Happiness Is:

Sophie putting on toy lipstick.... Emma modeling her NEW feet pajamas (her favorite style).... Sophie & Emma eating an Autumn meal of tomato soup and grilled cheese....

Emma practicing drinking out of a big girl cup (it was EMPTY) ;)....

Sophie eating a gooey brownie....
Can you guess which one was REALLY in time out?! (Answer: Sophie~Emma just decided to keep her company).... :D

Pictures from the girls FAVORITE park....

Just plain cuteness....

WHY do all kids LOVE empty boxes?! Emma & Sophie played with these for at least 4O minutes! They were pretending that they were wrapping and opening gifts!

I discovered Emma singing in our room the other day....

Emma still enjoys an occasional cup of java in the morning....Sophie loves to "read". Books, magazines, Sunday Ads; it's all good.....

MORE BALLOON FUN....

Emma made this beautiful bowl at school. Yes, it IS a bowl....
Froggy got a makeover....

Now We Know...

Now we know how hard Emma has to work to make it through each day.

Now we know why Emma behaves uniquely.

Now we know that her actions are not defiant.

Now I know that I should have LISTENED to my gut instinct from day #1...I am not crazy after all. (Well, maybe I am still crazy....but I was RIGHT about my daughter)!

Now we know what we need to do to help Emma reach her full potential.

....now we know that Emma has Autism.

The results of Emma's testing were shared with us this afternoon. Emma is a "Atypical High-Functioning Autistic". Please don't ask me to explain the term in detail because my brain is like jello. I am taking it all in. When I am more educated I will be sharing Emma's progress from time to time on the blog. But, for now you can watch the following video if you want to understand how Emma's mind works. It is in simple terms and easy to understand. My dear friend Sarah shared this video with me and tutored me on how to upload it to my blog. (Thanks Sarah)!





One thing that I want to make clear is that Emma is STILL Emma. She is funny and sweet and I really can not imagine our lives without her in it. :)I am proud to be Emma's Mommy. We don't want anybody's pity, we just want people to understand our family. Don't assume that we don't socialize because we are rude, it is because sometimes doing the "normal stuff" is HARD.

HERE THEY ARE!!!!!

I'm sorry that I have not posted lately, it has been crazy around here! Here are a few pictures of the beautiful ladies for your enjoyment!

(Note: Emma has been "forcing" her smiles lately and Sophie's have been less "cheesy")!

Just Hanging Out

I took a few pictures of the girls on the deck last night......

Hungry, Hungry Hippos

I bought Emma and Sophie Hungry, Hungry Hippos yesterday. They had SO much fun playing with it! I remember that my sister and I had the SAME game 30 years ago. :)

~Emma's New Ear Phones~

Emma's OT (Occupational Therapist) at school suggested that we purchase a pair of noise reducing headphones for her. She tried a pair on Emma at school and she was highly interested in wearing them. So, I ordered them and they arrived in the mail last Friday. Emma immediately wanted to try them on. :) She wore them during certain times over the weekend; such as when we ground beans for our coffee and during part of her soccer game. They seem to be helping her cope with noise.

(I know, I know...she looks like an Air traffic Controller). ;)

Emma's First Soccer Game!!!!!

I posted the pictures backwards. So, if you want to read the captions in the correct time sequence you will need to start at the bottom of the page! :)


Coach Eric giving Emma a "high 5" after the game.

Emma drinking out of her "big kid" water bottle. :) The little boy next to her spit his water at her seconds after I took this picture. I think that he was frustrated that Emma would not answer him when he was trying to talk to her. :P

Emma out on the field! She is on the far right in front of the flag.

Emma was more interested in playing with the flags instead of the kids!

Emma walking onto the field with her teammate. (The one who spit water at her later on)!!

Happily sitting on the bench... Hmmmmm, this cone makes a nice hat. :)

There she is again, the only girl on her team!

Emma is the one pulling her shirt over her head.

Hanging around the goal. No, she was NOT playing goalie.... :D

Sitting in the car before the game!

Emma & Pooh checking out the field...

I *had* to style her hair for the game! ;)

Full shot of Emma's uniform. The jersey is HUGE on her and the shinguard/socks are too. :) Once we got to the game we were told that we had to reverse her jersey for the game; they were the "white" team that day. :)

My pretty Emma....