Happy 6th Birthday Emma!!!

Today is Emma's 6th Birthday!! I say it every year, but I can never believe it when my girls are a year older. A little travel back in time:


Ultrasound





2 weeks old








1 year






2 year







3 year




4 year






5 Year








6 Year



Emma,
You havve grown and matured so much this year. Maybe more this year than any other year! You are really growing up and turning into such a beautiful little girl. You started kindergarten and are doing great. You are reading like crazy and loving to learn new words. You love to write and most of all, like to illustrate your writings. I think you might be an author and illustrator when you grow up. You also think you might like to do this or be a veterinarian. ;) You started taking dance this year and were not crazy about it, so we stopped that about 2 months into it. I finally found someone that taught art classes and you jumped at that opportunity. You go every Wednesday for an hour and get to do what you do best, create things. You are still super creative, very active, curious, and one of a kind. You love Brooklyn so much and consider her your best friend. You enjoy school most of the time, but when you don't want to go, you really don't want to go and make it hard on all of us. This breaks my heart, but I know going to school is best for you. You are learning so much and having fun with all your new friends. Ms. Norris is your teacher and truly a blessing from the Lord. She loves Jesus and she loves you. You are a rule follower. (something I didn't know until this year!) You are so curious about Jesus and knowing more about him. You ask great questions and are really starting to grasp Jesus and your need for Him. You are a great friend and really try hard to treat others like you would like to be treated.
Emma, thank you for being so sweet. I pray that you always stay sweet and remember that God made you exactly how he wanted you to be. I pray that you will be a girl that stands for what you believe in and make good choices. I feel so blessed that God has entrusted you to us on this Earth.
We Love You,
Mommy and Daddy

Thanksgiving in Mexico

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I last posted. Forgive me!

We had an amazing and very different Thanksgiving this year. John's parents retired last June and wanted to celebrate by taking us and John's sister's family to their favorite place, Cozumel. Initially, we were to go last May, but the swine flu stopped that trip very quickly when the government strongly suggested for people not to travel to Mexico. It all worked out and we were able to work it out for 3 busy families to find a date that would work for everyone. We left on the Saturday before Thanksgiving and returned on the Friday night after Thanksgiving.

We stayed at Fiesta Americana, which was very nice. The staff was very friendly and it was a great place to stay. The pools were great, although a little cold for my liking. This did not stop the kids. :) The beach was not "the beach" we were all expecting. We are used to Florida beaches where you walk from your beach chair right into the water. Because of all the coral reefs, our beach was built up above the water and sand was placed there. You had to walk down some steps to get into the water. The water was definitely made for snorkeling and not for playing in the waves. It worked out fine. The girls enjoyed playing in the sand and then getting wet in the pool. We all tried snorkeling (except for Brooklyn) and it was amazing. I had done it once before, but had forgotten how beautiful God created all those awesome little fish. Emma surprised us all and tried snorkeling and loved it! She would stick her head down in the water and then come up murmuring loudly (couldn't understand her because of her snorkel) about what she had seen. It was precious.

We did so much and took so many pictures. I have posted my favorites here, but here is the link to a site where you can see them all. Here are some of highlights of our trip:

*Snorkeling (for me, it was watching Emma snorkel. I was so proud of her for trying it and loved hearing her mumble about the fish through her snorkel)










*Lots of Mexican food (it was good, but I'm still not sure I want a quesadilla, guacamole, or a margarita for a while)

*Chakanub Park (We paid $5 for this picture and it was worth every penny to document an iguana sitting on Sam's head!)










*Swimming with the Dolphins (I have always wanted to do this, but the price has always deterred me. This place had great prices and we were able to take our girls with us for free. It was amazing!)






*Relaxing by the pool and watching the kiddos (and Dad's) play







*Hanging out with my in laws and the Hannon's and watching the cousins play.







*Jeep Tour around the island with our family of 4








*Thanksgiving dinner at Hard Rock Cafe (My second most non-traditional Thanksgiving meal. My first was when I was younger and my family went to NYC for Thanksgiving and we ate at a Japanese restaurant)







*Getting to be with my sweet family of 4 for a week without anyone having to go to work or school and me not having to clean the house. ;)









*Our rainy day that was spent in the lobby playing cards, reading magazines and playing with Wikki Stix.

We had a great time!! Thank you Brenda and Larry for treating us to this fun trip!!!

Halloween

Halloween seemed like a week long event this year. Brooklyn had a party on both Monday and Thursday at school. John's office put on an awesome Halloween party on Thursday night. The Walker's Halloween party on Friday night. Then actual Halloween on Saturday night. It was a fun week, full of dressing up!

Brooklyn was a fairy, but really wanted a name, so she became Thumbelina. Emma was a peacock. Brooklyn was tired of the fairy by October 31st, so she decided to pull from the dress up box and be Cinderella.

Halloween Day was a family filled day. We had pumpkin pancakes for breakfast and then carved our pumpkins. I should say that John carved the pumpkins with a little assistance from Brooklyn. Emma wanted no part in the slime!








The Roberts' came over to eat pizza with us and go trick or treating around our neighborhood. For some reason, the Arkansas Athletic Dept chose to have Homecoming on Halloween, so we came home to watch a little of the game. The girls (and Belle) had fun handing out candy to everyone. Belle loves Halloween night because we put up the baby gate and she sits at the door looking out and waiting anxiously for someone to pet her. It was a fun night with friends!









The Hannon's went to the Razorback game, but they came over before to see the girls in costume and for Isaac and Luke to show us their "Razorback costumes" for the game. Sweet cousins!

Emma's First Report Card

I can't believe that we have a child that is old enough to get a report card. Crazy. I say report card loosely because she does not actually get letter grades yet.

Emma got all E's, which according to the report card means Advanced/Proficiency above grade level. She is doing awesome and is so interested in what she is learning. They studied the solar system this past week and I have to admit that Emma taught me a few facts that I was unaware of about space. She has wanted to know how to read for so long and she is doing it! She knows about 100 sight words and is working on a new list now. I checked out a few Beginner Reader books from the library for her and she is reading them to us, along with quite a few Dr. Seuss books. It really is amazing how it must have just clicked with her one day. She loves to write and she is loving math. She counts EVERYTHING and is using some addition and subtraction at times too. She really is doing amazing and we are so proud of her!

She still has some days where she just does not want to go to school, but all in all she looks forward to going. She has made a few good friends in her class which is an answer to prayer.

Way to go Emma!

Fall Colors are Here

During this past week, I watched in amazement while the leaves turned colors over night in Northwest Arkansas. We had quite a bit of rain at the end of the week, but it made for a spectacular display of color on Saturday. The sun was out, 65 degrees, and the leaves were amazing.
The girls and I drove Hwy 112 just to look at scenery (and grab donuts for breakfast).

John went on a photography hike yesterday morning and shot some beautiful pictures. We all joined back up that afternoon and the girls were able to play at the park in the piles and piles of leaves. It was awesome! There is no doubt that God is one creative God!

Super Star

Last week, Emma was the Super Star and got to decorate a big yellow star with pictures of people that are special to her or pictures of places she has been, or pictures of anything that had significance in her life. They rotate through the whole class and each person gets a chance to tell what is special to them. She also had to write 3 sentences about herself and bring 3 special items to class on Friday to show her friends. Emma and I had fun picking out pictures and putting them on the star. When I asked what she wanted to bring to school she said, "Brooklyn, Belle and her blankie." I had to check with her teacher on bringing Belle, but she said, "Sure!" So, last Friday, our WHOLE family went to school to watch Emma present her star and to show off Brooklyn and Belle. Super cute!! At the end, the class could ask Emma questions. Most of them just wanted her to know that they also had a dog at home. :)

I was so glad that John was able to get off early and come for it. I know it meant so much to Emma to have him there. I am up in her class quite a bit, so I was no big deal. Here are some pictures from the big event.


Emma showing off the finished project! She had a picture of grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, E at the beach, us at Disney World, and E doing dance.












Brooklyn, John and Belle waiting in the hallway to go into the class.






Emma presenting her start to her class.
FYI-they learned about spiders on this day and they made spider hats. That is what is on everyone's head. :)





The whole fam!!!

Publish Post

Family Birthday

I promise this will be the last post about Brooklyn's birthday. We celebrated again with my family this past weekend and also celebrated my Dad's birthday which is on the 16th. My parents, along with my sister's family came up for the weekend. We had such a great time together. I'm always sad to see them leave.

Friday night we went to La Huerta for dinner and then hung out at our house. On Saturday morning, all the boys went to the Razorback game (Woo Pigs!) while the girls hung out at home and made an outing to Target. We all learned what it would be like to have a 5 year old, 3 year old and almost 2 year old at Target. Hard work keeping everyone happy and IN the cart!

We came back for naps and when Brooklyn woke up we worked on our "Potato Head" pumpkins.

Claire was totally in to our little play kitchen and I told my sister what a deal ours was a few years ago. We called the place and they had one for sale for even less than we paid for ours, so we went and got it. It is still in our garage and Claire will get to have it for either Christmas or her birthday. So fun! The girls LOVED having Claire here and they all played perfectly together. I love cousins!!

Saturday evening we opened Brooklyn and Papa's presents and then went to eat dinner at Panera. My Dad still cannot eat very much and soup sounded good so that was his choice. Brooklyn also loves soup, so it worked as a good choice for both. We came back home to enjoy some birthday/Halloween cupcakes.



I LOVE this picture of my sweet 79 year old Daddy and my sweet 3 year old Brooklyn. Next year we will be celebrating the big 8-0 for my Dad. Seriously, he must be the youngest looking and acting 79 year old ever!

What a fun weekend!!!

Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday, we went to a really fun Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze. It is just over the Arkansas/Missouri border. We had heard fun things about it and wanted to check it out for ourselves. The weather could not have been more perfect: sunny with a high of 70.

This farm had a hay ride, a cow train, tire swings, slides, corn shooting, animals, games, pumpkins, fresh from the tree apples, and a corn maze. We did not do the corn maze. The girls had very little interest in it and it was the most expensive thing there. We had a great time and spent about 3 hours playing. My only complaint about it was that I LOVE to hunt the vines for a pumpkin and cut it off. They had already cut them off the vine and you picked from a huge selection. All in all, a fun fall family outing. We will definitely try to make this a fall tradition. You should too.

Brooklyn's Princess Party

Emma was out of school last Friday, so we took advantage of that and had Brooklyn's party on Friday morning. She wanted a Disney Princess Party, so that is what we did. She invited a few little girlfriends and asked them to dress up too. It was super cute! We made crowns and played a few princess games. I had made some little tea sandwiches to eat along with goldfish and grapes. My biggest task was making Brooklyn's cake. I have admired the "Barbie Cake" from Rick's for so long and someone told me how easy it was to make, so I went out on a limb and gave it a shot. It did not turn out the way I had it in my head, but it turned out pretty decent for my first attempt at making a cake. I am now inspired to take a cake decorating class. John took so many GREAT pictures, but it so hard to post all of them on here. Check out my Facebook page if you want to see more!










I think Brooklyn had a great time at her party and has been asking for another party ever since. We celebrated again yesterday on her actual birthday. She wanted to ride the carousel at the mall and eat pizza, so that is what we did as a family.





John and I gave her a new bike and she loves it. Emma gave B the Three Musketeers Barbie, Corinne. It has become a tradition for us to get both girls new pj's on B's birthday since it is the beginning of cold weather.








B, we love you very much and feel so blessed that God gave us you to take care of on this Earth. What a blessing you are!

Happy 3rd Birthday Brooklyn!!

Today is Brooklyn's actual birthday and I CANNOT believe that my baby is 3. Where has the time gone? 3 years ago today at this moment (8:45AM), John and I were headed to my clinic because I had been laboring through the night. They sent us home because I had not progressed. I promised them that she would be here today. By about 4:00 PM, I was back at the hospital bent over in half because of contractions, begging for a room and an epidural. Apparently, I had made some progression through the day. I was dilated to a 7. She was born around 8:30PM, 7 days early and lucky enough to share a birthday with her Aunt "Mamy". Happy Birthday Amy!!!

I will blog about her fun Princess Party soon, but for now, enjoy the flashback over the past 3 years.........

Allison will be blogging about Brooklyn's birthday party soon, but I wanted to show the video (6 minutes) of pictures we had playing during the party. These are all pictures from 2-3 years old. She's a mess, but she's a mighty cute mess!