Monkey Business!

It's Halloween Y'all!

Emma had the best time trying on her Halloween costume and giving it a practice run. It was a beautiful day in NoVa so we thought we would get out and enjoy some of the sunshine and beautiful fall colors. Our little cheeky monkey, Emma, absolutely loved it.

So many people complain about how constricting it is, but I'm pretty sure little E would wear a monkey suit every day if she could.

And I had to include this photo. I mean, seriously, a literal monkey on ones back is always good cause for a blog photo right?

Who me???

Look at this face. So adorable. So innocent. How could she be anything but sweet right?

Well.......

...there could be just a teeny tiny little bit of mischief behind those baby blues.

But I'm not telling on her... except to say that she has more in common with her daddy than just her good looks. ;)

It's fall again already?

Oh, it has been a long, long, time since my last post. Here is where I insert my lame excuse as to why:

I've been.... um.....doing

...not a whole lot.

Well, actually, we have been traveling the past couple of weeks. We took a trip to Texas for my family reunion. And then we took a trip to South Carolina for Robby's High School reunion. I was sick the entire time and it rained almost constantly on both trips, but, other than that-- It Was Great!

Here are a few photos:

Emma and her cousin Logan

Emma imitating the elephants.

The first two photos were taken at the Fort Worth Zoo. It was a little damp but not pouring that morning. We didn't get to ride the train because of the weather but at least we got to see most of the animals and the crowds were not bad at all.

This picture was taken at one of my favorite restaurants of all time-- Edelweiss! Robby despises German food but put on a happy face for me. :D I think the little ones liked it too!

And now to the Evans reunion...

You've got to watch out for those women in the kitchen....



By the end of the day, Emma was exhausted. There were so many little ones running around and she wanted to be right in the middle of it all. Unfortunately, she is still a little too small to run with the "older" crowd. So, instead, she ran her parents in circles the whole time. Did I mention I was sick the whole time? Bless Robby. He was a trooper and even served as a comfy place to rest when the time was right. ;)

I'll try to load up a photo or two from his reunion next. Hopefully, that won't take me a month to do this time. ;)

Disco Fever

What can I say.... EG loves her some disco!

Emma has always been a music lover. One of her first favorites was "This Little Light of Mine". So now, whenever she wants to hear music she starts waving her "little light" finger at us.

But now, she has discovered a whole new genre of music that she enjoys and a whole new use for her pointing finger-- you know, John Travolta style.

I should have known this would happen after she went so bananas for her birthday disco ball. Now it's only a matter of time before she converts the basement into a trendy club and probably turns the old folks down when we try to get in.

Watermelon

We recently took a short trip back to Robby's mom's place in South Carolina. She was needing some work done on her car and around the house so we loaded up the tools and headed for the palmetto state.

Robby did his magic (as usual) and now the brakes are good and everything is mowed. Emma did an inspection and says that Daddy gets an "A".

While there Emma had the chance to experience the joys of watermelon. She's had it before, but this was especially special because she was able to roll around the big green stripy ball and then actually EAT it!

Here she is making the sign for "Ball".

And here she is shortly after her encounter with the watermelon. Sure was sticky, but totally worth it!

Miss Personality

It has been a long time since my last post. I figured out that the reason is not because there hasn't been anything worth noting but more it has been because little Miss E has pretty much been non-stop since learning to walk. Seriously, every time I go to sit down at the computer she races to either start banging on the keys herself or to close the laptop completely. Baby girl has her own opinions about how things should go and they all seem to revolve around her play schedule.

If only she were as interested in eating. I still can't get her to sit down and eat a meal. She's been subsisting on pretty much a Pediasure diet for a while now. The pediatrician isn't too worried about it so I'm trying not to stress. She'll catch up eventually. For now though, she just doesn't seem the least bit interested in eating much of anything besides the occasional piece of cheese or cup of yogurt.
The picture above is of a hilarious moment I just happened to catch on camera. While playing out in the sunroom Emma spontaneously picked up my purse and put it over her head. She started walking around and grabbing random things to put inside it. It was so cute. I was completely impressed with how well she managed to balance with that thing on her shoulder. She's just now getting the hang of the whole walking thing and this was quite an unexpected "next step" for us.

With the summer winding down, I'm not sure how Emma is going to adjust when she is no longer able to do two of her absolute favorite things right now. Actually, I'm sure she'll do just fine, but she will miss swimming in the pool and picking vegetables from the garden for as long as her limited memory will allow. She just loves picking tomatoes the best. She thinks they are little red balls. She is a little bit obsessed with balls and will loudly blurt out "BALL" whenever she sees anything remotely round. This is "great" when we are in the store too. Did you know that both Pepsi and Coke have logos that cause my daughter to shout in the aisles? Yep. I'm pretty sure they did that on purpose.

It's a shame she won't eat any of the things she picks. She'll stick the little cherry tomatoes in her mouth and even the peas (tiny green balls) too --but look out! They won't stay in there long. She'll bite into them and then make the strangest face. Then, out they go.

When we said she was going to be a super-model we weren't expecting her to take us so seriously. ;)

Going Green!

It's amazing to me that it has taken me this long to finally check out the gorgeous scenery behind the house. We've been here for more than a year and I've just now gotten around to walking down to the stream. From the deck on quiet nights, I've enjoyed the gentle sounds of the gurgling waters and always intended to go take a closer look, but there was always something keeping me from it.
When we first moved in, I was WAY pregnant with Emma. Since then, I really haven't wanted to take her down there ('fraid of snakes n such). But since Mom has been here, I've had someone to adventure with me while the hubby watches the little one.

It was really much better than I had imagined. Really cool. Lots of great rocks and shells and... no snakes (that I could see)! Yippee!
The only problem I could see was that one of my neighbors decided that the stream would be a great place to dump all of their newly cut limbs! What!!!
So, it was Super Mom to the rescue. She jumped in and saved the day-- quickly clearing the limbs which were already starting to cause some backup and yucky foamy stuff.

Yay Mom! I think she qualifies as an environmentalist, don't you?

A Weekend of Firsts

This was a wonderful and exciting week filled with many important milestones. With so much crammed into one weekend, I still feel like my head is spinning. I only hope I took enough pictures to help me remember it all later on.

First, Emma's first birthday was on Saturday and therefore, so was her very first birthday party! Daddy fixed his famous "RobbyQ" with all the fixins to accompany the all important First Birthday Cake. The weather was not ideal for swimming so we kept the party indoors, but it was all good. Great food + great friends= good times!

Then, Sunday was Robby's very first Fathers' Day. It was kind of hard to put an emotional finger on the feelings he was having about the whole thing because of the whirlwind surrounding the birthday festivities. Also, between the two of us, we have lost four fathers and it makes the day kind of bittersweet. I know our dads would have just loved little Emma and I'm pretty sure she would have cracked up at Virgil's jokes, she would have loved Tom's adventurous stories, she would have coveted a spot in Jim's big ole arms for a game of patty cake and more than likely would have melted A.O.'s heart.

I have so many wonderful memories of times spent with my grandfather. Fishing, farming, hunting, and other fun outdoorsy stuff. He probably thought I wasn't paying much attention, but I was. Sure, I may have been chasing grasshoppers or picking flowers at the time, but that doesn't mean I wasn't storing it all away in my "pre-blog" brain.

I wish that Emma had those same opportunities. Her life is going to be a lot different than her parents. We both grew up in very small towns in single-parent households with very little money. She's going to have a lot more to choose from and her childhood experience is going to be so foreign to her old fogey folks. Our continued prayer is that we equip her with the tools she needs to help her navigate the craziness that is life. If she has only one thing-- the Holy Spirit of the Lord -- then we will be able to rest in the assurance that she has a wise counselor with her at all times. But that is the one thing that we cannot give to her. That is one thing that she can only accept for herself. It's a free gift of salvation from the One who paid the highest price for it. What we can do is to pray for her and to do our best to guide her.

Another huge first for this weekend is that Emma took her first steps-- On Father's Day!

I'm convinced she was waiting just for the occasion. What a wonderful gift, don't you think? She was so proud of herself too. She took two wobbly steps and then crashed safely to her diapered behind. After a brief second of shock, the applause erupted all around and lasted a good minute, I'm sure. It was hard to tell who was clapping the loudest or smiling the widest.

God is so good!

Early Birthday

Emma's first birthday is not for another two weeks, but why not get a jumpstart on the most exciting birthday ever?
As expected, the QC showed up big for Emma's big day. There were decorations, there was singing, swimming, a little bit of Emma's special brand of dancing, the cutest presents you've ever seen, and, of course, there were lots of awesome stories to tell. The girls always have such a fun time when we get together and this was no exception.

It's going to be hard to top this one as far as birthdays go. Emma is off to a great start, I would say!

Memorial Weekend

What a wonderful long weekend it was! Emma enjoyed her first official "swim" and her folks enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Instead of hot dogs and other traditional holiday food, Emma cooked up a nice.....

KNUCKLE SANDWICH!

What can I say... she's almost one... girl has some attitude now.

.... and lots of new teeth.

But most of all, we were happy to celebrate and honor those who have given their lives in service to our great nation. It seemed to hit especially hard this year because of those we have lost. Robby's nephew Daniel gave his life for us almost two years ago. It still seems so fresh a wound. He left behind a beautiful little girl only a few years older than Emma. I am so thankful to him for all he gave...
...so that we can be free.