First Camping Trip of the Season

Now that Em's a little older and the store is running smoothly, Brian and I decided that we would retake our lives. We vowed that this summer we wouldn't allow ourselves to be stuck inside and we would return to doing some of the things that we really enjoy but have neglected.

Over the past several months I've been working very hard to take back my yard. Gardening was one of my most favorite things to do until our two life changing events happened: the store and the baby. Both took all of time and attention and my yard became. .. well .. . inhabitable. For the past two years the dogs, squirrels, and neighbor cats were the only ones that thoroughly enjoyed my jungle. After many hours of hard work, we now have a backyard that I'm not embarrassed to show. We even built a small fence to make a dog free zone for the kids to play.

We recently had our first of many BBQ's this summer. This was the first event we've had at the house in over a year and I enjoyed every minute of it. There's nothing better than sitting outside, hanging with friends, and tending the BBQ. Last week I remembered what Seattle summers are all about!

This past weekend we went camping for the first "non-Labor Day" camping event in 3 years. We stayed close to the city, but were far enough away to feel like we were "getting away". We went camping with Kim, James, and Justin and had a fabulous time. I think both Kim and I learned that our kids are more resilient than we thought. Neither Em nor Justin minded the rain or mud, they were just happy to be outside!

This was the closest I got to both kids looking at the camera.

Sacked out!

Em discovering the joys of the Justin's treat cup. This cup entertained Emma for hours. It's the next thing on the list of "must haves" and tomorrow I'm off to buy her one.
Mmm. . Bacon and O's.
This is the life!
Truman doing his best Emma impression!

Justin giving Truman a big ole smooch!

Rocking her super-star sunglasses!

Shop shenanigans

I'm not sure if I'm getting slower or Em's getting faster. Regardless of the semantics, I do know that I'm exhausted every night after I get home.

Em is a tornado.

She's a walking talking machine, dead set on leaving mass destruction in her wake. She is a whirlwind that keeps me on my toes.

Em is definitely curious. Thanks to my new birthday gifts "the octuplets", aka birthday chickens, I get about 1/2 hour of peace a day. These chicks are a wonderful distraction for Em's enquiring mind.

Em loves the "dicks" . . .(yes, she says "dicks" . . .picture me explaining that to innocent by-standers. . . . . CPS is getting called for sure!) Instead of instantly going to her dog jacket she now runs to the chicken tub and demands that I put them down. "Down!" "Dicks, down!" If I'm lucky a customer will walk in and overhear this, and all I have to do is point to the chicken tub and shrug. They get the picture.

"Hey there Chicken Friend"

Both Em and dicky posing for the camera.

The chickens only offer me about 1/2 an hour before Em's bored. Then she moves on to bigger and better things. Today she decided to turn my shelving into a jungle gym.

Here she is posing before she hoisted herself into the second row of shelves.

Crawling through the tunnel.

Em still dresses up in her dog jacket cape robe and today she added her royal crown (a silicone dog bowl)

Please bow in her majesty's presence! All she needs is a scepter and she'd be set!

Little Miss Demanding

I love that Em is talking up a storm and I am constantly amazed by what comes out of her mouth. This includes the following list of demands:

"Move!" Whether it be a box, dog, shelf, or customer. . .if it's in her way she will quickly tell you (it, her, them) to "MOVE" so she can get through.

"Down" This is usually following with a tapping of her finger to where she wants you to put whatever it is that she's demanding.

"Cut" quickly followed by "No, Kniii" if you happen to not know the "rules of Em" and try to cut her food with a fork or heaven forbid a spoon.

"GO!" Recently we got a bike trailor and I have been riding to and from work pulling her behind me. The "Go" command usually happens on our daily bike rides. Apparently she likes to go fast and if I'm taking my time she's start chanting, "Go, Go, Go" aka pedal faster fat ass!

Here she is usurping Brian's dinner and showing off quite a few new words.

And here she is demonstrating her new walking skills at Alki Beach. At the very end she lets you hear her second favorite word . . . .hug. The first is MOVE. HA!

Here are a few recent videos:

More animal noises. . . .

Hey Em did you take a nap?

Super Em!

Now that Em is walking nothing at the store is sacred. I don't know what sparked it, but one day last week Em decided that she was in LOVE with the pink Teckelklub fleece dog jacket.

Every moring we'd get to the store and she would run directly to the jacket shelf, grab for the pile of jackets and yell, "Jack. Jack. Jack." I would offer her every jacket in the pile but she consistently turned me down until I got to the pink one.

My little princess.

She now wears it around store like a cape, or better yet, a royal robe.

After a week of Emma wear the jacket is to dirty to be sold so Em is now the offical owner of a cotton candy pink dog jacket cape-robe.

Lovely

Pear!

How to eat a pear.

Step 1. Give the pear a hug. You have to make friends with your food before devouring it.

Step 2. Tentatively taste the pear.

Step 3. Politely apologize to the pear for disfiguring it's perfect pear-shape and

Step 3b. admire your handiwork.

Step 4. Dig right in.

Take that you pear! Get in my belly! Bwahahahaaaaa!

Step 5. Revel in your pear juice facial mask and smile pretty for the camera