egg hunt? nope!

We went to the St. Stephen's Preschool Egg Hunt yesterday. Emma Jane is enrolled in the 2-year-old class beginning next fall. Kaitlyn invited Emma Jane even though she isn't an "official" student just yet! The girls sat and colored for a few minutes before the outdoor egg hunt. Since the egg hunt was on the playground, Emma Jane had absolutely NO interest in finding eggs. She wanted to check out every piece of playground equipment instead! We would point out eggs that were blatantly sitting in front of her and tell her to put them in her basket, but she would shout, "NOPE!"

cottontails and cotton candy

A friend invited us to the Riverland Hills Baptist Church Easter Celebration this afternoon. (Thanks, Stacey!) It was a beautiful day for some outdoor fun. Emma Jane enjoyed "hop, hop, hopping" in the bouncy house, watching the egg hunt (she was not interested in participating), and running around in awe of the swarms of children surrounding her. They even had a few chickens and bunny rabbits for the children to see up close. Emma Jane also had her first experience with cotton candy and was instantly smitten! While waiting in line for it, she was mesmerized by the machine and tried to catch the tufts of cotton candy that would fly through the air. We had a great time and it was the perfect start to our Easter weekend.

wheeee! bars

Emma Jane loves to hang on bars anywhere and everywhere we go. She calls them "wheeee! bars"....go figure! Here are a few pics of yet another trip to the Riverfront Park where she found several different railings and banisters that she could try out. She is also intrigued by opening gates and doors, especially if they are off limits. I couldn't resist capturing her first attempt at breaking and entering...I guess she can't read just yet!

a dress is best

Emma Jane has several cute dresses that have been gathering dust in her closet. Most of the time, it's more practical for her to wear jeans and a shirt. When I have attempted to put dresses or skirts on her, I have gotten strong protests of "Nooooo...PANTS, PANTS!" This week I decided to brush off the dust and put my girl in those dresses regardless of her opinions. Luckily, with a little sly distraction when it was time to get dressed, Emma Jane didn't have any complaints all week long when I pulled out one dress after another. Of course, wearing dresses did NOT stop her from being the rambunctious adventurer we all know and love. After trips to the parks, botanical gardens, zoo, and museum, as well as an early Easter egg hunt, Emma Jane discovered that wearing a dress does not slow a girl down.

afternoon walks

Now that Paul is home most afternoons, we take Emma Jane and Walker to the Riverfront Park for walks when Emma Jane wakes up from her nap. Her independence has become quite astonishing! She can now walk up steps BY HERSELF without even holding onto the railing (of course we still try to insist that she does). Although we say we are taking "walks", Emma Jane does not walk anywhere. Like Forest Gump, everywhere she goes she is RUN-NING!!!!

parkin' it

Emma Jane and I have been spending lots of time at the local parks. Although we still have rainy days pretty regularly, the weather is slowly warming up and we take advantage of it when we can. She loves to be outside swinging, "wock" climbing, and just generally appreciating life the way we all should.

Lil' Noggins

What has kept me from posting on the blog for GASP!?! over a week? My newest endeavor...headbands! Over the past few weeks I have enjoyed making Emma Jane and some of her friends cute felt embellished headbands. After receiving lots of compliments and "WHERE did you get that adorable headband?" anytime someone sees Emma Jane wearing one of my creations, I decided to embark on my first business venture. So, I have set up a Facebook page, appropriately called Lil' Noggins, to showcase some of the headbands I have made. To my surprise, I have had several friends order them....thank you! I plan to open an Etsy account soon to see if there is any interest there....so I have been BUSY! Don't worry, my work only takes place during nap time and after sweet pea goes to bed. We still have PLENTY of time to play! So here are a few snapshots of some of the headbands I have made as well as some pics of our favorite little model wearing them!

hard head

Yes, Emma Jane sported a hard head in more ways than one today. She took her first ride on her daddy's bike! Paul's parents gave him a special bike seat for her last Christmas and we finally decided she was ready. Of course, we had to find a helmet small enough for her little head, but Paul took care of that a few weeks ago on a daddy-daughter trip to the bike shop. As you can imagine, Emma Jane was not thrilled about wearing her helmet. It took a lot of coaxing to strap it on her noggin and even more scolding to make sure she kept it there! She managed to get the helmet off a few times during our bike ride along the river, but she finally left it alone to sit back and enjoy the ride...until she got bored and wanted "down peas!"

dads are more fun

WARNING: The above video could possibly cause the viewer's heart to stop momentarily!

Yep, this video proves that Emma Jane most definitely thinks dads are more fun. Her favorite part of the day is when daddy comes home and takes her outside for some "airplane" time. Sorry for the blurry video...it was hard to keep up with the flying girl, but the giggles are priceless! Listen closely for the "wheeee!" at the beginning. This is quickly becoming one of her most frequently used words.