Emma's 4th Birthday

For the record, this was the night of Emma's Lady bug (after) party and she was still out there hitting that pinata. She couldn't get enough of it!

We had a family birthday party with Grandma's, Grandpa's, Uncles, Aunt, and cousins. Here she is after opening my gift to her that was HAND MADE WITH LOVE! I made her apron from this tutorial. I made the felt cupcakes from this tutorial class
The chef hat was from the dollar section at Michael's than I just embroidered details on the strawberry. I was SO EXCITED to give these gifts to her. She loved them, made me so happy.

She opened up a gift from her Auntie Kimmy. It's a cute purple polka dot shirt.

Thomas doing one of his favorite things, playing with the chickens in our yard.

Finn and Uncle Dennen got in on the action.

Emma's Grandma Phair's birthday was the week before so we celebrated theirs together.

'Better than ANYTHING' cake!

Grandma Phair and Emma blowing out candles

The party wasn't over when it got dark outside. Some of our guests congregated in Emma's "Bakery" (room) and she served them her cupcakes.

Emma's actual 4th Birthday!

Loved getting her birthday phone calls.

We surprised Emma and took her to see "Winnie the Pooh" movie.

She loved getting her own popcorn and special drink.

Made it to a lunch/playtime at McDonalds, one of Emma's favorite places to play.

We took the kids to the park and surprised Emma with Princess bike.

Yes, she was surprised!

I think she likes it! :) She rode it for a while to practice. There were a few falls. We just kept assuring her that if she keeps practicing, it will get easier. Even Mommy and Daddy fell when we were little while learning to ride a bike.
Yes, that is Thomas' wood chip pile on the slide.

And don't forget Chuckee Cheese outing. Yes, that's our children on the ski ball lanes. Guess who the leader of the pack on that one was? .......Thomas.

Getting ready for beddy bye! What a great birthday she had! It was definitely a fun filled day. I won't lie, we were exhausted.

Opening a few gifts from Mommy, Daddy, and Thomas.

These are a few of her favorite things..
Rapunzel (Tangled), lots of disney songs including "I've got a dream" from Tangled, checking the mail, drawing, saying her ABC's and spelling her name ALL THE TIME (so proud of her), dress ups, Peanut Butter Sandwiches (and Jelly, she just says Peanut Butter), ask Mommy and Daddy lots and lots and lots of questions all day long :), her friends, her chickens Sarahs', riding on her Daddy's back at night like a horsey (she calls him Max) while he drops her off to her bed, making cards for people, picking flowers for others, baking with Mommy, Preschool and asks everyday if she gets to go again tomorrow :), and continues to let her imagination run wild!

Happy 4th Birthday sweet Emma girl! It feels like just yesterday we brought you home from the hospital. We had so many emotions those first days of bringing you home. We were so overwhelmed with ALL the love we have for you! Thank you for coming to our family and being such a joy and blessing to us!

Ladybug, Ladybug.... Grasshopper....

And Emma turned 4 years old a couples weeks ago! She asked for months for a ladybug birthday party with her girlfriends (sorry sweet boyfriends). Thomas was the only boy (well and Daddy) that was there. I made each of her friends a set of lady bug wings and antennas. I'll tell ya they looked so darn cute.

Ladybug picnic

Emma really wanted to play 'ladybug, ladybug...grasshopper' (just like duck, duck, goose) game for her birthday party. She talked about it for weeks and we even practiced playing it plenty of times at home. :) She was ready! Here's Brooke about to catch Emma, haha.

Aren't they so cute? Here is Courtney's turn.

We played 'pin the dot on the ladybug'. Here is Brooke showing how it's done. :)

Emma's turn.

We had some of 'Emma's Favorite Picnic foods' Strawberries (looking like lady bugs), carrots, peanut butter jelly sandwiches shaped as flowers, animal crackers, and juice pouches.

This was the cutest darndest thing. The night before her birthday party, Emma wanted to draw something to put on her birthday table. She drew this darling picture of all her friends dressed up as ladybugs. hahahhaha. I can't stop looking at it, it's so cute. I was so impressed. I tell ya, Preschool has really expanded her drawing skills. Quite the little artist we've got over here.

More ladybug, ladybug, grasshopper :)

This was one of the biggest hits of the party. Derek found a Praying Mantis in the yard. The girls were so fascinated by the little guy.

I think he enjoyed the fun :)

This may have been the biggest hit of the party, the pinata. After everyone got a turn and it was back to Emma's turn, she finally hit it hard enough to get a slight opening. This picture shows the excitement that came over the girls when they knew candy would come out shortly :)

This was a cute shot I got of her hugging her friend Hannah after opening gifts. So cute.

Emma we sure love you sweetie! Thank you for coming into my life and our family. We love you.

Emma's first day of Preschool

Back to school dinner/celebration!

As I was getting ready for our back to school celebration, I was getting Emma's back pack out of her room and I was shocked of how HEAVY it was. I look inside and found all these books, a few toys, oh and don't forget the fruit snacks that Grandma Phair gave her the night before. :)

I made this alphabet letter vase of flowers for her new teacher. I think it turned out pretty cute. Found the idea here

Back to school table.

I asked Emma what she wanted for her special back to school dinner and she requested my home made pesto and tomato pizza. I have to be honest, I was very flattered.

Later that evening we had some of Derek's family over for a little back to school celebration with milk and cookies and popped some popcorn (Emma's favorite thing to do)

How adorable is this? This little cardboard cone had little gifts inside. It was given to her by her Oma (Grandma Frazier). This was/is a traditional gift in Germany. I LOVED it, oh Emma did too. Especially when she found coins at the bottom. :)

Then the next day, this little lady started Preschool. I will admit, I had many mixed emotions but it was a great day in meeting her teacher and I think everything is going to be splendid.

Here she is with her teacher, Miss Megan.
They were doing hand and foot prints for some pillow cases.
Can you tell he's excited?
I have to say, I was so proud of her tracing her name so well.

This was her first OFFICIAL day of Preschool. It was just a little harder on me this day. Is it just me, or did she grow up over night? She just loves school and is going to do well. So proud of her.

Dress made by my sweet friend Sara
Emma just loves car pooling with her dear friend Fay. Aren't they so cute? :)

Thomas boy is 16 months!!!!!!!!!!

Oh sweet boy of ours! He turned 16 months yesterday!
Our Thomas:
weighs a whoppin' 27 pounds
LOVES playin' balls
loves to dance, especially to the "Sharing song" by Jack Johnson
loves to spin round and round and walk backwards
still a Mama's boy :)
is a champ at playing his stacking rings
thrashes the family room and kitchen in 5 minutes
likes throwing things away, even toys. Gotta keep a close eye on the guy
loves to "help" Mommy pick things up and fold clothes, etc..
going up and down slides
fits "Thomas the Tank engine" name
He is a total crack up, and his laugh is completely contagious
and the list goes on.....
I sure love you little buddy. We are so grateful you are ours! :)

playing pretend and treasuring the moments...

Emma is going to preschool this month. She is SO ready and I thought I was to, until the last few days. I know it's just preschool, but being my first this is a whole new experience for me. She's ALWAYS been with ME. I just hope and pray that Derek and I have taught her enough as she approaches this new stage in life. Of course, there is A WHOLE LOT more to teach her. But you know what I mean? I love her so much. I'll be honest, I'm a little sad to see her go (I know weird right? It's only 4 hours a week) but I'm also so happy for her. She is SOOOOOOOO excited. I think it was March when I registered her and she hasn't stopped talking about it since :) hahahaha. She is definitely ready.
So, as I've been thinking more of how precious my time is with my children since they are growing up sooo fast I have been trying to do better at sitting back and doing things with them. A lot of times I worry so much about keeping up with the house cleaning, getting dinner ready, running errands, etc....but it does make such a difference when I take more time in slowing down and kick back (even if I haven't showered:) to play with them. Here are some of our fun pretends lately....:)

playing Tea Party with the munchkins

I did have a special pirate hat for Thomas for the Tea party but it lasted on his head for about .5 seconds :)

Now 'Doctor' time on sick Mama! Emma had fun giving me plenty of shots all over including my nose and eye lids. CAN YOU FREAKING IMAGINE getting real shots there? Ow.

Here she is feeding me purple and pink grapes to get better. They were pom poms she was pretending were grapes. I kept spitting them out, she got a kick out of it.

Oh yeah..ssshhhh, don't say anything to Emma. I just got done making these felt cupcakes for her birthday next month. They are a present and I can't WAIT to give them to her. I think she'll have fun using them for her tea parties, don't you think? I took this class from the wonderful Liz Kartchner at Something Splendid