Our 3 year old!

It is hard for me to believe that I have a 3 year old.  Although I am sure that I will think that every year when she gets older.  We had a great day celebrating our favorite Emma, even if we were stuck at home all day because we have all been sick. 

Emma has so much personality!  Sometimes it is hard to handle but most of the time we love it!  She never stops moving from the time that she wakes up in the morning until she goes to bed at night (which can take up to 2 hours some nights).  She decided, as previously mentioned, that she is too big for naps but is really good at having her own quiet time in her room every day.

Newborn

Emma is a very sensitive little girl and is almost always concerned about the feelings of others.  She is turning into such a great big sister and enjoys spending the large majority of her days dancing to Disney music with Katelyn. 

One Year Old

We are amazed every day at how smart Emma is.  She has quite the impressive little vocabulary for a 3 year old and picks up on just about everything that we say.  The other day I was dropping her off at my aunt Laurie's house and had told Laurie to call or text me if she had any problems.  A few minutes later, Emma had decided that we were taking to long to leave and as she was trying to push me out the door said "ok, bye mom, I will text you if I have any problems!"

Two Years Old

We live in an alternate reality at our house right now.  Every morning after breakfast, Emma puts a princess dress on and declares that Emma is gone for the day and decides what princess she will be.  She will not answer to Emma if she is wearing her princess dress and her Dad is no longer a dad but a Prince.  She has quite the imagination and would be happy if we never had to leave our house so she could wear her princess attire all day long.

Emma is quite the perfectionist and likes everything to be just so.  One time Todd made a bed for her and her dolls out of blankets and now every day she asks me "to make the best bed just like my dad did" and is quick to let me know if I did something different than he did.  I am amazed at all of the little details she remembers from events in her life that have happened a long time ago.  This is a good thing and a bad thing because if they ever happen again and are not exactly the same as the first time, she gets quite upset.  Because she is a perfectionist she is very hesitant to try new things unless she knows she will be able to do them well.  We have struggled a little bit with this as she has encountered a few obstacles with her poor eyesight but she is slowly getting better.

Emma is a very loving person.  Lately she has been waking up at night a few times a week and calling for me to come in her room so she can give me a hug and a kiss.  She is seriously one of my very best friends and even though some days seem like more than I can handle, I feel pretty lost when she is not by my side talking my ear off every day.

I found this idea on Pinterest of questions to ask every year on their birthday to see how the answers change through the years and thought that it might be fun.  Sorry some of them are a little hard to read.

We love you Emma! Here is to another wonderful year!

Japan 3.0

Ok, here is hopefully the last Japan post.  There were just too many good pictures to leave out.

December 29th was my favorite day.  We drove to a city named Chiba and visited the Nihonji Temple.  It was a far drive but surprisingly on this day we didn't have any traffic which was awesome!

 At the entrance to the temple there was this massive Buddha that was carved out of the side of the mountain.

Then we got to walk up about 700 stairs to the top of the mountain.  And when I say 700 I probably mean more than that and I am not even exaggerating.  I am pretty sure I lost about 3 pounds this day.

The view from the top was beautiful, even if it was too bright to open our eyes and super windy.  It was weird to not see any tall buildings around us.

On the way back down there were a few more carvings that we stopped to see.  It was such a cool place.  For sure worth the drive there.

Poor Emma got so sick on the way home and threw up a few times.  It was really sad to hear her sit there and say "I am sorry, it is all my fault" after she threw up the last time.  Poor little girl had to climb all of those stairs while she was sick.  We all thought she was just car sick, come to find out that Tokyo had a viral outbreak of the "norovirus" and we were all blessed to experience it, Emma was lucky to be the first to get it.

Later that night we went to dinner at a tapanyaki restaurant.  My mom had to stay home with the girls because they were both feeling sick but we still managed to have a little fun without them.

Sunday, the 30th was the only day that it was cold and rainy so we lucked out there!  Jeffrey and Brooke had to go home and the rest of us went to church and just hung out around the house.

On the 31st we were supposed to go to Disneyland Tokyo but during the night we were all so fortunate to come down with whatever Emma and Katelyn had a few days earlier and so we were all worthless.  Honestly I think that Todd and I only got off of the couch a total of 5 times all day.  Good thing my mom and dad didn't start really feeling sick until Todd was starting to feel better so someone could take care of our girls who were wondering why their parents were being so worthless. 

Luckily the virus only lasted for 24 hours at the most so we were all up and running the next day.  We went to Asakusa with the rest of the city.  It seriously was so crowded.  New Year's is the big holiday over in Tokyo and everyone tries to make it out to Shrines or Temples to offer their New Year's prayer.  Honestly I think that people stood inline for at LEAST 3 hours to get to the alter where they could pray.  It was amazing how many people were there.  We decided not to wait in the line and just walked along the outside and enjoyed the sights.

 I am not going to lie, my pregnant self just about lost it when we saw these.  I don't care who you are or where you are from, to me, that should never be eaten.

Got a lot of people?

This nice man was making sure we didn't go the wrong way.  Love that Emma raised her hand too.

Enjoying some dinner after sight-seeing.

Tally and Kimberly went home on the 2nd but before they left we all walked down to the Mori Tower to see the lookout of the area my family lives in.  It was the perfect day to go, so clear. The orange tower you can see in the picture is the Tokyo Tower.

Since we all were sick on the 31st we didn't finish our New Year's puzzle so I spent most of the night finishing it, with a little help from Todd in the end.  Everyone always likes to help at the end when it is easy right?

The 2nd was our last day.  We spend the morning walking around the neighborhood before we had to head off to the airport. 

A big thanks to Mom and Dad for the best trip.  It was so fun to all be together and to see where they live! We were sad to have to go!

And maybe I had a little jetlag when we got home.

Japan 2.0

Are you ready for way too many pictures from Japan again?  I won't even be sad if you don't read the whole thing.

The day after Christmas was Todd's birthday!  He is a good sport to travel on his birthday so we didn't bring any presents for him or really make as big of a deal out of it as we should have, but he always knows how much we love him. He is the best! 

After breakfast we drove to Kamakura and visited some sites there.  We went to a Buddhist temple ground that was beautiful.

Let's talk about how much Katelyn loves Spencer.  A lot.  She loved to be able to hang out with him for almost two weeks!

Emma was really excited about the caves that we were able to go in.

She also asked to pose for this picture with my Dad.  That doesn't happen very much so we always have to take advantage!

Emma obviously did not ask for this picture to be taken.

After the temple we walked up the road to see "The Great Buddha"

 The next day was my parent's 30th wedding anniversary!  Hooray for them because they are the best parents ever.

The girls in the family were able to be dressed in traditional Japanese Kimono.  Let's just talk about how it takes 30 minutes to put it all on.  Who knew!?

How cute is Emma's tiny Kimono? I died.

It takes about 15 minutes just to tie the bow in the back.  Too much work if you ask me.

Later that afternoon we went to volunteer at a local orphanage.  It was fun to be able to spend time with the kids there.  Our girls, especially Katelyn, were the center of attention.

The 28th, Jeffrey and Brooke's Wedding Anniversary, we spent exploring downtown Tokyo.  We did alot of walking, and shopping and went to a nearby Shrine.

Don't worry about all of those people in the intersection.  I thought it was funny that they had that many crosswalk lines when really there are so many people that they just stop cars in all directions and everyone just walks wherever they want.  It was fun to just walk around and look at all of the huge buildings.  My Dad and Spencer were nice and took the girls home after a little while, Emma would have rather played dress-up at their house than go shopping.

And that will do it for this portion of the trip.  The last post should be up soon!