Emma's Baptism

On Saturday Emma was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  She was so beautiful and radiant all dressed in white and waiting anxiously to enter the baptismal font in front of so many family and friends.  She even had three of her teachers attend and she couldn't have been more excited to have them there.  We're so fortunate to have so much love and support around us.  She's certainly a lucky girl to have so many people that adore her.  

It was such a special and exciting day and we were all exhausted by the end of it.  We're so proud of Emma for making the decision that she did to be baptized and confirmed and are grateful for the incredible example that she is to the people around her.

Eight is Great

Emma celebrated a big birthday this weekend.  Number 8!!!  At our house 8 years old is exciting for two reasons.  The first being that she has reached the age that she can choose to be baptized.  She is so excited and neither Allan or I can believe that our first baby is now old enough to take that step.  On Saturday as part of her birthday gift the two of us went shopping all by ourselves to find her a dress for her baptism.  She looked so pretty beaming in the mirror after she found "the one".  The second, though less important, exciting thing is that she got to get her ears pierced.  I think I was as excited as she was as she picked out her earrings, pretty little flowers in the color of her birthstone, and waited nervously in the chair for them to load the "guns" that would shoot the little studs through her ear.  She was very brave and barely flinched.

Then she spent the rest of the weekend checking herself out in the mirror every chance she got.

  

We had her family party where she was spoiled rotten as usual and then right as the night was coming to a close and she was ready for bed, she puked her little guts out from too much excitement and too much candy on her birthday sundae.  Luckily it wasn't the beginning of the stomach flu and she was able to sleep through the night without another incident.

We covered her door with a heart attack just like we do for every birthday at our house.  We fill each heart with words that tell her how much we love her and how special we think she is.  My favorite heart this year was Lillian's.  This is what she asked me to write on her heart for Emma..."Dear Emma, I love you.  I did like you when you're pretty.  And you are my best big sister.  I will say that you are pretty.  Dear Emma, I hope you have a good day.  You will see that I am seeing that you are great and pretty.  Love, Lillian"

So, to add to Lillian's list, here are my 8 favorite things about Emma.

1. Her beautiful smile

2. Her infectious laugh

3. Her artistic abilities

4. Her pretty songbird voice

5. Her determination, which also has the tendency to drive me batty at times

6. The way she nurtures her younger siblings, especially Violet, she is so good with her.

7. Her imagination and creativity.  She is such a good writer.  Author is on her wish list for a future profession

8. Her sweet and gentle spirit.  She has such a concern for everyone around her and always wants to do what's right.

Happy Birthday!  We love you sweet girl!

Walking with Dinosaurs

We had such a memorable outing with the kids this weekend as we took them to Walking With Dinosaurs, a live show with life size mechanical dinosaurs.   What made it even more fun is that we got to go with the kids' cousins Ava, Kendall, Jimmer and Carter and Uncle Shane and Aunt Susan, of course. I was so impressed with how life-like the dinosaurs were and the kids were completely captivated throughout the whole thing.  All of the kids, that is, except for Lillian who fell asleep within the first 15 minutes.  Allan was pretty certain that it was a fear induced sleep as she was very anxious about the meat eaters and their love of dino babies right out of the egg.  Luckily she woke up for the second half and, safe in Daddy's lap, got to see the T-Rex and her baby.

These pictures (that I didn't take) give you an idea of what the dinosaurs looked like.  It was very neat to have the "archaeologist" wandering on stage with the dinosaurs because it gave you an idea of the size of the dinosaurs in comparison.

As excited as the kids were about the dinosaur show I think that they were equally excited about the way that we got there... by train!!  The LRT (Light Rail Transit) to be exact.  Allan just told me what that stands for.  They could not have been more thrilled!  I was so glad that Allan talked me into taking them on it despite my much protesting about crowds and time and babies and pretty much any other excuse I could think of.

Watching for the train

Waiting for Dads to get the tickets

Here we go!!

I love the way that Walker is holding on for dear life.  He's such a good sport to put up with being the only big boy among this bunch of girls.

There's nothing we love more than outings like this with the kids, especially if cousins come along!

And because Violet was pretty absent from these pictures, here's one of her.

CUTEST THING EVER!!

Elightenment

I feel like in the last couple of days a light has gone off for me.  Since Violet arrived three months ago I have felt entirely overwhelmed nearly 95% of the time.  Meeting the demands of four busy children has seemed impossible and I have felt like I am always twenty steps behind.  The minute I would get the house in order I would turn around in what felt like moments and it would be back in the upheaval that it was before I started.  My frustration with the kids increased daily as it seemed that they had a collective goal to make things as difficult for me as is humanly possible.  Then yesterday morning while I stood in the center of my bedroom staring at the four piles of dirty laundry on the floor and looked into our hallway that was littered with all manner of things that needed to be tidied and taken care of Lillian walked in carrying one of her latest favorites from the library.  She held her book up in front of her little face and asked if I would read it again and just as I opened my mouth to tell her that I had too many things to do the thought came into my mind, "this is why you're home."  In that instant it finally occurred to me that the Lord didn't care if I got the laundry done that day or if my house looked like a Toys R Us or if dinner wasn't ready the second Allan walked in the door.  In that moment all that He required of me was to read to my little girl because that is what she needed from me.  Years ago I made the decision to stay home so that I could do the things that were important to our children, like read their favorite stories and play Candy Land and do puzzles and rock them to sleep in the afternoons.  I wanted to experience the highs and lows of their days with them, to play with them and teach them and in the craziness of the last three months I had lost sight of that.  I made a goal in that moment as I stared into my Lilly baby's pretty face that I would try harder to let go of the not so important things of the day so that I could focus on the so important things.  When Walker asked me to play Candy Land minutes after finishing Lillian's book I put my laundry basket down yet again and played.  When Lillian wanted to play with the playdoh that we made that morning for a whole hour after lunch I did that too.  When Emma returned home from school and had story after story to tell me about her day I did my very best to stop what I was doing, look her in the eyes and listen until she was finished.  Then this morning I woke up and promised myself that I would do it again.  And miraculously it has made all the difference, not only in my children's attitudes and behavior but in my level of productivity and feelings of accomplishment at the end of the day.  Despite the fact that I'm reading and playing and listening more I'm still managing to accomplish the things that I need to to feel like a successful homemaker.  As has been the case many times before, I've learned that following a gentle prompting from the Spirit can bless my life in ways that I couldn't have foreseen.  Not only that, but that I have a Heavenly Father who is aware of me and of the frustrations and struggles that I go through and who wants me to be happy and fulfilled and successful in all that I do.  With His help I can be the wife and mother that I want to be, regardless of how impossible that feels at times.  So tomorrow I'll keep at it and be grateful for these fleeting moments that I have with my babies while they are home with me.

"No language can express the power and beauty and heroism of a mother's love"

- David O. McKay

Sunday Afternoon

Today is the warmest Fall day that I can remember in a very long time and tomorrow will be even warmer with a high of 28 degrees.  The kids did their best to take advantage of the beautiful weather and raked up the few scattered leaves that we have in our yard only to throw them around.  

It was a very nice way to spend our Sunday afternoon.

Then I got a couple of spare minutes with Violet and was able to get some pictures of her too.

She was feeling very serious so this is the only picture that I got of her sort of smiling.

I swear she gets cuter everyday!!

Lillian Gets a Haircut

One Sunday afternoon after returning home from church and getting lunch I told the kids I needed to rest for just a couple of minutes.  Violet was only about four weeks old and after at least two middle of the night feedings I knew that all I needed was a 20 minute power nap to help me make it through the rest of the day.  So I asked Emma to keep an eye on things and headed up to lie down with the baby.  I was asleep in an instant and was awakened 15 minutes later by the kids screaming about something Lillian had done to her hair.  More specifically this...

Apparently she felt like her bangs were getting a little of hand so she decided to take care of them herself.  We're lucky she didn't take a chunk out of her scalp because the hair underneath was so short she may as well have used clippers.  Thank goodness the kids found her when they did or she wouldn't have had any hair left!

Just so that you can grasp the gravity of this hack job, here is what her hair looked like just a couple of days prior.

 

Finally on the first day of school, just about two months after her self inflicted haircut, her hair had grown enough that I could take her to have the hairdresser do what she could to fix it.  I think it turned out pretty darn cute and hopefully she won't attempt it again on herself or her sisters.

iPhone Update

With my cellphone contract coming to an end in a couple of weeks I am due for a phone upgrade and needed to get my pictures transferred onto the computer.  So here are some of my favorites from the last year or so.

The snow pile in our cul de sac

Ruby Tuesday

Always sharing

Haircut by Daddy

Fort Edmonton Bridge

Goofy Girl

"Look into my eyes"

Royal Alberta Museum

and again

Skating with Uncle Des and Auntie Haley

Snoozing in Daddy's suitcase

Dino Dancers

Fashion Forward

Easter Outfits

Sweet Baby Vi just hours old

"Shhh! Sorry baby, I don't have any milk for you."