Don’t even consider ignoring this post

It is far too important and I mean it. I had a funny post I was rip roaring ready to post tonight but I am putting that on hold till this weekend for a very important public service announcement. Please do not click away from this post before you finish it.

Earlier this month there was a very tragic accident in Aspen where a family of four all died of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning while they were sleeping. If you are not familiar with this story please go read it here ABC News .

My mother was deeply moved by this story and as a result, immediately ordered Carbon Monoxide detectors for her homes and gave me a couple of her extras. She also informed my brother that he really should get them in his new Mountain Home as well.

Oddly he did, and he did it quickly. He installed his detectors 1 week ago today.

This morning he and his wife were awakened by the high pitched squeal of these detectors. He was dizzy and she had a headache. They opened windows and began making calls.

It was determined that they did in fact have lethal levels of Carbon Monoxide in their new home due to a faulty pump on one of their boilers (this fact may not be 100% I am relaying it from memory and will verify and post a correction tomorrow)

They are working with the company that “fixed” their boiler last week to determine the problem and solve it but in the meantime our family is incredibly thankful that he had the detectors in his home. We could have lost Anna and Brad overnight and that is just not something any of us want to think about.

Nothing in life is coincidence, everything happens for a reason, My mom was moved by the news story – pressed us to install detectors and 1 week later they saved the lives of two very special family members.

SO I say to you, if you are reading this PLEASE stop by Amazon or your local hardware store and buy a bundle of these (or something similar) for your family ASAP.

Brad and Anna – we all love you very much and thank god tonight that you are safe.

New Years Eve

A new year, already. 2009? Didn't I just get used to writing 2008? What on earth am I going to do in 2010 when the double zeros disappear?

We are heading home to Denver today, after a wonderful week in the mountains! We went ice skating, saw Bedtime Stories (loved it), played in the hot tub, put together many puzzles, filled my parents house from end to end with Christmas presents getting played with, had lovely family time and quite frankly are NOT ready to go home!

This was our drive up here on Christmas day!

one of our puzzles

The girls playing with Gramps

The girls getting ready for dinner at Mirabel

Hanging out in the hot tub...a favorite thing for them...

But reality will set in soon as school and dance begin again next week and there are things that we need tend to at home like taking down the tree and decorations ( I LOVE putting them up and HATE taking them down!) all must come down on Thursday...I refuse to let Christmas drag on through January in the house though it will likely drag on for a couple more weeks here in blogger land as I have so many memories I still want to post about!!!

Since the girls and I head home today, daddy is going to the store for us to pick up some eats and we are looking forward to a quiet New Years Eve at home (maybe with a neighbor) and ringing in the new year LONG before midnight! We will likely watch the Ball drop in New York at 10:00 on the news then we crash...sad isn't it? But, since I know we are not the only ones I wonder what New Year's countdown they watch on the East Coast when they want to go to bed early?

Here is me, wishing you and all your family a wonderful 2009!!

Wordless Wednesday

Noon Years Eve 2001! Lauren all wrapped up in confetti and a diaper!

Hailey's turn

Yesterday I highlighted Lauren's Christmas - today Hailey gets a turn. In case you missed it, I did a post for Christmas Eve, if you want, you can see most of our pictures in this Christmas movie and now on to Hailey...

She had Christmas in her eyes and on her brain for weeks, months even. She was so anxious she could hardly stand it...It finally came and she was very excited. Santa brought her all that she asked for and a couple extras - Santa did not know she wanted a frog (thank goodness) because Santa did not bring that!Of course the Barre...This was the only thing Hailey ever "told" Santa she wanted, the only thing she put on her real list...and yes, as you know they got it!

Hailey had been asking off and on for a couple months if she could have radio for her room. A little uneasy about how we felt about it, we got one, we also got hera Baby Mozart CD and that will be her night time music...during the day she can rock out with Hannah or the Jonas Brothers or whatever tickles her fancy!

Hailey did not ask for this Tinker Bell Music Box but she is always admiring all the pretty boxes and things on Lauren's shelves so I thought it was time for her to have a little something special of her own too. I think she liked it.

Christmas would not be complete without some clothes and shoes for our little diva - in this case the pink sparkly Converse were a must! She loved them...

the outfit she got she also loved and changed into it before she was done opening gifts - too bad Santa brought it in about a size too big...oh well - still cute!

This is Hailey with her Golden Bear...Still have to wait to hear the story on this one...but it is beautiful and looks so precious on her!

Hailey and Lauren both got these amazing fairy sets from Grams...Lauren's is in a leaf bassinet and Hailey's is more like carriage. The are adorable, well made and have proven to be SUPER fun for both girls!Hailey's even came with a flower and she thinks that is the cats meow!

Here is Hailey with her very own Lego set! You can't tell here but she was thrilled to have her own, and since it is an anniversary year it came with a golden brick...she picked that one out immediately and has used it in all her creations thus far.

Hailey with Her big and little sister Only Hearts Club dolls (if you aren't familiar go check them out both girls love these and they are WAY better than Barbie!

And lastly, just a cute picture of Hailey sitting on daddy's lap!

We are still in Beaver Creek, Daddy went home this afternoon but not before a trip to the skating rink:

We will join Daddy back in Denver on New Years Eve...Until then, he gets a quiet house and we get to enjoy the beautiful mountains!!!

Highlights from Lauren

Lauren had a wonderful Christmas. I do believe she got all that she wanted. She wrote to Santa asking for a Ballet Barre (it came) and the Edward Tulane book...She wanted me to read that book so her and daddy bought it for me for Christmas. I read it, it was cute! Thanks Lauren.

She has also been asking for a fish for many months...and we got her the items needed for a fish and we will go pick out said fish after we return to Denver next week. Lauren loves American Girl Dolls and anything that she has to use her brain to do...so some of her favorite gifts were her Ball of Whacks from Aunt Anna and Uncle Brad, and her Snap Circuits from Grandma Mary.

She also received some very special gifts like her Big Sister Golden Bear from Grams and Gramps (more on this later) and her Samantha Doll from us.

All during December Lauren saw commercials for the SNUGGIE - you know the ones...where you can use your arms while still bundled in a blankie...She wanted one so bad and we knew darn well it would be junk but when we saw them at Walgreens for a mere $15 we just had to do it...It is WAY to big, very shotty fabric, and ultimately a ridiculous design but the look on her face was priceless...she loved getting the Snuggie

Today I highlighted Lauren - our wonderful, wise beyond her years, 8 year old, who if given the chance would take weeks to open her gifts - she would prefer to take her time, open 1 gift, fully explore it and all it has to offer before moving on...Daddy and I don't have the patience for that - therefore we often ask her to pick up the pace...Hence no Holiday would be complete without at least one meltdown from dear Lauren. If we would have let her, she would have read that whole book you see before moving on to her next gift and her little sister would have been done opening all her gifts and throwing her own tantrum because she had run out and Lauren still had many more...

Sorry dear Lauren, but you have plenty of time to explore your gifts when your done opening them! The meltdown was short lived, she picked up the pace and we were done with the opening before New Years Eve!

Here are a couple more pictures of Lauren and some of her goodies that I really enjoyed.

Tomorrow - (time permitting of course) I will highlight little Hailey's Christmas. Should be fun!

We are still in the mountains and it is super cold her! The girls have been wanting to go ice skating but with Hailey and her chest of full of frogs it just hasn't been possible. Maybe today. Yesterday we went bowling (I bowled a 180, I think all the Wii bowling has helped my game) and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with family at Mirabels. The girls got to wear their fancy dresses and sat like angels through a two hour dinner. I couldn't ask for more! I took some pictures but my camera battery died and I had to switch to Grandpa's camera...and I don't have that with me this morning so those photos will have to wait!

Christmas has come and gone

Christmas has come and gone but I plan to drag it out as long as I can. The girls are having so much fun with some of their new things, we are having fun watching them have fun and I have so many favorite photos I want to share that I am still trying to figure out the best way to do it.

I love having the blog to connect with Family and friends and new friends, however keeping with its roots my main purpose is for the memories. Because of that...I will be posting all my thoughts, pictures and feelings from this wonderful Christmas over the coming days and I am desperately hoping I don't miss a single memory!

I started by posting Christmas Eve photos yesterday...Today I put together a movie of most of our pictures using the Christmas song that haunted the girls and I all month, and I think I will end by posting some favorite moments in conjunction with current happenings over the next week! At least that is what I am thinking this morning!

Enjoy the movie:



Last night we played a game of Trivia Pursuit (The new one that says it has easy, medium and hard questions) a gift to Grams and Gramps for the holidays and it was not all it was cracked up to be. I think the first version of Trivia Pursuit was probably the best version.

Hailey slept for 2.5 hours yesterday and then went to bed at 6 (at her request) she is still not feeling that well, sounds like she swallowed a pond full of frogs, wakes up all night but manages to power through the day playing with all her toys! Lauren is having a great time with her Ball of Whacks and Snap Circuits, logged in her new Webkinz and in general is enjoying time with family and toys!


Today it is supposed to super cold here, snowed all day yesterday (Beautiful) but somehow I plan to get the girls outside to play at least in short spurts! They will be looking forward to getting all dressed up for a fancy dinner at Mirabels tonight!

The day after...

The day after Christmas! We had a fantastic day - the girls were very happy and excited with all their gifts, spending time with family was great and dinner was to die for!

Hailey ended the evening with a fever 101.5 and Lauren ended it building snap circuits (more later) - but they both truly had wonderful days!

I want to take some time and really go through all my pictures before I do a "real" Christmas re-cap post but I thought I would take few quiet minutes to post a few from Christmas eve for anxious family and friends to view!

We always open some gifts from Grandma Mary, Aunt Lisa and Uncle Rich on Christmas Eve. It gives the kids something to do and takes the edge off a bit! It is super fun and we get to enjoy watching the girls slowly open the gifts, rather than watching them tear through them Christmas Morning!!!

UNO Flash from Grandma Mary...I am certain we are going to have a lot of loud, laughing fun with this modern day version of a favorite card game!

The Camera...From Grandma Mary too...Hailey wants to take pictures and now she can do it without my stomach lurching as I hand her my camera! She loves it and taken tons of pictures already!

And the Scooters - one for each from Aunt Lisa and Uncle Rich! We took them out used them a bit on Christmas Eve the girls were pretty stinkin excited about these....They are going to be scooting around the neighborhood all summer!

More to come!!!

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas From The Emerson Family!

We hope all your Christmas wishes come true!

On the last day before Christmas

We are finally there...today is Christmas Eve. Holy moly! I started the Christmas countdown 11 days ago...I did it for me. Yes I did. I did the countdown to keep me blogging because I knew without motivation and / or purpose I would likely go days without posting during this busy time. I originally wanted to do more of a Partridge in a Pear Tree type of a thing but I just couldn't figure that out. It has been super fun though, and reading all the comments has been a treat!

On this Christmas Eve I want to start by updating a couple things...

First Grandma is doing well, she copes well with being alone as my grandfather passed away 27 years ago - she is in good spirits and has enjoyed the things my mom and I have brought her this past week. It is still shameful the way HC handled the situation so late in the game but Grandma is good and I thank you all for the well wishes.

Second, I got the sketchers - they magically appeared in the mail and they fit. I got the gray/black pair...they were a KIDS SHOE...Yes a kids shoe - this would not be my first time buying kids shoes for my self. The best part about it is kid shoe prices...don't ask me how they can sell me a kids shoe in my size for $35 but if I were to buy the same shoe in womans in would be $70...

We started baking a bit early this year and made Playdough Cookies first...they never made it to the blog and since I am playing catch up here they are! I got the recipe from here...and it was FUNTASTICLY Fun!


And lastly a Hailey update...SHE FORGOT HOW TO SLEEP! Remember Busted? Well ever since then I swear to you she forgot how to sleep. Up and down all night long, up before the birds in the morning...OMG it is awful. I can only hope it will settle down after Christmas the anxiety really has a grip on her toddler brain!

Ok, that said...I am done. yes, you heard me I am DONE. All the presents are wrapped - Christmas can come. Yesterday we baked and today we will frost... and get ready for our trip to Beaver Creek to see Grams, Gramps, Uncle Brad and Aunt Anna for Christmas (we will leave mid-day on Christmas) and I could not be happier! Hopefully now I can just sit back and enjoy quality time with my family (or put in ear plugs and tune out all the whining, fighting, begging etc). But I am done and Christmas can come and that is great! I have NEVER been done 24 hours early!

I leave you today with ALL happy thoughts towards the merriest, happiest Holidays you can possible have!

oh, and this is where we are all going tomorrow! Christmas day...I CAN'T WAIT (and I am serious, I wish I was there when all the snow was falling!!)

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MY DAD!

Wordless Wednesday

Visions of Sugarplums in her head

On the 2nd day before Christmas

Some ideas are good, some are not so good. We do a lot of things around here that are not so good. Remember this Volcanic E-What? and perhaps the blue food dye incident...

This weekend alone we had a good idea as well as a bad idea...both came from this book



I gave Lauren the book last week and told her to pick 2 projects - 1 for her and Hailey and 1 just for her. She did, I got the supplies and this weekend we set out to accomplish the projects.

The first was just for Lauren she was going to draw her own Christmas cards. GOOD idea! I went to Micheals and got a package of blank cards and envelopes for $4.00, sharpened the colored pencils and opened to the page she selected and off she went...

Project # 2. Not such a good idea. It was making ornaments out of bread. Started out easy...use cookie cutters to cut shapes from bread, leave on cooling rack over night to harden, mix a little glue with paint and paint the shapes...this is where it all started to go wrong.

Little chunks of bread, Paint, 3 year old. There was more paint on her hands and in her hair then anywhere on the bread. Now don't get me wrong, Hailey can paint, does it often but holding little pieces and painting them - now that is a whole different Oprah.

Then, you have to sprinkle glitter on these pieces of painted bread and well...have you ever given a 3 year old a tube of glitter?

DON'T.

and the worst part? They aren't even pretty. In fact, they are pretty much ugly and well, they won't be making it onto our tree!

We did have another good idea though, we got some little nail stickers at Walgreens and made festive fingers...that was pretty ok





So there you have it - some ideas are good. Some Not so good.

I also updated the pictures of Hailey at her school caroling sessions so if you have time go check out the photos here . The last day of singing was also Pajama day - they were going to be reading the night before christmas and eating pancakes so they are all in their pj's it is cute. OH, and Hailey SANG on this the final day of caroling!!!

But here is my favorite for those who don't want to go back and review...

On the 3rd day before Christmas

We went to see Santa! Actually we saw him twice. The first time was at the North Pole but we didn't bother buying that picture as the girls were bundled up so tight in winter clothes you couldn't even find them!

So a couple days ago after school I had the girls quick change into jeans and their Holiday Shirts and off we went to the mall I hate, to fight for a parking spot, stand in the never ending line and eventually, hopefully get a picture with Santa that would make it all worth while.

We got there, we found a parking spot only 100 yards from then entrance, we found Santa Central and "what to our wondering eyes should appear?" But no line in the front and all was clear!

And you know what else? Well, this negative nelly needs an attitude adjustment because as we entered Santa's Lodge

and my heart started pounding, and my palms started sweating at the thought of the tantrums and meltdowns I was sure to soon see...But instead

"their eyes -- how they twinkled! their dimples how merry!" as headed down the walkway to meet old St. Nick.

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

They did it! We survived, no tears, no meltdowns and we left with 4 copies of this overpriced memory that I will forever enjoy!

Oh, and then on the way out of the mall, that I hate, I noticed a Sketchers store, a whole store dedicated to sketchers! Does this mean I don't have to go to Dillards, Macys, Nordstroms, Khols and Zappos each time I am looking for a pair of Sketchers? I sure hope so. They also had this adorable pair of sweater, shoe, slipper type thingies in the window..so now I am off to Zappos to see if they come in my size (because obviously it is far easier to shoe shop for me online than it is to take a little 3 year old, shoe obsessed diva into a shoe store!)