Emery's 4th birthday!!!!!

Look at this little peanut!!!!   From day one she was a tiny little nugget!  At only 5 lbs 11 inches, she was small but mighty!!  She's remained teeny tiny for 4 years but she has grown up into one strong (both mentally and physically), determined, adventurous, fun-loving, risk-taking little girl!!  She has brought so much light, laughter, love and joy to everyone who meets her since the moment she breathed her first breath!  We cannot believe she has turned 4 years old!!!!  It is still amazing to me.  I will never get over what her birth and presence in our lives represents.... God... loves... us!!!!  It's that simple!  Miss Emery Rose is the most amazing person I've ever known!

 Her second day here in our big world!

Can you say precious????

With her newest love (let's be honest...and mine!) of the movie FROZEN, I could hardly wait to plan her birthday party!  I began pinterest-ing months ago!  But as always, like I do so well, it was only a week before her party that I got my brain together and put my thoughts on paper and made a plan.  And luckily, it came together perfectly!!  I guess I've always done better with last minute prep and pressure! lol   But having said that, I didn't plan my work week out very well and realized I had to work the entire two days before her party!  UGH!  So I wrote out a daily to-do list that started early in the week and continued the evenings after work.  Friday night I stayed up until 1:00am!  But it was all so worth it!!  I got all the decorations up so Emery woke up to a Frozen wonderland (or atleast a Frozen wonder'wall')!!  Sean took Emery to Panera for breakfast and my friend, Julie, came over to help me get ready which was all an enormous blessing!!  Needless to say, everything went even better than I could have dreamed!  We had an amazing time!  And more importantly Emery and all her friends had a blast!!

All hand cut and glittered snowflakes! made with love!

(which now hangs on one entire wall in her bedroom! :)

Julie and Kathy (Cali girls!)

Diane, Amber and Tyranie and kids

Hannah and Aleah

Months ago I had this idea....  Kathy's daughter, Brianna, had made the most beautiful Elsa and Anna costumes for the church harvest festival.  And so I texted them to see if they would be able and willing to make an appearance at Emery's birthday party.  Well the week before her party, Brianna said yes!!!  So while "Anna" (Madeline) had to study for school, Elsa was able to come all the way from Arendelle just for Emery's birthday!!!  It was a huge surprise to Emery and ALL the kids!!!  It was awesome!!!  I almost started crying!!  haha

Here's Emery meeting Elsa right as she arrived.  

She was a little shocked and consequently shy :)

I loved watching all the kids respond to Elsa.  They were full of questions!

Finally got a smile out of Emery! haha

Elsa even went out and played in the backyard with the kids!

Emery, Ari & Payge

So here is my Frozen Ice Cream Cake!  Yes I am VERY proud of this cake!!  It was a pinterest idea but the most awesome thing I've ever made!  hehe

The "ice" is blue candy I made.  The figurines compliments of Emery.  Yep!  Washed up her toys really good and voila!

Daddy & Emery right before blowing out her candles

The cake (for the adults) and blue 'snowball' cupcakes for the kiddos!

The inside of the three layer ice cream cake :)

Emery enjoying her cupcake outside 

(We luckily had the most amazing 70 deg weather that day!!!!)

Elsa and the entire party of kids!

Max, Aleah, Hannah, Dane, Emery, Levi, Ari, Meagan, Ainsley(little one in front), 

Payge, Gabriel, Zach & Zach's friend, & Emma (not in pic) 

Emery opening some of her gifts

Emery loves Payge!

The Party Favors! 

So this dress... Kathy and the girls bought it for her.  She yelled when she pulled it out of the bag!  She immediately put it on and she, still, wears it most days!  It is so adorable!!!

Later that evening......

And the next day.... lol     And the next....

Elsa was so sweet to bring Em this Frozen camera too!

Night night Em!!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY baby girl!!!

The next day, as promised, we drove to Grapevine Mills Mall (a good 40 min drive) to go to the Disney Story to spend her birthday money.  We had a great time!!!  She bought a big soft Elsa doll as a friend for her Rapunzel doll of the same style.  You know, the kind with the fabric hair.

No she didn't get this snow monster, but she loves him!!  haha

She wanted to ride the Merry-Go-Round, so we did!  But she didn't want the horse....

...She wanted the spinning cup!!!  This girl is fearless and loves to push the limits!!  She loves a challenge as she spun that thing as fast as it would go!  She has both qualities of me and Sean.... she's cautious like her daddy and a risk taker like her mommy.  I call her my cautious risk-taker!!!  She loves to go fast and hard and we are constantly amazed at what she accomplishes!!  She seriously is such a fast runner.  She is a strong climber and is not afraid of heights.  She always wants to workout with me and is sad anytime I don't take her to bootcamp with me.  I can't keep her on her blanket cuz she wants to do everything with me.  She still loves to dance!!  Just today I sat down and was playing the piano and it wasn't long before I realized she was just dancing away!  She didn't want me to stop because she wanted to keep dancing.  She is doing great in her ballet class.  She's not the youngest in her class, but she is the littlest.  But she already has such great form and toe point.  And now she's taken up singing!  She will sing for the longest time making up her own songs or singing the latest tv tune!  She is becoming more independent every day.  Which honestly makes me sad some days.  But it is so cool watching her grow into a little kid.  She can get her own breakfast now.  Maybe she could have done this earlier but I just recently moved her cups and bowls down where she can get them.  Sometimes I'll even find she moved the chair into the kitchen so she can get whatever it is she's wanting. lol  She can turn the tv on and tune in to her recorded shows (I've only taught her this as I don't want her 'surfing' the channels and having free reign. Boundaries!)  She pretty much picks out her clothes most days and gets dressed. Even doing her own hair to some extent.  She's very particular in what she wears!  But I must say, the girl has style!!  I can tell her to go get dressed, get your shoes on and brush your teeth, and she will!!  Of course not in the time-frame I would like, but..... It is precious!!!  And the freedom I've gained is A-mazing!!!!  

I love this girl so much!  She is everything good in the world!  Children are a blessing and a gift from God.  And I can never thank Him enough for entrusting us with her life!  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMERY!!!!

Roadtrip to St Louis, MO!!!!

November 19-26 we took a roadtrip to St Louis, Missouri to see Sean's younger brother, Brett and Mattie and the kids.  It was kind of a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving. lol  Although we opted out of the turkey dinner.  :)  But after a few months of planning, we hit the road in Sean's new little VW GTI!!!  We got out of town around 6am.  Pulled Emery out of bed in her jammies and she went straight into the car.  We did the drive in a total of 11 1/2 hours with that including only an hour of stops!  Not bad with a 3 year old!  But Emery came down with, what we think now was, the flu the day before.  She seemed ok so we proceeded with our plans.  But I have to admit that probably added to her being so 'good' and quiet all the way there, poor thing.  She was a trooper though!  She just chilled in the back, played with her toys, watched movies and Bubble Guppies on the iPad and enjoyed the scenery.  She, unfortunately, only slept about an hour so when she woke up that was the worst hour of our drive.  But overall not bad at all!!!  We drove up through Oklahoma taking the "scenic", and might I add, most boring route through small towns instead of staying on the interstate.  Oh well.  Did I mention she asked about 4 times in the first hour "How long till we're there?"?  hahahahaha This is gonna be a long day!!!  lol  

Emery is such "cool" traveler in pajamas and sunglasses!

Meet my newest nephew, Wedge!!!!  The first morning we were there he ran with me on a very cold, and VERY hilly, 3 mile run!  I was able to keep up my exercise and ran 3 times while I was there!

I made a quick new friend with my newest nephew dog, Wedge! He was a great running partner and snuggler! 

Me and Wedge on one of our runs!

On Saturday, Mattie had set up a mini session for the cousins.  Emery cried at first but a promise to Target toy department fixed that!  They all looked soooo adorable!

Stole a shot at the kids' mini photo session Mattie arranged. They were so adorable!!  From left... Owen (4), Mckenna (6), Emery (4), and Levi (2)

This park was beautiful!

The kids had a ton of fun playing together and got along well, most of the time. lol

Emery and Mckenna playing in her room 

Emery drinking her medicine and Owen drinking his juice. Lol

A rare photo op with Owen 

Emery loves Wedge too!

On Sunday, Mattie and I were able to get out for some girl time.  Brett and Sean had gone out earlier in the trip, so it was our turn now.  We hadn't planned to be gone so long, but it was such a great day!!!  First she took me to Bricktops.  It was kind of a higher end restaurant to my surprise but oh so good!!!  I got Bahn Mi which was amazing!!  And a martini!  Because Why Not? Right??

Then we headed over to the St Louis Museum of Art.  It was raining all day!  But we had a great time!!!  We stayed for awhile and then moved on.  But it was beautiful.

In front of St Louis Art Museum

St Louis Art Museum 

Could it be THE wardrobe?? Lol

After the museum she took me to Kaldis coffee. It was soooo yummy! Brown sugar Rosemary latte! Seriously good!!

Sisters!! We enjoyed our lattes on the patio while it rained. Loved it!!

I had such a great time spending time with our nephews and niece.  Especially getting to know this little one!  He was only 6 months old last time I saw him!  In fact it was April of 2013 that we last saw all of them!  They are all at such a fun age.  And they are great kids!!! Their parents have done a great job!

Me and my precious Levi!

Levi and Emery! Adorable!

Sean picked me up a Kaldis latte and sent me this pic of him drinking it!! I think not!!  Kaldi's is awesome!  We both said we would move to St Louis for Kaldi's!  lol  (although I just found my "kaldi's" right here in Grapevine at Redifined!)

Beautiful sunset on our last night 

Just a typical day of us hanging out 

We had such a great time with our family!  We played games, ate out (a lot!), talked even more and had a great time!  With all the craziness happening in St Louis, we chose to not spend much time there (we were in Ballwin).  But it was a blessing that we didn't tire ourselves out by sight seeing.  We had a wonderful time just relaxing and hanging out.

On Tuesday morning, we headed for home.  Sean had a great idea to go a completely different route home.  It was a little longer but we decided to stay the night in Little Rock, Arkansas.  But the fun part was we stopped in Memphis, TN for lunch!!  However, despite having it in my mind that we would see some of the city and maybe even see Graceland, none of that happened. lol  In fact, the restaurant we found on Diners, Driveins and Dives was called Alsenias.  And so we made a quick left off the freeway into a very sketchy part of downtown.  The main part of downtown was to the right off the freeway.  But nooooo, our GPS took us left.  And we really had second thoughts when we saw the place.  But, like I told Sean, I don't want to miss out on something amazing just because its a hole in the wall.  So he said he would go in and check it out.  He was impressed by the immediate southern hospitality when he walked in.  And at that I was like "lets go!!".  And we were so glad we did!!  It was amazingly delicious!!!  Our first experience with southern SoulFood!!  Unfortunately we didn't have time to sight see at all as we wanted to get to Little Rock by dinner time.

Here is Alsenia's SoulFood restaurant. Very sketchy neighborhood just off the freeway but the people and the food were amazing!!! So glad we stopped!

Decorated very much Mardi Gras style. 

Fried chicken, candied yams, cabbage (A-mazing!!!!!!!), green beans (fabulous!!), white rice and hot water cornbread. Our first true experience with southern soul food cooking and it was amazing!!!!

We drove on to Little Rock Arkansas and stayed the night. Emery had her own bed!! And she was out in no time!!

Downtown Little Rock, we stopped for coffee and treats for breakfast before heading out

At the coffee shop

Being that Emery was sick on the way to Missouri, we worried that now that she was feeling much better, she would not do as well on the long drive home.  But she still did AMAZING!!!  She quietly read or played with her new dolls or talked with us or watch her shows on the iPad (best thing we ever bought!!)  She is, and always has been since birth, an awesome traveler!  It was such a joy to do this trip with her..... with us as a family!

We made Emery this fort to watch Frozen on the iPad. 

The inside view! She loved it!!! 

She was sooooo content.