Tuesday = Girls Night

We headed back over to Jessica's and Sophia's house last night for dinner and to hang out. Jamie's favorite holiday is the 4th of July, and she got the girls flag t-shirts for their birthdays. We thought it would be cute if they wore them tonight. Emma actually has so much red/white/blue outfits, that she is wearing a different one everyday this week!


Getting ready to go


Can't forget our glasses!


Cute girls!


Hi Sophia!


Silly girls!


They both love playing with balls


The girls with Jamie

I Have Been Tagged!

It looks like their is a blog tag going on, and I have been Tagged by Jessica!

1. What’s your staple meal (ie. what meal do you cook most often when you can’t be bothered to be adventurous)?
So I probably have two....when Robert is working late, Emma and I usually have noodles and veggies. On the nights that Robert is home, it is probably Mexican food. Rotisserie Chicken = Easy Chicken soft tacos!

2- What do you want to be when you grow up?
My friend Jessica (in Vegas) and I would always talk about this in high school. We both would say that "when we grow up, we want to be a wife and a mommy!" I got my dream!

3- What book are you reading at the moment (if any)?
I wish I could say I was doing some great summer reading, but my free time has consisted of me reading books about starting a business and photo editing!


4- How do you relax?
Since having Emma, honestly one of the most relaxing things is when I take a shower on the weekends. Robert is home with Emma, so I can take as long as one as I want!

5- What color are the interior walls of your home?
I REALLY want to re-paint our house! Right now, most walls are white, with the exception of our family room, which is tan, and Emma's room is a light pink.


6- What is your guiltiest pleasure?
I have become addicted to some Reality TV, but I also love movie nights where Robert and I (or girls night) have fattening appetizer type food, and then build your own ice cream sundaes after. Gosh, we haven't done that in forever! I think we need to plan one soon!


7- What time is bedtime and getting up time?
This really ranges. There are nights that I fall asleep on the couch by 9, and others where I am up until 10 or 11. Wake up time ranges any where from 6 to 7.


8- How long do you spend reading blogs (per day or per week)?
I have a couple of staple blogs that I always check about every day, but lately all my Internet time as focused on photography forums, and looking at other photographer's website to see what they offer/prices.

Thanks Jessica! It was fun! Now I tag, Jamie and Julie


And since I think every post as a picture of Emma, here you go!

Lunch Date

Today Emma and I met Amanda and Aidan for a lunch date. Robert is on call this weekend, and Amanda had a hair appointment out here, so it worked out perfectly. I guess I was the only one that didn't know there was a big soccer game today, because the restaurant was full of very vocal people watching the game. Only a couple of times did the yells scare the kids! As always, it was great to get to see Amanda and Aidan and catch up. Are you sure you guys don't want to move out here? We have several houses on our street for sale!!!


Aidan


Not too sure about all the noise and excitement


"Say Cheese!"


I thought I took more, but I guess this is the only picture I got of them together!

Girls Night and Swimming

Tuesday night, Emma and I headed over to Jessica's house for dinner and some play time. Jessica's husband, Matt, works nights, and with Robert working late in the summer, we thought we should get together once a week so we could catch up and the girls could play. Jamie joined us also and with her getting married in September, it was fun to have wedding talk again!
Since Sophia turned one, she had to move to a different classroom at day care. In this classroom, there are no cribs, so the kids have to take naps on a mat on the floor. Sophia is having a hard time getting use to this, so she was ready for bed right after dinner. But we were able to get some pics of the girls playing before we ate.







This week we have also been busy with swim lessons. Emma seems to really enjoy it, but it wears her out! With us having it every day, it is wearing me out too! My mom came to watch her lesson today, so we were able to get some pictures.


Singing the Hokey Pokey


Today, they wore life vests for the first time. Emma wasn't too sure about it, but I think it was because it was a little big. All you could see were her cheeks!




Practicing reaching for toys on her tummy


Working on her back float was not something that she loved today!


Her favorite thing to do is when we practicing entering the water. All of the kids sit on the wall, we count 1, 2, 3, and then they kind of jump/fall into the water. She LOVES it!


Jumping in


And "swimming" through the water


I wish her hat wasn't down so far so you could see her eyes, but you can still tell she is having a good time!


Going after toys again


Got it!


Today was the first day that Emma would actually kick her legs while on her tummy. You kind of tell from this picture, that she would actually kick like a frog. She would bring both legs up to her belly, and then kick out. It was really cute.


We Love Swimming!!

Swimming

Yesterday we headed over to Robert's Dad's house to celebrate Father's Day. We were all pretty excited to take Emma swimming for the first time. Unfortunately, she HATED it! She screamed and had a death grip on me the whole time! Chris was actually able to take this picture, otherwise we wouldn't have had any pictures of the experience!
I was really nervous because we started swim lessons today. I had visions of her being "the one" that screamed the entire time. Robert and I had already decided that we were going to give it until Tuesday, (since that would be 3 days in a row) and if she still screamed, I would pull her from lessons. We didn't won't her to develop a complex!
Luckily we got to swim lessons today, and she did just fine! I even got some laughs out of her!
She didn't like everything that they wanted her to do, but it was MUCH better then yesterday! I'm not sure what was going on Sunday. Maybe her new tooth was bothering her, or maybe it was the boys splashing. I'm just happy that we can keep going to swim lessons!
My mom is coming on Thursday to watch, so she should be able to take some pictures for us!

It's Been Awhile!

I know it has been awhile since my last post, but not too much has been going on. It seems like over night Emma decided to start walking, and she is now walking all over the house. I am pretty sure she is also about to get one of her upper teeth. I see some white just barley starting to show. This would also explain her extra snuggles and tiredness!
Summer has officially hit and Robert has been busy with work. He tries his hardest to get home before Emma goes to bed (usually between 8 and 8:30) and we consider it to be a good week if he is able to do this twice in the week.
This week, I had to make a couple of unexpected trips to the doctor. About 3 weeks ago, I noticed what seemed to be a broken blood vessel in my eye. This past week, I thought it was getting worse and my eye was starting to bother me. I went and saw my Doctor yesterday who said I needed to get in right away to an Opthamologist. To the point that he even made the appointment for me! I had my appointment bright and early this morning and needless to say everything is just fine. It is healing how it is suppose to, and it is a big bruise, so it is normal to have the discomfort. It does bother me to take pictures and be on the computer, so I will just try and limit that until it is better.
Since Emma had to get up early for the appointment, I decided to stop by Target on our way home to help push nap time to after lunch. While we were there I got her this cute cooking set






And she got big girl hair clips! She still has the majority of her on top, and not much on the sides. But last night after her bath, I noticed that that back of her hair is starting to curl, and she had a small section that was long enough to curl over her ear!
I was trying to get a picture of her smiling, but she was too interested in her new cooking set and the dogs. I thought I would see what she would do if I said "Say Cheese". And these are what she gave me!







For Father's Day we plan on having a quite morning at the house, and then we will head over to Robert's Dad's house for swimming and cheeseburgers. We are excited to go over to their house to do some swimming, relax, and catch up. Then on Monday starts Emma's two weeks of swim lessons!

Busy Weekend

Before we get into our busy weekend, I had to share these pics first. The other day while I was getting ready, I noticed that Emma kept putting my belt around her neck. So I went and got one of my necklaces and sure enough she put it on, and wore it the rest of the morning. After she got up from her nap, I got out some plastic beaded necklaces we had from a Pretty Pretty Princess game. She played with them for a little bit, but then sure enough, she put them on and wore them the rest of the day. I couldn't help adding the tiara for pictures!





Our weekend plans started on Friday, when we met Amanda and Aidan at the new aquarium at AZ Mills Mall. It was bigger then I had expected it and Emma loved it. I am sure we will be making more trips there this summer!


Excited to see the fish


Amanda and Aidan


It was easier for them to see the fish out of their strollers. So we would find little corners to park them in, and then carry/walk the kids around. Next time the strollers will stay in the car!


It was pretty dark in their. So to see the kids, I had to use a flash, but then you really can't see the fish. I promise they are in there!


This was a neat room where the whole room, from floor to ceilings was plexi-glass. The shiny thing Emma is looking at is a fish!


The only big fish they really had were this guy, and some pretty big sting rays. But Emma had no problem finding the smaller fish!

Jessica's mom is in town from Kansas, so on Saturday Emma and I met my Mom, Jessica, Sophia, and Jessica's mom at Ikea for a little shopping. Jessica's mom hasn't seen Emma since she was about a month old, so it was great to get to see her again. Plus the girls haven't seen each other in about a month, and they were due to spend some time together. My plan is to turn our spare bedroom into a playroom for now, so this trip helped me to get my list made of what I want to get. I didn't bring my camera along, but Jessica had hers, and I am sure they will be up on her blog in a couple of days!
We were suppose to end our weekend with a trip out to Robert's Dad's house for some swimming. Emma decided that she needed to catch up on her beauty sleep from this weekend, so unfortunately, the timing didn't work out. We will have to try again in a couple of weeks!

A New Adventure

Many of you know that I have always had an interest in photography. Since Robert got me my camera for Christmas, I have been taking classes, and reading anything and everything to try and teach myself not only how to use my camera, but also how to take better pictures. Sunday was kind of my first real test.
Up to this point, Emma has been who I have been practicing on. And let's face it. I have "mom eyes". I liked every picture because it had my baby in it. On Sunday, my friend, Lori, was nice enough to let me come and practice taking some newborn pictures on her little guy. I dragged Jessica along with me for moral support as well as to get her ideas for posing. Daniel was only a week old and as sweet as could be. When we first got there, he decided that he didn't want to sleep. An hour into the session, I just didn't feel that I had gotten any "good" pictures and thought for sure I was in over my head. Then it happened. He finally went to sleep and I was able to get my pictures.
While I was editing the pictures, I would get this excited feeling, and couldn't wait for Lori to see them. I knew then that yes, this was something that I wanted to do. I am going to give myself about another year before I make the plunge to go into full business mode. Emma is still young, and I want to enjoy every minute I have with her at home before she starts school. The time needed to start a business is just not something I am willing to do right now. Plus, as you will see from the pictures, I still have a lot to learn. So I will take this next year, continue to learn, practice, portfolio build, and read up on starting a small business in Arizona.
But before all that happens, Lori needed a place where she could show the pictures to her family and friends. So I created another blog that is nothing but pictures. Feel free to check it out HERE. It probably won't be updated very often, but I will let you know when there are more pictures to see!

Look Who's Walking!!!