It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

With the Christmas season already in full swing, we've been enjoying lots of fun activities with Emma this year. Since last year she was only 8 months old at Christmastime, it's like having a first Christmas all over again because she can experience so much more of it. Of course, it also means we've had to up our ante when it comes to watching what she gets into!

Decorating the tree

Kevin is the go-to person when it comes to putting together our Christmas tree. I'm in charge of unboxing ornaments and cleaning the silver bells while he puts them on the tree (It helps that he's tall and can reach it all). We had to restring the tree lights this year, and Emma was very interested in what her daddy was up to; she loves anything to do with lights. She also thinks she's a great "helper" - whether it's working for or against your intended goal. Kevin was also using his headphones while he was decorating, so Emma decided she needed to try those out too.


Checking out the lights Daddy's putting on the tree



Trying out Daddy's headphones - it's like magic!

Now once we got the tree up, we didn't have time to put the ornaments on right away, which probably ended up working in our favor. Those Christmas tree lights must send out little homing signals to all toddlers saying, "Touch me, touch me, touch me!" because every time I stopped hearing any noise coming from Emma playing I knew exactly where she was. Sneaking off to touch the Christmas tree! You know how you end up vacuuming up Christmas tree needles for months afterwards because they track everywhere? Yeah, it's like ten times worse when your little one MUST touch the tree at least once every 30 minutes.

"No mommy, I wasn't in there playing with the tree..."

"Hmm, I think Legos are the perfect thing for this tree."

We had to make sure we were strategic about ornament placement this year because the urge to go mess with the tree definitely increased once there were fun shiny things on it. Emma's been pretty good about just going and looking at the tree though, and she only gravitates to a few certain ornaments, which she repeatedly brings to show me. She also loves to dance around to the music played by our silver bells.

Some supervised touching of the tree

Pictures in front of the Christmas tree

Emma's best Home Alone impression

Visiting Santa Claus

Last year we started the tradition of making a day trip to Brenham with my parents to see Santa Claus, and this year my brothers joined in on the fun. I have to say that this Santa is the best Santa I've ever seen, and I love the fact that the kids get to see the same person year after year (he also visits in the summer for pictures). Last year, Emma did great with seeing Santa because she has no fear of strangers (yay?!?), but we weren't so sure we were going to get her to sit still long enough for a picture and get her to smile. We made sure to bring along our camera this year, so we could capture all the shenanigans that go into getting a toddler to take a good Santa picture.



First, they must get you overcome the urge to run back to mommy.

So, they distract you with a marshmallow.

Except you've never had marshmallows before
and aren't quite sure what to do with it.

So you eventually eat it, but then get distracted
by the door that's open to let fresh air in.

This causes them to deploy their
secret weapon: the feather duster!

And you finally giggle and smile! (Kevin's photo)

2014 Santa picture - it's a keeper!

Afterwards, we all browsed around Brenham's downtown shops for a bit before heading off to get some lunch. Emma loved getting to pal around with her uncles and Pappy, and it was great just getting to relax and hang out with our family and make new memories.

"Mom, I already smiled once. I'm not doing it again."

 

Messing around with my Uncle Stephen and Pappy

  

Chowing down after a quick wardrobe change

One of my favorites from the day -
Uncle and Niece engaging in a serious conversation...

 ...which quickly became a meme amongst Stephen's friends!

 



 

Emma at 18 months

Oh Autumn, why do our sinuses hate you so? Our family got hit bad this past week and a half by cold and allergy bugs; mommy, daddy, and toddler have all been down for the count at some point. As such, no one has felt like doing much of anything. So now that everyone's down for nap time, I thought I'd fire up the computer and get some blogging done.

 



My grandparents, Elmo and Lillian, in 2005

Along with being sick, it's been a rough couple of months for our Walther family. Both my grandfather and grandmother passed away within 26 days of one another. We buried my grandfather Elmo at the end of September after he had fallen in August, had surgery, and just declined afterwards, and I think my grandmother Lillian had just been hanging on for his sake. Both of them were in their 90s and had lived good lives on their farm in Giddings raising cattle, and after 63 years of marriage, there wasn't much that they didn't do together. I am glad that they lived long enough to have Emma in their lives; I know that having her around brought them great joy. And while we will all greatly miss them, it is comforting to know that they are together in heaven watching over us.

 

So what else have we been up to during September and October? Looking back, a lot apparently. You've already gotten to see our adventures at the pumpkin patch, fall festival, and trick-or-treating, but there has been a lot of everyday stuff to keep us busy too.

• 

  Asleep on her nap mat at school

  Emma's gotten used to her school routine and loves her teachers Ms. Jennifer and Ms. Sue. We get all kinds of fun artwork sent home every week, and honestly, I'm glad someone else is getting to clean up all the mess that surely must come with it. At school, Emma goes to chapel once a week and goes to enrichment, which is like a PE class for toddlers. She has come home with lots of new skills and tricks, like knowing how to do the hand motions to some of her favorite songs like "The Wheels on the Bus" and "If You're Happy and you know it," and it's fun to sing and do these things at home with her now. Going to school has definitely increased her vocabulary and her love for the outdoors. In fact, "outside" is one of her most frequently used new words.

 

Some of Emma's artwork from school

• We've spent a lot of time up at A&M this fall for football games, and Kevin got to visit the Engineering Career Fair as a representative for his department at Mustang. Even though we're season ticket holders, it never ceases to amaze us how much things change on campus. They have finished half of the renovations on Kyle Field, and I must say it looks pretty nice (except for the playing field they had to replace halfway through the season). They'll start on our side after the LSU game on Thanksgiving, so next year we'll have a completely different view. The Aggies have had some good games and some not so good games, but we have fun nonetheless.

The panoramic view from our seats - we're right on the 50 yard line

• 

  Morning bathroom time

  Emma's learned to become quite the helper, which if you've been around small children isn't always the most helpful of things. But, I try to be patient knowing that it comes from a good place. She's my little shadow most days - always wanting to do what mommy is doing. One of her favorite times of day is getting ready in the morning with mommy in the bathroom. Emma thinks she's the coolest because she gets to brush her hair and teeth in the big bathroom mirror. There's usually a good game of peek-a-boo with herself in the mirror going on too. It's become part of our daily routine to spend time together in there playing around, and sometimes I even let her pretend to put some powder on her cheeks with my makeup brushes. I love that she's getting to the point where she can and wants to do more of the things we do.
  

 

• Emma is as adventurous as ever. I don't think people really believe us when we tell them that until they see her in action. The silly girl is always trying new ways to climb up, crawl on, go through, or tumble over things. She's learned how to swing her legs up to crawl up on the piano bench and the bench at the end of our bed. So now, we're blessed with toddler piano hour and no longer have our bed as a safe refuge. Nothing is an obstacle too big for her to tackle. She just has an innate sense of curiosity about her, and she never ever slows down when it comes to playtime. She is our little Energizer bunny!

Video: New Sliding Trick #1

 

 Video: New Sliding Trick #2

 

 

• 

  SO much to sew!

  Lastly, I have been able to catch a few moments to myself here and there (gasp!), which means I've finished the appliqueing on the next block of my quilt. It was quite the painstaking process since each one of those petals had to be individually sewn on. I can't tell you how many times I've had to pin and baste, only to find that my petals were just a smidgen off center or too far apart for the center circles to be sewn on top. It meant having to pull it all out just to pin and baste all over again. Maybe by next Christmas, I'll have finished this quilt so we can actually use it in the cold weather. But for now, we'll just have to sit back and look at all the pretty pieces and imagine being snuggled under it.   

Click here to see more photos and videos

 

Fall Fun

Have a few photos to share with y'all today! We've been really busy these past two months, so today's post is mainly just a photo drop. I'll try to get a more substantial update posted here later this week!

Going to the Pumpkin Patch

Emma's preschool puts out a pumpkin patch each year, so we headed out to try and snap some photos. Like any true toddler Emma was way more interested in running about or watching the other people in the pumpkin patch than sitting still for a photo. And forget trying to get her to smile and not make an awkward face. Maybe we need to practice more between now and Christmas...lol!

 

 

 

Hanging out at the Fall Festival

The weekend before Halloween we headed back to Emma's preschool for their annual Fall Festival. Even though a lot of the games and activities were a bit beyond Emma's skill/comprehension level, she had lots of fun anyways. The petting zoo was definitely her favorite, and she got to go in her first ever bouncy house! 

Halloween Trick or Treating

This year for Halloween we decided Emma could go trick-or-treating just around the few houses in our cul-de-sac. So, I picked her up this little onesie outfit at BabiesRUs, paired it with some white tights, and silver sparkly shoes, and poof!, Emma was a ghost. At first, Emma just wanted to run around in the front yard, but once she realized that she got to help put candy in people's buckets, she was all in. Then, when we had a break in kiddos, we let her carry her own bucket around and collect treats herself. Even when her bucket got a little too heavy to hold, she didn't want any help carrying it. She was determined to do it herself!

Last year - 2013

 

This year - 2014 

 

Click here for even more Fall Fun photos!