Weekend Update

We have had a really nice weekend... Friday night Emily and Simon had a date at the Seafood restuarant at the Famer's Market. Actually both of them and myself brought along Chick-fila (but Emily did seem to like Andy's shrimp). Anyways, most of the time Emily and Simon just played in the rocks and ran around the picnic tables and then up and down the Farmer's Market. They always have fun together.

Saturday we got up and went on a walk. I have been trying to walk every morning before it gets too hot. Emily enjoyed having Daddy along with us this time and playing with him at the park. (We always stop at the park for Emily to play and for me to catch my breath!) Then later in the day, we washed our cars. As you can see from the pics, Emily really got into the car washing and had a good time. I am trying to load a video of it, but it is not working for some reason.

When I was getting ready to take her in, I took off her bathing suit to rinse it and her off. Somehow the nozzle got stuck and water was still spraying out of it without me holding it. Emily was in heaven. It was on the mist setting so just a light mist of water was coming out. She was screching and giggling while spraying it in her face. It was hilarious.

After that, we decided to reward her for being such a good sport while we washed the cars and get her some FREE ice cream they were giving away down the street. I told her we had to get ready to go get some ice cream and i have never seen her so excited. She definitely knows what ice cream is. She was running back and forth to Andy and I screaming "Ice Cream! Ice Cream!"

Since Andy loves taking advantage of free things, he insisted she get her own. I got her a push up that she loved. She sat very nicely on the kitchen floor and ate the whole thing. The sad thing is that Andy saved half of his and ate it after dinner. Once she saw him eating it, she ran and sat in that exact spot in the kitchen yelling "Ice Cream." Unfortunately she didn't want any of Andy's and we didn't have any ice cream in the house to give her. Lucikly I found some fruit chiller thing that kind of resembled ice cream, so she was happy for that.

Sunday wasn't as great because she woke up with a nasty cold and runny eyes. We went to church but kept her out of nursery. She has been in good spirits today, but she just looks so pitiful with her glossy eyes and red nose.

And one more thing... Emily has started to say her own name. I love it!!! I make her say it over and over again because I think it is so cute. I am going to try to get it on video tomorrow. It is so cute, because she says "Emmie" instead of Emily.

Beach!

We made quick decision Saturday morning to head out to the beach for the day. We would have gotten an early start, but Emily was up all night for some reason and then she slept in until 9 am. So we left around 10:30 and went to Wrightsville Beach for a few hours. It was pretty cloudy which intially I was bummed about, but actually it was way more bearable not having the sun beating down on you. We had packed a lunch so we ate that and then Andy took Emily out to the ocean. After a few minutes, Emily warmed up to playing in the ocean with daddy and then she had a lot of fun playing in the wet sand. She would find the ugly shells and scoop up some wet sand and bring them over to us so happy with what she found. She kept herself very busy doing this. She really enjoyed all the seagulls and kept screeching at them. I had a very relaxing time just laying out reading a book. We love that we are so close to the beach and need to take advantage of it more. It was a very fun (and cheap) day trip.

TRUCK!

Saturday we hosted a block party for National Night Out. It was a HOA event and they asked the police/fire departments to come visit each block party. Emily is really into pointing out trucks and cars as they pass by. She knows the difference between a car and truck and we are working on buses. She even can identify the sound of a truck (thanks to our neighbor's very loud truck!) from inside the house. Anways, she loved the fire truck that stopped at our house. I love the picture of her and Andy in front of the truck and the one of her standing next to the huge tire.

More cousin fun!

I am so behind on my blogging....but the good thing is that we are having lots of fun this summer!!

Last week, My sister Ashley came down for a visit with her 2 girls Leland and Lucy while her husband was out of town. We had a really nice visit. The girls played so nice together and it didn't taken any time warming up to each other since they were together for a week last month. Here are some highlights of their visit:

We went to the mall and played in the play area.

Then went down to Rocky Mount to meet mom for the day. I just happened to find a children's museum for us to meet at. It was a very fun find. The second floor of the museum had a open play area with a ton of toys. There was also an art center in the same building that had a stage and dress up clothes.

We went to the temple on Friday to see a friend from our church back home who was getting married. Ash and I chatted with the 2 sisters of the bride.

We are so glad the Gates family is back on the East Coast! We love you guys!

Curly Girl

As many of you can tell, Emily has absolutely stick straight hair. I decided the other day when we had no plans for the day to curl her hair. She stayed pretty still for me playing with makeup. It looked pretty cute flipped out, however it didn't last too long considering the humidity and naptime.

So I know I encourage all of Emily's girly-ness, but I am pretty sure she would be just as girly without my help.

D-I-V-A

What happened to my sweet little baby girl??! She has suddenly becoming this sassy little girl that knows how to get what she wants. Luckily she still has her sweet moments too. When we leave the house, she must grab her "essentials" - baby doll, sunglasses and cell phone. She definitely gets lots of looks as she struts her stuff through Target toting all her things.