18 and 19 Months

I missed posting about Emery's 18 months so this is combined 18 and 19 months. She loves coloring, cousins, Tulip the dog, hide and seek, puzzles, things with wheels (strollers, toy cars, etc.), snuggling, being silly, playing outside, trains, trying to dress herself, spinach quiche (made by Grandma), riding us like a horse, playing under blankets, babies, and many other things. Her attitude is still devoloping despite what most people think of her she's not always a sweet little girl who always does what she's supposed to! Emery's vocabulary is starting to explode! Ready for the list of her new words?... Zebra, go, toot, Sarah, push, milk, off, good girl, good, job, ribbit, water, meow, bowl, binki, blanket, pretty please, no, mine, grandma, butter, Tuli (the dog's name), Harlow, Evan, Micah, Natalie, banana, peach, shoe, sock, oh no, dirty, pizza, neigh, toy, out, green, pretty, love you, ride, knee, hot, rock, dirt, Jamie, eat, more, and stick.

Snuggling under blankets with best friend Harlow.

Coloring at Harlow's house.

Bath time!

Valentine's Day

Emery and I enjoyed some pink heart shaped pancakes for breakfast on Valentine's Day. Heather makes these for her kids every V-day so I figured I better start the tradition too! I'm glad I'll have a little practice before Emery becomes too much of a critic of my heart shapes.

We've wanted to get a dog for some time and Jonah thought a puppy would be a good Valentine's gift for me and Emery (we helped pick her out). So meet Tulip, she's an Australian Shepard and 5 months old. She's super sweet, smart, and very snuggly (a little too snuggly even!). 

 

For dinner we feasted on lasagna made by the Nickells, bread and salad.



Valentines Day Pictures

Emery gave me a hard time when I was taking pictures for her valentines.

The Kaweah Oak Preserve

This weekend we decided we were due for a little adventure, so we headed out to the Kaweah Oak Preserve. It is always neat to see the valley in, what may seem like, its natural state. The Yokut Tribes were once the largest tribe in North America. Tulare Lake was a large factor in that it made the surrounding area fertile. The lake once reached from as far east as Kettleman City, to as far west as Lemoore. This made it the largest freshwater lake in the United States. Eventually the damming and destruction of the lake and the Yokut people changed the landscapre dramatically. The Preserve we visited has attempted to recreate a similar landscape, and minus the abundance of water, have done a pretty fair job. In whatever season we visit the preserve, it is always beautiful.

Giving Emery a lesson about oak galls.

Emery loves cows and was very excited to discover these guys.

Not so sure about the oak galls.

Emery was a great little hiker and loved walking along the trails.

17 Months

Emery is 17 months now! She seems to think she is quite the big girl these days. Her new words that we wrote down (I feel like there are more but can't remember them) for this month are: Grandpa, yee-haw, ready, apple, hey-o, potty, ta-da, purple, and blue. She recognizes when we get to places she's familar with (Grandpa and Grandma's house, the cousin's house, etc) and she gets so excited in her carseat, kicking her legs, exclaiming, and pointing.

 

This pictures are from a couple afternoons at the Nickell cousin's house playing outside.

She and Natalie were so cute playing together in Natalie's little tent. I love that she's old enough now to do things like this without any prompting.

Emery decided she was big enough to try out one of their scooters. No one told her what to do she just watched the cousins and then did it herself.

Christmas Day

We started Christmas morning bright and early by going to our church's Christmas morning service at 7:00am. Jonah and I led the carols along with Pastor Bruce. (Once again sorry for any blurry pictures but my lense is probably going to be broken for a while)

 

Evan got to light the last Advent Candle and Pastor Bruce read the kids a book and when Emery saw her cousins up on stage she wanted to be up there as well so her daddy took her up.

 

The Nickell kids played and sang Little Drummer Boy  together. They did a great job and everyone enjoyed the performance.

Cousins in Christmas pjs.

Back at our house we hosted Christmas for Jonah's family so we waited for his siblings to arrive between 9:00-10:00am.  There were TONS of presents.

All the Trevino cousins.

Getting ready to open gifts.

 

 There was wrapping paper and presents everywhere!



Everyone had to leave around 2:00pm so we cleaned up a bit real quick and then headed out to my parent's house for round 2. 

All the Chandler cousins.



Being the youngest Emery got to open the first gift, her cousins were happy to help her.

We decided to do Secret Santa this for gifts and it seemed to work out really well. Jonah got Evan and gave him Squigz. Evan had requested these and was quite pleased.

Playing with the Squigz.

Daddy reading Emery and new book from Pastor Bruce.

Emery got new pj pants to match her cousins.

 

All in all it was a very blessed and happy Christmas celebrating together with the people who are dear to us.

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.