Emma's Birthday - 6 years old!

Birthday with the Lavenders

Emma loves her crafting supplies.

Emma's new favorite toys are Palace Pets (Disney has created a pet for each Princess. Very smart Disney, well done.) (A side note about Emma's hair - she still fights me every day when I try to do her hair so this is what we get when she takes out the very cute pigtails that I put in for church.)

A birthday cake for only one this year. Cousin Tanner is on his mission but she got some extra love from Cousin Loren and Aunt Angie.

 

A Double Birthday Party with best friend Brooke

 

Emma and Brooke have the same birthday and so instead of them each having a party and essentially inviting the same friends we combined it and each parent did half the work. It was great! Quinn stepped up and planned all the games and ran the party. Way to go Dad! In the pictures is: (back) Ashley, Lily, Kate, Kiyomi (front) Brooke, Brooke's friend from school, Emma and Abby.

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First up was pin the bow on Hello Kitty or as Emma calls her Miss Kitty.

 Then birthday bingo.

 

Next was eating a doughnut from a string with no hands. Emma insisted we play this game as she had done it at Abby's birthday party and loved it.

So very excited to get a lollipop, she has been asking for one for a long time.

Another Palace Pet, yeah!

 

Birthday with the Van Bibbers

 

Emma gets so excited over all most everything. It is so fun to watch her expressions. Here she is excited about a card! (maybe it had money in it)

 Ponies to complete her My Little Pony collection.

 



A new dress with fun tights which she loves as you can see.

 

Daisy so Minnie has someone to play with.

Poor Grandma has to share a princess cake.

Happy Birthday Emma and Grandpa.

 

Birthday pictures

I love this year's pictures. Emma did great. Just walked right in and smiled so well. We love our 6 year old. Emma is loving kindergarten, her teacher and all her new friends. Her favorite is recess where she and a few girls chase a couple of boys around the playground. I asked her what they did when they caught one of them and she said we just catch him again. She still loves to draw and create things. Emma is also very good at playing with her animal toys and creating stories with them. She still likes My Little Pony and now Palace Pets. Emma loves to be read too but it not too interested in trying to read for herself yet but is slowly learning new words. She sometimes complains about having to get up so early (7:50) to get ready for school (still not a morning person) but by the time I drop her off she is out of the car without a goodbye or and I love you too Mom. Emma is loving having a baby sister and can make her laugh like no one else. She also plays and fights really well with brother James. We love you Emma and can't wait to see what new things you will learn this year.

Halloween Happenings

Emma's Kindergarten Halloween Party

 

I got to run the bingo table.

 



Geisha Girl and Queen Bee.

Our cute Mia.

 

Halloween Night

 



Let's go Trick-or-Treating.

Our Bat - he put his costume on for a few pictures and then decided he was done. We finally talked him to going out over an hour later and he only wanted to do one street.

Our Queen Bee - who was very excited to go but was stilled scared of some houses and their decorations so she also did not last long.

Our cute Monkey who really had no idea why she was being put in this silly costume for a few pictures and that was it. She stayed home and helped Mom hand out candy.

Cutest Devil ever.

 



California here we come!

In October we took a week off of work and school to go on a road trip to California and what a trip it turned out to be. We stopped in St. George for the night with Carly, Jeff and Owen and then left Mia with them for the week. I did not think she would have much fun sitting in a stroller day after day and every time I saw a mom changing a diaper or feeding a baby I was so glad that was not me this time. I'm sure she had much more fun with Aunt Carly even though she was sick and got all of them sick too. So sorry but Carly we are so grateful for you. Thank you so much. As we headed on to California I have decided I never want to drive again. Traffic is awful the whole way. People do not know how to drive on a two lane highway and no one knows how to pass. Then that night Emma and James started with a croupy cough. At about 3:30 in the morning we almost made a trip to the ER but thankfully her Advil kicked in and she was able to breathe easier and get back to sleep.

So after not a lot of sleep and with two sick kids we were off to California Adventure Park. We had a great time on the Toy Story Mania ride and Radiator Springs Racers. The kids did really well for not feeling good. I got a hold of their doctor and she was nice enough to fax over a prescription for their croup that night. Things were looking good until we rushed to the Tower of Terror and got right on without stopping to think that the kids probably wouldn't like this ride. They did not, they were terrified. The next day at Disneyland we took them on the Pirates of the Caribbean and that sealed the deal. They did not trust us much after that and refused to ride anything they hadn't already been on. Finally on our last day there we were able to get them on some rides in Fantasyland.

We also spent a day at Sea World which was a nice break from the other parks except that now I was sick. I walked around Sea World in a daze. The kids love petting the manta rays and the star fish. They also did enjoy the shows this time too. Overall it was a fun trip but I am not anxious to do it anytime soon.

Mater! He is just like the car in the movie. He drives around and talks too.

When we got to Disneyland the kids really did not want to ride anything after our first days experience but when we got in line for Pixie Hollow she got really excited. She got even more excited when she saw Fawn and Tinkerbell. It was so fun to watch her talk to them and be so excited about something.

She loved Minnie too.

Cruella deVil was amazing. Quinn and I loved her. She plays her part perfect.

After waiting 1 1/2 hours we finally saw Mickey. Don't ever wait for him at his house. The sign said 20 minutes when we got in line. Boy were they wrong. He is all over the park, get in line there.

The kids finally noticed other kids getting the characters autographs so they just had to have Pooh's. It was so cute.

Donald all dressed for Halloween.

They were able to sit in this tea cup but the ride was closed (it was scheduled to open the day after we left).

The atmosphere in Cars Land is amazing. It is just like the movie. Well done Disney except Luigi's ride is really dumb, don't waste your time.

This is another great family photo with our kids. They just love to smile for pictures, especially when they are sick and tired.

These are James' kind of rides. Love Bugs Land too.

 

Day three of four was spent in Sea World. It was such a nice break and the drive was a nice break too.

Petting a manta ray.

Quinn did a good job not letting James fall in.

Star fish.

This bird almost got that fish but Quinn fought him off.

 

Ahhh, shark!

 

Thanks for going with us Grandma and Grandpa Van Bibber. We had a blast!

Mia is 9 months old!

Mia turned 9 months old on October 2 and here are her pictures finally. She refused to give big smiles and to stay in one place for too long now that she can crawl but they still turned out so cute that I really wanted to buy them all. Of course as soon as we walked out the room she was flashing big smiles to anyone who looked are her. Oh well, still cute.

Fall Festival

The first Friday in October was Emma's school Fall Festival. She was so excited that whole week because her teacher had told them about it and she couldn't wait. She was also learning a song to perform for everyone with all the other kindergarteners. So we bundled up on that very cold evening and headed to the park for some fun.

Mia is ready for Halloween and loves the skeleton that Emma is still afraid of.

The fish pond booth.

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The bean bag toss.

The bouncy houses.

Mia and Grandpa Lavender having a conversation.

 

Scary!

Then to top the night off Emma and James finally convinced Mom to let them sleep in their tent and they did great!

Welcome Home Taylor (temporarily)

Sometime the last week of September, Taylor and his companion were chopping wood. In an effort to finish up and get home by curfew they were hurrying and in a rhythm. Taylor would put the wood up and his companion would chop, but then one piece of wood wobbled and Taylor just reacted and reached for it when his companion was already mid swing, it chopped off the very tip of his finger. He immediately got a blessing and was rushed to the hospital. The doctors were able to get him taken care of everything looked like it was fine. But three weeks later he learned that the bone was infected and they needed to send him home for some major antibiotics and some rest. Taylor was very disappointed but it turned out the be the best thing for him. He came home got great news from the doctors here, rested and 5 weeks later he was reset apart as a missionary and sent back to Alaska. We are so grateful for his protection (it could have been much worse of an accident) and for his quick recovery. Taylor is very excited to finish out the rest of his mission and we are too! We love you Taylor and we'll see you in 6 months!!

We got our signs and we are ready for him.

He just needed his Mom!

Welcome Home!

Taylor got to meet Mia for the first time too.