My Favorite 7-year-old

Emma had her 7th birthday recently! She is the cutest and most fun 7-year-old I know! She had a super fun birthday this year because:

1) Her birthday was on the last day of school so I made cupcakes for everyone in her class and she got to have a little party at school. Thanks Mrs. Miller, Emma will miss you so much!

2) Then we went to dinner that night. My grandma watched Kate and Liza and we headed to Chuck-o-rama which is now the #1 favorite restaurant of all time according the Madison and Emma. They thought it was the bomb.

3) Then we came home and she opened her presents. She is sharing her Just Dance Wii game with all of us since we all love it as much as she does. I think I'll reserve a post just for some quality dance moves caught on camera. It's pretty entertaining to watch! We decided that she also deserves a new wheel for her bike since the other one got crushed by the van last year so now she has a bike to ride!



4) Emma got birthday treats X4! Talk about sugar overload. She had cupcakes with her class at school, then cake and ice cream at Chuck-o-rama, and then we decided she needed to blow out some candles since she hadn't done that yet. So there were some little Pink Lemonade donuts sitting here--we put some candles in those and sang Happy B-day. The next day she had a cake for her friends birthday party too. Too many treats! We'll try to keep that under control a little better in the future...





5) She has so many cute friends, and 11 of them came to her party. I think that is the biggest birthday party I've hosted to this point, and I decide to do that the year that I have 4 month twins. My poor mom was here with the babies and they were NOT nice for her. I dealt with 12 7-year-olds for 2 hours and she dealt with the babies--we were both equally tired I think. But we played lots of fun games and had a fun picnic lunch. By-the-way, Walmart has these "6 foot" sandwiches for $25. We ordered one, thinking of Subway sandwiches (my kids eat about three inches at Subway)....well the sandwich was actually 7 feet 7 inches and it was FAT! Way fatter than Subways. A 1" slice was plenty for the kids.....needless to say we ate that sandwich for every meal for a few days. But the kids thought it was pretty cool to have a sandwich that long!


Emma was spoiled by her friends with lots of really cute gifts. Thanks friends, she really loves you all!


We love you Emma! I'm glad you had such a great birthday, and I'm extra glad to have you in our family! Happy Birthday!

Soccer/Mud

Well soccer season has come and gone! What I saw of it this year was 90% muddy laundry and 10% actual soccer playing. Since it was cold and rainy for most of the games the babes and I had to stay home a lot, but we did make it to one game with the entire family......well eventually, anyway.....

On one particularly sunny day I decided that we were going to get ourselves (meaning Kate and Liza and myself) to the game--Kelly was already there watching Madison play--and sure enough, we got there for the last half of Madison's game and Emma's game was starting shortly. I was feeling quite accomplished! And then someone asked "Where's Emma?" Ooops. I forgot her. She was at home wondering how she was going to get to her game since her mom had left her. So Kelly went and got her, only a few tears had been shed.....and THEN we were ALL there. I wasn't really surprised that I did that, considering that some days I feel like I have about 2 1/2 working brain cells--I'm just glad I left someone at home rather than at the store or the gas station, in the middle of the freeway, near the edge of a cliff, up a creek without a paddle--anything is possible these days.


The game will go on without you if you find some interesting specimen to study in the grass.


Emma was a real go-getter for her first season of soccer! She has bound and determined to score a goal (especially after Kelly waved $5 bills in front of the girls' faces and offered one per goal). She got a couple during the practices and then she just helped out a lot during the games. She played really well!


Brandon and Gina were awesome coaches and she had a very cute team. She loved every minute of it. We loved watching.


Madison and Sydney were on the same team again--which always makes Madison so happy and thanks Becky for driving Madison to most of her practices! It's always fun having friends to watch the games with too. Julisha came to watch a game or two and hang out with Madi and Sydney. I'm so glad Madison has such great friends close to home.


Madison improved a lot from last year, she had a lot more fun this year, too, I think. Last year I heard a lot of "I hate running..." comments and I didn't hear any of that this year! Except for the time her coach made them run laps around the field for most of the practice. I was glad to hear a little complaining that time, a little work is good for her.


It was fun while it lasted! Looking forward to next year's rain/mud/soccer....