Changes?

Yes, I do neglect my blog. But only so I don't neglect my child, and I am sure she is grateful for that! Usually we don't have much going on, but for once we actually have some changes happening. Nathan is deploying to Afghanistan in July and will spend 6-7 months there. I don't want him to go, but am proud of him for serving our country and I'm confident he will be safe overseas. Emilie and I are going to spend that time in Ohio, Texas and Alaska (as long as our budget can swing it!) Our plans are a bit up in the air right now because we aren't sure exactly when Nathan leaves and when we have to move out of our house (they are tearing our house down sometime in July.) On a more positive note, Emilie is cuter than ever. She is at a very fun age and I love getting to see her personality blossom. She is so silly and girlie. She loves to dance and twirl around the house, play dress up, play with her babies, color, read books, jump on beds, help me with anything I am doing, run outside, climb the toilet and splash in the sink, give kisses and giggles all the time. I am so lucky to be the Mom of such an amazing, sweet, delightful little girl. A quick update on the past few months: Nathan was promoted to Senior Airman in April and finished his CDC's (career development courses) and will receive his 5 level in June. I am very proud of him, he scored 90+ on both installments of his tests and was publicly recognized by his squadron's Commander for doing so well. Receiving his 5 level allows him to work with different jets and opens up a lot of bases for us to be stationed at (but sorry, not Wright-Patterson yet!) Emilie and I flew out to Missouri in May for the passing of my Grandpa Evans. We had a nice visit with my family and were glad to be able to support my Grandma too. We left Missouri and spent a few weeks in Ohio because we can't seem to stay away more than 3 months. Yes, I am lame for summing up two months in three sentences, but looking back I can't remember what all has occurred! So, other than all that, not much else is going on in Arizona! Here are some pictures from the last few months :)




We took Em for her first swim of the summer and unfortunately she did NOT like the pool water. I think the water was too cold for her and hopefully as things warm up (maybe 120 degrees?) she will grow some love for swimming. She did have fun running around yelling at the pool though.

No really Mom. I'm not tired!

Helping Mommy clean the table...

She loves to eat her snack at her little table. Like everything else, I think it's cute.

Eating popcorn and watching Judge Judy.

Destroying Daddy's wallet

With Aunt Jenny and Benjamin in Ohio (we spent a couple weeks there in May)

Gotta love the pretty night gown and sword combo

Michael was playing with her and fixed her hair and put her "pretties" on her. Benjamin and Emilie, or Benilie as I call them, sharing their love of pacifiers and blankies.

Coloring with Ben

Chasing the woof woof at Gamma and Papa Tim's house.

Emilie is a bit obsessed with animals and Nathan's parents cat Addie (the most patient cat in the world) had to endure my sweet baby's affection.

Yep, that is the cat under her!

The Hee-hee at my grandparents farm in Missouri. She was determined to pet it all on her own.

On the plane to Missouri. The portable DVD player was a lifesaver this trip!

Our toilet paper costs have risen significantly lately...

She is such a little mimic. Nathan calls this child slave labor, but I swear she just wants to do everything I do!

Splashing in the forbidden sink

The other day she grabbed a new diaper, walked over to the diaper genie and shoved it down. Many things are going to be lost due to this discovery. This is why I am not into self feeding. That is a pacifier she dipped into yogurt.

Slacking Much?

I know I haven't been posting much lately, but I've just been busy or something. I don't really know what I have been doing, but I can say I have been keeping my house very clean and Nathan has been working a ton lately so I will just use that as my excuse. I still don't have a lot of time so I will just post a few quick things of Emilie.

Emilie LOVES to dance. Kaitlin loved this song when she was Emilie's age so I thought I would put it on for her.

She is such a priss!

Nathan was vacuuming the other morning when Emilie decided her lion should ride on the vacuum. Then she had to have a turn too. Now anytime we vacuum at least one of her toys has to take a ride!

I fit all of her hair into on little pony tail! I don't really like it though because you can't see any of her curls.

Just being Emilie

The other night Nathan and I swung Em in a blanket (like she was in a hammock.) She LOVED it and anytime we tried to end the swinging session she would get the blanket, spread it out on the floor, lay in the center of it and yell until we swung her again. Once we officially quit swinging her she put her baby doll on the blanket and sat there and pouted. It was quite a cute little protest.

Here are some random around the house pictures. Enjoy!

Such A Girl!

Here is a video of Emilie playing with her baby dolls. It's incredible how much she has learned just by watching me with other babies. Just for the record, I don't throw babies on the ground and then run them over with their stroller. That she must have learned from her Dad.

After I stopped recording she ran to the door thinking we were going bye-bye. She is really smart, but I may be a bit biased :)

My Pretty Girlie

Opinions Please!

I am trying to choose a picture to enter Emilie in Regis and Kelly's Beautiful Baby Search and can't seem to find one that I like. So here are a few I am considering, any input anyone has would be lovely! I never realized how hard it is to get a picture of Emilie looking somewhat at the camera and somewhat smiling at the same time until now! Anyhow, everyone should enter, they give a $125,000 college scholarship to the winner!

---UPDATE---

I went ahead and chose a completely different picture after my sister informed me they were all terrible choices. Here is what Nathan and I submitted!

Warning:

This is a super-long-overcompensating-for-lost-time-one-million-pictures post!

Yeah, I know. I haven't blogged in forever, but I have good reasons for being absent. Besides, pretty much everyone else has been slacking in the blogging department so I think everyone will just overlook each others negligence (and update their blogs as well!) !

Emilie and I flew to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving and visit for a few weeks. We decided to go last minute because my Grandmother was going to be there and I never get to see her (she lives in Utah and who would want to visit anyone in Utah? Just kidding!)

My bouncy baby on the plane, sooo ready to get off and run around!

Making pie with Michael, the best helper ever (unless another niece or nephew happens to be reading this, then the best helper would be you of course.).

Emilie with Aunt Jenny at "The Lights Before Christmas" at the Toledo Zoo. Em was all bundled up like the kid on A Christmas Story. I really don't think she could move because she just sat like this the whole night. She stayed warm though!

I love the bond that Emilie has with her cousins. She adores them, and they love her so much too. I can't wait for her to meet her other cousins in Alaska this summer!

I love this picture because that is not Emilie's pacifier (or bump-bump as they are known to Michael Ben and now Emilie.) nor is that Benjamin's. They had this thing about trading and it was really funny. And gross.

Emilie was glad to be home, mainly because she loves her Daddy sooooo much (me too!)

I love this dress!
We got home 12 days before Christmas and had to get EVERYTHING ready for Christmas including all the shopping and all the give-away baking, which I don't think I will ever do by myself again. Too stressful!!!

Also we had all the decorating to do including the tree. This was the first year we had our very own tree with only our decorations (Nathan's Mom has like 7 trees so we just borrowed one because we were too cheap.) The funny thing is we only paid $20 for the tree (excluding lights) and most of the decorations have been gifts so it didn't cost much at all. This was our sixth Christmas together (fifth married Christmas) and we just now bought a tree. Anyway, I love to give and get ornaments for Christmas and love our hodge-podge tree because I remember who gave each ornament and I love the memories they bring. To me, that is what made our tree beautiful.

Emilie pulled down the tree once, but I was able to save all the sentimental ornaments. We put unbreakable stuff on the bottom for Em, so if the tree looks a bit divided that's because it is.

Emilie must have been really good this year. Santa brought her so many fun toys!

Ooohhh! She was so excited!

Helping Dad

She loves her trike. We almost can't get her off it

Oh the doll stroller. Em has developed a love hate relationship with this darn thing. She loves the doll stroller she got, however she thinks it is for her to sit in. It is really funny because she is obviously too big for it but insists we push her around. If you put her dolls in it she gets mad and throws them out and cries until you put her in it and push her. She also tries to climb in herself and ends up tipping it over and getting hurt. We are probably just going save everyone the frustration and put it away for a bit.

The aftermath mess!

Her Christmas dress. Sadly this is the best picture we have so far, but are having professional photos taken soon and will hopefully get a smile.

I am really proud of my ham. I don't like pork so I never cook with it and was nervous to bake a ham for company. I made up my own glaze and it turned out really good, thankfully!

Nathan really will sleep anywhere...

We got to spend the day after Christmas in the ER! Emilie pulled the lampshade off our table lamp and it fell over and she got burned by the bulb. She had a few spots of second degree burns so we had to take her to get treated . We waited three hours to be seen, but the cream they gave for the burns is so incredible (Silvadene) it was totally worth it. This was two days post incident and it already looked so much better. We saw her pediatrician today and he said she won't have any scars so long as we keep using her cream and lots of sunblock for a few months. Luckily she hasn't seemed bothered at all by it except when it first happened. I am so thankful she isn't in pain and it was just a minor accident!

She is so prissy sometimes and loves to prance around with purses. I think mine is a bit too big and heavy though.

I left her playing in her room the other day and this is where I found her when I came back. She thinks it is so funny to crawl under her crib.

Love this baby! (And these bows, thanks Tracy!)

Dear Santa,

This is NOT what I want for Christmas.

Love,

Emilie