Emmy's Adventures in Illinois

My mom and my sister, Chelsea, flew into Virginia to spend a few weeks with us. We decided to make a road trip to Illinois to visit family for a few weeks. And quite a roadtrip to Illinois it was! Mountains, fog, and tornadoes... oh my! We ran into some nasty weather on our way out. But made it safe and sound, and brought all the Virginia heat with us! But it cooled off just in time for lots of wagon rides and sipping tea on the swing of my grandparents front porch. We got to spend time with both sides of my family, and Emmy had tons of fun. She didn't take many naps, and surprisingly never once ran out of energy. We started our visit with a trip to the Miller Park Zoo with "Me" and Aunt "Nonnie". Emmy pet a boa constrictor and loved watching the sea lions and sea otters. It was a hot one that day, but right across the street was a water park that had sprinklers of all shapes and sizes. And it was FREE! Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures of it, but it was a blast!

She also talked to my dad,"Papa", a lot on the phone.

Thanks again, Hayden, for the fun 4-wheeler! We are having LOTS of fun with it! Daddy thinks it's awesome!
We iced a cake at Grandma Wells with "Mimi." Yum! Frosting!








And, boy, did she love wagon rides!!!
She stakes out the wagon...


Puts one foot in...


Slides the other foot in...


And then with both feet in...


She's all ready to go! Someone take me for a ride!

She played on the organ with Grandma Wells.


Chelsea found Grandpa's old Navy uniform, and decided to play dress-up! A good lookin' sailor, I might add.


And we had more wagon fun, as Emmy filled it with pine cones.



And she told Grandpa to look at the "ucky" on her hands.




She LOVES corn on the cob!

Grandma took some pictures of her digging. Her new favorite thing!


She played the piano with Grandma.


She loved playing with these glass birds that were on the piano.




And we went to the Zimmerman family reunion. Emberlyn went on about 4 carriage rides and had lots of fun with water balloons. She even got to see some cows.










Aunt "Bathy", Emmy and "Me"

Aunt "Bathy", Emmy, "Me", and "Pa"

Aunt Chelsea and Emmy

We had so much fun on our trip! Thanks to everyone for your hospitality! Emmy still looks at the pictures and can remember your names. We miss you all, and we hope to see you soon! Love you all! We miss you already Mimi! See you in a couple of months!!!

Summer Shades

Emberlyn never wears these sunglasses, but I managed to snap a few pictures of her before she took them off. Too cute for words!

Our Little Guy

I'm 24 weeks along, and I got to see our little guy in action today through a 4-D ultrasound! It was so neat! He was very cooperative and active. I got to see his sweet little face. And he has long fingers just like Emberlyn!

Beach Girl

We have been so lucky this weekend with the weather. We have spent nearly every second outside. And it's been fantastic! She's been able to play with her water table since the cold and rain have finally gone away. We took her to the pool, which was way too cold. But, of course, fearless Emmy wanted right in! So, Wade got in with her and was teaching her how to float on her back. Then we went to the beach and she had so much fun! She doesn't like the feel of dry sand on her feet, so I sat near the water with her because she loved feeling the wet sand between her fingers and toes. It was great watching her have so much fun, but then she started piling the sand on top of her head. I don't know where she got this. She likes to dump water on her head when she's playing outside. But, the funny thing is, when I'm giving her a bath, she hates it when we pour water on top of her head. She won't even do it to herself! But, outside, it's another story. Everything wet or soggy goes on top of her head. Little stinker. So she had an absolute blast. We were pleasantly surprised. Wade and I were reminscing about last summer, when she was 9 months old and hated the beach. She screamed every time we put her feet in the sand, and wanted nothing to do with the water. But, my, what one year does! She's a total beach girl and loves the water!

Berry Pickin' Girl

Neither Wade nor I have ever picked strawberries before, so it was the perfect occasion when we heard about the Pungo Strawberry Festival. Emberlyn had her little basket and we went up and down the aisles collecting the best berries we could find. Emberlyn helped pull a few off of their stems. Then she decided she wanted to dump them out into the dirt, and place them one by one back into the basket. She loves the outdoors, so this was a perfect way to spend our Friday afternoon.

Hours of Fun!

I bought Emberlyn a water table for the summer. I thought it would give her something fun to do outside on the patio. She loves coloring with sidewalk chalk, but with this humid weather coming through, I knew a water table would do the trick. I was right! The second I put it together, brought it outside, and filled it up with water, Emmy was so excited she could hardly contain herself. She started out in a dress, and then after a couple of buckets of cold water over her head, I decided to strip her down to her diaper. She had a blast! Please ignore my dead plants in the background. I really need to get those replaced!
Happy Mother's Day!!!

Visitors From Florida

One of my best friends from Florida, Katie, and her beau Luke, came to visit Emmy and I for a couple days last week. We had so much fun with them and were very sad to see them go. Here are a few cute pictures of Emberlyn's new obsession, BUBBLES!