Animals

Monday the kids didn't have school because it was Columbus Day. Maddi had Maddie spend the night with her Sunday night and Cade spent the night with Jack. Monday we went with the Hjelle's to the Brookfield Zoo. It was a gorgeous day and perfect for the zoo. We took our wild animals and saw some other animals too. For some reason, my kids are always hungry right when we get to the zoo. So, we stopped and had lunch right after we got there. Cade and Gavin...

Maddi and Maddie...

and Miss Emalyn. The Hjelle's are adopting a little girl from China and should get her in then next 8-10 weeks. She turned 2 in May so Emalyn and their baby, Elena, can be friends too one day.

Yummy pbj for this animal.

Whenever we go to the zoo, we really don't see that many animals. Probably because it's so big and we are either too tired to see them all or out of time. Most of the animals were out and very active so it was fun. This hippo was making his way into the mud pool.

There were 5 giraffes out behind the kids here.

A zebra horsey as we explained it to Emalyn. They are so pretty!

Emalyn being held by her Sissy. She made Maddi hold her for quite a while. I kept trying to get her to let me hold her, but she wanted nothing other than Sissy.

Part of the reason we didn't see so many animals was because they played at the park for a while and then we waited in line for ice cream for a while. Oh well, they were having fun and it's what they wanted to do.

Look at that face! I should mention too that Emalyn is wearing her signature look of mismatched socks. I don't really even notice anymore but as I was showing Brett the pictures, he pointed them out.

I love this picture of this sweet girl.

We saw the bears and that was fun because they were all awake. One of the bears even took a big poop for us. Even Emalyn is still talking about it. Then Lynn took the kids to see the penguins while I walked Emma around in her stroller. We saw this random peacock and after I put the camera away, it had mysteriously disappeared. I was glad to see the picture was on my camera because I started thinking I imagined that thing. Weird. Emalyn crashed out in her stroller and Cade fell asleep on the way home in the car. All of the kids were worn out and had a great day. It was nice to be able to catch up with Lynn too. Thanks Columbus for a great day off of school!

A Scarecrow Tradition

This morning, we drove to St. Charles to continue the fall tradition of going to the Scarecrow Festival. Brett was thrilled to learn that Emalyn will wear headphones on occasion to listen to her movies. That means we get to hear the radio instead of the movie. Maddi pretended to put headphones on so then Emalyn wanted headphones too.

We stopped in a store where they had a clown making balloon animals, cookie decorating and popcorn. Emalyn wasn't so sure about it all, so I decorated her cookie and Brett and I ended up eating it too. Her sweet face shows that she's trying to figure out if it's fun or not.

Talented multi tasking lollipop eating cookie decorators!

Some of our favorite scarecrows from this year:
Emalyn with the crazy hair ladies just like hers.

A larger than life kitchen sink from Colonial Cafe.

Maddi doing a scorpion like the yoga scarecrow.

The smurfs, including Papa Smurf!

ET!

Next stop was the craft stations. Maddi enjoyed the crafts...

...while Emalyn, Cade and Brett sat a table and let Emalyn color. It was such a gorgeous day. It would often "rain leaves" and we all decided fall is one of our favorite parts of living in Chicago. The trees are so beautiful and the weather has been perfect. We know to take time to enjoy it because old man winter will be here before we know it.

The kids picked out a snack. Maddi chose a caramel apple and Cade got shaved ice.

Brett got a corn dog and fries.

Sweetness!

Emalyn sampled everybody's snacks, starting with sissy's apple.

Moving on to sample Daddy's french fries.

She decided Bubba's shaved ice was her favorite.

More please Bubba! I say it all the time, but I am so thankful we had Emalyn for many reasons. One of my favorite things has been watching Cade with her. It's brought out a whole other side of Cade I never saw before. He adores her and would do anything in the world for her. I knew Maddi would be so wonderful with her and she totally is. It's been so fun seeing how great Cade is with her too. We are very blessed to have 3 wonderful children!

Not sure if I mentioned this before or not, but Maddi's PE teacher from the past years is writing a book about childrens interactions with special needs children for his Ph. D. Maddi was one of 10 kids selected from over 1200 kids that the teacher has taught over the years that was especially kind to the special needs children. The teacher, Mr. Rider, came to our house yesterday to interview Maddi, Brett and I. He was here for over 2 hours and asked all kinds of questions about Maddi and how/why she acts the way she does. We basically said that we can't explain it, but it's just a gift that Maddi has. She is an incredibly kind child and has the most tender heart. The teacher said that although the kids that Maddi has been especially kind to might not ever say thank you, he thanked her for acting the way she does. Maddi doesn't act this way hoping to get noticed or rewarded, it's just who she is. However, she was very happy and proud to be comended for her behavior. It was one of those parenting moments when you feel so happy and proud of your child. Maddi is not perfect, none of us are, but she is a very special little girl and I can't wait to see what kind of wonderful things she does in her life!

23 Months!

Time keeps flying by and this little cutie pie turned 23 months on Thursday! In less than a month, she'll be a 2 year old. She certainly knows how to act like a terrible two year old. Ha ha!

She can also be a little sweet heart, as you can see in this picture. Look how she's holding onto Daddy's finger. She is certainly a fan of her Daddy and enjoys her time with him on the weekends. This is an example of her choice in clothing. Getting her pjs on is one of her favorite things. She opens her drawer and gets so excited coming up with her combinations. Tonights outfit was two shirts and one pair of pants that are too short.

I used my barrell brush to blow dry her hair tonight to try and show how long it is. When she wakes up in the morning, her hair is so crazy. It sticks up all over the place. She burrows herself into the bumper pads when she sleeps so the front part gets esecially crazy. She looks at herself in the mirror and said Emma, crazy hair. I always wet her hair and brush it and put it in a rubberband before we go downstairs for the day. She even has opinions about what color rubberbands we use. Sometimes we have to use 2 or 3 colors too. She will remember what color/colors of rubberbands she's wearing during the day too. I'm just thankful she actually likes to have her hair done. I would not know what to do if she wanted to wear her hair crazy all the time!

Emma and Daddy were catching baby grasshoppers today. I was shocked that she even held them. That's why children need a mom and a dad. I would NEVER catch bugs with her! She's very into calling things babies. For example, she takes baby bites of her food, she caught baby grasshoppers, she calls her food baby grape, baby cracker, or whatever if it's a smaller one. It's amazing to see what all she is learning and how her little mind is just soaking up everything around her.
All 3 kids got flu shots Tuesday. We decided that Maddi and Cade would go first and they would tell Emma how fun it was. Thankfully they are both old enough to not be afraid of shots and they totally acted like it was fun. Emma got her shot and she didn't even cry. She had a look on her face like, "what just happened?" but she didn't let out a peep. She got a Hello Kitty sticker like her big sissy and she was happy. We were all amazed! We'll see how she does with her 2 year old checkup. I'm guessing since her big brother and sister won't be there it won't go so easy. We love you almost 2 year old baby girl!

5 Things and Farm Fun

A few random things:
1. Yesterday was the 11th Anniversary of my dad's death. It still breaks my heart today that he's not here with us to see all 9 of his grandchildren. It was also my newphew Paul's 10th Birthday and I am still so amazed at how God's timing is perfect. He gave our family such a blessing on such a sad day one year later.
2. Cade's fall baseball season is over. They had their first playoff game last night and lost 3-2. He was up to bat with the bases loaded and 2 outs and he struck out. Ouch! I was so nervous for him and felt so badly for him when he didn't get a hit. They ended up going another inning so it wasn't the last play of the game, but still, I felt bad for him and his team.
3. Last night when Emalyn was in the bath tub, Cade saw her and couldn't believe how long her hair is wet. He asked if I could straighten her hair so she could wear it long because she would look so cute. I'm not straightening it, but how cute that he even cares what his little sister looks like.
4. I saw a post on facebook today about how this winter for Chicago will be the worst in the nation. Awesome. Not.
5. This morning, Emalyn and I met our playgroup friends at Kuiper's Family Farm. They have an apple picking side and a pumpkin farm side. We started off at the apple side and bought some apple cider donuts. I had never had apple cider donuts before moving to Illinois and that's one reason I'm glad we moved here. Delicious! This was Emalyn's first taste of the donuts and she liked them!

I decided I should take a picture of her in front of the measurement side so if this becomes a tradition, I'll have some early pictures of her. She's almost 3 feet tall!

While we were waiting for all of our friends to get their donuts, we played on the horsies and tractors!


Then we headed over to the pumpkin farm side. First stop was the corn box. I hate sand boxes, but the corn box was cool. Same concept but not so dirty. These were the girls in the group today, Ashlyn, Emalyn and Lucy. Emalyn loves to talk about Ashlyn.

It took a little time, but I was impressed that Emalyn got in the corn box and got a little dirty.

This was the whole group today, 7 little ones.

Next, some of the kids went on the jumping pillow but Emalyn had duck races with Lucy...

...and Noah. She loved the water.

Then we went over to the barn where she posed on some hay and then we fed the animals.

She really came alive when we were with the animals.

Kisses for Noah.

She still doesn't know how to hug, it's more of a strangle. ha!

I told her to hug Noah by the cow and she ended up tackling him to the ground. They both fell down and got all dusty. Oh, Emalyn, silly girl.

Emma loves when we see horsies on our drive to/from dance and swimming. She was thrilled to see one in person at the farm.

Then it made a loud sound, and she was a little freaked out, and then laughed.

"A white goat", is what she's saying.

"Another one white goat"

"Black goats cute tail." Ha. That girl loves her colors and her animals.

We ate lunch and then made a quick stop at the pumpkin patch before heading home. Now she's saying "another one orange pumpkin". She would NOT smile, just kept talking about the things she saw.

We found a baby pumpkin she could hold. I love her tiny shadow in this picture.

We bought two pumpkins with our coupons and then stopped for a picture. I am so thankful that I have one on one time to spend with Emalyn. I often find myself rushing around from here to there and dragging her along with me. Yesterday instead of errands, I took her to story time at the library. I almost cancelled today to get things done but I'm so thankful I took the time to go. I'm trying to remember to slow down and enjoy life and especially this little one before she's all grown up.

The big little girl by herself. Cutie pie.

And now a kiss for the pumpkin. She was crashed out within a few minutes after leaving the farm. I'd say she had a good time.

Picking our Battles

We are learning to pick our battles with Miss Emalyn. Something tells me she will be saying "leave me my lone" in the near future. This little girl is full of independence and is as stubborn as they come. She happens to remind me of myself, only some days I'd rather not admit that. She can be sweet as can be or she can be not so sweet.

This morning before church it was time to get dressed and Brett really wanted her to wear her Cowboy Cheerleader dress. Not what I'd normally dress her in for church, but I know it makes Brett very happy to see his little girl supporting his team. He showed her what she was going to wear and she told him no, she's wearing her pjs. I don't think she didn't like the cheerleader outfit, it's just that she was really happy with her pjs she was wearing. She chose her pjs last night and it included two shirts with her pj pants. She was really proud of her pjs and she did not want to change. I fought her tooth and nail and eventually got her pjs off and her church clothes on. Cade found it all very entertaining, by the way (Maddi was still at her sleepover party), Brett and I not so much. I declared victory in that battle and was happy.

The next battle, I chose not to fight and let Emalyn win. I tried putting white ruffled socks on her with cute little tennis shoes. She demanded her own choice in socks and her pink crocs. Here she is putting on her beloved crocs.

And look at that face! She's so proud. When Brett saw her choice in shoes/socks he said she should at least have matching socks, but I told him I'd rather send her like she was because it was obvious she chose it herself. Believe me, it was hard for me to let go and send her to church looking like this. I've always made sure my children matched and looked decent even when we aren't going anywhere for the day. This little one is going to challenge me and make me grow, I'm sure.

How can you not love this sweet face?!? I was telling Brett that I've always been interested in birth order but after adding this little one to our family, I'm even more fascinated. For one, Brett and I are different parents with her. She's just not at all like Maddi and Cade. Perhaps I just don't remember, but Maddi and Cade weren't anything like this little one. Maddi still struggles with making decisions. Oh, what a long fun journey we are in for!

Another battle we didn't even try to fight...Brett got her dressed for bed. She found her yellow shirt and her plaid pants in the dirty clothes hamper and added her floral shorts. Notice the fancy shoes to boot. She doesn't just have opinions about her clothes. She ate 3 gogurts for dinner because that's what she kept asking for.

Oh, Miss Emalyn, you make life so exciting!