Emma's Birthday Celebrations

Emma's birthday celebrations started the Thursday before her birthday. She invited me to eat lunch with her at school and as luck would have it was their Thanksgiving lunch. It was actually really good but boy do they rush you in and out quickly in that place. They also don't let you sit where ever you want. They line up and thanks where you sit. No one is allowed to sit across from you either. We had to eat fast. The lunch monitor walks up and down telling the kids that there needs to be less talking and more eating. Different than what I remember. But Emma was very excited that I came.

On Saturday we headed to Boondocks, where the birthday girl is pretty much free. The kids played Roller ball and then we had fun playing arcade games and getting tickets to trade in for a snake for Emma and a light saber for James and glasses for Mia which I am modeling!

Sunday the Grandparents came for presents, cake and ice cream. Emma was very happy with her new My Little Pony - Princess Luna, vest and boots.

Mia playing peek-a-boo with Emma's new Frozen garbage can.

Emma said she wanted a store bought cake and this is what she picked out.

On Thanksgiving Day at Uncle Kyle and Aunt Angie's house Emma opened more presents. She received some make up, notepads and Play-Doh. We had a great day and all went home full and happy.

Happy Birthday 7 year old Emma!!

Birthday Pictures

Emma's yearly birthday pictures turned out great. Loved them all. She did make me be in one and then made me buy it. Love this girl. Emma is loving 1st grade. She especially loves recess and eating lunch there. I drop her off and pick her up everyday which is hard but I'm not comfortable with her walking yet. There are kids that walk in our neighborhood that walk but not everyday so it's just easier for me to plan on taking and picking her up then trying to figure out which kids are walking that day. Can't wait for the days when I can say just walk home unless it's bad weather. Emma still loves to create works of art. She loves her stuff animals and playing with animals, fairies, palace pets and my little ponies. She wishes she had time to play with friends everyday but is getting used to just not having enough time because of school and homework. Emma is still a spunky stubborn girl. We love hearing her read but she hates doing it and most days it is torture. But she is improving and that is all we can ask for. We decided to get her hair cut for this picture so she would not look the same as the last three years and we are both loving it. Most days she just has to run a brush through it real quick but today she forgot to even do that and it was fine. I think we will keep it this length for awhile. Happy Birthday 7 year old! We love you!!

Two weeks after her pictures she lost one of her top front teeth.

So glad it was after.

Happy Halloween

Halloween day we visited Grandma Van Bibber at work and Great Grandma and Grandpa Zundel  before going out to lunch with Grandma Van Bibber and Uncle Taylor.

Spider Girl and Spider Man

Baby Spider

Biggest BYU Fan!

Our Family at the Woods Cross 7th Ward Halloween Party

Quinn and his friend dressed up as each other for their work Halloween costume contest.

Leaves are falling all around...

The kids raked a big pile of leaves one Saturday before Quinn could mulch them up and had fun jumping in them and burying each other in them. Even Mia let them bury her. They all thought it so much fun to surprise each other by coming up out of the leaves. Quinn was their favorite person to bury. My kids have the best Dad in the world!

Fall Break in St. George

Toward the end of October Emma had 2 days off of school so I decided to head to St. George Wednesday after school with just me and the kids. This was the first time I had made the drive all by myself. I don't know how Carly does it all the time. The kids were really good but I wasn't able to hand them anything or change the CD whenever they wanted or put in a movie for them at the drop of a hat. The road was also very busy with everyone else making the trip down too so traffic was slow! The worst was stopping at the Burger King in Fillmore. Never again will I stop there. There was nothing fast about this fast food restaurant. The place was busy but we waited over 30 minutes for our food! It was awful. The kids were cranky (me too) and wild and Mia refused to sit still and the high chair I managed to snag didn't have a working buckle. So I ended up holding her very heavy body while she tried to get out of my arms for those 30 minutes too. I couldn't let her walk around because it was too busy and didn't want to loose the table we had snagged as well. I did have to ask the nice lady next to us to watch Emma and James and our table while I went to the bathroom to change Mia. Worst meal ever!

Okay rant done - the rest of our trip was pretty good. We had a great time at the park, visiting Staheli Farm, at the children's museum and playing in the water. The weather was great. Carly and I stayed up way too late talking. And snuggling a very cute baby was heaven!

The kids did fight and get on each others nerves and mine but we were off schedule, all in one room and not getting enough sleep. So overall a great time but we were ready to be back in our own beds and have Quinn back. I'm sure Carly enjoyed the peace and quiet once we were gone. Thanks for letting us come Carly and for the very fun weekend!

The drive home was great, made it in only one stop (not Fillmore) and thanks to having enough snacks didn't have to stop for dinner.

At the park.

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Staheli Farm was so much fun with it's petting zoo, hay ride, pumpkin patch, maze, rides, slides, swings and so much more.

Wicka Dee was so fun and cute. She made a witches brew that everyone got to taste.

We love the children's museum, the post office and grocery store are the kids favorites.

Out to lunch - cute cousins.

It would have been too cold for me in the water but the kids loved it!

Such a cute boy!

Miss you all!