Ready For The Move

E: Mom!  Can you come in my room?  I have something to show you.

V: I'm coming!

E: Look!  I packed!

V: What did you pack for, Skeeter?

E: Iowa.

V: You need all these toys for our trip to Iowa this summer?

E: Well, the movers are going to come pack up all our stuff to Italy and I need some toys.  These are going to come in the car with us to Iowa.

V: Okay...how are they going to get from Iowa to Italy?

E: We'll just put them in a box and send them!

 Note her choices: Pillow Pet, Legos, new favorite stuffed dog with snazzy carrier, Clara Milkshake (doll), and here's what is in the pink bag...

I'll need some money from my piggy bank, Mom :)

Serious Gamers

Emma and Camden meant serious business playing Chutes and Ladders on Sunday.

 Yesterday they played Emma's new Twister Hoopla.  This picture looks like Emma is about to pounce on Camden!

Snow Day!

There has been a lot of hype about the hard winter forecasted this year.  After our lovely storm at Thanksgiving, I was okay not seeing any snow for a month.  

The snow was supposed to start falling Tuesday afternoon, but it didn't start until we were driving home from Emma's birthday dinner.  Within a few hours, the ground was covered.  A 5:25 wake up call meant a snow day was in store for us!  Claire came over to hang out and the kids had a blast playing outside in the very WET snow.

I actually caught Emma with her tongue out leaning towards this pole.  After hollering at her, I caught her sheepish grin in this picture. :)

 

Claire and her JUMBO mittens. :)

 Giving Emma a little push down the hill.

 Helping move the snow off the storm drain at the bottom of our hill.

 Hey Emma!  Try putting your face in the snow!

 Okay!

 Having fun sledding-soon followed by some hot chocolate.

Happy 6th Birthday, Emma!

She came into this world on a Tuesday and got to celebrate her 6th birthday on a Tuesday!

Emma's birthday donut in bed.

 The birthday girl is ready to go to school on her big day. 

 A few birthday gifts...

Emma decided to have her birthday dinner at Applebee's last night

 This 6 year-old is a pro at eating ice cream sundaes!

Emma's Lego Party (Part 2)

Apparently I blog too much and I filled the 1 gigabyte of storage Blogger gave me for free, so after paying a small fee, I have another gigabyte to fill as I'd like!

Back to Emma's party!  After the Lego building contest we played BINGO. A huge thank you to Heather, Louie, Michelle, Mike, and Amy for being our lovely assistants during the party!

 Emma picked out the perfect pinata in San Antonio and could not wait to take a whack at it!

 Camden's turn!

 THE LOOT!

 We also brought back 2 dozen cascarones (confetti filled eggs).  I wish you could zoom in on this picture. After showing the kids that you break it over your friend's head, Emma decided she wanted to try to crack it on Audrey's forehead!

 "We want more confetti!"

 Chris's Lego Cake complete with 6 dots for our 6 year old!

 Present time!  Emma was so excited to get some Silly Bandz!

 After presents, we turned on Despicable Me and you didn't hear a peep out of the kids.

Emma's Lego Party (Part 1)

Last night was Emma's 6th birthday party!  We had a houseful of kids and had a blast playing games.  I'm having some technical difficulties uploading pictures, so here's the first part of the fiesta!

Emma wanted to play "Pin The Dot On The Lego" The kids colored their dot and took turns putting it on the Lego.

Lego Masterpiece Building Contest

Girls' Trip To San Antonio!

Emma and I had our first mother/daughter trip to San Antonio. When we went through security at the Seattle airport, Emma told the TSA agent, "I'm going to Texas to see my Godmother." :)  Mandy and I packed up our cars in the summer of 2001 and moved to San Antonio for our semester of student teaching.  Mandy stayed there, fell in love, moved to Nashville for a few years, and just moved back to San Antonio. I was ecstatic when Chris gave us tickets to Texas for a New Year's adventure!

Emma hanging out in the airport...

 The first cactus that Emma spotted - we had to take a photo!

 Enjoying a game of Chutes and Ladders with Mandy and Dennis.

 Dinner at Chachos-it was just as good as I remembered!

 Emma and Mirabel hanging out.

 Emma was looking for a pinata for her birthday party. If only we could have fit one of these big guys in our suitcase!

 Feeding Mirabel...

 Enjoying the sunny afternoon at their neighborhood park.

 Happy New Year toast!

 Emma taught Mirabel all about Snow White.

 We visited the park where Mandy and I always went walking and jogging.

 Sunday morning walk along the famous Riverwalk.