gab, gab, gab

a preview of the teen years...

emma really likes to talk on the phone. in fact, she "talked" for a good 15 minutes to ibu (my mother). i can't imagine what it will be like when she gets older. actually, she's talking right now when she's supposed to be napping. i thought she was sleeping (since she's been in her room for an hour), but no...talk, talk, talk, sing, sing, sing. will she ever fall asleep now? doubt it. oh well. it's been nice, now that she's a wee bit older, to not have to be so overly zealous about her nap schedule. as long as we stick w/ a normal routine most of the week, she does great when we stray every once in a while. usually what ends up happening is we put her down for bedtime earlier than normal and it works out pretty good. i'm thankful that i was so strict w/ her nap schedule earlier on that now she's become a great sleeper. i wonder if it will be the same when we have another baby? probably not...but hopefully so. nothing much else going on. i've had a very NICE 2 weeks off of teaching, but will be starting a new session after the new year. tyler left to visit his mom on the 26th, and won't be returning until the 5th of jan. so w/out beau or tyler around it's been rather quiet at night. well...enjoy new year's eve!

elmooowww!

we found a ginormous elmo doll in this stuffed animal bin while we were out bumming around and emma was pretty excited about it. she hugged him, kissed him and then tried to take him around with her. it was too cute. thankfully, aaron was able to distract her with something else while i shoved elmo to the bottom of the bin. it's strange how just from reading a couple of elmo books over, and over, and over, again has already familiarized her with the character. i guess that's a good sign though...at least she understands what we read to her.

aside from elmo, my dear and sweet family gave me a new camera for christmas. actually, the gift was right on time, because on christmas day, the old camera was pretty much done for. so i've been taking a mass amount of photos to familiarize myself w/ the features. i've deleted most of them because they're pretty random, but i LOVE the new camera...canon A560. it's not a super new model, but it's PERFECT for what i'm looking for. our old one was a fuji finepix A345 (or something like that) and after only 2 years it was already starting to die. plus the two cameras were about the same price, but the canon features far exceeds the finepix. i'm hoping this one will last a lot longer. here's a sample from the new camera (emma's new ornament for this year).

90 years!

last sunday we celebrated grandma purdum's 90th (yes that's the big 9-0) birthday. actually, she turned 90 in november, but around christmas time was the best to get everyone together. the big bash was at gram & pap's house and talk about a FULL house...1st cousins, 2nd cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents...it was awesome.

Merry Christmas!

it's cookie day!

yesterday (monday) was cookie day at the purdum household (not ours but gram and pap's in ravenna). emma and i drove down monday morning as fast as the roads would allow. as usual, there was a lot of flour, a lot of butter, a lot of frosting, a lot of dirty dishes, and a lot of laughs. in attendance this year were gram, corrie, jenna, jon (he was on kid duty), ben and emma (these 2 along with jon were on the tasting comittee). we made white-chocolate chip cookies (they were the festive red & green chips), almond bark, these jelly-filled cream cheese cookies, sugar cookies (of course!), and peanut butter cookies. we also took home some OH-SO DEEELICIOUS clothespin cookies....but those were made ahead of time by gram. why is it that your most favorite treats are often the ones that take the longest to prepare? i think emma really enjoyed being on the tasting comittee. in fact, she enjoyed it so much that she learned a new word: cookie.

catching up again....

as christmas approaches it seems that we've been getting busier and busier. needless to say, i'm behind on some blogging. i'll start with last thursday. tyler had his winter concert at school that evening, though he only performed with his class and not his band group. i guess that part will be for the spring concert. they did a great job, and their performance closed with a fabulous dance number. i didn't have time to embellish the video clip, so you'll be watching the "raw" version!


saturday, i had to work on the finishing touches for the dance recital sunday afternoon. meanwhile, tyler was off at his buddy stephen's birthday party (this silly photo of them is actually from the concert).














then that evening was our elf movie night party which was super fun. unfortunately, i forgot to take pictures, but a friend did take a photo of tyler dressed up in TIGHTS! i'll post his "elf" outfit when we get a copy. then, wouldn't you know, sunday rolls around and with it a nasty snow storm (think treacherous streets and white out conditions), so i had to cancel the dance recital (thank you aaron for helping make the phone calls!). all the parents were relieved, but i'm sure the kids were pretty bummed out. and all those darn tutus i made will just have to wait to be worn!

18 months!

emma turned 18 months on wednesday. this month last year she wasn't even crawling, and looking at her now it's hard to imagine that she wasn't mobile last year. it's weird how you change so fast when you're little, but as you get older you begin to change more slowly. i guess that's a good thing for us adults, eh? in just the past few months emma has been more verbal, and has a hefty list of words she uses under her belt. lately she's been saying "rea, rea" (rea=read) with book in hand, insisting that you drop everything you're doing so that she can be read to. she hasn't added any new signs lately, but that's partly my fault-i've been lazy about teaching her any more now that she can communicate her needs verbally. she still loves to dance, and has learned to kick her leg out. i'm trying to teach her how to point and tap her toes, but she hasn't quite grasped that yet. she has great taste in music, making her daddy proud by bopping her head to artists such as the adicts, the ramones, and the clash. there are also times when she'll point to aaron's "taw" (guitar) indicating that it's time for dad to play a song for her. too funny. she's really coming into her own, and DEFINITELY has a stubborn streak in her. can't blame the girl for having stubborn parents, i guess. tomorrow she goes in for her 18 mos. check-up...ugh, i'm dreading the shots!










2006


2007










2006


2007

here's to happier times...

today we said good-bye for the last time to our faithful companion, beau. he had been diagnosed with a tumor in his leg 2 weeks ago, after we took him to the vet for a limp. although we'll miss him dearly, remembering all the fun and silly stuff we shared will always brighten our day.

this photo is for my aunty michelle

dearest aunty michelle,
thanks for the hat! i know you gave it to me last year, but i can finally fit into it now. how does it look? does it go w/ my outfit...and my purse? i even put it on myself!
love,
emma

oh christmas tree...

we got our christmas tree this past sunday. we had been debating between a real tree and an artificial one for the past week and couldn't quite make up our mind. getting an artificial one would be much safer with a toddler around, but then again we could always teach her to be careful around the tree. we decided to purchase a real tree and headed to home depot to take a look. it was a REALLY cold and wet day, and by the time we made it inside the store, looking around for a tree in their outdoor nursery section just didn't sound too appealing. then we saw it...a fake white pre-lit christmas tree. should we wait until after christmas to buy it at a discount to use for next year? NAH...who wants to go out in the cold rain to look for a real tree (with a 1.5 year old) when you can just buy one in a box? perfect. (unfortunately, the beer can christmas tree has not made it out of the basement yet)





































oh, and this past friday, the kids and i went and checked out light up lakewood-it's where they light up the huge christmas tree in front of the hospital and then watch santa on his rocket ride to the library. it was super windy, and soooo very cold that i can't believe we still went out. tyler ran into one of his buddies, daniel so they hung out together while we were out and about. it was not as impressive as i thought it would be-i think you have to be out there by 6 p.m. on the dot to see everything. regardless, i don't think we'll do it again next year, especially if the weather is bad again.