Emma's party at the fire station

We had Emma's birthday 'party' at the fire station last night. We took dinner, her cake/dessert, and the present that we got her. We also skyped with both sets of grandparents so they could watch her open her presents from them.

Everyone is singing...

to me!

Blowing out her candles, sort of.

Chowing down on her cake.

Opening her present

It's a cat!

Yay!

Ring-around-the-Rosie with new cat.

She loves her vest from Grandma and Grandpa Rose...she kept feeling it.

What an outfit for a two-year-old.

Happy birthday, Emma!

Today is Emma's 2nd birthday! Here is a look back on her two previous 'birthdays.'

Daddy holding baby Emma

Grandma holding Emma at her first, first birthday party (She had two.)

Cake

Grandmas trying to put Emma's pictures in order.

Skyping with Daddy

Emma with Aunt Faith

Emma's second 1st birthday party

She was much more interested in the cake this time.

And thank you Jennifer for the outfit!

Happy birthday, Emma! 

Emma couch surfing

Emma will be two tomorrow...she has been growing like crazy the last week or so. Not really getting bigger, but doing more, saying more (that we understand) and being more creative/ornery. Last night I watched her playing in her crib, which she had never tried to climb out of...until last night. She got her leg all the way up to the top rail. I guess we will have to do something about that (most likely moving it down to the bottom before we put up the toddler rail). She has been brushing her teeth with big girl toothpaste, saying whole sentences that we understand, like "I got you," to her doll, "There she is!" to anything that we are looking for, and just saying all kinds of new words (her "Ls" sound like "Ys").  We have been enjoying coloring with her, it is a new thing we can all do together. And I suppose next week we will start potty training and binky weaning...it should be interesting! Also, we found a dance class for 2-3 year olds on base...I can't wait!

One night I was reading something and I guess she needed something to do, so when I looked up she was doing this. What a silly girl.

Fun with boxes....and hiking with Emma

Daddy and Emma had great fun playing in the box that his new chair-thing came in. 

Where's Daddy?

Can dolly find him?

There he is!

Emma chilling with dolly while Daddy hides.

Emma decided she wanted to get in, too.

I found them!

Creek/river we found while hiking. Emma is throwing rocks in the water.

 Emma did a good job on our hike, she loved watching Daddy skip rocks, and throwing them in herself. We even took Pepper, who obviously loved it.

It is pretty, but it is also pretty low.

Back!

Well...I am finally able to work on my computer again, so here are some pictures from our last week.

Dolly working out

Dolly watching the construction

 They are tearing down the old houses in the neighborhood next to ours, and it is noisy, but fun to watch. We tried to go watch closer, but they were trying to break up concrete so it was noisy and scary for Emma.

Bringing Mom flowers...I honestly can't believe there are any flowers left on that plant.

We got Emma some crayons, and have all been enjoying coloring. 

Daddy got a new chair for his Man Cave/garage.

It is super comfy.

Technical difficulties

Sorry for the lack of posts.  I have been having trouble with my laptop...it seems to know that my dad, 'the master' has left, so it can misbehave since I have no clue how to fix it. What it doesn't know is that my dad got me antivirus protection and I also got a performance check to manage all the issues I'm having. So I should be able to post soon!

In the meantime, this is a picture from exactly a year ago...I think...the day before Emma's bday Aunt Grace came to hang out at the Bency's with us. Little did we know, the very next day, on Emma's birthday, a Grace would get a new job offer, and she has hardly had time to hang out since! This year, Aunt Grace is coming to hang out with us in California and she arrives on Emma's birthday. Can't wait!

Lake Tahoe

Beale AFB is a nice base, big, out in the middle of nowhere. But drive an hour in any direction and there are plenty of things to do. An hour south and you have Sacramento (zoo, IKEA, shopping, etc.) Three hours west you have San Francisco and the beach. An hour northwest and you have Grass Valley, aka the mountains. Two hours northwest and you have Lake Tahoe. So we took a day and visited Lake Tahoe. It was really pretty, but there were lots of people and lots of construction. We didn't really know what to expect, or what we could do with Emma. But we found a couple of beaches, lookout points and enjoyed a mountain thunderstorm as we sat still in traffic waiting for the construction to let us pass. There really are tons of things to do there: lots of biking, paddle boarding, canoeing, kayaking, taking tours on ferries, hiking, camping, swimming, going to the beach, etc. Steven had gone camping earlier, so he kind of had an idea of where to take us.

Playing peek-a-boo in the car.

Reading a book while everyone else is sight-seeing in the rain.

Lake Tahoe, Emerald Bay

You can also take helicopter tours of places like this.

The beach.

Throwing sand.

Daddy and Emma

Swinging her feet through the water.

South Lake Tahoe

Waving to Mom, sort of.

Mountain waterfall

Enjoying the sunset from our own backyard.

It was a long day, nice to be home.

Aunt Faith and Haircut #3

I forgot to take pictures of Emma with Grandpa, sorry. :( But I did get several with Aunt Faith. Maybe if Grandpa had pigtails he would have gotten his picture taken with Emma, too. Oh well. On a side note, Emma called Faith "Tory" the whole trip. We corrected her almost every time, and every once in a while she got her name right, but I have a feeling all the Aunts are Tory for now, we will see when Aunt Grace comes to visit next week. Also, we took Emma to get her hair cut, apparently she only really needed her bangs cut, so I can really do that myself, and avoid the drama of having a total stranger put a black cape on Emma and take scissors to her head without letting me hold her. It was more traumatizing than the dentist...who had great toys btw. I will give a dentist update after her appointment Friday with the specialist.

Reading in bed.

Pigtails...oh Emma.

At least she is smiling and not picking her nose.

Trying on Aunt Faith's shoes. 

Watching a movie, pre-haircut. Yes the car is parked, and yes, Emma asked for the seatbelt.

Then she apparently got caught up in her movie as she froze like this.

Emma is not a fan of getting her haircut. I think I will be doing it from now on.

Better now that Mom is holding her.

Aunt Faith with palm tress.