The Pickle Jar in Poland: Emmy is six!

Emerson Elizabeth is six years old today. Six. No way! I remember when I was younger (and had no children) hearing people comment on how much time flies and how quickly children grow up. Sounds so cliche even now, but man, it's so true.

At six years old Emmy still loves babies and baby dolls. Having a baby brother is pretty much her dream come true. She gets to change REAL diapers! And wear a REAL baby (sometimes). She's a huge help with Matthew and is a great big sister.

Her first school dance, dancing with her pals.

She still loves music and singing and dancing. They sing a lot in her Waldorf inspired school, and we hear new songs as the season change. And she loves to listen to whatever is on the radio. Her current favorite song is Shut up and Dance by Walk the Moon. But we've convinced her to sing "get up and dance" since it sounds nicer. Let me tell you, that song will get up up and moving for sure! She also started ballet and she told me she likes it better than gymnastics because "twirling is really more my thing." Haha.

She loves her friends and school. This year has been good for her, she's gotten a bit braver and less shy, I think. She's still pretty shy, but she's been brave enough to act out their story (they do a new story every three weeks and the third week of the story they act it out) the last couple of times. That's big stuff!

She loves to cook with me, though a lot less cooking has been going on lately. But she's still a great help in the kitchen. She's also quite independent in getting her own snacks and drinks. She will pour her own milk, even out of the big gallon of milk. She likes to make her own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or get her own humus and crackers out. When Matthew was tiny and I was seemingly always nursing or holding a sleeping baby, this was quite a useful skill for her to have! Her favorite food is still mushrooms. She still loves pickles, olives, beans, and of course sweets. She loves all fruit, which is good, and although veggies are not her favorite, she has been better about trying them a tiny bit more, especially when disguised in soups and chili.

She loves to be outside and to work in the yard. And play. They do lots of outside time at school, in most any weather, and I see how great that has been this year. If I didn't know it before, I definitely know it now! We've got to make sure in all our upcoming transitions that outside play time happens every day!

She loves to read. We've read a lot of chapter books this past year. She and I have worked our way through the whole Laura Ingalls Wilder series, The Secret Garden, and The Little Princess. Much of the latter two and the later Wilder books are a bit above her head, but she still loved hearing them.

The biggest news is: she lost her first tooth. It happened just a few weeks ago, on April 11th, actually. The night before she'd showed me how wiggly it was and I could see the permanent tooth already growing in. Sure enough, the next day during soccer she came running over and handed it to us. I could not believe it, it was only wiggly for about 10 days! Already she has another one that is slightly wiggly, so we are on tooth watch again.

Miss Sassy Pants also got her hair cut short back at the end of February. She'd been asking for it to be shorter for awhile. She'd been growing her bangs out since after Aunt Mer's wedding in November, so this seemed like a good step to merge the two. (The color is hair chalk, it is VERY temporary, it disappears almost completely within a couple of hours.)

Oh, Emmy, you keep us on our toes, that's for sure. She's got a lot of spunk and there's no telling what she will come up with next! Happy birthday, sweet girl!

Public Service Announcement: Emmy's party is not at our house this year. Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not doing a lot for the party. In fact, it is at the zoo and all I'm allowed to do is bring a cake and ice cream. They do everything else. I'm a little sad that I'm not making decorations and baking tonight, but also a lot relieved. The past few weeks have been super busy, not to mention Mr. Matthew is in the picture, so it's probably all for the best. But I'm still a little sad. Here's the super cute invitation Aunt Sarah created.

Sorry, had to cut off the bottom part to remove my contact info. :)

Today Charles and I went to her class at the end of their day and were there for the special birthday story to be read in her honor. Miss Gina, her teacher, had asked us to share some memories and things she likes at each age and read those with the story. She got to wear the birthday cape all day and we took a special snack (berry fruit salad) for her to share. Then we went to get BBQ for lunch at a place near her school. Charles ironically had an lunch event to attend there at the same time so he had to sit in on that for a bit, but when they wrapped up he was able to finish the meal with us. This afternoon we hung around the house, she Skyped and Facetimed and chatted on the phone with friends and family. She requested chili for supper, so she helped me make chili. We got mini cupcakes from the Cupcake girls to have for dessert. She opened her pajamas from us this morning and her big present we gave her this evening, an iPod. She listens to the radio at night and once we move, there won't be any English radio stations! Plus we thought with all the upcoming travel she will be able to listen to music and watch movies. She has told most folks who asked what she wanted for her birthday that she wants an American Girl doll and is saving to buy it. I'm pretty sure that between all the cards she's received so far, she's going to be able to buy it without delving into her piggy bank savings. Lucky girl!

She had a fun day, as far as I can tell. It was a good evening to stay in, it's been raining so much this week and again today we had lots of rain and a big rain/hailstorm this afternoon that covered the grass and roads with hail (though not the 6-8 inches some places in the north part of the Springs got yesterday, it was INSANE!) so I'm glad we were home for the afternoon and evening.

Here are a few photos of her day!

Opening a present this morning

Birthday snack for school.

I forgot to take a picture before the birthday cape came off, but here she is with her teacher and her birthday candle. Photo bomb by Max. :) All the kids in the kindergarten have a symbol that marks their cubby, chair, art projects, etc. Emmy is the strawberry and so her candle has a strawberry and some other designs on it done in beeswax. Gosh I love her school!