This isn't all of the "destroyed" items (but Emmy is sleeping and the rest are in her room). The pink fabric is her sheet.

I have realized that it has been a really long time since I have really written anything (not that I have much to say now) but I felt that I should try to recap some things happening with our family.

I'll start right in with telling you about the top picture... I went upstairs to get ready for bed the other night and thought I would check in on Emerson first. I tip-toed in and got right up to her bed before realizing that she wasn't in it. The next place I checked was underneath (she loves it under there for some reason!). No Emmy. I then figured that she was in our room and sure enough, the sweet angel was cozy in our bed laying her golden hair and blushing cheeks on my pillow in a deep sleep. "Oh my sweet girl", I whispered. "You are so precious!" THEN... I figured I would go to her room to clear off her bed (we usually find her buried under a mound of books, dress-up clothes, and toys) and then carry her to it.

I enter her room, turn on her light and my jaw drops. "SON-OF-A-MONKEY'S-UNCLE!" (Though I said the "Real" word, not the 5th grade version I have written here...) "OMIGOSH!!!" "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"!!!!

I then heard the same sounds you hear on slasher movies when someone is coming at another person with a huge knife, ree-ree-ree-ree! (typing sound effects is hard!) The room started to spin and I elegantly placed the back of my hand to my forehead preparing to swoon. OK, none of that last sentence happened but I'm surprised that it didn't!

The first item I saw was her Kitty Piano/Keyboard which Emerson had so thoroughly colored on each key and button with her weapon of choice, THE SHARPIE. The girl had spent some time on this one! Next I see MANY books with entirely "new" covers (including a book or two of MINE). I think as I see each new thing that has been re-faced by the Sharpie I'm moaning "NO! NO! NO!". Then I see that she got her sheets, her dresser drawer, both stuffed Elmo dolls (which were no longer even hers! We had recently passed them down to Ellie!) Anyhow, I won't list everything but the damage was extensive! She had gotten into my night stand and found this FABULOUS weapon of mass destruction.

Now, I have to pause here and admit something... Prior to having children I would visit a friend's house that had young children and their houses were absolutely DESTROYED I swore to myself that NEVER would that be me, EVER! And up to two days ago, I was feeling pretty darn cocky that I have taught my child to respect things and mind her parents, etc. I have even recently thought, "Thank heavens we made it through without ANY loss of property/sanity/etc...! Tony and I can now make the official claim that we are parental experts through the age of 3!" Only two months to go until Emerson turns 3 and Tony and I have been knocked off the ladder of parental success. WE WERE SO CLOSE TOO!

OK, so back to the story...

So, I take a deep breath after seeing everything and went to the top of the stairs to do a yelling/whisper (which is tricky!) down to Tony, "TONY! YOU NEED TO COME UPSTAIRS. WE HAVE A PROBLEM!" to which he replies, "oh no! Is it a big problem?". I loudly/quietly whisper/yell back to him, "in Kalle's world, yes".

"Is Emerson out of her room?!" asks Tony.

"Oh yes, but that isn't the problem!!"

So, up comes Tony, I guide him to Emmy's room and just stand back. I think he said almost word for word my entire rant as well. However, I think he forgot briefly that our daughter is not even 3 yet and was about to ground her for life and forbid dating (which I am in favor of anyways!), and take away all car privileges! After we settled down a bit, we realized that this was not THAT big of a deal. It sucks, yes, but out of all the things that could've happened, this was on the lesser end of the scale. It was nice having time to think on the situation and come up with a punishment and plan hours prior to having to actually deal with the child. We decided to take away her TV/iPod privileges for the weekend and she would have to help in throwing away all that she has destroyed.

Right after we told her that the following morning, the girls and I were in Ellie's bedroom doing laundry and playing, and while I was distracted briefly by the glories of sock matching, I hear this awful sound. I look up from my folding to see Emerson with an astonished look on her face holding the metal curtain tie-back that was once hollow-wall-anchored to the wall. I look at the wall and a 4" X 6" chunk of sheet rock is just hanging there. I'm not sure I could've been more looney at that point because I just kept on folding my clothes and quietly laughed to myself.

Now, I have been informed that all this couldn't possibly be from the Fletcher side of the family because Tony and his brother never did stuff like this. So, I guess that leaves the Varholdt side... No wonder we are so innovative! We HAD to come up with crazy ideas to fix all the stuff we accidentally wrecked! I see it as a good thing! =) (Positive spin anyhow!)

Poor Emerson, she just couldn't win these last few days! It's not that she did anything trying to be a pain in the heiney, it just unfortunately turned out that way!

I know that was a super long story but I wanted to be sure that for you new parents with children younger than Emmy, and are reading this saying to yourself "My child will NEVER destroy our house like the Fletcher girl!", I just say this to you... "HA! We'll see!"

So, after all that drama, I'll briefly tell you a bit about the currently easiest Fletcher child, Elliot! She is learning more and more each day and can get around really good but scootching, rolling, wiggling, etc. We are now to the point where we can't leave little things anywhere even in her eyesight because she is like a fighter jet, once she locks on her target, she WILL get it! Tony pulled a bouncy ball out of her mouth the other day which was scary! We realize that it was easy with Emerson because we could keep all the little things away from her, but having an older child with small toys, baby-proofing our home is proving to be very difficult! It is definitely time to teach Tony the Heimlich!

Ellie is eating many different types of things now and I would say her favorites would include squash, watermelon, and Hummus.

At her 9 month appointment last week her weight has fallen by 2 pounds to 15 lbs, putting her in the 5% for weight and the 75% for length. The doctor reassured us that we just have petite girls and as long is her weight goes up from here on out, there is nothing to worry about.

As for Tony and I, well, he is working like usual and not at all enjoying being on reserve. For you non-airline folks reading this, the trouble with reserve is that Tony usually has to fly to Salt Lake City on his last day off to spend the night in a hotel on our dime so that he can be available to fly if they need him to. If he doesn't get to go on a trip, he could very well sit in a SLC hotel room for the entire time, which could be 8 days, all out of our wallet. If he gets used, then it's great! More often then not, he gets used but I think the bottom line for him is that it's hard not knowing what he's doing and whether or not he gets to fly.

I am doing pretty good I guess. I still have a job which is a good thing! Our office moved to a different location in downtown Vancouver this last week and when I return to work on Tuesday, I will be unpacking my boxes and settling in to my new desk area. I'm sad to leave our old office but it will all work out. I think I'm just tired to change! I would like things to settle down a bit I guess!

Other than work, I have my good days and my bad ones. Actually, I should correct that, I have my good moments and my bad moments. It's amazing to me how quickly I go from happy to teary! It just takes one little reminder that my mom is gone and I'm done-for! Evenings get to be the most emotionally challenging especially when kids are asleep and Tony's gone. My brain has a hard time shutting off. I know that I am going through a process trying to heal and I fully expect that it will be a long one, but I think I just get frustrated feeling like everyone else around my family has moved on with their lives and I am still re-living the entire last year as if it just happened. I'm trying to cut myself some slack. I get sad. I get mad. I also get happy. This is all OK! I think it's OK to be a bit depressed having gone through so much this past year and continuing to deal with other baggage that became inflamed with her death. Talk about a lonely time! No one wants to be around death. Probably because it's scary and too real. I don't blame people. I don't want to be around it either and yet here I am. I guess it's been good to use this time to focus on my little family and understand the family and friends that really are important to me.

We have so much to be thankful for and I guess I will just leave it at that for tonight. I know this was a really long message tonight but it's hard to hold back once I get going! =)

Good night all!