Emily is FOUR!!!

Well, it has been four years since that fateful day so long ago! Emily Grace is four years old!! This is a day I longed to see so many times long ago and here it has arrived! They said at four we would have a pretty good idea of where Em would end up. So far, I am liking what I am seeing,but I will let you know what the experts think...we see the neurologist on tuesday, her pediatrician on thurs, and her opthamologist in a couple weeks. :-)

We made an agreement with Em this year: no party and for her birthday she could go to the toy store and pick out whatever toy she wanted. It worked.

We started our day when I went in early to get them up (we have a 'wake-up' clock and they are not allowed to get up before it goes off).  And then Em had to take a walk through the hall of balloons and ribbons...

Since her stack of pancakes from last year was the request for this year, I decided to 'do it up' and cover the entire thing in whipped cream.  This tells you how often I use whipped cream...I didn't even realize it would melt under the heat of the pancakes.  Oh well, she didn't even notice.  :-)

Our little set-up...

I decorated Em's chair and told her it was her throne.

After breakfast, we opened a few of our presents.  I had thought she would not understand if I wrapped up pretend money and gave it to her, but she knew right away.  I asked her, "Do you know why Mommy and Daddy gave you pretend money?"  She nodded and said, "So I can get my t-rex!"  Yes, she bought her t-rex with the 'fiery eyes' again.  (We had taken it back because the remote didn't work - yes, he walks, roars and has light up eyes - but when we returned it, they didn't have any in stock. So we got a different toy, only to have her talk continuously about t-rex for the last several months.  The bonus?  This time around it was on sale and $10 cheaper!  Yipee!!).

Just funny faces.

Nana L sent a t-rex puppet (already named Mama T-Rex) with some money inside to add to the stash headed to the toy store.

He has been a big hit and is currently in bed with Em.

Laughing at K when she finally stole it back.

About the moment they figured out this was a Maximus horse (Tangled)...

Me asking if she likes it.  There is the happy shot for Anutie MoMo...

Deep conversations.

Then it was off to get clothes on and measure her height.

The numbers do not lie.  What you see is the growth chart.  Em is the same height K was when she turned four.  Exactly!!

After school, we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory where we met Auntie K and our cousins for lunch.

We had a really slow server, so it was good Auntie K brought puzzles and coloring books and stuff for the kids to do!  Thanks!

When we tried for a cousins shot in front of the trolly, B didn't want to take a pic, so this is the cute one of the other three...

...and then when B did smile cute, the others were done.  Classic kids!!

Em chose an ice cream cake...my first one...and it was super easy to make and super yummy!  Oreo bottom and brownie in between two layers of mint chocolate chip ice cream.  I will stop.  Easy and yummy should have been enough.

Then we got to open our present from our cousins.  :-)

Finally it was off to the toy store.  The girls were pretty beat by then but they 'managed' to find a second wind upon entry into child utopia.

Em got her t-rex and two princess poly pocket packets...wedding dress and Rapunzel, of course.

Well, her fine motor skills aren't quite there yet, but she tries real hard, this is her showing you that she is four.  Big girl!!

I really thought when I got up for my quiet time today that it would be a regular quiet time, but I am learning that, as a parent, there are some days you just can't get past your kids.  It's not really about Em, but this was my little prayer in my journal this morning:

Oh Lord!  Four years ago on this day, our lives changed forever.  Four years ago, I thought I would never be able to celebrate this day.  I resolved in my heart this was the worst day of my life and I have dreaded its coming every year since.

Yet here I sit, just four years later, four little bity incredibly long years later, not just ready to push through another birthday, but ready to celebrate!  I have been excited about this day for weeks now and I even slept poorly last night.  I am so excited to see the joy on Emily's face, I can hardly wait to wake her up.  When you said your joy comes in the morning, I had no idea how GREAT that joy could be.  Only you could take this, work miracle after miracle, and in four short years, get this broken heart to freely declare from any mountain top that YOU ARE GOOD!

And since good barely even cuts it, I will thank you.  Thank you for the misery.  Thank you for the sleepless nights and the physical pain that has never fully healed.  Thank you for the miracles of healing and thank you for all the miracles you have held back - for they keep me in your arms, trusting you, asking you, and remembering daily who my source is.

Thank you for taking this wounded, broken heart and leaving the scars as proof of your grace.  This heart beats irregular now but that's because these eyes see only you and what heart could remain steadfast in the while observing the holy?  You are God.  You are great.  You are good.  Your plans for me are worth more to me than all the gold in all the world; more than all the comfort and ease of life this world could ever offer.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.  I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus' Name.  I have found the Rock - my Rock, my Refuge.  He is my God and I will trust in no other.  I am his child, his servant.  On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.  All other ground is sinking sand.

Only my loving heavenly Father could create this - this joy - from the 'worst day of my life!'

Thank you that there will be worse days and greater joys to come.  Give me the grace for the days and grant my heart the capacity to fully absorb all the joy that will come in the morning!

Amen!

Caught up on Life

I have done it! Completely caught up on all my photos and everything! Yipee! And not a moment too soon. Emily turns four in two days and her birthday marks the most chaotic 10 weeks of our lives. In these ten weeks, we will manage to cram Emily's birthday, Thanksgiving, Daddy's birthday, Christmas, Mommy's birthday, New Years, and K's birthday. Yep, nothing happens for the rest of the year! :-) (Well, except our family day - the day Em came home from the hospital).

So in cleaning out the camera for these events meant I came across some pictures I have no idea how old they really are.  Nana and Poppy Erickson...

This is my Grandpa.  He lives in Ecuador so we only see him once every couple of years and this, clearly, is the year.  :-)

So, when we did the letter P, we decided it was necessary to make pumpkin pie from scratch.  Since we had pumpkins from the pumpkin patch already, we decided to try with those.

Other than the obvious fun with texture, it was an epic fail - the pumpkin never even got soft.  So, we all agreed that we should always obey the recipe.

We did get some yummy seeds out of it, even if Em and I are the only ones who like them.

Yes, Emily.  Em has been really branching out in showing her advancement into the fourth year of life on this planet.  It is incredibly challenging to train her since she seems to take a very long time to even figure out what it is you are disciplining her for (no matter how many times or ways you can think to explain it).  Then, once she understands, she still has the normal amount of time from every child where they must decide if they agree or not.  It takes a long time.  K was practice, Em is the test...sort of like a final.  Between the stubborn and the whine of two four year olds, pray for this mama!

I get this look all day long!

So, having changed our ways, we attempted pumpkin pie again.

While it cooked, we had puppet shows with our puppets we made in school.

I took a pic with K because I was sure she would hate the pie (as it is something new) and this was the only pic I would get of her.

Em, of course, loved it.

To my surprise, so did K!

Although this is not an uncommon occurence in our house, Sammy did milk his sick days with the girls.  He is better, by the way.  I have not taken him running yet but mostly because I am gun shy, not because he can't handle it.  When his meds are done, I will think about it.

We always hit the after october sales to resupply our dress up bin.  We still have several good dresses so the girls got to pick only one this year.  K has worn hers every day since we got it.

Such a cute pic!  If only Mom had noticed she hadn't removed the tag yet!

Umm, confession time...yes, we did it.  I think it's a combination of Dad's love of Christmas and our rebellion against october 31st that drives us to decorate earlier and earlier each year, but whatever the reason, we did it again.  With sleigh bells and chestnuts melodiously filling our house, we set up just the living room.  So that means the Christmas tree (yes, it's fake, we have a thousand allergies!).

Em decided that banging fragile glass balls on the side of her head was a good idea.

And the village...that's it, I swear!

I did forget to mention that the guys went fishing on the Sacramento River while we were up in Redding on our vacation.

They each caught a salmon about this size!

And this was the panorama from M's phone of the water level in the lake.  Just neat and creepy all at the same time.

Well, officially this catches me up.  Yipee!  Have a wonderful couple of days and I will post most assuredly on Em's birthday.  God Bless!!