Father's Day at the Zoo

My parents were down here visiting us until Tuesday and it was so awesome to have them here with us. We took Emma to the Zoo in Nashville on Sunday and it just happened to be the hottest day of the year so far! It was fun and exhausting at the same time. We saw the elephants, giraffes, meerkats, monkeys, lorakeet birds and even a goat. I hadn't been to a Zoo since I was probably in like 4th grade and we went to the Indianapolis Zoo where I managed to get slimed by a giraffe! Luckily, the giraffes here kept their distance.

Emma thought the meerkats playing with each other were hilarious. There were about five of them in the corner near us that kept knocking each other around. My questions is...how do they not escape as they dig all those holes?!





Emma was a little uncertain going into the lorakeet cage to feed the birds. She kept her finger in her mouth like she was afraid the bird would try to get it! One landed on a little girl's arm while we were there...





I love this picture even though its not the best one we took...it shows Emma's excitement once she saw the big elephant.



I was hoping that they would have a hippo but the Zoo is only ten years old so they are still growing. Emma did get to ride a hippo on the carosel with Gramma though.





Can you tell we were getting HOT?! Jon actually turned our day's admission in on an individual membership (and guest) for a year. So we will definitely be going a few more times...just not when its so hot. I think it'll be awesome to go this fall. I don't have a whole lot of pictures because our camera died about halfway so I'll post some more when my Mom sends them to me.

We also had dinner at Red Robin after her portraits on Friday and the waiters all sang to her and brought her a sundae with a balloon. My Mom also has those pictures on her camera. :( I was such an ill-prepared Mommy! She was being extra cute and making cheesy faces at everyone in her Princess Picasso outfit. My daughter is such a little ham!

Lastly, her Max Daniel blankets finally arrived today (interesting issues with the store we ordered them from online back on 6/2 but she sent an extra one for the confusion!) and it caught her eye the second I pulled it from the box. She has been toddling around all evening with it...Daddy made the mistake of trying to take it away from her and she cried! I swear my daughter is really Linus from Peanuts. She loves her blanket but now she has one the right size to toddle around with and not trip up. I am kind of jealous of her new blanket...they are sooooo soft!

Look who's ONE!

I cannot believe my baby girl is one. We have been celebrating Emma's birthday all week! She has now had three birthday parties. One at Gramma & Grampa's in Indiana last Saturday, one at daycare on Thursday and her party at our house yesterday afternoon. So she was really into the smash cake yesterday and was quite the little ham with it. :) I'll post pictures a little later when I have time to upload them.

We took Emma over to Portrait Innovations for her one year portraits on Friday evening. She wore her birthday outfit by ModKid Boutique and another outfit I won off of eBay from Princess Picasso. All the ladies in the photo studio had an absolute fit over her. We had wrapped up a box for her to stand in and took along a few of her presents as props. I may be biased...I think she could be a Baby Gap model. What do you think?











Emma started out being very serious but then the smiles came out when Daddy broke out the Backyardigans' "Mission to Mars" ringer on his phone. That song gets a big ole smile every time. I admit that I am in love with the bright colors of these boutique outfits on my baby girl. They made for great pictures! Well, my parents are in town until Tuesday so I'll post again later this week after we enjoy their visit!

Got cake?

Emma definitely enjoyed her first birthday cake at Grandma & Grandpa's house this past weekend. She first picked at the yellow icing on her smash cake and I pushed her little fist into the cake. It was all over once she realized there was yummy cake inside! She ended up mauling about half of the cake and she actually ate most of it. She started to crash after presents and cake though.



It was time for a nap after all her company left. Mommy, Grandma and Emma laid down around 7:00 PM and ended up sleeping until the next morning! We had a great time and I really enjoyed spending the time with my family up there. I'll post some more photos from out trip after I get everything ready for Emma's birthday party here.

Uh-oh mama!

How can you get upset at that face? Emma got into my scrapbook supplies while I was addressing her birthday invitations and "ate" my water color pencils! She came toddling over to me at the kitchen table and I swear I heard "uh oh mama" and I couldn't help but smile. I, of course, could not resist snapping a few pictures before cleaning off her adorable little face. I am so happy that she didn't get red, blue or green on her new pillowcase dress!



Her birthday outfit came in the mail on Thursday. It is even better than I imagined and it came so quick! We tried it on Emma after her bath and it fits perfect and is so adorable on her. She even left the headband on! Patty at ModKid did an awesome job. She even included a little dolly wearing a dress made of the same material. Emma loves it and has been toddling around the house with it ever since. We are going to make it a birthday tradition of ordering a special outfit for her from ModKid. I love Patty's work! Here is a quick snapshot I took of her the other night when we tried it on. Please excuse the bad lighting and blur....she was a girl on the move and the light from the aquarium didn't help!



I love her so much....I can't believe my baby girl is going to be one in just two weeks! We have been getting in some extra Mommy & Emma time this week as Jon has had to work late every night....you gotta love the end of the month! So we have been falling asleep together on our bed watching General Hospital. I think she must remember it from the womb. Every time the intro comes on, she stops whatever she is doing and stares towards the TV. I watched it almost every day while I was pregnant with Retto on my lap. He is the same way with the intro. Its kind of hilarious! Jon actually tells Retto to run to the saxophone of his dreams. I know we are goofy! Anyways, I've only started watching it again in the last few weeks. It is getting good....Jason, Elizabeth, Lucky. Good stuff! Anyways, I love falling asleep with her snuggled up against me and her silky blanket draped over us and Emma giving mommy kisses. There is absolutely nothing sweeter in life.



I might post again later about my birthday present....I got the Brother 2600i sewing machine last night! I bought some fabric and a few patterns too. I can't wait to start! My first project is a travel changing pad for my adorable nephew Peytonn for their shower in July. I can't wait to see him again next weekend! I stole this picture of him from my sister-in-law's MySpace page. He's getting so big and is finally wearing newborn clothes! I miss Emma being so small....



So I'll leave you with a few cute, random pictures from this week.

What do you think?

I was trying to spruce up my little blog last night while Emma was asleep. I am still at a loss on how to center my header though. I am only so-so with html and I'm clueless on this. I'm loving the green and Emma's picture being on my header!

We also finished Emma's birthday invitations last night. I love them!
I am going to stitch three pink buttons onto the bottom lefthand corner before we mail them. So what do you think? I cannot believe that my baby girl is going to be ONE in just three weeks! I still vividly remember the day she was born...how tiny & perfect she seemed even though she was covered in "cream cheese," bluish and wrinkly. I admit that the first few weeks were rough, recovering from my c-section, not having my own mom around and Emma having trouble gaining weight (she was in newborn diapers until she was 9 weeks old!) but I would not trade it for the world. I never realized how much I could love someone until she came along. Okay, I need to stop before I get all emotional!

I have decided that I want a sewing machine for my birthday. I had been kicking around the idea back when we were getting married and decided against it. Well, now that a pair of my dress slacks split at the seam last week and I've fell in love with pillowcase dresses on Emma, its a go again. I think it would be a handy thing to have around the house (especially as Emma gets older to fix any booboo's her blankey and bedtime bunny might acquire) and I might even get a little creative. I am between two right now. The Brother XL2610 which is $110 and a Singer one that is $90. My Mom had a Singer for almost 30 years and just replaced it at Christmas with a Brother that she loves. Any one have any input for me? I mostly just want a nice, solid beginner one that I can do the basics and maybe a little more with. My parents are getting Emma a wagon for her birthday and I'd love to make a cute seat cushion for it. How hard could that be...for someone who hasn't sewn since jr high?!

Hopefully it will turn out better than our trial birthday cake yesterday! My husband took the cake out of the oven and cut the top off for me...while it was still hot so it all mushed together. I also had forgotten a cardinal rule of baking myself...line the pan with shortening and flour not vegetable oil spray. The middle of the flower came out in a big mushy clump and the rest was stuck to the pan. Its a good thing that we did a trial run! Although, I was hoping to use the trial run for decorating...I guess we'll have to try again later this week. Emma enjoyed the cake though!

I probably won't be online much the next few weeks. The weather has been too incredible to miss out on, we need to finish getting the house ready for Emma's party, and then we will be out of town the weekend before her birthday. I'll leave you with a few cute pictures from this weekend...

That's mommy's girl...all sweet & festive for the camera.

Trying to get away from mommy.

Don't you know that Backyardigan band-aids make any little booboo feel better?!

Daddy was filling up the pool and somebody wanted to get in. Next time she'll have her cute swimsuit on!

Who needs shoes? Look at me...I'm walking outside!