Memorial Day Weekend

We had such a lovely long weekend!!! Daddy has been traveling a lot, so we all took advantage of him being home! Sunday we went on a wild goose chase that WAS successful, to find a lake to take Emma fishing. We ended up, as planned, at Spring Lake near Prior Lake. They have a long new dock, with no railings so I was a nervous wreck with no life jacket on Emma! We lasted about an hour and a half, as it was Emma's nap time when we arrived there.

Yesterday evening we went to my Mom and Denny's for dinner, and Emma enjoyed every second she had playing in the back yard. As the weather was cold enough that I wore a scarf, sweatshirt and jeans on the deck for dinner, we stayed in doors for our key lime pie. Elliott and Emma got to drawing, and Emma wrote "To Grandma From Emma" all by herself, while Elliott told her what letter came next!!! So, proud Mama had to put a picture of it up here:)

We might be successful if we started a Patterson family circus:)

Today, since the weather had shifted 180 degrees and the weather was muggy and 84 (!!!!) we took Emma for a picnic and fishing. We found a great little group of parks and lakes about 10 minutes from our house that we will take full advantage of this summer. The fish were no more than 5 inches long, but Emma didn't care!

Happy Memorial Day to all.... in honor of all who serve our country!

Emma - 4 Years!

Emma's first day of "pre-school" that is actually and hour long speech class. She hit this pose the moment I told her I was taking a picture. Our little firecracker barely even waved goodbye to me when I dropped her off, and she certainly was too excited when she got inside to give me a hug or kiss! She goes two mornings a week - the bus then takes her to daycare! Our big girl LOVES it and is so proud of herself for taking the bus on her own - we're proud of her too and so grateful for all of the wonderful opportunities that we are able to offer her (well, that the school district offers her too!)


About a month ago she came in from the kitchen.... She's drawn whiskers on her face to be like a cat.... with PEN!!!!

Emma and Daddy making colored Easter Eggs

Easter brunch at my Mom's - Emma and her new cousin Landon (about two months). She is such a good little helper!

G-love!

Happy Faces...

Toot faces......

Angry faces... Elliott's face looks downright murderous and we laughed for quite a while at that one!

Emma's end of year ballet concert... look at the belly!

With her flower and dandelions:)

Every good little dancer knows how to curtsy:)

Emma has been very sweet lately - and we have been SOOOO busy! Elliott has started his new job with Zohn, so he is traveling like crazy. El's mom came to visits, I traveled to Duluth for a performance, Emma had her first puking sickness, then Elliott got it for four days, then I got it for a whole day.... My students had a show, I had auditions for the musical I am choreographing this summer, Emma came with to witness her first rehearsal, and she missed her last ballet class because she was so exhausted!!! Poor girl:( All in all though, she is quite the trooper and so willing to go and do and meet just about anyone!!!!

On a cute note - I was telling Emma the other evening, that we were going to get her bunk beds or a loft this summer! I told her we would put it on a different wall in her room. She asked where her little brother (NO - WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT WE ARE HAVING!) was going to sleep. I told her the baby would sleep in what is now the toy room. She as disappointed and
asked is he could sleep in her room. I told her that the baby's crying in the middle of the night would probably wake her up. So she said, "Ok, so he will sleep in your room. Well.... maybe he should sleep downstairs!" How cute is that? I love to watch her wheels turn as she figures things out - like she wouldn't want a crying baby any where near her:)

love to all....

Em and Daddy in Michigan

Elliott is in has last week off before he starts his new job - so he decided to take Emma to Michigan to visit his family (and my Dad and Jackie for the night). Here the two of them are on their way to the Grand Rapids Children's Museum! I hear the drive out there went pretty well, but by last night they were both pretty exhausted. Today they have a whole other set of plans in East Lansing with Grandma Patterson:)

On a side note we had an awesome DR. appointment last week at the School of Dentistry at the University of MN. Emma met while an entire team of Dr's at the Cleft Palate Clinic looked at her mouth in a a variety of ways! Long story short - she has a SUB MUCUS CLEFT PALATE. This means that the muscles at the back of her palate didn't form properly and when she speaks certain letters air seeps through her nose, when it is only supposed to come out of her mouth. The speech specialist said that it will only get worse as she gets older - SO she needs to have surgery. First, a sleep study to make sure she doesn't have sleep apnea, as the surgery would make that worse. If she does have apnea, then she'll most likely need her tonsils out first, and then once that has heeled she'd have surgery for her palate... Poor girl:( The specialist also stated that she doesn't need to be in speech therapy school, as it is a physical problem that can only be solved with surgery. BUT, she would be devastated if she didn't get to go to preschool and ride the bus anymore!!!!! SO, we'll see:)

Love to all

Gymnastics Birthday Party!

Emma's darling birthday gift from Papa Jim. Apparently my Dad was VERY disappointed that I never wanted to wear dresses as I was growing up - well, Emma has filled that void! I am lucky if I can get her to put pants on under a dress when it is cold! Oh, and SHE was the one who put it out on the floor this way.

I posted these pictures backwards - from the end of the party to the beginning - oops! So, Emma invited all of her friends from daycare to a Gymnastics party at one of the local gymnastics gyms. It was a total hit - and worth every penny! Plus, I didn't have to clean the house before or after the party:)

Emma is very giving with her hugs and affection towards others, however many kids don't quite know how to take it. Here she is hugging Noelle (one of her favorites) after she and her sister gave Emma an outfit from American Girl for her baby.

Emma and her dear friend Isa, who is 6, and lives across the street from us. The girls yell (talk) at each other each night, through the bars on our respective decks.

The birthday girl got strapped in to this harness and was sent flying as everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to her!

Emma REALLY likes to think she is
an adult in charge of all the other kids. Really, I think she just wants to be helpful?! I could just see Drew's hands slipping and him falling on to the map while she was still holding his legs!

All the "big" kids who were at the party - Emma, Claire, Isa, Parker and Ryan

My Dad took all of these pictures and THIS is probably our favorite!

She LOVES just about every minute at gymnastics:)

Love to all!

ONE of Em's Birthday Celebrations!

I can't believe it has taken me so long to get a post up! I've had so much going on at work, tired, no motivation - what have you:) Anyway, here we are finally - although I still haven't gotten the awesome pictures my Dad took at Emma's gymnastics birthday party with all of her friends posted yet! Soon....On Saturday April 2nd we celebrated Elliott- and Emma's of course! - birthdays with dinner at my mom's. Above is Emma putting an apron on Uncle Chris, who is always a good sport with her unending affection towards him:)
The birthday cake my mom made for El and Em

On Thursday the 31st of March, the actual dates of their birthdays, we took Emma for lunch at the American Girl store and then on rides for the day at the MOA. Here she is on the merry-go-round - exhausted (our little 4 year old STILL takes naps - she's always so busy and is naturally a late to bed early to rise kind of girl!).

Obviously Emma is quite tall for her age - and she was so brave and ASKED to go on rides all by herself! Elliott and I both teared up here:)

She wanted to go on the swings in the chair all by herself for the first time too - and was totally thrilled the whole time! Elliott is sitting in the chair in front of her, facing her in this one.


There is video and more pictures that I want to get up - it is just a matter of time and energy:)

love to all

Emma's Has TWO New Cousin's!

AND a new toy...... Dad's are awesome that way:)
Emma's Auntie Becca had baby Landon two weeks ago and we finally had the opportunity to go visit him on Sunday! He was so tiny and we were so proud of Emma's interactions with him. Of course Elliott and I were totally hovering over her and Becca and Chris were 100% relaxed - that was hilarious.

She was very gentle with him, although she did want to move his arms around a bit too much our comfort level:)

Auntie Becca and Landon.... Somehow we did not get a picture of Emma's favorite Uncle Chris!

Emma's other Auntie Holly, had her baby Skylar on Saturday! Holly was two weeks over due so she was VERY ready and fortunately had a VERY speedy home birth once everything got underway. We are so happy for Jason, Holly, Brooke and little Skylar... hope they are all enjoying their first few days together:)

Rango

http://kidstvmovies.about.com/od/rango/ig/Rango-Movie-Photos/Balthazar---Jedidiah.htm

First you must look at the link and the picture of the character with the big hanging nose....
Elliott took Emma to see "Rango" on Saturday at the movie theatre. This guy was up on the screen and Emma YELLS "Eeewwww Daddy! That guy has a hooey on his nose!!!!" Well, we call the boy and girl "parts" hooey's!!!!! So Emma's yelling in the middle of the theatre that she see's a pecker on the guys face!!! Oh man, gotta love her:)