Cuteness

The other day we were driving in the car listening to music. Hannah started humming while Natalie continued singing, and Hannah decided to make the arrangement official by defining it for everyone:
Hannah: Natalie, you sing while me....um....
Natalie: hum?

Hannah: No, me sing with me lips closed! 

Emily turns one!

Remember when this little sweet bug was born?

Well, now she is one year old. Um, can we just push pause for a second please? Sheesh. She just got here!

We started her special day by singing "Happy Birthday." She loved it but of course had no idea what was going on. We went to Target and she helped pick out some toys, which we wrapped during her nap and presented to her when she woke up. She had two very willing helpers to open presents with her.

 Then we got a picture with everyone smiling! Amazing.

 We headed to the park to enjoy a beautiful day. Emily loves to climb up on the bottom of the slide and then get back down. She also likes to climb up and down the little stairs.

 Natalie was doing this on purpose. I'm told it's more comfortable than it looks. She was pretending to be a penguin sliding into the water.

 Hannah is feeling brave going down the smallest slide. She has come a long way, folks.

 Both girls love to swing. Emily does too, but this park does not have a baby swing.

 So she hung out with me on the grass and ate some bread.

 Emily can stand on her own for a long time but has yet to take that first step. I'm not worried. It'll happen. I'm giving her another two weeks.

 Natalie pushed Han while Em and I sat in the grass. How nice.

 We headed to my parents house (joined there by Mark's mom) for a birthday celebration. Mark bonded with his new little nephew, Charlie (Katie's kiddo). I think he wants a boy.

sEmily with her cuz Alta. They will be friends in three years or so.

 One of the few smiles of the night. She was tired, clingy, and grumpy. Note to self: Next birthday party needs to be held on a Saturday in the middle of the day. No more evening parties for this family.

 This is the face she had on most of the night.

 Cheer up Emily! You're about to have your first cake!

I love all the enthusiastic singers in this photo.

 Hmmm, trying it out.

She liked it ok, but she was done after a lick and a squish.

Opening presents. She got some books from Grandma Simonson and Grandma Barnes (Emily LOVES books), a pull toy from Grandma B, and a ball roller toy from cousin Tommy. We got her a phone toy and a singing glow worm. Both are well played with by her big sisters. :-)

We just love this little girlie girl! Some cute things I want to remember from this stage:

• She loves to wear necklaces. She finds them while crawling around, puts them on, and keeps them on until naptime. 
• She still makes that "ish" or "Ziss" or "sss" sound all the time. We can't really imitate it precisely but she does it a lot. 
• Emily loves dogs and pants like one to indicate any animal she sees. 
• She can climb up and down the stairs like a champ. 
• She has 6 teeth with molars threatening to come soon. 
• Emily has always been so cuddly. Even now she gives me the sweetest hugs with her little arms and lays her head on my shoulder frequently. If I lie down on the floor she wants to lay on me pronto. 
• She has learned to screech if one of her sisters is doing something that bothers her. Nice. 
• She gives big open mouthed kisses and can make a kissy sound with puckered lips. But hasn't combined the two actions yet. 
• Going outside is a favorite pastime. 
• She loves to read and spends entire car rides looking at books. We keep a small stash on the floor of the car for this purpose.
• Nurses 5x/day and 1-2x at night. I'm totally ok with her dropping the night time feeds any time now! lol 

 Happy birthday sweet little Emily!