Birthday Blessings

The big 29... already? From 24 to 29 has flown, probably because time flies when you are having fun, and I have to admit these have been the absolute best and most fulfilling years of my life. Five years ago I married the most wonderful husband and almost 3 years ago we added our little sweet but ornery addition, Emilia. I am quite the planner (big surprise) and thought I had my life perfectly mapped out to the number of kids I would have before I turned 30, and have come to the acceptance that as much as planning is fun, things don't always turn out the way we plan. They turn out better. I absolutely love my life. I had thought at this point in my life I would be working full time, have 3-4 kids, and be anywhere but Kansas City. Lets take a little review... 1 daughter, work 2 days a week, and live in Lee's Summit (might as well be Kansas City), and I wouldn't change a thing about it. While I would love to add 2-3 more kids, I do not plan to have these all in one year to full fill one goal by the age of 30! All bets are off at this point, though! :) I am so thankful for where my family is at in this very moment, and look forward to the many years to come. And actually I don't plan on turning 30 next year, either... I think I will just continue celebrating 29 over and over again!

My birthday celebration began with a knock on my door a little after 8am, and my sisters (and thousands of children) showed up with Starbucks to start the day out right! The kids all got to play and we hung out drinking yummy coffee... every day should begin so nicely! Oh, and Emilia slept in until 8... gotta love it! Heather surprised me with the necklace pictured above... in remembrance of many fun nights spent singing karaoke while we were in Paris! We all hung out for a bit then headed to downtown Lee's Summit for lunch and a bit of shopping then back home for nap time. Chris had planned dinner reservations with a bunch of my family, so that was lots of fun. Emilia was the only little one there because my sisters left theirs at home (not alone, though!), so needless to say she enjoyed being the center of attention. The food was great... we all ate too much... and I was glad that so many were able to come! Thanks also for all the birthday wishes.... it couldn't have been a better birthday! And thank you, Chris, for planning such a fun get together and making today so special!

some of the family Aunt Tammy and Heather Chris, Emilia and I Emilia before she spotted the camera...

you can only guess what happens next!

A little posing, any one? pose #1 #2 #7

#13

#19... thanks for encouraging it, Melissa!

#28... by this time she had an audience from the surrounding tables

which did not help the situation!

and mixing it up with a bit of theatrics!

my little actress

world's coolest umbrella!

the girls

Gardening Buddy

I had the best little helper on yesterday while planting my veggie garden. Not only did my mom and sis, Melissa, come over to help, but my 2 year old niece, Lily, joined us in the dirt digging. Luckily, my nice next door neighbor had tilled the area for us, so planting was made much easier!

Notice the dirty hands and face... and she doesn't mind! Very unlike her mama who requires gardening gloves! :) We love you anyways, Melissa! And thanks to all their help, we should have fresh veggies all summer... as long as the fence holds up to its job and keeps the deer out!

Our veggie garden

Me and Emilia's shade garden

Pansies are the happiest flowers

Happy Mother's Day

I think this year was by far the best Mother's Day I have had, and although it was a busy day, Emilia was an absolute angel. I was a little nervous of how the day would go since we had church plus my niece's 2 hour ballet to sit through (during nap time), and although we tried to plan the day out exactly... planning only goes so far when there is a 2 year old involved. I had taken the day off, so we all went to church together in the morning, then grabbed a quick lunch after church. Luckily, Emilia was quite predictable and fell asleep after 2 minutes of foot scratching, which allowed us to run a few errands before the ballet and allowed her to have an almost 2 hour nap (in the car.) She actually loved the ballet and sat quietly through the entire performance. Hannah, whose 8, was only in about 5 minutes of the performance, but Emilia swore the main ballerina was Hannah, which I thought was so sweet. I enjoyed watching Emilia's reactions to the ballet as much as I enjoyed the performance. Hannah looked so grown up out on the stage, and I still cannot believe she is getting so big. It seems like she was just Emilia's age, and if you look in the posted photos, Emilia is actually wearing a dress that use to be Hannah's. Here's some photos before and after the performance (photos were not allowed during the performance.) My own Mama and EmiliaAnd the posing begins... and continues... This pose bought her a " no dating till she's 30" from daddy...

a bit too sassy!

Daddy's sweet girl again

beautiful Hannah

and sparkly shoes

After the performance we went to Chris's sister's house to hang out for a bit. It seems with Paytons's busy school and sports schedule that we don't see them often, so it was fun to see them, and Emilia and Pam baked some cookies. They were very yummy!

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms out there!

Turtle sitting

Wednesday when my dad and I were outside we came across a little box turtle that I saved for Emilia to see when she got home. I had it in a box on our deck and Emilia sat inside on her bench watching him for over 30 minutes... easy entertainment! I was going to let him loose before bedtime, but remembered my friend, Caryn's little boys wanting a turtle for a pet last summer, so I gave her a call to see if they wanted him. They did, so Emilia and I are turtle sitting until this weekend. Of all the animals I have had, I have never had a turtle! Emilia and I have just been feeding him fruit and veggies, and he has a nice pad of sod in his box to sleep on. He keeps dumping over his water bowl, though! Nate, here's the photo I promised of our new turtle and his breakfast grape!

PS... I finished my final paper yesterday morning! YEA!

procrastinating

The end of the semester is here and the weather has been so great that I cannot bring myself to stay inside to finish my last paper. My dad and I spent the day over seeding part of my back yard and mulching my flower beds. We also did something I have not done in years... went to McDonald's for lunch and sat inside to eat. It's not that I don't eat there ever, it is just very infrequently and if I do then I usually use the drive thru! It was fun, though.

Empty bed means bad sleeping habits

It's so good to know we spent money on a comfortable bed for Emilia with pretty bedding and this is where Chris found her sleeping for nap time...

A laundry basket... are you kidding me?

Petting zoo

Today I took Emilia and her friend, Catherine to the petting zoo... the weather was perfect. I work with Catherine's mom, Caryn, and our girls are exactly 1 week apart. The girls had a blast, and by the end of the day, Emilia was informing me that I was not her best friend anymore, but instead it was Catherine. She also told me, "No be sad, Momma, Daddy your best friend." I guess Catherine is probably a bit more fun than me! We took a picnic and spent most the morning and afternoon there. I was hesitant to stay so long... 2 two year olds without naps, but they did great. The car ride home was very quiet, though! Caryn, thanks for letting me have your kiddo for the day... she was an angel!

Emilia "catching" Catherine

watching the baby chicks

HAPPY EASTER!

Easter Morning

Emilia's Easter Basket For my little gardener

Easter gift from Uncle Tom, Aunt Pam, Payton and Uncle Danny Pretty girl

(see slide show at the bottom of the posting to view how many "poses" she had to do to get this shot)

Easter Dinner at Aunt Tammy's Some of the Fam This was the 1st Easter I have had to work ever, so I was quite bummed to not be able to go to church with Chris and Emilia, but there is an end to working weekends coming very soon... July 12th to be exact... not that I am counting the days or anything! Anyways, when I got home late from work Saturday night Emilia was already in bed, so that gave me the chance to get her Easter basket put together and her clothes layed out for church. She wore a dress that my niece, Hannah, wore for Easter when she was three, so Emilia thought is was quite special that Hannah "gave" her that dress. Chris and Emilia went to church and then surprised me and came by for lunch... yummy cafeteria food for Easter lunch, but actually it wasn't too bad. Chris took Emilia home for a nap, then went to my family's Easter dinner and then to his sister's house for a bit. When I got home from work (late again) she was already in bed... bummer! This week I have high ambitions to get a lot accomplished. I have to convert my 7 page paper to 15 pages... not sure how! I thought 7 was sufficient since there was no length criteria posted, and then another student asked her how long it should be so last week she posted the criteria of 15 pages... seriously? I thought this one was done! For this semester I only have 2 other shorter papers and 1 final test to complete and I am looking forward to a couple week break before summer semester begins. This semester has been easier than last semester, but I think that has allowed me to procrastinate more... never good! Then my niece, Erika, is in town for a couple days so hopefully I will get to see her for a bit today. Her grandpa had a heart attack and is in the ICU at my work, but seems to be doing much better now. I think she is leaving town tonight or tomorrow. I am off to work on my paper, but I will post Easter photos later! I hope everybody had a wonderful Easter! Emilia posing for daddy.... she definitely loves the camera and has many silly faces... made me laugh!

Ready for Spring

I was quite disappointed when I went outside this morning and had to go right back inside and get my coat. I wore flip flops yesterday and a coat today. I am definitely ready for spring, not this crazy yo yo weather. Yesterday I had to go up to work to do some yearly validations for the transport team, which is basically where we run through mock scenarios, assemble necessary equipment, and go over any new equipment. I got out just in time to pick up Emilia from school right as she was getting up from nap. I also picked up my nephew, Garrett, and we grabbed ice cream and headed to the park. They both had a great time and Garrett taught Emilia how to go down the tornado slide head first. Thankfully, Emilia told Garrett, "Garrett, that not a good idea. You hurt your head!" It was quite amusing. Chris had yard work he wanted to get done last night, so it was a perfect night for dinner with the girls (plus Hudson). My sister, Heather, and her kids, Hannah and Hudson, Melissa, Lily, and Melissa's friend, Jen, and her 1 year old Sofie, and Emilia and I all headed to On the Border for quesadillas and tacos... yummy. Then we walked around the Chipman shopping center for a bit and finally went home when the stores closed! I know... wild and crazy girls night! It was fun and Emilia loves being around all the other little kids.

Funny conversations

My daughter has always been a bit silly, but lately the conversations have been quite funny and quite insightful on her part... here's a couple examples... I was sitting at the table talking to my mom and said, "I ran into Claire the other day." Emilia said, "on facebook?" I said, "No, at Target." She then wanted to know which Target and nodded knowingly when I replied that it was at the one in Overland Park. She simply replied, "OH.... Overland Park Target... you funny, Momma!" Then this morning we were in the car together and she asked me why she remembered the words to the song "God is so good." I didn't understand what she was asking me, so I said, "What do you mean... did you forget the words?" She said,"No, Momma, I sing..." and she proceeded to sing several songs she knows and she wanted to know the logistics of why she remembered the words. I then explained when we hear or sing a song over and over, then our brain remembers the music and the words. She seemed satisfied with that answer at first, but watching her in my rear view mirror, I could tell more questions were on the way. She then asks me, "WHY my brain remember? How it do that?" I then quickly explained to my 2 year old that there is a thing in your brain called the hippocampus that allows you brain to store information for a short time and you may forget those things, or it will put it into a special place in your brain that will let you remember it for a long lime, like remembering songs, people's names, where things are in your house... lots of things. She simply looked at me and said, "Momma, you too funny...I not a hippo, I a big girl." TOO FUNNY!

Rainy day

Emilia slept in this morning until 830, which was nice for a change. We had quite the lazy morning, and then my friend, Jen, came over for a bit. We went to a nearby Mexican restaurant, which is Emilia's fav. Silly girl likes to dip her chips in ice cream...mmmm! Then we came hung out this afternoon while Emilia was supposed to be napping, but instead we could hear her playing in her bed. She finally went to sleep after 2 hours of playing. This semester is finally almost coming to an end and I am looking quite forward to a break. This semester really has not been bad, I am just tired of always having something that needs done, especially when it is not the most exciting of topics to do assignments for. This summer will be good since I only have one class, and I will hopefully be coming off weekends at work... keeping my fingers crossed. My boss opened a part time spot after 6 months of me begging... and I am not kidding about the begging part! So I will probably be working mostly Mondays and Fridays, the every 3rd weekend. I have worked all weekends since Emilia was a baby, so it will be so nice to actually have days off with my husband. Off to do some homework before a nice online two hour class... wish me luck!