Emma's First Halloween

Emma had her first Halloween tonight. She and Chase had lots of fun visiting family and collecting goodies. This was the first time I have tried to put her hair up in pigtails and it seemed to work. I am going to have to get some tips from other mothers with daughters! Growing up, I was a tomboy so I never got into the cute hair styles... We are so thankful to be able to experience her first Halloween with her. It is amazing to think a few months ago we were hoping to have a referral for a daughter this month, and God is so amazing that He brought her home before we were even due for a referral! I can only say that God has a special plan for her life and the life of our family. We hope that everyone who hears about our journey will hear how God's hand was in all of it. We give Him the glory.

Our first stop was Mema's house. Emma didn't know what fun she was about to have!

Look at that handsome football player and the most adorable little cheerleader I have ever seen. She sure does love her big brother.

Future UK football star and cheerleader

Go Big Blue!

The Whole Gang:

It's hard to believe our family has doubled in children in just two years...

Who knows what the next two years will bring-Kim may have something to say about that! ;o)

Halloween Party

Today Emma and I attended Chase's 2nd grade Halloween party. Emma enjoyed the excitement and seeing her big brother. Last night was a better night for sleeping at the Johnson house. Emma went down around 10 and we didn't hear from her again until 5 this morning. She took a bottle and went back down until we woke her up at 7 this morning. We are trying to get her up earlier each day and put her to bed a little earlier. She was tired this morning and took a nap from 8:30 until 10:00. After a quick nap this afternoon, she is hopefully down for the night. Tomorrow will be a big day for a little cheerleader. More to come...

Emma and Chase playing in the clothes basket

What a sweet face...

Night Owl

The title and the outfit are fitting considering Emma didn't go to sleep until 1 o'clock this morning. She is quite the night owl these days. We are still trying to get her nighttime routine sorted out. She is doing better in her car seat! We are thankful for that. Here's a few pictures from the past couple of days.

Does she look sleepy to you? This was taken around 12:30, yes after midnight!

Ready to play...

Emma is crawling everywhere. When she gets to her desired location, she pulls up to stand in order to see what she can get into.

The sweetest face... I love the twinkle in her eyes.

I have never been much of a housekeeper. Nana and Granny raised me better. But these days I can't keep the mountain of toys picked up either...

Emma loves music. Here she is checking out Barney songs.

1 Month Home,Pumpkin Patch, Pumpkin Carving

As I write this, I can hardly believe that a month ago today our sweet girl was on a plane to meet us for the first time. We were waiting anxiously and excitedly for the moment when we would hold her in our arms forever. She has come so far in the past 4 weeks. I am so thankful that God allows us to be her parents. Ryan and I can't imagine what life would be like without her. We don't really think about the fact that we didn't give birth to her, but instead about the unconditional and immeasurable amount of love we have for her. Last night she was playing and for the first time, we noticed that she was really thinking and figuring out how that toy worked. It was so nice to see her interact like that. We are blessed to have two wonderful children and we know that God has been so good to us.

This weekend we went to Jackson's Orchard to pick out a pumpkin and enjoy the apple goodies they have. The weather was great! Emma wasn't sure about the pumpkins at first. Especially when we plopped her down in the middle of a bunch of them. Her hesitation only lasted until the top was cut off. She loved playing with the insides of the pumpkin and even wanted to taste the mush. She was very curious about what was inside the pumpkin and liked squishing the pumpkin mush between her fingers. Chase and Dad did a wonderful job carving the perfect Jack-O-Lantern. Emma liked to see it lit up at night.

Our first post-placement visit is today. I'm sure Emma will love the company!

Funny Face

This is hilarious. Emma has this new face that she makes. There's no way I can describe it, so I took a picture of it. It's even funnier in person. We have it on video, but it won't upload to the blog... She does it when we give her the baby doll that she has played with since she came home. Aside from her new funny face, she has boycotted the car seat altogether. She literally cries and screams the whole time she's in the car. Any of you who have any suggestions, we'd love to here them. She also has a new thing where she shakes her head no when she doesn't want to do something. Little Miss Emma is getting quite the personality. She did sleep better last night. She went down at 10:30, had a bottle at 12:00 and stayed down until 6:00 this morning. We woke up and Ryan and I looked at each other and said, "Did you get up?" We were pleased to learn both of us slept for 6 hours straight!

Our little Minnie Mouse...

Notice Emma is right in the mix... She wants to be just like Daddy and brother...

Emma is such an explorer. Here she's learning more about spiders...

So Sweet

Emma is learning to do new things everyday. It's hard to believe that just 3 short weeks ago she was sitting up and falling over and now she is crawling, pulling up to everything, and even trying to stand up in the middle of the floor! She babbles all the time and her sweet smile and adorable laugh is such a blessing.

I am amazed at how wonderful the transition has been for our family. Here's a snapshot of the Johnson gang lounging around. Notice Emma is sucking her thumb and playing with big brother.

Here's Emma standing alone and even letting go with one hand to show me her red ball.

Did I mention how much I love this sweet girl?

Emma loves her big brother!!!

Holding Violation, Barn Service, 1st Post Placement Visit

Well, we've had a holding violation! This weekend, we invited Gran, Pap, and Mema to join us for some chili. Emma is continuing to crawl and pull up to everything. Emma happened to crawl to Mema (great-grandmother) and pulled up to her. Mema took the opportunity to put Emma in her lap. You know great-grandmothers... Emma didn't mind and liked playing with Mema's necklace. For those of you who are counting down, 3 weeks tomorrow!

Emma was so cute yesterday. We were playing one of her Korean children song CDs that her foster parents sent and she actually started singing along to the chorus (or what I believe to be the chorus). It was so funny! We might have a future singer on our hands.

I want to wish Nana a Happy _ _ th Birthday!!! She turned _ _ on Sunday! We love you enough not to tell everyone you're 50!!! ;o) We enjoyed celebrating with her!

We had our annual church Barn Service yesterday. Our church meets at a barn and we have food, fellowship, worship, and a funny talent show. Being the wonderful mother I am, I forgot the stinkin' camera!!! Emma was so cute in her pink snow suit. We kept her nice and warm in the carrier. She really liked the grass and tried to eat it. I don't know if she has ever seen it before. She also liked the fire.

We have our first post placement visit next Tuesday. It's hard to believe Emma will be home a month next week! She has continued to bond and learn some many new things. I can't imagine life without her and our family has so many wonderful things to praise God for.

The Holding Violator!!! :o)

Emma enjoyed playing with Gran's measuring tape. Grandmomma Johnson would be so proud!

Look at those two top teeth. There are two more up there working its way down.

Chase was trying out his photography skills..

Cold Weather in KY

It's been a chilly few days here. The cold weather hasn't slowed Emma down. She is crawling everywhere and pulling to the couch and other objects. Even more, she is teething!!! Not just one tooth, but all four of her top front teeth! The left front one is already in as she has been working on it for over a week, but the other three have now broken the skin and are working there way through. This might explain why we were up all night on Thursday! She slept much better last night after I gave her some Oragel and Tylenol. She didn't even wake up for a bottle last night! Did I mention she didn't go to sleep until midnight?!! She's turning into quite the night owl. We are staying home today to try and get her nap schedule and sleep schedule situated.

We went to our small town's annual homecoming parade for our high school football team. If you're not from here (and even if you are) you might not understand the importance of this event. The square is shut down, our schools stop instruction and all students attend. Each of our high school grades decorate a float and our homecoming candidates ride on them. This is big town celebrate in a small town atmosphere!!! Since it was so cold and rainy...Emma and I sat in the car with some friends.

Two ladies sent Emma this bunny and some other adorable things!!! Emma loves snuggling with her bunny! Thanks girls, you are so sweet!

Where's the Pictures?

Well, it's been 5 days since I last posted and I've heard about it!!! So for those who asked, here are some of the things we have been up to:

-Saturday we spent the day running errands and stocking up on baby items that we needed. I can't seem to get much done during the day by myself!!!

-Sunday we went to church again and enjoyed seeing our church family. That afternoon was Chase's 8th birthday party and decided to celebrate with family since Emma is still adjusting. She did well and didn't mind the company. She and her little cousin Max are still getting used to each other. Christmas will be interesting to say the least! Chase had a Boston Red Sox birthday and got lots of neat gifts and money to buy some new basketball shoes.

-Monday was Chase's actual birthday so we couldn't not celebrate since he was out of school. We went to Chucky Cheese...not completely alone, Ryan joined me for fun and games. Chase wanted to eat at Shogun so we went there for lunch and Emma was captivated by the entertainment. Chase, Emma, and I went back to Chucky Cheese to use the rest of his tokens. We then gandered the mall and then went to Target. We finished by stopping by Barnes and Noble to pick up the newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid book. We finished the day of excitement by having dinner with Ryan's dad who shares a birthday with Chase. I don't know exactly how I managed to do all that!!!

-Tuesday was a "stay at home" day. I tried to get some things accomplished and did managed to make it to Wal-Mart! I still can't figured out how to clean the house and wash clothes during the day!!! Little Miss Emma was teething and wanted Mommy close so we played and forgot about the mess. I'm sure it will still be there when I get around to it!

-Today we had lunch with a college friend of mine. It was nice to spend time with her and I was thankful that our schedules allowed us to catch up. After that I dropped by to see Nana and her friends at her work so that could meet Emma. After picking up Chase, we went to the local boutique store to get another pink bow since Emma has discovered that she can pull them out and when she does, she shreds the end of it. I left with 4 different pink bows. Who knew there were so many shades??? :o)

-Tomorrow I am going to see my family at school and check in with my sweet students. I have missed them and I can't wait to see how they are doing.

Here's some photos of the past few days. I will try to stay caught up... I love that you all enjoy reading it!!! We enjoy sharing our life with you!

This is Emma in her 'jumper." She loves to jump up and down, but only for a few minutes as it confines her....

Emma has been teething. She already had her two bottom teeth when we got her, but her top right tooth has come through since she has been home. Today I noticed another tooth working its way through on top... These teething biscuits are great....but extremely messy. We needed a bath after this one.

Our sweet girl in her pumpkin outfit.

Did I mention she was teething?

She started crawling a few days ago, but today she really put it into practice and managed to get stuck behind the couch. She hasn't learned reverse yet.

Our pastor and his family got Emma this sock monkey. She was working him over tonight. I love that face...