Fall Fun

It is finally looking like fall here in Northern California! On Thursday, we met some friends at a park that had farm animals as well as a nice playground. Emma had a great time chasing and talking to the huge geese. They were almost as big as she is!

Emma checks out the geese

"Hello Goose"
This morning, we took Emma out to play in the leaves (and take some fall pictures). We went to a local park and Dan actually raked the leaves into a pile for her. Here are a few of my favorite shots of the day.

Emma's New Room

In preparation for baby 2 to come along, we have a few things on our list to do. Most of these have to do with Emma becoming a big girl and a big sister. Emma is doing a great job with her potty training, so we decided to move on to the next thing on our list; her new "big girl" room. We thought it was going to be a slow transition, but Emma made the decision last Wednesday to move in and she has been sleeping there ever since. We changed our guest room into her new room with lots of pink and frills, much to Dan's dismay :) Here are a few pictures of Emma's new abode

Emma's bed and reading area

Looking in from the hallway
I decided to get a little creative with Emma's old name letters, some old scrapbook paper, and modge podge (my new favorite craft product. Here is the result :

I also took some small canvases from Michaels and made a little wall art to match her bedding:

I have a few more blank walls to fill. Any ideas?

Butterflies!

On Saturday morning we drove over the mountains to Santa Cruz to visit a Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary. Every fall, the Monarch butterflies travel south the warmer weather for the winter. The Butterflies were sleeping in clusters in the trees. Emma was a little disappointed that one did not land on her finger, but I explained that they were probably tired from their travels south.

Butterfly Cluster

Emma "reads" butterfly facts along the path
The butterflies were really near a beach and a group of tide pools so we checked those out, too.

Emma walks on the beach with her animal of the day, Google Bear

The beach is called Natural Bridges after these rock formations

Checking out the tide pools, Emma enjoyed jumping in the puddles

The Pacific Ocean

Emma's Fashion Guide

Emma has been accessorizing some of her outfits this week. We had our first rain since the spring last week and Emma broke out her rain boots for the entire weekend

and this morning Emma felt this was the perfect ensemble for the park:

She is definitely dressing to impress :)

Emma election funny

So Emma and I went to vote this morning before preschool. Emma must have misunderstood what we were doing and where we were going because as we were leaving the polling place, Emma said "but Mommy, where was the boat?". I guess in need to enunciate my words a little better :)
Happy election day! We will be going to enjoy our free doughnut and ice cream after I get weighed at my doctor's appointment today :)

(Emma is trying out nap in her new big girl bed)

Emma's Ballet Recital

Here are a few clips of Emma's Ballet recital.
The first is their warm up exercise where they stretch and move



This is a little of the Can-Can dance



and finally, showing off some of their ballet skills with spins and a bow

Enjoy!

Halloween 2008

Emma was really excited about her costume this year! Her first opportunity to wear it was on Thursday morning for her dance recital. Daddy came and watched Emma and the other ballet students as they danced in their costumes.

Pictures before dance

Emma and Kaylie dance on their spot

Emma and her class

Jumping!

Emma and Kaylie with their first treats of the weekend
On Thursday afternoon, we headed over to Google for "Googleween". We did not get to stay long because of some rainy weather, but Emma did pick a pumpkin

and she decorated it

(It is a cat...can't you tell???)
She also got to eat one of her favorite snacks;

A big soft pretzel
On Friday, we headed over to our church for their fall festival. First, we went to each classroom trick-or-treating

Emma got really into saying trick or treat
Then we went to play some games

Emma did her best to throw the bean bags through the holes
Finally, Emma and Daddy tried the big slide

Emma loved it!

We had a great time and Emma really enjoyed her 3rd Halloween!
Stay tuned for some Dance recital video!