Too Many Crickets!

According to Urban Dictionary, "Jiminy Crickets!" is a way of swearing, without swearing.  In other words, it's something safe to say in the Hughston household.  The other day, Emily heard this expression and turned it into "Too many crickets!"

So, too many crickets this kid loves games and puzzles!  We've played hours of Candyland, Hi Ho Cherry-O,The Ladybug Game, Spot it!, and Zingo!.  We've put together an Ariel from Little Mermaid puzzle together repeatedly.  So, when we were in the bookstore the other day and there was a Rudolph puzzle for half off, I grabbed it.  I thought it said 24 pieces, but no, it was 200 pieces.  It just happens to be 24 inches long.

But since someone saw me buy it, there was no hiding it away.  It took us all day, but we got it put together.  Of course, we took lots of breaks (there was still Candyland to be played), but it was also time to put away Christmas.

Emily was a big help getting everything packed away.  She even took it upon herself to gather pine needles.  Of course, not everything she did was helpful...

The advent calendar was spread out, and she had this great idea that it could be used to count the days until her birthday.  She really does believe that it is just around the corner, and I'm sure she's right.  She'll be a 4 year old before we know it.

Until then, I'm hoping we still have lots of silly hours ahead of us where she will just wear her Stompeez and goof off.  Too many crickets, I guess that means we will continue Emily's game-a-thon as well.

Happy New Year!  

xo - The Hughstons

Merry, Merry!

Santa brought pink puppy dog Stompeez, in the right size of course!

And a dollhouse with all the furnishings, including the family car.

And a pink and purple fairy train set with a table to hold it.

And books, a baby doll, board games, clothes, an airbrush set, and a very stuffed stocking.

What a great Christmas morning!  

Christmas Eve

This year we had to make cookies to leave for Santa.  

There was also time to read some Christmas stories...

Emily still wasn't sure how the whole thing would happen.  She was thinking that Santa was going to come here, she would sit on his lap, and then tell him that she wanted Stompeez because he didn't know her shoe size.  She liked making cookies for him, but did not believe that she had to be asleep for him to come.  We had to check out Norad's Santa Tracker quite a few times that evening to see where he was.

By 10:00, she was finally nestled all snug in her bed while Mom and Dad brought out all of the stashed away presents.

Emily has brought home so many Christmas (and not so Christmas crafts) that I'm running out of space to display all of them!

Here's her 2012 handprint and the ornaments we added:

If you were to visit for the Holidays, you'd more than likely get suckered into playing two games of Candyland.  The first one, she usually plays fair.  By the second game, she's searching for the special pink cards that will send her ahead and you backward, or the gingerbread pieces will get mixed up, and the game ends a little more quickly.  She also loves to use the scissors these days, and really loves to cut the Christmas wrapping paper.  You'll also find quite a few red, green, and white beads in mysterious places as they tend to end up everywhere.

Her presents aren't under the tree, and she has shown only a little interest in Mom and Dad's.  The ornaments still get rearranged on the bottom third of the tree.  She loves the bear that hangs in Nadia's stocking.  

She did stay home from preschool on Wednesday since early that morning she was wheezing and coughing.  After a couple breathing treatments, it was back to cold like symptoms and she was able to finish the week at preschool.  Overall, she's had a healthy fall into winter. 

People keep commenting on how tall she is getting.  It must be true, she's starting to wear 4T pants.  She spends her days out of pull ups, and only has a couple accidents a week (you know, those exciting times where the potty break is forgotten!).  

Hard to believe we crossed that three and a half mark.

Christmas is Coming

The calendar is always so full around this time of year!  Friday night Emily was with a babysitter, with another three girls, so that I could go to my staff party.  She wasn't happy with me leaving, but just like at preschool, once you get out the door she can calm down.  The girls ate pizza, made Christmas ornaments, and watched a movie.  Although Emily dozed off during the movie, she was wide awake when the grown ups returned at 11!

reading to Bimini Bims, aka Baby, while
the tree was being decorated

Then we finally had time to decorate the tree that she was in charge of picking out.  She was very excited to get out the decorations and the Polar Express train this year, but did very little helping.  When it came time to decorate, she had her mind set on playing rounds of Candyland.  However, now that the tree is done, she has done a lot of moving ornaments around to her liking!

For a couple hours in the afternoon, the whole family went to the National Guard annex in town where the Kiwanis Club was having a holiday celebration.  There were plenty of crafts to be made, supplies to build gingerbread houses out of, and, of course, Santa.  Emily is making progress in the bravery department.  She accepted a candy candy from the guy in red and waved to him as she said hello.  But wasn't going to sit on his lap.  As we were leaving, she was willing to hug the inflatable Santa to say thanks.

Busy in Boise

Our weekend in Boise started off with attending the 2012 NICU Christmas Party.  We missed our best NICU pal Kean, who is receiving chemo and couldn't risk the germs.  But we did get to see Nurse Molly, one of our favorites!

There were therapy dogs to pet...

 And Christmas crafts to do...

There was also Santa.  But there was absolutely, positively no way she was going to stand in line to get anywhere near him this year.  Last year she wasn't happy once we got to Santa, but this year she knew what the line was all about and wasn't going to go for it.  No picture with Santa with Emily in tears this year!

There was the slide show, too, that I understand plays on loop in the NICU for the Hall of Hope.  Remember Emily had her picture taken this summer. We skipped the revealing they did in the NICU a few weeks ago.  Funny thing, they were offering tours to the NICU graduates.  After spending 80 days there, I'm pretty sure I don't need to be guided through there.

After the Christmas party, we took a small break before heading to Disney on Ice.  Excuse the horrible photos, they wouldn't let me take my camera in so we had to resort to camera phones.

For the first 45 minutes, Emily loved the performance.  While most girls were fascinated by the princesses, it was Mickey and Minnie that truly won her over.  She still does not love to watch TV or movies, and has no idea who Tiana (Princess and the Frog), Cinderella, or Rapunzel were, but she enjoyed the lights and music, song and dance of the performance.  During intermission she started to lose interest, and the last 30 minutes were pretty painful to keep her entertained well enough to not disturb those around us.  But then Mickey and Minnie returned to say goodbye, and it all ended on a good note!

Thanksgiving: before & after

Wow, how time flies when the holidays arrive!

First of all, let's start with the fact that we made a late night run, in pajamas, to the market to buy some Hostess treats the day they announced they were done making treats.  We wanted to make sure Emily knew what twinkies, ho-hos, and cupcakes were like...

It's okay that they are no longer on the grocery shelves, she didn't like them.  And notice the red mark above her lip?  That's from a wipe out at preschool.


For Thanksgiving, it was just the three of us.  Emily was quite the helper in the kitchen, like always, and is getting quite skilled at using the peeler.  How thankful am I for this little miracle girl!

 Notice how she is dressed in her Sunday Best?  She told me she was dressed as a candy cane so that Santa would hurry up and get here.

And her Thanksgiving crafts done at preschool: 

A drum, the traditional feather headband, a paper plate turkey,
her pet rock, and a turkey drumstick

On the days following Thanksgiving, her big girl bed was assembled and Aaron was evicted from his living room sleeping station.  Most of the holiday weekend was spent moving furniture around and putting up Christmas decor.  Emily is very excited for Christmas this year!  She went to see Santa a couple weeks ago for the first time, and even took along her camera to take pictures of him.  But once there, wanted nothing to do with him, let alone sit on his lap!  At the town's tree lighting, she avoided Santa, but hugged his reindeer twice.  She knows what she wants from him, a pair of Stompeez (think "as seen on TV slippers with the eyes that pop up while you walk").  Next weekend is the NICU's holiday party, maybe the third attempt at Santa she will be able to express her wish!  

Busy Girl

Emily's favorite mode of transportation around the house these days is her scoot bike.  She's getting quite quick and daring!

Or, she'll ask you for princess, which means that she wants to put on her Minnie Mouse dress and rock to the Disney music channel.  Meanwhile, a little by little, I'm making progress on her big girl room.

The E is a gift from her great grandma and great uncle...

There's the headboard and her bedding... her bed will be assembled when Dad is done using the twin bed downstairs during his recovery.  

Potty training continues.  We've gone to a sticker chart to try and motivate her.  Spent an hour talking with her pediatrician about the whole ordeal, and she convinced me to not panic, yet.

Emily loves to help out in the kitchen.  She loves to mix and add things... and make pizzas.

Not to mention she still loves playing around with the camera.  Here we are driving down the road as she takes pictures on a sunny fall day.