We celebrated Emma’s 5th Birthday on Saturday, December 17th, the day before her Birthday.  Emma wanted to have a “girl only” party and she invited several close church friends and school friends.  When she went to The Little Gym classes this past summer she decided that she wanted to have her party there so we booked it about 5 months in advance. :)  We went with a pink and green owl theme for her party!  I had the invitations made on ETSY (the picture of Emma on the card was taken by our good friend Kathy Krey- thank you Kathy!)

I snapped this picture before we left for the party… Nana got her this cute Hello Kitty outfit and I just couldn’t get over how big she looked!

There are TONS of pictures from the party…

forward roll with Adelynn and Maggie watching…

This was cute… the hostess asked the girls what they were there celebrating and all of the girls pointed to Emma and said, “Emma’s Birthday!”

Circle time and introductions…

Adelynn, Emma, Aubrey…

Each girl got to show their favorite “trick.”  Emma confidently and proudly did a forward roll! You just never know with Emma… sometimes she is shy and clams up and sometimes she is super confident!

Silly games

Balancing on their belly buttons…

Quick, everyone dog pile Emma… which was really fun and cute until Emma ended up with a hurt ankle.  She was better in a minute or two!

Parachute time- Emma was really excited about this…

Emma and Kaycee

Video of freeze dance

Foster was at the party and had a great time too!  Here he is looking in on all the big kids dancing!

Emma was very sweet to Foster and kept trying to include him in the activities

Foster and Emma

3 little monkeys, hangin’ on the bars…

Bouncing on the air track…

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The cake!  My good friend, Connie Easterwood, made this adorable cake.  I found a picture on-line of a cake I really liked, I sent her the pic and asked her if she could make something similar.  The cake below is the EXACT cake, even cuter acutally.  It is ALL icing, even the lollipops!  I was kinda sad to cut it and eat it.

Blowing out candles…

Opening gifts… she got some really great new things!

Emma had a great 5th Birthday!  We are so thankful for all of the sweet friends and family who helped her celebrate!  Can’t believe my first-born is FIVE!!!

Foster loves to playin the leaves in our yard… here he is playing after church one Sunday in December.

Emma’s last day of school before the Christmas break was Friday, December 16th.  Robin and I both got to go to her Winter Party and it was so fun!  The kids sang about 3 fun songs and then we got to go to different tables to play games, do a craft, eat snacks, and more.

Emma and Taylor

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Emma and Lindsey

Playing Bingo

Emma and Aubrey making thier gingerbread craft… I was in charge of this little project. :)

Emma and her teacher, Mrs. Bradshaw- we LOVE her!

Emma is looking like such a big girl… sniff sniff.

On Wednesday, December 14th, Emma had her Christmas choir program at church.  I am one of five teachers in her class and we have had a very fun, eventful semester learning music and having fun!  We have 18 four year olds (some 5 already) in our class and it is always an action packed evening on Wednesdays!

Here is a picture of Emma before we left to go to the church.  Nana helped me spiral curl her hair for her big night!

Foster wanted to jump in… Here he is saying “Cheeeeeeese!”

Kinlye, Mackenzie, Emma

WOW, I look at this picture below and get emotional… several of these kiddos have known each other since they were babies and have literally grown up together.  I’m so thankful for sweet, Christian friendships for both she and Foster.  I also look at the picture below and see all of their true personalities shining through!  Including Emma… why is she sticking her tongue out???!!!

Mackenzie and Emma:

Singing on stage!

I think I see a smile in there….

Emma got to celebrate her Birthday at school a few days early, on Tuesday, December 13th.  This week is so busy at school with lots of Christmas celebrations so we decided to celebrate today!  I brought Birthday donuts from OK Donuts.  I decided to suprise Emma with how they were decorated and she was so excited when she saw them!

It melted my heart to see how excited Emma was to have me in her classroom.  This was the look on her face when she saw me outside her classroom…

She kept running up to kids in her class saying “My Mommy is right outside in the hall”- she was SO excited!  I couldn’t help but think to myself, “How many years will it be before Emma won’t love having me at her school???”  I pray that she will always love having me around.

I got to the school about 15 minutes before the party.  I loved sitting right oustide the door and watching her interact with her friends.  Here she is playing a pattern game with Taylor and Lindsey.

She came over by the door and played with play dough and kept turning around to giggle at me.

Mrs. Bradshaw had all of the kids come out in the hallway and sit around a placemat.  They sang “Happy Birthday” to Emma and then we served the doughnuts and chocolate milk, Emma’s choice!

After the party, Emma got to bring Clifford, the class dog, home with her.  We had to write in a journal what Clifford got to do at our house.  Here are a couple of pictures of Emma showing Clifford around our house!

Last Saturday was the annual Gingerbread party at our church.  This was Foster’s first year to participate so I recruited Robin to come help!  My kids were both so tired that morning and it really shows in these pictures!

Putting the graham crackers on the house with icing…

Busted!!!  Licking her fingers. :)

Foster really could not understand why we wanted to put candy on the house.  He really wanted to just eat the candy.  He even threw a fit one time when Robin put M&M’s on the house… so Robin took Foster’s gingerbread house and decorated it himself.  Foster just sat and ate candy!

Sierra, Hayden, and Emma.  Hayden and Emma had the same shirt on!

Daddy, Foster, and Emma with the final products.

I really debtated whether or not to post these photos. On one hand, they break my heart.  On the other hand, they make me giggle a little bit.  I know one day Emma will probably be really mad at me for posting these.  However, I decided that it’s part of her story and since this blog is my journal, I decided to include them.

Emma’s ballet/jazz class performed their Christmas dances for famly and friends last Monday afternoon.  She has done so well this year and I absolutely love her teacher, Miss Keally.  She is so good with the girls and teaches them so much.  She has so much fun with her good friend, Karter, from church. On occasion, they get “talked to” for giggling and talking when they are supposed to be listening. :)

They have been working on their Christmas songs for several weeks.  I try to observe through the windows in between chasing Foster in the waiting room and she has done such a great job with the dances… UNTIL observation day.  Robin and Aunt Judy took off work to come and Foster and I were there as well.  The room was FULL of parents with cameras and I think Emma was very overwhelmed.  :(  Just take a look at the picture below and you will see!

The music started and Emma just kind of froze.  Every once in a while she tried to dance a little bit but she was just so overwhelmed!  (we also had to chuckle a little bit because her belly button was peaking through that leotard!)

Judy, Robin, and myself all kept trying to give Emma encouragment.  We would flash smiles, thumbs up, etc. Judy and I even trying to mimick some of the dance moves so she would follow us!  I’m sure we looked absolutely hilarious.  Part of me just wanted to go rescue her.  Part of me wanted to laugh.  Robin said he truly FELT for her because he remembers feeling the same way as a child.  Emma and her Daddy are a lot alike. :)  He gets very overwhelmed by social situations, or at least he did as a kiddo.  She is also a lot like me in that I study every person in the room and evaluate everything going on around me.  Poor girl!

After one of the songs there was a little break and I quickly hugged Emma and gave her a little pep talk.  She did do a tiny bit better after that.

This picture cracks me up.  Ashley is the girl in the front- she is very dramatic with her dancing. Then there is poor sweet Emma in the back, just frozen.

Here is the finale pose. They were supposed to strike a pose at the very end.  Here is her pose… hands half-way up, not overly commited to the pose!  I love this girl so much!

After the dance they had a little party with yummy cookies and drinks.

I didn’t get any pictures because I was busy recovering from my mini heart attack!

After the party we got home and got Foster down for a nap and then I sat down and talked to Emma heart to heart.  I told her how proud I was of her for dancing.  I asked her how she felt during the performance and she said, “Mommy, there were just so many people there.”  It broke my heart.

I know that this is just part of who Emma is and it’s one of the things that makes me love her so much!

Christmas is only 12 days away and I’m just now posting about Thanksgiving!  This has been such a busy month but we are loving this season of family, fun, and celebrations!

We had a great, low-key, Thanksgiving in Tulsa.

It has become a tradition that we have my family over on Thanksgiving Eve.  My Uncle (Mom’s Brother) Danny, and his son, Dillon, try to come every year for Thanksgiving and it is the one time of year that we get to see them.  The family came over on Wednesday night and we served Hobo Stew and cornbread.  Then we watched the Thanksgiving episode of “Modern Family” which is currently our favoroite show.

Dillon is SO good with Emma and Foster.  You would think he has younger siblings, but he doesn’t.  He played with my kids non-stop for 3 hours.  They played hide-and-seek, played trains, even baby dolls.  Emma and Foster just adored him!

On Thursday morning we all go to my Mom’s house where she and Judy always prepare a phenomenol Thanksgiving Feast- one that could be compared to Martha Stewart’s!

Here is the most amazing, tender turkey ever!

Great-Uncle Danny showing Foster the turkey!

Brother and Sister hard at work in the kitchen

Waiting in line for dessert… my Mom’s pumpkin chiffon pie is always a huge hit.  It was my Great-Aunt Auntie’s recipe and I’m so glad she passed it down to my Mom!

I really wish I had gotten more pictures on Thanksgiving Day!  Emma was wearing a dress that was mine when I was little.  Auntie made me a dress with removable patches for the different holidays and Emma is wearing the Turkey patch. :)

I had to work at the hospital on Thanksgiving evening.  It was very hard to leave the comfort of my Mom’s house and my family to head to work but luckily it was only for a few hours.

We have so much to be thankful for and I praise God for our blessings!

On Saturday, we met up with Robin’s family at Red Lobster to celebrate his Granddad’s 85th Birthday which is this week!  They traveled from Lubbock to Waco for Lynnette’s wedding and we were thankful that everyone was able to make it to spend time together.

We had 4 kids 4 and under at the table and it was WILD!

Zane, Pops, Foster, and Gigi… the kids all fought over who got to sit with Pops and Gigi!

Great-Grandmom, Emma, and Great- Granddad:

Tommy and Zane… notice Zane’s t-shirt.  He is going to be a big Brother next May!!!!  We are so excited to have another niece or nephew!

Foster loves Uncle Tommy.  He kept bouncing him on his lap and Foster would come up to him and say, “Tommy jump, jump!”

Great-Granddad… he will be 85 this week!

We gave him a President Obama Birthday card just to be ornery. :)

After a yummy lunch, several of us took the kids outside to play.  I tried to get some good pics of the cousins playing…

Foster and Lylah holding hands. :)

Emma and Zane really adore each other

Foster, Pops, and Lylah

Foster and Gigi

At the Wedding… I didn’t get a ton of pictures but here are a few.  Emma at the table waiting for the wedding to begin

Right after Emma’s Thanksgiving Feast at school on Friday we got on the road to head to Waco.  Robin’s cousin, Lynnette got married in Waco on Saturday night.  We stayed with our good friends, The Kreys for two nights.  They recently moved into a new house and it was beautiful.  The yard is really beautiful and the kids had so much fun playing together outside.  Here are a few pictures from our time in their backyard.  I really wish we had gotten a picture of all of us together… we usually do but it’s getting harder and harder now that we have 5 kids between the two families.

Time for a little half court basketball in our pajamas on Saturday morning…

Foster loved exploring in the backyard… he kept running around the perimeter of the yard… I guess he was exploring his boundaries!

Thank you Kreys for your hospitality… you are welcome to come to Tulsa anytime!!!  We’ll be waiting. :)