Christmas #1

Emily's first Christmas of 2009 was spent in Dayton, Ohio. Santa left her a "Bitty Baby" from the American Girl collection. She also got new shoes, a new coat and lots of other great gifts! She enjoyed the airplane trip as well. She was very good for mommy...except for when she choked on a piece of apple and threw up on the floor of RDU! Otherwise it was an uneventful trip and she had a great time! Thanks for having us Grandma and Grandpa Heintz!

Featuring Daddy this time

Daniel and his brother Charles had to clean out some of their old "stuff" from their parents' house over Christmas this year. Their parents recently bought a new home and were hoping to clean out some clutter and limit what had to be moved. Check out what the boys found! A little trip back in time to the good old high school days.

Appleseed Song

So we were in Charleston this past weekend visiting Nathan and Bonnie and the kids. Ben and Lauren sing "The Lord is Good to Me" as their prayer before dinner. I think we sang it twice while we were there. At any rate, tonight I was changing clothes and I noticed that Emily was singing a song. I could not figure it out at first, but then I heard her sing about "sun, rain and appleseed....good to me." And that is when I realized she was remembering, and trying to sing Ben and Lauren's prayer. So, Daniel and I sung it a few more times for her this evening and this was the result. It is just shocking to me how fast she learns. Nearly an entire song, in one night. What on earth will there be left to teach her when she is 3????

New Baby Bed for Emily's Birthday

This little clip was shot as Emily received a new cradle for her baby dolls from Grandma Heintz for her birthday. I think the video speaks for itself. The reaction was priceless.

Santa Train!

Tonight we took Emily to ride the Santa Train at the Durham Museum of Life & Science. She rode the train several times this summer and loved it so we figured if we combined both the train AND santa we would have a big hit...we were right. It was a little chilly (about 43 degrees) but it was really fun and Emily got a kick out of seeing all the Christmas lights and "going to the North Pole" to see Santa. Hard to say who had more fun, though...Emily or Mommy & Daddy.

Emily's 2nd Birthday Party

Here are a couple of pictures from Emily's birthday party at Gymboree. She had 10 friends come and everyone seemed to have a really good time...even the couple of shy, scared ones. We did not do gifts for Emily. Instead we took in toys for charity. It was nice to give back and celebrate Emily's birthday at the same time. Plus goodness knows she did not need more clothes or toys.

Here is a little clip from the party with Emily playing "freeze dance." You can see that she had a very good time. For the record, she also slept very well last night. :-)

Emily's New Kitchen

Emily got a new play kitchen for her birthday and as you can see from this picture, she LOVES it!! She has played and played and played with it. Finally, a gift with a longer life than 6 months (I hope). You will see in the video that she was also showing off the kitchen to her baby doll. So far she has cooked for mommy & daddy, Zoey, her baby and all of her stuffed animals. It is fun to watch her learning to pretend play.

Petting the Reindeer

We...uh, strike that, Daniel put up all the christmas lights on Thanksgiving weekend. Emily was very excited about the light up reindeer. I can understand that because I also like the light up reindeer. In any event, we took her out to see them. As you will see from this clip, she really liked them. She was petting them and if you listen really close you can hear her "kissing" at them...this means she really likes them. She askes almost every night to go out and pet the reindeer.

Learning to get Dressed...Still Needs Work

Emily recently decided that she wanted to get dressed "all by self." This was the result. I think she still needs a little more practice.

Trying Out Mommy's Heels

This made me laugh. I am a little surprised I was able to catch this on video. Emily has recently taken to coming into my closet in the morning and trying on my shoes...and sometimes clothes. I did not think she would actually be able to WALK in heels, but check this out! Too funny. And, for the record, she is wearing two different shoes. HA!