Dancin' at The CEC.

Last Friday, we took Emaline and Kaya to Chuck E. Cheese for a fun lunch. We hadn't been since Emaline's birthday last September, so Nana figured it was about time we treat her to some giant mouse fun. Here is the little video I took of her gettin' her groove on:

The Work in Progress...

My excellent friend, Robyn came over and did a great job painting the baby's room for us. She really has the magic touch! The color turned out really well and I think when all the furniture and bedding come together it should look really cute. The colors for this time around are black, white, green and bright pink. Also, Josh has really been working his butt off to try and fit all this into his schedule and he already put up baseboards and is working on painting the door frame and remaining trim.

In the meantime, I have purchased many new things for our arriving bundle including a leaning bookshelf (black), some wall shelves (black), a personalized chair (just like Em's), some bedding accessories and tomorrow probably going to get a new window rod. Exciting stuff!

Party Weekend!

Last weekend Emaline and I were invited to two birthday parties and I was invited to my good friend Sarah's baby shower. So needless to say, it was a very busy weekend!

We started the parties off with our friends Maddie and Wes Wood's Carnival themed birthdays and it was so fun, even though we didn't get to stay as long as I would have liked. Mel and Steve did a great job setting up and decorating with games and prizes in each room of the house and then rotating. The food was complete with corn dogs, popcorn, cotton candy and lemonade. I really think Emaline enjoyed herself playing with the other kids. She got her face painted and played a game called Elefun with a couple other kids. This is really just the start of my social butterfly's career. Thanks to Jacki for capturing these moments:


Later that night I got to go to my friend, Sarah's baby shower hosted by our friend Carrie. It was a very nice, laid back and intimate gathering which was great for catching up. I could sit and talk with these girls for hours and hours at a time, but unfortunately the babysitting fairy couldn't wait that long :-) As for pictures, I could shoot myself in the leg for not remembering to bring a camera, but there will be plenty of pics of the new little St. Cin when the time comes.

On Sunday, we went to Emaline's cousin, Kaitlin's 10th birthday party. Grandma Audrey came with us and we got to visit with Aunt Angie and cousin Maddie. Emaline had a great time running around with all the older girls--I think she was the youngest one there! (besides her other cousin Morgan who is 4 mos.) She had a great time helping hand out the gifts to Kaitlin and dancing around in front of everyone. Gotta love the attention getter...she also helped herself to heaps of chips and dip and chocolate cake. That's the breakfast of champions my friends. It was a busy weekend, but very fun and can't wait for our next party!!

Finally, a Word on The Baby's Room

Okay, so we definitely have finally got all the wallpaper down in the baby's room. Josh has been doing a great job at fitting this stuff into his 5-day work weeks :-) I'm really excited that the walls aren't going to look as bad as I thought they would after I gouged the heck out of them scraping away. Josh has primed the finished walls and painted the ceiling, so now just have to get ready to paint with color! We went with green this time around and hope it turns out looking okay, the name is "evergreen glen"....so we'll see. Here are the first pics of all the paper being off. I'll post more as we get our bums in gear.

This is what the paper used to look like:

New Year's 2009

Emaline and I spent a very low key New Year's with my family at my sister Stephani's 2nd annual party. This year it was mainly just us, but Craig, Adham's friend, decided to join us as well. It was exactly what I was looking for in the way of a New Year's celebration because it took the least amount of energy from me! We played games, ate lots of yummy sliders (thanks to Adham and his new grill pan), watched countless episodes of The Twilight Zone and chased Emaline around the house. Obviously, the only one that didn't make it to midnight was Kaya and we all had champagne and sparkling cider (me and Em) while watching the fireworks go off in Stephani's neighborhood. Needless to say it was super cold that night and we didn't last long outside!

We called Daddy at midnight to wish him a happy new year and give kisses through the phone and luckily he wasn't too busy to answer. Thankfully, it was a pretty easy night for him too :-) Maybe one of these days he won't have to work that night. We got home roughly about 1:30am and Emaline was a real trooper. This girl loves to party...as a matter of fact she asked me when she woke up this morning when we were going to another party! She won't have to wait either since her and I are going to visit friends for a post-NY shindig tonight. We again were glad to spend time with family and friends and hope that everyone had a great start to 2009!

Christmas 2008

This Christmas was very different than last, seeing that Emaline is a pro at opening presents now and realizes what is under that shiny happy paper. We started the morning off pretty late, Em slept until almost 10am! Then we got right down to business, but that didn't take long considering we really don't do a big blow out of gifts at our house...yet. I made eggs and bacon and we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and then off to get ready for Nana and Pepere's house. Now their place is a little different.

When we got there, the living room was piles of presents already separated out for each of us. Emaline's favorite though would have to be her Little Einsteins Pat-Pat Rocket (she wants to take it everywhere), thanks Aunt Stephy! My parents always go a little overboard with Christmas and I can't even imagine how next year is going to be when we add another kid to the mix. It took us roughly 2 hours just to get through the gifts--and that was hurrying up! We had a great afternoon meal of turkey (and I got ham, hee hee) and all the dressings. We then loaded up the car with all our treasures and headed over to the Little household to start all over again.

Emaline didn't have a nap, but surprisingly she did awesome for the day! We showed up at Grandma and Papa's about 3:30pm and went straight into gifts before all the extended family started to arrive for dinner. Emaline really made out like a bandit this year, especially with some really cute clothes and fun learning toys. She especially like the Leapfrog Globe she got from Grandma & Papa, now she knows where everything is on what she calls her "talking planet". Dinner was great and we got to see a lot of Audrey's family that we don't usually see during the year. Emaline and I were done at right before 8pm when my parents came over to exchange gifts with The Littles. She passed out right on the couch in the middle of everything! So her and I went home and Josh got to visit with his family for a little longer. It was a very long day, but always a good time. We hope that everyone had a safe and happy holiday and got to spend such wonderful time with their family and friends. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Presents

Every year we head over to my parents' house at some point to open one gift on Christmas Eve, its usually the gifts we get from my Godmother Valarie and her family. Thanks to her for always sending them so early! We enjoyed some appetizers and drinks for dinner and watched Emaline run circles around the house clearly because she had too much sugar or carbs. Its like she's preparing for a marathon...then she falls and we call it quits and by we, I mean Mom and Nana. She got to wear her new Christmas jammies that I bought from PB Kids and she learned all the reindeer names because they were covered in them. So Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was sung alot that night :-) Emaline also knows Jingle Bells and Dashing Through the Snow and it is hilarious to hear her sing them on her own. I desperately tried to get it recorded on video, but alas, my timing was really off this year. :-(

So, here are a few snapshots:

Rob Your Neighbor 2008

Thanks to Senor Peter Schrappen for organizing another year of festive cheer and merriment in the form of giving away random gifts to each other. Although, this year's event was much more laid back and "family friendly" due to the new addition of Olive to the Schrappen Family. It was a smaller turn out and very intimate, to say the least. This year's festivities were held at the Holidome (Holiday Inn, South County) and was complete with a pool table, pin pong table, clock radio playing holiday music and indoor swimming pool (for those of the brave of heart). Josh and I were fortunate to go together and I had a great time visiting with my friends that I hardly ever get to see anymore! Erin and Sarah were in from out of town and I also got to meet my friend Carrie's new "man friend". Josh and I got respectively, an Amoco Holiday record and a portable putting game set, so another year made out with great gifts. After we shut down the bar at the Holiday Inn at 11pm, we sauntered over to Frailey's across the street for some much needed Imo's (delivered straight into the bar) and more non-alcoholic drinks for us ladies with child.

Thanks again to everyone for making it such a fun night to hang out and catch up, I love seeing everyone at RYN! Also a shout out to Meghan, who hopefully is feeling much better... :-) Have a great New Year everyone!

Annual Christmas Tree Trimming at The Ahmads

Again this year we went out to my sister's house to help her and her in-laws celebrate their Christmas and it was great to see everyone! Emaline had a great time playing with the boys and Kaya was a great addition to the mix. She had a great time! At least she sounded like she was having a good time with all that laughing and screaming only babies can get away with :-). Stephani put out another great spread and I thought my poor belly was going to spilt right down the middle! My contribution this year were Cranberry Brie bites made with phyllo cups. I think my Mom was right saying the puff pastry worked better last time...but still tasty.

The kids did a great job (with Uncle Adham's help) putting up all the ornaments and lights on Steph's tree. It turned out beautiful! We always have a great time doing this and hope Steph and Adham continue the fun tradition.

Christmas Card '08