Preschool Program

On Wednesday last week Emma had her fall program at her preschool. All the parents came to see them sing several adorable songs about some of the things they’ve been talking about so far this year. It was mostly a Halloween thing, but other topics included squirrels, owls and Christopher Columbus.

I had been sick for a couple days already by Wednesday, and my mind was working even less efficiently than normal. Eric got off work early and met me there just before it started. Not all the dads were able to be there understandably, but I’m so happy Eric was. Especially with the realization I had mere moments before the first song. I looked around and all the parents were grabbing out their cameras or video cameras, and it dawned on me that I had completely forgotten to bring ours. We only have 3 cameras. You’d think I would’ve grabbed one of them, but no. I even forgot the video camera Eric had charged the night before. I seriously wanted to cry. I tried thinking of some reason to give the mom sitting next to me to convince her that I needed and wanted pictures of my child more than she did of hers, but nothing came. And apparently no one was thoughtful enough to bring an extra camera. How rude. Stupid parents with their stupid cameras being all prepared. AHHH! I felt just awful.

I don’t think Emma’s ever smiled quite so cute or been quite so excited. Of course that’s probably not true, but you know the way the mind works. I sat there and thoroughly enjoyed every moment of that program and tried to soak in every detail because I knew I would never get to enjoy it again. (Here’s the part where you’re supposed to reach for a tissue and dab your eyes).

We sat right in the front directly across from Emma. She was so thrilled to have us both there and did such a good job. She is such an awesome singer, and she sang so well. She was so proud to use the props they’d made and show us the crafts for the songs. And she tried so hard to scare us during a couple of the Halloween songs. Oh, it was wonderful. And all we have to remember it is a few pictures that Eric took on his camera phone. I felt so lame sitting there amongst all the other parents with their nice cameras and us using a cell phone. I felt like I wanted to turn to everyone and heavy with sarcasm say, “Yes, a cell phone is our device of choice to document our child’s life with. Why choose quality when you can choose convenience?” I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry. It was ridiculous. Luckily Emma didn’t seem to notice. Her heart was simply bursting with excitement and joy. It was wonderful to see, and hopefully I’ll remember all the details for a long time. And with such high quality pictures like these, I'll need all the help I can get.

These are supposed to be owl masks (you know, just in case you couldn't tell).

Colorado

Last weekend Emma and I went to Colorado to visit my sister-in-law and her family. I wanted some girl time with her and it was fun letting Emma play with her cousins. She doesn’t get to see them very often, so it was nice. For being such a quick trip we managed to squeeze a lot in.

On Friday morning after Emma and I finally got going (we didn’t arrive until almost midnight the night before) we went to the library with the kids. They had fun looking at books and playing with the toys. They even put on a puppet show for us.
Grandma took Emma and Tyler to see Toy Story in 3D while Steph, Brayden & I had lunch and did some shopping. Lunch was yummy (you can't beat Red Robin! And their lunch special was awesome!!) and of course we found way more cute stuff than we could possibly buy (including what I think will be the best white elephant gift of the season).

We went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house afterwards so the kids could keep playing, and we had dinner with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa. I think the kids' favorite part of dinner was trying to add more cheese to their dish themselves. They kept wanting to try it. Very entertaining.
On Saturday we decided we’d go to the zoo. While eating lunch a squirrel kept trying to steal food from us, and succeeded in taking a banana peel. The kids raced and investigated the animals as long as we’d let them. But we had to get home to make apple pie and pizzas.

I love this picture because it looks like they have all partied a little too hard. Emma looks like she's about the join Tyler in a chorus of a drinking song and Brayden looks like he's still going strong.

Anxiously waiting for the train.

And this guy was being very difficult when it came to pictures. Every time I got out the camera he'd turn away. I think he thought it was a game. But as you can see, I won!

If the glass had been thinner I might have lost Steph to this arangutan! He was really digging her.

The kids were exploring everything and everywhere. They even enjoyed putting leaves down the sewer.

But everywhere we went one or both of them HAD to check the map.

After we got home the kids really liked helping to mix the dough and roll it out for the pie. And they loved decorating their pizzas to look like Jack o lanterns. I think they turned out pretty cute!

And while the pie dough chilled in the fridge, they started working on their pizzas. They're not quite ready to start flipping the dough over their heads, but almost.

They added sauce...

...and cheese...

...and their toppings.

I'm not sure whether Brayden got more toppings in his mouth...

or on his pizza! But he was a great helper.

From left to right, Emma, Brayden, & Tyler's pizzas.

And here's Emma's finished product.

After church the next morning it was time for Emma and me to head back home. I think we just barely beat the snow! Though there were still some micro blizzards I had to drive through. We got home late, and although I think she was ready for her own bed, Emma told me she missed her cousins. It was so much fun visiting. Thanks again Steph and Brian for letting us come!


Here is what happened to Emma after we got home. Poor thing was just so tired, she fell asleep!

This And That

I can't believe how busy we've been. The blog has just been left undone. I have loads of stuff to put on here, but never find the time. October is typically my busiest month just because of all the fun activities I want to do with Emma, but when you add her preschool, my new business, a trip out of town, and being sick into the mix, I become even more crazy than usual. I'm going to try to catch you up a little on what we've been up to in a few new posts that I'll hopefully do in the next few days. We'll see.

Every October my family gets together to celebrate Oktoberfest. This year with October being so busy (for everyone in my family, not just us) we combined Oktoberfest with our celebrations of both Eric's and Melissa's birthdays (their birthdays are only 3 days apart). It was fun having loads of yummy German food and playing games. Oh, and the birthday stuff went great too. =)
Eric and I took Emma to the farm for some Halloween fun. She wanted to dress up, so she went as a witch. She took us through a maze and kept leading us to all the dead ends. She LOVES mazes lately and just wanted to stay in there. I saw her eyes find the exit fairly quickly (it wasn't exactly a challenging maze, even to a 4 year old), but she kept going in circles thinking it was hilarious.

We also went to another farm for their Great Pumpkin Festival. We did this last year too. It's a lot of fun. You can go on a hay ride, pick pumpkins, enjoy hot cider, and watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown outside while snuggling under blankets. Awesome. Emma's favorite part was sharing the blanket with Grandma!

We also took Emma to Gardner Village earlier this month. I love it there this time of year. Emma had fun going on a witch hunt finding all the crazy witches they have there. She loved it even more when she learned the prize upon completion was a cookie! Life just doesn't get much better than that.
Jill and I took Emma to an activity called Barnyard Boo that I took her to last year. It wasn't quite as much fun as last year, but part of the reason was due to the weather. It was beautiful when we left home, but shortly after arriving the wind picked up and then it started sprinkling. Emma was a good sport though.

Things started well enough, a bit chilly, but not too bad.

Emma had fun doing the mini maze and the ghost bowling among other things.

And she loved decorating the cookies. Here is mine, Emma's and Jill's.
Not too shabby right?

But then things got a little scary.

So we did the only thing we could - go to jail.

But I had to let her out because I just couldn't resist seeing this cute face.
Could you say no to her?

Just A Cute Girl On A Sunday