Emmie is THREE!

Our little Princess is three years old. I still cannot believe it! As you can tell, one of her favorite things to do is play "Dress ups." She makes a beautiful Aurora.


















The night before her big day, I made her request: a Penguin cake. Random, I know! She has loved Mary Poppins lately and we always sing the Penguin song about Mary....hence the writing on the cake. I got into decorating birthday cakes when I would see the amazing cakes my sister-in-law, Diana, would make for her kids. Both her and Rach have made some darling ones. It is a fun tradition. My mom was always so great to grant our requests for birthday cakes too. She was amazing and would actually draw the picture instead of piecing it together. I remember my favorite cake was a "My Big Sister" cake. The doll she drew on the cake looked just like my own doll. It might just be my favorite from pictures though because I think I was only turning three, right mom?




















This was Em when she first woke up.





















It was a cold morning and I was rushing around getting ready for the day's activities. I couldn't find anything warm for Luke to wear (he doesn't have much, poor guy!) so I put him in one of Em's sweatshirts......needless to say I did NOT read the lettering until later and I couldn't help but laughing out loud at my amazing choice of shirts:












Yes, it does say "Girls will be girls" and Luke's expression is priceless!







We made sure to put the sweatshirt on Emmie before Daddy came home and saw his son's masculinity slowly diminishing.





















We went to Discovery Gateway for a daytime activity. It was a lot of fun.




















That night we surprised Emmie with a family party at Jungle Jim's playland. The Merry-Go-Round was her first ride.























Charley, Em and Brittana were the threesome on all the rides.




















The Featherstone look of surprise....you knew it would be somewhere on this blog post!



















I hardly got any pictures of the Feathies or the Marsdens (Rach usually takes care of those photography details.....we love you Ray!) Here is cute Kate to represent the Feathies (and Scottie looking creepy in the background).




















And here is my mom riding with Lukie to represent the Marsdens :) We were laughing because as adults, when you go up high on the airplanes, it looks like your head will hit the ceiling! We all enjoyed going on the rides with the kids. (well, minus the spinny ride which we convinced Jon to take the kids on)




















The spinny ride....all passengers survived without throwing up which I know hasn't been the case in the past for Jon's side of the family!


















And of course Charley to represent the Alexanders :) She is the best buddy to Emmie.




















Nice nose shot Em! She insisted on wearing her new high heels. It was so cute!

























Lukie's moment of fun came when he got to ride behind the wheel! Charley was so sweet to make sure he stayed sitting straight up. So classic to see this little guy on such a big kid ride!























Emmie chose the wild roller coaster to be our last ride of the night. I was grateful I didn't get sick :) Her smile says how she felt about the night. Thanks for everyone who came. We love you and Emmie has been in heaven with all your fun gifts! We missed Spen, Nana, Mitch, Sam, Mike Erin, Luke, Scot, Parker and families.
















Em fell asleep in her new Princess tent after a fun, exhausting day.





















She woke up bright and early the next morning (always too early) and went through all her new stuff. I loved watching her put on all her accessories.
























I snapped the earrings on a little too hard and the alligator tears were cute only because she was all dressed up!




















After seeing Shelby and Hannah dance a lot this year, Emmie has come up with some pretty amazing dance moves! She loves to show them off so next time you see her, tell her you want to see her famous princess dances :) (She broke off two heels from her new shoes the day after she opened them if that tells you anything about her intense dancing!!!) WE LOVE YOU MISS EM!!

Highlight of Lagoon

Can you even believe this sight? Jon and I could not believe the attendant agreed to let Luke sit next to Emmie on the Bulgy the Whale ride. It was the best moment of our fun-filled day at Lagoon!
















Luke didn't cry or smile so we consider him a ride lover at age 9 months! The ride attendant told Emmie to keep her arm around him so he wouldn't stand up (he barely knows how to sit up straight). However, Emmie remembered her duty and when the ride was over, she looked up at me proudly and said "He didn't stand up or anything! I took care of him." It was a great big sister moment.

New Things

My two babies. Well, let's start off with an update on Luke. He has experienced many new things lately. For one, look at his hair in this picture. Yes, his hair has always been a hot topic since he was born. It was time to chop some of those locks!

















Don't you agree?? This is product-free hair minutes after waking up. His hair has always give me good laughs :)

















This picture was taken the day we headed to the hair salon.




















Luke wasn't sure what we were doing! My friend Shannon did an amazing job at taming his wild calic-covered head!





















Here is the new look...what do you think?




















We love it!





















But I think it will always stick up!






















Luke also has a new bed....yes, this is our living room floor. He is on three blankets and they are barricaded by pillows, ottomans, etc. The sleep situation was almost unbearable a couple of months ago. We have made a huge breakthrough, but we still need to figure out a bed for Luke! Poor guy.




















Luke had his first laundry basket ride today. This was a favorite past time of Emmie back when we lived in the Franciscan.



















You knew I had to post this old classic video right? This was a video I posted a year or more ago from our last apartment. Emmie's buddy Neve used to push Emmie in the laundry basket up and down the halls all the time.










Luke was fed his first bottle by Emmie. Luke doesn't take bottles. He never would. Until the other day. I was doing some chore in another room. Emmie pulled a chair over to the cupboards in the kitchen, found a bottle, poured some juice in it, and put Luke into this position to start the feeding! I went to check on them because it was extra quiet. This is what I found! Luke was happily drinking the juice and Emmie was beaming at her accomplishment. It was too cute.





















Oh my poor baby. I have cried myself to sleep a lot the past week thinking of this new thing my little boy went through. Here Luke is with a wrap around his broken collar bone!
























Oh my, did you even think a 9 month old baby could break his collar bone? I sure didn't. It was a horrible moment for me when I left Luke on my bed and went to grab something in the bathroom. I got distracted by Em for a few moments longer. And then we heard the thud. It was an awful sound. I came out to see Luke on his stomach on the floor. For a split second I couldn't remember if he was on the bed. The sinking realization came, YES, he was on the bed and now he is not. I couldn't believe it....by baby had fallen off our king-size bed. And yes, it is a VERY high king-size bed. I knew Luke was hurting for the next few hours as we would wince and cry when held in different positions. After watching him when Jon came home for lunch, we determined something was wrong with his right arm/shoulder. Jon predicted it was his collar bone. He was right. When the doctor showed me the little X-ray of his skeleton and the little cracked collar bone, I again wanted to burst into tears. The doctor comforted me and told me it was the best bone to break. It would heal quickly and easily. They said they couldn't do much to help it heal though. They said he would probably break out of the wrap, which he did in less than 5 minutes. However, babies are smart and they won't use their arm if it hurts them. So, Luke has become ambidextrous these days. He has been a good sport through it all. It has been over a week and he seems almost 100% back to normal. Here is a picture of him right after the fall. I have felt so bad. I hate making mistakes that hurt someone else....especially when it is my precious, helpless baby! But, I learned that you can't put babies up high, even when they aren't crawling yet and even when you think it will be for just a second, and even when you think you put them in the very middle with a toy that will entertain them. Sometimes they are practicing being mobile behind your back (like Cordoury the bear) and sometimes they push the toy off the bed and try to lunge for it! I am grateful that he is going to be okay. I love my Lukie Ben.



















What a sweet little guy. He really hasn't complained much about his broken bone and is still pleasant and sweet.

























And now for an update on Em.....




















She tried out the alpine slides last week which she LOVES. She calls them the "airplane" slides.




















She has been doing more dancing in the rain.





































































And of course we hardly miss a day of swimming at the pool. In fact, one week I think we were honestly 6 for 6 (only missed the pool on Sunday). She also swam one morning and danced in the rain that afternoon. Crazy weather. Emmie will do anything to keep her swimsuit on.




















She has become pro with her lifejacket.






































































Emmie also got her first haircut this month. She sat so still and calm the entire time. Shannon was very impressed.

























These were her golden locks before...





















The trim after...(not much different!)

























Happy about her new doo





















We went to the Featherstone cabin this summer and got some cute shots of the kiddos.



















Love the hair and the smile on Lukie!



















Mommy and Em




















These guys are becoming best buddies! The other day I had to run something up to a neighbor's door. When I came back to the car, Lukie wasn't fussing like he normally is when the car is stopped. I asked Em if he had been crying. She said, "Yes, but then I held his hand." I looked back and their hands were still interlocked in between the carseats. It was the sweetest moment. I love being a mommy to my Emmie Shae and Lukie Ben!

Singing in the Rain

Rainy August days....







































































































And for the skater dude....(thanks to Stacy, Ben and Max for the sweet shirt!)






















Check out that doo! Oh my!