The Disney Key

I'm going back a few months (!) on this post. These pictures just got passed over with the whirlwind of catch-up posts in July. The Disney Store at Christiana Mall had an overhaul somewhat recently, and is even cooler than the awesomeness that I remember as a little kid!
A lot of the store is interactive and Emma and Will had fun looking around at the different displays and things. But the big reason we went was so that Emma could open the store! When they open at 10 am, they let a child help in typical Disney fashion. It was such a blast for all of us.
The people who worked at the store talked with us beforehand, got Emma's name (and proceeded to call her Princess Emma), and told her what to expect and do. Then...10 am...the music and lights started! And one of the employees began the slow march down the river road through the store holding the key to the store above her head. At this point Emma was completely mesmerized.



They brought the key out to Emma and she helped put it in the keyhole and turn to unlock the rope across the entrance.



They also gave her a replica of the key to the Disney store to keep! Highly recommended (free!) morning mall activity!



And here's a look at her key.

Playing Pretend

Both Emma and Will are doing a lot of pretend play lately. For instance...

In the middle of her quiet rest/naptime, Emma started screaming like something was really wrong. "AHHHH! Ahhh! Help! Mommy!" I rush into her room to find her playing on the floor. "The sharks were trying to get me"




Another "naptime" both kids were wide awake and talking to each other through their shared wall...
W: Hey Emma!
E: What Will?
W: What doin' Emma? All done nap?
E: Its still not 3-zero-zero. I have an idea, lets bang on the wall!
W: No, stop Emma! Stop!



Emma: Mommy, I am making some ice cream for you.
Me: Thanks Emma, that's so sweet!
E: Yes, this ice cream makes your bottom feel better when its a little sore.
M: Oh, really?
E: Yes, its chocolate ice cream and it helps bottoms feel better. Its almost ready then you can eat it. It goes in your mouth, then to your throat, then to your bottom.

On a separate occasion,
Emma: Mommy, I am making you something to eat in the mircrowave. Its barium.



Will: A frog! A frog on the floor! See, there it is! A frog mommy!
Me: There's nothing there Will.
W: I pretending!



Emma (throwing a toy up in the air) Its flying! Do you see it flying?
Me: Its not actually flying. You're throwing it up into their air and it falls back down. The only things that can fly are birds and airplanes and things like that.
E: And Peter Pan can fly.

Location:Playing Pretend

Amazing Grace

We have tried to teach Emma and Will songs that are not just silly "kids" music (both secular and Christian), and they continue to impress us with how quickly they learn. We sing some substantial songs before bed each night, and both Emma and Will have learned many hymns from just the repetition of singing them each night. In fact, they often prefer to sing these songs than the "typical" kids songs.

I think we (our culture and us personally) often assume that we have to dumb things down for kids and keep things silly or goofy just to keep kids interested. We sell them short and do them a disservice by not expecting more of them. I am thankful that God gives us so much grace, especially in our parenting! And I'm also thankful that he gives us sweet rewards, like hearing our kids praise him with their songs.

Earrings

Emma recently got her first pair of stick-on earrings. Oh, how I remember these! We had so much fun with sticker earrings when we were little - I remember several Christmas celebrations with the 5 cousins comparing and changing earrings :-)

Needless to say, she was thrilled.

Ok, thrilled might be an understatement.

She kept wanting to feel them and couldn't wait to see the pictures of them on her ears.

And then the posing started...

What a grown-up girl!

Emma said

"Mommy, I keep putting two fingers in my nose so I can't breathe!"

Emma and Will

As if we don't have enough adorable kiddo pictures...

I've gotten several sweet pictures of Emma and Will together lately. They have so much fun together, when they're not pulling hair, sitting on each other, snatching toys, etc!

Enjoying tiny blue flowers together,

a high school softball game,

after bath sillies (here's one of those unequal enjoyment pictures!),

looking for ducks on the pond,

and quite possibly the cutest picture ever of them together...

When they got down Emma said, "Mommy, we were so brave on the slide!" and Will said "more slide!"

Playing outside

This has been such a mild winter! It's hard to believe that we have been able to get outside so much, and especially that this week has been in the 70s. We are really loving all of the time to play outside.

Will getting ready to slide; he says "ready, set, go" 3 or 4 times, each time scooting forward a little further!

Sliding together

Ready, set, go! Will is always a little behind "go" because of his current sliding technique!

Both Emma and Will are loving the bubbles from our bubble machine too! And I love that all I have to do is pull the trigger and we get tons of bubbles instantly! (yay for clearance sales last summer!)

Fun, fun, bath time!

Last March, this is what bath time looked like!

We mixed up some shaving cream and food coloring for a fun bath recently.

Will and Emma love painting (seriously, what kid doesn't?)

But painting without mess regulation is way more fun!

Right, Emma?

 This picture is us saying "show us your brushes"...Emma raises hers and Will "brushes" his hair!! Too funny!

These last two are so terrific. Emma and Will are truly best friends. She can't wait to get him up in the morning and from naps. And if she leaves the room for something, Will instantly starts asking "Emma? Emma?"

We are so blessed and so thankful!

Real Haircuts

I can't believe its nearly been two weeks since Emma and I got our hair cut! Our extremely talented friend, Sarah, did our hair and we love it!

I went first and Emma enjoyed watching me, but kept asking if I was done yet so it could be her turn!

Did a great job sitting still!

She was so excited!

When I asked her if she wanted it cut short, she said she wanted "a little bit of hair"....so we went with short!

Big girl!

She looks so grown up with her new haircut, don't you think?

And since there were no pictures of my actual haircut, here is a decent shot of just me, although its hard to tell how short the bob is in the back! I love it!

That's Emma!

At the playground the other day Emma called to me, "Mommy, I need you to supervise me!"



It may have had something to do with her climbing outfit...tutu???

Going Shopping

This past weekend we spent some time down at the outlets. We had some Christmas money to spend and made a day of it to get out of the house. 

Emma was especially excited because she had birthday money specifically to buy clothes. She loves shopping; everything she sees is "so cute" and she tells us "I love this so much". She is also a thoughtful shopper, and is constantly suggesting items for Will, Daddy, Mommy, etc.

We were at the Gap outlet waiting for Martin to finish trying some things on and the kids clothes is right next to the fitting rooms, so I was looking at some things for Emma and Will. Emma found a yellow polka dot shirt and declared it "so cute, I love it Mommy, I want this one!" It was adorable to be sure, and we were planning to let her pick out her own clothes (within reason). So we talked about it.

We told her that since it was more expensive (it must have been part of the brand new spring line) she needed to realize that if she spent her money on this shirt she could probably only get one other outfit. But, if we shopped around a little more she could end up getting 3 or 4 outfits somewhere else. Her decision: 3 or 4 outfits!

We opted for the Children's Place, gave her a big bag, and I followed her around while she picked out her favorites. Here's a look at her haul!

Not too shabby! Her first pick was her flip flops. She has been asking for flip flops for 8 months easily, so it was exciting of all of us to see her get to buy them! She also picked out a hat and a summer dress. And since I bought several pairs of shorts at the end of summer, I encouraged her to pick shirts instead. 

Trying out her new flip flops at home (incidentally, she was dying to try them on in the store, so she plopped down in the middle of the racks, pulled off her boots and socks, and shuffled around in them while still strapped together).

Her hat:

And posing in a new outfit (Mommy, my shirt matches my flip flops!)

She handed over her money and the cashier gave her back change.

It was such a fun experience for her, and a great way to start learning about money, too!

Cute, cute! We can't wait for warmer weather!

Balmy February

We have been outside as much as possible on these warm February days. Emma and Will are loving getting out of the house and not having to wear coats! They can't get enough of the swings, either, especially under-doggy pushes. Will asks for "more dog" - too funny!