Emma's 1st Halloween

It's official - Emma is the cutest chili pepper ever!

Trick or Treat

We have been celebrating Halloween for over a week here at Casa Rowan. Last Saturday we went to a pumpkin carving party at a friend's house. The kiddos got all decked out in their costumes, Jay and Cody carved a pumpkin, we ate, laughed, and played. It was great!

Then, throughout the week Jay and Cody continued adding to our Halloween decor resulting in quite an impressive display of eerie spookiness in our yard for trick or treaters to enjoy. On Thursday, the kiddos took their costumes to school, where I joined them for the Fall Festival. By the time Friday rolled around both kids had worn their costumes several times and Cody already had a bag full of treats. On Halloween night Cody and Jay went out trick or treating while Emma and I stayed home to greet all of the little ghosts and goblins that knocked on our door. It was a very busy and exciting week, and we are all now quite exhausted!

My BIGGEST fan...

First graders are hilarious! Lately my kids have been bringing me little tokens of their affection - pictures they've drawn, stories they've written about me, etc. Today, my little Emily took things one step farther when she brought me an ipod, and her mom's wedding ring - because she loves me! Suffice to say I was touched, but shocked by her generosity. And, after a phone call home, so was her mom!

Nana & Papa

Jay's parents came to visit this weekend. These are the first shots of them with Emma where she is smiling, so I thought I'd share.

Watch Me Grow! - 5 months old

Emma is getting so big. She has just started getting those chubby little baby cheeks that just beg to pinched, and I love them! At 5 months she is now eating rice cereal, purposefully playing with toys, "talking" up a storm, waving, and trying hard to stay in a sitting position for longer than 15 seconds. She really has a very sweet disposition, and a personality that is uniquely hers. We are thoroughly enjoying this stage!

Pumpkin Patch

We took our little pumpkins to the pumpkin patch today. We LOVE the pumpkin patch. Cody loves the hay ride. I love the numerous photo ops and the perfectly pleasing fallness of it all. Emma seemed to love pretty much everything, as could be seen by her constant smiling and giggling. And Jay, well he loves hefting all of our picks into the big wheelbarrow of course.

Shannon Rocks!

My friend Shannon put together this new header for me. I have no idea how she did it - I've been trying to do something like this for a while now with no luck. So, Shannon, you rock!!!

Emma's new trick

Emma started waving today. It was too cute not to record. She was so excited by all of our clapping and cheering, that she literally continued waving for about 5 straight minutes. Here's a glimpse...

Rock Star

Cody was entertaining us this evening with some "awesome guitar music." Listen carefully for the title of his song at the end.

Drums, drums, drums? I believe he may be slightly confused.

My husband is SO gross!

Well, it's official...I married a very strange, some might say foul, or disgusting, man. Tonight at dinner we were rehashing the interesting bits and pieces about our day - pretty normal right? Nope! It turns out that after spending a day in Truckee tagging fish, Jay thought it would be a good (and he claims perfectly normal) idea, to bring some fish heads home with him. That's right, reread if you need to, but he brought fish heads HOME with him today. Why, you might be wondering? Well, to boil the flesh off of them, so that he can hang them above his desk at work, of course. Eeeeew! My husband is SO gross!

OMG!

Today Cody told me something that completely shocked me... For some time now, I'd say nearly 2 months or so, Cody has been coming home talking about his friend Lily Marie. "Lily Marie and I played lions today. I was Simba and she was Nala." Lily Marie and I played on the swings." "Lily Marie and I played with the Legos." And so on, and so forth. He has talked about Lily Marie so much, that I began to wonder just which little girl she might be. (I know most of the boys he plays with already.) So, for the last couple of days, when I've picked him up, I've asked him, " Is Lily Marie here today?" His response until today, has always been, "No Mom, she's already gone," or "She didn't come today." Today, when I asked him again if Lily Marie was at school, he said, "Mommy, Lily Marie is just pretend, like my baby deer." OMG!!!! I had NO idea! I am still reeling from that information - it blew me away!

A lesson in logical thinking...

Yesterday I was at Target with the kids looking for a Halloween costume for Emma. It was our third stop of the day, and I'd yet to see anything that matched the fancy frilly pink frock of my imagination, so I threw in the towel and told Cody that he could choose Emma's costume from the vast (wink, wink) selection on the Target shelves. He thought for a moment, then proceeded to choose THE LEAST girly costume available. Very much to my dismay, Emma will be a chili pepper for her first Halloween. When I asked Cody about his choice he told me, "Mommy, a hot pepper is kinda like fire, and fire is kinda like a superpower, and superheroes have superpowers, and superheroes are cool." Though my initial plan was to talk him out of the chili pepper, I ended up standing in the aisle with my mouth agape, and was unable to come up with an argument that was better than his. So, chili pepper, here we come!

Full Circle

I was prompted to start this blog after telling my friend Stephanie this story. Well, today, at an Oktoberfest party at my friend Suzanne's house, Cody nearly got his wish... There he was, minding his own business, eating dinner, when he innocently reached for his drink...oops - that's not it!!! Beer. Cody had his first taste of beer today! (Sealing our fates as parents of the year.) Fortunately he realized quite quickly that he had grabbed the wrong cup, and was not at all interested in continuing to drink "that disgusting stuff." Part of me can't help but now wonder if he'll wake up in the morning looking for hair on his chest? (hee,hee)

Super Cody!

Today I took Cody for his 4 year well-child checkup. They weighed and measured him as well as checked his vision and hearing. Cody is, as I have suspected for some time, way off the charts for height. The doctor gave me a graph that showed that a child Cody's age and weight is, on average, between 3'4" and 3'6" tall. Cody is 3'9" tall!!! I always knew he was tall, but WOW! On a different note, I was also super impressed with Cody's letter recognition on the eye exam. The nurse had asked Cody if he knew his ABC's or if he wanted a chart with pictures - he chose the letters, and got all but one correct. At the very end, she pointed to a v, and he said, " I can see that letter, but I don't know his name - he says /v/, /v/, /v/, like volcano. " She looked at me and we both burst into giggles. What a smartie pants!

PS- It turns out that Cody is not hearing impaired as we have often assumed, he simply is choosing not to listen to us - can you believe that!

Family Tree

Cody has been learning Spanish in preschool, and has already mastered counting to 15, colors, and now family members. Today I was asking him to tell me the people in our family as we were driving home from school. He did. This discussion prompted a further discussion about our family which was quite interesting. In it, I learned that someday Cody would like to have children of his own, one of whom is Emma - because, "she is such a good, sweet baby, when she isn't crying really loud." I also learned that I may speak without thinking a little more than I imagine, as in a side conversation about my sisters, Cody said, "You have two sisters Mommy- Auntie Meems (Mary) and Auntie Chelle (Michelle). Auntie Chelle is your crazy sister though, right?" (He's totally right, but puleeze - I should really use my censor more often, now that he repeats everything I say.)

You are my sunshine...

My favorite song to sing to both of my children at bedtime is "You Are My Sunshine." It always makes Cody smile, and can stop Emma in mid-scream. Recently Cody has taken to singing to Emma, and wouldn't you know, he chose our special song. Here's a glimpse at my sweet boy singing to his sister.



Aw, isn't that too cute!

Getting the hang of it...

Emma is getting much better at the rice cereal eating, but it is still hilarious to watch. We all love to be present for her feeding, so as not to miss any of the action.

I'm a big kid now!

Emma had her 4 months shots yesterday and the doctor gave her the OK to try rice cereal. She didn't appear to swallow any, but she sure liked smearing it all over her face...

...just like her brother!

Sleeping Beauty

I just love to watch Emma sleep. She always looks so peaceful. What a beautiful little girl!

Changing before my eyes...

One of my favorite things about becoming a parent the first time, was watching Jay become a father. Here was this big, gruff, slightly rough around the edges guy, turned to mush each time his son cried, smiled, laughed, or squealed. Right there in my hospital room he transformed into the man I always knew he could be - sweet, gentle, and vulnerable.

(Reading with Cody - all of our hospital pics with Cody are on actual film, not digital, so I can't post.)

Now, the second time around, I am enjoying watching both of my boys change as they adjust to life with our little Emma. I expected her to have Jay wrapped around her tiny fingers, but I admit I am somewhat surprised at how much Cody adores her. He too has become more loving, gentle, and attentive to the needs of others (though he is definitely still a rambunctious boy).




I know they say that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but I bet if their were puppies involved, you could.