Family Birthday Party

Lots of family from near and far came to celebrate Emerson's birthday tonight.

A boy, a tent and a sleeping bag

The newest passion for Emerson is a sleeping bag he got for Christmas and a tent he had at Granmas. Oh, the little things in life!

A Message from Santa

http://www.portablenorthpole.com/watch/mrjZiQo388H-34l3bIAUqBw

Shoe Tying

Daddy and Emerson worked on shoe tying tonight, he's almost got it!!

Happy 5th Birthday!

We are still alive!! Emerson celebrated his 5th birthday last month!! Where has the time gone???

Hot Enough to Fry an Egg

Last week we had several days over 100 degrees. I told Emerson it was going to be hot enough to fry an egg, so we tried! We waited a little too late in the day, but it was still fun to watch Emerson.

4th of July

My BFF

My love!

Our Chosen Family

Team Red - Emerson and his Godparents

Kali and Kari
aka. The Graham Sisters

Thorn between, err, a rose between two thorns

My beautiful family

Emerson and his "Amba"

Watching his first real fireworks show

Fearless

First Motorcycle Ride

Emerson took his first motorcycle ride with Pa-Pa a few weeks ago.

E-I-N-G-O

A new version to an old favorite...
"On a farmer, had a dog and Nemo was his name-o. E-I-N-G-O, E-I-N-G-O, E-I-N-G-O and Nemo was his name-o!"

First Joke

We haven't had a "first" around here for a while, but tonight Emerson just told his first joke.

E: "Why'd the chicken cross the road?"
Me: (a little giggle and an oh geez thought) "Why?"
E: "You're supposed to say, I don't know"
Me: "I don't know"
E: "Because he had to poop."

I didn't say it was a funny joke, just that it was his first. I have a feeling there will be many more bad jokes to come from this little man. And you will find me laughing...

Snow Day - March 2012

Just when I had surrendered to the idea that we were not going to have any snow days this year - here we find ourselves with about 6 inches of snow on the ground at the beginning of March. Emerson was SO excited this morning! His preschool was still open, but Chad and I let him stay home to enjoy a day in the snow. We were out for a little over an hour this morning.

Rememebring how to make a snowman



Second part

Our compelted snowman! Emerson was so creative with his choices for mouth, nose and eyes.

Eyes: cherry tomatoes
Nose: baby carrot
Mouth: pickle spear (daddy's idea)
Arms: twigs from our tree (mommy had to jump in snow boots and gear to yank them out of the tree)

This is what you get with a little boy...a knocked over snowman.

Looking for the eyes, nose, mouth to chuck into the street

Inside, warm and enjoying hot chocolate

Crazy Weather

The last few days have been really crazy around here with severe storms and tornados. Our thoughts and prayers are with our fellow Kentuckians who were in the path o the destruction.

Yesterday as I was driving Emerson to school I was preparing him for another day of bad weather. You see, on Wednesday during his nap time all of the kids had to be woken up and moved to the safe place during a tornado warning. I wanted him to know this might happen again.

Storms have never really bothered him, but we had the following conversation:
Me: Are you scared when it storms?
E: No, I'm not scared.
Me: What keeps you from being scared?
E: You and Daddy protect me.
Me: You know Daddy and I aren't with you at school.
E: Oh, then I have Jesus!

One of those proud patenting moments!

Happy Birthday Pappy!

Tonight we had dinner to celebrate Pappy's 72nd birthday! Emerson hopes to help his Pappy (Chad's dad) celebrate many more!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Don't forget...Chicks {love} Super Heroes!

When I grow up

On the way home from school today Emerson announces that one day he is going to work at the hospital. I was intrigued, this was a new piece of info, so I asked if he was going to be a doctor (a mom could hope). He proceeded to explain that he would be driving the ambulance (much cuter when he says it) and helping people o feel better. Long story short, he still wants to be a firefighter like his dad. :)

P.S. this is my first blog post from my iPhone app! Hoping to be better about posting with this option.

UK Corn Hole Boards

Each year Kari and Tim work together in "TT's Workshop" to make a one of a kind gift for Emerson. This year Tim made Emerson a set of corn hole boards all his own, and Kari painted the UK logo on them! They are 1/2 the size of normal corn hole boards. Emerson was really excited about the boards!

Note: It was NOT warm enough in Kentucky yesterday for basketball shorts and a jersey, even though it was 60! Emerson's new obsession is coming home from school and putting on shorts right now!

 Emerson's unwrapping skills have vastly improved since last Christmas! The decorative ribbon was no problem for him.

Checking out KK's handy work 

So excited about his gift!

Advent: Day 5

Day 5 gave Emerson some fun foam creatures that started in pill size. ! I think he had more fun stirring the bowl of water and playing in the sink than with the foam animals!

He said this one was for me because, "You like giraffes, mommy."

Advent: Day 1

Day 1: Emerson got a peppermint patty and a snow globe snowman that lights up different colors. These pictures were taken in the pitch black of our living room. He wanted me to see him in the dark witht the snowman lighting up!

Pre-school Update

Emerson has been going to pre-school now for about two months and we have come so far! He loved the first few days, but when reality set in that he was going Monday through Friday he started to struggle with morning drop off. We made some changes at home and at school, and things have improved immensely!

Chad and I are able to see how much he is learning and growing everyday. Being a teacher I have been "teaching" him since birth, but he wasn't interested in writing his letters, number, etc. when I tried to work with him. :) Now he loves all things writing! He is really close to being able to write his name on his own. Not to mention how his social skills are growing. He has his friends that he loves to talk about at home. It's really neat because one of Emerson's classmates is the son of a colleague of mine; so we get to chat about our boys at work from time to time.

All of the pieces to their curriculum are very developmentally appropriate and focus on learning through play. That is huge for me! There is plenty of time for Emerson to "sit and get" as it happens in a lot of classrooms these days, I did not want this for pre-school. (Heck, I really don't ever want this for him.) Creation Kingdom is based on Christian teachings and there is a core bible lesson each week, in addition to phonics, math, science, Spanish and etiquette. Chad and I are really pleased with the program.

Here are Emerson's favorite things about school right now:
1. "Play with my friends"
2. "Finger paints - we did that yesterday"
3. "Going to the computer lap"