My little Monkey!

Emmy LOVES animals and is really into making animal sounds these days. While I was out of town this weekend, I guess she and daddy perfected the donkey, which I had personally never thought to teach her, which is funny because we drive by a farm just a few miles from our house everyday and she loves to look at them. Check out the video of her cute little sounds!

Singing Girl!

Miss Emmy has really been into singing lately. She has started to remember a few songs like Old McDonald & Twinkle, Twinkle, so she loves to belt out a tune from time to time. Yesterday I caught her singing while I was making her dinner, so I quickly grabbed my phone so I could capture it on video. I had to keep pretending I was checking my email because she kept saying CHEESE (guess I take a lot of pictures) - such a ham she is! Click below to check it out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luQwJV8dqz0

Spending Time with Sadie!

Sara (otherwise known in our house as Sadie) came to visit for a few days before she and Nana & PP headed up to Maine. It was the first time Sara came by herself and it was a fun visit. Andy happened to be out of town for a day so we had a lot of girl time. We went out to ice creams, dinners, made trips to the park, visited friends and even took a trip into the city to meet Corey's (Jared's girlfriends) parents. Emmy loved having Sadie around and so did I! Here are some highlights from the trip.

Playing at the Park

LOTS of Tea Parties!

Hugs for Sadie at Brunch :)

Shopping & Babies!

Miss Em LOVES her babies and she loves to pretend she's going shopping. She especially likes to tell us, she's taking Daddy's car, going shopping or to Emma's house (if you remember, Emma is her imagination friend, who she still ADORES). She loves her babies so much that she even loves to sleep with them. Andy loves to call her the octomom because at any given time there can be at least 3-6 babies in her bed. Thankfully they are small so it still leaves her plenty of room to stretch out.

Today she piled all the dolls in a shopping cart and did her thing. Seeing her do this gave me an idea for our trip later that day to the grocery store. I remembered that they have the small carts for the kids and I had always thought she was too little, but after today I thought why not! When I told her she could push one she got so excited. I then later realized I might regret this decision because the girl is such a creature of habit, that I might have created a monster for when I really need to do a big shop, but I decided her smile was all worth it! She pushed her cart with such glee, stopping each time I needed to put something in and even managed not to knock over one display or run into anyone's feet - I would say that's a successful first trip!

If you look closely you'll see a baby in this shopping cart too!

Playing with Friends

Watching Em and her friends is so much fun to watch! They usually parallel play, but more and more they are starting to play together. They are silly, sneaky and sweet all within a matter of 5 minutes. They are starting to have conversations with one another, Emmy is beginning to remember more and more of their names, even asking for specific people which is really cool. For a little glimpse into the lives of two 2 year olds, please check out the video below...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9ySPrPEhOo

Let the training begin...or I guess continue!

So Emmy has been asking to use the potty here and there for the past few weeks. She had some M&M's while we were at the Cape and those seem to be doing the trick. She goes through days where she is totally into it and days when she's not. I'm still not pushing her because she's little, but it certainly does make life a little easier. We are also taking advantage of the fact that it's summer and she can run free in her birthday suit. Some of the perks for me are being able to stare at a really cute tushy all morning long! We recently bought some pull-ups and I was explaining that we don't go pee pee or poop in our pull-ups, which she kind of understands, but we are still working on. She has started singing a really cute, no pee, pee or poop in the pull-up song that I'll work on videotaping soon. Until then, you can enjoy the tushy below :)

San Diego in the Summer!

To end off our whirlwind month of July we took a trip to San Diego for cousin Alex's Bar Mitzvah. I was very excited to go, but very hesitant about the long 6 hour plane ride to get there. Andy and I were thankfully to be traveling with my parents, Corey & Jared just to have the extra hands, plus Em loves all of them so we knew she would be excited to be with them. She was a rock star on the plane both there and home! Besides the Bar Mitzvah festivities and all of the eating we took a trip to the San Diego Zoo, spent the day at the beach, and of course enjoyed the company of our family. Emmy was especially excited and had so much fun playing with cousins Catie, Alisa, Nicole, Jayda, Lucas, David & Alex. She and the girls pretended to paint their nails, do each other's hair and just had lots of fun together. It warmed my heart to see all of them together. Looking forward to the next big family gathering!

Pretending to be Seals at the Zoo!

With Cousins Catie, Alisa & Lucas

Dancing at the Bar Mitzvah!

Birthday Girl!

So I know this birthday post is LONG overdue and I do apologize for that. I was only home the entire month of July for 10 days so you can imagine it was a busy, busy month. I am going to work over the next few days to get caught up on my posts but I am sorry for the delay...

We spent Em's birthday & 9 other days in Chatham, MA with Sandra, Christian, Payton, & Christian's Mom. It was such a great trip and very relaxing. It was nice to be together as a family, but also share wonderful times and memories with some of our closest friends. The girls got a long great (besides a few fights here and there) and were so happy to spend so much time together. We went to the beach and even made some progress there. We now realize that Emmy doesn't like dry sand, but is a huge fan of wet sand and the water, so thankfully we were able to enjoy those parts of the beach. We even had family photos taken by a professional photographer, which came out beautiful. If you want to check them out you can see them here: http://www.kmlphotography.net/pickpic/gallery/jump.php Find Sachs/Camp Families and the password is Ridgevale (case-sensitive). Here is a birthday video of the girl on her special day..

Since we were in the Cape for her actual birthday we celebrated with Mimi, Papa, Nana, PP & Aunt Sadie when we got home. Then throughout the week she would get presents in the mail or while visiting friends that I was beginning to get a bit worried that she thought her birthday was going to continue forever. Thankfully the birthday process has slowed down now and she seems to understand (as well as a 2 year old can) that now her birthday is "far away" as she keeps telling me!

Carnival Time!

Tuesday night we went to our local carnival. Last year we took Em and she had a good time, this year she (and I) had a GREAT time! I took her first on a little dragon ride and she was not happy and a little scared before it started, but it didn't even take one loop around the track for her to be totally into it and having so much fun! She was mad when we had to get off, but I told her there were so many more fun rides to experience including an elephant and with that she was sold. They even had these little bikes that the kids have to ride themselves, which I was positive she wasn't going to do but wanted to let her try anyway. I put her down, walked out of the gate and two seconds later I hear, "mama, mama" with this kind of confused sounding voice. I said, "over here, Em", thinking oh crap I have to go back in and get her. Instead, she looked me dead in the eye, lifts her arm way above her head and says, "Hi, Mama", with a huge smile on her face. This smile stuck with her the rest of the ride as I stood with Andy and my parents in complete amazement. We rode 5-6 other rides, won a nemo stuffed fish in a water squiriting contest and found out she is NOT a fan of cotton candy, which is totally fine by me, but loves carmel apple with peanuts. So much fun! I'm hoping the weather holds out at least one more day this week so we can go back!

I LUSH Daddy!

Last week Andy was traveling for work and had to stay overnight in Detroit. Emmy LOVES her Daddy, (i mean who wouldn't!) and always misses him when he's gone. She does however, seem to understand when I say he's away for work rather than just gone for the day. She knew Daddy was on a "hairplane" as she calls it and whenever we would see one in the sky she would say, "Daddy, Daddy", it was too cute. After his overnight, we were talking to him from the airport. As we were about to hang up, as I always do, I said, "Emmy, say bye Daddy, love you". We always tell her to say I love you, knowing full well she won't, but hoping one day she would. Well today was the day, she said I LOVE (came out Lush) Daddy! It totally melted Andy's heart and mine too of course. She has now said it a few times to both animate and inanimate objects, but it doesn't matter to me! She LUSHES ME!!!

First "Real" Haircut

Now I know I have taken Em to get a haircut a few times before, but after today I would now say she has had her first official haircut. She sat in the chair (verse on my lap) for the first time and Leah (hairdresser) was actually able to cut all of her hair, including the bangs and Emmy was amazing! She had been asking to get her haircut for a few weeks now after I had casually mentioned that Charlie needed to get his haircut. Since that day, she had repeatedly been asking and I figured since we are taking family photos in July this is a perfect time to get it done. Emmy absolutely LOVES Leah (she talks about her all the time and even wanted to invite her to her birthday party) and she is so sweet and patient with her! I would say today was a huge SUCCESS!

BEFORE!

AFTER With Leah!

Order Up!

For some reason (maybe because we eat out too much) Emmy LOVES taking orders. She has been really into drawing for a while, but in the past week or so this has turned into order taking. She will following you around the house saying, "order, order, mommy you order". It's very funny! The other day we were meeting friends for a picnic lunch so we stopped at the local deli to grab some food. I ordered my sandwich and she choose to have a grilled cheese. My sandwich was done first and in the bag and the woman from the back rang the bell and said grilled cheese. The cashier was busy helping another customer so at the top of her lungs Emmy yelled "order ready, order ready" as if the woman didn't hear the bell ring. Apparently Emmy didn't think she was moving fast enough. Everyone had a nice chuckle!

Here is a preview of the order taking...

Friends!

We met some friends the other day for a walk around town and then we sat under a tree for a bit and just enjoyed the warm, sunny weather! Emily loves her friends and is starting to remember people by name and ask for them which is really sweet. She has always loved her baby dolls but now also really loves real babies and always wants them to sit on her lap. I have one friend whose daughter is 7 months old and such a good sport about letting Emmy "hold" her. Emmy loves it so much that she doesn't even mind when Addison tries to pull her hair. Hope she doesn't start crawling anytime soon or Miss Em is not going to be too happy!

Bubble Fun!

We have been taking full advantage of the beautiful weather and getting outside as much as we can. After this winter we couldn't wait! We have been to the park almost every day and if we don't make it we at least play in the driveway with her car and bubbles. Emily is obsessed with bubbles. The other day while at Target I bought a bubble gun and she LOVES it. Andy makes fun of me saying I could not be lazier using this machine, but I told him blowing bubbles can be very tiring! Regardless of laziness or not, she can use the machine herself and she loves every minute of it!

Daddy took a break from working and joined us for some playtime!

Cereal? Yes please!

Every now and then I have an "ah ha" moment and I realize that Emmy is really turning into a little girl and is not a baby anymore. It's usually the little things that do it to me the most, like the other morning when I came into the kitchen and saw her sitting at the table eating cereal like a big girl. It seems like only yesterday we were feeding her at every meal. The time really does fly, but luckily we're having a great time along the way!

Pizza Night!

Last night we made our own pizza, which was SO much fun. We just used the Boboli crust because I was being lazy but I bought Em her own little crust and she was so excited to help Daddy make it.

She thought this was so fun!

She stole a handful of cheese from the bag and shoved it right in her mouth. There was no waiting for the pizza to cook, this girl was hungry!

Very pleased with her creation.

Fancy Pants Dance!

There's a dance in our house called the "Fancy Pants Dance". If you ask what it is, I will point you in the direction of Andy. He named it, created it and encourages it often. Here is a little preview...

Photo Shoot Saturday!

Time Out Please!

So I am not a huge "time out" person unless I feel it's really necessary and there have only been a handful of times that I have used it (ie: when she hits her friends) but the other morning she was having a huge temper tantrum after breakfast because Andy and I wouldn't go in the other room and play with her. She always asks to play from the minute she is done eating and we usually tell her to wait a few minutes because we haven't eaten yet, we need to clean up, etc. She usually gets mad, but this morning she was extremely mad. Andy took her over to the front stairs and told her to sit there until she had calmed down. She would get up come back in the kitchen and cry but then go back down and sit. She finally calmed down, we all hugged and went on with our day.

Well yesterday morning right after breakfast the same thing happened. She finished eating, we hadn't yet had breakfast, she asked to play, we said in a few minutes and the tears started, but only for a few seconds this time. She looked at us, stopped said "stairs", "emmy, stairs". At first I couldn't understand what she was talking about, but then she walked right over to the front steps and put herself in time out. We couldn't help but burst into laughter (into our shirts of course)!

Dancing in Yardley!

We just came back from Yardley, where Emmy and Andy stayed while I attended my friend Erin's Shower and Bachelorette. Emmy had a great time with PP, Nana & Sadie! One morning I even received this adorable video of their early morning dance party.

Emmy loved playing with Sadie, she even tried to imitate some of her dance moves!

We also stayed in town to celebrate the first night of Passover. We attended a seder at cousin Eric & Jill's house, which was very nice. Em loved all the food on the table, but was trying to eat everything from the seder plate from the minute we sat down. She was even a huge fan of the bitter herbs (aka parsley) dipped in salt water, she couldn't get enough. She kept asking for more and after each bite would yell, YUM! I guess Passover might be her holiday!

Pretty Toes :)

Last Tuesday, Sandra & I took Payton and Em to get their toes painted, or "written" as Emmy likes to call it. I was really surprised that she actually let the woman touch her because she is usually extremely shy, but she must have known this was a special kind of pampering. The girls picked out their colors - she choose a deep mauve, not exactly the light purple I had hoped for, but I smiled and let the lady paint her nails, complete with little flowers on the big toe. She understood the concept and sat like a little angel in the chair while her toes dried. For the next few days she couldn't wait to show off her pretty nails!