Emmy is 4!

emmy was born on a sunday night. she was about three weeks early. she was so tiny. the tiniest baby i'd ever seen in real life. she was 4 lbs and 12 oz. her legs were long, but she would curl them up and then she would be just a little bigger than daddy's hand. usually the hospital won't release babies until they are at least 5 lbs, but the pediatritian who checked her out couldn't find anything wrong with her. in fact, she said that emmy could have been born three weeks earlier and been just fine, except for the weight. we don't know why she was so small. she's still really small. when she was a newborn i had her in the snuggie and i was pushing andrew in the stroller at a store. i was looking at whatever and this lady saw emmy move. she was surprised because she thought i was carrying a toy for andrew. another time we were at a relative's house and there was a babydoll on the floor near the front door. derek came in the room and couldn't believe someone just let emmy lay there where she could get stepped on. then he realized what it was and we all had a good laugh.

here's emmy about a month before she turned 1.

here she is on her 1st birthday.

here she is at a park in indiana.

in line waiting for santa claus.

and swinging with andrew

2 yrs old.

3 yrs old.

i need to get some more recent pictures. her party is tomorrow, so i'll be posting again soon.

I'm Almost Thirty

sometimes it's weird to think that i'm gonna be thirty. my birthday is less than 3 weeks away. i'm not upset about getting older. i've known people who want to stay 25 forever. "i'm having the 7th anniversary of my 25th birthday". i actually have an ex-family member who said that. she would never say her real age. i just don't get that. i've never wanted to be older or younger than i was. i guess that's a good thing. now all of my siblings and i will be thirtysomething.

Memorial Day Plans

i'm looking forward to memorial day. we are gonna picnic at a park. i want to play croquet. emmy is gonna wear her sqeaky sandals. every step she takes they make a squeak. i told her she is not allowed to wear them to church and she seems okay with that.

last night we had my newly 12 year old niece babysit the kids for us. it was the first time we had her babysit the kids. seems like it all went okay. emmy's shell anklet broke again, so she called and talked to me while i was out. when i came home i reworked it. emmy was so happy. andrew wants one now.

Back Home

we made it back home safely last night. we had a fun, very quick, trip. we only made it to spanish fork and woods cross. i would have liked to go up to logan if i'd had more time and visit some more relatives. i had fun with my sisters. we played games and talked. i got to see an old friend, amber, that i hadn't seen in about 6 years or so. she came to emma's house to see me. it was really nice to see her, and to meet her friend whose comments i see regularly on facebook. amber has an etsy shop called "orange you happy" where she sells the jewelry she makes. sometimes i think that i would like to open an etsy shop, but i don't make enough things to sell. plus i never think that my stuff is any good for anyone besides me. meaning, only i would settle for it. anyway, it was nice to see amber. we figured out that the last time we would have seen eachother was at a wedding back in '04. i tried to see my friend kristen, but she happened to go on vacation just that weekend. anyway, we had fun. can't wait to do it again! that is, if i don't have to do all the driving. i tried to get my mom to drive, but emmy wanted gram to sit next to her.

At Naomi's House

we're in utah. we made it safely. i did all the driving and mom kept the kids entertained. today we are spending the day with naomi and her family. her daughter graduated from kindergarten today. we got to go and see that. it was really neat and andrew enjoyed seeing the school. naomi is going through chloe's old clothes with emmy to see which ones she wants, so i'd better go and help. later!

The Trip

i'm leaving for my trip to utah on thursday. i'm not gonna be able to visit all the people i wanted to. my mom is coming with me and the kids to visit two of my sisters. they live about an hour apart from eachother, so we can see them both fairly easily. one of my nieces is graduating from kindergarten, so we will get to see that.

i think it will be good for andy to see some school stuff since he'll be starting kindergarten this fall. he hasn't really had any school experience except for a few performances by his cousins, like plays or recitals. andrew never went to preschool. we didn't feel it was necessary. we've worked with him on knowing his colors, shapes, numbers, and letters. he can write an A very well. we are still working on the rest of his name. just yesterday he wrote ANDY. the A was great, the N was way too tall, and D looked like a triangle, and the Y looked like an X. he's getting there. we've got plenty of time. i think the only thing he would have gained from preschool would be social skills. he does learn social skills at church on sundays. his class has several kids his age and he gets along well with them. at least, that's what i hear. i know that when there have been problems in the past i've heard about them.

so, back to my visitin' plans. i think we are going to have a lot of fun. my one sister is looking forward to playing games, and she's promised to make scones. it's been a long time since i had any of those. whenever i'm at her house we have fun laughing and talking. my other sister is a really good story teller, so i'm looking forward to talking with her. plus, all my nieces and nephews are way cool. can't wait to see them.

Dear Andrew,

when you are older and want to take a girl to prom i will be excited. i'll be happy for you when she accepts your invitation. however, if on the night of the prom your date is dressed like a skank, you will not be going.

love,
mom.