Adventures & School Ramping down

Jacob has a new job and with it has come some great perks of getting tickets to concerts, basketball games, NASCAR stuff, and now a Knights game.  Emmi wore her Orioles shirt and they kept asking if we would be seeing cousin Oliver, but he is up in Bowie so not yet.

As school is nearing its end we had Emmi's first field trip to a local farm.  Here she is with her boyfriend and best friend.

Here she is pretending to drive the tractor.

I also was invited to attend a Mom's Lunch with Emmi.  This is what she had to say about me.  Quite funny.

I got spoiled this year with an ice cream maker for Mother's Day.  This was our first batch of coconut berry and chocolate chip ice cream.  So yummy.  This times out perfect as we are now eliminating dairy from Emmi's diet as she has had some recent incidents of stomach pains to the point of tears.  Going to try it for a good month or so to then add back slowly to try to learn if that is the culprit.

This night we had a mini photo shoot in the bath which was fun.  Emmi went from all serious to silly.  She is a natural.

Other random notes is Marli is starting to push and test her surroundings.  We got the phone call from her teacher last week that she had bit her friend Sawyer.  Luckily that is Griffin's little brother and the teacher knows we all spent plenty of time together so we didnt have to pick her up.  The day we went to the farm her class had an ice cream truck so they got to pick a ice cream.  Here she is enjoying it.

 Then this was another day at school.

Rocking it

Each afternoon when we have time we try to get out and about.  Emmi has been doing awesome at riding her bike.  Here she is riding along in the neighborhood.

Then we went to Beatty recently hiking in the woods to the creek.

Emmi loves to sing and dance so she entertains us while we hang out at the creek.

Marli likes to dance as well of course.

Murph had a great time chasing stick.  He did really well being off leash and staying right with us.  Even with bikers riding by on occasion since he isnt a huge fan of bikes.

Here is our self portrait.

I have taken on a diet change to try to get to the idea of fueling my body with food opposed to eating just to eat/taste something. Basically I am doing an elimination diet following the Whole 30, so no added sugar of any kind real or artificial, alcohol, grains, legumes, dairy, additives like carrageenan, MSG or sulfites, white potatoes, soy, etc. 

So what do I eat?  Real food – meat, seafood, eggs, tons of vegetables, some fruit, and plenty of good fats from fruits, oils, nuts and seeds.  I have had fun since I have been seeking new recipes to cook up and love my Well Fed cookbook by Melissa Joulwan.  It definitely has helped me learn some things about my diet.  Like I definitely need some sugar as that has been my biggest struggle as the sugar from fruit is not enough with all this between being moody or shorter tolerance for things.  I have one week left before I start to introduce things back.  Right now I have no desire to add back dairy, grains, added sugar in things like salsa/spaghetti sauce, etc, legumes, limiting the additives as much as possible.  

Will post back on how things go as I learn more about this.

Ballet Recital

Emmi has been taking Ballet since September and loves it.  When she had to choose to give something up between ballet and gymnastics to fit in soccer she chose gymnastics.  We did have to shift her schedule around a bit but I actually like it better now.
The recital brings back memories of my mom putting Dippity Do in my hair to slick it back for my recitals.  Luckily for Emmi's they basically just do their regular class on stage where she takes class.  No fancy costumes, or pressure to be in a certain spot at a certain time at this age but it was still great to watch.  Her regular class takes place behind a door with only a window to peak through so I usually don't get to see all that she knows.

Soccer Time

This year Emmi is playing soccer with Griffin, Brady and Tyler as well as a girl Marley(not her sister).  Here are some action shots as well as Moo has to wear Emmi's stuff from last year to play on the side lines.  When we talk about soccer she says, "No MY soccer."

Here are some game time photos:

Easter

Here is a picture I found on my camera.  Thinking my sitter took it as I dont remember it.  

Then here was a different day after Moo had put make up on from E's make up kit.  She put lip stick everywhere, needless to say it was hard to take off.

Then the day before Easter the Girlies had a great time on the deck coloring eggs.

Then the Easter Bunny came and brought some good loot.

This year we celebrated Easter with 2 families as one with the Perry's including Berdie, and the Goguen's.

The kids went on an egg hunt.  Here is E on a mission.

Then moo was trying to decide where to go next.

Pre-Easter

For us summer type weather is here as we are consistently in the 70's if not warmer.  The girls have taken advantage by playing in the water table, one of Marli's favorites.  You can see the slight bruise left on her nose which is healing super fast.  The ENT doc on Thursday felt that her nose may not have broken after all.  He said if anything it may have a slight crack but since she was breathing fine, looks fine and hasnt complained there is nothing they would do anyways.  So to expose her to the radiation with the xray just to confirm a definite wasnt really worth it.

Then our neighborhood had an Easter Egg hunt for the kids.  Emmi loved the bunny and had to give many hugs.

Here she is flying around with her Super Hero cape to find eggs.

Marli was all about eating the candy so she didnt find too many.

Then as the boys were over to have dinner, since Memere & Grandpy Harley were in, they taught Murph how to climb the rock wall and join them in the fort.

ER visit

While Grandpa, UJ, and the Goguens were all over for dinner Marli managed to face plant on the ground after slipping on a boa.  This resulted in our first visit to the Urgent Care and Pediatric ER visit with either kid. But as you can see she wasnt too phased.  End diagnosis was a broken nose with a follow up this week at the Ear Nose and Throat to make sure it just all heals itself.

Hanging out at Urgent Care before they told us we had to go to the ER since they weren't equiped to ct scan if needed.

Coloring in the ER waiting on the doc.

The next day what the after effects are.  The bottom lip is just some left overs of her ice cream sandwich.

Here were a few pics taken a few days prior.

Here is a beautiful pic of Emmi that the sitter took earlier in the week just like the one of Moo above.

The girls enjoyed dinner with Grandpa as he was in for a short visit.