First Birthday Celebration- November 28, 2010

We got back home from our trip to Nashville on Saturday.  On Sunday, we were all a little tired but it was Emma Kate’s birthday so we had to celebrate!!! After Emma Kate’s morning nap, we went to lunch and then to Toys R Us. We bought some birthday toys for Emma Kate. After her afternoon nap, we ate dinner and had another cupcake. She was like a pro with this cupcake but I did remove some of the icing so she would not get overwhelmed. She really seemed to like it and enjoyed eating some of the cupcake. It was a great day and we just can’t believe that she is 1 year old. We are looking forward to celebrating many more birthday’s with our precious little girl! Here are some pictures.

Emma Kate with her birthday loot!

Emma Kate ended her night by playing and walking with her dinosaur. She loves this guy and gets so excited walking around the house with him. She will be walking on her own really soon. I predict she will be walking by Christmas.

Thanksgiving & Pre Birthday Celebration in Nashville

It is amazing to think that Emma Kate has been a part of our life now for over 4 months. We waited so long for her and now she is a part of our family. She is such a perfect fit for us! Every year at Thanksgiving, I have always thought about how lucky I am. I have a wonderful immediate and extended family, I have a wonderful husband, we have a great life, we live in a great house in a wonderful neighborhood, and I have wonderful friends. This year is different with Emma Kate. I am still thankful for all those things but the fullness in my heart for all those things now that Emma Kate is with us is just magnified. It is hard to explain but I am sure that many of you know what I mean. I probably don’t say it enough but I love and appreciate each and every one of you!
For Thanksgiving this year, Calvin, Emma Kate and I went to Nashville where my brother, sister in law and kids live. Usually my mom and stepfather come to Nashville on Thanksgiving for the day and we have a wonderful feast and enjoy the day together. This year was a little different. We had one Thanksgiving meal in Nashville on Wednesday night cooked by Erica and Douglas. It was wonderful!! The next day (Thanksgiving Day) we all drove to Memphis to spend the day there with my mom and Bob. We all went to lunch at the Dixie Café for our Thanksgiving meal. We all sat around this big round table and enjoyed the food and each other’s company. After our meal, we all went back to their house and visited some more. It was also Bob’s birthday so we celebrated that too. This was mom and Bob’s first chance to meet Emma Kate. Emma Kate was quite the charmer and really seemed to enjoy the day and visiting with everyone. We had to get back fairly early due to a big rain storm. It found us and rained on us for most of the trip back to Nashville.

Friday was a fun day! Since Emma Kate’s official birthday was coming up but we would be back home then, we decided to celebrate her birthday with everyone in Nashville. My niece Katie is learning Chinese in school and learned about a great thing that is a custom in China to do on a child’s first birthday. You pick out a number of items that represent various professions, put them all out and then let the child pick one. The item the child picks could be their chosen profession in life. We knew about the activity but Katie planned it with Erica. Friday night, Katie and Erica put all the items in a big circle. We went up to the room and Katie told us what each item was and what profession it represented. There were various professions like chef, accountant, sports related, law enforcement, insurance, business professional, and writer. Emma Kate was put down in the middle of the circle, she took a quick look around and headed straight for the paper money which represented the business professional. We will have to see if that comes true later in life for Emma Kate’s profession. Next, we decided to let Emma Kate enjoy a birthday cupcake. We took her top off and put her in the high chair. We sang Happy Birthday and gave her the cupcake. She has never had anything like that before and thought it was fun at first. When the icing was on her hand, she decided she did not like it. She loved everyone singing to her though! Thanks to the Nashville crew for Emma’s birthday celebration!!
Here are some pictures from our trip!

Mom and Emma Kate hanging out!

Playing at Grandma's house

Circle of career items for Emma to choose from.

Katie putting Emma in the middle of the circle.

Emma making her choice...business professional!

Getting ready for her cupcake!

Just getting started with the cupcake

Yummy!!

She was not sure about the icing because it stuck to her hand.

 
That's it for now!

Crackers and Dinosaurs!

What do crackers and dinosaurs have in common you may ask? Emma Kate, of course! I wanted to post a couple of videos and pictures on this post.

The first video is of Emma Kate holding and eating a cracker. We took this video while on our trip to Alabama. We stayed at a new casino and were eating at the buffet. I went off to get some food and came back and Emma Kate was holding a cracker and taking bites of it. I almost dropped my plate!!! We have been working on her picking small items up to eat (like goldfish and cereal) but she has had some difficulty with that. Calvin just decided to hand her a cracker and see what she would do! I have to say that she was really proud of herself.

The second video is of Emma Kate using her brand new push toy to walk. She has only had this for 2 days but she really loves it. Tonight, her walking was much more controlled. I think she will be walking on her own very soon. The dinosaur also turns into a riding toy. Sylvie has the same toy too!

Here is a picture of Emma Kate with her dinosaur too.

I will post again after Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for this year. So much has changed since last year! I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday!

Much love to each of you from Kathy, Calvin and Emma Kate

Sylvie came to visit us!

Well, of course, Stephanie and Brian came too! Emma Kate was so excited to have them come for a visit! It is amazing to see how much both girls have changed. Sylvie's hair is so much longer and looks so cute with her little bows. She is so close to walking by herself. She will walk with one hand held and she is constantly on the go. We did lots of fun things while they were here. We went shopping at the outlet mall (the girls always need new clothes!), met some of Brian's family for lunch, ate some yummy food at our local restaurants and played around the house. The adults even went out for a nice dinner while some friends of mine (Thanks to Joan and Nell) kept watch over the house. We put the girls to bed before we left. It was my first time away from Emma Kate with Calvin since we have been home. We had a great time during their visit and vow to get together a couple times of year so the girls can grow up together.
Here are some pictures from the visit!

Stephanie and Sylvie

Emma Kate

Too cute...sharing toys

Sylvie's turn on the ladybug

Emma's turn on the ladybug

Sylvie reading...she LOVES her books!

Waiting for our food

Playing with Sylvie

Kisses

It is incredible to know that Sylvie and Emma Kate have this bond together and we will work hard for them to foster that bond and friendship. We feel so fortunate to have traveled to China for our experience with people who we know we will be forever friends with! We love you Stephanie, Brian and Sylvie!!!

First Family Trip

We took our first official trip as a family at the beginning of November. We went to Alabama for a friend's wedding but made a trip out of it so Emma Kate could meet her grandmother, aunt, uncle and cousins (Calvin's mom, sister, brother in law and their children). Emma did a great job on the trip but had some difficulty getting to sleep at night. She stood in the crib and cooed and babbled trying to get our attention. She is not used to sleeping with us in the same room. One night, she did not go to sleep until 11:30 or so. We did not sleep well either because we heard every move or sound she made in the crib. Other than that, we had a great trip!
Here are some pictures from the trip.

with cousin Taylor

with cousin Trent

with Taylor and Trent

with her grandmother Nell

with Taylor, Aunt Connie, cousin Dalton, and Calvin

playing with Taylor's cell phone

joy riding



October

Well, I have been terrible about posting once a week. I will try to play catch up now and try to get back on a schedule. We had our friends Mat and Catherine who live in Charleston come into town for a visit in October. They had not met Emma Kate yet so that was lots of fun. Emma Kate really does well with visitors and loves to interact with people. Sometimes it takes her a little bit to warm up to someone, but once she does...watch out! She will be all over you! During the time that Mat and Catherine came, we all went out to a nice dinner to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Calvin and I have been married for 11 years now. Our anniversary date is bittersweet to me. It is also my father's birthday. I thought getting married on his birthday was such a great idea. Since he died in 2004, the date has been a bit sad for me. I try to think of some way to celebrate him instead of mourning his passing. Anyway, here are some pictures from when Mat and Catherine were here. I also included some pictures from our wedding since we have been together for 11 years.

Catherine, Emma Kate and Mat

The guys

The girls

Our little family

1999- Our wedding party

1999- My dad walking me down the aisle



HALLOWEEN

I just LOVE halloween! It has always been a fun time of the year for me. I love the cooler weather with the leaves changing colors, the crisp air and as a child I loved to go trick or treating. Now I love all the decorations and pumpkins. I found a cute giraffe costume for Emma Kate to wear for Halloween. I had her try it on a number of times so that once Halloween came, she would not want to wear it or be afraid of it. She did not seem to mind the costume at all. On Halloween night, I took her out in her stroller (she is too heavy for me to carry around the neighborhood) and we went to some of the neighbors to trick or treat. She did really great! She did not really seem to get the whole idea but after a few houses, she was understanding the idea of reaching her hand in to the bowl and grabbing the candy. She did not get to eat any of the candy but she seemed to have a good time. She had one piece of candy clinched in her hand for most of the night. Once we got home and pryed it out of her hand, it had melted into an odd shape. Here are some pictures of her in her costume and some other pictures in Halloween related clothes.

Ready for trick or treating!