Happy Father's Day!

We had a lovely Father's Day here...and I sincerely hope that Paul would agree.  To start off the day, Emmeline and I treated Paul to his favorite breakfast: biscuits and gravy!  We then travelled to Philadelphia's Please Touch Museum.  Located in historic Fairmont Park, it is by far the best children's museum I have ever visited.  The building itself is gorgeous and there are numerous interesting, engaging and educational exhibits.  Plus it is just a plain ol' good time.  If you live in the greater Philadelphia area or ever find yourself nearby, please pay them a visit. The admission is a bit steep ($15 for anyone over one year old) but it was worth it.

It was a bit overwhelming at first so we started off small and made friends with a turtle:

There was a great water-works exhibit near the entrance and Emmeline spent a considerable amount of time playing in the various tubs and fountains:

This piano claims fame from the movie Big starring Tom Hanks.  I know that a version of it also resides in New York, thanks to Erin's blog, but have no idea which is authentic: 

Though Emmeline was old enough to enjoy most of the exhibits, there were several toddler play areas throughout.  Here she and Paul enjoyed hoping on the lilly pads in the forest corner:

My favorite part of the museum was the Alice in Wonderland exhibit.  It was complete with a hedge maze, tea parties, costumes, Wonderland animals and characters and so much more.  Emmeline was a bit put-off by the large cheshire cat hanging out in the tree ("Emmeline scared of cat, mommy!") and it took some prompting to get her to enter the exhibit:

Uh, I don't know about this!

A funny flamingo...

Painting white roses red before the Queen

of Hearts notices!

Tea, daddy?

Hello, Alice? Are you in there?

This was one of those illusions where the room

got smaller as you walked further into it

Playing on a child-sized porch on a child-sized house.

Helping out in the garden.

Playing nurse in the children's hospital nursery.  

Night, night baby!

I think the child-sized Shoprite grocery store was

Emmeline's favorite part of the museum.  It was complete

with carts, plastic produce, meat, bread, and empty cans,

bottles and boxes of actual groceries. They even had little

check out lanes!

Operating a crane with mommy but mommy didn't

know what she was doing.

In the child-sized subway with daddy.

Stuck in traffic and pooped out!

Our fun did not stop there!  After a brief respite at home, we grabbed philly cheese steaks from Paul's favorite place in Trolley Square and headed to Bellevue State Park.  They have summer concerts almost every Thursday and Sunday at 6:30.  We went last Sunday to listen to Irish folk/pub tunes and had a blast.  This evening's show was equally enjoyable with Americana/ country music.  The only thing that could have made it better was if Emmeline's grandpas could have been with us.  We sure did miss them today...

Perfect Father's Day fun!

Oh!  Bubbles!

And just for good measure, you can see for yourself how much fun Emmeline had at the concert:

Happy Father's Day to all and to all a good night!

Boot Camp and Birthday, Part I

We have had a fun and interesting couple of weeks here.  My mom arrived on June 3 and stayed until June 13.  The purpose of her trip, besides getting Emmeline all to herself, was to babysit while Paul finished his last week of school and I was off at dissertation boot camp. Yes, everyone...I am in dissertation therapy.  For two solid weeks, I haul my laptop and a selection of books off to campus where I am chained to my computer and am expected to write, write, write! Actually, I am in boot camp now, but I needed a mental break. And I miss my baby. What I want to get out of this boot camp is lots of words on the page and a momentum that will carry me through the rest of the summer.  I need to get this done and off my plate.  My goal is to finish by the end of next summer.  I want to beat Jacy to her high school graduation!

Mom and Emmeline had a great time together last week.  Emmeline was still a bit clingy when I was around but when I was gone, she and gramma were best friends!  They went on walks, took frequent trips to the cafe around the corner from our house, read ALOT of books, and got to know each other through some serious one-on-one time.  Sadly, I have dropped the ball on my photographing.  I can't believe I have been so neglectful.  I didn't get many picture of my mom's trip here but one of my photographer friends took pictures for me at Emmeline's birthday party last Friday.  I will post them as soon as she sends them.  For now, here is a super cute picture of Emmeline contemplating her Serpe's cake (photo compliments of Kate...thanks Kate!):

Emmeline's actual birthday is not until June 22, but we wanted to have a party for her while my mom was here.  We hosted the party at Bellevue State Park and thankfully the weather was agreeable.  Our house is just too little for all of those toddlers!  All of Emmeline's little friends were able to attend and our final count was twelve toddlers and one baby. What fun they had! It was so nice, also, for my mom to be able to spend time with all of our friends and be a part of Emmeline's Delaware birthday party.  Last year we didn't make it to North Dakota until after Emmeline's birthday and it was torture for my parents.  My poor dad was left out this time, but we will be seeing my family in August.  We are going on a road trip this August to meet them half way and camp for a few weeks.  We have not taken Emmeline camping yet so we just made reservations to take her for a few days at Killens Pond State Park over July 4th weekend. Hopefully she likes it otherwise we will have a rough go of it in August!

Pictures and narrative of the party soon to come...

"Emmeline almost Two!"

My dearest Emmeline,

It is hard to believe that you will be turning two years old in less than a month. Your spirited, beautiful, wonderful life has deeply and profoundly changed me and your daddy in ways that we never could have imagined. Every single day I am astonished by your strong opinions, loving nature and outright precociousness. You make us laugh like we have never laughed before and keep us busier than we ever thought was possible. We have marveled at and adored you since before you were born. Before your birth, we gushed over every strong kick and stared at your ultrasound pictures endlessly. On the day you were born, we fell in love with you instantly and were in awe of your beautiful features (especially your eyes) and mammoth size! When you were a newborn, every tiny move and coo was a source of wonder and every slight cough was a trigger for anxiety and concern. You soon learned to grab for objects (oh, how fun!), sit up on your own (good job baby!), crawl (watch out kitties!), walk (running VERY soon followed) and communicate through signs and words (very quickly you mastered different inflections and nuances of usage). Now that you are nearing your second birthday, you are more lovable and interesting than ever. When you are left to your own devices to play, you ping-pong around the house, resting only for a cuddle, story time, or snack. Occasionally you will spend time reading books to yourself (you start every story by saying, "One day...") or playing with your dollhouse. You are becoming quite good at playing independently and reading to yourself, but you would much rather be cuddled up on one of our laps, sucking your thumb. We are able to carry on long conversations with you about things that happened in the past tense (you are still talking about the zoo trip from earlier this month) or even about abstract things (you understand what it means to *think* about something. You say, "Emmeline is thinking about grapes!" or "Daddy is thinking about sleeping!"). Right now your daddy is especially fond of the way that you tell him about the way things "go": "Cows go moo!" or "Odie (grandma and pa-pa's dog) goes slurp, slurp, slurp!") You know that your birthday is coming up very soon: "Emmeline almost two!". You have even learned to hold up two fingers! We are constantly dumbfounded about the new things that come out of your mouth. Your expanding vocabulary certainly keeps things new and interesting for us! To say that we are looking forward to watching you as you grow is an understatement. Every day with you is the sweetest day.

As you grow, I hope that you come to realize that you are descended from rather amazing men and women. On May 9, your auntie Kelsey received her Doctorate of Arts in Biology from Idaho State University (I can't believe that my little sister is a doctor):

You and daddy stayed in Delaware while I went to Idaho to witness Kelsey's hooding. It was wonderful to be there for her and it also afforded you and I the opportunity to finally ween. When I came back from the three-day trip, I told you that mommy's milk was all gone. You fussed for about 30 seconds, but then you were content with your thumb. Now that it has been a few weeks, you still talk about nursing but do not ask for it. I am glad that it was so easy for you; had you been upset about it, I don't think I could have followed through. I am still sad that you are not nursing anymore, but since it seemed to be no big deal for you, it was clearly time. I am so thankful that it was an easy transition for you.

On Mother's Day, when I was still in Idaho, your great-grandma Alice passed away. I am not yet able to articulate the experience of that day or of the week that followed. To be sure, we were all glad to be together, celebrating her life but these things are never easy. I really don't know how any of us would have gotten through it without your sunny smile and sweet giggles.

By the time you are able to read this you will already know what a special, loving and spirited woman she was. I am thankful that she knew you and that you were able to spend so much time with her, though we lived so far away. Great-grandma LOVED babies, having seven of her own, fourteen grandchildren, countless great-grandchildren, and even one great-great-grandchild. She was so excited for your arrival and knew somehow that you were going to be a girl:

Here she is making her prediction in March of 2007.

And here you are meeting for the very first time

in September of 2007; your first trip to North

Dakota after your birth

She couldn't see very well so she liked to feel her

way around!

With great-grandma in March of 2008

July 2008

Hitchin' a ride; Christmas 2008

March 2009

As you can see, you brought so much joy to your great-grandma in these last two years of her life. Indeed, you have brought so much joy to us all. Your daddy and I are so wholly and completely in love with you and cannot believe that you are ours.

Your mommy forever and always,
Me

Happy Birthday to Mommy!

I turned 29 today and it was one of the best birthdays I have ever had. Today was a wonderful day, but the celebrations began yesterday and will continue all week.  My birthday is also a kind of warm-up for Emmeline's birthday; she is getting good practice at blowing out candles and opening presents.

To kick-off my birthday weekend, yesterday I ran my first road race since the fall of 2005 (I DNFed the Philly Marathon and dropped at the half - 13.1 miles).  Today was only a 5K but it was still plenty hard for me.  I have really only been back into running for about a week and a half and I signed up for the race because I wanted to keep myself motivated.  The race was for Girls on the Run and ended up having 1,300 registered runners.  The program is for girls 3rd-8th grade and has a ten-week training season that leads up to the 5K race, while also teaching them about motivation, healthy living, and positive self-esteem.  I thought it would be a fun way to get back into the running mode and it turned out to be a great road race with a challenging course.  Emmeline had fun dancing to the live music, eating cookies and watching out for me on the course.  Paul prompted her to yell "Yay mommy!  Go mommy!"; it was so adorable.  I think that next year when I turn 3o I would like to run another full marathon.  We are hoping to do a half marathon in September to see how our old geezer bodies hold up.

Yesterday evening we went to Jessop's Tavern in historic old New Castle.  It is one of our favorite restaurants and is famous for their sweet potato fries.  Our babysitter, Christina, was with Emmeline so that we could linger a nice, long time over our scrumptious food (I had roasted duck with apricot sauce) and wine.

Today Paul and Emmeline cooked me a wonderful brunch and we skyped with my parents while we ate.  I took advantage of our beautiful weather as I worked in the yard and got some more things planted while Paul and Emmeline napped.  Then we went to the Birth Center picnic and fundraiser.  TBC is celebrating their 10 year anniversary and new water birth suite.  Their celebration/fundraiser included a silent auction as well and I had the winning bid on a few baby items that will be great gifts for all of those preggos I know!  They also had a clown show, music, and crafts set up for the kids.  Emmeline had a lot of fun making a "jellyfish":

Go easy on the glitter!

Putting on the tentacles.

Ta-da!

The park had these cement tubes (old culverts?) for the kids

to play in; I think Emmeline and her little buddies look

like little criminals plotting their next move here.

Whoa! The big kid slide! This really

made my heart jump...

Tons of fun!

While we were at the picnic, some friends of ours (Martha and Mamar) invited us over to their house for an impromptu dinner and birthday cake.  They live only five blocks from us and Emmeline and Ezra, their son, have become great friends.  We try to get them together once or twice a week.  It is so nice to have regular play dates to look forward to during the week, now that our babies are too old for the Mom's group meetings at the Birth Center.

Martha, Mamar and Ezra just came back from

France on Wednesday so they had some really

yummy cheese to share.

What a spread!  I felt like we were at a little French

bistro!

Wow; what a yummy cake!  The wine was great, too!

I have also never heard anything more sweet than

my little daughter singing "Happy Birthday

to mommy!"

Practicing eating very nicely for her own

birthday cake...

...but being a little bit silly, too.

Handsome Ezra

My mom is arriving on Wednesday and I have it on good authority that she is bringing birthday goodies for me in her suitcase (is it wrong to still be so excited about birthday presents from my parents?).  On Thursday we will be going to Wilmington's annual Greek Fest with my mom and a group of friends.  Kate is making my favorite (carrot cake!) so that we can belatedly celebrate in proper fashion.

I truly am one lucky lady.

Nohk-e-nohk

This afternoon I was holding Emmeline on my hip as I was closing the curtains in her nursery for nap time. She grabbed hold of the Pinocchio marionette hanging in her window and says, "Good night, nohk -e-nohk. Kiss on the nose (she kisses him). Xylophone in his belly!" (because he has stripes on his belly). Isn't that cute? Just thought I would share.

"Spring" in North Dakota

Emmeline and I ventured to North Dakota March 28-April 5 (yes, I know I am posting out of order.  Just chalk it up to editorial privilege).  We had all sorts of fun, but stayed pretty close to my parents' house.  It was so nice to relax, eat someone else's cooking and spend time with my family.  Unfortunately, the Red River crested on March 29 and parts of the city were closed down.  It brought back a lot of memories from the 1997 flood when Paul and I were juniors in high school.  That year the dams broke and about five weeks of school got cancelled.  Hundreds of houses either suffered water damage or were a total loss.  It was a very sad time.  Thankfully this year in Grand Forks the flood seemed to be safely contained behind the new dikes and concrete retaining walls.

Snow was in abundance there and I had made sure to pack Emmeline's warm winter clothes and boots.  She, pa-pa and Uncle Nathan had fun building a snowman outside.  Well, actually, Emmeline wasn't thrilled about the snow, but humored us long enough to take pictures:

There is nothing better than a cuddle with

grandma on a snowy day.

Emmeline and auntie Jacy playing the piano

together

Emmeline was thrilled to meet Paul's cousin's new son:

Caeden Michael

We made a trip to one of my favorite childhood spots in

Grand Forks: the public library

I don't know what this pirate ship is doing in the library,

but she had plenty of fun walking the plank!  Yo-ho-ho!

My dad enjoyed spoiling her every chance he

could get; here she is eating peaches and

cream...

...and here they are sharing cake and ice cream!

(I think these two pictures were taken on the

same day.)

For some reason on this visit, Emmeline

was hesitant to sit with my grandma Alice.

My grandma figured that the best way to

get Emmeline to cuddle with her was to

bribe her: it worked.

A new Elmo! For me?!

Emmeline cuddling with her great-auntie Darlene

Emmeline playing wii with Jacy and her

"friend" Dan. Emmeline was not sure what

they were doing but that did not stop

her from mimicking them!

Na-ma had fun dressing Emmeline up in

hats and all sorts of girly things...

...but she soon lost interest.

Emmeline is sitting in the passenger seat of auntie Jacy's 

new car; yikes!