An Elephant and a Gator

Emmanuel has turned into quite the artist. With school out we have been looking for ways to keep him busy. Here he is drawing an Elephant and then a Gator.

Ready?Go!!

Emmanuel has started saying the funniest little things. The one I absolutely hate is "Aww Man!". He seems to know when to say that one and apply it. It's quite funny, though. The cute one right now is "Ready? Go!!". This video captures it while he's being our baseball star.

-Growing up all over again with cute little sayings.

Christmas Toys Everywhere!

We got a late start this morning, but we finally got the gifts unwrapped and scattered all around. The hit seemed to be all the fake food. Emmanuel really likes the kitchen and food at daycare so I decided to buy him some fake food (Daddy nixed the idea of me buying a stove to go with the food). We opened this gift first and all the rest we had to open. The ice cream and chicken and hot dogs won!


We also got him quite a few leapfrog pieces - the TAG, the clickstart, and TAG books and letters and animal cards - that TAG system is really nice. I know Emmanuel is a little young for it, but the school he will be going to later in the year uses a lot of leapfrog, so I wanted to get a head start.
The other gifts included nice clothes and shoes from Florida. Toys and clothes from Mississippi. And we now have all of the characters to Madagascar 2:Out of Africa - I didn't know that TAG had a Madagascar book to go along.

This is Emmanuel's First Christmas where he can unwrap the gifts himself. We didn't do too much since his birthday is coming up next week.

Here's to wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!!

- The Souter's know that Jesus is the reason for this season. God Bless

My Uncle Joe

This is a tribute to my uncle Joseph Dixon, Jr. who passed away on December 4, 2008. He was my mother's only brother.

BEYA-MDTL Award winner! Me?

Once again, I take a moment to diverge from all the antics my toddler is up to to say something about the other Souters. I am excited to say that I have been selected as a 2009 Black Engineer of the Year Award- Modern Day Tehcnology leader. I know - long title.

I, along with a few other engineers from my company, was selected as a winner. How exciting! We will be awarded at the annual Black Engineer of the year Award conference held in Baltimore along with the other top engineers in the country. The MDTL award is based on technical contribution to your company, educational background and lots of community service. Our company produced profile book packages for us that were at least 40 pages. The nominees (now winners) had to take hours to culminate our contributions and awards and community service participation to include in our profile books.

Alas - it was worth it! I won! Congrats to me and my colleagues,

-Back to being just mommy . . . . . Mama Souter

My Handsome Men

This year I decided to take our Holiday Portraits at home. It's a nice house with neutral colors, so we got all dressed up for our first in-home photo shoot. It was terrific! The photos were taken by Gail of And Baby Makes Three (see blog list to the left). She was wonderful. Emmanuel lasted just in time. After the shot in his room he went down for a nap. How perfect.

-Photogenic Souters

Visiting Christian

Usually once or twice a year I go home to Florida. On those trips we often stop by the grave of my first son Chrisitan. Christian was born too early to survive, but he is still my first little boy. This year was special because now we can explain Christian to Emmanuel. I was so touched when Emmanuel said his brothers name and put a flower on his grave. I love my boys, the one in heaven and the one here with me. Amen.

Emmanuel took a session of gymnastics. We were really concerned as to whether other little boys would be there, but sure enough there were. Emmanuel loved to run around the gym more than the actual activity centers, but he got really good at the balance beam, the trampoline and on the very last day he swung on the rope. He even got a medal, ust like a little superstar!

-Mama Souter is Proud!

Sunday Morning Gent

Getting Emmanuel dressed for Church on Sundays is starting to be a little of a challenge. He's too small for suits and two big for Rompers. So we customize. The particular Sunday we did a pair of dress-jeans and a blazer. I thought he was too cute, but he was being a typical boy playing around until we left for church.

Emmanuel the Teary-Eyed Dinosaur

Earlier last month we went and took some costume pictures of Emmanuel the Dino-Myte Dinosaur and I didn't like them much so I didn't buy any. Then I took Emmanuel to the Halloween and Costume Party they had at work last weekend. The weather was rainy and so was Emmanuel's eyes. He didn't seem to like his costume or the party much. I guess we'll try again next year.

Milkin' a Cow at the Pumpkin Patch

This weekend Emmanuel and I joined our favorite friend at the Green Meadows farm and (seasonally) Pumpkin Patch. Emmanule LOVES animals and to my surprise was able to call out the name of a few without prompting. He was yelling "Pig! Pig!" and "Cow" and "baaaa [for the sheep]". He even got to milk a cow! On our way out we picked out our little pumpkin with our friends. It was a great fall afternoon. Needless to say Emmanuel slept all night. He was tuckered out.

-The Souters are Lovin' Fall

Ninja and Nemo Souter

The Souter family just got larger - welcome to NINJA and NEMO our two new fish. Emmanuel loves them, but boy are fish in a fish bowl DIRTY. We have to clean the bowl every two days or so. We will eventually move to a fish tank.

-Stinking Souters

Just Clowning Around

Emmanuel was looking cute in his giraffe t-shirt sent by his Grammy from Florida. He was also playing with his giraffe puzzle piece while I was trying to take his picture. He wanted to watch Caillou on PBS rather than pose. Here are the best ones. Enjoy!!

Kings Dominion Trip

My company sponsors a Kings Dominion Day every year in September. We get the tickets at a ridiculously low price and the park is closed to only my company and it's employees for the day. It is so much fun.

This year we went along with another couple and their daughter, Ava. Emmanuel and Ava are play buddies. They even attend the same daycare. Anyway, it was much better than going alone. The husbands rode rides while the moms kept an eye on the kids, then the moms rode, then the kids rode. Emmanuel enjoyed it immensely and was such a big boy. Riding most things with just he and Ava.

-The Souters and Friends Show

More cooking - Who is this kid?

We let Emmanuel try his hand at making a cake. He loved the batter more than the cake.