Emilia sings the hits

Emilia has found her voice -- literally. She recently started coming home from daycare with bits and pieces of some nursery rhyme classics. She gets better and better everyday. Here she is singing a medley of her favorites.

With a baa and a moo and a cockadoodle doo

After gymnastics last Saturday, we met up with the Vaughans and the Hills and Frying Pan Farm Park.

The farm was debuting this year’s baby animals. Emilia usually is obsessed with the animals, but on this day, she was more excited just to be back in her Radio Flyer wagon after a long winter. Here she is pulling Laura in the wagon:

She finally warmed up to the animals:It was a great way to spend a gorgeous day!
Watch Brad's latest video masterpiece on the Hills' Web site.

Easter eggstravaganza weekend

Happy Easter! We had a great weekend filled with lots of family, friends, food and fun. Our weekend started with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa on Friday afternoon. Emilia hit a big milestone that afternoon -- her first poopy in the potty! She was so excited to get not one but TWO stickers.


On Saturday morning, we had planned to meet up with the Vaughans and Hills at the South Riding Easter Egg Hunt. BUT, it was pouring. We turned to plan B, which actually was the absolute perfect Easter party for the kids. We went to the Vaughans' house for a yummy brunch and lots of fun activities for the kids.


They decorated cookies...
They made crosses...

They hunted for eggs...




And they ate and ate and ate!
As always, they had a great time together. Lots of great memories for this special holiday. Check out the Hills' Web site for another video masterpiece from Brad.

The fun continued later that afternoon when Uncle Kyle, Uncle Corey and Gillian arrived. We dyed some Easter eggs, which was surprisingly cleaner than I expected.

Emilia and Uncle Corey looking too cool for school:

And after dinner by the lake, daddy and his little girl posed for a great shot:

This morning, Emilia woke up to a surprise from the Easter bunny. She followed a trail of eggs...

...all the way downstairs to find lots of fun treats from the Easter bunny (AKA Grandma and Grandpa).

After church, she kept looking for more eggs.

It was a great weekend and I think it's safe to say we're all exhausted!

Bunny meltdown

Emilia has been obsessed with the Easter bunny for weeks. Last month we were in the mall and she caught her first glimpse of him. It was late and she wasn't dressed for the big meeting, so we promised her we would come back. She was devastated and spent the next few weeks talking to our bunny decorations around the house. On Thursday, we decided it was the day we would go back to see the real deal. After work we dressed her in a pretty spring dress and she was completely jazzed -- that is, until she got within 10 feet of the bunny. Her excitement turned to terror. She was nearly hyperventilating -- "no bunny, no bunny, no bunny!" Needless to say, it was an unproductive visit. Instead of a cute photo of Emilia sitting on the bunny's lap, we got this -- a shot of her meltdown in the car on the way home:

Up close and personal with an-mals

Last Sunday was a gorgeous day, so after church, we were looking for something fun to do outside. We decided to try out the Leesburg Animal Park. We were able to get up close and personal with lots of different animals. As if talking to and petting a ton of animals wasn't enough, Emilia even got to go in a bounce house...
and take a pony ride...

It was a perfect activity on such a gorgeous day!

California visitor

Last week, we hosted a special guest. Our friend, Caitlin -- who Eric grew up with and now lives in Santa Barbara -- was spending her spring break on the East Coast. Caitlin stayed with us for two nights and will forever have a fan in Emilia.

Caitlin is a very special person. She is really smart and has a huge heart. She has traveled all over the world and spent a long time as a missionary in Niger. She now teaches Spanish at a Montessori school in Santa Barbara, so naturally we were trying to have her teach Emilia a few words during her visit.

Emilia took to Caitlin immediately. She was even saying, "ah man u, Caitlin" (I love you), which she barely says for us. They had a great time playing around the house...

And on Friday, Eric, Caitlin and Emilia went to Mount Vernon...

It was great to see Caitlin. We were all sad to see her leave!

A playmate just her size

Yesterday we went to see our friends from college, Jeremy and Sarah, and their adorable dog Bowie. Emilia waiting patiently all day since we had told her she was going to meet a new doggie. She and Bowie bonded immediately. The treat might have had something to do with that...And by the end of the visit, they were having deep philosophical conversations together...

Chilling with Uncle Corey

Uncle Corey came over to play and have dinner on Saturday night. It had been a long day of gymnastics and playing, so naturally, Emilia was exhausted.

Gym rat

Emilia has been making improvements at gymnastics and is really enjoying it -- so much so that we went ahead and signed her up for the next session. Here she is tearing it up on the balance beam:

And getting a 1:1 lesson from Coach Mike...

But her favorite activity is still the trapeze...

A break from bed rest

Last weekend, some good friends and I hosted a small baby shower for Sandra. After being on bed rest for about three months, Sandra was particularly deserving of a break with the girls. We had a great afternoon scrapbooking the start of her baby book. Here are the master scrapbookers: Megan, Wendy, Sandra, Kristy and Mary.