growing garden

Some of you have been asking how our garden has been doing. Our zucchini plants are huge, the eggplant is growing, and the butternut squash is just budding (it'll produce late summer/early fall.) Our swiss chard has provided us with many salads lately (almost every night), but our spinach plants have all toppled over due to the extreme heat! We didn't realize (take note all of you future gardeners) that spinach does not like very humid, hot weather! We still get leaves from it and have had many spinach salads but we are down to just two plants now. We have already had to pull up three. Kind of a bummer but we have plenty of other things to look forward to! I believe we are going to replant some fall crops in it's place. Our tomato plants are taller than me and the cucumbers are growing literally over night! We can't keep up! Anyone know if you can chop and freeze cucumbers? The pepper plants are doing pretty well. We just picked a dozen jalapenos and we have a few hungarian peppers growing! It's been really fun just going out to pick whatever I need. Even Emmalyn enjoys picking out of the garden! The garden is practically taking over our yard!

Father's Day

Nate enjoyed his first Father's Day yesterday. We went down to Pa and T's Saturday night after a huge meal of Nate's favorites I prepared at our home. He opened his gifts before we left. A car buffer (that he was just dying to have), a tool organizer and a DVD that he and Emmalyn could watch together (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.) Nate always says he hopes Emmalyn will like that movie so that's what Emmalyn picked out for him! We had a fun day of swimming and eating (and a nap for Nate and Em too!) It is so special to see the bond between the two of them!

little Annie

I thought this picture looked just like Emmalyn's big cousin Annie! We miss you Annie!

sweet face!

Just some cute pics I thought I would share of our little expressive peanut!

funny monkey!

Here is what we get to hear nearly every day! We just melt every single time we hear this! Thought we would share a smile with you all!!! Enjoy!

A day of hiking!

Emmalyn snoozing away

After a quick diaper change we began our hike!

Looking down over the beginning of the trail

pack switch!

Echo falls

Nate and Em stop for a quick picture. Through some tunnels... where's Emmalyn?

Nate made me pose for a picture.

We met a toad along the way...

a butterfly too!

climbing up!

Finally... Cedar Falls!

Beautiful huh?!!

Today we went to Old Man's Cave in the beautiful Hocking Hills. As most of you know this area is only about a half hour drive from our home. Before we left Emmalyn took a nap and was fed so she would be ready for a day of hiking! She did so well! I started out by carrying her but we shortly switched! A 16 pound baby is much heavier than a 5 pound back pack! We decided to take the hike to Cedar Falls about a 5 mile hike round trip. Daring we know but somehow we made it with only about 15 minutes of fussing. About half way to the falls Emmalyn fell asleep sucking her thumb. It was so cute and sealed the deal for Nate that she indeed must be his child! (can sleep anywhere and anytime!) It was the perfect weather, around 72 degrees at the cave's and incredibly peaceful! It was worth the hike to see the falls. It was flowing quit well due to the heavy rain and storms we've gotten all week. Emmalyn only slept for about 25 minutes but it perked her up enough to finish the hike. We all had a wonderful day!

A day at the Columbus Zoo!

Nate and Emmalyn enjoying the aquarium

Emmalyn LOVED the turtles

A new baby elephant was there but Emmalyn was more interested in all the kids!

We stopped by to see the silly flamigos standing on one leg

The tiger paced back and forth so Emmalyn could get a good look!
We stopped on a shady bench to eat a packed lunch and feed Emmalyn.

Back in the stroller to see more animals!

Paying very close attention to Mr. Turtle!!!

The new polar bear exhibit was neat but very crowded!

Daddy and Em watching the manatees wake up to eat. Emmalyn's favorite for sure... the fishies!!!

The manatees at feeding time.

A little power nap to make it through the rest of the day!

Today was Emmalyn's first trip to the zoo. We questioned her ability to enjoy it, only being 7 months but she was such a good girl and seemed to have a lot of fun! We got to see the new polar bear exhibit and all the other animals in the entire zoo. She really enjoyed the manatees and the turtles but the fish were definitely her favorite! We thought she would be amazed with the monkeys but it was actually the only animal she didn't seem to care much for. She was awake for the entire day, except a 20 minute cat nap. Somehow I think Nathan and I were more tired on the way home than she was!

7 months old!!!

Wow! What a fun month it has been! We just can't believe that seven months ago right now we were in a delivery room and had not even met Emmalyn yet! It seems we have known her forever! She is sitting up (sometimes stable sometimes not), rolling over every chance she gets free from our arms and talking up a storm.. favorite word being Dada. That word goes on continuously so we aren't sure if she really means "Dada" or if it's just some baby babel. She is just simply non stop! She is constantly kicking, rolling, worm crawling, and talking! There really hasn't been a dull moment this month. It really has been a beautiful milestone. We feel so close to her these days with her becoming her own little person. Her hair is still as crazy as ever and as blonde as blonde can be. She drinks well out of her sippy cup as long as she is laying down or in a seated position. She sucks her thumb a lot, mostly when she's hungry or tired. She is sleeping very well still from about 8 or 9 pm to 6:30 am. Time is flying by so fast! Full on crawling is upon us very very soon. We have already "baby proofed" the house in anticipation. She eats her fruits and veggies very well. Prunes and bananas being her favorite fruits so far and green beans as her favorite veggie! She lets us know when she doesn't like or want to do something already. She is now throwing her head back and screaming when she doesn't want to take a nap. Strong willed child already! She enjoys books a little more now and watches Sesame Street, Dora, and Mickey Mouse. She LOVES Mickey!! She is still our constant smiley girl and laughs out loud all day long (especially when being tickled!) She is the light of our lives and we are so proud to call her our daughter!