Only a Grandma...

One morning Tom and I received an email from Grandma and Emma telling us about their morning. It seems that Grandma loaded bagfuls (bagsful?) of leaves into the kitchen so that Emma could have her picture taken in the Fall foliage! The kitchen was spotless when we got home and we would have had no idea she had done it if we didn't have these pictures for proof! Grandma’s can get away with just about anything!

Solid Food (finally!)

Emma received a special treat from the kids. Her first solid food—PEACHES. Sadly, she was not particularly impressed. She made some very interesting faces but would open her mouth for more.

Since then we have tried rice cereal and applesauce. Emma gets more solid foods at Sarah’s house. Good stuff!

Halloween

Just a week after Grandma’s arrival it was Halloween and time to break out the Duckie costume. As much as she loves sucking on the beak of her little stuffed duck Waddles, she was NOT impressed with having her own duck bill. She dressed up and Grandma brought her to school and Daddy’s work, then Trunk or Treat at church, and last but not least she was all dressed up on Halloween to go to the kids’ house and celebrate!

October???

Holy Cow!! Where did October go? It was a busy month that seemed to pass in a blur. The very best part of October was Grandma Cunningham’s surprise visit! She came to play with us for 3 weeks. Luckily that was enough time to get all our laundry and ironing caught up!

First on her list of things to do was going shopping for Emma. At the brand-spanking-new Babies-R-Us we had Emma test out some exer-saucers. True to her Cunningham blood, Emma picked the most expensive one… making Mom and Grandma so proud!

We just told Emma’s daddy it was a door prize!

With the autumn comes cooler weather and that means new CUTE outfits for Emma! She has learned that tights and shoes can be fun! I think we may have a shoe girl on our hands—when she has on her church shoes she just stares at her feet! She is nearing 5 months and at her last appointment she weighed in at over 17 pounds and well over 2 feet long! She is growing SO fast! She is working so hard to roll all the way over and to sit up. She even sat in a high chair for the first time—at Maggie Moo’s with the Sanofsky’s no less!

She still loves (demands) to be the center of attention and we are more than happy to give her all the attention she wants. We have discovered that she has a fantastic laugh that comes straight from her belly! It is just the very best sound!

Madeline, nearly a teenager, worked her first Oktoberfest with the Appleton 1^st Ward youth as a fund raiser. It was a long day for her, me and especially for Tom, since he worked two shifts, but it was worth it! It was especially fun to see familiar faces when Tom brought Emma to visit Madeline and me and then Mike showed up with Hannah, Sadie, and Clara. We thought the fun was over, but our next activity night will be cleaning up all the equipment! UGH!!

Tommy has turned into quite the grown up young man this month. He started playing flag football and loves it! He runs and plays with the best of them! He also joined Cub Scouts and is already heading up is first fund raiser (popcorn goes GREAT with football….!). It is great to see him taking such pride in both new activities.

September has been a very busy month for the whole Clifford Clan! It all started with heading back to school… Madeline is in 7^th grade a Little Chute Middle School, Clara is in 3^rd grade and Tommy is in 2^nd grade at Little Chute Elementary School. So far they are all doing very well and seem quite happy with new teachers and classrooms. Emma goes to the Taylor’s house everyday and has adjusted perfectly (Mom is adjusting fine also!). She goes to story time at the library and play group every Thursday. Its no surprise she is so tired in the evening!

Labor Day Weekend

This is the last weekend before school starts so we just relaxed at home and got some good camera time. Emma, being the big girl that she is, loves sitting on the couch playing. And, of course, after her bath she is always in a great mood!