Blizzard 2011

Emerson and I had a snow day yesterday and today thanks to the Blizzard of 2011 :-)  The news said we got about 16" of snow but we had drifts in our driveway that were at least 3 feet tall!  After Nick shoveled us out, he warmed up inside and took some pictures while Emmie and I went out to play for awhile.  We're thankful we didn't lose power and we were very thankful that we were actually able to leave the house today!

This "snowbank" is actually the bushes in front of our porch

We had to have some hot cocoa when we came in from outside!

Christmas 2010

We spent Christmas in the UP this year.  We were so thankful for terrific traveling weather (and for Emerson sleeping a good portion of the drive)!  We had so much fun with our family there: sledding, cookie decorating, eating, etc.  Emerson had a great time playing with her cousins, Nana, aunts and uncles, and great-grandmas!    

Cookie decorating requires intense concentration

Our family went sledding with Uncle Jeff, Aunt Lesley, Noah, and Koen on Christmas Eve day.  The kids (and adults) all had an absolute blast!

We went to Grandma Glo's church for the Christmas Eve service and then went back to her house for dinner afterwards.  We had a chance to skype with Grandma Lisa and Grandpa Mike in China so they could be a part of the chaos of Emerson and Noah together :-)

Do they look like cousins or what?

Koen is always happy!

Emerson was pretty sleepy and subdued on Christmas morning

  

Emmie and Noah attempted to play Nintendo

Emerson was very uncooperative every time we tried to get a picture of her with one of her grandparents, but this one turned out much better than we anticipated!

Mayra Family Weekend

The Mayras had a weekend filled with family fun in December.  It began on Friday night, when Uncle Jeff, Aunt Lesley, Noah, and Koen came to GR for a sleepover at our house.  Then on Saturday morning, we all traveled to East Lansing to attend Aunt Sarah's graduation from MSU.  After the ceremony and a delicious lunch, we headed to Aunt Nina and Uncle Rich's house to relax, play, and celebrate Christmas and Emerson's birthday.  On Sunday morning, we enjoyed a little down time and then the ladies went to a baby shower for Nina's little girl, Isabelle (due in February)! 

The best part of the weekend: we were so excited to see Grandma Lisa, who we knew was coming from China, but Grandpa Mike surprised us by coming home too!  It was such a blessing to spend a weekend with the WHOLE family!

Thank you, Aunt Nina, for the amazing Nemo cake!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Emerson!

Emerson turned 3 on December 4.  Our little girl is an extremely social, outgoing, talkative bundle of energy with loads of personality and spunk.  She has recently decided that she adores all things princess, Barbie, and TinkerBell, and loves dressing up.  She loves playing with other kids, spending time outdoors, singing, and helping in the kitchen.  Emerson loves learning: she loves movies and toys that teach her letters, sounds, and words.  She is in the 81st% for height and 95th% for weight. 

After celebrating her birthday at Thanksgiving time with my family, we had our friends Dan, Tracy, and Jayce over to celebrate with us the night before her birthday.  On her actual birthday, we opened gifts at home, skyped with grandmas and grandpas, went out for lunch at Red Robin, and then she spent the evening with her cousin Mackenzie (we had Nick's company Christmas party that night).  Then she got to celebrate her birthday again the next weekend with the Mayra side of the family, but those pictures will be coming soon :-)

She insisted on putting on a princess dress before eating her birthday cake!

Blowing out the candles on her ocean-themed cake and cupcakes

Mmmmmm!

Opening gifts on her birthday (it's still dark outside...she was up early!)

Emerson and Red Robin

An ice cream sundae for the birthday girl! (Notice the princess doll on the table that had to accompany us to lunch?)

Opening presents another day...I think she got a gift every day in December!

3 Year Pictures

We had Emerson's 3 year pictures taken by Nikki Loren last month.  She did a fabulous job with our little girl!  I just can't get over how grown up she looks in some of these pictures.  Here are some of our favorites...enjoy!

  

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family at my Aunt Jane and Uncle Rex's house this year.  We were thrilled to see this whole side of my family.  It's been years since we've all been together!  And the group has grown significantly, as you can see!  My favorite part of the day: all of the grandparents sat at one table with the kids and we parents got to sit and enjoy a meal without children! :-)

Madison, James, Mackenzie

Me, Lisa, Pam

Lori, Courtney

Grandma Ross with her grandchildren

After the Thanksgiving meal, we went back to my parents' house to celebrate Christmas since we were all together and also celebrated the birthdays of Gary, Steve, Nick, and Emerson.  We packed a lot of celebrating into one weekend!

Anderson & Girls

I'm making an effort to FINALLY get caught up today!  My apologies!

Back in October, we took a trip to Anderson & Girls Farm in Stanton.  After dining on some delicious doughnuts, we wandered around to see the many animals they have.  There were reindeer, zebras, camels, tortoises, horses, pigs, sheep, goats, etc.  Emerson loved every minute of it!



She was so excited to see a reindeer up close!



She talks about riding horses all the time, but was a little hesitant to actually do it! 

This one was more her speed :-)