Emma's Fourth Birthday

The night before, we set up a special place at the table for Emma with a base of wildflowers gathered from around our home, and her chair decorated with ribbon she picked out. I hung the bunting I made for her before she was born, that hung above the crib she never used. I hung paper streamers from her bedroom door leading down the hall to the kitchen hoping it would lure her out in the morning for a surprise. What I didn't count on was her waking up, excited, at 2:30 am and calling me down the stairs asking, "What is this? What's this ribbon? Why are there balloons?" 

I said we would see in the morning.

And when morning came, this was ready.  A delicious "fruit Pizza" (thank you Pinterest) 

A sugar cookie crust with cream cheese sauce and fresh sliced fruit on top.

And a piece of the Edible Arrangement from Granddad and Coco. She was so excited to receive it the day before, with three balloons attached and delicious chocolate dipped pineapples. Hey, you only turn four once!

The edible arrangement from the day before:

We went to the playground and splash pad in Peekskill to cool off. Emma brought her new Tortoise, Tortle.

Cooling off with a dragonfruit banana smoothie (was supposed to be icecream but the dragonfruit had too much moisture, so... Smoothies! )

 

Once Daddy got home we hung some water balloons for Emma to poke at, this was interesting!

And a special treat after dinner, Strawberry Shortcake with four glowing candles to celebrate the four wonderful years we've had together, and welcome in the one ahead. 

We love you, Emma!

Four Tomorrow

So much has changed in the last year, inside and out. All around us. 

Tomorrow is Emma's Fourth Birthday and I'm just in disbelief. It's gone fast! Our baby has grown into a strong, caring, imaginative, social, and absolutely wonderful little girl full of joy and creativity.  We're amazed and impressed by her daily and can't wait to see what Four has in store for her.

One terrific Two!

[from 7-24]

Wow! How amazing is it that we have a two year old now. And at two Emma can do so many amazing things, more every day. But first off....

Let's talk about Emma's birthday. What a full, busy, eventful day. Both sets of grandparents were there, many others from Patricks family, most of Emma's friends, new friends from our neighborhood plus a friend from Winnipeg who happened to be a few hours away for work. We got all the food done but not all of it out, it was much less organized than I hoped it would be and it was missing a few things I was looking forward to, BUT. It was a very special day bringing everyone together to wish Emma a happy birthday. She got her own slice of the cake (we usually share one) made a new friend, and felt the love from all around her. Thanks to everyone, near and far, who was a part of it!

And now some stuff as a Two or just-about-two year-old.

Picking berries! We have dozens of wild berry bushes in our yard. 

Emma's new make-believe game that she brings everywhere is to have a bug in her hand. I was surprised by how in depth her imagination was this weekend, at the poolside of my parents hotel in Tarrytown. Emma scooped up a bee from the water then laid it down on a towel. She said the bee was shaking off the water! Then she scooped up a worm.

..which was wiggling, see? She also brings over imaginary ants to read Effie, a story about an ant with a thunderous voice. She shows me bugs and lizards and turtles she has in her cupped hand pretty often. Very cute

Emma received a rocking chair from a very thoughtful 9 year old boy from our neighborhood. 

Meeting a neighbors cat at a friends house. Not our friends cat but potential friends for Emma, as all animals are. 

Testing out her new tempera paint sticks from our friends Helen and Millie. They're so smooth on paper, easy for her to open and close without assistance and virtually mess-free. So this mama is sold! 

More of these delicious berries. We can't stop!

Running through the garden hose!

And from this morning, Emma sitting in 'meadow flowers' trying to eat them like the friendly cow in a poem we read often. Emma recalls what must be hundreds of poems and stories in her play and has a deep interest in new vocabulary, characters, themes, and the all sorts of ideas portrayed through writing. Reading and recreating books is one of our favorite things to do. I will post next about her favorite books and the ways she lives them.

One last thing before signing off here and getting to work during Emma's nap.. Yesterday I was able to make a very special duvet and cover for Emma, as she has a new room and needed her own blanket to go with it. The fabric we picked out at Joanne's, it took a few simple stitches and some snaps and it was completed in two hours. 

And here it is in use:

I think it did the trick, because Emma slept through the night in her new room until I woke her the next morning, for the first time. My big girl!

(And I slept pretty well, too ;-))

one

What a busy busy birthday weekend we had! Emma's birthday was on Friday, Patrick took the day off and we celebrated Emma's very first birthday together. We took a trip to stepping stones, stopped at whole foods for her birthday cake and party food, and even found time to play in the park before bedtime. A full day indeed!

Saturday was early, and hectic, and long, and special. It was Emma's first birthday party, it was the first time Patrick and I have really hosted a large group, and a lot of other first. Like the first time I have hung streamers! It was Emma's first time climbing onto the picnic tables- imagine my surprise watching her casually climb up on to the seat and then the tabletop, sitting cooly like it's something she does regularly. My decorating was often interrupted by spotting Emma going up or down the tables but I had to let her climb. She's so interested in scaling everything around her that there's no stopping her. "Choose your battles" I suppose!

I made Emma's cake earlier that morning. It was a simple recipe of flour and banana with a cream cheese icing which didn't work out so well- at least not as well as in the pictures from the recipe! It was still a cute cake that Emma tore into and enjoyed. 

(http://www.fitmamarealfood.com/babys-first-smash-cake-healthy-no-sugar-banana-cake/)

Above is the $15 cake we got from whole foods. We found this cake as we were disappointedly brainstorming what to do with the $40 cake we just picked up for the bakery that was not what we wanted:

I think ours turned out much nicer! 

Lazy Sunday: Playing in the front, A walk through Depew, and the Annual Firefly Festival. 

Look how dry it is in the woods compared to a month ago. We need more rain! 

Emma received lots of love the entire weekend from everyone around us. It was certainly a very special first birthday. Here's to many more!