Everybody Loves Emily

After the Mother's day extravaganza Emily was ready to take a break. She spent the beginning of the week hanging out with Grandpa Ray & Grandma B. She spent a lot of time outside with them, listening to the sounds of the birds and smelling the beautiful flowers that are beginning to bloom in Grandma's garden. Then following her usual schedule, she spent Wednesday with Auntie Mandy & Grandma Kathy. Here she spent most of the day playing with her toys and taking naps. In the afternoon, the Stanley Steamer guys came to clean Grandma Kathy's carpets. Emily decided to supervise this process and was intrigued by the noise that the machines made and had a lot of fun watching the men walk back & forth as they cleaned the carpet. These three relaxing days had Emily ready for the excitement that was about to begin!

On Thursday morning, Grandpa Ray picked Emily up and went downtown with her and Grandma B to the Knickerbocker Hotel to see Uncle Michael. He was in town for the big restaurant show at McCormick Place and this was his only free time for the week. They had a great time at breakfast and from what I hear, despite saying his name numerous times, he failed to pony up the dough. He did, however, give her some great tips on interviewing and lots of belly tickles and ear rubs. Uncle Michael spends a lot of time with dogs, especially little Yorkies (who are smaller than Emily).

After taking Friday with her Daddy to relax from her Uncle Michael visit, Emily was ready to see her Great Grandma Pauline, Great Aunt Kate and Great Uncle Ron. They decided that they were going through withdrawal and really needed to see Emily, so they made the trip from Minnesota just to see her. They weren't all that interested in us, but then who really is? We had a terrific visit with everyone, and Emily was very happy to see them. Emily had a lot of fun posing for pictures and giving and receiving lots of hugs. We were also very happy to see everyone, we are hoping to make a trip up to Minnesota later this summer.

Since Monday & Tuesday were both warm and beautiful days, Emily wanted to spend a lot of time outside. She noticed that Grandma B's Rhododendron was beginning to bloom.

On Wednesday, Emily was busy playing with Auntie Mandy and her toy "Bugga Wugga." Emily likes Bugga Wugga because he wiggles when you pull on him and he is all black & white on the bottom. Notice, she's still in her jammies, that crazy baby!!

(Make sure you click your mouse on this picture. It can only be completely appreciated on a large scale. Look at Emily's "smile.")

By the time Grandma Kathy came home from work, Emily had finally decided that it was time to get dressed. Grandma read a book about colors to Emily, who was listening while she was playing with "Giraffe."

Emily loves it when you lay on the floor with her and smooch her face. She thinks that this is a really fun game!

After all of that goofing around, Emily was exhausted. She fell asleep on Auntie Mandy's lap. Cow did a good job of being a look out while Emily slept.

Emily found Grandma Kathy's stress spiral on the table and was playing with it while Grandma gave her a manicure. This quickly became one of Emily's favorite toys. It is so much fun to hold and is a little squishy when she gums it.

On Thursday, Emily got to go downtown Chicago with Grandma & Grandpa to have breakfast with Uncle Michael, who was in town for the big restaurant show. Here she is examining one of the spoons that Uncle Michael sells to hotels and restaurants.

Then she and Uncle Michael made faces at each other. Emily LOVES to make faces.

Look, I'm a big girl now. I can sit in this chair all by myself.

Uncle Michael decided to help Emily with her job search by giving her some advice about her interview techniques. Here they are during their mock interview. (Emily needs to work on not pulling her dress up & chewing on it during an interview.)

Emily, like her father, can never give a serious answer to a question. Michael lost his composure for a moment or two after one particularly silly answer and tickled her belly in retaliation.

Emily thought that this was great fun!

On Saturday, Mommy & Daddy were busy doing some housework to get ready for Great Grandma Pauline and Great Aunt Kate & Great Uncle Ron, who were driving down from Minnesota for a visit. Here Emily helps with sorting the laundry. (She was really just pulling things out of the basket and eating them.)

After helping Mommy sort the laundry, Emily got dressed and went to Grandma & Grandpa's for a little while to let Mommy & Daddy concentrate on their cleaning. While there, she found all of Aunt Susie's wedding things and decided to look into the possibility of maybe becoming a wedding planner. She's still mulling that one over, because it looks like a lot of fun, but also looks very stressful.

She went with Grandpa Ray to the Platt Hill Nursery to help him pick out tomato plants and some flowers for his garden. Here she is consulting with one of the Platt Hill specialists about which tomato plants would be best for her Grandpa's garden.

"Hmmm . . . maybe I'll become a botanist and work in a plant nursery."

Emily told Grandpa that she needed to inspect the flowers before he could buy them. Here she is doing her job; Grandpa waits for her final word.

Back at home, Emily decided to help mommy with a little vacuuming.

After dinner at the Olive Garden, Emily was posing for pictures. Great Aunt Kate had first dibs. Emily had been smiling at the camera, until the chandelier caught her eye.

"Ooo, something shiny!"

Again, while posing with Great Aunt Kate and Great Uncle Ron, Emily was distracted by something in the middle of posing for her pictures. This time the culprit was Auntie Mandy. That crazy Auntie Mandy, always misbehaving.

I was finally able to keep Miss Emily's attention long enough to snap a really nice picture of her with Great Grandma Pauline.

Emily then found herself in the arms of Grandma Kathy.

"Hey, what's Auntie Mandy up to now?"

Here she is with Auntie Mandy, playing another one of her favorite games . . . Flying Baby! This always puts a smile on her face.