Birthdays, bikes and ballet shoes!

Emma at 1 day old!

Emma on her 1st birthday

Emma at 2 at the beach

Emma at 3 at babyland general hospital (the home of the cabbage patch kid)

Emma at 4 (ok, well almost!) I haven't actually taken a picture of her at 4!lol

Today is Emma's birthday! It is SO hard to believe that she is 4!!! My friend Brandy posted some pictures of her son on his birthday one from each yr and I thought it was really cute, so I'm going to copy and do the same!....My baby isn't a baby anymore! :( She is all grown up!...well, working on it! If you look at the pictures, she didn't look like she changed much between 2 and 3...but in this last year, she has changed SO much. Not just in how she looks, but in personality too. She for so long was painfully shy, not wanting to talk to any one, especially adults! Not anymore, she is doing SO much better. We went to Monkey Joe's today for her birthday and she even told the owner that today was her birthday and wasn't shy about it...told him she was 4 and everything...now to some that may not sound like a big deal, but if you have known my daughter any time at all, you know that is BIG for her. We have a girlie, girl party planned, but it's not for 2 more weeks....don't ask why...it's a long story! But we did some special things over the last 2 days to "hold us over" til her "real" party. We went to Mimi and Granddaddy's last night for pizza and a beautiful ballet ice cream cake....where they went ahead and gave her her gift...a "big girl" bike! Which she mastered riding today. Gran gave her a barbie car, which Ian likes as much as she does....boys and cars!lol...but for now, that is all the presents she will get. Her party will be here soon enough, but I know she will enjoy having the bike now, and Mimi just had knee replacement and isn't sure if she will be able to join us for the party in a few weeks...so we had a "little" party last night. Today we picked up Aunt Sammy (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU TOO SAM!...I've already given you a best present ever...a niece...I can't top that LOL) and Savannah and met my friend Susan and her three at Monkey Joe's. This was our first time going to MJ's and boy was it an experience! Let's just say that the kids had a blast!....but us mommy's, well, it was a little stressful! There was SO many people....and a HUGE day camp was there...it was WILD. I talked to the manager as we were leaving and he assured me that this was the last Wednesday that there would be any daycamps there for the rest of the summer....and when he found out it was Emma's birthday he gave her and Savannah MJ t-shirts and tickets to come back....Ian missed out, he was asleep in the stroller!...sorry, buddy, you should stay awake and not miss the action!....come to think of it...no, sleep, I'll buy you a shirt next time we go! LOL. Ian played himself silly...he asked to get in his stroller and for his teddy and laid there until he went to sleep. So Emma and Savannah got a little extra play time b/c he went to sleep! We had a great day, Emma had alot of fun, and still has her party to look forward to. She has requested a ballet theme...w/ pink and purple (of course!)...so I have a friend coming who is a ballet teacher and she is going to dance w/ the girls and I have ordered tutus and tiaras and wands for everyone...it's going to be a pink and purple wonderland and alot of fun! I have had SO much fun planning her party...Susan, I'm ready to start that business we keep talking about!lol...well maybe after Eli get's here and settled, until then I'll just enjoy Emma's party!...well, I'm off here and back to the canner..it's almost done, and I'm headed to bed!...it's been a TIRING day!