Play Me A Tune..

For Christmas we got a piano. Well actually it was given to us over a month ago but Stephen was the only one who knew about it until Christmas day. We all love having it and the opportunity to hopefully gain a new talent. I love the music that fills our home now that we have it. As the pictures show Emerson likes to help us practice and do a bit of playing himself. When one of us gets on we have to set up a chair for Emerson so that he can climb up and play as well. Most of the time he just bangs on the keys but sometimes he will press one down at a time as if he's really trying. Maybe we can keep his interest and form it into a talent when he gets a bit older.

Christmas Day

We had a lot of fun on Christmas. We woke up in the morning and after taking a couple minutes to wipe the sleep from his eyes, Emerson noticed all the presents in the living room. He was very excited and took his time between unwrapping each present. After he was finished playing with that new toy he could them be persuaded to open up another gift (but not before). He still needed help unwrapping the presents but once you got the package started he managed just fine. After unwrapping our presents we went to the church to sing Christmas carols and listen to some stories. From there we headed over to some friends house for lunch where Emerson got even more balls and got to run around with some other kids. After lunch we headed home and talked to some family for a little while and then went over to another friends house for Christmas dinner. We didn't have a lot of relaxing and lounging around on Christmas, but Kristine didn't have to cook and we spent the day socializing with friends and family which was really nice.

It's A....

We had our twenty week ultra sound on Christmas Eve in the morning. We wanted to find out if we were having a boy or a girl but Stephen thought that Emerson should be apart of the finding out process and since you cannot bring children into the ultra sound room we had the technician put the gender in a card.

And it said...

...that we're having...

...a BOY!!

We are all very excited and looking forward to the next couple months passing by and the day coming when we get to meet our new little boy.

Merry Christmas!

We wanted to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and hope that it is followed by a bright and joyful new year.

Kevin the Snowman

Because of all the snow last Friday Stephen didn't go in to work until after 10 o'clock and then was released a couple hours later. When he got home he went outside and starting making a snowman. Emerson is still unsure about the snow so we waited until the snowman needed the last finishing touches before we went out. The picture below is one of the few pictures we have where Emerson actually looks like he's enjoying himself.

The snowman before the finishing touches.

Stephen and Emerson gathering rocks for the eyes and mouth.

Stephen thought this would make a good nose.

But we decided to use something a little smaller instead.

Stephen and Emerson decided to name our snowman Kevin. If you ask Emerson where Kevin is he will point to the back door or go running that way, open the curtains and then point and say something that slightly resembles 'Kevin'. He likes to wave at Kevin and does a very good job at making sure he's doing alright.

SNOW!!

Last Thursday afternoon we got a light dusting of snow that turned into this (see below) by friday morning. It was so pretty to see how the snow turned our backyard into a winter wonderland. We have been in England for three winters now and this is the first time we have ever gotten snow before Christmas. We just hope it lasts.

Little Trooper

Emerson was such a little trooper yesterday. He's been not feeling well for a couple of days so we took him in to the doctors. They wanted us to go to Lakenheath to get some tests done, so we left for Lakenheath around 12.30 and two and a half hours later we got there (usually only a 45 minute drive). Then after being poked and proded and getting straped in uncomfortable machines we headed back home. The trip back was even better -- three hours. He did so good for all that he had to go through and was relatively happy considering the circumstances.

Oh How we Love our Pasta

Just a couple of shots of Emerson after enjoying some pasta. As you might guess a bath was next on our to do list.

Emerson's Pick

Emerson's personality is so cute. He probably gets away with way to much because it's so hard to tell him no or not laugh when he does certain things. His sense of fashion however may be a little bit off. The other day after I got him dressed he opened up his drawer and pulled out a sweater and his swiming shorts and insisted that I put them on as well as his reindeer socks that light up. The outfit was uncoordinated enough but to have it on top of some track pants and sporty tshirt really helped it tip the scale. But that didn't stop him from looking super cute (biased opinion I know).

Christmas Decorating

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went out and got our Christmas tree. After spending nearly an hour trying to decide where to put the tree and how to arrange the furniture we finally decided on something that would be okay. By then it was getting pretty late so Stephen put the lights on and then we called it a night. We finished decorating the tree on Monday for family home evening. Emerson was really excited to help participate. He did pretty good at the beginning but after a while he just wanted to run around with the ornaments he was supposed to be putting on the tree--one of which broke. Oh well. Emerson really likes the tree. Before it was decorated he liked touching the needles and branches. Now that it's decorated he points to all the ornaments and makes "ow" and "ah" noises. I love the smell that is currently saturating our living room. Once we put the lights up outside it'll really start to feel like Christmas.

Punting

The day after Thanksgiving we dropped Emerson off at some friends and went and spent the day in Cambridge. We attended a concert at one of the churches and got to listen to some wonderful pieces performed by a string quartet and tenor singer. Then we got some hot cocoa and went punting for the first time. Our guide was great and the sun was out so it was a really fun experience. Then after walking around the market for a little while we got some sweets and headed home. It was a really fun afternoon and the perfect surprise outing for my birthday.