We have a one year old!

Emerson turned 1 year old on Sunday. I can't believe a year has passed so quickly. We had a birthday party for him and it was crazy! We had 15 adults and 6 children over! I will admit that I'll never invite that many people over again. Not until we have a house with a larger living area anyway. But it was a good time and lots of fun! Emerson loved every minute of it. Here are a bunch of pictures:

The farm animal themed Cake!

The anticipation...

We didn't get any pictures of him with the candle lit.
Emerson's older cousin was so excited and blew the candle
out the second the cupcake hit the tray!

He was very interested in the candle...

...but even more interested in the cake!

Yum! That's good stuff!
The Birthday Boy!

One Year Old Emerson.

Here comes Christmas

I think Christmas comes earlier in Canada. We are closer to the north pole! I have been feeling the Christmas spirit all week. I don't put my decorations up until December usually but I'm tempted to get out a Christmas CD.

I want to do a special act of service this year and make it a yearly family tradition. One year when we were kids we delivered little treats to a family that correlated to the 12 days of Christmas and it was so much fun! I also know of a family that participates in an event where you dress up like elves and hop on a city bus full of donated gifts and food to deliver it to people in need. I think that would be fun! Dean says its too "public" for him. He wants to do something more anonymous.

Does anyone have any ideas? Or can you share what you do?

Halloween

I was pretty excited about Emerson's first Halloween. Our ward had a Halloween activity and a "Trunk or Treat" on the 31st. My sister had her annual Halloween party the weekend prior to Halloween. We all dressed up like a TV star and decorated haunted gingerbread houses. So fun!

However last week I decided it would be a good idea for Em and I to get the H1N1 vaccine. This is because I am back to work at a clinic where I see a lot of patients infected with H1N1. It took a good amount of thought (and prayer) to decide to get the vaccine. We usually don't get the flu shot because I think it is unnecessary for healthy people and why expose yourself to more chemicals than you have to. Having done my research I realize the H1N1 is very unpredictable and can seriously harm even the most healthy person. Anyway, we got our shots and other than recovering from the 2.5 hour wait, we did fine. Then last Friday Emerson got very sick. It is most likely the flu... maybe the H1N1, maybe the seasonal flu. I'm not sure where he got it for sure but I'm guessing it was in the line waiting for his shot. There were a few dark days where he wouldn't eat or drink anything but we're on the mend.

So no Halloween-ing for Mr. Bean :( I put his little skeleton shirt on him and took some pictures just so that we could have them. We didn't even carve a pumpkin! Sad, eh? I guess the good thing is that Emerson will not even remember missing his first Halloween. Here are some pictures.

Dean's decorating is usually quite superb. This year he made:
"A Graveyard Collision: Zombies Arise"

This is my mom (heaven bless her) dressed up as Beth from the TV show
"Dog the Bounty Hunter".


Dean dressed up as Jeremy Clarkson from the British TV show "Top Gear".


My sister dressed up as SNL star Stuart Smally.

We also had Hannah Montana (my costume), Ninja #3 from a Chuck Norris movie, Hal and Joanne from Body Break (Canadian fitness Gurus), Deanna Troi from Star Trek, and Liz Lemon from 30 Rock. We didn't get as many pictures as we wanted because we had Emerson with us and left the party early to get him home to bed. Sorry!

Emerson's skeleton smile.

Emerson has discovered that he can take lids off and on,
so his new favorite toy is an empty bottle.

Goodbye Farm

This weekend was Thanksgiving here in Canada and we said goodbye to the land that my dad grew up on. The land better known as "The Farm". I feel very grateful for the memories that were created there. Collecting wild flowers on our hikes in the coulees, pretending we were Olympic ice skaters while skating on the frozen dug out and listening to the crickets chirping as we fell asleep. I'll miss you Farm!

The Wisdom of Wheat

Dean had his wisdom teeth out yesterday. He is doing very well and isn't complaining at all. A bit of the chipmunk cheeks have appeared but no bruising yet. It has actually been kind of nice to have him home and to take care of him. I will admit yesterday morning it felt like I had gone from 1 to 2 children to care for. One needed his gauze changed and the other needed his diaper changed. I love my boys and its nice to feel needed!

So I wanted to make sure to rotate the ice packs for Dean every half-hour because when I had my wisdom teeth out the hot and cold packs really helped me. Incidentally, they no longer recommend applying heat because the warmth can promote infection. I swear the alternating cold and warmth prevented me from bruising or even swelling. I guess better to have some bruising and swelling than an infection. Anyway, I decided to make some of those wheat filled hot/cold packs. You can put them in the freezer or microwave them. I bought a cheap scrap of flannel material at Fabric Land and opened 2 cans of our hard red wheat from our food storage supply. I made 4 bags and I think they turned out pretty good. The temperature stays warm or cold for about an hour. However, the best part is that all 4 only cost $5 and I still have fabric left over. I think they'll last a good while too!

Here are some pictures:

A New Babe

My best friend had her baby a week ago yesterday. I finally got to visit with her and peek in on the sleeping baby. I was so glad to see her and hear her wonderful birth story. She was a superstar! And what a wonderful prize at the end of it all. Way to go Mama and he is such an adorable baby boy!

In August Dean and I did some pictures for them. Here are a few:

Baby's Firsts

Emerson has been having a lot of firsts lately...


Emerson loves dirt! What kid doesn't, right? I have to watch him extra close when I'm in the garden. One day I was digging potatoes in the garden when I turned around for 30 seconds and Emerson started sucking on the end of the dirty shovel. I figure he must of thought it was a very big spoon for eating and thought he should give it a taste.


We went on a day trip to find some nice spots for photos and did a little hike near Bragg Creek. It was Em's first hike. He did pretty good. It was just a little hike and we stopped half way to give him a drink. But I think it will be the last time we use this snugglie. He is already 23 lbs and the snugglie is only rated for 26lbs. Dean carried him most of the way, thank goodness!

He can stand on his own for a couple of seconds and then eases himself down to sitting so he can crawl to where he wants to go. My mom got him a little walking toy that he pushes around the living room now. If I can figure out how to post a video on here I will post a video of it. Dean and I think he will maybe start walking soon. I can't believe how fast he is growing up!?