Celebrate Good Times!

So I know I'm ridiculously behind on posting lots of stuff. Here's a recap of all the great stuff that has happened in the last few months.

We had an awesome Thanksgiving where we got to hang out with our adored and super-cool Ohio cousins and ...

... eat french fries and get crowns and junk food on the road to see ...

... our Maryland cousins, whom we love-love-loved.

Libby and Emma got a new table of their very own. Much beloved by the girls and Mommy. (Doesn't Emma look old sitting there? Couldn't you die that she's this big already?)

Grandma and Grandpa K came for an extended visit for the holidays, much spoiling ensued.

We had our friends Evie and Sophie (oh yeah and their mom, dad, and uncle) over for a Christmas Eve feast of nibbles. Libby was in heaven and felt like the Queen Cheese with her big friend. Emma tried to hang in there.

We had a wonderful Christmas. See how tired I look? Yes, I really was that exhausted. But Emma has decided that sleeping through the night is something she's willing to do. Only took her 13 months.

Grandma Barron came to visit. As you can see, Libby just hated having Grandma around pouring love and attention on her all the time.

It's snowed a lot. And we've played in the snow a lot. And been stuck inside in sub-zero temps. A LOT.

When It's All Worth It...

Sometimes my kids are so cute I can almost forget that I haven't slept in a year plus. Not a wink (or at least that's how it feels). This morning the coffee maker went haywire. Coffee leaked all over the counter and was dripping and a general pain in my tired patootie.

So I'll just say I was a little snappish with the girls as they clung all over me (Emma) and pestered me with questions (Libby) while I was cleaning it up. My annoyance melted away when Libby sang me a song to the "Super Why" theme:

Hip, hip, hooray,
the Super Readers saved the day.
Mommy spilled the tea.
She cleaned it up.
So hip, hip, hooray.

We haven't had a good picture of the girls together in months. Libby gets a little ... overzealous each time we try.

Libby the photographer

I downloaded our latest bunch of photos this morning to find that Libby had taken about 50 photos of various things. These of her sister actually turned out pretty good.

Walker!

Emma has now entered the world of the walkers! She began a few days ago when she took a step toward Daddy. Now she takes multiple steps several times a day. Big girl! I can't believe it. I told someone at Emma's birthday that I felt like we were on the ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka climb up a roller coaster hill and that the swoop down toward walking and talking and getting big was coming. Wooooosh! Here we go!

And since I haven't posted about Libby recently, let me tell you about the smartest, cutest, most wonderful 2-year-old on the planet. Libby talks most of the time in full sentences now (favorite phrases include: "Mama, what are you doing?" and "What's that in your mouth?"; Grandma and Grandpa's favorite sentence yesterday was when Emma grabbed Libby's foot with her grubby hands: "Emma's making a mess of a Libby!"). We've been doing a lot of gluing activities lately, and she is great at using a foam brush to put the glue on. She can spell Libby "L-I-B-B-Y" (or sometimes "L-B-B-Y"). That's also, by the way, how to spell "Emma" and "tree" and "Santa" ("M-O-O-N," that spells Christmas tree).

Happy Birthday, Peepers!

Martin and I have had dear, sweet, impish Emma in our lives for a whole year. A whole year of pursed-lip smiles with big, bright eyes snapping above. A whole year of wet kisses and slobbery salutations from the Queen of the Raspberries. A whole year of enjoying one chill little mama as she sits backs and enjoys the ride of life around her. As you can maybe tell, we're pretty besotted with the tyke.

She's getting to be quite the big girl, too. She says "Ma-ma" and "Da-da" and "bye-bye" and "uh-oh." She also likes to pull out a "muuhhh!" ("more") when asking for more food. She talks constantly with her hands, although I'm sad to report that we don't have a good video of it yet. She emphatically slices her left hand up and down next to her head. Very passionate. I think perhaps she's talking politics when she does it.

She's not walking yet, though. Quite the chicken on that front. Keep checking back, because I'm certain it could happen anytime. (Or it could not happen for months more as she continues to chicken out. Could easily go either way.)

Daddy pinches Emma.

Just give me some Kleenex to pull out of the box and a car to push, and I'm a happy girl.

Emma spent her birthday discovering the joys of crawling around the Cozy Coupe. In, out, in, out. Up, down, up, down. Push, pull, push, pull. (Susan -- Doesn't Eliza's outfit look adorable on her?)

Emma was in charge of putting the star on the tree this year.


Emma digs in to her birthday cupcake.


Poor Emma is always blinded by that cursed orange light our camera sends out before pictures. I can't for the life of me figure out how to turn it off. Help, anyone? (In the meantime, notice how Emma is so smart that not only is she reading at age 1 but she can read upside-down. We're pretty proud.)