five.

a photo of me two years ago.

so long!

between packing and tidying, sweet husband and i managed to fit in a friendly game of monopoly. gregory was winning. i told him that he had horseshoes up his ass. he said he didn't get it so i explained that it just means he's lucky. he says that kind of talk is way too deep for his brain and i should just speak english. i think he's funny. that little story however, wasn't the point of this post. this post is to try to explain even an OUNCE of my excitement for tonight's voyage across the country to THIS pretty little house...

to see these wonderful people...

yup, tonight is the night i've been anxiously awaiting for months...heck, YEARS! i've been prancing around my house all day. good bye california, have a lovely christmas.

bon voyage

and my theme song this fine month of december two thousand and ten...

"i'll be home for christmas"



but there's no "if only in my dreams" this year!! we fly to lovely nova scotia tomorrow night to spend ten glorious days with my family and i cant even wait! tonight and tomorrow will be filled with packing our bags, tidying our little home and hot chocolate to ease the stress of trying to fit everything i want to bring and not forgetting anything essential. i'm desperately hoping for a good little traveller for our 10 hour journey east. Hope your holidays are Merry!

Merry Christmas and lots of love,
Greg, Nikki & Emmerson

four.

my favorite photo of my bestest buddy is THIS:

whether it be bubbles, hot soup, or kisses, the average human will pout their lips out a bit when blowing something. not sweet husband. he sucks his lips in and it always makes me laugh. not only is he making a face that i love, but it is christmas morning, and he is playing with bubbles that santa put in his stocking. this picture just makes my heart happy!

three.

your idea of the perfect first date.

okay, so i'm going to change this around a little bit and tell you how mine and gregory's first date went down...

he shows up at my door wearing questionable attire. granted he was on his mission in australia for two years prior, but that will never excuse the poofy brown skater shoes that took over his feet, oversized jeans, and a side part in his hair. what have i gotten myself into? He took me to Islands for dinner, and that was nice, but please keep in mind they play surf videos on televisions at every angle in this place, and we all know a good wave will consume gregory john's attention no matter who he's with. We did have pretty good conversation and i managed to keep his attention a good portion of the time, so all was not lost quite yet. After dinner gregory suggested we go do something else, but he didn't have anything planned. i like plans. We hopped in the car, and he drove into a shopping center parking lot to "decide what we were going to do". well, we started playing 21 questions, which then turned into 50 bazillion questions and hours spent talking and getting to know each other which was lovely! I guess he got pretty comfy with me because that's when he pulled a stunt i will never forget. He got completely serious and told me about a dream he had recently. "i was with this pretty girl, and this one song was playing....what was the name???...OH! Moondance by Van Morrison...that was playing...and she kissed me. it was a great dream!" okay..........anyway. He then continued. "wait a sec...i just might..." and he goes ahead and Pulls out a van morrison CD and plays the song in his car. you've GOT to be kidding me. He puts his hands behind his head, leans back in his seat, and waits. i look at him like he is completely mental and then he goes and flashes that deliciously attractive smile of his, so i fold my arms, and look straight ahead contemplating in my head whether to kiss this kid or not. i like him. but i'm not going to kiss him. but i kind of want to. but not on a first date. im not that kind of girl...second verse...gotta decide..okay maybe i am that kind of girl...I lean over, smile sweetly, and lay one on him. we kissed in that parking lot for about an hour, and then he took me home, walked me to the door, kissed me good bye, and that's when i knew he was different from any other boy i'd ever known and i wanted to keep him around forever.

first came love.

then came marriage.

then came emmy in a baby carriage.

gosh oh gee how happy i'd be, if i could only whistle.

This christmas, emmerson claire's theme song is fairly obvious.

All i want for christmas is my two front teeth.

poor gal.

fourteen.

days.

two.

a photo of something i ate today. WELL dino shaped chicken nuggets of course...but here's the cherry on top. keep that ketchup/ranch/bbq sauce in the fridge and try dipping it in jam.

oh.

my.

goodness.

gracious.

you'll never forgive yourself for not thinking of it sooner. so very good. reminds me of a monte cristo sandwich...and if you've never had that either, well try it, you're in for a treat. bon appetite.

the stockings were hung by the chimney with care

i decided last christmas that i was going to buy plain velvet stockings from pottery barn and then create my own design for all of my kids' stockings so that they are somewhat special to them. last year i didn't get around to it, but this year i finally put on a pair of crafty pants... errrr...put on my crafty hat?? i finally got crafty and went to work. i'm happy with the results and my sweet emmy thinks it's marvelous, so mission accomplished!

please note: i cannot take credit for the design of mine and greg's stocking. that was pottery barn

one.

ok, you got me. i'm going to do it. this might not be 30 consecutive days, but i will do my best to keep it going incase you cared to learn even more about me.

30 Day Blog Challenge:

Day 1 – A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was.

Day 2 – A photo of something you ate today.
Day 3 – Your idea of the perfect first date.
Day 4 – Your favorite photograph of your best friend.
Day 5 – A photo of yourself two years ago.
Day 6 – A photo of an animal you’d love to keep as a pet.
Day 7 – Your dream wedding.
Day 8 – A song to match your mood.
Day 9 – A photo of the item you last purchased.
Day 10 – A photo of your favorite place to eat.
Day 11 – What’s in your makeup bag?
Day 12 – A photograph of the town you live in.
Day 13 – Your favorite musician and why?
Day 14 – A TV show you’re currently addicted to.
Day 15 – Something you don’t leave the house without.
Day 16 – Your celebrity crush.
Day 17 – A photo of you and your family.
Day 18 – Something you crave a lot.
Day 19 – Another picture of yourself.
Day 20 – The meaning behind your blog name.
Day 21 – A photo of something that makes you happy.
Day 22 – A letter to someone who has hurt you recently.
Day 23 – 15 facts about you.
Day 24 – A photo of something that means a lot to you.
Day 25 – What’s in your purse?
Day 26 – A photo of somewhere you’ve been to.
Day 27 – A picture of you last year and now and how have you changed since then?
Day 28 – Your favorite movie.
Day 29 – Something you could never get tired of doing.
Day 30 – A photograph of yourself today + three good things that have happened in the past.

Day One:

This is me today.

I had quite an uneventful day, but i'm not complaining. Emmy and i stayed home for the majority of it, but took little field trip to the horse establishment at the bottom of the hill this afternoon. Miss Em loves her animals, and i'm learning to tolerate their filth and hideous scent for her sake. We read books, watched raffi, played peekaboo, had a couple dance parties...nothing out of the ordinary. gregory came home and we had supper, watched a little television, ate ice cream, played silly games with our sweet girl, then when she went to sleep we played monopoly and now i'm about to call it a night. i would consider it a good day. low key, but good.

ho ho ho

My itty bitty christmas lover has caught on quickly. we went to visit santa for the first time this year a few weeks ago. shy is not in emmerson's nature, and she wasn't at all scared. she happily sat on santa's lap, smiled sweetly for the camera and was thrilled to learn that the jolly man gives candy canes to all the little girls and boys that visit him. we went back to the mall a week later and she wanted to have another visit with mr claus. she turned on the charm, got another candy cane and merrily went on her way. we were at a different mall yesterday playing in the kids area with a santa cottage set up close by. she was minding her own business when she heard that famous "ho ho ho" and within seconds she was up and bolting for old saint nick. there were no other kids waiting in line at the time so i let her barge in. she got quite excited, and the workers were eating it up. they played music for her, and she danced for them. it didn't take long before she spotted the basket of joy. Santa saw that she was eyeing the candy, reached in and gave her a candy cane. she gave him a hug, and so he gave her a stuffed animal too (the kid really knows how to work it) once she got what she wanted, she pranced passed the crying/terrified children now in line and continued playing. what a champ. here are the photos from our first trip, and a few others taken recently.

on the nice list! (cousin Landon too)

being so gentle with the ornaments.

enjoying the pretty tree

love for cousin Landon.

seventeen.

days.

countdown

happy december! Emmerson and I cracked open our first chocolate in the ol advent calendar this morning and oh my golly what a great moment. she lit up when she saw "ho ho ho" on the package and did a happy dance when she realized there were treats inside. now let me tell you, getting older and having kids doesn't make it ANY easier to resist the temptation to rip open every single flap and devour all 24 (used to be 25 back in my youngster days. what a rip.) pieces of chocolate on the first day. i reluctantly refrained from doing so for the child's sake but what a task this will be to relive EVERY single day until christmas. i think next year i might have to get crafty and bust out a homemade one that can fit a cupcake or something more satisfying than that itty bitty piece of chocolate barely the size of a penny.

twenty.

five.

days.