New chair

Grammy and Papa bought Emma an easy chair so that she had a comfortable place to catch up on her reading. Here she is, tucking into one of her new books.


Thanks, Grammy and Papa!

The Oak Lawn Childrens' Museum

Emma went to the Oak Lawn Childrens' Museum with mom, her grandma, and her cousins. She had a great time!


It turns out that she's not the greatest piano player, but she's very enthusiastic. Here she is playing with her cousin Alexis, who apparently is a bit shy.


Here's one with Mom in front of a cow (which she and her cousins later tried to milk, unsuccessfully).


Finally, she spent some time brushing one of the stuffed animals in the toddler room.

Emma playing on the table

I was going to include this in an earlier post, but had some issues with the blog software. Oops. Anyway, here's a video of Emma playing around with her Grandma on the table!

Hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Emma had a fun week at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Chicago. She spent a lot of time with her cousin Dave, investigating the contents of Grandma's cabinets. Note the strings on some of the cabinets - by the end of the week, she had also figured out how to untie some of them!


She also discovered that she really enjoys sweeping. I hope that she keeps that up for a while - it could be very helpful around the house once she figures out how the dustpan works, too.


One night, we all helped to brush Emma's teeth. She started out doing it herself...


But eventually let Grandma help out...


She also helped us make appetizers and desserts for the various family parties. And by 'helped' I mean 'actively hindered'. That said, she got her first real taste of a few different kinds of sweets, and it turns out that she really likes them - surprise, surprise! After she figured that out, she was very eager to help clean up, by licking the bowl.


Not pictured: Emma trying to dive into a mostly-empty bowl of pie filling. (Picture not taken because the photographer was trying to keep her from getting into the bowl.)

Christmas

We had a great Christmas in Chicago this year, and we're just now getting around to putting up some pictures. We went to the O'Shea Family Christmas party on Christmas Eve, and the Kelleher part on Christmas day (as well as opening presents on Christmas morning with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Christie and her family, and Uncle Scott).

Here's Emma and Melissa at the O'Shea family party


And Grandpa, with his little granddaughter in tow.


Emma really enjoyed her gift from the Christmas grab bag!


On Christmas morning, Emma had a blast opening presents - not just her own, but other peoples' as well. Here she is, standing in the box that held one of Daddy's presents, about to toss it overboard!


And, despite having tons of gifts of her own, all she wanted to do was peek through the play tunnel that her cousin Dave received. It WAS a lot of fun, though!


The Kelleher party was a lot of fun as well. Here's Emma in her Christmas outfit - thanks to Grammy and Papa for giving it to her!


Emma playing with her cousins, away from mom and dad for a few precious moments.


And, finally, Grandma and Grandpa with all of their grandchildren (one of whom is actually looking at the camera).


Merry belated Christmas, everybody!

Merry Christmas!

Emma is really excited about Santa coming tonight. Can't you tell?


Merry Christmas!

Lunch with Aunt Stephanie

We went downtown to meet Aunt Stephanie for lunch earlier today. Emma seems a little unsure about the whole situation...


But, eventually Aunt Stephanie won her over by letting Enma drink out of her water glass.

And, finally, Emma gave Aunt Stephanie her seal of approval, and showed the rest of us where Steph's mouth is.

Emma with her mom

No clever post here, my mom (Grandma Jean) took a great picture of Melissa and Emma and I wanted to post it. :-)

It's snowy out!

Let's stand at the window and watch daddy shovel!

Alexis' birthday!

Emma's cousin Alexis turned 5 yesterday. We celebrated by going bumper bowling. Alexis bowled like a champ!


And was VERY proud of her bowling abilities.


Emma also did some bowling, though she mostly bossed her mommy around. She was very picky about the bowling ball that was used.


And helped mommy bowl, with cousin Dave supervising the whole process.



Here's Emma, admiring "her" throw.


Dave got bored with bowling pretty quickly, and was happy to sit by the sidelines munching on some graham crackers.


Eventually, Emma got bored too, and she and Dave started wandering off. Here's mommy, fresh from retrieving our two little bowlers from offering advice to the people in the lane next to ours. They were very nice, but I don't think they needed a bowling coach!


And, finally, all of the kids (and grandkids) at Christie and Cort's house, after having a bit of Alexis' birthday cake.

Homecoming

Melissa went to California for a few days for a funeral. I picked her up from the airport last night, and we got back to my parents' house around 10:30 at night. Emma had just woken up and was being consoled by my Mom when we walked in, and Melissa took over. I think both of them were very happy to be back together!

Christmas, Part I

Emma and Daddy have been in Chicago since Thursday night, and Emma has been having a great time. She's been getting spoiled - here she is after a glorious dinner of mac and cheese:


Grandma and Grandpa managed to get all three of their grandkids to sit still long enough to take a picture of them (no small feat!)


Here's Alexis playing with Emma (Dave was off causing trouble elsewhere)


Daddy reading "5 little monkeys" to Emma, who was busy taking notes on how to jump on the bed


Last night we got together to decorate cookies (sadly, Emma fell asleep right before we started decorating, but the rest of the crew was awake). Uncle Cort (far right) was very happy to have his picture taken.


Grandpa had so much fun that he needed to take a quick siesta to re-energize.


And Uncle Scott... well, we love Uncle Scott.


Finally, here are the cookies. Emma missed the decorating, but she was happy to help with the eating!

Emma's new boyfriend

Emma has a new boyfriend - Jack, the boy next door! Every morning, Emma and Mommy go next door with an apple. Emma likes to share her apple with Jack (well, sometimes)


And when it's time to go, she gives Jack a little kiss goodbye!


Emma's a big fan of Jack, as you can tell. Daddy thinks it's time to invest in a shotgun!

Christmas, Part I

We're going to be in Chicago for actual Christmas, so we had a little family Christmas on Sunday. Here's the Christmas tree, with Sammy looking out the window for Santa right next to the tree:


Emma surveying some of her presents, and starting to peel up the corner of one...


Cassie giving Emma a little kiss under the mistletoe!


And, finally, Emma opening one of her presents (it's Play-Doh!)

Decorating the Christmas tree

Grammy and Papa came over today to help us put ornaments on the Christmas tree. Here's Grammy with Emma, with a pre-decorating cookie.


Emma really liked helping with the ornaments. She's very fond of handing them out to people to put on the tree, too (she prefers to be the boss, apparently).




Though she did help Daddy put up a candy cane!


The whole family, in front of the Christmas tree. More than half of us are looking at the camera, which should be considered a major victory.


Emma with her stocking. Last year she actually fit in her stocking. This year, she's both too big and too wiggly for that to be an option, but we can hold it in front of her for comparison purposes. (This is the picture of her in the stocking from last year - she fit with room to spare!)


Finally, we celebrated a successful operation with a post-decorating treat. We let Emma try a few bites of chocolate (not something she usually gets to eat), and she was a huge fan!