Conversations with Emily

Me: Emily, do you want some edamame?
Emily: Not edamame, eda-MERMAID!

Stuffed Animals

Emily has gone through a few favorite stuffed animals that she sleeps with. It started out with Baby Bear, and then she got a little pink kitty cat that her Teta got her. Kitty Cat has been the favorite until recently - now she has to have Kitty Cat and Krista (the same name as the dolphin from our trip). Here she is waking up this morning after snuggling Kitty Cat and Krista while she slept :-)

Music Class

Emily LOVES her music class! We will definitely be signing up for the next session in a few weeks. Here she is playing with pots, pans, and other kitchen items to one of her favorite songs:

Pumpkin Patch at Cagle's Family Farm

We took Emily to a new pumpkin patch and corn maze this year with Aunt Nadine. Cagle's Family Farm was a big hit! Our day included jumping on the jumpee pillow, picking out a pumpkin in the patch, lots of time with animals, and a hayride! Here are some of the highlights from the day:

Jumping on the Jumpee pillow - she loved this 

Picking out the perfect pumpkin

Sweet girl and the pumpkins

 Riding "Twix" the pony with Daddy

 Hayride!

 Too much fun makes a sleepy girl in the corn maze

Back to jumping!



Crusing with Emily

We took a short 4 day cruise with Emily at the beginning of October. We were planning on just the two of us, but decided that a family vacation would be more fun. We were right! Here are some of the highlights:

*Emily's first airplane ride!

 

*Emily LOVED the ship. She got a ton of attention from all of the staff, and she really enjoyed having dinner and seeing the shows afterward. Emily is showing off her favorite cabin entertainment - jumping on the bed. It's a little long, but pretty much sums up how much fun Emily is at the moment :-)

*The first night at dinner, there was a pirate in the dining room and it scared Emily. Fouad took the role of protective Daddy and told the pirate to move along. He was such a hero! Emily is still talking about how Daddy "threw away" the pirate. So cute!

*She also loved the pool with the waterslide - we spent an entire afternoon with her going on this slide over and over!

 

 

* We got to know the ladies in the gift shop very well. Emily loved all of the stuffed animals they had, especially a singing dog that sang "La Bamba." She requested to see the Ba-Ba dogs or singing dogs quite a bit during our short cruise.

 

* The biggest part of our trip was swimming with the dolphins in Cozumel. I'm sure Emily will be talking about this for a looong time. She really enjoyed the whole experience with our dolphin Krista. We really got lucky - we were the only ones that signed up for the time slot that we booked, so we got a private experience with her. They really took their time with Emily and made sure she was comfortable. It was fantastic!

Kisses for Krista :-) 



All of us petting Krista's belly

 

* Also, Emily surprised us on vacation by how much she loves to dance! Anytime there was music or a stage, Emily would jump up and start grooving!

 



Picnic at the Park

Love moments like these with our friends! Here's Emily, Olivia, and Jenn (Olivia's Mommy) while we were having a picnic at the park. They had just spotted an airplane!

Fouad's 29th Birthday - The Great Birthday Race

Oops! All the focus on Emily and I forgot to update on Fouad's birthday in August! For Fouad's 29th birthday, I surprised him with a scavenger hunt style race (modeled after the Great Urban Race) around The Avenue Forsyth, an outdoor mall near our home. We had a great turnout of his friends and family, and everyone had a blast running the race and solving the clues. Here are a few pictures from the day:

 Team 2 Legit 2 Quit in front of a statue from a clue

 Team Franklin & Bash posing with the wrong answer...oops!

 The Most Interesting Team in the World gets a point by posing with a stranger with a real mustache while wearing a fake mustache

 Team Woody & Buzz doing the YMCA with two strangers for a point