Emma turns 5!

We had Emma's 5th birthday party and it was, of course, a Princess party!  The girls came dressed up as princesses and the boys just came as is.  We made crowns, played games and ate pizza.  I think that everyone really enjoyed themselves.  As usual, here are 10 things about Emma right now.

1. She just started Kindergarten and is doing so well!!  She already knows how to read and knows a lot of sight words.
2. She is a really great big sister who helps me a lot!  She is always willing to get Makenna something or help Maddie.
3. She is learning a lot about gospel principles and is finally making connections with things.  Her prayers are great and often hilarious.
4. She LOVES to dress up in princess clothes and play with her toys.
5. She likes to pick out her clothes everyday and tells me how to do her hair.
6. She has a great vocabulary and says things like, "Stop distracting me." or "You are really frustrating me right now."  She also gets confused and says things like, "Maddie is putting her attitude on me."
7. She loves to sing primary songs and asks me to sing them to her all of the time.
8. She is extremely proficient at using my phone, Ipad and computer.
9. She is really getting into imaginative play and likes barbies and dolls.  I can hear her having conversations with them where she makes up a voice for them and then uses her own voice for her.
10. She doesn't like to play by herself, but she is a GREAT sister, a wonderful daughter and I am so glad she is the example for our other two girls.

Birthday Cupcakes as School!

This was the first official year that we could bring cupcakes to school for Emma's birthday.  Unfortunately, due to my job I couldn't take them so Jacob filled in.  Luckily, he took some cute pictures for me.  There was a bit of a fiasco with him actually getting to take the cupcakes into the classroom.  Apparently the teacher misunderstood me when I asked if I could "make" cupcakes because you aren't supposed to bring them.  So they had to check all food allergies before they would let him in.  But he finally made it and Emma was happy!!

Makenna turns 1!!

I can't believe it has already been a year but Makenna turned 1!  We had a small party with family over and we had an awesome family from church, the Sierra's, come over and make delicious tacos.  Probably one of our best parties yet thanks to them!  Makenna had so much fun playing with all of her cousins and she even enjoyed opening up presents and eating cake.  Although none of my girls have ever really "dug in" to their cake, she at least ate a few bites.  Per tradition, here are 10 things about Makenna right now:

1. She has been the slowest to do EVERYTHING - sat up at 9 months, army crawled at 11 months, and regular crawl and standing at 12 months.  (No where near walking yet!)
2. She only has 2 teeth that she just barely got and I don't see much else happening in there.
3. She LOVES to eat but she is so picky!  If she doesn't like it, she will just throw it off of her high chair.  No matter how many times I try, veggies go right on the floor as soon as they touch her tray.
4. She is the only one of my girls who did not have the dairy intolerance so she has been enjoying whole milk.
5. She ADORES her sisters and loves to play with them.  They can make her laugh like no one else can.
6. She really likes playing with blocks and will even stack them so she can knock them over and laugh.
7. She loves to take toys and throw them down on the tile over and over again.  I think she likes the noise that they make.
8. She loves music and will literally dance anytime she hears it.
9. She has by far been the best baby we have had.  Everyone always says, "Is she like that all of the time". Yes she is! 
10. She has the most infectious smile and laugh and everyone loves her!!

First Day of Kindergarten!!

The day I have been waiting for finally came.....Emma started Kindergarten!  As a teacher, I have been anxiously awaiting and painfully dreading Emma starting school.  I am so excited for her to start learning and growing but so worried about making sure that she does everything well.  So far, so good!!  Emma was so great on her first day of school.  We had french toast for breakfast (her favorite) and then got ready for school.  Unfortunately, Jacob got held over at work and was unable to be there so Grandma came instead.  I did her hair, got her dressed, took some pictures and then we were off!  I didn't know how I was going to react to leaving her.  She was in preschool twice a week last year so I didn't think it would be that different.  Luckily, the school hardly even gave me a chance to be sad.  This school district does an "Early Bird, Later Gator" program where the class is split into two different levels and arrive at school at different times so each group gets small group instruction with the teacher.  So Emma doesn't arrive at school until 9:20 am and the teacher has already had 1/2 of the class for two hours.  Since there were already 20 kids in class, her teacher, Mrs. Duran, walked out and grabbed the few kids that were outside of her classroom and then just walked back in with them.  I didn't even get to yell out goodbye before I realized what was happening.  But Emma seemed totally happy and fine to just walk inside so that was the end of that!!  So far, Emma loves Kindergarten and has been happy to go back everyday.  I am so excited to see how everything goes this year!

(Makenna was trying to sneak out and go with her!!)

Using Their Imagination

This is what my kids look like on a daily basis.  I have to hand it to them.....they get pretty creative.  On this particular day they were playing in the kitchen when they knocked something under the oven.  They took it upon themselves to figure out how to get it out.  They got it!  I love it when they use their imagination!!

Fun Daddy!

Our Daddy is the best!  The girls have many things they like to do with their daddy but here are two things that they love!

1. Building forts

2. Playing Hide n go seek or "Tag". Jacob used the bouncy ball to chase the girls.  I can't even tell you how much Makenna loves this game.....but I guess you can see how much fun she is having!

MacMac Is Up On All Fours

Wow! Can I just say finally to our dear MacMac.  For the past few weeks she has does this dead leg army crawl, where she uses both arms and one leg to drag herself where she wants to go.  And that would be wherever the girls are at. She loves her sisters so much.  Anywho, she used her other leg so little that Katie even took her in to see the pediatrician, but all was fine.  She is now up on all fours and speeding around the house, which is unfortunate because she was quite the little sweeper with the way she drug her body around on the kitchen floor.  And just the other day she began pulling herself up and digging in the toy chests.