5 little monkeys...

...jumping on the bed.
One fell off and bumped his head.
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

Caden loves this rhyme/story. So is it any surprise that this is what happened this morning?!...

Corban was pulling up on a chair, lost his balance and fell over. Caden said, "Corban fall down and bonked head. Daddy, call doctor."

My Birthday Celebration

On July 7th I turned 31 years old, and as is my recent tradition, I was out of the country :) April and I decided to celebrate my birthday on a day after the interns were gone and we had some just family time.
Friday was that day! I got to sleep in until 9, which is unheard of for me. I got chocolate chip pancakes in bed, along with ice cold milk and orange juice. I got my beanbag filled with really comfy Styrofoam! I got a special meal of Thai food that evening, and my favorite part was the dessert. April made "bumpy cake", a special cake that I always had for my birthdays growing up. Just the fact that she attempted it was special, and then she went and did a great job on top of that! Bless her, she even let me cut the first piece right out of the middle of the cake. Normally this drives her NUTS, but she let me do it on my special day. We ended the day with a movie and some cuddling on the couch, a perfect end to my birthday celebration. I had missed April and the boys so much because of internship and the busyness that surrounds it, and it has been so wonderful to reconnect these last few days since the interns left. Thank you God for 31 years and for a wonderful wife and 2 special boys to share it with!

Random Photos...very random

I was on my own today with the boys since Brett was taking the interns to the airport in Lome, the capital. I decided that I should learn a bit more about our digital rebel. I thought some of you might enjoy my results...just for fun.Caden putting on his Daddy's socks...this made me laugh because they covered his entire legs.

Gotta love the drool from teething...have I mentioned his has 4 teeth up top and 2 on the bottom?
This picture may inspire a future post. Caden has learned where I keep the apples in addition to how to open the fridge to get one when Momma isn't looking. At least he's sneaking healthy snacks.
I love this shot.

He is staring at the little bird we have on our porch.
Cutting teeth...check.
Sitting up...check.
Crawling...check.
Pulling up on things...check.
Still smiling...check.

Look What Corban's Doing

It's official! Corban is crawling.

Uploaded by emersonstogo

Today, he has been all over the place putting everything in his mouth.
My life just got a lot more complicated.

Unpromted Quote

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Today Was A Fun Day...

Here's just a few reasons why today was a fun day...

1. It rained all day keeping things under 70 degrees!


2. Caden and I built a fort out of the card table and a few sheets.


3. I love the pure joy that a toddler displays when realizing the tent is for him.

4. This is what I saw for most of the morning.

5. And this is why.... (am I a cool Mommy, or what?!)


6. Corban woke up talking (rather than crying, always a nice treat) and this is how I found him..


7. Yes, he did that all by himself. Yet Caden couldn't stand to not be a part of the fun.


8. Dreams of more fun times in the future.

9. Fun giggles.

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Uploaded by emersonstogo

10. Long sleeved shirts and pants for pajamas...and socks!

Today was a fun day to be Mommy!
Thank you, God, for these precious gifts.

Yes, We Celebrated Too!

This year our team celebrated the 4th of July at our house. Our activities included flour sack races, three-legged races, a children's parade (complete with patriotic songs-thanks Abby & Hannah), eating (fruit pizza, sausage balls, jell-o in the shape of stars, blue kool-aid, and red popsicles), and socializing. I enjoyed decorating a bit with red and blue (thanks Mom!) before everyone arrived. So yes, just because we live in a different country doesn't mean we can celebrate the 4th of July...it might just look a bit different and no one around us understands it.

It's not a picture, Caden.

Caden thinks that our digital camera is only used for taking pictures. As you can see in this video...he's a bit confused.

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Uploaded by emersonstogo

In case you didn't catch that...my kids are named Cor-man and Ca-nan. Nice.


Caden was quite excited this morning for him and Corban to put on matching shirts (Thanks Nanna!), I couldn't resist the photo opp.

Caden's eyes are quirky in this one, but I wanted to show you how big Corban is in comparison to Caden. I think he's going to pass Caden...and dominate him. Watch out Caden!

Nap Time

It was nap time at the Emerson house. I heard giggling. This is what was happening...

Caden's Prayer

Dear God, Thank you Momma, Daddy, Corban. Thank you A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z. Now I know my ABCs, next time you sing with me. A, a, apple, thank you. B, b, ball, thank you. C, c, computer, thank you. Jesus' name, Amen.

I'm 7 months old!

He did not want to sit still for this picture.
Happy guy!
Angry guy.
Cute guy.

He's Gonna Jump!!!

Couch Jumper
Uploaded by emersonstogo

Angry Alphabet

Angry Alphabet
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The Grass

Caden was playing in the playroom with one of our interns when he suddenly jumped up and exclaimed, "Go pee pee, fast." The intern replied, "O.K., go...the bathroom's right there" (pointing to the bathroom connected to the room they were in). Caden proceeded to run out of the room, down the hall, out the front door, through the porch door to the tree in the front yard. Keep in mind, Caden runs around naked so that potty experiences can be handled at a quick pace. Also, I should tell you that our "front yard" is surrounded by a concrete wall, therefore, no Africans can gawk at my naked child. Back to the story...next thing I know Caden has bent his knees slightly, thrust his hips forward, and is peeing in the grass at the base of our tree. Watching him through the window I asked, "Caden, what are you doing?" "Go pee pee, grass!" Oh of course, where else would a little boy go pee pee?!

Oh My!

I created a few writing pages for Caden yesterday to see what he could do. They were connect the dot pages of letters and shapes. The first one was his name, a circle, and a square. I couldn't help but smile the whole time he was writing...he was concentrating so hard.

This page was just lines....straight, curvy, zig-zag, etc. Caden decided it would be better to just circle all the lines.

I wanted to see if he could follow instructions and test his shapes and colors.
Here were his instructions (given individually):

• color the circle red (he gave every shape a little red, but chose the crayon himself)
• color the square blue
• color the diamond orange (oops, he chose yellow...but when asked, he told me it was yellow)
• color the triangle orange

And this is what I get for trying to teach him to write his letters (and then not keeping an eye on him)...

Don't worry (SheaLea) , he's still getting lots of opportunities to explore his creative side with blank canvas...and we're still working on the concept that we write only on paper.

New Talents

Corban is learning to sit all by himself. While it's still a difficult to talk him into bending at the waist (he would prefer to stand all day), he is able to sit for a few seconds on his own before his curiosity gets the best of him and he topples to one side. We're working on crawling too...no such luck.Just ask one of the four guys (college interns) staying at our house and they will testify that Caden is, indeed, obsessed with his ABCs. Today I printed out a few color sheets from the Fisher-Price website (great site!) and he was so excited to color the letters. Look what I caught him doing....


Now that we have the singing part down, maybe it's time to start the writing.

Love it!

You gotta love it when you have a family member who is so talented. Our sister-in-law, Betsy, did a baby body parts collage for Caden and it's one of my favorite keepsakes. She took pictures for Corban's collage while we were in the States. Check out the beautiful finished product...

Laughs, Giggles, & Squeals

I told you Corban thinks Caden is hilarious, right?
Here's a video to give you a small glimpse of what I'm talking about...

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Uploaded by emersonstogo

Notice how similar their voices (ok, squeals) are?

Sweet Corban

Things you might not know about Corban:

• 2 bottom teeth
• eating rice cereal (he actually prefers the organic brand)
  
• sitting on his own for a few seconds
• prefers to stand in your lap rather than sit
• will roll off a blanket and all over the floor
  
• makes cute spitting noises
• notices when he's left alone
• thinks Caden is hilarious!
  

3 Special Boys

I love this picture of my boys (yes, that includes Brett)! I was going to write this long post about why I love each them but thought it might be interesting to see what other people have to say. So go ahead, leave us a comment describing one of my boys, a special memory you have of them, or your favorite thing about them. I know I love them very much and I want them each to know how much they're loved by others as well. Thanks for helping me out on this special post. --April