Holly Jolly Days

Oh, what fun it is to... dig for dinosaurs, go ice fishing, whip down the Yuleslide, bake lettuce. We did all these things at the Holly Jolly Days at the Children's Museum. I think Emma could have dug for dinosaur bones all day. That is always her favorite part. For me, I could have gone down the big slide many more times. Emma was hysterical in the "baking room" as she so carefully placed the fake lettuce in the muffin pans and "baked" it. She told us, "I cooked the salad!" Holly Jolly Days is well worth the trip!

Happy Second Birthday, Emma Katherine!

I can't believe Emma is two!! We had a fabulous Elmo birthday party in honor of the birthday girl. Check out the Elmo cake made by Momo. It was awesome. My niece, Hannah, said it best, "It looks like a real Elmo!" Emma received many fun gifts. She loves her new piano the best (Thanks Auntie Amy and Uncle "Gook"). Emma loves telling people she is two, but can't quite hold up two fingers. She does sing the birthday song very well. We are going to have a little celebration tonight on her "actual" birthday. My nephew, Carter, says you should have a gift on your "actual" birthday. I am ready to celebrate again because birthdays are BIG! Love you Emma!!

Computer Glitches, Tailgating, Bounce House & Potties

So, I learned my lesson. I was having a lot of trouble with the Internet connection our computer. After some trouble-shooting, we realized it was the Weather Bug I had uploaded. It was taking up too much space. I am very glad to have it resolved to get back to my blog and pictures. Here are recent photos of the excitement from our house. We have been cheering on our favorite football teams every weekend, win or lose. Thankfully the Colts have balanced out the Hoosiers. Either way, Emma still cheers for everyone. No matter who is playing she shouts, "Go Colts! Go I.U.! Go Ben (Ben Chappell, I.U.'s quarterback)." After going to the Bucket Game this past weekend she will now tell you, "I like the marching band" and requests the Marching Hundred C.D. I am not sure I know many two year olds that like this type of music over nursery rhymes.

We also inherited a fabulous bounce house from one of our generous neighbors. This thing is awesome. Emma bounced in it until it got dark. I love this picture of Emma with our neighbors. They girls are always so patient with Emma. The bounce house is the hot item on the block. We may have to start charging admission. Emma wants it out every day. We have told her it is sleeping right now.

One other exciting addition in our house is the mini potty. Emma was moved up a room at school and they do a lot of talking about using the potty. She was obsessed with it for about a week. We figured we should go ahead and get the potty to keep up the interest. We will see. Right now the only people using it are her dolls.

We are looking forward to the Thanksgiving holiday. We have many things to be thankful for this year, including the newest member born this morning, Preslee Tauer. Congrats to my cousin, Ginny and her husband Andy. Can't wait to meet Miss Preslee!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Funny Girl

It doesn't take much to entertain Emma. As you can see, she had way too much fun hiding in this storage container. She also decided to read to Lamont. She thought he should play an instrument, too. Doesn't he look thrilled?

Happy Halloween!

I am not sure what Emma will do now without her "Geen Dragon" costume. She has talked non-stop about going "Trick-or-Beating" and wanted to go again this morning. She did get good use out of the costume and wore it to her school's fall festival, to ZooBoo, to her school party and trick-or-treating. At least we can leave out the "Funkin" through Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Patch

We finally made it to the pumpkin patch! Life has been hectic at our house with school, work, family and football. I was worried we might not make it this year. Emma has had the Type A flu. Fortunately, we caught it early and she wasn't sick for long. Thank goodness! One of the dogs has been sick, too. I am hoping Matt and I can stay healthy. With everyone healthy for now, we ventured out to get our pumpkin. Emma wasn't too crazy about picking out a pumpkin. I think the big open field was a bit overwhelming for her. She did enjoy throwing hay on the hayride. Her favorite part was the picture cut-outs. She kept telling us, "I play beek-a-boo." It was too cute. We got to see some farm animals, too. The turkey put on a great show and Emma has her gobbling mastered. All in all, it was a fun trip. Emma calls her pumpkin, "Pumpkin Patch" and must tell it good-bye every time she goes to bed. She has a tiny pumpkin, too. She carries that one all through the house like a ball. We are getting excited for Halloween. I love this time of year!

Football Fanatic

We made it to Bloomington on Saturday to cheer on our Hoosiers against Ohio State. Even though the end was not what we wanted, we had a fabulous football day. Emma was so good and loved sitting in "Papa's Chair" at the tailgate. She had her own box of I.U. cookies and a new book about dinosaurs. What more could you want? Emma loved the cheerleaders, band and The Walk. At one point in the afternoon, someone said to me, "There's your picture opporotunity." I turned around and Emma was playing catch with Tom Crean. As he gave her the ball, I heard her say, "Thanks Coach." I am assuming she picked up on his name as everyone was speaking to him. Coach Crean graciously asked us if we wanted a photo. What a great guy! Today we cheered on the Colts to another big victory. This was a good excuse to wear our new Peyton Manning jersey. Poor Emma has seen so much football in the last couple of days she is getting her teams mixed up. In Bloomington she shouted, "Go Colts!" and today she shouted, "Go I.U.!" Finally she just shouted, "Go Football players!" Hey, whatever works as long as they win!