Lag

Ok I definitely seem to be lagging these days - so let me try to do at least a quick update...

1 - I have a bunch more pictures to upload, and Michael is working on uploading/finishing his pictures from the beach trip - so at the very least new pictures should be flying your way soon.

2 - We kept thinking life would slow down after all the weddings and trips in April and May - but June and July seem to have been just a crazy schedule wise - so please bear with us.

Emily is doing GREAT! She is growing like a weed and being a very strong willed, independent little girl. She is also very much a snuggle bunny and loves to give hugs (sometime they turn into flying hug tackles but she means well).

We headed to the beach with our friends the Gonyeas and Jones' - which meant 3 18 month olds and 9 adults - and yes you need the 3 on 3 ratio to manage 18 month olds at the beach. :) Particularly 3 of them who do not realize that they are not big enough yet to make a mad dash for the water whenever possible! But it was a lot of fun and just the recharge we all really needed. Jenn made three matching dresses for the girls (each in a different color) so we did a photo shoot on the last day that Michael is working on doing up pics from now. It is amazing how much the girls all are bonded to each other and really enjoy each other! Emily was asking for Aria and Abby for the whole week when we got home. Jenn and I rode together with the girls down to the beach house - so we have exhausted our toolkit of kids songs.... And I quickly invested in some toddler CDs when I got home so that I don't have to spend another multi-hour drive singing the itsy bitsy spider by myself.

Ok a quick run down -
1 - Em LOVES the water!! She is definitely her parents kid.... the sand was fun, but really it was the water she loved.

2 - She has a new name and we are workign on her Garbage Pail Kid trading card - she is Exploding Emily! She was dubbed this new name after she literally ate us out of house and home the first couple of days down there - and really apparently cheese balls are just as good with some sand on them as they are straight out of the bag.... :)

3 - Her favorite song is Ring around the Rosie... I actually dread the words ashes ashes that she sings constantly to indicate she wants the whole song :). She also loves Old Macdonald, the Wheels on the Bus and Itsy Bitsy Spider....

4 - She is constantly building new words - and new signs - and this week she started folding her hands to pray before dinner (dad's been working on that one for quite awhile so it's exciting that she is starting it).

Ok I think I'll do a whole nother post on bedtime :)