Emerson's 4th birthday party

Emerson started talking about her 4th birthday over the summer. Seriously. So it has been a long time coming. From the beginning she was very clear about the fact that she wanted a "jump jump" (bounce house) and to be a princess. We decided that it would be a costume party so that her friends could dress up however they wanted but that she would most definitely be a princess.

I was determined to do this party as much on the cheap as possible. Perfect example...I came up with the party colors of pink, purple and orange because I had plates and napkins in those colors already in my pantry as left overs from other events. Done.

The main event at the party was definitely the bounce house. I knew that we needed other activities because everyone would not jump at the same time. I set up pumpkin decorating and halloween color pages for the kids to do. We also had our playset and sandbox all cleaned up a ready to go.

When it came time to send out invites this year I asked Emerson who she wanted to invite. She did pretty good coming up with a list of her closest friends. The list consisted of all girls and two boys (not including baby brothers). This means that at the party we had 6 princesses, 4 fairies, a ballerina, a girl owl, a dinosaur, red iron man and a cute little giraffe. Can you imagine all the tulle and glitter?

The only two little boys at the party did not know each other. They are friends from different circles. The funniest thing happened. One of the boys was jumping and came out of the bounce house. He spots the other little boy sitting at a table and points to him and yells, "Hey, you. Boy. Orange boy. Come in here with me, boy." And the funniest part was that the other little boy totally ran in to play with him. Like they had to stick together amongst all the little girls. It was hilarious.

all dressed up and ready to go

happy to be a giraffe

the kids tables

food table minus the hot dog mummies that were in the oven.

pumpkins to decorate

ashton kept sneaking to the food table to reach up and grab whatever he could.

look at all the tulle!

time to eat.

one friend came in a full sleeping beauty wig. And totally wore it the entire time. It was awesome.

Even the little ones had cupcakes.

had to get a shot of the back of ashton's precious costume. He left the head piece on the entire time like it was no big deal:)

This shot is so funny because this daddy came with two snow whites. One of them stripped off her costume half way through the party so dad stuck it in his back pocket. No big deal.

the sandbox got lots of use.

the playset got lots of use.

Again, the tulle!

and I had to include this sweet picture of Ashton and grandmom.

I realize after going through the pictures that I never got a picture of our precious food creation- hot dog mummies. They were hot dogs wrapped up in breadstick strips with a little face peeking out. It was really cute and the kids ate them up. I also never got a picture of the entire party set up or a family picture of all 4 of us. Oh well. There is always next year.

The most important thing is that Emerson had a blast. We opened presents as soon as everyone left and when she was finished I told her that we would play with them tomorrow but it was time to take a bath. She looked at me with sad eyes and said, "Mommy, I am so tired. Can I just go to bed now?" It was 6:45. And she totally crashed. And slept until almost 8am. I take that as a success.

Happy 4th Birthday Emerson!

My baby girl turned 4 today. Hard to believe she is already four. Some moments I think it is hard to believe she is only four.

These days Emerson is more like fourteen than four. Except for the tantrums thrown in. Pretty sure teens don't have tantrums. It is amazing to me how mature Emy is most of the time and then how she can flip a switch so quickly and revert back to the terrible twos. When she is being mature and sweet it is so heartwarming and wonderful to see. And then things change. Tis the life of preschooler I guess.

Developmentally, Emy is really into words right now. She wants to spell and practice writing and read a lot. I am so happy that she is interested in those things right now but it is also scary to know that learning them is in my hands.

Emy loves to do anything like an adult. She likes helper jobs, likes to do things herself. Likes to go on "big girl" outings. We painted toe nails purple today for her birthday and she was pumped. When she helps in the kitchen she is thrilled. Loves putting on her clothes and brushing her teeth all by herself. She likes talking on the phone, opening the mail, helping me clean the house and working in the yard. Seriously, when she is helping, she is so content.

Emerson sings almost all day long.

We have been working on scripture memorization over the last couple months. Nothing big, but just spending a couple weeks at a time on different ones. She gets them and can recite them and knows what they mean. I pray that we continue this habit. I believe in the value of hiding God's word in your heart. I am so terrible with scripture memorization and I want it to be something that she is good at.

Emerson loves playing with Ashton. They are at such a good place right now. He is mobile and understands playing games with her and she is enjoying interacting with him. It is so sweet to see.

Emy is trying to give up her nap. She only naps about 2 days a week. The other days she stays in her room and plays quietly for about 2 hours and then goes to bed early on those nights. For the most part, she seems to do just fine on this routine.

Yesterday Emerson celebrated her birthday at school. In the past, birthday celebrations at school consisted of parents coming to eat lunch and special cookies. This year they added wearing a special birthday hat and the entire class singing happy birthday complete with a fake cake and pretend candles to blow out. It was really really cute:)

I "interviewed" Emerson yesterday afternoon. On her last afternoon of a three-year-old. Some of the questions and her answers were:

What is your favorite color? Pink, purple and rainbows
What is your favorite food? Candy and spaghetti
What is your favorite toy? Computers (funny since she does not have one and is not allowed to play on ours)
Who is your favorite friend? Jaylee
What are you most excited about turning four? Getting a computer (seriously, where does she get this!?!?!)

Perfect Day for the Zoo

Thursday mornings are reserved for the women's bible study at church. I love this adult time and time in the word and I genuinely look forward to it every week. This morning was different. Everyone was out of sorts and I decided I needed some time with my kids. No friends, no teachers, no daddy, no grandparents, no one except mommy and kids. The weather was absolutely perfect so I decided a trip to the zoo was in order.

We have not been to the zoo since last March. I know that does not seem that crazy to most but when you live 10 minutes from the zoo and have a membership, that is a really long time not to go. We have been avoiding it though. Last time we were at the zoo was when the "real" dinosaurs were visiting. Emerson screamed the entire time and made us swear not to take her back until they were gone. Well, they were in town until July and it has just been too hot to visit since then.

Anyways, since we have not been to the zoo in 7 months, this is the first time that Ashton was really aware of what was happening. He absolutely loved it. He pointed and waved at all the animals and just stared. He loved the outdoors, the sounds, the people, the animals. He really took it all in.









Normally I hate to skip stuff. Especially something like bible study, but today it was the right decision. We had such a fantastic time and I really enjoyed my babies. And I wasn't dripping in sweat when we left. So that was a big bonus:) It was a great day.

Pumpkin Patch Birthday

Hayden's 4th birthday party was at the pumpkin patch was so much fun! It was a little bit of a drive from home but that was okay because we drove out there with Emerson's best girl, Jaylee. These two are so funny together. They held hands the entire time. No lie.

Emerson showing off the pumpkin that she picked out.
Hayden, Emy and Jaylee showing off their pumpkins.

Emerson and Jaylee giggling over how much frosting they had on their faces.

2011 pumpkin patch picture. We have been to this same pumpkin patch before.
I swear that Emerson's favorite thing was taking pictures next to all of the characters. They had every character under the sun. I could not possibly bore you with all of them but trust me she was hilarious running from one character to the next and posing with them. She would not budge until I took her picture. Cute.


The girls ate their party favor candy on the way home and were completely wired. It was nutty.

Thanks for the fun party, Hayden!