1 year photoshoot

we were gifted a photoshoot for emma taylor at a baby shower before she was even born! we were so excited about the gift because Sara Parker is a good friend and amazing photographer! we plan on getting all of our future children a 1 year old photoshoot by Sara. she's that good. go check out e.t.'s photoshoot on her blog...

celebrating

yesterday we celebrated 5 years of marriage...has it really been that long? we started off the day by eating breakfast (fresh made donuts, hashbrowns, quiche, and coffee) at the local farmer's market, and we collected our dinner ingredients while we were there. we then had a dear friend watch emma taylor while we went canoing which is something we haven't done since before i got pregnant with e.t. and man am i sore now. we ended the day with eating our farmer's market dinner of ravioli, asparagus, and bread with goat cheese. yum. it was a great relaxing yet fun day.

{self portrait}

{our picnic spot on the river}

{locally made goat cheese. i could live off this stuff}

paint & pour

this past week i got to go with a couple of friends for a mom's night out. we found a deal to go to Palmetto Paint and Pour (a BYOB painting class) for half off! it was a ton of fun, and easier than it looked. the instructor showed you how to paint and went step by step. plus in the end you get to take home a painting!

new do

emma taylor's hair is getting long! she stopped letting me put bows in it awhile back, but i have been able to work them back in as long as she doesn't see me put it in. it can be quite an ordeal to get it to stay in. her bangs are long enough to pin back. isn't she precious! before we know it she'll be wearing pigtails!

5 years

today it has been 5 years since i married my best friend. i can't really remember life before we were together (we started dating when i was just 15). i can't wait to see what the next 5 years will hold.

bruises

emma taylor is not trying to walk, but every once in awhile she will out of nowhere stand up for a few seconds by herself. this however is making her a bit more daring. this makes for some scratches and bruises and a sad looking little girl.

new toys

along with turning one comes new toys. we put away some of her more baby toys to make room for her new big girl toys.

she totally does NOT get this car racer. she however does like to lift the start flap which makes all sorts of car sounds (i really need to take the batteries out...yes i am that mom!). she also likes to stuff all the cars into the car compartment.

what a fun gift! we love wooden toys and this is such a cool find. i am guessing you can find many wooden horses like this anymore! emma taylor thinks its pretty cool too and likes to ride on it while you push it up and down the hall. when it stops she gets pretty upset. i think she is going to be a big fan of roller coasters!

lastly, this is not a new toy...some friends of ours let us borrow this push walker for emma taylor because i thought she was on the verge of wanting to walk. a week before her birthday she would stand up with it on her own and walk a bit. she is pretty proud of herself when she does it too.

decoration

this is one of the few decorations i had up for emma taylor's birthday. usually this board holds all the family photo christmas cards that we get (yes i keep them up ALL YEAR), but for e.t.'s big day i loaded it up with pictures from the last year. as much as i love the christmas cards these darling photos might stay a bit longer!

a year in pictures

{newborn}

{1 month}

{2 months}

{3 months}

{4 months}

{5 months}

{6 months}

{7 months}

{8 months}

{9 months}

{10 months}

{11 months}

{12 months}

12 months

no way emma taylor can be a whole year old?! it seems like this year went so fast. the closer she got to one the more she started to turn into a little girl and less of a baby. she loves playing with anything she can stack or put together. she has some cars and loves driving them on the ground complete with sound effects. she loves books and will bring them for you to read any chance she gets. she cruises around all of the furniture, book shelf, tables, and chairs. she started walking with a push toy all by herself although she is not ready to try it alone. she loves people as always and loves attention. somedays i think she gets a bit bored of me so we keep busy. she takes 2 naps but can miss or push off the first nap whenever we have somewhere to be. that flexibility makes life a whole lot easier. we made the switch to whole milk in just one week and took away all her bottles before she turned one. she eats most anything we eat but certainly has her favorites like blueberries and green beans. she says dadda, mamma, da (dog), dat (cat), and no. she also makes a monkey noise which is really cute.

here are her stats:

height: 31 inches (95%)

weight: 23 lbs 9 oz (85%)

head circumfrence: 18.5 inches (92%) 

who needs a spoon

emma taylor prefers to eat directly from the bowl sometimes, and sometimes i give in. if there is a bowl sitting on the table she wants it. what for you ask? she likes to put a few pieces of whatever she is eating in that bowl and then proceed to "drink" from it. apparently food tastes much better this way.

ruffle bottom

so the title of this post was almost "ruffle butt" and then something inside me said it wasn't appropriate. speaking of inappropriate...emma taylor started saying the word butt, well babbling it really, even though she obviously has no idea what she is saying. it really makes me laugh which makes her say it more, and although it's not a bad word it just might not be quite appropriate.

cake

for e.t.'s first birthday i made emma taylor her own smash cake and cupcakes for everyone else. i decided on blueberry cupcakes because they are e.t.'s favorite and used this recipe. they turned out super yummy! by some of the pictures it looks like emma taylor dug in and had her share of cake, but rather she just played with it and perhaps a bite or two of icing accidently made it into her mouth.

{inspiration for the little name banner came from pinterest!}

{these cupcake toppers matched her invitations}