The 3 Amigas and beating the heat
Whew, it sure has been HOT, HOT, HOT here for the past several days! Emma and her good friends Taylor and Macey have been trying to do whatever they can to beat the heat. The three of them are in the same Gymboree class and always seem so excited to see each other, it's like they're the Three Amigas!

Last week, Taylor came over to play in the back yard. (Macey decided to take a nice, long nap instead and didn't join them that afternoon.) Em and Taylor started out by playing in Emma's new sandbox (Taylor has the same one at her house) and then tried to cool off with some popsicles. The popsicles were cold and yummy but melted fast, which left the girls a kinda sticky mess despite Mommy's efforts at preventative bibbing.... so we changed the girls into swimmy diapers and let them run around under the sprinkler for a while to cool off and clean off! Here is a close-up of Emma's face as she stuck it in the spray. She was trying to catch water in her mouth, which led to a very soaked kid who made pirate faces that cracked us up! Once the girls started turning blue from the cold water, Mommy decided it was time to shut the water off and we wrapped them in towels to warm up. All that running around in the sprinkler seemed to tire them out, because the next thing we knew, they were lying down by the sandbox saying "okay, nap!" Taylor's mom said it was time to go, so the girls hugged goodbye and we made plans to get together soon.

The next day, Mommy's friend Rasheem came over for lunch and brought her younger son, Malachi, to play with Emma. Malachi is almost two years older than Emma, and thinks that boys should really play with boys and girls should play with girls, but eventually he warmed up to Emma and they started playing together. He even gave Em a hug when it was time to go! Mommy remembers when Malachi was born, he was just a tiny, little peanut - not quite as small as Emma - so it always surprises her to see how big he keeps on getting!

On Monday, Emma and Mommy met up with Taylor and Macey and their mommies, along with Macey's baby brother Hayden, to check out the animals at Springdale Farm. Even though it was still morning, it was already hot and steamy outside! Taylor's mom, Katrina, helped the girls pick up grass and hay to feed to the miniature horses. The horses seemed pretty happy with their snack assistance, too. After checking out the animals for about an hour, the girls started getting hot and cranky, so after a quick beverage break we headed over to Taylor's house, where she has not one, not two, but THREE pools to play in in her back yard! Macey's mom, Freyda, was super-prepared and had TWO bathing suits in her diaper bag, so Emma borrowed one of them and in the pool they went! (Hayden needed a little help from his mom to hang out with the big girls.) Emma started right in with her favorite thing to do in water - splash with her feet and hands! It was a lot of fun going between the pools, especially once Katrina set up a slide going into one of them. After cooling off in the pool, it was chow time and Taylor's mommy made all sorts of yummy things for the girls to eat. After lunch, the kids tried out the hammock (with Katrina's help) and thought it was pretty fun at first, but then Macey decided she'd rather get out and help rock the other two instead. Emma and Taylor thought the free ride was pretty great!

Today was Gymboree day, and so we'll leave you with some pictures of the three amigas playing with the beach balls (thanks for the pic, Katrina!) and being pulled on the steps ride. They were having a great time and can't wait to play together again soon!
- posted by Heather @ 6:46 PM