Budding artist

Back in November, Miya started drawing people with arms and legs. You know, the kind with all the appendages coming out of their heads. Well, one day after preschool, two of her teachers excitedly reported this skill to us, saying that it was unusual for kids her age (2 and a half) to draw people, never mind the detail. The child care worker at the gym was surprised to hear that Miya wan only 2, and told me the same thing this morning, so I had to look up the developmental timetable for myself.



Sure enough - she's a prodigy! :) I have been meaning to scan some of her drawings, and finally did it so that we could properly showcase the talents of our budding artist.


This is a drawing of the family: daddy, mommy, Miya, and Emi (she asked Jacob to do his own eyes, ears, and hair).


A picture of mommy...I'm not sure why I get a cone head.


Her friend Hayden. Most pictures she draws are of Hayden. When I pointed to the nose and asked what they were, she said "Two nose holes, mommy." Oh, right. She also made sure to show me the feet...see them?


A self protrait.


The drawing she did at the gym this morning with Nicole.

I'm walking!

The baby is walking. She started using her feet as her primary means of transportation (at least around the house) last week.

"I'm walking!" from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

And here she is this week. Go Emi, go!

Walking at 12 months...again from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

(Please excuse the messy house...we're excused right? I heard that having 2 mess-makers excuses you from having to have a tidy house. That's just what I heard...)

Christmas

We spent Christmas this year with Michelle's family in Wyoming.

Grandma and Papa Miller


Emi is loving her time with Dada.


Miya is such a good big sister. She loves giving Emi hugs and making her laugh.


Emi is a young lady on a mission. A mission to fling anything that is on a table, chair, or at "Emi height" on to the floor. With a face like that...how can you get upset? (In case your wondering...it does happen!)


This shot was a result of Michelle's creative mind. I think that it is a fun shot! Emi loved the glass balls on the Christmas tree and this was a fun way to capture her reaching for one.






Miya discovered that she loves peanuts and M&Ms...they were always sitting out on the table, so she was always eating them!

Ice Fishing

We made sure we fit in some ice fishing while we were in Wyoming. The temperature stayed in the 20's, so it wasn't half bad (for the first couple hours, anyway).


Jacob and grandpa drilled the holes...





Then we dropped a few lines, and waited...



Some of us waited longer than others...





All in all, Jacob caught 5 fish, grandpa caught 2, and Michelle...she only caught 1, and it was a sucker that we had to throw back. Poor Michelle.

Happy 30th!

Jacob turned 30 this weekend, so I threw him a surprise party. We ate soup and bread (thanks, everyone, for bringing the food!) and hung out. We almost played rock band, too...right Dylan?





I tried my hand at making a cheeseburger and fries ice cream cake. I wish I'd taken the time to get some good pictures (since we now have an awesome camera again), but here are a couple of shots (thanks Dylan).



I made peanut butter icing for the bun (topped with sesame seeds), with fondant for the cheese and lettuce, and chocolate ice cream for the burger.



Yummy... Good thing there were lots of people there to help eat it...it was huge.

One year old!

Our little Emi turned one last week, and we celebrated the snowy day with a snowman cake, balloons and presents.



Is that a cute cake, or what?! (Yes, sometimes I do make time to be crafty/creative...)







She knew just what to do with that cake, and she even tried to blow out the candle!

Blowing out the candles from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

The 1st piece of cake from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

Emi loved to hear the "Happy Birthday" song, and would sway to the tune (this is post-cake eating...thus, no shirt).

Swaying to the Happy Birthday tune from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

Sugar cookies

Grandpa and grandma helped the grandkids make cookies while the adults went to a movie (I think it was mostly grandpa). The kids (and kitchen) were coated in flour, some cookies were decorated with fruit snacks, and the official report was "Making cookies with papa is fun!"

Decorating

After Thanksgiving, we put up our tree. Jacob has SOOOO many ornaments (yeah...I contributed zero to our collection when we got married. He, on the other hand, had several boxes) that I can do a color theme each year, and put up ornaments that match the color of choice. This year we did gold with burgundy and browns. It turned out beautifully, but it seems that I never took a picture of the finished product...we're in Wyoming for the holidays, so I can't take one now to show you. Oh well. Take my word for it: it's beautiful (if I do say so myself).



And of course, I had to share some pictures of my beautiful babies.

Olives

Miya loves to feed Emi (I should post another video of that), but Miya got a kick out of giving Emi something that was a little out of the ordinary to see her reaction...over and over again. Emi just kept going for it! Fun.

Thanksgiving olive tasting from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

10 months - working on walking

This video is from nearly a month ago, but I didn't get around to posting it....obviously. Emi is getting quite good at her push toys, and will even stand up and balance without holding on to anything (quite the contrast to Miya, who didn't even want to crawl until she was 11 months!). She's definitely a busy-body these days!

Push toy at 10 months from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.