Our Little Bit of Sunshine

Out here in England on a typical day you can expect a lot of clouds, some wind, quite possibly some morning fog or rain showers and maybe even a little hail. One thing you can't rely on is to see some sunshine. The days that the sun is seen is all too often few and far between. Luckily for us we have our own little bottle of sunshine packaged within our little Emerson. He has such a bright personality and happy demeanor that you often forget that it has been days since you've see the sun. Here are some photos of our little sunshine.

Famous Sights at the Bazaar

We went to an arts and crafts bazaar on Saturday, there were lots of different vendors selling various items. Some of our favorites included the antique furniture, the Welsh love spoons, and the paintings of English villages. We came home with none of these however. It seemed like everything we liked was really expensive and the things that were reasonably priced weren't all that great. We did enter a raffle for a free sitting fee with a local photographer (so keep your fingers crossed). The other cool thing at the bazaar was that we got to see some owls that a couple from church had brought to help raise money for an animal habitat preservation program. Not only was it cool to see them up close but one of the owls we saw was a very famous owl. It was the owl from the Harry Potter movies. Too bad we didn't bring our camera...maybe next time.

Dominoes

Ever since Emerson started crawling we like to set up some dominoes and get him to crawl to them and knock them over. It use to be a lot easier because you only had to put Emerson a few feet away and by the time you had set up a good chunk of dominoes he'd be close enough to knock them over. Now that Emerson has mastered the army crawl it's not as easy, you have to provide lots of distractions so you have enough time to set the dominoes up. Yesterday Stephen was very successful at this and managed to set up all the dominoes before Emerson knocked them down.

Mommy's Big Helper

Emerson is such a helpful little boy and loves to help around the house with chores. When we make the bed he tests out the pillows to make sure that they're still comfy and don't need fluffing. When it's time to do the dishes he likes to do the drying (or at least hold the drying rag until it's needed). And when it's time to rotate the laundry Emerson is always more than willing to push the buttons that turn everything on.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Our St. Patrick's Day morning was a little crazy and so we didn't really have time to get all into the traditions that come with it. If it would have been a little less crazy we would have had Green Eggs, Ham and Cheese Omlets. And since Kristine and Emerson went to the temple Emerson didn't get to wear his green onesis. And because by the end of the day we had kind of forgotten that it was St. Patrick's Day the only green thing we ate for dinner was green beans. One aspect of St. Patrick's Day did not get forgotten however and Stephen got reminded of that tradition shortly after his alarm went off when he got pinched because he wasn't wearing any green. So I suppose St. Patrick's Day wasn't completely forgotten. And since he didn't get to yesterday Emerson is wearing his green onesis today.

Tooth Four

Emerson's fourth tooth broke through last Thursday. If you look at the picture closely you can see his newest tooth.

Afternoon in Cambridge

This past Saturday we went to Cambridge with a friend from the Czech Republic. Most of the college grounds were closed so we only saw them from the street side. The architecture and ornamental statues/figures are really something to see. We did a lot of walking, except for Emerson who did a lot of sleeping. Went to a town market and ate lunch at a cute little Chinese restaurant. It was a nice afternoon and the weather was not bad, especially for England.

Our Little Adventurer

Yesterday Emerson was playing with some toys and as he was playing and crawling around he discovered a toy underneath his crib that he really wanted to play with so he crawled under the crib to retrieve it. When he was spotted underneath the crib he started smiling and laughing proud of his discovery and accomplishment.

Has it Really Been Ten Months?

Well this week Emerson turned TEN MONTHS OLD! We can't believe how the time has just flown by. In the past month Emerson's crawling skills have definitely improved. He still does the army crawl most of the time except now it looks like an army crawl on fast forward. If he is really trying to get somewhere he just flies. Sometimes he'll get on his forearms and tuck his knees up under his belly and crawl around but he usually switches back to the army crawl because it's much faster. He also loves to walk. If we'd let him he'd probably hold onto our hands and walk around the house all day. He's pretty good at walking, lifts his feet up nice and high. He doesn't have tons of balance but that will most likely come all too soon. He is still the happiest little boy ever. Loves to talk. Loves to play. And loves to be tickled, and when he does get tickled he loves to laugh. And it is definitely the cutest little laugh.

Here Come the Daffodils

Daffodils are starting to bloom and show their bright and cheerful colors indicating the arrival of spring. Emerson, Kristine and our friend Liz went to a park in a town near where we live and took some photos of the daffodils. Emerson didn't know what to make of them but after a little while he decided that they weren't that bad.

First Haircut

Emerson's hair was starting to get pretty long and in the back it was starting to look like a mullet, so we decided it was time for a haircut. We were going to try and cut it while Emerson was sleeping but then Kristine decided she wanted to try and use the clippers. Emerson took to them very well. He was not afraid at all and didn't freak out when we put them to his head. He did want to see what they were doing so he was a little bit wriggly but in the end his haircut probably turned out much nicer then if we had tried to do it while he was sleeping. Here are some before and after photos.