Merry Christmas

Santa pictures make me laugh.

Emerson is generally a very social baby.  While we were dropping off the older girls at school this morning, she walked right up to the security guard with her arms up and was happy as a clam when he picked her up..  She is happy to go to almost anyone who smiles at her.  But Santa is different.

Adeline and Charlotte were so excited to get their picture taken with Santa.  For days it was all they talked about.  As we stood in line they were literally jumping for joy.  Then it was our turn and he asked what they wanted for Christmas.

Charlotte whispered that she wanted a Barbie.  Adeline just looked at her feet.  Emerson started crying as soon as I handed her off.

Weebles Wobble

Emerson is 11 months now.  She's been a pro at walking since a little after she turned 9 months.  Today I put her in this puffy Christmas dress.  It is a bit big for her (18 months), and heavier than the onesies that she normally wears, so she is walking around like a drunk.  We went out shopping today and several people commented about how well she was doing for just learning how to walk.  I didn't tell them it was because I was torturing her for the sake of fashion 

She loves the dogs and cats and squeals every time she sees one of them.  She has two bottom teeth and four top teeth that are barely peaking through.  She just learned how to clap and loves to have everyone cheer and clap for her whenever she shows off her new skill.

And just for fun, here are Adeline and Charlotte at 11 months.  She definitely has Addie's hair, it is going to be a long time before she can wear a bow like Charlotte.

Missing Tape

Sometimes I feel like I have failed at becoming a proper adult because I never seem to have tape in the house.  I buy it.  I use it.  I put it in the desk drawer with the pens and scissors.  And then it disappears.  Never to be seen again.  I don't know what happens to it.  I'm not sure if it gets cannibalized by the other office supplies, or if it is taken by my children.  One way or another, it is usually gone by the 3rd day.  

I suspect that my sweet kiddos are taking it.  This concerns me even more than barbaric tape-eating-scissors because I never see any evidence that they are using the tape.  They are always making art projects and will bring them to me to show off their talents.  Occasionally, the day after the tape goes missing, I will see a piece or two with tape on, but not NEARLY enough to account for the entire roll.  Which leads me to wonder, what exactly are they planning to do with the rest of it?  

While we don't have Scotch tape, we do usually have packing tape so I'll use that instead.  Last night I was wrapping some presents (with packing tape of course) and Charlotte was watching.

Charlotte:  Mom, is that goose tape?

Me:  What?

Charlotte:  Goose tape.  Is that goose tape, mom?

Me:  Oh, do you mean duct tape?

Charlotte:  No, I mean goose tape.

Me:  Well, this is actually called packing tape.  The grey tape is called duct tape.  I don't know what goose tape is.

Charlotte:  Why don't they call it goose tape?

Me:  I'm not sure sweetie.

Duct, duct, goose... tape?

Happy Halloween!

Adeline and Charlotte were princesses.

Charlotte was a ghost.

Carving pumpkins.  Charlotte wasn't a very big fan of all the goop.

Emerson, on the other hand...

... thought it was delicious.  Yum.

Voting

Today is election day.  Addie's class is having a cookie election.  When I picked her up from school yesterday she showed me her "campaign poster."  She is voting for M&M cookies because: they are crunchy, they have choklat (chocolate), and they are culrful (colorful).  The other choices are chocolate chip cookies, or Oreo cookies.  Today the whole class is voting for the cookie they want and tomorrow they will get to eat the cookie that wins.

On the way home from school we discussed the presidential election.  Addie said it would be good if Obama and Romney could both be president because they both have good ideas.  She also told me that you have to be 35 to run for president, so in 4 years I can be president.  I asked her if she would vote for me and she told me no "because I won't be 18 so I won't be able to vote yet."  Then Charlotte chimed in and said, "but when I turn 18 I'll vote for you mom!"

.... orange you glad I didn't say banana?

Knock knock...
Who's there?
Banana!
Banana who?

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Banana!
Banana who?


Knock knock!
Who's there?
Banana!
Banana who?


Knock knock!
Who's there?
Banana!
*sigh* Banana who?


Knock knock!
Who's there?
Banana!
Banana who?

If you know the joke, you know that on round 3 or 4 it should switch to "orange."  Charlotte still doesn't quite get knock knock jokes, but she thinks this one is hilarious.  The problem is, it's not the punchline that she thinks is funny, its the repetitive banana that gets her giggling.  I tried to explain it and then she came up with this one on her own.

Knock knock...
Who's there?
Pear!
Pear who?
Pear and banana!

Emmy at 9 months

She's a girl on the go, and don't try to stop her!  On Sunday, Emmy celebrated turning 9 months old by walking across our Sunday School classroom.  Most of the time she manages a wobbly 7 or 8 steps before she topples over, but she is bound and determined to figure it out.  Her favorite things to do right now are pull wipes out of the container, chase after the dog and cats, and play with mom's necklace. 

She's not quite the food connoisseur that she was last month.  She won't eat anything and everything that you offer to her anymore.  She much prefers to feed herself now, which means that she is getting a bath every night.  I'm not sure if she still has a taste for dog food, we've been doing a good job of keeping it out of her reach.

Emerson at 8 months

What can I say?  This girl just makes me smile.  She has such a sweet personality and goes along with whatever is happening around her.  Pretty much the only time you will hear her cry is when she is hungry.  Emmy loves her food!  It doesn't matter what it is, she loves it all.  And I think she must have a second stomach because I'm not sure where she puts it all.  For example, this morning she ate an entire banana, then drank 4 ounces of formula.  She seemed content, so I made myself some oatmeal.  As soon as I sat down to eat she saw the bowl and got excited.  She makes a funny coughing sound when she wants food and if you don't respond to the coughing then she starts crying.  So she crawled over to me, pulled herself up on my leg, and started coughing.  She then proceeded to eat half my oatmeal. 

Emerson's favorite food, though, is dog food.  If you put her on the ground near the kitchen she will immediatly crawl as fast as she can towards the dog bowl.  All 3 of the girls have eaten pet food at one point or another, but with Addie and Charlotte they were content with just one taste.  Not Emmy.  This must be chocolate flavored dog food or something.

She pulls herself up and cruises along furniture.  She can even walk with holding onto just one hand.  Charlotte loves to "dance" with Emmy.  This consists of Charlotte holding onto Emmy's hands and making Emmy walk in cirlces until she falls down.  Emerson loves her sisters!  She gets so happy to see them in the afternoon and is so content to sit in the toyroom and watch them play. 

Chompers

Our family is getting lots of new teeth this week.  Emerson is getting her two front bottom teeth.  They are both coming in at the same time.  This is a first for our family.  Addie got her first tooth when she was 9 months old, it was one of her bottom front teeth, but the matching pair didn't come in until she was well over a year old and had many other teeth.  Charlotte was almost 10 months old and her first tooth was an upper lateral (usually don't come in until 6 other teeth have popped through).  Anyway, so far she seems to be sticking to the standard eruption pattern. 

Adeline is also getting some new teeth.  About a week ago she was complaining that her teeth hurt.  When I checked, I found that they were slightly wiggly!  A few days ago I checked to see if they were getting any wigglier.  They aren't, but I did notice that her two permanent teeth are starting to peek out behind her baby teeth.  Her mission is now to wiggle those two bottom teeth as much as she possibly can so that she can get them out before we have to get them pulled by the dentist.  I don't have high hopes for them, though, they are barely wiggly and she doesn't seem interested in wiggling them.

Goodnight

I know these aren't frame-quality pictures, but the girls' sleeping choices made me laugh tonight.  Adeline did not want to sleep in her room tonight.  Sean gave her the choice of sleeping in her room, or in the pack-and-play.  She chose the pack-and-play.  Good thing she is flexible, she barely fits in it.

Emerson with one foot out of her crib slats.  Every night she either has an arm or leg sticking out.

Charlotte having an "animal party."  She has every single stuffed animal that we own on the floor of her room.  She is sleeping on top of the pile.  It looks a bit lumpy, but she thinks it is comfortable.  

Emerson at 6 months

Weight:  14 lbs  13 oz  (18%)

Height:  27 in  (79%)

She has been an expert crawler for a few weeks now.  She officially started crawling on Father's Day (June 17th) when she was 5.5 months old.  She love standing and can pull herself up, but she prefers if someone supports her a bit (like her sister above).  She is such a happy baby and will gladly go to anyone who smiles at her.  Given the choice, though, she would rather be held by Mom.  She loves eating and will try any food that we offer.  She especially loves to feed herself finger foods.  It is so much fun to see her learn and grow.

Galveston

Meghan was visiting for the week and we decided to take her down to visit the ocean.  A few years ago we took a trip down to Galveston and the older girls didn't care for the sand.  It was Emerson's first trip to the beach and she did not have the same aversion to sand that the older girls had.  But you'll have to wait a few days for those pictures because they are on Meghan's camera.

Charlotte liked going out into the water with Aunt Meghan, although she preferred being held over walking by herself.  Once, she came back and told me that the water "tastes a little bit bad."

 Addie trying to build a sand castle.

 Chilling on the shore.

Mad Bowling Skillz

Charlotte won the prize for most bumpers knocked over (3 times).  Addie won the prize for consistency (every frame she knocked over the 3 pins on the very right, and rarely knocked over any others).  

Oh yeah, look at that form!

 I had to include a picture of our final scores.  Check out Meghan's final frame!!

Check me out!

I now have more posts this year than I did 2011 and 2010 combined!!

Climbing

We went rock climbing this weekend.  Addie was by far the best climber,  I guess all the door-frame-climbing has been helping.  She was a little nervous the first few times because these walls are MUCH taller than the doors she is used to climbing.  

 See that dotted green line?  That was the boundary for climbing without a rope.  It was about 10 feet in the air.  Charlotte was not nearly as daring as Addie.  It took quite a bit of convincing to get her to climb this high.  She eventually got her feet above the green line and earned herself an ice cream sunday.

 Meghan traveling across the wall.

 Addie was such a pro that she started climbing backwards.  Look!  No hands!

 I made it to the top of one of the medium-difficulty walls!  My arms were sore for the next two days.

Poor Emmy didn't get to climb, but she seemed to enjoy watching.

Look at her go!

 Addie has taken door-frame-climbing to a whole different level.  She spends most of her hours at home doing this.

Silly Monkey

Yesterday it took me almost 10 minutes to get a picture of Emmy up on her hands and knees.  Today she is a pro.  All day long she has been getting into a crawling position and holding it for upwards of a minute.  She even rocks a bit and can sometimes move one knee just a smidgen.

5 months

Emmy's latest trick is pulling her knees up into a crawling position.  It only lasts for about a second and then she falls onto her face, but it is amazing to see.  She is now 14 pounds exactly.  She loves to grab anything that she can reach, especially hair and faces.  She's happy to try any food that you will give her.  She gummed half a strawberry a few nights ago.

Super Readers!

I am so proud of my girls!  Yesterday was the end of the year awards ceremony for their school.  Each class gave out a handful of excellence awards: reading, writing, math, Spanish, social skills, and commitment.  BOTH Adeline and Charlotte earned the reading award for their class!  

Addie and her teacher, Mrs. Thomas.

Charlotte with her reading award and completion certificate.

I am amazed at how much they have grown this year.  Here is a picture from their first day of school.  ::sniff::

DNA

Adeline has been asking a lot of questions about DNA recently.  She is fascinated that some of her traits come from Mom and some come from Dad.  She got her eye color from Dad's DNA.  She got the freckles on her nose from Mom's DNA.

Today she was hanging up some of her clothes and, as she was tying a bow on one of her dresses, she said, "Mom, I can tie this dress when it is on the hanger, but I can't tie it when I'm wearing it because the bow is behind my back.  I think I got that DNA from you, that I can't tie things behind my back."

Cutest.Picture.Ever.

Adeline reading to her dad and sisters.  Yesterday she started end of the year testing.  At the beginning of the quarter she made a goal to be at reading level 10 by the end of the year.  Yesterday she passed the level 10 reading test, so she met her goal!!  We're not sure yet if she has surpassed it or not.  Tomorrow she will test at a level 12.