Sid and Emma Reading

More Emma Action

Here are 2 seconds worth of happy Emma wiggle action...

Harper, Dylan and Baby Emma

We spent the fourth of July with Monte, Heidi, Harper and Dylan and the rest of their family. It was a fun filled day and evening. Including a fine game of 4-person Hearts. I love hearts. Mom and Dad, you'll be pleased to know you taught me well: I won. :-)

These pictures were taken this morning while we were all packing to go home. Somehow our camera never made it out until then. Emma was quite taken with Harper and her demonstrations of the tug boat workings. Dylan soon showed up to play along as well. The girls were both so lovely with Emma.










Thank you Burke Family for the wonderful visit. We love friends with kids; especially those who like to play games as well! :-)

True Dady Love: Live

Big Kid Emma with Daddy

Daddy is offering Emma a hair pulling session. One of her FAVORITE past-times these days. When she and Sid do it, she laughs and squeals with delight. I was a bit slow on the camera trigger, and she caught wind of my desires to catch her in the act.
Here Sid is doing his VERY best "crazy dad" impression to help out with the attempt. Again, she says, "Oh pleaaase. "

:-)

Big Kid Emma

It was another yard day. Sid was in charge of the Em-ster, and I slaved away at building a rock pathway. We are at ~90% complete on the walkway. We have also edged the south side of the front and side lawns and converted most of it into garden beds. Grass begone! The bed making included trench digging, then mixing the existing soil with the compost, evening, creating a weed-resistant slime layer with corn gluten (the non-roundup way to control weeds- the vote is still out), then mulching.

We used over 3 yards of mulch! Mulch moving was a big part of the project....What we crazy people do to make good ole kentucky blue go away. Sid did the majority of this two weeks ago, while I was in charge of Emma. He vows never to do this kind of "transformative" lawn work again....This word "transformative" is being marked by my spell check. It is lifted directly from the world of U.S. politics and NPR news coverage; where we have all heard it used just a little too much... So, I am trying out the word here.

Back to Sid: He is off big scale yard work at least until fall, when we tackle the other side of the front lawn (luckily it is much smaller) and the planting of the beds. Thus the reason I am currently in charge of the walkway.

Here are some pics Sid took on one of my breaks from laboring. Emma is getting so big. Sid says today she worked hard on the "self-pull to standing" skill set. Can you believe it? They "claim" she nearly accomplished it today, with only some minimal help from dad (and the Fisher Price Old MacDonald Barn as a lever).

Go Emma. Go xeriscaping. Go walkway!

Life in an exer-saucer (part II)

Daddy photo shoot.

The Scootch

As promised:

Life at the Williamsons

We painted our dining room and living room, with the hopes of both giving the two rooms some flair and personality and to be a little more sophisticated than "just white". Well, we are still working on being/looking sophisticated. Emma's toys are complicating that effort, as you can see from the photos...

This is Emma's toy "area". It is located in the dining room. Thank you M.E. and Mary Beth for the perfect table! (p.s. It was straightened for this photo. There are more toys devoted to the area now and therefore looks more like the inards of a closet rather than a dining room show piece). *Sigh*.

Here is another main floor show piece: The Exersaucer. Emma appears to be stuck in the corner and not in the exersaucer? Is she in time out you ask? Oh no, Emma is a perfect angel. We don't and never will need time outs...Actually she is perfecting the backward scootch. She had to stop where she is in the picture, as there was no where else to go. I'll post more pics documented the "scootch", don't worry. :-)

The vote is still out

Toe head? Dirty blonde? Red head? Sid and I are still making bets. Feel free to cast your vote. We know, we know- there is a minimum amount of hair needed for these kinds of things. Don't you think she is there yet??

"Bald, bald. Bald as a ping pong ball. You're bald fella." -Baby Mel Brooks

Just yesterday, we were in college

I still can't believe we are all moms. Just yesterday we were vacillating (ranging from extremely bored to ecstatic) UVM college seniors. Asking ourselves "what the h*ll am I going to do with my life". Well we made it, and so it goes.... Below the proof.


The little girl is Plum. She belongs to Mara, not me. :-)

Baby Emma Plays Piano

During our recent trip to NH, Emma explored her artistic self. This act of expression was captured by expert camera-woman, Aunt Linda.



On other notes, we had a wonderful week of visiting Vermont and college friends (my 15th reunion), hiking (Mt. Major) and general hanging out with family.


Post-trip evaluation deems that Emma is NO worse for wear due to travel stresses. Her mother on the other hand....and anyway, who wouldn't be happy with all this auntie love?

Where was daddy-Sid during all this east-coast activity? He was a bit farther south, doing some bonding of his own.

He did miss his Sweets we know though.... :-)

Back to Baby

We had a great weekend! The sun is now shining, temperatures are soaring into the low 80s. Emma is letting me run with her in our jogger stroller. Life is good.....Sadly, Sid worked most of the weekend. But, Emma and I got out with some friends for a picnic and music. It was bluegrass music and Sid is not a big fan. So it isn't all bad. Plus, he is going tarpon fishing in a few days; DEFINITELY not all bad.

Debbie is holding Emma in this picture. Emma likes Debbie. Debbie likes Emma.

Debbie just got married to Jim (yellow shirt, looking only slightly less interested in Emma than Debbie :-)). Their wedding was at Chico. It was beautiful. They just returned from Costa Rica. Notice Debbie's tan? Debbie tans well.


Other friends were in charge of Emma, while I got to kick back a little. Yeah for friends!

Yes we can: Barak beats it to Bozeman

Well, he came. After Oregon and Kentucky tomorrow, there will only be Puerto Rico, Montana, & S. Dakota left. We are truly at the back of the line. His rally was the largest event (~6,000 people) I've ever attended in Montana. It was at the Brick Breeden Field House. There were a lot of bikes parked outside. Yahoo. Spring has hit Bozeman!
He did a good job. He stumped, of course; talking in generalizations about ending the Iraq war, preserving nature for our children, moving away from oil and to alternative energies, maintaining and growing blue collar jobs in America, all citizens having the opportunity for the same health insurance he receives as a U.S. Congressman, rebuilding our respect among other nations, etc. etc. But, it was great to hear from the horse's mouth. I just hope he can do even some of it.

He also was gracious to Ms. Clinton, which I appreciated. He also clearly stated that he would expect us all to do our part and work hard to make the changes in this nation happen. Good to hear as well.


Had I brought Emma (alas, she was sound asleep in her bed at home), she might have gotten held by the man himself. By the end we were really close, ~5 feet away. See picture below.
Go Obama. Time will make him our next president. I do dearly hope.

Spa'ing it at Chico Hot Springs

Our friends Debbie and Jim were married at Chico Hot Springs, in Paradise Valley last weekend. The weather thankfully cooperated. We had two beautiful days to relax and enjoy time with friends. By the time this picture was taken, Emma had decided she *likes* soaking in the hot springs. The day before she was less than smitten. She whimpered a lot. By day two however, she was ready to fully enjoy the sun and water fun.