"I UV YOU!"

Nashville Trip

We went to Nashville for a big family reunion (Keith's mother's family...the Smalls) over the Fourth of July. The Smalls have a reunion every 3 years, and it's in a different part of the country each time. Emerson was so excited to see her cousin Abby, her aunts/uncles, grandparents and greatgrandparents...not to mention all the family members who hadn't met her yet! She got to swim with Abby, ride a horse, go on a hayride, play with lots of cousins, dance, and had a ball. The main event of the reunion was a gathering at a "ranch", and everyone was to dress in western-wear. I'll post some of my favorite photos from the trip.

Goodnight, Sweetheart

Dear Emerson,

You are growing so fast, and becoming less and less a toddler every day. I have to remind myself that you are supposed to be stubborn and independent because you're growing up...not because you are trying to frustrate your mama. I love it when you want to help me set the table, and empty the dishwasher. I love to put your hair in a ponytail, and watch it bounce as you run away. You amaze me with your vocabulary, your funny stories, and your concern for others. If only band-aids really did fix everything. You are a dare devil and a tomboy, but you insist on wearing Minnie Mouse undies and a dress while you skin your knees. You giggle often, and make us laugh until our sides hurt too. I love when you ask me to rock you at night, and want to be wrapped in your blankie...I hate that you barely fit on my lap anymore. I enjoy singing to you, and watching your eyelids get droopy. It makes my heart sing when you give me the "I love you" sign, and say "I UV YOU, Mommy!". You're the best thing I've ever done, and I'm so grateful to have such a sweet baby girl.

Love, Mommy

Tiny Dancer

So, one of my new coworkers gave me a big bag of dress up clothes for Emerson. Included was a Snow White outfit, a cheerleader outfit and a dance costume. For the last 2 nights, Emerson has slept in the cheerleader costume. She's eaten her dinner in the dance outfit the last 2 days as well. Dance classes might be in her future if she continues to enjoy dressing up this much!

Fingerpainting Adventures

Emerson finally decided that fingerpainting wouldn't kill her. Although she did insist on having paper towels handy in order to wipe her fingers off before she changed to another color. After about 5 paper towels, I told her we would wait until she was ALL DONE paiting to use another one. She actually made about 7 or 8 different drawings. When I asked what each one was, she told me: an alligator, a backpack, a bird, a dinosaur, and sunshine. What a creative little girl! I labeled each drawing with her description & the date. Will send some artwork out to grandparents when I get some time to hit the post office!

Fun & Silliness

I haven't uploaded photos from my camera for a couple weeks, and wanted to share some here. We enjoyed a trip to Duke Gardens about 2 weekends ago to feed the ducks. The ducks literally swarmed us, and even jumped out of the water to walk up close to us! Of course, Emerson was all glammed out to hit the park. She's been wearing her hair in a pony tail recently, and it's so adorable! She's been hanging out in a ratty pair of rainboots that I got from a nice gal on Freecycle. I just couldn't cough up the $20 for a new pair that she would outgrown so quickly! (Yep, call me cheap!) I painted Em's toenails for the first time this weekend. She initially wanted a bright red color in the store, but I talked her down from that one. Then, she set her eyes on a shimmery lilac bottle, and declared, "I need sparkly purple, Mommy!". So, sparkly purple toes she now has! She was so tickled to have Mommy "use a paintbrush to paint my toenails!".

Why we keep her around...

Emmy is such a hoot...here's a samplin' of some of her recent cuteness:

If she tastes something she doesn't like, she says "I can't like that anymore, Mommy!"

Some deer came up on our deck overnight at ate almost every last one of my lovely summer flowers! I showed Emmy, and explained what happened...she said, "naughty deer!". On our drive home tonight, she told me she was looking for doggies, chickens and deer. I asked her if she thought the deer had eaten the rest of our flowers while we were gone today. She said, "Naughty deer...they need to go sit on the naughty spot!"

I was wiping up her hands after dinner last night, and told her she had dip between her fingers. She explained that she had ladybugs between her fingers too. I asked her if they were sticky, and she said, "Yeah".

She sang Happy Birthday on the phone last night to her 85 year old great grandma Jarrett. Then she said, "I love you, Papaw". Hmmmm....

When she wakes up in the morning, she yells, "I had a good nap. I'm ready to get up!"

She's crazy about rain boots.

We got up early on Saturday to do the Race for the Cure...it was still a little dark out, and when she was getting up, she told Keith she "needed a flashlight".