Doot Doot

I ran across this little gem while I was downloading videos off the camera.  This was shot when Emma was about a year and a half old, December 28th 2012.  She is so stinking cute!

With love from Minneapolis,
Jason, Melissa, and Emma

Warning! Blog blitz ahead.

Here comes a serious blog offensive.  There is no question that I am overdue on my picture and story sharing.  My apologies.  Let me see if I can make it up with an overload of information this weekend.  It is going to be a bit like taking a drink from a fire hose, so be sure to pace yourself.

Why not take it all the way back to get started.  I'm talking spring time.  Now that all the leaves have fallen and some snow flakes have flown, lets remember greener days.  Something that I had fun with this spring was making some plantar boxes so Emma could learn about and experience how things grow.

I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do for them but didn't have any blue prints or diagrams . . . so I did a little online searching.  Surprisingly, I found very little to help other than some pictures.  So I went to the lumbar yard with a sketchpad and measuring tape and came up with a plan.  I'll be damned if it didn't work out!

I started with an 8' 4x4 cedar post and cut them to 22 1/8 inches. These would become the legs.

Next up was taking a 10 ft cedar decking board and cutting them down to 5 feet.  Each box required 4 of these planks.  Three of them went into making the long sides and the remaining plank was cut into 6 18" boards that made the short end of the box.

I put the sides on first starting from the top and working my way down.  Then I did the same with the long sections.

In order to put a base, in I screwed a cedar 2x2 1.5 inches up from the bottom.

For the bottom of the box I cut lengths of cedar fence boards.  They are cheap and did the trick.

I tried to leave a little space, about 1/8 inch between each, for drainage.

The finished product!  Emma approves.

 The beauty of these boxes is that they can be made any length, or width.  The 5 foot x 18 inch configuration gave me the biggest box with the lowest amount of wasted wood.  To finish off the bottom I stapled a weed blocking landscape netting and I've read that you can also use burlap.

Emma, Melissa and I really enjoyed our green thumbery over the summer.  We planted 3 basil plants, 1 chive, 6 lettuce plants (3 of two separate varieties), 3 cilantro, and some strawberries.  The basil and cilantro plants went nuts and we couldn't keep up, so next summer we are planning to only put in one of each.  Unfortunately we got the strawberries in a little late and didn't get any berries but the plant really took over the box.  I'm hopeful for next summer.  Here are some pictures of Emma and Melissa bringing life to the boxes.

Second Birthday!

That's right, Emma is 2...and two and half months.  Needless to say, I'm a little behind on my blogging. So lets get caught up, shall we?

Emma turned 2 on June 20th -- we had a special dinner of homemade pizza and some cupcakes to finish the night.  Emma opened a few presents from us and enjoyed her special day.  Throughout the evening, she would randomly break out in song, "Happy birthday to Emma."

The happy birthday girl!

Monkey birthday balloons. 

Emma is picking just the right one...so many choices!

She got it!

Emma is modeling a number of birthday gifts.  Thank you to Uncle Jon and Aunt Amy for the awesome mower.  Thank you to Jessica for the sweet Baltimore Orioles can cozies / wrist bands (which Emma confiscated from Momma and Daddy's portion of the gift).  Emma is also sporting her new pink Crocs which she got from us.  These quickly became her footwear of choice and Emma wouldn't leave home without her "cawawks."

Curious George was the special guest at Emma's big birthday bash which took place the following weekend.  Melissa outdid herself and flashed her cake baking skills with a killer Curious George cake!  Not only did it look amazing but it was also delicious!  Probably the best chocolate buttercream frosting that I've ever eaten...yum!

Besides the cake, we had all of Emma's favorite foods including bananas, animal crackers, banana bread, "dippy dippy" for the fruit, sugar cookies, and of course cupcakes (with aforementioned top notch frosting).

A few of Emma's favorite friends were able to make the party.  From left to right: John, Kya, and Colin.  They were loving the sand and water table.  I think at one point we had to refill the water portion because John had drank most of it.

Every now and then Emma made her way over to see how her friends were doing, but most of the afternoon she spent on her brand new tricked-out tricycle.  Partly because she liked riding it, but mostly to make sure that none of her toddler friends got their hands on it.

She even helped me wrench on it a little bit to fix the alignment.

Among the many other birthday gifts that she got, Emma really loved her bubbles and new reading chair!

Also in attendance: the parents of toddler friends, Auntie Megan, Grandma and Grandpa B, GG, Grandma and Grandpa Stull, and Uncle Larry and Aunt Julie.

Emma had a great birthday and really enjoyed her friends, family and delicious goodies at her party.  We also had a great time reflecting on the past year and the first 2 years of Emma's life.  I can't imagine what the past 2 years would have been like without Emma but I can tell you that it wouldn't have been nearly as wonderful.  She adds immeasurable joy to our lives every day and I'm looking forward to what the next year brings. :)

With love, and happy birthday wishes, from Minneapolis,
Jason, Melissa, and Emma

Miscellaneous

Here are a few pictures that fell through the cracks and didn't make it on the blog - until now!

These pictures go way back to August of 2012.  Emma was 14 months and just discovering the wonders of bubbles.  I love the concentration on her face as she goes after the bubbles.  I'm not sure she got any of them, but it wasn't for a lack of effort.

Check out these curls!!  Plus, who doesn't like pictures of a smiley sudsy baby?

Emma's helping me tune my guitar.  Remember the mini-mohawk that she sported for the first 14 months of her life?

Emma is turning into a great baker like her mother and a great brownie batter eater like her father.

I can't believe I haven't documented this fun little outing with Emma's little friends.  We had a sledding party at Sarah, Dan, and John's house on March 10th.  Emma was a little hesitant at first but then couldn't get enough.  She even led the charge of the kiddies on the big toboggan.  John, Colin, and Emma are quite the crew!

One of Emma's favorite past times is building and hanging out in couch forts.  She routinely requests that her mother or I "builda foet."

We are almost getting caught up!  Stay tuned for more.

With love from Minneapolis,
Jason, Melissa, and Emma