Emmersyn's birthday party!

On Saturday, we celebrated Emmersyn's 2nd birthday with family at our house. We had a great time and it was so nice everyone could make it! I chose a rainbow theme and everything turned out pretty cute. E got lots of great gifts and we were thankful everyone made the trip.

 Fruit and dip

 Chocolate covered oreo pops (these were a big hit!)

 Balloon banner

 E turns 2!!

All of my sister!

 Rainbow cake!

 YUM!!

 Opening gifts!

 Riding on Papa's legs!

 R and R eating an oreo pop!

Baby Addie

Party Time!

In an effort to get caught up, I am going to try and do a few posts with very few words (for those of you who know me, that's not easy for me to do!!)

We had Riley's birthday party with some great friends and family who came to visit. She wanted a Barbie cake, so that's what she got! She got a lot of great gifts and we were thankful people cared enough to come all the way here to celebrate with us!

Ty and his mini-me!

Nani and Papa and girls came to visit and stayed the weekend.

Riley opening her presents with a little help from friends.

Gma and R putting together her new ballet princess puzzle.

Riley turns 5!!

Riley is such a joy to have as a daughter, I'm lucky to be her mom! She is turning into such a sweet little girl. I'll try to update you all on what she's been up to lately. Frist of all this girl LOVES to color and draw. As most of you know, she has more energy than probably 3 or 4 kids combined but lately all she wants to do is sit at the counter and draw!! She will literally sit there for hours. She's very creative and it's funny to look at her pictures and see all the details that she sees that I probably would overlook! She loves writing "lists", so she'll write my grocery lists when I tell her how to spell words, she wrote a birthday present list and now she's already writing her Christmas list.

She is so good at sharing. Whenever we have people over she always wants to let people "borrow" something. She will literally make her friend take something of hers to play with at their house. This has now become a tradition whenever we have friends over and now they return the favor.

She loves Lincoln and Emmersyn more than anything and the feeling is mutual. Her and Lincoln are going to be lost without each other when she goes to school. Speaking of school, she will be starting in the fall. We're probably going to buy a house in the spring so we'll see what school district she'll be in. On one hand, I will miss her so much when she's at school and on the other it will be nice for her to "do her own thing". She's always been at my side, it will be very different when she goes to school.

As much as I have a love/hate relationship with the fact that my kids are growing up, I love seeing Riley mature and grow. When I took her to the doctor for her well-visit she weighed exactly 40 lbs. and was 41.5 inches tall. 50%ile for weight an 85th %ile for height. She is still all legs and looks kinda like a string bean because she's so tall! She always wears a size 6 in clothes and a 12.5 in shoes.

I am so thankful for her and for the time I get to spend with her. I especially love getting one on one time with her, she's loving and caring and so inquisitive. Oh yeah and she NEVER stops talking...is that a girl thing or an age thing...or both? Oh she can wear me out sometimes!! BUT I love her and wouldn't trade being her mom for anything in this world! We love you Riley Belle and we are so thankful for you!!

Decatur Kids Museum

On each of the kids birthdays we try to do something special for them. Ty always takes the day off on their birthday, which is special in itself. Riley turned 5 this year and we decided to take the kids to the Decatur kids museum for a day of fun! We go to our kids museum, in Champaign often, especially during the winter, but this one puts ours to shame (AND it's nothing like a big city museum!).

Their was this "leaf" jungle gym thing in the middle of the museum. The kids really liked it, but Lincoln kept getting lost in it. He often couldn't find his way out!

Emmersyn was a little hesitant at first, but loved running around and playing in the toddler area.

Have I mentioned that this little peanut loves to climb??!!

Playing in her garden!

Riley LOVED grocery shopping, this was one of her favorite parts in the museum.

BUBBLES!

Riley loves to paint, she's my creative one!

Trains, trains, trains...(Yes, two seconds after this picture was taken E was standing on top of the table!)

My best attempt at a pic of all three. It didn't go very well :)!!

Emmersyn turns ONE!!

This year has flown by and it's hard to believe that my baby is no longer a baby, she's definitely more a toddler than a baby. I love the new things she's doing but I miss that baby stage already! At one year old she is walking (she started walking at 10 months), "talking", kissing, waving, clapping and trying to keep up with her older brother and sister! She has 8 teeth (top 2, bottom 2 and ALL four morals!). At her one year doctor appointment she weighed 21 lbs. 15 ounces and was 29.5 inches long. She's by far by chubbiest baby I've had, starting out just shy of 10 lbs., but she's also tall so I feel like she's starting to thin out a little bit.

Sleeping is an issue we're working on. Just after she turned one I started nursing once a day, and once a night if she woke up, but I have stopped feeding her at night and she seems to be sleeping through the night more often once she knew nursing wasn't an option.

If I were given one word to describe my little one year old it would be happy. It's just that simple. She is the most smiley, happy little thing you'll ever meet. She very rarely cries and if she does it's because she's hurt or tired. I cannot even begin to describe the joy and happiness she has brought into our lives. It's hard to remember life before her. I LOVE the fact that she's such a mommy's girl. I call her my little koala because she just wraps her arms and legs around me and clings. She is getting pretty bad stranger anxiety and doesn't let many people hold her until she's comfortable, I hope she's always a mommy's girl!

We can already see the relationship she is forming with her older siblings. It's really neat to watch. With Riley, she loves to sit on her lap and Riley will read books to her. She follows Riley around the house and is always playing with her dolls and Barbies. With Lincoln she LOVES to wrestle. Lincoln will be laying on the ground and Emmersyn will literally jump on top of him and crawl on him and Lincoln just laughs and wrestles back. The relationships they have are already so different and so special. I love watching our kids play together, it makes me so thankful we had them so close together!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!!

Party in MI!

We went back to MI last weekend for my little sister, Jori's, surprise 16th birthday party and since we were going to already be there we just decided to have Lincoln's birthday there since it would be easier for everyone else. We had his party at Kasey's house (thanks, Kasey!). Lincoln had a great birthday and loved all the attention and gifts!

You are looking at what Emmersyn did the ENTIRE party. Someone would look at her and she screamed. Between her being sick, tired and teething, she was not a happy camper unless being in my arms 24/7!! It was so out of character for her, she's normally a very happy baby!