"Gook" worm

Emilia's latest obsession is reading, which I guess is not a bad thing. For some reason, she can't seem to say the word "book," though. She can say "baa," "ball," and "bee," but books are "gooks." Aunt Steph came over Saturday morning for what she thought was going to be a casual breakfast. Little did she know it was reading hour at the Korsvall library. Here they are reading one of Emilia's favs, The Wheels on the Bus.

What does a zebra say?

Emilia got a great birthday gift from her friend, Annaliese. It's a zebra that you sit on and it bounces and spins -- right up Emilia's alley! The only problem is that she thinks it's a horse, so when she wants to ride it, she gets so excited and says "neigh, neigh!" Hmmm... not sure what sound a zebra makes, so I guess we'll just call it a "special" horse.

Bath buddies

"Which one of you lucky animals will get to splish splash with me tonight?"

Playing dress up

Emilia is really into clothes lately -- and not necessarily her own. The other night she was having tons of fun getting into my clothes pile (with the help of daddy). She was cracking herself up -- it was hilarious!

Putting those teeth to work

I had made up some little Halloween goodie bags for a few of our friends' kids, including Emilia. Since they were bound to get tons of sweets, my bags were filled with activities and healthy treats. Each bag also had a shiny red apple. Well, Emilia found hers today and proceeded to eat nearly the entire thing -- skin and all -- down to the core! I guess now that she sees how her teeth can work, there's no stopping her!

Ballerina girl

For her birthday, Emilia got a very generous gift from Grammy and Poppy's neighbors in California: a hand-made tu tu. Every little girl needs one! Since Emilia is getting into her clothing accessories more and more lately, I thought we would play a little dress up this afternoon. This photo makes me want to enroll her in ballet classes tomorrow!

Cheese!

So Emilia has now learned to say "cheese" when she is being photographed. Here she is both saying and showing her cheese -- quesadilla, that is (BTW, kids no longer eat free on Sundays at Baja Fresh -- bummer!).

Right in our own backyard

Good news! We found a new form of entertainment for Emilia: playing in the leaves! Not only does she have a blast in them, but 1) They're free, 2) We just have to open our door to get to them and 3) God knows we have plenty of them! I think it's an excuse to not rake our leaves all fall. I mean, it wouldn't be fair to deny her all of that fun, right?

Another fall weekend... another trip to the farm

Emilia and I took advantage of another beautiful fall Saturday and went back to Frying Pan Farm Park. Emilia is so fearless -- she went right up to any animals she could find. Today she especially liked the goats and chickens, which must have thought she either had lunch for them or was lunch for them.

Flight of the bumblebee

Happy halloween! Despite popular belief that Emilia would be a ladybug for Halloween after her ladybug birthday party, she actually celebrated this Halloween as... a bumblebee! We chose the bee costume because 1) Emilia can say bee (when she wants to), 2) it is nice and cozy and 3) it was $5 on Craig's List. Sold!

Our neighborhood goes all out for Halloween, complete with a parade led by a firetruck, balloons and hot dogs. Emilia's buddy Nay Nay (Nathan) and his parents and grandparents joined us. Here she is with Nay Nay getting ready to march in the parade.

She practiced her "buzzing" for weeks leading up to her debut as a bee, but I think all of the commotion made her a little shy.

She was definitely a little puzzled by her fellow bumblebee, her doggie friend, Lucy.

But, of course every bumblebee knows how to fly through the air.

Uncle Corey stopped by the see the bee... and then he headed out to a real party!

She definitely got into trick-or-treating. I mean, walking up to complete strangers, charming them and getting free stuff... what's not to love? She was tentative at first (click on "Our Videos" on the right to see her first trick-or-treating experience), but by the end she was saying "more, more!"

We returned home and finished the night with our traditional make-your-own jack-o-lantern pizza competition. Eric and I repeated our victory from last year.

I know she had fun because I have time to post this at 8:30 a.m. because she is still sleeping!