1st Birthday Party!

Long overdue, I know. My sweet brother in law, Cole, took about 200 pictures for us and he gave me the disc over Thanksgiving so here we are. If it weren't for his pictures (and Ryan's parents' pictures), I think I would have about 4. It was a busy night but so much fun and Emerson was a rock star. Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us- I hope you had as much fun as we did!

On her actual birthday she went and saw Dr. Powell, her pediatrician, whom I adore. It's a terrible picture of Miss Emerson but I wanted a pic of her with Dr. Powell. Too cute!

I'm not sure where I got this idea from but we planted a maple tree on Emerson's birthday and every year we'll take her picture next to the tree to watch how they both grow. Ryan and Nat had just planted it so it was a bit muddy, hence the "plank."

Spaghetti something or other for her birthday meal. The Bumbo tray isn't really serving its purpose anymore...

Phoebe had a field day with this.


Emerson in her birthday dress. Love that toothless grin!!!

Chillin with her Uncle Cole.

The best family pic we could get- there was a lot going on!

The birthday table!

Debi Hale made these homemade pumpkin cupcakes and put pink "e's" on them. They were amazing...

Mooching food off of Jen Cross.

She got some amazing presents- Katy Zimmerman made her this pillow. It matches her room perfectly. Thank you, Kate!

Katy Z. made her this dress too! I was probably saying, "Shut. Up."

Her first puffer vest from Uncle Cole and Aunt Sarah.

"Simply Perfect" from her BFF Audrey. So true!

Notice her "Emerson" doll in the background from Grandma and Grandpa Wood. Love it!

Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Amber got Emerson a baseball toy. Ryan's jealous that Will's getting a little brother he can play baseball with... That and that Jonathan gets TWO sons!!!

Grandpa Wood, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Chris. I printed off all of her "month" pictures and put them on the wall. Love it!

Miss Ava and Will checking out the loot.

My mother in law made homemade cookies for the kids to decorate- it was a hit! Morgan and Ally did some great work!

Aunt Sarah with the birthday girl... (She was not very photogenic that day! Emerson, not Sarah!)
The Woods, Grices, and Van Varks. I think Will bailed to go decorate some cookies. Can't say I blame him....

Phoebe had a good dinner that night...

This girl loves her baths!

What a great day it was! It was bittersweet- my little girl is growing up and getting more independent every day! She is such a joy! I heard a great saying the other day- with kids the days are long but the years are fast. So true! What an adventure it has been!

Happy Birthday Sweet Emerson!!!

Hard to believe, our girl is a year old today! I'm a lot more comfortable right now than I was this time last year... It's amazing how it seems like a lifetime ago that we didn't have her but it also seems like just yesterday. Here's a look back at November 20, 2007...

Shopping Girl

Last week I thought it was time to get Emerson out of the "bucket" during our grocery shopping. My mom (and Ryan for that matter) thought I was high maintenance for having the grocery cart cover thing. I believe she said, "How did you kids ever survive????" The very next day on the Today Show they did a survey of the dirtiest place kids are exposed to and shopping carts was on top of the list. They said 89% of the grocery carts they swabbed in Iowa had E Coli on them and that the carts were dirtier than public toilets!!!!! Needless to say I showed the Today Show bit to Ryan and he doesn't think I'm so crazy anymore. We went to Price Chopper yesterday I believe it went something like, hey, do you have that cover thing??? Man, it's a good thing our kids have us moms...

Fun Fall Pics

Our sweet girl turns a year old next Thursday- so hard to believe! She's growing like a weed and crawling, waving, pointing and doing new cute things every day!



Luckly we only have one more "month" picture to take because unlike when she was a newborn and just sat there, they are getting increasingly harder to take as you can see!

We had a little photoshoot outside... We took her "real" one year pics on Tuesday and I think we got some really good ones.

Emerson had had it with Sunday Night Dinner...