3 is for Exploration

Emelyn is just now 3 years and 4 months old. She melts my heart with her personality and those big brown eyes. When I found out Steve and I were having a girl, I was scared to death. All I knew was how to take care of a boy....even though I am a girl and know all about them, I was still terrified. As I look back I cant imagine what life would be like without her in it.

Everyday is a new adventure with her.  She is so outgoing and the way she sees life, puts my life into a whole new perspective.  Since I have started staying home with her full time again I see her in a whole new light.  I will never take for granted again the time that I get one on one just her and I.  Watching Trevor grow up so fast has made me more aware that time goes by so quickly especially when you are watching your little ones grow up.

 She loves the outdoors and every morning when I take Trevor to school if she hears the wood pecker in the neighborhood pecking on the light post out in front of our house she stops and says in a very quiet voice "mom, do you hear the nose pecker?". The first time she called a wood pecker a nose pecker it was so cute!  I dont have the heart to correct her.  Besides she has her whole life to call it the right thing!  We have hung a bird feeder in the tree out front and put water in the bird bath.  She gets so excited when the birds splash around in the bath.  She will run to the front door and whisper to me to come see the birds. She also has a fascination with the trash trucks.  Even if she is in her room playing she will hear the trash truck and run to the front door to watch the trash being picked up.

Steve started taking her to storytime about a year and a half ago. They went relegiously and it is something that she needs to meet other children and be social.  So we go once a week and she sings all the songs and even thinks Mrs. Susan who reads the stories is the only one who works at the library. When a book is torn she always tells me that Mrs. Susan taped the page.  After storytime we will go to the park and I usually try to get her to the park about twice a week.

She is always the biggest helper around the house.  No matter what I am doing, she wants to help out.  Her favorite chores to help me with are putting clothes on the line outside and taking them off, planting and watering our flowers, and sweeping and mopping the floors. I welcome the help because otherwise at these times she would be playing alone.  It also normally turns into a time to teach her new things...then again most times she is teaching me something.  Yesterday as we finished putting water in the bird bath she told me she wanted to make a rainforest.  I wasnt real sure what she was talking about, but I gave her the water hose and she watered the flowers and our porch.  As she was watering the grass by the porch she told me that in the grass was the rainforest.  I asked her what kind of animals were in the rainforest and she told me unicorns and lions. She looked down into the grass and said "mom do you see them down there?".   I didnt see anything, but didnt want to shatter her dreams of a rainforest in our front yard so I told her I saw the animals.

These are my everyday experiences with my little Eme Shimmee Doodlebug! Wouldnt trade these days for anything in the world.

Picnic

There is something about laying a blanket down in the park and having a picnic that I have always loved. A calm spring day and a empty park is the best setting. We went to a local park that is a favorite of the kids. There are plenty of large oak trees for shade. We packed our bag with PB and J's, some chips, capri suns and for dessert strawberries and blueberries.

As we finished up lunch the kids noticed a few squirrels gathering around us and decided they wanted to share our leftover blue berries with them. One squirrel in particular was very interesting to watch. We would toss him a blueberry and he would pick it up with his tiny little paws. When he finished one we would throw another to him and he would search around in the grass and pick up the blueberry. The kids tried to get a closer look at him and possibly even feed him by hand, but he ran away and they chased him.

After our fun with the squirrels the kids played on the playground and I sat on our blanket taking in the scenery. I dont know what it is about sitting under a canopy of trees on a blanket with a gentle breeze in the air that calms me, but it does and definitely helps me clear my mind. I am thankful that I was able to share this experience with my little ones.

Going to the Winter Park

Our great adventure.....we had talked about that we should do something fun with the kids. Something more than just one of the theme parks or the beach. It took a little thinking outside the box, but when it came to us, the idea was brillant and the kids were going to love it. Especially Emelyn.

As most everyone knows Emelyn loves trains! She has loved trains since she was very little. So the idea to go on a train ride was perfect. We planned to go somewhere we could stay overnight that had some fun and inexpensive stuff for us to do with the kids. Winter Park was a short train ride and had just enough things to keep us busy. We had talked about our trip to Winter Park on a train and Eme was so excited. She asked for weeks before when we were going on our trip to the Winter Park! Poor kid probably thought we were going to a park that would be cold and wintery! HAHA!

We had Grandma and Papa take us to the train station so we wouldnt have to leave our car in downtown all night long. The train ran a little late, but when it pulled into the train station Emelyn's face lit up. We all loaded the train and found our seats. Emelyn waived and waived to Papa out the window before pulling away.

The train ride was only about an hour. We got to Winter Park and the train station is right next to the historic park. The plan was to get off the train, have some ice cream, go to the park and look around, but once we got off the train we realized that it looked like it was going to rain. So we went ahead and went to our hotel which was only a mile away and not too long of a walk. Unfortuantly it started raining on us on the way there! Thats all part of the adventure I guess! The hotel was nice and had been there since the 1930's. When we got into our room the kids turned on the tv and made themselves comfortable on their bed.

The rain didnt really let up so we ended up ordering pizza and hanging out in the room.  The next morning we got up bright and early, had breakfast and went back into the historic part of Winter Park. It was still a little rainy but the showers were light. We went for a walk in the park where there was a beautiful rose garden and of course Emelyn had to smell every single rose!

After the rose garden we headed over to Park Avenue which is a shopping district with boutiques and restaurants. We found a neat ice cream and chocolate shop.  The kids enjoyed there ice cream on the sidewalk at a small table and by the time they were done it was time to head back to the train station for our ride home. We had so much fun and even though it wasnt a lavish getaway and it rained most of the time, it was definitely enjoyed by the whole family. Maybe our next trip on a train we can go to somewhere far away like New York City. Now that would be an adventure!