Birthday Party!

On Saturday we had Emily's birthday party at the house.  We invited 16 kids and all of them came!  Luckily it was pretty enough to go outside.  I never thought Emily could have a birthday outside so this was a blessing.

Emily requested a pinata for this party so we got a Barbie one.  It was the kind where each child could pull 1 string until the candy fell out.

 Unfortunately this little girl didn't understand the concept of 1 string at a time and after only 2 kids had a try she pulled all the strings out . . . .

 Oh well, the kids didn't seem to mind . . .

 After the kids played for a while we had cake.  Tara made this cake for me:

 Rachel did some face painting for us:

 

  

After face painting Emily opened her gifts:

Emily had a great party with her friends.  Everyone played well together and had a fun time!

Emily is 6 years old!

Emily is 6 years old today!  I can't believe we have been parents for 6 years now.  Emily is such a sweet child and we LOVE her imagination and how she loves to pretend play.  Her favorite things now are Barbies, dolls, Princesses, and she still enjoys playing dress up now and again.  She can entertain herself for hours playing with her toys and is in her own little world.  She is doing really well in Math at school and is learning to read.  We love her sweet spirit.

 Because this is her birthday, she has been star of the week at school.  She gets to be line leader and hold the books for the teacher during reading time.  We turned in this sheet about her on Monday to start her week:

 

On Friday (her birthday) I ate lunch with her and then we went back to the classroom and I read "There's a Wocket in my Pocket" to the class.  Emily helped me pass out cupcakes and then the class sang Happy Birthday:

Emily chose her favorite chicken restaurant for her birthday dinner.  The server brought her an ice cream sundae for her birthday:

 On Friday night we told her she could take her birthday money that came in the mail from grandparents and aunts and uncles, and we would help her buy an American Girl Doll.  She was so excited that we had to leave right after dinner to head to the store.  She picked Emily:

 Emily came with some accessories and then she also bought Emily's dog with her allowance money.  It was a fun birthday!

Sharing a Room

My sister was able to bring the matching twin bed to our house tonight.  So the girls are now able to share a room.  These beds were my dad's beds growing up, then my sister and I used them as kids, and now my girls get to share a room together we these beds.  They are super excited and I am too!

Cleaning Up

After Christmas I spent my days off of work getting Abigail's room ready for the twin bed we are getting for Emily.  Abigail has been sleeping in one of the twins and my sister is bringing the matching twin (they were our beds as kids) so the girls can share a room together.   I moved the changing table out of the room and that is where Emily's bed will go:

 

 And I was finally able to move this chest of drawers out of the closet and into the room.  So I have more closet space as well:

I bought these sheets and bed skirts to go on the girls' beds to match the quilts my mom made them last year:

 

 This room will now be the play room/guest bed.  I went thru all the toys in Emily and Abigail's room and set a lot of stuff aside to sell in consignment.  The rest of the toys we arranged in the room and moved what will become the guest bed over to the corner:

 We also put the new Christmas toys downstairs for the girls to play with:

I also switched the curtains that were in each room.  So the green curtains are now in the play room and the pink curtains are in the girls room.  We should get the twin bed this weekend!

Christmas morning

On Monday the girls got ready for Santa by making him some cookies:

 It took a while for Emily to fall asleep on Christmas Eve.  I remember being that way as a child : )

Santa came to visit!  Here is what he brought:

 Hannah the Elf left a couple of gifts as well:

 

 Checking out what Santa brought:

 and what Hannah left . . .

 Then they opened our gifts to them:

 

 

 

We had a very relaxing enjoyable Christmas together.  I was better organized this year by wrapping the presents to the girls and numbering them so I could remember which ones I wanted them to open, etc and kept a list this year so I wouldn't find stuff later in the closet that I forgot to wrap : )

Family Christmas Part 2

On Sunday we spent time with Joe's family to celebrate Christmas.  Abigail enjoyed hanging out with the dogs that were there.  At one point we had 4 dogs in the house : )

 Joe and his crazy brother:

 

After opening presents we all went to dinner together before our family headed back home to get ready for Santa!