Christmas Eve

We decided to celebrate Christmas as just our little family on Christmas Eve since we were going to be busy on Christmas day. It was cozy, quiet, and not rushed.

 

We had a hard time getting this picture so please excuse the blank wall and our carbon monoxide alarm that joined our family for the picture.

 Emery with the first gift of the night.

My regular camera lense has decided to stop auto focusing so I have to focus it myself which is something I am out of practice. Its also especially hard to focus when your subjects move and the lighting is dim so please forgive the blurry pictures.

We got Emery a guitar and she loved it. Here Jonah is tightening the strings and she can't wait for him to give it to her.

Finally getting to play.

I loved our Christmas Eve and think it might have to be our tradition.

The Grinch House

On our way home from the progressive dinner (see post below) we stopped by the Grinch House to watch the show. I was hoping Emery would be a little more excited about it than she was but she was pretty tired so she sat quietly in her carseat and watched the lights.

3 Part Dinner

My dad has been sick so instead of the usual family dinner at my parent's we did a progressive dinner. Our house was first for pizza.

 

We went to the Nickell's next for dessert and a show provided by the kids on their tin whistles. 

And the last stop for hot drinks was at the Kerr's apartment.

16 Months

Emery turning 16 months was on our christmas tree hunt day so those pictures are posted below. I didn't have any other pictures from that day so I just pulled some pictures off my phone of her recently (sorry for the low quality on some of the photos). Her new words this month are: please, thank you, peek-a-boo, love you, poop, baby, choo-choo, and sticker. I feel like she suddenly actually "plays" with toys and stuffed animals now and it's really fun to play with her. One of her favorite things right now is to wrap a baby up in a blanket and carry it around.

 

She picked out this Rudolph while we Christmas shopped.

 

Playing peek-a-boo on our way to get the mail.

She has fun putting clothes over her head and walking around blindly trying to find me.

Christmas Trees

Everyone spent the night at my parent's house Thanksgiving night. In the morning we had some yummy waffles and slowly got ready to go on our Christmas tree hunt.

 

Mom and Emery got festive.

These sweet girls are best buddies.

That night we put up our tree and decorated it.

 

Jonah taught Emery how to put ornaments on.

 

She enjoyed playing with the ornaments on the ground.

After we finished the tree we left to run an errand and when we came home we discovered our tree had fallen over. Our stand wasn't big enough for our tree so we had to get a new one the next day and redecorate.

Thanksgiving

We ran our traditional 5K Thanksgiving morning. Micah decided to run with us as well (instead of going on the walk with Grandpa and Grandma and the rest of the grandkids). 
 

 

Jonah vulonteered to make a turducken! He worked on it most of the week and sewed it up at my parent's house on Thanksgiving day.

It turned out beautiful.

 

We didn't get to spend time with the Trevinos this year which was sad but no one had any big plans and some people ended up being sick anyway.

Millions of apples

We got a chance to go up to Calvin Crest recently. We have worked up there off and on for several years and love the area. This particular trip was nice because we got to experience a couple of our favorite things about camp, apple picking, and fall colors. Calvin Crest was fully dressed for fall and the colors were wonderful. Joining us in this adventure was family friends the Gists, the Nickells, the Starbucks, and Sarah. We started by picking apples and visiting, which was nice. Especially watching the kids run around and hang out together. Then we proceeded to make cider, which was a hard and involved task. Joel, Isaac, and I took turns running the cider mill with occasional help from a couple of other people and it was a workout. The kids were great helpers and enjoyed washing apples in the tub and filling the hopper. Altogether it was a great trip!

Sorry for out of order pictures, we are experiencing technical dfificulties.

Emery enjoyed trying to eat the apples.

Washing the apples.

Straining and collecting the cider.

The finished product!

15 Months

Emery is now 15 months! She continues to be a sweet, silly girl and fills our hearts with so much joy and surprises us with her brilliance. She likes to say hi a lot but not when people are paying attention, example while we're in the grocery store she says hi to people as they go by. She always waves at cars when she hears them or if they pass by. She put on a pair of pants all by herself for the first time this week (daddy gave a couple verbal instructions but that was all)! She loves playing outside, her cousins, going to Grandpa and Grandma Chandler's house, reading books, pushing things, buckling buckles, sticking things in holes, baths, and coloring. She has been teething a lot! I'm not sure exactly how many teeth she has now but it's somewhere around 12 but soon to be more.  Her new words for this month included: ouch, eww, honk, boot, booty, quack, and bonk.

 

Pumpkins

Emery picked out some pumpkins recently.

She loves carrying heavy things and pumpkins were no exception!

Post, post.

When we have a family event, everyone tends to blog about it at the same time. So we waited forever to blog about our family camping trip to spare our readers the repetition. Or at least that is what we will say. Michelle, Emery, and I had the opportunity to head up on a Thursday night and spend the evening camping before the rest of the family arrived Friday evening. On Friday we had fun exploring the wilderness, which Emery, much like her parents, absolutely loves.

 

We took a little hike and enjoyed the warmth of the sun.

 

 

It is never too early to teach your children about the wonders of the forest, so I showed Emery how to shake seeds out of the Giant Sequoia pinecone. She was pretty amazed, and good at it.

 

Isaac and I spent time fishing with the boys which was fun.

 

Just the two most adorable women around.

 

Our camp activities included an attempt to make fire using the old stick in hand method.

 



 

Michelle and her parents, along with Emery visited the Indian Bath Tubs trail, and I am glad they took pictures because I did not get a chance to take it with them.

 

For Michelle's Birthday, dinner included stick steaks, rice, green bean salad, and cheesecake.

 

Michelle and I enjoyed attempting night photography shots. We were unable to get a clear shot but it was fun and we learned a few things. Next time we will get it, I am sure.

In talking with the host I inquired about the large number of Giant Sequoia trees. He said that there are more in this area, than all of the Sequoia National Park. I did not doubt him, because there were lots.



 

Emery had a blast playing on Sequoia stumps, and she looked adorable all bundled up and running around in her cowgirl boots.