Tis the Season!

I am behind on my posts...sorry! December has been a very busy month so far, but we are still finding the time to enjoy the season. What a difference a year has made, Emalee is so into everything this Christmas - the lights, the baking, the wrapping...she loves it all!

We made a trip to Reno at the beginning of the month to see my little brother Jarrod graduate from UNR. The whole family stayed in a vacation home together, so it was nice to be able and spend our time with each other instead of being couped up in a hotel room.

Emalee got to help my mom "Nana" bake cookies this year. Her favorite part was playing in the flour and sprinkles, and I think she may have eaten more dough then we think :) We took her to look at Christmas lights and out of nowhere said "Pretty, pretty!" Her vocabulary seems to be growing daily :)

We went up to the snow the other day, and Emalee smiled and laughed the WHOLE time, she did NOT want to leave. She caught on real quick to the idea of throwing the snow...thanks to Daddy. She loves to mimic right now, if you do it you can almost bet she is going to do it too. I love seeing her grow each and every day.

My grandparents, Emalee's Great Grandparents, came out at the beginning of the month and we had our gift exchange. That made me even more anxious for Christmas morning!

Halloween

We had a very fun Halloween this year! On Friday we took Emalee to a Halloween Party at our friends house. There were quite a few kids there. They played games, went trick-or-treating, and had played their hearts out. Emalee spent most of time "grazing" (eating all the other kids food off their plates) while they played, but she had a blast!




On Halloween we made our rounds to all the grandparents and great grandparents houses, and then headed out to go trick-or-treating!! We spent about 2 hours in a small subdivision of homes, and got a lot of candy. Emalee was a trooper, she walked her little feet for as long as she could, but in the end ended up in her stroller while my niece and nephew (Meghan & Devin) literally ran from house to house. What a difference a year made, I can't wait for next year when she is even older and will enjoy going trick-or-treating even more!

Pumpkin Carving

Emalee wasn't too sure about helping Daddy clean out the pumpkin...but she did take a little sample tasting to make sure it wasn't something she'd like to be eating :) Tommy spent a lot of time carving our pumpkin this year, and I think he did a fabulous job!

Pumpkin Patch

Last year Emalee was still too little to really enjoy going to a pumpkin patch, but I was pretty sure she was old enough this year. After driving all over Las Vegas trying to find one, we finally found one. It was not only a pumpkin patch but also had rides for the little ones, a petting zoo, and a huge blow-up slide. Emalee walked around like she owned the place :) She got to play with, and pet, goats for the first time, she and Daddy went down the big slide twice, and she rode on the swings. We all enjoyed ourselves and can't wait to do it again next year!

Playing in the hay

In the petting zoo!

Slidin' with Daddy :)

Riding the swings!

Emalee's 1st Hair Cut!

She wasn't too sure what was going on...


But surprisingly she sat really still!

All done!

Washington Trip

We took an impromptu trip to Washington at the end of September. It was supposed to be a solo trip for Tommy, but Emalee and I joined him a week into his trip. It was nice getting to spend time with Diana, Kevin, and the 4 boys...and it was so green and beautiful up there!! Tommy was hoping to get a lead on a job, and he put in lots of applications. We know that everything happens for a reason, and when the time/job is right it will all work out!

Ryan & Emalee playing soccer

Ryan & Emalee

Logan & Emalee attempting to share toys :)

Daddy & Emalee playing at a soccer game.

What a BUSY Month!

It's hard to believe that August has already come and gone. This month has been very active. We had our final family vacation for the summer, we had quite a few birthday's, and we also had a very sudden loss in the family. It feels like there was something going on at all times.

As most of you already read, we traveled to California at the beginning of the month to see my Grandma in the rehabilitation hospital and also visited San Diego. It was a great trip, and even though Grandma isn't 100% yet I am very hopeful... she is a very determined, strong woman, who is making progress every day. In fact she is the proud new owner of an electric wheelchair so she has some of her freedom back! :)

While on our vacation we received a phone call that my great aunt had passed away. It was very sudden, and unexpected. She was the closest person I had left to my paternal Grandma who passed away 18 years ago. My Auntie Sheryl LOVED to talk, we spent numerous hours talking about anything and everything. She had answers for everything, you may not always like her answers, but she HAD them. :) She would tell me stories about my Grandma, things that I never knew because I was so young when she passed. I miss her every day, and I still can't believe that she's gone. I find peace knowing that she isn't hurting anymore, and that she and my Grandma are back together again.

On to a lighter note, I also had a birthday this month. My husband out-did himself and really surprised me this year. We had birthday dinner with my parents a few days early since my brother was home from Reno. Then Tommy cooked me an awesome homemade dinner and cake on my actual birthday. Chicken w/Artichoke & Mushroom Wine Sauce and for dessert...Better Then Sex Cake, which is my all time favorite cake. On Friday we headed to Vegas to go to dinner and movie, but Tommy had also planned a little surprise. He took me shopping!!! I know sounds a little strange that I'm so excited about this, but Tommy and I have been married for 3 years and we had NEVER been clothes shopping together because I like to try things on (sometimes more then once) and he just grabs and goes!! We had a great time and I was pretty shocked by his fashion sense. ;)

Here we are at the end of the month. I was hoping to be going back into the classroom this year, but due to state budget cuts I am unemployed. It's a blessing in disguise...I get to be home with Emalee for a little while longer :) This month has reaffirmed my belief that everything happens for a reason, even though we may not see the reason in black & white. I am ready for September, and hopefully some cooler weather!! :)

San Diego Zoo

The daytime view from our room, and the night time view, it was so beautiful!

This past weekend we headed down to California for our family vacation to the San Diego Zoo. We were a little hesitant at first, we weren't sure if Emalee was old enough for the Zoo, but boy were we wrong!!! We left on Thursday and made a pit stop to see my Grandma who is still in the hospital since her March 17th surgery. She is doing much better, but still not walking or sitting up on her own. Her expression was priceless when we walked into her room with Emalee toddling beside us...she hadn't seen her December!! We spent the rest of the day with her, spent the night at my grandparents house in Long Beach, and then on Friday headed to San Diego! We arrived at the hotel and couldn't wait to venture down to the pool and show Emalee all boats on the water. That night at dinner we discovered Emalee LOVES onion rings, and yes she actually ate the onion, not just the batter!!

Emalee and her onion ring :) and playing with the Orangutan!

We met up with my Godparents the following morning to head to the Zoo!! There was a pretty large crowd, so we weren't sure how the day would evolve, but Emalee had a blast!! We walked the ENTIRE Zoo...having the stroller, taking the shuttle bus would have been WAY too much work. I think Emalee enjoyed the monkeys the most, they were the most active, and they even made her laugh a few times. I think my favorite part of the whole day was seeing the panda bears....it was so surreal! We also enjoyed the new Elephant Odyssey exhibit. There were lots of fun things for kids in there, and the elephants have a nice new place to roam and play. We finally made it back to our room around 11 pm with one very exhausted little girl!!

My Godmother Cathy, Tim, Tommy, and Emalee in the Elephant Odyssey. Me & Emalee in an Aviary.

On Sunday we went back Long Beach to spend more time with my grandparents...I so wish we lived closer so I could spend more time with them and be there to help out during this difficult time for them. We are keeping positive that Grandma WILL walk again, she is a fighter.

We made it back home on Monday, it sure felt like we were gone for longer then we really were. We had a great trip, and can't wait for the next adventure with Emalee. I think Sea World is next! :)

Reno

This past weekend Tommy and I headed up to Reno for our friend Levi Tudor's wedding. We were both a little excited and a little hesitant to leave. You see, it was our first EVER weekend away from Emalee and neither one of us was sure how we would react. The first few hours were rough, we felt like we were forgetting something, or that we were neglecting our child in the back seat :) Once we actually got to Reno, had phone signal again, and realized that we needed to ENJOY our time together everything was fine. We had a nice dinner on Friday night, and went to a fabulous wedding on Saturday. The wedding allowed us to visit with old friends, we had such a great time catching up and talking with them, some of them we hadn't seen since we got married almost 3 years ago. So crazy that practically all of us are married, and most of us have a kid or kids or a bun in the oven. :)

This trip also led us to some make some pretty drastic decisions...I applied for 4 jobs with the Washoe County School District. If all I can do is sit on a call back list here in Nye County, what harm could it do to TRY and get a job somewhere else? A change might be in store for the Bolling Family!!

As for Emalee...she surived without us, Nana & Papa took extra good care of her!!!

4th of July at Mammoth Lakes

We had been planning our trip to Mammoth Lakes, CA for almost 4 months and we were anxious to get out of town!! It was nice, quality family time. In all there were 10 of us. Tommy, Emalee, myself, my mom, my dad, my brother Tim, my sister-in-law Kim, my nephew Nathan, my little brother Jarrod, and his girlfriend Emily. We had beautiful weather, we even got to wear sweatshirts a few times :) We did lots of site seeing, some shopping, some relaxing, and the boys did lots of fishing. It was a nice change of pace to the "normal" Pahrump festivities. The fireworks in Mammoth were nothing compared to what we are used to, but we were also surrounded by huge pine trees which makes you wonder how they did any fireworks at all. The fireworks were actually on July 3rd, and then on July 4th there was an early morning parade, an art show, and vendors of all sorts set up.

The highlight of our trip was the last night we were there. We had a bear visit our porch...no one has any pictures and only Jarrod and Emily actually saw the bear, but Tommy and I came home with enough proof. We have some very nice bear teeth marks in the lid of our cooler....poor bear all he got was some bottled water and some lighter fluid. :)

Water Baby!!

It's official....Emalee LOVES the water! We weren't too sure what she would think about the swimming pool, but since she loves playing in the bath and the shower, we were pretty sure she'd like the pool too. I think the only time she cried was when we had to take her out. :) We need to work on a few things, like not swallowing the water, but I have a feeling we are going to spend a lot of time at Nana and Papa's this summer!

Emalee & Mommy

Emalee & Nana

Emalee's Party

Geez it has taken me forever to actually sit down and do this! Emalee's 1st birthday party was a such a blast! Thankfully the nasty flu bug that she had went away just in time for her big birthday bash. We were surrounded by family and friend's and Emalee was showered with love. She received a lot of "big girl" toys, which she constantly plays with. A little part of me was sad to pack up all of the baby toys. :( And of course her favorite part of the whole party was playing in her cake!! Thank goodness the frosting didn't stain her! It was such a great day, a little bitter sweet, but everyone had a good time especially Emalee. :)

Happy Birthday Emalee!!

Well we made it through the first year...I can't believe it's already been that long!! It seems like yesterday I was in the hospital being rushed around for an emergency c-section. Then we endured the 15 day NICU stay that I thought I would never survive. To think that Emalee was a preemie...if you saw her now you'd know she has no preemie side effects! :)

We are looking forward to spending this weekend with family and friends as we celebrate our beautiful baby girl's 1st birthday.

Happy Birthday Emalee, Mommy & Daddy Love You!!

Emalee's First Year

5 days and counting....

I can't believe in only 5 days my little princess is going to be a year old!! She is growing so fast, it seems like only yesterday we were rushing to the hospital to have her (6 weeks early)! She truly is my reason for living. She brings a smile to my face every day, and I have enjoyed being home with her, watching her reach each and every milestone. Her newest discoveries are giving kisses (yes, sometimes with an open mouth), feeding you her food, and clapping when you say "Yay Emalee!!" She has the cutest little giggle and she smiles all the time, even when she's throwing a fit :) I will be sure to post her birthday bash pictures, along with all the others that I have from her first year!

Work in Progress

Ok so I've never been a "blogger" but I figured I'd give it a try! So be patient with me while I figure it all out....I'm planning on having all of our updates and photos posted soon. :)