Playing in the Kitchen

Emma loves to crawl to this door and pat on the window. She started doing it when we would let Cali outside. She would pat on the window and get so excited that Cali was on the other side. Last night though, Cali was inside, but Emma still enjoyed looking out into the back yard.

I was trying to get her to look at me while she was still sitting in front on the door, but she wanted to get close to the camera. This girl knows what a camera is thanks to her daddy!!

Then we moved into the kitchen part where she played with her toys while we cooked dinner. She loves books!! She also likes the little remote on the floor unless she sees the real remote and then she wants it instead. The snowman turns and sings to music. Emma loves to dance along with him.

This is her sick/sad face. She has had a runny nose and cough for a few days. I took her to the doctor and we have medicine, but it pretty much having to run its course. I hope she is all better by this busy weekend. We hate to see our sweet girl not feeling good.

Our Christmas Card

Here is our Christmas card.

 Scott made the design for something at church and we liked it, so we decided to use it as our Christmas card. It means more to us since he made it! The picture of all three of us is the same swing where we took maternity pictures just a year ago. Sweet memories!!!

Don't Let Him Fool You

This is my last week of teaching until after New Year's! My school always divides into teams the last week and a group of teachers or staff provide lunch for everyone else. My day to bring something is tomorrow. I signed up to bring two sweet treats...one is the Secret Santa cookies which I will make tonight after church and the other are Dipped Pretzels which I also made for our Sunday School Christmas brunch today.

 

 We came home and Emma went to take a nap in her crib so I decided to go ahead and make the dipped pretzels before going to church. I asked Scott to help me....I told him he could be in charge of the sprinkles. He could decorate them however he wanted. Don't let him fool you by saying he didn't enjoy it......he did!!

 

 He helped the process go by much faster. He even got to decorate one pretzel just for him the way he wanted!! They are very easy to make. You need the big pretzel rods, some almond bark, and sprinkles. I always do vanilla almond bark but chocolate would probably be good too! Dip the pretzel into the bark, lay on some wax paper, sprinkle, and leave to dry. We enjoyed our little date in the kitchen while sweet girl napped.

 

Here is the finished project! I hope the teachers tomorrow will love them.

All Things Santa

I had my Sunday School Ladies Night last night. We were to bring something either salty or sweet and a wrapped ornament to swap. I decided to make these cute Santa hats. They turned out so cute....and you can't go wrong with brownies, icing, and strawberries. I will be making these again soon!

I also decided to make these Secret Santa cookies because they are so easy and yummy!!! I hunted all over town for Peanut Butter cookie dough. I finally found some at Publix...where I probably should have started looking in the first place. You place a mini snicker bar in the middle of the dough to get the nice surprise when you bite into it.

Emma and Scott had daddy/daughter time while I was at the party. She loves to crawl up next to the tree and sit. She looks like she was up to something in this picture.

 She also loves to try and touch the lights. 

You can also tell in this picture that she got a hold of one of the presents. I think that is one of Scott's. He is dying to open one, but he is going to have to wait a little longer. 

She is such a sweet and easy going baby.

HO HO NOOOOO!!!

Emma's doctors office brings in reindeer and Mr. and Mrs. Clause every year for the kids to come and see. We took Emma right before I went to my ornament swap tonight. Here is the picture I took of the reindeer with my phone so it is not the best.

Scott took this great picture with his camera. There were two reindeer for the kids to see. Their antlers were huge!!!

We then waited in line for awhile to see Santa Clause. She did not want to sit in his lap at the mall so I gave her my phone to distract her. It worked long enough for Scott to get this picture. You can see in her eyes she is sensing something not right. She probably felt all the beard on her ears and neck.

And then she lost it!!! She threw down my phone and went to screaming. There were about 50 or more people in the room watching. I was determined to get some pictures of her and Santa even if it was one of her screaming. She will look back and laugh one day! But Scott and I said no more Santa pictures this year. We don't want to completely freak her out even more than she looks in this picture.

Then we decided to get one of her looking at the camera, which meant someone had to get in with her. I don't know how to work Scott's camera that great so that left me. She was much better with her mama and those two fingers in her mouth!!

Christmas Tree Farm

We took our Christmas card pictures on Saturday as well as taking quite a few of Emma for her 11 month pictures. We started our in the house with this cute idea I found on pinterest. I have really found a lot of good ideas on that site. The lights were red, but it made her look red too so Scott fixed it to look better. She would touch the lights, but we had to be fast as she was trying to crawl out of the lights.

I want to get a few more of her in this cute tutu I made. She was being a little explorer this morning and would not be still long enough to get a good picture.

Then we headed out to our local Christmas tree farm where we went a few weeks ago to get our tree. Scott took them himself so that consisted of him setting up his tripod and then running back and forth to get in the picture. This swing is special to him and I.....a year ago we sat in this swing for our maternity pictures. A lot has happened and changed in our lives in the past year and we could not more happier or blessed!!!




 So I just LOVE this picture. She was in such a happy mood being outside. She was being fussy on the way to the tree farm with her ear infections and teeth coming through, but as soon as we got out of the car, she was in the best mood!

She was sitting on the swing all by herself being such a big girl....of course I was right there beside her in case she tried to be a dare devil.

Then we went and put her in front of some trees. She sat still for a few minutes and then wanted to explore the ground around her. I love this dress. Susan and Joe got it for Emma and it looks so cute on her. I ordered her a dress as well in a 12 month and it is way too big for her, but I know she will be able to wear it next year either as a shorter dress or as a shirt over some jeans. I love smock dresses so much. They can be worn for several years!

She was seeing what the tree felt like. She played on the ground in front of the trees for awhile while we were out there. She had also been on antibiotic for her ear infection. We got home and gave her a bath before some friends came over for the SEC Championship game and I noticed a rash all over her body. We called the nurses and they said to stop and to give benedryl. Long story short, after it healed they said give her one more dose of the medicine to see if she was truely allergic to it and she never broke out again. So Scott and I think she got into something on the ground at the Christmas tree farm.

This was her outfit she wore to church yesterday. She has several Christmas looking outfits and we are trying to get all the wear out of them before Decemeber is over!

Doctors & Medicine

 Today I am thankful for doctors and medicine. I have mentioned recently that Emma has not been sleeping like her normal self. On Tuesday night she slept great....but Wednesday night was a different story. She woke up screaming. A cry I have never heard before. We tried to put her in bed with us and she still screamed so Scott stayed up with her for about 2 hours in the living room. She was fine as long as she was sitting up. She finally went to sleep in our bed around 5:30. I decided we needed to go ahead and take her to the doctor that day. She ran a fever for a short time during the night too. Scott stayed home with her yesterday morning while I went to work. I left at 11:00 to meet them at the doctor. We knew she had two top teeth trying to push through, but knew that was not what was causing all of the screaming.

She has double ear infection. Poor baby!!! She never pulled at her ears or showed any signs of ear pain. But now I know why she did not want to lie day....which when she screamed when we tried to lay her down in bed with us the thought of ear infection crossed my mind. The doctor was wonderful. He prescribed ear drops and an antibiotic. We also got some more pain medicine for her gums. It has worked WONDERS!! She slept with us last night and slept the entire night....laying down! She went back to daycare today and did wonderful. Emma was so easy to put to sleep tonight. I am glad I have my happy go with the flow baby back!