girl in a hat

I've already explained how much Emma Jane despises wearing hats, but when I sneak one on her she looks pretty darn cute! Here are a few rare pics of her wearing a hat, but you can see in one of the pictures that she has her hand on it ready to rip it off!

and she was swingin'

Emma Jane received a late birthday present today. After a lot of research, Paul and I purchased a plastic swing/slide to put on the screened-in porch. It is officially called the "Swing Along Castle" complete with a small slide, climbing pad, "look-out" station, and toddler swing. Paul put it together tonight and we set Emma Jane loose to check it out. She liked the swing at first, but then seemed to be saying, "Is this as high as this thing will go?" She had more fun pushing the swing while not sitting in it and playing with its straps. The slide was something new for her, so she really seemed to enjoy it, although she's not quite ready to slide independently. All in all, she seemed to think her new present was pretty cool!

fort fun

These are just a few pictures of Emma Jane playing in her fort. She loves to crawl in it to "hide" and she cracks up when you peek inside to find her. I also caught her "standing on her head" which she does all the time, but I've never had the camera handy until now. She is one happy girl and it's so much fun to see what she's going to do next!

walking walker

Our gentle giant of a dog came back home with us after staying with Paul's parents for a few months. We weren't sure if Emma Jane would remember him, but she certainly did! We are pretty sure she even said "dog" yesterday. She gets giddy when he's near, but he is still pretty indifferent. Here are a few pics from our walk yesterday. The first is of our two "babies" in the car and the second is after our walk during a rest break. As cute as we think Emma Jane is, it's actually big ole Walker who gets all the attention at the walking park. No one can pass us without commenting on his size!

partying again

We attended Emma Jane's first birthday party to celebrate her friend Lily's first birthday. The birthday girl was precious (Lily is obviously the one in the tiara and adorable outfit!)and Emma Jane knew all about how to party! (She's had lots of practice lately with her own parties.) It was fun watching the babies play. I really like the first picture because it was taken when we first got to the party and it looks like she is being shy holding onto daddy's hand. With over a week of full-time daddy-time, he is now her favorite! She wouldn't let him out of her sight at the party. I guess I have to be happy about that, but I bet it will be all about mama again next week when he goes back to work...maybe... Anyway, during the party Emma Jane was more interested in exploring the park and pool deck so most of the pictures are from her adventures. Enjoy!

birthday blast

Emma Jane's Panama City birthday party was a day to remember! Our very generous friend, Bridget, offered to host the party at her adorable house in the Cove. We were so happy to have our family and close friends there to share in our celebration. It is so hard to believe that our little girl is already one! We made cupcakes again and she was a dainty princess licking the icing off with her fingers just as she had at the first party. I finally dumped the cupcake out of the holder so she could at least make a little bit of a mess! Our friend Rachelle surprised us with BEAUTIFUL homemade cookies that spelled out Emma Jane's name. She also made some very intricate sea creature cookies. Emma Jane was thrilled to have several big kids at her party and was especially interested in what was going on in the boys' room. She grabbed some toy cars and proudly took them outside to play. Present opening was exciting for her at first, but she decided there were other things she wanted to do, so mom wound up opening most of the gifts with the help of sweet little Garrsion. Grandma Jane got Emma Jane a bubble gun as part of her gift. She LOVES bubbles! Grandma Di seemed to enjoy the bubble gun as much as Emma Jane. I think everyone had a wonderful time watching Emma Jane have a wonderful time. Thanks to all of you who attended and contributed to this perfect party for our birthday girl! Thank you to Grandpa Ron for taking so many great pictures to help us remember this special day.

baby in a boat

We also took Emma Jane out on the boat for the first time during our trip home. On the day we arrived, we took the boat for a test drive. She seemed a little nervous and unsure, but she was also exhausted after a long trip in the car. The next day we took her on a much longer boat ride to Shell Island with Grandma Jane and Grandpa Bill. She looked so funny in the life vest! She was very quiet during the trip and liked to point at the wake behind the boat. When we got to the island, she had a great time in the water sitting in her float, but wanted no part of that "icky" sand. We are relieved that our baby girl seems to be willing to hang at the beach with mom and dad since this is one of our favorite things to do!

beach babe

While back home in Florida, we couldn't wait to take Emma Jane to the beach. She seemed to like the waves and all the new things to see, but she REALLY hated the sand. If she got one finger or toe in it, she would cry until we washed it off. Her time at the beach was spent mostly on the towel or in the water with mom or dad. Paul picked up a few small hermit crabs to let her look at them. She peered closely at them crawling around on his hand and to our surprise, she picked one up! I think it scared her when it started wiggling between her fingers because, as you can see from the last photo, she was not happy! All in all, Emma Jane seemed to have fun at the beach.