First Time Finger Painting

I have always loved art. When I was younger every summer I would take art classes; painting (oils and water color) and ceramics. I haven't done any of this in sometime. With the cold weather and our backyard torn up, I thought we could try finger painting.

A couple of weeks ago I went online, to find some recipes for homemade finger paints. I bought all the goods and then was going to make some. Then, I realized that I had to cook the finger paints. So instead I took some pudding that I had and added food coloring.

Starting out. She does look a little tired. We dropped our first nap this week and is still adjusting.

Love that squishy feeling!!!

About halfway through she decided to try out the paint. Mmmm...pudding.

She would paint a little and then taste a little.

I see lots of finger painting in our future!!! I can't wait to cover my fridge with artwork.

The Next Big Step

The workers were back out the very next day to put in plumbing, electrical, equipment and rebar. With each day it is starting to look more and more like a pool.

Emeline's 15 Month Stats

Today, we went to the doctor for her 15 month well visit. It was a bittersweet appointment. Today was our last appointment with Dr. Coco. We love Dr. Coco and are so sad to leave him but, it is too far of a drive. Em was a little fussy with at her appointment but, gave Dr. Coco lots of fives.

She is still a big girl. Upper 95th percentile in height and weight. She weighed 27 lbs 14 ounces and was 33 1/2 inches tall.

We are so blessed in so many ways but, having Em in our lives is by far one of the best blessings!

A Fun Day....

Our day began today with trying something new for Emeline. I made her waffle but, to try something different I gave her a little bowl of syrup for her to dip her bites into. She loved it! And to my surprise she didn't make near the mess that I thought she would.

Next, we had our first visitors of the day. The excavation team got here to begin digging our pool! Emeline had so much fun watching them. She kept an eye on them all day. The original plan was that they would be done by lunch time. About 2 hours into digging we got some bad news. They had hit rock. So out came the jackhammer and tons of noise. I felt so bad for our neighbors. Hopefully, most of them were at work. Luckily the rock only caused them a delay of a few hours and we now have a huge hole in our backyard.

Emeline keeping a watchful eye.

The finished product! Well, the digging is done. Tomorrow they will be back to do the electrical and plumbing.

This evening we had some friends over for dinner. Ben, Kim and their two boys (Ben and Ethan) joined us for dinner. It was so wonderful to catch up with them. The boys had fun playing with Emeline's baby toys and Emeline played with their big boy toys. Ben and Kim live literally 2 miles from our new house. We are so excited and look forward to hanging out again with them soon.

Emeline at 15 Months

Yesterday Emeline turned 15 months or 1 1/4 year old. It might not seem like a big milestone but, it amazes me how much she has changed in the past 3 months.

• She is now a big walker. She walks everywhere. We still have little falls from time to time but, for the most part she has this walking thing down.
• She is very talkative. She has several words/phrases she uses on a daily basis. Here are a few: all done, car, ball, juice, cup, uh-oh, pease (please), mama, dada, papa, nene (Aunt Renee), Gu (Gram), puppy, Dasdy (Daisy), bye-bye, hi and Bird.
• She is very particular and I think she has OCD. She gets that from her daddy. She can't stand to have doors open and things out their place.
• She can climb up and down her new stairs but, only with an adult.
• She loves exploring and coloring.
• If she could spend every minute outside she would. This kiddo loves the outdoors regardless of temperature.
• She loves her dogs and giving them hugs. Rosie pretty much avoids Em and Daisy has been so good with Em.
• Em also loves music and dancing and reading books. I have to sing Ring Around the Rosie at least 10 times per day.
• She has also developed such a distinct personality. She is very independent and opinionated. Has the sweetest smile and gives the best kissers.
• She loves playing telephone. She will take my cell phone, the tv remote, or her hand and pretend to talk. She has her own language but, it is the cutest.

We have her 15 month check-up this Friday. Once I have her stats I will post them. I will also post pictures of the little miss.

A Crazy Month

We have had a crazy month. On December 20th we closed on our house or at least signed the documents. We did not fund until the 21st. So on the 21st we moved. Yes, we moved into our new house the week of Christmas. So, Christmas was crazy. We tried to give some what of a normal Christmas to Em by spending Christmas Eve at my parents.

Christmas morning was amazing!!! I brought Em down for breakfast and Gram was in the kitchen making breakfast. Thinking that she would go straight to Gram I put Em down. She took one look at Gram and one look at what Santa had brought and made a dash for Santa's goodies. We were all caught off guard. Justin was still upstairs, PawPaw was in his office. All Mom and I could do was scream hurry up!!! Em loved all her gifts. Justin and I loved that she enjoyed it all. This was Em's first Christmas where she actually enjoyed Santa and opening gifts; as opposed to the previous year when she slept through it all.

We kept Christmas going by heading down to Houston Christmas Day and spending time with Justin's family. We had Christmas dinner with Pops, Uncle Drew and Aunt Erin. Then on the 26th we headed to Grandma's house (Justin's Grandma) for a family lunch.

You are probably wondering where all the pictures are. Well, I didn't take any. I will the mom of the year award. I attribute the lack of pictures due to the fact that Em still needed help opening presents and I was busy. I know that the grandparents took lots of pictures so hopefully they will share.

After we returned from Houston, we have spent the past couple of weeks trying to put the house together. It is still a work in progress but, we are getting close. It has been an adjustment. The house is amazing and it is so nice to have so much room. Oh, and it is so nice for Justin's commute to only be 20-30 minutes. He gets home in time to play with Em while I cook dinner. We are still working on finding a church home and learning where to eat and shop. It will take time but, we will get it all figured out.

I think things are starting to settle down and hopefully, I will get better at posting again.