Bye Bye Auntie

Last night we took Melissa back to the airport and Emelyn was looking around the house this morning asking "Where Auntie Go?" For some reason, despite calling her "Lissa" before she arrived, Emelyn decided she was going to rename her "auntie" once Melissa arrived. No idea where that came from, but it was quite cute! Emelyn found quite the pal in Melissa and is missing her today. Here are some pictures from their last day together:

Manhattan Road Trip

My sister, Melissa, flew in to see us for the week - she's a prof. at Cal State and has the summer off which works out perfect to visit us! On the way back from picking her up at the airport we both kind of mentioned that it would be fun to take a road trip while she's in town... so we did! Thursday morning we decided to venture north to spend a few days with my sister Valerie. And at the last minute we called my sister Dana and sis-in-law Megan to see if any of them wanted to meet us there - Chris, Megan & Kayden ended up coming bringing us lots of yummy produce from their garden.

In the meantime, I had been sort of potty training Emelyn this past week. As an incentive, she knew she received a popsicle each time she went potty, and after a few days, it all seemed to click. Even though she did really well at home, I had no idea how the trip would go. To my surprise, she told me when she had to go potty each time on the road and had no accidents. Since popsicles weren't handy (and she was sure to ask for one!) we got to sit down and enjoy some kind of frozen treat each time we stopped. Mommy and Aunt Melissa didn't mind. :) 

Once we arrived at Valerie's, Emelyn begged to be outside... can you guess why she's so happy in this picture?

She had just "gotten" the kitty! The poor recipient of Emelyn's constant attention:

Can't forget to show you all her daily bed hair! Emelyn and Valerie went out to pick flowers for the breakfast table while waiting for the breakfast muffins to finish baking... this really is what she looks like each morning!

After breakfast we ventured to the zoo... Ms. Independent had to walk most of the time.

After walking through the zoo (in hot humid weather) Emelyn found a playground (on black asphalt of course) to play on.. the only way to get her off of it was to entice her with sonic ice and droid... not a great combo!

Watching the monkeys... not sure what to think of them

Playing on the playground with Kayden - what a cutie!

After a hot time at the zoo, yummy lunch at Little Apple Brewery and a quick nap, we went to the Splash Park.

It took Emelyn a long time to warm up to the idea of water hitting her

Finally she realized it was fun to have mommy swing her in a fountain while Kayden shot her with the water gun (blue swimming trunks)

Next to the splash zone was a super fun jungle gym.

Emelyn and Kayden both had a great time. Kayden would go down the slide then wait at the bottom to catch Emelyn... so cute!

We have lots of other pics, but I'm sure this is enough for one post! While in town Melissa and I also were able to meet up with some college friends, as well as eat one of our favorite college foods - Gumby's Pizza. Jake did great while we were away - he caught up on sleep and even went out in the woods to ride 4-wheelers one day with a friend. He's continually feeling better and getting back to "normal." We may have to make another trip to Manhattan this fall to come back to the splash zone and play area - I think Emelyn could spend an entire day there without once getting bored. It was set up perfectly with shade trees, picnic tables and benches for families. The city pool that it's all next to has a lazy river as well as 5-6 pools of different sizes so we may have to try that next time too.

Wordless Wednesday

Chalk

Perch

In our attempt to eat fish at least once a week, we decided to give Perch a try this week. No, sadly, we had never had Perch before - at least not that we knew of. :) I put the skin side down, brushed with some unsalted butter (2 Tbsps) and then sprinkled an equal mixture of Italian breadcrumbs and parmesean cheese on top. 20 minutes later @ 400, supper was ready.

(Before:)

(After:)

Even Emelyn liked it... well at least she willingly ate a few bites on her own. Then we made the mistake of giving her roasted potatoes and peas on her plate... after that she refused to eat anything but peas. She still loves loves loves peas.

Weekend Pics

We've had quite a few days of overcast, rainy/sprinkly, yet still in the mid-eighties weather here. But to brighten them up, we have a lot of pretty pink glads that have bloomed...

...and Emelyn's sunflower plant bloomed too!

She loves to smell it each morning (even though it has no smell as far as I can tell!)

A sort-of smile caught on camera!

Laying on the floor reading after a rainy morning spent at the library

Spending Saturday morning on the couch with dad watching cartoons - a new thing for us and I think she's already addicted after a short 30 Mickey Mouse show!

Getting ready to make peanut butter no-bake cookies - something that is quickly becoming a Sunday afternoon tradition (we just make 1/4 of a batch - 6 cookies!)

Eskimo kisses is action... love this girl!

Stirring the final product! (A chair up to the cabinets is a new must have anytime I'm in the kitchen - she loves to help!)

Can you guess what Jake and Emelyn had after our muggy evening walk? Blueberry popsicles!

Our little sparkler

We've had a lot of fun lately playing outside... here she is dancing to the ice cream truck music... and making sure we watch her every move!

 

In an attempt to help Jake gain weight, we baked some rich banana bread using oil instead of applesauce to add calories. Ems enjoyed testing it out for her daddy with a full cup of milk!

Finally, Jake had a follow up with his GI Doctor Tuesday and we had a good long talk about what to do from here. They also drew his blood to check his levels... 10.4! While this is still low, to us it seems high. He'll be checked again in 6 weeks. Until then, it appears that the surgery did what we were hoping - to stop blood loss. Now if we can just get some energy back in him! The doctor said we needed to give it months before expecting him to feel "good." It's 8:30 right now and he's been sleeping for a while... he hasn't set an alarm since coming home and just sleeps until he naturally wakes up - hopefully a mix of rest and real food again will be just what his body needs to fully recover.

Fourth Weekend

What a fun and relaxing weekend we've had. I can't begin to say, again, how nice it has been for Jake to be "cordless!" He's been really tired, but between sleeping, we did get out to spend some time as a family this weekned.

We started the weekend with a Naturals game... Emelyn enjoyed watching the game in between singing, dancing and chatting it up with everyone around us..

But once she met the mascot she couldn't forget it (er, him, Strike...)

And the rest of the game was spent keeping an eye on the "monkey"

 "Daddy, Where'd the Monkey go?" "Daddy, I see the monkey!" and "ooo! ooo! ahhh! ahhh!" along with monkey motions filled the air from then on. So cute! Thankfully, the guy next to us who was a scout for the Royals, had two daughters and three granddaughters and didn't mind Emelyn interupting his work with her exclaimations about the "monkey." :)

Sunday after church and naps, we went to the pool with some friends. Emelyn wasn't sure what to think of the water at first...

...but eventually warmed up to the water and had a blast!

Then yesterday evening, Andrew and his friend Drew stopped on their way back to Gulf Shores... it was so nice catching up with my "little brother" while sitting on our front porch watching the firework display.