Puppy Party! Emme's 2!!

 My little girl turned two today!  I can not believe how fast the time is going.  Birthdays mean a lot to me...and I like to celebrate them in a big way!  This year we threw a puppy party for Emme.  We actually had puppies here...just like a petting zoo but a puppy petting zoo.  There were 3 yorkies, 2 jack russels, 2 dachshunds and one older and so sweet shihzu.  The kids loved the puppies and as you can see below Emme wouldn't put hers down.  Here she is smiling...

...but below she is serious.  And she was very serious about 99% of the time.  Emme got to be the first in with them and she loved it.  Precious to say the least, and obviously she loves dogs!  It was a hit and I am so happy we chose this theme for her.  She is such an animal lover and well, a kitten party (her favorite) probably would have proven to be challenging and petting zoo's are expensive so we went puppy!!!!  This is how the family that breeds these dogs socializes them.  I had to put up my blinders as I prefer rescuing from shelters.

The party was Sunday and her birthday was Monday.  We celebrated by wearing her tutu and enjoying the day together.  That evening we had an early family dinner at an amazing restaurant where we sang Happy Birthday and once again she wanted nothing to do with the cake-which is fine by me!! She won't eat sweets at all...popsicles is as far as I get with her and if I give her pancakes or muffins with chocolate chips in them she picks them out.

 It was such a beautiful day out. 

She loves her sunglasses!  She is totally a girlie girl!  She notices my lipstick, gloss, and likes to watch me get dressed and put on my makeup. 

 Here is a little update on Emeline.  She is really into chalking.  She will chalk pictures all over outside the house (Great Grandma doesn't like chalking out front on the sidewalk, she thinks it is ugly), and she takes the chalk on her walks and leaves a little picture at each house.  She gives a color to everyone that is with her so you will chalk with her.  Inside she loves coloring as you can imagine.  She could finger paint all day.  She could dance, play with my iphone, listen to Raffi, eat crackers, play with animals, and dig in the dirt all day.  Her day is 6 to 6...with one nap around 11.  Her favorite food...pesto pasta (without a doubt)!  She did go through a picky stage but is slowly coming out of that I think.  She also enjoys corn, butternut squash, zucchini, carrots, green beans, broccoli with hummus, quinoa, cous cous, rice, black beans, quesadillas, sunflower seed butter, the organic plum pouches, bananas, any berries, apples, peaches, etc...pretty good.  She is not a big meat eater though.  I still give her a bottle twice a day (doc said it was okay).  Our next big milestones to work on...potty training and getting rid of pacifier.  She is speech delayed (like Zackary) and is seeing his speech therapist, but she tries hard and we all understand her anyways.  She is such a sweet, cute girl and it's so fun dressing her.  Her and Zackary get along great...and watching them together really melts my heart.  Her doctors appointment went so well...she's 30 pounds (84%) and 36.3 inches tall (96%)!

Happy Birthday Emeline.  We love you so much.  We are so lucky to have you in our lives...my little girl...so thankful for my little girl! 

Making Santa Memories

Such a dramatic difference from last year visiting Santa to this year!  I had a feeling it wasn't going to go over well but what a great picture.  Zackary did amazing (like he is posing for a photo shoot for Ralph Lauren or something), and Emeline did too...I won't ever forget it!  Santa must have been holding on to her really tight...cause I know how strong she is!

I am not sure how excited Zackary is about Christmas this year.  He doesn't really look for our Elf, Scout, or pay much attention to the Christmas tree.  He does know what he wants from Santa which is a tonka truck and two poka dotted donkeys!  So funny.  He has a book by author Eric Carle, about an artist that draws pictures of animals with funny colors and one picture is a donkey that has poka dots on it.

Admiring the gigantic Christmas Tree...

He got a big lollipop for doing such a great job taking pics with Santa!  Bribing, but I look at it as a reward.

Thankful for these kids!

Emeline sat in her highchair while we ate our Thanksgiving meal but what she really wanted to be doing was joining the other kids at the big kid table and eating with the big forks and using big plates like a big kid!  I will blink and she will be this age.  I hope time slows down some.

And Zackary really wanted to be playing underneath the table being silly as usual!

I could be doing anything as long as it's with these 3!  That is what I am thankful for...my family.  The ones that make everyday so worth it! 

Creative Boy

Isn't this the coolest fountain!  Zackary is always coming up with new ideas...new ways to make his fountain  better and bigger.  Pretty creative, I must say!!

Aloha Maui

We made it!  Zackary struggled during the flight to Oahu with the anxiety of the unknown but did settle down at times.  Emme did fantastic and acclimated well, I was surprised.  The short flight to Maui was easy.  We rented our car and made a trip to whole foods.  By the time we got to the market, the kids were melting before our eyes.  It was 2:30pm Maui time and 5:30pm LA time.  I quickly bought a rotisserie chicken, green beans, and a pear for dinner.  After getting some protein in the kids Zackary was still acting up so they sat in the car with Ben while I did the shopping.  Then we took the 45 minute drive to our condo in Kahana.  It was beautiful.  The lanai quickly became our relaxing spot the duration of our stay. 
One day we went to this beach called Napili about 5 min driving north from Kahana.  The waves that day were upwards 10 feet.  It was crazy and I actually saw a turtle riding them.   

Our family picture.  2 days were left on our trip and I realized we hadn't taken a family picture yet.  If only Emme was smiling...dang.

The condos we were at had two cats.  They slept under and on top of the cars.  Emme quickly fell in love with them and would spit at them, guess she was talking to them in her mind.  She spent a lot of her time trying to find the cats and watching them.  Guess she wants one!  

Emme is busy here collecting rocks on our lanai and lining them up!  It is so fun to watch her.

We spent most of our days at the beach playing with the sand.  Zackary went in the water up to his knees and really had a good time finding things in the sand and building sand castles.  Emeline loves the ocean and sand at home but in Maui she wouldn't go near the ocean and really was hesitant with the sand as well.  She got better with the sand as the days went on.  The kids also spent a lot of down time in the condo watching tv, playing, reading books and collecting rocks.  We took a couple of drives up and down the coast and did go to Lahaina a couple of days. 

Emeline was getting sick here with Zackary cold.  Isn't this cuddly picture cute?!  The day before we were flying home she got croup.  It was stressful for me and knowing we were going to be up super early (3:40AM) to get to the airport for our flight home, I was sad for her.  It did take her a long time to get over this cold.  Once home she made two trips to the pediatrician once for a croup check up and once for pink eye.  She definitely had a rough flight home (pressure in her ears was bad) while Zackary did much better.  It was a bummer that Zackary got sick right before the trip and she ended up getting it, but at least she stayed healthy for most of the trip.

They were having so much fun here!  The sand was the kind that doesn't stick, the grains are bigger and feel like they are exfoliating your skin with each step.  I loved that.

Playing with all their sand toys are rented and having a blast.  This is the beach where the waves were huge.  

Daddy's little girl.  

This picture was his first visit to the beach in front of our condo.  He enjoyed feeling the ocean dig his feet deep into the sand.  

The last 3 days of our trip the trade winds blew in and it was very windy.  It as 80 degrees, but super windy.  Ben went paddle boarding and the winds made it a real work out for him, but worth it with the turtles he say and how much fun he had doing it.

Our first family trip out of California.  It was a success.  A bit stressful on the flights and when Emme got croup, but overall so much fun and very beautiful.  Ben and I went to bed every night around 8pm and literally passed in the wind everyday, but we still had a great time. 

A Quick Halloween

The two kids under Mickey are not mine...Ben and I went on a date to Disneyland a couple weeks before Halloween and I had to take the picture for the kids of the giant Mickey pumpkin!  

Aren't they so cute.  Zackary is Thomas the Train and Emme is a chicken!  Zackary was a chicken 2 years ago, so happy I can reuse these outfits.  They are hand me downs from Ben's boss...fit the kids perfect and are really really cute.  I made a bunny costume for Emme but it looked a bit like a Playboy bunny, not a rabbit and I had a wonder woman outfit for her but we decided on the chicken!  I guess I was wonder woman one year when I was 2 years old.

Emeline caught on after 2 houses.  She walked up to each door and took the candy (even though she has know idea what it is) and was a real trooper.  It was early because she goes to bed early so a lot of people weren't ready yet or didn't answer their doors.  Next year we are going hard core to a neighborhood near us where it's a short walk to each house and I hear a lot of fun for the kids. 

We were leaving in zero minus 13 hours for Maui and I had so much to do still.  Halloween wasn't fitting into my Hawaii schedule well but I couldn't not take them out.   
 

Zackary and Ben were going to go out later for more, but Zackary told me my worst fear, "mommy my throat hurts," so he went to bed after dinner.  And was sick the whole time in Hawaii...entrance next blog...

I am going to miss this

These are the moments that are perfect.