I know...

...it's been forever! We've been all over the place but I've got loads of great pics to share... About a month ago we went over to my friend Alyssa's house to swim in her beautiful pool and we borrowed some water wings for Emerson. I thought she'd be too little but man, she was on her own swimming away!




We celebrated Ryan's 32nd birthday in Des Moines with his family- Emerson helped blow out his candles.

I had Griffin for a couple of hours and he is a smiling, cooing little thing! So cute!
Emerson snuggling with her chip and her cousin...
And regressing. Sure, she hated it when she was a baby but now she wants in it...
And on to the 4th of July in the QC with the Hoyts. The weather could have been better but we made our own fun inside!
The twins had their cake so Emerson got in the action with "Meh-Mo!!" (Elmo...) The boys were so cute eating their cakes. That's by far my favorite thing about 1st birthday parties.

Luckly Sunday was beautiful so we went out on the boats... and Emerson got to play in some real sand- not the pink kind in her activity tray.



She was pooped on our way back.
My BF Frannie had her second baby girl, Bella Grace so we all went to her house to meet the little one. She's tiny and so beautiful. On the couch is me, Angie Z!, Fran, Bella, Carrie O, and Fran's daughter Ava and then Appleton and Shelby. Man, we all go way back! THEN, last Saturday Chad and Jen Cross had their luau which I didn't get to go to because I had to work but Ryan took Emerson and I made him take lots of pictures!

What face is that???


Steady....

Ryan, Emerson and Quinton. Hopefully I'll make it next year- it's the only good meal Ryan got all week!!!
Oh, last but not least, I have this water bottle I just spray Emerson's hair down with and the curls just magically appear in perfect ringlets. (Wouldn't that be nice???) Anyway, she gets a hold of it and sucks the water out of it, which is kind of cute and gross at the same time. But now she's figured out how to squirt herself with it and she soaks herself! She loves it! If you enlarge this picture it's hilarious...
Well- I'm off to work! I promise, it won't be another month again before you hear from the Woods!

Sunday Night Dinners are the best!

3 updates in one week! I tell you what, this camera is AWESOME! I'm sure I'm annoying my friends and family always clicking away but Ryan and I are having a blast taking better pictures!
We had the best sunday night dinner- the weather was great and I'm just so thankful to see my family and spend time with them every single week. It's been fun watching our families expand- we started SND about 6 years ago, before Ryan and I were even married. They're a bit more chaotic these days but man is it fun.

I don't feel like I've done Griffin justice so I had a little photo session with him on Sunday.



Will and Emerson are little buddies these days, it's so cool to see. He was having her give him 5 and then fall backwards. She thought this was the funniest thing ever!
Ignore the boots... Amber's going to kill me that I posted a picture of him wearing them. My mom got them for him to "dress up" and he loved them...
Ugh, I know it's out of focus but look at that grin!!!
Phoebe got a running start and missed Ryan's lap and landed in his man parts.


Phoebes got her bi-annual hair cut and is adorable. They're having a moment...

Blowing some bubbles.
My mom got Emerson this princess tent- I got it out for her a couple of months ago and she wasn't interested. I had forgotten about it but got it out and she LOVED it! It's so cute!
This will be brilliant blackmail material in about 12 years...
I think she has one of Will's "guys" in her hand.
Pretty girl!

Fun with sand and water...

So I was thinking about how much time Ryan and I like to spend out on our deck during these warm months. Then I got to thinking about how now we need to entertain an 18 month old out on our deck... What to do? Get a water and sand tray thingy! Emerson LOVES it! My mom's first question was, "You're keeping it at your house, right??" It does make quite the mess but we just take her straight to the bath afterwards. So fun!











Notice the broom in Ryan's hand? He wanted to crawl out of his skin watching her dump pink sand all over our deck- thank goodness Emerson has her laid back mom to help her explore her creativity and not let her dad supress it!!! ;) He about flipped when she mixed the sand and water in the tray for the first time. Relax, dad! Put the broom down!