What's on your business card?

Last Thursday, Emie and I were at the center while the flooring was being installed.  I decided to be productive and was putting together a few chairs.  Emie was at the front of the center playing with some brochures and my business cards.  She then brings one of my business cards over to me, tries to hand it to me and says "my card, Ahmie Ah-stein", which is her way of saying Emie Finkelstein.  Why this story stands out to me so much is because I have NO idea how in the world she knows what is on a business card!  I'm don't think I ever handed one out in front of her (b/c I never have them on me) and even if I had, I have never explained to her that a business card has your name on it.  Also, we have only told her about her last name one time.  I seriously doubt this story is anything amazing, but I really am in awe of how much she has picked up in 2 years.

When we got home later that afternoon, I asked her what my business card says and she responded, "mommy ah-stein".  It's interesting to me that she knows that we should have the same last name.  We have different 1st names, so why would we have the same last name?  One might think that she heard us say it, but my last name has not been legally changed and is still Rana.  I then asked, "what if I told you my last name is Rana?".  She then said, "mommy Rana".  My next question was "which do you like better - mommy Finkelstein or mommy Rana?" and her response was "mommy ah-stein"

This was the 1st time I have ever thought I should change my last name.  Knowing that she understands that connection and that it is obviously important to her now makes it important to me...I don't want to ever have to tell her that my name is not the same as hers...

-xoxo

HAPPY EASTER!

Happy Easter Everybody!

Today we spent Easter Sunday with Emerie's best friend Alaina and her family!  We started the weekend by making Easter Eggs for the first time with Emie.  Micheal showed her how to put the tablets in the vinegar.  He started with yellow and then gave her the blue one to do herself.  I guess he should have told her to put them in another bowl but he didn't and the blue ones ended up in the same bowl as the yellow. :)

That's the last glance of yellow b/c those blue tablets went in next :)

It was a challenge to get her to place the eggs gently in the bowls.  She was practically doing a wind-up before throwing them in, so Michael had to guide her hand most of the time!

This egg ended up cracked 

More eggs please :)

After making eggs, we spent a little time at the creativity center so we could try putting some furniture together.  Emie is quite the little helper!  She helped me put 2 preschool tables together.  We were supposed to bake brownies together for Easter dinner, but we went out for pizza instead.    :)

This morning, when Emie woke up, I told her the Easter bunny came and left her a present.  He wasn't here last year b/c we thought she was too young to understand so this was her first year getting a basket. She was so excited when she got to the top of the stairs and saw the basket sitting on the living room floor.  She ran to it and took everything out of the basket piece by piece :)

She carried her basket with her everywhere she went!

Then we were off to Alaina's house for Easter dinner...

It was a treat to spend a holiday with one of Emie's best friends.  The girls were H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S at the dinner table, especially once the sugar from Alaina's grandmother's homemade sticky buns kicked in.  Emie kept correcting us that they were muffins, not sticky buns or cinnamon rolls.  (Side note: those "muffins" are AMAZING!)  I don't want anyone to think that we're raising savages, but the girls were putting their feet on the table and we had to laugh seeing the the girls in hysterical laughter over being told to stop.  I can honestly say, I have never seen Emerie laugh so hard.  At one point, I was pretty sure she was having trouble breathing b/c of it...

Playtime before dinnertime 

I'm not so sure this trend will catch on...

Best friends!

After a late nap, we went across the street to have a little egg hunt with Emie's friend Zara.  After they found all the egg's they enjoyed sharing the animal crackers that were in the eggs.

Hunting!

Sharing Eggs!

Checking out their loot

Since I just started this blog and don't have posts from last year to look back on, I decided to add some pictures of Emie the last 2 Easter Sundays.

1 yr ago on Easter Sunday 2011

Easter Sunday 2011 

Here are some pics of Emerie on the day of her 1st Easter in 2010.  We had scheduled her 1st photo shoot that day when she was 6 wks old...

-xoxo

Easter Vacation

Emerie is on vacation from school this week, so I've been trying to schedule fun things for us to do.  It's been a little challenging b/c of the work being done at the creativity center, but I think she's been having fun "working" with mommy!

The week started out with a surprise visit from her Papa (my dad) and Uncle Ryan (my brother).  My dad was helping my brother move back home from Florida and they made a pit stop here in NC.  Emie had a great visit with them.  Everywhere we went, she only wanted to be carried by her Papa, which is very unusual for her.  She even cuddled with him for an hour on the couch.  She's usually only wants to be carried mommy and only cuddles with mommy.  Even though she doesn't get to see our family often, it's nice to see her bond with them.  

Cuddling with Papa

Uncle Ryan taught her how to play Angry Birds on his phone and every time she finds it on mine she says (while laughing) "Unc Wyan birds on phone"

Emie and Ryan either coloring or playing Angry Birds

On Tuesday, we attended the South Charlotte Playgroup egg hunt at Carmel Road Park with some of our friends.  This playgroup has approximately 700 members but there was probably 100-150 moms with 1-2 kids each (lots of kids!).  There's a large grass field next to the playground and the organizers threw tons of eggs all over the field.  When it was go time, Emie ran down the hill like Braveheart and started grabbing eggs 2 at a time.  I have never seen my munchkin move so fast.  She filled her Easter bag in seconds.  

Liam B., Emmett, "Baby Sydney", and Emerie before the hunt

Alaina trying on Emie's shades

Eggs - 2 at a time

Satisfied with her haul for the day :)

Emie - 1 yr ago at the South Charlotte egg hunt

One Wednesday, we went on a shopping trip.  The first thing we do every time we enter the mall is stop at the fountain so Emie can walk along the wall and make wishes on pennies.  She closes her eyes before throwing the pennies, but since I don't think she understands the concept of making a wish, so we usually just whisper the name of someone we are saying a prayer for.  I couldn't spend any time trying to get a decent picture b/c if I leave her unattended for too long on the wall, I'm pretty sure she'd dive in. 

Last week, one of Emie's best friends moved away.  His name is Benjamin Buda and it just hit Emerie this week.  Earlier in the week, we were heading out to meet up with our friends at Ben & Jerry's for FREE ice cream and she started calling off her friend's names to see if they were coming too. (She does this every time we have a playdate.)  The second name she mentioned was "Benfwen" (Benjamin) and I had to tell her that he wasn't coming b/c he moved away.  Her face got very serious and she said "Benfwen a hug" and I said "Did you give Benjamin a hug before he left?" She smiled and with excitement in her voice, responded "Yeah, I DID!"  Every day since, she has told me at least 2x a day that "Benfwen move away".  If Benjamin's mom is reading this - WE MISS YOU GUYS!

-xoxo

Welcome to our blog

At the recommendation of both our daughter's pediatrician and a friend, I have decided to start a family blog.  I've always wanted to do this, but never felt like I had the time.  I kind of viewed all of my facebook albums as a journal/timeline of Emerie's life but recently realized that I have forgotten a lot of the details of Emerie's 1st 2 years.  It would be nice to have a journal for us to look back at together someday.  Lord knows, that little girl LOVES looking at old pictures of herself and hearing stories such as "you used to live in my belly".  It would be nice to have some details to go along with the stories.  I hope anyone reading also enjoys them as well. :)

xoxo