Happy Birthday Emma

My Sweet Emma,

I can't believe that you are 6 today! I feel so blessed that God has picked me to be your mommy! As hard as it is from me to see you grow up and turn one year older it has been so much fun to see you grow this past year.  There are so many things that make you our sweet Emma and here are a few ....

You love life and life it to it's fullest!  You seem to attack life full on and enjoy everything about it! 

You have such a sweet bond with your brother and sister.  You are a wonderful big sister to Shane and he loves it when you play trains with him or house with him.  You and Alexa love hanging out together.  You care about each other and never get tired of playing together.  I can honestly say you don't fight but instead look out for each other and compliment each other so well.

You love your daddy!  You love spending time with him and going on special dates with him.  You love to play rough and tough and then turn around and cuddle on his lap!

Your smile lights up a room.  People are drawn to your personality.  You wake up everyday with a big smile on your face ready to face the day!  You are kind and compassionate and hate feeling like you are letting your mom or dad down.  

You are a girly, girl and love being pampered! You love having pretty nails and some lip gloss on your lips! 

You love to dress up as a princess and have tea parties.  You always say you feel so beautiful! You are beautiful my sweet Emma on the inside and the outside!

You are our fashion queen.  You pay attention to what is in style and have a definite opinion about what you want to wear! 

You played soccer for the first time this fall.  You approached it in true Emma style.  You thought it was so much fun but really loved the outfit and made sure you had a bow to match!

You have always been a doll lover. You still play house a lot and love being a mommy! I know you are going to be such a good mommy someday!

You love using your imagination and dressing the role when you pretend play.  You become a chef when you are cooking, you put your heals on and turn into a teacher when you do school work and of course you love being a princess.  You can often be found in some type of dress up clothes.

You have a sweet bond with your sister.

You love being a ballerina! It is right up your alley and you wish you could go to ballet every day!

You love going to school.  It has been fun to see you grow in so many ways already this year.  You love to read and are so proud that you can read big books like Alexa now!

You are our beautiful blue-eyed girl who has a heart for others.  I love listening to you pray at night.  You wear your heart on your sleeve! 

Emma this picture makes me think exactly who you are.  You love life, you attack everything with excitement, you always have a smile on your face, you love new adventures, you are carefree and you are full of energy.  I pray that God continues to mold you into the girl he wants you to be.  I pray that you have confidence to know you can do anything you sent your mind to.  I pray that you know that with God by your side you will soar in life.  

I love every ounce of you sweet girl! 

Happy Birthday

Go Chargers Go

Tonight the girls were so excited to cheer at halftime of their school's girls varsity game.  They did a little cheer camp and then performed during the big game.  They were super excited for the big performance.  They were especially excited because their school was playing my old high school team and my brother coaches that girls varsity team.  So papa and grammy were there to watch as well.  

They were anxiously awaiting the  clock to run out so they could take the floor! 

This of course is right up Emma's alley so she couldn't wait! She especially loved the pom poms they got!

This is the group of Kindergarten and 1st graders that participated.  I was so bummed all my other pictures turned out awful.  I was also a little more into watch them than worrying about pictures and before I knew it it was over.  

Swimming For 100 Minutes

On Friday it was the 100th day of school.  The 3 first grade classes got to go on a field trip to a pool to swim for 100 minutes.  What a great field trip in the middle of the winter! Alexa was so excited for the big day! 

Eric and I were Alexa's classes chaperons.  We were mainly in charge of making sure things went smoothly in the locker room.  This is a picture of all the 1st grade girls.

Eric and another dad got in the pool and played with the kids! Alexa thought it was pretty fun to have her daddy join her for the afternoon!

Alexa has adjusted to her new school better than I ever could have imagined.  She has such a great group of her girls in her class.  She has a large group of friends but these two girls are usually by her side. 

There was a water slide the kids loved! 

This is what Eric looked like most of the afternoon! 

Alexa was trying to protect her daddy from all the boys!

Taking a little break!

Jumping back in for some fun! The kids had such a fun afternoon! I am glad Eric and I could be part of the 100 Day Celebration! 

Ballerina Feet

Dancing is like dreaming with your feet - Constanze

Another One Bites The Dust

Guess who lost another tooth?  Alexa was playing outside in the snow and came running in.  Emma's sled had bumped her wiggly tooth and out it came!  She was very excited that she didn't lose it in the snow! I can't believe how losing those teeth makes her look so grown up.  What has happened to my baby! The tooth fairy failed to come during the night! OOPS! She must have been busy Alexa decided and she came while she was at school instead! They have been talking about the kids in Haiti at school and praying for them.  She decided to take her tooth fairy money to school to send to Haiti! 

Shane Has A Bit Of A Wait But He Is Busy Getting Ready For His Brother

The kids have been so excited about her their little brother in China.  They have been processing and asking questions.  They pray for him, ask questions about him and love planning for him.  He is part of our daily conversations and lately Shane has been talking about him a lot.  Last week the snow started melting and so Shane was pretty sure summer was coming which meant we would be getting close to getting his brother.  He asked if he should pack his suitcase for papa and grammy's house.  

We knew we wanted to tell the kids early so they could process and we could begin preparing them.  The hard thing with adoption is you just don't have a time line.  We told the kids we don't know when we will be able to go to China and get him because we have a lot of paperwork to do.  The other day Emma said, "Mom, why don't you go work on paperwork for our brother and we will just play!" We did tell them it will probably be after summer.  We are hoping by summer at least we will have a little bit of an idea where we are at.  So needless to say Shane is pretty sure that since the snow is melting then summer is coming which means he is closer to meeting his little brother.  It may be a long winter, spring and summer for Shane.  

Here are a couple things Shane has been doing to get ready for his brother.  

He painted him some pictures the other day!

We have been going through all the toys and are getting rid of stuff.  I think I may be nesting already.  Shane is having a really hard time letting go of his toys because he is pretty sure his brother needs them.  So here is his line up of trucks he is saving for his brother. 

He also has decided he no longer needs to sit in a booster seat at the table.  He is getting too big and his brother will probably need it.  He carefully placed it in the corner and it has been in the corner waiting patiently for his little brother.  

Shane I know you are going to be such a great big brother even though it just may rock your world a little bit! 

My Two Little Ballerinas

The girls have been asking forever if they could take ballet.  The thing I don't like about ballet is it typically is an on going program unlike their 6 week soccer or the 4 week softball season.  The last couple years we have talked about possibly doing it after Christmas and haven't done it yet.  I love our lack of schedule and have wanted to hold on to our evenings as a family.  Eric reminded me it might be easier to try ballet this year verses next when I will have 2 little boys in toe.  I knew the girls would love it so it was a matter of mom making the commitment and finding the right program at the right time.  

I found a ballet studio that fit what I was looking for.  I wish there was a Christian studio in town that was conservative with their music and costumes but this studio has a great feel and I think is a great match.  It is very conservative and traditional so I am hoping that we can avoid the more secular song and costumes I saw in a couple other studios.  The girls could both take a class right after school on the same day so it doesn't take up an evening and the class sizes are super small.  Emma has 6 in her class and Alexa has 4 in her class.   Each class has a dress code and as you can see the studio has character! 

The girls were giddy with excitement.  Alexa approached dance with true Alexa style.  She was very serious and determined to do each move just so.  There wasn't anything that was going to break her concentration.  When she finished her class she said to me "I have been waiting my whole life for this!"

As you can see Emma was beaming for ear to ear.  She also approached it in true Emma fashion.  She was all about making new little friends in her class, my social butterfly.  She also would always turn around with a big smile to see if I was watching.  She asked if she could go 2 times a week or maybe everyday.  She also was hopping she could get a skirt and some leg warmers for her next dance session.  She is my fashion queen! 

Shane met another little boy there who does ballet.  He came home asking daddy if he could take ballet too.  Eric told him he thought soccer or football might be a better choice!

Coloring 101

As I was tucking Shane in bed the other night he said, "Mommy do you like the pictures I colored for you!" 

There are sometimes that Shane can give me this look that takes those mischievous things he does and make me want smile and hug him instead of get upset with him.  Well he gave me one of those looks like "Mom don't you just love the pictures I drew for you!"

We talked through the whole where do we color? Yes, on paper not on the walls!  You can draw pictures for mommy on paper and the whole Shane you know better than that.  I concluded our discussion with, "I'm going to have to think about what we are going to do about this and we'll talk about it tomorrow!"   

Five minutes after I tucked him in bed he peeked his head out of the door and said, "Mommy don't you think you should just spank me right now!"  I gave him a hug and said no we will talk about it tomorrow.  I knew already I was going to have him clean his room and wash his walls as his punishment!  I think laying in bed and thinking about what he had done was eating him up a little bit! 

Shane got right to work!

Who couldn't love that sweet little face?

Look at those sweet little fingers scrubbing that wall! 

When I asked Shane what lesson he learned he said, "Draw mommy pictures on paper!"

FREEZING Temps

The last two days we have unbelievably low temps.  Today the forecast was -21 actual temp and -41 with the windchill! Now that is Chilly.  To add to the crazy cold temps we had about 4-6 fresh inches of snow and then crazy winds over night.  Of course this was the week that Eric was out of town so I learned how to run the snow blower over the phone and went out to clear the drive! Mission accomplished but boy was it hard work and a bit chilly.  I am glad I didn't have to shovel it all. I think we may have been snowed in until Eric came home if that was the case.  Oh do I appreciate my husband and all the snow blowing he does during the winter! I can't remember when I have experienced these kinds of lows.  So thankful for a nice warm house to come back into!

The drift out the front door on Thursday morning!

Our yard has never had this much snow in it! The kids think it is so much fun that the snow almost hits the top of their play set.  I think they could probably jump over our neighbor's fences into their yards.  I think we are going to have a really wet spring. What do you think?

Well need less to say the last two days the kids have had school canceled because of the dangerous wind chills.  We have enjoyed our days of staying in PJs, hanging out together and sipping hot cocoa.  The kids enjoyed getting sleeping bags out and watching Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. One Sunday it is supposed to warm back up to 30.  We are looking forward to the heat wave! 

A Week of Hanging Out

We had such a great week at HOME!!! I really wanted to take the week before school started and just spend time hanging out with the kids.  I decided not to spend time cleaning or taking down Christmas decorations but instead just spend time with the kids.  I think we left the house once the whole week.  I think Eric thought I was a little crazy.  With the girls in school I miss our days of having no schedule, no where we have to go and just hanging out in jammies with no agenda.  Here are some of the things we were up to ...

We slept in and took naps

We played a lot of games.  Alexa's favorite was her new Guess Who Game.  Emma's game of choice was War with her Hello Kitty playing cards.  I only beat her twice and we played a couple times a day for a week.  I was really trying too! Shane was loving his new Disney Go Fish and Snap card games.  

Shane spent a lot of time playing Legos and Geo-Trax!

The girls played house with their dolls.

Alexa weaved a purse and some pot holders.

We read a lot of books! Emma loves that she can read big books like Alexa now.  She loves reading to me but I often found her cozy in her bed curled up with some books!

I think one of my favorite things we did was going through pictures and my blog! Maybe because it felt I did get something productive done during the week.  I love scrapbooking but have gotten further and further behind.  I have been trying to figure out if I want to keep doing traditional scrapbooking or switch to digital.  So while I spent time trying to make a decision I got further and further behind.  One thing I did realize is that if I did switch to digital scrapbooking there is something about having an actual picture too look at that I love.  So I decided to print hundreds of pictures this week due to a sale that was going on at my favorite processing center. We put them in the Creative Memory Picfolio Albums.  The kids had so much fun looking at pictures and reminiscing over the pictures.  They each would pick up an album over and over again and look at the pictures.  I realized that I love taking pictures, love recording our memories and my pictures are worthless if they are just on my hard drive.  I also realized how much the kids loved looking back at the pictures.  So it has motivated me to get these albums finished. My next project is the kids individual digital books.  I am excited to finally have a game plan for my kids' books and our family book.  I'd love any feedback of things that work for some of you! 

The other thing we had fun doing was going back through my blog and reading posts and looking at pictures.  I started my blog to post information about the bows I sell.  I then decided I enjoyed blogging so I began posting about our family.  It was a great way to keep friends and family informed of our happenings in life.  Now it has turned into more of a place where I am document life for my family to look back on.  The blog has also helped me let go of my traditional family scrapbook that I would journal in.  My friend at 3 Little Loves put her blog into a hard cover book a couple months ago.  She totally motivated me to get my last two blog years in a book as well.  I am in the process! Hopefully I can get that done and have my books in hand  by the end of the month.  I will keep you posted.  It also motivated me to keep up with my blog in 2010 and document what is happening in our lives. 

Alexa's Second Day in 2010

Alexa spent most of her Christmas vacation making faces like this.  It is her wiggling her tooth with her tongue.  I got a lot of pictures like this ...

or like this ....

where you could those one of those little teeth hanging out over her lip.

Finally on Saturday morning when she was eating a bagel one of those wiggly guys fell out.  The other is still hanging in there as you can see! 

Alexa couldn't wait to get back to school.  It will be her first time on the tooth chart this year.  Oh the things that are so exciting to a 1st grader.

On a not so fun note Alexa took a trip to the Urgent Care on Saturday as well.  She had a bad case of Strep Throat. 

Hoping for these meds to kick in quickly!

Life Is A Journey

Webster Dictionary defines a JOURNEY as

jour·ney (jʉr′nē)

noun pl. journeys -·neys

1. the act or an instance of traveling from one place to another; trip
2. any course or passage from one stage or experience to another

As I look back over 2009 I have to say it definitely was a journey.  It was probably one of the harder years we have experienced in our married life.  The economy took a toll on Eric's company and he was forced to let a number of employees go.  This brought a bigger work load for him and a lot more stress.  There was the stress of finances, work, putting into our marriage, kids and then just the daily things that happen in life.  What a comfort to know that we believe in a sovereign God that has a plan for our family.  Even though it was a hard year it was a year I would walk through again.  It made me really look at where my security lies. Does financial security or feeling loved by husband bring me security?  Does no stress or a stable pay check bring me security?  Does health or thriving kids bring me security?  Do I look to the things of this world to bring me security?  Do I look to my husband or kids for  security? As I struggled through stressful times wanting to control them I had no choice but to lay them down. This year I truly learned what it meant to fully rely on God and what that looks like as a woman, wife and mom.  

There is security in knowing that I put my trust in a God that loves me unconditionally, sent his Son to die for me and has a plan for my life. Is everything we went through this past year preparing us for something BIGGER?  

As I look back over the past year I see God's hand so evident in our life.  And as this year comes to a close it also marks a new journey we are on as a family.   A journey both Eric and I feel God has called us to.  Were things we went through this past year preparing us for this new journey?  As we begin a journey to a son in China I know what it means to fully rely on Him and trust in his perfect plan for our family.  We would be lying if we didn't say there was fear of the unknown or uncertainty that is before us.  But I also know that the excitement that we feel and the confidence we have in God's calling on our family to adopt a little boy in China is something I can't explain.  So yes maybe 2009 was a hard journey at times but maybe in part to prepare us for the journey that will forever change our lives in 2010. 

Please join us in praying for the little boy that God has for our family in China.  

I have started a new blog The Journey To Our Son

I will be posting our little guy's story here.  I will be posting what led us to our decision to adopt a little boy from China, our progress through the adoption process and then finally our trip to our son. I can't wait for you to share this journey with us!