santa visit...take one!

To avoid crowds in the coming weeks, we took Emma Jane to the mall to see Santa today. She liked looking at him from a distance and seemed thrilled to wait in line to see him. But when it was actually time to sit in his lap, she clung to me for dear life! Paul took a few pictures of the confident Emma Jane on her way to see Santa, but in the last picture you can only see a glimpse of her skirt as she decides to hide from him! Shelly, Brad, and Addie were also there to see Santa, but Addie wasn't quite ready for the bearded man either. We decided that the girls will likely change their minds in a year or two when they discover that Santa is the one who delivers the toys! I'll probably take her again in the coming weeks to see if she has changed her mind, but I refuse to torture her. If she doesn't want to sit in a strange man's lap, that is FINE with me!

home is where the fun is...

Emma Jane and I usually go on at least one outing everyday. She is such a busy bee and keeping her entertained at home is a challenge. Yesterday she proved to me that she can find plenty of ways to entertain herself at home. She spent the afternoon coloring (the highchair is the safest place for this right now!), practicing her stair stepping (she can now walk up by herself while holding onto the rail), and finding new ways to play with her toys (she is finally stacking blocks instead of knocking them down!). Never a dull moment at home with Emma Jane!

ps ... She still insists on wearing her boots with EVERYTHING! Don't worry, she didn't wear them out in public with that dress! :)

a better view

While on our usual Riverwalk excursion, Paul put Emma Jane up on his shoulders for the first time. She loved it! She especially liked drumming her fingers on his bald head! Walker wasn't sure what to think about it. We also tried to teach Emma Jane how to blow dandelion seeds into the air, but after trying to blow through her nose without the desired effect, she decided to just eat the dandelion!

monkey in the morning

Most mornings Emma Jane wakes up on the RIGHT side of the bed. When she wakes, she happily plays in her crib waiting patiently for mom and dad to appear. We usually hear her giggling and talking to herself. One of her favorite things to do is grab toys out of the basket next to her crib. She can easily squeeze the soft toys through the bars. I keep her monkey rain hat in that basket and she loves to fish it out and put it on. It's hilarious to walk in the room and see our little girl bouncing up and down in her crib with that monkey hat on. I finally caught it on video and took a few pics. Please excuse the mismatched pjs...it was laundry day!