Maddux is 10!

I cannot believe my first born is ten! Double digits! Time flies. Ten is my favorite number, thanks to Chipper Jones and Brady Quinn. Here's hoping 10 is a fabulous year for Muppet-Man.
Cupcakes in honor of his big day. Strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting. The ears are coconut, the eyes and nose are mini chocolate chips and the tongue is a squirt of pink gel icing. I had so much fun decorating these!

Blowing out his candle

My parents came to Greenville for the day to celebrate with Maddux. Sandy and Spark-e joined them, of course. I love when they visit!

Busy, busy, busy!

These past few weeks have been a fun whirlwind of activity! The weather has been gorgeous and Emery is happiest when she is outside (or naked inside). I have been so busy chasing Emery around that I haven't taken a single picture on my camera in weeks. Thankfully, I usually have my Blackberry handy and have gotten a few action shots with that. Not the best quality, but you get the idea.

Atticus is such a funny cat. He loves to be under this quilt, even though it was 84 degrees. I just think he's the most handsome cat with stunning green eyes.

Emery has rediscovered her pram, although it's function has changed. Rather than being a gentle way to rock her to sleep as an infant, it now serves as an indoor jungle gym. She gets in and out of it every night after her bath.

Taking baby doll for a walk. Emery loves to push her baby in this stroller and seeing her do it while talking to her baby makes me want to cry. So incredibly precious. Disclaimer: we were walking on a quiet cul-de-sac in our neighborhood. The cul-de-sacs do not have sidewalks. I am not a negligent mother! I sent this picture to Ben at work the other day and he freaked out because Emery wasn't on the sidewalk. Apparently he thinks I let her wander down the main drag of our neighborhood in the middle of the road. Trust me, I don't.

Practicing for her career as a criminal? Not sure where she got the idea to siphon gas......Ben???

Cutest story ever: We have a red bellied woodpecker who has decided to make his home in our backyard. He is almost always out there, pecking away on a dead tree near Emery's swingset. I've pointed this out to her plenty of times as we're outside playing and hear him knocking on the tree. The other evening we were outside and I was busy calling the dog and not paying any attention to the birds when Emery suddenly yells, "Mommy! Wisten! The woody pepper!" Sure enough, he was pounding on the tree. I was so proud! And I think "woody pepper" is adorable!

We had a pretty cool St. Patrick's Day. As luck would have it, The Notre Dame Glee Club was in Greenville on March 17th performing at Prince of Peace Catholic Church. The Notre Dame Club of the Western Carolinas asked if any Domers in the area were willing to host several Glee Club members for the night. I thought this would be a fun opportunity to revisit my college days. The concert was amazing and afterwards I brought Wes, Scott and Trigg home with us for the night. The guys were great! Ben and I felt like college kids staying up late, drinking and watching the basketball tournament with our guests. The next morning I dropped them off at the Marriott to catch their bus back to South Bend. I felt like crap, but they were all bright eyed and bushy tailed. Geez.....I am getting old! Anyways, Emery didn't make it through much of the concert before becoming a HUGE distraction. I spent a good portion of the show with her at the school's gym.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I helped host "Girl's Night" the night after the ND guys stayed with us. What was I thinking!?!?!? Way too many late nights and alcohol last week. But I had fun!

GA Aquarium with Hayes, Auntie Alison, Granny and Opa

Ben has been in Whistler for yet another ski trip the past few days, so Emery and I loaded up and headed down to Atlanta for some fun with Cuz. Our main goal was to get the kids to the GA Aquarium. Success! I love the aquarium and thankfully, Emery does, too! My parents, Alison and Hayes joined us and we had ourselves a ball. We stayed for three hours, had the world's most expensive lunch (I'm not kidding.....$64.00 for pizza, french fries and hot dogs), visited with lots of cool animals and bought some fun souvenirs. I can't wait to take Emery back.

Granny and Opa with their granbabies in front of the Lion fish tank. Crazy looking local fish.

Emery loved petting the stingrays. I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again: Emery is fearless.

The moving sidewalk was the highlight of Emery's day. She rode on it repeatedly until I dragged her out of there.

Hayes and Emery checking out the tropical tank.....well, Hayes seems more interested in his shoe. Those are pretty cute saddle oxfords!

MELT MY HEART. Hayes and Emery are so stinkin' cute together!

Chick fil A Teddy Bear Party

I don't know if all Chick fil A's plan as many activities as the one near my house, but we have been to several and they are adorable. Last night was a teddy bear party. Harper and her mommy joined Emery and me for dinner and playtime, plus the bear themed activites (cookies and coloring with your favorite stuffed animal).

Enjoying their kids' meals before hitting up the teddy bear party tables.

Emery brought her monkey and Harper brought a bright pink doggie. Every other child in the restaurant brought an actual teddy bear, but these two are rule breakers!

Artwork display....seriously could not be any cuter. Chick fil A is the BEST fast food restaurant.

Playtime afterwards. Emery wore herself out! She slept from 10:45 last night until 8:15 this morning. I realize most of you don't think this is a big deal, but anytime Emery falls asleep before 11:00 PM is cause for celebration.

Harper and Emery in the tubular staircase.

Phun with Phinley!

My good friend, Debbie, and her little girl, Phinley, came to visit Emery and me last weekend. Debbie and Phinley live in Melbourne Beach, FL, and they brought the weather with them! We had so much fun exploring Greenville and just playing in our backyard. Phinley is just a few months older than Emery and they play so well together. Phinley is just as wild and crazy as Emery. They are fearless and got into all sorts of mischief. My sister dubbed them the "gruesome twosome." I couldn't agree more.

Emery on one of the bridges at Falls Park. She and Phinley enjoyed watching the ducks, geese and doggies. And running away from Debbie and me.

On Greenville's landmark, the Liberty Bridge.

Go Irish!

Debbie and Phinley enjoying the sunshine and people watching.

Emmy and Mommy

While Debbie and I were preparing lunch, the girls decided to join the fish in the Koi pond.

Naked lunchPlotting to go through the doggie door and back into the Koi pond once I locked them in the porch.

Thanks for coming to visit! Please come back soon.....Emery has been asking for "Phinney" all morning.

Father/Daughter Dinner Disaster

Man, did I have high hopes for this event! Our country club, Thornblade, hosts an annual father/daughter dinner every year the weekend before Valentine's Day. I remember reading about this particular event two years ago when we first joined the club and, being pregnant with a baby girl, teared up at the thought of Ben and Emmy attending together. Obviously she was too young last year, but I thought she could handle it at 20 months of age. Apparently I was wrong. I got Emery all dressed up and made Ben wear a pink shirt (not an easy task!) and booked them for the 5:30 seating. I was super amped to have an evening to myself with a glass (or two) of wine, my new Southern Living magazine, and a bunch of DVR'd "Modern Family" episodes. What was I thinking!?!?! I hadn't even opened the bottle of vino before Ben called (twice) to say that Emery was acting like a maniac and refusing to sit in her chair. She also managed to splatter ketchup all over the place and was being very loud. They were coming home. Darn! But they sure did look cute.

Ben and his mini-me

Thanks, Nanny, for the super cute Valentine dress!

A brief, rare, fleeting moment of Emery behaving

"Yay! Ketchup!"

Less than an hour later, back at home. I fixed ravioli for all of us and never even opened my magazine. But I did manage to open the wine. ;-)

Back to Steamboat

Ben and I were fortunate enough to go back to Steamboat, but this time we brought Emery and met up with Ben's entire family. That's a lot of Slagels on one mountain. We were gone for eight days and had so much fun, even if the weather was too cold for skiing several days. Emery was very brave on her skis and loved zooming down the hill. She also enjoyed riding the chair lift. I just cannot get over her incredible attitude. Baby girl is loving life! She makes the most of every situation, whether it's getting stuck on an airplane for hours on end, riding on an escalator, elevator, airport train, shuttle bus, gondola, or "magic carpet," Emery makes everything fun. She waves to everyone she sees and asks "what you doing?" about seventy times per day. She's also becoming fiercely independent and will not let me help her do anything! This is kind of comical, but also very frustrating when she insists on feeding herself or pouring her juice and spills stuff everywhere.....or when she refuses to hold my hand while walking across the street and then has a meltdown when I won't let go. I think we've hit the "terrible twos" a might early. But back to our trip....we were joined by Ben's parents, both brothers, sister-in-law, niece and nephew. Emery adores her cousins, aunt, uncles and grandparents. She was spoiled rotten for over a week but is readjusting to normal life quickly. Thank you, Linda and Jerry, for a wonderful family vacation!
When Emery wasn't skiing, she was either coloring or swimming in the hot tub. In the picture above she is getting ready to go hot tubbing while coloring. A box of crayons and an enormous coloring book that Uncle Scott purchased were a big hit with his nephew and nieces.

Beautiful view from our condo

Ben's fraternity brother, John Heinle, showed up from Denver to ski with Ben the last two days in Steamboat. John is a riot. I'm so glad he made the trip and had the chance to meet Emery. The last time I saw John I was about 39 weeks pregnant. Time flies!

Emery loved my helmet

Practicing walking in her ski boots

Grabbing a beer before a ski session

Tiny skis! So adorable

Emery loved my helmet and goggles so much that I bought her some of her own. Can't wait to get her back out there again next year.

First day on the hill

"Whee!"

Emery had mastered the "magic carpet" by our last day in Steamboat and seemed to be getting frustrated by the short runs. We decided to take her on a chair lift run and she loved it. How sad....Emery will be a better skier than me by the time she is four years old.

Look at that balance!

Skiing left Emery tuckered out