It's the Simple Stuff

FOUR???!!!! Seriously...Already???

Its 11:57 pm and in three short minutes it will be Emma's 4th birthday!  So here is a glimpse of Em in a nutshell......beautiful, loud (louder than all of my boys put together), tiny dancer (she spins, twirls and boogies to her heart's content), imaginative, playful, ornery, total drama queen, princess, sweet, bossy, fashionista (can have a meltdown over shoes), total girlie girl but attracts dirt like the best of the boys, little miss independent, funny, lovable....simply put she is a total joy (meltdowns and all).

We had a little family birthday shin-dig on Saturday evening, she loved every minute of it.  Tomorrow for her actual birthday, I am taking her to tea at Hershey Pantry....the girl LOVES to play tea party so I thought it would be the perfect way to celebrate. (may even let her choose her favorite dress up dress to wear, wouldn't that be fun) I don't know who is more excited, her or me! 

Poor thing....

Yesterday I took Grady to Joyce's to get his hair cut....that is a huge drama in and of itself and if I get the chance and I figure it out I'm going to post some video of me asking him about his hair cut...its funny.  Anyway, because of that and then dropping Cooper to play at Sam's...more drama (apparently they weren't the their usual "perfect pair" yesterday) and then getting home and eating lunch I had to try to hold off on their naps.  They have been eating lunch arond 11:30 and going down for a nap around 12 so they will be up in time for me to get the older ones from school.  Well since we weren't even sitting down to eat until 12:30 that wasn't going to happen which meant trying to hold them off until we got home from getting Owen and picking up Cooper from Sam's...which meant a little after 3.  Fortunately for me, my dad came to work on David's computer and it was taking a while so around 2:15 when they were both having major meltdowns I asked my dad if he was going to be around long enough that I could lay them down and then go get the boys.  So that's what I did but I think since I threw her schedule out of whack, she didn't take a very good nap and the little slide show is a product of what a not so great nap can produce!!!!

After I was done taking those pics...because I just had to get them...I fixed her hair and got her a little entertainment.  It was all good then!

Happy Birthday Sweet Emma...

I can hardly believe it but my baby girl is one...where has this year gone.  This time last year I was still in complete and absolute shock that God had blessed our family with a sweet baby GIRL!!!!  And while the year has flown by in but a blink of the eye, the amazement and wonder of this precious girl has yet to feel like reality.  Not a day goes by that I don't look at her and marvel at the fact that Miss Emma has joined our brood of boys!!  I adore my family and I thank God for the chance to be Mommy to four precious, healthy and down-right cute kids!!! 

Emma has proven to be quite different than my boys...as she well should be.  High maintenance is one of her stand-out girlie qualities.  As well as being sweet, and funny and LOUD...and the girl can grunt and growl with the best of the boys!  Year two we will be working on lady-like qualities...starting with not growling for our food!!!  She truly is amazing and such a wonderful addition to our family.  The boys love and adore her and are so happy to have a sister in the mix!! 

So sweet Emma, I praise God for the wonder of you!  I'm so honored to be your Mommy.  I pray that I will be worthy in the task of growing you up to be a young lady with a heart for God!  Love you sweet girl!!!

Here are a few of the pics I took today...She LOVE, LOVE, LOVES the walker that Selena let us borrow...Thanks Selena, this thing makes her so happy, can you tell from the smiles???

Notice the piggy-tales here folks...can I tell you how much I'm LOVING that???  Doesn't she look adorable???!!!

Here is Miss Emma taking her morning nap in the car.  We left the house around 10 a.m. and headed to Rock-a-Bye Baby where I found a little rocking chair for her.  Its exactly what I wanted to get her for her birthday and have been looking all over for one.  Fortunately my dad reminded me about that store...Thanks Dad!!!  After Rock-A-Bye, we were going to head to the Hershey outlets for a little while waiting to meet my Dad for lunch, but the birthday girl was in need of a nap, so she fell asleep in the car and we spent the hour until we were to meet my dad in the parking lot of Red Robin, so she could sleep.  Grady didn't mind either, he was happy watching a movie!

Cleaning up from lunch with Pop Pop!!  Wish I would have remembered that I had my camera before my dad went back to work so I could have gotten her picture with him!

After lunch I had some time before I needed to pick Owen up from school so I took Emma and Grady to Chocolate World.  It was hard getting a picture of her while sitting in the same row as her, but I wanted to try to capture it for posterity's sake!

After Chocolate World and picking Owen up from school it was home for Em and Grady to nap.  As soon as David got home I took Owen to go pick up a gift for a birthday party that he had this evening.  Then it was a rush to get home, put the present in a bag and load everyone in the car to drop Owen off at the party.  While he was at the party we ran to Sam's Club and Walmart to get food for Emma's birthday party TOMORROW!!! 

So tomorrow is the big day, her birthday party!  Can't wait, I'm sure I'll have pics to post of her big day!!  As for the rest of the pics that I took today you can see them here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!!!  WE LOVE YOU!!!

Isn't she lovely....

Had to share some pics of Emma in her Easter dress.  Unfortunately since it was ridiculously cold outside on Easter my hopes of having a great photo shoot with her outside in her pretty dress didn't happen, and since I don't have a good natural light picture taking spot inside my  house, the pics aren't what I had envisioned, but you can still see how cute she is and capture her on her first Easter in her first Easter dress. 

Here is one of the boys...who weren't in the mood for picture taking...you can even tell that Grady is saying CHEESE!!!

Did I mention how cold it was???  Keep that in mind with the following pic of our family and just appreciate the fact that we lasted outside in the frigid, windy weather for even ONE photo...I took what I could get!

And one more of me and my pretty girl!

She's six months....

****OK SOMEHOW THIS DIDN'T GET POSTED YESTERDAY, IT WENT TO MY DRAFTS INSTEAD!!!!

I can hardly believe it....my baby girl is six months.   In some ways it seems like she's been around longer than that, but then in others I feel like I blinked and here we are.   She's so pretty and such a sweet girl.   And her personality develops more with each passing day.  For instance, just this week, she has (while playing in her exersaucer) figured out the whole fake cough thing that is just too darn cute, she has figured out how to drool even more (which trust me...is NOT necessary) by blowing spit bubbles (doesn't she realize that's not very lady-like???) AND just today has started blowing raspberries (she very into the noise making tricks).   She squeals and giggles and rolls all over the place.   Such fun.  And let me tell you the girl does not miss a beat.  She can turn her head like 180 degrees if she thinks there may be something interesting happening behind her!  She adores her brothers and they are equally taken with her. 

David and I still look at each other, almost on a daily basis, and make the same comment..."Do you believe we have a little girl?"  Everyday when I go to pick out something for her, I still am in awe that there is a closet and drawers overrun with pink and purple and flowers and butterflies.   Just amazing and so very much fun!  I took some pics which I will upload over the weekend...because posts are just better with pictures!  And I'd like nothing better than to show off Miss Emma!  But for now that will have to wait because I am not at the right computer (need David's) and I'm beat!!!   Happy six months baby girl.

All smiles....

The girl loves to smile and everyday I'm blessed with such sweet smiles from her, thought I should share.....