Happy Father's Day!

On Sunday after church, Emmy took her daddy to Chava's, one of his favorite restaurants in the neighborhood, and then to the Magic House for a day of play. We explored everything, but her favorite area was the fairy tale land, especially the beanstalk slide which she decided she could climb by herself. She also enjoyed making pizza, and we couldn't miss touching the ball that made our hair stand on end! It also brought back a lot of childhood memories for me and Jeff!

Making Dinner

Emerson has recently started spending a lot of time in her kitchen. She washes her hands and then makes us delicious meals (like the vegetables and spoon she has cooking in the oven) complete with tea or water. She is a very careful cook, putting on her oven mitt and telling us that the oven is "hot". After she is done, she washes the pans before settling in to watch Elmo ("Elmo, Elmo, Elmo, Elmo...")
Obviously, her mother spends many hours slaving away to provide nutritious, hot meals for the family. Or maybe that is Daddy...

Make Tracks for the Zoo

On Grandma's birthday last Sunday, we participated in a 5k to benefit one of our favorite places - the St Louis Zoo! After the run, we spent some time visiting the animals and then had a picnic in the park. Maybe next year, Emerson will be big enough to join Kenzie in the kids race.

I love chocolate!

Emerson has recently discovered the yummy deliciousness that we call M&M's. We were over at her great aunt and uncle's house the other night when we learned that you just can't hide chocolate from a one year old. She will climb whatever furniture is necessary to get her M&M's!

Swimming with Kate 2009

Kate and Emmy spent Saturday morning at the pool - going down the slides and riding the lazy river. I can't believe how much they have both grown since our trip to the pool last year. Looking back at the old post showed Em crying on the slide. Now, she runs up the stairs to the slides and tries to jump off the side of the pool. And Kate has become a little girl - speaking in sentences and watching out for her crazy little friend. Hopefully, we will be able to get them together more often this summer to play at the pool!

Ice cream and balloons

We went to the Spaghetti Factory the other night and Uncle Dan made sure that the balloon guy made Emerson a pink puppy and an orange sword. Somehow they didn't pop through all of the hugs she was giving them!
After dinner, Uncle Dan was nice to share his ice cream with Em which she thought was delicious!

Memorial Weekend

To celebrate Memorial Day, we went to GG and Grandad's boat in Louisiana. On Saturday, we spent the day in New Orleans at the aquarium. Emerson loved seeing all of the fish- even touching a stingray and baby shark!
We spent Sunday just relaxing on the boat. Emmy even got to help grandad drive! The weather was wonderful despite an ominous forecast and Emerson had a lot of fun hanging out with her grandparents, Uncle P and Aunt Bobo!

Go Cards!

For our anniversary, Jeff and I decided to go to a Cardinals game while Emerson spent the night with her grandparents. After only an inning, a terrible storm came through. We stuck it out, but they canceled the game anyway. So, for the makeup game, we decided to take Emerson along. We later discovered that she wasn't feeling too well, but we still had fun playing in the kids area!

Mother's Day weekend

We had a fun Mother's Day weekend! On Friday night, we saw the preview of the stingrays at the zoo. Emerson stuck her hand in the pool, but I think she splashed a little much for them to come up to her. She also loved watching a sea lion show and riding the carousel.
On Saturday night, we took grandma and grandpa out for dinner to celebrate their 40th anniversary. It's such a blessing to have been raised by parents with such a strong marriage. We had a delicious dinner on the Hill and finished with grandpa's (and Emerson's) favorite - Ted Drewe's!
For Mother's Day, we went to a tiger sanctuary and some wineries down in southern Missouri. Emerson loved hearing the white tiger roar and doing it back. I just enjoyed spending time with my daughter and my mother and realizing how lucky I am!

Mother's Day Pictures

We took the cousins to have pictures taken for grandma for Mother's Day again this year. I would like to say that it was a little more difficult due to the fact the Ben and Emmy can now run. But, really, it was just Emerson that ran around the studio like a crazy child. The last picture is a perfect example of how the kids behaved that night. Notice that Emerson is about to be up and running, Ben is calmly sitting, but not smiling, and Kenzie is excitedly trying to make the little ones laugh. We ended up with a few cute ones, and no matter what, Grandma Peaches would love them!