Eleven Months..sniff sniff...

Not sniff sniff - there is a stinky diaper laying around. Sniff sniff - our BABY is growing up! We are planning Emma's first birthday EVENT! and I am still thinking we just brought her home from the hospital. Guess I need to get with it! haha!

I just re-read everything I posted for last month (ten month post) and basically - it's all the same, with added SPEED, NOISE and SWEETNESS! Emma is just so happy and she is so willing to share a smile or a kiss! She is a mess - Into everything, way too fast for me to keep up with her. If there was a race for crawling, she would win...hands down!

I will add that during the first week of this month (July) she started standing up independently. She does it all the time now, and Connell always says "look Emma is standin up, she's a big girl now."

Emma is working on walking with the baby walker (the safe kind) and she is getting better with her little steps. However, I think she prefers to crawl cuz she is so stinkin' fast! I can't imagine what it's going to be like around here when she starts walking... :)

I am so glad I did these old pics of Connell each month with Emma's post...it has been so fun to pull up the older photo folders and just look back...what a cutie he was (is!)!

Uncle Chris!

My brother had a last-minute trip to our area this week and we were so excited to have lunch with him today. Lucky for him (haha!) he is working late and many long hours, or he might be recruited to construction duty! :)

Noisy Neighbors!

Well, if you live near us, our house has NOT been quiet this week. We are under construction! My darling, patient, meticulous husband is assembling a swingset for our kiddos! Here is the mid-project update (from someone who is just taking care of the kids and staying out of the way!).

Night 1 - sort/organize millions of parts :)

Night 2 - begin assembly

Night 3 - a little helper who cannot wait to try this thing out!

I just took this last one...it's 11PM! He is working so hard, and I can tell he is really actually enjoying the process. Our kids are beyond blessed to have him for their Daddy!

Where we've been & Where we're going...

Last year at the end of July, we were here:

And in a mere month, this little cutie/trouble-maker will turn 1. It doesn't seem possible...


...And we will celebrate her in true GIRLY fashion! I love to plan a party, and have lots of plans/ideas for this special day! The invitations came yesterday and they are so precious I can hardly stand it!
Even big brother is helping with party-planning. We might be on "dum-dum" overload by the time it's all over!

Mess

Connell has a two week break from Mother's Day Out before the fall semester begins. While I was (and still am) a little concerned that Mommy might lose it during these two weeks, it has been nice to be somewhat "schedule-free." We have spent more time at home which has been good, but the bonus room isn't faring too well! Apparently, it must be "Pull-Out-Every-Toy-You-Own" week and my children are very excited to participate.

But we are having fun, and that's all that matters! We were being silly with the camera the other day.