Well. Needless to say, July got away from me. So instead of a few posts you're getting the whole month in pictures and snippets. The exceptions being the 2nd of July, which somehow got its own post and our beach trip which deserves it's own post!
My aunt and uncle on Bainbridge Island have an annual 3rd of July party on their waterfront. The city across from them does fireworks on the 3rd so it's a pretty complete evening. Blake and I realized though that we were lucky to get away with bringing a little one. She was pretty happy to sit and play with rocks until bedtime but next year would probably be a different story and more than one kid... seems highly unlikely! We enjoyed ourselves while we could though!
Getting ready.. the first time she discovered my make up bag.
Just doing a little cleaning! She looks so little here!
This was how she spent the evening of the 3rd :)
And Happy 4th of July. We celebrate with lots of food, swimming and a horseshoe tournament! Most of which I don't really participated in ;). This 4th was much more enjoyable than last year in which everyone but me held my tiny new baby. This year I either welcomed the break or enjoyed watching her splash and play.
Watermelon eating water babies. These two were inseparable from the water and from the melon.
Meeting her step, second cousin, born about three weeks after her.
The evening of the 4th, we introduced her to sparklers! She thought they were pretty cool and her facial expressions cracked me up! She was pretty good until the end when she started waving it wildly. Eek.
Getting a little wild
Already asking for another one before this one is done.
We were home for a whole week and at some point (I can't remember which day) our good friends the Beasleys came up!
Feeding the Chickens
These sweet big kiddos are dear to me, I watched them a ton before college and during
breaks. I love seeing them with my girl :)
On my porch swing, one of my favorite places.
Visiting the animals.
And a few random photos from the rest of the month...
We don't always get our anniversary pictures taken on the day, we just try to plan to do it during the weeks before or after when we're home. This was an unexpected trip and I almost forgot (Blake was the one who remembered that we still needed to take it!) so we had to wear whatever we'd packed. It always works out though and that's part of the story.
A small milestone but yet such a full five years. My heart is so full when I think about all that these past five years have held. How loved I feel and how much love I have for my sweet husband. What an amazing thing to grow together, to watch him and experience as he loves his girls and to share the journey side-by-side.
I love love. I love us. I love him. (and of course we both love her!)
This year we didn't travel far, but we did get away for a little family celebration of our five year anniversary. And what a needed retreat it was. Life has been busy. Full and fun but distracting. We really needed the time away together to unwind.
We were so blessed to be able to use Blake's boss' lake cabin in Hayden, Idaho. It was the perfect distance for a weekend getaway. We had great weather and enjoyed the water so much! As refreshing as the beach can be, my soul is fed by lakes and woods. It's where I feel at home.
In addition to time on the water we went into Coeur d'Alene for an afternoon and strolled through Art on the Green and went out to dinner at a Brazilian restaurant (a.k.a. the 'meat parade'). We enjoyed seeing all the vendors, loved dinner and just missed the sudden and fierce thunderstorm that rolled through during our meal!
What a great weekend it was! Here's the proof ;):
Getting ready to kayak!
Her first kayaking trip! I kayaked a lot in college and LOVE it, so it was fun to share this with her.
She loves the water. We call this: 'Splash and splash'
And splash she did.
She also loved floating and kicking
Our anniversary dinner (aptly timed during nap time)
Gorgeous night
Evening stroll on the dock with my loves
Checking out that owl
This girl loves her bacon and eggs!
Blake rocking the paddle board. We've been wanting to try this forever!
It was so fun!
I loved it. I went out pretty far (eek). I did get a little over-confident and tried to turn too sharp going too fast..
needless to say, I ended up falling/jumping in!
A paddle boarder in the making.
We did some floating together too.
*sigh* So refreshing! Just seeing these pictures again brings back the smell of the water and Emerson's squeal of delight. Ahh I love a good lake!
This girl! I couldn't possibly capture in words all the joy, entertainment and energy that goes on around here.
Despite her ability to walk independently, she still really enjoys and prefers to walk holding a finger. It's the first thing she asks for the minute her eyes open in the morning after saying 'hi'. She says and signs 'down' ("dow") and grabs my finger. If I don't quickly follow her she throws herself on the floor and wails. Then we toddle off downstairs and to the backdoor. She asks to be up and go out, then 'dow' again and we toddle to the nearest bed of rocks and sit an play with rocks for awhile until it starts to get too hot (or we get hungry). Our typical morning routine.. and we repeat this scenario several times a day.
Her language is exploding. As she learns words, she's also started using signs more, often pairing her verbal approximation with her sign approximation. She can do each sign fairly precisely but tends to just waive her hand for most of them. Here are some of her words:
Hi - still her favorite and most used word, usually accompanied by a wave. It means everything from a greeting to, hey look at this, I love you, and 'what? I'm not supposed to do that? let me distract you with my cuteness'.
Buh - Her generic word for absolutely everything that doesn't have a word yet. She says, 'buh' and points, saying it louder when you don't guess what she wants.
BO! - Any animal, or maybe possibility of an animal
By - Bite, this one she uses correctly, but also sometimes uses it to ask to nurse
Ma - Milk (which she kind of signs too) We call it 'mamma milk' so sometimes she says 'mam'
Dow - Down, also signed (with our made up sign) and seems to be synonymous with 'walk' (which she can't say verbally but gets her point very much across by grabbing your finger and grinning wildly.)
Bye - standard usage, however, she uses it very sparingly. Most often she just waves bye.
Baa - sheep
Meow - cat, actually this is just the noise, but she uses it consistently when she sees a cat
Mama - Mommy. She doesn't use this very often, but usually when she wakes up in the night or if she wakes up upset from a nap, and when she gets hurt, or if she finds herself alone in a room and occasionally when she wants my attention.
Da - Daddy. Sometimes, dada, often she says, 'hida' for hi dad :). She also uses it to get his attention sometimes.
Whoa! - Standard usage, whenever she is pleasantly surprised by something.
Ya - Yes. She only occasionally says this verbally, but she shakes her head yes more often.
Bu - book. It's faintly different from her generic 'buh' but even without context, I can tell when she's saying book.
She also loves to sit and read, and play with toys (even if she prefers rocks or better yet, dirt), and she's still a bit of a momma's girl and doesn't often leave my side when it's just the two of us. She completely adores our neighbor girls too and they are gracious enough to play with her and walk her around frequently.
This is a long one, but pretty cute.
As Emerson gets older and more independent, she also gets sweeter. She spends more time in our laps or snuggled up in bed, just for the sake of snuggling. She gives tons of kisses and tickles and zerberts! However. she also has sass. If you don't get up and go pretty quickly after she tells you she wants to walk, then she throws herself on the floor, folded in half and wails. Tears and all. She also protests severely with loud, high pitched cries at various instances. We find ourselves saying, 'too loud' quite often. Ahh the joys of parenting.
It is just so fun to see her learning and growing before our eyes. She weighs about the same and I didn't measure her, but she's grown a little. She still has chunky legs and wrists and those cheeks!! She has finally take to eating and I'm not trying to convince her to eat anymore, she actually asks for 'bites'. Her favorite food is sprouted beans, closely followed by toasted coconut flakes and spirulina chips.
In the car, saying hi to daddy up front
Telling us about an animal 'BO'
(bribe: kitchen timer)
"Hi daddy!"
half squawk, half laugh
Daddy is funny
Checking out the new calf
Walk, walk, walk, walk..
I'm just licking it, I promise.
I'm just tasting it, I swear.
I may have been playing in the dirt...
We've been enjoying a few afternoons at the park with some splashing in the river!
POP!
She loves these sunglasses! We're channeling a little Hepburn here ;)
A mini tea party with our neighbor
At the park again on a playdate. She LoVeD this until clean up time!
