It's wintertime!

Well, there's no denying it. Winter is here. And I have to say, our Carolina bottoms are hanging in there. Emma's been a trooper walking to school in low single digit temps and has managed to not go too stir crazy in our apartment. Here she walking home from church last weekend.

We've gotten pretty creative inventing inside activities. Here we converted a box to a jeep...





Complete with instrument gauges and a working wheel. Notice the seat belt...always safety first! :)





We've managed to even go sledding with a real sled (if you recall, last year we had a random snow in NC and had to sled with a baby pool since we didn't have a real sled). And check out the video below of Tim and Emma sledding.


Only in a northern urban city would you see a bike like this being used in the snow...

Emma's screaming cracks me up every time I watch this clip...

It's All About Me!

At Emma's school, they have an "It's All About Me" poster that the kids take turns decorating and then sharing with the class. We decided to do a photo montage for Emma's turn. This is the picture she wanted to use for her name. :)

Here's Emma's family...








Emma's age...








Emma's favorite book...








Emma's favorite color...








Emma's favorite stuffed animal...







Emma's favorite food (chocolate)...







And my favorite, what Emma wants to be when she grows up...a Shopper. Gulp.

Here is Emma's first school concert. She's in the middle with the white sweater and orange dress (the one turning around). We were way in the back so the quality isn't that great because of the zoom. And I was laughing so hard in places that it's pretty shaky at points. Emma was in her own little world up there. Tim kept saying, "What is she doing?!" Just doing her thing, dad. :)

Halloween

Trick or treat everyone! Here's our adorable little monkey.









Emma's scary face, which included shutting her eyes for some reason.









Emma wanted to up to the first house all by herself. When did she get this big and brave????








Isn't this pic too cute? Trying on my glasses.







Here she's getting ready to go on a bike ride. It's already in the 40's (those would the highs people in North Carolina) and although Emma complains about the cold, it hasn't stopped her from going outside yet. It has me though. This bike ride was a "Daddy Daughter" thing. :)

Random shots

Some of you have asked about where we live. This is our building...we are on the second floor. The building is 106 years old and has some great charm like original hardwoods floors, a claw foot tub, and original radiator heat. We do miss some more "modern" conveniences like central air (thus the picture of the window air conditioning unit that we have yet to remove) and no garbage disposal (the pipes can't handle it). But all in all, it's a great little place.

This is our street. It's a beautiful residential area in Lincoln Park.






Emma wanted me to include a picture of her new dance moves. :)










My sweet cousin Lerin (or Laaron as Tim once spelled it) was here over the weekend and so of course Emma had to show her our favorite place...the zoo! Emma convinced me it would be a good idea for her to wear her Halloween monkey costume. Here she is looking at the Gibbon monkeys. It was hilarious...after I took this shot, the monkey you see in the back ground actually came right to the window and literally smashed his body against the window next to her face. I so wish I would have been able to get a shot of that.


Here is a picture of us all at Chicago's main brewery, Goose Island. Emma had just consumed her very first Shirley Temple and was totally jacked up on sugar for this picture. She kept pretending to be a goose (they have geese all over the brewery) and spent the next hour flying and honking. Don't think we'll be giving her another Shirley Temple for a while.

We're back!!!

Hi all! We got pictures! Make sure to scroll down to see all the posts. I thought I would start you out with some random shots. Here's our little sticker lady.



A picture of us, in case you forgot what we look like. Emma's in that wonderful preschool stage where smile means pull-and-contort-your-face.



I hear it's never to early to prepare for the Chicago winters.









I found Emma reading a book looking like this.







This shot was taken while we were still in North Carolina. Big Bear and Emma were taking a boat ride.

Lincoln Park Zoo

The Lincoln Park Zoo is about 5 blocks away from us and has become our home away from home. If Emma had her way, we'd be there every day. Here she's thinking about the alligators.


Riding a hippo...










Riding the kiddy train...








Lovin' on a baby gorilla...










My favorite animal is by far the meercat. I saw this little bugger and thought, "This is exactly how I feel after this insane move!!!"

Moving to Chicago

On the plane ride to Chicago to find an apartment that we could move into in one week :)





Saying goodbye to our best bud Charlotte, as only a three year old can





Saying goodbye to our other friend Sam, while playing in a moving box






Taking a break....










Big moving truck, little girl

Big words

Still no camera thingamajigee, but I thought would entertain with a couple Emma-isms. She's been into using big words, but hasn't quite gotten the definitions down... These are all quotes from yesterday.

"Mom, this bathroom is really attractive."

"I dropped my bottle lid. It's an emergency."

And my favorite (which she said completely out of the blue)
"There are a lot of science experiments in Michigan."

Our camera's still broken...

Hi all! Yes, it has been forever since the last post, but this hasn't been entirely my fault. :) Our camera (actually the tool used to download the pictures from the camera to the computer) is not working. We have figured out the problem though and a replacement part has been ordered. Hopefully by next week will have posted pictures????

But until then, for all who don't know, we are now in...drum roll please....CHICAGO! It was an extremely quick and hectic move, but we are finally getting settled.

More to come later...

The Zoo

Emma and I took advantage of a break in our oppressive summer weather and spent a day at the zoo.




Talking to a turtle...







Watching a seal lion...








Playing inside a giant gourd...










Hanging out in a bee hive...







The next several pictures Emma took. She LOVES taking pictures. Here's a turtle...


Can you find the cougar?







And of course, she had to take a picture of me...

Girl fun

Emma and her best pal are practicing their laughing. So funny to me...

Goshi

For several months now, Tim and I have noticed Emma talking about "Goshi." We thought she was referring to one of her dolls or something like that, but Tim finally figured it out this weekend. Emma has an invisible friend named Goshi. Way adorable. Goshi holds Emma's hand, sits in her lap, and plays with her toys. After Tim and I had the ah ha, an invisible friend light bulb moment, we now know that Goshi is a girl, has brown hair, likes to wear sweaters, likes to go to parties, and is 23 years old. Emma talks to Goshi (sometimes shortened to "Gosh") throughout the day and keeps Tim and me informed about what she is doing. Yesterday, Emma told us Goshi couldn't eat her eggs for dinner because they were too hot. Honestly, this invisible friend play is really one of the cutest things I've seen.

Pictures from my phone

Hi all! I had to get a new phone and didn't want to lose my pictures and so I emailed them all to myself. Thought I would share a few with you...