Merry Christmas

It's hard to believe this was technically Emma's second Christmas. Everything about it mirrored a first...her wonder at seeing a Christmas tree in with all its lights and shiny ornaments and her curosity peaked at the beautifully wrapped packages beneath the tree. But it was indeed her second Christmas. Unfortunately, Joe had to work Christmas day, so Emma and I headed over to my parents house to hang out until Joe got off work and would meet us there for Christmas dinner and presents. Emma made out like a bandit with great toys and pretty clothes and while Joe and I really didn't exchange gifts this year, the best gift we could give to each other was being together and watching our daughter enjoy all the wonder that is this season. Feeling a little nostalgic, here is a picture of us last year... a family of 3 for a mere 12 days:and a picture of our best present last year:

Now for this year. Here is Emma all dressed up for Christmas Eve services at church:

Emma enjoying some of her new presents:

Hello? Santa? The Christmas Ham:Me and my baby girl:Emma checking out the Christmas tree:
And here we are, a family of 3 for 1 year and 12 days. What a difference a year makes.

I hope your Christmas was filled with wonder and we send you best wishes for 2009.

Jitterbug

Today we were watching Happy Feet and Emma decided to dance along with the penguins. This kid is too much. She brings a smile to our faces everyday!

Little Lawnmower

Emma got this cute lawnmower for her birthday and she plays with it all the time. I love her little giggle at the start of the video. Enjoy!

It's the Big ONE!

It's hard to believe it's been a whole year, but indeed it has. This past Saturday, we celebrated Emma's First Birthday. We had a lovely party with family and friends and overall, Emma did very well considering we partied right through her nap time.

As a child, my mother made and decorated all of my birthday cakes, so I felt compelled to do the same for my baby girl. I found a great cake pan in the shape of a #1 and with a little help from Betty Crocker, we had a wonderful cake!

I also made some fancy cupcakes as well. The one with the candle on top was Emma's special cake to eat...more on that later.

Having a December baby born a mere 12 days before Christmas, I wanted to keep the colors as far away from Christmas as possible, so we went with a bright pink and orange. We had a lovely array of food and the centerpiece was a photo frame of pictures of Emma from birth throughout her first year.

After eating lunch, we sang happy birthday to our girl and gave her a cupcake to enjoy. She did not have the traditional reaction to this as most kids:

After cleaning her up a bit, she realized that she could eat this messy treat and it was pretty good! We then had a change in reaction:

So as you can see a fun time was had by all and here we are a family of 3 for one year:

To view all the pictures from Emma's big day click here: