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!