Tony and Emerson on the Carousel in the Mall of America
Emmy napping with her new pal "Ming Ming" the duck from one of her favorite shows "Wonder Pets".
Smiley girl
Notice the decorating at the lower part of the tree... Whoever could've done that? Emmy was so proud!
The tree decorating committee. Mom, me (holding Ellie), Greta, and Ingrid holding Emmy
Emerson LOVES her "Little Woody" and "Big Woody".
Elliot was pretty fascinated with this cookie tin lid. So shiny!
Me holding my special girl.
Santa! (If I just don't look at him, maybe he will go away...)
Emerson wanted to open the present decorations at Macy's. She would've been disappointed with what was inside I think.
Em got a kick out of all the decorated Christmas trees.
This was the first year that we celebrated St. Nicholas day. We had Emerson set her shoes by the front door before going to bed and when she woke up, St. Nicholas had left her Toy Story figurines!!!! It was a BIG morning!
I suspect that baby Ellie will be able to talk Tony and I into pretty much anything. I want to buy her a pony just looking at this picture!
And I want to buy her a ski boat! My sweet, sweet babies. Being a parent is expensive business!
________________________________________________________________
This has been a fairly busy month so far. I started it by briefly returning to work and then I decided after working only a week that it really wasn't were I needed to be right now with all that's going on. Sooooo, I have taken a leave of absence and I think it will be only a good thing.
If anything I will get to spend more time with my family and for that I am thankful.
Tony and I took Emerson and Elliot to see Santa in their matching Christmas dresses and Emmy was completely ready and excited to see Santa and sit on his lap and "tell him what to do" but when it came time to actually do it, she wasn't so sure. She never really did look at him and to give Santa credit, he tried REALLY hard to get her to warm up to him but to no avail. Maybe next year we'll get a smile... Ellie however was perfectly happy on his lap and may have actually told him what she wanted this Christmas. Two front teeth?...
Another fun thing that we have done so far this month was Tony and I decided (at the EXTREME last minute) to take the girls on their very first flight. Now, the special thing about this is that Tony was the flying pilot so it was so darn cool that Emmy and Ellie's first flight was flown by their papa! Plus, I had never flown with Tony flying during his time at Delta so it was pretty great for me too! And for the record, her had a PERFECT landing. Like Butta! =)
However...if any of you have ever flown with an infant and a strong-willed 2 1/2 year old child, then you immediately recognize that this was NOT a relaxing flight for me or the poor passengers around me! The bad thing was that Em hadn't had a nap so the grouchy level was in the RED. After the takeoff (which she liked really well) it was me doing a lot of praying that I (and this screaming tantrumy child) would live through this flight without our fellow passengers taking us out. All I can say is THANK HEAVENS for my ipod which had a couple TV shows on it. That bought me about 1 hour (of the 2 1/2 hour flight) of peace and quiet.
Once we got to Minneapolis, Tony and I picked up the rental car and went to our hotel. We had a fun picnic dinner in our room and then to bed with us! Elliot had been such a good traveler up to that point and she got her revenge at about 2 am when her darn tummy started acting up. She cried and cried for over a half an hour and the bad thing is that it woke up Emerson who then stared crying and then I nearly started crying because I just couldn't imagine getting on the plane again to go home! I was trying to decide if we should just cut our losses and find a place to live there in Minnesota and just leave all our things out in Washington! =) It seemed worth it!
So anyhow, really it wasn't that bad, I think we were all just tired! In the morning the fun began! We took the kiddies to the Mall of America and I was just remarking to Tony how funny it was that we were at the largest mall in the U.S. and yet I didn't shop! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!?!? =) We actually did something WAY more fun! We took Em on a bunch of rides at the indoor carnival thing they have. She is such a thrill seeker! She clearly didn't like the boring kid rides, she only laughed and smiled when her little body was being flung wildly around! THATA GIRL! =) What fun we had!
After many hours at the mall, we hopped on the plane to come back home. I was so thankful that Tony got to ride in the back with me this time (for the help and so that he could experience the "joy" of flying with a tired, hungry preschooler!). I'm happy to report that we made it with our sanity mostly intact. I think there was a couple times on the flight that Tony and I would laugh and say that our desire to take our two little ones to Hawaii for a family vacation at some point was loosing it's appeal by the second! Maybe we will wait until the girlies are a bit older... =) Too bad we can't drive there!
So, that's all in the way of adventures right now. I expect that the rest of the month will be fairly low-key. We are greatly looking forward to the holidays and spending time with family. What a special Christmas it will be. It will be hard knowing that this will be the last with my mom but I tell you what...what wonderful memories we will make and I thank God for giving us that.
Off to bed with me now. Merry, merry Christmas all!
P.S. We may or may not do Christmas cards this year...I'll try. We might have to send out a "Merry February" card instead!
