Emaline's Many Hairstyles

A showcase of many of my baby's adorable looks:

"Bathtime Beauty"

"Chicken Butt Wake Up"

"Brushing My Teeth Mini Pigtails"

Josh's Almost Finished Cabinets

Progress!! The super garage is coming together. After lots of hard work by both Josh and Joe, I can see that these boys have some talent. Obviously they will need more practice to be able to put in my "super kitchen", but they are well on their way. Right now Josh is in the midst of trying to organize and put everything where he wants it. This should be tough because sometimes Josh is the most organized person I know and then others he is absolute worst. Hopefully this will make him put all this tools, toys, G.I.Joes, etc. away and out of Emaline's delicate baby hands. Here are a few more close ups of what he has done so far:

This is the inside of the cabinet where Josh will charge all his tools.

Happy Birthday Josh and Robyn!

I'd like to give a big shout out to my friend Robyn for her birthday today. Ah, if only I were going to be 25 like her...

As for Josh's birthday, well that was Saturday, but he was so busy out drinkin' it up for a bachelor party we didn't even get to celebrate until tonight! We just went for a quiet family dinner with my parents, my sister and Josh's sister to Outback Steakhouse. Nothing fancy, but nice to sit and eat and chat. Emaline had a baby steak...well, we brought home a baby steak. I wish we could've done something more exciting for Josh's birthday, but we always seem to be so busy around that weekend.

For example, we had Josh's friend Conor's 30th Birthday at Big Daddy's in Soulard last Friday night. It was great to get out and spend another "couple" night together. Of course Conor and Josh got a little tipsy and we stopped for Taco Bell at 1:30am. Sign of a good evening.

*Thanks to Tricia for this lovely shot.

Meeting Grandma Little

A week ago yesterday we got to introduce Emaline to one of her other Great-Grandmothers. We went to Josh's cousin, Aiden's 2nd birthday and Grandma Little was there to spend some time with the family. It was great for Emaline to meet another generation of the Little family and wish that we saw her more often! It was nice to visit with the family and watch the kiddos run around like crazy. The only thing that would've made the day better would have been if Grandpa was there...he's busy workin' out on that road!

Dancin' Queen!

Emaline basically has two kinds of dance moves, which is hilarious. Her first is just moving her arms and hands up and down, then her second is getting to some serious groovin'. She does little squats and just moves her body up and down. I love it. This little girl absolutely loves two things: music and food. Ahh...just like her mommy. Hold on, need to wipe this chocolate ice cream off my face...okay, back to my talented child. Here are some clips:

3 Years Down, A Lot to Go

Coincidentally, Emaline's birthday is the exact same day as our anniversary, so we got to celebrate this weekend with a low key dinner Sunday night at Maggiano's in Richmond Heights. It was really some great food and we got to sit at a little booth just big enough for two people. I had the veal and mushroom ravioli (fantastic!) and Josh had the braised beef cannelloni (very tasty, especially if you like pot roast). It was also fun cause the moment we sat down, Josh knocked over my very full glass of red wine on the table adjacent to us. Luckily, no one was sitting there, but it was quite a mess. Thankfully, I called over one of the nice busboys and told him I was sorry we made such a mess, his response to this with a huge smile was, "Don't worry, I love to clean". I think he was being sarcastic, I would've been. It was definitely nice to talk and act like "real adults" and have real conversations, but we did rush home after dinner to be with our little lady. Only after stopping at Cold Stone Creamery for a special treat...

Emaline's Birthday Video

Emaline's 1st Birthday

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Emaline had her very 1st birthday party this past Saturday! It was a really great day that we got to share with all of our family and some of our friends. I think she really enjoyed all the FOOD! Man, this kid can eat. She was like a little garbage disposal, eating up everything she could get her hands on, including chocolate cake and ice cream. We basically had everything set up in the backyard and suffered minimal bug bites. All the gifts were great and she is enjoying them all one at a time for now. Her and Lt. Dan like to take rides in her new fancy 2 person wagon. Time certainly does fly.

Walking Dogs and Takin' Baths

Emaline has definitely become obsessed with those of the canine persuasion. This is her new thing. Every time we take the dog outside, she HAS to hold the leash. Now that she has gotten a little more steady on her feet, we've let her start taking Lt. Dan out too. All these pictures show Rupert since he is a little slower than the younger dogs.

That last picture shows her getting ready to take a dive on the sidewalk, she got her first bloody boo boo!! Some attention was needed:

Then I just threw this picture of her in the bath..."I'm still small enough to fit in the kitchen sink!"--at least Nana's sink.

Super Garage: The Countertop & Drywall

This is Josh in his "I'm a workin' man" pose. I told him he looks 10 years older with that cigarette hangin' outta his mouth. The garage is slowly, but surely getting to look like the masterpiece that Josh has stored in his head. The "super cabinets" are done and Joe and Josh decided to go with wood as the countertop vs. a formica or granite top, as originally planned. I think the more Josh thought about doing actual work on the countertop, the more it is going to get beat up...so wood would alway be easy to replace/fix. To make the width they need, 2 planks needed to be glued together and that can be seen below. Emaline and I watch anxiously to see what happens next...