Chanukah

Mimi and Papa came to stay for a couple of days and celebrate Chanukah with Emma. She got some wonderful toys, and some mom and dad wish might disappear due to noise/mess level. Here she is with her new karaoke machine (which she really only likes to meow in for some reason):

Here she is with her very own digital camera (watch out paparazzi, here she comes):
And with her new basketball hoop (she is actually not bad, considering her parentage):

And finally, having fun reading instruction booklets with Papa:

And, last but not least, here she is being a perfect hostess with her brand new tea cart:

Thanks for coming to spend time Mimi and Papa and for all the great new gifts!

Christmas Day with the Kellehers

We spent Christmas Day with Grandma's side of the family. Emma modeled another one of her pretty dresses!


She spent some time opening presents with her cousins (and again was more interested in the wrapping paper than the toys).


And we even manage to take another family picture (though this is the only one where most everybody had their eyes open, even though we took approximately 80 pictures).


It was great to see everybody!

Christmas Eve with the O'Shea family

On Christmas Eve, we went to the O'Shea family Christmas party. Emma looked very pretty in her red dress! (Oh, and she made sure to wear her jingle bell too, just so you could hear her coming.)


She sat on Santa's lap, and we're very happy (and awfully surprised) to report that she didn't burst into tears.


And finally she had a few drinks and snacks with some of her cousins, away from Mom's prying eyes.


(Note that the beer bottle in front of Emma does NOT belong to her!)

Christmas Eve at Grandma & Grandpa's house

Emma had a great Christmas weekend in Chicago. On Christmas eve, we spent the morning with Grandma, Grandpa, and Emma's cousins (oh, and her aunts and uncles too). She had a lot of fun opening presents...


Playing with her cousin Dave's guitar (we are definitely going to have to give her one for her birthday)


Playing with her cousin Dave's hockey stick (Are you sensing a theme? Other peoples' presents are more fun than yours!)


And we even had the chance to take a picture of the whole family.


The grandparents with their grandkids:


And finally, Alexis, Dave, and Emma. (Dave isn't really interested in being photographed - he just wants to get back to his hockey sticks.)

Drummer Emma

Emma got a her first secret Santa gift. It was a wonderful small electric drum set. Emma couldn't wait to play it, not even until it was out of the box. Thank goodness it seems to be a little temperamental and doesn't always make the electric noises as mommy and daddy already have a headache from it:

Fun in Chicago

We went into Chicago for Christmas on Friday. And boy is Emma having a ton of fun. Grandma made lots of cookies for decorating and Emma enjoyed helping daddy decorate a few (notice the copious amounts of green sugar on Emma's cookie that indicates daddy's failure to closely monitor at all times:

Taste testing the cookie:

The aftermath of eating so much frosting:

Here she is with her cousin Dave going for a daddy ride:

Posing with Grandma:


And enjoying some time with Grandpa:

Merry Christmas, Part 1

We had our family Christmas before leaving for Chicago. Emma was much more interested in her gifts this year. Here she is sitting in her brand new sled, just waiting for snow:

With some new clothes:

And pulling the presents out of her stocking:

And here she is opening her "Tomato Head:"

Happy Chanukah

We celebrated Chanukah with Emma and boy did she have fun. Here she is enjoying her Kugel:

And with her very own Menorah:

And "lighting" her menorah:

Thanks for my own menorah Mimi!

Catch!

Emma is learning how to catch (it is very slow going). Here she is playing ball with daddy:

Cookies!

Emma had a cookie decorating party with her little friends. It was tons of fun, especially the frosting. Here she is with her best friend Maria, both covered in frosting:

And her friends Evan & Adele:

And finally, here is how she really decorates a cookie:

Poor Cassie

Despite a million toys, Cassie will always and forever be Emma's favorite toy. She is such a good dog to put up with all of the abuse. Here is Emma attempting to "dry" her:

And Cassie hiding in shame:

Lazy days

Daddy finished up work for the semester on Friday (or at least his class stuff). So on Saturday he and Emma enjoyed a "lazy day" together:

Early Chanukah

Mimi and Papa will sadly be gone for the start of Chanukah (and we wish them a very happy vacation). So they brought Emma a few early Chanukah presents to enjoy until they get back. Here she is opening the presents:

Trying to figure out what to do with piggy travel pillow (this one isn't her favorite yet):

And enjoying her favorite present, an Emma sized Lazy Boy:


Thanks for the great gifts Mimi and Papa. Have a great cruise!

Bathing

Emma has a little bathtub for her baby doll. She has discovered that she just loves giving her toy dolphin a bath:

Princess Minnie

Aunt Stephanie bought Emma a great Minnie hat when she went to Disney World about a year ago. Emma has finally decided she likes it and now mommy can't get it off of her:

Thanks for the great hat Aunt Stephanie.

Snow day

We had wonderful snow this past weekend and mommy took Emma out for her first play in the snow. Mommy had fun making snow balls for Emma to play with:

Emma found it difficult to stay on her feet with two snowballs:


And watching Emma have difficulty figuring out how to walk in snow with her new boots on:

Mommy even taught Emma how to make a snowball. We need to work on the throwing part though:

And finally, here is mommy putting Emma to work doing the outside chores (Emma hasn't yet learned that it is not fun to shovel):

Tree Trimming Part 2

Emma got a special treat; she got to add the candy canes to the Christmas tree with Mimi and Papa. Papa was an excellent helper, lifting Emma up to the proper spots:

Here she is admiring her beautiful work and approving of it:

And finally, taking a sneak taste of her first candy cane:


Thanks for helping Mimi and Papa, it was lots of fun!

Tree trimming

We put up our tree yesterday and Emma was a huge help (not counting the couple of ornaments that got broken, oops). Here is Emma hanging some non-breakable ornaments down low:


Helping mommy hang some:

Helping daddy reach way up high (Emma's favorite place to put them all):


And finally, once she got tired, she helped Uncle Mike supervise and look for bald spots: