El's "Birthday"

What does Elliott get for sharing a birthday with Emma? Well, he gets to celebrate it early, of course:) As a matter of fact, two weeks early!

We celebrated at my Mom's a couple of weeks ago, and Emma was so intrigued with Uncle Peter - it was cute. She noticed that Peter hadn't had dessert yet, so she asked him if he wanted some, then she helped him eat it!
Helping Daddy blow out candles...

This is what Emma picked out for Daddy, for a gift.

Like I said, Emma was so curious about Uncle Peter, she walked over to him and help his hand....!!!! SO SWEET!

Lately, bed time had been a total disaster.... On a cute note though, I asked her what she wanted to do tomorrow and she told me, "Oh! Pick up Cooper's poop outside!"

Love to all

Ok, so she might be picking her snuggie - but ain't she sweet?!!!
She has been obsessed with spring shoes lately! Elliott got her a pair of white ones with little heels, and I got her some pink ones with flowers and at 5:30 am she wakes up to ask if she can put them on!!!

On a cute story note: on the way home today I was telling her that we were going to the zoo tomorrow with my friend Cindy and her son Ben. Emma said, "Oh no, I don't think I can wait that long! I can wait one or two minutes to go to the zoo...." Sweet:)

Surprise!

We threw a surprise party for mom's birthday this year, and thanks to everyone, she had no idea!!!! I conned long-time friend Maggie into inviting her to a movie and the plan was in motion! Below you can see Emma and Grandma Loerch blowing out candles (fire extinguisher thanks to Elliott!).

Emma adores the neighbor girl Torrie and was absolutely giddy to be sitting on her lap! Look at that double chin action...

Auntie Becca making sure Em doesn't get too much frosting too early:)

Emma helping Grandma Loerch open up all her gifts!!!

Emma with Carol and Tuffy.... Carol is the wonderful woman who watched my for so many years, and now Emma is lucky enough to be taken care of by her too!!!

Emma taking care of her baby - a favorite pass-time

We were playing hide-and-seek the other afternoon and when I came around the corner from the bedroom, looking for her and daddy, this is what I saw......!!! TOO CUTE:)

Love to all...

Christmas??? So long????

Sorry it has been a lifetime since I have posted a blog AND since I have changed the background!!! I had a performance this past week and simply have not been home. And when I was home I was loving up Emma:)

Below is the Valentine she made for me and Elliott while she was at Grandma Loerch's. Do you notice the "E A M M"? She is writing her name ALL ON HER OWN!!! We are a little bit proud, and she is VERY proud with a big huge smile every time she does it:)

Elliott made us beef tenderloin for Valentine's Dinner, and I made us chocolate dipped strawberries... which you can see Emma devoured. Seriously, she ate a HUGE bowl of steamed (without anything on it) broccoli and two gigantic strawberries!

We have a thing where when she says she is full, we have to see and then feel her tummy to see if she still has room for more! It would appear this time there is no more room!

We made Valentine heart cookies with Grandma Loerch. Emma pretty much enjoyed scraping all of the flour off the counter, "cleaning" it onto the floor!

I couldn't pass up this picture.... This is what she chose to put on for clothes the other morning! Can you say 1983?

I was so excited when I saw a coconut at the grocery store the other day. When I was little and went to my Grandma Hinrichs' we would often get one and crack it open in the basement. Well we managed to get this open, but I think it was rotten!!! In between the shell and the skin it was moldy:( And it tasted like soap... Shoot!

Much love to all...

Dorothy the Fish!!!

Elliott and Emma have been talking about getting a fish for weeks now, and I was the last to know:) So we had plans to go on Saturday to the "puppy store" so Emma could pick one out! She was really most excited about the "shopper in training" carts that she gets to push around, BUT once we got her focused and Cooper under a little bit of control.... Emma picked out a Finding Nemo fish tank and a multi-colored goldfish (that will eventually get so big it will have to go live in Grandma Loerch's pond!!!). On the way home she decided to call it Dorothy, just like Elmo's fish.
Emma and Daddy got the tank all set-up and Dorothy seems fairly happy! Emma gets excited when she remembers that she is up in her room and has to go check on her. We did realize after the fact that we should have gotten a plain orange one - easy to replace! Oh well....

Emma admiring her Daddy... It is a miracle when I can get her hair in pig-tails so we had to celebrate with pictures:)

She is such a joy - getting so much easier to take places and generally happy, unless she is tired or disappointed, but that usually passes quickly too!

Love to all...

Zoo and Sesame Live!

We have been a very busy Patterson family! Emma has been sweet as can be, with a few moments of Mr. Hyde just to keep us on our toes! She has been asking if she can do everything, "Mommy, can I take off my hat?" "Daddy, can I please have some juice?" It is so fun and heartwarming. Lately she has been calling us "guys" as in, "hey guys, look at this!" She loves to play puppy, kitty, and pretend that I am a baby and she can carry me! Through role playing it has been so fun to hear he say what we have told her, and hear her explore her boundaries through teaching and talking to us in various degrees of baby or puppy-ness:) Last weekend we took her to the MN Zoo, where we finally got a Membership!!! Thanks to Grandma Hinrichs' Christmas gift - so we are excited to be able to go whenever we want, for as long or short as we'd like. She picked out the above shirt from the top of her closet, and wore the backpack the WHOLE time we were there!

Watching the dolphins as she eats her sucker, the MAIN REASON she wanted to go to the Zoo - the sucker!

This silly giant fish was following Elliott's finger and would open its mouth SO WIDE to try and eat it!!!

Yesterday we took Emma to see Sesame Street Live " 1-2-3 Imagine".... This was the pre-show picture of her in her Elmo jacket from Grandma Loerch. And, she posed this ALL BY HERSELF!!!! Look at those hands crossed and all!

She was so intrigued and entertained from the first minute. We were SO impressed with the show and how well it was put together, choreographed, and danced. I'd recommend it to anyone with a young child! And we will certainly go again. Watching her face, as she watched the show, was the best! Following here, are some of those faces....

"1 - close your eyes, 2 - pretend you're there, 3 ..........." Dang, can't remember!

Clapping and dancing to the songs and music. She spent 1/2 the time jumping in front of her seat, swaying back and forth, clapping...

Papa and Grandma Loerch came over to our place to watch the Vikings SMASH the Cowboys!!!! Emma absolutely made Grandma Loerch's day, snuggling with her after her nap!

Love to all...

Happy New Year!

We decided to celebrate the new year by taking Emma to the Water Park! She had been with her Daddy two times before this, so I got introduced this time....

Here she is when we first got there, going down the slide she can do all by herself.

On the way home she said the red slide was her favorite thing and here she is getting ready to go, about her 25th time!

I think Elliott and I were the only adults going down that slide!