Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Today my sweet daddy turned 89 years old. He has lots of health issues but he's still my daddy and I love him lots and lots!!! Both of my parents have been such a blessing in my life! My brother Greg, gave him two stuffed dogs that represent Greg's dogs Barney and Peanut.

Opening presents!!

Blowing out the candles!

He's probably wondering what all that noise was! It was quite a rousing version of "Happy Birthday"!! I love you daddy!!!!!

I'm Just a Braggin'!

Can't tell you how much we love, love, love our Emersyn! Every time I get a few new pictures I just can't help but share. We had lunch at my mom and dad's yesterday and I just had to share a few pictures of Emersyn. She is such a delight!!! She can totally stare you down as if she is trying to read your mind!! She pulls up on everything and loves to play!

"Clap, clap, clap your hands".

Standing at my new toy!

Growing So Fast!!

Emersyn is growing sooo, soo fast! We haven't seen her in a couple of weeks and now, all of a sudden, she has changed, changed, changed. She is sitting up, leaning over, getting up from her stomach, crawling, pulling up, reaching, grasping, eating baby food and, in short, becoming a little person! She is so precious to us and each change is exciting and fun.

We are so proud of all of our family and are really enjoying being grandparents! There's nothing like it! Can't wait to have more!!!!

Our Precious Angel!!!

We just LOVE our precious Emersyn Kate! She's getting so big and is able to do so many new things! She LOVES to be upright in her walker! She so reminds me of Jonathan. He never liked being a baby. He always wanted to be straight up and down so he could see everything. Emersyn has developed quite the little personality! She smiles a lot and wants to touch everything. Her grasp has gotten so much better and (of course) everything she holds goes straight to her mouth.

She is doing a great job of sitting up by herself. She can sit for quite a while before she gets tired and falls over. She LOVES books. They are about her favorite toy!

Emersyn is quite the mommy's girl! She's always looking around to see where Anne Marie is.

She is such a precious addition to our family! I can't remember what it was like when we didn't have her. She is definitely our "precious angel"!!!

Happy 2011!!

Happy New Year! We spent New Year's Day at my mom and dad's, visiting, eating and playing cards. Mom made Beef Stroganoff (quickly becoming a tradition). It was wonderful. We all ate til we were beyond full! Then it was picture time (groan from everyone!) Here's a picture of all the family (except me! Someone had to make the picture!) Okay, okay, I give up. Make my picture!!

Jonathan, Anne Marie and Emersyn. Such a sweet family!

Chad and Lauren

Relaxing, resting, rubbing the eyes and. . .

Reading! Emersyn LOVES books and really enjoys being read to!

Mom and Chad. Love the pose!

Playing "Phase 10", one of mom's favorite games. I think we girls played for 2-3 hours. Lauren won, Anne Marie came in second, mom third and (of course) I lost. What else is new! The guys went to the movie (another tradition for the guys).

Love those relaxing, family days!

A Whole Lot of Christmas!!

Christmas was wonderful, complete with snow! We ate, laughed and opened gifts and had a wonderful family time! Christmas, such a warm and happy time! Even looks like Christmas with the snow!

Emersyn had a blast playing, opening gifts and getting lots and lots of attention!!

She really seemed to know how to get into those gifts! (Well, maybe she just liked all the colors, papers and bows!)

Chad!

Jonathan and his little angel!

Anne Marie.

Lolly!

Emersyn and her new toy!

Snow, snow, snow!!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Tree Trimming

It's that time of year again! Time to untangle those lights, drag out the millions of ornaments and put up that tree (that leans a little to one side). No matter what, it's a fun time of year and we love to decorate the tree as a family. This was Emersyn's first time and, by the picture below, I don't think she was too impressed. Oh well, she'll get used to the craziness of decorating! Everyone gets an ornament to add to the tree every year. (I have to throw away quite a few of the old ornaments every year to make room for the new ones. The tree IS only so big after all!)
Lauren always chooses an ornament with "shoes".

Chad got one of his favorites this year. A "Charlie Brown" ornament that plays the Charlie Brown theme song.

Danny chose "Hoops and Yoyo". They just crack me up!

Jon and Anne Marie had to hang their own ornaments plus one for Emersyn.

We had a great time decorating, eating cookies and listening to Christmas music! It's the most "wonderful" time of the year!!!!