Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Well, after being home for a week, I figured it's time to update the blog, and to share about our Christmas and new Years! We hope that you all had a happy New Year and a Merry Christmas. We traveled New Hampshire, via Boston, where my parents are now living. We saw some old friends in Boston and spent some time on the slopes, after we got dumped on with snow! Emrey was spoiled with yet another Birthday celebration with family. She, also loved being with her cousins, Josh (3) and Anna (14 months). She learned several new words, including "Nanna, Pappo, and Anna". She also clarified her apparent understanding of "NO", adding a head shake to make sure we can understand when she says "no"! And, similar to Oklahoma, she loved to play on the stairs, climbing up and down with Anna, squealing with joy when they reached the top! Below are some pictures of cutting down our Christmas tree, which was very special and Emrey's party. I will update soon on some of Emrey's new developmental milestones etc.

Cutting the Christmas Tree down!

Sisters

We did lots of sledding!

Birthday Celebration #2, Ellis looks more excited than Emrey...

Emrey was a trooper, she was very tired, but held it together for her birthday

Nanna's Crazy!

Going up and down the stair with Anna

Before the snow hit, Christmas Day

Hanging out making cookies at Aunt Sarah's place

Nanna and Aunt Sarah took the girls and Josh to Funspot a local kids place, while Ellis and I got to go skiing, thanks for all the babysitting!

Happy Birthday Emrey! (a little early)

We decided to celebrate Emrey's birthday a little early since we figure most people are going to be busy on the 23rd! We had five of Emrey's little friends over for a very crazy play date/birthday party! Despite my request for no gifts...our very generous friends showered Emrey with lots of presents. She loved seeing what was inside all the wrapping and tissue paper. I think her favorite toy by far, was a play table that she can stand at and do all sorts of things. It responds by playing music, singing songs and flashing lights (glad it has an on/off switch). She also had fun pushing it around like a push toy. She had her own little mini-cake and thoroughly enjoyed making a huge mess, eating mostly frosting and not much of the cake. We've been reminiscing about this time last year and how excited we were to finally get to meet Emrey! Although we've had our challenges in trying to figure out how to be parents this past year, Ellis and I are constantly reminded of what an honor and a privilege it is to care for this little girl. She is such a sweetheart and we have been so blessed by her in our life. We thank God each day for her little life!

One of her favorite toys, the play table.



She was initially a little nervous, due to 20 people singing to her...and a big cake being pushed in her face, but as soon as she got a taste of the frosting she got over all that.

Playing at the piano she received from Papa King!

Thanks Papa King, I love it!

Thanksgiving

It's been a while since I've updated our blog. Mainly because we've been on the go and I've been finding myself pretty busy. Emrey is almost a year old, hard to believe! Last year at this time, we were just waiting, and I was doing a lot of complaining. This year is so different. Emrey is on the move and it's all I can do to keep up with her. She is very close to walking, but prefers crawling, since she can do that on her own. That seems to be the story these days...Emrey loves to do everything herself! She has become Ms. Independent!

We were able to travel up to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving and got to be present for the birth of our 5th nephew, Luke Hollo! It worked out perfect, as Ellis and I were able to stay with our nephews while my brother and sister in law headed off to the hospital. Emrey had a blast with them, and they are all so sweet with her. Emrey encountered her first set of stairs and that seemed to be all she wanted to do when we were inside! We even got to go hiking to some bluffs outside Enid on our last day. Emrey was a trooper during the ride up and back, but it was long.... Here are a few shots from thanksgiving.

stairs....

hanging out with the boys...

Emrey is no longer the youngest grandchild, Welcome Luke!

Chaos in the hospital room!

Emrey on the move...

Emrey is officially crawling and can't wait to be walking! One morning, about two weeks ago, Emrey stretched her typical scooting to a small crawl and by the end of the day, I couldn't keep up with her! Now, she is loving her mobility, racing out of her room, down the hall, chasing after Bailey and her favorite, experimenting with climbing up and down the small step at our landing. So far only a few bruises, but she's catching on pretty quick. I'm attaching a couple photos from two play dates she recently had with friends. One is with Emma, who is only 5 months older than Emrey. It's hard to believe, because she is walking, talking and knows her numbers and letters, AMAZING! She is very patient with Emrey and puts up with a lot of rough play from Emrey. Emrey is definitely in a violent mode right now, rather than playing with her toys, she prefers to chuck them out of the way, or bang them on the floor. She's not a whole lot better when it comes to her friends, but she definitely understands NO and is pretty good about responding to it (so far). I'm guessing this is probably a normal developmental stage, hoping she grows out of it soon. The second friend is Rowan. He is our neighbor and he and Emrey were born only three weeks apart, so he will be celebrating his first birthday very soon. It's hard to believe that Emrey is going to be one in almost a month! We are looking forward to celebrating in Boston when we go back home for Christmas. For now, here she is, on the move....

the infamous landing...

Climbing up on her dresser

Cruising along her crib


Sharing/stealing raisins from Emma

Working hard to get into Bailey's cage...

Crawling races...

Halloween...

Here are a few shots from this past weekend. Emrey was a trooper! We drug her to two parties and she did really well, with only one small melt down. We're really looking forward to next year, when she'll have much more comprehension of whats going on! She did not appreciate the hood part of her costume and was taking it off the entire night. Luckily, it actually cooled down slightly, so she we did not have a roasted frog by the end of the evening.

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Fall in Texas

It has been a while since I've written. Things have been busy around here. Both sets of grandparents were in town for Emrey's dedication, which was very special. This was a time when we dedicated Emrey, back to God and also dedicated ourselves as parents, to walk with God and be Godly examples for her. It was very special to have both her grandparents here, as well as her Texas grandparents (The Stoneman's). Ellis has been busy with his job, trying to meet a few deadlines, and working on a paper. He is hoping to finish the paper on time so that he can present it at a conference in Montana this spring! We're excited thinking about maybe getting to go skiing and check out Montana, but it creates a lot of pressure and extra work for Ellis, so we'll see. Here are a few pictures of Emrey helping us to pick out our pumpkins a couple weeks ago! She loved playing in the pumpkins, eating the straw and watching the other children running around. She is on the move these days, slowly starting to crawl and pull herself up on the couch, your legs, anything within arms reach! She is also copying phrases, such as "uh-oh"! Eating has become a chore, as she really isn't into baby food any more, and prefers to eat little finger foods! Needless to say, this makes for messy mealtimes and lots of extra time spent cleaning up. Still no teeth, but her gum ms are starting to look a bit more "pointed" which a friend of ours tells us is a good sign teeth are on the way!