Orange Belt!

Here is she is getting her Little Dragons Orange Belt! As an orange belt, she has to know 14 moves of the white belt form. She is doing so well! I am so glad that Shawn suggested that we put her in Taekwondo. :)

Practicing her White Belt Form

Emma is in the Little Dragons program at Taekwondo. It is for kids 4-5 years old. They learn the white belt form, so that when they move up to the Junior program, they start out as a Yellow Belt instead of a White Belt. When Emma tests for a new belt, she is moving up incrimentally in the White Belt. In these pics, she is testing for her next belt. The Little Dragons Yellow Belts have to know 8 moves of the White Belt Form.

Easter!

So, I'm only a few weeks late on this one. Why does life have to be so busy? Anyway, I worked the night before Easter this year, so Shawn was in charge of helping the Easter Bunny hide the eggs. By the time I got home from work, Emma had already scoped out where all the eggs were hidden. Later that day, we went to Easter dinner with Shawn's parents. I totally forgot about the Easter dress that I had gotten for Emma, so she didn't get to wear it that day:( Blame it on 4 hours of sleep! But, she is going to wear that dress for Aunt Kristin's graduation...so at least she'll get to wear it!

Ear Infection

Seriously...when is the illness going to end? Emma has had more sick days than well days this year. We're going to miss Taekwondo again tonight...and may miss school tomorrow. UGH!

She's going to marry a fireman...

Shawn took Emma out to lunch on Saturday. While they were there, a couple of firemen came in to have lunch. Emma took one look at them, covered her face, and Shawn asked what? Emma said..."They're so handsome! I need to marry them!" Haha! Then, one of them waved at her, and she got all excited and said, "The hairy one waved at me!" She meant the one with hair...since the other fireman was bald.

Haha! We'll have to see if she ends up with a fireman. She still blushes when she talks about them. I'm in trouble...she's not even 5 years old yet!

Dancing with Sesame Street

For a girl who used to be terrified of Elmo. she sure loves her some Sesame Street now! She was dancing along with it this morning, doing everything they were doing. Check out that last action shot :)

Playing with Heidi

Emma was playing with Heidi today...which eventually turned in to tormenting, but we got some cute pics before it got to that point :) The last pic was when Emma was trying to chase her and wiped out. She was cracking up!

Is there anything better?

Thank a chocolate oreo on a rainy day? She doesn't think so! Check out that oreo grin!

Heidi

Why are you taking my picture? 'Nuff said!

My Goal for this Month...

...or what's left of it. To take more pictures of my family!

I have noticed since I started my business, that I don't take hardly any pictures of my family any more. I haven't taken any pictures in March that haven't been shoots for the business. That makes me so sad. My love for photography started by taking pictures of Emma. Now, my business has overshadowed that.

So, I have decided to start taking more pictures of Emma, Jacen, and even Heidi. I love to catalog their lives in pictures. To do that...I actually have to take the pictures!

Valentine's Day Party (I'm super late)

Here are a few pics from Emma's valentine's day party at school. I am so behind at downloading pics from the point and shoot camera. I had pics on there from November! I am so spoiled by my DLSR that I don't like taking any pics with the point and shoot. Oh well, I was still able to capture some pics from her party. I couldn't post many on here...because I didn't want to post any pics that showed other kids faces. She had lots of fun making crafts and passing out valentines. :)

The Stomach Flu Sucks

Emma has had a stomach virus for the past 3 days (vomiting/severe diarrhea). She was looking pretty horrible last PM and very dehydrated. So, we called the pedi and they sent us to the ER.
Got to the ER and they took us back quickly. Gave her some Zofran to stop the vomiting and gave her IV fluids. She was such a trooper with the IV. I was so proud of her.
The IV fluids perked her up a bit, but she's still having the massive diarrhea. Just got off the phone with the pedi, because she still hasn't had any urine output, even after the IV fluids.
Anyway, just wanted to give you all an update. I know some of you have been following my updates on facebook. Thanks for the prayers.

Organizing, Organizing, Organizing

I have gotten on an organizing kick the past few days. I have been slacking in this department since Emma was born, almost 5 years ago! I am normally a fairly organized person, and our house has been driving me crazy! So, the other day, I just decided that I was taking our house back!

So far, I have completely redone the downstairs bathroom. I'll post a pic later :) Shawn hates it...says it's too 70's...but I freaking love it!

I organized the living room, buying two canvas baskets for underneath our tables. Organized the pantry...it looks great! And, organized our coat closet, making room for some of my photography stuff, which seems to be taking over our house currently.

I made 3 trips to Target in 2 days buying stuff, but it was so worth it.

I ordered some more stuff from the Container Store. So, when that stuff gets here, the Master Bedroom Closet is next.

I am feeling so much better about our house now. My next major project, after the closet, is Emma's playroom. We need to do a major purge!

Pics to come in the next few weeks!

Mommy's Little Photographer

After our last photo session, Emma wanted to take a turn behind the camera. It was so cute watching her try to handle my bohemeth of a camera! She did great though. This is a pic of me that she captured. All I did was a quick crop. She was adorable, "lay like this mommy, smile mommy," hehe. She said she wanted to be a photographer like Mommy when she grew up! I would be okay with that! Creativity is a gift, and I hope she can get the same enjoyment that I do out of sharing her creativity as she grows older.

Why is she always lying down? :)

I was going back through a session that I shot with Emma in February, finally having time to edit the pics, and found these gems. She was such a cooperative little model that day. However, over half the shots are with her lying down :) For some reason, when I take her pics, she always wants to lie down. They are still super cute pics! I just love this girl!

So Proud

When I picked Emma up from preschool yesterday, her teacher stopped me in the hall. She told me that Emma asked to lead prayer before circle time yesterday. During her prayer, she prayed for a little girl's mom who was sick, our dog because she had been throwing up, and she prayed for her teachers and her class, that they would make good choices. Miss Lori was SO proud of her, saying how hard it is for adults to pray out loud in groups, and even harder for a 4 year old.

I am such a proud Mommy right now, my heart is smiling. It makes me happy that Emma has empathy for others, and is showing. It also makes me smile to know that she has a relationship with God. I love that girl!

More yellow belt pictures...

Getting her new belt on by one of the helpers in her class, a junior red belt.

Modeling her new belt.

With Ms. Thompson, her instructor.

Yellow Belt!

Emma got her yellow belt last Thursday night at Taekwondo. She was SOOO proud! They had a series of tests they did, plus they broke a board with their foot! The 2nd picture down is her breaking her board. Her next level in Little Dragons (they have a different belt structure than the older kids) is gold. Unfortunately, she's been sick, so she missed class on Saturday and Tuesday. Hopefully, she'll make it to class tomorrow.

Mommy's Little Model

I was playing with my indoor studio setup today. I finally got my softbox! YAY! And, of course, Emma was my model. She was actually cooperating today. Let me tell you, I am in love with the seamless paper look and my softbox. I am doing a maternity session this weekend, and am excited to get to use my new equipment. Just thought I'd share these pics of Emma with her blankie. For those that don't know, her blankie is my blankie that my Grandma made for me when I was a baby.

Kindergarten Decision

We had Emma's parent/teacher conference at her preschool today. Her teachers had so many wonderful things to say about Emma. She is doing super at preschool. They were so impressed that she knew her phone number and address :)

I asked about Kindergarten readiness, since she has a summer birthday. I have been suffering through this decision for months now. Emma doesn't turn 5 until the end of July, and I didn't want her to be at a disadvantage at Kindergarten because she would be one of the youngest ones. Her teachers couldn't tell me what to do, but they did say that we would not regret holding her back and waiting to send her until she was 6. So, I think that we are going to send her to the 5 day/week pre-k class at her preschool next year, and hold off on Kindergarten until 2010.

We just want to make the right decision for Emma and not put her at a disadvantage when it comes to school. I think we're making the right one.