February Scrapbook Page

Emma stayed with Matty and me on Tuesday of this week. Emma had been sick the day before and Molly needed some help so she could meet some work obligations during her busy season. Emma wore us out! I took these pictures of her while she was strapped in to her highchair. You can really see how her hair is growing in this photo.

Too Busy to Blog...

Sorry, Emmy. I have been crazy busy with work since the new year started. A week in Denver and a week in Philly put me way behind on everything. I am headed to Denver again on Monday and returning on Friday. Since you have warned me that I can't come to stay after Bobby is born without a finished wallhanging -- this weekend is devoted to working on the stitching I need to complete.

Matty and I babysat for Emma all day on Tuesday. She wore us out. She is on the move every minute and testing boundaries constantly. We love her personality.

I really haven't done much in the way of projecting except working on more scrapbook pages for Emma. I bought some 8x8 scrapbooks for Bobby (don't worry all blue) and will start the same for him. Did you get your cameras?

Here are a couple of pages that I completed for Emma. I started at the present and worked backwards -- completing October 2007 this evening. I used an online tool to create part of the word collage on this scrapbook page. Check it out at this web site -- http://www.wordle.net/createhttp://www.wordle.net/create

I can't wait to meet Bobby, won't be long now. I'll book my flights this weekend.

I love Jim and Sarah's blog. Sarah is so talented and her sense of humor comes through in her video clips and postings. Dan and I are both big fans!

Sophie's Favorite Things

#1 - Snuggling with Daddy

#2 - Playing with squeaky toys #3 - Playing with squeaky toys in bed with Daddy

Babysitting Emma

On Saturday, we had the opportunity to spend the day with Emma. She has so much personality now. Here are some pictures from her visit on Saturday and other photographs of her "on the move" at our home in January. She is still enjoying the hand knit hats that I made her.

Emma Loves Cats!

Here is one of Emma's scrapbook pages I made for December showing one of the stuffed animal cats that we gave her. She loves them!

Christmas 2008

I have been so busy since Christmas that I am just now getting around to posting some of our Christmas pictures. Both Dan and I took the week before Christmas and the week after as vacation this year. Emily and Robert were home during the same time frame and we had a wonderful opportunity to visit and relax. Molly was supposed to be off work the majority of this same time window -- but, one of her largest clients had important due dates and she had to work some of the days.

Here is my favorite picture of Emily at Christmas. Her baby boy, Bobby, is due mid-March and she looks great!

We attempted to scale back this Christmas, as we all have so much. The babies, Emma and Bobby, were our primary focus. Here is a shot of Emma trying out the ride-on truck toy we bought for Bobby.

No one should worry about Emma. This year she was more into the opening of the presents and the wrapping paper and boxes than the presents! I wrapped all of Emma's presents in pink and Bobby's in blue this year to make it easy to pass them out. Her is Emma with some of her presents. One of Bobby's presents was his very first hand knit "Nana" designed hat. I can't wait to see him in it.
I treated myself to an upgrade of my Photoshop software and started printing out a scrapbook for Emma. My hopes are to create at least one page per month for all of my grandchildren. Here some of the October 2008 pages:

Emma Shopping

Emily gave Emma a shopping cart for her 1st birthday. It is one of her favorite toys. Now that she is walking, she can really move and "shop it up." Check out her style in this video clip.

Santa's Tiny Helper

Here is Emma in her little "Grinch" hat that I made for her. As you can see in the picture, she wasn't very happy. I wanted to get a picture of her in the hat in front of our tree. As soon as I put the hat on, she started fussing for her "Moobee" -- her word for movie. I guess she related putting on her hat to leaving for the ride home and watching her movies from her car seat. She is definitely a smart baby!

Christmas Tree

I spent most of the day today and part of yesterday decorating our Christmas tree. It took 2 different ladders and hundreds and hundreds of ornaments to finish this look. Check it out in these photos. I ran out of energy before I got the mantle and wreaths up. I'll have to finish these projects during the week.

Christmas Photo Shoot

Molly, Bjarne and Emma came over for dinner this evening. Molly brought Emma's Christmas dress so we could take some photos in front of our tree for their Christmas cards. We got some good ones -- surprising, cause she was on the move the entire time.

Emma Walking

Here is a video clip Molly took yesterday of Emma walking to Matt. She is holding tight to a stuffed animal kitty that I bought her yesterday. Emma loves Matt! She also loves our cat, Sammie. Every time she comes to our home, she looks for both the dog and cat. Molly and I took her shopping yesterday for her first pair of MaryJanes to wear with her Christmas dress. There is a toy store right next to the shoe store. Emma latched on to the cat and wouldn't give it up long enough for the clerk to scan it. We had to have them scan another. She spent the ride home giving the cat kisses and saying "meow."
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New Camcorder

Dan bought me a new Canon HF100 camcorder for Christmas. He gave it to me early so I can start recording Emma's first steps. I haven't quite figured out all the feature/functionality yet -- but, I took my first video this morning and was able to upload it to my laptop. I can't wait to get Emma walking. She progressed from 2-4 steps to walking across a room in just a week! Here is the wakeup call I gave to Dan and Sophie this morning....

Emma took her first unattended steps this week!

Emma took her first steps on her own on Thursday. She was so pleased with herself. Molly, Bjarne, and Emma stopped by after dinner last night for a quick visit. She showed us her new found skills. She is also blowing kisses now too, how cute! When she saw me last night, she got a big smile and crawled as fast as she could to me -- melted my heart! She knows my name, Nana, and calls Matt by name too (Maaa, no "t" on the end yet).

Completed design.... Bobby's Quilted Wallhanging

I still need to stitch around all the appliques, add sashing, quilt and bind -- but all the designing and placement is done.

Emma's Halloween Costume - Bumblebee

More Progress....

I got another panel done with the trucks and highway. This is really going to be cute -- even if I do say so myself! This is fun!

Tractor - In Color

Emmy, I got the background completed for the wallhanging and finished the panel applique for the first vehicle -- the tractor. I think this will really be special when I am done -- for your special baby. I will post pictures as I work through the completion of this project for you, Robert, and Bobby!

Bobby's Quilted Wallhanging -- The Design

I finished the basic shapes and the design for Bobby's quilt this evening. You have to imagine it on bands of color. The lower band will be green for the tractor. Going up the quilt will be a gray road with the trucks then another smaller green band. The "construction" band will be brown and tan and then another green "grass" band for the houses -- then ending at the top with a blue band for the sky behind the houses.

Shopping for Bobby Howell

Emmy and Robert found out this week that they are having a boy! Robert Lewis Howell, V -- Bobby for short. Emily and Robert want a car, truck, tractor vehicle theme for Bobby's nursery. I am designing a wall hanging with trucks, cars, and tractors. I went by Pottery Barn Kids today to see the bedding, so I could make sure that I replicated some of the colors and shapes in the wall hanging. Unfortunately, they are only available online. I was able to check out a carpet sample so I could match colors to the carpet. Dan and I couldn't resist picking up our first present for Bobby while we were there -- a red, wooden ride-on truck. It is so cute!

Emma's First Over Night Stay at Nana's

Molly and Bjarne celebrated their wedding anniversary with some alone time this weekend. Emma came over on Saturday around noon and stayed through lunch today. We had much fun with her, but were all worn out -- including the dog.
Emma loves our animals, Sophie (our Goldendoodle) and Sammie (our tabby cat). She starts looking for both as soon as she comes over. She must have said "Meow" a hundred times.



Sophie likes to park under Emma's high chair to get the food that drops. This weekend, Emma started feeding Cheerios to Sophie one at a time. Both dog and baby thought this was great fun.

Molly brought over her "Ice Cream Truck" -- one of her favorite birthday gifts. She is wearing the pink hat I just finished.

Sunday Visit to Nana's House

Emma came over to play on Sunday and give her Mommy and Daddy a break. As usual, she was most interested in Sophie (our dog). Here is a picture of her in her "hat for the day."

Emma's first pair of jeans

Emma, Molly, and Bjarne came for dinner Saturday night -- beef stew and apple crisp (good fall menu). Emma was wearing a hat I made her in her favorite color, blue. She was also wearing her first pair of blue jeans. See how cute she is!

Molly want another hat "just like this one" - but, in pink. I am working on it now and have the hat knitted and am working on the applique. Emma loves her hats! Molly has them lined up on the open shelves in Emma's nursery and lets Emma pick out the hat that she wants to wear each day now that it has turned cool.

More little Sweaters....

I just finished a couple more sweaters for Miss Emma. I am trying to get most of my Emma projects done to clear the way for Baby Howell creations -- just waiting to find out pink or blue!

Both of these sweaters are knit in 100% cotton. The frog applique sweater is size 2 and the striped sweater is size 3 (for later).

Emma and Sophie Play Date

On Monday, Emma's day care was close for the holiday. I took the day off to keep Emma at my house. Emma loves our dog, Sophie. It turned into a Emma/Sophie play date. I had many, many Emma toys -- as Molly gave me a huge basket to keep here. But, Emma liked Sophie's toy basket better.


As soon as she enters our house, she starts asking for the dog -- "Gog" in Emma speak. Here are some photos I snapped during the day. Enjoy!

Emma's 1st Birthday Party

Emma's 1st birthday party was so much fun and chaos. We had a group of 25 (only 6 children) in attendance. Emma enjoyed her birthday cupcake and displayed a dainty style in picking the icing off with her "pinchers" (pointer finger and thumb).

I snapped about 75 pictures and several video clips during the festivities. I caught Emma pulling her friend Caroline's hair in one of the photos. You can tell by the way her eyes are cut over to Caroline's mother that she knew she was doing something naughty!

Her favorite present was the first she opened (and really didn't get past) -- a Leapfrog Ice Cream Truck.

Enjoy the pictures --

Busy, Busy, Busy.........

OK, Emmy called and said my post looked like a crazy lady wrote it. I don't know what happened, but it was all jumbled up! It is fixed now!

I was in Toronto and Denver last week and spent most of this week catching up on things I missed last week.

Yesterday was Emma's 1st birthday! It is hard to believe an entire year has gone by! Molly took sugar cookies to Emma's daycare class yesterday. Emma got to have her first "real" cookie with icing on it -- she ate 2!

We are celebrating with a birthday party at our home on Saturday. I will post pictures after the big event. I will be cooking later today for the event -- but, not too much... just pasta salad and potato salad. We are having the BBQ catered and Molly ordered the cupcakes from from Tizzerts - the Charlotte bakery that made Emmy and Robert's wedding cake http://tizzerts.com/

Menu - Emma’s 1st Birthday Party

BBQ Chicken
BBQ Pork
BBQ Sauces, Mild and Spicy
Buns
Pickles
Pasta Salad
Potato Salad
Fruit Tray
Cupcakes (Lemon and Raspberry)
Beer, Wine, and Soft Drinks