Emma had a Playdate!

Emma's friend Ella came to visit us today! :)

I kind of considered this Emma's first "real" play date!

We have known Ella's family for a very long time. Both Ella and her older brother Dane used to attend my daycare, they are both great kids!

The girls got along really well and had a great time together! We applied tattoos, colored Halloween pictures, and played with dolls. We also chewed gum, a staple involved in any 3 year old's play date! ; )

Emma loves the pictures posted. She keeps saying "Ella-Emma-sit down"!

Lao Lao & Yeh Yeh Were BACK!!!!!

Dancing With Lao Lao!






Watching Football with Yeh Yeh & Daddy!


Emma had another very busy weekend!

Late yesterday afternoon her beloved Lao Lao & Yeh Yeh arrived en route to Michigan from Idaho. They were anxious to get home after traveling for a week visiting family, so they were only able to stay for one night. Emma was heartbroken that they had to leave this morning and kept saying: "No Lao Lao, ALL DONE! Lao Lao SIT"! : ) As you can see from the pictures posted, she made the most of her visit!



"Hi Horsey"! Emma still LOVES horses! When ever we take a certain route home we pass a small farm where 2 horses often graze during the day. She gets SO excited to see the horses, she shouts "Hi Horsies"! And, waves a Miss. America worthy wave! : ) For about 3 months Emma would NOT ride on the horse pictures, for whatever reason she was really frightened of it. Out of the blue this weekend she climbed on it & now it is once again an obtrusive fixture in my great room...ugh! :/ At least Emma is happy though!! : )

Teletubbies, Slippers & Gum- Oh My!

Emma had a very busy weekend!!! : )


Her Daddy arrived home from London on Friday afternoon. She anticipated Greg's return since 6:30 AM that morning and was absolutely beside herself when his limo pulled in the driveway, it was very sweet! She flung open the door and ran outside with the dogs shouting "DADDY! DADDY"!!!!He had been gone for 10 days, which is a very, very, very long time when you are only 3 years old. Emma has been giving her Daddy many extra hugs & kisses the past couple of days.



On Saturday Emma's Lao Lao & Yeh Yeh arrived for a short visit, only staying until Sunday morning. They are on their way to Idaho to visit Yeh Yeh's daughter Carol Ann and her family, so we were just a pit stop along the way. : ) We had a great visit and they took us out to eat at The Sushi House, one of Emma's favorite restaurants. Emma adores her Lao Lao and hung on her the entire time that they were here-even stalking her while she tried to take a shower! When they left on Sunday morning Emma sobbed, she wanted to go with them I think! : (




We went out for our monthly breakfast on Sunday with Greg's side of the family. It is always fun to see everybody and play catch up. And, of course everybody LOVES to see Emma...she often recieves small gifts for no reason! : ) Yesterday she received cute books from both her Great Aunt Marilyn and Great Grandma Jo. We also celebrated Emma's Nona's birthday.Emma chose Nona's presents all by herself; a necklace & earring set and guitar socks- she was very proud to present her gift to Nona! ; )



Emma has added a couple of words to her growing vocabulary this week; "Sit Down"! She tells us when she is sitting down, when we are sitting down, when she wants us to sit down---you get the picture! : )


I forgot to take pictures of Emma over the weekend, as usual I had M.I.B. (Mommy Mush Brain)! So, I took 2 pictures of Emma last night as she was winding down before bedtime. The first picture is of Emma chewing gum, her new FAVORITE activity (Which could actually be a post in itself! : ) ....) & wearing her new Dora slippers. Emma loves wearing slippers and shoes almost as much as she enjoys chewing gum. The second pictures is three of her Teletubbies & a horse having a tea party. Greg & I thought that it was cute how she arranged the whole set up. : )

Mid Autumn Day/Moon Festival

The traditional Chinese festival, Mid-Autumn festival began today, September 25th. It is the second most important festival in China & I was told by a Chinese friend that it is comparable to our Christmas. When the moon is rising tonight families will put a table in the open yard covered with moon cakes and fruits, including watermelon. All members of the family will sit around the table, they will talk & eat while they are enjoying the moon. Some families will pray before they eat. The moon will be brighter and rounder than it normally is because tonight it is closest to the Earth. Eating moon cake is an important custom of the festival-moon cake means reunion. Families who live far apart try to travel to be together during this time, but if that is not possible they call each other.

To celebrate this special holiday Emma wore a traditional dress to school & I have to say that she looked absolutely GORGEOUS!!! : ) She also brought a story about The Moon Festival (Chang E Goes to the Moon) for her teacher to read to the class and moon cakes for everybody to eat at snack time! The "moon cakes" were actually Hostess' Ding Dongs...I figured that Emma's friends would enjoy them more than real moon cakes that have flavors such as bean paste & lotus! Tonight Emma and I went outside to look at the moon and think about all of our family and friends near and far-especially Emma's birth mother who was surely looking at the same moon. Unfortunately, it was overcast & we could not see the moon! None the less we stood outside and said our good wishes. : ) When Greg gets home we will celebrate together by going out for a Chinese dinner & we will eat REAL moon cakes... it is an acquired taste-but we like them!

~Megan

Trip to the Park

One of Emma's new favorite things to do is go to the park. For whatever reason she is completely obsessed with slides! So, last Sunday we visited a new park that opened near our house. I was impressed to discover that they have a play area designed for toddlers, everything was close to the ground! It was the perfect size for Emma, although that didn't stop my dare devil from playing on the regular sized equipment as well!






As you can see from the pictures Emma had a wonderful time! She was very disappointed when it was time for us to leave. The ONLY word that I heard for the next 24 hours was "SLIDE"! (As in "Can we PLEASE go back Mommy? I want to ride the slides for the rest of my life")! : )

Cleaning Lady

Emma often observes me cleaning and has picked up some pretty good habits for a 3 year old! I can only hope that she retains these same habits as a teenager! ; )

The other day I emptied out her Diaper Genie & when I was finished Emma eagerly accepted my request that she throw out the bag of dirty diapers. She dragged it from her bedroom...down the stairs...& to the back door! It was comical to watch her in action, she looked like such a big girl! Which leads me to close this post with a question:

IF YOU ARE OLD ENOUGH TO HELP EMPTY OUT YOUR DIAPER PAIL ISN'T IT TIME THAT YOU START USING THE POTTY? ; )

~Megan

Mother-Daughter Weekend

The ducks were HERE...

... And Emma was way over THERE! :)
(Watching from a safe distance)!

Greg has been in London on a business trip for the past week. Last weekend the weather was beautiful, so I had what I thought was a fun afternoon planned for Emma & I on Saturday. We went to The River Walk in Naperville to feed the ducks. Emma LOVES animals, therefore I assumed that she would enjoy throwing pieces of bread to the ducks & watching them eat...boy was I wrong! I spotted the ducks down a hill near the water and took Emma out of her stroller so that we could get closer to them. When she realized that we were heading in their direction she wanted NOTHING to do with it, she started to twist her body around me like a 30 pound pretzel while shouting "NO, NO, NO--ALL DONE"! I managed to calm her down enough to throw whole slices of bread (forget breaking off small pieces) & the minute that the last slice was tossed she ran back to her stroller and buckled herself in. : ) For those of you that know me well you are aware that I am deathly afraid of birds, so I guess that poor Emma inherited her aversion to our feathered friends from me? *lol*! After feeding the ducks we stopped by a fountain to play for awhile. Emma enjoyed splashing her hands around in the water, but I could not coax a smile out of her....I think that her experience with the ducks set the tone for the rest of the day! : )
~Megan

"Alright, where did the ducks go"?







"Who can I splash"?!









Ten Little Fingers! : )