Emma's Fourth Birthday!!! (Part l)

MAY 10TH

Emma & Mommy the morning of her birthday! :)
Emma playing with her new train!
(I'm sorry that the picture is horizontal, I am having editing difficulties today)!!!
Emma & Daddy at their Birthday dinner!
(Daddy's birthday is 2 days before Emma's).
Emma looks like such a big girl coloring!!! : )
Here we are in Wichita!

We settled in just in time to celebrate Emma's 4th Birthday! : ) I can not believe that my "baby" is four years old, how did the last two years go by so fast? While Emma is still catching up to her peers in some aspects, in many, many ways Emma is your typical four year old. Every day Emma blossoms a little bit more and we proudly celebrate each milestone, no matter how small.

We let Emma open her presents from her Yangdong B.F.F. Eliza and Auntie Sarah in North Carolina the night before her birthday. We figured that technically it was already Emma's birthday in China so it seemed fitting to open Eliza's presents! : )

The following morning we let Emma open the rest of her gifts (thanks again everybody!). We went to the grocery store that afternoon and Emma got to choose her own birthday cake, which she was VERY excited about as you will see in the following post! (Part ll)! And, we ended Emma's big day by going out to dinner.

I think that Emma had a great birthday! : )

Emma's Trip to East Tawas in April

Emma loves visiting DeeWee's House;
Emma KNOWS that her Great Grandma Dee Wee always has candy and furthermore she knows WHERE to find the stash! :) Emma was probably looking upset in this picture because Mommy told her "No more candy before lunch"! ; )

Emma & Lao Lao!

Emma & her new friend "Otto":
Like any kid, Emma assumes that EVERYTHING at her grandparent's house is a toy. : ) When we visited Lao Lao & Yeh Yeh's house at Christmas time they had both a life size Santa and a Grinch; when you pushed their button they would sing and dance. Of course Emma assumed that Otto also had to have a button to press and she spent hours looking for it. : )

Emma bouncing with Lao Lao at the park.

Emma going down the Pluto slide.

Hello All Emma Fans!


Has it really been TWO months since my last post?! I keep telling myself that I am "just a few weeks behind..."! :O


Emma and I took a trip up to East Tawas, Michigan to visit my family in April. As always Emma was a great traveller in the car, but this time she was much more....uh, let's say- "vocal"! All that I heard for 420 miles was:


~"Emma get OUT"!

~"All done"!

~"This way"! (As in "Turn this way, Mom").

~"Lao Lao's house"!!!


I never really tire of hearing Emma talk...but, I'll admit that by the time that we made it to my parent's house I was just as happy as Emma to get out of the car!!! :)


We had a fun visit as always. : ) One of the highlights for Emma was going to the park; the park has the same cement animal figures there that I used to play on as a kid.

Easter

Emma in her Easter outfit! :)

Again my pictures are downloaded vertically and are posting horizontally?! UGH! :(

Emma had a nice Easter. She was excited to discover her Easter basket and enjoyed all of the Easter treats-especially the stickers (which we continue to find all over the house) and of course the candy.

She loves to get dressed up and was happy to pose for a picture before leaving to attend brunch at Aunt Marilyn's house! She was a very good girl, albeit having a horrible cold/cough.

Buchos!

Aunt Karen and Uncle Dean

Megan, Greg and Emma
Katie and J.C.

My cousin J.C. lives in Downers Grove. On Friday my Aunt Karen, Uncle Dean and cousin Katie came to visit from East Tawas. We all met at The Montieth's favorite restaurant~ Buchos! We drank margarita's, visited and laughed-it was a great time! Emma was an angel! She smiled and talked to everybody at the table. She also chair danced the entire 2 hours! :)

I posted pictures but for some reason Aunt Karen and Uncle Dean will not rotate clockwise! After 5 attempts to save the rotation I gave up. :(

Note to J.C.: Emma LOVES The Hokey Pokey Elmo! :) She played with him for the rest of the evening and we awoke to him dancing in our bedroom at 7:00 am the next morning...we ALMOST called you so that you could enjoy him singing too! The we remembered that you were in class anyway.

Emma's Playdate Last Month

Emma met her friend Kamryn for a play date at the Aurora Park District one Saturday last month. Kamryn's Mommy Julie e-mailed it to me and I am finally now posting it. Aren't they adorable?! : )

I was "Blog-TAGGED"!!!!

This journal entry has nothing to do with Emma or Sophie. My friend Beth "tagged" me a couple of weeks ago meaning that I have to list 7 things that she and other people might not know about me. After listing my "7 things" I get to tag seven other people...fair is fair! ; )

#1)
I am a vegetarian! I don't eat beef, chicken, and certain dairy products.
(I will answer WHY I am a vegetarian at another time, my reason(s) might not be what you think that they are)! ; )

#2)
I am afraid of birds and mice. : (

#3)
I am obsessive about cleaning my house, washing my hands, and making lists. I also have a "baggie compulsion"-everything has to be organized via baggie! : O

#4)
I like Eminem. Of course I don't play the CD with Emma in the car! I guess it is sort of like my "alter ego" when I drive alone! HaHa! ; D

#5)
Greg and I met on an online matchmaking site. : )

#6)
I can not wait until Emma is old enough to play with Barbie dolls so that I can play with her!! : )

#7)
When I was in my early 20's I worked a variety of jobs (usually 2 at a time) to pay my bills. A few of my second jobs were: cocktail waitress, maid (that only lasted a week!!!), clerk at a White Hen (I sliced lunch meat-GROSS!!) and sales associate at a Hallmark store.

Update on Emma's Little Sister, Sophie!

SOPHIA GRACE

A couple of weeks ago we had the pleasant surprise to receive two new pictures of Sophie along with a short written update! Sophie is now 20 pounds and 2&1/2 feet tall. She has 5 teeth and can sit and walk all by herself now! : )

We will be able to send our dossier to China as soon as we receive our fingerprints back from the FBI! We are on "day 18" of the agonizing wait-ack! : O We are *GUESSING* that we MIGHT be traveling around September????