He's walking!!

I knew it !  He has been "faking it" for quite a while now - it was just a matter of him letting go and then he'd be on the go.  While I was away in China, Tag documented Emerson's first stroll across the room and sent me the amazing, adorable video.  He chirps happily while he zombie-walks around the house -- so stinkin' cute. 15 months and walking.  From baby to toddler.  Big stuff.  Mamma is crying happy, sappy tears.

February 2015

as i type, i am sitting on an airplane over the pacific, en route to china/hongkong for business. i've left my beautiful family behind...knowing they are well and missing them. i am excited to bring home some gifts -- evelyn was decidedly disappointed when i suggested that i bring her home something silk - until i mentioned a chinese silk robe. then she was ecstatic.  she is so funny - no matter what she's doing, it's full throttle.  and she's not afraid to tell anyone what she thinks.

emerson will be testing out his walking skills...taking his first steps on his own.  i had the incredible pleasure of watching him, face bright with glee, as he took at least 5 quick tumbling steps toward me yesterday. it could very well be a whole new world when i get back home.  a tiny person stepping his way around the house, chasing puppies and seeing the world from a new angle.

evelyn is reading.  it is so incredible. and she loves it. i need to spend more time with her, listening to her read the Bob books she found at the book store.  we were hanging out at barnes & noble a couple weeks ago, i was reading a book to her and we were enjoying a treat, when she walks up and starts reading to me from this little paperback.  i was stunned. i looked at her and said, "where did you get that book?" she said, very matter of fact, "It's a Bob Book."  I said, "What's a bob book, and how do you know that?" "it's the same as the Mac books at school. this is a Bob book, see?" and she points to the cover.  I immediately asked her where to find more of those, and we left with a full set.

playing viola at PB&Jam

made special Valentines with Elina

Ev's best friend Skye

emerson is very mechanical.  he plays so differently than evelyn did at his age.  she was very macro.  emptying the linen closet and the pantry, filling random bags with bits of things, tossing items of interest across the floor.  emerson will play with a couple bowls and a wooden spoon for 5 full minutes.  put things in slots. loves to throw things away in the garbage can. absolutely mesmerized by my phone, even though i have it passcode locked.  he took a few selfies the other day at the grocery store.  buttons, lights, switches, he is all about that.  he was playing, over and over and over again, with the little cash register that dings when you hit the open drawer button.  evelyn keeps some change in the drawer. ev would always put coins in her mouth - store them like a gerbil. little rocks too.  always in the mouth.  not emerson. he is just jolly happy putting the coins in a little dish, then transferring them back to the register drawer, open, close, open, ding! transfer the coins back to the dish. happy as a clam.

we went to the fletcher creek playground on a warm day last week and ev's friend Ella was there with her bike.  evelyn has been getting pretty good at her bike, and also a little push scooter that she got for christmas. so ella and evelyn took turns riding this bike around the playground and evelyn is getting really good at braking and turning.  i look at her sometimes and i'm astonished at these long legs she has. she still loves to be held, and those legs just dangle all over the place. she lays in her bed and it seems as though she almost stretches across the full length. growing up so fast - it's a blink.  and emerson is growing up even faster.  i don't know how to slow down time. i try to sit and enjoy them. relax. but we're all so active and it's hard to sit still - everyone of us wants to go and do and play and move.  makes the time whiz by.  that, and all the business of life that keeps us hopping; eating up endless blocks of moments all stacked up end to end that tick tock by without us having the presence to notice.

i'm glad we're a huggy-kissy family.  both my kids love to give kisses.  emerson loves it - with the same hearty mmmmmmwwwwwaaa! that evelyn always used as a baby.  and he's learning to growl like a bear when we give hugs.  one of my absolute very favorite things in the entire span of time and space is the cuddle i get from my babies when they are at this age - baby age - and they wake in the middle of the night or wee hours of the morning and i lift them from their bed and they immediately curl into my shoulder, tucking against my neck, wrapping their little arms around me, warm and strong and solid and safe and healthy and amazing. i just want to bottle that up. my heart swells to bursting.  i miss them.

A Brand New Year

emerson doesn't miss a thing - just like his sister.  we should probably be more careful around him - he's sees us using things like computers or pens or sunglasses or headbands (etc) and he wants to try his hand at it too.  anything can become a phone - he holds it up to the side of his head and offers up a soft raspy "hiiiiiiii".  he loves to wave hello and goodbye. he loves to direct us while we hold him, pointing his fingers in the desired direction, pumping his legs when we don't get moving like he wants.  he has a few signs that he'll use to communicate:  fingers to his mouth means he wants to eat (or sometimes that means bottle), he'll say "all done" with both hands, and he'll open and close his fist to ask for something to drink.  adorable.  he gets very frustrated when we don't understand him.

yesterday, afterwork, I was playing on the floor with him (i was supposed to be on a plane to china but my flight was delayed a day) and all of a sudden he lets go of the plastic block bin and takes like 5 steps toward me across the rug -- with this huge grin on his face.  WOW !!  Here we go - he's now starting to figure out that he doesn't have to "drive" the walker everywhere.

she's such a great grocery shopper with those mini-me carts!

selfie at Kroger

a gift from Skye ... my little red poof girl

quick visit to the Sullivan's on my trip to Switzerland

Darcy and Lilly

December 2014

Loves helping decorate for Christmas

So excited to have this important job !

Having a blast getting' around with his "walker" !

Look out Hepburn, there's a new beauty in town

Happy man, all dressed up for a photo session with mammaratzi

Play hard, crash harder.

does this not totally represent them ?!?

this is what it's all about folks... xoxo

so much fun in the cardboard house - takes up half the room but who's complaining?

My baby turns 5

making her story board for Birthday Circle at school

So what do you do for a special 5 year old when you have ZERO time to plan a birthday event?

You throw out a text to all her friends that very same day and invite them over for cake!  Viola! Instant princess party.  No fuss, no big expense - and total happy perfection for the party girl.

skye, ashtyn, evelyn, haidyn, ella
birthday princesses

that's a happy birthday girl!

nothing like homemade! and rainbow candles from scott & suzy

November 2014

One of many Elsas at Chloe's birthday party, but the loveliest for certain

These princess parties are hard core -- this one was at the Peobody Hotel

Front row seats for the march of the Peobody Ducks (Chloe was the Duck Master that day)

not one to be left out ...

Fun game with Oma - it never gets old !!!

How to make shopping fun?  Car Cart !

Halloween 2014

We invited some friends over to join us for trick-or-treating -- more fun than just going by ourselves! It was a cute little party with Oma's special jack-o-lantern sloppy joe's -- Elina and Evelyn decorated the door (a monster!) and the table, and hung up decorations around the house.  The weather, unfortunately, was awfully cold and wet so we didn't last too long going door to door for candy - but it was nice to have fiends to commiserate with.

Evelyn as Cinderella, and Skye as Mary Poppins

sweet Hannah as a monkey

Ella having fun

Emerson the Giraffe