Kehrt Family Christmas

We made our trek to Iowa last weekend to Celebrate our Kehrt Family Christmas. Bruce and I both took 1/2 day off so we could get there early enough to enjoy the family on Friday night. Everyone was able to make it, which made it so much more fun. We didn't partake in any family outings this time but it was fun to hang out at Mom & Dad's just enjoying the company.

The kids had a blast opening their presents. Emerson isn't really in tune with the whole opening presents thing just quite yet she showed flashes of getting into it and she had fun trying to eat the paper! She hit the mother-load with gifts from everyone as usual. Since we open gifts youngest to oldest Emerson got to go first. Mara & Ellen did well at being patient but very excited to get to their turns. The kids play well together and even got Grandpa Kehrt involved in a very sophisticated tea party with Mara & Ellen's new tea sets!

The adults enjoyed the day and evening with football and basketball on the TV, opening our "L" elephant gift exchange, and a game of Dominos/chicken foot. It was a great weekend and it was good to see everyone. Since Jill, Josh, & Jake are now all out of college, it is harder to round everyone up. Here are some fun weekend pics with the Kehrt Fam!!!

Taking a ride on Grandpa Kehrts shoulders!

All of the girls playing with Em's new toy

Sitting with Cousin Nick...He sucks his thumb too?!?!Emerson & Uncle Noel!Jill & NickThe leaders of this crazy pack!This is one of those Flashes of Em getting into opening gift...this is NOT her gift and we did NOT give dad Diapers for Christmas :)

Brr!!!

We have had a quite weekend at home. Yesterday, Bruce and I cleaned up the house before we proceeded to our usual Saturday ritual of watching whatever sporting event is on tv. Emerson proceeded to destroy the kitchen by pulling every piece of tupperware and can coozie (which Bruce now refers to as her toys) out of the drawers and string all over the house. That is not without first banging them on any hard surface within her reach.

She did learn some new words this weeks though. She now says Thank-you and Poop! We are very proud parents! She will however, NOT say these on command...in usual Emerson fashion she speaks them on her own terms. She is very close to walking but not quite there yet. The babysitters said they thought she was going to do it a couple of times this week but opted for the crawl instead...should be anyday now!!! Her personality is also getting much stronger. Emerson will not under any circumstances be bullied. Most of the kids her age at daycare are boys. Earlier this week, one of the boys stole her toy and walked off with it into the front room... not standing for that, Emerson quickly crawled behind him into the other room looked up at him, ripped the toy out of his hand and crawled back to her playspot in the living room. That a girl! Way to stick up for yourself!!!

Gotta run-- Em has somehow figured out how to open the dishwasher and is playing with a fork!!! Never a dull moment!!! I LOVE IT!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!!

As we jump into the new year I want to take just a second to reflect on the most dramatic year of our lives. This was the first year that we were 3. It was a great year! I say it all the time but Emerson is the best thing to ever happen to us! She is growing and changing so much everyday and looking back at pictures throughout the year, it is really obvious on how happy, laid back, cool little girl she is! We are very lucky and thank God for her everyday!

Ok, enuf sappy....CHRISTMAS was FUN!!! Since Emerson doesn't really understand the idea of Christmas Santa, Mommy, and Daddy took this once in a lifetime opportunity to relax on the toys and major presents (we left that up to Grandparents:) She did get cool stuff from us and Santa but next year will be even bigger! Even with the snow storm we were able to get to Claflin, KS to celebrate Christmas with Bruce's side of the family. We missed the extended Oberle Christmas due to it being on Christmas day and the snow storm. We enjoyed the Leon & Judy Oberle family christmas on Christmas evening which was a lot of fun! Emerson did very well in the present getting! She got some really cute clothes, books, and a rocking horse that Grandpa Oberle made her!!! Super Cool! She received a baby that sucks on a bottle and cries from Great Grandma Schremmer on Saturday at the Schremmer side Christmas. There was a lot of family that she had never met. She did have to leave a little early due to lack of napping and a couple of molar teeth that just want to be difficult and not pop through just yet. But overall the weekend was great fun to see Bruce's side of the family.

It was a great christmas but OH, she is not done yet!!! We are travelling to Iowa next weekend for the Kehrt family christmas! Bruce and I have our "L" gifts this year and we think they are pretty cool....can the rest of you step up to the challenge?!?! :) :)

A YEAR IN REVIEW!!

Merry Christmas!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!

HAVE A VERY HAPPY & SAFE NEW YEAR!!!!

Happy FIRST Birthday Emerson!!!

We can hardly believe it! Emerson is 1 year old!!!! We have been reminiscing all weekend about what we were doing a year ago last weekend. Our lives have changed so much but for so much better! It is so much fun to see her change and grow. Happy Birthday to our little girl!!!!

We celebrated Em's birthday with a great birthday bash! Grandma Kehrt had a few vacation days to blow and Aunt Stacey has work to do in town so Grandma K, Aunt Stacey, Mara and Ellen arrived on Wednesday to spend some time in KC and with Emerson. Grandma K stayed home on Thursday and Friday while Bruce, Stacey, and I all worked. I think we can safely say that Grandma K worked too :) although hers was the fun kind! We were joined Friday night by Grandpa Kehrt and Uncle Noel with Uncle Chad and Aunt Rox coming on Saturday!

Saturday we had a great birthday party for Emerson at our home. Most of Emerson's Aunts, Uncles, and cousins were able to make the trip. Special thanks to The Kehrt family, Grandma and Grandpa Oberle, Aunts Bev and Amy, and Cousins Anna, Bailey, and Shyanne for coming a long way to celebrate the day with us!!!! I think we have 20-25 people come and it was GREAT! Emerson was a little hesitant to tear into her cake at first but after a little coaxing she started to get into it! She was promptly taken to the bath after her cake to get the cake out of her hair (what little hair there is:). Babysitter Syd helped with her bath while Mommy changed clothes too...yep, I was covered in cake too :) She received a bunch of new presents and believe me she has enjoyed EVERY one of them!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE who was able to join us for her special day! We truly appreciate all of the love and support!!!

Here are some fun pictures of the day!

In preparation for Thanksgiving and Birthday weekends... Sarg is overseeing my work!


Emerson's first Birthday Cake! Her little one was a single cake with a pink and Brown 1 on it.

Emerson conversing with her fans at the party

Emerson "Cheesing it" before she gets her cake!

Okay, this is getting to be a little fun!

She's going to hate me for this one in 18 years :) But now we're having a lot of fun!

Emerson with her Grandparents (couple #3 are her daycare providers Rick & Marjanne)


Just a cute picture of Em with Uncle Chad on her actual birthday (If you can't read her shirt: it says "If you think I'm cool you should meet my Uncle Chad)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Emerson and I had vacation last week which was much needed and great! The week started off with a bummer though. Emerson has her first ear infections. We made a trip to the Dr and they were able to give her some antibiotics. We feel pretty lucky to have held off her first real bout of illness and medication until 1 year. She is getting better every day!

Wednesday, Bruce took time off to so we could get some things done around the house before we left for Claflin. We spent Wednesday night through Saturday morning at Bruce's parents. Emerson had a blast as usual with Grandma and Grandpa Oberle and all the Aunts, Uncles, and many cousins. Everyone made it back and it was a lot of fun to see all the family again!

We are back to the grind this week but are gearing up for Emerson's FIRST Birthday party on Saturday. It is hard to believe that it has been 1 year already!!! She is growing so fast and is still so much fun!

The November/December Happy Birthday girls/boy!

Yeah, I don't think Em minds being the center of attention!!

Grandpa Leon & Emerson playing in Grandma Judy's toy basket!

Emerson's First Hallloween

Emerson dressed up a Belle from Beauty & The Beast for her first Halloween. I found the little dress and thought it the most perfect dress in the world! A lot of Emerson's daycare friends wanted her to be a vampire since her teeth would fit the part, but we thought for our first one, we had to be cute and beautiful! We didn't host to the neighbor kids much as we would like since we had some people to visit. We took her to the neighbors across the street- who absolutely love her! Susan took a bunch of pictures of Em. Then it was off to Rick & Marjanne's (daycare) so they could see her. That was kind of fun because Conner was visiting at the same time. Em doesn't get to see him much because he goes to school now. We also got to see Caleb, Gabriel, and Kalea. Caleb was a little bumble bee and kalea (1 month old) was a little pumpkin. It was good to see them too! After that we headed off to Uncle Mikes so the boys could see their princess before they went out for the night. It was a lot of fun...but since we weren't home to hand out candy, Bruce and I will probably give the dentist a little extra money with all the cavities we are going to get! Today we got the backyard leaves raked and bagged....just the tip of the iceburg on that deal. But we made sure we got Em in the leaves a little bit!

Emerson's new trick is to climb into the laundry basket!

Its hard to get mad at a precious one like that!

Belle is ready for her first Halloween!

Marjanne made her candy bag....now only if she could eat the candy!



Playing in the leaves!


She had fun exploring the leaves!

Just a cool pic of her with the yellow leaves on the tree!