Emma adores her Daddy but she doesn’t always show it. Sometimes though, if she knows something special might be coming, like a trip to Goodberry’s for custard, she is EXTRA sweet to him. Daddy of course, won’t complain….he’ll take it when he can get it:)
Here’s proof of how sweet & loving she can be:
Emma LOVES to jump around. Here is a picture of her jumping in her playroom:
Emma had a wonderful time at Art Camp. Unfortunately after completing her 3rd day, she got sick so she was not able to finish the week. She was so excited to go that she still woke up on the 4th day and asked if she could wear a bikini to preschool. The 4th day was “water day” and she was really looking forward to it.
Her teachers were wonderful and her very first school experience was a success! I’m so proud of her for being so independent and confident. She was a real trooper!
Here are some painting she brought home from art camp:
It’s tough to think that Emma is so big already that she is ready for Preschool. It seemed just a little while back, that this day was WAY in the future. Well, it’s here and Emma couldn’t be happier:)
Although “real” preschool doesn’t begin for another 2 weeks, the preschool that Emma will be attending, mandates that the kids complete one week of summer camp so that they become familiar with the school, teachers, classrooms, rules, etc. So today was that first day for Emma. She had been counting down the days. When Mark and I went into her bedroom this morning, she was still sleeping like a little angel. We looked at each other and realized that our “little baby”, wasn’t a baby anymore. She woke up with a big smile and excitedly got up and was ready to go. Obviously we had been prepping her for this day by reading books about preschool and what to expect, as well as talking to her about all she would be doing.
When she first walked into the classroom, she was a little bit clingy and shy, but that only lasted like 2 minutes. As soon as she saw the classroom centers with playdoh, paint, dyed-colored water, and mini-furniture, she knew she was in a FUN place. We helped her put her backpack into her cubby and she let us know she was ready to paint. She has 2 teachers- Ms. Sandy and Ms. April. We got our hugs and kisses and let her know we would be back in a little while and she let me Ms. Sandy put a smock on her as she prepared to paint a beautiful blue picture.
As Mark and I watched from the door, I could see her talking Ms. Sandy’s ear off and laughing as she had a conversation with her. I could see just how HAPPY she was and how ready she was to finally begin preschool.
At 1:00pm, we picked Emma up. She was at the reading center looking at “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”. She saw us standing there, smiled, and quickly got up to come and hug us. She had sidewalk chalk all over her pants, so right away, I knew she had had a wonderful first day of preschool.
Ms. Sandy and Ms. April both told us that she had a great day. They said Emma was the only one that knew that the bowl in the story, Mouse Paint, said- Cat. They were very impressed by her and said she was very “advanced”. They definitely thought she was prepared for preschool.
Emma didn’t give us too many details about her first day but she seemed to really enjoy herself. When we asked her if she played in the playground she said, “No, we played in the sandbox instead because it was too humid outside”:)
July 13, 1996 is a day I will remember forever. Why? Because I married the Love of My Life. Today we celebrated our 13th Wedding Anniversary. I am so blessed to have Mark as my husband, my partner, my friend and my daughter’s dad.
Emma, when you get older and are ready to date (which I know is many years away- but time flies so I gotta let you know) I hope you will look at your Dad and realize the wonderful man and father that he is. Don’t ever settle in life. Know that you deserve to be happy and in order to be happy, you need to find a partner that has all the wonderful characteristics that your Dad has. Finding the right partner to share your life with is very important. Once you find that person, you will learn that you can overcome all obstacles together.
May God always bless you and protect you my Little Sloth! I Love You and Daddy with ALL my heart!
If you are still smiling after 13 years, you know you found the right partner;)
We had a wonderful 4th of July with our great friends and neighbors, Ted, Lisa and their daughter Emma. My sister, Anamarie, surprised me and came up for a few days to visit and my Mom also showed up. It was great catching up with my family and our friends. Emma LOVED watching the fireworks but was frightened by the loud exploding sounds. Although she had seen the fireworks once before she didn’t remember it. We were fortunate to have a great view. Here are a few pictures of our day.
Emma and I going down the slide:
Emma loves to draw and paint. Most of her drawings are scribbles at this point but she enjoys herself and is always so sweet to make one picture for Mommy and one for Daddy. Recently she drew me and actually did a pretty nice job….I mean it had a circle for a head, eyes a big smile and even some blue bangs. Alright, so my bangs aren’t blue, but she drew them in there, showing attention to detail:) I was impressed that it actually looked like a cartoon person vs. the usual scribbles.
On Wednesday, she wanted to use her easel so I set it up for her and to my surprise, she drew herself. She even drew some blue bangs on herself to match the ones she had drawn on me. This is the first time she attempts to draw herself so I obviously made a big deal about it and we hung it up in her playroom along with all her other drawings and arts & craft projects. For 3 1/2 years old, I think it’s wonderful!
On Sunday Emma was helping me water the plants when all of a sudden, we noticed a large snail in one of the flower pots. Right away she asked if she could keep it as a pet. I thought about it for half a second and then answered, “Sure”. What could I say? I never thought of a snail as a pet, but really, it can’t get better than that. A snail is pretty much hassle-free. Emma was SO excited to bring Snaily (that’s what she named him) in to show her Daddy. She eagerly showed him her new pet and told him that Mommy said we could keep it for a pet;)
On Monday, we went to Target to get a home for Snaily. We found a bug park from Fisher Price. It’s so cute. You can actually control the Ferris wheel and teeter totter by turning the wheel that is located on the outside. So you can assist your bugs when they decide to ride:)
Today, I went to the garden to pick some fresh leaves for Snaily and guess what? I found Swingy. Now Snaily has a partner. So far so good. They seem to be getting along very well. Swingy swings her entire shell from side to side when she walks- kinda like Ursula the Sea Witch moves her hips, in The Little Mermaid. So, there you have it….Snaily and Swingy, our pet snails.
Emma finally got to see the ocean! She was very excited. As we were walking on the sand toward the water she said to me, “Mommy, how come there’s so much sand?” I tried explaining to her that the sand was all part of the ocean and so were the shells, etc. She told me that she thought the sand was only going to be in the water. It was neat seeing her reaction to the water, waves, all the sand, seashells, birds, etc. Experiencing new things with Emma is always so much fun and eye-opening for me as she makes me aware of all the little things in our world that I sometimes pay no attention to or even take for granted.
She really enjoyed collecting seashells, building sandcastles and digging.
The sound of the waves made Emma pretty nervous- she is very sensitive to loud sounds. She was so intimidated by it that she wouldn’t even touch the water. She finally agreed to go into the water if her Daddy carried her. After about 20 minutes, she began to slowly stick her toes in the water, then her legs, and eventually her entire body. Before we knew it, she didn’t want to get out of the water.
We also visited a fishing pier so that she could look down into the ocean. The view was truly amazing. She had a wonderful time exploring the seashore!
Emma loves animals so I planned a visit to a local farm. We went with Emma’s friend Alex and her mommy, Erica. The girls had so much fun. They played with 2-week-old mallard ducks, fed the goats, emus and pony, walked around the 10-acre farm, and even rode the tire-swing at the end of the tour. We were lucky to have the farm owner, Mary, to ourselves as we toured her farm. This particular farm had 2 emus, 2 llamas, a bunch of goats, 1 pony, 1 sheep, 4 baby ducks, and a bunch of chickens. We had a wonderful time!
