Emma and Her Ear

Emma has finished her Amoxicilin over the weekend, but still had the snot and congestion.  Quick call to the pediatrician in the morning and we got a evening appt time to check it out.  So, off Mommy and Emma went, back to see the awesome Dr. Wick. Mommy intuition is always right and as Sara predicted, the ear infection was still there.  So now our Emma G is on Augmentum to see if she can finally kick this ear infection. Oddly enough, it hasn't slowed her down much though.

Happy Birthday

We Love You, Our Pa!

Happy, Happy Birthday!!

Red Day At School

Lily's First Color Day at School

Moving On

Lily began to love puzzles a long, long time ago. She mastered the big chunky ones and moved onto the simple 7-14 piece jigsaw puzzles and now we are movin' on.

We are now onto big floor puzzles. She has a huge 24 piece Melissa and Doug floor puzzle that she loves and does over and over and over again. Then she moved onto a 24 pc Sesame Street double-sided puzzle that she now needs no help on and even find the correct sides to complete either side of the puzzle. And, now she's onto these smaller 24 pc. floor puzzles and even on her first try didn't need help!

Gotta say...what's next in puzzle world for this girl?

Some Quality Single Parent - Single Kid Time

The girls love playing with each other and have so much fun together, but every once in awhile it is good to split and have some one on one time. After a family grocery trip, we decided that it was time for a Mommy & Lily shopping trip to Kohls.  This gave Daddy & Emma some time to stay at home and play. Emma is just getting to that next level of play, the one where she interacts with the toys and is even pretending that they talk to one another.  Her little fake voices are the cutest.  Pretty much just unrecognizable higher pitched words then always ending in the two toys hugging. With big Sissie gone with Mommy, Em took full advantage of all the toys that are somewhat monopolized. Daddy & Emma played full out Little People, balloon catch, ball, princesses, and of course, automatic camera timer fun. As you can see, still fighting that cold but doesn't seem to slow her down much!

Some Quality Daddy - Daughter Time

With Sara having some school work to do and a monsoon still going on outside, it was the perfect day to stay at home and have some Daddy-Lily-Emma play time. After going through all the usual stuff (baby dolls, coloring, and of course books), we decided to do something outside of the normal play stuff. Wouldn't be a Daddy playtime without doing something a little messy (or building something, we'll save that one for tomorrow). We moved the blue table in the kitchen and decided to bust out the Play-Do, definitely had two excited girls.

Emma stuck with it a little bit, keeping occupied by putting the shape cutters in and out of the bucket. Lily on the other hand was all about it. She spent all morning into lunchtime rolling, cutting, balling, and making various ice cream products. She was so proud of all her creations, but the ice cream sundae, cake, and cone she made was "the best" (Her words). She said they were for Mommy since "Mommy workin weally hard in the bedroom". Did learn one valuable lesson ... be careful when you clean up because I balled up her cake by accident thinking it was just a pile. Oh well, sorry Lily.

Emmatime

TAG...I'm it...Sara post...

I am loving school days. Lily is loving school days! and as you can see, Emma loves school days too! On the mornings that we are not running errands or playing at school we come back home to have some quality playing time together. And it's absolutely wonderful! I want to do this every school day even though it's not realistic.

Today we came home to have breakfast, sing and dance to her CD, we played baby dolls, kitchen, cars, puzzles, and everything else in the playroom. I was also able to get some laundry done and put away and in the midst of all of this craziness, Emma wanted to play dress-up. She settled on dressing like Tinkerbell, which seems to be her character of choice lately. This was actually going to be her Halloween costume but all has changed!

The picture is of Emma before we headed out the door to get Sissy. Yep, she insisted on wearing this in the car. :) Gotta love how happy she is :).

So Tired.

After a morning of running errands and shoe shopping this little girl would sleep anywhere!

Even sitting up on the couch!

Welcome, Betta

A new family member joined the Check household today, a bright blue Betta fish aptly named Betta. We have been discussing a fish purchase for some time now and today, the trigger was finally pulled.  Luckily, Petsmart had the perfect little starter kit that pretty much has everything you need to start, just add fish! Lily and Emma are so enamored by Betta that they just stare at the side of the tank and drop jaw. And not that we are fish experts, but we think Betta loves his new home. He swims all around his little tank, hiding in the tree, and coming to the surface to blow bubbles. (We read in the pamphlet that bubbles are a good thing, means they are happy). Welcome Betta!

Uncle Mark Visit

We had two very special visitors this weekend who the girls simply love... Uncle Mark and Kiara. Both of them were in town to take part in the ALS Walk and decided to get some quality niece time while in town. As you can see below, the girls wasted no time in getting used to Uncle Mark being around.  They introduced him to all the things they like to do, which mostly included crawling all over him while they hijack the TV.  Mark as introduced to both Super Why and their new dog Woofster this weekend. We don't have a picture, but Kiara is a big fan of dogs on TV as well. And of course, Lily had to get a few rounds of "Angry Birds" in on Uncle Mark's iPhone.

Well after a good morning of playing and lunch, Uncle Mark and Kiara had to depart to get back home. The girls watched every step they took as they drove off into the rain. Thanks Uncle Mark for visiting, we love you!

"Uncle Mark and Kiara! Don't leave us, we miss you!"

New Outfit for Coconut / Rainy Day Mall Trip

With the rain coming down, we figured it would be a good day to run up to the mall. We had two missions to accomplish: new shoes for the girls and a new outfit for Coconut's first visit to school.  Tuesday is "Bring Your Teddy Bear to School" day and needless to say, Lily is quite excited. Show and Tell is a big deal and we would be bad parents if we didn't let Coconut get a new outfit. So, we all got our rain coats on (and one set of rain boots), a feat that actually took longer than the drive there. To our surprise, everyone else pretty much had the same mall-trip idea.

First stop ... Build-A-Bear to get a new outfit. Picture below is Lily posing next to one of Coconut's sisters (yes, they don't change their bear model lines).

Second stop ... Shoe store! The Stride-Rite store was packed like we have never seen it before. One look at the 20 kids and 2 workers, we all knew it was best to just walk right past. But in true Check Family fashion, wouldn't be a mall trip without a trip to the carousel and a pretzel/lemonade combo from Auntie Anne's. Apparently carousel was little too fast for Em, seems like she is hanging on for dear life (she was just a little tired and "mommy-clingy").

Like we said before though, no trip to the mall is complete unless you get that pretzel and lemonade. Quietest the girls were the whole trip. Got to love them!

4th of July ... In September

Since it rained on 4th of July, we (and the rest of VA Beach) missed out on fireworks this year. We've been keeping our ears out all summer for a reschedule date but none never came. Then at work, one of my coworkers informed me that they were going to set them off for Friday night at the Patriotic Festival. We ate an early dinner and had it all planned out. Get ice cream at Dairy Cream, camp out in the car, and enjoy our dessert from a safe, Lily-approved distance in the parking lot. Imagine our surprise when as we are driving down the road the sky starts to light up ... yep, started them 30 minutes early due to the threat of rain (notice the 1st picture taken as we were driving). We stepped on the gas and got to the shopping center (along w/ a few other hurrying parents) just in time to see about the last 10 minutes. Lily and Emma loved it, they didn't know they had missed the start. Back in the car and quick drive home to stay on bedtime schedule.

Library and Doctor Trip

Sara and the girls day started off as their recent Thursdays have, dropping Lily off for school and then heading to the library for Emma's Storytime class. Emma was pretty reluctant with regards to participation, but started to warm up near the end. Friends Melissa and Leah are also in the class,  so its always nice to have a familiar face around. Here's Emma and Leah doing some Etrading at the public computer. Think they were a little perturbed that they had to be interrupted to pose.

After the library trip, Sara and Emma were off to the doctors. Lily has been fighting a cold and recently Emma has started to mess with her ear. She's been acting for the most part the same, but certain things have been with a little more "attitude" than normal. Well, Sara's mommy instincts were right as usual, ear infection. As usual, Emma occupied the wait time at the doctor's office by doing what she does best ... hanging out in her diaper and enjoying a snack.

Pitching In to Help

As if our wonderful mommy (and my awesome wife) doesn't have enough to do, she is now enrolled in a graduate class at ODU. Although there isn't enough time in the day to do what she has to now, we both felt it was important to keep her teaching certification current. Although she loves the class she signed up for (Children's Lit), it is quite amount of work. (We all remember the rule ... 3 hrs outside of class for every one hour of in-class time). You do the math and that equals roughly 12 hrs of at-home work for this class since it is totally online.

The girls and I have decided to help where we could. I've decided to pitch in via two ways: making the occasional dinner (girls better get used to spaghetti and the soup/grilled cheese combo) and chipping in w/ the blog. We have grown to love the blog, often reflecting back at all the "important to us" milestones. The girls will be supporting me with the photography support. We may need to get an extra camera so both these shutterbugs have their own.

Tall Girl

She can open all of the doors in the house except for the front door, it's just way too heavy. Miss Emma even knows how to unlock the back storm door so she can let Maci in or out. Yikes.

Although she's a tall one, she's still pretty skinny. This is a 24 month shirt and has on 18 month pants that need to be rolled at the waist. Oh, and she insisted on wearing this shirt :) She now has a louder opinion about clothes than her big sissy!

Our Sweet Girl

Today when Lily got up from nap she was just chattering away. I had to slow her down to actually understand what she was saying. She was so excited and began, "Mom, I have a plan," I immediately thought that it would have to do with going outside, having some kind of ice cream from Dairy Queen or something so odd I would just shake my head.

But NO.

It was none of those things.

She continued tell me, "We can move my bookcase here, we can move the rocking chair into your room and Emma's crib can go right here. Then we can put the extra bed in Emma's room so when Nana comes to visit she doesn't have to sleep on the green couch anymore."

My first response was, "You want to share a room with Emma??"

Ha. If she only knew what she was asking for.

When we were in NC in August, Lily and Emma shared a room. Some nights Emma would wake up and the only thing she wanted was to be in bed with Lily. They would sleep together and some mornings I would go in to find them cuddling, holding hands or completely all over each other. Ever since then they both are very distraught during bedtime when they are split up to go to their own rooms. Mike and I have discussed this but know that Emma needs to grow-up a bit in her bedtime routine and sleeping habits before we would do this to our sleepin' lovin' Lily.

Plus, how sweet is she that she's thinking of Nana! And, to plan it all out!

Lily, you continue to amaze us!

Love you sweet girl.

Whoops...

Happy September.

Better late than never.

and a little look into what Emma sounds like pretty much everyday :)

oh, she especially loves to do this scream in stores while I carry her under my arm while I sweat, turn red and try to stay calm :)

And, we love this slide :)



Party and No Nap

Today we spent the afternoon helping Lily's friend, Natalie, celebrate her third birthday.

They had a huge bounce house there, which Lily wasn't too fond of, but really loved their trampoline.

Since this was an afternoon party, Daddy and Emma didn't join us and Lily got to skip her nap...

Yeah, not the best decision on our part since it led to an ugly night of sleeping.

Woo Hoo, Woo Hoo...

and another Woo Hoo.

Yep, our day off from school this week we were able to play outside and...

wait for it...

wait for it...

See in the top picture, the newspaper...I was able to sit outside, drink my cup of coffee and read the paper. I mean I wasn't able to drink all of my coffee or read the entire paper but it was enough to be hopeful :)...

And, just in case you missed it...

WOO HOO!

Big Girl Chair

Emma now sits in the booster style seat of her highchair.

Yep.

She refused to eat when it looked like a baby chair. She would climb up into one of the other kitchen chairs and want to eat there like Lily does. This was and is not an option for some time to come but something had to be done so this little lady would eat and be happy.

So, I took off the back and called it a "Big Girl Chair".

It's been working, Knock On Wood.

Hopefully this means that we will have nice and pleasant meals ahead of us for now on...

cough...cough...starting to already choke on these words...

**Crossing my fingers anyway**

What I'm Up To...

So, I have a few things going on right now that will probably result in me handing over blog writing privileges to the Mr.

1. I'm taking a grad class at ODU. It's an online class but it's a class nonetheless. It's a Children's Lit class that involved A LOT of reading. I really do like to read, I do...but Lily and Emma and family and other things kinda get in the way of that so this is going to get me back into it, I hope.

But anyway, I had to an introduction for this class and was introduced to an awesome site animoto.com which I am now IN LOVE with. Just be prepared to have lots and lots of these coming up in the next few months when I can find time to create them!

and 2. my Etsy shop.

More on this later....

Enjoy the slideshow :)

3 Year Old Preschool

So, just like everyone else, I'm sad to see the summer go. I'm more sad to see our "summer hours" go but it's time. The time where we get up super, duper early to leave the house by 835 to get to school in time for us to chat and take our time walking in.

Mike and I really didn't know how the morning was going to. Was it going to be like last year? Was it going to be harder because she had the summer off? Was it going to be easier since she loved this school already? Our stomachs were turning all morning because of all the 'What ifs...' but we definitely tried to played it cool :).

And, Lily was so very excited! She was the first one out the door with her new backpack on and very anxious to get in the car so we wouldn't be late. On the drive there, she was a bit apprehensive but who isn't on the first day of school. So that's what we talked about and how this school isn't new, she knows everyone already.

We took more pictures outside the church and the second picture from the left you can tell that's her nervous smile :). But as you can see from the picture with her teacher, Mrs. Johnson, she feels right at home. And, there were no tears! From any of us! :)

While Lily was busy having fun at school this was also Emma's first day of being a part-time only! And, I do believe she loved it! We had breakfast at Panera and Emma not only loved the attention but it is certainly deserved and needed. But on a side note, she did miss her sissy bunches today.

And, to carry on tradition.

Daddy gave Lily some flowers when she got home from school!

Proud of you today Miss Lily!

Labor Day Weekend

We have been busy.

I don't have any pictures from the weekend and don't have any time or interest in making some up, so here's a summary post of our long weekend.

Mike had off four days, Sat-Tues, and we had quite the to-do list to accomplish over those four days. We pretty much spent it at Lowes, making a trip everyday. We finished the fence in the front, added some plants here and there and played in the backyard every. single. day.

I'm not sure if we're just not used to it, but man playing outside with your kids to tire them out not only tires them out but you as well. We are definitely looking forward to when they can play and entertain themselves some :)

Happy Labor Day!

A Special Message

to a very special little lady that lives in Texas!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Lorelei!

We miss you so much and wish we could be at your party!!

Look for something special in the mail soon!

We love you,

Mr Mike, Miss Sara, Lily and Emma

p.s. I've had to show Lily many, many times how far it would be for us to drive to Texas tomorrow. Just know that if it were up to her, we would be on the road right now to be at your party!

Uh-Oh...

Today, Mike and I watched our little girl really be little girl.

This morning was Lily's school orientation for 3 yr old preschool! She will be in school three days a week, Tues/Thurs/Fri. and her teacher is, get this, Sarah Johnson :) Gotta be a sign right?!?

Lily is very excited about beginning school next Tuesday!

Oh, yeah...Happy September...I'm in denial.