My baby girl is 8!

My sweet little Emmy is 8! I can't believe it's been 8 years. Looking back, I feel like I was pregnant w/ Emmy yesterday. I remember the day we found out I was pregnant, my first appointments, the first time I heard her heartbeat, when the doctor laid her on my chest after she was born. It's been 8 years...the best 8 years. My life is so rich and filled with love. I could have never imagined the love I feel.

Emmy at 8 is Emmy. She is so full of life as she always has been. She is loud, exciting, warm, outgoing, happy and lives each and every moment to its fullest. If I've ever seen a person "full of life," it's Emmy. Her eyes twinkle, sparkle, light up. If you've heard her laugh, you remember it. Her laugh is the best- so true, real, contagious.

Emmy loves rockstars, Hannah Montana, Selena Gomez, Demi Lavato. She's not into boy bands (yet, thank God), but loves her girl rock stars. She loves playing soccer, putting on shows at home, and is enjoying circus. Her favorite tv show is, of course, Hannah Montana. She likes playing Wizards 101 on the computer, though she isn't allowed to do so that often (much to her dismay). When Emmy grows up, she wants to be a doctor and rockstar or a Montessori teacher and rockstar :)

Emmy is quick to love, quick to laugh, quick to cry, and quick to forget. One of her best traits is her ability to move on. I hold on, dwell, and can't let go. Emmy is teaching me the joy of forgetting, truly forgiving, and spending energy positively. When Emmy's down, she isn't down for too long before she's made or found joy in her life and she's laughing again. Emmy is so wonderfully positive.

Emmy always has a grand plan for things- she's always organizing something or someone. She's got big dreams and executes them. The world is in Emmy's hands, really. She's a kid in control of her life, she drives the energy around her, and is the greatest source of contagious joy.

I looked at Emmy this evening and saw her little red forehead birthmark (angel's kiss). I'm so thankful for that birthmark and hope that I'll always be able to see it (she has no idea where it is, even). It takes me back to the night she was born and I feel so secure with my little baby. In an instant, I had a place in this world. My baby and I could take on the world together :)

Emmy was born and I immediately felt whole, that missing part of me was found. I was 23 years old when my baby was born and I'm so happy Shad and I decided to start our family when we did. Emmy keeps me sane, drives me insane :), but most of all, whether I'm sane or feeling insane, Emmy forces me to LIVE! You can't be around Emmy and not feel alive, be happy and feel loved. Emmy, at 8, is an amazing, absolutely amazing human being. She has the purest soul, the greatest laugh, the happiest eyes, and most contagious wonderful personality. I thank God for my baby girl, who at 8, turned my world right side up and each and every day, makes me, and everyone around her, feel incredibly alive. I am so thankful for my Blessings. Happy 8th Birthday to my beautiful Emmy Lou!

Happy 6th Birthday, Callie Bones!

My baby girl is 6! Another year has passed already. Seems like yesterday I looked back on her 4th year and now I'm looking back on her 5th.

Callan at 6 is just amazing. Thinking of her makes my soul happy and brings a smile to my face. Callan cares deeply and her concern is genuine. The bonds she makes are strong ones and she cherishes them. She is intuitive and introspective. She is independent and a perfectionist. She has an intelligent, dry sense of humor, and is perceptive and wise beyond her years.

Callan is still small but she is certainly mighty. She's starting more and more to stand up for herself to others and making sure she's not getting the short end of the stick, just because she usually happens to be the shortest stick.

At 6 she likes Tinkerbell and Toy Story. She enjoys her sister's big girl shows, but she's not head over heals for pop stars. She's a great soccer player, very competitive, pushes herself hard and enjoys the payoff of hard work. She's enjoying circus again and looking forward to being a part of the "real stuff" this year. At home she plays fairies outside, takes care of her doggy, she likes playing school with Emmy and Thomas and more and more, she is the teacher (or a co-teacher w/ Emmy, at least). She likes getting wound up and being goofy too :-)

Callie always knows when I need a hug. My baby girl will come up to me and softly tell me that she loves me just when I need it most.

I can still remember the first time I saw her face in a mirror as she was born- so squishy. I wondered if I'd really love her like I loved Emmy. I wondered how I'd have the time for her. I loved her before she was born but the instance I saw her little squishy face, all of my concerns vanished. I was in love. Each day, I fall more deeply in love.

My baby girl is six now. My baby brings me so much meaning in my life. She grounds me. She slows me down. She reminds me of what life is about. She is so soft, so sweet, so true. My little buddy. I am blessed and so thankful for this beautiful day, my baby girl's birthday. Happy Birthday my Callan Elizabeth! XOXO

Pictures

Their best buddy, KB. She's such a good girl, an inspiration to them and to me too! KB is following her dreams, working her butt off and doing well in school. We're so proud of her.

I'm going to be so sad I haven't kept up here, because it's fun for me to look back to my first posts and read what my kids were saying, what they liked, what they didn't like, etc. Time seems to blur together and I forget times and events and funny things that were said :(

Summer is here and we're having a good time! Sprinklers and pools and beaches and zoos and campfire s'mores. The kids wanted to go to summer school this year so they start next week. I'd rather have them home w/ a sitter when I work (less driving for me), but I'm thankful they like school. We're doing summer circus and the girls are taking unicycle. They're getting the hang of it....

Emmy and I are going to see Miley Cyrus at the House of Blues tomorrow night. I'm as excited, I think, as she is about it. I remember my first concert experience (NKOTB, nosebleed seats at the Forum, I think, and it was sooo cool) and can't wait for her to have hers. I asked Callan if she wanted to go too, but she said she'd rather stay home w/ daddy, thomas and grandma bo and eat beans and weanies and maybe go bowling :)

Ramblings

I was working late tonite in our living room and Emmy, who should have been fast asleep, walked in and said: "Mom, you look lonely out here. You know, I'm lonely too. Do you want to come lay down with me?" Then later: "Mom, you know what? I will never tell you that I hate you. If I do tell you, I'll take it back, okay? Because I don't. I love you to infinity."


The girls stayed up late tonight planning their work for tomorrow. It was one of those nights where I just wanted to freeze my kids' kid-ness. Emmy with her little bag (that she and I sewed a few years back) that she has on her bedpost that holds a few pens and some tape. Emmy helping Callan not forget sounds as Callan wrote out her work for tomorrow.

Thomas has a little friend, Ava, in his class at school. At a recent birthday party, he followed her around and they had the best of time. At school yesterday they were sitting eating snack and she was behind him at a different table. He turned around in his chair and was watching her. His teacher told him, "Thomas, please turn around so you can eat your snack." Thomas looked at his teacher and said, "But I can't see Ava!"

I was telling Grandma Bo and Shad this story and Thomas overheard it. He started running in circles saying "I need to see Ava! I need to see Ava!" I showed him a picture of Ava on her momma's facebook page and he got so happy and tried to pull his daddy to the computer telling him, "come see Ava, Daddy. She pretty!"

Thomas came up to me one night and said, "Mamma, pet me like a dog, Mamma. Pet me!" He screamed when I laughed at him until I patted his head, then he was happy :)

I have an awful memory and I need to start writing the cute things my kids say or else I just know I'll forget. I'll wake up old and be so sad that I can't remember :( What an awful thought.

Hello

Hunter Park on the steam train:

Cute little Emmy

Crazy Callan:

Emmy making her "Cane Cookies." She can make them ALL by herself- her own recipe too! Callan w/ her microscope.

Oh, the drama:

Our tea date:

Thomas upset about going out on our "Romantic Dinner for 5, Please" My girls...

Callan and Hunter Park

Emmy Lou at Hunter Park:

My kids ready for their "Romantic Dinner for 5, please"

Oh, Thomas....

Emmy at our tea party

I love Callan's little hands in this picture

Callan at the Museum, pretending to be a choo choo train.

My beautiful babies

Emmy Lou, so beautiful

Callan, so beautiful :)

Thomas so beautiful :)

I'm a bit behind on this, and I need to keep this up for my kids' family and friends who aren't on facebook to see recent updates of the kids and for me. Blogging helps me remember, as I've said in the past. I have a horrible memory, so when I'm old, i hope blogspot still has my words somewhere and I can look back at my life at this moment and smile.

The kids are busy in school, having a great time w/ their friends and new lessons. The girls are taking swimming lessons and really enjoying them. Emmy has SPEED in the pool. I've said that since she first learned to swim. She has a muscular build w/ great upper body strength. I think she could totally be an olympic swimmer. No seriously, the kid is fast without even trying to be.

We're getting ready for spring soccer. The girls are aching to play. Shad's going to coach Emmy's team and I'm going to try to coach Callan's. This should be interesting. I've always kind of been the assistant coach to Shad, but I'm not sure I have the patience that he has (sounds odd, but it's true, he's great w/ the kids). The times I coached before w/o him, I was threatening the kids w/ ending practice 5 mins after it started. The bigger ones are ok, but those 4 yr olds are kind of tough when they get together. So wish me luck. Let's see how many complaints I get against me.

All three kids are amazing me w/ what their learning in school and how much they enjoy it. Emmy's still LOVING math, doing 5 digit checkerboard (which I honestly couldn't do when i got a lesson in it) and is excited about finding the area of parallelograms. She's just about finished w/ the first Harry Potter book. She says now that she can't believe she read it b/c it looked so miserable at first w/ the small print and small spacing. I've been reading it w/ her and it's quite interesting. When Emmy grows up, she says she wants to be a rockstar or a doctor.

It's more like pulling teeth to get info from Callan sometime, so from what I can tell, she's working on the movable alphabet at school, dividing w/ the stamp game, and learning the grammar box (learning parts of speech). Callan says her favorite work is the baby work like play dough. She learning all the funny rules for reading, like two letters together most usually make whatever certain sound, which I guess I knew somewhere back there, but I really didn't. She's progressing w/ her reading and reading more difficult books more quickly. Callan says that when she grows up, she wants to be tinkerbell or a lawyer.

Thomas at school is doing the leaf puzzle. Hahaha, that's the only thing he'll tell me he does. And the circle work, he says, which I think is a little puzzle. At home he's starting to be more and more interested in bigger puzzles (like the 24 pc ones, well the ONE he has of lightening mcqueen), but doesn't have the patience for them so it ends up a mess. But he really WANTS to do them. Thomas is obsessed OBSESSED w/ race cars still. Before he wakes up fully in the morning he's muttering about race cars and Mator's Ghost Light (a short video).

I'm so glad my kiddos like their school and are thriving in it- makes paying tuition more bearable each month. I'm thankful we're able to have them where they're at. Thank God every day for it.

Here's Emmy giving a lesson on finding a parallelogram. Not sure if everyone will be able to see it, but I've tried:

Pictures.....

Pictures from the last few weeks, taken from the kids' school performance, a fancy dress up party, Holiday parties, and one pic of Thomas and Bo making mean faces :)

Santa Claus 2009

We saw Santa Claus last night. Thomas ran through the mall toward Santa screaming "Santa! Santa! Christmas!" He was hesitant at first to sit with him, but liked the coloring book Santa had, so he went to sit with him.

Emmy told Santa she wanted Heelys and a karaoke machine.

Callan told Santa she wanted "tinkerbell stuff" and an "eye looker thingy" (microscope).

Thomas told Santa, "I want Christmas, Santa." awww..... But later that night, Thomas told me he wanted a boat and a choo choo train. I think we have just about every choo choo train imaginable. But Santa'll find another one....

The kids are loving the lights and the season. Each year, for me, I appreciate the Holidays more and more. I'm so thankful for my family and the joy I experience with and through them.