San Francisco

In October, we got a little crazy and braved the big city of San Francisco with three kiddos. To say I was having big time anxiety leading up to this trip is an understatement. Of all the places to tote around three kids, I wasn't sure San Fran was even on my list of desired possibilities.
Much to my relief, the plane flight there couldn't have gone smoother, and miraculously everyone behaved. Little Miss L didn't make a single peep, and by the power of modern technology (I-phone games) (okay and a few M&M's), the older two earned their gold wings that day as well.


Let's be honest, there's lots of "interesting" people to check out in this city. As I was trying to keep myself from staring at many of them this day that we visited Union Square, I came to the realization that lots of people were actually staring at US! It quickly became clear that WE were one of the biggest spectacles of all in this city, with three kids under 6 and a double stroller! I was quite amused at this revelation, especially as I'm staring at what was once a man, strutting his her stuff in stilettos, sporting a mohawk and mini skirt...and she is staring at us with wonder. It hit me in that moment that we in fact were the ones sticking out like a sore thumb...LOL. No judgement from me onto anyone else's lifestyle, but just appreciation (?) & maybe some amusement for the colorful world we live in... ;) We just blend right in in good old Utah, so it's funny to turn heads and summon stares in a new place. :)

The reason for our trip was a family reunion!
This just never happens in my family! I come from a very tiny extended family on both sides, the majority whom live either back East or in California. My only girl cousin growing up just had twin baby girls last December, and with my little brother having had his first baby last June, and my cute baby turning one, we felt we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get all these babies together!

The main catalyst for the get together though, was that my maternal grandfather would have turned 100 this October, so Aunt Suesan thought it would be great to get together in honor of him. He served in the military throughout his life, and it was Fleet Week in SF- a week of honoring and thanking those who serve and have served for our country in the United Forces. The combination made it the perfect storm for honoring my grandfather, who passed away when I was about 12.

 Megan, my cousin, and her husband and daughters, live across the street from Golden Gate Park, so we had a big picnic (several) there. What an amazing park! It was so much fun to see her sweet baby girls and her amazing true SF townhome and spend some time in their neck of the woods. Megan and I are only 3 months apart in age, and she being an only child, and me not having a sister, we loved to visit each other growing up. Often after Christmas, my Grandma and I would fly out and stay at her home in Palo Alto, and Megan would come out to UT for weeks in the summer during which time we would both "live" at our Grandma's home. We would rollerskate our way through the sidewalk chalk cities we sketched on Grandma's big driveway, play competetive games of Skip Bo and Rummikub, and romp through the Salt Lake City Cemetery which she lived across the street from. We loved to swing from the big cherry tree (& partake of it's fruit), put on plays with my older brother, and we loved it when Grandma would give us money to walk to what we named "The Little Store" down on the corner to buy some treats. Ahhh, the memories.

 I have to brag a bit about her... this brilliant cousin of mine is a Stanford alumni (both Bachelors and a Doctorate), and is currently faculty of Harvard and doing research (long distance) for them! She is also a professor at Sonoma State.

Back to the trip...
We were the first of my fam to arrive in Cali, so the first night there we stayed at my Aunt and Uncle's home. My Uncle Barr is a Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University and so they live in a beautiful area right on on Stanford Campus. Barr took Chris on a tour around campus that night starting at 10 pm while I stayed back with the kids and slept. Chris was super impressed and loved it! The next day, Aunt Suesan made us some delicious whole wheat blueberry pancakes and we did some more site-seeing at Stanford and visited the Junior museum and had a lot of fun checking it all out before my Mom's flight got in. The campus is so beautiful! I can't believe that with all the times I went out there growing up, that we'd never actually walked around the campus!

My Mom arrived and we picked her up from the BART Station and headed over to our vacation rental condo. It was SUCH a nice place! It was immaculate and it was great that we had plenty of room for all of us. Reed, Steven, Kylie and Baby Jack were coming in the next few days..

Meanwhile, Wednesday was Lexi's first birthday! I felt terrible for traveling on her big day, and decided it would be a fun way to remember it by taking her to the beach. Suesan & Barr recommended Stinson Beach....it was quite a long drive but off we went!

Lexi had her first feel of the sand, Emmie couldn't dig enough, and Parker almost got swept away in the shark-infested waves after taking a face plant while trying to chase his lost flip flop into the water. Aghhh! There was a sign warning to stay out of the water because recently someone had been attacked  by a shark in just 6 feet of water there. If you know me, you know I am TERRIFIED of the ocean because of those rubbery gray people-killers with fins on their backs. TER.IF.FIED! Thankfully, crisis was averted, and Birthday Girl had her first taste of the beach.

Later that day, we met up with Aunt Suesan in Golden Gate Park who brought a bunch of Kara's Cupcakes in honor of Lexi's birthday. It was Lexi's first bite of sugar! She ate a little, but didn't quite know what to think. Some passersby even shared in on the cupcakes and asked to take pictures with us and the cute birthday girl!

One of our favorite days there was spent down on Fisherman's Wharf. Everyone else went to Alcatraz (you can see the island there in the picture), but we stayed back since it's not exactly something you take small kids to. The kids loved checking out the stinky seals and watching the big ships that were sailing into harbor for Fleet Week. We rode the carasoul and ate lunch overlooking the water. This is where the action started...

 

The air show rehearsal for Fleet Week began right while we had prime seats overlooking the harbor at the restaurant. It. Was. AWESOME!! Such perfect timing and it was soooo fun to watch! One of our favorite moments of the trip, for sure!

My favorite place that we ate was Boudin Bakery and their upstairs restaurant, Boudin Bistro! The Smoked Chicken Waldorf salad was THE BEST in all the land and the COOKIES WERE AMAZING! Totally my kind of restaurant!

Another fun outting was our visit to the CA Academy of Sciences, right there in the middle of Golden Gate Park. This place was HUGE and was not only a natural history museum, but also a planetarium and aquarium (and much more!). It's all about exploring, explaining and protecting the natural world. Each floor represented a new ecosystem, beginning with the aquarium underground on up. It was amazing! Unfortunately we only had about two hours to go through it. Definitely NOT enough time, but we all thought it was such a fascinating place and would love to go back.

And of course -- you don't visit San Fran and not go to Ghiradelli Square, Union Square,

& China Town!
We really had a great time and the kids keep asking when we can go again, and I'm wondering that myself! I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of the trip (thanks Mom and Reed for the great place to stay!).
San Fran with three kids... a success!!!

The 12 months of Lexi

Our sweet little Lexi turned one the first week of October!
This year flew by in a flash!
It has definitely been a year full of ups and downs (more the latter), but Lexi has been such a bright spot through it all! She has truly been the best baby, with such a sweet and loving countenance. It's been an honor to have her precious spirit enter into our family. She and her brother and sis make my joy so full! My grandma has reminded me numerous times how these are 'the good days' and that someday I'll look back on these days with longing. I really have been trying to remember that wisdom and enjoy the here and now amidst the moments of chaos and craziness that inevitably come with three small kiddos.

The summer prior to my being pregnant with Lexi, I had this strong feeling on several occasions that we would be pregnant with our next child the following January. I shared this with Chris and told him to 'be ready', because I just knew that her little spirit was waiting up there, and that that was the timing for her to join our family here. Low and behold,  that January I became pregnant with Lexi (we were not trying prior to that month). Chris was somehow shocked, which amused me  as I had given him fair warning. I was extremely sick with this pregnancy. We didn't tell any family until I was about 14 weeks along, which was hard with how sick I was. I basically lived in the bathroom for almost 6 straight months, and Emmie, 2 1/2 at the time, would make us laugh with her imitation of me vomiting. It was lovely. I could hardly move in the afternoons I was so incredibly nauseous, so Parker and I would lay out our game of Skip Bo on the ottoman and we would play cards every afternoon while Emmie napped. And yes, Parker had pretty impressive Skip Bo skills!
Before we even knew we were having a girl, I suddenly had a strong liking for the name Alexis. This name had never even crossed my mind as a possibility before and I thought it was funny that I suddenly loved it so much. I talked to Chris about it, and miraculously, he loved the name too! I was nervous to ask him about it because with our previous pregnancies he was always quick to veto my names. But I had a very strong feeling feeling that this should be her name, and so from the minute it was confirmed that she was a girl, we knew she would be Lexi. We didn't really tell the kids because we didn't want them announcing it to everyone. So they came up with their own name... they were set on the name McKenzie, and Chris and I still had our backup name of Brooklyn- just in case- but inside we pretty much knew Alexis would be her name.
 Alexis' middle name is Faith, named after my paternal grandma, Faye (whom we call Mimi). Yes, we got creative and added the "th" to make it "Faith".
 Lexi has made our lives even that much more enjoyable with her special presence in our home. I know she was meant to be in our family. She is such a sweetheart and has been such a blessing to us all!

Here she is through the first 12 months of her life:



Lexi is always on the go! As I'm writing this she is coming up on 14 months and is yet to stand on her own, however, she has such a finely tuned crawl as this has been her mode of transportation for a good 7 months now. Just in the last 2 weeks she is finally pulling herself up on furniture to a standing position but is still too wobbly to stand alone. She has been taking little steps this week as she pushes Parker's old firetruck ride-on toy, and Emmie's old stroller walker. She is so proud of herself. Hopefully by Christmas this little peanut will have the muscle development to stand on her own! She is getting close!

Yesterday she crawled up the stairs for the first time. Parker was so cute to stage himself behind her to make sure she didn't fall. She was very proud of her new trick. Me- I'm a nervous wreck until my kids learn how to go DOWN the stairs, so I guess that will be our next endeavor.

Lexi's mind is really sharp. She picks up on new words and concepts really quickly. I think she looks so small that sometimes I forget that she is capable of more than I think.
She is so easy to put to bed. She is my first baby that I don't sit and rock before bedtime. I just put her in, she lays down, watches her glow worm, sucks her thumb while simultaneously stroking her eyelashes with her opposite hand and usually goes right to sleep. She just started sleeping in her crib in her room about a month ago. She slept in the pack and play in our room for a whole year! Pathetic, I know, but we only have 3 bedrooms on the top floor (2 in the basement- but I'm not about to have my kids sleep on a different floor than me - and P wants nothing to do with that either), so having Emmie and Parker sleep together on P's bunk beds was more work than it was worth there for a while. But-- we finally made the transition and everyone is happy. For now!:)

Back in October, we were at a children's clothing store, and not having a stroller, I put Lexi down for a minute. She was crawling around and this lady came over and and was astonished at how young and tiny my baby was to 'already be crawling'. I just kind of smiled and laughed, and kept from sharing the fact that my 'baby' was actually ONE, so not only is it normal that she's crawling, but it'd be totally normal if she were walking too!
But it's true... our sweet little Lexi looks like she's about 6 months old...

Lexi's Stats:
9 month visit in July:
Height: 25.5 inches; 0.49%ile
Weight: 14.59 lbs; 2.29%ile

 12 month appt in October:
Height: 26 inches; 0.08%ile
Weight: 14.99 lbs; 0.96 %ile

She hardly grew in 2 1/2 months, and has been in the bottom 3 %ile since July.

I remember saying months back that I just want to "freeze" Lexi the way she is because she is just so sweet and perfect. Now for the irony in those words! Over the summer I bought some clothing anticipating that she would grow into them, and she never did, and never has. Part of me just loved having such an itty bitty baby (no back aches plus the cuteness!), but in the back of my mind I wondered why she didn't seem to be getting any bigger.  At her 9 month appointment the doctor was concerned with her little growth, but said that her 12 month appointment would be a big indicator as to whether there was a problem. At her 12 month appointment the second week of October, the doctor's face just fell and I could see and hear his concern right away. He told me that it's one thing for her to be tiny and petite (which, with a 5'1 mom, plus short and petite grandma's is feasible), but that she had grown alarmingly very little since her previous appointment three months earlier and that she was no longer following her own curve. He assured me that it had nothing to do with nutrition since her height and weight correspond perfectly, and told me not to increase her caloric intake as that would just make her short and fat, which wouldn't do anything but add to a potential problem. He told me that it's very likely that she has growth hormone deficiency. He wants to reevaluate her at 15 months, and at that time if she has still had little growth, he'll send us up to a specialist at Primary Childrens for further testing. We've been concerned about it, but have been trying not to worry too much about it before we have to! I think she just went through a little growth spurt, so I have high hopes that she's somehow catching up. I have a few other concerns that go along with possible causes of GHD, but figure there is no sense writing them down and getting all worked up about them before we know if there is even an issue. So, we're a little anxious for mid- January to get here and to get some answers, but are trying to enjoy the holidays and the here and now too!

Meanwhile, we're just loving our precious tiny baby!
She is definitely something to celebrate, and celebrate her
 1st birthday is what we did in
San Francisco!

It was cold, but we braved the beach.

 I love these genuine smiles.

I felt awful to be traveling on her first birthday, so it made me feel a little better to make a birthday banner and  try and make her day special.

 A cupcake picnic in Golden Gate Park! My sweet aunt (whom we were visiting in Cali) picked up some cupcakes and they even got shared with some passersby.
On a side note, I look awful but it's okay because the birthday girl's cute smile makes posting the picture worth it.;)

... And the little cupcake girl, digging into her very first bite of sugar, on her very first birthday, in Golden Gate Park!
We sure love you cute Miss Lexi!!!
 

September ramblings

September was a super sickly month for our household. I guess the blame lies on the kids being in school and the exposure of a billion germy kids ... I'm not sure exactly, but it was brutal. It's so not fun to clean up some sort of vomit and diarrhea mess every hour for days when you yourself are shaking with a fever and chills. (True signature of Mommy-hood, right?)
 It. was. AWFUL!
Name a germ and we had it... something new every week! Like I mentioned, throwing up and other lovely stomach symptoms for the kiddos, fevers, chills, sore throats, goopy noses, ear infections, a sinus infection... it was horrible. The kids missed lots of school, I got no sleep, and I estimate we paid at least $600 out of pocket during the month (due to our lovely high deductible insurance plan that we have this year). We were there (at the doctor's office) several times a week.
Let's just say it was NOT our most productive month!
Anyhow, despite all that loveliness,
September is USUALLY my favorite month of the year!
Since I was a kid, I have always loved the beginnings of a new school year, signifying a fresh start, new friendships, new clothes, and new adventures.
 (Yes, I realize I'm no longer in school, but I still love it!)
 Not to mention it's the beginning of my all-time favorite season - FALL!


It also just so happens that my birthday is mid-September which might be a reason as to why I'm a bit biased for the month!
We were just getting over colds for my big day so everyone was relatively healthy.... for a minute! I woke up to a bouquet of beautiful flowers and delicous french toast from Kneaders for breakfast. Parker had a soccer game at noon that we all went to, and then we dropped the kids off at the Hansens and Chris took me on a surprise shopping spree to the Park City Outlets, one of my favorite places in the Fall!

It was such a fun day and so nice to just hang out with my husband without sporting a stroller, without leaving a trail of cheerios and goldfish crackers behind us, and with no whining and sibling spats. Those days only happen a couple of times of year for Chris and I, and I'm not gonna lie, I love my kiddos but it was refreshing!
In addition to cash to go shopping, Chris also gave me a new 50 mm lens for my camera! I was spoiled! It was a really great birthday!

Glad we had such a good weekend, because by Monday night I had a bad sore throat and fever and Lexi also threw up that night. By Tuesday night all the kids started throwing up and one of them was constantly sick in the bathroom. It went on for 5 days straight and all the while I had my own fever! It was a fantastic week. :)
We were supposed to host my Dad and Grandma and that side of the fam for my birthday on Sunday, but I wasn't sure it was a good idea since no one seemed completely better...by Sunday I seemed to be the only one not doing so well but the party went on anyhow! It seemed to be the only day we could find to work for this party before mid-October.

I got lots of nice things and we actually celebrated Lexi's birthday this day as well with them...sort of. No cake for her or anything but my Dad and Grandma and guests showered her with such nice gifts. We were going to be in CA  2 weeks later for her actual big day and I had sent out a declaration that I was done throwing parties for the year! I had plans to make her big day special in Cali but just wasn't up to dragging out the celebrations for weeks, and I just wanted to celebrate her birthday on her birthday. :)

So here is the cute (almost) birthday girl with all her fun gifts! She has played with these gifts nonstop for the last month. She loves balls and the Peek a Shoe octopus toy is so cute! She loves it and is a pro at it!
I ended up with a bad fever and chills AGAIN that following week and finally gave in and went to the doctor and found out that my cold had turned into a sinus infection. I got on antibiotics just in time for the CureSearch Cancer Walk at Sugarhouse Park that Saturday. I definitely didn't feel great but didn't want to miss it. Chris unfortunately had to work that day.

Parker, Grandma H, Lexi and Emmie

Cindy, Eric, Grandpa H and Grandma H

 

 So the month ended on a bitter sweet  note. It was a great turnout for the Curesearch Walk and such a good cause but so sad to face the reality that we were walking in behalf of our sweet nephew, who lost his cancer battle last May.
 It's surreal. We sure miss him.
3 days later we left for Cali....

School days

Not to state the obvious or anything, but I am so behind on the blogging front! When I think of all that I need to catch up on and document I feel completely overwhelmed and hopeless! I can't seem to catch up on anything anymore with all the crazy events combined with everyday life that just keep a comin'! It's been a CrAzY 4-5 months (who am I kidding, the whole year has been that way) and I don't deal well with crazy, I have to say! But for 2 seconds things have calmed down and I miraculously don't have a party to plan, a vacation to pack for, a wedding to outfit hunt x 4 for, a young women lesson to plan, Halloween is OVER(!),  and no one in our house for maybe the 2nd time since August is super sick and we haven't had to go to the Dr. all week! Miracle! Needless to say I'm scrambling to catch up on this poor pathetic blog!  When I look at my sidebar, there are only about three friends on there who even blog anymore. Kind of sad! After joining Facebook a few months back I realized that it's stolen all the once faithful bloggers! :) But I'm determined to keep going.... This is the only way I remember anything with this mommy brain of mine, so I know that I have to keep rolling if I want to be able to relay stories to my kids of their childhood someday! I've already referenced it numerous times in answer to Emmie's inquiries about what she was like as a baby...thank goodness I wrote those things down!!;)

So here we go. :)

Parker started Kindergarten the last week of August...

Here he is on his first day!
This sweet boy of ours has a mid-summer birthday, so it was discretionary as to whether we should send him last year and have him be the youngest in his class, or send him this year and have him be the oldest. The Elementary school recommends having boys with summer birthdays to be the oldest, and obviously (since he's in Kindergarten now), this was what we chose...for a number of reasons, but we really feel like that extra year of maturity will be especially beneficial to him in the middle school and high school years! A Kindergarten teacher in our ward made the point that kids are pushed to grow up so fast these days, and that giving them that extra year of childhood is a gift... I couldn't agree more! Plus she said she notices a huge difference in the boys who are youngest versus older in the class. P is such a smartie pants (he was reading all last year and he is somewhat of a math whiz - I'll have to give examples sometime), so I have to say I was a bit nervous wondering if we made the right choice for him, but I can tell you that we are 8 weeks into school and he is loving it and thriving! Everything is so fast paced that he doesn't have time to be bored. His teacher is so great and makes sure that he stays challenged, as well as the other kids that are at his level. He loooooves to do his homework and comes home excited to do his worksheets and read his nightly books that are sent home. (This is no surprise, he's been crazy about doing workbooks since he was 3.) It's awesome to see him loving it so much, and we feel so blessed to live just down the street from such an amazing school and to be a part of such a great community!



And this little Miss, she started Preschool the following week. She too absolutely LOVES IT! She picked out the biggest Dora the Explorer backpack she could find and thinks she's all grown up, going to school like her big brother. I've said it before but she is Miss Independent (that might be my middle name, so I suppose I'm guilty of passing that one off to her;), and has gone everytime with complete confidence and no need for Mom. I have to say I was a bit teary the first day, but I got over it when I went home and realized I could hear something that I hardly recognized... peace and quiet!... something that I haven't had in six years since P arrived!;) (No joke)

 Sitting down and focusing is not Emmie's thing, so I wondered how she'd do, but she is definitely learning and getting better at writing.  We carpool with some of their friends and we drop them off at the same time... it works out really well!

My kids are growing up. This is the first time in 6 years that I've been away from the older two for more than four hours a week (that's how long P's preschool was the last 2 years). It's nice to have time to run errands or spend one on one time with Lex, or clean my house uninterrupted for a minute. It's amazing!
This last year was tough for me. As much as I love my kids and love being a mom, having a new baby and balancing three kids under 5 and having them home with me pretty much 24/7 just about threw me over the edge, I have to say.
 But I'm happy to announce that I think I have found the keys back to my sanity...PRESCHOOL AND KINDERGARTEN!
 Hey, they're happy, and so am I. :)
It's a win-win! :)

YAY for school!

  

Celebrations

Birthday Girl!
August 2012



Emmie opened up her birthday gifts in her jams on her big day before her Daddy had to leave for work. I have no recollection of what happened the remainder of the day (why I should have blogged about this 9 weeks ago!) but hopefully she had fun!

Her new goods from us included a doll crib, a bike seat for her dolls, some books, a Cinderella doll, and some new dollhouse furniture among a few other things.
She was a happy girl!
For her family birthday activity, we went to the waterpark Cowabunga Bay the Monday prior (Chris' day off). It's our 3rd year in a row going there for her birthday and the kids look forward to it all year, still screaming out "Cowabunga BAY" as we pass it on the freeway. So fun!



My Mom and Reed were in town for a minute for another function and they stopped by to give Emmie her gift, a darling umbrella and raincoat!

The next day, we celebrated not just one, but THREE princesses! These cute girls, Aunt B, Emmie and Grandma Lonczyna, all have birthdays within four days of each other, so naturally, we combined their parties!

Emmie got some fun things, and


it was extra fun that Aunt Cindy and Cousin Isaac were here for a surprise visit and were able to celebrate the day with us. Lexi and Isaac are just 8 months apart and it was sweet to see them love on each other!

The following weekend we celebrated Emmie one last time with a party at my Dad's.

 

The kids love the dart game and the prizes that go with it, and Emmie got a load of such fun gifts from everyone!

I think it's safe to say that she had a great week of parties!!

Exhausted from all the birthday celebrations!?
ME TOO! :):)

 

 

All about Emmie

 

This little Missy turned FOUR back in August! She has grown up so much this last year and her sweet yet spunky countenance is such a blessing to our family! This cute girl who loves all things pink and purple (purple is her fave) definitely keeps us on our toes, not to mention entertained. She marches to the beat of her own drum, and although sometimes it's a naughty drum, I have to appreciate her independent spirit. She is thoughtful, dramatic, gracious, cuddly, affectionate, passionate, creative, fearless, has a naughty streak that baffles me, and this girl- she's such a dreamer! I've mentioned before that she spends A LOT of time in her own little dimension, and it can take calling her name a good 30 times before she snaps back into reality and what's going on around her. She is perfectly content to play by herself for hours (so opposite of her brother who constantly needs to be entertained!) although, with her wild imagination, I'm quite sure she doesn't feel as though she's playing by herself at all! She seems to have many friends in the La La Land that she spends much of her time in! For example, she is always talking about her "old" family. She'll say things like, "Well, my OLD mom let me do it", or my "other brother", and "my old sister", etc etc. We were at The Gap at City Creek back in June, when I heard her let out a loud gasp. I felt her run to my side and she whispered urgently,
"MOM! My OLD MOM is here!"
Of course, intrigued, I looked around anxiously wanting to size up my competition that I've heard so much about.
"She is? Where??".
RIGHT. THERE!"
Eyes wide, I slowly followed her gaze to see a....
(are you ready?)
 HEADLESS MANEQUIN!!!
 Mmmmhmmmm!
 "Is that her?" With huge eyes and a serious expression, Emmie shook her head "yes" while shooshing me so that her "old Mom" wouldn't hear us... it was a very serious situation for her, LOL. So, there you have it,  just one of many examples of her quirky but perfect little personality. She is such a fun bundle of energy to have in our family! She is so tender hearted and sweet, yet can be a total spit fire...consider yourselves fair warned.

EXAMPLE:...
A few weeks ago she was saying nightly prayers (ever so sweetly), when suddenly, mid-prayer and with no pause - she sighs a very dramatic and frustrated "HMMMPH!", followed by a shouted, "LEXIS!!!" (who was babbling in her crib), IIIII AM TALKING! Be QUIET when I'm TALKING!!!", then went on with her prayer, sweet as ever. It was so surprising and out of the blue, Parker and I just gave each other sideways glances and tried our hardest (unsuccessfully) not to bust up laughing.
Moral of the story, you don't want to push this girl's buttons, or she will let you have it, no doubt! Even if you're a 12 month old baby...

She is such a social butterfly, though a little shy at times, and wants to be friends with everyone (imaginary or real). She loves to play outside with the neighborhood "posse" of friends.  She started as a Sunbeam at church last January, and hasn't looked back since. She was so ready and absolutely loves her primary class. She took a Jazz, ballet and tap class all last year (that she called "dancey") with some friends and loved it. She recently started a gymnastics class and thinks it's pretty awesome too!  She is left-handed and definitely sports the creativity that tends to go with a left brained person. She has got quite the imagination! She will tell me a flat out lie without batting an eye or pausing to think out her "story". She'll tell me, serious as can be, that the "baby did it"....which is quite ironic when the baby is sitting restricted in her exersaucer. Her stories can get pretty outrageous at times. I can't tell a lie to save my life, so I have to admit that I am intrigued as to how schooled she seems to be in this area. She is quite convincing, but unfortunately I have learned to know better than to believe her! I'm thinking she'll grow out this??
She has turned into such a girly girl. She's really into dolls lately and don't get me started on her obsession for princesses... If you couldn't tell by her princess party. :) She also loves to play with her dollhouse that she got from Santa last year. She loves to wear lip gloss and put on lotion, and is obsessed lately with having me put in headband curls after her nightly bath (the product is in the picture above). She also loves to have Auntie Sare paint her nails!

One of the many things I love about her is her graciousness, how when she is given something, she gets very excited and is genuinely thankful.  There is almost no need for her to say thank you, because her excitement says it all.{Unless she is overtired, then it's a different story...} I think this is a great quality and hope that she'll always be polite, grateful, and gracious!

A few pictures of each year of her life:

A few of her most repeated words these days would have to be, "SERIOUSLY!!!", (pronounced "Sare iss ly!), and "Awight" (alright).
 

She loves to ride the horses/ponies at Thanksgiving Point! She loves animals.

She loves to ride her bike. One of our neighbor's made this adorable bike basket for her birthday and she loves to ride around with her "Go-go Walking Puppy" or other treasures in it. She may be girly girl but she can definitely keep up with the boys outside whether it's riding bikes, scooters or just playing in the dirt!

 

 We're so thankful for our Emmie!
We love you cute girl!!!

Princess Emmie and her Royal Birthday Ball

Once upon a time there lived a very special Princess, named Emmie.

Not only was she a beautiful princess, but she was smart, sweet, enthusiastic, funny, affectionate, vibrant and thoughtful, among many other desired traits.
Not to mention, she had the best smile and cutest dimples in all the land!
Her fourth birthday was fast approaching, which meant, in her eyes, that she was all grown up. She was going to have her first friend party, and of course she desired nothing more than a
Royal Princess Ball!

 

 The invitations went out to all princesses 5 and under in the Kingdom, and Princess Emmie
could not wait for her special day!

 

After a much-anticipated wait, it finally arrived, and she put on her beautiful, sparkly, party gown. She truly looked like a Princess, in every way possible, as every true princess radiates her shine beginning from the inside out.  And this girl, she's got shine!!! :)

She made sure to have all of her special guest's crowns, wands, and thank you favors set just right for her fellow princesses.
 
(On a side note...The favors in the purple boxes were these cute custom bracelets made by Shelly...she can be contacted at www.mywatchesandbangles.blogspot.com for affordable and darling orders for your own princesses! She also made Emmie's darling charm necklace and matching bracelet to go with her dress! Just email her and she can make anything! She is awesome and these make the cutest gifts!!)

Opening gifts was very special for Princess Emmie. Her mom, (Queen Michelle? lol;) has been reading "The 5 Love Languages of Children" and has come to realize that one of E's love languages is receiving gifts. This makes her feel so special, so opening the darling gifts from her sweet friends made her feel very loved. She was so thankful for all that she received!

 The Princesses were enjoying a Royal Feast (E's favorite homemade mac n cheese, pink lemonade, grapes and carrots), when they were
surprised by a very special guest.....


RAPUNZEL!!!


The Little Princesses were very excited to meet one of their very
 favorite and much-admired fellow Princesses!

They listened intently as she told them about Flynn Ryder and showed them what was in his satchel, they played games with her, sang songs, took pictures, and each got her autograph. Sometimes the princesses were content to just play on the swing set while Rapunzel watched.
 As for Prince Parker, he was too cool to be seen with a bunch of princesses, so he observed from a distance and made an occasional appearance
(like for pinata and cake time, as any smart prince would).

These Princesses sure kept Queen Michelle and King Chris (please just laugh with me at the cheesiness) on their toes, but they were a lot of fun! Who knew a bunch of princesses would be more rowdy than a swashbuckling crew of pirate guests the month prior?!?!
Well, like my Mother-in-Law said, they ARE princesses.... ;)

I think (and hope!) Emmie felt very loved on her big day and we just hope she knows how special she truly is!!
We love you Princess Emmie!!!
xoxo