June in a Nutshell!

As I mentioned in a previous post, May & June were insanely busy for me at work. Honestly, this was not my best year at RCS... working full time as a new mommy + some challenging/time-consuming situations throughout the year really took it's toll on me. However, in early June I got official notice that my request to work part-time next year was approved!! I'm so excited that I'll be able to spend more time at home with Emmy while still doing some of the work that I love! Even though it's been a tough year at work, I still really love what I do, and I especially love the kids and staff I work with! So I'm not ready to let that go completely... but I think having a reduced work schedule will give me the best of both worlds!

Emmy reading the good news!

Honestly, the month of June feels like a blur to me! Thankfully I take lots of pictures, so I'll rely on those to show you what we were up to in June! :-)

Oak Apple 5k

We started June with the Oak Apple 5k Run in Royal Oak! Dan & I ran it & brought Emmy with us on the run in her jogging stroller! Technically, this was Emmy's second time running in a race - I was 7 weeks pregnant with her when I ran the Bayshore half marathon in 2011! We've started doing regular walks/runs as a family in the evenings, and Emmy does really well in the jogger. We try to go right before her bed time, and I think it's become a good wind down/calm down time for her. 

Despite this bummy face, Emmy really enjoyed the race! She loved saying hi to all of the people and doggies we saw along the way! We had to wake her up to get to the race, which started at 7am, so maybe she was just still sleepy in this picture :-)

All done! Emmy loved the medal she got for finishing!

Celebrating a good run with breakfast,
specifically dinosaur pancakes!!

Also in June, we celebrated Mila's 1st Birthday with the Quicks! Emmy loved seeing her friends again, and had so much fun jumping in the bounce house with Eli and helping Mila open her presents. Thankfully Mila is a very laid back little lady, and was gracious enough to let Emmy in on the spotlight of opening her gifts! :-)

Hugs for Mila!

Dan with the birthday girl!

Emmy LOVED the jumpy-jumpy! I think she thinks this is always in
the Quick's back yard...

Helping Mila open her presents!

In between our fun events, we found lots of time to work & play outside!

Helping daddy sweep

Washing her toys

There were quite a few warm weather days in June where we met our friends Lisa, Brooke & Baby Beck at the park to play on our way home from school! Emmy, of course, prefers the biggest, fastest slides at the park!

Wheeee!

Here comes Emmy!

One of my oldest, best friends Amanda had her beautiful baby girl Addelyn Jean in April, and finally in June Emmy got to meet her! They are BFF's already!!

Despite her face Emmy really is excited to meet Addi!

Not sure why this is sideways...
But I figure you can still see the cuteness!

Kisses for Addi!!

In early June we celebrated "Papa" Goerlich's birthday! Emmy really enjoyed spending time with everyone, especially her uncles!!

Bubbles with Uncle "Meat"

Snuggling up with a good book, and Hunter-man

I've recently gotten into (become addicted?!) Matilda
Jane clothing, this is Emmy's first MJ dress :-)

Bubbles with Uncle Meat & Uncle B

This girl loves bubbles!

You may have noticed from the pictures that Emmy has been growing!!! Since she recently started trying to climb onto her highchair by herself, I thought maybe it was time to take off the highchair & tray attachments & try her out sitting at the table like a big girl! She's still strapped into the chair with chest straps, so she doesn't fall off, and so far she's doing great! This was the main reason we registered this chair; it grows with her, and it allows her to be sitting at the table just like us, but still be sitting in a chair that's the right size for her! :-)

This is new...

Such a big girl!

One of the many ways Emmy takes after her mommy, is in her love of shoes!! She has been very determined for a long time to put her shoes on by herself, and she's finally able to do it! She's been able to put the rain boots on for a little while, mostly because they're big & have handles on the sides to pull them on with. But now she can put on her red sandals too! 

Putting on her boots!

Putting on her sandals!

Emmy continues to love to play with her sand & water table!

June brought the first of 5 weddings we're invited to this summer! It was an adults only wedding, so Grandma & Papa Goerlich watched Emmy for us! Not only did she get to have a sleep over at their house, she also got to go to a graduation party that had a splash park with them!! I think she may have had just a good time with them as we did at the wedding!

All dressed up!

While mommy & daddy are away...

...Emmy will play!!

Don't worry, we had fun too!

The next day was Father's Day, and Emmy was lucky enough to celebrate with her Daddy, Papa Smith and Papa Goerlich!

Kisses for Daddy

Snuggles with Papa Smith

Our family <3

Cooling off in the pool

Snuggles with Papa Goerlich

Emmy loves when Uncle B plays guitar for her!

One of my generous co-workers added this little beauty to our outdoor toy collection recently. Emmy loves riding around in her beep-beep! The only problem is she seems to think the way it works is she puts her feet up and mommy pushes her around... We'll have to work on that :-)

She seems to think her feet go up, not down...

Play dates with Brooke are one of Emmy's favorite things to do! Emmy just loves Brookie!! I think she really looks up to her, and she talks about her all the time! It's so nice that Lisa (Brooke's mommy) & I both have the summers off so we can have lots of play dates!!

Talking to each other on the phone

Eating lunch together

Going for a drive

So much fun in the water table!

We love having a family zoo pass, it allows us to have impromptu zoo trips whenever the mood strikes us! We also love bringing our lunch to the zoo to have a picnic!

Checking out the Lions

Daddy & Emmy

We finally made it to the zoo's playground!

Emmy & Mommy

Sunday Funday! This phrase has a whole different meaning for a younger crowd, but I love spending Sundays at home with Emmy & Dan, especially when they include being outside in the sun & the pool!!

Being home in the summer allows us to take advantage of things like outdoor story time at the library on Monday mornings! It's nice for us to have some "routine" things in our week, and Emmy really enjoys it! It's even more fun when we meet our friends there! 

After outdoor story times at the library, Emmy & I like to get lunch!

We love having Auntie Amanda, Uncle Eric & Baby Addi back in Michigan!! They've been living in North Carolina for the last few years (5? 6?), and just recently moved back to the mitten! We're so happy they did, and even happier that they are our new neighbors, well they will be once we move back into our home!!

Kisses for Addi

Emmy loves Addi!! BFF's already!!

Towards the end of June Emmy experienced her first candlelit dinner! But not by choice - we lost power due to a bad storm for about 24 hours. It was an interesting 24 hours, but we survived, mostly thanks to Papa Smith, who brought over his generator early the next morning for us!

Since school's out we're having lots of play dates with Emmy's BFF Brooke. However, Emmy equally loves Brooke's little brother, Beckett, AKA Baby Beck! Here's some shots from a recent play date where Emmy was putting the moves on Beck!

What's up Baby Beck?!

Kisses for Baby Beck!

Emmy also loves her Auntie "Isa" (Lisa), especially since she gave her her first pedicure!! Emmy sat in Baby Beck's bumbo chair and held her little feet up for Lisa to paint, it was so cute! Afterwards she'd look at her toes & say "Paint the toes!" 

"Paint the toes!"

At the end of June we celebrated baby Molly Yoder's baptism!! Emmy loved seeing baby Molly, and her DeWitte cousins Alayna, Nolan & Nathan too!! We had a nice afternoon with the Lemmer/Goerlich's!!

Checking out the fountain with Alayna

Little Beauties

Uncle Dan & Baby Molly!

Sitting on the table like she owns the place...

Our little family <3

And believe it or not, that brings us to the end of June! Phew, it only took me 3 days to get this done!! I'll do an update just on Emmy & how/what she's doing soon!! :-)