What have we been doing?

The last four months in a summary....

September

Emma discovered her belly and realized that when you tickle the belly one will laugh. We won't show you the pictures of Emma tickling Mommy and Daddy's bellies!!!

Emma is an Elmo fan. I think she could watch Elmo all day. She dances and sings when she hears the Sesame Street music, and usually a few tears are shed when Elmo is over.

Emma loves reading books. She often takes a book from the basket and sits in her chair to read.

This video is adorable of Emma who is reading to Mommy and Daddy. Listen to her words. Happy and Good, Good Girl. Emma has a very large vocabulary and is always talking. Sometimes is amazes us with the words and phrases she uses.

We went to a Kite Flying Extravaganza through Parks and Rec. A great day for kites because the wind was blown. Emma got to decorate her own kite, and then later fly it.

October

October began with a celebration. Nate turned five. We traveled up to Nate's house and had a great time. The highlights were the enormous moon bounce in the yard, the snow cone machine and the pinata that was full of candy. We hope that Nate had a great birthday.

Emma dressed up as a giraffe for Halloween. She mostly loved the idea of trick or treating because of the candy, but mostly disliked the head piece on her head. Isn't she adorable. The second picture is Emma and friends trick or treating at Downtown Staunton. The third picture is a picture of Anna-Grace trick or treating with Emma the night of Halloween.

November

Thanksgiving was great. The weekend before Thanksgiving we went to the Ray's for our family dinner. The picture is all the kids except Ellie (she was sleeping) at the kid table. This was prior to food being put on the table. Once they were given food the table was being pushed and food was all over. Maybe better luck next year, or maybe Ellie can keep the other four in line!! This was not our last Thanksgiving dinner, as we spent Thanksgiving Day in Covington with Ganny and Grandpa Lane, and the Saturday after Thanksgiving with The Wine family. Believe us, we are turkied out!!!!

Here is Emma helping to decorate the tree. She loved decorating it and definitely likes to un-decorate it. Rob was talking with her the other day about not touching the ornaments...something she hears frequently...when all the sudden she squinted her eyes and said "Oh Man!". I had to turn away to laugh.

On November 12th Emma had surgery on her ear to remove a cyst. After several visits to the ENT and having a MRI we learned that the thing in her ear, that has been there since birth, was a cyst the size of a large grape. Her incision is behind her ear so it isn't even noticeable. Emma finally has a healthy, functioning, normal ear. Emma was so tough before surgery, during surgery, after surgery, and recovering at home. We are so happy and relieved that the cyst was benign and that she had no major problems post surgery.

A photo taken right before I took her to the operating room

December

Anna-Grace turned 3 on December 1....Happy Birthday Anna-Grace. On Dec. 6th we had her birthday at our house. This was also the day that we had our first snow of the season, so she was anxious about her friends coming to the party. Once everyone arrived the fun began. We made a winter picture, put on tinker bell and spider-man tattoos, ate cake, and played a toss game.

Emma not wanting to cooperate for the birthday picture! Ellie not very happy, and Matty was taking a nap. This was taken towards the end of the party. Maybe we should take the picture at the beginning next time.

The day of Anna-Grace's birthday was also our first snow of the season. It was a quick and beautiful snow. We were even able to build a small snowman. The pictures are taken several days after the snow. The morning of Anna-Grace's birthday we went to have Breakfast with Santa. The food was delicious but Emma wasn't interested in Santa. I had to sit on Santa's lap too!

The children at church did a wonderful job on the Christmas Play, "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Anna-Grace had to recite the 5 gold rings...she did a wonderful job. Emma was one of the three french hens. Bailey and Zoey were the other two. I hope I can get a better picture of the both of them...my camera was having a moment.

Finally, I am all caught up. Hopefully I will not get this far behind again. I only recapped the major events, but know that the Lane family is always going and doing something...that is until today-December 19th. A major blizzard hit the east coast which brought about 16-24 inches of snow throughout the area. We simply stayed in and played with Emma, washed clothes, made a pot of chili, cooked a big breakfast, watched TV and went outside for a short bit. Rob built a large snowman, I started shoveling, and Emma and Briggs played in the driveway. Rob finished up the shoveling because Emma was ready to go in. He worked very hard and for a long time. The sweetest thing was every now and again Emma would go to the door and check on her daddy.

Look at my little helper!

Emma is ready for the town

Enjoying a bowl of chili with Daddy

Briggs having second thoughts

Happy now that there is a path

Rob's Oakland Raider Snowman

Hard Worker!

Now the only problem is there is only 5 days until Christmas and we are not quite done with our shopping. Not knowing how long we will be stuck in the house makes me a little nervous, because another winter storm is coming our way for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

Check back in with us soon!

Sandbridge Beach Trip 09

Our trip to Sandbridge Beach was wonderful. This is our second year traveling to what is known as the "other outer banks", and I must say that it is one of my favorite beaches. Emma did a great job and had a fun time. She played in the sand, she walked to the waves and then ran away, and she definitely loved the pool (she even said pool every time she saw it). Emma was able to spend lots of quality time with her cousins. She rough housed with Nate, held hands with Matty, girl talked with Anna-Grace, and kissed Baby Ellie as much as she could. I am thankful for great family time, the warm and windy beach, great seafood, and putt-putt games. I can't wait until next year.

Summer Fun!

Wow, we have been busy! My summer break is going by so fast. Nevertheless, I am enjoying my time with Emma. I love being home with her, and I am not looking forward to going back to work quite yet. She is talking up a storm, which is the cutest thing. A lot of it I don't understand but she is really saying very important. She is becoming a little more independent with playtime. She can keep her attention on something for about 10 minutes or more and then she moves onto things that I am doing, which means that whatever I put down or away Emma is going to move it. She is especially helpful with laundry. She tries them on, rolls them up, or tries to put them on Briggs. Rob and I finally put Emma though a little bedtime/nap boot camp. Emma got into this thing of not wanting to sleep on her own and we just couldn't do it anymore. So, several weeks ago we set up her IPOD dock, nightlight, said our "love yous" and then laid her in the crib. She did great and is continuing to do great. She sleeps through the night and doesn't cry when we put her down for naps or bedtime. Well, since my last entry we have had a few fun things going on so keep reading. I plan on doing better with the blog.

Father's Day

Rob had a wonderful Father's Day. We got up early and made breakfast, got ready for church, had lunch, spent the afternoon at the park, and then had dinner at the Outback. Emma was so excited when Rob opened his gifts. She got him the big pack of Sham Wow towels and a bowling WII game.

Playground time!

Too tired to walk!


Feeding ducks!

Happy Father's Day Rob! You are a wonderful daddy! We love you bunches!

Happy Father's Day Goddy.

Happy Father's Day to Grandpa Lane.

My favorite foods!

We discovered that Emma loves corn on the cob. She is hysterical. She opens her mouth as wide as she can, bites down and then sucks our the juice. The pictures say it all. She also refuses to eat a banana in small cut up pieces. It has to be the whole banana in the skin.

Corn on the cob!

Oh, yummy!

So good!

Fourth of July!

We celebrated Independence Day with all the traditional activities. We got up early and went to the parade in Staunton. Nana and Goddy loved having all their grandkids here to spoil. Once at home the kids played in the yard, swam in the pool, and had an adventurous time on the slip'n slide. While the kids played the adults worked on the dinner menu~chicken BBQ, cole slaw, potato salad, baked beans, corn on the cob, greens, and homemade desserts. Finally when it was dark we set off firework even though most of the kids pooped out and went to sleep. We set off 40 or more colorful and high flying fireworks.

Emma flying her flag!

Check out Matty's fancy glasses he let me try on!

Ellie's first 4th of July!
Nate & Will begging for candy! Aren't they cute!

What a happy bunch~well maybe not Emma.

Slip'n Slide

Just missing Matty, he was napping and Ellie, she is not old enough yet.

"Will"

"Anna-Grace"

"Nate"
"Emma"~three time and she was done!
Massunhatten Water Park

Nana, Goddy, Rob, Emma, Nate and I ventured to the Water Park at Massunhatten. We had a great day. Nate kept me very busy on all the slides. Nana, Goddy, and Rob kept Emma busy on the lazy river and kiddie area.

"Goddy"

"Nate & Nana"

"Nate & Emma"

"Emma catching the water"

Summer Fun~To be continued....