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!

Had to add in the lunch picture of Matthew noshing on a pickle.

Birthday lunch with Daddy!

Hailstorm

She just realized her other gift is an iPod. I think she likes it.

Mini cupcake from the Cupcake Girls! We are going to miss that place!

Chili supper

Seven Months old!

Time flies when you are having fun! (And stressed, exhausted and trying to sell your house and move across the world! But, more on that later.)

Matthew turned seven months old today.  Big old Mom fail on posting his monthly pictures before now, but here is a little recap:

One month old, also Mommy's birthday! 

In retrospect, he also looked like a little old man. Emmy did as a newborn, too. Although her look was more old man crossed with E.T.

For his two month pictures, I have to tell you a quick story. I started out the morning of the 7th. We had just a short time to take some pictures and I quickly realized that this was not going to go well. So I abandoned the effort, planning to tray again in the evening. 

Later in the evening, however, he was not in a much better photo taking mood. So, again, I gave up. 

The next morning he cooperated a bit better. Not the greatest photos, but at least he wasn't crying after the first shot. Ha! 

At three months we got some smiles! And he'd started to fill out a bit more.

 

Halfway through the four month photo shoot, I realized that I had the previous month's sign showing (I reuse the poster board so two months are on each piece).  Fortunately, I was able to catch a few with the right side out! 

Five months!

Six Months! Sadly, for the 6 month pictures I somehow managed to permanently delete all the April photos off my camera (to include Easter photos, NOOO!!), so I do not have the greatest pictures of him from 6 months. Yes, I cried a little about this. I know there was one really cute one.

The sign became a major interest this month.

And, finally, here he is today, 7 months old!

Shout out to Aunt Lisa and Uncle Lucas (who gave me the Royal Guard shirt). They are on a trip to England now, so bring me back something good!

Yep, still likes the sign. And chewing on things. Everything.

At seven months old, Matthew likes to: eat, laugh at his big sister, smile at people, chew on EVERYTHING, roll around, go for walks in his stroller or while being worn on Mama or Daddy (but you must keep moving!), and eat more. He started solids just a couple of days before he turned six months, and there's no looking back! He's still tiny, he was 11 lbs 4 oz and his six month check up on April 10th, but I suspect he's gained a good bit since then. Probably not enough to get him on the growth curve yet, but his pediatrician was not concerned at 6 months, so we do not have to go back until his 9 month check up. He's developmentally doing everything right! He even sat up for the first time by himself on April 28th. He rolls both ways and manages to scoot himself around. You have to be careful as to where you put him, he won't be there for long!

He is seriously a super happy baby. Even when he's tired or cranky, he's still in a better mood than most folks. He makes people who are done having babies want to have more babies. He makes me want to have more babies (and we are done having babies!) We love him so, so much! He brings us all a lot of joy.