Celebrate

My Sweet Emmalee Caroline is officially a year old.  I still can't believe it even as I type it.  It doesn't seem like its been an entire year since I brought her home.  Actually, it was exactly one year ago today that she came home...April 17, 2011.  I remember bringing her home like it was yesterday.

Getting ready to leave the hospital.  She looks so tiny in her seat.

Parenthood has been an amazing journey - each day you learn something new and watch your precious child grow and learn.  It seems like they change everyday, and they certainly grow up way too fast!  Nothing can compared to the joy Emmalee has brought to our lives.

To celebrate as a family, Brant and I both took off work yesterday to take Emmalee on her first trip to the zoo.  I, personally, think going to the zoo every year for her birthday would be a fun tradition.  Yesterday was perfect weather - high of 76, partly cloud with a slight breeze.  It was the perfect kind of Zoo-Day!
 

Here are a few pics from our day!

I love the color of the bird.  It stands on one leg & looks almost like a miniature flamingo!

Getting ready to go inside & see the reptiles & amphibians!

This tiger was so beautiful!

One of my personal favorite - the white tiger!

 

This is probably my favorite picture of the day. I love how Brant is explaining to her what an elephant is! She was very intrigued by them!

So precious!

Em had so much fun when we would let her "explore" on her own.  She would look and point at everything and say "That?"  Its her favorite word these days .

The Jaguar!

Well I hope the tradition stick and that we have another fabulous trip to the zoo when our little angel turns two!

Springtime

The weather here in North Texas has been really beautiful lately, expect for a huge of tornadoes last week - that was a bit scary. 

Anyways, a few weekend ago we were stuck at home because Emmalee had Hand, Foot & Mouth disease (which she kindly shared with her mother, but that is a completely different post).  So Saturday afternoon we were having some cabin fever and it was so gorgeous outside that we took Em out to play. She had so much fun playing and exploring!

 (WARNING:  PICTURE OVERLOAD!)

He is Risen; He is Risen Indeed

 I love Easter - I love the weather, the songs and the praise, the family, the food, the eggs and candy, and especially the meaning - I just love it all!   Emmalee was only 9 days old on Easter last year and it was her first day at church (yes, I took my baby to church when she was only 9 days old because I WAS NOT going to miss church on Easter Sunday).  She technically, she has had two Easters before she was even a year old!  HA!

On Friday, Brant and I both had to work, so Emmalee went to stay with "Special K," aka Brant's sister Kristie.  So Em got to spend the whole day playing with her cousin Aeson and got spoiled rotten!  And I love it - I love that she is so loved by all of her family and that she can spend time with and play with her.

Kristie sent this picture of the kids playing on Friday!

Saturday Emmalee and I had a play date with our good friends Baylor (and Baylor's mommy Leslie) and our friend Elizabeth (and Elizabeth's mommy Sally).  I love watching Em play with friends and watching how the all interact.  That afternoon Em and I went to a massive Easter Egg hunt at Crossroad Christian Church with Sister and her family.  When we got home our daddy was home for work so we spent the evening relaxing after our busy, but very fun, day!

Sunday was a fabulous day, too.  It all started off with checking out what the Easter Bunny brought us.  He brought new pj's, a cute new swimsuit cover-up, some Teddy Grahams, animal crackers, pacifiers, and a new sparkly ring rattle. 

 We went to church to praise our risen Savior!  I get goosebumps every time I think about it - how He died on a cross for me but overcame death and rose again.  He is ALIVE!  What glorious news!

After church we went to my parent's house with my sis and her fam and had a huge Easter egg hunt with all the kiddos, then a delicious lunch.   Then we just let the kids play and have fun together.

Let me just tell you that I LOVE seeing Emmalee with her cousins.  First of all, they adore her, but she adores them too, especially her Mason.  She grins from ear to ear when he walks into a room. But Ethan and Kate can always make her laugh, and Connor just dotes over her and makes sure that she has everything she could possibly need.  During our egg hunt, Em thought it was fun just to rattle the eggs - she could have cared less about gathering them in her basket (she had no idea Momma needed some of that candy!) - so Connor and Kate started gathering eggs for her and putting them in her basket.  Connor wanted to make sure Em had plenty, and was so willing to share everything he had with her.  It just melts my heart to see all of them together.

I am so thankful that Brant and I both have family close that get to spend time with Emmalee. Even though Brant's parents don't live in town, they definitely try to come and see Em as often as possible. 
 
Well I hope you and your family had a wonderful Easter weekend as well.