Emily's 5th Birthday Party

Emily recently had a party for her 5th birthday. It was the first party she had where we invited her friends to come too. We held it up in the youth center of our church. There's a nice theater room there so we let the kids watch a 20 minute episode of one of Emily's favorite shows, Little Einsteins, while enjoying popcorn & drinks. Then we had presents and cake. The kids were so cute helping Emily open her gifts and singing happy birthday to her. Emily had a great time & I think she really felt loved and valued. We are in awe of the fact that our baby is 5 already, but also look forward to watching her grow into the woman she will become. Below are some of my favorite photos of the party thanks to Joel. I included one of Jonathan with a ping pong paddle. That's what he did for a long time - just played with the paddle & ran around - and he had a blast doing it.

Jon's Awesome Hair

Jon woke up this morning with some wicked bed head. Emily has a reputation for amazing morning hair too, but this picture really wins 1st place. I think it's because he has less hair so it can reach greater "heights."

It reminded me of the picture below of Jon right before his first haircut (he was about 10 months old at the time). We thought it would be fun to give him a baby Mohawk before the big cut. He seemed to enjoy all the attention too. Ironically enough it was taken almost exactly 1 year ago.

Ode to Baby

Jonathan has a security blanket named "Baby." It goes everywhere with him now - so he's kind of become like Linus from Charlie Brown. Baby is great - until he can't be found - then it's the end of the world. Baby is such a part of my daily life now that I thought it would be appropriate to devote a blog entry to him. So here is Ode to Baby:

You are Jon’s friend & companion
You make him smile so big
He has to have you daily
and needs you when it’s time for bed

Sometimes Jon feeds you snacks
and tells you about his day
It’s very cute and sweet
Sometimes you both even play

But, on the other hand, Baby
you get really gross a lot
I try to keep you clean
But it’s really all for not

Then there are the tears
when you can’t be found
and all the looking, looking, looking
so that Jon can lay his head down

So ours is a love/hate relationship, Baby
you have to understand
It’s nothing really personal
It’s just the way it is

But, I know the day will come
when you no longer will be needed
And I have to admit, Baby
that I’ll probably miss you then.

Christmas Eve Eve

We have a fairly new tradition in our family (it's been done the last 2 years). On Christmas Eve Eve we blow up an air mattress & all pile on it to watch a Christmas movie together complete with hot chocolate & popcorn. When it's over we all sleep in the living room together with the Christmas tree lights on. Then in the morning we have cinnamon rolls. This year the movie was The Santa Claus 3. It wasn't bad ~ about what you'd expect out of a kids' movie with Tim Allen playing Santa trying to outwit Jack Frost played by Martin Short. ;-)

After about 30 minutes we realized that Jonathan needed one more year before he could fully partake in the event. He was just running around on the air mattress & throwing himself down over & over - there was also high pitched screeching involved. Soooo...Jon slept in his crib. We'll give it another try with him next year.

Holiday in the Park

We had a few free passes & decided to take Emily to Holiday in the Park this year. It was her first visit to Six Flags ever. She loved the carousel and really got excited when she got to drive one of the old timey cars all by herself (she reiterated several times in line that she was going to drive the car). She was a little uncertain of the funnel cake...until she took her first bite. By the last few bites she was getting really territorial over the cake.

We did have a moment or 2 when she wasn't very enthusiastic about a ride. I rode with her on the little roller coaster in the kid's part of the park. She was excited at first, but quickly became freaked out & kept saying "I want to get off!" It was very sad.

All in all, we had a great time. It's been years since either Joel or I had been there for Holiday in the Park. But, the best part this time was just watching Emily have fun & laugh.

Christmas Parade

Emily's Parents' Day Out program participated in a local city Christmas parade this past Saturday. We got to ride on the float with some of her classmates. Joel was in charge of holding a tree & fake ax and looking like he just got in from chopping it down. The kids and I were supposed to smile, wave & say "Merry Christmas!" a bunch. The kids did well with it over all & did smile, wave & say "Merry Christmas!" some. They also frequently said "Bye people!" to the onlookers. And Emily apparently thought Christmas was that day as she often said "Merry Christmas tonight!" It was the first parade for all of us & we had fun just goofing off & being together.

The float we were on also won 1st place in the large commercial category. Go PDO program!

Clifford at Grandma's School

We went up to my mom's school where she teaches tonight for a literacy night. Clifford was there in person & both the kids freaked out. They were so excited to see a real Clifford. I was a little curious to see if the large dog would scare Jonathan, but he ran right up to him. Emily even said she wanted to take Clifford home with her. Just a few minutes ago during bedtime prayers she said she wanted to pray for Clifford & she did - it was very cute & very sweet.