pound cake, and cookies dipped in chocolate! So much fun!

Everyone spent the night and we kicked off 2009 with breakfast for everyone - yes, more food! :)

Christmas Day

Christmas Day started with just the four of us at home, where Nate and I assumed we'd have the normal reaction of a 3-year old excited to see what Santa had brought! However, Emmie woke up and after her initial excitement, she became so overwhelmed with the the thought that Santa had actually come to her house, that she couldn't stand it! She hid in mom's lap for quite awhile before she could settle down and see what he had brought - funny girl! Once she finally decided to see what he'd brought, she found a new dollhouse and a sleeping bag! After Santa's gifts, she could have cared less what mom and dad got her! :)

We then headed over to grandma DeeAnn and Papa's house for Christmas with the Pereas. More good food, fun and lots of presents! At one point, Emmie became once again overwhelmed by it all, and decided she needed to "take a break from the presents" and she went off by herself to play for awhile, ha ha!

Christmas Eve

We had a great Christmas Eve with grandma Betty, grandad and great-grandmother, who was visiting from Texas. We ate lots of good food, opened lots of fun presents, went to church (where amazingly, both girls did great!) and mostly just watched the girls enjoy Christmas!

Ice skating fun (or not!)

We took Emmie ice skating at the Bellevue ice rink, and I'm sure it won't come as a surprise to those who know her - she was not a fan!! We tried last year and of course she didn't want to, but we hoped that maybe this year she'd give it a chance - but not so much! She did like the Starbucks hot chocolate they were giving away afterward though. :)

Let it snow!

We had lots of fun in the snow! Emmie and daddy built a snow prince and princess, Lola and Josie came to play and go sledding on our hill, and Hayden .. well, she got all bundled up and then fell asleep, so she never made it out! :)