Emrie's Biggest Fan

Although she's a couple of weeks old now. I've just downloaded our pictures so am now posting my adorable new niece Emrie. As Hope has watched Emilee's belly grow she's talked about the baby chicks in her tummy. She couldn't wait for her to come and once she did she never wanted to give her up. I was so impressed how good she was with her. She did awesome holding her and loved playing with her, putting her hat back on, giving her binkie to her, and figuring out the nursing concept. That's a whole other story in itself. We all can't wait to see her again.

Bouncing Fun

To make the day special for the kids (before I knew about Tony's plans), Jackie and I decided to take the kids to Pump It Up, well that's what I thought. After a little miscommunication, another friend and I ended up there and Jackie went where she had actually told me. It was still a ton of fun!! Most of the pictures are of Hope. That isn't because Ben didn't enjoy it. It's because it was so hard to catch him standing still.

Happy Valentine's Day

The "mommy enough pictures, let me play" look

We had a great Valentine's. Tony made it so special for all of us. Hope woke up to this balloon and her own chocolates (which she didn't even notice past the balloon). She came running in to wake me up and said "mommy come get my balloon" I laughed and asked if she was sure it wasn't for me. She gave me the dumbest look and said "mommy I love Tinkerbell" Once in hand she ran around the house with it yelling "wow, it's so huge" and "I'm so impressed" that was cracking me up. Ben got yet another Lightning McQueen who talks and races. He's been everywhere with us since. Tony and I have been trying to work out a lot more and so he surprised me with a Sony Walkman. Amazing. I spent all night downloading and have put it to good use. What a great husband and daddy.

Bonnie Springs

A couple of Saturdays ago we decided to spend a fun day as a family at a spot we'd been hearing about called Bonnie Springs out at Red Rock. It was fun, they had a train ride, a petting zoo that proved to be more than I had expected with a lynx, kangaroos, wolves, the most massive ox I could possible imagine, etc, etc, etc, and Hope's favorite - about fifty peacocks freely roaming. We could hear a donkey for about an hour before we finally found it and Ben was so excited to see "shrek and donkey", not completely disappointed, but of course a little let down. They even have a gun fight with a hanging at the end. Tony was excited, but I was scared for the kids. We did watch it, it was appropriate for kids, but really on the slow side. Don't go for the entertainment, but the rest was fun, especially for the kids.

Nobody like a Grandma

Grandma Pat came and spent the day with us last week. Although we hardly ever get to see her, she and the kids clicked instantly. Hope didn't want to leave her side. We had a great day at the Natural History Museum, opening late Christmas presents, taking lots of pictures (all of which Ben slept through), and just catching up. Hopefully someday we'll live much closer.

The Big 4!

Hope had her birthday. She's been so excited about it since about last February. She's been telling us about the fireworks they have for her and the great big party she was going to have. So on New Year's Eve she stayed up so we could take her down to watch the syncronized fireworks off of the hotels on the strip. We got to officially wish her happy birthday as we put her to bed totally exhausted, but she had made it. We had a fun family party for her on her birthday and she got to have her first friend party a week later. We had seven friends, two of their younger brothers, four other parents, and a great time. Notice the mountain of balloons behind her with her cake.. I asked Tony to do the balloons and he claims he didn't realize I hadn't meant the whole 80 count bag. Needless to say our house was full and I had a battle with Hope for the next two weeks convincing her to let me get rid of any of them.

Hope the Dancer

Hope had her very first recital. It was for her tap and jazz class and she did amazing. She knew all of the steps, and the gymnasium full of people didn't even phase her. It kind of made me wonder if she could really be my daughter to be so comfortable in the spotlight. Anyway, she was adorable and the whole thing helped me realize how grown up she is getting. They did their jazz dance to "We're the Doodlebops" and then waited patiently for all of the other ages to perform so they could tap to "Santa Clause is Coming to Town", now her favorite song.