In the Life of Emery

(this post has been in the making for a while now...like since the late summer months. But I still want to post it!)

Oh this girl.

She loves acorns. Speaking of which, here's a fun acorn treat recipe we recently made together.

She reminds me how exciting small things can be and how fun life is when you're not always keeping track of the minutes passing by and the next thing that needs to be done. She says and does the funniest things! She wants to be doing and going alllll the time and one of my favorite things about her is her imagination. Here's a smattering of fun quotes, stories, and adventures in the life of Emery.

Emery: Mom, Maybe if I wear my sunglasses, it will keep the thunder and lightning out!
(she hates thunder and lightning).

She's picking up on lots of uh, terms, lately..."Mom, Cam is just chilling out in his car seat" and "that pumpkin is legit!"

Some days I think we should speak a little better English. But she often corrects her daddy and his weird words ("Dad, it's tomaTOES, not tomatees."), so I guess we're doing something right.

Recently, we found a little caterpillar and brought it home to see if it would make a cocoon and hatch into a butterfly. When we asked Emery what we should name it, she said "Water." "Water? Are you sure?" We asked. "Yep, I'm sure." Well, little Water became quite the pet. Before going to bed at night Emery would ask questions like "Dad, what color is Water?" or "When I wake up, can I look at Water?" She constantly wanted to watch him in his little plastic-container habitat and was always saying "Water's so cute!" We eventually decided to release Water back into the great outdoors, with Emery's blessing of course (at one point I thought he died, and then his lovely little habitat started smelling, and I did some research and found out he would become a moth, not a butterfly, and well, apparently a caterpillar is a little too high maintenance of a pet for me. Bad news, since I really want a cat someday).

Saying "farewell" to Water

For our Family Home Evening a month or so ago, we went on a walk to catch butterflies. Emery was so excited to use her butterfly net. Hopefully the neighbors didn't mind us scoping out their butterfly bushes. Pete eventually caught one and we looked at it for a while before letting it go.

Whitney (best friend since 3rd grade) flew from Utah to visit us in Atlanta and Emery went with her on the huge Ferris Wheel that has recently been put in downtown Atlanta. I was a little nervous Ems might get scared, but Whit said she loved it!

photo from: http://www.ajc.com/photo/news/july-15-2013/pwF3h/

One day, Emery recited her version of Cam's birth story to me: "Mom, you had a baby in your tummy and then he popped out and I kissed him like this....Muuuuahh! He's so cute!" She is still taking the Big Sister role very seriously, and sometimes a little too seriously: "But Mom, I'm a big sister to go in the road BY MYSELF!" and "I'm a big sister. I'm not scared of anything. I'm braver than everything."

We all drove to the temple together as a family so that I could nurse Cameron right before going in. Emery loved being on temple grounds and seeing "Captain Moroni" (she won't say Angel Moroni for some reason) and playing with dad at the park during the session.

Once our morning run is over and we're back to the gate at our apartment complex, Emery is allowed to get out of the stroller and she runs the rest of the way to the sidewalk near our apartment where we do our stretching. She's a fast runner and an excellent stretcher..."Mom, I just need to go on a little run, my muscles are pretty tight."

The tennis court is our playground. Right outside the apartment, the tennis court has provided endless hours of tricycle riding, puddle jumping, ball bouncing, and running for little Ems and her friends. Nearly everyday, she asks to go play in the tennis court.

Probably the thing Emery spends the most time doing is taking care of her baby doll (right alongside me taking care of my baby Cam). She lays on her bed to nurse her doll, makes her rice cereal, reminds me to be quiet when her baby is sleeping, etc. She's going to be such a good mom someday! I'm realizing how important it is for me to be a good example to her. She often tells her "baby" word for word things I say to Cam: "Hi little guy! You're so cute!" and "Mom, my baby's eating good for me!"

She also spends a lot of time playing with playdough (my favorite recipe here)

I love this little lady!