KISS!

Emily turns 1!!!

We had Emily's Birthday party this past Saturday (May 8th) at one of our local county parks. The kids got hot dogs, chips, ice cream, and rides on the carousel and train!! Emily was lucky enough to have 8 of her friends there to help celebrate!!! ( I am sad to say that I probably didn't take enough pictures and the pictures I took didn't come out great b/c my camera was not on the right setting....sigh. I guess I should be happy with what I did get and I know some friends took some pictures so hopefully they'll be sharing them with me!!).

the Birthday girl!!

It was a H*llo Kitty theme

Lunch time!!

time for the train ride!!

heading to the carousel

fun on the carousel

getting ready for cake

mmmm, good!

she's not so sure about this!!

not too messy, not too neat

the clean-up crew (thanks Margi!!)

time to open a few presents

Despite the look on her face, she had a really good time!!! Happy Birthday sweet pea, we love you!!!

Easter

Okay, so I know these are really late, but better late than never, right?? :-) Here's a look at how we spent our Easter!!

Brady coloring the eggs.

getting a little help

Here's what the Easter Bunny left this year...Brady got T*y St*ory stuff and Emily got H*llo Kitty stuff.

she was much more interested in this soccer ball egg than she was with her stuff!!

Pez!!

checking things out

just look how happy he is with his T*y St*ry movie!!

The finished eggs made for good breakfast Easter morning!!

Outside Fun

These pictures are from about a month ago or so when the weather was finally nice enough to be outside for awhile. We had a good time just hanging out on the deck playing on the climber and being silly!!

It's not very easy to get 3 people in a "self-portrait"!! LOL

Emily does this quite a bit with all sorts of things...not sure where she picked this up!!

TA-DA

ARRRRRRRRRGH (I think she's practicing for G@sp@rilla!!)

Brady looks SO grown up and handsome here...one of my favorite pictures of him!!!

SO serious!!

it's SO nice when the actually play together!!!

Brady's Referral Day, Emily's Been in our Arms 5 Months and a Major "Breakthrough"!!

April 19th is a busy day here at our house!! Three years ago today we saw Brady's face for the very first time!!! OMG, I remember that day like it was yesterday! Brady has brought so much joy and love to our hearts and house (and a few gray hairs!!). He's such a sweet "big boy" and I can't imagine life without him!!

Today also marks 5 months since we first held Emily in our arms!! I can also remember that day like it was yesterday. She has changed SO much in just 5 months, it's really unbelievable. We get so many laughs, smiles, and giggles out of her now, especially Brady. She LOVES her big brother and wants to do EVERYTHING he does...and most of the time she does!!! LOL. I can only imagine all the good things ahead of us!

As for today's "major breakthrough"......Brady, Emily and I were in the car on the way to the grocery store and Brady and I had the following conversation:

Brady: "Mommy, I love Emily! Can we keep her?"

Me: "Of course we can, she's your baby sister"

Brady: "I'm gonna love her everyday in my heart and kiss her and hug her and kiss her and hug her and kiss her and hug her everyday!!!"

This brings tears to my eyes and is MUCH better than what he said on day 25 of having Emily home, which was: "Mommy, PLEASE take her back to Taiwan". LOL

Brady's referral picture... 2 1/2 months old....April 19th 2007

Brady 3 years old, April 2010

Emily 6 1/2 months old, November 19th 2009

Emily 11 1/2 months old, April 2010

Brady Says:

Brady and I were just talking about my birthday, which is coming up in a few days. I was trying to get him to get Alan to get me something REALLY good!!! I know, that's wrong on SO many levels, but mostly I was just playing around!! Anyway, here is part of our conversation:

Me: Brady how about getting mommy some diamond earrings?

B: NO

Me: you don't think mommy would like diamond earrings?

B: no, how bout some crinkly shells?

Yeah, that's JUST what I've been wanting!!!! LOL

Me: How about getting mommy some wine?

B: No

Me: why not?

B: because you like wine in stores and in restaurants, you have enough!!!! LOL

I guess he's looking out for my best interest!!!

Sleeping

Today at nap time, Emily was having a hard time settling down and was crying for a bit. I was keeping a close watch on the monitor and I KNEW she was tired so I knew it was just a matter of time before she fell asleep. Well, when she did finally fall asleep, she was standing up!!! Her face was pressed against the slats and she was standing while sleeping!!! I went upstairs in the hopes that I could get a picture, but I guess her legs got tired!! LOL Anyway, here's what I got!