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Over the weekend, our neighborhood celebrated it’s 25th anniversary and did so by throwing a huge event complete with a 3K fun walk/run, a parade, a festival, food and live music!  The three of us woke up on Saturday morning ready to run, although some of us (hint: the lone male) had very lofty aspirations for the morning.  I pushed EC in the stroller while Nathan sprinted out ahead of the pack of runners.  The stroller brigade brought up the rear, but Nathan came through with first place in the race!!  Congrats to him for winning bragging rights over the rest of the neighborhood!!

That afternoon, we went to the festival, but EC was too young to do most of the things.  They had a 30 foot climbing wall, the bungee jump thing for kids, moonbounces and slides, face painting, tattoos, and even a Home Depot tent where kids could build their own birdhouse.  It was pretty neat … they had bands performing all day, a vintage car show, food vendors like Chick-fil-A and Shane’s Rib Shack, a farmers market, an autograph tent where neighborhood celebs signed for the kids, and plenty of vendor booths.  Pretty cool for a neighborhood thing!!

We forgot to take our camera so no pics, but here is EC after she came home and was so crazy sweaty, we stripped her down to cool off!!

Emmy Cate learns about a new word every day now!  It’s pretty amazing to hear all of the stuff she comes up with.  Over the weekend we noticed her saying “bye bye”, “bow”, “eat”, and the best of all ….. “Daddy”!!!! 

15 Months!!

Emmy Cate turned 15 months a few days ago, but I’m just now posting her stats since her appointment was today.  Here is the rundown on her stats:

• 32 inches tall – 80%
• 24 pounds – 50-75%
• Oops, don’t remember head circumference, but it was 50-75% too!!

Here are some of the things she is up to:

• She has learned lots of words!!  She can say: Baby, See, Shoes, Uh Oh, Ball, and Book.  Unfortunately, I think she might also know the word “Poopie!!” but it comes out sounding like “Baby”!  Terrible!!   
• If you say “Do you want to eat?” she runs to her high chair and tries to climb in
• If you say “Time to go nite nite” she runs to the steps and tries to climb up
• If you say “You need a fresh/clean diaper?” she runs to the steps then tries to get up on her changing table when you get to her room.
• We have even caught her doing these things even before asked!!
• She can do dog sounds “ruff” and cow sounds “moo” when asked what those animals say
• She knows where her ears and nose are and can point to them when asked
• Temper, temper tantrums … enough said
• She has 4 more teeth coming in which brings us up to 16 teeth
• Since she is so tall, she wears mostly 2T clothes, size 5 diapers, and just moved up to a size 5 shoe
• She loves art projects and books!  She will bring a book to your lap, sit down with you and either hand you the book or she will “read” it to you and point to pages and say “see” at different objects.  She can point out objects in books too (mostly Elmo of course).  It’s pretty cute when she “reads” to you … one of my favorite things

I’m sure there is plenty more, but that’s all my brain can process for now … it’s been a heck of couple of weeks at work!! 

This pic is sort of old, but it cracks me up … she loves sunglasses … this day she was all ready to go to school …

Happy Birthday Macy and Makayla!!

Emmy Cate’s cousins, Macy and Makayla, turned one last week and had a fun birthday party this weekend! 

We tried to get a cute family picture since we don’t ever seem to have any of all three of us.  It was a challenge to say the least!  Emmy Cate was so hyper she didn’t want any part of it.  We have pretty much conceded that fact that she won’t smile, so we are happy to get one of her looking at the camera.

Take 1 ……

 

Take 2 …

Ahhhh …. just right!!!

 

I managed to sneak in a quick pic right when we got there before she had a chance to get wound up!!    

After hamburgers, hot dogs, beer and a slideshow, it was time for cake.

 

 Happy Birthday!!!

 

The next morning, Emmy Cate woke up to her usual Sunday tradition in NC of playing with Papaw!!  Together, they visited neighbors, checked out the garden, ran around the yard, and even checked out a neighbor’s trampoline!  Said trampoline was exceptionally dirty and Emmy Cate came back black from head-to-toe!  She was so dirty, Papaw declared she needed a “country bath”!!  He stripped her down, put her in the galvanized tub, and turned the hose on her!  She loved every minute of it!

After her bath, she tried on the Cowgirl boots for the first time and had the hardest trouble walking.  We couldn’t stop laughing watching her try to navigate with those on because they were so stiff.  Finally, I made them take them off because it just became mean – poor thing!!

After lunch, family came by to visit and Emmy Cate got plenty of love from her great grandmother, aunts and uncles!!

 

Children’s Museum

DeDe was in town last weekend for a long weekend to hang out with Emmy Cate for a couple of days while her school was closed to transition the classrooms.  As I mentioned before, Emmy Cate moved to a toddler room this past Monday.  DeDe and EC had a blast playing and keeping busy on Thursday and Friday. 

On Saturday, we headed out for the aquarium, but settled for the Children’s Museum after we realized how incredibly crazy the lines for the aquarium can get.  The Children’s Museum was pretty packed, but you could at least get a ticket and get inside to escape this insane heat!!  EC had a BLAST!  I highly recommend this place for anyone that has a kid from walking age up to probably 10.  There were a million kids running around and tons of gadgets and shows and things for them to play with. 

Here is EC entering and looking around wondering what this is all about!  After she was let loose, she and Daddy played and learned about electricity and turning off switches and lights when you aren’t using them.

We played on climbing structures and slides with Daddy, then we played some blocks with Mommy and DeDe.  Mostly, the latter included taking apart any blocks and throwing them on the floor, but who’s to say that’s wrong?

By this point, Daddy had tucked her dress into her bloomers … such a lovely look!!

Next up was a smaller kids play area with stuff to climb on and over, and even a little “waterbed” for kids to experience.  Let’s just say in the 2 and under area, EC dominated (are you surprised??!!) and just kind of steamrolled other kids.  It doesn’t hurt that she is a good few inches taller than other kids!  She is really into dancing now and will do it on command.  She is dancing in the pic on the left. 

We also investigated farm animals …. see how Emmy Cate is pointing at the udders that you can milk on this cow!  Haha!!

   

We had to put a paci in her mouth most of the time, or else everything she found … blocks, balls, toys …. trash …. eventually made it’s way into her mouth.

There was even a water feature where the kids could “catch” fish with their magnetic fishing poles.  At this point, EC was very happy to splash in the water … and we were very happy that smocks were provided!!  Maybe next time she can go fishing!

 

We had a GREAT weekend, and EC learned another new word – Uh Oh!!  So of course, she is very into dropping things just so she can use her new found language skills!!  She’s such a mess!!