PIGTAILS!!!!

Well, Emmy's has always had hair, and her mommy finally decided to do something with it! I think she looks so much bigger with pigtails for some reason, I guess more grown up. I thought she would pull out the hairholders and eat them or something, but she is really good -- she just forgets they are there, it's great. She is so much fun at this stage, really understanding and responding to all my questions. She knows animals sounds for sheep, cow, and monkey, and is just a happy cute little girl. I am so blessed to have her, and to be able to be home with her all the time. She is such a great baby girl.
We went to the park the other day, and it was the first time since she started walking. Within the first 90 seconds at the park, she fell and scraped her face. Thus, the big red mark on her left cheek. She loved walking around at the park, had a great time.

Our little mover

Emmy is so fun, never a dull moment with her. She is walking so well, and she has always been a dancer and more so now that she's on her feet. This is of her and her favorite blanket, which she lately wears as a cape. She is watching the Backyardigans on Nick Jr. She doesn't watch a whole lot of TV, but she loves Little Einsteins, Backyardigans, and a show called Yo Gabba Gabba, which you all need to look up on You Tube. Yo Gabba Gabba is a techno music show for kids, it is really weird but Emmy loves to dance to the beat. She doesn't dance a whole lot in this segment, but its all I could catch on film, she's camera shy.

Nap Sharing

Who says you need two cribs for two babies? Celeste and I had been gone all day with the kids, we went to Ikea, Costco Home, etc. and our babies were so good they fell asleep on the ride back to my condo. For those of you that don't know Tyler, he doesn't nap much, so we had to take advantage of this nap. We lay both babies down in Emmy's crib since they were already asleep, and they slept for over an hour like this. Then Emmy woke up and was a little mad someone else was in her crib. It was too funny to not take a picture.

Weekend in Tucson

We spent this past weekend in Tucson. It was so much fun! We had a picnic at a disc golf park, and got to watch old men hippies play disc golf (frisbee), played the train game, ate yummy chinese food at May Flower, played the train game, played cards, and played the train game. So basically we and Roger/Kelly are obsessed with the train game. It is so fun! Anyone want to play? Kelly has pictures of the picnic, I will come back and post one when I get it (Kel- if you read this before I get time to call you, will you email it to me? Thanks:). It was so much fun to spend the weekend with Roger and Kelly, they are so much fun and so easy going. Emmy really started walking so much more in the two days we were there too. I think she just really liked their cute apartment, it was small and great to walk around in for her. It was like watching pinball, she would go from one wall to another, then the cabinents, then the table..... It was cute. She had a good weekend there.

We have a full time walker on our hands!

So Emmy started walking about a month ago, at least her first steps were then. Boy is she walking now! She is walking everywhere, and of course takes lots of spills. She fell into the lazy-boy footrest at Mamaw and Papaw's house last night and scraped up her nose. Its bruised, but she is a tough girl, hardly crying at all.

Here is a video of her walking. As Mamaw says, she looks like Charlie Chaplin when he's pretending to be a drunk, she just needs a cane and hat.

Cajun Christmas! part I

We spent an exciting Christmas in the South with the Dannenberg side of the family! We had so much fun for the eight days we were able to visit. Our trip began with a very bumpy landing into the New Orleans airport, there was so much turbulence people thought we were going to die and were screaming at the top of their lungs everytime the plane darted or dropped during the last half hour of flying. We could see a bad storm with lots of lightening and thunder but didn't realize until after we landed that New Orleans received 7.5 inches of rain in less than 10 hours that day! That's more rain than Arizona gets in a year!

We spent the first few days at Dan's parents house in Baton Rouge, and got to see Susan and our nephew Paul. Emmy and Paul had so much fun playing together, it was cute to see them take to each other so well. Emmy started walking more and more because she saw Paul running everywhere and wanted to keep up!

We had a truly southern style holiday. For three days we were in Onalaska, Texas - town on Lake Livingston which was beautiful, and very cold. Once we started hearing stories about the lake, I was really glad it was so cold --- the alligators, snakes, and other dangerous things hibernate when the temperature is cold.

Emmy had so much fun staying on the lake. There were a few dogs around that she laughed at all the time. As you can see, she loved looking out the windows of Dakin and Gary's lakehouse, who wouldn't with such a nice view. On Christmas Eve we had a meal fit for any southerner - Gumbo and a dish called Shrimp and Butter Beans. Delicious! Christmas Day was even better, real Cajun stuffed chicken cooked in a "Cajun Microwave" (really cook outdoor cooking contraption - see picture below), Boudin (Cajun Sausage containing meat and stuff, but traditionally was a blood sausage), grilled alligator, sweet potatoes, LSU cheese, pumpkin cheesecake, and Chess Pie ( I hope I spelled that right). Delicious! Couldn't have asked for better hospitality.

After our stay in Onalaska we headed back to Baton Rouge and had the chance to visit Mike the tiger - LSU mascot. He is in his own zoo like setting on LSU campus all the time. The kids loved seeing him, despite the pouring rain.

What a great way to spend our Christmas, we had the best time!

Emmy turned one!

Emmy turned one last week, she had a good time at her party. We had a dinner with just the AZ family, it was fun. She ate so much food I thought she would burst! Here she is eating cake and ice cream and opening presents.

We are headed to the South (aka the 'dirty-dirty') for the holidays, hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and remember Jesus Christ and his life and sacrifices for us.