Birthdaypalooza 2013 Part 2

In contrast to the last post this one is going to be a picture overload.  What can I say, Emma is hilarious, and she still loves the camera.  For her birthday the decor changed colors to turquoise, mostly because it coordinated well with Parker's blue and I wouldn't have to change out everything!  She also doesn't really know colors yet, other than to know that all the other kids have a favorite.  She can set the table and give everyone the correct color of plate, but then she'll hold up something yellow and tells me it's purple.

She turned 2 just four days after Parker's birthday.  And here she is showing you "how many."

 Some might say it's ridiculous how many times we light candles on a birthday - but we take every opportunity at this house.  And the singing never stops.  Emma loved it!  Well, the singing anyway. She even sang to herself most of the day, but she did not love the candles.  I think you can tell by the look on her face.  This girl knows what "hot" is and I think that's why. ;)

 After breakfast and a bath she opened her VERY OWN "Leepin' bag!" and some clothes and a book from Grandma and Grandpa Morgan.  She and Claire were the only ones without their own leepin' bags until this year and they felt it deeply.  Our kids love to break them out for a sleepover, and the little ones hated not having their own.  Although not to be left out of the fun they were always willing to improvise with blankets.  Emma's leepin' bag features, "Do-do-do-do-do Dora!"

 ....and I just threw this one in because the expression on her face is SO her and SO funny to me!  She was opening this box so very S-L-O-W-L-Y.

 The sleeping bag of course had to be tested out right away.

 Later in the day we got to open presents with Grandma and Poppy over video chat.  All of the kids did this and it was fun, but I don't have pictures of it because it was enough to keep the kids and the webcam under control.  She got some princesses and her very own purse from Grandma and Poppy.  Both items have been a huge hit with all the sisters.

Then before cake it was time for Mom and Dad's presents......

 .....her own baby!  Let me tell you, this girl is going to be one fabulous Mama.  She loves her brother Noah, and is always trying to *help* me with him.  If the kid lives through it all he'll be grateful someday I'm sure. ;)  Having her very own baby has been super fun for her.

 It even came with a carrier like Mom's.  She was so funny!  She sat there with this serious look on her face for quite a few minutes.

 Then it was cake and those blasted candles again!

 After a few feeble attempts at blowing them out Brandon took over and she closed her eyes.

Emma is such a silly goose these days and we all get a kick out of her!  She is also one big bucket of T-R-O-U-B-L-E.  I realized the other day, she's actually a lot like Parker was as a two year old.  Stubborn, terribly independent, doesn't want to be left out of anything and is always in the middle of EVERYTHING, and loves to throw things in the trash.  The one difference is that she doesn't use words quite as well as he did.....but let it be known this girl can still get her point across.  And here I should point out that just this last week she's improved exponentially in her speaking.  She's starting to string words together into full phrases and sentences.  But let it be known most of them are said at a shouting volume.  I guess you have to do that when you're #5!

To give an example of the kind of trouble she likes to get in, she's recently been found: in her crib with nail polish opened and painted all over her legs, behind the couch with five feet of floss tangled around her legs, (this one happens often) naked in the tub with Desitin all over her body, (the really THICK extra strong kind that doesn't wipe or wash off and repels water like a duck's back) and when you do find her somewhere she usually has a guilty look and is hastily trying to stash something in a drawer.  It's a good thing she's adorable.

One of our favorite things she does lately is her animal sounds.  The pig in particular.  She loves to make the piggy sound!  Soon after she came up with it - and don't ask me how she did...I have yet to figure it out - we were at the zoo and I was dying with laughter as we pulled up the stroller to the warthogs and she's trying with all her might to free herself of her buckles calling her piggy sound out and trying to get to them!  The video below shows a few of her favorites.....although I must say she doesn't usually say that a horse says "moo" but of course this was the one good shot I got and then she was no longer in the mood to oblige the paparazzi again.  Usually she says that the horse says, "Ee-haw!"

MVI 4864[1] from Katie Morgan on Vimeo.

Happy birthday to our Emma girl!  We love her with all our hearts!

Super Babies!!

Do you ever dress your children up and take pictures just for a laugh?!  No?  Just me?!  Well, in that case, I'll have to pin this one on Emma.  She brought me the goggles.  It was all her fault.  ;) She thought it was just as funny as I did, but Noah just tolerated us. 

Emma Girl

Our little Emma girl is so much fun!  She doesn't say a whole lot, (although that is changing every day...she's getting to where she will parrot a two word phrase back to us) but she does have a lot of personality!  We do call her Emma some, but most of the time it gets shortened to "Em" "Mems" or "Memsie".  Another favorite nickname is "Chunky Brewster" meant with the utmost love of course!  She loves to say that she is Daddy's "Lay-lay" (lady).  And when she is mad at him, she'll say, "No lay-lay!"

These are her very first pigtails back in February.  Sadly, we can't do them too much because it breaks her fine little hair.

 But we kinda like her natural froof anyway.

Emma is also our little Miss Independent.  Like all the others, everything is "do it myself."  One morning she got tired of waiting for me to get her dressed.  She went a got a pair of Noah's pants - cause she could reach them - and put them on.  She screamed like mad when I changed her because she wanted to wear what SHE had picked.

 And speaking of "Ba-by Buh"......she LOVES him.  Absolutely loves him.  The day I took these photos she was sitting on the couch watching her favorite show, (Sesame Street) and she put her little arm around him and sat there for a good half hour.  And yes, I supervise the snuggling, because while she does love him, she doesn't understand that when she's done, she can't just push him over.

And because I think you get a much better idea of them in action, here is a little video of her singing her favorite song about her favorite fuzzy red monster.

MVI 4353[1] from Katie Morgan on Vimeo.

Mama's Lil' Helper

Emma loves to help Mommy.  Far too often I am guilty of not taking the time to let her.  It's a shame, because it's really cute and fun when she does help.  Two of her absolute favorite chores are dishes and laundry.  While it's kind of a pain to let her do them now, I hope she still enjoys them when she's older cause those are my least favorite!

Jealous?

I think someone noticed that she didn't get her own pumpkin for carrying Halloween candy in.  She did not like the idea that she was stuck at the car with Mom giving the candy away while the others were off with Dad getting loot.  Don't feel too bad for her though; she did all she could to milk the situation and kept herself in a fit as long as she didn't have a piece to keep her quiet. ;)  She was the adorable puppy dog this year, and I'm so sad I didn't get a picture of it!  We were busy between our party with friends, and trunk or treat, and getting ready for Dad's birthday.  Anyway, the kids all still play with these pumpkins and keep their "treasures" in them and Emma finds every chance she can to steal one, (or three!) and run off with it.

All of our kids have had a chance to be the puppy dog.  I think it's pretty stinkin' adorable.....but my favorite one - and maybe because she enjoyed it the most - was Claire.  Doesn't this just kill you?!

Birthdaypalooza Part 2

I am fast falling behind on birthday posts!  Luckily I have a week to catch up before the last one. ;)  Here is Emma on the morning of her big day, enjoying being a big girl at the breakfast table.

I can't believe how fast a year has gone by!  I have to say, Emma has been one of the sweetest, happiest babies EVER.  I really can't think of a period of time when she's been extra fussy, or a bad sleeper, or anything.  She's really just happy to be around all the time.

 Here she is trying out her present.  A big girl chair for the car!  And here's where I have to take back my previous statement.....sort of.  All of a sudden lately she hates being in the car.  But since it started recently that doesn't disqualify her from being a good baby now does it?  The other kids think it's great fun that she can sit up a little with them in the car now.

 Here she is enjoying the party decorations that Parker insisted we have.  He even helped me blow up the balloons.  :)

 .....and apparently they taste good too?

 Here's the birthday girl ready for her dessert.

 When she didn't have a clue what to do with the candle her siblings were more than happy to step in and help out.  And I have to say....this was another one of those moments that made me SO HAPPY we have them ALL.  There's just nothing like the rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday" from four older siblings to melt your heart on a first birthday.  It was just as fun as the day we brought Baby Emma home to meet them.

 Then she dug right in to enjoy.  Yes, my frosting was a bit sad and melty, but she didn't mind. ;)

And if you're wondering from the pics above with the balloon......YES!  Emma can walk!!  Here's a quick video of it.  I was going to try and make it all cute with music and everything...but well, it was going to be tricky, and besides, then you wouldn't be able to hear Paige's cute voice in the background.

Emma Walking from Katie Morgan on Vimeo.

Happy birthday Emma girl!  We love you so much!!!

Emma

Okay, okay. I couldn't help myself. They're too stinking cute. I did stop myself at just Emma, and I know I won't have time to post again before Mother's Day so hopefully it's not too much of a surprise spoiler.

And if you can look at these without wanting to squish her and kiss her....well, you're just plain crazy!

We Love to See the Temple!

Our family made a quick jaunt to Kansas City this weekend to attend the temple open house there.  It was such an enjoyable time.  A trip to one of my favorite places on Earth with my favorite people.  Even though the building hadn't been dedicated yet, I could feel the Spirit so strongly standing in the sealing room and Celestial room with my sweet little family.  I am so grateful that families can be together forever!

She's Just Too Big!

Emma's been learning some new tricks lately.  She loves to pull herself up to things; her favorite being the bottom step.  The other night she managed to pull up to it and swing her legs on too and she was just laying there on her belly with the biggest grin ever - like, "Look at me....I'm TRICKY!"  The one problem is that then her chubby little legs get tired and she either doesn't know how to get back down to a sitting position or she's too afraid to plop.  So she just cries for mama to help.  I gotta say, all this standing up business is cute, but it makes me sad.  She's not a baby anymore!!!

Sedgwick County Zoo: Take Two

We hit the zoo again last week.  This time we made sure to see the Children's Farms.  Basically they have three areas set up to show you what a farm would look like - buildings, animals and all - in America, Africa, and Asia.  Just so you know, I think that the American barn almost exploded from the cuteness in this picture.  ;)

They also had areas set up where you could go in to pet and/or feed certain animals.  The boys LOVED IT.

These sheep were hilarious.  You could tell that they knew what was coming when they heard a quarter being turned in the food dispenser.  They all ran over and except for a few bits shared with the boys...Brandon fed them all he got from the machine because they started butting up against him as soon as he had the food.  As you can see, Claire wasn't a fan.  She actually hasn't been a fan of any animal at the zoo at least as big as herself.

Paige wasn't diggin' it either.

Emma was pretty chill though.  ;)

The penguins were SUPER cool.  They had this glassed off tank where they were swimming and you could watch them dive by.  The kids kept trying to run along with them as they passed.

And Parker has made it a personal goal to pose with every statue at the zoo.  Good thing he's so cute.  :)