Heart Shelf at Home Depot!

We spent this morning building the most adorable little coat hanger/ shelves at Home Depot. The craft was super easy and these little ones are getting better and better at wielding a hammer. I still have no idea why these building clinics are designated as being for ages 5 & up. Emma, TJ, and their friends do just fine. This craft was especially cute since it made something that will actually get some use. I love these free workshop weekends. And we have another one planned for next weekend at Lowes. Can't wait!

Bow Board!

Emma has amassed quite a collection of bows, flowers, ribbons, barrettes, and various hair accoutrements. So we decided to do a craft a couple days ago and make a "bow board." We used spray glue to stick two pieces of foam board together and then covered it with batting and purple velvet. We used a staple gun & some hot glue to attach ribbons to pin the clippies. A picture hanger on the back finished it off. And the best part? It didn't cost me a cent! I had all these materials in the craft bins and the foam boards were what we had used to mount the "Pin the flower on Minnie Mouse" game for Emma's birthday. It's all about reduce-reuse-recycle. :) Such a cute outcome for very little work. The funny thing is that you would think that her old "bow bin" would be empty now... nope. It is still full of headbands and hats. Maybe I need to lay off on buying her hair baubles for a while...

A Girl and A Dog...

Emma loves Sarsaparilla! Uncle Scott got this lil pup from Kenny and was told by both Karen & myself that we did NOT want a dog around here. He doesn't listen so well, surprise, surprise. So Sarsaparilla has been living here too for the past few months. Despite all my efforts to the contrary, Emma has fallen in love with this puppy. She likes to play with her, cuddle her, and take her for walks. And Sarsaparilla (or "Sassy" as Emma has nicknamed her) is always so excited to see Emma come outside to play. As soon as we get home in the afternoon it's all about "Mommy, can I go play with Sarsaparilla?" It's so sweet to see them playing together but I'm not sure we are ready for this much responsibility!

Happy Birthday Baron!

Baron turns 3 this week and we went to his birthday party on Sunday. He has been one of Emma's best buddies at daycare since they were both teeny tiny. Unfortunately, he is now at a different day care center so we miss him and Emma asks about Baron often. They sure love each other and Baron was so excited to see us walk in the door. He came running, yelling "My Emma Grace!!!" So sweet. Of course, as seems to be the tradition on the day of Baron's party, it rained. This didn't keep the kids from bouncing away though and Daniel (Baron's dad) even rigged the pinata up over an archway in the house and the kids had a blast destroying it. All the kids got so much candy! Happy birthday Baron! We love you!

Yay Me!

I finally got my diplomas (yes, plural) in the mail. Yay me. Now if only I could figure out what I can do with a BA in either Psychology or Human Development...

Super Sunday

We had a nice Sunday this past weekend. Mom has been studying to be a reader/ lecturer at church. She even had to go to a retreat about it a while back. Well, this past Sunday was her first mass where she would be reading a passage from the liturgy. So Emma & I, Karen & TJ, Scott, and Kenny all went to support her. After mass we all headed over to the American Legion for breakfast. Great food, great prices, and faster than any restaurant I know. Then both Karen & I needed to get our cars washed, so off to the carwash we went. Emma & TJ had a fun time running around the little fountain, playing the video games (wonder how much longer we can get away with letting them "play" without any actual money?), and having an ice cream cone. I personally LOVE this carwash because of their massage chairs. $1 for 3 minutes. Not too shabby. So I usually get a 15 minute massage for 5 bucks while my car is getting cleaned. Today I let Emma get a $1 (3 minute) massage of her own. I figure I'll teach her to pamper herself while she is still young. :)

Disney Day!

Karen had a vacation day to use up last week and, since Emma had been fighting a slight cold anyway, so I took a sick day too. We gathered up Grandma, Lenay, Mikayla, & the babies and headed to Disneyland. We had a great time. The parks were not too crowded and, between short lines, fastpasses, and child swaps, we were able to go on all the big rides at California Adventure twice with little to no wait! Emma really enjoyed Soarin' Over California again but I didn't have the heart to take her on Tower of Terror yet even though she kept insisting "I am NOT scared!"

We spent most of the day at DCA and then headed over to Disneyland in the evening. Now, it has been almost a year (March 2010) since Emma had the bejeezus scared out of her on the Pinocchio ride. Since that time she has refused to ride ANY of the indoor Fantasyland rides. Yep, no Pinocchio, no Snow White, no Peter Pan, no Alice in Wonderland, no Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Nothing. Well, she had been telling me for the past few days that she wasn't scared anymore and she wanted to ride the rides again, starting with Alice in Wonderland. So Grandma, Emma, & I headed that way while Karen, her kids, Lenay, & her cousins headed to Haunted Mansion and Pirates. So we stand in line for half an hour, get to the front, Emma changes her mind at least twice about riding, I cajole her into the ride, and we set off. After the first couple turns Emma exclaims, "This is not so scary!" and is fully enjoying the ride. Then.... it break down. Lights come on, announcers over the PA system instruct us to stay seated until a cast member gets to us, Mom starts getting claustrophobic being locked into a giant caterpillar, and Emma keeps telling us, "ooohhh. Somebody must not have been sitting down correctly. Someone must have been up on their knees.." Lol. Eventually a cast member gets to us, releases us, walks us through the repair shop for the ride and out a secret exit where she gives us 2 fast passes good for any ride in the park! Peter Pan and Dumbo, here we come! No hour long waits for us! So I call Karen to come meet us & skip the lines. And then... Emma announces that she is tired and done being at Disneyland and requests that I "put me in my stroller NOW please!" So I do and she is fast asleep before Karen reaches us. Karen & the rest of the group enjoyed the fastpasses, or so I am told, since the three of us were already on the tram back to the parking structure by that time...