Emma turned two today! I can hardly believe it. I was not nearly prepared for this birthday as for her last one. Here are a few pics from her birthday celebration. I'll add more and recap the last few days later. 
On Monday, MJ wanted to go outside to garden. It was another beautiful day. And of course where she goes--Emma goes. So, they donned their bucket hats, sweatshirts and work sandals and off they went. They each had a little hand shovel, but had to share the purple bucket. They had fun digging all over the place. They also played with the egg-shaped sidewalk chalk they received at Easter from Grandpa Mark and Grandma Carla. Emma had fun trying on MJ's Dora gardening gloves too. Guess we know what she needs for this summer--her own pair!
This morning Mackenzie came to tell me Emma had climbed in the baby stroller again. So, I helped take her out and told MJ to show her sister what the stroller is used for. This was a dream assignment for her. She said, "Come on Emma, let's go play!" I could hear her talking to Emma saying this is where we put the baby dolls and you're not a baby Emma. You're a toddler. She got them both babies to play with and they both had blankets and purses. She drove the stroller around and Emma toddled after her with her baby. They went to the market and picked up groceries. After quite awhile of playing together, Emma finally had a chance to push the stroller herself with her own baby. It was quite fun watching and listening to them play together. Later they came into the office where I was working. Periodically MJ likes to use my handheld tape recorder to record her voice. Today she said, "I'm just playing babies with my sister. It's a lot of fun. I love my babies. I'm trying to be a mom. Having babies. Being a mom is a lot of responsibility. You have to feed the baby. You have to change diapers. You have to do lots of important things and take care of them and have fun." And it's all there on the tape! I may have to remind her of that some day. :)
