Just Because

Our dog is loyal, loving and so sweet.  She is Emma's best buddy and our protector.  Julia thought it would be good to show Finnegan how much we love her by dressing her up in a Sleeping Beauty princess costume.  Finnegan let us dress her even though it was clearly not made for a dog!  She wore it for a bit, then she went into the kitchen and waited for a treat.  I LOVE our dog!  She looked pretty cute in the costume.  Like this:

Emma spent her first year and a half of life hating her car seat.  She screamed for as long as she was in the seat - 15 minutes or 4 hours.  Seriously - she never let up her screaming crying as long as she was in her seat (and it didn't matter what make or model of car seat we used!).  It got to the point that I wouldn't go on any long trips if I had to bring her in the car with me because I couldn't take the screaming for the extended time.  We went on a trip to Florida with my parents when Emma was 2 months old and they shared our rental car with us for a few days.  They were supposed to share it with us for the 2 week trip, but decided they needed to rent their own car because they couldn't take Emma's crying.  I think I would have done the same thing if I was them.  So, I'm so thankful that these days Emma is often smiling in her car seat.  Like this:

Julia is now five.  She is amazing.  I have loved every minute of the last five years with her and look forward to many, many more.  For her birthday she wanted to go bowling so that is what we did.  Of course she wore her party dress.  She was the prettiest little girl in the entire bowling alley.  And she gets such joy when she knocks down the pins.  Like this:

Life is good!