Phone dump

I found these on my phone and I don't know if I ever posted them, so here they are!

Emmy eating goldfish in the pool!

Slip-n-slide

"Painting" on the patio

Wearing her Minnie hat from Auntie Ginx

Fun at the children's museum

Zach was so proud of himself for getting up there!

Emmy arranged Zach's burp cloths all around him while I was in the shower.

National Fro-yo day!

She wouldn't let go of my new foam roller.

Emmy made sure Zach had a "friend" with him in his swing.

She can't even make it past 2 houses before she has to stop and look at something. Makes for some long walks.

Zach was so excited to play at the park!

Cousins

Emily's favorite person on the planet came to visit the other day! I love it when Rivers comes because they keep each other entertained. I just wish she'd be excited about playing with other kids like she is about playing with her cousins.

Anyway, we had a fun day with Rivers!

It's kind of funny though that even though they love to play together, they sometimes fight because they have to have the same thing. Which is a problem if there is only one of a certain toy. But overall, they get along great and have such fun together.

Ice Castles

This week for FHE we went up to see the Midway Ice Castles. It was a great idea in theory, but it was the last day and it was a holiday=huge crowds! Seriously, we got there and saw the line to get in and almost turned around and went home. But Emmy was so excited to go inside the snow castles that we waited in the 1.5 hour line. They did have some fire dancers you could watch while you were in line, so at least there was that. Emmy loved the fire dancers! Here she is watching them.

After our lovely wait in line, we finally made it inside, and I must say that it was pretty cool. Emily kept saying, "Wow! Beautiful!"

My arms were about to fall off from carrying Zach around for 2 hours, but at least he was good.

Emily had a blast inside the ice castles exploring all the tunnels and stuff.

It really was amazing. We went at night and they had these colored lights inside so the icicles were glowing.

Anyway, it was really fun and Emily keeps talking about the "snow castles" and how cool they were ever since. We didn't get home til 10:00, and the kids were super cranky the next day, but it really was neat.

So, moral of the story is: The Ice Castles are awesome and don't go on the last day. And yes, Zach is still wearing a pink coat. I'm cheap!

Day of Love

We had a pretty fun Valentine's Day around here. I'm thankful for all 3 of my Valentines! First off, this lovely arrangement was waiting for me on the kitchen counter when I got home from the gym.

I would like to point out the homemade flower in the vase. There is even a poem in the middle that Matt wrote for me! This beats real flowers any day. I know Matt thinks he is not creative, but he can really come up with some great stuff. Thank you honey!

We got Emmy some heart stickers and a little bear. She was beyond excited.

She had a Valentines party at preschool and made Valentine's for her preschool friends. Basically they were a bunch of stuff glued on paper and looked pretty ghetto, but she had fun making them. She also made Valentines for her grandparents.

This is what was inside my package....a new crockpot! In the almost 6 years we have had our other crockpot, about 95% of everything I've made in it has turned out gross. Matt insisted that it was just a bad crockpot, not that I was a bad cook, so he got me a new one to prove it.

Emmy and I also made some yummy cookies. Emmy was much more interested in eating the dough and the frosting than anything else. What a silly!

The next day, Matt took me out on an actual date! Yay! We went to Olive Garden and it was such bliss being able to eat my dinner without having to share or wipe up a spill or get something or whatever and actually enjoy it in peace. While it was still hot.

It was a great Valentine's Day and I am blessed to have the best Valentine in the world!

Grateful

I just wanted to say again how grateful I am that Emmy is finally starting to like her brother. When we went to dinner last weekend, she insisted on sitting by him and sharing her food with him. And spoon-feeding it to him. It was awesome! A bite for Emmy and then a bite for Zach. She would even stop every few bites and give him a drink.

It's been a rough year around here with Emmy not being very happy about Zach joining our family. She was so mean to him all the time, so it is WONDERFUL that she is starting to enjoy him now. I was constantly having to "protect" him from her because she would push him and hit him and take his stuff away. But it is so nice to see her wanting to take care of him and play with him now. And when they actually play together, it is so nice because it keeps both of them distracted for a few minutes. And when he gets hurt or whatever, she tries to comfort him and help him. She always wants to feed him and "carry" him (yeah, that's an interesting one!). She still has trouble sharing with him most of the time, but this is major progress from what it used to be. Hallelujah!

I really hope they continue to enjoy each other and be friends.

Sometimes they actually...

SLEEP! There is no more precious thing than watching your child sleep. They look like such angels. And it's such a rare occurance!

And I hate to wake them up. I don't very often, but last week I had to wake Zach up to go to church. And Emmy looked so cute watching Zach sleep.

Emmy rarely takes naps anymore. But one day I let her take one in my bed. After going through my jewelry box, she actually fell asleep and slept right through her green light on her clock. I had to sneak in and reset it.

And Emmy has FINALLY started to enjoy playing with Zach sometimes. It's so nice not having her be mean to him all the time. She has also started really looking out for him and trying to comfort him if he gets hurt. It's so cute.

Poor Zach got a really awful haircut yesterday. I totally hate it. Good thing his hair grows fast. I really need to learn to cut hair.

And we got hit with a round of the flu over here. This is what Emmy did for a week. Laid on the couch and whined. Thank goodness she is better.

And here's Zach just getting into more stuff! He actually took a few steps from one cupboard to the next one the other day without holding onto anything. Emmy keeps asking if he is going to learn to walk and talk soon. I think she really wants him to be more of a playmate.