Our Little "RinaRina"

This year Emerson was a ballerina for Halloween. It was so cute because she couldn't quite say ballerina so it came out rina rina! I made her a cute little tutu and it was super easy, (or else I couldn't have done it, and that's for sure), and we got the sweet little leotard from my sis. We went trick or treating with Sarah and her kids and it was fun because Emmy actually got what was going on this year. Sarah and I decided to dress up as "Me" and "Mini Me." We had name tags on and don't worry, we know how big of nerds we are. (Our husband told us so many times!)

Cryin'

I put Emerson in her bed tonight.
She was just talking and kickin around for a while.
Then I hear a little bang.
I think she just bonked her head while she was jumping and such.
Then she was crying for a bit so I went to check on her.
She was sitting up looking at the door.
I said, "Hey Sweetie, what ya doing?"
She looked up and said, "I cryin Mama."
Oh my goodness.
I did pick her up and give her some loves, but I was laughing the whole time.
I guess I did ask a stupid question.


(I know, you're so disappointed that I haven't put up pictures for so long. Well, my camera is a pain in the butt. So maybe by Thanksgiving I'll put up some pictures of our cute little ballerina.)

Ganado (This is Greg)

Just spent the week working in Ganado, Az. working on the audit for the Ganado Unified School District. Go ahead and Google Earth it. Amazing, no? You'll notice that there is no lodging. We had to stay in the town of St. Michaels, Az. It's right next to Window Rock, the Capitol of the Navajo Nation. So we had a half-an-hour drive each way from work to hotel.

The drive from the office took seven hours and let me tell you I now can't stand Daughtry and Kings of Leon. I swear the radio stations refuse to play anything but them along with Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift. I hate Ms. Gaga and Ms. Swift a little less now only because their songs were a welcome from love affair the radio station has with Daughtry and Kings of Leon.

Had to drive across a very small portion of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. At first I didn't realize it was the Grand Canyon and thought, "hugh, that is a really big canyon." Then I thought that packing up the family for anything longer than an hour drive to see the Grand Canyon isn't worth the trouble. I mean if it's on your way to some other destination, go ahead and make the stop. Otherwise, it really is just a big hole in the ground. Rafting through it might be fun though.

The audit was so exciting that I can't put it into words. However, the Denny's each morning for breakfast didn't get old at all. Nor did the Burger King for lunch each day. Not to mention Denny's each night for dinner. You might ask why we didn't mix things up. If there were any other option we might have. The closest place for breakfast was a McDonalds five miles east from our hotel and we worked 30 miles west of our hotel, so that made it ten miles out of the way. Denny's shared the parking lot with our hotel so that was the logical choice. The burger king was the closest dining location from the school district and that was at least five miles west from the office. The only other option was to drive 30 miles back to Denny's, making it 60 miles out of the way. So after working 13 hour days we would drive 30 miles back to the hotel only to have dinner around 11:30pm at Denny's. By Thursday morning all I could stomach was a glass of orange juice for breakfast and a kids cheeseburger for lunch. I didn't eat anything else until we found a Subway in Tuba, Az. on our drive home. I usually eat Subway 5- 7 time a week but I have never been so excited to see the green and yellow neon sign.

Three things on this trip surprised me. 1st, the number of wild dogs. They were everywhere. Roaming the hotel, roaming the gas station, roaming the school district, roaming the highway, and I can't forget, dying everywhere. 2nd, the number of iphones. For a place where I didn't get any service on my phone it was amazing at the number of kids and adults that had iPhones. 3rd, similar to number 2, the number of kids wearing brand new pairs of Jordan's. I swear, per capita, the Navajo Nation purchases the most iPhones and Jordan's in the world. I wouldn't be so surprised if Ganado was a booming metropolis or had a single store that sells iPhones or Jordan's. Internet shopping is amazing.

So after a 9 hour work day yesterday we hopped in the van and drove back to St. George. We got to the office around 12:30am and I figured I should grab a Pepsi for my drive back to Cedar. I got home around 1:30 and found myself wide awake. I finally fell asleep around 3:oo and woke up around noon. First thing that came to my mind was, "I have to do this all over again this Sunday but this time we're going to Kayenta, Az."

I'd tell you more about the experience but I don't want to offend any co-workers or the Navajo Nation.

If none of this makes sense, I blame it on the Denny's/Burger King hangover.

Down Down

Are you sick of posts about Emerson yet? Sorry, I'm not!

In the car today I was listening to the radio and some random R&B song came on. I wasn't paying any attention. Then I heard Emmy say, "Mama, Mama...Baby get down down." I thought she had dropped something but she got quiet again, so I just kept driving. Then she said the exact same thing again. I realized that the song said something about getting down, ya know..."I wanna get down down down, baby get down down down." Goodness. I guess I need to pay better attention to what this kid can hear because I don't really want her repeating, "Baby get down down" to her nursery teachers.

I just love this girl!

22 months of Craziness!

Emmy has become such a little kid lately and SUCH a character! It's such a delight to see her learning and growing, but so sad that it's going by so fast. I guess this is my way of making sure that I remember some of the sweet little moments. She is talking ALL the time and learning new things my the minute. I thought that I would share a few stories that have made me laugh lately.

"BaGuy"
Lately Emmy has been 'reading' by Harry Potter books with me. She grabs one off the bookshelf and we look through to find the pictures at the beginning of each chapter. Things like babies, chairs, wands...and then there are the more difficult ones to explain to her such as an evil cloaked figure or something like that. I just told her that they were Bad Guys and tried to move on. She totally got fixated on the "BaGuys" and that's all she wants to look for now. The first time was so adorable because I was sitting on the floor and she was standing beside me with the book on the ottoman next to us. When I said Bad Guys she would get this intense whisper and say "Ooohhh BaGuys" and get closer and PUT HER ARM AROUND ME! Totally melted my heart!

"Sad"
My good friend Megan was over the other day. She was about a week away from having a baby and was just sitting and talking with Emmy when Emmy noticed a scratch that Megan had on her foot. I don't know how it went from saying "Megan has an owie, isn't that sad?" to Emmy just calling the scratch "Sad." Time went by and then I heard Emmy say "Mama, Mama...Emmy sad." Somehow she found a pen and drew on her own "Sad" to match Megan's. So funny!


"Turda Song"
This one is also thanks to Megan and I'm not sure if I should thank her or curse her. Megan sand her this sweet little kid song about a turtle named Tiny Tim who drinks up all the water and soap from a bath, etc. Like I said, cute song...the first 100 times! I didn't know that song, but the day after Megan sand it to her she requested it all day long. I knew that my Preschool teaching sister would know it, so she gave me a crash course and a great CD with tons of cute kid songs. Still, all we ever sing is the dang "Turda Song" over and over! Every now and again we'll mix in the "Monkey Bed" song where they just keep falling off and breaking their heads (morbid, I know). We substitute "Emmy" for monkey once and now she like the "Emmy Jump Bed" song, too. I guess it's better than doing the "Turda Song" all day.

"Noonels"
The other day Emmy pulled the movie "Kung Fu Panda" off the shelf. She likes this because somewhere along the way we inherited a little Po the Panda stuffed animal and she recognizes him. At the beginning there is a scene where he's in his dad's noodle shop serving customers. I was in the kitchen doing dishes and I heard Emmy scream "Mama, Mama" (She always says it twice or more for some reason. It's not like I don't answer after the first one!) So I rush in there with dripping hands and she calmly says "Emmy noonels right der" while pointing to her high chair. Holy moly kid! Luckily I have plenty of Ramen on hand so we ate gourmet that night!

Here's some fun and more recent pictures of our sweet little girlie. If you put the mouse on the picture it will pause the slide show. Enjoy!

Brownie Love

We really try not to give Emerson all that many treats, but here's the problem. I have a major sweet tooth and I like sweets a LOT. We had my cousin Brian and his cute little family over for a BBQ, and they brought the most delicious brownies! Mmmmmm....

The result of us letting Emmy have her own brownie: pure gluttony.

Coming Soon...

 
... a long awaited update on our CRAZY almost 2 year old! I have lots of pics to go through and funny stories to write down and I promise I'll get to it soon.