Our little dancing queen

Halloween festivities

If you remember from last year, I have a new found love for Halloween. I think I started setting out decorations about mid-September, despite the 90 degree weather. Then, I found this amazing little dress that I was dying to make. Once upon a time, I thought I would get into sewing. That was before I learned it took multiple days to make an outfit. This halloween outfit was definitely worth all $10 I spent and very fast to put together.

I asked her to pose, and this is what I got...
We also carved pumpkins this year. Emily was having a blast, as you can tell.Daniel's is the way impressive one in the middle, mine is full of Texas pride, and Emily's is the lame uncarved one on the left.
Since it was 85 degrees and incredibly humid, we didn't put her costime on until the last second. She absolutely LOVES her trick-or-treating bag. I will post more on her new "purse" later -- it's too funny. She insists on carrying that thing everywhere we have gone the past week, including church.

You can tell she loves her costume. I was impressed, though. After the first minute of trying to get it off, she didn't tug at it anymore. I guess she gave up.

We really only trick-or-treated at one house. I think she was confused as to why a stranger was putting something in her beloved purse. In this last series it appears as if she is a pro, but I don't want to mislead you. She was just holding her purse, walking up to the Boyle's where we spend most of our time anyway. So really, it was like any other day to her.

I'm sure she will love Halloween next year.

And maybe we can get some cooler weather?

She is finally growing up

Daniel always gives me a hard time for wanting Emily to grow up. It's not that I want her to be 25 all of the sudden, I just have always looked forward to the age where I can start doing arts and crafts with my children. (I can't tell you where it all went, but I use to be a very creative person.) I mean, all we are talking about here is her being a year of two older. Then, if she wants, she can stop growing and stay that age forever. Is that really too much to ask?

Well, at my last OB appointment, I decided to drop Emily off at daycare. You have no idea how hurt I was when I went to pick her up and found out they did arts and crafts. I was suppose to be the one to introduce that to her! In all honesty, though, I had no clue she was even old enough to paint. (I constantly underestimate her.) We can hardly eat our food without making a huge mess, so I thought painting was out of the question.

I decided it was time for us to start coloring, painting, and making things. I basically copied the daycare's idea of Emily painting leaves for fall and we made some for family. Of course, with the short attention span, we only lasted about 15 minutes, but it was fun while it lasted.

I couldn't find the smock I was looking for, so we painted naked. Being the great Daddy that he is, Daniel came home and showed her how to paint on her body. I tried explaining to him that even though she is so young, it is important that we start teaching her lessons, such as paint is for the paper... not for your body. He insisted that this lesson was not a fun one. We left it at that.

Do all parents feel this way about wanting their child to grow up? I have a friend Esther, who has a baby younger than Emily. She commented to me that she can't wait for her child to be Emily's age. But then, I look at my friend Leah who has a 2 year old, and I can't wait for that. I keep thinking it is because she is my first. I assure myself that I will enjoy the others more when they are younger because I will have an older one doing the things I have been waiting for. I guess we will see.

The things you do for the deployed men overseas...

I know, I know. I haven't blogged in forever! To tell you the truth, I haven't felt super bad about this fact until I realized that important people in Afghanistan are depending on my posts.

Blogging will resume tomorrow.

Sorry Jarrod!

I'm a sore loser

So, Daniel has dropshots and I have my blog.

I would prefer to blog about an event before the pictures go up on dropshots, because in my head, dropshots supplements the blog. I never put all the pictures up on my blog, so dropshots is where you can go to see the rest of the story. The only problem is that updating dropshots is about the easiest thing in the world and takes only 5 seconds, while posting on my blog takes a little more time. In the end, my blog is always behind the game, I get bitter, and then I don't want to blog. This isn't an excuse why I don't update this thing regularly, it is only an explanation why, because of my husband, for right now, you will miss out on how funny our daughter is...

Hopefully I will get over this soon, so I can fill you in on the above story.

But, luckily for me and my blog, Daniel has been out in the field this week playing G.I. Joe, so I get to post our canoe trip first. Haha! (Too bad this is an imaginary game that only I am playing.)

We have been going a little stir crazy and didn't want to make the hour drive down to Wilmington on Sunday, so we ventured to our local marina to rent a canoe. We have been wanting to go, but we thought there was an age limit for some reason. Turns out, there isn't! I have to admit, I was a little nervous. Our child never stops moving, and the last place I wanted to be when Emily got impatient was a 30 minute paddle back to the dock. She actually sat so still, I thought something was wrong with her at one point. I think she really enjoyed it, even though the look on her face didn't convey it sometimes.

We recently bought her one of those puffy vests for winter, and she is always tugging at it. I'm surprised she didn't have a problem with the life vest. She never once tried to get it off.

She sat in between Daniel's legs like this for quite a while. I think she could feel the canoe rocking and was nervous to move.

She finally got a little more comfortable with it and decided to move around.

She absolutely hates to get her hands dirty -- she is such a girl! She had to show me the dirt.

She frantically brushed her hands off until it was all gone.

Finally at the end, she was ready to help Daddy paddle.

She was one dedicated paddler.

A desperately needed haircut

Reading has been difficult lately...

We have been trying to hold off on cutting bangs because we would like for Emily's hair to keep growing, so we can push it behind her ears, but because of her new hatred for bows and rubberbands, we had no choice. She was all smiles, like always.

Unfortunately, these pictures were taken 2 weeks ago, and her bangs already need cutting. The last haircut lasted us 9 months. If only we could be so lucky again.

Happy Anniversary to us!

This is our first time to celebrate an anniversary together -- how exciting!!! Last year, Daniel deployed one week before our anniversary. He missed our anniversary, my birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and his birthday. We thought he would at least be home for Emily's birthday, but he missed that, as well. That is one full year of missing absolutely everything there is to celebrate in this family. You have to feel a little bad, but I guess that is the military for you. I really have grown to expect no different. I know... it's sad.

Since we get to be together this year, we are going all out. We are driving to Wilmington for a day of walking around, window shopping, and a haircut for the little one.

Yeah, we are one wild bunch.