This blog will not RIP!

goodbye beach bungalow!

It's the last night in our little beach cottage here in San Diego. Tomorrow come the packers. We had an extra soapy bubble bath tonight to commemorate our last night. More to come soon, but here's a placeholder for ya!

June Jamboree!

I think June gets the award for one of the busiest months we've had in a long time. I have a whole month to catch up on with blogging!

After Dad & Josh left, Gammie and Poppa came to visit. They got to visit Emma on her last day of school and participate in her graduation. Here she is with her diploma:

Here is Gammie presenting Emma with a new book. She knows how much Emma loves the touch-and-feel books. This one is called, "peekaboo! I love you!"

So the Emster finished school, I finished work and celebrated my birthday all in one week. After Gammie and Poppa left, we all traveled to Houston to visit Sarah, John and baby Jack. We got to stay with them in their gorgeous house! It was reallllly hot that weekend, so poor us, we had to spend most of the days at their incredible neighborhood pool - complete with baby pool and water slide. Emma couldn't get enough of the 'wawa'. It was the first thing she asked for in the morning, and the last thing she talked about before going to bed. She would have swam allll day long. There were so many pictures, so I decided to compile a slideshow (make sure you can read the descriptions):



We couldn't pass up the opportunity to get some video at the pool too. Luckily, our point and shoot is waterproof so we could take it in the pool with us. Fun! You can catch Emma enjoying the water slide (note the HUGE smile on her face) and chanting 'more! more!'. We'll definitely have to get this one some swimming lessons soon, she is FEARLESS.

It's been just as busy back at home. In fact, we're having so much fun that Emma has decided to stop sleeping. Lucky me! I kid, I kid - I think she's cutting her 2 year molars. We've been enjoying the summer with great weather and being outdoors as much as possible. This includes a little outdoor painting (note the various stages of undress):

yummy watermelon

trips to the playground with friends,

Here she is playing with her friend, Shae. Emma and Shae were born on the exact same day!

more pool time
and...I got to finally break in the portable studio I got for my birthday. I love it! I can't wait to use it more. Emma was happy to help me do some test shots, and she's sporting her very first ponytail (or 'ponie' as she calls it). :)

That's all folks!! It's the last day of June, so tomorrow starts another month of great fun! We're headed to Vermont to celebrate Opa's 60th birthday and then to New York for our friend Justin's wedding. We'll be back soon!

A girl and her garden

These pics were taken at Hotel Del Coronado - what an amazing place. We had a great visit from Pache and Uncle Josh this weekend, so we took the whole gang here to get a little photoshoot in. Someone seemed to enjoy the good weather...

Love & Yogurt: A Play in Three Acts

We are SOOO ready for summer around here. Yes, I know we live in San Diego, but summer is still summer. The pools are out, the birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, the grills are cooking and the beer floweth.

Sunday was a gorgeous day, so we decided to hang outside. Lunchtime came around, and Emma wanted to share her yogurt with Parker. They are such sweet friends.

For those of you who know and love Parker, you'll be sad to hear that he is going deaf. This is my tribute to you, sweet Prince Parker.

another day in paradise

Don't forget to stop and smell the roses!

Thank you, Thomas

After a rough week, we had to get out of the house. Much of the time we spent recovering this week was spent watching Emma's new best friend: Thomas the Tank Engine. I'd been hoping to avoid tv/videos until at least the age of 2, but I quickly had to break my own rule, and did so willingly :)

Emma loves trains now. One of the Thomas episodes features a carousel, and she loves that scene every time it comes on. So we killed two birds with one stone on Saturday, and headed down to Balboa Park to take advantage of the fabulous carousel and mini-railroad that apparently has been down there for decades. Who knew?!





So sad. The look on her face describes how we were all feeling, but she did truly enjoy the experience.

blowing off some steam

It's been a rough week here. After Emma got the Rotavirus, Daddy got it, and then Mommy got it. Oy! The only one who had a spring in his step was Parker, although he sighed a lot, no doubt frustrated that he was being neglected.

I had planned on posting these earlier in the week, but they seem fitting now. I think we're all on the mend now, but it's been a looooong week. So here's our goofy household letting off some steam.

Pardon my obnoxious narration - but Roger caught me off guard with emma's 'outfit', so I was a little hyper :)


Sumo Emma from Eeks on Vimeo.


Sumo 2 from Eeks on Vimeo.


Sumurai Warrior from Eeks on Vimeo.

And earlier that day, I caught Emma smacking her lips and pointing to the candy tub:


chocolate!! from Eeks on Vimeo.

Closing a chapter, opening another

We're so sad to have to say goodbye to our amazing nanny Mandy, aka "Mimi". She's moving back east to become a teacher and Friday was her last day with us. We're truly going to miss her. She has been like family to us, and Emma would jump out of my arms every morning that Mimi arrived to go and give her a hug. It was a teary farewell. I always knew that Emma was in outstanding, capable hands and as a parent, you can't replace that feeling.

The new chapter is now opening and Emma started school on Monday. She did great with the other kids, playing, interacting and being her usual busy self. However, it was a lot of new surroundings, and she didn't sleep very well the first two days. Then on the third day she got the Rotavirus bug and threw up for the first time. It was a rough night, followed by a second night of diarrhea but she's feeling much better and surviving with a steady stream of Pedialyte popsicles. No shortage of popsicles in this house -thank goodness for those things! :)

So here's a little run down of our first day. Getting ready to drive to school with dada:


Making sure her baby can come with her!

And after I picked her up:


It's been a big week!

random February videos

First there was "Baby-in-a-Bucket". Make way for the new & improved Toddler-in-a-Trader-Joe's-Shopping-Bag (swung by our friend and neighbor "Miss Jean", or as Emma affectionately refers to her as "Mean"):


goin shopping from Eeks on Vimeo.

Emma in her usual pre-bath form:


Feb from Eeks on Vimeo.

More dancing....and the spontantaneous digestive powers of Craisins:


February silliness from Eeks on Vimeo.

Happy Valentine's Day from the Wild Animal Park!

Please excuse the hokey blog layout. I'm trying to customize it, and I got as far as my header, but html befuddles me sometimes. Should be cleared up soon!

This Valentine's Day we celebrated as a family at the Wild Animal Park. It was the first time we've been! It's a 30 minute drive, but sooooo worth it. I like it better than the zoo (and I didn't think that was possible!). Emma loved, loved it. I can't tell what was more fun - the petting kraal or the gorillas (primates are my all-time fave, and these guys were out and play-fighting.). I tried to get good pics of them, but ended up with lots of ape butts! :)





On our drive home, we stopped by some of the orange groves that had suffered in the 2007 fires. It's really eerie to see forests full of blackened wood. These are my pics, but I doctored them up in photoshop to emphasize the eerie feeling.