What do we do on a nice sunny day?

We had a wonderful day last Wednesday. I was off with Ema and we spent most of the day outside. It was too pretty to spend inside. When Kirk got home Ema wanted to go ride on the golf cart and play gold with Ba'. If she grew up to LOVE golf he would be so happy!

What a way to spend St. Patricks Day!

Before Ema holidays like St. Patricks Day were not really that important to us. But now I feel this need to celebrate ALL holidays. So for St. Patricks day we made white chocolate covered pretzels with green sprinkles and gave them to grandparents and friends. (thanks Amy Beasley for the idea) :) Ema had an extra special day because her Pat Pat came and watched her while Kirk and I had to go out. Naturally, Ema got lots of prizes (that is what Ema calls presents)and had a blast. Thank you Pat Pat for watching Ema, she misses you so much!

Milestones

Well I do believe that Ema is GROWING UP! You would think that would make me happy but really, it makes me a little sad! You guys might think I am crazy but I can see her changing right before my eyes! First it was potty training- don't get me wrong I was glad to be done with diapers but that was the first step to her becoming a "big girl". Second was sleeping habits. Getting her to sleep in her own bed has not been easy. From birth she has had someone in her bed (so we were told). Bringing her here set her back a little and the crib thing just never really worked for her. After the toddler bed it was better but her staying in her bed all night was a problem. See, Ema is a rocker! She loves for me to ROCK her for naps, bedtime, and just for pleasure. I can see her now as an old woman sitting on her porch.....ROCKING! Our routine every night is dinner, baths, and rocking. Most nights it takes me rocking for 2+ hours and sometimes she is still awake. On nights when she does drift off to sleep, she goes into her bed, but if she is still awake, she is in our bed. This is mostly because by this point I am TIRED and just cannot rock anymore. Everyone keeps telling me, "When she is ready, she will get out". I never could put her into her bed and let her cry, if she wanted me to rock her I would and I actually love rocking her! I just didn't want her to be 6 and still sleeping with us. I may be speaking too soon but I think we have reached another milestone this week. Ema has slept in her own bed ALL NIGHT for 4 nights now! She is so proud in the mornings when we get her up and she is still in her bed! I swear, she will be going to college before I know it! :)
And today- this is what inspired me to post this! We ate lunch with my dad and when we got back home it was nap time. Ema crawls into my lap and like usual she says "rock the baby mommy", so I did. After about 2 minutes of rocking she kisses me on my cheek and says, "MOMMY, Ema want to lay down and she points to her blanket that I had ready on the couch" I put her down and off to sleep she went!

She is a big girl!

Can someone help me find my baby girl!

Today while I was off with Ema, I could not help but notice how much she is growing. Where did my baby go? She use to be the child that was totally dependent on us and that could barely speak English. Now she is a VERY independent little girl with a type A personality and who constantly tells me "I do it myself". She runs around here singing, cheering, and dancing and always makes me laugh even when I don't need to because she is being aggravating. She finds is easy to tell us "NO" but somehow cannot remember the meaning of NO when we say it to her. She is a never ending bundle of energy and I cannot remember nor do I want to remember my life before her.
I took these pictures today. As usual, she was wanting more Cadbury eggs after I told her no, so she gave me this look. She has been doing this a lot and has learned that it is too cute.

Happy Valentines Day

Valentines Day has never been a bog deal to Kirk and I. We might go out to eat and get a card for each other and that about it. This year, like everyone else, we felt like we needed to celebrate it for Ema. She was so excited when she got up and had presents. Who wouldn't be? Here are pictures from Valentines Day morning.

Ema's Prayer

Saturday we enjoyed our last Memphis home game. Ema had a blast this year at the games. She made it to all but three. Everyone around us loved watching her cheer ohhhhhhhh......T....I...G....E...R....S- TIGERS and her all time favorite song I'm so glad! We worried before getting Ema that she might not like going to the tiger games. Not a problem! Saturday when we got home we were getting our baths and Ema looked and me and Mommy Ema want to pray. SO I said OK and she began......

JESUS....um...um...thank you for mommy, Ba, Dee Dee Pops, Amy and Kiss (that's Chris)...Jesus Ema no more Titee games... no no...thank you Titee games. Amen! So Sweet!

Made me want to cry!

Family Night at the Richardson's

If you asked me what is something I enjoy doing with my family, I would have to say, spending time at home playing the Wii and listening to Ema laugh. Last night we had one of these nights. Kirk and I played the Wii and Ema joined in as usual. She is a little young for the Wii but her creative mind never ceases to amaze us. Everyone knows what a Wii controller looks like, right? Ema gets her pretend flat iron and that is her controller. Can you see the resemblance?



Kirk loves to play basketball and golf on the Wii. Ema joined right in. It was so funny because she would watch Kirk and then tried to copy everything he did.





She really thought she was doing something. She would say, go Ema, then she would say to Kirk, High 5 Ba'!





She is growing up so much. This time last year she was so little and very overwhelmed by all the new surroundings. She has come such a long way and has developed her own personality that brings us so much joy.

Our Surprise Snow

What a surprise, more snow! Now that Ema has her new boots, she can go out and play! We built our first snow woman. Ema wanted to name her Ducky. I am not sure why, but that is her name. She was a small snow woman but she was BEAUTIFUL.

Originally she sat on the ledge around out air conditioner but Kirk moved her under our Japanese maple tree right outside our breakfast window. Every night, Ema would go to the window and tell her good night!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIRK

We celebrated Kirk's Birthday on Tuesday. Most of you probably don't know this but Ema LOVES telling you HAPPY BIRTHDAY. We think it is because her birthday party last year was the most exciting thing she had ever been to so she loves Birthday's. For example, at night she will say.... I Love You Ma', Happy Birthday Ma'. I Love You Ba', Happy Birthday Ba'. It's really sweet. We think her saying Happy Birthday is like the ULTIMATE I Love You! She was thrilled when I woke her up and told her it was Ba's Birthday. She couldn't wait to get to him and give him her card!

SNOW DAY #1

Ema loves the snow this year. Last year we had just gotten home with her so she wasn't to crazy about it but that is not the case now. Our first snow day was not that great because Ema was getting sick and we wouldn't let her go out. At the time she just had the usual runny nose but that progressed into a low grade fever, then to a very high fever I could barely keep down, then to trip to the pediatrician on Monday to find out we have the FLU! It's one thing to be snowed in but to be snowed in with a VERY sick baby is another thing. Before she began running fever we did let her go out on the patio for about 2 minutes just to feel the snow since snow is rare here in Tennessee. Here are our pictures from our first snow day in 2010.






Ema kept telling me lay down momma! She wanted me to make a snow angel. Then once we came inside she wanted to call her Nanny and PawPaw to tell them that she went outside. She said Ema put hat on, Ema put gloves on, Ema put jacket on. Ema have no boots. So guess what.....Ema now has a cute pair of cotton candy Croc boots! That girl already knows how to work the grand and great grand parents!