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!

falling for fall

After all the rain we have had, our yard and entire neighborhood is COVERED with leaves. I snapped a few pics of Emma Jane enjoying all the colorful leaves around her. She really likes it when a gust of wind blows them around. The last shot was taken when she spied the neighbors' cat. Obviously you can't tell from the photo, but she is "meowing" like crazy to get the cat's attention!

loving lily

Last week we had fun at the Riverfront Park in downtown Columbia with Sara and Lily. Lily is a very sweet friend who loves to give hugs. Unfortunately, Emma Jane is usually not into hugging, but on this day she decided to show Lily some love. Here are a few precious pictures of these cuties.

blooming vocabulary

These pictures are from our trip to the zoo today. Emma Jane is so "big girl" with those sunglasses. She really does pull them down like that when she wants to take a closer look at something. The shadow pic was just something fun to try. Emma Jane kept pointing out our shadows as I strolled her through the zoo so I took a picture to see how it would turn out.

Since this blog is also kind of like my diary for Emma Jane, I thought I'd share her blossoming vocabulary. She has always been more of a mover and a shaker than a word maker, but just recently she has begun to really try to express herself with words. Here are some of the words and sounds that she has used with an obvious understanding of their meaning:

mama (of course!)
daddy (second after mama but used more often than mama now!)
ball (goes berserk with this one when she sees them in a store)
bye (with a VERY Southern drawl)
hi (said very shyly most of the time)
na..na..no (usually in response to someone telling her "no")
meow (when pointing to cats)
bug (loves to show us when she finds one)
apple (first 2 syllable word, besides daddy)
bow (can say it, but won't wear it)
hat (ditto the above)
hmm...hmm...(for Walker, um, he's a whiny dog!)
arf arf (when pointing to all other dogs)
moo (still won't say cow though)
baa (says this when she sees any white, fluffy animal)
moon (she can point to it in the sky)
bell (when she hears one ring)
kick (from one of her favorite Laurie Berkner songs)
bone (she gives them to Walker)
boot (she LOVES to wear her boots)
bu...bu..(for button when we let her push the button for the garage door)
Addie (one of her friends)
zzzzz (for bumblebee)

I'm sure I'll think of more and add them later!

happy halloween

Emma Jane was thrilled to spend Halloween with her best buds at Lily's Halloween party. Sara really outdid herself with awesome Halloween-themed snacks and spooky music for dancing. This time Emma Jane wore a ballerina costume and looked precious! ALL of the girls were adorable in their costumes. After a little playtime and a yummy dinner, we took the girls trick-or-treating in Lily's neighborhood. Emma Jane still doesn't quite get the concept of getting candy. She put the candy bar that she got at the first house back in the bowl at the second house! At least she's generous!

chef emma

Emma Jane had a blast at the Little Gym Halloween party. Paul and I found a cute apron and chef hat at a toy store in downtown Greenville. I added a little "bling" with my new sewing skills and "voila!" a diva chef was born! Of course, Emma Jane refused to wear the adorable hat at the party. Oh well....I guess that's what a TRUE diva does.

day trip

Today we took a day trip to Greenville, SC. It's a beautiful city with a very cool, unique downtown area. We spent the afternoon window shopping and enjoying the gorgeous fall weather. There are tiny bronze statues of mice hidden along Main Street in honor of our favorite bedtime story "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown. Emma Jane found two mice and the bronze book too! We also walked along a suspension bridge along the Riverwalk. My digital camera battery died as soon as we got there, so I used our camcorder for still shots. Since this is not my usual way to take pics, many of the shots are blurry. It's virtually impossible to get Emma Jane to hold still these days so the blurriness is fitting!

Boo at the Zoo

Our little cave girl




Walker thought the bone was the real deal!



Daddy's little cave girl



Trick or Treat!



Hey, we're down here!



Spooky maze



Trying to get to the merry-go-round



Fun ride with daddy



Family shots




Emma Jane attended her first Halloween event as a cave girl. She looked adorable in an animal print pillowcase dress. I also made a hair clip embellished with a tiny bone. Speaking of bones, every cave girl needs one! I made a stuffed felt bone (my first pillow-type sewing project) and tied a bow around it with some left over fabric from her dress. Emma Jane actually tolerated a rubberband in her hair so that she could have a tiny "whale spout" on top of her head to complete the cave girl look. We met Lily, Sara, and Josh at the zoo. Lily was precious as a diva cowgirl. It was fun to see how quickly our little goblins picked up on the whole "trick or treat" idea. Emma Jane may not be able to say it just yet, but she was using all her "tricks" to get more treats! Boo at the Zoo was the perfect start to the next few days of Halloween fun.