All She Wants for Christmas...

This video was actually taken this past summer when she lost the second of her two front teeth, but I saved it in hopes of posting it now. I'm glad I remembered!

Avocado Festival

A couple weekends ago (on April 19th), the whole family (Mom, Dad, Sister, Ken, Kay, Kathryn, Stephen, the girls and I) packed up the van and headed to Fallbrook for their annual avocado festival.


I was actually a bit hesitant to go because it was so freakin' hot that weekend. But I met someone at Kathryn's birthday party the previous day who grew up in Fallbrook, and she said that the avocado festival is really nice, so she convinced me to give it a go. I'm glad I did. We all had a great time! We of course tasted the guacamole that was awarded the Blue Ribbon, and it was really good. Most guacamole is made with onions, and unfortunately this was no different. I loathe raw onions, but I put aside my hatred because I could tell that the avocado was really good, and it made up for the nastiness of the onion. We also tasted avocado ice cream, which wasn't half bad! Emily had a blast going down the big inflatable slide with Ken. She also rode on the Dragon Adventure ride. She was brave and decided to get on all by herself. Boy was she proud! It was fun watching her go around over and over again. She was SO excited. Em also got to decorate cupcakes with Ken and Kay at Elegance on Display (a cute little wedding cake boutique), which she loved. I bought a super-cute handmade, cloth "responsibility chart" for the girls. I hope to get a picture of that soon. (Unfortunately, we've already lost a couple pieces. Boo. I tried contacting the company to see if they'd sell me some extras, but they've yet to return my call. Double boo.)

Another pleasantry about the festival was the fact that we met a couple of very nice gentlemen while we were cooling down and watching Emily slide down the big inflatable slide with Ken. One of them (the guy with the hat) seemed particularly taken with Leah. He smiled at her, talked with her and laughed at her (in a good way, of course). He seemed like a genuinely kind soul. I just love it when I encounter people like him.

So yes, it was pretty darn hot, but it was pretty darn worth it!


[For the rest of the Avocado Festival pictures, click here.]


Oh, yeah... Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!

Easter

Sorry I'm late with the Easter post. It's the story of my life.
I think I'll keep it short n' sweet and make it a photo post!


My sister took this picture, along with many others. Stephen took one that's very similar, but Sister's came out much better. (Better photographer, better camera; what can I say?)



Here are my girls enjoying their first Easter together. I realized I never posted pictures from Easter last year, so now I'm trying to make up for that fact. Leah was only one month old at this point, and the poor baby had the oh-so-flattering baby acne that some newborns seem to get. I guess it comes from the mother's hormones or something. Anyway, acne or not, aren't my babies precious?



Here are my baby girls: both on Easter Sunday, both in the same outfit, and both about the same age. (The age difference is a tad more than a month. Em was a little over 15 months, while Leah was a bit under 14 months.) There's obviously a difference in hair length.
But other than that, what do you think? Do they look alike?

Hey... I just noticed the sandals Em was wearing. I wonder what happened to those. Oh, well; it wouldn't matter anyway, 'cause Leah hates wearing shoes!!


I'll end with this one. (No pun intended. ;-)


[To see all (and I mean all) of my Easter pictures, click here.
For Easter 2008 pictures, click here.
And for Easter 2009, click here.]

All-in-One

Below are thoughts that have been stewing around in my head the past few days for quite some time. Rather than write 30 separate posts, I decided to just post an "all-in-one". I warn you... it's overkill!

1. There's this blue bird that hangs out around our house all the time, and I've named him Bluey. Of course I can't be sure that he's the same bird every time, but I like to think that he is. He's very pretty. He has a bright blue streak that goes down his back and he has some of the same on his head. He has a whitish/grayish belly. He may be a Western bluebird, but I really can't be sure. He seems to have some black on his head and body, and it doesn't look like the Western has that. Anyway, whenever we go outside to play, he makes an appearance. I would love to get him (or make him) a birdfeeder. I like him very much and I wish I were a better photographer than this. Hopefully one of these days!


2. Emily starts soccer a week from tomorrow, and I'm SO excited! I can't wait to watch her first Pee Wee "game". (I say "game" because the kids are so young and are just starting to learn, so I doubt it'll be much of a game; it'll be more of a lesson, I bet.) She's going to play with her friend, J, who she's known since birth. Stephen and I met J's mom and dad at our childbirth preparation class in the fall of 2004. Lisa and I ended up having our girls only three days apart!


3. My parents' 50th wedding anniversary is a little over a year from now (in July of 2010). My brother and I were talking Thursday morning about how we really should start making plans! I need to create a Yahoo! group for us siblings so we can start researching, discussing and planning.


4. That same brother, Jaime, and his wife, Debbie, just bought a beautiful new home in Massachusetts. They moved in this week and sound very happy. (They're in the same town they were in before, so the kids didn't have to change schools, which is nice.) I'm very happy for them and wish we could go see the house (and throw them a housewarming party)!


5. Since he's on a roll, I'll mention one more Jaime thing. When he graduated from Harvard Medical School in the early '90s, PBS aired an episode of Nova which had, up to that point, been following several of his classmates, documenting their journies. That original episode was called So You Want to be a Doctor?. I remember getting excited when I saw my brother speaking in a scene or two. Anyway, when I couldn't sleep the other night and was flipping channels at around 2 a.m., I flipped to PBS and somebody caught my eye. I soon realized that he was one of the young doctors who was featured in So You Want to be a Doctor?. It had been years since I'd seen that original show, but I still recognized him. I watched this episode (called Doctors' Diaries, which is a follow-up on the doctors some 20 years later) as long as I could, hoping to maybe see my brother, but I never saw him (and I ended up falling asleep at around 2:40 or so). At one point I wanted to get up and go program my DVR to record the show, but I didn't, because I didn't wanna disturb Leah. Fortunately, Jaime gave my parents a heads-up a few days ago that the show was about to air, and they ended up recording it. I hadn't realized that it's actually a two-part show. I'm looking forward to seeing it in its entirety. (And in case you're wondering, my brother IS shown a couple times, but very briefly. His coverage isn't as good as it was in So You Want to be a Doctor?.)


6. I'm loving AI this year. I think the order should end like this: 1)Adam Lambert, who's from my neck of the woods, by the way, and is a BRILLIANT artist and performer; 2) Allison Iraheta; 3) Kris Allen; 4) Danny Gokey; 5) Matt Giraud; 6) Anoop Desai and 7) Lil Rounds. (Poor Lil Rounds is not very good. For some reason there was so much hype surrounding her in the earlier weeks of the season, and she was so overrated. She really isn't that great of a singer, and is a pretty bad performer, in my opinion.)


7. Facebook's addictive! (MySpace is obnoxious; Facebook, I like. And Twitter, I just don't get.)


8. Angie, one of my best friends, (we met during my short year in Illinois, when we were sophomores in high school), is over 35 weeks pregnant right now with her third child -- a (third) baby girl. Her babies tend to make early appearances, so Baby Girl J #3 could come any day now. I'm very excited for Angie and wish I could be there to meet the baby!


9. Fallbrook is hosting its annual avocado festival tomorrow, and we might go. I *love* avocado, and besides, it's an excuse to get outside and walk around with the kids in what I'm sure will be fabulous weather. Fallbrook's not my favorite place in the world, but for an avocado festival, I'll try to overlook its faults and enjoy myself. ;-)


10. Since I'm on the topic of food... a couple days ago, my mom made an old family favorite for dessert and sent some home with Stephen. (He picked it up from her house on his way home from work.) It's banana pudding with Nilla wafers, and it's yummy!! My sister, V, used to make it all the time when I was a kid, but it's been a while since any of us have had it. Thanks for making it for us, Ma!


11. One more food post... I want NEED to try this place. It made the list of the five top American burger joints on CNN... and it's here in SD! Actually, it's in OB. Their burgers look AMAZING. To DIE for. We MUST go. NOW.


12. Kathryn's 40th birthday is today (happy birthday, Kat-ryn!), and we're going to her party tonight. She's renting a bouncy house for adults. Did you catch that? Bouncy house. Adults. Adults will be drinking yummy Stone beer... wearing funny hats... and bouncing. I'm there!


13. It's springtime. What does that mean, you ask? It means Xyno's hair is falling off his body in mad chunks and it's time to get him shaved! It's times like these that I am SO glad we have our new floors. (I also feel surges of gratitude for these new floors when someone spills something. Now when we have a spill, we think, "What, a spill? No prob. Bring it on.")


14. Speaking of springtime, the Carlsbad flower fields look cool. We should go. Maybe next month.


15. Emily learned about camping from Olivia. After she watched that particular episode, she asked me if we could go camping soon. I looked at her and said, "What a great idea!" After all, it's been YEARS since I've been camping. I can't even remember my last time camping, it's been so long. (I was definitely a little kid at the time -- possibly when we went to Yosemite when I was 10 or so?) So seeing as how Stephen and I have never been camping together, and it's been so long since either of us has been, and seeing as how Emily's NEVER been, I thought it would be nice for us to pack up and go in the somewhat near future. I told Stephen what I thought and he thinks it's a good idea. He thinks we should start out on a small scale and choose a local site. Maybe he's right. (I was thinking we should venture far out, but I'd be willing to go close by.) We bought a nice tent years ago, and we finally might have a reason to actually use it!


16. Another thing we've never done, even though WE LIVE IN SAN DIEGO, is Legoland. I hear all the time that it's ideal for kids Em's age, and I do think she'd really like it. They even opened a *really* nice-looking aquarium nextdoor to the park which I'd like to check out. I happened to see it featured on an episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 (which I do NOT watch regularly, by the way; I just couldn't sleep one night and when I flipped to it, I saw that they were in San Diego, so I kept watching!) -- the Gosselins were on vacation here and they visited Legoland and the Sea Life Aquarium. They were actually the first-ever visitors to the aquarium; it wasn't even open to the public when they were there, but the officials let them tour it anyway. It's just all so gosh-darn expensive! Maybe one of these days.


17. Stephen and I are going on a date to see The Offspring in concert at SDSU's Open Air Theatre in early June. This'll be our fourth(?) time seeing them live. The last time we saw them was at Open Air, and I was about a week pregnant with Emily. (Didn't know it yet.) We really like the feel of OAT, because it's relatively small and kinda cozy. I'm looking forward to this!


18. G, my beautiful goddaughter/niece, turned 12 a few days ago. It happened to be a hectic day for me, and I tried calling her on my drive home from dinner out with friends, but she was unfortunately in the shower and would be in bed by the time I got home. I told her brother to pass along our love and "happy birthday", and that I'd hopefully talk to her soon. I'm glad I was able to send her a birthday card last week and that it got there on time!


19. Stephen's brother, Mike, has been coming to San Diego for business on a monthly basis lately. Sometimes the two brothers meet at a restaurant for dinner, and sometimes Mike comes to the house to see the girls. Emily always looks forward to seeing Uncle Mike. Whenever he comes knocking on the door, she hides from him and he has to go find her. He was just here the other night, and Emily enjoyed entertaining him like usual! :-)


20. Speaking of Lawlesses, it looks like all seven Lawless siblings and their spouses and kids will be descending on Oklahoma in August. I'm bummed because Em, Leah and I won't be able to make it. I'm glad Stephen's finally able to get out there to see his family and visit their properties, though. His brothers and parents have been out there for a long time, and this'll be Stephen's first time visiting, which is great.


21. I realized the other day that I haven't been to my OB for an annual well-woman check-up since my 6-week postpartum appointment after Leah was born. I really need to get on the phone and schedule that. (I'm surprised they didn't send me a reminder in the mail!) Oy, I also recently realized that I haven't scheduled Leah's 15-month well-baby appointment yet. Gotta do that first thing Monday!


22. How come when I feel like I'm "caught up" with my housework (like yesterday), I then slack off and let things go to heck again? On Tuesday I picked up and vacuumed in all the bedrooms, I swept and picked up in the rest of the house, I cleaned the kitchen, cleared off the hi-fi furniture piece in the entryway (the "hot spot" of our house), and cleaned the main bathroom. I felt pretty good about myself, but instead of maintain or tackle other areas, I totally vegged Wednesday, and come Thursday I was completely annoyed with myself. Speaking of cleaning house, I've heard good things about FlyLady, and I keep meaning to take time to thoroughly check out her website and ideas, but I never get around to it. Someday.


23. Another complaint... why is it that I feel like I'm exercising my butt off, but not seeing or feeling results? (I was doing so well with an exercise routine up until October of last year. For some reason I stopped working out, and I then went on to gain between five and 10 pounds between November and January. I'm just now getting around to doing something about it. Ugh.) I know it's only been a few weeks since I started a workout routine again, but I just hate how I don't see or feel any change. It's so discouraging. My gut says it's because I'm such a night-owl... I go to bed too late (and end up late-night snacking) and consequently I wake up too late, and I don't eat breakfast like I should. I don't think I eat poorly or too much; I just think I need to be better at my scheduling and I definitely should make breakfast a priority and I need to cut out night-snacking. The exercise isn't the problem (I've been enjoying regular activity, whether it's step aerobics or Tae Bo, and I look forward to jumping on the treadmill again really soon); the problem is eating right. *Sigh.*


24. The other day, I was reading a blog post written by a woman who's due to give birth to her second child any day. She said that a part of her wants the baby to hurry up and come out, but the other part of her knows that her first will be an only child for just a short while longer, so she's trying to savor every last minute of alone time with her. Reading this prompted me to think back to when I was due to give birth to Leah. I do remember making a conscious effort to lie down with Em and cuddle her. I remember trying to filter everything out and simply focus on enjoying her, because I knew our alone time was running out. They were beautiful times; precious moments. Until reading that woman's blog, I hadn't really thought about those days since they happened. I enjoyed going back and remembering what it felt like to enjoy my Em... when it was *just* Em. What's crazy is that we'll never have those days again.
    Along these same lines, I do cherish the time when Em's in school, and I get to focus on Leah alone. She and I do lots of cuddling and snuggling during those three hours twice/week. It's heavenly. I do it because I know time goes by so fast!


25. School has been SO GREAT for Emily. She's really thriving. Every Monday and Wednesday night, she looks forward to the following morning so she can go to school to see Mrs. M. and play with D, T, A, and all her friends. She loves it when they paint, and she still loves to "vacuum" her classroom. She also digs snacktime and playtime outside. Mrs. M. is a wonderful teacher (my goddaughter/niece, G, had her when she was in preschool, too), and Stephen and I are very happy with how Em's first schoolyear's been going. She's really come out of her shell socially, too. A year ago, she was literally hiding her head when we were in a social setting she wasn't comfortable with; but now she seems very confident, playful and friendly. We're thrilled!


26. I (we) really should be signing with Leah. She (and we) for some reason stopped signing poop after a while, and I never took off with milk like I wanted to. Just now we showed her the Mommy and Daddy signs. There's really no excuse not to do signs with her, especially now that I've found a nice site to refer to.


27. I *knew* I was a mom when I bought this. The first time I saw it at Costco I resisted, but a couple visits later I gave in to temptation. I thought, "This is the answer to transporting cakes and cupcakes!!" I mean, you know how you put cupcakes on a plate and then put Saran Wrap over the top, and the frosting comes off? Or you can only put one layer of cupcakes on the plate, because adding another row on top would also de-frost the bottom row? Well, this fixes all that. I actually have Snapware storage containers -- I bought a set at Costco one day, came home, cleaned out all my mismatched Tupperware, and vowed from then on to *only* use Snapware. (I gathered all the Tupperware and gave it all to my mom. Sorry, Ma.) Since that day, I've only had and used my Snapware... and I *love* it! It was a great move. Anyway, this cake/cupcake carrier is a Snapware product, so I'm pleased. It's great, too, because it comes with three tiers, and you can use one, two, or all three! You can even add on if need be! Oh, and I got it for a MUCH better deal at Costco. ($17 instead of Amazon's $25. Target's much more expensive, too. I think I saw a one-tier unit for $10 at a Target store.) I think this is such a "Mom" thing because I envision using it to take cupcakes to Em's classroom and such. Awwww. I'm a Mommy!! (Sometimes I still have a hard time believing it!)


28. My neighbor suggested I buy a long-handled dustpan for our new floors, since we now do much more sweeping than we used to. I bought one at Target (it was designed by Michael Graves) and I'm pretty disappointed in it. The concept is great (I hate bending down for my regular dustpan), but this model's not so great. The dirty stuff sweeps right underneath the pan and just ends up on the other side of it, rather than inside of it. I found one on Amazon that got good reviews... I'm debating whether I should return the one to Target and go ahead and try the Amazon one. (It's twice as expensive, and if I don't like it, returning it would be a bit harder since it's an online store, but I think I might go for it.)


29. Speaking of neighbors... I love ours! We live in a great neighborhood. I love our street (to be specific, our *end of the street). It's a pretty quiet area, and there's not a lot of traffic, which gives me peace of mind when the girls are playing outside. Even though it's pretty quiet around here, there are still kids around for Em to play with. In fact, two families moved into the house across the street (Steve, his daughter and their dog Scruff had to move out late last year, and we miss them, but I admit it's nice to have more little kids around for Em to play with). The families are related to each other: there are a sister and a brother and their spouses. Each couple has two sons: one's 5, one's 4, another was born just a few weeks ago, and one is due to be born in a couple months. Also, the nice couple who live two houses down have three grandsons (ages 7, 6 and almost 2), and those boys live just a couple streets over (but they're at their grandparents' house at least a couple times a week). They're very nice boys and Em loves to play with them. [As a matter of fact, she was playing with them today (they like to make believe in the playhouse), and I noticed they had a yucky cough. Man, I hope my girls don't get sick. I really don't want Em to have to miss her first soccer game next week!] Then there's Jean and Dearie, who I've known since I was born... their granddaughters (ages 10 and 8) are often over, and Em loves them, too. And THEN there's of course Dave and Lee, who have two kids: J (age 14) and H (almost 12). We've known them since we moved here five-and-a-half years ago, and we've always been pretty close. J and H are both very good with Em. So I feel very lucky to live around such nice people, and I'm thankful that Em almost always has someone to run around with outside! :-)
    * Down the street, it's not quite so peaceful. There's a house down there that's occupied by a bunch of older men who apparently like to drink, yell and play *really* loud music. And by play, I mean THEY do the playing. They break out their microphones, electric guitars and amps, and go to town. Oy. I'm SO thankful I don't live directly nextdoor to them!!


30. I wrote down 29 items, and I just had to write down a 30th, so here it is. Hmm. Did I mention I get to bed too late? It's almost 2:00 in the morning!!

Emily & David

Ever since her first day of school, Emily has been drawn to her classmate, David. David is an adorable little boy who just so happens to live down the street from Grandma and Grandpa Rivera. Em talks about David a lot, and she loves to play with him. Most days after school, she, Leah and I play with David; his sister, Rose; his brother, Joey; and his mom, Ann, in the playground. Fun times! :-)

Ann posted to her blog about Rose and the little boy she likes (his name is Joey, and he's in Em and David's class), and about David and Emily. It's an awfully cute post. I enjoyed it very much.

Thanks, Ann!

Little Miss Walk-About!

Last week was Leah's first week of *really* walking. Em loved for Leah to walk to her. It was SO cute.

For more videos of Leah's first steps, go to our YouTube site.

The Dentist

Emily went to the dentist on Wednesday. It was the second time she'd ever been; her first time was in September. I wanted to blog about that first appointment at the time, but it never happened. [What, ME not getting around to blogging? Preposterous.] I gotta tell ya, I was pretty nervous about how she'd do that first time. I mean, you never know what'll happen... a kid just might decide to shut his or her mouth, refuse to open it, and not budge... but Em did great. Actually, I think she thought the whole thing was kinda cool. Maybe it made her feel grown up, who knows? But she listened to directions very well, she did everything the hygienist and the dentist asked her to do; she was fully cooperative. I was so glad (and relieved!). At this second appointment, they reminded me that I should bring Leah when she's two years old so that she starts getting used to it early. Em was three-and-a-half when she went in for the first time, so I was worried that she wouldn't take too kindly to it, but boy was I pleasantly surprised. She was SUPER easy. It couldn't have been a better experience! Oh, and not only was she cooperative and easy, but her teeth did really well, too. No cavities (yay!), no tartar, no problems. The only thing was that not long before I took her in for that first appointment, one of her top front teeth developed a blue tinge. The dentist told me that she probably hit it on something at some point. He told me that more than likely it would be okay, but to bring her back in if she developed a pimple-like bump on it (which would indicate infection), or if it were to change. Anyway, it never got worse -- in fact, it's now much lighter blue than it was six months ago. (It's still there, but it's awfully slight.) I think it might be sorta common in little kids. Other than that, there were no issues. Everything looked great!

This time, however, the hygienist told me that there was some build-up on her lower, inner teeth (mainly the molars, I believe). She was able to get it off with her scraper, and then she told me that Stephen and I can continue to let Em brush her own teeth, but that we really should then go in and brush them again ourselves. I asked the lady (a young, very kind, pregnant woman -- the same woman you see in these pictures, which are from Em's first appointment in September) if she could help us out and tell Em that she's gonna have to let Mommy and Daddy help her brush. I think that helped. Now when she brushes, I tell her, "Okay, you go ahead and brush, but remember what the lady said... she wants you to let me or Daddy brush your teeth after you do..." and that's worked so far. Before this, she would let us brush maybe 50% of the time, but since her appointment, she's let us help her every time.

Other than the build-up, the hygienist (I can't remember her name, darn it!) told me that Em's teeth look great. Again, no cavities, no problems. Since she turned two, or somewhere around there, I've always been pretty good about making sure we brush her teeth every night before bed, and since she started school, we of course make sure to brush every morning before she leaves. I just hope she grows up understanding that it's very important to keep her teeth clean and healthy, and to do that she needs to brush often, floss, and go to the dentist regularly. Look at what a big girl my Pookies is -- and this was already six months ago!

Red Velvet Sweetheart Cupcakes

I never posted these pictures to Flickr, but since a year has passed, I might as well go ahead and share them now. Last Valentine's Day, my mom and I made cupcakes from a recipe I found in Better Homes and Gardens. Actually, the magazine was at my OB's office... I picked it up at my last prenatal appointment when I was pregnant with Leah! {Sniff, sniff.}
[And in case you're wondering, I did ask the receptionist if I could swipe the magazine. I politely pointed out that they had another copy sitting on the table, and she reluctantly said I could go ahead and take it. (Sheesh! ;-)]

Up until a few years ago, I had never had red velvet cake. I always thought it looked and sounded good, but I never really noticed it offered anywhere. When we went to New York City in 2006, we visited The Magnolia Bakery at my sister's recommendation. That's where I tasted my first red velvet cake, but surprisingly, I wasn't all too impressed. Nothing Bundt Cakes, however, has some pretty tasty red velvet cake. It's WAY better than Magnolia's! Maybe it's 'cause they put chocolate chips in it. ;-)

I love cupcakes. It seems a lot of women do. I don't wanna be sexist here, but whenever I hear someone say they love cupcakes, it's almost always (if not always) a woman!

So anyway, if you're in the mood, go ahead and try these! They're fun and yummy. I, in case you're wondering, am most definitely NOT in the mood. Em and I have been busy making Valentine crafts, and also cards that she's going to exchange with her classmates on Thursday. (Pictures of the crafts and cards hopefully coming soon.) I'm glad we made the cupcakes last year, 'cause it ain't gonna happen this year... and that's okay. This is the first time Em's needed Valentine cards, so that's priority.

If you do end up making these, be aware that you don't have to make the chocolate cookie if you don't wanna. My mom and I did, but we weren't planning ahead very well and the cookie ended up being too big to use as a pattern on our cupcakes! (D'oh!) To remedy the situation, we just made a pattern out of paper, placed it on each cupcake, sprinkled outside of the pattern with powdered sugar, and voila! We ended up with the desired red heart shape outlined with white powder. (I'm sure you woulda figured that out on your own, but just in case... ;-)

Oh, and in case it flew by for you like it did for me, let me confirm that my Munks does indeed turn one very soon. These pictures were taken on Valentine's Day, and I was 37+ weeks pregnant at the time. Leah was born five days later (at 38 weeks exactly).

Where, or where did the year go??

Em's Fourth Birthday Week

I've been meaning to post this for a while now, but I've been too preoccupied getting my house back together after the chaos of the holidays and redoing our floors. At least I'm posting this while we're still in January (speaking of which... how on earth did February sneak up on me so suddenly??)! I'm pleased to say that things are almost all the way back to normal (I only have a few loose ends to tie up), and I'm now feeling much better about the state of my home. We even finally moved the never-used changing table out of Em's room and put a ClosetMaid Cube Organizer in its place, which is wonderful because it holds some of her books, toys, and even things like shoes, socks and underwear. I hope to post more on that soon, but not now. This is about my now-four-year-old's special week!!

Emily's cousins, H, Z and G, were in town for Christmas and went home just a few days before her birthday. This has happened the last couple years, and each time we celebrated with them before they had to leave. Both times it's been a pretty simple affair, with cake and a few presents. Last year I believe we had a not-very-good store-bought cake, but this time Grandpa made his famous chocolate cake. Mmmm. (It had been a while since we'd had it!)

Martha came over and was so nice and thoughtful. She gave Em a present, but funny enough (and Martha couldn't get over this), Em wasn't eager to open it (or any other presents, for that matter). This happened at Christmastime, too, but not quite as blatantly. This time, she had a stack of birthday presents that, as Martha pointed out, most kids would've been begging to hurry up and open. But not Em. She just left them there, seriously forgetting about them. I guess she'd rather run around than open presents. Even after we sang "Happy Birthday" and cut the cake, she didn't ask to open them, even though they were right there in front of her face! After she ate her cake, she left the table to go do something else, and I had to call her back and ask her, "Don't you want to open your presents?" And then she did. :-)

She received a cute Guess What I Am! game and a cool Crayola Explosion Glow Board from her Aunt Mona, and Martha gave her a nice Junior Chef enamel cookware set for her little house. For Christmas, she gave her an Easy Bake Oven, and our friend Lee gave her a Melissa and Doug Slice-and-Bake Cookie Set that she can pretend to bake. All of these gifts were given with the playhouse in mind!

The day before her actual birthday was her birthday celebration at school. Coincidentally, she was also chosen to be the Star Helper that day. (Each schoolday they pick a name out of a hat, and that child will be Star Helper the next schoolday. The Star Helper gets to lead the class in line, share something special with the class, ring the bell in between sessions, be first to do certain activities, etc.) She looked so cute with her birthday sticker and Star Helper sticker on her chest, AND her huge birthday hat on her head. I could tell she basked in the glow of all the attention she received that day! (Leah and I joined the class for the final hour so that we could watch them sing "Happy Birthday" to Em and to watch them enjoy her special birthday cookies that she and I had oh-so-lovingly made the night before.

Stephen had the following day off, which was her actual birthday. It was his first Friday off as part of the new "9-80" program they voted in at work. Nice timing! (Unfortunately it was only one of TWO, because now he's back on EWW, which is Extended Work Week. Oh, well. 'Twas good while it lasted.) I had been wanting to take Emily out for a special birthday lunch and outing, but I couldn't figure out what we should do. Finally Stephen had the very good and cute idea of taking her to IHOP and ordering the "Create-a-Face" pancakes, because he thought she'd enjoy that. He was right. She loved it! In fact, while enjoying her special pancake, she exclaimed, "This is the best lunch EVER!!" :-) After lunch (well, really it was brunch), we went back home for a few hours and then Grandma and Grandpa brought over yet another cake. This time Grandpa baked a *citrus cake (we call it a "rainbow cake" in our family) because they thought Em would get a kick out of the different layers and colors. There are three layers: yellow (lemon), orange (orange) and green (lime). It's made with the rind from those fruits, so it truly does have the flavor of lemon, orange and lime. It's pretty good! Personally, though, I'd almost always reach for the chocolate. ;-)

After cake and two more gifts -- my friend Angie sent her some *adorable* clothes and a dress-up doll, and Stephen and I gave her a tub full of fun Crayola stuff (all kinds of different crayons, markers, pencils, glitter glues, Silly Putty) -- we then went on our outing. We decided to take her roller skating! It was a surprise to her (she didn't know where we were going until we got to the rink), and when she realized where we were, she was pretty excited. She saw the roller skates behind the counter and couldn't wait to put on a pair!

Stephen got his and her skates on, and as the two of them were about to enter the rink, our friends Lee, J and H showed up. (We invited others, but it was a very last-minute event, and no one else was able to make it.) It was nice having Lee and the kids there. They helped make the night a lot of fun. At first, Em was very hesitant to get out into the rink. Actually, she refused. But all it took was watching her daddy and H skate around once or twice, and then she agreed to go with them. It was amazing to watch her go through all the stages of learning:

1. At first she didn't want to skate,
2. Then she wanted to skate holding onto both of Stephen's hands,
3. Then she wanted to skate holding only ONE of his hands,
4. Then she wanted to independently skate alongside him,
5. And finally, she wanted to skate ALL by herself -- as in, she didn't want Stephen to even be in the rink. (We of course said 'no' to that one, because she most certainly would've been mowed over by the big kids!)

It was a classic progression. It was pretty cool to watch.

Poor Stephen took a pretty big tumble fairly early on in the evening, and his right wrist bent backward to the point where he got a pretty yucky sprain. (Unfortunately, we didn't think to put wristguards on him until after the fact.) He's still wearing a brace, but he'll probably start weaning off of it pretty soon.






So that was Em's Week! Her birthday felt a bit more special to me than past ones, probably because this was the first time she was really aware of everything that was going on. It was a really fun Christmas, too, for that same reason. She understands so much more nowadays, and that makes these sorts of things a bit more magical.


* This is similar to the recipe my parents use, but not exactly the same.

Here are all the pictures from Em's birthday week.

From her birthday celebration with the cousins:




Unfortunately, I messed up these videos from her birthday celebration at school. I took them with my regular camera (not my video camera), and I zoomed in and out, which I guess I wasn't supposed to do. But at least they capture the idea of what was going on, and of course, the audio!

Photo Throw

UPDATED:
01-22-09




Stephen and I ordered this photo throw from the Costco Photo Center for my sister for Christmas. We uploaded her favorite photo of the girls onto Costco's website and ordered from there. We're very pleased with how it came out. The image is not glued on; the threads woven together are what create the image. Cool, huh?

[Below is the photo we used to create the throw.]



I know I talk about Costco ALL the time, but there's good reason! They offer really nice services, and at such reasonable prices. In addition to the photo throw, we also ordered some photo calendars from them, and they came out really nice, too. I highly recommend this photo service!


[Click on the photo to see the large size, or click here to see the original size, which shows more detail.]

Cinderella

Stephen took Emily to see Cinderella on stage at Patio Playhouse, a cute little community and youth theatre in Escondido. Stephen's boss' children were in the play, which made the occasion extra special. Before the play started, Emily told Stephen, "I've been to The Phantom of the Opera, and you have to be quiet." :-)

She sat through the entire 2-hour play and enjoyed the characters, costumes, singing and scenery. During intermission, the little girls got to go up to try on Cinderella's glass slipper. Upon returning to her seat, a few people asked Emily if the slipper fit, and she proudly replied, "Yes, it did."

Here is an article about the the girl who played Cinderella. She's a senior at Rancho Bernardo High School, and she won RB Idol, which is funny because Stephen said she sings very well and should try out for American Idol!
(The girl to the right is the one who played The Fairy Godmother; not Cinderella.)


And here are the rest of the Cinderella pictures. (There are only a few.)

Happy Fourth Birthday, Emmy!!

Happy Birthday, Pookies!

You, my precious baby girl, were born on a very stormy January day. [No, really! We were having a very rainy season here in San Diego. It was more rainy than I ever remembered it being! It was storming the night I went into labor with you (a tree was down in the street, blocking our way to get to the hospital!), and it rained all the day you were born. It was beautiful. It's amazing -- good things always happen to me in the rain. It was raining the day I married your daddy, it was raining the day I gave birth to you, and it was raining the day I gave birth to Leah. It's quite appropriate, too, because I love the rain!]

I remember snuggling with you in those early days. I was afraid to breathe on you because you were so tiny and new. I loved the way you smelled. You smelled so sweet and familiar. And you were so beautiful. I used to just sit and stare at you in awe.

Now you are quite the little lady. You love, and I mean love wearing dresses! Every day you ask me for one. You have a need for your clothes and shoes to match. If I give you something to wear and you disapprove of the color scheme, you'll say, "Mommy, this doesn't match." It's a riot!

You're so kind and happy and helpful. You love your baby sister. Whenever Leah gets upset, you break out in song, usually to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" or "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider". And what's wonderful is that it always works! Leah adores you and responds so well to you. When you sing to her, she stops and listens. You smile at her whenever you see her, and in the morning when you wake up (she's usually still asleep), you ask me, "Can I please touch Leah?"

Whenever you do something adorable, or I just look at you and marvel at how gorgeous you are, I ask you, "Emmy, why are you so beautiful?" and you reply, "Because I love you." Many times you'll say to me, "Mommy, do you know I love you?" out of the blue. And when I give you the "I love you" hand sign, you flash it right back at me.

You love going outside to ride your tricyle (your new Big Wheel!) and play in your little house. You run around with the neighborhood kids and laugh and play. You cut paper, draw and color so well. (I couldn't believe how well you stayed in the lines the other day!) You love watching your favorite shows: Max & Ruby, Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!, and lately Toot & Puddle; and your favorite movies: The Phantom of the Opera, The Nightmare Before Christmas and WALL-E.

You really enjoy school and seeing your teacher (Mrs. M.) and all your friends (mainly D.!). Every Tuesday and Thursday morning when I wake you up at 7 a.m. and I ask you if you want to go to school, you reply with a nod and a "yes". At school, you love playing with puzzles, and you like to vacuum. During playtime outside, your favorite thing to do is to play in the sandbox. You like snacktime. Every schoolday, I pack a Gogurt and a string cheese in your snackbox. They're your favorites. Whenever Leah and I arrive to pick you up, you always greet us with a gigantic smile. One would think you hadn't seen us in weeks!

You're such a fast learner. You catch onto everything so quickly, like your Big Wheel (a few people in the neighborhood watched you riding and said, "Wow! It didn't take her long to catch onto that, did it?"). Or like tonight, when we went rollerskating for your birthday. You started out not wanting to go into the rink, but soon you went out there with Daddy. Then, before I knew it, you were wanting to let go of his hand and skate beside him. And then, shortly after that, you wanted to go out alone! (We didn't let you though, 'cause you could've been run over. ;-)

You say the funniest things, like when your dad was on his way out the door to go to work on a Saturday, and he was wearing a regular t-shirt, and you said to him, "You're wearing that to work?" Or when Daddy drove past our house today and you said, "Daddy, you missed!" Or when out of the blue you said to me today, "Mommy, you were right. It's not gonna snow."

You delight your grandma, grandpa and auntie with your wit and charm. They just love being around you.

And so do your daddy and I. We love you more than life itself. We are amazed by you and all you do, and we are so thankful that you're in our lives.

Thank you for being our pride and joy. Thank you for being our special little angel!

Love always & forever,
Mommy & Daddy

LawlessLand

In an unprecedented move, and in honor of her 4th birthday tomorrow, Disneyland is dedicating its entire Kingdom to Emily Lawless!!!

Playhouse

Emily has a new house! (Really it belongs to her and Leah, but Leah's a bit too young for it at the moment.) We bought it back in April (yes, from Costco), but poor Stephen wasn't able to build it until Thanksgiving weekend. We're grateful! [We were thinking of waiting to build it for Christmas, but Stephen's thinking of putting in new floors at that time (yes!!), so we didn't want to cram this in, too.]


Here's Em, posing in the side patio with Hannah.












She was eager to get her kitchen things in the house. She put her cups, toaster and coffee maker in there and was ready to serve!








I love the flower pots, the window with shutters, and the "deck" area to the side, where Emily has her little outdoor chairs. Stephen did such a great job with the flooring. (The house itself has this really awesome snapping-tile wooden flooring that we ordered from Costco; there's a red brick in the side patio; a lighter-colored brick at the front porch; and the wooden flooring extends to the side "deck" area.) I never realized how creative he is!



Here's Em checking her mail...











... making coffee...













... and watering her flowers.












We all love the playhouse! Isn't it a little girl's dream?