New Year's Eve

Well, we are home, safe and sound. Our flight on Tuesday was B-R-U-T-A-L. It is one thing for US to get up early and get on a plane but getting our baby and out the door by 5am was borderline cruel. Lesson learned. Still, I feel so blessed to have such a good little travelling baby girl. She had one meltdown on our first flight from MN to Seattle because she was just so stinkin' tired and I almost joined in with her wailing but then she fell asleep and all was right with the world for about 45 minutes. 3 1/2 hours is a long time to be on a plane for me. Aimee, I have no idea how you fly back and forth between here and Europe with Jameson, sometimes even alone....you are amazing!!! :)

We got into Seattle for a 2 hour layover which was actually kind of nice. We got some breakfast and let Emersyn stretch her legs. She ran all over the food court with her "purse" (my wristlet wallet), pushing her stroller. She looked like a tiny little deranged mother, her crazy hair, bags under her eyes, giddy laughter echoing. We took a prop plane from Seattle to Portland and that was actually really enjoyable. It was only a 30 minute flight and we flew over some beautiful mountains. Emersyn passed out immediately on that flight at take off. Once we got home, I was emotionally spent. When I get tired, I just want to curl up in a ball and cry. I start questioning everything and just need to go to sleep, for my sanity and more so for my husbands! :)

We got home and got Emersyn a bath, each took showers and then we all took a 2 1/2 hour nap which was invigorating. We woke up to TONS of snow! SO random for Portland to get a lot of snow so quickly and so unpredicted! My brother was working at the mall and was not going to be able to drive home so we chained up our van and went to rescue him. It was kinda fun. :) We got to bed at a decent time which sometimes isn't easy for us to do. Emersyn woke up at 6am (which is 8am MN time) but I get her some warm milk and she went back to bed right away until 8:30, hallelujah!! She did the same thing this morning, woke up at 7am and then went back to sleep until almost 9am!

Yesterday I was so beat and tired. I feel like I came home with a different child then I left with! Emersyn is just in EVERYTHING and was seriously trying to drive her mama crazy!! She is into climbing on our leather cubes in our living room and standing up on them which is SO not safe. She was very whiny and fussy and I think her and I actually felt pretty similar, just exhausted. I should have gotten out of the house, I think that would have helped but I just didn't have the energy. Brett and I went on a date last night and used our Olive Garden gift card (thanks Mom!) and then went to Target where I got some killer deals. I got these DARLING flannel pajamas for Emersyn to wear during the holidays next year for $3 and a cute snow man nightgown for $2. We also had some gifts to buy for Brett's neices to open when we do our Christmas celebration with them tomorrow.

Now I need to go make some Texas Caviar for our get together tonight. We are going to some friends' house for games and a celebration. Emersyn is coming and we are bringing her pack'n'play so she can go to bed. Tomorrow we are having a late brunch at our house and Brett's parents, two brothers, sister, sister-in-law and two neices are coming over. I am making quiche for the first time, wish me luck!

I have lots of picking up to do, it seems like whenever you get home from a trip, you end up having to unpack stuff as you go. I should just do it all at once but I am still trying to get more energy. I had a Starbucks date with a cute little lady this morning and that caffeine helped.

Thanks for letting me ramble blog friends. Sometimes it just feels good to get your thoughts out on paper. I am hoping to write a good New Year's post, summing up the year and setting out some 2010 goals. May everyone have a wonderful celebration this evening and stay safe!! God bless every one of you!! :)

Wordless Wednesday- Mall of America Fun!

Christmas Recap

I really should be upstairs packing for our daunting 7am flight tomorrow morning. However, blogging just sounded like more fun....so here we go! :)

Here is a little recap of our holiday fun here in the frozen tundra of Minne-soh-tah!

Emersyn- 4 months old- 2008

Emersyn- 16 months old- 2009

I just dig the red and white striped pajamas. (Gymboree for $9-score!!!!) I got her the same ones (almost) that she had last year for this year's Christmas morning. I always envisioned my babies in striped jammies at Christmas time so I think we are going to start a tradition. I love that it is gender neutral too for whatever other babies the Lord sees fit to bless us with! Fun fun.

Emersyn likes to start her morning off with a cup of "coffee", just like her mom and dad! :)

We have raised Emersyn to be a polite child, not one of those kids that tosses the card and goes straight for the gift. Hee hee, just kidding. I am pretty sure I posed her for this picture!!

Emersyn went into the mud room and brought Brett his snow boots while we were opening presents. It was too cute. We let her try them on. I think she wanted to go play in the snow!

We didn't have any gifts for Emersyn to open on Christmas day. I think I mentioned before that my parents didn't wrap any of her gifts so that Ems could play with them all week. We are doing another Christmas celebration with Brett's family on New Year's Day so we should get some cute pics of her tearing into some gift wrap! :)

The day after Christmas we went to see the "Chipmunks" movie as a family!

Emersyn was drawn to Simon, the tall slim and smart Chipmunk. We are hoping this is a good indication of her taste in boys? :) Emersyn sat still for about 3 minutes of the movie. The rest of the time we took turns holding her in the aisle and letting her run around up and down the entrance where no one could see her or us. Brett mainly did a bulk of the work, he is such a good and patient daddy.

Sunday we decided to venture to an indoor play park in Edina, MN. Here is Emersyn modeling her tights and snow boots before I put her jeans on.

Having fun at the park!

Well, I better get to packing! I am half tempted to pull an all nighter since we have to get up at about 4am. But who am I kidding? I am way too old for that!! I am hoping that Emersyn gets back on a good sleep schedule once we get back into town. I am off until Monday the 4th, which is such a tremendous blessing. I am looking forward to getting unpacked, seeing friends, and enjoying my own bed again!!! 10 days is a long time to be away from home!

Happy Monday everyone!!

Snow in Minnesota!

Oh the weather outside is frightful.....

but the fire is so delightful,

and since we've no place to go...

Let it snow

Let it snow

Let it snow!!

Clearly we are having fun in the snow here in the frozen tundra of Minnesota! Of all times for it to snow, Christmas is the perfect time! Unless your my BFF who couldn't fly out of Virginia this morning. :(

Emersyn was VERY apprehensive about the snow initially, despite our best efforts to bundle her up and keep her warm. We actually left her in some fleece jammies and put her in her snow suit. It may seem silly to buy a snow suit for this age but we have an AMAZING friend who gives us her friends and family discount at Columbia Sportswear. We were able to buy this $150 snow suit for $35!!!! It is gender neutral(ish) so it might work for another baby someday even if he is a boy! Emersyn's Nana and Papa found these snow boots on clearance a long time ago for super cheap and they just happened to be the right size for our Minnesota visit timing!

Brett took her down on the sled and she didn't want anything to do with that! Eventually she warmed up to the idea and took great joy in "cleaning" the snow off all of Grandpa's solar lights in the yard. It was tooooo cute.

We had a great Christmas. I am so not used to all the lounging that we are able to do here. I have read almost all of the "G-Free Diet" by Elisabeth Hasselbeck and am inspired! I don't think we are going to go 100% G-free but definitely modify our lifestyle to incorporate more G-free carbs. It is an exciting journey that we are about to embark on towards healthier living!!

Brett has been reading "Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters" by Dr. Meg Meeker. Sometimes it takes us forever to read books at night in bed because we will stop and read each other passages that we find to be interesting and then that will lead to a long conversation and then we realize that we have been in bed "reading" for an hour and have only read a couple pages! :) I think it is good to be intentional about parenting though and we have always had great communication about the kind of parents that we want to be. Brett heard this book be recommended by Dave Ramsey on talk radio. He is really enjoying it and wants to order a copy of his own to re-read as Emersyn grows up. (Right now he is reading the library copy) If your husbands are looking for a good book to read in regards to parenting, we would really recommend this one. Brett is only about 1/3 of the way through it but it has been very interesting so far. Even if your daughter doesn't have a father at home, I think a mom could benefit from reading this too for guidance in your daughter's life.

Tomorrow we are going to see the Chipmunk movie as a family. I hope Emersyn is impressed by the movie screen like she was last year after Christmas when we went to see "Four Christmas's".

See how impressed she was?

Oh man, I loved my little baldy baby girl.

Have a great post-Christmas weekend everyone!!!

Merry Christmas!!

A Baby Came Down;
Embodied Forgiveness;
God's Holy Infant Jesus;
King;
Lowly Manger Newborn,
Often Persecuted;
Quietly Received;
Sent To Unite;
Victorious;
Worthy.

Merry Christmas from our home to yours! May God richly bless each of you this day as we take time to celebrate the true reason for the season, Christ's birth!

Love,
Brett, Patti & Emersyn Grace

Wordless Wednesday- Emersyn thinks stinky baby feet are funny!