2010 in Review...

Scott...

• Scott traveled A LOT this year! He did most of is travel within the United States mainly on the East Coast!
  
• Scott will be starting a new job on Jan. 4th... NO MORE TRAVEL!
• Scott started his own photography business... Scott Newman Photography!
• Loves his camera and loves buying new accessories for his baby!
  
• Scott continues to work in the primary in our church!

Melissa...

• Survived a major remodel to the kitchen and main floor of the house!
• Participates in a Co op preschool in the neighborhood! Teach every 6th week!
• Busy caring for 2 adorable sweet little devils... oops, I mean angels!
• Still working in the Young Women with Personal Progress!
  
  Ethan...

• Turned 4 this year!
• Participating in a neighborhood preschool! He LOVES it!
• Took swimming lessons this summer... didn't like putting his face in the water!
• Loves to play games and tries to play hide and go seek with Emma.
• Loves Buzz Lightyear!
• Know all his letters and sounds and starting to read 3 letter words.
• Recognize numbers to 100!

Emma...

• Emma is now 18 months old!
• She can now go to nursery, but doesn't mean she will :(
• Loves her big brother and tries to do everything that he does.
• She is all girl and loves jewelry, dolls, and being pretty!
• Emma has 10 teeth and 2 more (the bottom molars) on the way!
• Emma has been sick A LOT this year. RSV, Herpangina, pink eye, MANY colds and coughs, and stomach bugs!

Our Family Christmas!

The kids scored big time! Santa's sleigh must have been weighed down with all these presents! The kids were definitely spoiled, but since they are so darn cute, why not!

Before...

After....

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Christmas morning was like any other morning.... Ethan wakes up at 7:00 (7 dot dot) and comes into our room... We asked him what today was and he remembered it was Christmas. We told him to go downstairs to see if Santa came. He went downstairs and came back and his reaction was... "Emma got a pillow pet!" and "I got a Buzz suitcase!" He was pretty excited! By this time Emma was awake and the day has begun!

We insisted on having breakfast first! Ethan wanted his usual, a blueberry waffle!

Christmas breakfast! Blueberry waffles while watching Curious George! A typical morning around the Newman's house...

Ethan watching George! LOVES this show!

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Ethan...

This was the first present of the morning... and it was for me! Chocolate! YUM! Ethan picked it out!

LOVES Toy Story!

Ethan was totally into the presents and everything!

Hot Wheels!

Thomas the Train.... Just what he told Santa he wanted!

A mommy gift... preschool work books! He loves doing mazes and dot to dots! Perfect!

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Emma....

Emma got a baby! I think she ended up with about 4 babies by the end of Christmas!

Mrs. Potato Head!

Little People doll house! She LOVES it!

Emma was done well before Ethan... Near the end she wasn't interested with opening any more presents and was DONE! Ethan picked up her slack and helped her finish opening up her presents!

Emma chillin' with her new pillow pet!

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Scott and I had a wonderful Christmas as well... Our true gifts are our children. We love them more than anything and their smiles and laughter makes our Christmas even merrier!

Christmas Fun!

Christmas is always an adventure for the us... Coordinating and trying to get from one place to the next. Making sure we get to see the grandparents and of course dealing with tired children...

Christmas day this year was more like Christmas weekend...

The kids in their Christmas getups... This wasn't part of our Christmas Weekend, but it was too cute not to include!

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It's tradition in our family to have a Christmas Eve dinner and program, but this year my parents went up to Rock Springs to spend the holiday with Nathan and his family... So Scott and I hosted our own Christmas Eve dinner... Jaime and Kevin's family came up. It was a blast!

Emma, Ethan, Hilary, Bryson and Lydia! So cute in their Christmas jammies!

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Christmas Day we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Newmans and had a delicious dinner and of course, more presents!

Opening presents...

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Finally, the Riddle Christmas was held on Sunday!

Mom and dad always spoils us and the kidlets!

Cool stuff!

Fun times!

By this time I was done with Christmas! Now I have to find a place for all the new stuff!

18 months!

My sweet little Emma Joy is now 18 months old! I can't believe how big she is getting! Took her to the doctor this morning... here is how she measures up!

Height: 32.5 inches (75%)

Weight: 22 lb. 13 oz. (27%)

OFC: 18.5 inces (63%)

Emma is an active little girl that follows and copies everything her big brother is doing! She is starting to talk and everything new that comes out of her mouth makes my heart melt. Some words she is saying are: Choo, Choo... Scott, Bye, Hi, nana (banana), and several more... today she said something similar to "stinky" meaning, she has a stinky bum! Emma loves the camera and stops and gives me a big smile and says, "cheese!"

Emma is my little sickly one. She has been sick constantly this past year. She had about 2 months this summer where she wasn't sick at all... She has had a constant cough these past 4 months and today it was diagnosed that she has a slight case of asthma. We have her on a nebulizer for the winter and hopefully that will help with the coughing.

These past 3 nights have been heaven here at the Newman house! Emma has been sleeping peacefully through the night without any crying or coughing! I'm hoping this is the new Emma and we'll all get a good nights rest!

Oh, how we love our little princess!

New Job

After 3 1/2 years of traveling the country and earning mega sky miles, Scott is saying goodbye to the travel life and hello to Juniper Networks! At the beginning of the year Scott will be embarking on a new adventure, working from home! Yes, you heard this right... He'll be going from being gone ALL the time to being home ALL the time! One extreme to the next!

So instead of being the teacher, he will be writing the curriculum from the comforts of home... meaning... no more living out of a suitcase, long airplane rides, and no more "when is daddy coming home?" to... working in his jammies, long walks up and down the stairs and tucking in his little man and little princess into bed every night! Good trade off, if you ask me!

We are happy about the change, but a little apprehensive! It will be adjustment! But it was time for a change! Not to mention the nice salary with benefits and perks you only get when you work for a large company.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

This is how the tree started... notice the crackers in the tree... thanks to Ethan and Emma!

Emma wasted no time playing with the ornaments...

Ethan is showing Emma the ropes...

Nothing breakable within her reach...

Look what we found...

We pulled all this stuff out of... (not the can)

this...

Emma was at it again and stuffed all sorts of stuff in this speaker... We had to take the speaker apart to get the items out... Yes, we will have to do it again...

Newman's Review...

• Emma's sleeping has improved! Most nights she sleeps through the night, unless, she is teething! Emma, 5:30 is TOO early to wake up for the day... She usually goes back to sleep, but has to be with me! URG!
• Emma's new words are... "nana (banana), dye (bye), baba (baby), cacker (cracker), ah oh and boo" there are probably more, but I can't remember them!
• Emma is starting to run... YIKES!
• Emma is starting to give me cues when she needs to be changed... early potty training??? I think that is wishful thinking!
• Ethan is able to count and recognize numbers to 100! I have to say, I'm impressed!
• We had preschool at our house last week and Ethan LOVED it!
• Scott just got home from another trip to Virginia! I think he's been there at least 10 times this year! Now he's home for Thanksgiving!
• We are preparing our HUGE bedroom closet for a closet organizer which includes shelves and a work table! STORAGE! We are having the same people who did our kitchen cabinets do our closet organizer. I'm super excited and will post pictures when done!

Emma's Blankies

Almost every child has something they use for comfort... Ethan, it is Billow... For Emma... it's her blankies! She LOVES these blankets! She is constantly dragging them everywhere she goes and there is no way she is going to sleep without them! I have to drape one or both blankets over my shoulder so she can cuddle with me and the blankets before we go to bed! The blankets start in her crib and when Emma gets upset she runs to her room and reaches into her crib and pulls out her blankets for comfort!

Ethan also has a white blanket similar to Emma's... She thought it was hers and here she is trying to get it from Ethan!

Meet Billow

Meet Billow... This is Ethan's "baby"... Baby was what he was called until daddy asked Ethan what his name is and Ethan came up with Billow! Get it, Pillow with a B! Ethan got Baby when he was born from Grandma Newman and ever since he's been one, Baby has been his sleeping buddy! Recently we've notice Baby was becoming more "real"... Ethan is starting to talk with Baby... "I'll be right back, I have to go to preschool..." or "I'm home now!"

I've caught Billow propped up on pillows "watching TV" ... Ethan is starting to give Billow naps... He'll tuck him in and turn his music on. Last week we had preschool at our house and Ethan told his friends that they have to be quiet because Billow was taking a nap. It was a short nap for Billow because the kids were too loud! Ethan and Billow are inseparable... Billow had to go the "hospital" last month because Ethan vomited all over him and he had to be scrubbed down. I was very surprised that Ethan was able to sleep without him!

All tucked in and ready for a nap!

Family Pictures 2010

A special thank you to our friend, Ben, for helping us with our pictures... These are some of the better ones and are unedited... Enjoy!

One of my favorites!

Ethan is the best brother... most of the time!

Love this one!

I think this was the best family shot! Ethan didn't have his usual "silly face."

Ethan... what can I say?

Emma had to stop on the way to gather a handful of leaves!

Love this picture of my little man!

I really like this one too! I love how Ethan is grabbing Scott's leg!

So innocent!

Emma loves those beads!

Another favorite!