Little fish

Emily loved going to swimming lessons this fall. We went to 8 sessions at the YMCA on Monday nights and Emily got really comfortable with the water. So comfortable that when we were at a water park in Wisconsin Dells she was jumping and sliding in the water without hesitation! She got good at kicking, scooping (arm strokes) and submerging!

Now that's determination

Playtime before lessons!

Can't wait for our next session!

Harrisons Hit Chicago!

That's right, we did it again.  We made the trip to Chicago to visit my sister, her husband and son.  We left around noon on Thursday and decided to stop at Wisconsin Dells for the night to break up the trip and have some indoor water park fun!!  We didn't get any pictures since we were both in the water, but Emily loved the water park, especially the slides.  She was also showing off her fearless nature and jumping in the water refusing to be caught.  She would jump in, go under and pop back up.  We had to leave the pool against her will (we were already over an hour later than her normal dinner time) and unfortunately the water park didn't open until 10 the next morning when we had already planned to be on the road to Chicago so we only had one playtime but I think we will have some winter water park days in our future!

The walk to dinner in the hotel.  She wouldn't let
us help her carry anything!

Relaxing in the hotel room!

On the road!

We had a nice, relaxing weekend in Chicago.  Didn't do much since the baby's nap schedules did not match up and it seemed to be that from 9-10 am through 4 pm at least one of them was sleeping but that's just fine.  It was nice to have a weekend to really catch up and relax.  After all, the purpose of the trip was to visit them, not the city!  We did enjoy time at a spacious nearby park with auntie Karen though.  Emily continues to LOVE slides and is very cautious about swings but she is trying them again!

Here it is: the best photo we could get of the two of them together :)

"Baby William" is almost one!  He is doing a super cute butt scoot to move around and it's getting him where he wants to be pretty quick!  We also brought him a birthday gift and we celebrated with cupcakes.  It was Marcus' birthday this week as well so we thought it was appropriate that we finish all 12 of the mini cupcakes.  We were celebrating two birthdays after all!

Happy Birthday Stephens men!

I can't believe it's been one year (almost) since I received a 5 am call from my sister saying that she was headed to the hospital because her water broke.  William has got to be one of the happiest babies I know, he's so quick to smile.  Probably because he has an awesome auntie in Minneapolis :)

Can't wait for our next visit with them around the holidays!

Toddler Trot and Breast Cancer Walk

This year Emily graduated to the Toddler Trot at the TC Family Events.  She was less than enthusiastic to start the race as she was more interested in looking around at all the people but with a little encouragement from mom, she did great!

Emily's pre-race warmup!

Here we come!

And here's the post race celebration!!

We also participated in the American Cancer Society's Breast Cancer walk around Lake Nokomis.  It was a cool fall day but the sun peeked out for part of the walk which made it a really nice walk with the beautiful fall scenery around the lake!  We're happy to say my mom is now cancer free for over 3 years and we're so lucky to have such a wonderful grandma!!

Pre Walk

Mid Walk

Post Walk

Consumerism

We were having a good time playing at the Southdale play area on a cold, rainy afternoon. And then she found this...

Picture Day!

Emily had school pictures about a month ago.  We assumed we wouldn't be buying any because we didn't think they'd get her to smile and pose at school.  Boy were we wrong!  She did great and we loved the pictures so much that we bough the whole package so we could give them to family too!  (She looks like a total ginger in these...must have been different lighting!)

She's also posing for us when we take out our phones now...yes, she associates pictures with phones, not cameras.  We/ll have to get better about taking pictures with our nice camera :)

Fun fall weekend!

We had a lot planned this weekend and it was all really fun! Saturday was forecasted to be gloomy, rainy and chilly, which it was, so we went to a free family movie at the Mall of America with one of Emily's friends, Eloisa. We saw Horton Hears a Who. It was a cute movie and Emily did surprisingly well! She even got her first taste of popcorn, which she loved!

Movie time with friend, Eloisa!

We also had a chance to meet my friend Ben's and his wife Sara's newborn twins. They are a couple of cute newborns and thy make a great little family of four!

The weather was perfectly fall-like on Sunday so we spent the morning at Minnetonka Orchards. We met our friends Stefanie and Josh and their girls, Abby and Evelyn there. We made the same trip last year and it was just as fun this year! Here's to a fall tradition!!

The girls had fun spending time together (note the matching shirts, unplanned!)...

We even went for a train ride

And got our faces painted

Abby was a pro at the slide, apparently Emily was not :)

We took a hayride up the big hill instead of hiking it like we did last year!

And of course had a fun music session before lunch

Hope you had a great fall weekend as well!

"I love you mommy"

Emily has now said "I love you mommy" three times without being prompted.  The first time was Saturday night (Sept. 14) when we were in Brainerd right before bed.  The other two have been as I'm tucking her in at night.  It's the sweetest thing I've ever heard and melts my heart!

Taking a nap in her pack and play.
Looks like she won't fit for too much longer!