Emma's Day of FUN!

We had Emma's party Saturday but in our house on your "REAL" birthday- it's your day of fun!

Emma's morning of fun was overshadowed by a couple things I had to do- one of which was gathering EVERY bit of information about my entire life for the Department of the State so they will give me a passport. Every address I've ever had, every job, every sibling including birth place and birth dates and a photo copy of as many documents I could find that prove I'm me. Ironically, they want my birth certificate and my children's- both of which they already have....grrrrr

I digress. After I got all of my "business" taken care of we were OFF for Emma's day of fun.

Luckily Aunt Hillary and Micah are here visiting so while I ran around like a chicken with her head cut off the kids were happily frolicking at the playground and riding their bikes around the neighborhood. It's SO nice to have a little help!

Emma chose what we would do on her day of fun. Here's what she wanted to do:
Go to the mall
Eat lunch at Chili's (her favorite restaurant)
Play at the playground at the mall
Go on one of the rides at the mall
Eat ice cream at the mall
Go to the ice palace- you know- the place where you see Santa....again!

Well, we embarked on her day of fun and we did have fun!








I feel so blessed to have Emma! I can't believe it's been 5 years since I saw her for the first time. Just like her birth was nothing like I expected it to be- she has been nothing like I thought my little girl would be. She is her own girl. She is happy in her skin. She is happy to be alone, never bored, forgiving, thoughtful, sensitive, a perfectionist if there ever was one and the sweetest girl I've ever known. I know Mike feels like I do- that we are better people for having her to raise. As I took out my blackberry to post something on Facebook about her birthday- Mike had just posted his own status update:
‎5 years ago today I became a Dad. I can't believe how fast the time has gone but I haven't taken a second of it for granted. Happy Birthday Emma. Look east because I'm sending you a big kiss from Italy.

I had to wipe away a couple tears while my kids played at the mall.

Because she's 5 here's a list of 5 really cool things about Emma:

1. She reads really well. She read every birthday card she got in the mail- all on her own. We were at a birthday party at a bouncy place and all the Moms were sitting around chatting. Emma ran to go bounce about 50 feet away from me and came running back asking me to go with her. I asked her why and she said "that sign says no jumping without adult supervision."
2. She could play from morning to night all by herself. VERY rarely does she say "will you play a game with me?" Sometimes now she asks if we can play house but for the most part as long as her brother leaves her alone she would play play play with her toys all day long.
3. She prefers not to ride in the cart now at the grocery store. The other day we did our Thanksgiving shopping and the commissary was PACKED so I made her ride- and she said with a sigh "I'm too old for this."
4. She doesn't like to go to sleep or sleep in a room alone. If our baby is a boy and she is eventually up for her own room we could have a problem because she is NOT interested in sleeping alone.
5. She is a girl born in the wrong generation I think. This world seems too cruel and harsh for her. Her favorite books we read include: Milly Molly Mandy stories, Little House on the Prairie books, Betsy Tracy books. She loves sweet, innocent, calm stories. She doesn't like Toy Story because "everyone is so angry and yells" and one day at the commissary Andrew wanted Sponge Bob soup and Emma said "oh Andrew Sponge Bob is ridiculous."

Happy Birthday to my 5 year old Sweetie!