Cutest little stinker - caught on camera

Tonight was girls night at our house.  Every now and again I've taken to kicking Chris out of the house so we can have a fun girls only evening.  The girls love the quality time and Chris gets a much needed break.

Tonight's highlights:

• Crafting custom headbands with Julia from a kit she received as a present.  This will be a multi-night activity since it requires quite a bit of time for the glue to dry in between decorations.
• Emma laughing and laughing while pushing the baby in the stroller.  She even took some steps on her own holding onto the stroller handles with very little trunk support from me.  
• Julia interacting with the Ken doll.  When I had him kiss a barbie - and then the barbie gave him a piece of her mind - she thought that was a hoot.  She doesn't think girls and boys should kiss and I loved hearing her barbie dialogue after the kiss!  Adding Ken to the mix really is quite fun!

But the real highlight was playing with the floral beads I had in water in a shallow glass pie pan.  The girls had a ball with them!  Here's how it went down:

Julia showing Emma the beads and how she puts her hands in them, Emma decided to put her hands in and they shared the pan for a moment.  Emma decides the beads are hers (actually, they are!) and starts to pull the pan over to her side of the table and pulls so hard it almost flies off the table.

Here is how it ended:

Emma with the pan full of water beads, Julia with an empty cereal bowl.

Whenever anyone meets Emma and doesn't know her well they always comment "what an angel" she is and when I tell them that she isn't an angel at all, she is a class clown and even a bit of a troublemaker they look at me like I'm crazy.  Because, you know, total strangers seem to think they know my daughter better than me.

But it's true - my non-verbal, non-mobile little girl is ornery, stubborn, ready for any adventure, and loves to laugh at people working.  We love her so much that we know this about her and we give her many opportunities to show us this side of her personality instead of only the "angel" side.  

And I caught it on film.  And I've shared it with you.  And so now you know......Emma's the cutest little stinker around!