Emery's Birthday

We have a two year old!

 (Thanks to Heather for taking her two year pictures that I never got around to doing!)

We celebrated with my family the Sunday before her birthday. I wasn't really planning on doing a theme but with a little prompting I decided to do Curious George. The decorations turned out really cute and I was glad I had a big sister who knows better than me and thought Emery deserved a theme.

 

Heather offered to help and so I gladly gave her the cake responsibility! She did not disappoint.

Emery was kept away while we decorated and was brought in once it was all done. I thought she was going to LOVE all the decorations.

  Turns out she wasn't very impressed. I will admit I was pretty frustrated with her reaction and I had to try hard not to let it put me in a bad mood.

She did like George however, she argued that it was just a monkey not George.

Ready for dinner.

 

We had pizza because it's one of the birthday girl's favorites.

After dinner we opened presents. Emery had been excited about the presents all day and kept going over to look at them. We did catch her one time taking a bow off but besides that she left them alone except to admire them.

Then it was time for cake!

Emery liked her cake and said it was pretty.

When almost no one was looking she took a little taste!

She was a little unsure about the candles being lit and had a hard time blowing them out but with a little help she did it.

 

 Then for some reason we encouraged her to take another bite of the cake.

 

And finally a piece for her to enjoy.

 

On her actual birthday I made her muffins for breakfast and she ate without any clothes on.

Pouty face.

She loves making tents so we got her one for her present from Mommy and Daddy.

The Friday after her birthday we celebrated with Jonah's family with brownies and ice cream.

 She still wasn't sure about the candles.

 

 Unfortunately only Tia Sarah and cousin Aryn were able make it but we still had fun.

Emery also received a couple packages in the mail from other friends which I thought was really neat. One included this cute nightgown and a matching one for her baby.

I can't believe my baby is two! She's the sweetest little girl and I never could have imagined the love Jonah and I have for her.

Visiting

We decided rather last minute to take a trip to Modesto to visit the Kerr-Owens at the end of July. It was good to see our friends and we had a very nice visit and it was a lot of fun to see baby Solace again. Emery wasn't sure what she thought of Solace at first but she ended up liking her and still talks about her.

 

Solace is such a sweet, happy, friendly, and cute little girl.

July 4th

Emery felt much better on the 4th so we were able to go about our planned activities for the day.

 

We went out to my parent's for our traditional swim and dinner party. The Howells (friends of the Nickells), two sets of Nickells, my parents, and the three of us were the people there.

 

All the kids at my parent's.



Cousins

We switched things up a bit this year and had the firework party at our house (usually its at the Nickell's)! We left my parent's first so we could get the last minute things ready.

 

The snack table with the snacks we provided, lots more snacks were brought by everyone else.



 Buck and Jamie were the first guests to arrive so the little girls started with sparklers as we waited for the others to come.

Soon there were lots more people! Everyone who was at my parent's house came plus Sarah and Josh, Buck, Jamie, and Harlow, and our new friends the Empfields.

Emery and her friend Evan had matching shirts that Joanne (Empfield) and I had made earlier in the week.

Emery loved doing the sparklers.

She also loved the glow sticks (who can blame her?!).

And of course there were fireworks.

It was fun (and a little stressful) having the party at our house. Some of our neighbors got home while it was still going on and they commented that it was the biggest 4th of July party that had been held in our cul-de-sac, I was quite pleased with that!

July 3rd

We went to our traditional firework show at the Rawhide Stadium on the 3rd. We were so excited for Emery to watch the show this year. Unfortunately she started running a high fever in the afternoon and she felt really bad. By 5:00pm she had climbed into our bed, wrapped herself up in the blankets and fell asleep. Poor baby! We knew she wouldn't be up for going out so my mom offered to stay at our house with her so that Jonah and I could still go. We were severely disappointed that Emery couldn't go and it put a damper on our excitement about the fireworks but we managed to still have fun.

 

Of course we got snow cones!

And the show was great.

Preparing for the 4th

We were too excited to wait for fireworks so we drew our own on the patio. This was an ongoing project that lasted a few nights of  adding more fireworks and finishing touches. I'm pretty sure this is going to be a new tradition.

 

We met up with the Nickells to buy fireworks together.

It was rather hot outside buying the fireworks so we decided it would be a good idea to get some frozen yogurt. Emery brought her ponies along.

We thought we should see what Emery thought of sparklers so she'd be prepared to do them on the 4th. At first she wasn't too sure but after a couple that Mommy and Daddy held she was ready to try one herself. She loved it.

June Happenings

In June we...

 

Watched the Nickell boys at a swim meet.

 Had a tea party.

Emery had her first ice cream cone.

Watched a movie in the park with the cousins.

Emery discovered a different way to ride in the shopping cart.

Played with our new friend Evan (and his parents Joanne and Greg).

Met our newest nephew Jaxon Ray.