zoo anniversary

We had a great time with friends at the zoo last Sunday. Emma Jane said "baboon" for the first time and didn't stop saying it the rest of the day! This was actually our "zoo anniversary". Our first ever visit to Riverbanks Zoo was last year on February 21st, so this was our last day to enjoy the zoo on our year pass. With such beautiful weather, we even took the girls to the Capitol grounds for a picnic where they thorougly enjoyed playing in the dirt! Too bad the warm weather has vanished this week.

Our first trip to the zoo.
Feb. 21, 2009




What a difference a year makes!
Feb. 21, 2010


Babooooon!!!



Emma Jane loves Miss Sara



Checking out the koalas



Round and round we go!




Holding hands with Kaitlyn





First whole apple...crunch!



The dirtier you get, the more fun you have!




A look of pure joy....

wheeeee!

Here are two short videos of our crazy monkey at Little Gym. She loves to swing on the bars and rings. Today the rings were her favorite. She hogged them all to herself and had trouble taking turns with her classmates. When swinging from them she would sometimes shout, "Wheeee!" Later at home she tried to swing from the stair banister! Uh oh!

bike!

Seriously, Emma Jane LOVES her bike. (Thanks again, Aunt Stacy and Uncle Paul!) We took her to the Riverwalk to ride it today, and she could hardly contain her excitement. While in the car on the way to the park, she gleefully pumped her fists and clapped her hands shouting, "BIKE!" until we got there. Here are a couple of videos to showcase her excitement. In the first video, you can see the huge smile on her face and hear her shout "BIKE!" as her daddy pushes her down the sidewalk. In the second video, she is showing off her wild side as she bounces up and down in her seat. Although her legs still aren't quite long enough to do the pedaling, she is definitely ready. Today she tried to pedal on her own several times and she even seems to understand the motion required. It won't be long!

spring is in the air

Today was the first warm day we've had in months. I took Emma Jane to the park for a walk and she basked in the sunshine! She tried to make friends with a little boy, but he was only interested in her ball. I brought bubbles, but I spilled them when I tried to get the wand out. Two major disappointments for Emma Jane, but despite these setbacks, she found other ways to entertain herself....picking flowers, kicking rocks, and running from her mama!

bounce!

I took Emma Jane to Monkey Joe's for the first time today. Since she apparently thinks her crib mattress is a trampoline, I thought for sure she'd love all the bouncy houses at Monkey Joe's. At first, she was less than enthusiastic. After leading me around the entire place TWICE to check everything out and taking a few test jumps in the Disney princess house, she soon became a bouncy house pro! She was really excited when her friend Lily showed up to play, too.

i woo!

Emma Jane has her own language of love. She's just recently started saying, "I woo!" after we say "I love you" to her.

i heart you

No frills this Valentine's Day and it was the best one yet! Emma Jane gave her daddy a handmade valentine and a felt heart-shaped key chain that I made for him with her initials stitched on one side and mine on the other. Paul surprised me with tulips! All of our small plants on the screened-in porch died last week when we forgot to bring them inside, so he potted each tulip in a separate pot to replace the dead plants! This afternoon we made valentine cookies together. Emma Jane kept us entertained all day long and even managed to share a few hugs and kisses. Now THAT'S what Valentine's Day is all about!

snow? oh no! well, okay...

Our snow stuck around most of the day. It was such a beautiful sight to wake up to (although we didn't anticipate waking up at 4:45 a.m. with electrical "fireworks" across the street when one of the neighborhood transformers blew!). Needless to say, we lost power for several hours, but it was worth the thrill of having snow on the ground. Poor Emma Jane still wasn't very sure about the white stuff this morning. She cried and cried until we had no choice but to take her back inside. We decided to take a drive downtown and stopped to walk around the capitol grounds. This is where Emma Jane finally "warmed up" to the snow and thoroughly enjoyed it. Since she refused to wear mittens, her little hands were freezing after our walk, but don't worry, mama and daddy held one little hand in each of ours as we walked back to the car. It doesn't get any better than that!

winter wonderland

The news reported that 48 out of 50 states had snow on the ground today and South Carolina was no exception! The snow started falling late this afternoon, and I just knew Emma Jane would be thrilled. I woke her up from her nap and told her that it was snowing outside. I pulled back the curtain from her bedroom window to prove it, and the look on her face was priceless. We've talked about snow, she's seen it on tv and in books, and she loves the snow-blowing machine at the children's museum. I was sure that this would be a very cool event for Little Miss Hard-to-Impress. I bundled her up and bustled her outside expecting happy squeals and giggles. Wrong! Emma Jane was terrified at first! She cried and wouldn't even let me put her down. I took her back inside the house so she could look at the snow through the windows, and she tried to push the curtains together so she couldn't see it! I was NOT expecting this at all! In her defense, she had just woken up from her nap and has been fighting a cold, so all this snow business may have been a little much for her all at once. After snack time, I coaxed her back to the window hoping to revive her interest. She saw Lucy, the little girl who lives across the street, and decided she'd give it another try. Our second try was much more successful, especially after Emma Jane realized that snow tastes really good. I had to stop her from eating too much of it! She would scoop it off the leaves on our bushes and shove it in her mouth! Later tonight when Paul got home and Emma Jane was in bed, he and I attempted to make a snowman. We were afraid that the snow might be gone in the morning, and we didn't want to miss our chance. Our attempt was pretty feeble, but we hope that Emma Jane will get to meet him in the morning before he melts. This is the most snow I have ever seen in person, so this Florida girl was overly excited to see 6 inches in our very own front yard!