Catch-up...

July has been a fascinatingly busy month for the Dickinson family. As it is, I can't believe that it is July, but sheesh, the month is already half over! Crazy. This month has been filled with an anniversary - ours :), a trip to the safari zoo with family, pool time with friends, celebration of the 4th of July (one of my most favorite holidays), and a stop at the Salem Fair. Whew... and it's only the 8th of July?! Wow.

Here is a picture of Jonathan and I before heading out to a wonderfully fancy dinner. Don't we look like we haven't aged a bit nice? :)

We spent a fabulous evening out, chatting, eating a wonderfully slow dinner with at least 4 courses - and all without having Emma. Thanks, Uncle Joel for babysitting sitting in the house while Emma slept.

Emma and I also had the wonderful opportunity to travel and see Grandma, her 3 cousins - Brooke, Conner, and Noel, and Aunt Jocelyn. We first traveled throught the Safari Zoo - which I must say is a wonderful opportunity. I think it was so much fun. :)

Here are the four cousins - all together! Brooke, Conner, Noel, and Emma.

Here they are again, waiting for juice boxes!


My beautiful little girl is growing up...

And then we had the wonderful opportunity to have Jessica and her daughter, Olivia over for some pool time! Of all days, it wasn't quite hot out, but the girls had a time of it!

Emma!

Olivia!

And then, it was one of my most favorite holidays... 4th of July. The day we can celebrate our freedom and our blessings of being a free American citizen. Thank you for all who served to make this day a day of celebration!

To reminisce - here is a picture of Emma last year in her holiday outfit...

And here she is - one year later. So grown-up!

We then went down to Riverside to watch the fireworks! For some reason, Emma thought it was super cool to walk with her hands behind her back - so cute!

My two most favorite people!

And then yesterday, we took a trek over to the Salem Fair!

The reason we came - for FUNNEL CAKE! :)

Dadda thought it would be funny to put sugar on Emma's nose... "Really, Dadda?"

We have had such a fun-filled month of July so far. And to think there is more than half of the month to come. I love summertime!

The fastest four years of my life...

Four years ago, on this exact date, I married my BEST friend and the LOVE of my life, Jonathan Brian Dickinson. As I'm typing this blog, I still am in disbelief that four years have come and gone. It'll be interesting to go back and read this on my 25, 50, and God-willing, 75th wedding anniversary. I know exactly what I'll be thinking... "Man, we look so young!", "Wow, if only I were still that thin!", and "Why didn't I tell Jon to cut his hair before the wedding?!" The reason I know that I will think those things at my 25, 50, and 75th wedding anniversary is because I'm thinking that NOW at my 4 year wedding anniversary! God has been so good to us. In the four years that we've been married, we've had our fair share of arguments, a normal amount of disgruntlement, and plenty of angry moments. However, we've been overly blessed with an abundance of love, joy, LAUGHTER, and time together. I will be the first person to say that marriage is not always a fairy tale. It's something that I've learned is the hardest and easiest thing I've ever done in all of my life. As hard as it is, it is a lot like motherhood. It's a hard job, but the benefits are more than a hundred percent worth it.

I'm so thankful that God placed such a wonderful, Godly, honest, funny man to be my husband for the rest of our lives. Thank you, Lord.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNDupepMg7c

When you have to look away

When you dont have much to say

Thats when I love you

I love you, just that way

To hear you stumble when you speak

Or see you walk with two left feet

Thats when I love you

I love you, endlessly

And when your mad cause you lost a game

Forget Im waiting in the rain

Baby I love you,

I love you, anyway

Cause here's my promise made tonight

You can count on me for life

Thats when I love you

When nothing you do can change my mind

The more I learn, the more I love

The more my heart cant get enough

Thats when I love you,

When I love you, no matter what

So when you turn to hide your eyes

Cause the movie it made you cry

Thats when I love you

I love you a little more each time

And when you cant quite match your clothes

Or when you laugh at your own jokes

Thats when I love you

I love you, more than you'll know

And when you forget that we had a date

Or that look that you get when you show up late

Baby I love you

I love you, anyway

Heres my promise made tonight

You can count on me for life

Thats when I love you

When nothing you do can change my mind

The more I learn, The more I love

The more my heart cant get enough

Thats when I love you,

When I love you no matter what

Thats when I love you

When nothing baby

Nothing you do could change my mind

The more I learn, The more I love

The more my heart cant get enough

Thats when I love you,

When I love you no matter what

No matter what
-Aslyn

Not Me Monday...

I definitely did not just accidentally lock my dog in my daughter's bedroom this evening. I did not think that Emma was just whimpering in her sleep for about 45 minutes before I realized that Fudge was stuck in Emma's room and was whining to get out. Not me! :)

Dora!

As I was perusing Craigslist the other day, I came upon a Dora kitchen that was for sale. After checking out to see whether it would be a good deal or not (which I did find), I called the lady up and arranged to pick it up.

Unfortunately after putting our new purchase in the car, Emma realized that there was this huge toy sitting right next to her in the car and was not happy that she was not allowed to play with it... yet. Hahaha...

As you can see, I thought that the reason that she was crying her eyes out for 30 minutes was because she was hungry -- hence the reason for the raisins in her hand. It was past dinner time. However, this was not the reason for the meltdown in the car.

So, Jon and I made a plan upon arrival at home. He would take Emma in, change her diaper (I thought maybe she was crying so hard that maybe she had a really bad diaper rash) and then feed her some dinner. My job was to take the kitchen downstairs (so I could clean it before she got to it) -- out of sight, out of mind, right?

Nope. She still cried. There was nothing wrong with her tush, and she was not interested in her food. Now, those of you who know Emma, know that she NEVER, and I mean never!, turns down food - unless she's sick.

Being the softy that I am, I didn't follow through on the plan. Yep, that's right, I let her play with it. Hmmm... needless to say, this solved the crying issue.

Emma playing with her new Dora kitchen! Woo...

Definitely think I made the right choice in purchasing it. She loves it!

Not Me Monday

I've truly enjoyed reading other friends' blogs about Not Me Monday. So, I decided that I would join them! :)

-While at the park today, I did not laugh when my child tripped on the mulch and completely face planted. Nope. Not me! (Don't worry, I promise - she's fine!)

-Because I was caught up on my transcription and printing, I definitely did not take an hour nap today while my daughter napped also. Not me!

-I did not ignore Emma while typing this and she did not go to the kitchen and pull the bunch of bananas off the counter and then giggle while trying to eat them through the skin - while I watched her. And I definitely did not just let her carry them around the house so that I could type in my blog. Definitely not me! (Oh, and she is definitely not drooling on them at the moment!)

-I did not run out of the bathroom today (just barely pulling up my pants) because I thought Fudge was eating Emma's snack of cut up bananas that were on the coffee table.

-I did not watch like five hours of HGTV while my husband went to his brother's to watch basketball. I am definitely not addicted to this channel, and I definitely don't watch it pretty much 24/7 while I am home with Emma. I am not one of those moms that have to have the TV on all day just because she needs to hear the sound of other "sane" people instead of the babble of her 16 month old.

Playgroup at the Park!

So today, we had the pleasure of having playgroup at Longwood Park. It was so nice and we were able to enjoy some mommy time and mostly, the kids enjoyed some play time!

Rainy days...

Who says that rainy days are boring? These two definitely don't!

What can I say? Fussiness was no longer an issue after playing in the puddles!

Emma and Savannah enjoying some water aerobics... :)

A video of the girls shenanigans!

Bath time is never as much fun as when it's with a friend!

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnddd... a picture of my new dining room set!