Emmy – 4 Years Old!

I always find these posts so hard to start. How to sum up a year, how to put to words how awesome this little person is.

Emmy, you have grown and changed a lot in this last year. We enjoyed watching you have many new experiences and adventures. You helped build (or watched Mama build) a snow quinzee in the back yard.  You began the adventure of learning how to skate (and fall!) That one came with many ups and downs. Literally and figuratively. You were able to try out gymnastics for a few weeks and LOVED it! Although you definitely preferred when you had a smaller class and even better if Hudson was with you. You and Hudson also went to Vacation Bible School which you had a lot of fun at! It was your first time. You got your ears pierced which was a bit scary but you adore being able to wear earrings. Especially the special ones you got for your birthday this year. You got to ride on a houseboat, spent many days at the cabin and had several sleepovers at Oma and Opa’s house.  Your cousins, Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents all had several sleepovers at your house too! We had many beach days this year. They became a family favourite! You guys even went “swimming” in your clothes when we found ourselves at an inviting beach without swimsuits along. You climbed your first mountain! The wet, muddy, buggy part of the climb was not your favourite but when you got to the top of Mount McKay you were all smiles! This year you visited a hobby farm, went on a few hikes with the family, saw a couple waterfalls, started a rock collection and really took to swimming! This summer we sadly said goodbye to some wonderful neighbours who moved away. We also said goodbye to your great Opa who passed away in the fall. You went to a small amusement park and I was so amazed at your independence and love of a thrill! You also got to do lots of wall climbing with Mama and Daddy.  You build up a lot of bravery! For your birthday this year you invited a few girls over and had a fancy tea party! There was a lot of adorableness happening that day!

Emmy, you are energetic, silly, full of sweet smiles and at times quite rebellious. You have such a sweet voice and a funny sense of humour. You don’t wear dresses daily anymore…when did that even stop? But you still love all things pretty and sparkly. You love to run around bare feet, climb anything, and ride on the swings. You can be overwhelmed easily in a crowd but open right up and flourish when you feel comfortable in a situation. You speak years beyond your age with a clear and growing vocabulary. You love stories and snuggling up with a book. You also love to get lost in your imagination, curled up on the floor with a few small characters to play with. This year you also grew in your love of baking! You love to bake “almost all by yourself” doing as much of the measuring, mixing and everything as you can by yourself.  Something that I really saw develop in you this year is your love of drawing. Once when I asked you why you had drawn on {the table.the floor.the wall.your leg.a book.the deck.etc} you told me “Mom, I just love drawing so much I want to draw all the time.” We’ve been working on having appropriate things around for you to draw on because I love your drawings! Right now as I type this I’m watching you out the window draw on the driveway with some chalk.

I love watching you grow, Little Peanut! I hope you keep that joy for life, that contagious smile and a pencil in your hand!

This is Emmy at 4 years old!

 

Here are a few from this past year!

 

 

Arwen {18 Months}

You sure have grown in these last six months, Arie. You are taller, faster, more talkative and not a baby anymore! You are such a little stinker! I haven’t been able to catch a good photo of it, but you have this expression…..when you know you’re doing something you shouldn’t and you get caught…..you tilt your head way down, raise your eyebrows and look up. Its a ridiculously adorable face! But, like I said, you are a stinker! You push boundaries and stick your toe across the line. You are also super silly and sweet. Some thing you love doing right now that sticks out in my memory is a little tackle game. You’ll slowly back away from me while I’m sitting on the floor. Sometimes you say “beep beep” while you back up. Sometimes you crash, because you aren’t looking where you are going. Then once you are far enough away, you grin a mischievous smile and then run full tilt straight at me for a tackle, tickle or airplane ride. Its so much fun!

Another favourite of yours right now is books. Sometimes Hudson will read you stories and my heart explodes. Its so sweet! Your favourite book for a long time has been Good Dog Carl but you have also added Peek-a-who to the favourites repertoire. I love when you “read” it to me. You say more and more words now and we are figuring out what more of those words mean now as well. 🙂 You have a great fascination with chickens. You love them! You love nearly all animals but chickens seem especially interesting to you. You also really love dogs, preferably if they are small.

You are very much in love with Hudson and Emmy and copy them a lot! I see you following them around trying to do whatever they do. You are learning about life from them. They are quite smitten with you as well. Even if it drives them crazy that you knock their toys down, destroy their duplo creations, steal their stuff…..and all that normal younger sibling stuff. Nothing is safe anymore…you can climb up onto the counters, the bar stools, the top bunk…there is nowhere you can’t reach their stuff. You are starting to think that whatever Emmy has….you want! There was a (long) phase where you threw a fit every time we made you sit in your own carseat instead of letting you sit in Emmy’s. You’d tell us that you liked Emmy’s better. You also like her shoes, her toys, her bed and anything new or exciting she gets. Its comical and somewhat worrisome. Poor Emmy. Honestly though, it wont be long until you and Emmy can share clothes and shoes.

You are so amazingly adorable, so hilariously silly, and such a joy bringer to this family and those you meet! I love how you light up outside in nature, the way you look at your daddy and the silly games you play.

We love you Little Booger!*

Arie at 18 Months old:

And a few more of Arie from the last few months:

 

*sorry about that nickname….

Arwen {1 Year!}

Wow. Another year has come and gone. It never stops surprising me how fast time goes by.  Our baby is one and walking all over the place and showing more individual personality.  I absolutely love this age. If I could make it pause here for a while I would.  One of her favourite words (probably her favourite after “hi”) is “wow” and that’s the reason I love this age. Everything to her is wow, amazing, new and exciting!  A box opens…wow. A new food….wow. Mom has crazy hair in the morning…wow. 🙂

I’m writing this now 1 month after her birthday so she’s grown a lot since then.  At 1 year she had three teeth (she now has four), her hair still regularly was sticking up (it now lays flat most of the time), and she knew how to climb UP on all kinds of things (she can now also climb down most things too).

We were in Emo the weekend before her birthday so she had a few parties there with family. By the time her actual birthday rolled around on Tuesday we were sort of partied out. 🙂

Who is Arie? Lets see. She is easy going socially. She has no issues with other people and loves being with her siblings. She’s loudly offended when they shut her out of their play. She loves bath time and will make a bee line for the tub when you ask if she wants a bath or if she hears the water running.  She loves climbing on things- the kitchen stool, chairs, her rocking moose and anything else she can manage. I had to move an end table because she would not stay off of it! She has a charming smile!  Especially when she climbs up close to you and says with a grin “hi!” Oh, its the best….even when she wakes up early and cheery I can’t help but smile.  She likes to snuggle a teddy or soft doll while she sleeps and its adorable!  Hudson and Emmy love her..except when she’s messing with their stuff. 🙂 Its getting harder to keep things out of her reach and the classic sibling battles over her breaking their cool creations is common.

Arie is passionate, determined, and charming. She makes strangers smile with her “hi” and gives wonderful hugs. She makes our life that much sweeter and fuller and we are so thankful for her!

Arwen {11 Months!}

This month Arie started taking steps! Usually only a maximum of 3 or 4. Its pretty cute to watch. I love how proud she is of herself. And rightly so; kiddos are learning so much all the time!!

She loves roaming around and playing. Its kind of hilarious how when she’s really quiet, its consistently because she’s found some lego somewhere…She definitely knows she’s not supposed to have it yet. 🙂

She cut another tooth this month and now has a three tooth smile. 🙂  She is really hilarious. She plays games, flirts and is silly. She loves playing peek-a-boo and playing with duplo blocks.  She seems to understand a lot of what we say but shakes her head no for everything, even when she means yes. The way I distinguish yes’ and no’s is that when she actually means ‘yes’ she shakes her head no with a big smile on her face and makes excited sounds. 🙂  The most exciting thing this month though has definitely been her starting to walk!

Arwen {10 Months!}

Arie is exploring every part of the house.  She can now open cupboards and drawers and has a few favourites – tupperware drawer and bathroom vanity with hairbands, etc. She still also loves the dishwasher.  She loves bath time and hurries over to the tub when she hears a bath running.  She loves climbing on the couches and chairs. Its fun watching her explore and play.

Her hair keeps growing taller 😉  Its adorable and strangers stop to comment on it frequently. Her bottom teeth are coming up and becoming more noticeable. She’s adorable!

Here’s a few I took of her when she turned 10 Months! 🙂

Arwen {9 Months!}

Goodbye little gummy smile, hello teeth! She finally cut two bottom teeth and they are slowly becoming more noticeable.  I love the little gummy toothless smiles, but her little teeth are also adorable. 🙂

This month she FINALLY started laughing at things. Before she would smile at anything but nothing made her laugh.  We got the occasional grunt-like laugh but now she giggles when we play peek-a-boo, when Hudson jumps on his bed, when we drop things and say “uh oh!” and funny things like that. I LOVE the giggles! Keep ’em coming!

Some of the things she loves right now: Music and dancing, laughing at Hudson and Emmy being silly, bath time and playing in water, being outside, eating, and many other things 🙂

She dislikes being squished by her sister (and being generally treated as if she were a doll not a real human being…), when I say NO to playing in the toilet, mushy food (in general) and having things pushed purposely out of her reach (how rude!)

She is an adorable, hilarious absolute joy! And that hair…..

{The Whole Bag!} Joel & Kaity

Joel and Kaity asked if we could go up to the rock near his parent’s farm where he had proposed to her. We had a perfect day to walk in the bush! We found the tree that he proposed at and I think its pretty cool to have a photo with it years later and two adorable kiddos added to the mix! Such an sweet family!

{The Whole Bag!} Holverson Family

Reid and Leah were in Emo visiting family for Thanksgiving so how perfect to get family photos done at the farm Leah grew up at. Her daughters sure have grown since the last time I  saw them. Quite the beautiful, young ladies they are growing into!  Here are my favourites from this family session!

{The Whole Bag!} Mike & Carly

I love that Mike and Carly value regularly having family photos taken. The memories made while taking the photos and the photos themselves are such great keepsakes! I did a few photos of the girls while the littlest was still really little earlier this year but they wanted to save family photos for the Fall. It was a bit chilly when we started in the morning but the colours around their home were beautiful and they were all looking pretty great too 🙂  Here’s a few of Mike and Carly and their four growing daughters!

{The Whole Bag!} David & Beatriz

I had a lot of fun chasing my nephew around for these photos! 🙂 I sure have adorable nieces and nephews!

Bea’s parents were in town for a few weeks so it was nice to get some family photos while they were here as well. We had a beautiful, late summer evening to capture these.

This blog post is a little late coming but here are my favourites from my brother’s family session. Such great people that I’m proud to call family!